Free Speech

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Ben Franklin - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - DOE - Ethics - Founders - Free Speech - Freedom - Government - Liberals - Liberty - Nanny State - President - Progressives - Security/Safety - Warner Todd Huston

Miss Alabama 2013 Proves American Freedom is Dying

June 17, 2013 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mary Margaret McCord, the dull witted “beauty queen” from Alabama, said during the 2013 Miss USA contest that she’d trade freedom and liberty for safety. This empty-headed twit proves that the liberals have won. We have lost our freedom if people care so little about it that they would trade liberty and freedom for government-sponsored “security.” Our system of mis-education, an edifice so infested with liberals, did this to us all. The liberals are killing America. But conservatives are also at fault here. They are at fault for allowing our educational system to be taken over by the anti-American, hardcore left.

This Ben Franklin axiom is obviously no longer taught in our schools:

“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
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Miss Alabama 2013 Proves American Freedom is Dying”

1st Amendment - Blogging - Computers - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Dick Durbin - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Government - Illinois - Inernet - Journalism - Liberals - Liberty - Media Bias - New Media - President - Progressives - Senate - Twitter - Warner Todd Huston

Dem. Senator Durbin Not Sure if Bloggers Deserve Constitutional Protection

May 29, 2013 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, senior Illinois Senator, Democrat Dick Durbin, expressed his doubt as to whether bloggers deserved Constitutional protection for their work online.

On the May 26 broadcast of the Sunday show, Durbin told host Chris Wallace that he wasn’t sure if bloggers or “someone who is Tweeting” should be given protections under a media shield law.

Durbin noted that he was not prepared to ask for a special counsel to investigate Eric Holder and his snooping on the business and personal phone calls of nearly 100 reporters of the Associated Press, but he went further to question just who a media shield law would cover.

But here is the bottom line–the media shield law, which I am prepared to support, and I know Sen. Graham supports, still leaves an unanswered question, which I have raised many times: What is a journalist today in 2013? We know it’s someone that works for Fox or AP, but does it include a blogger? Does it include someone who is tweeting? Are these people journalists and entitled to constitutional protection? We need to ask 21st century questions about a provision in our Constitution that was written over 200 years ago.

Durbin did not go on to attempt to clarify what those limits should be.

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Dem. Senator Durbin Not Sure if Bloggers Deserve Constitutional Protection”

Communism - Computers - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Inernet - Liberals - Liberty - Progressives - Regulation - Rights - Russia - Socialism - Technology - The Law - Twitter - Warner Todd Huston

Twitter Agrees to Allow Vladimir Putin to Censor Russian Content

March 30, 2013 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Twitter has bowed to pressure from Russian Czar Vladimir Putin to block all content blacklisted by Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision in Telecommunications, Information Technology and Mass Communications.

Putin’s government reports that since early March, Twitter has “actively been engaged in cooperation” with Russian authorities already. Twitter has already deleted pinpointed accounts and is restricting access on the basis of “five information materials” as determined by Russian authorities.

In a statement from the Kremlin, Twitter’s cooperation with the massive censorship policy was praised.
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Twitter Agrees to Allow Vladimir Putin to Censor Russian Content”

1st Amendment - Anti-Americanism - Blogging - Computers - Congress - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - DOJ - Email - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Google - Government - Inernet - Liberals - Liberty - Nanny State - Net Neutrality - Patriot Act - Progressives - Regulation - Security/Safety - Technology - The Law - Twitter - Warner Todd Huston

Bait and Switch: Law Goes From Protecting Your Email to Allowing Gov’t Into Your Email

November 20, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

A new law that was originally meant to strengthen the privacy of your email was recently re-written to allow government more access to your private emails and other digital files.

When H.R. 2471 went to the Senate, Democrat Senator Pat Leahy quickly rewrote the whole thing to allow federal policing agencies to have the power to search your digital files without a warrant.

