By Tom Bortnyk
PoHo correspondent

“Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American” - Nancy Pelosi

Madam Speaker, I could not agree more. Freedom of speech is one of our most cherished rights as American citizens. So, too, is the right to peaceably assemble and to petition the government without fear of punishment or reprisal. These rights are the foundation for Western Civilization as we know it.

Why then, Madam Speaker, do these rights only apply to citizens who share your ideological views? It seems to be the very definition of irony and a text book example of hypocrisy. The political Left in the US has been working diligently to silence opposition, not only with the current health care debate, but in numerous instances in the past.

I have personally experienced such measures. Just this past semester, while at Florida State University, I helped organize an effort to protest Bill Ayers, the self-proclaimed Communist and admitted terrorist of the Weather Underground, from coming to speak on the school’s dime. When the opposition was peacefully organized outside the event, the campus police forced us to back off into a “free speech zone“. This Orwellian sounding abomination is a slap in the face to the Constitution and the rights we hold dear as Americans.

“Danger lies not in some speaker’s ideas. Danger lies in teaching students that ideas they don’t agree with
are not important”, proclaimed FSU President TK Wetherell upon hearing that the event would be protested. Very true, Mr. Wetherell. Again, I agree. Which is why I am, to this day, perplexed that police were called in to silence the ideas that opposed Mr. Ayers.

Recently, at a town hall meeting on health care reform in, members of the community group ACORN commanded police to remove, from a public street, those demonstrating against the bill. A small group having a polite discussion on the issue (on a public sidewalk, no less) were told that they had to stop conversing, and move to another location.

“When a police officer tells you to do something, and you don’t do it, you’re actually resisting. So you have to listen to him” said a representative of ACORN, regarding the officer’s actions. Really? So then what was the outrage of the Henry Gates incident at Harvard recently? Was he not “resisting” as well?

Democrats and the political left have been characterizing their opposition as thugs and mouthpieces for the insurance lobby, but all evidence points to the contrary. A recent Rasmussen poll puts opposition to the health care bill at 53 percent, the highest it has ever been. Forty-four percent of voters strongly oppose the bill, while a meager 26 percent strongly support it.

Mike Sola, a man who recently had a heated confrontation with Congressman John Dingell (D-MI), has been bullied with threats and harassment ever since he voiced his opinion of the bill. At a town hall debate in Tampa, a Democratic Party official slapped a man in the face. Tell me again who the thugs are?

This of course says nothing about the “snitch” program that the White House has created. The administration has encouraged proponents of the bill to flag those who are speaking out against it, by reporting them to flag@whitehouse.gov. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has openly criticized this program, suggesting that it is merely an attempt to intimidate political opponents. It is certainly reminiscent of Richard Nixon’s enemies list, and it may be illegal under the Privacy Act of 1974.

Individual rights were trampled during the Bush year, say the Democrats, so why is there outrage from the Right now? I would respond by simply citing the age-old philosophy: two wrongs don’t make a right. The hypocrisy of some does not excuse the hypocrisy of others, and the suppression of ideas is wrong no matter which political party is in power.

You are correct, Madam Speaker. Silencing opposing views is, indeed, un-American. Including when you do it.

Tom Bortnyk is a student at Florida State University.

Notice came just before midnight Tuesday. The decision is described as a pause in all war-crimes proceedings.

The decision will temporarily stop the prosecution of five detainees charged as the coordinators of the Sept. 11 attacks, including the case against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

• Bruce Ivins e-mail indicates he was maybe kind of a loon, so it’s certain he perpetrated a solo biological weapons attack on liberal members of our government and the media (though the e-mails never mention anything close to that). Case closed.
• Bush slams China’s human rights record — in the most gentle way possible, of course.
• “Sure I’ll plead guilty to murder, But I gotta have the Colonel and Papa John as witnesses.”
• Hillsborough to spend $50 million on park maintainence and a scaled down version of Jim Norman’s field of dreams.
• How to: stockpile cheap(er) gas.
• Headline of the week: “I’m a breastfeeding fiend.”
• Favre goes to the Jets. Get your Jeff Garcia jerseys here.
• Case closed in the death of Heath Ledger.

