Liberty University has prohibited privileges granted to other student organizations, and these privileges where denied based solely on what the organization believes. Did Liberty deny recognition to a white supremacy group, or did Liberty not allow an anti-Semitic organization to use the universities name in association with their group? The university has denied the College Democrats to ability to use the university's name or to receive any funding from the university, based on their support of candidates.
According to a Liberty press release, the College Democrats are allowed to meet on campus, however the student group could no longer identify with the university and the university will no longer sponsor or endorse the group. The university has stated that this would be a better situation for the student group because they did not have to gain approval for meetings and could endorse candidates that are pro-life. However, this also means that the student group cannot participate in promoting their group on campus, and will not be allowed to invite speakers or hold any other events besides the unofficial meetings.
According to a National Public Radio (NPR) report, the chancellor of the university, Jerry Falwell, Jr., said that ""It's not about Democrat/Republican. It's about protecting the sanctity of life." Falwell stated that the reason the student group is not longer recognized was because of its support for pro-choice candidates and candidates that support gay rights. The College Democrats on campus have not publically endorsed abortion rights or same-sex marriage, and in fact the group's constitution expresses their opposition to those policies. In the NPR report Brian Diaz, the President of the College Democrats, said that "Jesus talked about the poor more than he did about abortion or gay marriage."
According to another article in the Washington Post, Diaz stated that the group's constitution, which was approved by university officials, gives the group latitude to endorse candidates. Both the College Democrats and the College Republicans endorsed candidates. Also, according to the same article the two groups where preparing to organize anti-abortion events this fall.
(DVO's weekly guest column for this week. - promoted by boadicea)
This is the season when peoples of many cultures and subcultures within our multicultural society are celebrating festive holidays. To many persons this season's festivals are motivated and/or accompanied by beliefs and practices of religion, and to many they are not.
If those in charge of our society - politicians, corporate executives, and owners of press and television - can dominate our ideas, they will be secure in their power. They will not need soldiers patrolling the streets. We will control ourselves.
Howard Zinn
On a shelf above my computer is an old, very fragile, dog eared paperback copy of "A Peoples History Of The United States." The pages are turning yellow and the binding is dried out and broken. Every time I open it I have to make sure that I put the pages back in the correct order.
I bought it back in the early 80's and it has been with me ever since. I've read it cover to cover several times and referred to it on countless occasions over the years.
In the early nineties, I believe it was in the spring of ninety two, after the second or third reading I was moved to write the author a letter of thanks.
I thanked him for writing a book that I wished that I had the talent, insight and energy to write and for his struggles in the civil rights movement in the 60's as well as his significant struggle against the war in Vietnam.
Much to my surprise and delight, a few weeks later I received a two page letter of reply, thanking me in return and encouraging me to continue to write and remain politically active. We corresponded perhaps twice more and spoke on the phone once. He was very gracious and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to speak with someone I admired so greatly.
There are many Americans that I have admired in my life, there are some that I have looked upon as heroes, but none more so than Howard Zinn.
Mr. Zinn is a true American hero. A young man who answered his country's call to arms in World War Two and took his personal knowledge of the madness and horror of war and inhumanity and turned it into a life that would become a fight for peace and social justice.
Many people have asked me why I do all the volunteer work, civil rights work, and political work that seem to consume my every waking moment. Most times I say "I do it because someone has to and it might as well be me." While this is true, it comes no where close to explaining the true reasons I do what I do. I do this because I am so full of fear, pain, and rage that I must speak out or die.
(Stand and be counted for fairness and decency. Love is love.
