IS IT TRUE August 27, 2012

1. So USI has been violating the constitution for a long time now and no one has called them to task for it. This sort of thing is a big part of Evansville’s problem. Everyone is afraid to make waves even if the constitution gets trampled. Booo USI.

   • I am not positive, but I do believe that these “free speech” zones were created by many entities in recent history. Most of these zones were created due to the KKK and other “hate” or unsavory groups (think the group that protests at U.S. Soldier funerals) wanting to protest on public property. In a similar way, many parks (think occupy wall street) have created protest zones that limit where you may protest. I do not believe that USI or most any university would stop free speech.

     The zones are created by lawyers and such for each entity to protect the chosen entity from being liable in court. It is that simple. Not a sinister back door event.

     Although, I do understand the thought process of how it could be used for evil in a socialist/progressive government.

     • I fully understand why authorities want to restrict protests to minimized, assigned areas for security reasons. Take for example that loony church out in Missouri or Kansas, wherever it is, whose members protest veteran funeral services.

       However, I think USI has been restricting or prohibiting free speech, especially in terms of expression of political support, for some time now. Political candidates have told me they were prohibited from distributing campaign literature, or maybe it was displaying campaign literature, on the USI campus.

       Considering the court cases that have reinforced candidates’ rights to free speech, I think USI may have trouble enforcing some aspects of their “free speech zone” if for example a political candidate or a supporter of a ballot question (unification, for example) were to challenge USI’s policy in court.

     • You seem to totally miss the point. You give two different excuses for the creating of free speech zones, neither of which trump the Constitution, the Supreme Law of the Land.

       What King or majority gets to decide which is an “unsavory group”? This is why the idea of free speech is for everyone, not just those people anointed and approved by authorities.

       I might not agree with what someone says, but they have a right to say it no matter how offended someone is because of it.

       Labeling a group a “hate group” and abridging their speech based on this is the first step toward becoming a authoritarian society.

       • I am just stating how USI and many places came to have the “zones” . I am absolutely for free speech. I think it is absurd to have these “zones”.

         I do think they were created to keep certain groups ( anyone they disagree with) from being able to make a scene for the tv cameras.

         I do think universities and other places have done this for legal reasons, and possibly with an underlying backhanded slap at free speech and conservatives.

2. Just imagine, a facility that calls itself a “university” has designated a small piece of ground where “free speech” can be exercised!

   I guess that everywhere else on campus political correctness reigns supreme.

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3. Protest, expression for or against a controversial issue or free speech can be great for the soul and a cause, but has no place in this day and age on a college campus. We are all too aware of the mass shootings on or near college campuses and other public locations. Security has had to be increased, communications improved, and money spent to beef up protection everywhere. I am an advocate for free speech…choose the right venue, not on the college campus any more.

   • I can tell you are no leftover from the 60s college campuses. Your post makes me wonder what they are teaching nowadays in their journalism classes.

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     • I’m not into name calling and labeling anyone’s opinions idiotic..especially when discussing free speech. I disagree with you and the whole topic of USI isn’t really an issue. The students can speak openly in any class, with each other, via their postings, school paper etc. If you are disturbed about being able to openly, in mass, protest an issue…take it to a different forum. You want to complain about not being able to complain…apparently it doesn’t bother actual students.

       • sorry, this was to be posted in response to Mr. Linzy.

       • I am. Deal with it. Your statement was idiotic in the extreme. It was completely antithetical to the founding principles of this country. You may well be an intelligent person when you’re not rattling on making an ass of yourself, but from this statement, I have no choice but to conclude you do not understand the Constitution or the idea of free speech if you are fine with relegating it to zones of an “authority’s” choosing.

         We don’t have free speech so we can talk about the weather, we have free speech so we can say very controversial things and not be afraid of being rounded up and thrown in an internment camp. If you don’t understand why this is so important and why the Founders of this country saw fit to include it as the very FIRST among our Bill of Rights, then you need to go back and take a history class… I would suggest another University, but by the sound of it, high school might be more your speed.

   • I’m sorry, but this has to be one of the most idiotic things I’ve heard this side of George W. Bush.

     If you want to solve the problem of mass shootings on school campuses, allow the people who attend the school to arm themselves. Mass shootings occur in places where the people are UNARMED. Asserting that expressions of free speech are somehow an aid to “mass shootings” is just disgusting. You, Sir or Madam, are a fool.

4. The city also has discovered theLloyd pool is getting old, wasn’t that one of the uses for Roberets? Somebody needs to have an intervention to stop the stupid spending.

   • I heard that the company that makes/made the liner for Lloyd Pool said the liner that the city purchased/installed recently is the last one that they can ever get. I don’t know if there are other sources for liners, but the pool and building are on there last leg in so many other aspects anyway.

