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TONGUE TIED ARCHIVE
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October 01, 2005Selling Apples is Wrong
Apparently selling apples is bad. Yep. You've got it: Selling apples is bad. How come? Search me! It's only a problem in New Zealand so far but who knows? Perhaps it's "Today New Zealand, tomorrow the world!" A press excerpt:
"New Zealand apple growers say they are outraged over remarks made by Green co-leader Rod Donald on a recent visit to Australia. They say the remarks should eliminate the Greens as possible coalition partners in any government. According to the Apple Growers Action Group, on a visit to Australia before New Zealand's election Mr Donald stated that he was opposed to apple and potato exports to Australia from New Zealand "on the basis that they should be consumed locally." He also said he wanted to see an end to products crossing the Tasman which can be grown locally, such as dairy foods, the growers association said".By the way, poking fun at Kiwis (New Zealanders) is a well-known Australian sport and I am an Australian so forgive me for putting up two posts about Kiwis in one day. They do give us a lot of ammunition, though.
Update:
Hey! I've just realized: I'm in the wrong. I am being "insensitive" about New Zealanders! How dare I?
Illegal Immigrants should be "Protected"?
The problem with illegal immigrants in the UK is different to the U.S. situation. Many get in to Britain by claiming to be refugees seeking political ayslum. But for many that's just a ruse to get in. Once in Britain they vanish from sight. But Britain admits them pending investigation of their claims. If investigation reveals that they are not in Britain out of a reasonable fear of political persecution, they are judged to have made a false claim and are ordered to leave. But they generally don't leave. In fact they often don't even bother to attend the hearing of their case. Occasionally, however, the police do find them and grab them before they can disappear -- so that the process of deporting them can begin. Fair enough?One would think so but that is not how the British Green/Left see it. They think that the illegals should be "protected" from the police. As the following news excerpt from Scotland about a presumably Muslim family shows:
"Ministers are to be urged to make sure the children of asylum seekers living in Scotland are better protected. The Green Party is raising the issue in Holyrood after Children's Commissioner Kathleen Marshall attacked the treatment of failed asylum seekers following a dawn raid on the Glasgow home of the Vucaj family. The removal of the Kosovans also sparked an outcry among students at Drumchapel High in Glasgow - where the Vucaj children had attended school. Pupils from the school will be in the Scottish Parliament for the debate, where the Greens' communities spokesman Patrick Harvie will tell ministers they have a duty to protect all youngsters.... The SNP's social justice spokeswoman Christine Grahame praised the role the Children's Commissioner had played in highlighting the way asylum seekers such as the Vucajs were treated but argued she should have more powers"So the familiar excuse "It's all for the children" is trotted out again. The fact that the children were illegally in Britain too is not mentioned.
Humorless Kiwis
Apparently some guy in New Zealand put up a hoax advertisement as a joke on a site similar to eBay. It offered a dolphin for sale! Presumably he was just baiting animal rights activists and knew they would go nuts over it. They did! Here's a small excerpt of the huffing and puffing:
"The Royal New Zealand SPCA has expressed outrage at a hoax posting on the `Trade Me' website, offering a dolphin for sale by auction. According to the posting, made from West Auckland, the dolphin was being kept in a swimming pool after being accidentally caught in a net during a weekend fishing trip. The SPCA describes the hoax as a "totally irresponsible attempt at self-promotion" at the expense of New Zealand's international reputation as a nation that cares for animals".But I don't suppose the same people get at all outraged when animal-lib types physically attack people and laboratories engaged in medical research that uses animals. "We can assault you but you can't even joke about us" would seem to be the idea.
White Privilege
Organizers of a "Women of Color Dialogue" at Northeastern University in Boston were forced to open an event to all races after initially proclaiming that white women would not be allowed, according to the Northeastern University News.
Members of the Women's Studies and Graduate Consortium wanted to exclude white women from the first session of the dialogue. They said it needed to remain racially segregated in order to help the participants come together on issues that many of them felt were perpetrated by white people.
