Tea Party Patriot Petition Slams Tax Compromise

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 14, 2010

Contact: Ralph King
clevelandteaparty@gmail.com

TEA PARTY PETITION SLAMS

TAX COMPROMISE AS 'BACKROOM DEAL'

Americans Demand Promised

Transparency, Adherence to 'Pledge to America'

Cleveland - Today, the Tea Party Patriots launched a petition (http://notaxcompromise.com/) to supporters across the country denouncing the tax cut compromise forged in secret by the Obama Administration and Republican Leadership in Congress. The plan was negotiated without the consultation of newly-elected Members of Congress or the American people and violates several components of the Republican's "Pledge to America."

"Our members are outraged as our representatives continue to ignore the message we sent on Election Day," said Ralph King of Cleveland Tea Party Patriots. "We are watching how they vote, and they will be held accountable."

"This 'backroom deal' ignores those who voted for principled leadership on Election Day," said Mark Meckler, National Coordinator of Tea Party Patriots. "Americans demand transparency in the legislative process and policies that reflect fiscal responsibility-not secret negotiations and weak compromise."

"Republicans in Congress only have the leverage to negotiate for tax deals because of the support Americans gave them and principled candidates across the country," said Jenny Beth Martin, National Coordinator of Tea Party Patriots. "It is an insult to those who voted them into power to procrastinate on their pledge to honor conservative principles."

Following are excerpts of the petition:

• Do not let Congress compromise with President Obama. "The Compromise" is against everything the House Republican Leadership agreed to in the "Pledge to America." This type of behind closed door politics is not what "We the People" voted for in November.
• "The Deal" was forged in secret, without consultation with the scores of new representatives and senators who campaigned on a much different agenda.
• "The Deal" like Obamacare, isn't reduced to writing even now. Like Obamacare, we are being told we will have to pass the bill to find out what is in it.
• "The Deal" revives the death tax, an immoral "vampire tax" that sucks the blood from the dead, ruins family businesses and double taxes savings that were accumulated over a lifetime.
• "The Deal" spends billions and billions of dollars that the country does not have in order to prevent a tax hike that the country voted against...the GOP bribed the president to follow the will of the people. 
• There are at least five provisions of the Pledge that are violated by "The Deal."

Click here for the full petition.

Tea Party Patriots is a national grassroots coalition with more than 3,000 locally organized chapters and more than 15 million supporters nationwide. Tea Party Patriots is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting the principles of fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limited government, and free
markets. Visit Tea Party Patriots online at www.TeaPartyPatriots.org.

Legislative Updates

A big thanks to Amy & Jeff with the Medina Tea Party Patriots for the below updates on key legislation in the House & Senate --

Updates on key legislation

The past two days have been a voting whirlwind as the Democrats in the House and Senate try to push through their liberal agenda before the new Congress takes session. Some of the following results provide hope that the pressure we are putting on key senators is working. 

Senate: Public Safety

Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2010 (S. 3991)

For those who need a refresher, this  “forced unionization” bill unconstitutionally subjects state and local public-safety workers to compulsory union “representation” and eliminates local government control over the labor relations of their own workers.

Fortunately, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was unable to reach cloture in the Senate on Wednesday, blocking the bill from moving forward. The vote was 55 (YEAs) and 43 (NAYs); 60 votes were needed for cloture. For the complete roll call, visit: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00266.  

Senate: DREAM Act

After delaying the DREAM Act vote until Thursday morning, Senator Harry Reid made a motion to table the consideration of the DREAM Act. The motion to table the bill passed with a 59 to 40 margin.

It is obvious that Senator Reid does not have the votes yet. However, we fully expect him to bring it to the floor again. With that said, we must continue to remind our senators (especially Senator George Voinovich) that we cannot afford this spending nightmare.

For more information on the motion-to-table vote, visit: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101209/ap_on_go_co/us_immigration_students.

Senate: Defense Authorization Bill, which included repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” 

According to The Hill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) failed to garner the necessary 60 votes for a procedural motion to start considering the 2011 defense authorization bill, which contains a provision to repeal the ban on openly gay people serving in the military. The final vote was 57-40.” To read the entire article, visit: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/132745-senate-fails-on-repeal-of-dont-ask-dont-tell.