5. Freedom of Speech is under assault at USI.

   Make me sad that the right of free speech that I fought for in Vietnam is under attack on the USI campus!

   Don’t you just love how political correctness is being practiced at USI?

6. This is the kind of provocative “Is it True” I’ve come to enjoy. So much to comment on here, but I’ll try to keep this brief. I know some of you have a government to implode…

   The bottom line on USI is that it is a private organization. They should be able to allow or disallow what they want on their private property, but the people who go there should just transfer to a University that prizes free expression.

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   20% of the population in some States is struggling to buy food? Those must be the people who had pride and are trying to get by without Federal assistance. In that case, good for them, but maybe we could help them if we stopped giving Federal Aid to countries like Israel. I saw a graphic recently that showed just the State of Indiana residents give an estimated $700 MILLION to Israel alone. Larger States like Texas, California, and New York give closer to $2 BILLION each annually. This is not counting all the money we give to her enemies, which exceeds that total. So, we’re sending American’s hard-earned tax dollars as “aid”, i.e. political payoffs, to all these countries, yet many of our own citizens are on the verge of starving? Anyone else see a major f$%#ing problem here?

   ———

   The only “surprise” one could expect as far as the Evansville budget process is concerned is if all went smoothly and everything was balanced without any critical infrastructure being underfunded.

   • Actually, I’m wrong about USI. They are publicly funded, so they have no right whatsoever restricting free speech anyone on campus unless such speech is disruptive to the operation of the University. In this case, civil disobedience may be in order for anyone wishing to express themselves in addition to looking for a new University to attend.

7. New USI President promised a new direction for the Unversity.

   That she has! She took away our sacred rights to “Freedom of Speech”!

8. I can only assume a relative of V. Putin has been put in charge of USI. What is America coming to? Get out the Tar and Feathers and run this Communist out of Town!!

9. You wonder why we have problems in America?

   It’s because sh– like this being practiced on the Campus at our State Unversities!

   It’s obvious that “Freedom Isn’t Free” at USI!

10. What in the heck is wrong with the Administration at USI?

    Unite “Freedom Fighters” and “Tea Party” people by letting the administration at USI know how disappointed we are with the their controlled and limited “Freedom of Speech” policy!

11. Can’t believe that USI would take away the students rights to peacefully protest or speak out anywhere on campus!

12. The CCO should have contacted USI for a comment/explanation about their policy before publicly ridiculing them. USI cannot control whether a protest is going to be peacefull or not. Perhaps this Free Speech Zone is not at all about limiting free speech, but all about attempting to providing safety/security. USI is responsible for providing a safe learning/work environment for thousands of students, teachers, administrators, other employees, visitors, etc… all over their large campus. It would be hard to do that if you don’t know when or especially where a protest is going to take place. In a perfect world, all protests would be peaceful, but it only takes one nutcase and the world is full of nutcases these days. It could be that the one(s) needing the security/protection are the ones doing the protesting.

    • Well said! You stated the case much better than I!

13. I find it very amusing that the same “management” and “editorial staff” who are upset about a “free speech zone” are the same group of hypocrites who ban people whose opinions they differ from, who on Friday said “We own the CCO and you don’t. That is the fundamental difference. We choose what articles are posted and what comments remain”

    So I guess by the integrity of journalism you fail? You cannot profess to be a “newspaper” when you pick and chose what comments to allow based on your personal opinions. I guess those people that disagree with you and back it up with citations of facts are banished by you on the whim that it does not support your right-leaning rhetoric.

    What do you fear?

    • We do not take public money or profess to be teaching our future leaders. Your other avatar CCOTruthSquad had select posts removed for being too long and for containing no original content. May we suggest that you start a website of your own if you like. How bout that Rasmussen poll having President Obama ahead when ABC has him behind. So much for bias. Time to GetReal isn’t it.

      • Interesting. Now you say that a post may be removed for “being too long and for containing no original content”, yet the other day your reason was “Reporting articles is forbidden. You may post links”. You never answered any of the questions about where any of the above is a violation of your “Terms of Service”

        Still seems to be a case of being able to dish it out but not being able to take it.

        And even though you are in love with Rasmussen, a notoriously partisan right-wing pollster, you are still cherry-picking which Presidential poll to report on. I think it is fascinating that Romney only leads by +1 in any poll, while Obama leads by as much as +4, giving him an overall lead of +1.1

        http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/us/general_election_romney_vs_obama-1171.html

        Even professional polling firms know what a joke Rasmussen is:

        http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2012/Info/rasmussen.html

        Yes, GetReal indeed!

14. Joe, you hit the nail on the head with today’s IIT. When I met with Winnecke last November and explained to him what you just explained about Roberts, he said something along the lines of… shouldn’t we be trying to pack our new arena with every event possible?

