A "Right" to Preach Jihad

British Muslim spokesmen (should that be "spokespeople" or just "spokes"?) are claiming a right to preach Jihad -- which usually equates to inciting violence -- in response to British attempts to suppress just that.

"Pasha said anti terror legislation was targeted at the Muslims and the new addition of glorification would prevent them from speaking about jihad as this would be considered as terrorism".

Source

Lots of comments on that claim over at LGF




In their own Words ...

There are some VERY interesting pictures here which show us exactly what British Muslim activists want. Hint: Free speech is definitely NOT included. The pictures appear never to have been shown in the mainstream media -- too "inflammatory", no doubt. But who was doing the inflaming?




OK to Insult France

As a Western nation, France has a committment to freedom of speech. That rather wavers at times but at least they are mature enough not to pop their tops about insults to France itself. The prosecution referred to below is a private one:

"A video of naked women writhing against the French flag was played to judges yesterday at the trial of a rap star accused of disseminating obscene material to minors...

Dominique Tricaud, the lawyer representing Monsieur R, said that he was certain his client would be acquitted in the name of freedom of speech, the grounds that have been used to exonerate performers in previous cases".

Source

ACLU Deceit Exposed

Jeff Jacoby pulls apart the totally dishonest ACLU advertisement about "spying" on telephone records.

I liked one point in particular that he made: The ACLU is passionate about protecting Americans' privacy; it says nothing about protecting American lives.

There is a copy of the ad concerned here




Must not Mention the War



There will be a major (World cup) soccer match in Germany soon and there will be many English fans in attendance. And the fans like to sing and chant. So what will they sing? An English comedian, Stan Boardman, has written a humorous song for them that includes the chorus line: "The Germans bombed our chippy." The English Soccer honchos have banned it, of course. The sensitivities of Germans must be respected. So what was Stan's response to that?

He said: "The Germans DID bomb our chip shop. They also bombed the shelter I was in and killed my brother who was six.

Mustn't mention facts! But the song looks like being a hit anyway.




"Hate Speech" Accusation in Malta



We read:

"Extreme-right wing leader Norman Lowell was arrested on Saturday morning and arraigned in court later during the day accused of inciting racial hatred during three different public meetings.

Source

Note that he was NOT acused of inciting violence so it seems to be a purely political prosecution. Lowell seems to be a bit of a nut but Malta is very Leftist so there won't be much of that famous Leftist "tolerance" for him. No First Amendment in Malta but they do have a British-style legal system. Britain ruled the island from 1814 to 1964.

Orwellian Seattle Schools

George Orwell foresaw a time when the rulers of society would change the meaning of words so that some types of discussion became impossible. The powers that be in the Seattle public school system are having a good try at doing just that. Note this definition of "racism" on their website:

"The systematic subordination of members of targeted racial groups who have relatively little social power in the United States (Blacks, Latino/as, Native Americans, and Asians), by the members of the agent racial group who have relatively more social power (Whites).

Source

So blacks cannot be racist by that definition. A pity that they often are, though, as we see here, for example.

Evan Maloney has a good comment on the Seattle situation too:

"The school system also says that "emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology" is a form of "cultural racism." In other words, if you believe that group privileges should not be placed above the rights of individuals, you are a racist. The only way not to be a racist is to embrace a "collective ideology," which throughout history has been better known as communism or socialism.

Update:

Comment from a reader:

"In fact, in Detroit and New Orleans and Atlanta Blacks ARE "In Power" so, according the Seattle nuts, White people there can't be racists."





UN pans Tokyo's 'racist' new law

"Top UN race-discrimination investigator Doudou Diene has denounced a new Japanese law for compulsory fingerprinting of foreigners as evidence of a worldwide trend towards "criminalising" outsiders".

Source

Sounds like a lot of dou dou to me.




Scoop Jackson "Rehabilitated"

We read:

"A bronze bust of the late Sen. Henry 'Scoop' Jackson is back on its pedestal at the University of Washington after being banished for years to a fourth-floor alcove. The bust had been moved in the mid-1980s amid a campus debate over Jackson's hawkish positions on the Cold War and nuclear arms".

Source

Jackson was a moderate Democrat who served in Congress from 1940 to 1983.

Students must not Criticize School Censorship!

Although their right to do so is exceedingly dubious, some schools try to tell their students what they can and cannot do after hours in their own homes using their own computers. One student in the Plainfield School District of Illinois who protested about that and said on the net that he felt "bullied" by the school is now facing expulsion.

"The district is going to take away the student's education for exercising his freedom of speech," said attorney Carl Buck."

Source

Is there no limit to the arrogance of these schools? It may need a Supreme Court case to cut them down to size. The court has ruled previously that students are protected by the First Amendment even when they are AT school, as long as what they say does not disrupt teaching.




Blunt Swede Gets into Trouble with a London University

That teaching has been a second priority for professors at top universities is a truth known almost from time immemorial but you are not supposed to say so -- particularly if you are a professor talking to a group of sstudents. But one did:

"Erik Ringmar, a senior lecturer in government, went on to tell sixth formers thinking of applying to the London School of Economics (LSE) that the real teaching was done by PhD students. The in-class student experience was no better than they would get at the far less prestigious London Metropolitan University - in fact they might see more of the academic staff there."

Source

The university administration had a fit, of course, and they have done all they could to shut him up but he is accusing them of trying to stifle his free speech.




Hilarious! ACLU Denies Free Speech to its own Members

Free speech is apparently not an important civil liberty to the ACLU:

"The ACLU has always been a strong First Amendment advocate, but the pro-abortion group is planning to toss aside the free speech rights of its board members after some of them criticized the group for supporting a Congressional abortion bill that would unfairly target pregnancy centers."

Source

Killing babies comes first! No interest in open debate there.

German Bible Goes Politically Correct

We read:

"A new German translation of the Bible is aimed at ridding the Holy Scriptures of their misogynist and anti-Semitic traits as well as fleshing out the relationship between the poor and the privileged".

Source

It would be fun to see how they translated Leviticus 20:13.




OK to Slime Christianity

No U.S. university would tolerate this treatment of Islam:

"A pro-family organization is lashing out at a student-run newspaper at the University of Oregon for the publication of two cartoons, one showing Jesus in sexual arousal and the other showing him kissing another man."

Source

But the university authorities ruled that these cartoon were fine.




OK to Slime Jews Too

"In the wake of recent recommendations by a federal civil rights commission that university administrators should denounce antisemitic hate speech on campuses, the chancellor of a California state campus is facing harsh criticism for failing to condemn a week of "anti-Zionist" activities at the University of California, Irvine."

Source

Free speech for me but not for thee is the rule at America's Leftist universities. Stalin had the same idea.

Is "Lover" an Unmentionable Word now?

The Spice Girls are a British pop group who have an almost brain-dead song called "Wannabe" that uses a lot of words to say virtually nothing but it does contain the phrase "If you wanna be my lover". You can read the whole of the "lyrics" here. So singing that song is offensive? In Georgia it appears to be. Five eighth graders at a school talent quest sang it to much applause but the school principal was offended by the word "lover":

"The parents of five Gwinnett County teens are still shaking their heads in disbelief after the girls found themselves abruptly suspended from school for singing a Spice Girls song. Not only that, they were also barred from going to their graduation celebration. The five are being punished for singing a song that every "tween" in the world knows by heart -- "Wannabe" by The Spice Girls.

The girls got a standing ovation from the crowd, but an in-school suspension from the principal. "When school came the following Monday morning, the principal pulled the five girls in and was very angry at them, and told them that they ruined the talent show "

Source

Opening your mouth in Georgia sure sounds like a risky business.




Is English-Sign Rule Racist or Cautious?

Metro Detroit:

"A plan to require English translations on foreign-language signs on stores, bakeries and other businesses has caused an outcry in Sterling Heights that could put the city in the midst of a national debate.

Councilwoman Barbara Ziarko recently asked the city's legal staff to prepare an ordinance requiring the translations on exterior signs. "This is for the safety of our residents as well as our police and fire (personnel)," Ziarko said. "If emergency crews can properly identify a location, they can know if there are chemicals or dangerous substances (on the premises)."

