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Show PAGE A5 Thank you Patriot Act Academic freedom unpatriotic To all the people who helped me get through this semeter Robert William Nelsen Opinion Writer We made it; the semester is finally over. As we all move on to what life has in store, I want to take a minute to reflect and say thanks to a few people. First I want to thank my calculus teacher for teaching me a bunch of stuff I use at least a 100 times a day. While on this subject I should thank Satan for inventing calculus, and his helpers for making it required for business majors, because you never know when you will have to find the anti-derivative of 2xg746fnj821 + 7.42hqp without a calculator. Thank you few teachers who do offer extra credit, for saving my GPA. I should also thank my philosophy teacher for showing me that there are non-Mormons and democrats in Utah County. I want to thank Michael Moore for causing the largest natural disaster Utah has ever seen. Thank you Sean Hannity for saving our precious souls from being forced to listen to an opposing view. Thanks, Kay Anderson, for taking on the responsibility of representing the State of Utah, each and every UVSC student, and Mormons across the globe. I think we should thank whichever Supreme Being we pray to for sparing us from the plagues once feared in having Mr. Moore come; we were all worried for a while, weren't we. I want to thank those who threatened to stop funding UVSC, and to refuse to hire UVSC graduates. I am glad you noticed that we are all horrible people and don't deserve a good library. I want to thank Michael Jackson for giving CNN something to talk about all day. There must be some other news going on in the world right now, I just don't know what it is. I want to thank those few guys who kept their standards and refused to jump on the bandwagon by wearing pink shirts. We may be the minority but if we stand together we can make it through this fad. 1 thank the makers of licorice, peanut butter M&Ms, and Choco-diles for making the three greatest foods known to mankind. I think we should all take a moment of silence to thank one more important person who doesn't get enough recognition. To the man/woman who invented toilet paper; thank you very much. Finally I thank you for wasting your time each week reading my articles. You may actually be dumber after having read them, but I hope you at least got a laugh out of it. "Patriot Act" cont'd from page A4 ward this to all your Chinese friends who are spies, thanks much, appreciate it). According to the U.S. constitution, the courts balance the cops because the Founding Fathers wisely understood that cops will beat you if given the chance. (Seriously.) (No, seriously.) If we allow domestic policy like the Patriot Act to go unchecked it could become a more destructive weapon against the American people than the terrorists it seeks to Intercept and Obstruct. Nearly 3,000 years ago, Laozi, one of China's greatest philosophers wrote: "Laws are written to bring about justice. To insist upon enforcing outdated laws that create injustice is to take care of your hat and shoes while forgetting the head and feet they were designed to protect." You can read about the Patriot Act and its problems at ACLU.org. You can even email Hatch, Bennett and Canon right there from the site. I'm not giving you $100, and I was just kidding about the cops. (No, seriously.) Peter Walters lives and writes in Beijing. Readers Forum... LETTERS TO THE EDITOR * E-Mail letters to uvscopinions@hotmail.com * The NetXNews room is located on campus in SC220. * All letters become property of NetXNews and may be edited for content, specifically clarity, length or other concerns at the discretion of the Opinions Editor. * Letters between 50-250 words are encouraged and those letters marked by their succinctness are more likely to be published. * Letters must be accompanied by full name, address, and phone number for verification purposes (contact information will not be published). Occupation, title or major is optional. the left and the far left. Those who attempt to practice academic freedom on the right - or even in the political middle - are often treated with contempt. Academicians themselves have documented institutionalized liberalism at their schools. According to a study by Professors at Smith College, George Mason University, and the University of Toronto - a study involving over 1,600 full-time faculty at 183 fouryear schools - 72 percent of those surveyed said they were liberal, with only 15 percent calling themselves conservative. 