I was a Jewish rabbinical student for 12 years, and studied the Bible all the time.

Ed Koch will never "rest in peace." That was not his way. He was always nervously squirming, while making others squirm as well. Comfort was not his goal. He understood that to be a proud and assertive Jew meant never being able to leave a sigh of relief and say "it's over, we are at peace, we can now put down our guard and relax."

We live in an age where there is both more expression and more self-censorship than existed even a decade ago. Alas, laws have immunized internet carriers from many of the usual rules that govern public dialogue. Rights must always stay ahead of technology to assure that constitutional protections apply to all forms of communication.

Freedom of speech means freedom for those who you despise, and freedom to express the most despicable views. It also means that the government cannot pick and choose which expressions to authorize and which to prevent.

Most liberal democracies don't try to figure out what the truth is.

A library is a place where you learn what teachers were afraid to teach you.

That's when civil liberty suffers - when we think special times justify the diminution of civil liberties. And I'm not going to accept that.