Tongue Tied 3

Must not Mention that Some Blacks were Cannibals

Particularly if you use an actual black name to add realism:

"A Canadian organization that promotes multiculturalism is filing a complaint with the federal human rights commission over an animated Internet video depicting an African cannibal dubbed Kunta Kinte who is seen cooking a stew whose main ingredient is two white people.

The race-relations group Quebec Pluriel served legal notice April 18 to the company that made the cartoon, Salambo Productions, and the show's broadcast partner Bell Canada, to stop showing the video and apologize.

Since Salambo refused to remove the show from the Web site and apologize, Quebec Pluriel said Thursday that it intends to file a complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Source

Some people might get the absurd idea that whites had a civilizing influence. Everybody should be free to eat what they want! As long as it does not make them fat, of course.

Arizona: "Racist" to Throw Tortillas

In Tucson, tortillas must be treated with respect!

"As graduates in other parts of the country receive their diplomas and toss their hats in the air for their accomplishments, UA graduates toss something a little different and a little tastier - tortillas.

The tradition has been a part of UA graduations for about 10 years, said Jim Drnek, associate dean of students. The UA's unique graduation tradition is not without controversy, however.

In December 2005, the commencement ceremony was canceled for undergraduate students following a number of complaints about the tradition. Some complaints were made that the tradition is culturally insensitive against Mexican-American and American Indian culture.

The December 2005 event was reinstated following a student-sponsored forum discussion, but with a message from then-President Peter Likins stating that some groups frown upon the tradition.

At this year's graduation, both graduates and their guests will be searched for tortillas upon entering McKale Center, just like at sporting events, Drnek said

Source

Christian Teaching Banned; Wiccans OK

Edinburgh University in Scotland has a history of Leftist nuttery -- and declining academic standards:

"Some would call it the Devil's work. Two ancient religions have locked horns in a bizarre "freedom of speech" row that is echoing around the corridors of one of Scotland's oldest academic institutions. The University of Edinburgh has granted permission to the Pagan Society to hold its annual conference - involving talks on witchcraft, pagan weddings and tribal dancing - on campus next month. Druids, heathens, shamans and witches are expected to attend what is a major event in the pagan calendar.

But the move has enraged the Christian Union, which accuses the university of double standards after banning one of its events on the "dangers" of homosexuality. Matthew Tindale, an Edinburgh-based Christian Union staff worker, claimed some faiths and beliefs appeared to be more equal than others on campus. "This seems to be a clear case of discrimination," he said. "It's okay for other religions, such as the pagans, to have their say at the university, but there appears to be a reluctance to allow Christians to do the same. All we are asking for is the tolerance that is afforded to other faiths and organisations."

The Union has won strong backing from the Catholic Church in Scotland, whose spokesman, Simon Dames, felt that allowing the pagan festival to go ahead while barring the Union meeting was an example of "Christianphobia". "This appears to be a clear case of double standards," he said. "The principles of a pluralistic democracy revolve around an acceptance of competing ideas and universities should be enshrining this principle. Anti-racism groups would never be asked to put up posters saying there are alternative views."

The row has its roots in last year's decision by university officials to ban the Christian Union from using campus premises to run a course which claimed that gay sex was morally wrong. The course was deemed to be in breach of university anti-discrimination guidelines although a compromise measure was later offered to allow the course to take place if posters offering differing views were prominently displayed. Much to the displeasure of some campus Christians and the Catholic Church, no such conditions will be attached to the pagan gathering.

Source

CBC Caught in Lie Trying to Squirm out of Charges of Anti-Catholic Bigotry

Leftists believe that there is no such thing as truth so lies come naturally to them:

"The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation independently approved a recently-aired anti-Catholic comedy that offended Catholics by depicting the Communion host as snack food, according to a spokesperson for Canadian Television Fund.

CBC denied approving the controversial pilot show of The Altar Boy Gang that ran May 11, which mocked the Catholic sacraments of Holy Communion and Confession. A public outcry following the show's airing led CBC Television's executive vice-president Richard Stursberg to send a letter to the National Post defending the CBC, in response to an editorial in the paper condemning the anti-Catholic bias.

While saying the CBC agreed with the Post that The Altar Boy Gang was "unlikely to appeal to audiences," Stursberg claimed the broadcaster was forced to run the pilot episode of the show.....

CTF, however, said broadcasters were not required to air programs against their discretion. Communications director MaryBeth McKenzie said CBC would have been fully aware of what was in the program and would have approved the script prior to production, in an interview published on CanadianChristianity.ca.

"It's the broadcaster that determines what kind of program they want to support and air," she said in a telephone interview from Toronto. Broadcasters abide by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Code of Ethics, which prohibits "abusive or unduly discriminatory material or comment", she said.

Source

Must not Mock Liberals in Wisconsin

Jessica McBride, a Wisconsin radio host, was taken off the air for portraying a notable local liberal commentator as squawking like a chicken:

"What did McBride do that was so awful? She pretended to interview liberal Journal Sentinel columnist Eugene Kane by asking him a number of questions he'd have trouble answering. She played the sound of a chicken clucking when it came time for the absent Kane to speak. One of the "questions" dealt with the murder of a little girl in a drive-by shooting. The playing of the "clucking" sound was the horrid "offense" that got McBride sacked.

Give me a break. The bit wasn't very funny (and is actually a ripoff of something I did years ago) but it's hardly offensive. McBride was making fun of the refusal of urban liberals to acknowledge the severity of the crime problem. She wasn't mocking the little girl."

Source

Note that the little girl referred to was a bystander victim of a wild shoot-out and that Kane had called the shooters "knuckleheads" -- a very mild term for vicious thugs. He deserved to be mocked.

Be Glad you don't Live in Poland

We read:

"Not so long ago in America, a small tempest arose over whether flag-burning should be criminalized. In Poland, flag-burning, along with the profanation, destruction, defilement, or removal of other national symbols, could get you a sentence of up to a year in prison.

Remember the case last year of the homeless man that in an apparently drunken state decided to say a few choice words about President Kaczynski? Well, insulting the Polish Republic or nation can lead to three years in prison. I suppose that I should temper my tongue the next time that I have an urge to make a sweeping and politically incorrect generalization about Poles.

Finally, the proper terminology for the former Nazi death camps in Poland is not just an issue of semantics. Making public aspersions about the participation, organization or responsibility of the Polish nation in communist or Nazi crimes can also buy you a three-year ticket to a Polish prison.

Source

So saying that lots of Poles collaborated with the Nazis in rounding up Jews -- which they did -- is a crime in Poland! Hatred of Jews seems to be endemic among Poles to this day.

Google can't use "Gmail" name in Europe

We read:

"Google's Gmail trademark just suffered a severe blow in Europe as the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market has ruled against the search giant's use of the Gmail name there, according to the man who opposed the mark.

Daniel Giersch, a German-born 32-year old entrepreneur, has just announced that his company received a positive ruling last week from the Harmonization Office supporting his claim that "Gmail" and his own "G-mail" are confusingly similar. G-mail is a German service that provides a "gmail.de" email address, but also allows for a sort of "hybrid mail" system in which documents can be sent electronically, printed out by the company, and delivered in paper format to local addresses.

Giersch has been successful in German courts so far, which is why German users can't sign up for "gmail.com" accounts (they get "googlemail.com" instead).

Source

The objections to Gmail seem a bit childish to me. Probably an attempt to squeeze some money out of Google, I would think.

I can't see that it is going to bother Google much to use "googlemail" instead instead of "Gmail" but no thought seems to have been given to the extra time European users will have to spend typing out "googlemail" instead of "Gmail" when they send out emails to users of Google's services.

So I guess it really amounts to discrimination against Germans! They are made to spend more typing than we are for the same result! I think I rather like that! If German judges cannot look out for the interests of Germans, why should we care?

Site down?

Sitemeter recorded zero hits on this blog last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

Was this blog down or was Sitemeter down?

I would suspect the latter but they seem to have been OK on other sites where I use them.

Puzzling.

Religious Expression gets Extra Protection in Texas

It is rather deplorable that this was needed. One would have hoped that the First Amendment alone would have sufficed:

"Texas students would have greater freedom to express their religious views on school campuses under a bill passed Saturday by the House and sent to Gov. Rick Perry, who has publicly supported the measure.

Under the legislation, religious beliefs expressed in homework, artwork and other assignments would be judged by traditional academic standards. Students couldn't be penalized or rewarded because of the religious content of their work.

Supporters say the bill is needed to protect students from censorship and school districts from lawsuits. But opponents argue it will lead to religious discrimination among students. "We are allowing our young people to express their faith, whatever that faith is," said Rep. Larry Phillips, a Sherman Republican.

At an April news conference, Perry was surrounded by children and parents who said their religious speech was quashed at public school. Supporters of the bill have cited examples of students being prohibited from wishing troops overseas a "Merry Christmas" or told they couldn't distribute religious bracelets at recess.

Source

No doubt the ACLU will be mounting a court challenge the minute the bill is signed.

Racist beans in Australia



I doubt very much that anybody would have even dreamed of trying this in the USA -- though the USA does have "black-eyed peas", I suppose:

"A new range of "bigoted baked beans" released by Heinz have been roasted by ethnic groups. The controversial Mean Beanz line ties criminal tendencies to various races.

