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30 April, 2010
Australian Leftist government retreats on web filter legislation
A "temporary" retreat that will probably become permanent:"Kevin Rudd has put another election promise on the backburner with his controversial internet filtering legislation set to be shelved until after the next election. A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said yesterday the legislation would not be introduced next month's or the June sittings of parliament.
With parliament not sitting again until the last week of August, the laws are unlikely to be passed before the election.
Labor promised before the last election it would force internet service providers to block access to illegal content such as child pornography and X-rated images.
But the US government, Google and free speech advocates have said any efforts to censor the internet would slow download speeds, stop the free flow of information and be ineffective.
SOURCE
SCOTUS allows cross in California’s Mojave National Preserve
The end of a very long saga"In a significant shift away from church-state separation, the Supreme Court gave its approval Wednesday to displaying a Christian cross on government land to honor the war dead, saying the Constitution ‘does not require the eradication of all religious symbols in the public realm.’
Speaking for a divided court, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the First Amendment calls for a middle-ground ‘policy of accommodation’ toward religious displays on public land, not a strict ban on symbols of faith.
By a 5-4 vote, the justices reversed lower courts in California that ordered the U.S. Park Service to remove an 8-foot tall cross that has stood in various forms in the Mojave National Preserve since 1934 as a memorial to the soldiers of World War I.”
Source
29 April, 2010
Must not speak the truth about homosexuals in Britain
We read:"A would-be Tory MP from Scotland has been suspended after describing gay people as not "normal”, it was disclosed today. The comments made by Philip Lardner on his campaign website were branded “deeply offensive and unacceptable” by a party spokeswoman.
Under the heading "What I believe in", the North Ayrshire and Arran candidate had written: “Homosexuality is not ’normal behaviour’.”
The comments have now been removed from the website but the gay news service Pink News said Mr Lardner, a primary school teacher, declared his support for parents and teachers who do not want their children to be taught about gay rights.
The section, which was removed from the website this afternoon, said: "I will always support the rights of homosexuals to be treated within concepts of (common-sense) equality and respect, and defend their rights to choose to live the way they want in private, but I will not accept that their behaviour is 'normal' or encourage children to indulge in it."
Source
Another Congressional assault on free speech
Do people have to go to SCOTUS to get their free speech rights upheld?"The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Irish Republican Army, two of history’s most notorious terrorist groups, have never appeared on the State Department’s List of Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations. By the time the list was first compiled in 1997, both groups were deemed to be moving away from violence and toward a peaceful resolution of their grievances.
Ralph Fertig, president of the Humanitarian Law Project, wants to encourage a similar change within the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a violent separatist group in Turkey.
But he worries that doing so will expose him to prosecution for providing ‘material support’ to a terrorist organization, a crime Congress has defined so broadly that it includes a great deal of speech protected by the First Amendment.”
Source
28 April, 2010
Antisemitic joke?
The joke is an old one and other versions of it don't identify anybody as Jewish (or Taliban) so the motivation for it is certainly dubious. It could be a backhanded compliment however. Apparently it was initially taken that way."National Security Adviser James Jones apologized Monday for telling a joke last week that depicted a member of the Taliban getting tricked by a Jewish merchant looking to make a sale. "I wish that I had not made this off the cuff joke at the top of my remarks, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it," he said in a written statement.
Here's what he said:
"A member of the Taliban was separated from his fighting party and wandered around for a few days in the desert, lost, out of food, no water. He looked on the horizon and he saw what looked like a little shack, and he walked toward that shack and as he got to it, turned out that it was a shack, a store, a little store owned by a Jewish merchant. And the Taliban warrior went up to him and said, 'I need water, get me some water.' And the merchant said, 'I'm sorry, I don't have any water, but would you like to buy a tie? We have a nice sale of ties today.'
"Whereupon the Taliban erupted into a stream of language that I can't repeat about Israel, about Jewish people, about the man himself, about his family -- and just saying 'I need water, you try to sell me ties, you people don't get it.'
"And passively, the merchant stood there until this Taliban was through with his diatribe and said, 'Well, I'm sorry but I don't have water for you and I forgive you for all of the insults you've levied against me, my family, my country, but I will help you out. If you go over that hill and walk about two miles there's a restaurant there, and they have all the water you'll need.'
"And the Taliban, instead of saying thanks, still muttering under his breath, disappears over the hill -- only to come back about an hour later and walking up to the merchant and says, 'Your brother tells me I need a tie in order to get into the restaurant.'"
Source
Geico-gate
The voiceover guy long used by insurance company Geico is a Leftist so he took it upon himself to leave a typically abusive comment on the website of FreedomWorks.org, a mainstream libertarian/conservative organization.
Every now and again, however, the patience of us conservatives wears thin and we react to all the abuse we receive by letting the light of publicity shine upon it. I have done so two or three times myself. I publish the abusive comment together with the email address of the author and any other particulars about the author that I can find.
This tends to cause great heartburn in the person "outed" but all mail, including email, is legally the property of the recipient so I am fully within my rights to do that and I hope that the hater concerned will take a good hard look at himself when I "out" him in that way.
In the case of the Geico guy, the Freedomworks CEO got fed up too and went on Andrew Breitbart's Biggovernment.com and "outed" the hater. Geico didn't like the resultant publicity and decided not to use Mr. Hate (D.C. Douglas) in any more of their campaigns
The Left went ballistic over this "firing" however and, as a result, FreedomWorks received more charming communications from Leftists. You can see and hear them here. The Left just boils over with hate. Warning: VERY foul language. These guys are seriously deranged. Judge for yourself.
You can clearly see where a certain Nationalsozialist (National Socialist) got his death-squads from
27 April, 2010
Muslim hate speech at British universities
Israeli speakers have been barred from giving talks on campus but Muslim extremists are welcome"The Federation of Student Islamic Societies (Fosis) has begun to set out a case for its support for hate speakers, utilising spurious "freedom of expression" arguments. It would have us believe that it holds a commitment to liberal ideology. Conversely, those who invite hate speakers on to campus are donning a cloak of hypocrisy and employing theoretical freedoms as a form of liberal protection. What is liberal about inviting proponents of homophobia, antisemitism and sexism to speak at universities? What exactly is so liberal about hosting advocates of racial and religious violence?
Fosis would have us believe that it is a defender of an absolute right to freedom of expression, yet one must critically analyse this assumption: Fosis clamps down on the respected historian Benny Morris, pushing for his Cambridge visit to be cancelled because controversial views he may hold, yet welcome Daud Abdullah (who signed the Istanbul declaration) with open arms. They say no to Douglas Murray at LSE and NUS conferences, but hello to Azzam Tamimi. Where is the logic? Moreover where does their new position fit in with their long-standing support of a no-platform policy when it comes to the BNP? In the light of Fosis's apparent paradigm shift, will the BNP be their next invitation? I will hazard a guess that the answer will be (rightfully) no. Yet, here, we see their true face and their clear hypocrisy: a rule for one and a different rule for the other.
The following quotes come from speakers under the invitation of student Islamic Societies across UK campuses. Feel free to enter them into Google or YouTube.
"They're all the same. The Jews don't have to be in Israel to be like this. It doesn't matter whether they're in New York, Houston, St Louis, London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester. They're all the same. They've monopolised everything: the Holocaust, God, money, interest, usury, the world economy, the media, political institutions." Another speaker has described how a husband has the right to apply "some type of physical force ... a very light beating" to his wife. "If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty, filthy dogs who should be murdered, that's my freedom of speech, isn't it?" "I die for my homeland, I'm a martyr and I long to be a martyr." The list goes on.
