A Fitting Farewell To Wannabe Koran-Burner Terry Jones

It was a little more than a week ago that Pastor Terry Jones threatened to burn himself into all our hearts by burning the Koran on September 11. After the initial flurry of media hullabaloo, it quickly became apparent that the Florida Pastor was more than a little over his head, and he cancelled the event. Then he changed his mind. Then he re-cancelled it. Now, a week after he wasted everybody's time, the city of Gainesville, Fla. is giving the Pastor and his Dove World Outreach Center a $200,000 bill.

They're charging him and his Church for the more than 360 officers who were on duty last weekend as a direct result of the Pastor's threats. Gainesville City Manager Russ Blackburn told AP he doesn't know if the city has legal authority to compel the church to pay, but the message is certainly clear. And now, we can all forget about the Pastor and his hollow threats, and the name Terry Jones can go back to only being associated with its rightful owner, the great Monty Python actor.

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By Ben Yakas in News on September 18, 2010 4:40 PM

Comments [rss]

El Izzy

Who would take anyone from Gainesville, FL seriously? Come on now.

Blurry

Hatemongers have no business calling themselves men of God.

John L

I guess FREE SPEECH isn't free after all.

It can cost you your job or a $200,000 fine.

As I read this I thought "good for him, he deserves it" but on second thought, this is wrong. As stupid as this man and his idea was, it was still protected by law and if there are going to be such dire consequences for a person, no matter how stupid, to exercise their right to free speech then it's no longer free speech. For example, if everyone that criticizes the president gets audited or harassed by any government entity then there's no longer free speech. It can be that you can so whatever you want but we're going to come after you, because then the very idea of free speech is lost.

So as much as I hate to say it, I don't think that fining him $200,000 is right.

Free speech means that the person will be free of persecution, and that must include monetary persecution.

dreamking

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/automobiles/05CRASHTAX.html

dreamking

Not the same thing, but in a similar area.

bonu$baby

Maybe he can get the scum at NBC News to pay for this too.

The Other Sarah T

$200,000 ? That's it ? He should be fined $200,000 just for the moustache alone.

Thespis

This is fantastic.

Unfortunately, it's almost certainly illegal. If I recall correctly, the Court has been consistent (if sometimes divided) in ruling that fees imposed for protecting unpopular speakers (that would not be imposed for popular speakers) are a violation of the requirement that speech restrictions be content-neutral.

Thespis

(Which sucks, because there SHOULD be a "stupid tax.")

Såkandulæredet

The media have a major hand in this as well. They also should be billed.

SonnyBobiche

In the meantime 5 Muslims were arrested in London for being involved in a conspiracy to assassinate the Pope.

In the USA, the cartoonist that had the gall to promote freedom of speech by coming up with the idea for an "Everybody Draw Muhammad" day is now in hiding.

Think about that for a minute. A life turned upside down for promoting a whimsical idea to remind people of our rights.