Had the students been conservative and the speaker a liberal, then a full scale investigation would ensue, front page on the NYT and the networks would find a few seconds to plug their ideology into the story. Students would be expelled and their friends put on notice. But these little thugs were gently placed in the office of public safety. Typical left wing university.

Throwing pies at guest speakers is such a cool thing to do! Especially to make a political counter-point. Children...... counting coup.

THE ARTICLE DOES NOT SPECIFY MOTIVE -

I JUST HOPE THEY WERE REPUBLICANS

Tyranny is volume coupled violence. These "students" apparently have not learned the lessons of history.

I would hope that the Brown faculty is not where these students learned how to deal with their internal emotional alienation.

In order to submit to violent reactions, one has to have first submitted to the fact that the rigor of real life is too trying for weaklings whose emotion reservoir is empty.

And this behavior is a classic example of such.

College students--eternal adolescence.

What's the big deal? These campus nuts have been doing this to conservative speakers for years, without much protest or commentary in the mainstream media.

Brown not the color of green

Haha! A pompous ass gets his 'just desserts'.

A college campus is a place reserved explicitly for the freedom of thought, expression, speech, learning, and debate. That the most cogent, cohesive, and well-reasoned argument a student could make against someone with opposing beliefs is to throw a pie in their face is not only pathetic, but alarming. This sort of juvenile stunt is all too common, and whether students do it for humor, attention, or to actually make a political statement is irrelevant -- the behavior is obscene and inexcusable.

I weep for the future.

It's ironic how the "peace-lovers" love to get physical and abusive.

So lovely to see the ever tolerant leftists and hippies, being so hate-filled and intollerent...but then again, what else is new. They are tolerant to everyone as long as they live in the same echo chamber.

Typical free speech hating, booger eating liberal facists.

Libs love free speech, provided it is speech that agrees with their point of view. Conservative free speech gets a pie. These losers should be expelled.

Why is that just liberals have freedom of speech?

Friedman is another climate alarmist who thinks we're all going to die because of how humans are abusing the planet. He should get a pie in the face to demonstrate what a clown he is. Let's see Brown University host a speaker debunking climate alarmist theory and see how tolerant they are. None of those disrupting that speech would be placed "in the custody of the Department of Public Safety". Let's see Brown Univ talk about "disrupting the right of others" under those circumstances" WOULD NEVER HAPPEN.

Sounds like the journalist must have connected up with some real scientists - e.g., ones who know that the present models of climate would rate a D- in any competent physics class. Of course, for the marshmallow majors, anything that has CO2 followed by a number constitutes advanced physics.

This is so typical of the loony left and radical environmentalists. What they cannot achieve with honest open discussion, they try to achieve through force and intimidation!

Ahhh liberls...the best slapstick entertainment since the three stooges. If it wasn't for liberals there would be no pure idiocy comedy in the world anymore. Now if we can just keep them in Hollywood and out of Washington, we might actually survive the next century as a nation.

Thomas Friedman’s pragmatic ideas bring the power of market forces, government and the environment into a balance. These ideas will help the US become leaders in clean technology while liberating us from the Oil Pimps of the world. Stop dissing the Friedman with your ludicrous pie in the sky thinking …

Pavel Penguin
Penguins for pragmatic thought
http://www.pavelthepenguin.com/

Freedom of speech at Brown? Most, in fact, nearly all, American universities, don't practice what they preach, and those who don't share the same leftist, pro-Democrat politically correct views are either prevented from speaking through tactics such as on display at Brown, or not invited to speak at all. In fact, the American university has been transformed from a place that encourages free and open discussion to a place that is as repressive as a comunist dictatorship. Don't look for free speech on an American campus - freedom of expression died long long ago.

Freedom of speech on a university campus what a laugh only if u are a liberal - forget about non-academic disciplinary system throw the Bums off campus they lose their right to go to a university- too much political correctness- make an example and see it won't happen again--

They should be expelled.