Time and again, the hosts of these speakers hide behind a dog-eared copy of Mill's On Liberty, urgently locating the next quote that will legitimise the invitation. But for how long would they sit idly by if said speakers were directing their hate-fuelled abuse at Muslim students? If the above quotes were directed against Muslims and not Jews, homosexuals and women, would they still be screaming Mill from the rooftops, disingenuously preaching the right of freedom of expression? I certainly have my doubts. Clearly, the grossest of double standards are being employed.
Source
Google fined for 'paedophile' libel against priest
Nutty Leftist Brazil again:"GOOGLE has been fined $US8500 in Brazil after an anonymous internet user posted defamatory messages on one of its sites against a priest, calling him a "paedophile".The irony is that Google (who host this blog) is itself an energetic banner of what it considers hate speech. I am rather surprised that many of the comments on this blog have not brought their wrath down on my head so far. But I will continue to allow similar comments as long as I can. More moderation from some commenters here might help, though.
A court in the state of Minas Gerais ruled in favour of the 54-year-old priest, identified by his initials J.R., after rejecting Google's argument that it was not responsible for what users posted on its Orkut social networking site.
The verdict upheld a lower court's judgment made after the priest sued for defamation in 2008 over the post, which called him "the paedophile ... the thief who has a lover", according to the O Globo daily.
"By making space available on virtual networking sites, in which users can post any type of message without any checks beforehand, with offensive and injurious content, and, in many cases, of unknown origin, (Google) assumes the risk of causing damage" to other people, judge Alvimar de Avila said.
Google's Orkut is a hugely popular networking site in Brazil,
Source
26 April, 2010
Muslim hate speech OK in the Netherlands
This is richly ironic in view of the fact that the same country is prosecuting Geert Wilders for telling the truth about the Koran. Dutch cowardice is obviously alive and well." The Netherlands Utrecht District Court on Thursday acquitted members of the Arab European League (AEL) of hate speech charges resulting from the posting a cartoon on their website that insinuated that the Holocaust was fabricated.
The criminal complaint against the group alleged that the cartoon violated Article 137c of the Dutch Penal Code, which punishes individuals for making discriminatory and defamatory statements against certain groups.
The AEL argued that they do not actually deny the historical facts of the Holocaust, but that the cartoon was posted to call attention to what they saw as a double standard in the distribution of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed
The court held that the cartoon was offensive, but that, in light an accompanying disclaimer and subsequent statements regarding its purpose, it was nevertheless protected under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Prosecutors had sought for the court to consider the fact that Jewish groups were not involved in the creation or distribution of the Danish Mohammed cartoons, but the court refused.
Source
Frat inspired by Robert E. Lee bans Rebel uniforms
More awareness of history being erased"A college fraternity inspired by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee has banned members around the country from wearing Confederate uniforms to "Old South" parties and parades after years of complaints that the tradition was racially insensitive.
The Virginia-based Kappa Alpha Order issued new rules to chapters earlier this year saying members aren't allowed to wear Rebel uniforms to parties or during their parades, which are a staple on campuses across the South.
The decision, announced in an internal memo posted on the group's website, followed a flap last year at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, where a black sorority complained after a KA parade stopped in front of its house on campus. KA members were dressed in the gray uniforms of Confederate officers, and young women wore hoop skirts.
The KA chapter at Alabama has canceled this year's Old South parade, which was set for this week. Still, a large Confederate national flag covers the front of its house on campus.
Other KA chapters quit donning Confederate uniforms or holding parades with Old South themes in recent years as criticism grew.
Kappa Alpha was founded in 1865 at Washington & Lee University — a school partly named for the Confederate general, and the group calls Lee its "spiritual founder." It has about 130 chapters nationwide.
Source
25 April, 2010
Va. DMV Recalls Plate with very obscure implications
We read:"The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday recalled a license plate that appeared to have coded references glorifying Adolf Hitler.
The vanity plate, which read "14CV88," was the subject of complaints after photos were posted online.
The "88" is sometimes a coded reference to Heil Hitler, as each word begins with the eighth letter of the alphabet. The "14" is thought to stand for the number of words in a white supremacist credo. The "CV" is an apparent reference to the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations was among the groups offended by the plate. The truck bearing the plates also featured graphics of the Confederate flag and the phrase "Everything I ever needed to know about Islam I learned on 9/11."
Source
Must not mention bedroom attributes of famous philanderer
We read:"The controversial Sydney radio broadcasters Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O face a new barrage of criticism following racially loaded remarks about Tiger Woods's genitals on their 2Day FM morning show.
Yesterday the pair interviewed three of Woods's former mistresses in excruciating detail about the disgraced golfer's sexual performance and proclivities.
At one point, Jackie O asked Devon James about how Woods ranked as a lover, and about the size of his penis. ''Because we heard that he's, like, massive, like a donkey, is that right?'' asked Sandilands.
Ms James replied: ''Yeah, I'd agree.'' Sandilands added: ''Were you surprised, [saying] 'Man, you're half Asian, half black, obviously the half black is what's going on downstairs'?''
Source
24 April, 2010
Tea Party Marine sticks by his guns in fight with government, Obama
We read:"A U.S. Marine whose Facebook posts led to a refresher course last week on the Pentagon’s directives on political activities is not running for cover as he continues to post or support material critical of the government and President Obama.
Sgt. Gary Stein created the Facebook group ‘Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots’ four weeks ago to voice his opposition to Obama’s health care overhaul.
Superior officers asked the 24-year-old Marine to review directives on political activities before he was interviewed on TV, and Stein removed the Facebook group — only to see it revived by a civilian member of a local Tea Party group hours later.
Stein now serves as an administrator of the group, which has more than 9,100 members, including some soldiers on active duty.”
Source
South Park censors Mohammed joke over threats
We read:"Comedy Central has given in to radical threats made over a plot line in the hit show South Park.
The US cable network bleeped out all references to the Prophet Mohammed in the latest episode of South Park after receiving a warning from a radical Muslim website.
The episode was a continuation of last week's episode which depicted Mohammed in a bear suit. Comedy Central confirmed to FoxNews.com it had censored the show, and that the episode was not available on its website either.
In addition to bleeping the words "Prophet Mohammed," the show also covered the character with a large block labeled "Censored."
A radical Islamic website had warned the creators of South Park that they could face violent retribution for their depiction of Prophet Mohammed.
Source
23 April, 2010
Some American heritage: Censorship defeated by democracy
We read:"Federalists hoped the Sedition Act would stifle political opposition, but many Democratic-Republicans still criticized the Federalists and made the Act a key election issue in 1800.
That election resulted in the ‘Revolution of 1800? — a landslide victory by Thomas Jefferson and in Federalists at all levels of government being turned out of office.
The attempt to muffle criticism also later contributed to the demise of the Federalist Party.
Congress repeatedly apologized for, and voted compensation to victims of, the enforcement of the Sedition Act. Thomas Jefferson pardoned all of those who had been so convicted.
Source
SCOTUS voids law aimed at banning animal cruelty videos
We read:"The Supreme Court struck down a federal law Tuesday aimed at banning videos depicting graphic violence against animals, saying that it violates the constitutional right to free speech.There are plenty of laws against animal cruelty. How about those who are concened about it using the laws already available to go after those making the videos?
Chief Justice John J. Roberts Jr., writing for an eight-member majority, said the law was overly broad and not allowed by the First Amendment.
He rejected the government’s argument that whether certain categories of speech deserve constitutional protection depends on balancing the value of the speech against its societal costs.”
Source
22 April, 2010
Muslims steamed by South Park satire
We read:"A radical Islamic website is warning the creators of "South Park" that they could face violent retribution for depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode broadcast on Comedy Central last week.
RevolutionMuslim.com posted the warning following the 200th episode of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's "South Park," which included a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad disguised in a bear suit. The Web posting also included a graphic photo of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker who was murdered in 2004 after making a documentary on violence against Muslim women.