Flavours include Indian Snatcher, Mexican Jackal and Moroccan Rogue. The can labels depict the bent beans in criminal line-ups. The Indian Snatcher is profiled on the can as "Origin: India. Danger Level: Volatile if provoked. Criminal status: Serving at Long Bay." But local Indian groups are not laughing, saying the "racist" beans should be canned.

"Any sentiments like that are not healthy," said India Australia Association president Madhu Kalia. "God knows what the company was trying to achieve," she said. "You can't describe any race as being criminal whether Indian, Pakistani, American or British. "We have crime all over the world." Ms Kalia said she was just as offended by the Morrocan and Mexican slurs.

Heinz said they had not foreseen a racist link. "The campaign was meant to be all about edginess and daring people to try these exotic flavours," said spokeswoman Ros Chatfield. "We've got a pretty diverse staff and they all thought it was funny." Ms Chatfield said the company had not received any complaints about the new line.

Source

Handing out Fliers at a School is "Disorderly Conduct"?

I guess not tucking your shirt in is disorderly but is it disorderly conduct in the legal sense? The only reason such a charge has been trumped up against two schoolgirls is that the fliers they handed out were critical of homosexuality. That is the REAL offence. But since it is not yet illegal to criticize homosexuality, some other charge had to be dreamed up.

I have commented on this matter before -- on 18th. -- but the case has now become particularly obnoxious with one of the girls being held in jail for her non-crime. Even murderers get bail before trial but not this girl -- that's how important homosexuals are.

"Two 16-year-old girls face hate crime charges after distributing a flier at their northern Illinois high school that officials say contained hateful statements about gays. Both girls have been charged with committing a hate crime and disorderly conduct, according to the McHenry County state's attorney's office....

The girls were arrested this month after allegedly handing out fliers in the parking lot of Crystal Lake South High School that contain hateful language about gays and depict a male student kissing another boy. The victim of the alleged hate crime is a neighbor of one girl, according to court testimony.

One girl has been ordered to remain in juvenile custody until her trial later this month. Judge Michael Chmiel noted that the girl has had about 12 other brushes with police in recent years.

Source

A crime is only a hate crime if it is a crime to start with and the girl's action would appear to be protected as free speech so is not a crime of any sort. At worst it is a breach of school rules.

There are more extensive comments about this obnoxious case on STACLU and there is another good comment here.

Racist to Criticize China?

A South Korean blogger described what he saw on a recent trip to China:

"In the post, Cha described a scene in China that he had experienced while riding a train from Zhengzhou, the capital of Hebei province, to Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province. This is part of what he saw: a mom let her toddler urinate right on the carriage floor; people disposed of instant-noodle cups by throwing them out the window; men went shirtless when it got hot; people didn't flush after using restrooms; a young couple pulled off the seat cover to shine their shoes before they got off the train.

Cha continued: people hulled sunflower seeds (a favorite travel snack for Chinese) and spat them on the floor haphazardly; some spoke on their mobile telephones at the top of their lungs without any consideration for other people; men smoked everywhere without seeking consent from others.

Cha concluded: "While watching these people, I couldn't help but think that Chinese people solely pursue their own convenience and interest. They utterly lack public morals."

Source

I don't think that there is any doubt that he described accurately what he saw and nobody in fact seems to have disputed the accuracy of his report. But he was nonetheless roundly condemnned by other South Koreans as being "racist" for describing what he saw and describing his response to it.

That all seems nutty enough to be worthy of the American Left. What the blogger was describing was simply the behaviour of very poorly educated rural people and there is no doubt that Chinese customs do differ in some ways (greater toleration of spitting, for instance) but a true report of observations and reasonable generalizations about those observations can hardly be racist.

China is right next-door to Korea and what was happening, I think, is that China is to Korea a bit like Islam is to America -- perceived as dangerous and in need of pacification. If the blogger had filed the same report about a trip in Japan or the USA, he would no doubt have been praised rather than condemned. Hatred of both Japan and the USA is very common in South Korea but neither Japan or the USA is seen as threatening.

As Japan was once the colonial overlord of Korea, Korean hatred of Japan is rather understandable but all America has done is give the blood of its young men and the money of its taxpayers to preserve South Koreans from the Communist horror in the North -- but that is apparently unforgiveable. Rather like France.

For the record, I personally have had a fair bit to do with both Koreans and Chinese and I prefer the Chinese any day. But I guess I am not really allowed to have such preferences. If the Left keep getting their way I might one day not even be allowed to prefer attractive women. The feminist harpies already have a word for that "crime". It is called "Lookism".

PA: "Crude" comment shielded, court says

We read:

"The state Superior Court has overturned the harassment conviction of a South Whitehall Township man who frequently participated in anti-abortion protests at an Allentown clinic.

Phillip T. Pongracz was 'crude and childish' when he thrice called Joni Tedesco, an armed security guard at the Allentown Women's Health Clinic on Union Boulevard, an 'a-hole' in 2004, but his speech was protected by the First Amendment, according to an 11-page decision entered Monday."

Source

NH: Four women fired for "gossiping"

Gossiping is certainly speech. I would have thought it to be protected:

"Four town employees with 46 years of service between them were fired, in part for gossiping and discussing rumors of an improper relationship between the town administrator and another employee that Hooksett residents now agree were not true.

The administrator complained, and after an investigation the town council fired the women, finding, 'Gossip, whispering, and an unfriendly environment are causing poor morale and interfering with the efficient performance of town business.' ...

'We discussed it on a lunch break, and then it ended.' 'It kind of sort of was, 'Oh did you hear that too," said Michelle Bonsteel, Piper's fired co-worker."

Source

Raunchy airline ad pulled, 'insults women'



We read:

"Spanish airline Iberia has pulled a cartoon video ad that depicts a baby boy frolicking on a beach with big-breasted black Cuban women after complaints it insulted women and encouraged sexual tourism.

The two women, with huge lips and tiny, tight shorts on broad hips - massage and pamper the white Spanish infant after he arrives in Havana on a free trip from Iberia.

At one point, lounging at a seaside bar, he sings "Come on honey, take me to the crib", the Associated Press reported.

Source

It rather escapes me why it was a cause for complaint that the women were busty. Perhaps it takes a Leftist to see why that is offensive. And I cannot see that the women depicted were busty anyhow. I suspect that the women being brown with large lips while the baby was white was the only cause of the "problem" -- which would seem to make the protest "racist" -- why should skin-color matter?

You can see the original ad via the link above.

Discriminatory University Caves In

They attempted to discriminate against a Christian group because it was Christian. But in the usual Leftist projective way they said that it was the Christans who were discriminatory!

"Southern Illinois University in Carbondale has settled a lawsuit brought by a Christian group whose student organization status had been revoked because members must pledge to adhere to Christian beliefs.

As part of the deal with the Christian Legal Society, the Carbondale school says it officially will recognize the group and its long-standing membership and leadership policies.

Christian Legal Society sued SIU in April 2005 after the university revoked the group's registered status, meaning it no longer could use the university's facilities or name and wasn't eligible for school funding.

The group claimed SIU's decision violated its constitutional rights to free speech and free exercise of religion.

SIU said the society's requirement that members adhere to basic Christian beliefs was discriminatory.

Source

Apple Thinks it can Forbid Others from Using Silhouettes!



Back in the 80s, Apple spent a lot of money suing Microsoft with a claim that Apple had copyright to the "look and feel" of an icon-based computer operating system -- even though they did not originate that idea. They lost. They now are making an even more improbable claim -- that they have the sole right to use silhouette images in advertising. They are suing a British vendor of "adult" products:

"High street adult retailer Ann Summers has landed itself in a heap of trouble with Apple. The retail chain has been promoting a sex toy called the iGasm, a device which connects to any music player and offers users an erotic vibrating treat in time to the beat.

A News of the World report claims Apple is furious about Ann Summer's promotion of the device, and is demanding all posters for the gadget be taken down, under threat of court action....

Apple is claiming the ad to be an abuse of the silhouette-based images it uses in its own advertising.

Source

I suppose it is slightly less absurd than the claim by chocolate manufacturer Cadbury that they own the color purple!

Maybe claims like this come out of the firms' advertising budgets -- on the grounds that there is no such thing as bad publicity. That may not be a big help, though. Back in the '90s Lotus failed in another "look and feel" lawsuit and who uses Lotus spreadsheets now? Microsoft Excel rules the roost there.

The bigoted ACLU



Excerpt from an article by an ACLU board member:

"One of the clearest indications of a retreat from defending all speech regardless of content is the ACLU's virtual silence in Harper v. Poway, an important federal case involving a high-school student's right to wear a T-shirt condemning homosexuality. Of course, the ACLU doesn't speak out on every case, but historically it has vigorously defended student speech rights, as its Web site stresses. It is currently representing a student in a speech case before the Supreme Court, Morse v. Frederick (involving the right of a student to carry a nonsensical "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner at an off-campus event). The ACLU pays particular attention to the right to wear T-shirts with pro-gay messages in school, proudly citing cases in which it represented students wearing pro-gay (as well as anti-Bush) T-shirts. This year, the ACLU awarded a Youth Activist Scholarship to a student who fought the efforts of her school to bar students from wearing T-shirts that said "Gay, Fine by me."