As CNET reports it,

Leahy’s rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies — including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission — to access Americans’ e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge.

This is, of course, an example of the government going too far for security. And you know the old saying so often attributed to Ben Franklin, “Those who would trade in their freedom for their protection deserve neither.”

Also, I can’t stress more, here, that is the Democrats doing this. This is not a GOP effort.
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Bait and Switch: Law Goes From Protecting Your Email to Allowing Gov’t Into Your Email”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Liberty - Media - Media Bias - NPR - President - Warner Todd Huston

NPR Fawns Over Interview Programmed by White House

September 13, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Journalists used to pride themselves on their independence. They once thought that hard questions were their stock and trade especially when it came to hurling those questions at politicians. But even as they congratulate each other for their efforts — as NPR did recently — it appears that hard questions and independence is much lower on their list these days where it concerns President Obama. As it happens journalists are only asking those questions that are pre-approved by the White House.

On September 11, NPR’s Morning Edition gave a very warm welcome to Michael Lewis whose interviews of Barack Obama are soon to debut in the October issue of Vanity Fair. On NPR Lewis’ interviews were called “compelling narratives” and his every utterance was given breathless audience.

Lewis was presented as a quintessential journalist, exploring the life of the president of the United States with inside, unparalleled access. But not once did NPR note to its audience that Lewis submitted his story to the White House for its pre-approval before it went to Vanity Fair.
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NPR Fawns Over Interview Programmed by White House”

Anti-Americanism - Bill of Rights - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Free Speech - Freedom - Journalism - Law - Liberals - Liberty - Media - Media Bias - Warner Todd Huston

The Free Press Act: A Proposal to Reinvigorate Our Freedom of Speech

August 24, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In this day of mounting threats to our freedoms it is time to reinvigorate our Bill of Rights and so Senator John Kyl (R, AZ) has introduced S. 3493, The Free Press Act. This bill aims to prevent nuisance lawsuits meant only to quash freedom of speech, to stop the intimidation of journalists, bloggers, and those testifying before government.

One would have hoped that such a bill would be unnecessary, but in our day of increasing attacks on freedom of speech perhaps the time has come to reaffirm and remind us all of the legacy our founders left to us.

The biggest development overseas in the campaign to eliminate free speech and freedom of the press has been the constant use of defamation lawsuits to silence the sort of speech certain parties are not fond of. These barrage attacks are often called “lawfare” and, sadly, they have come to our shores, as well.

In our system these attacks on free speech are called “SLAPP lawsuits.” These lawsuits come in two varieties, one against people who testify before government committees or in hearings and, two, increasingly against people who write opinion editorials or news reports. This could also apply easily to bloggers.
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The Free Press Act: A Proposal to Reinvigorate Our Freedom of Speech”

1st Amendment - Constitution - Democracy - Free Speech - Freedom - Liberty - Warner Todd Huston

Happiest Nations Also Have Freedom of the Press

August 9, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A University of Missouri study has found that nations with the happiest citizens share something in common. They also have an established tradition of a free press.

Missouri University Journalism student Edson Tandoc, Jr. and co-author, Bruno Takahashi from Michigan State University, correlated data from 161 countries and applied that to the 2010 Gallup Poll measuring happiness around the world, Freedom House’s press freedom index, and other data and found that, “the more press freedom a country enjoyed, the higher the levels of life satisfaction, or happiness, of its citizens tended to be.”

“The road to happiness isn’t direct; it is a complex path or web that includes many different influences and interrelationships,” Tandoc said. “Things like improving the economy alone are insufficient for increasing happiness. Protecting press freedom is also an important component of the happiness web.”

The authors also found that countries with a higher level of press freedom had better quality of life quotients in many other areas, as well.
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Happiest Nations Also Have Freedom of the Press”

1st Amendment - Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Christianity - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Gay Marriage - Gays - Human Rights - Jobs - Liberals - Liberty - New York - New York City - PCism - Regulation - Religion - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston - Western Civilization

NY City Council Speaker Stands Up Against Freedom of Speech

July 30, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Judging by this whole Chick-Fil-A oppression program liberals are engaging in, it’s no wonder Jonah Goldberg had a hit with his recent book, Liberal Fascism.

