Wow, I thought this kind of thing was done away with years ago

[kandrathe]

You are mixing things up there. Both Wilders and Nekschot were never arrested for holding signs with bible verses. Wilders hasn't even been arrested (yet). In fact, it was the Dutch Christian political party that tried to expand blasphemy laws in response to Wilders' Fitna movie. Nekschot was arrested (for 30 hours) for some of his cartoons (which insulted the Dutch Christian Prime Minister, among others, and made many Jews feel threatened). And no, there have been no others.

Wilders was arrested at Heathrow. You are correct that neither of these individuals were arrested for holding signs. I'm making a general statement about all western democracies, where freedom still has some HOPE. I would extend your struggle to even Ben Ali's controversy, and the assassination of Theo Van Gogh. Free speech is under assault in the Netherlands as it is here. I'm looking at things like Barney Franks attempts to find a way to arrest (punish) Hannah Giles, and James O'Keefe for exposing Acorn's seedy underbelly. It's come down to an attitude by some in power who don't like what is being said, and so they are attempting to create the means to silence it. Another example would be the actions and plans of Mark Lloyd of the FCC in the US, against conservative talk radio.

Btw, did you know that Wilders' political "party" does not accept members? That people are allowed to vote for him, but not to have any say in what he wants for them? Calling on freedom of speech is just a tactic for that man, like everything else he does.

Somebody must have voted for him, and so you get what you deserve, just as we do with our crack pot political persons.

And did you know that Nekschot also writes under the name 'Dolf Histler'? Free speech is nice, but some people take it as an excuse to shock and provoke, for no gain but personal satisfaction (and hits on his website, ofcourse).

I don't know much about Nekschot, other than he was arrested for drawing cartoons. I did a quick google, and they seem crass at best. But, it is irrelevant to his freedom to draw cartoons, however offensive they may be to some people. If they are published, then people can object to the publisher or boycott the publication and the advertisers in the publication. I still think he should have the freedom to be a jerk, or even a racist jerk.

Some go even further...

In my city in 2008, during the Republican National Convention, a group of people threw blood and urine on delegates. There were some others that were arrested before the event, and some because they had planned a series of bombings with molotov cocktails. A person may passionately believe that abortion is murder, and still strongly oppose domestic terrorism. But, some people go too far. In fact, Obama's good friend Bill Ayers, was a domestic terrorist. Can we talk about the ALF?