To view the entire roll call, please visit: http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=2&vote=00270.

House: DREAM Act

As you know, the DREAM Act passed in the House last night with a 216 to 198 margin, with 208 Democrats and 8 Republicans voting for the bill, and 160 Republicans and 38 Democrats voting against it.

The eight Republicans who went against the tide of common sense were:

Joseph Cao (LA)

Mike Castle (DE)

Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL)

Mario Diaz-Balart (FL)

Charles Djou (HI)

Vernon Ehlers (MI)

Bob Inglis (SC)

Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (FL)

For the complete roll call, visit: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll625.xml.

House: H.R.3082

which included the “food safety” bill (S. 510)

Instead of making the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act a separate vote, Speaker Nancy Pelosi tucked it into H.R. 3082, a continuing resolution (CR), which provides temporary funding for the government while budget bills are worked out. 

With a 212 to 206 vote, the House passed H.R. 3082. Since the “food safety” bill language was put in the CR, it goes back to the Senate, which is expected to be voted on by the middle of next week. According to one advocacy group, Alliance for Natural Health USA, “the rumor is that instead of dealing with the CR directly, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) will introduce the Senate’s own omnibus bill (even larger than the CR) that will also contain the food safety language along and who knows what else.”

To remind you of the dangers of this bill, revisit Sen. Coburn’s list of detailed concerns: http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2010/9/detailed-concerns-with-s-510-the-fda-food-safety-modernization-act-of-2010.

  

We must continue to voice our concerns about this bill, which allows the government once again to overstep its powers. 

The Deal

The extension of the current tax rates, or “The Deal”, as it is becoming known around the country between President Obama and Congressional Leadership, is problematic. It is a deal that needs to be opposed.

Call the following people today:

Sen. George Voinovich

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-3353 / no fax provided

Cleveland Office: (216) 522-7095/ Cleveland Fax: (216) 522-7097

Speaker-Elect John Boehner

DC Office Phone: 202-225-6205 / DC Office Fax: 202-225-0704

Senator Mitch McConnell

DC Office Phone: 202-224-2541 / DC Office Fax: fax: 202-224-2249

Keeping the Pledge

A couple of months ago, the Republicans signed "The Pledge" which were several legislative and principled commitments they made to Americans. This “Deal” violates several commitments from The Pledge. 

Here are the reasons why this tax bill must be opposed as outlined by Hugh Hewitt in TownHall.com, http://townhall.com/columnists/HughHewitt/2010/12/09/kill_the_deal/page/full/:

"The deal" was forged in secret, without consultation with the scores of new representatives and senators who campaigned on a much different agenda much less with their supporters and contributors who worked for two years and gave vast sums of money so that a new start could be made, one built on transparency and principle.

"The deal" like Obamacare, isn't reduced to writing even now, when Senator Reid says a vote could be held on Saturday. Like Obamacare, we are being told we will have to pass the bill to find out what is in it.

"The deal" revives the death tax, an immoral "vampire tax" that sucks the blood from the dead, ruins family businesses and double taxes savings that were accumulated over a lifetime. It took ten years of gradual step downs to eliminate the tax, and now "the deal" revives it at 35% with a $5 million dollar exemption, a rate that looks and feels permanent and which will immediately impact tens of thousands of families in 2011 and when inflation works its way into the system, thousands more over time. The GOP has spent years making the case against the death tax on moral and economic grounds, and in the course of a weekend of secret meetings, it gave that issue away.

"The deal" spends billions and billions of dollars that the country does not have in order to prevent a tax hike that the country voted against. In essence the GOP bribed the president to follow the will of the people. There is at least $75 billion in new spending in the plan, agreed to by the GOP less than 5 weeks after the country fairly screamed "Stop Spending Our Children's Money!"