"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show," the posting reads. "This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."
Source
Google reveals government data requests and censorship
Google are the good guys in this one, it seems to me. This is whistleblowing."For the first time Google has released details about how often countries around the world ask it to hand over user data or to censor information.
Brazil tops the list with 3,663 data requests while the US made 3,580 and the UK came a distant third with 1,166.
Just last month the internet giant pulled its search engine out of China over online censorship issues. Google said it cannot provide statistics on requests from China which are regarded as state secrets.”
Source
21 April, 2010
Free speech group flags First Amendment violations
We read:"Banning the sale of wine because of a nude, bike-riding nymph on the label of the bottle.
Confining campus protests to a ‘free-speech patio.’
Keeping street performers off the Las Vegas Strip.
Those were some of the actions that the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression cited Tuesday in awarding its ‘Muzzle’ awards.”
The Virginia Department of Corrections won a Muzzle for denying inmate Kyle Mabe a compact disc containing audio of a Christian sermon, which the center said violated his constitutional rights of free speech and religious freedom. The corrections department has since decided to revise its policy to allow inmates to order religious CDs, effective June 1.
Source
Campus club discrimination
We read:"The Christian Legal Society policy shouldn’t be controversial. Just as Democrats shouldn’t be forced to allow Republicans to dictate their messaging, the Sierra Club shouldn’t have to let the Drill Baby Drillers control its governance, and Outlaw, the gay and lesbian law students group, shouldn’t have to take a neutral stance on same-sex marriage, CLS should be able to exclude non-Christians and others who don’t abide by its mission statement.
After all, a group that can’t define itself, and exclude people who disagree with its goals, ceases to be a group. Yet the University of California Hastings law school refuses to provide CLS the resources available to other student organizations — use of bulletin boards, meeting spaces, access to funding — on the grounds that its membership rules violate the school’s anti-discrimination policy.
It’s a dismal situation: Provide the funding, and the university — a government entity — subsidizes speech and viewpoints many taxpayers find intolerable. Withhold it, and government discriminates against students based on their religion and speech. Is there any solution?”
Legally, CLS wins the case: While "freedom of association" is not specifically mentioned in the Constitution, the Supreme Court has ruled it an inescapable part of speech and assembly rights protected by the First Amendment. For example, when Alabama wanted the NAACP to disclose its membership lists, the court found that full speech rights can be realized only if people can come together to coordinate and amplify their speech.
NAACP v. Alabama (1958) has direct implications for Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, making clear that government cannot give preference to some associations over others, which is what Hastings has done by only recognizing groups that adhere to its nondiscrimination policies.
These and other rights-infringing situations could have been avoided if public schools simply did not support student activities; no subsidies mean no discrimination. But students want their subsidized clubs, and schools are happy to fund them as long as it helps bring in students and their tuition dollars.
Source
20 April, 2010
Miami-Dade Transit to remove `offensive' Islamic bus ads
Must not evangelize Muslims, even in America?"Miami-Dade Transit is pulling advertisements from 10 buses that South Florida Muslims have said are offensive to Islam. The ads, which went up Tuesday, said "Fatwa on your head? Is your community or family threatening you?" and directed Muslims to a website encouraging them to leave Islam.
Robert Spencer, associate director of New York-based Stop the Islamization of America, which purchased the ads for one-month as the first leg of a national campaign, said they were "offered in defense of religious liberty."
Source
MI: Slang for breasts declared “dirty word” on cancer-awareness t-shirts
We read:"About two dozen students wore pink T-shirts to Mona Shores High School on Wednesday to raise awareness of breast cancer and to support one of their mothers, who is battling the disease. School administrators made them turn the shirts inside out.
The students’ hearts were in the right place; it was their choice of words that was objectionable, administrators said. The shirts read: ‘Save the Ta-Tas.’
‘The cause of breast cancer isn’t the issue,’ Superintendent Terry L. Babbitt said Friday. ‘But just because something is dedicated to a particular cause, it doesn’t give you a license to say whatever'
Source
19 April, 2010
Naughty British Mayoress
New arrivals in Britain from some countries -- particularly Muslim ones -- tend to be heavily welfare-dependant but you must not mention that"A town mayor apologised yesterday after posting a joke on the internet comparing illegal immigrants to sperm because 'millions of them come in but only one works'. Sue Mills, 50, the Mayor of Torrington in Devon, posted the offensive joke on her Facebook page where it was seen by hundreds of people.
Several complaints were made about the offensive gag and Mrs Mills, who is also a district and town councillor, has now said sorry. She says she 'deeply regretted' making the joke...
One Torrington resident, who did not want to be named, said it was 'derogatory' and 'reflected badly on the town'. He said: 'I am just shocked that someone could write that given they are the mayor of the town.
'Even if this is a joke she needs to be reminded with freedom of speech comes responsibility. It reflects badly on Torrington that the mayor, in a prominent position, is expressing those views.'
Source
Freedom of speech frightens the Austrian establishment
Free speech rights to question the holocaust that are legally protected in the USA frighten conventional politicians in the Ostmark des deutschen Reichs"A woman with 10 children who is nicknamed “the Reich mother” and has called for the right to question the historical truth of the Holocaust, is expected to win up to 25% of the vote in Austria’s presidential election next Sunday.
Barbara Rosenkranz, 51, is campaigning on an anti-immigrant, anti-Islam, anti-feminist ticket as the political heir to Jörg Haider, the far-right politician who died in 2008. Germany’s Central Council of Jews has described her political ascent as an example of the “terrifying shift to the right” in Europe.
A veteran critic of Austria’s laws criminalising Holocaust deniers, Rosenkranz had to sign a sworn statement that she rejects Nazism. Upon being asked if she believes the Nazis murdered millions of Jews, she gave the evasive answer that freedom of expression meant allowing people to hold “bizarre” opinions.
Source
18 April, 2010
Foxy the Fascist again
It's reasonable to condemn violence but Foxy wants to stop speech too:"How should Republicans respond to Democratic calls for them to help end vandalism and threats of violence in the wake of healthcare reform's passage? Answer from Abraham H. Foxman:The ADL seems to think that Nazi methods are OK if the cause is right. That Hitler thought his cause was right just somehow seems unable to penetrate crazed ADL brains. With friends like the anti-Christian, anti-conservative, anti-democratic Foxy, Jews don't need enemies.
The most effective response to the vandalism and threats of violence targeting political leaders would be for the senior leadership of both parties, Republicans and Democrats, to stand together on the same platform, at the same time, and insist that the insults and demonization that have come to characterize our political discourse stop immediately. Americans must be able to use political means rather than violence, intimidation, or threats to resolve policy differences.
Source
Why are the media allowed to prejudge some court cases and not others?
The heading on the story below was "Nazi guard breaks silence", where the presumption of innocence would require the heading: "ALLEGED Nazi guard breaks silence".
The whole thing is just a political show trial in the best Stalinist tradition anyway -- as the man has already been found "not guilty" in an Israeli court -- and if you think an Israeli court would be stepping lightly or incompetent in such a case you have a lot to learnJohn Demjanjuk, a 90-year-old accused of helping to murder 27,900 Jews as a guard at a Nazi death camp, denied the charges today in the first statement since his trial began in November.
Mr Demjanjuk said he was "forcibly deported to Germany" where "false charges" were pressed on him, in a statement read out to a court in Munich by his lawyer, Ulrich Busch.
"I find it an unbearable injustice that Germany is trying to make me, a prisoner of war, into a war criminal with this trial," he said.
Mr Demjanjuk is standing trial on 27,900 counts of being an accessary to murder on allegations he was a guard at the Sobibor camp in occupied Poland. He denies ever being at any camp, claiming he is the victim of mistaken identity....