This time it is City Council Speaker Christine Quinn who is proud to stand against our Constitutional rights of freedom of speech and freedom of religion, not to mention the right to do legal business anywhere without fearing the iron boot heel of government coming down upon us for having upset some haughty government official somewhere.

Quinn has condemned Chick-Fil-A for having dared to break no laws in the exercise of its daily business and is sponsoring one of those wondrous Internet petitions saying so.

If a petition were to be where her ire ended, well, that would be her right as a private citizen, as far as that goes. But she’s taken that step farther which makes her actions illegal. Quinn’s invoked her powers as an elected official and sent a letter to New York University’s president demanding that the Chick-Fil-A outlet on his campus be shut down.
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NY City Council Speaker Stands Up Against Freedom of Speech”

1st Amendment - Boston - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Civil Rights - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Jobs - Liberals - Liberty - Warner Todd Huston

Even TIME Says Mayors Emanuel and Menino Wronging Chick-Fil-A

July 28, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s a “First Amendment buzzsaw,” that the mayors of Chicago and Boston have walked into over misuse of their powers in denying Chick-Fil-A the right to open and operate their fast food stores in the two cities. This is from TIME, yet. And if even TIME realizes that the Democrats are misusing their powers, well, let’s just say it’s a major violation of Chick-Fil-A’s free speech plain and simple.

For TIME, Michael Scherer goes over the whole series of events that led up to the two mayors — Rahm Emanuel of Chicago and Thomas Menino of Boston — imagining they have the power to deny Chick-Fil-A a right to operate merely because committed Christians run the company. Scherer’s analysis is that this mistaken belief in their powers puts the mayors in “tricky legal waters.”
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Even TIME Says Mayors Emanuel and Menino Wronging Chick-Fil-A”

1st Amendment - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Christianity - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - DOJ - Eric Holder - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Government - House of Representatives - Islam - Jews - Judaism - Liberals - Liberty - President - Religion - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s DOJ Refuses to Affirm America’s Religious Freedoms

July 28, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This video is a perfect example of the essential lawlessness of the Obama administration.

There are some things that are essentially a basic truth. Murder is always wrong. Rights must be safeguarded. And violations of rights must be prosecuted. Also, the U.S. Department of Justice should always, always be zealous in the scheme of protecting those rights.

But not to Obama. No, to Obama the DOJ is only a political office, one that operates on no essential truths.

In this case, Congressman Trent Franks (R, Ariz.) asked an official of Obama’s DOJ if his office would vow to protect our Constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom.

This DOJ stooge refused to do so.

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Obama’s DOJ Refuses to Affirm America’s Religious Freedoms”

Communism - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Entertainment - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Hollywood - Liberals - Liberty - Movies - PCism - Socialism - Society/Culture - Warner Todd Huston - Western Civilization

Hollywood Disconnect, Valuing ‘Equality’ More Than ‘Liberty’

July 9, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

We are soon to be regaled by yet another movie from Hollyweird that likely misunderstands the difference between liberty (or freedom) and equality. This we might infer from the recently released advance plot synopsis for the upcoming movie Elysium from Director Neil Blomkamp, director of the surprise 2009 Sci Fi hit District 9.


Matt Damon in the upcoming movie “Elysium”

Blomkamp’s new film is set in the not-too-distant future where the human elite live in a cushy space station circling the Earth while the rest of humanity toils down on the environmentally distressed Earth. In this film, the hero (played by Matt Damon, who else?) will battle to, according to the synopsis, “bring equality to these polarized worlds.”
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Hollywood Disconnect, Valuing ‘Equality’ More Than ‘Liberty’”

1st Amendment - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Constitution - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Free Speech - Freedom - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - President - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Campaign Again Urging Supporters to Report on Non-Believers

May 26, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Turning back to that page out of Stalin’s handbook for good citizenship, the Obama campaign has revived its program of asking Americans to inform on fellow citizens when they see someone, some organization, some politician, or some news outlet “attacking” the Obammessiah.

