ChrisWeigant.com

Archive of Articles in the "The Bill of Rights" Category

Friday Talking Points [73] -- "Good Grief!" Friday

[ Posted Friday, April 10th, 2009 – 16:38 UTC ]

A bumpersticker seen in more liberal areas of the country reads: "Jesus save me from your followers." Now, that may not be a very "Christian" way to open a column which falls on the Christian Good Friday, but I was reminded of it by yet another episode of Catholic leaders denouncing liberal politicians. To these leaders, I have to say, isn't there something about beams and dust motes and eyes which you could be more productively teaching about? Or perhaps that one about throwing the first stone?

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C.W. Cunningham Honored By Jefferson Center

[ Posted Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 – 16:44 UTC ]

ChrisWeigant.com is proud to announce that our much-beloved resident cartoonist C.W. Cunningham has been honored by the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, by being featured in their "Jefferson Muzzles" awards column.

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Constitutionally-Protected Spam

[ Posted Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 – 16:33 UTC ]

Perhaps I am just being alarmist here. Perhaps I am wrong about all of this. Or perhaps we will look back at Jaynes in the future with horror, as our inboxes fill up with mudslinging about the candidates. I truly hope I am mistaken about this, and not prophetic.

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Oh, The Humanity! Godless Huffington Post Commenters Wickedly Destroying Conservatism

[ Posted Monday, March 30th, 2009 – 16:24 UTC ]

In the era of Michael Steele, Sarah Palin, and Bobby Jindal, it's pretty hard to stand out in the world of conservative lunatic ravings. But Andrew Breitbart's recent opinion piece in the Washington Times truly raises (lowers?) the bar for the rest of the field in right-wing Crazytown. His thesis is that liberal blog commenters are ruining things for the conservatives' attempts to have a nice online chat.

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Guest Author: Why I Decided To Become An American

[ Posted Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 – 15:02 UTC ]

I am an American citizen. Now, I truly belong.

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Seriously Annoying News From Michigan

[ Posted Thursday, February 19th, 2009 – 17:11 UTC ]

I find plenty of local elected officials seriously annoying, too, I should mention. As a matter of fact, I find the politics of a large segment of the population seriously annoying. Boy, they better stock up on blank citations, as they're going to have to write a lot of tickets for that one. I find certain movies seriously annoying. And don't even get me started on how seriously annoying television is (starting with "the news").

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Friday Talking Points [62] -- Obama's Inaugural Speech

[ Posted Friday, January 23rd, 2009 – 18:13 UTC ]

Because Obama's Inaugural speech was indeed masterful. When he started speaking, I was thinking "which line will be the one everyone focuses on?" In other words, which line will be the "nothing to fear but fear itself" or "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" moment? Both of those lines are from previous inaugurations, so what would be remembered from Obama's speech?

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Support John Conyers' Truth Commission

[ Posted Wednesday, January 14th, 2009 – 17:12 UTC ]

Are you one of those people who wants to see what has been done in your name by the outgoing Bush administration? Are you frustrated by all the "we need to look forward, not backward" language from Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders? Well, now you can do something about it, by calling up your House member today and telling them to support John Conyers' H.R.104, a bill to "establish a national commission on presidential war powers and civil liberties."

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My 2008 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 2]

[ Posted Friday, December 26th, 2008 – 18:05 UTC ]

Three names suggest themselves in this category. The first, sad to say, is Sarah Palin. While some dismiss her with the term (which she herself uttered on Saturday Night Live) "Caribou Barbie," my educated guess is that we have not seen the last of Alaska's governor on the national stage. Because while the list of things Palin lacks is long and daunting, she has one star quality which may prove to be strong enough to cancel all the rest out -- charisma. A politician can learn about such mundane things as world events and how to speak with political finesse, but charisma can't really be learned -- it's more of an innate quality. And Palin's got it. For those laughing at the prospect of Sarah Palin ever reappearing, I caution that when Ronald Reagan first ran for president, we all laughed at him, too. An actor becoming president? Pre-pos-terous! So don't underestimate charisma, or Palin's ambition.

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Spam, Free Speech, And Anonymity (continued...)

[ Posted Thursday, November 13th, 2008 – 18:15 UTC ]

As I see it, the issue breaks down in a number of ways. The first question is anonymity -- do Americans have an absolute right to anonymity in political messages? The second question is technological -- is anonymity a right, no matter what the medium? And the third question seems to be political, and deal with campaign and election law -- what kinds of rules on speech are constitutionally allowable in politics?

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