They basically tried to quash the speech of someone else by their act which incidentally is not speech. It is rather the acts of impotent thugs who cannot write or speak convincingly and have some subconscious fear that they are wrong.

When did activism become yelling and screaming? Is the pen not mightier than the sword? Does the pen need a megaphone and a pie thrower attached to it? I suspect their "ideas" are mundane and so, in a wish to appear radical, they resort to vicious antics.

If only Brown was as protective of speech when the speaker is David Horowitz or Ann Coulter. It's lucky for the kids that the speaker wasn't Ahmadinejad. The Brown Shirts would have turned them over to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

Oh, please. Leftist intolerant liberals routinely shout down and disrupt those moderates and conservatives they disagree with and no one covers the story. Friedman is a well-known biased writer who hasn't had anything newsworthy, intellectual or impoprtant to say for over a decade. This is the most interesting thing that has happened to him inyears. Now he can claim to be a victim!

If a pie-thrower is a student, expel him. Student or not... charge, try, convict and jail him. 30 days ought to be about right.

Too bad they didn't hit Friedman with a pork pie...

Expelled?! No intelligence allowed?! perfect fit for the "Question Authority" crowd, just so long it is not their views. How hypocritical and blind can a group be? What more is there to say. Liberalism IS a mental disease!

They must have confused Friedman with shrill NYT harpy Paul Krugman. Now there's a guy who deserves to be pied with extreme prejudice.

This is sad to see. Brown has one of the most idiotic political correct speech codes in the country. I urged my children when in college to attend presentations by all speakers, and listen objectively and respectfully. The Brown administration would stop this kind of thing cold by doing away with one-sided speech policy. Let everyone speak, and let all of them be protected from loonies. I read Friedman's The Earth is Flat, and he is worth a hearing anytime.

The problem is that these Dem/Lib/Socialist/Marxist are slowly sinking the United States into 3rd world status right under our collective noses.

If the GOOD side doesn't start throwing their own pies, we'll all wake up to the Socialist Marxist States of America in the NTDF.

Intolerant liberals? Lock them up? What kind of crappy website is this? It's overrun with fascists.

I am willing to stand up for the principle that it is funny to throw a pie at Thomas Friedman.

"The problem is that these Dem/Lib/Socialist/Marxist are slowly sinking the United States into 3rd world status right under our collective noses."

Nice try pal, we haven't been in power for eight years. It's your boy Bush, Cheney and the rest of you taking this ship down...

haha, funny liberals who can't tolerate another view point so they devolve to the point of throwing pies at anyone speaking out. Colleges are supposed to be centers of intellectual diversity, free thought and speech. What these little fascists will never accept is that there ideology is not perfect, therefore people who think differently should be able to do so without risk of humiliation in a public forum. This student should be apprehended for trying to stifle free speech that doesn't happen to agree lock step with his. He is an angry, ignorant little child who needs to understand that people are allowed to think differently than he, and instead of reacting to disagreement as a child would, by throwing a pie, why not try to refute his opinions with reason and logic. Something that this person never learned or whose fanaticism is so profound that he actually wants the speech of dissenters silenced.

Wow, that's weird. I'm classified as a liberal and I think Friedman makes good points and misses on others. I saw him speak about globalization at MIT 2 years ago, and he was spot on. He's also written a bit about America's addiction to oil. How does that make him either liberal or conservative, because he appears to have views from all sides? Why does everyone have to be classified as one thing or another? What's wrong with today's society?

Get rid of political parties already!

BTW: Throwing pies is weak, but what else would you expect from Brown.

They should be expelled for their barbaric behavior. If Brown doesn't get rid of them then they are spineless. I don't agree with a lot of people but disrupting their speech is deplorable.

Liberals attacking liberals? US Operation Chaos is working!

Rick, nice try. Dems have been in power in Congress for 2 years and have gotten NOTHING done. They're too busy investigating steroid use, why there aren't more female CEOs', etc., to deal with the real problems of high gas prices, Iraq War, economy, etc. They do; however, want to punish those of us who have been responsible homeowners by giving breaks to irresponsible people who purchased houses they couldn't afford (and signed paperwork they didn't understand)

Now, he knows what conservative speakers at colleges face.

College students know just enough to be dangerous

Wow, nice site. If I register here do get a brown shirt and swastika for my car bumper?

Did I miss something? Aren't clean energy and moves to rely less on petroleum products concepts that are embraced by the liberals? I thought that was part of their battle cry. Al Gore? So it was a liberal speaker at a liberal school who got two pies hucked at him. All we can deduce from that is that the pie huckers either, weren't liberal, didn't agree with his position, or were just trying to be funny. Given that this is college (and I still remember what that was like) I would guess that it was probably the latter. So stop trying to turn this into a libs v. cons argument.

Remember when Bill Gates got the pie in his face - that was funny - hehe.

Rick, please take a longer term view of the comment you are dismising. A nation does not swirl the drain in a few years. The leftist take down of the US has been going on for three generations (long before Bush was even born)and went into over drive 45 years ago.

Are green pies weapons of mass destruction and a threat to the United States and Israel?

Whether one agrees with a speaker or not, is no reason to use violence. It seems as though the spoiled rotten Brown students have once again shown their maturity in a negative way. And for this their parents spend thousands to "educate" their offspring. Their parents must be real proud of the way their progeny acts when they disagree with someone.

George Stephanopoulus and Chrlie Gibson were roundly criticized for asking "tough" questions to Sen Obama.

Tom Friedman gets treated shabbily by his own countrymen for advocating free market soultions.

I am glad that finally, members of the mainstream media are getting a taste of what the intolerant left subjects anyone to, with whom they may have the slightest of disagreements. Typical liberal fascism that conservatives and libertarians have to deal with. If you are not lock and step with them, then you have commited heresy.

Welcome to our world, Messrs Stephanopoulus, Gibson and Friedman.

UNIVERSITIES REMAIN A NEST OF TYRANNY AND ELITICISM. BROWN IS NOT UNUSUAL IN THIS REGARD AND HOPEFULLY THE COLLEGE WILL PROSECUTE AND NOT CODDLE THESE IDIOTS. THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA IS AS BAD AS BROWN IN BEING A BASTION OF NUTSY SQUIRRELS. CLARENCE THOMAS HAS BEEN INVITED TO SPEAK AT THE UNIVERSITY'S GRADUATION CEREMONIES. A NUMBER OF NUTSY SQUIRREL PROFESSORS, WHO DON'T LIKE THOMAS CONSERVATIVE BENT, FEEL HE SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED ON CAMPUS. SO MUCH FOR A BROAD BASED EDUCATION AT THIS SICK UNIVERSITY.

Some adolescent throws a pie at Blowhard Trust Fund Tom and right wingers get all uppity about free speech. Their hero GWB rips up the Constitution, taps our phones, reads our mail, holds a suspect for years without a charge, and pulls stuff that we hanged people for in Germany and Japan in 1945 and they just march along in lock step. Pretty consistent, huh?

Yet another example of something I've long known to be true. Liberals profess be open minded and believe in free speech, but truly they have closed minds and only wish to silence others.

Why do all you righties whine so much?

Wake up. Your party had it's chance and they sure messed things up.

This is all about the First Amendment. Let's not follow the gov't down the path of censorship. After all, censorship is becoming America's favorite past-time. The US gov't (and their corporate friends), already detain protesters, ban books like America Deceived (book) from Amazon and shut down Ron Paul. Free Speech forever (even for Friedman).

I long for the day when it was cosidered a privilegde to attend university, where only serious students and academics could trade ideas for the betterment of society. These days university life basically resembles an extended bachelor party for the wayward soul. These pseudointellectual and trivial displays of political aggression would be best channeled into a couple of years of pulling coal out of the hills in West Virginia. Dude would still be able to get high off the fumes, help solve America's dependency on foreign oil, and keep my house warm for cheap. Finally, a calling worthy of this jackass.

I long for the day when it was cosidered a privilegde to attend university, where only serious students and academics could trade ideas for the betterment of society. These days university life basically resembles an extended bachelor party for the wayward soul. These pseudointellectual and trivial displays of political aggression would be best channeled into a couple of years of pulling coal out of the hills in West Virginia. Dude would still be able to get high off the fumes, help solve America's dependency on foreign oil, and keep my house warm for cheap. Finally, a calling worthy of this jackass.

Prospector wrote, "THE ARTICLE DOES NOT SPECIFY MOTIVE - I JUST HOPE THEY WERE REPUBLICANS". I expect Prospector to be greatly disappointed for two reasons, 1) the pies were "green", hmmmm, and 2) Us "Pubbies" believe in free speech and the marketplace of ideas whereas leftists squash free speech with assault and violence at any opportunity.

Dammit, just because there are some liberals who act like fools, please don't paint us all with the same brush, as I give you the benefit of the doubt and do not judge all conservative by the standards of your least worthy representatives. Also, throwing a pie is a far cry from "fascism", although it's definitely sophmoric and serves to do nothing constructive. While I think expulsion is a bit much, academic suspension is probably a fitting punishment.

As a Brown student who witnessed the event, it was disheartening to see such an outburst. Despite what some may think, these students do not speak for the rest of us. The pie throwers were booed and Friedman was given a standing ovation; such incidents reflected only the poor judgment and hypocrisy of the two individuals involved. Despite our liberal reputation, Brown students are very much open-minded and thoughtful when it comes to political discourse.

In addition, the real irony of the incident was that Friedman spoke about ideas he had never discussed in public before. He had come out of a "hibernation" to go through the ideas of his next book, many of which contradicted the statements on the fliers that were thrown. For instance, the fliers purported to say that Friedman supports biofuels, despite the fact that he spoke ardently against them in his talk. Had the two engaged Friedman, rather than assault him, they might have seen this.

Intolerant liberals? Lock them up? What kind of crappy website is this? It's overrun with fascists.
yelper | April 23, 2008 2:38 PM link

So if people posting words on a message board here are "fascists", then the people who assault speakers on campus who they don't agree with are ..... what exactly?

Strangely, YELPER here has not one word to say about them. It says all you need to know about YELPER.

So call me whatever you want Yelper. The fact you don't bother to condemn people who attempt to silence other's free speech rights shows us who the REAL fascist is.

Whenver you label all individuals of a political or idealogical group as being identical in their behavior you expose your emotionalism and invalidate your premise.

"The problem is that these Dem/Lib/Socialist/Marxist are slowly sinking the United States into 3rd world status right under our collective noses"

Are you serious? At least on liberal blogs the comments are usually funny, whether or not I agree with them. These comments are A) DULL, and B)RIDICULOUS

"Liberalism IS a mental disease"

Yeah? It's also the reason your water is drinkable, your food is edible, your workweek is bearable, and why people in the South have electricity. Is it flawed? Sure. But it also solved a lot of problems, like human beings dying because other human beings exploited them so that they could accumulate wealth beyond all reason.

By the way, I agree that the student's actions crossed the line... but these comments? Good Lord, the majority of you are clearly d-bag a$$holes.

oohhh mmmm greeeen piiieeee. Well, just paint a target on my face!

They were giving Friedman free food... isn't that what libs want?

Same silly type sissies tried that at the University of Arizona-Tucson- a few years ago when Ann Coulter was speaking. Students make better security guards than the campus police.
The sissies were not seriously injured, but they did take a few lumps.

There is NO need or right for the Right, as in the Correct, student movement to throw pies. It is wrong, childish and does no good. But when some punk DOES throw a pie we on the Right, as in the Correct, may throw punches.

I don't think Friedman really qualifies as a conservative. He thinks for himself. Not like old martin there.

Those who preach tolerance,Do not practice it when opposing views are put forth- Hypocrites of the Left.

I find it really telling here that most commenters jump to cry foul on liberals without taking any note of what Friedman's views really are. Is he pro-trade? Absolutely. Is he off the reservation when it comes to how most conservatives view environmentalism and energy? You bet.
If the pie-throwers knew what they were protesting against (questionable), then they shared at least views with conservatives on the environment.
Either way, to assume protesters automatically subscribe wholeheartedly to a particular political platform is dangerous.
Take the time to read up on Friedman, think about the motives of the pastry-launchers, and then decide whether it is appropriate to make inflammatory and most often incorrect mass accusations.

I thought liberals were all about free speech, man. Let's go smoke a bowl and change the world! Ya hoo!

This is just like the sort of hatred that you would expect from Bill Maher and his audience toward Christians. Enough is enough. There should be no more tolerance for these haters, whether they are these clowns trying to suppress free speech, or people like Bill Maher and his ilk, who hate and ridicule people whose views and beliefs they don't share and can't even comprehend.

"Conservative free speech gets a pie"

Yup. And Liberal free speech gets a taser. Which is worse?

"Liberal media" my ass.

This is the same mindset that led to the stalinist purges of the 1930's. I would be afraid to imagine a world run by these free-speach hating liberal fascists.

Pampered little trust fund thugs at yet another liberal elitist Ivy League clone factory pitch pies as a "political statement". How very gutsy.

Meanwhile, 18 and 19 year old servicemen and women, often with a high school education at best, man the long thin line on land, sea, and in the air....protecting these self-same little thugs in their pie-throwing, McDonalds munching, I-Pod groping little echo chamber. I think the Israelis had it right...everybody should have to serve in the armed services or national guard of their country for at least a couple of years. Gives one an appreciation for the true meaning of freedom.

This might be the dumbest post of the bunch....and that's saying A LOT!! Damn those dems and libs that have done so much to sink us into the 3rd world over the last 8 years. Damn the dems for making us look like idiots to the rest of the world. Damn the dems for invading a soveriegn country under false pretenses. It's all the democrats fault. What we really need is another 8 years of republican control to fix everything.

Are today's students so far left that they think Friedman is a conservative??? He is as left as they come...

20 to 1 they are Obama supporters.

If pies are outlawed, then only outlaws will have pies...

Nice try Rick. While I'm not inclined to lay out much of a rosey carpet for the Bush team, one has to remember that not only did they inherit an economic crisis in 2001, they also got hit almost immediatley with 9/11. The fact that Tax revenues recovered from that collapse and from 2003 to 2007 increased by an historic 44%, in the midst of longer economic trials must say something for them. Regardless - yes - as we have been heading for quite long time now, and greatly accelerated by both the era of greed and excess (the late90's) and the current lack of discipline, it may be a tough ride ahead. Too bad no one is talking about actually addressing the issues.

Conservatives are such idiots...most of them anyway. Many of the posters here are wrongly assuming that the pie-throwers were liberal and Friedman conservative. It's the other way round, fools. Martin, the first poster, comes across as a complete fool.

They got it all wrong. That's not the way you do it. C'mon, Brown! Take a lesson from Columbia.

What you want to do is coordinate an entire mob of people to hold a coordinated temper tantrum, rush the stage, and shout down any other opinions, until security shuts the event down. The speaker goes away, the administration follows up with some lame non-apology and no real penalties, and life goes on in the academy without any scary threats of dissenting opinions.

Footage of the action available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv6nvMUq10U

The goal of the action was not simply to disrupt his talk and stain his ego, but to disrupt and expose all that he stands for and the university’s corporate greenwashing of its image.

In the spirit of true debate and free speech:
We hereby challenge Thomas Friedman and all other green capitalists to a duel.

This duel is about the debate over the future of life on this planet, and the ways in which corporate powers have hijacked this debate to make it the realm of “experts”, policy-makers, and consumers buying an array of “green” products. In exposing what Friedman supports, we open this debate to the public.

If there are to be truly real solutions to the many problems we face, it will come out of transformative social movements and not corporate boardrooms. For these reasons, we challenge Thomas Friedman and all other green capitalists to a duel, in which we will continue to expose their shams while pointing towards the social movements that are already creating solutions and transforming society towards a liveable, healthy, and non-corporate future.

what i can't believe is that this clearly absurd (and humorous) prank is being construed as real violence, or true suppression of speech. some cream flew and then the man spoke. do you think the pies were thrown in an attempt to sever his vocal chords, or to get him to quit the lecturing circuit out of abject terror? if tom friedman is going to be silenced by a couple of green cream pies, then maybe the public should be aware of that fact. it certainly isn't illegal. i read all of the hyperbolic responses to this political joke as hypersensitive conservatives who don't really understand free speech and love to use brown as a punching bag after getting revved up listening to their talk radio shows. you can all feel free to scream at me on that one if you want. either way, i have no tears to shed for the future as a result of hearing this story.

one last point: tom friedman is one of the last people in the world who needs his speech protected. he's one of the most omnipresent media gadflies today. i wouldn't worry too much about anyone suffering from underexposure to his (rather played out and trite) point of view.

YELPER (2:38pm)-
Yup, there is a typical liberal reaction! LOL
Can't address issues and own up to the fact that it is radical liberals attacking a fellow liberal because he is not radical enough. We defend Friedman.
And what is YOUR reaction? To start throwing out the "fascist" canard!
You prove the point about liberals, YELPER.
YELP away!! LOL

Generally, conservatives, unlike liberals, encourage logical debate (not childlike emotionally based outbursts) and win our arguments where it is merited. My guess is that it's a moron who 'thought' he has a conservative. Friedman seems to be in the middle somewhere from my perspective.

The big question is whether Brown will now go all Ann Coulter on Mr. Friedman, blame him for inciting the pie throwers and ban him forever from even wishing he could come back on campus...

It is by accident that I have run across this article. While I do not condone the pie throwing at Friedman, it is obvious that most of the comments are coming from conservatives whose comments are pretty well summed up in the following assinine statement;

"The problem is that these Dem/Lib/Socialist/Marxist are slowly sinking the United States into 3rd world status right under our collective noses."

If "Old grad", who crafted the quoted statement above, and other liberal bashers want to read some economic views worth reading, they should read "Imposter"; How George W. Bush bankrupted America and betrayed the Reagan legacy", by economic conservative Bruce Bartlett who was an economic advisor to White House republicans.

The author of the quoted statement is an obvious short sighted fool - unable to see the situation that George W. Bush and his administration have led this country into - the fast, faster and fastest downhill slide this nation has ever suffered.

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

This is nuts. Do these pie-throwing students even bother to learn about their intended targets?

Friedman is one of the most progressive, reasonable, forward-looking voices out there regarding global warming. And they still wanted to pie him?

Did they not think he was a dedicated leftist? Or were these 2 students ultra-conservatives? Or, were they just morons?

It sure appears the tables have turned on conservatives.

A moderate would say that you have had your turn at running the country. And unfortunately, you failed miserably with Bush.

The incident at hand, a pie in Friedman's face, is the least of your problems.

Let's face it -- Tom Friedman got off scot-free for being one of the biggest boosters of the Iraq War in the media and somehow remains a credible voice on foreign affairs when really he should be considered devoid of any credibility. I mean, the guy was supposed to be an expert in the MIDDLE EAST for crying out loud. So I say keep the pies coming, except in the future they should be red and black for the blood spilled and the oil we're fighting over.