    The cancellation of this week’s rodeo is yet another event that will prove just how horrible of a belief that is. Indoor football, soccer, and minor league basketball were already stuck in a pickle over this move, but now residents just watched first hand an event being given an ultimatium of choosing an oversized arena or go elsewhere.

    The funny thing is they kept arguing that if you put curtains on the upper level of the Ford Center that this would be the correct substitution for a mid-sized arena. Yet, that still doesn’t make the rent any cheaper, it still doesn’t make the overhead any cheaper, and it causes the Ford Center to have to cram less profitable events in on dates that should be used for premier concerts.

    As for USI, I have all the respect in the world for their athletic director but I don’t believe the university as a whole is going in the right direction by choosing to keep most of their activities on campus especially given the “free speech zone.”

15. ” You cannot profess to be a “newspaper” when you pick and chose what comments to allow based on your personal opinions.” (CCOJoker)

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    Come on now Joker, there is one down on Walnut Street that has been doing just that for years.

    Their Sunday edition was a typical effort on their part:

    Editorial in favor of consolidated government, even though no savings can be identified and the two largest employee groups have not signed on in theory or actuality. What they are really in favor of is Evansville’s annexation of all of Vanderburgh county.

    Story, complete with photo, on how former mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel is still trying to sell his arena to the public.

    Article by former IU economist Morton Marcus on what a forward thinker our current mayor is by continuing to promote a project that was shot down by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, which stated several reasons why the supposed cost savings contract was not allowed.

    You see Joker, this is the way agendas are pushed by so called “newspapers” that work hand in hand with same managerial class that has taken the City of Evansville into deep debt and now wishes to pick the pockets of those who live outside of the city in order to avoid the natural consequences of their actions.

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    • can I get an AMEN!

16. Wow! An actual discussion of serious matters going on in an E’ville arena. I am freaking impresssed.
    By the way, “free speech” is usually restricted by those who are not very liberal.

17. More about the bias and error behind Rasmussen

    1. All polls are conducted within a 4-hour window
    2. The person who answers the phone (even a child) is sampled
    3. Phones that are not answered are not called back
    4. All of Rasmussen’s polls are done by computer
    5. Live interviewers are never used

    After the 2010 election an independent study showed Rasmussen’s polls were off by 5.8% with a bias of 3.9% in favor of the Republican candidates.

    Besides that, they only came into existence in 2003. They only have data on two Presidential elections. Not exactly a long pedigree.

    TIME has described Rasmussen Reports as a “conservative-leaning polling group”. According to Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin political scientist who co-developed Pollster.com, “It’s clear that Rasmussen results are typically more Republican than other results.”

    The Center For Public Integrity listed “Scott Rasmussen Inc” as a paid consultant for the 2004 George W. Bush campaign. I hardly think that their results are relative in the 2004 race. Rasmussen was only founded in 2003, so their “track record” is nowhere near the long-term track records of other polling services.

    And in March 2012, Media Matters for America criticized Rasmussen Reports for portraying itself as politically independent while headlining two Republican fundraising events. If you are helping to sponsor events for a single party, you can hardly tell the American public you are “impartial”.

    On Gallup, for the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Gallup was rated 17th out of 23 polling organizations in terms of the precision of its pre-election polls relative to the final results.

    You would better serve the public by showing a variety of polling sites, not just the one that you use for only showing information favorable to your view.

    • Yet despite your perceptions of shortcomings they were within less than 1% in 2004 and 2008. It is results that matter.

      • Even a blind man can eventually find a light switch

        Results for only 2 events are not statistically valid!

        Why is it you are not preaching about the results of Rasmussen in 2010? Is it because they were off by 5.8% on the 105 “predictions” they made for the 2010 midterm elections?

        Info is karma, ain’t it?

        • How about a private wager of $100.00. I bet you that Rasmussen will be closer to the final result than PPP. As for RealClearPolitics, I expect that by the election there will be little difference in them.

18. Since you profess to want “links”, try chewing on this one

    http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/rasmussen-polls-were-biased-and-inaccurate-quinnipiac-surveyusa-performed-strongly/

    • Coming from the biased and near bankrupt New York Times that is a badge of honor.

19. Not sure if the ticket prices for the rodeo have changed from the $18-$35 adult and kids half price from last year, But I know the economy is slow and I imagine some parents just made a fiscal call on this as did venue works. Be happy they pulled the plug. I would have hoped venueworks would have done better market research for this. Just because it used to work, doesn’t mean it will always work.

20. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    Just what has prompted the University of Southern Indiana to think it can make exception to the above amendment to the US Constitution? Being a university gives it no special status or exemption.

    • +1

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