Some of you may recall the black eye that team Obama got when it tried to do this before. Obama’s Attack Watch was heavily lampooned.

One of the best tools that the East German and Soviet regimes had to keep the average citizen of their oppressive regimes in line was a program that urged citizens to tattle on their neighbors, that taught children to tell on their parents, and expected workers to rat out their co-workers. If someone came to the government informing on a fellow citizen, that citizen was praised and rewarded.

Now, Team Obama has gone all Stalin on us again with yet another such effort, this one called the Obama Truth Team. The new effort sports a page on the Obama-Biden website where you can “Fight Back: Report an Attack.” (See screen shot of page HERE)

There, Team Obama gravely informs its acolytes that they can “report” on anyone not spouting Team Obama’s mantra.

Received a robo-call or an email forward full of falsehoods? Found a misleading leaflet in your mail?

Tell us about it, and help fight back against the attacks on President Obama and his record.

There is also a hand-dandy form you can fill in to inform on whomever you think is not sufficiently sold on America’s Svengali in Chief.

But, Obama has done this now at least four times. Along with today’s new effort, there was Attack Watch, Fight the Smears, and Flag.gov. Obama has indulged the tattletale system many times in his short tenure at the White House.

The sad fact is that this whole mien is thoroughly anti-American.

The chief form of free speech that our founding fathers were keen to protect was political speech. They wanted no limits on that speech. Not only that but they wanted a political discourse free of intimidation, too.

So, for Team Obama to urge people to inform on each other over matters political is a disgusting, un-American thing to do. Unfortunately, it seems that such unseemly, un-American attitudes form the basis of the Obama worship we’ve become so inundated with these last eight years.

It really is disgusting.
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Obama Campaign Again Urging Supporters to Report on Non-Believers”

Anti-Americanism - Free Speech - Freedom - Liberals - Patriotism - South Carolina - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Property Renter Forced to Remove U.S. Flag and POW/MIA Flag from Premises

April 6, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A bar in Charleston, South Carolina has been forced by the company that owns the property upon which the business sits to remove an American flag and the popular black flag that honors Vietnam POWs and MIAs that the bar manager had raised months ago.

Imagine in this day and age when we have soldiers in harm’s way in foreign lands this property management company is so unpatriotic like this!

In October of last year Hope and Marty Young, owners of the Chucktown Tavern, were asked by local military vets to raise the flags in honor of veterans. The flags have flown there ever since.

But in March the Youngs were abruptly told by landlords Beach Management to remove the flags presumably after another tenant complained about noise and other minor annoyances caused by the bar during an outdoor event held there.
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Property Renter Forced to Remove U.S. Flag and POW/MIA Flag from Premises”

1st Amendment - Budget - Chicago - Conservatives - Constitution - Cook County - Elections - Free Speech - Freedom - GOP - Government - Illinois - President - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Rick Santorum’s Illinois Rally

March 17, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Rick Santorum visited Illinois last night stopping at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, a Chicago suburb, for a 7PM rally that drew over 2,000 people who came to hear the presidential primary candidate speak.

The place was packed with all the gym bleachers filled and most of the balcony seating also filled, not to mention standing room only on the gym floor. The capacity seating of the place was 2,500, but one is tempted to think that they allowed a bit more than capacity to rally for Rick.

An array of elected officials and long-time activists appeared to support the candidate. The crowd was energetic and Santorum signs were waved enthusiastically at many moments during Rick’s address.

On the dais before Sen. Santorum took the podium were such notables as Al Salvi and his wife Kathy, former Illinois politician Penny Pullen, State Rep. Tom Morrison, and New York Times writer Brad Thor.

