Happy birthday Independence Institute! Your detractors are many, and you just keep on treading along. Indeed, as so many cry out that you are insignificant they have to create counter organizations to oppose what you stand for.
Story HERE, and be sure to read the comments! 😀
And just what does the Independence Institute have to say concerning Obamacare? Well, here is a very small part…
© 2008, Benjamin Hummel. To see more cartoons like this go to www.politixcartoons.com.
Freedom of speech or expression is an enshrined right placed within the Bill of Rights. That said, recently there have been way to many occurrences by those that see it as an anachronism. A simple web search will turn up more instances than I can possibly cite for reference but you are free to do so if you wish.
Having said that, I believe that the entire Constitution and Bill of Rights is a complete package. You can’t pick and choose which parts you will support, and those which you will not. They, each right, support one another. Bust the package, and you break the whole thing.
Does this mean that you can’t yell “fire” in a theater? Well, if the place is in fact on fire then I would submit that giving warning about it is in fact a civic duty. Does it mean that members of, by example the Ku Klux Klan or the New Black Panthers can spread what they consider to be legitimate ideology? Yes, it does, like it or not.
If we as a people allow one group to be silenced then any group can be subjected to the same treatment. Think about it.
Free Speech for some:
Former Colorado congressman Tom Tancredo was recently invited to the University of North Carolina to share his views on U.S. immigration policy and tuition subsidies. Even before he began his talk in a UNC classroom on April 14, protesters stood with signs and banners, shouted obscenities and otherwise behaved rudely.
Just a few minutes into his speech, when Tancredo made a reference to illegal immigrants, demonstrators moved to the front of the room, blocking the audience’s view of Tancredo with a banner that read: “No one is illegal.” Seconds later, one of the protesters broke a window. University security officers, standing by, shut down the event.
That was it. The speech was vetoed by uncivil, violent dissenters intent on denying Tancredo’s willing audience their right to hear his message.
An angry, chanting mob at UNC labeled Tancredo a racist and a radical. He’s most certainly neither. He’s opposed to illegal immigration, regardless of race. And there’s hardly anything radical about securing our borders and enforcing our immigration laws. What is radical in this instance is the behavior of these student demonstrators and their implicit notion that the U.S. should have open borders.
Their beef that “no one is illegal” is an offense to liberal, politically correct phraseology. So let’s rephrase it. The immigration status of people who cross our borders or remain in this country without the permission of our government is illegal. There, is that better?
If you treasure our Constitution’s guarantee of your individual right to freedom of speech, you must necessarily extend that protection to others — including those with whom you disagree. You must also take the risk that other people will listen to them, just as you want people to listen to you. If you refuse to make such allowances, your hypocrisy undermines the fundamental principle of free speech and endangers its very existence.
The First Amendment is not absolute in any of its applications, from speech to religion to assembly. Libelous speech is not protected; religious freedom does not extend to human sacrifice; and freedom of assembly doesn’t give you license to trespass on someone else’s property. But one’s free speech cannot legally be muzzled simply because someone else disapproves of it.
How ironic that left-wing college activism was launched at the University of California- Berkeley in the 1960s as the “Free Speech Movement.”
For today’s college lefties, free speech is a one-way street. They justify this double standard with an arrogant, self-absorbed, self- righteous belief that the ends justify the means, that they alone have a monopoly on truth, and that heretics cannot be tolerated. The broken glass that halted Tancredo’s speech is a symbolic flashback to the forebears of these UNC student thugs: the SS and Hitler Youth gangs that terrorized Jews. The violence is only different in degree. Student lefties have pushed pies in the faces of conservative speakers on campus. On principle, that is no less an affront to the First Amendment than clubs or guns.
These militant brats childishly call others “fascists” without understanding the meaning of the term while behaving like fascists themselves. But even more inexcusable is the complicity of grownups, those feckless university administrators responsible for protecting dialog and inquiry at centers of higher learning who allow students to stifle free speech.
Silent protest at PC marks Tancredo talk in contrast to the pure thuggery above.
Friends, Coloradans, Countrymen! Lend me your ears, for an (almost) unknown (outside EMS circles) man among men is running for President of these United States of America!