But after hearing complaints from two caucasian students, the Student Government Association and the school provost, the event was opened to all. Dr. Robin Chandler, director of women's studies and one of the organizers of the event, said she was disappointed by the demand.
"I think it's a shame that one or two white students based on white privilege, a lack of awareness of racial issues and a lack of generosity of spirit complained to the office of the provost and were able, because they were white, to gain admission to the morning session that I was forced to open up," Chandler said.
Shooting the Messenger
A group of Connecticut immigration control advocates who produced a study purporting to show that the workforce at many McDonald's restuarants in that state is not reflective of the wider population is being derided as racist hate-mongers for their efforts, according to the Hartford Courant.
Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control released a study of the racial and ethnic makeup of the workforce at 152 McDonald's statewide. The group's Paul Streitz said that the workforce at some restaurants was 100 percent Hispanic, which he said raised the possibility that equal opportunity laws had been violated and that undocumented workers were being hired.
Immigration activists and Hispanic leaders dismissed the study, however, saying it was motivated by racism. Fernando Betancourt, executive director of the state Latino and Puerto Rican Affairs Commission, said the group's finding were offensive and created a "climate of persecution" in the state.
Acceptable Boundaries of Debate
The U.K.'s Gay.com reports that activists in the seaside city of Brighton are protesting the BBC's decision to invite a known Christian critic of homosexuality onto its seminal Question Time political discussion show.
They say the opinions of Christian Voice's Stephen Green are not welcome in Brighton, the unofficial capital of gay and lesbian Britian, or public broadcasting.
"While we recognise the importance of different views on a political debate program, we believe Stephen Green's views go way beyond acceptable boundaries of debate," said local representatives of the Liberal Democratic and Green parties. "We utterly condemn the BBC for inviting this man to broadcast his bigoted views on prime time TV in the city of Brighton and Hove."
Here is a Difficult Case
In Scotland recently, some guy with what sounds like an Iranian name showed a Scottish lass a video clip on his mobile phone. The clip was the horrific scene of an Iraqi hostage being beheaded. It upset the woman terribly and a Scottish court sent the guy to jail for 60 days for a "breach of the peace". The story is here.
Now I have great respect for Scottish law. It generally seems to me more down-to-earth and realistic than English law. But the libertarian in me also asks are we not looking at something akin to a freedom of speech issue here? After all, even sexy nightclub acts have in the past been held to be protected "speech" by some U.S. judges.
And lawyers are asking if a precedent has now been set whereby you could be prosecuted for sending upsetting emails to someone, even if the email was meant as a joke or was in any case not meant maliciously?
I think I come down on the side of the Scottish judge. The law is about drawing lines and I think a line was crossed there. But I agree that future judges might not draw the line so wisely. As I said, it's a difficult one and in an age when making someone feel "uncomfortable" is often treated as an offence on U.S. college campuses, I think there is a real risk of all this going too far. I am afraid that we are all going to have to be more careful about our emails in future.
Update:
British libertarian lawyer Sean Gabb disagrees with me on this one. Do read his comments.
Oz Rules
A university student government in Australia has appointed what is described by The Australian as a "roo-shootin', beer-drinkin' rednecked country bloke" as the country's first heterosexuality officer.
Most of the country's universities have a queer officer to represent gay students, so the right-leaning student government at the University of New England has appointed Dave Allen to represent heterosexuals' interests.
Allen says he does not like the fact that homosexuals on campus get special treatment.
"It doesn't matter whether you're straight, gay, black, white or brindle, but when it starts getting 'Oh, we need a space for us to hang out', it's crap; just come down the pub and have a few beers with us," he says.
Opponents are calling the office, which is supported by student fees like the other schools' gay clubs, a waste of money and an insult to disadvantaged students everywhere.
Is this the Ultimate Crybaby Story?