Those who live in RI (where Brown is located) know that Brown is not liberal, it is not socialist, it is old school communist. To include having Kruschef's son (and many other pals) on staff for generations. Russian immigrants to the state cannot believe what goes on at Brown. If you ask anyone of them they go on for hours. But don't worry, nobody listens or cares.

"Conservative free speech gets a pie."

And Liberal free speech gets a taser. Which is worse?

"Liberal media" my butt.

"Yelper's" comment at 2:38 is classic. Yes, you're a yelper alright. Liberals are now seeing that they no longer monopolize the media and they can't stand it. All of this talk about "tolerance" and keeping an open mind, we conservatives knew it was all B.S.. Liberals, grow up.

Friedman is as liberal as they come. And a total wussy idiot to boot. Half the idiots posting here don't know that. Kudos to those students!

Um, have any of you actually READ what Friedman's speech was about? Doesn't sound like it fom the knee-jerk comments here so far (except one). Friedman actually BELIEVES in climate change and thinks the world is going to end soon if we don't do something about it. In other words: he isn't that much less nutty than the students who threw pies at him. He's just not nutty ENOUGH as far as those guys are concerned. Personally, I say they're all nuts. AGW is unproven junk science and not true (all doom-n-gloom scenarios are). Anyone who takes it seriously deserves more than just a pie in the face.

Expel the attacking so called 'students' and charge them with assault with a deadly weapon. They are throwing a product (whipped cream, a dairy product) that many people are allergic to and could have grave consequences if the wrong person is struck by it. Not to mention the bodily harm that could occur. If struck in the eyes blindness could result with the pie pan cuting the eyeball open. These things are never taken into consideration when fools like these foolish eco-terrorist students perform these dangerous acts.

Friedman should have retaliated with a plastic spork...

brown-shirt pie-throwing conservative nut jobs trying to quash the intellectual ideas of a man who can think beyond the brilliant Republican philosophies of killing brown people and teaching that evolution is bunk ... the future destruction of this country is assured by red neck morons and your high priests Dan Coulter and junkie Limbob

This is typical of the current environmental movement. Squelch dissent, don't allow a rational debate and scientific analysis. Al Gore wants people to believe that there is 'consensus' -- but there is not. In fact, most of the scientists (scientists, not politicans or NGOs) on the IPCC do not believe there is enough evidence to conclude that anthropogenic causes are significant. Most recent evidence suggests that the sun is the most likely cause of recent changes.

It is most curious to me how a couple of guys managed to get into a college auditorium with loaded pies.

This is exactly how a liberal arts major gets by security to shoot up a classroom full of business majors before turning a gun on himself to commit a public suicide because his girlfriend ran off with computer science major.

Brown University is responsible for this entire episode and should be shut down for 30 days.

If they were truly LIBERAL, I'll bet they inhaled the gas from the whipped cream can to work up the courage to actually throw the pies!

Tom Freidman is a genius - most students at Brown or elsewhere are decidedly not! What is it with college campuses where free speach is championed, but not if it disagrees with your own views? You would think, regardless of your politics, you would want to possibly learn another person's point of view and perhaps learn something in the process - is that too much to ask? If I had pulled such a prank and embarressed my university years ago, I would have been at the least been put on suspension and lost the semester's effort and if it was bad enough, been expeled. If universities would take control of their own campuses and exert some firm guidance, these things would never happen and actually education welcoming all views would be able to take place for the benefit of everyone.

When will we learn that the greenies and the non drillers were all once unwanted communists. Today they have changed their agenda to become respected. don,t pay attention. No proof of warming, no proof of caribou dying or the split finned idiotfish becoming extinct...heres some news, we will all become extinct. soon.

I WOULD HAVE THROWN MY PANTIES AT HIM

As I so distinctly recall, the Department of Public Safety operates the state correctional system. Thus the Brownshirts may have remanded our hero to jail, aka "non-academic disciplinary system” - for a whipped scream.

I truly believe that "liberlism" or the term "progressive" is truly a totalitarian platform which is totally intolerant of dissenting views and are the current "fascists" of today's society.

