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31 May, 2012
Poland furious over Barack Obama's 'death camp' comment
President emptyhead didn't know the difference between "Polish" and "in Poland"
"Poland's foreign minister has demanded Barack Obama apologise after referring to "Polish death camps" during the Second World War.
The US President made the slip while honouring Jan Karski, a Polish resistance fighter who was among the first to raise the alarm over the Nazi concentration camps, during a ceremony at the White House.
Poland has long been sensitive to any implication that it was involved in the Holocaust, accurately pointing out that the camps on Polish soil were run by occupying German forces.
Foreign Minister Radek Sikorsi took to Twitter to insist that the White House apologise for the "outrageous error" and said that Prime Minister Donald Tusk would make a statement on Wednesday morning.
Source
Arrested for Blogging in Maryland
We read:
"Yesterday, blogger Aaron Walker, aka “Aaron Worthing,” was arrested for his blogging critical of Brett Kimberlin, a convicted domestic terrorist known as the “Speedway Bomber” who has become a progressive activist.(See the original for links)
As detailed by David Hogberg and Patterico and here, Kimberlin was able to convince a technologically illiterate judge that Walker’s blogging was incitement and violated a “peace order” Kimberlin had previously obtained against Walker.
Unless there are additional, as-yet-undisclosed reasons for Walker’s arrest, it was blatantly unconstitutional, as Eugene Volokh explains here.
Walker was released late yesterday afternoon, but an equally unconstitutional order barring him from, among other things, blogging about Kimberlin for the next six months further remains in effect.
Many of those commenting on these events have cast the dispute in ideological terms, as Walker is a conservative blogger and Kimberlin is a progressive activist.
Yet, as Popehat explains, the real issue here is the threat to free speech that Kimberlin’s tactics represent — a threat that should be of concern without regard to the ideological orientation of the participants.
Source
30 May, 2012
FBI quietly forms secretive Internet surveillance unit
We read:
"CNET has learned that the FBI has formed a Domestic Communications Assistance Center, which is tasked with developing new electronic surveillance technologies, including intercepting Internet, wireless, and VoIP communications. ...
The establishment of the Quantico, Va.-based unit, which is also staffed by agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency, is a response to technological developments that FBI officials believe outpace law enforcement's ability to listen in on private communications."
Source
Lack of privacy can have a very chilling effect on speech
Britain's National Heallth Service removes 'Dad' from parenting leaflets to avoid upsetting same-sex couples
We read:
"The NHS has removed the term "dad" from its childbirth guide after receiving a complaint that the leaflet was excluding same-sex parents.
The Ready Steady Baby pamphlet, which offers advice on pregnancy and the first year of parenthood, has been given to mums and dads-to-be for the last 14 years.
However, the 220-page guide will no longer refer to fathers after a complaint that claimed it was "not inclusive of people in same-sex relationships".
Instead, the leaflet will use the non-gender specific term "partner" in its latest revision.
Norman Wells, of the Family Education Trust, said the NHS was wrong to change the language in the booklet. He said: "The NHS should not be squandering tax payers' money to advance the cause of a minority interest group.
"No matter how much effort is made to present positive images of families headed by same-sex couples, the fact remains it takes a man and a woman to create a child."
Source
29 May, 2012
FL judge: Warning others of speed traps is free speech
Another installment of an old controversy. I am a "flasher" (of headlights) myself -- but I don't do it as systematically as this guy did
"A judge in Florida ruled on Tuesday that flashing one's headlights to warn other drivers of speed traps set by police is protected by the First Amendment.
Ryan Kintner of Lake Mary, Fla. was pulled over and cited by a police officer in an unmarked car for doing just that. Kintner was at home when he saw a deputy park along a street and being using his radar gun. He got in his car, drove a little ways away and parked his vehicle so he could flash his lights at oncoming traffic to warn them. ...