Since his extradition from the US last May, Mr Demjanjuk has been in a prison near Munich, again "as a German prisoner of war", he said. "I am again and again an innocent victim of the Germans," he told the court.
He was previously found guilty in Israel of being Ivan the Terrible, a particularly sadistic death camp guard at Treblinka, but released after the Israeli Supreme Court established they had the wrong man....
Source
17 April, 2010
Exactly HOW does a national day of prayer constitute the establishment of a religion?
Even Muslims pray, I gather -- and they are certainly not America's established church. Not yet, anyway."The National Day of Prayer, honored in the United States for more than a half-century, is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Wisconsin has ruled.
In a 66-page opinion issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb said the holiday violates the "establishment clause" of the First Amendment, which creates a separation of church and state.
The opinion comes in a case filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based group of self-described "atheists" and "agnostics."
"The only issue decided in this case is that the federal government may not endorse prayer in a statute," Crabb said....
Within hours of the ruling, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee urged the Justice Department to "immediately" file an appeal. "The decision undermines the values of religious freedom that America was founded upon," Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Tex., said in a statement. "What’s next? Declaring the federal holiday for Christmas unconstitutional?"...
The National Day of Prayer was first established by Congress in 1952, with a more specific date for the holiday set in 1988. It is now observed on the first Thursday in May.
Source
Oh Oh! Bush=Monkey hilarious. Obama=Monkey unforgiveable
How many more times are we going to see this double standard? The logic is often obscure where political correctness is concerned but, in the circumstances, one has to suspect that offence is taken in one case only because the resemblance is seen to be real in one case only. This latest episode is from Australia"The [conservative] Queensland Liberal National Party (LNP) has condemned the action of a member allegedly responsible for calling Barack Obama a "monkey" on Twitter during the US president's interview on the ABC.The kid was later expelled from the party over it.
The tweets, from an account allegedly belonging to Nick Sowden, a medical student at the University of Queensland, began just after 7.30pm AEST last night, during ABC TV's 7.30 Report with Kerry O'Brien.
"I'm not sure why they paid kerry to fly to america (sic), if they wanted an interview with a monkey surely a ferry to Taronga would have sufficed," one tweet said, referring to Taronga Zoo on Sydney Harbour.
"If I wanted to see a monkey on TV I'd watch Wildlife Rescue," said another.
LNP state director Michael O'Dwyer said the party did not tolerate such comments and would be looking into the matter. "I'm disappointed when anybody from the LNP makes comments that put the party into disrepute and of such a personal nature," Mr O'Dwyer said.
[Leftist] Deputy Premier Paul Lucas said the LNP needed to act immediately. "I think that sort of language is totally, totally unacceptable, to be saying that about people - whether they're the president of the United States or whether they're anybody else," Mr Lucas said. [I can't seem to find find any record of Mr. Lucas saying that the constant comparisions between President Bush and chimpanzees were "totally, totally unacceptable"]
Source
16 April, 2010
A big difference between Southern and Northern European attitudes
The advertisement below would not raise a single eyebrow North of the Rhine
A Sequence featuring female buttocks in a TV commercial for Croatian tourism has been hastily removed after it sparked the ire of Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and women's rights groups.An odd thing: That looks like a British flag on the woman's bikini. The idea would seem to be that it's NOT about Croatian women.
Kosor declared the three-second sequence of a sunbathing girl "sexist" when the tourist board presented the ad to the government at the weekend. The 30-second spot had already been seen on CNN, BBC and other stations worldwide.
Women's groups also slammed the commercial as promoting "sex tourism".
Croatia is an increasingly popular tourist destination and millions visit the country's Adriatic [Mediterranean] coast every year.
Source
"Loser" a risky word
We read:"A Columbus, Ohio, teacher who wrote "loser" on a student's arm has resigned two days before she was due to face a disciplinary hearing on the matter.
Ms Butterfield, 28, said the 8-year-old boy found it funny when she wrote "loser" on his arm in orange washable marker.
Her account of the incident indicated that at no time did the child take her seriously. He left school that day with the word still on his arm.
Ms Butterfield's lawyer said she never meant to harm the student and now realised the joke was ill-conceived.
Source
No free speech for Marines?
We read:"A Camp Pendleton Marine has removed his Facebook page after his comments fueled a free-speech debate about whether troops are allowed to criticize President Barack Obama's policies while serving in the military.At the Nuremberg war tribunal after WWII, it was held that the usual defence given by Nazi military personnel, Befehl ist Befehl (orders are orders), was not a sufficient justification for bad behaviour. Thus a right for military personnel to speak out against government policy would seem to be implied. The Obama administration would be in very bad company if it tried to rescind that
Sgt. Gary Stein said he was asked by his superiors to review the Pentagon's directive on political activities after he criticized Obama's health care reform efforts and then was asked this week to talk about his views on the MSNBC cable TV channel.
Stein said his supervisor told him of his right to an attorney about the matter. He said he decided to close his Facebook page and review his military code obligations. He also contacted private attorneys who told him he had done nothing wrong.
"There's this illusion that when we sign our contract and voluntarily commit, that we lose our right to speak out," Stein told the San Diego Union-Tribune in a story published Wednesday.
The local American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement Wednesday that it has sent a letter to Camp Pendleton's commanding officer urging the Marine Corps to protect Stein's right to freedom of speech...
Stein, 24, a meteorologist for the base's 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said it was ire over Obama's health care reform efforts that pushed him to launch the Facebook page, "Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots," three weeks ago.
Source
15 April, 2010
"Obesity" to be banned?
About time. It has been way over-used. It was once only used for grossly fat people, not people of middling weight"Let's say you were carrying a few extra pounds -- would you rather be labeled "obese" or "fat"? City officials in Liverpool, England, evidently prefer the latter and are considering banning the word obesity from all official communications.The term "unhealthy weight" is a bit nuts too. Anorexics have an unhealthy weight but they sure aren't fat. What's wrong with "fat", anyway? Too simple and not judgmental enough, I guess.
It's all because they feel that the word obese is too offensive, especially when it comes to kids. Officials at Liverpool's town hall would rather use the term "unhealthy weight" because it doesn't stigmatize overweight children as much.... "The idea is that obesity has a negative connotation behind it," he added....
Tam Fry of the obesity prevention charity the Child Growth Foundation certainly doesn't think so. "I can see where the children are coming from and the word carries a stigmatization but unfortunately some times schoolchildren have to be taught the realities of life," he told the Daily Mail. "If you have a problem, particularly when it's as serious as this, it needs addressing."
It's not certain whether the change will go through -- the proposal will be considered over the next few months -- but a spokesperson for the Liverpool city council insisted there would only be a subtle difference if it did.
Source
Funny that we are allowed to be judgmental about people's weight but are not allowed to judgmental about other things -- such as homosexuality. And, because of AIDS, homosexuality is a lot more likely to kill you than being fat is.
MD: Towson adjunct professor fired for use of racial term in class
He referred to himself as a "n*gger on the corporate plantation", evidently meaning that he felt underpaid for the work he did."A Towson University adjunct professor was fired last week after using a racially insensitive term in his art class.
Allen Zaruba, a local artist who had taught at Towson for 12 years, said he was discussing provocative works depicted in textbook chapters on the body and identity when he used the term. "I crossed the line," he said. "I made a terrible, terrible mistake."
Zaruba, who is white, said his black stepfather used racial terms freely and that "I never quite got the horror of the word." "But I will never use that term again," he said. "It is absolutely transgressive." "As soon as I said it, I thought, 'Lord have mercy,' " Zaruba recalled.
On Thursday, three days after uttering the remark, Zaruba learned he had been fired in a phone call from interim department Chairman Stuart Stein....
