i hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but "freedom of speech" means that you can say exactly what you want. the word "freedom" has a definition you know, and if you go changing word definitions around on the fly you aren't actually communicating at all. there are no rules for freedom of speech. either you have it (which nobody does, by the way, it's just a nebulous concept) or you don't. nobody here does. if that was the case, i wouldn't get half my posts deleted for TOS violations! (grins) so i have to agree with you, geoegress... for freedom of speech to exist, it must actually BE freedom of speech. there is no grey area here, either you can speak your mind or you can't. politics are so very far from being polite!