Greg Halvorson

Fighting campus speech-codes with FIRE

Speech-code. Sounds like something from George Orwell’s pen or a Stephen King tale, but it’s not. According to Adam Kissel, from the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education, two-thirds of college campuses enforce speech-codes, violating the 1st amendment rights of their students. Thanks to FIRE, however, codes are being challenged, speech is alive, and awareness is being raised. While two-thirds isn’t good, this is down from a shameful nine-tenths, and each day, with FIRE’s help, administrators are relenting.

Message to Congress: Don’t “fix” ObamaCare

In the wake of Judge Vinson’s evisceration of ObamaCare, it appears that the plaintiffs – the attorneys general and governors of the 26 states involved in the suit – are recognizing their power. While the administration pretends nothing happened, they’re standing up, as they should, against the law. From the WSJ:

Sorry, Bill Maher, the NFL is not socialist

Bill Maher, the Hollywood Jesus-hater who receives talking points from Playboy Bunnies, is at it again. In a recent article, he claims that the National Football League owes its success to “socialism,” that it thrives, not because of capitalism but due to redistribution of revenue amongst teams. A critique of his theory - that the sharing of TV revenue between large and small markets is socialistic - however, concludes otherwise.

Mike says no to “President Pence”

Recently, in a Facebook post, I weighed in to opine on the future of Mike Pence, writing:

Olbermann Fired: V-K Day

What a weekend! There I was, in my ante room, cleaning mud off my cleats, when it came over the wire: the era of Keith Olbermann’s ranting is through. A tale immediately sprang to mind of how my father had learned of Hiroshima from his aunt, who despite her toughness, had cried and wept for days. I didn’t understand, at the time, how a bomb could bring tears.

Newt Gingrich: the Chameleon

First let me say, I like Newt Gingrich, or at least, I’ve tried to like him as he’s morphed into a political chameleon who talks out of both sides of his mouth. Gingrich is articulate and shrewd, but the author of To Save America: Stopping Obama’s Secular-Socialist Machine might want to go back and read himself, because lately he’s sounding a lot like Richard Lugar.

Nancy Pelosi calls Tucson murders an “accident.”

Lord in Heaven, you can’t make this up. Yesterday, on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, deposed Speaker, Nancy Pelosi (D-Mars), called the deliberate and premeditated killing of six people – the Tucson massacre – an “accident.” Specifically, Madame said, quote:

Rhode Island Gov to ban employees from talk radio

Add to Paul Krugman, Clarence Dupnak, Chris Matthews and Sherrod Brown the name, Lincoln Chafee, who joins a growing chorus of stooges building a narrative around the straw-man, talk radio. The governor of Rhode Island, Mr. Chafee will institute a “no talk policy” for state officials, banning them from speaking to radio hosts. A spokesman tells the Providence Journal:

Lisa Murkowski: not a RINO, a Democrat

Lisa Murkowski. It’s difficult to type her name without grinding my teeth. For those who reveled in the defeat of Mike Castle (R-DE) and understood why it’s better for conservatism – and for Liberty – to lose a general election than to sanction a RINO, Murkowski is now the Queen of Bad Votes. Not a Republican insofar as her “yeas” and “nays” differentiate her from Democrats, she is, by consensus, the new Arlen Specter. In fact, in this pseudo-constitutional “duck,” she’s voted like a woman with the initials N.P.

Waking with dread

Dread; verb: 1. To be in terror of. 2. To anticipate with alarm, anxiety or reluctance. The above definition from the American Heritage Dictionary, though just a line on a page, captures the emotion of today's concerned patriot. As a lover of Freedom, I, and many others, recognized what a disaster this administration would be, but progressivism, pre-Barack, was obscure, and few sensed peril in the words "hope and change." Progress and fascism were the taint of academia whose reach, though benighted, waned before virtue... There was always the Constitution. Designed to bar evil men from evil acts, "chains" were its yoke; law and common sense. It states on our currency that we trust in God, and it didn't seem plausible that freedom had a lifespan, for freedom is life and makes its home here.

A lesson for Sean Hannity on the 17th amendment

A recent exchange between Sean Hannity and one of his listeners provides an opportunity to educate the public on the 17th amendment of the United States Constitution. Sean, defending the 10th amendment - which grants those powers not specifically delegated to the United States to the States respectively - did not agree with the caller’s wish to see the 17th amendment repealed, and seemed confused as to the amendment’s implications. The 17th amendment, for the edification of Sean, was enacted in the magical year, 1913 - the year that gave us the income tax and the Fed! - and stripped the power of state legislatures to elect Senators, delegating this duty to the people of each state, respectfully.

Katie versus Condee: no contest

Katie Couric versus Condoleeza Rice. Wow. Rarely is an intellectual shellacking so thorough as what happened when these ladies went high-heel to high-heel over the intelligence behind the deposing of Saddam.

Obama calls Republicans “hostage takers.”

This guy doesn’t get it. He, president Obama, cannot - and never will - understand that as the country’s leader, his obligation isn’t to polarized constituencies, but to every American regardless of skin color, immigration status, sexual orientation, or income bracket. True, there are a number of white, legal, straight and comfortably employed Republicans, just as there are Democrats in these categories, but president Obama ignores this, choosing instead to pander and divide. No longer an ACORN shill, and no longer feeding Alinsky to the wards, he fails nonetheless to embrace his position.

Governor Christie: a lump of coal in union stockings

I know, there’s a lot going on, what with this lame cluck Congress tossing pandering bones to every victim class (gays, Hispanics, the class-warfare crowd) imaginable, and Heir E. Reid firming up his national embarrassment agenda. Don’t get me started on the food “safety” bill (17,000 new bureaucrats!), or the trite posturing on the KEY to job creation: unemployment checks—WOO! I prefer to hear the governor of New Jersey (in excelsis conservative!) with my government mozzarella.

The lesson of Thanksgiving: private property is best

Patriots, with apologies for pulling you away from the turkey, I proffer a lesson from Thanksgivings past. John Stossel, good man that he is, relates how the colonists tried collectivism, nearly starving to death, prior to comprehending private incentive. Sayeth he:

Big Business Buffett wants small businesses to pay more

Warren Buffett is at it again, playing Billionaire Knows Best with ludicrous statements which fly in the face of capitalist theory. Discussing the Bush tax-rates with Christiane Amanpour of ABC, the “Oracle of Omaha” asserted his belief that “the rich” don’t pay enough:

Mr. West goes to Washington

This should be interesting. Colonel Allen West is someone with whom the Congressional Black Caucus is exceedingly unfamiliar: a man of African heritage who refuses to play victim and who lives by the words “let us judge men not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Halloween’s liberal message

This Sunday, little goblins will approach my door and walk away disappointed. Call me curmudgeon, but the mindset whereby “something for nothing” is expected and unearned has infiltrated society, and, thus, I don’t “treat.”

Transportation Secretary wants zero phone use for drivers

More evidence of progressive fascism - defined as “the all-out push to control every aspect of every citizen’s life” - surfaced this week when Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, a Republican, asserted his desire to ban phone-use in cars. LaHood stated in an interview:

Clinton: “No one has done more for the America Dream than Barney Frank.”

Sometimes your jaw drops. You know they lie. Know that increasingly desperate Democrats will say anything to cling to power, but occasionally the rhetoric just blows you away. Take the following, blustered last week in Taunton, Massachusetts, by Hillary’s husband: