Republicans would really have a problem with the concept of conservation of mass, seeing as they believe natural resources aren't finite. ;)

cDub,

One reason conservatives don't tend to go into academia is that they are more likely to, say, enter the business world than study art history. Another part of the reason that there are so many leftists in academia is that many academics are former anti-war activists who remained in graduate programs to avoid being drafted. Also, American academia is one of the last vestiges on earth where Marxism is still taken seriously.

As to your argument that the dominant of leftists in academia proves that being well educated leads one to the truth of leftist thought. Keep in mind that there is a curve in the correlation of one's education and one's voting patterns. The least educated tend to vote the most Democratic. As one gets more educated, one is more likely to vote Republican, up until the point of graduate school, where tendencies reverse radically to the left. This pattern repeats virtually every presidential election. See CNN's exit polls if you doubt this. So if being more educated tends to make one more likely leftist then why is being more educated prior to graduate school correlate to a greater likelihood to vote Republican?

Furthermore, just because one is in academia doesn't entail that one is more educated in politically relevant matters. For example, one of the most radically leftist disciplines in academia is literary theory, and I see no reason why having a doctorate in literary theory makes one any more wise or expert on political matters than Joe Sixpack who lives in the real world.

Finally, you claimed that there is no evidence of leftist discrimination against conservatives. Well, here's some:

Laura A. Freberg, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, was fired as department chair and subsequently repeatedly denied promotions after she was "outed" as a Republican. Her department colleagues told her "We would never have hired you if we'd known you were a Republican." She subsequently sued. Since the publishing of the following letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal from her, she won her court case against the school.

www.mugu.com/upstream-li...sg00511.html

Another case, as reported in the Cal State University Fullerton Daily Titan:

"Paul Sheldon Foote, professor of accounting at Cal State Fullerton, considers himself "one of the few out-of-the-closet Republicans" on this campus.

Foote's political position became public after he ran for the State Assembly in 1992.

An article published by The Los Angeles Times printed his views on various issues including gun control, welfare reform and healthcare.

Foote said his colleagues began circulating the publication and he became a target for dismissal. Foote said he was fired shortly after for reasons that were never clearly specified.

Foote received his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, his master's from Harvard Business School, his doctorate from Michigan State University and said he felt his credentials were comparable with those of his colleagues.

Almost a year later, Foote took his case before an arbitrator.

"Not only did I get my job back and get tenure, [the arbitrator] said I deserved early tenure.""

I spent a few years in academia, and I saw plenty of discriminatrion and bias against conservatives. It was hard to find an untenured conservative academic to sponsor anything resembling a conservative club for fear of professional retaliation. I have a friend who's a moderate/liberal professor of philosophy who was afraid to question leftist dogma while she was untenured.

this is not a free country if you protest it

been arrested 4 times because of my politics,
twice for comparing the Tall Ships to slave ships
once for riding critical mass bike ride

and once in miami for walking down the street:

I went to Miami on the UPJ activist bus from New York City on 11/18. We arrived
on the 19th. I moved into the Riande Hotel just down the road from the
Intercontinental, the site of the FTAA meetings. Across the street was an
outdoor amphitheater which was the starting point for much of the weeks protest.
I saw Dead Prez play there the night I arrived. It all seemed so convenient.

The next day about 1500 of us woke up early for the 7am direct action with many
large puppets to confront the police guarding the trade ministers in the
Intercontinental. Reports were that people had been arrested for passing out
flyers near the fence the day before. We knew it would be rough. Chief Timoney
had used preemptive tactics in Philadelphia at the Republican convention in 2000
while he was Police Chief there.

We marched towards the fence, but the police outnumbered us and formed lines
with heavy riot gear in front of the fence. Most of the cops were in full riot
gear. Some squads had automatic rifles. We meandered back and forth for around
an hour with little happening but drumming, chanting and dancing. Suddenly the
police opened up a path to the fence. I was on the other side of the march, and
noticed that the open street behind us was being sealed by a line of riot cops,
closing our last escape. I didn't want to get arrested so I walked down the
sidewalk right up the line, said "excuse me", and walked through.
About 10 minutes later there was a scuffle, and out came 2 cops with huge
puppets. They smashed them up with their boots and went back to their lines.
(Maybe they were jealous). I didn't see much of what happened after that but I
heard two sound bombs which caused mild panic even outside the police lines
amongst protesters and bystanders. I was told by many later inside the police
box that many people did run when the sound bombs went off. Don't be scared of
these, they are designed to cause fear, not harm. They will be used again.

Things calmed down as the time for the main march drew near. The police woudlnt
let us move to the amphitheater until a large group of union members appeared.
Around 10,000 people were gathered, but only about half made it into the rally,
as some private security staff searched bags and used metal detectors on all
wanting to get in. The march started late and the end of the march route was cut
off by police. I went into the theater with maybe 1 thousand of the marchers to
hear Billy Bragg and other musicians and speakers. Around 4 the place was mostly
cleared out so I went outside,on the hill overlooking the street.
There was gas wafting in the air and the protesters who never left the street,
were being forced around the corner by waves of riot cops. A smallere line
marched up the hill. I thought nothing of it as i was behind a line of retired
afl-cio workers sitting in chairs. I was chatting with someone behind me, and
occasionally turned to look what was going on. One time when the cops were about
20 feet from me, I turned into a splash of pepper spray which filled my left
eye. (Ouch!) The retirees in front of me were awash in the stuff. The cops
matched on down the hill, never stopping. I waited a few hours, and crossed the
street to my Hotel.

Later I heard many awful stories of beatings and sprayings and rubber bullet
shootings. I even saw a very few of them on the news. I went to dinner. Went to
the convergence center. Talked to people, heard some more stories, watched some
films. Around 12:30 am I started walking back to our hotel with Jay Emerson who
from the NYC bus. There had been threats of a police raid of the center, but
everything seemed to be calm.

****************************************
***ARREST SECTION***********************
****************************************

After walking about two miles, we were two blocks from the hotel. Two cop cars
pulled around the corner from behind us and 8 riot cops got out and 1 ordered us
to stop. We stopped and he ordered us to stop again. The cop who was talking was
tall blond with a soul patch under his lower lip. This was the really bad cop.
All 8 were white, and they were all bad cops. They played bad cop, really bad
cop with us for the next 45 minutes.

The really bad cop, snarling, asked me what I was doing. I said I was going to
the Riande Hotel just down the street. He snarled louder, and asked what i was
doing in Miami. I said i was here to visit my friend Norma. He reached into my
pockets and found some "Bush lies, who dies?" stickers. He was really
mad threw them to the ground and went through all my pockets throwing my things
aside. I get out my wallet and asked if he wanted it. He grabbed it and threw
it. We had a tense conversation with the police asking why i came to destroy
Miami, and me saying i came to save it from the FTAA. They cuffed me tight, and
twisted my thumb around and held it there for 10 minutes. They forced me hard to
the ground and held me there tight. The really bad cop repeatedly threatened to
hit me in the mouth with his flashlight if he didn't like my answers to any
question. He said many awful things to me. The worst he whispered in my ear. He
said something like, tell the black block to get out of here and never come back
like the niggers they are.

Jay got it much worse than I. He had an upside down flag on his black shirt, and
had a black helmet and a black gas mask in his pack. He was roughed up harder.
The really bad cop told him that he wished he could take him in the alley and
shoot him in the brains and eat it for soup.

We spent about 15 mostly sleepless hours in jail. Eventually we were given a
copy our arrest report which told us we were charged with Loitering and
Prowling. We had to answer alot of questions asked by alot of people. There was
never any reading of any of our rights. I was put in a very cold cell, (maybe 55
degrees F). I was printed 3 times, had my picture taken 3 different times. Moved
from cell to cell 6 times. One of our questioners was from homeland security. We
were told we had to answer his questions, or it was a federal offense. There are
still terrorists here he explained.

Around 1:30pm we were brought into a holding room outside a makeshift court in
the jail. Some of the jailers suddenly started playing good cop. and tried to
convince us to be good like they were. I asked if they cared about us so, why
did we get put in that freezing room and never give us water when we asked. He
paused, pretended to be shocked, and said the freezing room was to prevent
germs. Later, our court appointed attorneys tried hard to convince everyone to
take a deal to pay $201 court costs if it was offered to us. He warned the John
and Jane Does they would be there all weekend if they didn't give their names. I
asked why i couldn't get my own attorney as i needed to organize help from the
outside as i was arrested with no cash. After my hearing he made it clear to me
he was offended that i would demand my rights.

My hearing was quick and sweet. The prosecutor repeated the lies of the cops,
(they said we ran). My attorney said even the report had no evidence of
prowling. The prosecutor said it was such a good argument he would drop the
charges. I was free!

I went back into the holding area all smiles, wishing good luck to the others
with more serious charges. Told Jay he was going to be free. They told me to
line up for the 14th time. I went up to the jailer and he said hold up your
hands.I asked, you are going to cuff me? I turned around and asked his superior,
(who was playing good cop before). He said "Of course."

The next two hours were spent locked up in another cell waiting to get out. I
never got my papers from the court. I did get my wallet back. I was warned by
the only officer who ever gave me his name to get back in before 7pm, because
the bad cops would be out looking for us again that night. Our people doing jail
solidarity outside cheered for us as we walked towards them at 4:30pm. It was
the nicest feeling.

The cops in Atlanta caused the so-called "riots" that took place in front of Spelman. They marched in from either side, circled the *completely* somber and nonviolent marchers with full riot gear, moved them slowly into a nearby street, and began attacking them. It was even reported - ONCE - on channel 11.

No outcry from the freedom-loving and America-cherishing "conservatives" was forthcoming, that I recall. Of course, a link to any kind of credible coverage of republican-backed protests against the illegal suspension of rights being perpetrated by the administration would give me serious pause.

That was a long time, ago, granted.

What's going on now is so much worse. Whatever you "conservatives" and/or "right wingers" like to call yourselves, seeing what you're advocating and ignoring has robbed me of the last vestiges of feelings of social responsibility with regard to your needs or rights. You've made it quite clear that you to harm and deprive me, you won't leave my way of life alone, and you will gleefully fork over my rights along with yours to the first dipshit power-parasite that yells "jesus" or "gay" or "war".

You're evil. I always knew you were stupid, but the fact of your malice reduces your importance to society, in my eyes, to "poisonous child-devouring snake". May you die, after prolonged crippling pain.

:)