Kintner, however, was not going down without a fight. He took his case to court, suing the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, with Attorney J. Marcus Jones arguing that ... 'Flashing your headlights is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.'"
Source
Australians must not mock the New Zealand accent?
The NZ accent is a very strange version of English. It is the only version of English to have lost an entire vowel. They pronounce "Fish and chips" as "fush and chups". And the other vowels are not too healthy either. "Battered" is pronounced as "bettered"
A disgruntled Kiwi has been hit with a string of charges after losing his cool over a local TV advert poking fun at the New Zealand accent.
The 44-year-old Griffith man allegedly assaulted and intimidated a WIN television employee on Friday in an apparent payback for the station airing a Knockonwood television advert that features two animated kookaburras speaking with thick New Zealand accents, the Area News reports.
The satirical ad shows the kookaburras saying “sweet as, bro” and “choice, bro” – slang terms often associated with our trans-Tasman neighbours.
The man allegedly abused the furniture store's staff over the phone on Friday before turning up at WIN's Yambil Street offices and demanding to know who authorised the advert.
Police claim he assaulted a male member of the station's advertising staff during the altercation.
He was later arrested and charged with misuse of a telecommunications device, intimidation, common assault, resisting arrest and intimidating police.
Paul Pierotti, managing director of Knockonwood's parent company, the Caesar Group, said the incident had not convinced him to take the advert off air.
“We had no intention of offending anyone ... if anything, it's just a bit of light-hearted fun,” Mr Pierotti said. “It's part of the culture of both Australia and New Zealand to poke fun at each other.
“At the end of the day, we wanted to create an ad that cut through and sometimes to do that you have to go for a novelty angle. “We are really sorry if anyone found that offensive.”
The accused has been released on conditional bail and will front Griffith Local Court on June 13.
SOURCE
28 May, 2012
Blackface is NEVER correct
Why? Are they saying that black faces are ugly? Seems strange. I have yet to hear any logic behind the ban. It seems to be just a kneejerk reaction. Does representing yourself as black automatically imply that you are ridiculing blacks? That is a pretty racist assumption if so.
"Sean King, a Colorado Springs second-grader at Meridian Ranch Elementary school, found himself in hot water last when he was pulled out of class for dressing like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while also wearing black face paint for a school project. Now, Sean and his family want an apology from the school for the way the staff handled the situation.
Sean, 8-years-old, told KRDO that he feels school officials were "mean" to him and his family, citing that they made his mother cry. Sean explained that he is confused why other children who also wore face paint honoring other historical people were not punished like he was. "They were really negative to me," Sean said about school staff to KRDO.
School officials are now considering offering special classes about racial stereotypes to help teach kids and parents more about racial sensitivity.
Sean says he mean no harm by wearing the make-up, according to 9news, but Stephanie Meredith, a spokesperson for the school's principal, said that it wasn't just the school's staff that was offended by Sean's face paint, it was other students as well. So the principal took action, 7News reports.
Last week, KRDO first reported that Sean dressed up as MLK, Jr. for a school project. The boy's mother told KRDO that it was "wax museum day" for the second grade class and that each child was assigned a historical figure to dress up as.
Sean showed up for school on Wednesday doing a Martin Luther King impersonation, wearing a black suit, tie, mustache and black face paint -- his parents were with him, as were all the students' parents, to watch the day's presentation. But before things could get started, Erica Mason, the school's principal, told the second-grader that he needed to wash his face, according to KWGN, leaving Sean confused.
"They thought it was inappropriate and it will be disrespectful to black people and I say it's not," young Sean said to KRDO. "I like black people. It's just a costume and I don't want to insult anybody."
The NAACP has come out in support of Meridian Elementary Principal Mason and in support of Sean's desire to portray Dr. King, but has said that he just shouldn't have worn the black face paint.
But some people thought that school went too far with the second-grader. Since the news broke, the Meridian Ranch Elementary's Facebook page has been flooded with reactions, mostly in support of Sean.
