When Governments Create Excessive Welfare States, The Safety Net Begins To Resemble A Hammock

When governments create excessive welfare states, the safety net begins to resemble a hammock.

Why Has The Democratic Party Not Apologized For Slavery?

Why has the Democratic Party never apologized for slavery, segregation, or the destruction of the black family? 

Mainstream Media and Hollywood Engaging In Marxist Tactics

Did you know that Marxist propaganda preaches that Capitalism is racist and any opposition to the Leftist movement is rooted in racism? Are the people in the mainstream media and Hollywood aware that they are engaging in Marxist tactics or are they just useful idiots?

How about instead of always doing what makes us happy, we start doing what's right?

Obama is Just a Guy. A Guy That is Failing.

‎"The President's policies have failed every American, regardless of community. He is not the great savior that many people thought he would be. Obama is just a guy. A guy that is failing." - Rep. Allen West

NC Defunds Planned Parenthood!

North Carolina has become the third state to de-fund Planned Parenthood. Want to know how? Click here. Want to know why? Watch this: 

Allen West - Liberals' Worst Nightmare

I am standing here with my American brothers and sisters. It has nothing to do with race. It has nothing to do with color. It is all about your character. And we don't have character in Washington DC. But I'm telling you right now...I'm going up there and I am going to drain that cesspool. - Representative Lt. Col. Allen West

PBSC YAF: Correcting the Lies Being Propagated by Progressives and Exposing Modern Liberalism For the Sham That it is

In my academic experience at Palm Beach State College I have witnessed an overwhelming liberal bias on the part of the faculty and administration. Blatant falsities and misleading generalizations are perpetuated in political science courses when young students are trying to find their place in the political spectrum. An example of this occurred when my instructor explained to my classmates that conservatives are simply “people who are resistant to change and want prayer in schools” while liberals are open to change and work to “provide for the unfortunate and keep a separation between church and state.” This deceptive misrepresentation of conservatism and unwarranted elevation of modern liberalism is rampant and very seldom countered in the classroom setting. I have even experienced this in my seemingly innocuous supervision and management courses. One would think that certain subjects are simply black and white, but it is remarkable how the toxic collectivist, anti-capitalist ideology inevitably seeps into every crevice of higher learning.

In light of the abhorrent liberal bias on my campus, coupled with my perception of a student body cloaked in a detrimental apathy, I felt that it was my duty as a young conservative to correct the lies being propagated by the progressives; and to expose modern liberalism for the sham that it is. I hoped to achieve this by bringing a youth conservative movement to my campus called ‘Young Americans for Freedom.’ This impressive organization which began in the 1960’s at the estate of William F. Buckley, Jr., would serve as my platform to advance the truth on my campus.

YAF has a rich history of fighting big government, supporting our troops, and educating America’s youth. Cynthia Toney of “The Bold Pursuit” succinctly communicates this history in her 2011 profile of Young Americans for Freedom: “[YAF] spearheaded the 1964 Presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater, each one helping to define the other. In the 1970’s, the organization started a number of projects to support Vietnam veterans and their causes and joined forces with the American Conservative Union to form the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). During the Reagan years, Young Americans for Freedom mobilized to support the President’s agenda and defend the administration’s conservative officials and appointees who were targeted by the Left. Never a stranger to international issues, the organization battled Communism and promoted the cause of freedom on college campuses.”

In order to officially form a Young Americans for Freedom chapter at PBSC, at least five members were needed. In an effort to recruit these members, I attempted to set up a small YAF table on campus but the administration denied me my right to free speech. As soon as the liberal faculty noticed the group’s conservative message, we got shut down in the name of “safety.” Not only did they prevent us from tabling to recruit the required members, but they also stated that they would not allow us to simply hand out fliers to our peers on campus. Fox News, The Gateway Pundit, World Net Daily, The Heritage Foundation, and other prominent conservative news outlets picked up the story in an effort to expose this egregious violation. With the intention of protecting the rights of every student on campus, I filed suit against Palm Beach State College with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund and am now in the process of litigation.

