Mary Laney is a Moron

In this morning's Chicago Sun-Times, Mary Laney begins her inane column by quoting the 1st Amendment. Obviously, she 1) hasn't read it and/or 2) doesn't understand it.

Her juvenile piece complains about how "liberal" students are being mean to right-wingers who appear on college campuses. Case in point, the kerfuffle at Columbia between some student protestors and Beer Guts Across the Border (oops, I'm sorry--the "Minute Men.") I saw the video, and certainly campus security was lax and things got out of control. Look, I don't advocate threatening or assaulting wingnuts (with a possible exception for cream-pieing Ann Coulter) but this is a campus security issue. Mary decides to make it constitutional.

Regular readers know I have a pet peeve about things misusing the constitution. Mary, since you don't seem to understand the First Amendment, let me explain it to you. It reads "Congress shall make no law..." Do you know what Congress is, Mary? That means that this language applies only against the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT [editor's note: before the angry letters start coming, it is the 14th Amendment, not the 1st, that guarantees free speech with regard to state governments and their sub-units] The federal government, Mary, not private universities or student agitators. I would also add that the 1st amendment guarantees the right to speak--nowhere does it mention a right to be heard. You finish your drivel by saying that

They need to remember that the First Amendment gives the right of free speech to all the people--and they need universities and university presidents to remind them of that fact.

I'm sure they would, Mary, if federal agents were going to arrest any speakers. I would also remind you that it gives you the freedom from federal arrest to write really stupid things and demonstrate that you have ABSOLUTELY NO CLUE what you are writing about.