[TheRealThing]

Only those who served can criticize the Mai Lai incident? Only those who served can speak negatively of abuses at Guantanamo? Abu Ghraib? That dishonors freedom and is, frankly, exactly what I mean about you being more of the spirit of tyranny than of freedom.

You are no more a reliable arbiter of what is relevant than you are trustworthy in your prooftexting.

This is what I avoided: a simple, and I mean simplest, search of "freedom of conscience" renders a definition. Did you search? No, you didn't. Just as you ignore any and all source material that does not agree with your worldview.

Well I hate to tell you there Sherlock, but there is quite a difference between the concept of freedom of conscience and the one that we have been discussing, which is essential Liberty. LOL, but in that inadvertent revelation on your part, the meaning of your idea of simple certainly snapped into focus for me. I mean, if you don't even know which term we were discussing, how can you be expected to properly define it much less apply it, right? Heck, that's just plain unfair of me.

But I'll tell you what there professor. Since you just lost round one on the topic of essential Liberty. Why don't you hazard a trip out on the thin ice, and give us all your idea of what freedom of conscience is all about? This is your time to shine. The eggs of that mental omelet of yours are scrambled enough, and I didn't want to confuse you by dealing with both topics in the same post. And please, don't take it easy on me. Pull out all the stops including indentured servitude and I'll do my best to keep up. Oh, and since you've resorted to nitpicking about spelling and such, you might want to keep in mind for future reference that 'text proofing' is two words.