So in 2004, when Tyler Chase Harper was disciplined for wearing a T-shirt declaring his religious objections to homosexuality, civil libertarians might have expected the ACLU to protest loudly. Mr. Harper was barred from attending classes when he wore the antigay T-shirt to school on an official "Day of Silence," when gay students taped their mouths to symbolize the silencing effect of intolerance. Represented by the Alliance Defense Fund, he sued the school district. That same year, the ACLU initiated the first of two actions against a Missouri school that punished students for wearing "gay supportive T-shirts," eventually securing a promise from the school to "stop censoring," the ACLU Web site boasts. Mr. Harper, however, was unsuccessful in his quest to stop school censorship. In a patronizing, antilibertarian decision in which Judge Stephen Reinhardt stressed the imagined feelings of gay students, the Ninth Circuit rejected Mr. Harper's First Amendment claims. (There was a sharp dissent from Judge Alex Kozinski.)

Perhaps the ACLU was observing its own prolonged Day of Silence, because, while it pays close attention to federal appellate court decisions on civil liberties, it effectively ignored this terrible precedent, even when Mr. Harper appealed to the Supreme Court. The Court dismissed the case as moot because Mr. Harper had graduated but took the unusual step of vacating the decision so that it no longer exists as precedent (no thanks to the ACLU). Mr. Harper's younger sister, still in school, continued pressing his claims and her case is pending before the Ninth circuit. The ACLU has not adopted her cause either.

Source

OK to Ask Police for ID

One the ACLU got right. A lot of police seem to think that they are little tin Gods:

"A University of Denver student who spent the night in jail will get $8,500 under a settlement announced this week by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado. Officers will also be trained that it's OK for citizens to ask officers for their ID.

ACLU attorney Taylor Pendergrass says Evan Herzoff filmed the arrest of an individual April 8 of last year when Officer Jeffrey Morgan asked him for his ID. He was told he was free to go and that's when Herzoff asked Morgan for his business card.

Herzoff was arrested on suspicion of trespassing, handcuffed and jailed. The charge was later dropped and police launched an internal investigation following a complaint. An independent police monitor says the officer was disciplined but couldn't release details

Source

No Free Speech on Subscription Radio?

We read:

"The big radio news this week was XM Satellite Radio's decision to suspend shock jocks Anthony Cumia and Gregg "Opie" Hughes for offering crass sexual commentary on First Lady Laura Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Queen Elizabeth II. But this sort of stuff isn't polluting the public sphere: XM listeners pay $12.95 a month, and they do so because it's crass, edgy and unfiltered. Since it's a pay service, XM isn't subject to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decency standards. Neither suppliers nor consumers are under any illusions about what this means.

So why is XM punishing its own hosts? Because the FCC still has indirect power over satellite radio content: it can block mergers, and XM has proposed exactly that with its only real competitor, Sirius. No one wants to offend federal regulators with billions of dollars at stake. That's bad. It's also, incidentally, the logic of modern censorship. The pressure isn't overt. Decency isn't in the statute books, and storm troopers aren't going to blast through the radio station doors. The pressure is internal.

Source

No Free Speech at Villanova U in Pennsylvania

Graffiti are speech so what they say gets First Amendment protection -- even if it is "hate speech". But universities tend to think that they are exempt from the First Amendment and act accordingly:

"Villanova University officials are incensed by a rash of racist graffiti found in three residence halls over a six-day period, calling the acts "morally reprehensible" and antithetical to Christian teaching.

The graffiti was discovered between April 18 and 25 at Moriarity Hall, Sullivan Hall and Good Counsel Hall. The incidents at Moriarity and Good Counsel were anti-black, and a drawing of a swastika was found at Sullivan.

After a meeting at Moriarity, two students stepped forward and claimed responsibility for the graffiti there, some of which was directed at an African-American custodian.

Source

The students were punished but we are not told how. So the Leftist chant "hate speech is not free speech" once again gets implemented even though it has no standing in constitutional law.

Contrast this case with the complete inaction when racist graffiti at a California university were put up that were most probably the work of a Leftist.

Graffiti of any kind are vandalism and punishable accordingly but the energy and penalties evoked by these graffiti plainly came from their content.

One would hope that universities would be zealous defenders of free speech and they do indeed sometimes claim that they are (mainly when anti-Israel propaganda is being preached there) but we know from experience that the reality is generally the opposite. Only Leftist and Muslim speech is generally "free" there.

ACLU Attacking Prayer in Louisiana

We read:

"A guest at one of the high school graduation ceremonies in Ouachita Parish has contacted the Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union to complain about religious activities at a public event, Executive Director Joe Cook said Thursday....

Following a direction by the Ouachita Parish School system, seniors at the six high schools in the parish voted to determine whether prayer would be a part of each graduation ceremony. All six schools voted to have prayer led by a student. The vote for prayer was unanimous by the students at Ouachita Parish High School....

Cook said that according to what's been reported, at least one of the graduations in Ouachita Parish was "like a prayer meeting with the Lord's Prayer and Amen."

Source

The A-word Now Forbidden in Britain

We read:

"It’s official – there is no longer any such thing as an accident. The word ‘accident’ is to be banned from the new edition of Britain’s Highway Code, which is published by the UK Department of Transport. Instead the words ‘collision’, ‘crash’ or ‘incident’ will be used to describe events that once were known as accidents.

This adoption of new terms for everyday events does not only have linguistic significance. The banning of the A-word is a consequence of a broader cultural outlook which insists that nothing happens accidentally these days and that there is always someone to blame.

The change in terminology reflects a dramatic shift in the way that Anglo-American societies make sense of human experience. The compulsion to blame is growing all the time. That is why the word accident is being written out of existence.... writing off the A-word highlights the profound difficulty that Western societies have in accepting that misfortune is part of life.

Source

Fu Manchu Now a Nice Guy



Fu Manchu is one of the classic villains, appearing in many popular books, movies and TV shows ever since the 1920s. But you are not allowed to have an Asian villain these days (Even though the Chinese Triads make the Mafia look like ambassadors of goodwill). Therefore:

"Racially insensitive, classic, arch-criminal Fu Manchu may soon return to the screen.... the character is being resurrected by Distant Horizons, a company from that hotbed of racial tolerance known as South Africa. This time he won't be a bad guy, instead they're pitching him as more of an anti-hero who "fits in with a more socially conscious world and that addresses the very complex multipolar world we all live in today." That's corporate speak for "we're not going to be all racist about it."

Source

If he had been a white guy, the character would have needed no revision of course. So who exactly is being racist here?

Judge Praises American Blacks but Gets Called "Racist"

The judge mentioned a common theory about the generally better physique of American blacks:

"The Tarrant County Black Bar Association is calling for County Court at Law Judge Brent Keis to resign following accusations that he made racially insensitive remarks to a black attorney in his court....

Dallas attorney Nuru Witherspoon, who was in Keis' court for a pre-trial hearing last month, said the judge suggested that descendants of slaves who survived the Atlantic crossing from Africa are stronger and make better athletes because weak slaves were thrown overboard.

Witherspoon also said Keis told his clients that they could "bet on black" and pursue a trial on their claim, but told them that it would be risky because "Tarrant County is made up of Republicans that think like" Keis.

Source

But you are not allowed to say that blacks are different in any way at all, of course. And praising their physique is really an insult, apparently.

Hollywood these days tends to portray blacks as smart and that is regarded as fine. So you get condemned for describing blacks in a way that is generally true of them and praised for portraying blacks in a way that is NOT generally true of them. What a twisted world we live in!

Leftist Hate Speech in the Dock

We read:

"A controversial journalist and Republican activist has sued the left-wing Media Matters for America and its founder, David Brock, for slander and invasion of privacy, claiming the nonprofit is a, "hate machine organized and orchestrated to smear conservatives and Republicans who dare to speak out against the liberal orthodoxy and manipulation in the nation's media."

Anthony "Andy" Martin served Brock with the lawsuit on Thursday after Media Matters wrote a piece calling Martin an "anti-Semite." In a letter dated March 30, 2007, Martin demanded a retraction and an apology with a notice that he would sue Brock and Media Matters for defamation/libel if the group did not comply.

"I am writing to ask that you retract your claims on both of your web sites that I am an "anti-Semite" and "actually mentally ill" as there is no basis in fact or law for such claims," Martin wrote in his letter for retraction.

Source

Conservative Radio Host under Attack

Media Matters seem determined to do Colorado radio host Bob Newman a favour by publicizing his views widely. Newman says that Muslims are dangerous and should be treated accordingly, so that is "hate speech", of course. And Newman disses a Quaker group! How could he? That the Quaker group itself says that it is devoted to "social justice" (Leftist code for enforced equality -- if it were really justice it would not need the adjective in front of it), Newman's comments about them are probably correct too.

Mormons Call Sharpton Out

We read:

"Leaders for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Rev. Al Sharpton are planning an in-person meeting, a church spokesman said. Sharpton asked for the meeting during a telephone apology he gave to two church elders after he said during a May 7 debate that Mormons don't believe in God. "Mr. Sharpton and church leaders are looking at possible dates for a meeting, but nothing is imminent," church spokesman Scott Trotter said. Sharpton spoke by phone with Russell M. Nelson and Henry B. Eyring, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the second-tier of church leadership.

The minister and former Democratic presidential candidate's remarks were about Mitt Romney, a Mormon who is seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Sharpton said that "as for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don't worry about that, that's a temporary situation." ....

A Romney spokesman has said nothing constructive would be accomplished by meeting with Sharpton. Romney has called Sharpton's remarks bigoted...

