I will also be signing copies of my new book, “Dispatches From Bitter America.” Be sure to drop by and say howdy!

Here are some of the events where you can find me:

BOOKS-A-MILLION – Dupont Circle. Thursday, Feb. 10th 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. – I’ll be signing copies of my new book, “Dispatches From Bitter America.”

CPAC – CIGARS AND SCOTCH - I will be signing books from 9p.m. until 9:45p.m. Marriott.

CPAC – BLOG BASH

If you haven’t registered for CPAC, click here.

In the meantime,  listen to my podcast interview with Al Cardenas – the chairman and guru of the American Conservative Union as he gives us the scoop on what to expect next week.

Christian student organizations at Vanderbilt University may be forced to go underground or meet in secret after university officials doubled down on a policy that bans student religious groups from requiring their leaders to hold specific beliefs, according to a law professor at the university.

Vanderbilt said their nondiscrimination policy ensure that campus groups are open to all students. But opponents said the ban restricts their freedom of speech and could force some nationally-known groups off campus.

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“There are people on campus who are very threatened by the idea of religious freedom and they would like to create an environment where no one hurts anyone else’s feelings – unless it’s Christians,” said Carol Swain, a Vanderbilt law professor and the advisor to the Christian Legal Society.

The Christian Legal Society is one of four campus groups – including the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Beta Upsilon Chi and Graduate Student Fellowship – that are currently in violation of the policy.

Swain told Fox News & Commentary that all four groups could lose their standing as registered student organizations.

“This political correctness is running amuck on campus and its constraining one group – and that group tends to be conservatives,” Swain said. “They will be forced to either accept the university’s policy or leave campus by the end of the academic year. They are in limbo.”

Vanderbilt University launched a review of the charters and constitutions of all student organizations last year after a complaint was filed against a Christian fraternity, said Beth Fortune, Vanderbilt’s vice chancellor of public affairs.

Fortune said the university determined the Christian fraternity had discriminated against a student based on sexual orientation.

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“Our nondiscrimination policy applies equally to all registered student organizations,” Fortune said. “We’re simply saying if you are going to be a registered student organization and use the Vanderbilt name and university funding, and have the privileges afforded a registered student organization, then you need to comply with our nondiscrimination policy.”

Swain said what is happening to Christian students at Vanderbilt is scary, accusing the university of bullying people of faith.

Swain said the university forced the Christian Legal Society to remove Bible verses and the words “Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior” from their constitution.

“We tried to work with the university,” she said. “We made numerous compromises; even taking out the faith statement about Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.”

But Swain said they drew a line in the sand when Vanderbilt “said that Christian leaders could not be asked to lead Bible study or worship.”

“That’s a key function of a Christian leader in a Christian organization,” she said.

Fortune denied the university was going after Christians.

“We don’t see that we are targeting Christians or religious organizations,” she said. “It is our hope and our desire and our goal to work with every registered student organization that they can come into compliance.”

The university held a town hall meeting Tuesday to discuss the policy. It was packed with students opposed to the crackdown on religious freedom.

“We want to be able to elect our leaders based on our beliefs,” former Vanderbilt student body president Joseph Williams said in a report published in The Tennessean.

A Chinese student who attends an underground church in his home country appealed to the university for answers on what would happen if he joined a campus group in violation of the policy. Swain said the student shared what it was like belonging to an underground church.

“He asked the university what would happen if the Christian student groups were forced to meet secretly,” Swain said. “The provost joked, ‘We won’t send you to Duke.’”

Fortune said unregistered student groups will not be banned from campus.

“They are allowed to exist and freely assemble,” she said. “But they would not be a registered student organization.”

The Tennessean reported that during the town hall gathering Provost Richard McCarty said the university would not back down from its policy. He explained that their policy allows students to vote for whomever they like – they just can’t have written rules that would ban students from running for office if they don’t hold specific beliefs.

So why not just vote for people who share your beliefs?

Swain said that argument doesn’t hold water.

“This encourages students to engage in deception and infiltration and it takes away their rights to be with like-minded people,” she said. “It’s very easy for people to conceal their beliefs and if the wrong person is elected and starts disrupting the organization, there’s nothing that can be done other than to dissolve the organization and start over the following year.