On September 23, all of the House GOP leadership agreed to the "Pledge to America." A photo op was arranged at the Tart Lumber store in Sterling, Virginia, and the senior leaders of the would-be majority, with their shirt sleeves rolled up, took the pledge and asked America for the majority back. There are at least five provisions of the Pledge that are breached by "the deal." In September the House GOP promised

"Permanently Stop All Job-Killing Tax Hikes" (p. 16)

"Act immediately to Reduce Spending" (p. 21)

"Cut Government Spending to Pre-Stimulus, Pre-Bailout Levels" (p. 21)

"Read the Bill" (p. 33)

"Advance Legislative Issues One at a Time" (p. 33)

"The deal's" assault on "The Pledge" will make the latter a joke, and instantly impacts the credibility of all future efforts to propose agendas to the electorate.

The idea that this massive tax and spend bill has not yet even been written but may be voted on by the Senate this weekend is appalling, and has rightfully drawn the anger of the TeaPartyPatriots.org and other Tea Party activists, an anger that will not diminish.”

Senator Tom Coburn Calls CR/Omnibus a Trojan Horse to Fund Obama Care

We are hearing Senator George Voinovich is leaning towards supporting the below back-door funding of Obama Care & trillion-dollar swing sets that we don't need! 

Please contact his office (click here) and ask him to stand strong against the stealth funding of these progressive policies that have been soundly rejected by the American public...

From Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. --

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released the following statement today regarding provisions slipped into the so-called “Cromnibus” bill designed to ratify and fund the new health law:

“Using the end-of-the-year spending bill as a Trojan horse to fund the new federal health care law is hardly the mandate from the November elections. Yet, that is what Congress is doing through the must-pass spending bill to fund government operations. We need to repeal, not ratify, the new health law and replace it with health reforms that will truly lower costs and improve health care quality and access.”

“The bill provides $19 million to the IRS for dictating health insurance under the new health law -- a small but significant opening salvo in the push to give IRS tax bureaucrats power over Americans’ health care. The legislation also spends $12 million on an unelected panel of bureaucrats who will issue costly mandates, make coverage decisions for all Americans, and could deny patient choice under the guise of ‘prevention.’

“The bill also provides a fat $3.6 billion check for Dr. Donald Berwick, the new head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to be used for non-descript ‘program management.’ The fact that Dr. Berwick continues to evade questions from members of the press and public raises serious questions about his intended purpose for these funds.

“Other funding for the new health law in the bill seems to reflect the desire of congressional appropriators to micromanage and make decisions in areas in which they have limited knowledge and expertise. For instance, the health law provides $750 million in 2011 to a prevention and public health slush fund – all of which is earmarked by this bill primarily for new health reform programs. Rather than allowing public health experts to allocate funding to the most promising public health strategies, the appropriations committee has decided which public health programs to fund and directed significant new funding to build sidewalks, jungle gyms and swing sets.

“Members of Congress who campaigned on defunding the misguided health law Congress passed last year should oppose this trillion-dollar spending bill. We already know the health law isn’t working. Members who supported it are guilty of misleading advertising. During the last six months we have seen health insurance premium increase, not decrease, because of the new law. It’s time for Congress to extend current tax rates, pass a clean spending bill – a ‘continuing resolution’ - without extraneous and vague health care provisions, and go home.”

Will Senator George Voinovich Support the Funding of Obama Care?

Ohio Patriots it appears our soon-to-be-retired Senator from Ohio, Senator George Voinovich, is considering supporting a continuing resolution that funds Obama Care.

That Senator Voinovich would even consider giving us a going away kick-in-our-conservative-cookies and supporting anything that funds Obama Care is mind-boggling! 

How can a pro-life Senator support something that funds tax-payer funded abortions? 

How can Senator Voinovich support the funding of a bill that will in effect roll senior citizens into a corner and let them die? 

How can Senator Voinovich support the funding of an Unconstitutional health care bill that is more about growing government and mandating liberty-stripping edicts than it is about health care?

Please help "remind" Senator Voinovich that well over half of OH residents and people in this country are AGAINST the funding of Obama Care!

From Americans For Prosperity --

A continuing resolution funding ObamaCare passed the U.S. House Wednesday and is being considered in the Senate.  We are hearing that Senator Voinovich may join with Democrats and vote for this bill, which is a violation of the clearly expressed will of Ohioans on November 2nd.  Please contact Senator Voinovich and ask him to vote against the continuing resolution that funds ObamaCare.