Senator Santorum took the stage to raucous applause and gave a speech laden with allusions to the founding fathers, the economy, and religious freedom. He also bashed President Obama over Obamacare and his abject failure to fix this economy.
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Rick Santorum’s Illinois Rally”

1st Amendment - Anti-Americanism - California - Censorship - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Newspapers - Police - Warner Todd Huston

Berkeley Storm Troopers: Don’t Write What The Police Don’t Like or Else

March 14, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

If police chiefs send armed officers to a journalist’s door because he didn’t like what was written abut him, would you feel just a tad uncomfortable as an American at the audacity? This is no academic discussion because it really happened. Not in what liberals may claim is the dangerous, intolerant south but instead in the heart of liberal land itself, Berkeley, California.

Worse, one of the reasons this whole situation arose is because police were too distracted by an Occupy Berkeley protest to respond to an incident that ended up in the murder of a 67-year-old resident.

But first, on Friday, Feb. 9, Berkeley Police Chief Michael Meehan sent an armed officer to the door of Bay Area News Group reporter Doug Oakley at nearly one in the morning to demand that he publish a correction about something the reporter had written about the Berkeley police department.
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Berkeley Storm Troopers: Don’t Write What The Police Don’t Like or Else”

Britain - Conservatives - Constitution - EU - Free Speech - Freedom - Liberals - Liberty - Warner Todd Huston

VIDEO: My CPAC Interview with EU Member Daniel Hannan, Freedom Lover

February 13, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Member of European Parliament, Daniel Hannan, visited the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this year and I had the opportunity for a few minutes with him. Hannan is an eloquent and passionate advocate of freedom and liberty and urges we Americans not to throw it all away. Hannan is a humble and gracious man, as well.


Daniel Hannan and me at CPAC [Note= My camera stared going bad over the week, so some of my photos are not the best. Apologies for that.]

Here is another little taste of Hannan’s views.
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VIDEO: My CPAC Interview with EU Member Daniel Hannan, Freedom Lover”

1st Amendment - Anti-Americanism - Christianity - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Government - Hate Crimes - Liberals - Liberty - Regulation - Religion - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

Wisconsin School Punishes Christian Kid for Being a… Christian Kid

January 27, 2012 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Superintendent Todd Carlson of Shawano High School in Shawano, Wisconsin is sorry a student observed his First Amendment rights and had his article published in the school newspaper that denounces homosexuals adopting children. And so Superintendent Carlson is making amends by punishing this Christian kid for being so darn Christian. Superintendent Carlson has also decided in his infinite wisdom to censure this article by having it sent down the memory hole so that no one else will be confronted with this evil Christian’s views.

That’ll show that darn Christian kid, won’t it?

The article, “Should Homosexual Partners Be Bale to Adopt?,” was written by Brandon Wegner who was assigned the task of writing a counter-point to another student’s pro-homosexual adoption article. The piece was then published as an insert in the school newspaper, the Shawano Leader.

Shortly after the newspapers containing the insert were distributed, Superintendent Carlson issued a formal apology to the school and parents, removed the insert from surplus issues of the paper, and censured young Mr. Wegner claiming his article violated the school’s “anti-bullying” policy.
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Wisconsin School Punishes Christian Kid for Being a… Christian Kid”

1st Amendment - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Government - Liberals - Liberty - The Law - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

From a TV Show to a Fight for Campus Free Speech

December 28, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This video, which features an interview with legendary author Neil Gaiman (famed science fiction, fantasy and comic book writer), is a lighthearted look at how the University of Wisconsin-Stout ended up being forced to back down from its oppression of the free speech of one of its professors.

Professor James Miller’s poster, one featuring a quote from the science fiction show Firefly, was considered by campus police and the school administration to be a “threat” to students because it had the word “kill” in it.