Source

An Australian Response to Attempted Media Censorship

The resource-rich Australian State of Western Australia covers an area greater than Texas and California combined. The resources boom has made it very rich, despite its having a Left-leaning Labor Party government. There has however been vast government corruption, which the local newspaper in the capital city helped to expose and publicize, resulting in the standing down of several leading government figures. Despite the fact that the newspaper concerned was in fact rather slow off the mark in publicizing the corruption, the Leftist government hates it:

The State Government has refused to introduce laws to protect journalists' sources unless The West Australian newspaper, sacks editor Paul Armstrong. Attorney-General Jim McGinty said The West Australian was the nation's most inaccurate and dishonest newspaper and until it lifted its standards it did not deserve shield laws. "The board of West Australian Newspapers needs to sack the editor. It is personally driven by a particular individual,'' he said.

Mr McGinty said standards were so bad at The West Australian that if a competitor emerged that could break the paper's monopoly, the Government would consider redirecting its advertising to foster competition. "I think it is in the interests of a healthy democracy that we have competition. The public would then have a choice not to buy a crap newspaper,'' he said. Until standards improved at The West Australian, he said there would be no shield laws in his state to protect journalists' sources. "With the shield go responsibilities. And when you get a newspaper that is bigoted, lies, cheats and deceives, my view is that you don't get the shield,'' MrMcGinty said.

Mr Armstrong said yesterday he "could not give a fat rat's arse'' about what Mr McGinty said about him. "Do I care? Not in the slightest. If he hates us it tells me we are probably doing our job and doing it very well, as I know we are,'' he said. "But I would care if McGinty turned around and said that (the) newspaper and editor are excellent. That would tell me, as it would tell Chris Mitchell (editor-in-chief of The Australian), that we are a long way short of the mark,'' Mr Armstrong said.

Source

A very blunt Australian response that would be unthinkable in most of the world. Australia does not have a First Amendment but any serious attempt to hamper press freedom would trigger voter contempt so the editor could speak without fear. But the war continues:

"West Australian Newspapers has rejected calls by the State Government to sack The West Australian newspaper's editor Paul Armstrong. The Government - led by former television presenter Premier Alan Carpenter - yesterday escalated its war with the state's monopoly newspaper, repeating calls for Armstrong to be sacked.

But West Australian Newspapers chief executive Ken Steinke last night vowed the publisher would not be intimidated, attacking the Government's threat to shift millions of advertising dollars to any start-up competitor to the newspaper.... "One would assume taxpayers' money would be spent in a way that provided the best value for money - not according to which newspaper gave the Government the most favourable coverage," Mr Steinke said....

Armstrong also hit back at the criticism, comparing Mr McGinty to Stalin and saying the minister was using taxpayer funds to blackmail, threaten and intimidate a vocal but legitimate critic of the Government.

Source

I think this is all a bit of foot-shooting on the part of the W.A. government. They have allowed their hate to overcome their judgment.

Sexism?

We read:

"No men allowed. That will be the rule on the the entire 19th floor of a new J.W. Marriott hotel being built in Grand Rapids, Mich. A lounge at the hotel also will be reserved for women only when the hotel opens in September.

Spokeswoman Andrea Groom said more than half of all business travelers are women. She told The Grand Rapids Press that they want be able to relax over a drink without getting hit on by guys. The women-only rooms will have distaff-specific amenities such as special hair dryers, bath products, jewelry holders and chenille throws.

Source

Imagine the shrieking if the hotel had reserved a floor for men only! We don't have to imagine it. Leftist women have been attacking the exclusivity of men's clubs etc. for years. But the female chauvinist sows won't be a bit bothered by this.

Naughty British Comedian Causes Upset in Berkeley

We read:

"A British stand-up has been accused of spreading `racist hate speech' in California. Pat Condell has faced a barrage of criticism after links to his anti-Muslim monologue on YouTube were circulated to commissioners in the city of Berkeley.

In the five-minute video, Condell condemns Islam as a religion of war and its prophet Mohammad as `some rambling ancient desert nomad with a psychological disorder'.

He attacks fundamentalist men as `primitive pigs whose only achievement in life is to be born with a penis is one hand and a Koran in the second' and accuses women who wear veils of their own will of being `mentally ill'. ....

Commissioner Michael Sherman said Condell's views were `stunning' because of his `stereotyping and bigotry of the tone and the language'. And commissioner Elliot Cohen called the tape `insulting, degenerating and racist'.....

Condell, an atheist, has released a number of monologues on the internet, criticising all religions. The anti-Islamic video has been seen almost 16,000 times on YouTube and more than 190,000 times on another file sharing site, LiveLeak.

Source

You can view the video concerned via the link above. Red Berkeley must be greatly peeved that it can do nothing to censor this entirely defensible evaluation of their Jihadist friends.

Canada: OK to Bash Catholicism

We read:

"A CBC pilot program that portrays altar boys as druggies and the Catholic communion host as "munchable snack food, possible poker chips and a repository for drops of LSD" has sparked a complaint accusing the public broadcaster of blasphemy.

"Catholics should not have to pay for shows where their most sacred rituals and images are considered a starting point for dramatic licence," said the Catholic Civil Rights League, which intends to lodge a formal complaint today with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for airing The Altar Boy Gang.

"With this program, the CBC has moved into the area of blasphemy of sacred rituals."

The Toronto-based Catholic rights group says the CBC is guilty of a "double standard" by lacking sensitivity about the country's most dominant religion, while it hired a Muslim Canadian consultant last year to ensure that Islamic practices were respected in the program Little Mosque on the Prairie.

Source

So the super-sensitive Canadians who don't want to "offend" anybody or make them feel "uncomfortable" must regard Catholics as sub-human -- not worthy of the respect that human beings get. Hitlerian thinking lives!

Where's the crime?

We read:

"Two 16-year-old Crystal Lake girls were expected in juvenile court Tuesday on hate-crime charges for allegedly printing and distributing fliers with pictures of two boys kissing and inflammatory statements about homosexuality.

The girls, both of whom are students at Crystal Lake South High School and whose names were not released because of their ages, were arrested Friday, Crystal Lake Police Chief Dave Linder said. One of the boys on the flier is a student at the school.

When an officer tried to stop the girls from distributing the fliers in a school parking lot, they climbed a fence and ran, Linder said.

Both girls face charges of committing a hate crime, disorderly conduct, and obstructing justice. One girl also was charged with resisting arrest.

Under Illinois law, a person commits a hate crime when he or she commits a crime against another person based on that person's race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, disabilities or national origin.

Source

It's a crime against someone to portray them as homosexual? What happened to gay pride? As far as I can see, the only "crime" was saying derogatory things about homosexuality and that is protected as free speech. There was no crime against another person here at all. The police are making up the law as they go along.

Anything they Dislike is "Racism" to Leftists

Homosexuals are a race?

"Italian homosexual leaders are accusing Riccardo Di Segni, Rome's chief rabbi of "racism" for his stand defending the traditional family. Di Segni was speaking against proposed legislation that would create de facto civil unions for homosexual partners and cohabiting persons with equivalent rights to natural marriage.

Franco Grillini, a homosexual MP accused Rabbi Di Segni of "unacceptable anti-homosexual racism." Grillini is honorary chairman of top Italian gay rights' association Arcigay that is campaigning for the bill.

The rabbi is not the only religious leader to come under fire from homosexual activists in favour of civil unions. Last week Pope Benedict XVI expressed his solidarity with president of the Italian Bishops Conference, Angelo Bagnasco, who is under police protection after threats appeared scrawled on the walls of Genoa Cathedral. The archbishop received an anonymous envelope through the mail containing a bullet and a picture of the archbishop with a swastika carved into it.

Source

More jihad against free speech in Finland

As I mentioned on 4th., Finland seems to have decided that it needs to appease the Muslims. The latest symptom:

"State prosecutor Mika Illman demanded mandatory moderators for all internet discussion forums (this includes blogs, since blogs are discussion forums in a way).

Source

TV just got a lot 'whiter,' says a canceled George Lopez

The race card again:

"George Lopez, the first Latino to lead a television series successfully, isn't laughing. "TV just became really, really white again," he said.

ABC, he said, has "unceremoniously" canceled his self-titled comedy, which over the years chronicled his personal life from his sad childhood growing up with an abusive grandmother, to his alcoholism and kidney transplant.

"The George Lopez Show" will live on in syndication, but that's not making Lopez feel better about not getting the chance to tell one final season of stories. Lopez said Steve McPherson, ABC president of prime-time entertainment, called him over the weekend to explain that "financially" it wasn't working out, that the network would lose money if it picked up the show again.

Source

Anything rather than admit that he is a has-been whom too few people now want to watch. And we see again that it is OK for Hispanics to accuse whites of racism but not vice versa.

No Free Speech for Gun Advocates

In response to the Virginia Tech massacre, a student at Hamline university in Minnesota sent an email to university officials saying that it should allow licensed gun owners to carry their weapons on campus as that would help keep the students safe. The university response?

"Hamline officials took swift action. On April 23, Scheffler received a letter informing him he'd been placed on interim suspension. To be considered for readmittance, he'd have to pay for a psychological evaluation and undergo any treatment deemed necessary, then meet with the dean of students, who would ultimately decide whether Scheffler was fit to return to the university.

Source

Convicted and punished without trial in a way that would do the old Soviet Union proud -- as we have come to expect of American universities. And what Stalinist has ever respected free speech rights?

This must in fact be a proud day for American universities: In one fell swoop they have denied a man his right to free speech, his right to bear arms and his right to due process. A trifecta!

