It shouldn't be surprising that so many radicals like Bill Ayres ended up going into education.  Where else can they have a more powerful, long-term subversive impact?

For years, schools have been raising our children to value political correctness and self-esteem more than free debate and the respectful exchange of ideas.  Students have not been taught the value of our constitutional protections, or the nightmare that historically ensues when these rights, protections, checks and balances are absent.  Heck, most students don't know how to take constructive criticism, much less engage in a lively and thoughtful debate.  The Left has done a very good job of seizing control first of our universities and then the rest of our schools.  By controlling what students are taught and, more importantly, what they are not taught, they have managed to radically change the values that once governed university life.  At this point, most professors are themselves a product of this new environment, and on it goes, becoming ever more entrenched.  No -- freedom of expression and academic freedom are not valued any more -- certainly not venerated as they once were.  And of course, this cripples the academic environment for everyone: right, left, and in between.  The difference is that those few on the right have seen it coming.  The others won't know what hit them.

No Damascus Road experience for me -- it was much more gradual.  In college, back in the late 70's, early 80's, I was quite liberal and active in several feminist groups.  I think the first thing to really disturb me was the obsessive focus of the feminist movement on abortion, which I had always found morally problematic.  I was offended by the efforts made to "protect" women from all of the facts about abortion, and later, about the real effects of early day care on children.  Here I thought that I had been fighting to have women be recognized as moral and intellectual equals, only to have feminists treat me and other women as emotionally frail little things, who could not handle the truth and had to be protected from guilt at all costs.  I don't like being patronized or lied to -- I want the truth.  But I found more and more that too many liberals were not interested in the truth -- they were interested in towing the party line.  If you questioned that orthodoxy too much, you'd be cast into outer darkness.  The sheer hypocrisy of the feminists' response to Clinton's womanizing turned my stomach.

I admit I've been a lurker.  Does that make me a shirker?  I'll try to gird up my loins and join the fray more often.

I've actually been a member for some time, but being a Mormon, I should have asked:  What's the price of a grande hot chocolate at the flagship Starbuck's?

I've thought of this analogy as well over the past few weeks.   In my mind, I can hear my liberal friends responding indignantly, "How can you compare a woman's right to control her reproductive health to a ham sandwich?"  Of course, a ham sandwich, while insignificant to a non-Jew, is deeply significant to an orthodox Jew.  It is a commodity which can easily (and relatively inexpensively) be obtained elsewhere -- so why on earth would any fair-minded person think of forcing an orthodox Jew to violate his conscience so egregiously, just to make things a bit more convenient for non-kosher or gentile customers.  The stakes surrounding contraception issue are powerfully felt on both sides of the argument, and that makes this issue so much more explosive.   The supporters of the mandate feel so strongly about the right to contraception (the ham sandwich) that they  refuse to recognize how deeply felt is the position of the devout Catholic.  It is dismissed as a cover for misogyny, or at best, a silly old-fashioned technicality -- certainly not deserving of respect or justifying their own inconvenience.  Worse, they see it as an attack on their own moral rectitude.

I'm with you.  What good is a Super Bowl without the Packers?

I don't often have time to watch the whole two-hour TV program, but the fee also covers the podcast to the radio show.  I paid for that before he left Fox anyway -- so now I get a lot more for my money.  The variety of programming really is impressive.  I've subscribed to a number of different radio podcasts,and this is by far the best return on my money.  He may not be everyone's cup of tea, but he does have an uncanny knack of seeing things coming that are missed by everyone else.

He is also following up the "Restoring Honor" and "Restoring Courage" events with a huge rally called "Restoring Love."  It will be held in Texas, and the focus will be on providing service to those in need.

Beck is still here!  His radio show is as good as ever, and his own network, GBTV, is adding more and more new programming every month.The now-two-hour version of The Glenn Beck Program airs four days a week, often with very impressive guests.  GBTV also offers news programming, children's shows, a reality show about emergency preparedness, and occasional specials. The downside, of course, is that one has to pay a modest fee to subscribe to GBTV.  It's not on a major TV Network, so one has to go a bit off the beaten path to see it.  On the upside, he is able to say and do whatever he wants, without having to deal with network "higher-ups."  He definitely took a major chance -- it's a new, very innovative kind of programming.  Time will tell if he is ahead of the curve or out in left field.  But I would strongly encourage anyone to check out GBTV by using the free trial.

I think Obama would have pointed to the toddler in the stroller nearby, and said, "Just make it a loan against his account."

As the mother of both three boys and a daughter, I have to laugh at this piece.  Why is it that so many little girls (and grown-up ones, for that matter) feel the need to be the "conscience of the playground"?  Having also taught at an all-boys high school, I came to appreciate the civilizing power of girls!  On the other hand, our culture has become so feminized, and males so unjustly cowed, that the nannies are crushing out all of the wonderful masculine traits that we so desperately need.  After many indignant, but inneffectual, appeals to Mom, my lovely little girl found an excellent middle ground: a bright pink super-soaker.

Ten years ago, my eleven-year-old son was waiting near school for me to pick him up, when he saw a larger boy pounding on my son's friend.  He told the bigger boy twice to stop hitting his friend, and when he didn't stop, Elliot punched him in the face.  The kid backed off, and when I arrived a few minutes later, I was told nothing about it.  Two days later, I got a call from school, telling me that my son had been arrested.  (An eleven-year-old!)  No one questioned that my son was defending his friend, but they said he should have gone into the school in search of a teacher.  His case worker told me that there is no right under law to use force to defend another person -- only to defend oneself.  He was suspended from school for a week, charged with disorderly conduct (again, we were told he was getting off easy -- it should have been assault) and sentenced to community service.  I had taught my sons that it is a good and honorable thing to defend someone from a bully.  So much for that.  We started homeschooling.

Ten years ago, my eleven-year-old son was waiting near school for me to pick him up, when he saw a larger boy pounding on my son's friend.  He told the bigger boy twice to stop hitting his friend, and when he didn't stop, Elliot punched him in the face.  The kid backed off, and when I arrived a few minutes later, I was told nothing about it.  Two days later, I got a call from school, telling me that my son had been arrested.  (An eleven-year-old!)  No one questioned that my son was defending his friend, but they said he should have gone into the school in search of a teacher.  His case worker told me that there is no right under law to use force to defend another person -- only to defend oneself.  He was suspended from school for a week, charged with disorderly conduct (again, we were told he was getting off easy -- it should have been assault) and sentenced to community service.  I had taught my sons that it is a good and honorable thing to defend someone from a bully.  So much for that.  We started homeschooling.