After the school torn the Firefly poster off the professor’s wall he replaced that one with a poster condemning fascism. The school tore that one down, as well, an Orwellian move if there eve was one.

Chancellor Charles W. Sorensen and other administrators stood by their actions until FIRE’s advocacy campaign on Miller’s behalf inspired Gaiman, along with Firefly actors Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin, to take to Twitter to encourage their millions of followers to contact the university with their support of free speech.

FIRE has started a contest that will award $500 to the best tweet to advertise their new video.
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From a TV Show to a Fight for Campus Free Speech”

Anti-Americanism - Anti-Semitism - Anti-War - Censorship - Civil Rights - Clarence Thomas - Communism - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elana Kagan - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - GOP - Government - Hate Crimes - Immigration/Immigrants - Journalism - Judges - Liberals - Liberty - Media - Media Bias - Newspapers - NPR - PBS - Regulation - Republicans - Socialism - Warner Todd Huston

The Top 50 Examples of Liberal Media Bias

December 10, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Let’s face it, liberal media bias has been around since there have been liberals to do the “reporting” of the news. But this fact should surprise no one. After all, the news media has always been filled with bias of one type or another. In fact, there was a time when American customers of the news knew exactly which newspapers sported which point of view. It was taken for granted that one newspaper supported one side and another newspaper a different side.

But in the late 1950s and early 1960s that all changed. Suddenly the folks in the news media began to present themselves as unbiased pursuers of “the truth.” Gone was the out-in-front bias and instead the media cloaked itself in a new air of detachment, a new just-the-facts mien.

This new era in media conceit coincided with the advent of a liberal mindset that took on the weight of the world, a new era in which liberals felt that their ideals rose above God, tradition and country….

Read the rest at The Western Center for Journalism.

Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - GOP - Liberals - Liberty - Nancy Salvato - Republicans - Rights

Where Your Rights End and Mine Begin

December 9, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Nancy Salvato

As a child, I used to play with the neighbors across the street in one of the coolest sandboxes one could imagine. It was built into the landscape, with giant boulders lining the back and sides. Five kids could easily play in it, building sandcastles and manipulating bulldozers and dump trucks to their hearts content. Hours could go by before being called home to dinner. There was only one problem… neighborhood cats considered that magical place as their personal giant sized litter box. We were often told, sadly, that we could not play in it because of this ongoing problem.

These past few months, renting a home in a beach community has allowed my dog and I the opportunity to take a daily walk along the shore, where I hunt for shells, watch for porpoise, and occasionally exchange niceties with the fisherman who set up their poles in the sand, and with the locals who are also enjoying their surroundings. Every day, I thank my blessings that I’ve been given this chance to live in such surroundings but my happiness is often interrupted by dogs roaming the beach, unleashed, in violation of the rules which are clearly posted at each entrance. Not only do these dogs defecate on the sand but often they are not well behaved, running at leashed dogs, children, solitary walkers, and anyone within their proximity.
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Where Your Rights End and Mine Begin”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Free Speech - GOP - Government - Hate Crimes - Journalism - Media - Media Bias - Republicans - Taxes - Tea Party - Warner Todd Huston

How the Left Lies its Way to ‘Facts’

December 6, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

There was once a famous liberal congressman from New York who reminded his opponents that they could have their own opinions but not their own facts. This, of course, was Daniel Patrick Moynihan, one of the few respectable liberals of his or any other day. But, for the most part, the left operates on pushing the lie until it is accepted as “fact” whether it is true or not. And the leftist blog Crooks and Liars pulled a doosie this week.

Apparently the guffaw inducing leftist blog thinks that the Occupy protests have been completely peaceful despite the hundreds of arrests, the rapes, the property destruction, theft, and other various act of lawbreaking! No, they are not joking.

C&L, blogger John Amato centered his risible claim upon the video of the “bedlam” that occurred at a recent college football game that saw the Oklahoma State University Cowboys beat the University of Oklahoma Sooners. As the game ended, OSU fans flooded the field to celebrate. Unfortunately, in their exuberance to tear down the goal posts upwards to twelve fans were hurt.