I've got to put this one up. It's such a laugh. The beginning of the story is crazy but the end of it is the best.Some black extremist group in Florida claimed it is "unfair" that somebody can win a primary and then be defeated when the whole population gets to vote. It's hard to know where to start commenting on such a profound incomprehension of democracy so I won't even try. But the whole nonsense arose out of an assumption that a black guy would win the Democrat primary and then lose when the whole community got to vote. Guess what happened? A white woman won the primary! What a laugh! The whole story is here. And would you believe? The extremist group is going to court over such an "unfair" procedure!
Incorrect to be without Children?
Another "Only in New York" story
Apparently if you go any where near children without being accompanied by children of your own, you are a suspected child molester in NYC. Maybe that even makes sense in NYC. It's a strange place. But you can be fined even for being one of those SUSPECTED child-molesters. You don't have to do any actual molesting. Don't believe me? Well here is a news excerpt:
A woman was given a ticket for sitting on a park bench because she doesn't have children. The Rivington Playground on Manhattan's East Side has a small sign at the entrance that says adults are prohibited unless they are accompanied by a child. Forty-seven-year-old Sandra Catena says she didn't see the sign when she sat down to wait for an arts festival to start. Two New York City police officers asked her if she was with a child. When she said no, they gave her a ticket that could bring a one thousand dollar fine and 90 days in jail.I guess it's a story about thick NYC cops as much as anything but they didn't make the law.
Shootout with a Terrorist "Insensitive"?
According to the "New York Times" it can be
What utter rubbish this is. Filiberto Ojeda Rios was a violent terrorist leading an "independence" movement for Puerto Rico. He was on the run from the law, he had been convicted of a $7 million robbery and had founded a terrorist group that claimed responsibility for a series of bombings. As it says here (Excerpt):
"Mr. Ojeda Rios had been in hiding since 1990, when he jumped bail while awaiting trial for the armed robbery of a Wells Fargo depot in West Hartford, Conn., one of the largest robberies in United States history. He was convicted in absentia in 1992 and sentenced to 55 years in prison. Mr. Ojeda Ros founded Los Macheteros, or the Machete Wielders, a small wing of the Puerto Rican independence movement that was behind rocket attacks on federal buildings on the island, an ambush of a Navy bus that killed two sailors and other crimes".(From the New York Times)
The FBI finally caught up with him on Sept. 23 so did he surrender? No way. He tried to shoot his way out and got himself killed by the FBI agents after badly wounding one of them. And guess what? It is the FBI that is in the wrong! They were "insensitive" in what they did. Why? Because Sept 23 is the anniversary of an unsuccessful Puerto Rican rebellion against Spanish rule.
So there are only certain dates on which you can shoot back at terrorists, apparently. The message to terrorists is obviously to have a whole heap of "insensitive" dates ringed in your diary so you can go out then and commit murder and mayhem without any risk to yourself.
Incorrect to say you can't speak Vietnamese?
Seems it is in California. Two Garden Grove "councilpersons" got into an argument at a council meeting. And the Caucasian guy was apparently "insensitive" (You knew it would be a Caucasian guy didn't you? They're the only ones who are ever "insensitive"). Here's a news excerpt:
"Asian-American groups demanded that Krebs publicly apologize or step down after a Sept. 13 comment to Councilwoman Janet Nguyen as the two argued about a possible redevelopment project. After some more questioning from Nguyen, Krebs responded, "I've already expressed it simply - I can't do it in Vietnamese."I can't speak Vietnamese either. How will I ever now be able to let any Vietnamese person know that? Or am I not even supposed to MENTION that anyone is Vietnamese? I guess I am going to have to be very careful next time I go to my favorite Viet restaurant.
Comments? Email John Ray
Cooing at New-born Babies Banned
Political correctness in Britain is something else again. But would you believe that cooing at new-born babies breaches the babies' human rights? You can't make this stuff up but here it is straight from the BBC (Excerpt):
"Debbie Lawson, neo-natal manager at the hospital's special care baby unit, said: "Cooing should be a thing of the past because these are little people with the same rights as you or me""How these politically correct types must hate normal people!