• Bush signs the government’s big mortgage bailout bill.
• McCain suddenly remembers he’s a Republican, decides tax increases aren’t on the table after all.
• Alaska Senator Ted Stevens (R) sees his career slide further down the tubes.
• A whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on.
• Oil prices drop 16% in July.
• New drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease stops the disease in its tracks … maybe.
• Ex basketball ref Tim Donaghy foul’s out for 15 months after rigging NBA games.
• Don’t hurt the robot’s feelings.

• Bush to leave behind a $482 billion deficit — and that doesn’t include “the full cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the potential $50 billion cost of another economic stimulus package, or the possibility of steeper losses in tax revenues if individual income or corporate profits decline.”
• You know the nation is in trouble when the Justice Department is guilty of repeatedly breaking the law.
• “Nuclear weapons are so 20th century.”
• McCain has part of his face removed; Obama’s hip hurts.
• Obama narrows the veep list … maybe.
• BlackLight’s not just for your Jimi Hendrix posters anymore.
• Amy Winehouse leaves the hospital, Kelsey Grammer checks in.
• Helpful tips for hallucinating the natural way.

• Obama wows them on the continent.
• McCain’s going to pick Romney for V.P., isn’t he?
• No end in sight: Foreclosures double from a year ago.
• Ford loses $8.7 billion last quarter.
• Firm charged with manipulating the oil market. But the oil execs said high prices were only caused by supply and demand?
• Qantas may never crash, but they can still come damn close.
• The Internet’s “critical flaw” exposed.
• The Mindfreak prepares for a little building-implosion prestidigitation on Clearwater Beach.

• U.S. bombs Northwest Pakistan, killing 11 Pakistani soldiers. Aren’t they a War On Terror teammate?
• Bush Sabrerattles with Merkel at press conference in Germany.
• Strickland bails out of the running for Obama’s V.P.
• Soaring New York landmark that looks like a hood ornament seeks rich Arab investment fund for romance, long walks on beach, $800 million.
• ADHD: It’s in the genes.
• Sleep can kill you! (Or at least shorten your life.)
• NBA officials fixed playoff games? No way! Those called fouls always look legitimate to me.
• Lakers finally win one against the Celtics, series stands at 2-1 Boston.

Great moments in presidential speechifying.

• McClellan spills the beans on Bush.
• Obama confuses two Nazi prison camps, the Right declares him unfit to lead.
• Al-Qaeda calls for WMD attacks on the West.
• Where else? “Max Hardcore” on trial for obscenity in Tampa.
• Look who’s on Facebook now …
• The “Zero Punctuation” guy slows down for an interview.
• “True Romance: 15 Years Later.”
• Slice & Dice: The Macbook Air.

You’re a grand old flag …

• Israeli newspaper claims Bush will bomb Iran before the end of his term.
• Clinton claims lead in popular vote, but only if you use Hillary Math.
• Obama leads Clinton 55-39 nationally among Dems in yesterday’s Gallup poll.
• Can someone please teach Bill Kristol how to do research before he helps mislead us into a costly and destructive war? Nevermind.
• Sore loser: Geraldine Ferraro.
• Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester goes from being treated for cancer to throwing a no-hitter in two short years.
• Yawn: Napster starts selling MP3s. That only took 8 years.
• Indy to shatter box office records?

Couch potatoes unite!

• The mother of the St. Pete courthouse gunman blames shootout on “antigovernment Web sites.”
• Clinton’s five big boo boos …
• … and her three options.
• Bush mucks with the FCC to help out his old buddy/election law-flouter John McCain.
• Toyota feels the sting of the U.S. economic slowdown.
• The high price of intelligence.
• The Olympic torch makes it to the protester-free summit of Mt. Everest.
• No GTA IV in India. Reason: a global shortage.