In the wake of all the press related to the incident at PBSC, I was contacted by like-minded students and was finally able to meet the five member requirement. Shortly thereafter, I found a conservative faculty advisor (not an easy task on a state college campus) thanks to my involvement in the Republican Executive Committee. Professor Mary Ellen Vitrano, a fellow committee woman on the REC, agreed to help form YAF at PBSC and has been courageously fighting with us ever since.

The PBSC YAF Vice Chairman, U.S. Air Force veteran Mario Martinez, who is studying political science and history at Palm Beach State, has joined me in advancing YAF’s message on our campus. We have arranged talks on the Federal Reserve and Second Amendment rights. There are also plans to invite Representative Allen West who is on the Florida YAF Advisory Board to come speak at the college, which should be a fruitful experience for the students, faculty, and the entire community of Palm Beach County.

It is important to support all local conservative clubs, but this organization in particular has the potential to reach out to the youth of Palm Beach County, who is often told that America is evil and that capitalism is the cause of all of our problems. PBSC YAF is here to tell them the truth:

• America is the most charitable and free country on the planet.
• Capitalism has brought more people out of poverty than any other economic system in history.
• Personable responsibility, self-discipline, and entrepreneurial ingenuity bring about true freedom.

How can you support this up and coming youth conservative movement in your own county?

1.       Tell your friends about PBSC YAF.

2.       Direct all conservative youth to PBSC YAF.

3.       Donate money. It can be costly bringing speakers to campus, printing fliers, making signs, creating demonstrations, and hosting events.

4.       Offer the students connections to prominent local conservatives who might want to come speak on campus.

5.       Have your club form an alliance with PBSC YAF.

• Contact: Christina Beattie, the PBSC YAF Chair at christina.h.beattie@gmail.com.
• "Like" our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PBSC_YAF

Liberals Love Dictators But One Is Missing From Their List

"The Muslims surrounding Israel were Adolf Hitler's allies during WWII and they are still hell bent on finishing the work that Hitler started. Every American voter needs to know that Barack Obama has chosen to stand with Hitler's allies."

CEO of The National Black Chamber of Commerce Admits That He Voted For Obama "Because He Was Black"

Harry Alford, president and CEO of the National Black Chamber of Commerce, blasted President Obama's anti-business administration. During his interview on the Laura Ingraham show, he humbly and courageously admitted that he voted for Obama "because he was black" and it was "the worst mistake of [his] life."

He said that voting for Barack Obama blindly based on his race was a "lesson that [he] would take to [his] grave." Mr. Alford believes that Obama's policies are "starting to look Marxist" and he "loves this country too much to be quiet about this guy." Harry continued, "[Obama] is wrecking us...he is dangerous and I am going to do all that I can to get the black community [to vote against him]."

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Mr. Alford is "perhaps the nation's preeminent champion of African-American business empowerment." This steadfast and brilliant American entrepreneur warns that "the free market is not going to be free much longer if we don't do something about it in 2012."

You can listen to the full interview here:

Fight of the Century: Keynes vs. Hayek, Round Two

“Fight of the Century” Lyrics.

Written by John Papola and Russ Roberts

KEYNES

Here we are… peace out! great recession
thanks to me, as you see, we’re not in a depression
Recovery, destiny if you follow my lesson
Lord Keynes, here I come, line up for the procession

HAYEK
We brought out the shovels but we’re still in a ditch…
And still digging. don’t you think that it’s time for a switch…
From that hair of the dog. Friend, the party is over.
The long run is here. It’s time to get sober!