But in one of Metro Detroit's most diverse communities, critics say the idea is ill-timed at best and racist at worst."

Source

It would once have been seen as a proper requirement for U.S. residents to use English in public where they could -- part of the requirements for being American. In the name of social cohesion, perhaps it should still be. The Senate has, after all, just passed a bill making English the national language of the United States.




G*ogle are Getting Bolder

It seems that it is not only G*ogle news that is failing to cover conservative sites now. The basic G*ogle web search is apparently doing it as well. Riehl World View has been wiped from the G*ogle database entirely. You cannot find anything on it via a G*ogle search. And G*ogle refuses to say why.

They won't tell Outside the Beltway why he has been removed from their news crawl either.

None of my sites are affected so far but I am pretty outspoken about Islam so I would have to be at some risk of vanishing from search results.

"America" Now Wrong

According to the Michigan Dept. of Education it is, and they should know, shouldn't they? It's actually just an old bit of pedantry revived for the purposes of politically correct nuisance-making. Everybody and his dog knows that there are two whole continents called America (North and South) so when people refer to the USA as "America", they are doing so as an abbreviation for "The United States of America". But exactly that abbreviation is now forbidden in Michigan schools. Details here.

Crazily enough, they allow the usage "United States", which is inconsistent, as Mexico is also a "United States". I guess that they are ignoramuses enough not to know that. They are only "educators" after all.

Anyway, Michigan teachers are going to become a lot more long-winded if they have to say "Citizens of the United States" every time when they would normally say "Americans".

Update:

Thanks to all the publicity, the Michigan Dept. of Education have done a big backdown -- saying the policy was never "official"




Criticism of Birth Control not Allowed at a Catholic College

It seems pretty hard these days to find a "Catholic" college that in fact has any respect for church teachings. Chicago's De Paul, for instance, seems to be more enamoured of Islam than anything else. But one might have imagined that the humbler colleges would at least permit the presentation of church teachings. Not so when it comes to birth-control, it seems:

"A University of St. Thomas honors graduate who scolded his fellow seniors at Saturday's commencement ceremony for being "selfish" apologized Monday for offending people during his politically charged speech.

Ben Kessler, an academic All-America football player who plans to become a priest, chastised students for using birth control, criticized them for a recent food fight and upheld the St. Paul university's controversial policy against allowing unmarried faculty and staff members in romantic relationships to room together on school trips that involve students".

Source

Another Ban on Southerners Honoring Their History

South Carolina:

"A 15-year-old girl led a small protest march Monday against her high school's ban on Confederate flag clothing, which she is also challenging in court.

Candice Hardwick walked with about a dozen people, about half of them family members and some wearing Confederate T-shirts, a few blocks to her school. Hardwick wore a Confederate belt buckle and button and had the Confederate flag on her mobile phone cover. She removed those items before entering the school, where she is a sophomore...

Hardwick says she wants to wear the emblem to pay tribute to ancestors who fought in the Civil War. She said she has been forced to change clothes or turn her shirt inside-out, and has been suspended twice and threatened with being kicked off the track team."

Source

There is no Supreme Court ruling on such matters as yet.




Black Racism Must not be Challenged

A Brooklyn school for problem students invited a black speaker, Raqiyah Mays, to address their students -- a speaker who had previously been fired from a job for her outspoken racism:

"The press was invited to cover the visit - but when the Daily News asked the principal if Mays was an ideal role model for the students, the reporter was booted for asking "inappropriate questions."

"It's in the best interest of the children that you leave," said school counselor Wayne Harris, who threatened to call security."

Source

New York officialdom disowned the speaker but there was no word of any reprimand of the school officals for their attempt at press censorship. What would have happened if a white principal had tried to shield white racism?




Ya Gotta Laugh!



Remember the riots in much of the Islamic world about the Mohammed cartoons? Iran was of course a great source of protest at the time. But guess what? The Iranians themselves are now being subjected to riots over a cartoon!

Lots of Iranians think that one of their ethnic minorities -- the Azeris -- are dumb. And a cartoon was recently published in an Iranian newspaper that portrayed the Azeris as cockroaches! So: Big riots from the Azeris!

So the erring cartoonist has now been carted off to prison and the newspaper has been shut down by the Iranian authorities. Why? Because the mullahs fear that the USA might use the Azeris to stir up trouble against them! Details here and here

Pesky things, those cartoons. It sounds like lots of third worlders would die a death if they were exposed to the sort of fierce cartoons that appear in Australian newspapers. See this one about Australian blacks, for instance. Australians just turn the page. Even the Left can't be bothered. And nobody bothers about ones like this either, insulting though it is to Australians.

Boston College Protest Fails

A concerted attempt by many students and faculty to stop or hinder a commencement address by Condi Rice at Boston College was a fizzer on Monday:

"A few students turned their backs but more stood to applaud as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received an honorary degree and addressed graduates at Boston College on Monday....

About 50 students stood with their backs toward the stage as Rice was introduced to give her commencement speech, but they were quickly drowned out by a standing ovation."

Source

English Sports Fans not Allowed to Support their own Team



Not if you are a taxicab driver anyway:

"Cabbies in Blackpool were told they will be stripped of their licences if they sport anything featuring the word England, the Cross of St George or the Three Lions shield. One claims he was told it might prove offensive to visitors from other parts of the UK.

The angry drivers have accused the local council - which is currently flying a flag in support of a Gay Pride event above the Town Hall - of taking political correctness to ridiculous limits....

"That's ridiculous. Our council is supporting a Gay Pride event yet we're not permitted to support our country - where's the logic in that?"

Source

Update:

Thanks to the glare of publicity, the ban has now been lifted





Now you Cannot even Use the Holocaust in a Joke!

In my view you should be free to joke about anything, whether it is in good taste or not. Jokes were one of the few forms of protest possible for people under the old Soviet regime.

The University of Connecticut outlawed "inappropriately directed laughter" in the 90s but that seems to have died a death.

Not so in the Netherlands. A joky video posted on a website there was not even laughing AT the holocaust (as far as I can see); it was just using the holocaust as the framework for a joke:

"The clip, which was widely circulated on the Internet last year, purported to give details of a techno music festival called "Housewitz", a reference to techno "house" music.

It used images of the Auschwitz death camp in German-occupied Poland, turning the famous slogan above the main gate "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Shall Set You Free) into "Tanzen Macht Frei" (Dance Shall Set You Free).

The clip announced the DJ's Michel der Heidi and Adolf Von Bauren with Sieg Heil, and spoke about "seven million party people, set their body's on fire", and said the dresscode was "skinny Jew".

Source

The author of the video is due in court today. It would appear that not only holocaust denial but even holocaust joking can land you in jail in Europe.

Note that "Sieg Heil" simply means "Victory!".




9th Circuit Endorses Religion!

See Education Watch for the latest 9th Circus (Whoops! Circuit) outrage. The court which does its best to suppress Christian expression has made participation in Islamic practices compulsory in Californian schools!




Is Google Purging Conservative News Sites?

According to this article on NewsBusters, the answer appears to be: Yes. Though the process is erratic so far. Some of the Newsbusters pages seem to have been censored too so maybe you should read now what you might not otherwise find. There is detailed coverage of Google's ties with Al Gore and at least one far-Left organization.

Reliapundit has some interesting findings too.

Bible Ban Spreads in Australia

I have noted previously on Political Correctness Watch (Scroll down) how the practice of leaving a Bible in hospital drawers was being banned in some Australian hospitals. Now it is schools:

"An education insider has revealed how Balmoral State High School, on Brisbane's southside, banned Gideons from distributing Bibles to pupils - a tradition which takes place in schools at the start of every year. Other schools in the state are also believed to have stopped the practice, through concern children of other faiths could be upset.

The Balmoral school has recently allowed Gideons back in after principal Richard Morrison left to become principal at Wellington Point State High School, on Brisbane's bayside. "The Gideons were told to stop delivering because of the principal's particular ideology towards multiculturalism, but now we have a new principal, so Bibles are back," a staff member said."

Source

Principals as dictators? Why can the choice not be left to the kids? Nobody was being FORCED to accept a Bible.