Adam Jackson, president of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, a campus group that promotes social justice, said he didn't know the context of the incident but was intrigued by Zaruba's wording, which included reference to "a corporate plantation."
"I think that the university firing him on the basis of using a racially charged word is an excuse to escape criticism from across the university," Jackson said. "At worst, it could be a racially insensitive analogy, but to call the university a 'corporate plantation' would be a deep statement that directly challenges the politics of this university." ....
Despite taking responsibility for his error, Zaruba said his firing raises troubling questions about the power of political correctness in modern society. "Are we in for another state of McCarthyism?" he said. "We have to have compassion and realize that people are not perfect."
Source
14 April, 2010
Must not call a Muslim a terrorist
But you can call Christians "Taleban", of course. The following is from Australia, where Muslims coming out of law-courts routinely abuse film crews observing them. They hate being filmed."Footage of a Channel Nine cameraman calling the father of an Oakleigh riot suspect a "f---ing terrorist" was deeply disturbing, the station's Melbourne news director said today.
Michael Venus said cameraman Simon Fuller had been stood down while an investigation was carried out into the heated exchange outside Melbourne Magistrates Court, and his future would be determined in the next two days.
Fuller was filming 19-year-old Omar Amr and his father after the teenager was bailed on April 1. Fuller, along with other camera crews, followed the pair from the court and filmed them.
A dispute began when Fuller said what sounded like "f--- off" to the pair. Amr's father Gad in turn called him a "bloody idiot". Fuller then called Mr Amr a terrorist.
The slur infuriated the pair, who headed back to court to find police, according to a report on the ABC's Media Watch....
Venus said tempers were frayed outside the court, and people reacted in a volatile way....
Omar Amr is facing charges of incitement to riot, riot, affray, burglary, theft and criminal damage following the riot that damaged a Bob Jane T-Mart store in Oakleigh. [Officialdom is silent on the matter, in their usual way, but it would appear that the riot was an organized one, organized primarily by Lebanese Muslims]
Source
German Fascism lives on under the cloak of "Antifascism"
It's similar in Britain."A close friend of mine, Jost Bauch, who teaches general sociology and sociology of medicine as a part-time professor at the German University of Konstanz, has recently seen what he had of a career brought to a grinding halt.The reference to Schmitt (1888 – 1985) was a bit incautious. Schmitt was a defender of the authoritarian state so initially got on well with the Nazis in the Germany of the 1930s but they eventually disowned him on the grounds that he was not sincerely antisemitic.
Probably because of his non-leftist views, which stand out in the leftist and anti-nationalist German university system, Jost was never allowed to move beyond part-time work, despite his advanced degrees and multiple professional publications.
About a year ago, while lecturing on cultural tensions, Jost made isolated references in a lecture to Carl Schmitt, as an exponent of the friend/enemy theory of political association, and to Samuel Huntington, as a Harvard professor who had addressed “cultural clashes” in international relations.
Despite the stunning innocuousness of these references, “Wanted” posters, with Jost’s face on them, were soon plastered on the walls of the University buildings. The posters accused him of “cultural racism” for bringing up authorities who were seen as hostile to the multicultural project of local student organizers. On January 28, the student assembly called for his dismissal. Action toward this end is now under consideration by the university administration.
To make matter even worse, student “antifascist” groups have swung into action, lining up in front of Jost’s classes to prevent students from entering and threatening his physical safety.
The resemblance between these bullying fanatics and the Nazi youth who prevented university students from entering the classes of Jewish professors in the 1930s would seem too obvious to be missed.
The Dean of his division has openly taken the side of the student agitators (who were supposedly only protecting the German people against its “fascist past”.)
Source
The thing that the students of today seem to have missed, however, is that Schmitt's defence of big and powerful government has in recent years attracted Leftists and they have "rediscovered" him despite his old Nazi connections. It is actually quite Leftist to quote Schmitt among political philosophers these days.
13 April, 2010
Hate speech from Democrat mayor against conservative black clergyman Isaac Hayes
Isaac Hayes is standing as the GOP candidate against black hustler Jesse Jackson in Illinois’ 2nd Congressional District next November and (black) Mayor Alvin McCowan of the Illinois town of University Park doesn't like it. He recently rushed into a private campaign meeting at a city-owned facility to order Hayes out. Hayes has issued the following statement about the matter (excerpt):"I am saddened by the hate speech from a sitting Mayor who is more interested in the politics of personal destruction than apologizing for leaving his meeting to interfere in a unrelated, private event. Racial slurs such as “sellout” and “another Alan Keyes” have no place in the public discourse. This only reinforces my complaint that I was discriminated against because of my political views.Details of exactly what happened when candidate Hayes was expelled from the campaign meeting (to which he had specifically been invited) here. Another account HERE
“My campaign continues to receive apologies from University Park village officials and support from the Mayor’s very own constituents. Both groups communicate their lack of surprise in his behavior, because they have also dealt with his thuggery.
“Out of respect to Congressman Jackson, I afforded him an entire weekend to denounce the actions of one of his major campaign contributors. Unfortunately, he has chosen to silently endorse political discrimination and, now, blatant racism.
Source
The Hayes campaign slogan is "Isaac for honesty". No wonder he does not go down well among the Illinois establishment! There is not much honesty in Illinois politics. And Hayes grew up on the South Side of Chicago so he knows all about it.
What the Euphemisms Tell Us
We read:"In the latest installment of politically correct, not to say Orwellian, language emanating from the Obama administration, the term "rogue states" has been sidelined in favor of "outliers." The switch was unveiled as part of the just released Nuclear Posture Review. States like North Korea and Iran, labeled "rogue" by the Bush administration, will no longer labor under that punitive adjective.
This is telling. While the administration insists that the full spectrum of new initiatives -- from the New Start treaty to the Nuclear Posture Review to the Nuclear Security Summit -- are aimed at containing the world's two most provocative nations, Iran and North Korea, the stream of euphemisms they've insisted upon sends the opposite message.
Rogue isn't even a particularly harsh word. When applied to individuals, it is frequently paired with "lovable." Regarding elephants, it suggests an animal that is out of control, but not necessarily vicious. Still, it was too severe for the Obama administration.
Outlier has no negative connotations at all. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "One whose domicile is distant from his or her place of business." The Macintosh computer dictionary adds a secondary connotation of exclusion from a group. So to employ the label "outliers" for nations that are, by any civilized measure, criminal is pusillanimous.
No doubt the leadership in Iran has also noticed that an administration that softens its words has also modified its proposed sanctions. Whereas once Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke of "crippling" sanctions, she has now climbed down to "sanctions that bite." Can annoying sanctions be far behind?
Source
12 April, 2010
Politically correct reaction to a harmless joke causes a man to suicide
Britain:"A medical technician killed himself after being suspended from work after someone complained that he made a politically-incorrect joke about a black friend. Roy Amor, 61, who was devastated at the prospect of losing his job making prosthetics, shot himself in the head outside his house.
He was facing a disciplinary investigation after suggesting to the black colleague that he ‘better hide’ when they noticed immigration officers outside their clinic. It is understood that the man was a close friend of Mr Amor and was not offended. However, it was overheard by someone else who lodged a formal complaint.
Five days after his suspension, Mr Amor received an email about the incident from his employers, Opcare, a private company that provides prosthetic and orthotic services to the NHS.
A few hours later police found his body in the road outside his home near Bolton, Lancashire, after being alerted by a neighbour.
Sources told The Mail on Sunday that he left three notes, all of which mention Opcare, including one written outside his workplace at 5pm on the day before he died in which he describes his despair....
Opcare chief executive Michael O’Byrne admitted that Mr Amor had been suspended over the joke.