KEYNES
Are you kidding? my cure works perfectly fine…
have a look, the great recession ended back in ’09.
Surely, I deserve credit. Things would have been worse
All the estimates prove it—I’ll quote chapter and verse

HAYEK
Econometricians, they’re ever so pious
Are they doing real science or confirming their bias?
Their “Keynesian” models are tidy and neat
But that top down approach is a fatal conceit

REFRAIN
Which way should we choose?
more bottom up or more top down
…the fight continues…
Keynes and Hayek’s second round

it’s time to weigh in…
more from the top or from the ground
…lets listen to the greats
Keynes and Hayek throwing down

KEYNES
we could have done better, had we only spent more
Too bad that only happens when there’s a World War
You can carp all you want about stats and regression
Do you deny World War II cut short the Depression?

HAYEK
Wow. One data point and you’re jumping for joy
the Last time I checked, wars only destroy
There was no multiplier, consumption just shrank
As we used scarce resources for every new tank

Pretty perverse to call that prosperity
Rationed meat, Rationed butter… a life of austerity
When that war spending ended your friends cried disaster
yet the economy thrived and grew ever faster

KEYNES
You too only see what you want to see
The spending on war clearly goosed GDP
Unemployment was over, almost down to zero
That’s why I’m the master, that’s why I’m the hero

HAYEK
Creating employment’s a straigtforward craft
When the nation’s at war, and there’s a draft
If every worker was staffed in the army and fleet
We’d be at full employment with nothing to eat

REFRAIN

HAYEK
jobs are the means, not the ends in themselves
people work to live better, to put food on the shelves
real growth means production of what people demand
That’s entrepreneurship not your central plan

KEYNES
My solution is simple and easy to handle..
its spending that matters, why’s that such a scandal?
The money sloshes through the pipes and the sluices
revitalizing the economy’s juices

it’s just like an engine that’s stalled and gone dark
To bring it to life, we need a quick spark
Spending’s the life blood that gets the flow going
Where it goes doesn’t matter, just get spending flowing

HAYEK
You see slack in some sectors as a “general glut”
But some sectors are healthy, and some in a rut
So spending’s not free – that’s the heart of the matter
too much is wasted as cronies get fatter.

The economy’s not a car, there’s no engine to stall
no expert can fix it, there’s no “it” at all.
The economy’s us, we don’t need a mechanic
Put away the wrenches, the economy’s organic

REFRAIN

KEYNES
so what would you do to help those unemployed?
this is the question you seem to avoid
when we’re in a mess, would you just have us wait?
Doing nothing until markets equil-i-brate?

HAYEK
I don’t want to do nothing, there’s plenty to do
The question I ponder is who plans for who?
Do I plan for myself or leave it to you?
I want plans by the many and not by the few.

We shouldn’t repeat what created our troubles
I want real growth not just a series of bubbles
Let’s stop bailing out losers and let prices work
If we don’t try to steer them they won’t go berserk

KEYNES
Come on, Are you kidding? Don’t Wall Street’s gyrations
Challenge your world view of self-regulation?
Even you must admit that the lesson we’ve learned
Is more oversight’s needed or else we’ll get burned

HAYEK
Oversight? The government’s long been in bed
With the Wall Street execs and the firms that they’ve led
Prosperity’s all about profit and loss
When you bail out the losers there’s no end to the cost

the lesson I’ve learned? It’s how little we know,
the world is complex, not some circular flow
the economy’s not a class you can master in college
to think otherwise is the pretense of knowledge

REFRAIN

KEYNES
You get on your high horse and you’re off to the races
I look at the world on a case by case basis
When people are suffering I roll up my sleeves
And do what I can to cure our disease

The future’s uncertain, our outlooks are frail
Thats why free markets are so prone to fail
In a volatile world we need more discretion
So state intervention can counter depression

HAYEK
People aren’t chessmen you can move on a board
at your whim–their dreams and desires ignored
With political incentives, discretion’s a joke
The dials you’re twisting… are just mirrors and smoke

the market’s a process where we can discover
the most valuable ways to serve one another
we need stable rules and real market prices
so prosperity emerges and cuts short the crisis

REFRAIN
Which way should we choose?
more bottom up or more top down
the fight continues…
Keynes and Hayek’s second round

it’s time to weigh in…
more from the top or from ground
…lets listen to the greats
Keynes and Hayek throwing down

Have a Dose of Reality This Earth Day

PBSC YAF wants you to have a dose of reality this Earth Day from ReasonTV.