No Free Speech in Belgium

We read:

"The League of Human Rights was to lodge a complaint with the Antwerp public prosecution office against the websites Stormfront and Blood and Honour on Wednesday. Racist messages are alleged to have been posted to the discussion forums in recent days. The League of Human Rights claims the websites spread messages of hate and urge discrimination and violence.... The league based its complaint on anti-racism laws, which state that it is a prosecutable offence to incite hate and discrimination against a group or community."

Source

No word on Belgian prosecutions of Muslim hate speech yet. Belgium is of course the country that recently banned its largest political party, Vlaams Blok.




McCain Update

You can find here the speech that Senator McCain gave at the "New School". It is an excellent speech and the fact that it is basically a plea for tolerance is ironic in view of the intolerant and hostile way it was received. For all their talk of tolerance, the Left are very slow to exhibit it. I liked this sentence in the speech: "Americans deserve more than tolerance from one another, we deserve each other's respect, whether we think each other right or wrong in our views". I don't think many Leftists would agree with that, though.




A Good Reply to a Corrupt Legal Judgment



Further to my post of 22nd below, we read:

"The senior class at a southern Kentucky high school gave their response Friday night to a federal judge's order banning prayer at commencement.

About 200 seniors stood during the principal's opening remarks and began reciting the Lord's Prayer, prompting a standing ovation from a standing-room only crowd at the Russell County High School gymnasium. The thunderous applause drowned out the last part of the prayer.

The revival like atmosphere continued when senior Megan Chapman said in her opening remarks that God had guided her since childhood. Chapman was interrupted repeatedly by the cheering crowd... "

Source

They haven't found a way of banning Christian talk among students yet.

ACLU Attacking Prayer Again

We read:

"The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit Tuesday in federal court to stop officials at a south-central Kentucky high school from saying prayer during a graduation ceremony.

Source

The principal is not budging so the matter is now headed to court. The learned judges of the Supreme Court have in the past found in the First Amendment a ban on school prayer. The text of the Amendment that they use to justify the ban is at the head of this page. See if you can see a ban on school prayer in it. Rather the opposite, I would have thought -- "free exercise thereof", for instance.




Democracy not Taught at the "New School"

I noted previously how students at the far-Left "New School" in NYC were protesting when they heard that Senator McCain was to give a commencement speech there. McCain was not deterred and did speak:

"Conservative darling Sen. John McCain was harangued by hecklers, booed and even subjected to paper airplanes as he gave the commencement speech for the New School yesterday".

Source

The previous reason given by the students for opposing his appearance was that he was not pro-homosexual enough. But that suddenly transformed into the Iraq war issue when he actually turned up.

McCain is of course a RINO. I wonder what they would have done if a real conservative had turned up? Either way, open minds are clearly in short supply at the New School. I suppose open minds would be too much to expect but what about respect for the importance of debate or respect for the democratic processes that put McCain where he is?

Fidel Castro would have got a rapturous welcome, of course. And lots more people voted for McCain than ever voted to put Castro in power.




Century College Update

As we saw here on March 10th., when geography Professor Karen Murdock of Century College in Minnesota posted the Mohammed cartoons on a school noticeboard -- so that students could see what the fuss was all about -- some of the "tolerant" section of the college community tore the cartoons down.

The college administration sided with the "tolerant" souls, of course. Century College has now taken further steps to crack down on faculty members who might post controversial things on faculty bulletin boards. A "policy" has now been circulated which says that everything posted on such boards must now be first approved by a piece of furniture called the Departmental "Chair". Anything not bearing a stamp of approval will be removed.

No censorship there, of course. Can we guess how likely anything critical of Islam would be to get approval? None of that dreaded open debate or diversity of thinking allowed in Minnesota colleges! Or, more precisely, you can have diverse thoughts but you must not let anybody know about them!

It's not just G*ogle

Readers here will be aware that I oppose all political censorship. And putting people in jail for holocaust denial seems a particularly egregious case of political censorship to me. Quite aside from any principles involved, it seems to me that political censorship is just plain dangerous. Once you allow it, you never know where it will end up.

And net censorship is well advanced. G*ogle is now well-known for it (there is another example of their evil ways here) but one can argue that as long as they are not breaking any law, a private company can do as it likes. Seeing that there are already myriads of regulations that businesses have to obey in order to protect the public, however, another law to protect the public from information censorship by semi-monopolists like Google might not be such a bad idea.

One hopes, however, that the market will solve the problem without the need for government intervention. The evil practices of G*ogle may simply create a market for another more comprehensive search facility. So far, however, it does not seem to be happening. There seem to be certain sites or sections of sites which are off limits to ALL search engines.

And -- you guessed it -- sites that engage in holocaust denial seem to be an example of that. I tried to find this article using MSN search, G*ogle and Clusty.com -- the three engines that usually give me the best results. No luck -- even though the site concerned is quite a prominent far-Right site and even though the article has been up for a month -- plenty of time for the search crawlers to find it.

Since this seems to have come about voluntarily, imagine what might happen to anything but the tamest conservative sites if a future Democrat incumbent in the White House saw fit to exert a little gentle "pressure" on the search companies. A threat of prosecution for promoting "hate speech" should do the trick.




Wicked Coins!

How the freedom OF religion mandated in the First Amendment got turned right around to become freedom FROM religion only a Leftist judge could explain -- but that's the USA of today. So we read of a school yearbook in Texas:

"The cover of the Keller ISD school's annual depicts the 2005 Liberty Nickel – complete with the face of Thomas Jefferson – but the words "In God We Trust" are missing. Instead, the $16 yearbook contains a sticker with the credo and directions on how to apply it to the cover if the owner chooses.

Source

Apparently, trusting in God is the establishing (State sponsorship) of a particular church!




Albino Correctness!

We read:

"The notion of Christ as a family man is not the only raw nerve "The Da Vinci Code" has touched. Albinos are bothered that one of their own has yet again been depicted as a villain.....

Among his co-stars is Paul Bettany, the British actor playing monk-assassin Silas, an albino with red eyes who carries out a series of bloody murders to secure the secret of the Holy Grail, a trove of lost Christian documents that could prove Jesus had wed."

Source

Must not mention "Crack"

I cracked up when I read this:

"Parents and at least one school board member said they believe an elementary school in Pennsylvania overreacted when it suspended 14 students earlier this month for mixing sugar and Kool-Aid crystals and calling it "Happy Crack.""

Source

The G*ogle Definition of "Hate Speech"

Apparently Jewish writer Arlene Peck is guilty of "hate speech" for summarizing the news about Muslims. The column concerned is here and I have reproduced it here in case it gets taken down.

Below is the email received by Frank Salvato, Managing Editor of The New Media Journal, which published the article:

Hi Frank,

Thanks for writing. We received numerous reports about hate content on your site, and after reviewing these reports, decided to remove your site from G*ogle News. We do not allow articles and sources expressly promoting hate speech viewpoints in G*ogle News (although referencing hate speech for commentary and analysis is acceptable).

For example, a number of the complaints we looked at on your site were found to be hate content:

http://www.newmediajournal.us/staff/peck/05102006.htm
http://www.newmediajournal.us/staff/stock/05082006.htm
http://www.newmediajournal.us/guest/imani/04222006.htm

We hope this helps you understand our position.

Regards,
The G*ogle Team

Articles by Arlene will no longer be published on that site.

Update:

Arlene writes:

I believe that CAIR is behind this and it was caused by a column that I wrote about them. This is very dangerous and a test against the first amendment. I have been slandered by this as I am a recognized journalist and the same column , How Has Islam Enriched Your Life? Is running in many other papers now. Are these publishers going to be dropped by G*ogle now? Who is the censor at G*ogle that decides who is acceptable to them? Please keep me posted as to any information that you might get or suggestions you might have to fight this..





Must not Joke about "Wetbacks"

We read:

"Under threat of suspension or firing, two WBAB radio hosts Friday apologized profusely for a fake commercial they aired called "Wetback Steakhouse," said they would undergo cultural sensitivity training and channel more of the charitable donations they raise to Latino groups.

The minute-long "ad," which aired several times last week, featured a narrator imitating a Spanish accent inviting "landscapers" and "dishwashers" to the "Wetback Steakhouse" in Farmingville to enjoy dishes such as "the lawnmower - beef with rice and beans."

