The "freedom loving" French have convicted Bridgette Bardot of "hate speech" for saying not nice things about muslims in her book. So much for Liberte.

Ah, those lovely, unbiasedly applied "Hate speech laws" (that Zoomerex once said were not worth mentioning because they weren't really used). I wonder how many anti-semites have been prosicuted under this law?

"France is the only country were people are jailed for antisemititic acts or words"

Nissim Zvili, Ambassador of Israel to France,
Feb 2004

(that Zoomerex once said were not worth mentioning because they weren't really used)

The issue was about English words "banned" in France, not hate speech.

I hear Marge Schott has an autographed copy of the book.

It seems that self-censorship is alive and well in America. And this for just insulting a city .

Self censorship is another animal all together then State censorship.
Kimmel might be right by the way. It is an ugly trend of championships in basketball (hooligans rampaging) that was fortunately sidestepped by the small market San Antonio Spurs last year.
Los Angeles has had their fair share of post championship hooliganism. I would be shocked if storefronts were not broken and cars set fire in Detroit if their team succeeds this year.

Why says we lack European culture? We can burn, loot, and pillage with the best of them! We do it recreationally!

How do you tell if something is hate speech?
Is there a definition on a French writers guild website?
And if there is even the slimmist of doubts about the definition, who gets to clarify?
Will Brigitte Bardot get a chance to appeal this verdict?

Four thousand Americans are spinning in their graves at Normandy. She certainly paid for her speech and I hope the constitution of France has a double jeopardy clause and she speaks it again. Go Brigitte! You rock, woman.

"I hear Marge Schott has an autographed copy of the book."
I hear Marge Schott is dead. That is indeed a dangerous book :)

Re: Post-game hooliganism (Papertiger)
A friend of mine in Montreal described the downtown looting after the '93 Stanley Cup victory as "happiness riots". I am still trying to understand.

I hope the constitution of France has a double jeopardy clause and she speaks it again.

Double jeopardy protects you from peosecution twice of the same instance, not the same crime. If she did do it again, it would be another instance.

I hear Marge Schott is dead.

Undead. She's a wraith.

Holy crap!

Unholy crap.

Crap is crap.

Amen to that.

Finally, we all agree on something.

Sorry! I meant "No, crap is something else entirely". Better? ;)