I noticed an interesting contradiction between the way the U.S. government reacted to the jail sentences handed down to Russian punk activists "Pussy Riot" and the way it responded to the YouTube video "Innocence of Muslims" that has supposedly led to mass riots throughout the Middle East and the murder of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya.

On August 17, Victoria Nuland, spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton's State Department, issued the following press release in response to the two-year prison sentences handed down to Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich for desecrating the altar of a Russian Orthodox Cathedral:

"The United States is concerned about both the verdict and the disproportionate sentences handed down by a Moscow court in the case against the members of the band Pussy Riot and the negative impact on freedom of expression in Russia.

We urge Russian authorities to review this case and ensure that the right to freedom of expression is upheld."

But Tolokonnikova and Samutsevitch are not a couple of innocent little "babes in the woods." Tolokonnikova previously took part in public group sex (while she was nine months pregnant) at a Russian museum in a stunt labeled as "performance art." Both Tolokonnikova and Samutsevitch were previously affiliated with the "performance art" group Voina, which has a reputation for performing gross and obscene acts in public.

By contrast, on September 14, Clinton, speaking about the YouTube video "Innocence of Muslims" that allegedly sparked the protests and attacks on U.S. diplomatic posts, sang a very different tune:

"The United States government... absolutely reject[s the] content and message [of the video]... to us, to me personally, this video is disgusting and reprehensible. It appears to have a deeply cynical purpose: to denigrate a great religion and to provoke rage."

And that's not the half of it. According to Politico, "Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey called Florida pastor Terry Jones on Wednesday to ask him to withdraw his support for the video that some reports have linked with anti-American unrest in the Muslim world," and AP reports that "A Southern California filmmaker linked to an anti-Islamic movie inflaming protests across the Middle East was interviewed Saturday by federal probation officers at a Los Angeles sheriff's station" but apparently not arrested.

So. The U.S. government lectures the Russians about "freedom of expression" in defense of freaks who engage in public sex, public vandalism, and the denigration of a "great religion," the Russian Orthodox Church.

But when Americans exercise First Amendment freedoms that Muslims dislike, the Secretary of State reproaches them, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs calls them to encourage them to cease and desist, and federal law enforcement officers haul them in for questioning.

Who's living in the police state now?