DISGRACEFUL – AT 10:08 P.M. ET:  GEERT WILDERS, A MEMBER OF THE DUTCH PARLIAMENT, WILL GO ON TRIAL FOR THINGS HE SAID:

AMSTERDAM, Feb 3 (Reuters) - An Amsterdam court said on Wednesday it will hear the case against right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders on charges of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims, rejecting his request to be judged in the Supreme Court.

In its ruling, the court rejected an assertion from Wilders' lawyer, who argued in January at the start of the trial the Supreme Court should hear the case because as a politician, Wilders has a certain protection under freedom of speech laws.

The case is considered to be at the heart of the Dutch constitutional state, exploring the line between the right to freedom of speech and the ban on discrimination in the traditionally tolerant Netherlands.

COMMENT:  This case has attracted international attention.  Wilders has said some rough things, but he appears to be the victim of selective application of "hate speech" laws.  In the real world, hate speech is often speech directed against groups that are popular on the political left.

Wilders is being tried for offending Muslims, but Muslim spokesmen can make the most vile statements about Christians and Jews without any punishment at all.  And they have the protection afforded by their leftist, usually Marxist, allies.

Beware of people pushing "hate speech" rules and laws.  They're popular on American college campuses where, as usual, they're selectively enforced.  A few years ago a nutball dean at Pace University, five blocks from Ground Zero in New York, threatened to report a group of students to the police  for "hate speech" for daring to show a film on Islamo-fascism.

One of the last remaining decent ACLU lawyers told me privately how worried he was about the organization because some members of its national board no longer believe in free speech. 

While some proponents of "hate speech" laws are well meaning, those laws are a Trojan horse, easily misused to keep some people free, and muzzle others.  Look what's happening to Geert Wilders.

February 3, 2010