A man of immense integrity and strength, he tells Flight Nurses where to go! As well as the occasional Paramedic, Police Officer, Sheriff, and Fire Chiefs! Most often because they are lost, but that is a subject for another day! 🙂
My friends, this is the man that you want when things get tough! Such as when he was doing a ride along with me, and a rather large drunk at the old Jeffco Detox decided that I would look much better if my nose was sticking out of the back of my head. I simply looked at Chris, and said “Sick’Em!.” A single glance at Chris, and things with the drunk suddenly became easier.
I also know the mans family, and his Father ( May he rest in peace for all eternity, and Mother have always been proud of this country’s heritage. Heck! I mean, his Father used Browning shotguns to hunt with!
Yes, this is posted in jest. But in all seriousness folks? I can think of a lot worse people being President of these not so United States of America. I could start with Barak Obama, and John McCain.
My name is Patrick Sperry
Once upon a time I was a passing fair Paramedic from Saint Anthony’s Paramedic Program, Cycle 32… God bless you Gerry, where ever you are!
For some reason, I can’t find a link about the Father of Pre-Hospital Emergency Medicine right now. I suppose that it is the tears in my eyes. In any case? Vote for Chris Smith for President of the United States of America! Hell, Tom Tancredo doesn’t even answer emails any more…
Proudly stolen from TEXAS FRED!
The RIGHT choice to WRITE IN
I am a serious advocate of a *Write In* campaign being launched. I make no apologies to anyone for my feelings concerning John McCain and Barack Obama. I feel that either of those men will be totally disastrous as president of this nation. It’s time that the American people took control of their nation, their government, their lives and their destiny, and accepting the party line, when all that line offers us is a Dem/Libber and a pathetic RINO is totally unacceptable. It’s time to reshape this nation and her path, it’s voter apathy that has allowed our nation to fall to where it is, that and the willingness to accept the lesser of the evils. I too am guilty of it, I voted for Bush twice. But NEVER again will I compromise MY integrity by accepting the LESSER of anything.
If you’re too afraid to challenge the status quo, if you’re afraid to make waves and rock the boat, then you are NOT the Conservative and Patriot that you think you are, and for that, I truly am sorry. None of us knows how long we have left on this earth, but in the time I have remaining I DO intend to change the course of this nation in ANY way I can, and that starts with being true to myself and MY beliefs, the founding fathers would have it NO OTHER WAY!
If I vote as a *write in*, Obama may very well become the POTUS, but it won’t be because I sat back and did nothing as I accepted the lesser of the evils and went along with the status quo. If enough people in this nation, Conservatives of ALL feather, vote for the correct *write in* candidate, we may STILL lose, but the message WILL be there, and when the next election rolls around, we WILL be even stronger and we WILL gain even MORE attention.
That is how a political party is born. And it damn sure won’t happen by accepting IT WON’T WORK as a motto.
I don’t know what YOUR feelings are, but as for me, I feel that Duncan Hunter of California and Tom Tancredo present the Conservative values and beliefs that this nation needs to set her on the path to greatness once again! If there are enough folks other than myself that feel the same way, them maybe we CAN make some inroads on the RNC and the DNC.
If you have a better set of candidates, ones that you believe can and will represent this nation better, place their names in comments. Nothing is written in stone, but the fact remains, we must take this nation back, we must let the Dems, and Dem Lite, the RNC, we must let them know that we, the people are fed up with their way of doing business. No more STATUS QUO!
Forget the PARTY LINE, vote with your heart and your head, not with what some hack at RNC or DNC headquarters tell you to vote. This nation can get the job done, we’ve proven that to the entire world on many occasions, and we CAN do it again!
Yet again, President Bush shows that he is not a true supporter of firearm rights. He only wanted you, the gun owner to vote for him. At this point in time, the only true supporters of the Bill of Rights in the race for President, are Tom Tancredo, and Ron Paul. Think about it!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
“We’ll miss him in Massachusetts, but he’ll be a strong leader at
ATF, and I look forward to working with him on key issues on gun
control.” — Senator Ted Kennedy
The above quote highlights all you need to know about Michael
Sullivan, the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives.
Sullivan was, unfortunately, nominated by President Bush to
permanently take over ATF this year. Right before Thanksgiving, the
Senate “hotlined” his name for unanimous consent approval.
(Hotlining is a parliamentary maneuver which allows non-controversial
bills or nominations to be unanimously approved by the Senate without
debate or a vote.)