Sadly, the right to due process has long been denied to students by American universities -- with predictable abuses following on from that. The vast injustice of such proceedings actually killed a student in the Plinton case

Muslims unite on YouTube to censor the truth

We read:

"Muslims on YouTube have formed several groups where users and videos that criticize Islam (which they define as "Hate Speech") are listed and mass-flagged as abuse. YouTube seems to remove videos and sometimes even ban users automatically. Muslims claim that they only flag videos that have violated YouTube's TOS, but this has been been proven false.

A group on Youtube called United Muslims put up a hit list of Youtube members they wanted to ban. The thing is, that they can't handle the truth. Sure, some of the videos go overboard, but so do many anti-Christian, anti-Israel, etc. videos that don't get banned

Source

Ho Hum! The Race Card Again



If it gets misused enough, maybe people will eventually ignore it. I hope everybody will ignore this attempted play:

"Zimbabwe has attacked as desperate and racist the Howard government's ban on the Australian cricket team touring the strife-torn African nation later this year....

Junior Information Minister Bright Matonga said Australia had no right to judge Zimbabwe. "The Australians are mixing politics with sport and the decision shows how desperate the Howard government is to isolate Zimbabwe," Mr Matonga said. "This is also a racist ploy to kill our local cricket since our cricket team is now dominated by black players as we slowly transform cricket from being an elite sport.

Mr Howard banned the September tour yesterday because of the worsening dictatorship of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Mr Mugabe has been in power for 27 years, and is widely blamed for the deaths of tens of thousands of Zimbabweans... Mr Howard said the ban was necessary to prevent Mr Mugabe from scoring a propaganda coup.

Source

Cricket is by far the world's most widely followed bat and ball game so what happens in cricket has some significance

Why Have we not Heard More About This?

We read:

"The walls of a men's room are never good reading, especially when the message is:

"Never hire a beaner to do a white man's job."

Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez was the target of this vulgarity, which was discovered in late April scrawled near a Sequoia Hall toilet, and came to light last week in the campus newspaper.

Source

Why are the nation's newspapers not reporting "racism" from coast to coast? Why are there not huge campus-wide "teach-ins" about it, the way such graffiti are usually responded to?

The answer is easy isn't it? If America's universities are overwehelmingly Leftist, California's would have to be even more so. And that graffito was part of a power-struggle between a university President and faculty (though any link is of course denied). So it was almost certainly written by a Leftist. And no-one wants to know about THAT!

The excerpt above is from the "Sacramento Bee" and their articles don't stay up long so I have reposted the full article here.

Czech PM vs 4000 feminist NGOs

Saying that women are no different was wrong? Isn't that what feminists normally preach?? I guess that the WAY you say it is all-important.

"Mr Mirek Topolanek, the Czech prime minister, gave a speech at the opening of the European Year of Equal Opportunities. He said that because women can decide whether they want to have children or not, they have the same opportunities as men. He also mentioned that assimilation of foreigners is more beneficial than multiculturalism.

The European Women's Lobby (EWL), an umbrella organization for four thousand European feminist organizations, demanded an apology.

Source

The Czech is not going to bounce on that one, however.

Imus Update

Imus is suing:

"Now comes Imus with a contract. I've heard his lawyers detailing what is in the contract. It is clear that he should have been warned by CBS if he were to have been fired. It is also clear that CBS knew what it was getting with Imus. Words in the contract revealed that Imus would be shocking and provocative and so on. CBS no doubt will argue that what Imus did crossed the line. Imus apparently is suing for big bucks. He may get millions. If so he would have the capital to put together a network of his own. If that sells again Imus would be wealthy and the public would be stuck with him again.

Source

I have no brief for Imus but I suspect that it would be good for free speech if he wins this one. It could at least make media magnates more cautious about firing people for incorrectness.

US Decries 'Hate Speech' in Serbian Political Debate

Odd that the U.S. government is lecturing a foreign country about something that is legal in the USA:

"The United States Tuesday appealed for moderation in the political discourse in Serbia after a hard-line nationalist figure was elected speaker of parliament. Serbian legislators have been unable to agree on a new government, at a time of critical international diplomacy on the future of Kosovo. VOA's David Gollust has a report from the State Department.

The State Department had no specific comment on the election of political hardliner Tomislav Nikolic as Serbia's new parliamentary speaker. But it did express concern about the tone of debate leading up to his election early Tuesday, which it said was reminiscent of the inflammatory rhetoric of the Slobodan Milosevic era....

At a news briefing, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said reports of the debate leading to Nikolic's election suggest it harkened back to the bad days of "hate speech" of the Milosevic era, where politicians were characterized as either patriots or traitors depending on whether they supported the regime.

Source

So it is hate speech to question someone's patriotism! I guess I had better not say what I think of John Murtha or Ted Kennedy. (I actually said what I think yesterday on Dissecting Leftism)

Military Censorship

The top brass in the U.S. army recently tried to censor what their men serving in Iraq could write. It wanted to stop them blogging and demanded to inspect their emails before any email could be sent. This was greeted with justifiable outrage and the brass subsequently backed down to a considerable extent.

There is a good summary of the ins and outs of the issue here. I liked his final paragraph:

"The war against al-Qaida and Islamic fundamentalism is as much a war of ideas as a war to be fought by our military. Right now, even Donald Rumsfeld agrees that fight is being won by al-Qaida.... By imposing these Draconian regulations on its own troops, the Army has taken its best soldiers out of the fight and ceded this ground to the enemy."

Blasphemy at Tufts

There has recently been a big upheaval at Tufts University in Massachusetts over some material in the student newspaper about Islam. In response to an "Islamic awareness week" that presented Islam in a favourable light only, some students ran a strictly factual article in the newspaper listing some of the more unsavory quotations from the Koran etc. The idea was to balance the story about Islam.

But that produced a huge outcry and the students have been condemned by the university for it. Truth is no defence at Tufts, it seems.

There is such a lot going on that I will not try to summarize it further. The Volokhs are all over it and the latest on their site at the time of writing is here. FIRE reproduces what the students wrote.

No Free Speech for Fortune-Tellers?



It might be crap but it is clearly speech. But they don't seem to see it that way in one part of Louisiana:

"Predicting the future for money is illegal in Livingston Parish after the Parish Council unanimously passed an ordinance Thursday night banning the practice. The ordinance makes it illegal to engage in all forms of fortunetelling from crystal-ball gazing to card reading."

Source

Even nude dancing has been given free speech protection by SCOTUS -- even though it is clearly NOT speech. But something that clearly IS speech gets banned in Louisiana. The ban would probably get squashed by SCOTUS but it is unlikely to get that far.

Truth Offensive, Even to Moderate Muslims



From Raleigh, N.C. we hear of a rather feisty Baptish churchman who put up a very pointed sign outside his church:

"Rev. Gary Murrell put up the sign, which on one side claims the message of Islam is "submit, convert or die."

The other side reads: "When is the last time you heard of a Jew or Christian with a bomb strapped to their body?"

Despite some in the Islamic community who claim the sign is offensive, Murrell says it is not a hate sign.

"It was not put up there with the purpose of showing that we hate those people," he said. "It's not the people, it's the religion."

Source

We know that the local Muslims were moderate because they did not quite pop their lids. We read: "The Islamic Center of Raleigh is inviting Murrell and his congregation for a visit to learn more about Islam". Which is at least a peaceful response.

Presidential Hopeful Edwards Opposes Free Speech

The words of the super-rich Pretty Boy himself:

"Just when we thought Ann Coulter couldn't take the politics of personal destruction any lower, she proved us wrong," Edwards said. "Her outrageous comments are inexcusable and should not be tolerated in the public dialogue."

Source

"Should be criticized" was what he meant, of course .... of course ...

The Ongoing Censorship By CPB/PBS Of "Islam v. Islamists"

From Hugh Hewitt:

"The Corporation for Public Broadcasting continues to enable PBS' censorship of the film "Islam v. The Islamists." After the revelations concerning the Fort Dix Six , it is simply incredible that CPB/PBS is censoring this film. The U.S. audience needs more information on the struggle within Islam, not less, and it doesn't need politically correct censors at CPB/PBS to babysit that information flow.

Background on the film here

A Black Disciplined for Using the N-word

Is this a first?

"A black bus driver who was fired by the Des Moines school district because she used the "n-word" in front of a black student who had threatened her deserves unemployment pay, a judge has ruled.

School officials have appealed the decision and say the Feb. 14 remark constituted job misconduct.

Source

"Is a timetable for withdrawal intended to hasten victory - or defeat?"

The Anchoress wrote what I have put in the heading above in one of her posts. A commenter replied: "That's not a question, that's name-calling". The Anchoress got a bit sarcastic about that:

"So help me out here. Has the act of asking a pointed question of the left now become something too hurtful? Is it the equivalent of "name-calling?" Do I simply not understand what name-calling is? Maybe I've been doing it all this time and haven't realized it - in which case, I would feel just dreadful."

I always thought "name-calling" was invective - the stuff I routinely get in my e-mail, "christianist creep, asshole, nazi, hater, sycophant, bushbot, fascist, idiot, narrow-minded-baboon, knuckle dragging neanderthal, theocon totalitarian." I guess I was wrong."

Are we allowed to have differences of opinion, these days? Or does everyone who doesn't agree with the establishment simply need to shut up and fall in line, or be castigated as stupid and immoral and beaten into submission?

