Colorado Conservative

Oh No They Didn't

It's amazing what you find in the papers sometimes...

The way many high school students see it, government censorship of newspapers may not be a bad thing, and flag burning is hardly protected free speech.

It turns out the First Amendment is a second-rate issue to many of those nearing their own adult independence, according to a study of high school attitudes released Monday.

The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.

Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes "too far" in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.

It just goes to show you how some people take their freedoms for granted.  This is an especially stark comparison to the Iraq Elections where people voted in spite of violence.  Maybe these kids need a few months WITHOUT their Freedom of Speech to understand why they need it so much.  I think that would be an excellent lesson for some teacher.  I think, however, that teacher would definitely be fired for trying to teach it. 

Too Bad!!!

A Bit On The Iraq Elections

Yes, I stayed up all Saturday night and watched.  Yes, I got a tear in my eye seeing the people walking down the streets with the Iraqi flag.  And yes, I was extremely emotional about the Iraq elections, and I'm very happy to see them. They are a moment in history that will be remembered for the ages.

But, here is not the place to go to get more info.  Go here, here, or here....This is their story, not mine.  They should be the ones to tell it.

This Is Pretty Amazing

From Metro Networks...

Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco will reach out and touch someone this afternoon when she makes one of the first telephone calls ever to the residents of Mink.  Blanco will place a call from Baton Rouge to 83-year-old Alma Louise Bolton.  The tiny town of 15 households is located in the northeastern part of the state in Natchitoches Parish.  Until now, it has never had phone service.  After years of complaints, BellSouth spent about $700 thousand to string cable to the isolated village.  The large amount of money spent by BellSouth to connect Mink to the outside world is being offset by a small monthly charge on the bills of all phone customers in Louisiana.

I have to say it's pretty amazing that this town just got phone service.  Now they can say hello to telemarketers....woohoo.

Breaking News: Hillary Clinton Collapses

Just getting this report from 9News saying that Hillary Clinton has collapsed while giving a speech in Buffalo.  More to come, but I will say this.  I really hope she is O.K. I may disagree with her politics, but I never want to see anyone have problems like this.

UPDATE:  Here's more from CNN....

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton collapsed Monday during a speech on Social Security, a radio station reported.

Colleen DiPirro, president of the Amherst Chamber of Commerce, told WBEN-AM radio that Clinton told the crowd she was feeling weak and had had a stomach virus.

Clinton started to speak then collapsed, DiPirro told the radio station.

Clinton, 57, was treated by an emergency crew at the scene and declined to be taken to a hospital, the radio station said.

A New Olympic Sport

From Metro Networks..

Cabbages, rutabaga, cantaloupe and fruit cake were flung across Bangs Lake in Wauconda, Illinois Saturday, during the first Wauconda Lions Club Winter Fest.  The "Daily Herald" reports a father-and-son team Mike and Mike Rodgers, captured all the accolades in the Great Fruit Cake Fling, using a garage-built catapult.  Their device flung a fruitcake 140 feet.  The two also catapulted cabbages, cantaloupe and rutabaga. 

This sounds like fun, but I have to wonder how all those folks starving around the world feel about that.  I don't think we should tell them "let them eat (fruit)" though, it tends to lead to trouble.  Just ask France.

Oh Deer

A job opening...

If you're willing to travel, have a flexible schedule and a year or more of mascot experience, the Tacoma Rainiers baseball team may have a job for you. The team is trying to fill its mascot known as "Rhubarb the Reindeer" for next season.  It's a part-time job that includes appearances at all home games, community appearances at fairs, festivals and malls as well as school assemblies.  Applicants should send videotaped examples of their mascot performance and resume to the team.

If I didn't like the sun so much, I might just take them up on the offer.

Good Sign From NAACP

From Metro Networks...

The nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization is condemning the airing of a controversial song parody by a New York City radio station.  Officials with the Baltimore-based NAACP say the song, which mocked south Asian tsunami victims, "went beyond the bounds of decency."  The parody, set to the tune of the 1985 famine-relief song "We Are the World," includes slurs about Asians and jokes about floating bodies. 

In a statement, NAACP Interim President and CEO Dennis Hayes says, "racially offensive remarks are wrong and unacceptable no matter from what quarter they come.  The African-American community, like all communities, must practice tolerance and show respect for the loss of human life." 

Hayes is calling on the owners of radio station WQHT-FM to "properly discipline" all who were involved in airing what he called a "tasteless song which has offended people in all communities."  The morning show host who played the song and her morning team have been suspended indefinitely.

It's nice to see the group being outraged at offensive material coming from the black community, and not just from the white community.  A fair response to a stupid parody by a black woman.  I hope they continue this trend towards balance.

Of Course Not...

From 9News...

A University of Colorado professor who compared victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks to Nazis says he won't back down from the topic in a speech next month in New York state.

Ward Churchill has been invited to join a panel discussion at Hamilton College near Utica, New York, where news of his planned visit has ignited protests over comments he wrote one day after the September Eleventh attacks.

Churchill wrote that the people in the World Trade Center towers were NOT innocent victims, and worked for "the mighty engine of profit" but chose to ignore their roles.

Meanwhile, a brother of a man who died in the twin towers says he's outraged the college would invite Churchill to speak.

James Giaccone says free speech should come with responsibility, and the college shouldn't be "a lightning rod for nut cases, such as Churchill."

Churchill is head of the ethnic studies program at CU-Boulder.

Interim chancellor Phil DiStefano issued a statement yesterday saying Churchill's views "are his own and do not represent the views of University of Colorado faculty, staff, students, administration or Regents."

Of course he won't apologize, he lives in Boulder, where anything anti-american is celebrated.  You wanna know why I don't live in the town where I was born and lived until I was eighteen...The place my parents still live?  Here's your answer. 

I find it funny that the head of the ethnic studies program at C.U. is more interested in maligning innocent victims, than he is interested in finding out why black athletes are leaving C.U. due to racism at the school. 

Although almost never mentioned publicly, race served as a backdrop for the series of investigations that targeted the CU program this year.

But why would the head of the ethnic studies program care about racism at his school?  That would be silly.

Way To Keep An Eye Oout

A police officer in Salt Lake City, Utah, was puzzled when a man he had helped just walked off without saying so much as a "thank you."  The man's car had stalled in an intersection, and the officer helped him push it to safety.  Then the man just walked away.  The officer found out why when he ran a check on the license plate.  The car had been stolen.  The man was arrested about a block away.

Such nice cops to not check a plate before helping a future felon out.  Actually, I like the fact that the cop automatically thought the best of the guy....

SpongeBob NOT Gay...Just Happy

From Metro Networks...

SpongeBob SquarePants isn't gay, he's almost asexual.  That's the word from the cartoon's 43-year-old creator Stephen Hillenburg.  Recently two conservative Christian activist groups claimed the show promotes acceptance of gays.  Hillenburg calls that far-fetched, saying the show's only agenda is fun and entertainment.  It's all about trying to be funny, he says.  Last week radio evangelist James Dobson said SpongeBob was included in a pro-homosexual video, and said reference to sex in its tolerance pledge crosses the line. 

So there you go.  Besides anyone who's seen the show knows that no gay man worth his salt would be caught working at the Krusty Crab...it's just not done.....