 

Call Senator Voinovich:  (202) 224-3353

Click here to email Senator Voinovich (editable text is provided)

Key Message Points:

1. It’s wrong to cheat the American people by voting to fund ObamaCare before a new Congress elected to de-fund it can be seated.

2. Do not disrespect the American people by pursuing the same far-left, big-government policies they just decisively rejected.

Below is a letter from Phil Kerpen, vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity, fighting the lame duck threat at http://www.novemberspeaks.com/.

Will Congress get ObamaCare funding and pork this Christmas?

Last Christmas Eve, the U.S. Senate gave Americans the lump of coal known as ObamaCare.  This year, they may take our money to fund it and also force us to buy a pork-barrel full of thousands of earmarks.  On a 212-206 vote, House Democrats yesterday pushed through a flawed continuing resolution that funds ObamaCare and extends overall funding for the next year at reckless 2010 levels.

As Sen. Tom Coburn has pointed out, the House-passed bill contains significant ObamaCare funding, which is why Coburn called the bill “Trojan Horse to Fund New Health Law.”

Now the focus shifts to the Senate, where efforts are underway to amend the House-passed version—and not for the better.  Senate Democrats will offer an amendment to make it even worse with a full-blown omnibus appropriations bill packed with pork-barrel earmarks, spending increases, and even more funding for every top Obama administration priority. And unfortunately, some Senate Republicans may be poised to help the Democrats pass it.

Rumors are swirling that despite the fact Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell pulled the plug on official Republican support for the omnibus, a small group of rogue Republican appropriators are playing ball, planning to vote for the massive bloated spending bill in exchange for a parting Christmas gift of pork-barrel goodies for their states.  The most likely to do so are three appropriators, Kit Bond of Missouri and George Voinovich of Ohio, who are retiring and will never face voters again, and the highest-ranking Republican appropriator, Thad Cochran of Mississippi.

We don’t know which earmarks made it into the omnibus yet but we do know that Kit Bond requested 142 earmarks this year totaling over $600 million.  George Voinovich requested 172 earmarks totaling over $460 million, and Thad Cochran requested a whopping 712 earmarks totaling over $2.4 billion.

Other Republican senators worth worrying about identified themselves last week when they voted against the Coburn-McCaskill amendment to ban earmarks: Robert Bennett (R-Utah), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).

These nine Republicans must be urged to abide by the wishes of the American people and to learn the same lesson Mitch McConnell, himself an appropriator, made clear I his wonderful Senate floor speech embracing the earmark moratorium:

“Nearly every day that the Senate’s been in session for the past two years, I have come down to this spot and said that Democrats are ignoring the wishes of the American people. When it comes to earmarks, I won’t be guilty of the same thing.”

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, some Republicans may vote for the Democrats’ pork-packed, ObamaCare-funding omnibus monstrosity.

That’s why pressuring Democrats is critical, starting with the ones who voted in favor of the Coburn-McCaskill earmark ban.

Claire McCaskill herself is the most likely Democrat to oppose the omnibus.  Unlike her pork-loving Republican colleague Kit Bond, McCaskill has requested no earmarks this year and has long been a proponent of reform.  This vote will test whether, when the rubber hits the road, she is really willing to vote to stop a rolling pork-barrel.

The other Democrats who voted with Coburn include Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), neither of whom requested any earmarks this year, along with Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.).  They will be put to the test of whether their earmark reform was sincere when they have the opportunity to stop the omnibus.

Moreover, all senators need to be forcefully reminded that this will be the first vote on funding ObamaCare, a signature issue that will loom large in the 2012 election.

The bottom line is that this Congress had all year to do its job and pass legislation to fund the government before the election.  They failed.  They should not now be rewarded with a massive omnibus spending bill on their way out the door.  Sen. Coburn gets it exactly right: “It’s time for Congress to extend current tax rates, pass a clean spending bill – a ‘continuing resolution’ - without extraneous and vague health care provisions, and go home.”