Source
Brownface incorrect again
We read:
"Last week, some local activists turned the fire on the Fojol Brothers food trucks, accusing them of racism and engaging in a "brownface minstrel act" for dressing up in turbans and mustaches to peddle their Indian food. The story has now made its rounds throughout local media and commenters are going berserk everywhere, weighing in on why some find the truck offensive, as well as whether anyone should be offended by it at all
Source
27 May, 2012
Ruthless Leftist hate designed to shut up critic
We read:
"You’re about to listen to one of the most bone-chilling pieces of audio you will ever hear. At least, it was to me when I first heard it.
It’s a phone call that could have gotten me killed.
In this post you will hear that audio clip. You will also read about a months-long campaign of harassment carried out by at least three individuals: Ron Brynaert, Neal Rauhauser, and Brett Kimberlin — much of it directed at critics of Brett Kimberlin. This harassment includes repeated references to critics’ family members, workplace complaints, publication of personal information such as home addresses and pictures of residences, bogus allegations of criminal activity, whisper campaigns, frivolous legal actions, and frivolous State Bar complaints.
And finally, you will hear a comparison of one of those men’s voices to that of the man who made the call that sent police to my home. And you’ll read a declaration from a forensic audio expert comparing those two voices.
In the last radio interview Andrew Breitbart ever gave, on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show, Breitbart talked about a new ruthless tactic used by thugs against political opponents:
"[O]ne of the things they’ve done to people who have worked with me in the past, including an L.A. prosecutor, is to “SWAT.” That means that they’re spoofing phones, pretending to be somebody else’s phone, calling 911, and saying “I killed somebody” and then the person’s home is met with the guns drawn, the SWAT and the helicopters, in a horrifying act. It’s happened twice: once in New Jersey, once in Los Angeles, with an L.A. County . . . prosecutor who [is] associated with me.”
I am that L.A. County prosecutor. And in this post, you’ll hear the hoax call that sent police to my house, pointing loaded guns at me.
At 12:35 a.m. on July 1, 2011, sheriff’s deputies pounded on my front door and rang my doorbell. They shouted for me to open the door and come out with my hands up.
When I opened the door, deputies pointed guns at me and ordered me to put my hands in the air. I had a cell phone in my hand. Fortunately, they did not mistake it for a gun.
They ordered me to turn around and put my hands behind my back. They handcuffed me. They shouted questions at me: IS THERE ANYONE ELSE IN THE HOUSE? and WHERE ARE THEY? and ARE THEY ALIVE?
I told them: Yes, my wife and my children are in the house. They’re upstairs in their bedrooms, sleeping. Of course they’re alive.
Deputies led me down the street to a patrol car parked about 2-3 houses away. At least one neighbor was watching out of her window as I was placed, handcuffed, in the back of the patrol car. I saw numerous patrol cars on my quiet street. There was a police helicopter flying overhead, shining a spotlight down on us as I walked towards the patrol car. Several neighbors later told us the helicopter woke them up. I saw a fire engine and an ambulance. A neighbor later told me they had a HazMat vehicle out on the street as well.
Meanwhile, police rushed into my home. They woke up my wife, led her downstairs and to the front porch, frisked her, and asked her where the children were. Then police ordered her to stand on the front porch with her hands against the wall while they entered my children’s bedrooms to make sure they were alive.
The call that sent deputies to my home was a hoax. Someone had pretended to be me. They called the police to say I had shot my wife. The sheriff’s deputies who arrived at my front door believed they were about to confront an armed man who had just shot his wife. I don’t blame the police for any of their actions. But I blame the person who made the call.
Because I could have been killed.
The weirdest part of the whole thing was that I halfway expected this might happen. Because I was not the first one it had happened to.