Source
Muslim hate crimes must be appeased
Contrast this story with the one above. This was an actual hate crime, not a joke. The guys below have apparently been offered community service as the only penalty -- and in San Francisco at that. Christians would have been locked up for good. Note that the overwhelming motivation of the prosecutors seems to be to get an "agreement" with the offenders!"Three Hayward men accused of shooting a San Francisco man they thought was gay with a BB gun in February delayed entering pleas Thursday, and prosecutors indicated that talks are under way to settle the case.
Shafiq Hashemi, 21, Mohammad Habibzada, 24, and Sayed Bassam, 21, are accused of shooting a 27-year-old man from their car at 16th and Guerrero streets in the Mission District on Feb. 26, then driving off. The man was hit in the cheek but not seriously injured.
Police arrested the three nearby and they allegedly confessed that they had come to San Francisco to shoot gay people, according to police.
Prosecutors have charged them with assault with a deadly weapon, negligent discharge of a firearm, hate crimes and attempted mayhem.
Judge Bruce Chan ordered entry of plea delayed until April 19 "to see if there can be some resolution that would meet all the interests of the communities and parties involved." "We've communicated an offer to the defendants, and they're considering it," prosecutor Victor Hwang said after the hearing.
According to Hwang, community service may be part of the settlement, though the final details of the possible plea deal are still being discussed.
Source
11 April, 2010
UK comedian Frankie Boyle slammed over Down syndrome rant
I have always seen it as cruel and in exceptionally poor taste to make fun of the disabled -- as being in fact a mark of a deficient sense of humor. I would have to hear the whole segment below, however, to decide whether the comedian really was making fun of the disabled. He does seem to have been generally offensive. Such behavior does a great disservice to comedy generally."One of the UK's most popular comedians Frankie Boyle has been rebuked by the mother of a Down syndrome child for making fun of the condition on his latest tour of England.One hopes that it was indeed his last tour ever
Sharon Smith, whose five-year-old daughter Tanzie has the condition, became upset as the Scottish comic made jokes lampooning Down syndrome, Sky News reports.
Star of current affairs comedy show Mock The Week, Boyle poked fun at Down syndrome haircuts, labeled those with the condition as "Mongoloids" and said they were destined for an early death.
He then spotted Ms Smith squirming in the front row at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading, southern England, and told her off for talking during his set. Ms Smith, 37, replied that she had personal experience with Down syndrome and was upset by his comments.
Recounting the incident on her personal blog, she said, "He tried to laugh it off: 'Ah, but it's all true isn't it? Everything I have said is true isn't it?' to which I replied 'No, it wasn't'. "He then went on to say that it was the most excruciating moment of his career but then tried to claw the humour back by saying we had paid to come and see him and what should we expect.
"To which I replied that I understood that and that it was my personal problem. He then said it was the last tour ever and that he didn't give a f--k."
Source
More humorless and stupid "comedians"
This time from Australia"He has been the butt of jokes by Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O for the past seven years and today Confidential can reveal newsreader Geoff Field has quit the 2DayFM breakfast show after being pushed too far.
Despite yesterday's attempt by the radio jocks to put on a united front, we hear Field walked after he was wrongly accused on-air of being drunk at a recent Austereo function, The Daily Telegraph reports. The gag, on the morning of March 26, was a joke too far and Field, who says he was not drunk, has not been on the show since.
He has switched to be the newsreader and entertainment reporter on Hamish Blake and Andy Lee's top-rating drive program, starting on Monday....
"He's off this show and on to that drive one and good luck to him," Sandilands said. "But really, once they leave they're dead to me."
Sandilands and openly gay Field had a major falling out last year after Sandilands abused him in a sustained on-air tirade, with Field complaining to Austereo's human resources department.
While things were patched up after mediation, the relationship has never been the same.
Source
10 April, 2010
North Dakota decisions end Fighting Sioux nickname
We read:"A state Supreme Court ruling and a Board of Higher Education decision have retired for good the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname after a four-year legal battle.So the Left have a win on the ground that the name offends Indians, even though the Indians are not offended. It's just Leftist hate of other people's customs.
The court ruled Thursday that the board had the authority to dump the nickname at any time. The court rejected an appeal that sought to delay action.
A motion Thursday at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting in Mayville to reconsider its vote in May to retire the nickname died after nobody seconded it.
Claus Lembke, of Bismarck, the board member who made the failed motion after the court handed down its ruling, said the board was “giving in to a minority of people on the issue.”
In their ruling, the justices said the board had the authority to change the nickname before a Nov. 30 deadline set in a settlement with the NCAA. A group of eight Spirit Lake Sioux tribal members who want the school to keep the nickname were seeking to have the court bar any decision before the deadline.
Source
Forbidden political drawings in Britain
We read:"Former skinhead Gordon Higinbotham is banned from showing his 15 neo-Nazi tattoos in public. In fact, to take his t-shirt off outside would be in breach of his anti-social behaviour order (asbo), because it could cause distress or incite racial hatred.It seems to me that he would have a case to have his tatts classified as "art". And ANYTHING is allowable as "art"
His tattoos include a vile foot-long image of Adolf Hitler, which dominates his back, and an intricate picture of the Ku Klux Klan, which runs across the length of his stomach.
Source
9 April, 2010
No "Islamic extremism" in Obamaland
We read:"President Barack Obama's advisers will remove religious terms such as "Islamic extremism" from the central document outlining the U.S. national security strategy and will use the rewritten document to emphasize that the United States does not view Muslim nations through the lens of terror, counterterrorism officials said.If Obama is removing religious references, are we back to George Bush's "War on Terror"? How amusing!
The change is a significant shift in the National Security Strategy, a document that previously outlined the Bush Doctrine of preventative war and currently states: "The struggle against militant Islamic radicalism is the great ideological conflict of the early years of the 21st century."
The officials described the changes on condition of anonymity because the document still was being written, and the White House would not discuss it. But rewriting the strategy document will be the latest example of Obama putting his stamp on U.S. foreign policy...
That shift away from terrorism has been building for a year, since Obama went to Cairo, Egypt, and promised a "new beginning" in the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world. The White House believes the previous administration based that relationship entirely on fighting terror and winning the war of ideas....
Public opinion polls also showed consistent improvement in U.S. sentiment within the Muslim world last year, although the viewpoints are still overwhelmingly negative, however.
Peter Feaver, a Duke University political scientist and former Bush adviser, is skeptical of Obama's engagement effort. It "doesn't appear to have created much in the way of strategic benefit" in the Middle East peace process or in negotiations over Iran's nuclear ambitions, he said.
Source
School textbook mocks creationism
No respect for Christian beliefs? Or is it only Muslims, blacks and homosexuals who get respect? The book could have simply given the "generally accepted scientific theory" and not mentioned the Bible at all. It was after all supposed to be a science textbook, not a theological commentary."A Tennessee father says a biology textbook should be banned from his son’s curriculum because of it's ‘bias’ against Christians.As an atheist, I don't believe in either of the Bible accounts of creation (See Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2) but I think Christians and Christianity deserve respect.
Kurt Zimmermann is appealing a Knoxville school district's decision to keep the book. He says the textbook used in his son’s biology class cites creationism as a "biblical myth." According to reports, he requests, 'non-biased' textbooks be used. In his words, the current textbook's phrasing misleads, belittles and discourages students in believing in creationism and calls the Bible a myth.
Knoxville County School superintendent Jim McIntyre says the committee's finding to keep using the book is appropriate. However he asks the board to hear Zimmerman's appeal Wednesday, April 7....
Local papers report Zimmerman pulls a quote from page 319 in the book, Asking About Life, where creationism is described as, "the biblical myth that the universe was created by the Judeo-Christian God in 7 days."
