The Minuteman

CROSSING THE CONSERVATIVE WIRES

By Robert Nathan Eberhart
From the November 2006 Print Edition

Democrats Gone Wild

In yet another display of liberal hatred and intolerance, a lone supporter of Arnold Schwarzenegger was attacked by protesters at a rally in support of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides. An account given by Doug Van Sant on the East Bay blog "The Real Republican" states that the protester, a member of the Berkeley College Republicans, was holding a Schwarzenegger sign and taking an enormous amount of verbal abuse from the crowd. "I watched as an older woman kept getting in the Schwarzenegger supporter’s face and was trying to hit his sign with her campaign poster. As the Schwarzenegger supporter moved around to avoid the harassment, about 10 Angelides supporters followed making rude comments and threatening remarks. At that point, a young male with dreadlocks yanked the sign and began ripping it apart." The account then continues, "The Schwarzenegger supporter was resilient and came back with another sign. Again, he was not saying a word, just holding his sign in the air … Again, the Angelides supporter with dreadlocks slammed into this young man and yanked the second sign away, walked off to rip it apart as well."

The Bible and Playboy treated equally

In Maryland, a middle school vice principal threatened a seventh-grade girl with punishment for reading the Bible at lunchtime. According to an interview conducted by CNSnews.com of the seventh-grade Amber’s mother, vice principal Maryanne Mangum of Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School told her that she "was not allowed to read it," and that she would be punished if she did so again. This despite an explicit provision in the 2003 No Child Left Behind Act that allows students to read religious materials during their free time.

Save the oaks

The proposed renovations to the venerable Memorial Stadium have spawned a grassroots political movement in the vein of Berkeley’s tradition of political activism. The group, Save the Oaks at the Stadium (www.saveoaks.com) is an all-volunteer grassroots citizens group dedicated to stopping the destruction of a centuries-old native-growth oak grove lining Piedmont Avenue on the west side of Memorial Stadium. The group’s canvassing of the local community with petitions, fliers, and a sizeable on-campus presence has certainly raised awareness of this issue to the point where the university may amend its plans to construct a new athletic center.

Air America Radio’s check bounces

The left-wing answer to the phenomenally successful Rush Limbaugh Show has fallen flat on its face. On Oct. 13, Air America filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to shield itself from accountability from its unnamed creditors at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Rumors of Air America’s demise have been circulating for some time now, ever since progressive blog ThinkProgress.org predicted that the network would go under in mid-September. Air America vehemently denied the reports that it was in dire financial straits, which we now see were lies. Air America will continue broadcasting until the ongoing negotiations with its creditors are completed. The company had just over $4 million in assets and over $20 million in liabilities, according to the bankruptcy statement. Air America’s biggest creditor, Rob Glaser, founder of Real Networks and a major player in the negotiations, is himself owed $9.8 million.

Democrats’ borrowed agenda

The Democrats’ latest in a series of constantly changing party talking points, slogans, and priorities called for a "New Direction for America." The plan promotes strategies that sound remarkably similar to the institutionalized platforms of the Republican Party. These include middle-class tax cuts, $32 billion in small-business tax relief, and "Pay As You Go" budgeting to ensure that government spending doesn’t add to the deficit. This last point sounds like a plank of fiscal conservatism, but will surely end up starving the U.S. military and security apparatus of critical anti-terror funds. GOP spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt had this to say about the Democrats’ "New Direction": "If there was any evidence that campaign season is in full swing, it’s Nancy Pelosi’s epiphany that tax cuts spur economic growth after years of leading the charge in tax hikes on American workers."

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