Much more here
26 May, 2012
Obama’s America: EPA Officials Visit Man For Sending Email
An attempt to intimidate free speech
About a month ago, EPA regional official Al Armendariz made news when a YouTube video of him describing the way the agency handles oil and gas companies surfaced. In it, Armendariz said an analogy he liked to use about enforcement was how the Romans used crucifixion to keep smaller towns and villages under their thumb. Since then, Armendariz has resigned his post at the EPA. Case closed, right? Wrong.
A local North Carolina man named Larry Keller didn’t particularly like the analogy that Al Armendariz used, so, along with thousands of others assumably, he set about to contact Mr. Armendariz to discuss his views on the oil and gas industries. One of our basic rights and privileges in a free society is to be able to petition our government for a redress of grievances without fear of repercussion from said government simply for voicing our grievance.
Keller proceeded to try and contact Mr. Armendariz by Googling him. His domain was a subset of Southern Methodist University, he was directed to contact a Dr. David Gray who is the Director of External Affairs for the EPA. Keller wrote a simple, one sentence email to Dr. Gray which said simply, “Hello Mr. Gray-Do you have Mr. Armendariz’s contact information so we can say hello?”
On May 2nd, just a little over a week after the Armendariz crucify comments had flared up, two special agents from the EPA and a local police officer showed up at Mr. Keller’s home. Here is the story in his own words:On Wednesday, May 02, 2012 at about 1:45PM two Special Agents from the EPA and an armed police officer who stood 6’6” tall visited our house in Asheville, NC. Their visit was a total surprise as we had not received any communications requesting an appointment. The agents presented very official looking badges and asked if we could sit and chat awhile. We moved to the back porch and took our seats with the exception of the armed officer who stood by the door to the house the entire time.
Keller was asked by the agents if he ran a business out of his home, and if so, what kind of business. Keller runs a consulting business from his home. Then he was asked if he had ever sent an email to anyone at the EPA. Keller, not remembering the email initially said no, then remembered his email to Dr. Gray trying to get the contact information for Al Armendariz. This is what happened next:At this point Agent Woods reach into a file and from it he pulled out a copy of my email to Dr. Gray. He handed it to me and I asked what was there about the content that justified their driving across the state of NC to visit me with no prior warning. The other agent then stated that my choice of words in the email could be interpreted in many ways. At that point I asked them to be specific as they were wasting my time. I stated that I pay for agents’ salaries and that of the police officer and they have bigger fish to fry. Special Agent Woods then asked if I had ever been arrested – the answer was a swift no. I then asked for a copy of the email they presented and they said that was impossible as the investigation was not yet complete.
Keller asked the agents for business cards that they had previously promised him and they were miraculously out of business cards. The two agents, who had driven four hours from Raleigh, North Carolina for this encounter with Mr. Keller, left via the back staircase as quickly as they had appeared without supplying Larry Keller with their contact information. He also states that the agents had parked blocking his driveway and that the local police officer had parked in his neighbor’s driveway.
Larry Keller was interviewed by Pete Kaliner, a local conservative radio host about the incident. You can listen to the interview here. I heard today on Kaliner’s show that Keller has hooked up with the John Locke Foundation to pursue the incident further. I’ll keep you updated as soon as more information becomes available.
Is this really the America that we live in now? A concerned citizen tries to contact a government official over statements that he made in public and the next thing you know armed agents show up at his home?
Source
25 May, 2012
How does stating facts make someone racist?
We read:
"Assuming that it's true that "roving mobs of black youth" terrorize Baltimore, why should Del. Pat McDonough apologize for saying so ("Baltimore and bigotry," May 18)?
If anyone should apologize, I think it should be the Rev. Cortly C.D. Witherspoon, who according to the article in The Sun "said that McDonough's remarks were 'below the belt,' culturally insensitive and intended to exploit Baltimore's challenges for his own political gain." ("Delegate says focus shouldn't be on his 'black youth mobs' comment, but on city violence," May 18.)
According to the article, the reverend also plans to have a rally at City Hall and said that he wants radio station WCBM and the station's sponsors to "pull the plug" on Delegate McDonough's talk show.