Source

Must not Joke about Vegetarians

Newcastle university in England had given a visiting professor some webspace on their servers to put up personal essays etc. but deleted everything on that webspace when he wrote there things like:

"Most vegetarians are women. In Britain, a person is doubly likely to suffer from vegetarianism if he is female...when men split up from their veggie girlfriends, they near invariably start enjoying meat again. This goes to prove amongst other things that men really will do ANYTHING for sex."

Source

When vegetarians protested, the university initially backed him up on free speech grounds but the matter eventually went to the top brass of the university for adjudication and they decided that because the guy was not actually a university student or employee he was not entitled to any free speech!





"Tribe" is a Dangerous Word

We read:

"The NCAA has added William & Mary to its list of schools subject to restrictions on the use of Indian mascots, names and imagery in the governing body's championship events.

William & Mary will be allowed to keep its "Tribe" nickname, but can't use it in NCAA championship competitions and also is barred from holding NCAA events".

Source

That there could be non-Indian tribes was recognized but the college logo included two feathers and those feathers made the name into something dangerous!

No wonder there is legislation on the table in the House of Reprsentatives designed to limit the NCAA's authority in these matters.

A Blast from the Past

Click here to read some straight cold-war Communist propaganda. It is a program promotion for SBS -- one of Australia's public broadcasters. It appears that viewers will hear of Cuba's system for earning dollars by selling cheap medical services to foreigners but no mention of the medical care that Cubans get seems to be in the offing.




Another "Tar Baby" Protest

Now Tony Snow, the new press secretary to President Bush, has stepped out of line:

"Snow had said he wouldn't "hug the tar baby" of commenting on a program the White House won't confirm or deny".

Source

"Tar baby" just means a "sticky problem" but tar is black, you see, and that is a VERY touchy color. I have mentioned this dreadful problem before





Options Running out for U of I's Chief Illiniwek

We read:

"The highly-ranked University of Illinois men's tennis team takes to the courts today for the first round of regional championships without the home court advantage it's enjoyed for the last few years. That's the first tangible impact of the latest and possibly final chapter in the long-running Chief Illiniwek controversy, which forced Team Illini, ranked eighth in the nation, to travel to 33rd-ranked University of Kentucky for the playoffs this weekend."

Source

The NCAA have arbitrarily decided that the morale-boosting and long-standing Illinois tradition of having a student dressed in an Indian costume appear at Illinois football, basketball and men's volleyball games constitutes that unforgivable "racial stereotyping". So Illinois teams are gradually being subjected to more and more penalties.




Johns Hopkins University Bans Student Paper

We Read:

"The Carrollton Record - Hopkins' only conservative publication - was officially banned from the dormitories on the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus today. Residential life director Shelly Fickau said the Carrollton Record was "not welcome" in the campus dormitories, according to Dean of Student Life Susan Boswell. This news come after the recent distribution of the highly controversial May 2006 issue featuring a story about the school paying a gay porn director to speak on campus. The issue was distributed last Saturday afternoon. Within 24 hours of distribution, over 1,000 copies had disappeared.

Source

Homosexual pornography is sacrosanct! And the removal of copies of the paper is an act of confiscation of others' property, as the Record has never received funding from the university.

Ironically, the Dean of Student Life, Susan Boswell, was earlier quoted as defending their choice of the pornography speaker with the argument, “We try very hard not pass judgment on anything and make sure we are maintaining an environment where freedom of speech and expression are held as the highest criteria." . Do these creeps ever listen to their own words?

Leftist Hate Speech Again

Despite its probably genuine attempts at being impartial, NPR often seems to manage to lean Left in its programming. Conservative grumbles about it are common. But what happens when NPR says something that appears to be biased towards the GOP -- and the Leftist blogs pick that up? The NPR ombudsman reports:

"The blogs encouraged people to complain to NPR, and hundreds did, many with a surprising level of rancor and vituperation, which was shockingly intense, even in these times of "take-no-prisoners-and shoot-the-wounded" political debate....

The role of the blogosphere in this matter seems worth exploring because while it encourages people to express strong feelings, the level of pure acrimony in this case, seemed to me to rise to the level of hate speech".

Source

For more on Leftists as haters, see here




La La Land does it again

We read:

"A Los Angeles psychologist who was denied a tote bag during a Mother's Day giveaway at an Angel game is suing the baseball team, alleging sex and age discrimination.

Michael Cohn's class-action claim in Orange County Superior Court alleges that thousands of males and fans under 18 were "treated unequally" at a "Family Sunday" promotion last May and are entitled to $4,000 each in damages".

Source

The poor mother! Slapstick Politics has a couple of good comments.




The Da Vinci Code in Perspective

Chris Weinkopf writes:

"that if Hollywood had made a movie about all of Islam being a sham, with a murderous sect that kills all those who try to reveal the true secret, the media would have denounced the movie as hate speech, sure to inflame the terrorists and defame a major world religion."

Source

Catholics are of course divided over whether the undoubtedly misleading "Da Vinci Code" film should be shown and what the church should do about it.

Strange Doings in New York

There can be no real doubt that the white colonialists who took over sub-Saharan Africa in the 19th century and earlier had a civilizing influence there -- but mentioning that is pretty taboo these days. So how the heck did mention of the fact get into a New York Regents High School examination? We may never know but it did. The questions in the exam concerned asked students to describe how Africa benefited from imperialism. Students were given historical passages to read, then asked to comment:

"On the exam, students were asked to read Lugard's account of British projects in Africa like digging wells and building irrigation systems, then to "state two ways British imperialism would benefit Africans."

Next up was a passage from Lugard's "The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa," from 1922. It described British efforts to end the slave trade and reduce famine and disease.

Source

Delicate African students were reduced to tears by such talk. It is sort of encouraging that a bit of history sometimes peeps through the propaganda, though.

Update:

A reader thinks I was not tough enough above! He writes:

"Seems to me you missed the most important point of the story from a tongue tied perspective - the fact that people were denouncing the questions. You make the story sound like good news when it's really about bad news".





A Different Holocaust Denial

As many Jewish writers do, I deplore the criminalization of holocaust denial. Free speech issues aside, it just makes it look like the deniers have something important to say. It now looks like the first holocaust of the 20th century -- the killing and expulsion of vast numbers of Christian Armenians from Muslim Turkey during and after World War I -- is getting the censorship treatment too.

The French parliament is debating a law this week that would ban denial of the Armenian holocaust. Some other countries already have done so. There is not the slightest doubt about what the Turkism Muslims did to the Armenians but the Turks quibble over whether it was "genocide" and say the Armenians "provoked" it -- just as some people say that the Jews provoked Hitler's treatment of them.

There is a Turkish commentary on the matter here. The Armenian view is given here. Latest news report here




Hate Speech or Fact Speech?

The Turkish nationalists who took power in Turkey immediately after World War I did not like non-Turks very much -- and the Armenian genocide is the best known evidence of that. Other ethnic minorities got a very rough time too however but we are not supposed to mention that.

But Jenny Mikakos, a Greek member of an Australian parliament (in the State of Victoria), has just applied a bit of Greek passion to the matter and mentioned the persecution and expulsion of the Greeks in Turkey at that time.

As a result she has been accused of hate speech towards the Turks. For once I agree with Mr Lefty on the matter: If what she said is a fact, it's not hate speech. Mr Lefty has more details. I also have a bit more to say about the matter on Australian Politics.

Another Stupid Censorship Attempt!

We read:

"New legislation from Congress would block access to social-networking sites like MySpace and Facebook in schools and libraries, including instant-messaging services.

The bill known as the "The Deleting Online Predators Act" introduced by Rep. Michael G. Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., aims at protecting minors from online child predators..."

Source

Since most access to such sites is probably NOT via school computers, what good is it going to do? At best it will bar poor kids from accessing a useful social resource that they may well need. Kids in well-off homes will just access the sites from their own computers.




Leniency towards Hate Speech in Australia

Although Australia has no equivalent of America's first Amendment, Australia seems to make far fewer attempts to restrict free speech than America does. Recent Australian Federal legislation on hate speech evoked shrieks of hysteria from the Australian Left but in fact banned incitement to violence only.

