Phil Robertson suspended

[Beagleman]

There is no free speech issue here. The First Amendment prohibits the government from blocking speech (with some obvious exceptions, such as classified information, military secrets, etc). At no point has the government exercised prior restraint against Robertson, thus no free speech violation. Robertson has made similar comments in past interviews, including to Christian magazines, so there is no liberal media conspiracy attempting to lure him into saying things. He says them publicly, freely and repeatedly and is still saying them since the GQ interview. Apparently the biggest problem the GQ writer had -- I read the article and overall it's pretty complimentary -- was getting Robertson to shut up about his religious beliefs long enough to ask a question about something else. What many people fail to understand is there is no constitutional right to protection from the CONSEQUENCES of free speech. If you think there is, look your boss in the face tomorrow morning and exercise your right to free speech by calling him a POS and see how long the First Amendment keeps you employed. A&E made a business decision that the negatives would outweigh the positives in retaining Robertson. If you think that was the wrong decision you're free to sign petitions, contact A&E, join a protest against the network, spend your life savings on stuff with the DD logo, hire Robertson for a duck hunt (if he still guides professionally) or whatever, just as groups who were offended are free to protest, call for his firing and so forth.