Way to go, reverend! That ought to solve the problem of violence in Baltimore.
Source
Must not say mentally retarded students are mentally retarded
They've got "special needs" instead
Seniors at a Mesquite, Texas, high school will have to wait for a reprinted version of their yearbook, this after the initial publication labeled some special-needs students "mentally retarded."
Officials at the Mesquite Independent School District have apologized to families and students of Mesquite High School, east of Dallas, for a section dedicated to students with disabilities that contained errors and offensive language, district spokeswoman Laura Jobe said.
Jobe said she did not read the two-page section, but did see a photocopy of one page, which was sent to her office. She said a section read: “some of the disabilities the students in the Special Education Program have are being blind, deaf or non-verbal.”
She added: “Specific disabilities of students were also cited in the yearbook, with some labeled as both blind and deaf, as well as mentally retarded.”
Students on the yearbook staff, a team of mostly seniors and a teacher advisor, also did not have parental permission to publish the photos of the students with special needs, Jobe said.
Source
I've got a special need for cevapi with kaimak. Does that make me retarded? Maybe it does but I like to think that I just like Yugoslav food.
24 May, 2012
NC: KKK fliers distributed, promoting cross-burning
Atheists or Democrats?
"Police in Reidsville are investigating some fliers that invite people to a cross-burning. Police Chief Edd Hunt said officers have received calls about the fliers, which come two weeks after the Ku Klux Klan held a protest in nearby Eden. Hunt says detectives are investigating but he’s not sure if the material is connected to the earlier protests in Eden."
Source
More fake hate speech
We read:
"Two lesbians who claimed to be victims of a hate crime last year when hateful messages were scrawled on their Colorado home are now being accused of perpetrating a hoax.
Aimee Whitchurch, 37, and Christel Conklin, 29, told authorities last October that vandals had spray-painted "Kill the Gay" on their garage door and left a noose on their doorstep.
The couple, who live in a rented condominium in Parker, Colo., said they believed the alleged incidents were in retaliation for disputes they were having with their Homeowner's Association over their dog.
The FBI reportedly became involved in the investigation. The two women were tested by federal agents to see whether they had spray-paint residue on their palms, Fox affiliate KDVR-reported. They were also asked to take a lie detector test, but declined, according to the station.
Authorities later determined that the women were responsible for the spray-painted words.
Source
23 May, 2012
'Colored' is offensive? Someone should tell the NAACP
Britain:
ITV news producers have been given a reprimand after they allowed a reporter to use the word 'coloured' to describe soccer players and coaches.
The word was used during a lunchtime news bulletin on February 26 about Prime Minister David Cameron hosting a summit on tackling racism in sport.
Twenty viewers complained to ITV and four to broadcasting watchdog Ofcom after the gaffe on the ITV1 programme.
ITV executives quickly apologised on Twitter, edited the word from the news report and removed the word from the report that appeared on the ITV News website.
They gave warnings about use of the word to the producer, programme editor and reporter.
Now, as a result of this, Ofcom has decided to take no action. It said: 'We noted that ITV recognised the editorial mistake almost immediately after broadcast, and took swift and appropriate action to mitigate the potential for further offence.'
Source
OH: Student may wear “Jesus is Not A Homophobe” t-shirt to school, says court
We read:
"A gay student who sued his Ohio high school for prohibiting him from wearing a T-shirt designed to urge tolerance of gays will be allowed to wear the shirt to school whenever he chooses. A judgment agreed to by Maverick Couch and the Waynesville Local School District was entered Monday in federal court in Cincinnati. It allows the teenager to wear the 'Jesus Is Not A Homophobe' T-shirt and says the district must pay $20,000 in damages and court costs."
Source
This sets a good precedent. T-shirts quoting the Bible on homosexuality should now be allowed also.