Incorrect for Conservatives to Protest
This is a lulu. A local conservative politician in Britain wanted to join in with local unionists to protest about a factory closure. The unionists wouldn't have him! Another case where comments about the Leftist mentality seem appropriate. Were they protesting to get something done or just protesting to make themselves feel good? I know what I think. A press excerpt:
"A Tory Assembly Member [in Wales] said last night he was "hurt and offended" after being barred from a workers' protest bus going to the Labour conference in Brighton. Alun Cairns, who came within 1,800 votes of winning Vale of Glamorgan from Labour's John Smith in May's general election, said he had originally been invited to join workers from the threatened Dara aircraft maintenance works at St Athan to join them on the lobbying trip today. But he claimed an official of the Amicus union later withdrew the invitation".And aren't Leftists always telling us how incredibly careful we have to be about hurting people's feelings? Or don't the feelings of conservatives count? It seems not.
More on SUVs
I have got a lot of good emails about my post on SUVs so I can't put them all up but I couldn't resist posting this one. You might want to say in the Comments section what you think it tells us about the Green/Left mind:
"I currently live in a tiny mountain town in C****** called B*****, population about 4,000 and of those (me not included) at least 7/8ths are hippies, Greenpeace nuts or tree huggers of one odious ilk or another. All of us however drive large 4x4 vehicles, mostly because at 9000 ft. between October and May that is what will get you around. My neighbor, a grubby peacenik of the worst sort, actually had an enlightened/humorous explanation for his seeming automotive hypocrisy. I asked him after one of his particularly tiresome tirades on logging how he could spout his tree-hugging propaganda now and then drive home in a 450 horsepower, dual rear-wheel, 4x4 truck that gets 6 miles per gallon. With perfect aplomb the greasy hipster says, "What are you talking about? By driving that truck I'm using up all those damned fossil fuels as fast as I can. The quicker that sh** is gone, the quicker we'll all be driving hydrogen or electric cars and trucks." He was serious too. I hate it that I actually like that answer"My correspondent gave me the full name of where he lived but I have given the first letters only to spare him any possible aggression.
Update
I have just remembered whom the hippy in the story above reminds me of: One of the great Fascist slogans of prewar Italy was "Mussolini ha sempre ragione" ("Mussolini is always right"). And if you think Fascism was Rightist, there is a whole heap of history here and here and here that will knock your socks off.
The Incorrectness of SUVs
There is no doubt that SUVs are politically incorrect. Extreme environmentalists even set fire to them in car dealerships at times. To me, however, they are like red wine. You like it or you don't. It may be good for you or it may not. Either way it's a matter of individual choice. And the same "war" over the correctness of SUVs goes on in Australia and the UK as well as in the USA. From the following Australian news report, however, the anti-SUV forces seem to have gained a propaganda advantage at the moment. Excerpt:
"The apparent victory of the giant four-wheel-drive in the urban jungle has prompted much road outrage, but now a profile of city off-roader owners confirms many prejudices, revealing them as aggressive, obese people who dislike gays and Aborigines [blacks]. And that's just the men.The Australia Institute study found women who own luxury 4WDs were markedly different from the 40-to-50-year-old blokes: They're younger, wealthier and, while they worry about weight (their own), they couldn't care less about conspicuous consumption. "People say, what about the environment?" declared Mosman mother of three, Chris Rooney, who drove a Range Rover for years but has swapped to a BMW X5. "For me, my children's safety is more important."
The study investigated demographic and attitudinal characteristics of 4WD owners using data Roy Morgan Research collected from more than 24,000 people between October 2003 and September 2004. It found 66 per cent of men who owned large 4WDs were obese, compared with 57 per cent of the population overall."
We report, you decide! For the record, I drive a tiny Japanese car.
The Left has its Saints too
The best-known Leftist saint is of course the murderous Che Guevara. You can read in detail what a great guy he was here. And then there is Mahatma Gandhi. There was a great debunking piece about him published in Commentary some decades ago. See "The Gandhi nobody knows".
