Freedom

Human Rights Regression

American Thinker | Jonathan D. Strong | May. 15, 2008

Since the end of the Second World War, much of Western Civilization took it for granted that the progress and triumph of human rights, freedom, and liberal democracy would continue in perpetuity. Of course, there were setbacks as communist insurgencies and revolution snuffed out the lights of liberty in various places round the globe, but the hope of freedom always reappeared in places like Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Tiananmen Square, Poland, and most recently in Afghanistan and Iraq.

And despite the success that liberal democracy has experienced since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the possibility of Western concepts of freedoms no longer progressing, but in fact, regressing, is now more of a possibility than perhaps since Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930’s. What we may be witnessing today is not progress but regress in terms of our rights and freedoms. [Read more…]

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Men with Guns

American Thinker | Mike Austin | May. 11, 2008

Another sophisticate has spoken out, and bravely. “I don’t want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don’t, then you’ve got the Army, Iraq, I don’t know, something like that. It’s not as bright.”

So said Stephen King. He is a writer of horror I hear, though I have never read his books. I do hope that his written prose is more literate than that evinced by his speech. [Read more…]

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Imagine a Free Tibet!

American Thinker | David Bueche | Apr. 20, 2008

I don’t know what the “Free Tibet” bumper sticker crowd must be thinking these days, but I can assure you it most certainly doesn’t involve the 101st Airborne, tanks, guns, or any of that other “culture of violence” stuff.

I guess it involves something along the lines of everyone focusing — I mean really focusing — their energy, and the ensuing global vibe snapping the Chinese out of their misguided ways. This would be followed immediately by a retreat, apology, and later, some really cool sharing and cultural appreciation between the two. [Read more…]

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Defining the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

FrontPageMag | Thomas A. Bowden | Apr. 3, 2008

As the Declaration of Independence recognizes, governments are created to protect our individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The right of self-defense is included and implied in the right to life. In forming a government, citizens delegate the task of defending themselves to the police. But to delegate is not to surrender. Each citizen retains the ultimate right to defend himself in emergencies when his appointed agents, the police, are not available to help. [Read more…]

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A Texas-Size Defense for Values of Boy Scouts

OrthodoxyToday.org | Raymond J. Keating | Mar. 14, 2008

Scouting reinforces lessons we try to teach about hard work, respecting others, responsibility, faith and love of country. Unfortunately, the Boy Scouts have been assaulted in recent times by left-wingers who don’t like the group’s values. But rising in defense is Texas Gov. Rick Perry, with his new book, “On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For.” [Read more…]

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Bush Declares “Fairness Doctrine” Unfair

Statesman.com | Ken Herman | Mar. 11, 2008

During a speech to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, President Bush said there’s nothing fair about the so-called “Fairness Doctrine” that once required broadcasters to offer air time for competing ideologies.

The FCC got rid of it about 20 years ago. Now, some Democrats in Congress – long the target of popular conservative radio talk-show hosts – think it’s time to bring it back. [Read more…]

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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Blasts Homeschool Ruling

WorldNetDaily | Bob Unruh | Mar. 7, 2008

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today blasted a court ruling that endangered homeschooling and homeschoolers statewide.

“Every California child deserves a quality education and parents should have the right to decide what’s best for their children,” the governor said in a prepared statement. “Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children’s education.” [Read more…]

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Homeschoolers’ setback sends shock waves through state

SFGate.com | Bob Egelko, Jill Tucker| Mar. 7, 2008

A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution. The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming. [Read more…]

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Judge orders homeschoolers into government education

WorldNetDaily | Bob Unruh | Feb. 29, 2008

A California court has ruled that several children in one homeschool family must be enrolled in a public school or “legally qualified” private school, and must attend, sending ripples of shock into the nation’s homeschooling advocates as the family reviews its options for appeal.

The ruling came in a case brought against Phillip and Mary Long over the education being provided to two of their eight children. They are considering an appeal to the state Supreme Court, because they have homeschooled all of their children, the oldest now 29, because of various anti-Christian influences in California’s public schools. [Read more…]

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Guns Save Lives

Townhall | John Stossel | Feb. 27, 2008

Criminals have the initiative. They choose the time, place and manner of their crimes, and they tend to make choices that maximize their own, not their victims’, success. So criminals don’t attack people they know are armed, and anyone thinking of committing mass murder is likely to be attracted to a gun-free zone, such as schools and malls. [Read more…]

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