22 May, 2012
Pakistan: Regime censors Twitter over cartoon contest
We read:
"The Pakistani government blocked access to the social networking service Twitter on Sunday, after publicly holding Twitter responsible for promoting a blasphemous cartoon contest taking place on Facebook, officials said. ...
'The material was promoting a competition on Facebook to post images of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad,' said Mohammad Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication’s Authority, was quoted as saying. He was also quoted as saying that Facebook had agreed to allay the concerns of the Pakistani government."
Source
One of the possible reasons why it is "haram" to make images of Mohammad is that he never existed. In the case of Christ we have accounts of his life by four people who actually knew him but the earliest accounts of Mohammad's life date from around 200 years after he was supposed to have lived.
NC Teacher Screams at Student: It’s Criminal to Criticize Obama
We read:
"A YouTube video uploaded on Monday afternoon apparently shows a schoolteacher from the Rowan-Salisbury school district in North Carolina informing a student that failing to be respectful of President Obama is a criminal offense. Breitbart News has uncovered that the student is a high school junior, and that the teacher is apparently one Tanya Dixon-Neely.
The video shows a classroom discussion about the Washington Post hit piece about Mitt Romney bullying a kid some five decades ago. One student says, “Didn’t Obama bully someone though?” The teacher says: “Not to my knowledge.” The student then cites the fact that Obama, in Dreams from My Father, admits to shoving a little girl. “Stop, no, because there is no comparison,” screams the teacher. Romney is “running for president. Obama is the president.”
The student responds that both are “just men.”
The teacher yells -- literally yells -- that Obama is “due the respect that every other president is due … Listen,” she continues, “let me tell you something, you will not disrespect the president of the United States in this classroom.” She yells over the student repeatedly, and yells at him that it's disrespect for him to even debate about Romney and Obama.
The student says that he can say what he wants.
“Not about him, you won’t,” says the teacher.
The teacher then tells the student – wrongly – that it is a criminal offense to say bad things about a president. “Do you realize that people were arrested for saying things bad about Bush? Do you realize you are not supposed to slander the president?”
The student says that it would violate First Amendment rights to jail someone for such sentiments. “You would have to say some pretty f’d up crap about him to be arrested,” says the student. “They cannot take away your right to have your opinion … They can’t take that away unless you threaten the president.”
Clearly, the student should be teaching the class, and the teacher should be reading the Constitution more often.
Source
21 May, 2012
Scotland: Police Arrest Six for Facebook Hate Speech
We read:
"On Wednesday, The BBC reported that police in Glasgow had arrested and charged six Facebook users for “breach of the peace with religious and racial aggravations.” These charges were based on the fact that the users had, allegedly, created a Facebook page called “Welcome to Israel, only kidding you’re in Giffnock,” upon which several posters mocked and insulted members of the Giffnock Jewish community. According to Jennifer Lipman of The Jewish Chronicle, messages left on the page included statements including “F*** the Jewish Zionist” and “Jewish scum.”
The arrests came after Stewart Maxwell, Scottish National Party (SNP) Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for West Scotland asked the chief of the Strathclyde police to investigate those responsible for creating the page.
Police responded by sending nearly 50 police officers to raid at least seven different locations in the Glasgow area. During the raid, police confiscated what members of the local media described as “a significant quantity” of computer equipment. Police officials said that they hoped their actions demonstrated that Scotland would not tolerate hate crimes.
Source
Speech that would be protected free speech in the USA is a "crime" in Scotland
There is a substantial body of opinion among Jewish writers which says that antisemitic speech should not be suppressed. Suppressing it probably leads to heightened antagoniusm towards Jews and in fact feeds the myth that the Jews control the government.
Professor strikes back at critics
We read:
"A Purdue University professor has filed a freedom of speech suit against his school and five co-workers after getting in hot water for inflammatory statements about Muslims on his Facebook page.
