25 September 2007

Ahmidinejad at Columbia

I have two gripes that need to be discussed. The first is Columbia University, the supposed place of higher learning...whatever that means anymore. The second is the American People.

Yesterday Ahmidinejad spoke at Columbia University. Columbia University had extended a speaking invitation to him as part of a special speakers tour. What's the problem? Doesn't he have the right to free speech?

Sure, no problem. Free speech is one of the United States' precious rights. Let's extend it to murderers, Holocaust deniers and dictators. Let's get Charles Manson up on stage and have him explain how he thinks the world should work.

Let's take a moment to discuss Columbia and their determination to give "free speech" a chance. Repeat after me... The Minutemen? How about Walid Shoebat? And what are those initials again? Oh yes, ROTC.

What's that? You don't know what I'm talking about? The Minutemen are a group of unarmed volunteers who take time out of their lives to patrol the Mexican-American border to lend extra eyes to the U.S. Border Police. They were invited by the campus Republicans (that explains it) to speak. What happened? Students attending rushed the stage, started a riot and the speech never took place. Security is seen on video doing absolutely nothing to stop the insanity. President Lee Bolinger issued an apology after the fact. Did somebody say something about the importance of "free speech".

Next we look at Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist (now a born-again Christian), an invited speaker along with two other men. The others being a former terrorist and the third a former Nazi. This took place a week after the Minutemen riots. Only three and a quarter hours before he was supposed to speak, Columbia limited the amount of people allowed to attend the event. According to the campus Republicans (them again) approximately 125 people were not allowed into the lecture. Another 77 who had reserved tickets were disinvited. I'm loving that "free speech" thing!

ROTC. What's that? These initials stand for Reserve Officer Training Corps. This is one of the ways that the United States Military recruits on college campuses. ROTC is not allowed on Columbia University's campus. If a student is interested in ROTC they have to travel to another campus instead. Columbia was recently forced by the military to allow recruiting (the university takes Federal dollars), but the President of Columbia came out publically telling students not to interview. Why? Because of the military's policies on homosexuality. Why is 'don't ask, don't tell' a problem again? If someone is so desparate to share their sexuality...the military is not for them. There may be another line of work that suits them better. Rather, the privilege of serving your country in an honorable way is spit upon by the President.

But wait. President Bollinger was willing to have the President of Iran, his eminence, Mahmoud Ahmidinejad at his university in the name of "free speech". In that spirit, at the event, Bollinger went on to call Ahmidinejad a "petty and cruel dictator". I'm sure that our "petty and cruel" dictator was shaking in his boots. We showed him didn't we.

I'm confused. Did the students storm the stage not allowing our little dictator to speak? Did security stand around with their hands tied? How about limiting attendance a few hours before he was due to speak? What about not allowing our Hitler wannabe on campus - like ROTC. I love consistency.

This brings me to my second point. Why didn't the student storm the stage? Why didn't some of those who attended stand up in the middle of his rant and sing the Star Spangled Banner, or G-d Bless America?

Why are the crazy leftists the ones who are willing to make their point forcefully? There were hundreds of protesters at Columbia that day, I don't believe there was one arrest made. Why wasn't there a sit-in requiring police and security to make hundreds of arrests? Why weren't there police vans waiting to take people away?

There were no vans because they knew that conservatives and those who love the United States of America play by the rules. We don't make trouble. We respect authority.

Oh, I'm not supposed to block the sidewalk, no problem officer, I'll move.

Oh, I'm supposed to stand behind these barriers and blockades, no problem officer.

Oh, I have to be quiet and respectful to those people I disagree with, no problem officer.

Oh, we're supposed to give a known murderer and world renouned terrorist the right to step foot in our country... the right to visit Ground Zero... the right to speak at a "prestigious" university and the right to spit in our faces like the polite fools we are... no problem officer.


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