As it now stands, the organization Swain advises, along with the other three groups have a choice – they can either accept the university’s crackdown on religion – or leave the campus by the end of the academic year.

“I think we should stand strong on principle,” Swain said. “We need leaders who understand the purpose of an organization and who are passionate and are willing to fight for a set of values and principles.”

The U.S. Forest Service has reversed its decision to remove a World War Two memorial from Montana’s Big Mountain because it included a statue of Jesus.

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The Forest Service said it will re-authorize a permit for the 57-year-old statue after facing a firestorm of outrage from religious groups and local residents. The agency received more than 90,000 comments on the issue.

“We are thankful that the U.S. Forest Service reversed its prior decision and renewed the permit, keeping the Jesus statue where it belongs on Big Mountain,” said Jeff Mateer, general counsel for Liberty Institute, a conservative legal advocacy group. “This decision honors the ultimate sacrifice of the Tenth Mountain Division for whom it was erected following their service during World War Two, and is a clear victory for the First Amendment, which prohibits government discrimination against this historic veteran’s memorial simply because of its religious viewpoint.”

Forest Service supervisor Chip Weber told the Associated Press that the decision to renew a 10-year special-use permit took into account that the statue “is important to the community for its historical heritage.”

Hiram Sasser, director of litigation for Liberty Institute, told Fox News & Commentary the decision was an “easy call.”

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“We were shocked that anybody would be offended by that,” Sasser said. “There’s a lot of controversy about religious items that are on government property but this is very different because this is private speech of an organization that was allowed by the government to put the statue on the land.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation complained about the statue last spring. They plan to sue the federal government.

“A federal agency should not hold a vote on whether to obey the Constitution!” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president.

“The U.S. Forest Service has unlawfully misused federal land owned by all of us to further Christianity in general, and Roman Catholicism in particular,” she said. “This diminishes the civil and political standing of nonreligious and non-Christian Americans, and shows flagrant governmental preference for religion and Christianity.”

With reporting from Associated Press

A group of Occupy Wall Street protesters disrupted a Right to Life rally and threw condoms on Catholic school girls inside the Rhode Island state capitol building.

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Barth Bracy, executive director of Rhode Island Right to Life, said their rally had to be cut short after the Occupiers began screaming and refused to allow a Catholic priest to deliver a prayer.

“This is their idea of civil speech but we believe it’s an outrage,” Bracy told Fox News & Commentary “They started heckling, chanting and blowing whistles. They shouted down a priest.”

Last week’s rally was held inside the rotunda of the state capitol in Providence. Bracy said the Occupiers, along with some pro-choice demonstrators, infiltrated the crowd of some 150 pro-lifers. He said the pro-life crowd was made up of senior citizens, mothers with young children, Cub Scouts, and school kids.

Bracy said one of the most egregious incidents occurred when an Occupier climbed to the third floor balcony and dumped a box of condoms on girls from a Catholic school.

“What kind of individual throw condoms at Catholic school girls,” Bracy asked.

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Bracy said capitol police were outnumbered and overwhelmed by the protesters. At one point they even attacked State. Rep. Doreen Costa.

“This was one of the most disturbing sights I’ve ever seen,” Costa told Fox News & Commentary. “It was horrendous. “

Costa said a female Occupier hit her on the head with a sign and shoved her “moppy” hair in the lawmaker’s face.

“I told her that she really stunk bad and needed to take a bath,” Costa said.

Costa said she was “speechless” when they showered the young girls with condoms. So was Father Bernard Healey, the executive director of the Rhode Island Catholic Conference.

“It’s disgraceful behavior,” Healey said. “The week before, the pro-abortion people had their rally and no one bothered them. Apparently freedom of speech only applies to those who agree with you.”

Healey called the protesters “mean-spirited” and “ugly.”

He was trying to deliver a blessing to the crowd when the demonstrators shouted him down.

“I led the crowd in singing ‘God Bless America’ to try and down out their awful chants,” he said.

Joseph Little, the chief of the capitol police, told Fox News & Commentary that he did not receive any reports of condoms being dropped on children. He also said to his knowledge, nothing happened to that rose to the level of needing to call in additional support.

Little said no one was arrested.