Remember, 1138. - promoted by boadicea)
The Hate Mongers & Bigots on Capital Hill are at it again. The Repugnant Senators brought up the National Marriage Amendment in June trying to increase their poll numbers for the elections this fall. Now the slimy bastards in the House of Representatives are doing the same thing. They are planning on voting on this issue in July. It is time to tell them ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
Today the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the Republican Party’s transparent attempt to protect Republican Congressman Henry Bonilla by decreasing the Latino population in Bonilla’s 23rd Congressional District. The Court held that the redrawing of District 23 violated the voting rights of the district’s Latino population under the Voting Rights Act. The justices’ analysis of voting trends showed conclusively that a clear majority of Latino voters do not support Bonilla, and that the DeLay redistricting plan had removed a large chunk of Latino voters from the district in order to protect Bonilla from the political threat to his incumbency represented by the growing Latino voting strength in the district.
The Republican controlled US Senate, after weeks of focusing it's august attentions on such critical issues as gay marriage and the repeal of the estate tax is about to take up what some feel is another burning issue that requires the immediate attention of a country currently embroiled in two wars in which our citizens are being slaughtered daily, deeply in debt to foreign interests, under the grip of rising unemployment, crime, poverty, and lacking even basic health care for more than 35 million of it's people. The burning issue du jour is the desecration of Old Glory.
(Because we need to know who our heroes are - promoted by dksbook)
I'm not the only plaintiff who filed suit Wednesday in the voting machines case. I am one of four plaintiffs. Also suing are the Austin NAACP and its marvelous president, Nelson Linder, and the magnificent community activist Sonia Santana.
update:Y'all have GOT to go check out the reports of calls on Americablog.
My favorite is of a call to our own Senator Kay Bailey Tantrum.
The person who took my question said that even though the Bible might say that a woman who is divorced and then remarries is an adulterer, no Christian really believes that. So, the Bible is really just a quaint notion, sorta like the Geneva Conventions.
PTV-has a video on the Republican Assault on Traditional Marriage.
They're asking folks to send the sponsors of the Marriage Abomination Act to sign a pledge not to divorce, commit adultery or have non-procreative sex.
Here are the Texas Congressional Bigots-note, they are not all Republicans, but they all deserve to feel the heat here:
Senate:
Cornyn, John (R-TX)
Hutchison, Kay Bailey (R-TX) - Divorced
Hey, you knew Senator Box Turtle and Kay Bailey Tantrum were going to be on that list.
House:
Barton, Joe (R-6-TX)
Bonilla, Henry (R-23-TX)
Brady, Kevin (R-8-TX)
Burgess, Michael (R-26-TX)
Carter, John (R-31-TX)
Culberson, John (R-7-TX)
DeLay, Tom (R-22-TX)*
Edwards, Charles W. (D-17-TX)*
Granger, Kay (R-12-TX)
Hall, Ralph M. (R-4-TX)
Hensarling, Jeb (R-5-TX)
Johnson, Sam (R-3-TX)
Ortiz, Solomon P. (D-27-TX)
Paul, Ron E. (R-14-TX)
Sessions, Pete (R-32-TX)*
Smith, Lamar S. (R-21-TX)
Thornberry, Mac (R-13-TX)
I know we have some Congressional candidates on Tkos, I hope they'll take this occasion to clearly defend the Constitution and our citizens from unwarranted restrictions on their private relationships.
The Land of the Free is to be the Land of the Bigot. Frist and Bush think it is more important to bring up the National Marriage Amendment than to formulate a plan to bring our Men and Women home from Iraq. The Repugnant Party is running so scared that they will do anything to up their numbers including kowtowing to the Religious Right. Their poll numbers are lower than they have been at anytime since the Bush Regime took power and decided to strip America of it’s Civil Rights and due process under the law.
Think of the Children! Won't someone think of the children!
Hiding behind the cover of "Child Pornography", the government and major ISPs are having meetings to discuss how to best KEEP information about your Internet activity.
That will include who you email (but, um, not the contents - we promise!), what sites you visit, who you chat with, and what you search.
As an IT guy, I can only say this is BULLSHIT because one of the big selling points about the Internet is the freedom to surf & do what you want.
