This year farm income is expected to reach an all-time high of $92.3 billion, an increase of 56% in two years, making growers perhaps the most undeserving welfare recipients in American history. But that won’t stop this bill from passing the House and Senate by wide margins…

The White House and liberal reformers calculate that farm owners with clever accountants can have incomes of up to $2.5 million and still get a taxpayer handout…

And once again the big sugar plantation owners in Florida walk away with the sweetest deal: Big Sugar bagged an increase in price supports and a guarantee of 85% of the domestic sugar market at these guaranteed prices. So taxpayers are on the hook for buying surplus domestically produced sugar at 23 cents a pound and selling it for ethanol for closer to three cents a pound.

Here is an excerpt from Dr. Brough’s piece.

Despite a record $175.5 billion in crop production, with the price of all major crops continuing to rise, Congress is seeking to expand subsidies for farmers. In fact, the bill now pending in Congress would allow married couples with an adjusted gross income of $1.5 million to receive subsidies from the government, and even individuals who are not full-time farmers would be eligible for subsidies with an adjusted gross income of $500,000! The White House has suggested a lower cap of $200,000, which is still more than four times the median household income in the United States.

First, Iain Murry has a new book out entitled The Really Inconvenient Truths: Seven Environmental Catastrophes Liberals Don’t Want You to Know About - Because They Helped Cause Them.

Iain blogs at CEI’s Open Market and National Review Online. I’m looking forward to reading his book.

Also, the Heritage Foundation has released a new study anaylyzing the Warner-Lieberman ‘cap and trade’ bill that will be up for debate this summer. Its findings are breathtaking in terms of the huge economic costs that ‘cap and trade’ would impose on the U.S. I’ve got a post over at Freedom Talks that links directly to the study.

“Right now, you can bring a gun to the mall but not to school. Having a gun isn’t unsafe; not having one is unsafe. Concealed carry is for law-abiding citizens. To get a permit in Texas, you have to submit your mental-health history and go through 10 hours of safety training. As a girl walking from class at night, I don’t feel safe with just a knife or pepper spray. I’m not sure what I’d do if something bad happened, but I don’t want to be defenseless. Once we get the law passed, I’m going to get my permit and a small Glock that will fit in my purse.”

A few months before Yoani blogged her first post, Cuba’s communications czar, Ramiro Valdés, told an audience “the wild colt of the new technologies could and must be controlled.”

But such pronouncements by Cuba’s totalitarian leadership did not deter Yoani Sánchez. Today she is arguably the most well-known critic of the Castro regime, with well over 1 million visitors to her blog, Generación Y, each month.

It’s great to see blogs play an important role in getting out information to an oppressed people. Try as they might, the communist thugs in Havana won’t be able to stop the flow of information via the internet. The nexus of freedom and technology is too powerful to suppress.

Why does Barack Obama’s campaign spokesman say that he has a “friendly relationship” with William Ayers? Hannity explains the connection in the video below. Also, be sure to read the short biography of Ayers on Discover the Networks. As the Reverend Wright story will fade for a while, journalists should ask tough questions about the unrepentant terrorist’s connection to Barack Obama.

The Smith College lecture and the leftist antics that ensued have been discussed at length on Sean Hannity’s forum. It is clear that Sorba’s lecture and upcoming book, “The Born Gay Hoax” is already creating waves after just a few of his appearances on college campuses.

Watch the video of his speech at Smith College, which was hijacked by radical homosexualist protesters that forced him to leave.

I’ll be back to my normal blogging schedule tomorrow.

Until then, Feliz Cinco De Mayo!

The Political Spectrum

josephine14

I’m a Stranger Here Myself

Kleos Aphthiton

The last blogger is a Smith alumnus who writes that free speech should be squelched for the “common good.” I hope she remembers that the next time she wants to say something that most Americans disagree with. Perhaps she can explain to the thought police that she wants free speech to apply to her but not to others with whom she disagrees.

VIDEO UPDATE

When I ask Sorba what his next venue will be, he smiles and says, “I want to take my message to a university in Washington, D.C. George Washington University seems like it might be a good place to give the talk. What do you think?” I reply, “It does seem like a good campus if you want to reach the inside-the-beltway crowd and some very politically active students.”

A few days later, we both attend the Washington premiere of Indoctrinate U, a film by Evan Maloney about the lack of free speech on many college campuses. In the crowd are a couple of dozen students from George Washington University who identify themselves by asking Maloney a question of the after the screening. As I walk out of the Kennedy Center and head to the after-party, I catch a glimpse of a conversation just outside the door. I see Sorba and the GWU students exchanging business cards and chatting about what kind of events the students are planning for the fall and spring semesters. As I leave, I can’t help but wonder, “Is there even a chance that the ‘born gay hoax’ lecture wasn’t discussed?” Based on the energy and determination of Ryan Sorba, and the number of college students that are beginning to hear about his message, I can say with all confidence, “Not a chance.”

Brendan Steinhauser is the author of The Conservative Revolution: How to Win the Battle for College Campuses. He is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and writes about campus politics on his blog TheConservativeRevolution.com

]]> http://theconservativerevolution.com/campus-politics/ryan-sorba-part-three/feed/ http://theconservativerevolution.com/barack-obama/why-reverend-wright-matters/ http://theconservativerevolution.com/barack-obama/why-reverend-wright-matters/#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:19:12 +0000 Brendan http://theconservativerevolution.com/barack-obama/why-reverend-wright-matters/ There is some debate over whether or not Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s comments matter when considering the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. For a few key reasons, I believe that this relationship does matter.

Yesterday’s speech at the National Press Club was a big mistake on Wright’s part. He kept his name in the news and refused to back down from his ludicrous claim that the government created AIDS to kill black folks. He made the outrageous statement that criticism of him is “an attack on the black church.” And he praised the racist and kooky leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan.

