The Bad With The Good

I'm all for freedom of speech, even - or perhaps especially - when I disagree with said speech. But there has to be limits. For example, we have libel and slander laws to protect people from false and malicious allegations. And there's Oliver Wendell Holmes' oft-cited admonition against falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater.

"The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. [...] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent."

The quote is used as an example of speech which serves no conceivable useful purpose and is extremely and imminently dangerous so that resort to the courts or administrative procedures is not practical and expresses the permissible limitations on free speech consistent with the terms of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Which brings us to such a vile and disgusting abuse of free speech that it boggles the mind.

Manual on How to Molest Children is Legal

A 170-page manual explaining step by step how to molest children which police in Orange County, Fla., believe has been circulating there for months, is not illegal.

"I've never seen anything like it. It was pretty amazing when I first saw it just because how detailed it was," Orange County Sheriff's Office Det. Philip Graves told ABC News Orlando, Fla., affiliate WFTV.

The manual, which was apparently written by someone who calls himself "the mule," is a how-to of child molestation, even explaining where and how to find potential victims, the station reported.

Among the many disturbing topics covered in the book is how to convince a victimized child not to tell his or her parents.

Graves told WFTV that it is not a crime in Orange County to send the manual by e-mail or to possess it

Nothing against Detective Graves, but I just can't believe that this is legal. I can understand that a book advocating child molestation might be considered legal, distasteful though it might be, but a how-to manual?!?! If that isn't a "clear and present danger" that will bring about "substantive evils" then I can't imagine what is. Maybe the Orange Country Sheriff's Department should get a second opinion.

And maybe the good citizens down there should get a rope ... or two ... or more ...