So among the 'secular' and allegedly rationalist Left, there seems to be a strange superstitious desire to canonise various leaders, especially of reformist movements (including Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela) as the equivalent of saints. And DON'T click either of those links unless you want a mite of disillusionment.
At least the Catholic Church has the decency to insist that any saint-to-be is dead five years before they are canonised . Somehow today the old saw about "the saint and the sinner living in the one man" is overlooked (as is Oscar Wilde's quip on the same subject: "Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future")
It's interesting that when you criticise these saints, the true believers get very upset and often quite emotional. The assumption is that because you don't genuflect before King or Mandela or Gandhi you must be a segregationist or racist or a war-monger!
Comments? Email John Ray
That Stuff May fly back East, but here in the Real World ...
A University of Iowa law professor has complained that a locker room set aside for visiting teams at Kinnick Stadium is homophobic and sexist because it's painted pink, according to the Associated Press.
Erin Buzuvis, who moved from Boston to Iowa City to teach at the law school, says she and several friends have been concerned for months about the message behind the locker rooms. She says they promote negative stereotypes.
"With a pink locker room, you're saying that 'You are a girlie man. You are weak, like a girl,'" Buzuvis said. "That implies that girls are nondominant, therefore, lesser. And that is offensive."
The locker room was painted pink in the 1970s by former Hawkeye football coach Hayden Fry. The carpeting, metal lockers, brick walls, sinks, shower floor -- even the urinals -- are all pink.
Buzuvis says she has been getting death threats and hate mail since disclosing her discomfort about the locker room to a reporter. Oh, and she blogs.
(Tip of the tophat to Barry P.)
Nettlesome Noose
A new bar in St. Paul named the Noose is drawing complaints from some of its neighbors on the east side of the city because they say the name conjures up images of black Americans being lynched, reports the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
Penny Yauch, who recently bought and renamed the place on E. Seventh St. in St. Paul, said it takes its name from a local legend about a man who hanged himself there years ago. She said the racial connotations never entered her mind.
The Rev. Luches Hamilton, pastor of nearby St. John's Church of God in Christ, said he's been hearing complaints about the name, however. "A lot of black people were coming to me saying it was very offensive," he said.
Flag-Free Memorials
The NAACP has drafted two Illinois senators in its crusade to prevent officials from flying a Confederate flag at the dedication of a memorial to Confederate dead in central Illinois, reports the Journal-Register.
The memorial is being built at Camp Butler National Cemetery near Riverton, the site of a prison camp for Confederate soldiers. Some 866 Confederate soldiers died there during the war.
Illinois' senators Barack Obama and Dick Durbin have asked federal officials to bar display of the stars and bars at the memorial.
"We, along with the NAACP and many Americans, believe that the Confederate flag has become more than an historic battle standard; for millions of Americans it is a symbol of slavery and segregation," the senators said in a letter to the director of the National Cemetery Administration.
Jared Diamond Slanders Whites Too
In my post "Cladistic Lies" I mentioned how "Science" writer Dr Henry Gee passed on the "evil white man" slander about the British settlement of Tasmania. But Gee is fairly mild compared to what that notorious twister of the truth, Jared Diamond has to say. Here is the unspeakable garbage that Diamond has written on the subject:
"Settlers regarded Tasmanians as little more than animals and treated them accordingly. Tactics for hunting down Tasmanians included riding out on horseback to shoot them, setting out steel traps to catch them, and putting out poison flour where they might find and eat it. Shepherds cut off the penis and testicles of aboriginal men, to watch the men run a few yards before dying. At a hill christened Mount Victory, settlers slaughtered 30 Tasmanians and threw their bodies over a cliff. One party of police killed 70 Tasmanians and dashed out the children's brains".I am so upset by these awful lies that I will simply refer readers to what Jonathan Sturm has to say about them. And if you want the fully documented evidence about what REALLY happened, it is all in Keith Windschuttle's book: The Fabrication of Aboriginal History.
