When I went off to the army when I was 17 years old I believed in America and the rights of freedom. But today I believe my government is lying to the American people and that my president George Bush is a criminal.

It is not natural or inevitable that half the world goes hungry that the freedom of markets trumps protection of the planet or that citizens' rights come second to those of corporations.

Liberty freedom and democracy are very fuzzy words but human rights is very specific.

What does it mean to be an American? While each of us may have our own specific answer to that question we likely can agree on the basic principles of America: freedom equal opportunity and rights accompanied by responsibilities.

The arc of American history almost inevitably moves toward freedom. Whether it's Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation the expansion of women's rights or now gay rights I think there is an almost-inevitable march toward greater civil liberties.

Today is a celebration of hope for the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people can now take control of their government and their future by creating a society that protects the rights endowed to us by our creator - life liberty and freedom.

One man's blasphemy doesn't override other people's free-speech rights their freedom to publish freedom of thought.

Israel was born under the British mandate. We learned from the British what democracy means and how it behaves in a time of danger war and terror. We thank Britain for introducing freedom and respect of human rights both in normal and demanding circumstances.

The Bill of Rights was intended to secure freedom of speech - the freedom of speech of members of parliament to speak freely rather than be at threat of... the threat of an over powerful monarch at the time.

If you are for freedom and equal rights which we hear a lot of talk about these days then you have to include the LGBTQ community in that. And if you're not willing to put your time where your mouth is then I don't know quite what you mean by commitment in your life.

There are few things in politics more annoying than the Right's utter conviction that it owns the patent on the word 'freedom' that when its leaders stand up for the rights of banks to be unregulated or capital gains to be untaxed that it is actually and obviously standing up for human liberty the noblest cause of them all.

The First Amendment freedom of religion is as important today as when the Bill of Rights was first written.

So the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is out there preserving and fighting for and sometimes winning and sometimes losing the fight for First Amendment rights in comics and more generally for freedom of speech.

In the literal sense there has been no relevant evolution since the trek from Africa. But there has been substantial progress towards higher standards of rights justice and freedom - along with all too many illustrations of how remote is the goal of a decent society.

True freedom requires the rule of law and justice and a judicial system in which the rights of some are not secured by the denial of rights to others.

I think this society suffers so much from too much freedom too many rights that allow people to be irresponsible.

If the events of September 11 2001 have proven anything it's that the terrorists can attack us but they can't take away what makes us American - our freedom our liberty our civil rights. No only Attorney General John Ashcroft can do that.