Thank you from Italy

Shangai 2007

Read the NY Times article here.  "This isn't a free-speech issue," said Jan Martel, president of the United States Bridge Federation, the nonprofit group that selects teams for international tournaments. "There isn't any question that private organizations can control the speech of people who represent them."  And hers aren't the worst of the comments.



You can contact the US Bridge Federation on their "contact us" page.  Tell them to join the world, and cease disciplining the team.



Debra Sweet,

Director, The World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime

“By trying to address these issues in a nonviolent, nonthreatening and lighthearted manner,” the French team wrote in by e-mail to the federation’s board and others, “you were doing only what women of the world have always tried to do when opposing the folly of men who have lost their perspective of reality.”

Ms. Rosenberg said the team members intended the sign as a personal statement that demonstrated American values and noted that it was held up at the same time some team members were singing along to “The Star-Spangled Banner” and waving small American flags.

“Freedom to express dissent against our leaders has traditionally been a core American value,” she wrote by e-mail. “Unfortunately, the Bush brand of patriotism, where criticizing Bush means you are a traitor, seems to have penetrated a significant minority of U.S. bridge players.”

Sylicon Valley 2007

I do remember me that in my youth...

 

Mexico 1968