Amato called this a “riot.”
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How the Left Lies its Way to ‘Facts’”

Catholicism - Children - Christianity - Democrats/Leftists - Free Speech - Freedom - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Pat Quinn - Religion - Warner Todd Huston

Illinois Government Continues War Against Religion

October 11, 2011 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the first week of August the Thomas Moore Society filed an emergency injunction to prevent the State of Illinois from taking away the foster children that are currently under Catholic Charities’ care during the appeal currently underway.

Shockingly, the government of the State of Illinois has determined that religious people are ill-suited to being allowed to be foster parents for at risk children to to help place such children in safe and loving homes. And so, in his infinite wisdom, Governor Pat Quinn and his irreligious cohorts want to make it illegal for groups such as Catholic Charities to deal with child services.

The state has decided that Catholic Charities and other religious-based organizations that deal with children should not be allowed to observe their own religious principles in the doing. In other words, the State of Illinois is refusing to allow these Christians to follow their freedom of religion.
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Illinois Government Continues War Against Religion”

1st Amendment - Blogging - Computers - Constitution - Free Speech - Freedom - Illinois - Inernet - Law - Liberty - Technology - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Victory for Bloggers: Illinois Blog Wins Lawsuit

September 24, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a good sign for blogger free speech, a lawsuit against a high profile conservative blog in Illinois has just been tossed out. A political contributor brought the lawsuit over a story about property tax reassessments and political contributions. This is a victory for free political speech as well as a victory for the status of blogs in the world of “journalism.”

I’ve been aware of this story for some time but the folks at Illinois Review, the blog in question, asked me to sort of keep it all quiet. There were all sorts of legal questions being thrown about and since the folks that run the blog don’t have deep pockets and the whole thing was being born at their own expense, they wanted to be sure this whole mess didn’t escalate and hurt them too bad financially.

The lawsuit meant to silence the blog was a convoluted one, to be sure. Illinois Review had posted a story that revealed that former Ill. State Rep. Paul Froehlich (R, Schaumburg) had sought campaign contributions from property owners who had won property tax relief claims that the Representative had assisted in getting settled. But after the story went live, due to the notoriety the county assessors office reversed those tax relief decisions.
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Victory for Bloggers: Illinois Blog Wins Lawsuit”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Civil Rights Act - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Frank Hyland - Free Speech - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - PCism - President - Race - Society/Culture - Western Civilization

They Should Hang Their Heads in Shame

September 12, 2011 by

-By Frank Hyland

In the words of Indiana Congressman Andre Carson in Miami on August 29th, “…some of them in Congress right now of this tea party movement would love to see you and me … hanging on a tree.” Cong. Carson, of course, is not the only one who has raised his voice against Americans seeking to avoid the bankruptcy of this nation. California Cong. Maxine Waters said on August 20th, “As far as I’m concerned — the Tea Party can go straight to Hell.” On Labor Day, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa said, “…it is the Tea Party…Let’s take these son of a bitches out…” Additional examples abound, too numerous to recount in this column without driving it over onto several more pages.

Statements such as these are so incredibly rich in terms of angles from which to respond that the result will necessarily be a series of columns. With that in mind, we can choose the “Good News” angle for the first one and then follow up with other angles.

It might seem at first that there cannot possibly be any news about such statements that can be termed “good.” A second glance, if it is honest, though, would show someone like Cong. Carson that his words and their aftermath represent an opportunity. Opportunity for what? An opportunity to feel better about himself by recanting his words, admitting his mistake, and changing course to one that is supportable, one that can be backed up by facts as opposed to the empty words of a pure politician uttered in a vain attempt to garner more votes.
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They Should Hang Their Heads in Shame”

1st Amendment - Catholicism - Christianity - Civil Rights - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - Jews - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Newspapers - Religion - Warner Todd Huston

USA Today Hit Piece on Christian Defense Attorney, Jay Sekulow

September 8, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

USA Today published a story recently by Bob Smietana of the Nashville newspaper The Tennessean attacking the integrity and work of well-known Christian First Amendment defense attorney Jay Sekulow that is shocking for what is left out.