Sometimes it is how laws are enforced that matters, however. The U.S. Supreme Court is of course notorious for enforcing the provisions of the U.S. constitution in what are sometimes seen as outrageous ways.

So it is interesting to see how the Australian authorities treated a recent complaint about certain Muslim books on sale in the State of New South Wales. What the books said was hate speech by any definition but since they did not explicitly incite violence, the authorities declined to prosecute.

Quite a lot of Australians feel that Muslim hate-speech SHOULD be prosecuted but I personally think that Australia's laws strike the right balance. It seems to me too that incitement to violence is the only sort of speech that should be restricted.

Details of the books concerned and the reasons given not to prosecute are given here.

It should be noted, however, that there is one Australian State -- Victoria -- which DOES have very restrictive legislation about "hate speech" so it will be interesting to see what happens if the same or similar books are found on sale there.




The California Version of Free Speech

At first this sounds good:

University administrators would be prohibited from censoring student newspapers at California's colleges and universities under a bill approved yesterday by the Assembly. California would be the first state to extend First Amendment protections to college journalists if the bill becomes law.

Very good of them to "extend" to someone a right they already have under the constitution! And, reading further, we find:

"Under the bill, campus administrators still could discipline students for publishing hate speech. Campus newspapers also would be subject to libel and slander laws, Yee spokesman Adam Keigwin said"

So, given the very broad definition of "hate speech" that now seems customary, all the usual restrictions on free speech will still apply!

The Return of "Thought Crimes" in Japan

An upcoming law in Japan:

"The proposed statute is a vaguely worded, two-sentence amendment to an existing law. It defines "conspiracy" as an agreement, whether overt or tacit, fanciful or earnest, between two or more people that might be construed as planning to violate any statute for which the minimum sentence is four years or more".

Source

"might be construed as planning" sure is pretty broad. Japanese lawyers think that almost any disgruntled talk could be caught by it, regardless of what people did or did not do. And the agreement with someone does not even have to be in words! It can be "tacit".




Senator McCain Disrespects the First Amendment

"I would rather have a clean government than one where First Amendment rights are being respected"

Yep. That's what he said. There's a link here where you can hear him saying it.

The idea that the First Amendment and clean government are at odds is brain-dead, of course. First Amendment rights are the best guarantee of clean government! McCain is just a RINO who, like Leftists, wants no limitations on his power to regulate.

And the crazy thing is that he admits in the same speech that his attempts to regulate so far have been a failure!




Racism may not be Discussed

If someone says that what a supermarket stocks shows racial bias are you allowed to disagree? Not if you are a student at heavily Leftist Syracuse University in New York you are not.

Don't believe it? Go here and read how it happened. In reply to the racist supermarket claim, a student said: "Just because a grocery store doesn't have an aisle of fried chicken, cornbread, and watermelon doesn't mean they are racist". If you think that's a reasonable comment you would be right but where the student went wrong was in saying just WHAT foods might be eaten by a certain racial group. You are not allowed to mention that -- and the student was punished accordingly.

It's a sort of Catch 22 situation, of course: You are not allowed to mention anything that would be evidence for what you are saying.

The most amusing thing about the whole affair, however, is what one of the professors said: "There is a hesitance in people to discuss difficult and divisive issues like racism". I wonder why?

Sexy Local Council

The Unhinged Kingdom again:

"Aruna Majevadia, had been providing sandwiches in her Brighton shop for two years, but was amazed when the council sent her a form to complete regarding hygiene standards, which asked for her nationality, religion and sexuality."

Source

She found the enquiry offensive. The Left used to say that what you did in the bedroom was your own business but, now that they have homosexuality on the brain, all that seems to have gone by the board.

The Council is dominated by the Labour Party and Labour-dominated local councils in Britain are often very Leftist indeed.




"Non-Discrimination" = Banning Religion?

Note this statement from a property management company that wants to ban Bible studies from the common areas of its apartment buildings:

"It's not our rule. It's Fair Housing law, which says you cannot discriminate against religion" .

So because you cannot discriminate against religion, therefore you do! You get that? If you do, you are smarter than I am. It's just a blatant anti-Christian move that tries to use a law to say the opposite of what the law does say. And the government people in charge of the fair housing law say the property management company have got it wrong too.




Now the Cross is under Attack in Utah

Which is a bit odd as Mormons don't use the cross in their religion. There is a Mormon temple near me which has a most impressive golden trumpeter on top of it but no cross. But it is not of course the Mormons who are parading their righteousness over this. They don't mind the crosses.

It is the American Atheists who have filed a lawsuit. They say that the Utah practice of erecting large memorial crosses beside the road where Utah Highway Patrol troopers have died establishes a church in some unfathomable way.

The State of Utah is arguing that the crosses are just a customary memorial to the dead. Given the fact that it's a mainly Mormon State, there is not much other explanation for it, I would say. Details here.

Apologizing for your Remote Ancestors

The port of Bristol, in England, was until 1807 involved in the slave trade. Should modern Bristolians apologize for that?

"The front page headline in the Evening Post, Bristol's local newspaper, was in no doubt. 'It's time the city said sorry' it shouted last week. But there is no consensus on the issue; on the contrary, the debate is stirring up anger and upset".

Source

1807 was when Britain abolished slavery and made the Royal Navy the enemy of slavers. The importation of slaves into the USA was banned in 1808. Abraham Lincoln's emancipation declaration was in 1863.




Southern History Unmentionable Again

We read:

"Confederate Memorial Day is a mandatory state holiday in South Carolina, but you wouldn't know it from the classrooms. Only one of the state's 85 school districts closed Wednesday in observation of the holiday, the product of a legislative compromise that also created a permanent Martin Luther King Jr. Day."

Source

Wow! One "Incorrect" Guy!

Are blacks on average less intelligent than whites? Was slavery good for blacks on balance? A High School Latin teacher, Winston McCuen, in South Carolina thinks so. And he had the audacity to mention his views in class one day. He has been suspended from teaching over it.

Whether his views reflect the facts or not, should all diversity of views be banned from South Carolina classrooms? Many years ago they put Galileo in jail for making the outrageous and improper claim that the earth revolved around the sun. But it turned out Galileo was right.

And what about a government body restricting someone's freedom of speech? There is no claim that his views interfered with his teaching in any way. The classrooms are already full of Leftist politics so it can't be that politically controversial matters may not be mentioned in public school classrooms.

If you can argue in favor of homosexuality, why not in favor of white superiority? The view that homosexuals are normal and the view that whites are superior are both seen as wrong and offensive by some people.

Details of the case here

"Racist" Ringtone Censored

Cingular Wireless was selling the following jocular ringtone:

"The ringer paints this scene: Anytown, USA. An undocumented Hispanic immigrant selling oranges on the street. Then, sirens wail and a man with a mild Southern accent begins to speak. "Calmate, calmate, this is la migra. Por favor, put the oranges down and step away from the cell phone. I repeat-o, put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o. I'm deporting you back home-o."

Source

It was judged to be racist and offensive and has now been removed from sale, amid apologies from Cingular. The fact that nobody was compelled to buy or use it, seems to have been rather overlooked.

"La migra" means "The Immigration" and "calmate" means "relax".




"Sensitive" Tune

One of the great songs from classical music is "See the conquering hero" from "Judas Maccabeus" by G.F. Handel. So the BBC have chosen it as the theme music for their broadcast of a big soccer match in which the England team will be playing.

Soccer matches between England and Scotland are normally an occasion for bringing out into the open the Scottish dislike of the English. Soccer seems to be where you can express what you cannot express elsewhere. So the fact that Handel wrote his music to celebrate the crushing of a rebel Scottish army by a Royal English general has become a big issue in Scotland. The BBC (that paragon of "sensitivity") is being accused of insensitivity over their choice of the tune.

The fact that the Scottish army that was defeated was a rebel one and that more Scots fought under the Royal general than fought in the rebel army is irrelevant, of course. More here.




Yes. That WAS the Point

Lawsuit Challenges Arizona's Voter ID Rules:

"Hispanic groups on Tuesday filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to block and declare unconstitutional voter identification requirements imposed under a 2004 voter-approved state law. Voter registration drives are being hindered by the law's mandate for registrants to submit documents proving their citizenship, the lawsuit said".