The top five environmental disasters that didn't happen:

Eco-Fascist Dance Off

While Al Gore did his climate change/snake oil pitch at Power Shift 2011 in DC:

"I guess it's a sign of cultural decline if nobody bothers to look ridiculous. The real problem arises when the hippies get their way and let our industries look worse than in the third world. Nobody in a poor country can afford to behave as stupid as these eco-fascists."

Muslim Brotherhood Eclipsing Middle Class Activists in Egypt - The Telegraph

Mohammed Badie, the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual 
leader,last week predicted the group's candidates 
would win 75 percent of the seats 
it contested Photo: AFP/GETTY

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic movement and the founder of Hamas, has set up a network of political parties around the country that eclipse the following of the middle class activists that overthrew the regime. On the extreme fringe of the Brotherhood, Islamic groups linked to al-Qeada are organising from the mosques to fill the vacuum left by the collapse of the dictatorship.

The military-led government already faces accusations that it is bowing to the surge in support for the Muslim movements, something that David Cameron warned of in February when he said Egyptian democracy would be strongly Islamic.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, warned on Sunday that the direction of Egyptian politics was anti-Israeli. He told diplomats last week that Egyptian officials – including Nabil al-Arabi, the foreign minister – were pandering to political militants by branding Israel as the "enemy".

Read more at the Telegraph.

Did Obama Leapfrog The Nation Into Combat?

Liberals, you complain about America being police of the world but its OK for America to have a president of the world?

link to full video: http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=84&load=5252

Hundreds to Protest Radical Islamic FAU Professor Tomorrow

(Boca Raton, FL) Rev. Mark D. Boykin, Senior Pastor of Church of All Nations and Mr. Joe Kaufman, Chairman of Americans Against Hate are calling on Florida Atlantic University to terminate the employment of Professor Bassem Alhalabi for his involvement with individuals and organizations that support terrorist acts against the United States and Israel. A protest and press conference will be held on:

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011, 11:45 a.m.
Florida Atlantic University (Main Entrance)
777 Glades Road in Boca Raton, Florida

Mr. Bassem Alhalabi was research assistant to Sami Al-Arian and wrote a number of publications with him. According to U.S. Department of Justice documents, Al-Arian, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for assisting a terrorist group. In his guilty plea, Al-Arian admitted that "he and a several of his co-conspirators were associated with the Palestian Islamic Jihad, knowing that the PIJ had been designated as a Specially Designated Terrorist and that it engaged in horrific and deadly acts of violence."

Mr. Bassem Alhalabi is also associated with the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR). It's first imam, Ibrahim Dremali, was a representative of the Southeastern Division of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA-SE), an organization that was asking its followers to give material support to groups associated with al-Qaeda. Mr. Dremali was arrested in October 2010 on immigration related charges. The imam who replaced Dremali at ICBR was also arrested in May 2003. ICBR's spokesman was arrested in July 2005, and one of ICBR's founding directors was also the creator of the official website of al-Jamiya al-Islamia, the Gaza parent organization of Hamas. ICBR member Rafiq Sabir was also convicted of supporting al-Qaeda.

"We have an individual teaching at FAU, who supports organizations that want to destroy both the United States and Israel," said Pastor Mark D. Boykin. "He should not be allowed in this country, let alone teach at such a fine institution, and the administration at FAU must begin the necessary proceedings to terminate his employment immediately," added Pastor Boykin.

Professor Bassem Alhalabi was found guilty of shipping military equipment to Syria by the U.S. Department of Commerce in June 2003 and was arrested on March 22, 2010 for two separate charges of assault and battery.