84 percent are strongly or somewhat in favor of abortion rights. Clearly American academia has a decidedly left- . wing agenda. (Cal Thomas, "Liberal bias is bleeding into college classes, corrupting youth," Salt Lake Tribune, April 1, 2005.) Some members of the UVSC faculty have told me that they received hate mail during the Michael Moore and Vagina Monologues fiascos. Although I think that is unfortunate and I certainly don't sanction it, there is something to be learned from it. The authors of such communications are demonstrating, however distastefully, that they genuinely care about UVSC. They are saying, in effect, "We are distressed by the leftward drift of UVSC, and we want it to stop - now." If we are truly interested in bal- "Academic Freedom" cont'd from page A4 Dr. Horowitz has traveled to more than 250 schools in his National Campaign for Academic Freedom, meeting with legislators, alumni, regents, administrators, community leaders, and others. He notes that he has met with students too, "because they deserve more than half an education." I have spoken bluntly, but the times call for plain talk. I have a lot of my In a study involving over 1,600 heart invested here. a member of the full-time faculty at 183 four-year As Utah legislature, I had a role in helpschools, 72% of those surveyed ing this institution said they were liberal, with only achieve four-year 15% calling themselves conser- status; I also had a role in helping to vative. make the McKay Events Center a reality. I had a voice then, and I am grateful for the opportunity to have a known as the Academic Bill of voice now. I hope that it will be Rights. heard. That legislation which seeks to guarantee real intellectual diverJohn Donne's words ring true: sity on America's campuses - not "No man in an island, entire unto positions that lean relentlessly himself." leftward - has been adopted by And neither is a college. the state of Georgia and has led to a "memo of understanding" Norman Nielsen served in the between the presidents of all the Utah State Legislature from public universities in Colorado. 1991-1997 and is a former In addition, Dr. Horowitz's bill is member ofUVSC's Foundatoin making progress in seven other Board, Nielsen currently serves states, as well as in the U.S. House as a member ofUVSC's new of Representatives. Cummunity Relations Committee ance, in welcoming all angles of vision as the liberals persistently insist we must do, then we should invite Dr. David Horowitz to UVSC. Dr. Horowitz pays more than lip service to the principle of academic freedom. He founded Students for Academic Freedom, and he has authored legislation Republican Delegation exercising unrighteous dominion Dear Utah County Republican Delegation: Please quit trying to boss Utah Valley State College around. A better use of your time would involve reading the Doctrine and Covenants, particularly section 121 verses 39 through 42. Here is what they say, in case your set of scriptures has been lent out to someone who is looking into joining your faith because of your stellar Christian examples: 39 We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion. 40 Hence many are called, but few are chosen. 41 No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentle- ness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; 42 By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guilePlease practice your religionthen maybe your politics will make more sense. Tom Clarke Democrats no more compassionate than Republicans Liberal fiscal policies state-sanctioned stealing Dear Editor, The article by Steven Hall entitled "Where's the compassionate conservatism?" reeks of hypocrisy. I am literally dumbfounded that someone could be so ignorant, or more correctly, assume that the rests of us are. (I would encourage Mr. Hall to take a trip sometime to a country that is really in the grips of poverty, like I have, so he can realize just how wealthy the "poor" of this country are in comparision.) Take his example of how Republicans "make their case out of thin air" regarding welfare. He goes on himself to give a statistic that 11.2% of American households struggle to obtain food. Care to explain where you got that statistic? Since nothing was cited, I'm left to assume that it came out of thin-air. How about this one; 99.5% of the readers who read your editorial think your article sucks. I would also encourage Mr. Hall to explain that if Democrats are so compassionate about giving to the poor, why then are some of the richest Democratic party members also the least generous in charitible contributions, instead of giving to activist agendas such as the homosexual and abortion movement. Least I be accused of making it up, investigate yourself the charitable contributions of Al Gore, John and Teresa Heinz Kerry, Sen. Ted Kennedy, etc. Lastly, his defense of the U.S.S.R. leaves no question of his political stance* that of being a communist. Figure it out already, communism DOESN'T WORK! The poorest people in this country are much better off than the average citizen under the old Communist regime in the USSR, ask a Russian. Re-distribution of wealth is essentially state-sanctioned stealing. Charity should come from the heart, not from our taxes. Perhaps people would have more to give if the government would get out of our wallets first. Take a history and economics class Mr. Hall, preferably one not from a fellow Marxist like yourself. Garrett Christley, (Technology Management) Pleasant Grove |