The Left are generally incapable of rational argument so will use any accusation they can to halt it. And they are so full of themselves that just disagreeing with them is seen by them as intolerable.

Steakhouse Owner Refuses to Serve O.J. Simpson

So the race card is played again:

"The owner of an upscale steakhouse in Louisville said he asked O.J. Simpson to leave his restaurant the night before the Kentucky Derby because he is sickened by the attention Simpson still attracts. "I didn't want to serve him because of my convictions of what he's done to those families," Jeff Ruby said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "The way he continues to torture the lives of those families ... with his behavior, attitude and conduct."

Simpson, an NFL Hall of Famer and Heisman Trophy winner, was found innocent in 1995 of killing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ron Goldman but was found liable in a civil trial that followed.

Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, said the incident was about race, and he intended to pursue the matter and possibly go after the restaurant's liquor license.

Source

Anybody who thinks Simpson is less than a disgusting human being is making a comment about themselves. The race card got Simpson out of jail but that just magnifies the offence. He should have fried.

Man says word cost him a job. (He called a Mexican a Mexican)

We read:

"Pipe welder Bill Hendeley Jr. said he was fired from his job Wednesday for using the word "Mexican" in describing a person from Mexico at a group safety meeting.

Hendeley said he has worked for Fagen Inc., an engineering and construction company based in Granite Falls, Minn., off and on for the past 10 years. The company is building an addition to the Big River Resources ethanol production plant in West Burlington. Hendeley, who recently moved to Burlington, said he has never been fired, has never even been reprimanded for making inappropriate comments, and co-workers describe him as a model employee.

At a group safety meeting Wednesday, however, Hendeley singled out supervisors and a Hispanic worker for smoking in inappropriate places. Smoking is only allowed in a designated area across the road from the plant. "I guess if you're a supervisor or a Mexican, you can smoke anywhere you like," Hendeley reportedly told an Hispanic safety supervisor.

Several days earlier, a Caucasian worker was suspended by a Hispanic supervisor for smoking in the parking lot of the plant, said Jeff Kokemiller, a Fagen employee. Following the suspension, Hendeley and his co-workers said they observed supervisors and a Hispanic woman smoking in trailers near the plant.

Hendeley said he simply was pointing out discrepancies in policy enforcement. After the safety meeting, Hendeley was called to a private meeting with the safety supervisor and two other managers to discuss his comments, and was fired shortly after, he said.

Source

Lou Dobbs: The Next Don Imus?

We read:

"The Southern Poverty Law Center, which supported the "hate crimes" bill, is so extreme that it lists the conservative Christian Traditional Values Coalition (TVC), a coalition of churches, on a map of "hate groups" because of its opposition to special rights for homosexuals.

Sunday night's "60 Minutes" on CBS featured a story about CNN's Lou Dobbs that strangely included the comments of a monitor of "hate groups." The implication was that there might be something hateful about Dobbs' opposition to illegal immigration and open borders. Dobbs may not know it yet, but he is being set up as the next Don Imus.

While the story showed reporter Lesley Stahl exchanging pleasantries with Dobbs and interviewing him and his wife, the inclusion of Dobbs critic Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center was ominous. It is an indication that certain political views, mostly of a conservative nature, are being put into the same category as the Don Imus racist joke that got him fired from CBS Radio and MSNBC.....

Stahl quibbled with Dobbs about a claim that immigrants were responsible for bringing leprosy into the U.S., but the issue wasn't really whether he got a fact right or wrong or even whether he was an "advocacy journalist." The clear implication was that Dobbs was somehow encouraging hatred or violence against illegal aliens and was therefore guilty of "hate speech." .....

Potok's latest hysterical article insists that "untold numbers of men and women may have to die" because of criticism of the homosexual lifestyle by conservative Christians, labeled "religious zealots" who employ "the language of hate" and are behind "hate motivated violence."

Source

Some People Refuse to be Cowed

Whether you agree with these guys or not, it is good too see that they are still free to speak and be heard (so far):

"Almost two weeks after CBS Radio fired Don Imus for his racially and sexually demeaning remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team, Nick Di Paolo opened his talk show on another CBS station in New York by mocking a manual that, he said, one of his bosses had given him that morning.

The booklet was entitled "Words Hurt and Harm" and, as described by Mr. Di Paolo, it urged him and his brethren to avoid the sort of stereotypes that had not only upended Mr. Imus but had also just gotten two colleagues on WFNY (92.3 FM) suspended for broadcasting a six-minute prank call littered with slurs to a Chinese restaurant.

"Right away, we're starting with a false premise," Mr. Di Paolo told his listeners on April 25, just after noon. "Because words don't hurt."

He then proceeded to refer to someone in the studio who was apparently of Colombian descent as "a drug dealer," before using an exercise in the manual as a springboard to the following observations: that "enough" Native Americans drank to make them fair game for a joke; that waiters in Chinese restaurants were "efficient" and "better than most, you know, other ethnic groups as waiters and waitresses"; and that Jewish mothers were "bad cooks and a little hairy."

Source

Professor Forced Out for Quoting George Washington

We read:

"A tenured college professor is set to be fired for simply sending out an e-mail to colleagues containing George Washington's "Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1789."

Already professor Walter Kehowski at Glendale Community College in Arizona has been placed on forced administrative leave and the school's chief has recommended his termination.

"It simply boggles the mind that a professor could find himself facing termination simply for e-mailing the Thanksgiving address of our first president," said Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE).

On Nov. 22, 2006, the day before Thanksgiving, Kehowski, a professor in mathematics in the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) sent the e-mail containing Washington's message to all MCCCD employees, using a district-wide service designated for "announcements." ....

Recent e-mails sent out using this service include an advertisement for purchasing goats for orphans in Uganda, quotes about Women's History Month, and a reminder about the health benefits of eating bananas.

"To FIRE's knowledge, not one of the senders of these e-mails has been forced to cease teaching or threatened with dismissal," according to the organization's statement.

Source

The Thanksgiving address concerned is in fact simply an ordinary Christian prayer.

There is some background on Kehowski here. He has been battling the Leftist orthodoxy in his college for some time and they have been trying to "get" him for it for years. He seems to have finally driven them right around the bend if they think they can get him over this. All they are doing now is rendering themselves a laughing stock.

A Win for Christians

We read:

"A Christian college in Western Pennsylvania and a faith-based coalition can use a state-sponsored job site specifically to hire Christians, according to the settlement of a religious discrimination suit.

Attorneys for Geneva College in Beaver Falls and the Association of Faith-Based Organizations, a coalition in Springfield, Va., filed the federal suit over Pennsylvania's online CareerLink job-listing site in December. The state and federal governments were named as defendants.

The plaintiffs argued they were wrongly denied use of the employment service, which includes an Internet service called CareerLink. The service has a nondiscrimination policy barring job postings that require applicants to have particular religious backgrounds....

The settlement said Geneva could use the CareerLink site because the college did not receive federal Workforce Investment Act funding.

Source

Realism Forbidden: Must not Portray any Black as Doing Anything Dubious

And we obviously must not mention that blacks do lots of things that are more than dubious -- which is why the prisons are full of them:

"The producer of a sports radio talk show that aired a parody about Denver Nuggets guard Allen Iverson with references to drugs, seeking sex from Mexican women and the shooting of a homeless man has been fired.

The skit, with an Iverson impersonator answering questions on air, had him seeking sex from "Mexican" women on the River Walk and the accidental shooting of a homeless man who was an "illegal alien." "For them to put out something like that is awful," said Iverson, who is black.

Source

Maybe Iverson is as pure as the driven snow but mockery is a central part of humor. Must blacks be treated as in a special class that cannot be joked about? It seems so. Since there is a lot about blacks that is not at all funny -- their frequent raping of white women, for instance -- I would have thought that joking about one of them might in fact be a valuable lightening of the atmosphere. It treats him as "one of the boys", instead of as someone you have to be on your guard against. No hope of that now, of course.

House Panel Split on Ambivalence Crimes Bill

As regular readers know, I rarely put up anything more than excerpts on this site. The post below from the inimitable Scott Ott is so good, however, that I am putting it up whole.

"Just hours after the U.S. House passed legislation to extend “hate crimes” protections to people victimized due to their “gender, sexual orientation or gender identity,” a companion bill attacking so-called “ambivalence crimes” failed to get out of committee due to a tie vote.

Hate crime laws address the proven fact that a victim feels greater pain when he or she suffers as a representative of some downtrodden minority group, rather than simply as a person. However, nothing in federal law extends special treatment to a person whose attacker has mixed feelings about the victim’s race, gender or degree of sexual disorientation.

According to an unnamed Congressional aide who helped draft the ambivalence crime bill, “People are murdered every day in this country by perps who can’t be painted with a broad brush as racists or homophobes, because they only really hate particular members of those groups…mostly just the people they kill. It’s a loophole that needs closure.”

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, praised the extension of the “hate crimes” law saying it would “bring justice to oppressed groups, especially to people of gender.”

I am rather prone to sarcasm myself but Scrappleface beats me hands down.

Liberal totalitarianism

We read:

"Liberal Democrats are attempting to muzzle conservative talk radio: they are assaulting free speech. Like the communists in the former Soviet Union, America's liberals seek to crush dissent by consolidating control over the media-especially talk radio, which has emerged as the dominant medium for conservative opinion.

