From: "Perry E. Metzger" <pmetzger@lehman.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Feb 94 11:00:24 PST
To: Johan Helsingius <julf@penet.fi>
Subject: Re: Oh No! Nazis on the Nets
In-Reply-To: <199402101824.AA14764@lassie.eunet.fi>
Message-ID: <199402101851.NAA20155@snark>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Johan Helsingius says:
> 
> > > a country in which the government is so fascist to make it illegal for
> > > someone to tell you how to start your own paper? 
> > 
> > Do you really believe such a nonsense ????
> 
> Of course. But did you know that in the USA it is illegal for a
> married couple to have anal intercourse even in their own home? Or
> that it is illegal to belong to a communist party? Or that you can
> get in trouble for using the word "stewardess".

You can be a member of the communist party, actually, although many
laws holding that you can be harrassed by the government for it are
still on the books. Sexual relations are governed by state law, so
only in some states are consentual acts illegal -- in many all
consentual acts between married partners are legal. However, the point
is well taken. The U.S. is not a libertarian paradise.

I will note, however, that the U.S. has far better press freedoms than
almost any other country on earth, and that Germany is pretty damn bad
about freedom of the press. I can walk into any book store in America
and buy a copy of Mein Kampf -- and although I hate Adolf Hitler's
works, I am happy that I can read them if I so choose. I cannot do
things like that in Germany.

.pm