Freedoms in Various Forms: Cartoons, Funerals, Spying

How curious, don't you think, that at a time when the U.S. is waging war ostensibly to spread democracy around the world, one of the fundamentals of democracy itself ("right to free speech" is today's 38th-most-cited blog phrase) seem to be in the crosshairs of international and national discussion.

The right to speak up is discussed in several contexts, such as the messages that civil rights leader such as the Rev. Joseph Lowery (today's No. 11-12 burstiest person) and former President Jimmy Carter delivered earlier this week at the funeral of Coretta Scott King (today's most-cited phrase). Some observers were offended that pointed political messages were intermixed with tributes...and delivered to an audience that included President George Bush. ThinkProgress provides today's No. 5 top blog post, which is video of the standing ovation that Lowry received.

Cartoon perspective
Columnist Amir Taheri is today's fourth burstiest person for an editorial he wrote in the Wall Street Journal Online that explains the Muslim underpinnings...or lack thereof...for outrage over cartoons portraying the prophet Muhammed (today's No. 6 top news story) in the Middle East and elsewhere. Other notable personalities: editors at the New York Press who walked off the job this week (today's No. 3 blog post) when their publisher refused to publish the cartoons.

What is the NSA REALLY doing?
Even Republicans are curious now, which is why Rep. Heather A. Wilson is today's No. 2 burstiest person, now that she's called for a full-scale investigation of the Bush Administration's domestic spying program at the NSA (today's third-most-cited news story). Fear of political failure, writes the LawandPolitics blogger, is the great motivator. Other bloggers offer their assessments of the heightened NSA scrutiny, and a BlogPulse trend graph looks at what bothers people most these days:



AIDS cure?
Today's second most-cited news story tells of a possible AIDS breakthrough, and comments are already starting.