Source

A Practical Joke is now "Sexual Harassment"

From Arizona:

"Two police officers have been suspended for five days without pay for pulling a prank involving a sex toy, the mayor of San Luis said. Mayor Nieves Riedel said the incident involved an officer who planted a phallic sex toy in a patrol car as a joke on another officer last week....

Police spokesman Ernesto Lugo declined to discuss specifics, but said such cases are treated as sexual harassment by the department."

Source

In Canada you Need a Law

We read:

"A controversial bill aimed at protecting the right of Albertans to speak out against gay marriage without repercussions is inching its way into law. The Tory caucus decided this week to support a watered-down version of Foothills-Rocky View MLA Ted Morton's private member's bill."

Source

What happens if such a "controversial" law fails to pass?




Cross on Soldier's Grave Offensive?

From Burbank, Illinois:

"The new Burbank vehicle stickers came under fire last week. The vehicle sticker depicts a soldier kneeling next to the grave of a fallen comrade. According to Burbank Mayor Klein, Nichole Schultz of Burbank found the cross on the grave to be offensive to atheists".

Source

I'm an atheist and crosses, crescents or stars of David don't offend me. I can walk right past any of them without feeling one bit burned up! And I am acutely aware that the cross is a central part of our great heritage -- a heritage that has transformed the world very much for the better. Even atheists in the world today are products and beneficiaries of Christian civilization.




Compulsory to Help Promote Lesbianism?

A lesbian took a couple of documentaries promoting homosexuality to Tim Bono of Bono Film & Video in Arlington, Virgina and asked him to duplicate them for her. Mr Bono has a Christian committment and refused to do the work on the grounds that he did not wish to do anything to support homosexuality.

Instead of finding another business to do the work, the lesbian complained to the Arlington Human Rights Commission, who ordered Mr Bono to do the work. So far he has refused. There is a new hearing on the matter scheduled for this Saturday. A Christian group, Liberty Counsel, has threatened to sue the Arlington Human Rights Commission (presumably on First Amendment grounds) if the matter goes any further:

"Mr. Bono does not have to reproduce a customer's hate speech, obscenity or pornography, nor may a customer hijack Mr. Bono's business and force him to promote a homosexual agenda," said Mat Staver, president of Liberty Counsel. "[Bono] can also refuse to duplicate a homosexual propaganda video without discriminating on the basis of a person's sexual preference."

Source

The ACLU, of course, says that Mr Bono should be compelled to do the work. I wonder what that "L" in ACLU stands for these days? It can't be "liberty".

Update:

From a reader:

"ACLU = Anti-Christian Lawyers Union"

Criticising Call-Centers is "Racist"

The Royal Automobile Association in the State of South Australia has just been told by the local advertising regulator to withdraw an advertisement they had been running for some time. The Association (which people join to have help avaiable if their car breaks down) was promoting how helpful they are and part of the message about that was to point out that they had local people answering their phones rather than having their phones answered by some call-center in India.

That was deemed "racist" and defamatory to India. Only one complaint was received about the advertisement but that was enough to cause the censors to leap into action. More details here




Indian Picture Incorrect



We read:

"An area Girl Scout troop is hoping to open eyes about how the Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo mascot - with a cartoonish red face, big smile and red feather on its head - could be hurtful to those of American-Indian descent".

Source

The girls earned a "Cultural Sensitivity" patch for their efforts. The official team site is here

Update:

Comment from a reader:

"And I suppose Elmer Fudd is hurtful to bald white guys… The Michelin man hurtful to the overweight… but who cares"

Old Bias at the New School

"The New School" is a university located in New York's Greenwich Village. No prizes for guessing what its politics are. But its president is obviously something of a moderate. The institution's president is Bob Kerrey, a former Democrat governor and senator. He has invited Senator McCain, a prominent Republican moderate, to be the school's commencement speaker this year.

But lots of Leftist students don't like that. They are agitating for the school to revoke the invitation. And they are using the tired old excuse that McCain is not pro-homosexual enough, with his stand on homosexual marriage being targeted. In fact, McCain seems not to have opposed homosexual marriage at the Federal level. What "offends" the Leftist students is that McCain will also be speaking at Liberty university, which was founded by Jerry Falwell, who IS critical of homosexuality.

The most amusing aspect of the protest, however, may be this:

"Harper Keenan, a sophomore, has helped organize the dissent. “In all of our classes we’re taught the value of inclusion of all people,” he said, “and we’re taught to question our leaders.""

Source

Conservatives are obviously not people to this disciple of Stalin, who somehow thinks that the best way to question people is to silence them.

McCain is also scheduled to speak at Columbia university and students there want to prevent him speaking too. I guess the Leftist students are terrified that some students might discover that conservatives make sense.




"Illegal" is Racist

It seems to be in New Mexico, anyway:

"A Gallup Junior High School teacher is having personnel action taken against it for making a racially derogatory comment against a Hispanic student.

On Tuesday afternoon, the teacher, whose name school officials refused to release, allegedly made a comment to an eighth-grade student asking if he was "legal" and whether or not he had papers."

Source

I guess my dictionary must be behind the times.

Update:

Sorry! I had the wrong link above. Now fixed. The point of the post is that the teacher may well have been out of order but was he racist?




Homosexuals Need Special Mention

Bullying against "all" students is to be outlawed in Florida but apparently "all" does not include homosexuals!

"Human rights supporters rallied against what they called a "vague" anti-bullying bill Monday afternoon, claiming the legislation leaves the most vulnerable students, such as gays and minorities, unprotected....

Source

The sponsor of the bill sees the protest as a claim that certain children deserve more protection than others.

Toxic fungus found at La Jolla hospital

This is another one in my crazy headline series. The headline above is taken from the good old "Sacramento Bee" again. In the body of the article we read of the fungus concerned: "It is harmless to healthy people". So much for "toxic". Most things are toxic in some dose and to some people, of course. Are peanuts "toxic"? They kill a lot of people who are allergic to them.




Christian Viewpoint Banned Again

Censorship in North Carolina:

"The Sampson County school system stands behind a decision to suspend a student for passing out Christian leaflets at Midway High School, Superintendent Stewart Hobbs said Friday... The handouts, which presented a Christian viewpoint on homosexuality, caused a disturbance in the school and prompted some students, teachers and a parent to complain, Hobbs said".

Source

The school can teach that homosexuality is good and wonderful but nobody is allowed to give the opposite message, apparently.

In Matthew 28:18,19 Jesus said: "Go ye therefore and teach all nations ... teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you". So the kid was just practicing his religion -- and THAT is constitutionally protected. The kid was not doing it in class time.

The reason honcho Hobbs mentioned "disturbance" is because anything that disrupts teaching has reasonably been held by the courts to trump free speech. But there was no teaching disrupted and it is surely in any case disrupters who should be disciplined rather than someone peacefully handing out leaflets.

Anyway, the school is now in the courts over it. It is really amazing the lengths they go to in order to preach a Leftist gospel on the taxpayer's dime.




Pennsylvania Students cannot Abide Criticism of Islam

A letter about Muslim immigrants and Muslim students appeared in a Wilkes-Barre newspaper which said, among other things:

"It is said we are having a clash of civilizations, but as we can plainly see, only one side is civilized ...Wake up Americans. We are letting the barbarians in and we must be diligent."

Source

So about 300 students at the local university held a "peaceful protest" on their campus about the letter. They were objecting to the newspaper's decision to publish it. Diversity of views was apparently not on their agenda.

What Fun!

The vast majority of the many emails I receive are supportive but there is always the exception. I received the following email from a Mariposa Rinald, evidently a Leftist lady.

"I don't understand why you are so interested in the goings on here in America if you are from Australia. What does it matter to you what we do in OUR country if you do not live HERE? You have SO much to say, but do not have any stake in our society. Please, don't pipe in on our battles if you don't have to reap the consequences of your verbiage.

I will be kind to her. I have corrected a spelling mistake and I will not mention her email address.