"We are calling on the FAU administration to terminate the employment of a very dangerous professor who has ties to terrorists," said Mr. Joe Kaufman, chairman of Americans Against Hate. "There is plenty of documented evidence that shows that Professor Bassem Alhalabi does not merit employment at FAU," continued Mr. Kaufman.

"It is unconscionable, after all that we know about Mr. Bassem Alhalabi, that the administration at FAU is still allowing him to teach; he represents a national security threat; he must be terminated immediately and be deported from the United States," stated Anthony Verdugo, Founder and Executive Director, Christian Family Coalition.

Hundreds are expected to attend the protest and press conference.

Contact: info@americansagainsthate.org.

Quote of The Day

"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." - Winston Churchill

Guantanamo Terrorists Leading Libyan Rebellion

One of the leaders of the rebellion in Libya, who we are of course supporting with air cover (makes sense, right?) is a Gitmo detainee who was released and is now training Al Quaeda troops to wage Jihad. Can you say OOPS!!??

Most of the most lethal people who were at Guantanamo who have already been released are already waging war against the United States back again in their home countries.

Path to Prosperity

We can lift the crushing burden of debt. It is up to our generation to choose prosperity.

Tonight: First Evening Meeting of PBC Board of County Commissioners

Thanks to the South Florida 9-12 group for bringing this event to my attention:

When: April 5th, 2011 at 6pm

Where: Government Center, 301 N. Olive, WPB Sixth Floor in the Commission Chambers

Excuses, Excuses...over the last couple of years many of us interested in county issues have used as an excuse that we can’t speak up at the PBC Board of County Commissioners meetings because they’re held during the day. Sound familiar? There’s only so many times those of us who do attend can say ‘we represent a large group of people who are too busy earning a living to come’. So now – it’s your turn!!

The commissioners are doing this as an experiment. Up until now, evening meetings have been relegated to topics such as the two budget workshops held in September. The upcoming meeting will be a regular agenda meeting – with focus on the upcoming Charter Review.

The Agenda for the evening can be found here. Public comment will begin at 7pm – this is the monthly comment time when one can discuss any subject. A key item will be 5A1 – the upcoming Charter Review. Details and schedule are included here. As we’ve mentioned in prior South Florida 912 meetings – the Charter is our county’s constitution and the review over the next several months will be soliciting public input at meetings and online – so this does matter to YOU!

Gangster Government Throwback

Quote of The Day

"We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once." - Calvin Coolidge

Virtue: Pathway to True Freedom

Thomas Aquinas famously defined three stages/phases of virtue:

Beginner / childhood
Proficient / adolescent
Perfect / mature adult

We reach the “perfect” or mature stage of virtue when we begin to do whatever we do well, and to do it creatively. (as opposed to doing what we do superficially, or half-heartedly and in a base way, doing what we “feel” like doing rather than doing what we want to do)

The virtuous person has learned how to learn, and has rooted him - or herself in good soil for growth. Virtue has become a stable foundation for the freedom to do what really leads to happiness.

Read more at Faith and Prosperity.

There is no quicker means of raising a skeptical eye among many conservatives and libertarians alike than to endorse both liberty and virtue. Many people who consider freedom the preeminent political objective perceive support for virtue to be an implicit call for restrictive new laws. More than a few advocates of virtue treat a vigorous defense of liberty like the promotion of vice. This mutual hostility is evidenced by the growing strains between many economic libertarians and social conservatives, who once submerged their differences in the pursuit of common goals. Yet neither liberty nor virtue is likely to survive alone.

Both freedom and virtue are under serious assault today. Government takes and spends nearly half of the nation's income. Regulation further extends the power of the state in virtually every area of people's lives.

Increasing numbers of important, personal decisions are ultimately made by some public functionary somewhere. Virtue, too, seems to be losing ground daily. The legal and political systems are increasingly based on theft and irresponsibility. Families and communities increasingly break down, if they form at all. Popular culture celebrates many of humanity's worst attributes.

