Last night, I made the two mile trip over to the campus at the University of California, Irvine. Why? Because FR friend Kristen Lucero, who is President of the UC Irvine College Republicans told me about an event they were hosting on campus. An excerpt from a Los Angeles Times article on the event described it this way: .JPG)
The caricatures, first printed in European newspapers, incited riots worldwide that led to dozens of deaths last month.
Organizers of the UCI forum, which drew about 250 people to an auditorium at the student union, said the event was aimed at having an open discussion about the cartoons and the furor they’d caused.
The drawings were displayed alongside anti-Semitic and anti-Western cartoons that organizers said were published in Muslim nations.
Protesters denounced the event, which was co-sponsored by a student Republican group, saying it would incite "Islamophobia" and offend local followers of Islam. The religion forbids any depictions of Muhammad.
Let me tell you, there was a ton of energy at this event, and I certainly realized that there is a significant group of folks in America who’s primary allegiance isn’t to America, but to their religion, and it was a solemn reminder of the importance of our rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. I will say, spending a lot of time outside watching the protestors, that the leader’s of UCI’s student Muslim group were very proactive in making sure everything stayed peaceful. This was something given the looks of pure hatred and disgust on the face of some of the more militant protesters who were holding up signs depicting the AK-47 assault rifles they would be waving had this been Damascus and not Irvine.
Congratulations to Kristen and her whole club for putting on a successful event! We’ll be hearing more about this! You can read the MSM coverage on this on the main page. (Thanks to Nick Romero for the picks.)
OTHER TOP STORIES IN THE NEWS
* In THE HILL today, there is another article that speculates that Bill Thomas may be retiring. Especially in light of the fact that his lack of popularity (to say the least) with his colleagues would likely mean that in his next term, he would no longer be a Committee Chairman. Added to the drama is the cascading effect of his decision – would it mean that McCarthy and Ashburn run for Congress? This would open those two legislative seats, and set off a competition for who would replace McCarthy as Assembly Republican Leader.
* DON PERATA has joined the chorus of anti-Meathead activists around the state. Reiner has been so scurrilous and underhanded in his direction of public tax dollars in support of his private tax and spend ballot measure on universal preschool that even members of the bigger-government party are appalled. Did you know that the Governor can replace Reiner on the state commission he used to steer the public money? The Governor need only name a replacement, as Reiner’s term expired long ago…
* THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS in San Francisco are something else. A few weeks ago, one of their members declared on Hannity & Colmes that the United States should have no military. Well, that same Supervisor participated in a vote to call on the President’s impeachment. I have an idea, why don’t we ask the SF District Attorney to prosecute these Supervisors for criminal stupidity. Its not enough that they engage in serious social engineering in their city, treating hundreds-of-thousands as laboratory rats for their bizarre experiments, but then they pass silly resolutions like this one. Then again, this is the board that approved former-Supervisor, now Assemblyman Mark Leno’s bill to require taxpayers to foot the bill for any employees to have a sex-change operation (this has cost the city the better part of a million bucks already).
* A FIELD POLL out shows that California voters apparently are enamored with this BIG BOND$ proposal. I think that it is time to remember that good public policy isn’t doing what is popular, but doing what is right. Furthermore, good policy is good politics. As I have said over and over, maxing out the state’s credit card to pay for massive public works projects without: 1) meaningful fiscal reforms in California’s budgetary and spending processes and 2) a significant commitment of annual general fund dollars for infrastructure are vital to making a borrowing plan of this magnitude into good public policy. The kinds of fiscal reforms that I am thinking about would be DOA in the legislature, where fiscal restraint is an elusive quality. I have made the analogy that this kind of borrowing without the terms I set out above is like steering the S.S. California into an iceberg. The tip of the iceberg above the waterline looks beautiful and inviting. It is the vast underwater mass of the iceberg that presents the danger to the ship. In my analogy, that mass is represented by the danger of massive borrowing, and without needed reforms.
Today is your last chance to submit potential CRP Convention Winners & Losers right here.
Have a great day!
Jon
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