It is so apparent in our educational system, as well as other liberal organizations such as "code pink" who resort to violence to try to make sure other voices and opinions are not heard!

It is the liberals who see things in terms of race, creed, and color and try to insist their view of "fair" is unfairly imposed on others!

Shame on you and your idiocy!

There are just too many comments responding to this article to make a difference, so I won't. oops.

You posters speculating whether the pie throwing students were conservative or liberal don't know much about Brown. There are no convservative students - the speculation should be whether they were ultra-liberal liberals or radical-liberals

It's only funny if Ann Coulter gets a pie thrown at her. If it happens to someone of the "correct persuasion" than its a travesty. Typical hypocrisy from the left, but are we really that surprised? It is there M.O. after all. (Modus Operandi for those on the left)

"Had the students been conservative and the speaker a liberal, then a full scale investigation would ensue, front page on the NYT..."

Friedman is hardly a conservative.

Better check under your bed for Commies.

you can bet the ranch the perps were LIBS.
you can bet the ranch they're Obama supporters,too.
LIBERALS...America's biggest threat...far more dangerous than al Quaida could ever hope to be-

Hey Martin, those students most likely WERE Conservatives. So much for your idiotic assertion about "expulsion". I don't seem to recall extreme measures taken when Ann Coulter was the recipient of another "culinary bombardment" either. But more than anything else, what I most take away from your post is the rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth hysteria that is the mark of someone who knows their Party is nearing its end. Admit it: George W. Bush's thudding incompetance has nailed you to the wall, and your only recourse is to spew hateful vitriol about those "little thugs" (ahh, I can just see the spittle flying out of your misanthropic mouth!). It's easier being a Conservative when there's always a hypothetical "little thug" to react against, isn't it Martin? Well, I'm sorry to say, but on November 8th, the countless "little thugs" of your (overactive) imagination will be taking office. It's gonna take a LOT of bitter postings to pull you out of THAT slump, won't it, Martin? I can't wait. :)

we have two socialists democrats, who want full goverment control of all taxes.sounds like communism to me.

Two idiots storm the stage with decidedly non-lethal missiles, and all the smug conservatives posting here indict everyone on the left. By your logic, and given how many people have DIED thanks to what a handful of YOUR lunatics have wrought, how utterly irredeemable must you all be? Get some perspective, for goodness sake.

It is troubling that our society has so many people who don't think that this is a big deal. By disrupting the speech of an invited guest of the school, these two morons are are showing their utter disregard for anyone else's right to hear the speech. Doesn't anyone see the ramifications of these kind of actions? Do you think that Tom Friedman will come back to Brown? Do you think that others will look at Brown as a haven for troublmakers? I can only hope that some day that these two idiots will have something nice planned and someone shows up and destroys the moment. ebcon

Thank you, maninwarren. What you wrote was exactly what was going through my mind as I scrolled through the foregoing posts. Allow me to second your excellent point.

It is appalling to see so much vitriol expended on an idiotic harmless prank when over 4,000 members of the military have died as a result of the actions and deceptions of the current administration which have also served to provide bin Laden and his criminal ilk with plenty of recruitment propaganda.

How unfortunate that these same posters have not turned their wrath on those responsible for the biggest foreign policy disaster in American history.

Friedman's wife, Ann, is a graduate of Stanford University.[41] Her father, Matthew Bucksbaum, is the chairman of the board of General Growth Properties, the real estate development group that he co-founded with his brother in 1954. The Bucksbaums helped pioneer the development of shopping centers in the United States.[42] As of 2007, Forbes estimated the Bucksbaum family's assets at $4.1 billion, including about 18.6 million square meters of mall space.[43]

Ann and Thomas Friedman live in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. The July 2006 issue of Washingtonian reported that they own "a palatial 11,400-square-foot house, currently valued at $9.3 million, on a 7½-acre parcel just blocks from I-495 and Bethesda Country Club."