Free Speech Under Fire

Here's chilling scenario for the advocates of free speech: imagine that you'd like to hand out copies of the First Amendment to your fellow students. So you stand in front of a campus building at Illinois State University quietly handing out Bill of Rights bookmarks to the mostly indifferent students. But soon a campus security guard comes your way to tell you that you're violating the new campus protest policy. You can't pass out the Bill of Rights on a public college campus except in designated areas, and then only if someone else hasn't reserved the space. You don't appreciate being told where to hand out the Bill of Rights, so you start reading the First Amendment aloud, loudly, certain that the highest law in the land will trigger a little respect for free speech on campus. Not so. The security officer tells you that now you're violating another campus rule against repeated loud noise, and you can't do that anywhere on campus.

Does the scenario sound absurd? The words of a new protest policy proposed by the ISU Administration would prohibit precisely that.

John K. Wilson

Zoning Out Speech
ISU Proposed Policy on Freedom of Expression

Make Time for Jello Biafra

Born Eric Boucher, Jello Biafra is best known as the former lead vocalist of the political punk band, The Dead Kennedys. According to the disinformation website, Jello Biafra juxtaposed mass-produced plastic food (Jello) with a famous 1970s African famine induced by Western imperialism (Biafra) to come up with his unique name. The Dead Kennedys were one of the most popular, important, and influential American punk bands of the late '70s and early '80s. They formed in San Francisco in 1978 when guitarist East Bay Ray placed an ad in a music paper to which vocalist Jello Biafra responded to. They were soon joined by bassist Klaus Flouride, drummer Ted, and a second guitarist known simply as 6025. The latter departed in March 1979, while Ted was replaced by D.H. Peligro.

After a brief rehearsal period, Dead Kennedys played their first gig at Mabuhay Gardens in July 1978. Before long, the Dead Kennedys attracted a considerable following. Live, the Dead Kennedys were a combination of chaos and theatrics. Dead Kennedys' early success led them to record their first single, "California †ber Alles," in 1979, a blistering attack on the then-governor of California, Jerry Brown. It was released on their own label, Alternative Tentacles Records, set up by East Bay Ray. "Holiday in Cambodia" (1980) followed and is perhaps the band's definitive moment - a perfect mix of hilarious yuppie-baiting lyrics and evil-sounding music. Almost as essential were "Kill the Poor" (1980) and "Too Drunk to Fuck" (a British Top 40 single in 1981) and the debut LP, Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables (1980). That LP went on to be awarded a Gold Record in Britain. [Full Story]

Bloomington City Council to Vote on Human Rights Ordinance Oct. 28

The vote to amend the Bloomington Human Rights Ordinance to include sexual orientation is set to take place at the Oct. 28 Bloomington City Council meeting. The meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 109 E. Olive St.

Two council members, Karen Schmidt and Mike Matejka, have publicly stated their support for the ordinance.

Three other councilmen, Jim Finnegan, Skip Crawford, and Tom Whalen have stated that they will vote no on the measure when it comes up for a vote.

That leaves Jim Fruin, Mike Sprague, and Rich Veitengruber, who are undecided on the issue. Fruin and Sprague's wards are on the east side of Bloomington; Veitengruber's ward covers the city's South Hill neighborhood. [Full Story]

The Other Countries of the "Axis of Evil"

As we are now all aware, our King, George II, stands ready to rid the world of the evil threat that exists in the form of Iraq. But Iraq is not the only demon of the world. In his State of the Union address last January, King George made the world aware that, much like the colliding forces of the yin yang, the world contains societies of pure evil to counteract the pure good that we call the United States of America. Quite simply, the nations of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are pure evil, and have most likely been placed on this earth by Satan himself.

But little emphasis has been placed on Iran or North Korea. Although we are well aware that our hearts are supposed to be filled with hatred toward these adversaries, will military action soon ensue? As Disney movies have shown us, it seems to be the role of the good guy (that, of course, being America) to defeat the world's evil. Is Iraq simply the first step in a long chain of events to rid the world of anti-American (and thus anti-good) sentiment?

Please forgive my sarcasm. As any rational individual will admit, terms such as "good" and "evil" should not be used to sum up people or regimes, especially while making foreign policy decisions. Iran, Iraq, and North Korea are not utopian societies, nor is our own. But Bush would apparently like the world to think otherwise. [Full Story]