[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5513]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      UNITED NATIONS SPEECH POLICE

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POE. Mr. Speaker, free speech is under attack again. This time 
the so-called U.N. Human Rights Council passed a resolution encouraging 
the criminalization of freedom of expression by the U.N. chief 
spokesman on speech. Egypt and Pakistan proposed the anti-speech 
resolution. What it does is promote specific criminal restrictions on 
individuals in the world who criticize or make negative comments about 
Islam.
  According to the International World Tribune, ``Muslim countries have 
been demanding world limits on free speech ever since a Danish magazine 
published those not-so-flattering cartoons of Mohammad.'' So now the 
U.N. Human Rights Council wants to limit the human rights of free 
speech and religious discourse. Of course, this limit only applies to 
those who criticize one specific religion, Islam. Muslims are still 
permitted to bash Christians, Jews and Hindus.
  Free speech cannot be limited because some group doesn't like what 
somebody says. That is what free speech means. The Human Rights Council 
was wrong when it surrendered to the Muslim speech police and passed 
this speech control resolution that advocates the criminalization of 
criticism of Islam.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________