We will freedom for freedom’s sake, in and through particular circumstances. And in thus willing freedom, we discover that it depends entirely upon the freedom of others and that the freedom of others depends upon our own.
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Houston, You’re a Problem
Will this installment of “Common Sense” be subpoenaed by the City of Houston?
The city first subpoenaed the sermons of pastors who oppose a controversial equal-rights ordinance and who have “ties” to conservative activists suing the city. When that raised howls of protest, the city, in its infinite wisdom, issued new subpoenas for “speeches” by these pastors.
The difference between sermons and speeches? None.
The Houston Equal Rights Ordinance expands what counts as illegal discrimination in the workplace to include any based on sexual orientation or “gender identity or pregnancy.” The ordinance seeks to eradicate the “diminution of dignity, respect and status” that it declares must result from any unequal treatment — regardless of the reason — related to any of 15 or so protected characteristics. The vagueness and catch-all character of this further workplace regimentation would doubtless spawn new lawsuits by dignity-diminished employees eager to interpret motives in the most lawsuit-conducive light.
My point, though, is not about governmental bullying of employers and violation of their rights, but governmental bullying of critics of government policy and violation of their right to speak freely. Speech that vexes you is not thereby properly subject to legal action. Indeed, political speech is precisely the kind of feather-ruffling communication that the First Amendment was designed to protect.
Nobody would bother trying to curb the flow of sermons (or speeches) about the weather.
Houston needs to be sued again — for issuing all of these subpoenas.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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October 19, British defeat
On October 19, 1781, representatives of British commander Lord Cornwallis handed over Cornwallis’ sword and formally surrendered to George Washington and the comte de Rochambeau, at Yorktown, Virginia. The Revolutionary War (or War for Independence, or Colonial Rebellion, or whatever you wish to call it) was over. In 1918 on this date, conservative writer Russell Kirk was born.
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Niels Bohr
Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it.
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Townhall: The Deceivers
Will the Decepticons transform Arkansas? Not if the truth gets out to the people in time.
Click on over to Townhall.com. Read. Enjoy. Then come back here for the necessary R&D.
- YouTube: Arkansas Term Limits TV Ad “Outrage”
- YouTube: Arkansas Term Limits TV Ad “Loosen”
- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (subscription required): Group’s ads warn Issue 3 deceptive
- KTHV TV Little Rock: Ark. GOP opposes Issue 3
- The News (Salem): Arkansas Ballot Issue 3 – boon or boondoggle?
- YouTube: Speech by Tim Jacob about Issue 3 Scam
- Ballotpedia: Arkansas’s Issue 3
- Full Text of Issue 3
- Save Term Limits: Legislative Vote on Issue 3
And then: contact your friends and family in Arkansas. There is no reason to let the Decepticons win.
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Video: Grading the Governors
Who gets the A’s, who gets the F’s:
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Oct 18, Phillis Wheatley
On October 18, 1775, African-American poet Phillis Wheatley was freed from slavery, upon the death of her master. Widely appreciated in her day, she was the first African-American to publish a book.
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Niels Bohr
Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.
Many politicians serve as powerful arguments for term limits. Arkansas State Senator Jon Woods rivals the best.
Sen. Woods (R-Springdale) and State Rep. Warwick Sabin (D-Little Rock) authored a 22-page, 7,000-word constitutional amendment on this November’s ballot. They say Issue 3 is about ethics and transparency.
You decide.
Woods and Sabin threw together various ethics provisions and then stuck in a gutting of term limits. Their ballot title reads it is “establishing term limits” — without bothering to inform voters that it doubles how long legislators can stay in the Senate and more than doubles the House limit — to a whopping 16 years!
This week, Arkansas Term Limits debuted TV ads alerting the public to the scam, charging that legislators have “pursued a campaign of silence . . . letting the deceptive ballot title do their work,” so that “when Arkansas voters go to the polls there will be no mention of the doubling of term[s].”
The unrepentant Sen. Woods says that it is “misleading” to call his Issue 3 deceptive. Meanwhile, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that, after asking if Woods’s ballot language wasn’t indeed deceptive: “Woods said he doesn’t know.”
The senator’s response to the Arkansas GOP Convention’s nearly unanimous resolution against Issue 3? “You just have a couple of nuts that got together on a Saturday that were out of touch with Arkansans and passed a silly resolution that in no way reflects the point of view of all Republicans in Arkansas.”
Perhaps Democratic politicians are smarter. Democratic co-author Sabin is nowhere to be found in news coverage of Issue 3, likely hiding under his bed.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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October 17, Einstein
On October 17, 1933, Albert Einstein fled Nazi Germany for the United States.