Why is this okay?

Maher: What about the people who got onto the Huffington Post – and these weren’t even the bloggers, these were just the comments section – who said they, they expressed regret that the attack on Dick Cheney failed.

Joe Scarborough: Right

Maher: Now…

John Ridley: More than regret.

Maher: Well, what did they say?

Ridley: They said “We wish he would die.” I mean, it was (?) hate language.

Barney Frank: They said the bomb was wasted. (laughter and applause)

Maher: That’s a funny joke. But, seriously, if this isn’t China, shouldn’t you be able to say that? Why did Arianna Huffington, my girlfriend, I love her, but why did she take that off right away?

Why is this okay?  CPAC: Ann Coulter

I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word ‘fa**ot,’ so I — so kind of an impasse, can’t really talk about Edwards,” Ann Coulter told GOP activists attending the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.”

When even religious right Republicans protested Coulter said:

C’mon, it was a joke. I would never insult gays by suggesting that they are like John Edwards. That would be mean.”

US free speech laws are about rights, even when national media figures call for deaths of opponents.

Street Prophets asks Christians to stop permitting hate speech and how suggest how to effectively to speak up.
Talk2Action explains Coulter’s claims to Christianity.