At this critical time, some supporters of either liberty or virtue are setting one against the other, treating them as frequent antagonists, if not permanent opponents. At the very least, the competing advocates suggest, you cannot maximize both values, but instead have to choose which to expand and which to constrict.

However, it would be a mistake to assume that one must be sacrificed for the other. Rather, freedom and morality are complementary. That is, liberty -- the right to exercise choice, free from coercive state regulation -- is a necessary precondition for virtue. And virtue is ultimately necessary for the survival of liberty. Anyone interested in building a good society should desire to live in a community that cherishes both values. As Robert Sirico of the Acton Institute points out, "Common sense tells any sane person that a society that is both free and virtuous is the place he or she would most want to live."

Our emphasis.

Read the full article here and tell us your thoughts.

Quote of The Day

“Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have.” - Barry Goldwater

Go Green! Kill People?

How does "going green" affect third world countries? The environmentalism movement today is pro-mother earth but human life is often seen as nothing more than a by-product or a nuisance.

Quote of The Day

"A wise man's heart directs him toward the right, but a foolish man's heart directs him toward the left." - Ecclesiastes 10:2

Washington Fools

To celebrate April Fool's day, we thought we'd share this new For America project with you: WashingtonFools.com

Here our some of our favorite foolish quotes out of Washington:

“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it…” – Nancy Pelosi, March 9, 2010

“I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill’ … What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?” – John Conyers, July 27, 2009

“No, no. I have been practicing…I bowled a 129. It’s like – it was like Special Olympics, or something.” – Barack Obama, March 19, 2009


“I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go?” – Barack Obama, May 9, 2008


“Guess what this liberal would be all about? This liberal will be about socializing…uh, um…Would be about, basically, taking over, and the government running all of your companies.” – Maxine Waters, May 22, 2008

This is What Happens When You Pass Stupid Laws

Quote of The Day

"Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid." - Ronald Reagan

PBSC YAF Thanks Congress for Passing The SOAR Act

"No child should be forced to go to a failing public school, yet that's just what President Obama did when he sided with the teachers' unions and ended this popular program. These scholarships have a proven record of success of empowering parents of underprivileged students in our nation's capitol to choose the schools that are the best fit for their children. Today's vote is a victory for school reformers across America." - Tim Pawlenty

In the shadow of the U.S. Capitol, children suffer in a public education system rife with violence and ranked among the worst in the nation. Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives took action to give those students some hope when it voted to reauthorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (D.C. OSP), which provides scholarships to low-income children, allowing them to attend their school of choice. It was one of the most consequential education votes that Congress will make this year. The program empowers parents, and it rejects the notion that a child should be relegated to a failing public school because they were born in the wrong zip code. Yet, remarkably, the program faces opposition from President Barack Obama and Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

The D.C. OSP was first launched in 2004, and since that time more than 3,300 children have had the chance to escape the underperforming and unsafe D.C. public schools. The statistics are jarring. As The Heritage Foundation’s Lindsey Burke notes, the D.C. public school system ranks 51st in the nation.

The president and Members of Congress who oppose the D.C. OSP are committing another offense against D.C. parents, as well – depriving them of the very choices they enjoy. Nearly 40 percent of the Members of the 111th Congress sent a child to private school. As a child, President Obama was a scholarship recipient, affording him the opportunity to attend the prestigious Punahou School in Hawaii. On top of this, his daughters attend the upscale Sidwell Friends School in D.C. As Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) said in a floor speech prior to yesterday’s vote:

I went to the public schools in South Carolina. My wife teaches in the public schools in South Carolina. And my son will graduate from the public schools in South Carolina. But I will miss his graduation like many of you have missed things in your lives because we will be in session. What I will not miss is the opportunity to throw a lifeline to kids who were born through the vicissitudes of life into poverty. We will give them the same choices and chances that we have.

