Public Offense Quotes



In the lowest point in Senate history, Senator Brooks snuck up behind Senator Charles Sumner, stuck Sumner a massive blow to the back of the head with a heavy stick. While Sumner was half conscious and caught in his desk, Brooks continued to beat Sumner senseless. Sumner did not die but was seriously handicapped for life. Preston attacked Sumner supposedly because Sumner made a senate speech condemning slavery practices in South Carolina and “insulted” Brooks’ cousin—a Congressman who was defending slavery. Because of the polarization between North and Southern senators, no resolution could be passed to condemn and discipline Brooks so the Senate became the only place in America where someone could beat an unarmed, defenseless man senselessly with impunity. Even some Southerners were surprised because at that time “Gentlemen” still fought duels over disputes and in those, both parties would be equally armed.


These infringements on Freedom of Speech and the Press were completely at odds with the principles of the other nations of the EEC and yet were included in the Turkish legal system in order to prevent radical Islamic fundamentalists from fomenting violence in the name of religion. To the fundamentalists, a democracy is against the will of Allah and there should be a Caliph who controls both religious and civil affairs for ALL Islamic countries thereby vitiating Turkish nationalism. The Turkish Constitution requires a secular state much like the United States but almost all fundamentalist mullahs are opposed to separation of church and state and would argue for a theocracy—an argument that has caused death and civil war throughout the Islamic World. At the same time as European Countries were pressuring Turkey to lighten up on these restrictions France, England and Other European Countries were strengthening their laws to control radical terrorist Islamic purveyors of hate and violence.