This pains me to say, but I will not be supporting the CARDS any further in their quest for the national title. I am a big U of L fan, and have been for many years…always joking with my late grandfather who always claimed to "bleed blue". Even just last week a family member commented to his girlfriend that I was the only one in the family "afflicted" with being a CARDS fan…another thing Pop use to say…
So why would ANYONE do this? Why encourage others to do this?
With the shark totally jumped, on March 5th the University Of Louisville School of Nursing expelled an undergrad nursing student for expressing her opinion on her Myspace blog. Now you naysayers, conservatives, and others that think that we really live in a free country are already saying this is some sort of sham story…nope, the guys over at Page One Kentucky have the full story here.
This student's rights to free speech under the US Constitution and Kentucky law were violated…and she is suing…thankfully!
I sincerely hope this case hits the federal court system, and quickly. Nothing would make me happier than to see a special prosecutor assigned to investigate this matter at the University of Louisville, and furthermore to investigate our illustrious attorney general, Jack Conway…but it's doubtful that will happen.
I am doing this because local TV, radio, and the local neoconservative print media cannot seem to talk about this without slanting the story…people need to be discussing it, and NOW while U of L is in the national spotlight for its basketball program…wouldn't it be something if someone from U of L made the worse person in the world list on Countdown this week?
This country (as a whole, not just this really RED part) is now center-left on most political issues (that's the center between really liberal and the true centrist in the political spectrum), perhaps because so many are sick of Bush era dictatorship style governance…someone needs to shine a light into the dark & corrupt corners of the little fiefdom of academia known as U of L. Why is now NOT the time to be discussing this? Who will stand up for your rights if you don't?
It matters not if you agree with the student and her comments; all of us as Americans are guaranteed the right to freedom of speech (within reason), and this is a situation where this student was clearly within reason. I would go as far as to consider it unpatriotic to fail to support this student in her cause.
Furthermore, the WLKY chat room censorship yesterday ran totally afoul. While not directly connected to U of L, WLKY is a CBS affiliate, and CBS has exclusive rights to the TV coverage of the entire NCAA tourney. Sorry CBS, you are in the wrong station at the wrong time here.
I wish the CARDS the best in the tourney, but I will not buy one piece of memorabilia now or in the future until the university apologizes to this student and settles the case…I'd love to see the University of Louisville pay the student in question's tuition at another local university, as well as all legal fees in the case...because really, who would want to be re-instated to a program like that?
If you are reading this, and you are a Louisville Cardinals fan I implore you to read the story above and do a quick gut check on this one…do you really want to support a university that expels students for expressing their opinion?
I always thought universities were suppose to be places of open, spirited, discussion…where dissenting opinions were discussed, not dismissed? Where those same opinions weren't dealt with using tactics still (thankfully) falling short of recently released Bush era Justice Department memos giving the president the power to effectively suspend the First Amendment of the United States Constitution? I guess I've just been in California and Europe too much as of late…
Go ahead conservatives, please run, don't walk to your nearest store and buy all of the University of Louisville hats, shirts, car flags, and beer bongs that you can find…support a public university funded with your tax dollars (state & federal) infringing on one of the most basic rights we enjoy as Americans, the Freedom of Speech.
Freedom to blog what you want…Freedom to Tweet as you please…Freedom to bitch on Facebook…go ahead, support infringement of that and see how long you think boycotting the University of Louisville is a stupid idea. As soon as you no longer have those rights, you will all try to sing a different tune, but the hour will be past and you will be far too late to support the cause…we'll all be rotting in jail by the time you change your mind.