Source
8 April, 2010
Bigotry against black conservatives
We read:"They've been called Oreos, traitors and Uncle Toms, and are used to having to defend their values. Now black conservatives are really taking heat for their involvement in the mostly white tea party movement — and for having the audacity to oppose the policies of the nation's first black president.
"I've been told I hate myself. I've been called an Uncle Tom. I've been told I'm a spook at the door," said Timothy F. Johnson, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a group of black conservatives who support free market principles and limited government.
"Black Republicans find themselves always having to prove who they are. Because the assumption is the Republican Party is for whites and the Democratic Party is for blacks," he said.
Johnson and other black conservatives say they were drawn to the tea party movement because of what they consider its commonsense fiscal values of controlled spending, less taxes and smaller government. The fact that they're black — or that most tea partyers are white — should have nothing to do with it, they say....
Tea party voters represent a new model for these black conservatives — away from the black, liberal Democratic base located primarily in cities, and toward a black and white conservative base that extends into the suburbs....
"I've gotten the statement, 'How can you not support the brother?'" said David Webb, an organizer of New York City's Tea Party 365, Inc. movement and a conservative radio personality.
Since Obama's election, Webb said some black conservatives have even resorted to hiding their political views.
"I know of people who would play the (liberal) role publicly, but have their private opinions," he said. "They don't agree with the policy but they have to work, live and exist in the community ... Why can't we speak openly and honestly if we disagree?"
Source
Despite previous governors' refusals, McDonnell issues Confederate history month proclamation
This should stir up the ACLU, the ADL, the SPLC, the NAACP and all the usual suspects"Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month, bringing back a designation in Virginia that his two Democratic predecessors -- Mark Warner and Tim Kaine -- refused to do.Will the SPLC now brand the entire State of Virginia as a "hate group"? They're crazy enough.
Republican governors George Allen and Jim Gilmore issued similar proclamations. But in 2002, Warner broke with their action, calling such proclamations, a "lightning rod" that does not help bridge divisions between whites and blacks in Virginia.
This year's proclamation was requested by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A representative of the group said the group has known since it interviewed McDonnell when he was running for attorney general in 2005 that he was likely to respond differently than Warner or Kaine.
Richmond is the former capital of the Confederacy.
Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) said he was "stunned" to learn of McDonnell's decision and even more stunned that the proclamation did not include any reference to slavery. "It's offensive,'' he said.
Source
7 April, 2010
No free speech if you question feminist dogma
American University (AU) is a private United Methodist-affiliated research university in Washington, D.C."American University student Alex Knepper certainly has earned a Purple Heart, and perhaps even a Bronze Star with Valor, for his steely and courageous actions in defense of free speech, the First Amendment, academic freedom, and free and open intellectual inquiry. But where, pray tell, have been the American University faculty during this entire brouhaha surrounding Knepper’s “date rape” column?
So far as I can tell, the AU faculty — including the school of communications and law school faculty — have been conspicuously silent and Absent Without Leave (AWOL). Can it be that professionally trained academics, men and women who make their living examining and disseminating ideas, don’t see the danger to free speech posed by AU’s social and cultural jihad against Mr. Knepper’s heretical views?
Mr. Knepper, of course, had published a column in which he made the completely commonsensical point that young college women who get drunk at fraternity parties, and who then escort drunken men to their rooms are, in effect, asking for trouble.
Amazingly, albeit not surprisingly, stating the obvious has gotten Mr. Knepper into hot water with the left-wing campus thought police. But surely, there must be at least a few faculty members who don’t run with the pack, and who believe deeply in free speech and the First Amendment.
Mr. Knepper’s opinion piece has been widely condemned as “hate speech,” which should never have been published. And the student newspaper, the Eagle, after much emotional blackmail and intellectual bullying, has apologized for its supposed lack of editorial judgment.
Source
Jumped-up Pennsylvania teachers' college suspends professor over Facebook
We read:"East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) has finally reinstated professor Gloria Gadsden this week after suspending her for more than a month, pending a psychological examination, because of comments about her students on Facebook.
Taking actions that would have been worthless if Gadsden had truly presented a threat as the university asserted, ESU put her on paid administrative leave because she had posted obvious jokes including that she ‘didn’t want to kill even one student.’
After FIRE intervened and a clinician found her fit for work, Gadsden returned to the classroom last week.”
Source
6 April, 2010
The race card
Students resist colleges, strap on empty holsters
We read:"College students across America will once again strap on empty holsters in an act of silent protest against laws and policies banning licensed concealed carry on campus.
The protest, sponsored by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), will take place April 5-9, 2010 and comes on the heels of college administrators discriminating against concealed carry permit holders, and censoring students who disagree.
According to the group, colleges have repeatedly ignored or attempted to keep students from discussing the issue. In Pennsylvania, one college banned SCCC member Christine Brashier from handing out fliers about the group, stating, ‘You may want to discuss this topic but the college does not, and you cannot make us.’”
Source
5 April, 2010
Some people need to get a life
We read:"The shop owners call it clever marketing, the locals call it pornography.
The cut-out drawing of a naked woman with a pizza slice covering her nether regions in the window of Pizza Supremo in Murray Bridge has had tongues wagging.
But owners Damien Eve, 37, and Sarah Budarick, 35,, who have had to remove the artwork after a visit from the police, say they don't know what all the fuss is about.
They moved into the Swanport Rd premises earlier this year and proudly displayed the eye-catching piece - painted by Mrs Budarick and entitled "A Slice of Heaven" - above the shop's verandah.
Source
Killing of white South African farmer due to hate speech?
We read:"A South African white supremacist leader was bludgeoned to death by two of his farm workers in an apparent wage dispute, police said, but his followers blamed a fiery youth leader for a "hate speech" which they claim led to his killing.The irony of this case is that thousands of white farmers in South Africa have been murdered by black gangs in recent years -- with and without any hate speech from black leaders. Blacks in South Africa don't need a song to motivate them to kill vulnerable whites.
Eugene Terreblanche's violent death on Saturday came amid growing racial tensions in the once white-led country and underscored an ongoing controversy over African National Congress Youth Leader Julius Malema's performance last month of an apartheid-era song that advocates the killing of white farmers.
Terreblanche, 69, was leader of the white supremacist Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging movement, better known as the AWB, that wanted to create three all-white republics within South Africa in which blacks would be allowed only as guest workers.
Andre Nienaber, a member of the group and a relative of Terreblanche, said he believed his death was "as a result of Mr Malema's hate speech and direct orders in the media to 'shoot the Boers dead'".
Boer means white farmers in Afrikaans, the language of descendants of early Dutch settlers, or Afrikaners.
Mr Malema is often in the news for his fiery rhetoric. Last month, he led college students in belting out a song that includes the lyrics "shoot the Boer". Mr Malema did not mention Terreblanche or any other person in his performance.
The song has sparked a legal battle in which the ruling ANC party has challenged a high court which ruled the lyrics were unconstitutional. The ANC insists the song is a valuable part of its cultural heritage and that the lyrics - which also refer to the farmers as thieves and rapists - are not intended literally and are therefore not hate speech.
Source
4 April, 2010
Indiana School Not Canceling Graduation Prayer Without Judge Order
We read:"A central Indiana district isn't calling off a planned high school graduation prayer unless a federal judge orders it.
Greenwood School Board president Joe Farley says the district wants the judge to decide the merits of a lawsuit filed by the school's top-ranked senior. Greenwood High School student Eric Workman is asking a federal judge to stop a student-led prayer that the senior class voted to approve.
The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on the 18-year-old's behalf claims that the prayer and class vote unconstitutionally subject students to religious practice.
Source
Bad language in an Australian safe-driving ad creates furore
"Unnecessary" is, I think, the word for this:"A defiant Victorian Government won't dump the taxpayer-funded "don't be a d---head" campaign despite widespread backlash about the foul language.Video at link. The ad also makes a derogatory remark about redheads, which has to be pretty close to racism -- as redheads in Australia are mostly of Scottish and Irish extraction -- so that was remarkably poor taste too.