Barack Obama is running a campaign based on being a post-partisan and post-racial candidate who will change America. And he argues that his judgment trumps the experience of John McCain and Hillary Clinton. If we are to assess Obama’s ability to lead based on his “judgment” then we must conclude that he doesn’t have very good judgment at all. Would someone with good judgment stay in a black supremacist church that promotes black liberation theology? Would someone with good judgment maintain friendships with Tony Rezko and William Ayers? I think not. This is not guilt by association, but guilt by volition. Obama knew what kind of characters he was dealing with, and still made bad decisions by continuing these relationships and associations. His judgment is lacking, and without that, what is his rationale for being president?

There is another reason why the Rev. Wright controversy matters. His blame-America first ideology is part of mainstream leftist thought. The arguments he makes against America’s history and social organization fit right in with arguments made by leftist icons Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Che Guevara. There is nothing new here, just the same tired rhetoric meant to deconstruct America and, by extension, the West. This analysis is best exemplified by Dan Flynn’s book Why the Left Hates America. It makes sense for someone with a Marxist view of the world to vilify the country that best proves the Marxist paradigm to be unworkable and a nightmarish system for human beings. Rev. Wright, along with the other plethora of leftist academics and politicians, hurl attacks at this nation and its representative government because they cannot allow it to prove their leftist worldview to be the miserable failure that is is.

When you consider that Obama has made an issue over wearing the American flag on his lapel, and his wife has repeatedly bashed this country, it makes you wonder whether they agree with Rev. Wright’s comments. This is why Rev. Wright’s comments matter to the broader debate about who should, or should not, be president.

UPDATE: Obama denounces Wright

Obama just gave a press conference where he disavowed Wright’s statements at the National Press Club. Clearly the pressure from bloggers and the media convinced him he had to throw the pastor under the bus. I really don’t know whether Obama agrees with Wright and is just trying to save his political career, or disagrees with Wright but has not wanted to disown him. Either way, this won’t put the issue to bed. But I am glad that he at least addressed Wright’s statements more directly.

]]> http://theconservativerevolution.com/barack-obama/why-reverend-wright-matters/feed/ http://theconservativerevolution.com/campus-politics/ryan-sorba-part-two/ http://theconservativerevolution.com/campus-politics/ryan-sorba-part-two/#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 02:11:59 +0000 Brendan http://theconservativerevolution.com/campus-politics/ryan-sorba-part-two/ This is the second of a series of posts about Ryan Sorba, who has been lecturing on college campuses about “the born gay hoax.”

Fast forward a year or so to the fall of 2007. Sorba has refined his work, updated his lecture, added chapters to his book and gained confidence from countless hours spent reading C.S. Lewis, Bruce Thornton, Robert George and other conservative intellectuals. He also is no longer just a college student, but has a nice perch for a campus revolutionary working for a prestigious nonprofit group on the East Coast.

Between his work as a membership director and an activist for multiple other organizations, Sorba continues to work on his book and meet students who become interested in his ideas. One student he meets, Kyle Bristow, is a Michigan State University campus leader with Young Americans for Freedom, which was founded by William F. Buckley in the 1960’s. Kyle invites Sorba to lecture at MSU, the university where Russell Kirk, an Intercollegiate Studies Institute icon, once taught, before becoming completely disgusted with the academy and retreating into independent scholarship. Sorba gladly accepts the offer to speak and Bristow begins posting flyers around campus and sending out invitations to his group and the broader campus community. But this time around, he will face an onslaught of criticism, protests and a fundraising campaign aimed at countering his message.

The campus GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender) groups have heard about the speech that YAF is planning. They are upset and take this as a direct assault at their way of life. In fact, they state publicly that YAF is a “hate group” and that Sorba is spreading hatred and bigotry. The GLBT groups join forces with the Young Democratic Socialists and other left-wing groups to organize a viewing of Sorba’s lecture from Cal-State and a rebuttal session where they can argue against his point of view. They also decide to attend the event at MSU and speak out against Sorba’s ideas.

Given the academy’s record on allowing controversial events to take place, it is surprising that MSU doesn’t do anything to prevent the speech from happening. Eventually, the evening has come and Sorba walks across the campus, notes in hand and key themes on his mind. He isn’t sure what to expect when he arrives, but the room seems to be only somewhat more rowdy than the auditorium at Cal-State. Many in the audience hold signs of protest throughout the speech, or wear t-shirts that identify them as GLBT supporters. He delivers his lecture, slightly modified to present another part of his book, and faces a few jeers and outbursts, but gets through the talk without major incident. At the end, one student in particular keeps asking him questions, challenging him as he leaves the event. The two continue their heated discussion until Sorba leaves the campus.

Clearly the emotional and intellectual fires have been stoked in East Lansing, just as they were in California. Perhaps some students changed their minds, maybe some became more hardened in their position, but it is clear that the speech has made an impact on the students in one way or another. It has elicited a response from supporters and opponents alike, and has given the crowd plenty to think and talk about for weeks to come.

]]> http://theconservativerevolution.com/campus-politics/ryan-sorba-part-two/feed/ http://theconservativerevolution.com/barack-obama/dick-armey-on-cnbcs-kudlow-and-company/ http://theconservativerevolution.com/barack-obama/dick-armey-on-cnbcs-kudlow-and-company/#comments Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:34:43 +0000 Brendan http://theconservativerevolution.com/barack-obama/dick-armey-on-cnbcs-kudlow-and-company/ Here is the video of FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey’s recent appearance on CNBC’s show Kudlow and Company. In an earlier post I quoted Armey’s statement about Barack Obama. Now you can watch the video and hear Armey address Obama and liberals in general.

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