GOA immediately sent a letter to each Senator’s office, urging them
to oppose the Sullivan nomination. Thankfully, one senator
subsequently objected to Sullivan’s approval, and his nomination was
put on hold. However, that legislator is now coming under fire from
other senators, who are asking him to withdraw his “hold.”
That’s why it’s important for gun owners to contact their two
Senators. Under Sullivan’s leadership, the ATF has gone berserk.
Sure, the problems at ATF didn’t originate with him, but Sullivan has
certainly done nothing to put out the fire.
While discussing the agency’s 2008 appropriations bill, the House
Commerce & Justice committee issued a stinging rebuke for the ATF:
“The committee has heard reports that ATF has pursued license
revocations and denials against firearms dealers based on violations
that consist largely of recordkeeping errors of various types that
are unlikely to impede tracing investigations or prosecution of
individuals who use firearms in crime. The Committee encourages ATF
to consider lesser gradation of sanctions for recordkeeping errors.”
[House Committee report on HR 3093.]
The strategy, that was begun long before Sullivan arrived, has
continued unabated under his tutelage. ATF inspectors try to find
any violation they can, usually focusing on clerical mistakes.
A family gun business that had been in operation for years in
Baltimore, Maryland was attacked because of the “wanton, repeated
crime” of abbreviating Baltimore as “Blto” on the teeny,
tiny spaces
on the 4473 forms.
Now, the agency has turned their collective guns on Red’s Trading
Post in Idaho, among others. Even though one ATF agent told the
manager that Red’s was “one of the best small gun shops” he’d ever
seen, the ATF has continued its assault on this gun shop (which has
been in business for decades) for minor clerical mistakes and failing
to put up a poster.
According to WorldNetDaily, one judge who is familiar with the Red’s
Trading Post case found “the ATF speaks of violations found during
the inspections of 2000 and 2005, but fails to reveal that additional
investigations in 2001 and 2007 revealed no violations or problems.”
The judge also noted the ATF was exaggerating the situation by
“double counting” some violations.
The agency holds a continuing animus against gun owners and dealers.
Inspectors have no handbook under which to operate, and the absence
of such written procedures allows them to be arbitrary and
capricious.
Americans don’t need an anti-gun cop from Massachusetts as the
Director of the federal gun police.
CONTACT: Please ask your Senators to oppose anti-gunner Michael
Sullivan as the Director of the BATFE. You can use the pre-written
message below and send it as an e-mail by visiting the GOA
Legislative Action Center at http://www.gunowners.org/activism.htm
(where phone and fax numbers are also available).
———- Pre-written letter ———-
Dear Senator:
I urge you to OPPOSE the nomination of Michael Sullivan for the head
of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Under
his leadership, the ATF has gone berserk. Sure, the problems at ATF
didn’t originate with him, but Sullivan has certainly done nothing to
put out the fire.
In July, a House committee report on HR 3093 rebuked the ATF for
pursuing license revocations and denials against firearms dealers
based on “violations that consist largely of recordkeeping errors of
various types” that are unlikely to impede tracing investigations or
prosecution of individuals who use firearms in crime.
Red’s Trading Post in Idaho is one of the many gun dealers that have
been frequently harassed by the ATF. Even though one ATF agent told
the manager that Red’s was “one of the best small gun shops” he’d
ever seen, the ATF has continued its assault on this gun shop (which
has been in business for decades) for minor clerical mistakes and
failing to put up a poster.
According to WorldNetDaily, one judge who is familiar with the Red’s
Trading Post case found “the ATF speaks of violations found during
the inspections of 2000 and 2005, but fails to reveal that additional
investigations in 2001 and 2007 revealed no violations or problems.”
The judge also noted the ATF was exaggerating the situation by
“double counting” some violations.
Finally, the fact that Ted Kennedy wants to work with Sullivan on gun
control is reason enough to find another candidate to head up the
ATF. Kennedy said, “We’ll miss him in Massachusetts, but he’ll be a
strong leader at ATF, and I look forward to working with him on key
issues on gun control.”
Because of these concerns, I would ask that you please oppose the
Sullivan nomination, and instead work with Gun Owners of America and
the NRA to find a nominee who will protect the rights of innocent gun
owners.
Sincerely,
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