Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for January 04, 2013

Transcript:

the tom the dancing bug comic strip. by ruben bolling counter-earth sun earth there circles the sun another earth, a counter-earth, whose diametrically opposed orbit keeps it forever beyond our detection. let us explore this strange world that is not quite the opposite of our own... but somewhat dissimilar in certain ways! on counter-earth, the national rhetoric association (nra) pushes an extreme interpretation of the first amendment. peters: our founding fathers gave us "freedom of speech," and any limitation is an affront to america's values. and by the way... fire! yet the pro-gun lobby is utterly powerless. lobbyist: but we have the "right to bear arms"! judge 1: what part of "well regulated militia" don't you understand, you bed-wetter? lobbyist: hey, that's slanderous! judge 2: ha!! peters: free speech means free, no matter what harm could result. you can't stop me from saying that the launch codes for a u.s. nuclear attack are b39tjd882x oop: gasp! stop!! this week this week this week verne peters nra spokesman abc oop: if there are no limits on speech, people will be killed! verne: words don't kill people! various traumas to the body kill people! the solution to someone yelling "fire" in a crowded theater is not prohibiting that speech. it's hiring fact-checkers in every theater. fire! fact-checker: hmm... i'm giving that outburst three and a half "pinocchios"!