Allies close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are promoting legislation, which if passed, will take off the air prominent conservative radio hosts such as Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly-along with thousands of smaller conservative broadcasters. The bill, entitled the "Media Ownership Reform Act," is sponsored by Rep. Maurice Hinchey, a leftist Democrat from New York.

The legislation aims to revive the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" of the 1940's: "all views" are to be given equal time on radio. In particular, the Federal Communications Commission would have the power to oversee and change radio and television content. The goal is to tilt the ideological balance of power away from the right on the nation's air waves....

At a recent National Conference for Media Reform, sponsored by Free Press, a Massachusetts-based group heavily subsidized by Soros, Hinchey laid bare his plan to silence conservative voices on television and radio. The anti-war McGovernite attacked Savage, Limbaugh and other conservative radio hosts, saying they were "responsible" for leading the U.S. into the Iraq war, as well as for preparing the ground for future military invasions of Iran and Syria. According to Hinchey, these men pose a "threat" to American national security. Hence, under his bill, they would be fired. "All of that stuff will end," Hinchey said.

Source

Here's Betting that this is Another Leftist Stunt

From McAllen, Texas:

"Police are investigating a series of hate-filled messages left on a north-side home. Neighbors on the 3300 block of 28 1/2 Street discovered the racially-themed graffiti, which includes references to the Ku Klux Klan and orders to "Go back to Africa," on Tuesday morning.

A day later, cartoonish depictions of a black woman and a statement that "We don't like your kind" remained spray painted across the home's garage door, entryway and brick exterior.

Although the black family that owns the home has not lived there for several months, neighbors told officers they do not condone the graffiti's sentiments and that they were willing to help clean up the paint.

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The Logo Wars Continue



We read:

"Minnesota author Louise Erdrich has rejected an honorary degree from the University of North Dakota because it continues to use the "Fighting Sioux" team name and logo -- a contentious and litigious issue in Grand Forks.

Minnesota author Louise Erdrich has rejected an honorary degree from the University of North Dakota because it continues to use the "Fighting Sioux" team name and logo -- a contentious and litigious issue in Grand Forks.

In a letter to university President Charles Kupchella, Erdrich -- who has American Indian roots -- said that the offer means "a great deal" to her and that she would happily accept, were it not for the logo.

With that, the award-winning Minneapolis author of 11 novels and numerous other works joined a battle over whether the university should drop its logo and nickname. Last fall, university officials sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association over its finding that use of the logo and name is "hostile" and "abusive." A trial is set for December.

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I mentioned this controversy last year on Nov. 26th

ACLU Rejects Equality

The ACLU recently said:

The American Civil Liberties Union today cheered the House of Representatives for passing H.R. 1592, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, with strong bipartisan support

In other words, they cheer unequal treatment for some classes of Americans -- with homosexuals being especially privileged. How does that square with the usual Leftist religion of equality for all? Search me! It's just another example of the utter lack of any principles on the Left, I guess. But they often tell us that "There is no such thing as right and wrong" so that should not really surprise us. They really believe it when they say that. They are actually telling us what guides them -- and it's not morality, ethics or principles of any kind. We should believe them.

But various Christian groups seem to be attacking this bill on the wrong grounds altogether. It is an assault on equality before the law, not an assault on free speech. You can say anything you like about queers as long as you keep your hands off them. That should not be too hard! The bill concerns "bodily injury" only. Read it. Whatever else they do, the ACLU describes the content of the bill accurately.

Excitable use of "Terrorism"



At risk of being accused of stereotyping, I think I might venture to remark that excitability is rather common among Italians. I admire Italians in many ways (Ho studiato Italiano a scuola) but that does mean that I think they tend to be different in some ways:

"The Vatican's official newspaper accused an Italian comedian on Wednesday of "terrorism" for criticizing the Pope and warned his rhetoric could fuel a return to 1970s-style political violence.

In an unusually strongly worded editorial, L'Osservatore Romano said a presenter of a televised May Day rock concert, which is sponsored by Italy's labor unions, had launched "vile attacks" on Pope Benedict in front of an "excitable crowd".

"This, too, is terrorism. It's terrorism to launch attacks on the Church," it said. "It's terrorism to stoke blind and irrational rage against someone who always speaks in the name of love, love for life and love for man."

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Censoring MilBloggers

I mentioned on Dissecting Leftism a couple of days ago that the top brass in the U.S. army was trying to censor military bloggers. After several Congressmen mounted a protest, it seems that the brass have climbed down and discovered that soldiers have free speech rights too.

Developing.

Must not depict Jews as combative?

I would be VERY combative if I had had to put up with what Jews have endured:

"It'd be like calling Groucho Marx anti-mustache," the best-selling author Michael Chabon said of recent criticism in the New York Post that he and his new detective novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, are anti-Semitic.... The Post's Kyle Smith had complained that the book depicts Jewish characters as combative, violent Zionists.

"That's taking it more seriously than I think it deserves to be taken as a charge, because it just seems silly to me," said Mr. Chabon, crossing his arms a bit defensively. He was wearing a dapper sports coat and his signature California mane. "I think it's kind of ridiculous, because I'm not anti-Semitic. I don't accept that designation at all. I love my Jewish heritage. I'm so proud of it. If I weren't, I wouldn't write about it, and I feel that I don't need to prove that to anybody."

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Athletephobia in Vermont

Middlebury College do-gooders got themselves twisted into real knot recently. They were having a big group therapy session about "homophobia" and how to eradicate it on their campus. They put their conclusions up in a library display. But in doing so they defamed another group -- athletes. Accusing anybody of homophobia on a modern-day American campus is worse than calling them terrorists. Jihadis are seen as positively cuddly compared to homophobes. So the campus athletes rightly felt that they had been gravely insulted by being accused of being homophobic.

"Two anonymous suggestions for eliminating homophobic hate speech at Middlebury by changing the athletics program were removed from a College display last week after student athletes criticized the suggestions and a college administrator acknowledged that posting the recommendations was a "major mistake." The suggestions that raised controversy proposed that Middlebury should "stop recruiting athletes" and "better educate its athletes about homophobia."....

At the town meeting, several students were critical of those who linked homophobia to Middlebury athletics, but the issue was lost in the larger discussion. On paper and in the display, however, the suggestions sparked another debate. While expressing solidarity with and support of the intent of the display, student athletes said they were disappointed to find a project addressing how to eliminate hate speech, in fact containing hate speech of its own.

"I was surprised at how big of a space was allotted to the comments. I had thought that maybe they were hidden in a longer list of ideas, but they held their own spots," said women's soccer player Christine Bolger '07. "I was disappointed that they had found their way into the public as stereotyping other groups because in my eyes, that discredits the overall intention of the display, which I think was a very good intention."

In response to the display, four-year varsity soccer player Dave Lee '07 wrote an e-mail to Ramirez. "I am personally a firm believer in gay rights and also agree that hate speech should not be tolerated at this college," wrote Lee. "When this fight for enlightenment chooses to degrade and stereotype other groups of people, however, I can't help but be disappointed in the entire cause."

The offensive suggestions were removed from the display by Thursday. Ramirez responded with an apology to Lee and met with other students who felt marginalized by the suggestions. She accepted responsibility for the public display of the suggestions on athletics, calling it "a major, major mistake that I feel terrible about." Ramirez said that the "stop recruiting athletes" comment was removed from the first draft and somehow snuck its way back into the final display.

Source

In the weird world of the Left, comments apparently have a life of their own. The same people seem to think that guns do things too so I suppose we should not be surprised.

YouTube Bans Conservative Videolog

Anti-defeatist opinion is not allowed, apparently. See one of the banned Vlogs here.

Update:

There is a conservative video site. QubeTV is a conservative answer to YouTube for videos that YouTube bans or is unlikely to show.

Iranian Nut not Nutty Enough



Prohibitions on expressive behavior are extensive in the West but Muslim prohibitions leave them for dead:

"Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been accused of indecency after he publicly embraced and kissed on the hand an elderly woman who used to be his schoolteacher. At a ceremony on Tuesday ahead of Iranian teachers' day, Mr Ahmadinejad was photographed and filmed by state media stooping to kiss the woman's hand and then clasping her arms in an embrace.

The ultra-conservative Hezbollah newspaper, which is not related to the group in Lebanon of the same name, criticised him on the front page. "The Muslim Iranian people have no recollection of such acts contrary to sharia law during Islamic rule [since the 1979 revolution]," it said. "This type of indecency progressively has grave consequences, like violating religious and sacred values."

The elderly woman, who was not named, wore thick gloves along with a headscarf and long black coat, meaning that Mr Ahmadinejad avoided any skin contact. But his action raised eyebrows because according to sharia law, it is forbidden for a man to have any physical contact with a woman to whom he is not related.

Source

Politicians Try to Shut Down Boortz

The people had no objections to what Boortz said but the politicians are trying to make a big deal out of how "insensitive" it was:

"Managers of four Virginia radio stations that carry Neal Boortz's nationally syndicated talk radio show say they have heard few complaints from listeners about his comments about the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech. But Scott Stevens, operations manager for Cumulus NRV, said his company's management may drop the show after getting a letter Tuesday from three members of the House of Delegates....

In the wake of the slayings of 32 people by student Seung-Hui Cho, who also took his own life, Boortz began asking why Tech students didn't fight back. He called it part of the "wussification of America" and a symptom of a passive culture fostered by the political left.....