The Opposition, teacher groups and hundreds of Herald Sun readers say the viral advertising campaign aimed at teaching young drivers to use seatbelts and not to talk on their mobiles is "a disgrace".
Roads Minister Tim Pallas refused to apologise for the bad language, claiming it was worth it if it could save one life. But at the launch of the advertising campaign he refused to use the word "d---head"
The foul language in the nine video clips produced by VicRoads was approved by the Government's Psychology Advisory Group as the best way to get a reaction among young people.
Source
3 April, 2010
Thou shalt not criticise homosexuals
What kind of country arrests religious preachers in the streets and drags them to court? Britain, actually."A born-again Baptist who travels from America to preach the word of God on the streets of Britain is bound to be a bit … shall we say ‘eccentric?’ It should come as no surprise that such a person would be intolerant of homosexuality, which is regarded as a sin amongst Baptists.There is not much free speech in Britain. Only Britain's highest court (the Privy Council of the Supreme Court) occasionally allows it and going to them is an expensive proposition.
But should religious people who hold such views be punished for expressing them in public? That is what the arrest and fining of the American Christian, Shawn Holes, in Glasgow earlier this month suggests.”
Source
4th circuit backs Phelps
We read:"The father of a Marine killed in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters was ordered to pay the protesters' appeal costs, his lawyers said Monday.I must say that this is what I expected. Obnoxious as he is, I think Phelps clearly has done nothing to abridge his free speech rights. It is precisely to protect unpopular views that the 1st amendment exists.
On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered Snyder to pay $16,510 to Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case as to whether the protesters are entitled to free speech at the funeral. Phelps conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral in 2006.
Source
SCOTUS will have the last word, of course, but they would have to invent some new doctrine to deny Phelps his 1st amendment rights.
After all, Phelps is right according to the Bible: God DOES hate "men who lie with men". See Romans chapter 1 and Leviticus 20:13. Is SCOTUS going to infringe the right to preach Bible teachings? Even I as an atheist hope not.
2 April, 2010
Victory for free speech at Duke
We read:"Duke University has reversed a decision by its Women’s Center that prohibited the Duke Students for Life (DSFL) student group from holding a discussion on student motherhood at a Women’s Center venue during the group’s ‘Week for Life’ event.
The group’s president turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.
Only hours after FIRE exposed Duke’s decision to public scrutiny yesterday, Women’s Center Director Ada Gregory wrote to the group to say that ‘mistakes were certainly made that should not have occurred’ and that she had ‘taken steps to ensure that such an incident will not happen again.’”
Source
Footballer's name "too violent", according to dried-out old feminists
We read:"National Organization of Women president Terry O'Neill stated Saturday that NOW has requested that former Husker Ndamukong Suh change his name before the upcoming NFL draft.
"It's too violent" said O'Neill. "I understand that football is a violent sport, but the idea that we could be looking at a future NFL star whose name represents a crude instrument of death is more than a little disconcerting to me." O'Neill was referring to the fact that "Ndamukong Suh" translated means "House of Spears".
When asked for a possible replacement, O'Neill had a suggestion. "Ndamukong Beludi", which, when translated means "House of Muffins".
Source
1 April, 2010
'Rape simulator' game goes viral amid calls for censorship
It's undoubtedly an obnoxious game but it is a good illustration of how censorship can backfire"Attempts to ban a deplorable "rape simulator" video game have only caused it to spread virally across the internet, leading to calls for sites hosting the game to be blocked by internet censors.
In the game players earn points for acts of sexual violence, including following girls on commuter trains, raping virgins and their mothers, and then forcing them to have abortions.
US online retailers Amazon and eBay in February last year took RapeLay off their websites, but the game's Yokohama-based maker Illusion brushed off the protests, saying the game was made for the domestic market and abided by laws in Japan.
But attempts by women's rights groups such as Equality Now to ban the game have only created a black market for it online, with dozens of websites offering it as a free download.
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When and where does a right to parental censorship stop?
We read:"Recently I was in line at my favorite coffee shop. In front of me was an apparent father-son duo. I had seen the father around town but did not know him. The son, who appeared to be late teens or older, was scoping out my “cops say” button. As I sometimes do I said, “Go ahead, ask.” He did and I went into reasons why drugs should be legalized. Abruptly, his father whirled and began screaming at me, “You be quiet! You don’t talk to him! He’s mine!”
My verbal response was that the young man had asked and I was responding. The father then said he had been trying to “get him off marijuana” for two years. I centered myself and remained quiet. The man, a local realtor as it turns out, did apologize to everyone else in the shop. His son apologized to me on the way out.
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Posts from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).
"HATE SPEECH" is free speech: The U.S. Supreme Court stated the general rule regarding protected speech in Texas v. Johnson (109 S.Ct. at 2544), when it held: "The government may not prohibit the verbal or nonverbal expression of an idea merely because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Federal courts have consistently followed this. Said Virginia federal district judge Claude Hilton: "The First Amendment does not recognize exceptions for bigotry, racism, and religious intolerance or ideas or matters some may deem trivial, vulgar or profane."
Even some advocacy of violence is protected by the 1st Amendment. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that speech advocating violent illegal actions to bring about social change is protected by the First Amendment "except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."
The traditional advice about derogatory speech: "Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you". Apparently people today are not as emotionally robust as their ancestors were.
A phobia is an irrational fear, so the terms "Islamophobic" and "homophobic" embody a claim that the people so described are mentally ill. There is no evidence for either claim. Both terms are simply abuse masquerading as diagnoses and suggest that the person using them is engaged in propaganda rather than in any form of rational or objective discourse.
Leftists often pretend that any mention of race is "racist" -- unless they mention it, of course. But leaving such irrational propaganda aside, which statements really are racist? Can statements of fact about race be "racist"? Such statements are simply either true or false. The most sweeping possible definition of racism is that a racist statement is a statement that includes a negative value judgment of some race. Absent that, a statement is not racist, for all that Leftists might howl that it is. Facts cannot be racist so nor is the simple statement of them racist. Here is a statement that cannot therefore be racist by itself, though it could be false: "Blacks are on average much less intelligent than whites". If it is false and someone utters it, he could simply be mistaken or misinformed.
Whatever your definition of racism, however, a statement that simply mentions race is not thereby racist -- though one would think otherwise from American Presidential election campaigns. Is a statement that mentions dogs, "doggist" or a statement that mentions cats, "cattist"?
Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? "You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated." -- Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862
The spirit of liberty is "the spirit which is not too sure that it is right." and "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it." -- Judge Learned Hand
Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)
First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean
It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.
It seems a pity that the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus is now little known. Remember, wrote the Stoic thinker, "that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your judgment that they are so. So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you. Wherefore make it your endeavour not to let your impressions carry you away."
"Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates, and hearing all manner of reason?" -- English poet John Milton (1608-1674) in Areopagitica
Hate speech is verbal communication that induces anger due to the listener's inability to offer an intelligent response
Leftists can try to get you fired from your job over something that you said and that's not an attack on free speech. But if you just criticize something that they say, then that IS an attack on free speech
"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper
Why are Leftists always talking about hate? Because it fills their own hearts
Leftists don't have principles. How can they when "there is no such thing as right and wrong"? All they have is postures, pretend-principles that can be changed as easily as one changes one's shirt
When you have an argument with a Leftist, you are not really discussing the facts. You are threatening his self esteem. Which is why the normal Leftist response to challenge is mere abuse.
The naive scholar who searches for a consistent Leftist program will not find it. What there is consists only in the negation of the present.
The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) could have been speaking of much that goes on today when he said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."