Sekulow is the head man of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a Washington D.C.-based organization that takes on attackers of Christian’s First Amendment rights to free exercise of religion, a tempting target in some corners of America’s political establishment.

In fact, writer Smietana didn’t just write one piece attacking Sekulow and the ACLJ but in the space of only a few days wrote two. In one piece Smietana accuses Sekulow and his family of making too much money from the charities they represent and in the second he claims that the ACLJ might be improperly pursuing cases not in its tax exempt charter.

In both cases Smietana employs the “some say” style of indictment by writing innuendoes backed up by little actual evidence, but the piece in USA Today is by far the worst example of the tactic.
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USA Today Hit Piece on Christian Defense Attorney, Jay Sekulow”

Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Free Speech - Freedom - Government - Law - Liberals - Regulation - Selwyn Duke

My Solution: How to Restore Freedom of Association and End Government Tyranny

September 5, 2011 by

-By Selwyn Duke

Unfortunately, many Americans have become inured to the trampling of freedom of association. You can work your fingers to the bone starting a business, and the government becomes a partner that contributes nothing but extracts much. It not only shares your profits and regulates you to death, but, more to the point here, dictates whom you must serve and the bases on which you may hire and fire people. And woe betide he who doesn’t bow before Leviathan.

A recent example of this is the Wildflower Inn, a Vermont B&B. After devout Catholic owners Jim and Mary O’Reilly refused to host a “wedding” reception for two lesbians, they were sued by the ACLU. As a result, they have had to expend resources retaining a lawyer for a case that they will no doubt lose and that will likely end with their having to pay monetary damages. Of course, the O’Reilly case is just one of many. In fact, today, Leviathan’s tyranny has reach a point at which you can be put through its meat grinder if you refuse to hire a cross-dresser or a Muslim woman who insists on wearing an eighth-century drape to work.

And tyranny is the word for it. After all, no one would deny that you have a right to include in or exclude from your home whomever you please. So why should you lose that right simply because you decide to erect a few more tables and sell food or to rent rooms to travelers? It’s still your private property, paid for with your money, created by the sweat of your own brow. Oh, yeah, that’s right. At one time a lawyer in a black robe declared such places “public accommodations” – and, as we all know, legal decrees alter reality.
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My Solution: How to Restore Freedom of Association and End Government Tyranny”

1st Amendment - Anti-Americanism - Budget - Censorship - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Fairness Doctrine - Free Speech - Government - Liberals - Regulation - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Want Proof of How Democrats Would Shut You Up, Tea Partiers?

August 8, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On MSNBC, John Kerry told us that Tea Party ideas are not “real” ideas, not “factual,” and thinks that the media should stop reporting on anything that smacks of ideas or news coming from Tea Partiers. If this isn’t proof of how Democrats and leftists would use the power of government to quash free political speech, what is?

Not long ago, several Democrats tried to once again raise the ugly head of the defunct Fairness Doctrine that was killed during the Reagan administration in order to limit the free political speech of conservatives. In those dark days when Nancy Pelosi was Speaker of the House of Representatives, several Republicans talked about forever outlawing the anti-free speech rule. Democrats at the time spoke up in favor of the Fairness Doctrine and countered that they wanted to bring it back.

Fortunately, the Fairness Doctrine has not come back. But this un-American policy idea has been talked about by leftists every few years since it was torpedoed by Reagan in 1987. They would love to bring it back. And despite what they claim, the left would use a new Fairness Doctrine to squelch the free political speech of those on the right.
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Want Proof of How Democrats Would Shut You Up, Tea Partiers?”