OMG why freedom of speech fighters like Pastor Terry and Cartoonist Molly being charged? Why don't they bill the Muslims?
Yep, and that's a road we definitely don't want to go down. And the kooky pastor could threaten to burn the Korans in retaliation for being billed.
Nice! Any security in the world is charged to the person(s) being secured. If I have a bodyguard, they charge me, not my potential attackers. Security is provided FOR the church, therefore the bill is correctly sent TO the church. The church engaged in an activity which forced the government to provide the service, and this church shouldn't be able to weasle its way out of this bill. This is a security concern that hadn't been accounted for, therefore it will come as a bill to the church rather than come out of your tax dollars or whatever. Do you think the whole country should be paying for this? If we were to save the bill for potential attackers to show up, in a capitalist nation very few people would ever be willing to provide security to anyone else because their costs would basically never be covered. In fact, imagine if you tell the government that you won't pay anything to them anymore for weapons, national defense, etc and that they should take it from Bin Laden when they find him. lol. But it's hilarious that some will still say "the terrorists should pay the bill!!" lol Some will go to great lengths to shape things around their own perception of things. Nice ending to the story. I sincerely hope this is the last we hear from it.
If the church was the one that asked for the extra security, then there's no qn that they should pay. If they didn't ask for police security, but the police provided it anyway, I think it's debatable whether the church should pay for costs related to protecting church members. But charging the church for security at football games and the mall is ridiculous. Is this setting precedent for slapping every public gathering/protest with a large bill to deter them?
Depends on the state - often if you do something ridiculous then you are responsible for the bill. Think balloon boy or people who drive around barricades into flooded streams.
Should have been. We do not want to live in a country where only those with money can afford to protest.
with 50 members that comes out to 'only' $4,000/person. i agree - they should not be forced to pay for something they never asked for.
But the government can then suppress any protest or speech or free assembly they choose by providing cost-prohibitive security. Billing someone for the exercise of their free speech rights is a government oppression. Frankly, I find this more offensive than the book-burning.
