[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 14, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H4021-H4022]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 IS FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION UNPATRIOTIC?

  (Mr. BELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. BELL. Mr. Speaker, I find it appalling that the majority leader 
of this body can in one breath suggest that our Texas heroes, the 53 
men and women of conviction currently in Ardmore, Oklahoma, are 
unpatriotic and in the next breath suggest the Federal authorities be 
brought in to force them to pass someone's own political agenda, 
because what the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) suggested yesterday 
is unpatriotic is actually an impressive example of the very fabric 
that holds this Nation together. It is everything our fathers and 
grandfathers have fought and died for in two great wars.
  Mr. Speaker, is freedom of expression unpatriotic? Is the freedom to 
take a stand against recklessness unpatriotic? Mr. Speaker, when Rosa 
Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus, was that unpatriotic? The 
willingness to take a stand for what is right is what defines America.
  I would like to applaud my Democratic colleagues in the Texas House 
from Houston for having the courage to stand up to the gentleman from 
Texas' (Mr. DeLay) political agenda: Garnett Coleman, Rick Noriega, 
Jessica Farrar, Scott Hochberg, Joe Deshotel, Kevin Bailey, Harold 
Dutton, Joe Moreno and Senfronia Thompson. They are heroes, and the 
people of Texas are with them.

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