On Monday, the three legislators called on the eight Virginia stations that carry Boortz to drop him. "This community up here's still suffering greatly," Shuler said Tuesday.... Still, Stevens said, before the delegates' letter, he had received just one call about the comments, and it was so nonspecific that he had not realized what it was about.

Similarly, managers at WFIR in Roanoke -- which pulled Boortz's show for a day in response to the comments -- WLNI in Lynchburg and WMVA in Martinsville said they had heard few complaints about Boortz. Leonard Wheeler, president and general manager of WFIR, called Boortz's words "totally unfair, horribly ill-timed, completely insensitive" but said he heard much more outcry when he didn't air the show for a day than about the remarks themselves....

Bill Wyatt, owner of Martinsville Media, sent a letter back to the delegates Tuesday calling their communication "politically motivated and opportunistic." Wyatt wrote that he resented the characterization of the Virginia stations' response to Boortz as "disappointing and meager."

"Since none of you reside in the WMVA listening area, I fail to understand how you could be aware of what my 'station's response' may or may not be," Wyatt wrote. "For the record, our response has been measured; we have received no complaints from anyone in the community where we are licensed to serve."

Source

I must say that what Boortz said was exactly what passed through my mind at the time. If the students had all jumped Cho that would have saved a lot of lives.

Censorship in Finland

The authorities in Finland are trying to shut down bloggers who are critical of Islam. Apparently that is "hate speech". As one of the bloggers concerned says:

"The main point that I have been trying to make in my blog is that the Muslims ARE fascists who want to kill Jews, atheists, homosexuals, etc. Trying to prosecute me for saying that Islam is a totalitarian ideology is like trying to sue someone for saying Hitler was a Nazi."

More here, here and here. (Site is a bit slow-loading)

The Finns stood up resolutely to the Soviet beast in WW2 but they now appear to have gone so soft that the Jihadists have got them bluffed. In the postwar era, they did however use a lot of appeasement to survive being right next door to the Russian bear. Hence the word "Finlandization" for fearful co-operation. So I guess that what they are doing now is in character.

Satire Falls Flat at Brandeis U



We read:

"A campus humor magazine printed a racially charged fake advertisement last week that sparked outrage from dozens of students who said it was bigoted and offensive. The incident has brought to the forefront intense feelings of discrimination among some racial-minority students. And the editor in chief of the magazine, Gravity, resigned Monday night because of the controversy.

BlackJerry advertisement features a "BlackJerry," which it bills as an alternative to the popular BlackBerry cellular phone. It depicts a black man dressed in the minstrel style-he dons a top-hat, bow-tie and pin-striped suit-offering to drive a white traveler from Waltham to the airport in his Camry.

The text beside the image reads, in part: "I don't know where the car came from or why it's missing a window, but in no time I'm doing a buck-twenty down I-90 while the BlackJerry rolls up a j and starts humming my favorite mp3s. And all for only 3/5 the cost of a BlackBerry."

Source

The author of the mock-ad explains what he was trying to do:

"Where Gravity Magazine's "BlackJerry" advertisement failed was in not making its targets -the BlackJerry company and their advocate, Chris Washington-look overtly foolish enough. Washington should be seen as irresponsible, oblivious and generally dim-witted for the material to work. He is described as being late for a flight, doing 120 mph down the Mass Pike in an obviously stolen car, stoned out of his mind from the joints his BlackJerry rolls. However, the wording used to describe this situation is insufficient in that it provides only subtle clues as to Washington's dubious nature. Even the hint that Washington is a pornography producer is rather subtle: he is named as the CEO of "3X Media" (3X media; 3x for XXX). These clues are too easily missed when the first thing one notices is a black man and a list of stereotypes that seem to apply to him.

Source

Lesson: You must NEVER portray a black in any sort of unflattering light. They are too fragile to cope with it. You can portray Christians any way you like, however. Does that sound like negative stereotyping of blacks to anyone?

Update:

I am a bit amused that the above ad was regarded as offensive in part because the black was portrayed as an old-fashioned entertainer. Yet entertainment and sport are the two areas of conspicuous black success. Why can we not mention that? I remember that my father's favourite music was the "Inkspots". What an incorrect name for a singing group that would be today! But they did have a very smooth sound. And I myself have always thought that Louis Armstrong was quite wonderful -- even though I am a classsical music fiend usually.

"Middle of the Road Fascists"?



Leftists customarily throw the term "Fascists" around with gay abandon. But there is usually some consistency in their usage. They use it to imply Right-wing extremism (even though the original Fascists were far-Leftists!).

Evidence that Leftists really use it simply to describe anything they disagree with emerged yesterday in Australia. A former Leftist Prime Minister of Australia (Keating) who is noted for his talent at abuse was commenting on the widespread criticism of his party's proposed new pro-union laws:

"Now, this is what ... and, you know, all those middle-of-the-road fascists, you know, in the News Corporation papers, all going on this morning, on the front pages of The Daily Telegraph and The Australian, and the hand-wringing, you know, the conservative columnists in The Sydney Morning Herald, you know, they're ... these people would not have the wit to compose an industrial relations policy.

Source

It takes Paul Keating to think you can be both middle of the road and a Fascist.

He may be more correct than it appears, however. "Third way" Leftism is very popular in much of the world today -- with Tony Blair being the leading exponent of it. And the "Third way" is supposed to be a particularly moderate form of Leftism. Yet various writers (example here) have pointed out that the "Third way" policies concerned bear a striking similarity to the policies of the founder of Fascism -- Benito Mussolini. So who are the Fascists now?

OK to Slur CONSERVATIVE Latinos

We read:

"The Board of Directors of The Latino Coalition today called on CNN to condemn the statements by Jack Cafferty during his appearance in CNN's The Situation Room on March 12th. During the show, Mr. Cafferty referred to the U.S. Attorney General as the "President's Water boy". CNN should follow the steps of CBS and MSNBC during the Imus scandal and fire Mr. Cafferty.

"This kind of rhetoric from a journalist is simply unacceptable and racist," said TLC President Robert G. Deposada. "We cannot be hypocritical when it comes to racist statements in our national media. If the Attorney General was an African American, and Mr. Cafferty would have called him a water boy, the entire media establishment and civil rights organizations from across the country would be calling for Mr. Cafferty's firing."

"Attorney General Gonzales is a highly qualified and very accomplished professional. For anyone to call this highly respected Latino a water boy, is simply outrageous and shows enormous amounts of prejudice," Deposada added.

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It may be noted that various Leftist sites (such as the aptly-named Crooks and Liars) repeated the slur without comment.

Racist to say Mexicans differ in any way?

The following alleged remarks at a NOW meeting caused great offence in some circles:

"The California chapter president, Kimberly Salter, who was talking about visiting New Orleans during the National NOW State Presidents' conference and talking to New Orleans residents, stated that the residents were all very appreciative of "the Mexicans" for coming to work there and live in tent cities, and she added that it was a cultural issue, because Mexicans were used to leaving their families and living in tent cities to send money home, and that other cultures wouldn't do that."

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I have no brief for NOW. If someone told me that they are just a bunch of Lesbian harpies I would not be interested in arguing. But the remarks above by the NOW president seem to me a reasonable theory. It seems that the objection is to ANY statement about group differences. But groups DO differ. What is true of a group is of course not true of all people in the group but to ban statements about groups is to ban a very large area of discourse.

EU Moving to Ban Online 'Hate Speech'

We read:

"In a typical move, Europeans want to ban something they don't like. In an English-language article, the Danish Heise Online reported several members of the European Parliament, which is the elected body of the European Union, will submit a draft of a declaration next week that "calls on providers in somewhat vague language to make provisions against "hate pages" part of their standard terms and conditions" with the ultimate goal to "banish racism and hate propaganda from the Internet altogether. This is the same environment in which publishing the satirical Jyllands-Posten Mohammad cartoons (images here)was considered an act of Islamophobia, and therefore hate speech. The draft specifically mentions Islamophobia in the preamble, which would likely mean that anti-terrorism sites like Little Green Footballs, the Brussels Journal and Melanie Phillips, publisher of the book, Londonistan could be labeled "hate speech":

The ultimate object of the push by five EU Members of Parliament, Glyn Ford and Claude Moraes of the UK's Labour Party, the Hungarian Liberal Party member Viktoria Mohacsi and the two German European Members of Parliament Bern Posselt (Christian Social Union; CSU) and Feleknas Uca (The Left Party), is to banish racism and hate propaganda from the Internet altogether. The preamble to the declaration mentions anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and anti-Romany campaigns. Should the providers refuse to act more forcefully the five initiators of the declaration have vowed to pressure the European Commission into drafting appropriate legislation.

The Parlimentarians are essentially extorting Internet Service Providers to monitor and ban online "hate speech" and "hate" sites, and if the ISPs don't, the five will begin making the policy law. It sounds like the EU agrees with the leftist idea that "hate speech is not free speech." The danger here, other than a slippery slope and limited speech, is that the EU will decide what hate speech is. Many in Europe believe that criticizing or making fun of Islam or denying its legitimacy is hate speech, and therefore verboten. Public schools in Scotland even said staring at Muslims is Islamophobia. Is it much of a stretch to think that sites dealing with Islamic terrorism, atheism or honor killings could be among those shut down with the neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers.

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Rhetorical overkill: Rifles are now "weapons of mass destruction"

I wonder what we will call nuclear weapons now?

"A 17-year-old Swansboro High School student was in jail Friday on $1 million bond after being charged with having a weapon of mass destruction - an assault rifle - on the school's campus.

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