Mr. Kerpen is vice president for policy at Americans for Prosperity, fighting the lame duck threat at http://www.novemberspeaks.com/.

DREAM Act Passes the House; Reid calling for Cloture Vote in the Senate

The House passed the DREAM Act this evening with a 216-198 vote. Harry Reid is now expected to immediately call for a Cloture Vote in the Senate on the DREAM Act.  Passage in the Senate may not be as easy, as some early DREAM Act supporters are now having second thoughts on supporting the bill.

From The Salt Lake Tribune --

....supporters of the DREAM Act remain pessimistic of its chances, in large part because of Republicans such as Sen. Orrin Hatch, who have promised to vote against the bill even though they have co-sponsored the legislation in years past.

“It’s a huge disappointment when someone who has been a huge champion on an issue walks away from it,” said Karen Crompton, the executive director of Voices for Utah Children. “I can’t explain it.”

Hatch says he is not walking away from the issue, even if he opposes the latest version of a bill he first sponsored in 2001.

“I just personally feel that it is brought up at this time for pure political purposes and I resent that,” said Hatch, who added that if Democrats were serious about solving the problem they wouldn’t have waited until the waning days of a post-election session to bring the issue to a vote.

Hatch is not the only Utah elected official to previously support a version of the DREAM Act only to turn against it now. More....

The DREAM Act, at an estimated cost of over $6.2 Billion, will be a fiscal and legal nightmare. And, regardless of what the liberal pundits and supporters of  DREAM Act say creates a free and clear path equal to amnesty for illegal immigrants.  

Support for the DREAM Act, as you can see above, in the Senate is wavering.  We must continue hammering away at the Senate with our phone calls, faxes and emails. Please contact the below list of targeted Senators and urge them to vote no for Cloture on the DREAM Act

Targeted Senators

Sen. Sherrod Brown

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-2315 / DC Fax: (202) 228-6321

Cleveland Office Phone: (216) 522-7272 / Cleveland Fax: (216) 522-2239

Email: http://brown.senate.gov/contact/

 

Sen. George Voinovich

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-3353 / no fax provided

Cleveland Office: (216) 522-7095/ Cleveland Fax: (216) 522-7097

E-mail: http://voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

 

Sen. George LeMieux (FL)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-3041 / Local Office Phone: 904-398-8586

(Recently, LeMieux stated he is voting "No." We must continue to call him and reinforce his decision.)

 

Sen. Olympia Snowe (ME)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-5344 / Local Office Phone: 207-874-0883

 

Sen. Susan Collins (ME)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-2523 / Local Office Phone: 207-945-0417

 

Sen. Scott Brown (MA)

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-4543 / Local Office Phone: (617) 565-3170

 

Sen. John Ensign (NV)

DC Office Phone: (202) 224-6244 / Local Office Phone: (702) 388-6605

 

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-5922 / Local Office Phone: 214-361-3500

(According to staff, Hutchison will vote against the DREAM Act in its present form.)

 

Sen. John McCain (AZ)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-2235 / Local Office Phone: 480-897-6289

 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK)

DC Office Phone: 202-224-6665 / Local Office Phone: 907-271-3735

 

Sen. Sam Brownback

DC Office Phone: 202-224-6521 / Local Office Phone: 785-233-2503

 

Rep. Michele Bachmann Calls for AG Eric Holder to Resign

Citing continued failures, blunders, missteps and a threat to our National Security, Rep. Michele Bachman has called for the inept AG Eric Holder to step down from his position.  In light of the terrible job and injection of partisan incompetence, it would be hard to imagine anyone in Congress would feel Holder should hold on....

From Rep. Michele Bachmann --

The Wikileaks debacle is the latest proof that Eric Holder has no understanding of the dangerous times we live in. His ineptness, as head of the Department of Justice, is putting our nation in a vulnerable position.

Earlier this week, the Wikileaks website jeopardized our nation’s security and diplomacy by releasing hundreds of thousands of U.S. State Department documents. The same site put our troops at risk when it released thousands of classified U.S. military documents in July. As far back as March, the Pentagon declared Wikileaks to be a threat to national security. Meanwhile, the Attorney General, our nation’s chief law enforcement officer, has been busy cracking down on dozens of websites that sold things like counterfeit purses. Eric Holder simply has the wrong priorities.