President Obama and Congress have an opportunity to throw that lifeline. If they truly want to empower parents, improve education and help students succeed, supporting the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program would be a good place to start.

Read more at The Foundry.

Quote of The Day

"Over the course of our deliberations, the urgency of our mission has become all the more apparent. The contagion of debt that began in Greece and continues to sweep through Europe shows us clearly that no economy will be immune. If the U.S. does not put its house in order, the reckoning will be sure and the devastation severe.


After all the talk about debt and deficits, it is long past time for America’s leaders to put up or shut up. The era of debt denial is over, and there can be no turning back."

National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
(Debt Commission appointed by President Obama) The Moment of Truth: Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Preamble
December 1, 2010

Submit Your Applications to Intern at FIRE by Tomorrow Night!

FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) offers a 10-week, paid Summer Internship Program as part of [their] efforts to educate students about individual rights at colleges and universities. This internship gives current undergraduates the opportunity to assist FIRE in defending civil liberties on campuses all across the country. FIRE Interns do substantive work on behalf of rights, liberty, and individual dignity. Interns also participate in weekly seminars with FIRE staff and other experts on civil liberties.

click here for details!

FIRE provided the experience of unhindered political and philosophical debate on a broad array of topics among individuals with diverse opinions and ideologies. This became a uniquely inspirational environment as the open discussions pushed me to reevaluate my opinions in order to thoroughly explain and, at times, defend or even recant them. The FIRE internship program is truly an object lesson on the value of our first amendment rights.

- Christa Brashier, 2010 Intern, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

A short time at FIRE is enough to convince virtually anyone that our First Amendment rights are, both legally and philosophically, an indispensable component of American society. Working environments such as the one at FIRE are rare gems which stimulate intellectual development and model the kind of free-thinking milieu they hope to restore throughout academe.

- Brian Mink, 2008 Intern, University of Georgia

Is Capitalism Evil?

Michael Moore and other grumpy billionaire elitists in Hollywood would like you to believe that Capitalism is evil (even though they are currently making gobs of profit from capitalism). Let's take a look and see if they're onto something:

Florida Has a Right to Know

Under the category of “No Good Deed Goes Unpunished,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott can file some news accounts of his recent unveiling of the transparency web site, www.FloridaHasARighttoKnow.com.

The site includes salary information about many key state employees – including those on the Governor’s staff – as well as records from the Florida Retirement System listing every government pensioner receiving at least $100,000 a year.
Read more at Big Government's Pork Report.

Take a look at the new Florida government transparency website.

"As taxpayers, you have the right to know how every taxpayer dollar is spent," Scott wrote in a statement on the site. "We will be better if you hold us accountable."

Scott's document of six-figure pensions lists 542 retirees with annual benefits totaling more than $64 million.

Bill Mattox, a fellow at the conservative-leaning James Madison Institute who has studied proactive disclosure practices among Florida governments, said listing the largest state salaries or most expensive pension benefits can give taxpayers a sense if something is wrong.

"Comprehensive information is useful and important, but at the same time, selected information can be useful," Mattox said.

Scott's selected list enraged some Floridians on Thursday after it was published.

"This is outrageous," said William Cummins, a retired lawyer in Pensacola who called the Times/Herald Tallahassee bureau. "State employees probably ought to be paying into their pensions."

Eric Jotkoff, a spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party, said the site was aimed at "demonizing the hard-working teachers, firefighters and police officers who serve in our communities."

Read more at St. Pete Times

PBSC YAF wants to know how transparency is demonizing? Aren't they our tax dollars?

Thanks, Governor Scott. Maybe Mr. President should follow your lead with the whole transparency thing being as that it was one of his major campaign promises.

Scientific Consensus Does Not Equal Truth

AllPainNoGain.org

'Young Americans' given free speech 5 days per month

PBSC YAF tabling during one of their 5 days per month

Students who are trying to build a base of conservative citizens on a Florida college campus have been given some First Amendment rights to hand out informtation and talk to others.