Is there garbage on the Net? Of course. But there's garbage everywhere in the real world also. The best way to avoid that for yourself & your children is inform yourself & you family & give them good survival instincts.
Alberto Gonzales & Company keeps using the "Child Pornography" story as cover but this is nothing more than Bushco thinking that it can spy on ordinary Americans.
(With gratitude to all those who sacrificed and the families they left behind them. - promoted by boadicea)
My father and mother named me in memory of an uncle I never knew, my father’s older brother David, a naval fighter pilot in the Pacific theatre who did not return from his last mission and of whom it is said no trace was ever found. On the occasion of Memorial Day it is impossible for me not to think of this and of the similar sacrifices that have been made by so many Americans and their families in defense of the dream.
I gassed up this morning and it cost me over three bucks a gallon, on the way home I stopped at the store for a loaf of bread which cost me $1.39 for the same loaf of crappy white sandwich bread I paid $.99 for a month ago.
More and more continues to be revealed about the Bushite regime’s scorn for the Bill of Rights. Now we see they enlisted their corporate allies in their plan to destroy the Constitution. When I’m Texas Attorney General I won't stand for it. I’ll use every tool at my disposal to protect the Constitutional rights and liberties of the people of Texas against this runaway federal regime and its corporate cronies. Individual Texans won’t have to hire expensive private lawyers to sue the phone companies and the federal government to protect their Constitutional rights. They will have a people’s lawyer to do it for them.
1138 Why that number? There are 1,138 federal rights, protections and responsibilities automatically granted to married heterosexual couples. These are the same rights, protection and responsibilities that are being denied to Gay & Lesbian couples in many states. The Religious Right and the Repugnant Party are also trying to deny these rights with the Federal Marriage Amendment.
As have many other citizens, I served in the military for 30 years; twice being deployed to combat zones. I also took advantage of the benefits available from military service such as education; but the overarching reason most of us served was to protect the Constitution "against all enemies foreign and domestic". To connect this philsophy to the current reality I offer these thoughts.
I served to safeguard:
Free private religious expression for all.
Good public schools.
The right to privacy.
Confidential and unrestricted medical care.
Fiscal policy that is good stewardship of our tax dollars.
Safe and accessible public transportation.
Environmental protections.
The right to vote on policies that affect me and my family.
Freedom to make end of life decisions.
Trial by jury, not by Legislature.
I could list a lot more, but these are important because they are being taken away by Republican politicians and cowardly Democrats. The national debt, undeclared war, eavesdropping, CIA leaks, a military general chosen to lead the CIA, school vouchers, toll roads, tax cuts for the wealthy and many more elitist matters make me livid. These same elitists threaten and harm us all, and tell us we are not Christian or patriotic if we don't march in step with them. My message is simple: my military service speaks of my patriotism; and my values declare my religious faith. Both lead me to vehemently disagree with the current Republican politicians from D.C. to Austin to HD122.
I am an American citizen born in this country, raised and schooled here and a veteran of military service.
I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of any terrorist group, network, religious sect or social clique which advocates the use of terror or violence against anyone in any country at any time, for any reason.
Mary Cheney, the openly gay daughter with a partner whom she considers her wife, has written a book which she says focuses on an insider's view of politics.
Annnd about 10% of which on cussing out John Edwards, John Kerry, and fighting back at those people who called her on the fact that she as a member of the gay community did NOTHING to fight the anti-gay messages of her father & her father's party (& boss).
In the book, Mary Cheney finally calls Bush's homophobic message wrong & discriminatory:
Mary Cheney writes that she thinks the president of the United States is trying to "write discrimination into the Constitution" and that this effort is a "gross affront" to herself along with gays and lesbians everywhere.
You know what's gross, Mary? Getting sanctimonious & saying that now when gays around the nation are suffering under the bigotry of your father's party - & not in 2004 when you could've done something to help them.
That's gross, Mary. Where the hell were you then?
A real shame that a tree had to die for this crap.