I replied to her reproaching her for her xenophobia and suggesting she should learn tolerance. I imagine that she would not have enjoyed having that element of her email pointed out. She has not replied.

Her concerns may perhaps be judged from a letter she wrote to the Highlands Today newspaper of Florida and published on April 27th. Excerpt: Both of my children's fathers are Mexicans, one of whom legally immigrated to the U.S. after we were married and is now a citizen living in Massachusetts

So, yes, I think my reply would have touched a nerve. The poor old Leftists -- consistency and principles are just not their scene. And I do wonder what she thought she would achieve by her email.




Man sues for right to have graffiti on house

New York craziness spreads to Miami:

"A Miami Beach man in the United States who wants to have graffiti painted on his house has sued the city, arguing its anti-graffiti laws violate his constitutional right to free speech. The suit was filed by Seth Gerszberg, a business partner of fashion designer Marc Ecko, who supports graffiti art and backs young artists....

On April 25, seven artists backed by Mr Ecko sued New York, charging the city's anti-graffiti laws went too far by barring people under 21 from possessing spray paint or broad-tipped markers. A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary order telling the city to stop enforcing the ban."

Source

Catholics Protesting Now too



Catholics demand equal treatment with Muslims:

"German Catholic leaders launched legal steps on Tuesday to prevent youth music channel MTV from broadcasting a controversial cartoon series which depicts the Pope as a pogo-stick-riding maniac. Outraged bishops from Pope Benedict XVI's home state of Bavaria filed a legal injunction against the broadcaster, which plans to show the first episode of the satirical series Popetown on Wednesday evening....

The British broadcaster BBC dropped Popetown in 2004 after executives decided it was not funny enough to justify the potential offence it could cause to Christians."

Source

Whites must not Act Black in Florida



I reported a few weeks ago that You Mustn't Call Whites Black. Now we find that whites must not act black either. We read:

"A small picture in the 2006 Apopka High School yearbook is raising eyebrows. It shows a Caucasian student in dark body paint and an Afro wig... Several months ago, James Powell dressed up as an Aborigine on Island Day, which was part of Apopka High School's Spirit Week".

Source

It was all meant in fun but greater "sensitivity" has been promised in the future. I guess the guy did not know about the old blackface makeup controversy.

The New Blasphemy: Mocking the Civil Rights Movement

Throughout history, clowns, jesters, and court fools have had a valuable role in mocking what others are afraid to mock. But, among the new puritans of Seattle, some things are just too sacred to be mocked -- like the civil rights movement of the '60s. As some student clowns at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts found out:

"In their clown characters, the three portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X as "half-witted simpletons," said the offended students. In one scene, King begins his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, then admits to having forgotten the rest before he is shot. But it was the performers' depiction of the 1960 sit-in at Greensboro that proved most offensive.

In the historic incident, four black students forced the issue of segregation by sitting at a whites-only lunch counter in a Woolworth's store and attempting to order sodas, coffee and doughnuts. In the Cornish rendition, the students who saw it said the performers greeted each other with "Homey G, whaddup?," ordered fried chicken, chitterlings, black-eyed peas, watermelon and fruit salad, and declared, "We're not goin' 'til we git some.""

Source

You can guess the sequel -- "The entire theater department also met and later participated in a diversity-training session" etc. Christians routinely put up with all sorts of mockery and abuse, of course -- much of it coming from exactly the same sort of people as those who were "offended" in this case.

Another report of the matter here




"Racist" Billboards

The Missouri Corn Growers Association wants to plug ethanol as a substitute for gasoline. So it put up some billboards that depicted a farmer next to the late King Fahd of Saudi Arabia accompanied by the question: "Who would you rather buy your gas from?"

Muslim organizations claim that the billboards are anti-Arab and hence racist. The farmers are not taking the billboards down. More here.




Depicting Vietnam Offensive

Members of the fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha at the College of William and Mary are having a party. And, as in previous years, its theme will be the Vietnam War. It is of course a fancy-dress party and features bamboo huts, camouflage costumes and 1970s rock music -- all things that were in fact present during the war.

So what's the problem? The "sensitive" brigade think the party is making fun of Vietnamese culture:

"William and Mary senior Nam Ly, who is Vietnamese-American, said she and other students were upset when they heard about the March party from fliers that told communists to stay away. "They decorate their unit with a bamboo hut and things like that, and then they deem it the 'Vietnam Party,' " she said. The party equates her heritage to a bamboo hut, she said.

Source

And the killjoys have won. The fraternity is going to "re-theme" its party.




French Manners and Asian Customs Clash

I am not going to say a lot about this as it is only marginally a free-expression issue but I thought it might be interesting nonetheless:

Few Americans are probably aware of it, but traditional British and American ideas about table manners clash in some ways. What is right in one country is wrong in the other (how and when you eat your salad, for instance). And the Chinese consider us all to be barbarians for not using chopsticks. And Indians of course think we miss half the pleasure of a meal by not eating with our hands. So it does not do to be too dogmatic about what it "right" at the table.

They seem not to to have learnt that lesson in Montreal, however. Filipinos also have their own way of eating. They use a spoon a lot more. And some poor little Filipino kid got told by the invigilators at his school canteen that he ate "like a pig" for eating that way and got disciplined for it. He was made to eat on his own, which upset him.

This has of course caused a huge uproar, with the Philippines ambassador being involved and the matter all over the newspapers in the Philippines. The school is trying to spin their way out of it but the fact is that a little kindness would have helped the kid a lot more than the authoritarian treatment he actually got. Details here

Header Addition

Readers will of course have noticed that I have added some old-fashioned words to the header of this blog. The "living constitution" exponents very obviously want those words to go away. This blog records the constant attempts to take away the liberties conferred by those words. I think all Americans should know those words by heart. It is perhaps a sad thing but those liberties do constantly need tooth-and-nail defense. And if people know the exact words of the constitutional guarantee of those precious liberties, they may be better able to leap to the defense of those liberties.




Schools: The New Police

We read:

"Administrators at Kirkwood High School suspended five students for what they wrote on the internet, from the privacy of their own home."

Source

And it's happening a lot these days. Even the ACLU thinks the schools have no right to do it but, as always, schools seem to think that they are a law unto themselves.




Biased History for European schools

France and Germany want to give their students an officially "agreed on" version of history:

"A school textbook designed to give pupils in France and Germany a common vision of postwar history is coloured by Gallic anti-Americanism, according to one of the historians who wrote it....

The Franco-German textbook, which is published today, was ordered in 2003 by President Chirac of France and Gerhard Schr"der, then the German Chancellor. They wanted to strengthen ties by eliminating differences in the perception of history. The work will be on the curriculum in both countries in the equivalent of the sixth form from September...

A substantial section of the work is devoted to the EU - a startling success story and a beacon for the rest of the world, according to the five German and five French scholars who worked on the project."

Source

No pretence of objectivity or balance there, it seems. Orwell would understand.




Orwell Must Have Foreseen Muslims

We read:

"A bloc representing the world's Islamic nations is marking World Press Freedom Day Wednesday by calling for urgent action to establish international law or a code of conduct aimed at preventing media from defaming religion.

Source

Sure. You celebrate press freedom by restricting press freedom. I get that! (NOT)




Anti-Abortion Messages Vandalized



We read of recent events at Princeton university:

"In a presumed instance of politically-motivated vandalism, the Princeton Pro-Life flag display in front of Frist Campus Center was destroyed early Thursday morning. The 347 flags on the north lawn were meant to represent the lives of students who might have become members of the University's Class of 2010 had abortion not been legalized".

Source

Coathangers were strewn around in reference to the largely mythical claim that coathangers were used in "backyard" abortions.

Apparently the police are "investigating". But don't hold your breath. And there's more. We read:

"Western Washington University is the latest to see violence and a pro-abortion student has been arrested. The WWU student did $2,700 worth of damages on Tuesday to a pro-life display set up on campus. David Janus Zhang, who is 21, jumped over a fence surrounding the display to destroy it. Dave Doughty, assistant chief of the Western Washington University Police Department, told the Bellingham Herald that Zhang then "went on a rampage" tearing and destroying the elaborate display of posters and billboards."

Source

No word on whether Mr Zhang is out on bail yet.