During his tenure as Attorney General, Holder short-circuited the interrogation of the underwear bomber by ordering that the terror suspect be given Miranda rights within the first hour of questioning. Holder’s use of civilian trials for terror suspects proved to be a failure last month when a civilian jury acquitted a man on 284 of 285 counts. This was after a judge refused to allow the testimony of a key prosecution witness, even though our military had captured the suspect after a gunfight in Pakistan and linked him to deadly bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa.

Eric Holder has also had a slew of lesser problems, like his outspoken criticism of Arizona’s immigration law before he had even read the law, his dropping of charges in the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case, and his failure to investigate fraud allegations and the misuse of taxpayer dollars in the recent Pigford claims settlement.

The time has come for Eric Holder to step down as Attorney General of the United States. As a member of Congress and a mother of five children, I am concerned about the very real threats facing our country. We need a chief law enforcement officer who understands those dangers and knows how to respond.

Case Western Reserve University Tramples on Free Speech

Each month, FIRE features a college or university with a particularly egregious speech code as its Speech Code of the Month. The Speech Code of the Month feature serves both to educate the public about the broader problem of speech codes on campus and to use public pressure to encourage particular institutions to abandon repressive policies. This month the winner is Case Western Univeristy!

From Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) --

FIRE announces its Speech Code of the Month for December 2010: Case Western Reserve University.

Case Western's "Use of University Facilities" policy provides that

University facilities and services may not be used for political fund-raising or to advocate a partisan position .... This restriction also applies to the use of campus mail services, university mailing lists and labels, duplicating and printing equipment, and telephones belonging to the university.

By its plain language, this policy prohibits any of Case Western's recognized student organizations—which include Case Democrats, College Republicans of Case, Case Right to Life, Spectrum Gay-Straight Alliance, and Students for Justice in Palestine, to name just a few—from holding any on-campus event at which they express an opinion on a wide variety of political issues. According to this policy, a student cannot even make a call from the phone in his or her dorm room to discuss such issues!

Case Western is private, but it promises "the right to hold and express opinions different from our own." If, as the Use of University Facilities policy states, Case Western students are not free to express their opinions on the most important issues affecting Americans, this right is wholly meaningless. Like many universities that censor political speech, administrators at Case Western may erroneously believe that such a policy is necessary to preserve the university's status as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. However, as we have explained before in our Policy Statement on Political Activity on Campus, "students, student groups, and faculty members do not endanger the 501(c)(3) status of private colleges and universities by engaging in partisan political speech when such speech is clearly separate and distinct from the institution's views or opinions. The presumption is that such speech does not represent the views of the university as an institution."

In addition to suppressing core political expression on campus, this policy is written so broadly that it cannot conceivably be enforced consistently, opening the door for arbitrary enforcement and double standards. A respect for substantive due process requires that a law must be capable of being enforced without arbitrariness. Taken literally, the Use of University Facilities policy prohibits most, if not all, political expression that takes place on Case Western's campus. Therefore, unless Case Western plans to discipline every student and faculty member who expresses a position on a political issue anywhere on campus or using campus telephones, its policy will necessarily be applied arbitrarily and at the sole discretion of administrators-a recipe for severe injustice. And as if that isn't bad enough, the policy also states that "[t]he university reserves the right to withhold from any individual or group the use of university facilities or service when, in the opinion of the university's officers, such use is not in the best interest of the institution"—allowing Case Western administrators to suppress non-political speech as well, such as criticism of Case Western's policies.

For these reasons, Case Western Reserve University is our December 2010 Speech Code of the Month. If you believe that your college's or university's policy should be a Speech Code of the Month, please e-mail speechcodes@thefire.org with a link to the policy and a brief description of why you think attention should be drawn to this code.

If you are a current college student or faculty member interested in free speech, consider joining FIRE's Campus Freedom Network, which consists of college faculty members and students dedicated to advancing individual liberties on their campuses.