That's the result for the Palm Beach State chapter of the Young Americans for Freedom, who were granted a temporary injunction in their confrontation with the school over their rights to talk to others and recruit.


According to the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the students, the school has agreed to a court injunction that will allow two students to "disseminate leaflets and/or converse with the general public."


The injunction allows the group to give out literature four or five days each month while the full lawsuit is litigated. The injunction agreement also requires theschoolto do a full campus club policy review.



The YAF chapter filed the suit in November in response to a decision by campus authorities to escort two YAF members off campus for giving out a Heritage Foundation policy paper analyzing the impact of Barack Obama's stimulus bills.


The students said the school gave them permission to hand out the policy papers.
ADF attorney Casey Mattox is representing the YAF chapter and said the organization wants student groups to have their First Amendment rights.


"What YAF is pushing for is the ability to protect the First Amendment rights of not only the YAF, but for every student group whether they're on the conservative side or any other side. YAF is trying to protect the First Amendment rights of all students," Mattox said.
Mattox says there is a higher objective.


"The ultimate goal here is that the First Amendment will be respected at Palm Beach State. The First Amendment knows no ideology and so YAF certainly wants to make sure that not only YAF but groups that they disagree with are able to engage in debate on campus," Mattox said.


Mattox described Palm Beach State's policies as one of the most restrictive in the country.


"Palm Beach State has perhaps some of the worst speech policies of just about anyschoolin the country," Mattox said.

Mattox uses the school's rules regarding club activities as the example.
"Palm Beach State completely prohibits students from distributing any literature of any kind on campus. We have an injunction here now that requires them to at least allow YAF to distribute literature at few days a month," Mattox explained.

He said the regulations even attempt the difficult task of controlling a student organization's off-campus activities.


"It would certainly be difficult, but in fact the way the policy reads, it would seem to actually regulate them even if they were getting together as a student group at a social event to have pizza," Mattox said.

"They require them, any time that students are meeting, or any event that is off campus, they require them to get permission, at least a week or two weeks in advance of the scheduled activity," Mattox said.

The policy even includes a club's recreational activities.

"If you are going bowling with a group of students, if the YAF group was going bowling, they would have to get permission a couple of weeks in advance from the administration to do that," Mattox said.

Palm Beach State College spokeswoman Grace Truman says the college is not responding to questions because the litigation is still ongoing.

But Mattox also said the school has had some noticeable lapses in enforcing its policy.
"They're not even following their own policy at Palm Beach State. Their own policies say that if you want to distribute literature on campus, you have to request permission 48 hours in advance and they have the authority to permit you or not permit you to distribute literature, which is a problem on its own right,"

He said in practice, when the students went in to say they wanted to distribute literature, the administration responded, "Well we just don't allow that at all."

"At the same time … I know there was a blood drive on campus, and they were distributing literature to promote the blood drive. So certainly the school looks the other way to certain groups, but they would not look the other way when it came to YAF," Mattox said.

"For some they have permitted literature distribution and the university was well aware of it. But for YAF they were not willing to change and they strictly adhered to their 'No literature on campus' policy," Mattox said.

Now that an injunction is being implemented, and the school has promised a policy review, Mattox said the next step would be to expand the application of the First Amendment.

"We're waiting to find out if they're really going to come up with policies by the first of March that will in fact respect the First Amendment rights of all students on campus," he said.

"I'm certainly hopeful. This is a situation where the university's policies are so egregiously bad that you hope they immediately recognize the need to fix them. But we'll see. If they don't we'll certainly continue to litigate and make sure we ask the court to do what it has to do to protect the First Amendment right of the students," Mattox said.

WND reported earlier when Student Activities Administrator Olivia Ford-Morris "was visibly disturbed" by literature being distributed by YAF.




Read more:'Young Americans' given free speech 5 days/monthhttp://www.wnd.com/?pageId=253413#ixzz1Hxd9S3DM