"Wetbacks"

Susana De Leon, an immigration activist and part-time instructor of Mexican-American studies at the University of Minnesota, on Monday referred to Americans of European origin as "wetbacks". "Wetback" is of course considered an abusive term when applied to illegals and would normally be reported in the media only to condemn it. Perhaps Ms De Leon thinks the term should be more widely used! She appears to have literally gushed hate speech on the occasion but full details of what she said appear to have been hushed up. Once again Michelle Malkin has more.




Aaron's Rantblog under Attack

Aaron's Rantblog has been under heavy attack all day by cyberjihadis, apparently because of a cartoon he posted there. Hits were still being diverted to an Islamic message when I checked just now. Michelle Malkin has some background information. Aaron has been targeted rather a lot lately.




ACLU Wants Military Funerals to be Disrupted

We read:

"The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging a Kentucky law aimed at preventing protests from disrupting funerals for soldiers killed in Iraq. Members of a Kansas Baptist church have protested at military funerals, claiming soldiers' deaths are a sign that God is punishing America for tolerating homosexuality."

Source

The ACLU seems to think that free speech means freedom to disrupt other people's private lives.




Wrong Thoughts not Allowed in Washington State

The Washington state prisons department decided in its wisdom to email to all its employess a "calendar" whereon was noted which famous person was born on each date. It's the sort of thing that you might expect to list the birthdays of filmstars etc. But this one was different. It listed the birthday of the Japanese Admiral who led the bombing of Pearl Harbour and other characters who might be expected to be wildly popular in America. I am sure that if Satan had a birthday, they would have listed him too.

Why? Just the usual America-hatred that is so common among intellectuals and bureaucrats who depend on the American taxpayer for a living, I guess.

A patriotic war-veteran in the department was mightily unimpressed by this political grandstanding, however, and said so in an emailed reply. And he hit "Reply All" so that all who got the calendar would also get his protest against it. Fair enough? You might think so but the wonderful people in charge of the operation did not see that as fair at all:

We read: "He got a visit from a supervisor who chastised him for improper use of official e-mail"

So our vet called for backup and got it in the form of a rocket to the department: "State Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, wrote DOC director Harold Clarke asking for an explanation". And what was the defence of their actions given by the department? "The purpose of the calendar was to provoke thought, not to celebrate the birthdays of the individuals".

But that is exactly what our vet did. It sure provoked thought in him and he expressed what he thought. But he got chastised for doing exactly what the department claims it wanted him to do! The obvious concusion is that only SOME (America-hating) thoughts are allowed.




Public Employee Christianity Muzzled

Faith helps a lot of people in a lot of ways but, according to the good old 9th. circuit, under no circumstances can any reference be made to it in California social services:

"A county social services department cannot be required to accommodate the belief of an evangelical Christian employee that he must share his faith with clients and others on the job, a federal appeals court ruled Monday....

It was a rebuff to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which had authorized Berry to sue. The federal agency said Berry should be allowed to discuss religion with "receptive" clients and display a Spanish-language Bible and "Happy Birthday Jesus" sign in the cubicle where he counsels them".

Source

But displaying a Koran would have been OK, I am sure. After all, under the First Amendment, government agencies are not allowed to prohibit the free exercise of religion, are they?

That Handy Dandy Race Card Again

What do you do when you have had the builders in to do renovations and you don't want to pay for all the extras you have ordered that were not in the original contract? Easy! You accuse the builders of shoddy work and say that is the reason you do not want to pay up. But what if the builders are super-reputable with no previous complaints against them?

Problem.

But if you are black there is always the race card. You can say the builder was racist! It does not matter that there is not a shred of evidence that the builder is or was racist. Blacks must just be believed when they cry racism. Evidence does not matter.

It all sounds pretty sick, doen't it? Yet it does look like all that is exactly what has just happened in Chicago, where TV personality "Diann Burns and her husband are suing Metzler/Hull Development Corp., asking for $600,000 on claims of fraud and discrimination for work at their home". Details here.




OK to Defame Catholics

We read:

"A Vatican official on Friday called for a boycott of the upcoming The Da Vinci Code film, saying it contained ''slanderous'' offenses against Christianity that would provoke a worldwide revolt had they been directed against Islam or the Holocaust"

Source

For instance, the influential and very pious Catholic organization, Opus Dei, is portrayed as a murderous, power-hungry sect

"Illegal Immigrant" = Racism??

We read:

"Appearing on KLIF Radio's Gregg Knapp show, attorney Domingo Garcia said that using the terms illegal alien or illegal immigrant is a "racial slur". Garcia said that those who use it, in reference to Hispanics, are racist

Source

I guess we could do as the Democrats do and talk about "undocumented workers". But are we not allowed to say WHY they are undocumented?

Update:

A reader writes:

"When I worked with the US Forest Service in San Diego County we were told that over the radio we were to refer to illegals as "Undocumented Travelers"! This is ridiculous!"




A Good Summary from Lou Dobbs

We read:

"We all awoke to headlines in our nation's most important newspapers reminding us that this is "A Day Without Immigrants." Not illegal immigrants, mind you, but immigrants.

USA Today headlined today's demonstrations and boycott "On Immigration's Front Lines." The New York Times headlines its story "With Calls for Boycott by Immigrants, Employers Gird for Unknown." The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times are both calling its coverage "The Immigration Debate.""

Source

No doubt about it! That word "illegal" is now an illegal word. Dobbs also points out the far-Left organizers behind of most of the demonstrations -- again something rarely mentioned.




California prepares for boycott that could be historic or routine

Like Taranto, I do have a laugh at times about some of the daring headlines that newspapers put up. The one above is from The Sacramento Bee. I read the "Bee" every morning to make sure I am up to date with the latest wackiness. This morning's "Bee" also informs me that the latest brainwave of the California legislators is to make hospitals responsible for providing homes for the homeless! If you are homeless, just get yourself admitted to a hospital and you will be right from then on! I kid you not.




Batty Britain

I have not seen any fresh attacks on free speech in Britain for a few days but there sure have been some other crazy goings-on. I have started to put up extra posts on Political Correctness Watch in the last few days just to cope with it all.

A Severe Penalty for Speaking out

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a black lady of Muslim origin living in the Netherlands. She has broken with Islam and very courageously speaks out publicly to condemn the abuses of women perpetrated by Islam. She knows of such abuses from her own experiences. She has of course had a "fatwa" issued against her by the "religion of peace". The Dutch government does rightly provide her with bodyguards to ensure that the fatwa is not acted upon but there is obviously still some risk.

And her neighbours in the apartment block where she lives feel that their lives are put at risk too. They reason that some Islamic fruitcake might bomb the whole building to get at her and that might kill them too. So the neighbours have just got a Dutch court to evict Ayaan Hirsi Ali from her own home -- even though she herself has done nothing wrong!

Perhaps the most interesting part of the case is that the court used European human rights law to justify the eviction. It would seem to show that human rights laws can be twisted to give any result you like. Apparently it was not a violation of the human rights of Ayaan Hirsi Ali for her to get tossed out of her own home! A bit like the way Penn State U used "diversity" guidelines to ban an art exhibition by a Jewish student.

Details here.




Finnish Doublethink

Some strange logic from Finland:

"Finnish police said Friday it had given the preliminary investigation material pertaining to three individuals it suspects of violating the freedom of worship to Mika Illman, a state prosecutor. The three men are members of Suomen Sisu, a nationalistic movement that has posted Jyllands-Posten's controversial Mohammad cartoons on its website."

Source

I cannot even THINK how posting cartoons on a website prevents anyone from worshipping as they wish!





May Day

Today looks like being a big day in the USA for demonstrations in support of illegal immigration. It doesn't raise any issues of free speech that I have come across so far so I am not going to be saying much about it here. I have however just put up a lot about it on Dissecting Leftism.

There will be the usual parades here in Australia by and on behalf of labor unions but I will not be going to any. I will be staying home instead and contemplating such important matters as hat hair.

Britain seems to be in the middle of something of a political crisis at the moment -- all of which has just been summarized in his usual inimitable way by Chris Brand. Chris is even more blunt than I am. If anybody deserves the label "Prince of Political Incorrectness", Chris does.