Tenured political science professor Maurice Eisenstein was cleared by a university investigation into his Facebook comments, which included a reference to "the idiot Mohammad [sic}, may his name be cursed." But Eisenstein claims the investigation nonetheless damaged his reputation and disputes a finding that he retaliated against other faculty members.
“I was trying to be challenging as a professor, and do what I was trained to do,” Eistenstein, who joined the school's faculty in 1993, told FoxNews.com.
The flap unfolded late last year, when Eisenstein posted a photo of the aftermath of a massacre of Nigerian Christians, purportedly carried out by African Muslims, on his Facebook page.
Eisenstein maintained that the post was on his personal page and in no way reflected on the school.
Source
20 May, 2012
Oregon bans Native American mascots in schools
It's perfectly obvious that schools use these names because they admire the strength and toughness of the tribes concerned. Only a Leftist could see critcism in such names
Eight Oregon high schools will have to retire their Native American mascots after the Board of Education voted Thursday to prohibit them, giving the state some of the nation's toughest restrictions on Native American mascots, nicknames and logos.
The 5-1 vote followed months of passionate and emotional debate about tolerance and tradition.
The schools have five years to comply with the order or risk losing their state funding. Another seven high schools identified as the Warriors will be allowed to keep their nickname but will have to change mascots or graphics that depict Native Americans. An unknown number of elementary and middle schools also will be affected.
The ban doesn't apply to colleges, but none in Oregon have Native American mascots after Southern Oregon University and Chemeketa Community College dropped them.
Since the 1970s, more than 600 high school and college teams across the country have done away with their Native American nicknames, including 20 in Oregon.
Critics say Indian mascots are racist, contending they reinforce stereotypes and promote bullying of Native students. Supporters say the mascots are a way to honor Native American history, evoking values of strength and bravery.
Source
Australia: The return of the dreaded golliwog
Golliwogs were invented by an American lady around 100 years ago but never caught on much in the USA. They were however VERY popular among children in Britain and Australia. They are based on the appearance of Africans.
THEY were once a much-loved toy, but became a casualty of the worldwide crusade against racism.
Now golliwogs are making a comeback, with stores along Queensland's tourist strips reporting strong sales, particularly to visitors from abroad.
Nostalgia-driven Baby Boomers, too, are snapping up the black dolls, renamed gollies, as gifts for their grandchildren or reminders of their childhood.
Store owner Deanne Edwards, from Prestige Flowers and Gifts in Hervey Bay, said she sells about 20 a week. "They're absolutely adorable," said Ms Edwards, who has dozens displayed in her shop window. "We absolutely love them. The kids love them, I love them. They are very, very popular. I sell so many it's not funny."
But the doll's re-emergence has shocked Queensland's indigenous community who warn their acceptance would be a step back in race relations. Mr Weatherall said the dolls were offensive and should be banned.
Since the 1960s, golliwogs have been condemned as racist, and campaigns succeeded in their gradual removal from public life, particularly in the UK, the US and Europe.
Source
19 May, 2012
Bible incorrect
We read:"International boxing star Manny Pacquiao denied allegations on Monday that he said homosexuals should be “put to death” after an interview that got him banned from one of the city’s most popular destinations.
Pacquiao was scheduled for an interview on Wednesday afternoon with Mario Lopez of TV’s “Extra” at The Grove in Los Angeles, but that appearance may be in jeopardy after comments he made to in response to President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage last week.
The Philippine lawmaker told the National Conservative Examiner that he believes the Bible is very clear on the issue of homosexuality and that the President’s comments are in direct contradiction to Scripture.
“God’s words first,” Pacquiao told the Examiner. “Obey God’s law first before considering the laws of man.”
Granville Ampong, the writer of the article — but not Pacquiao himself — went on to quote a passage from the Old Testament book of Leviticus, which states that “If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”
That interview prompted a statement from Grove VP of corporate affairs Bill Reich which read, “Based on news reports of statements made by Mr. Pacquiao we have made it be known that he is not welcome at The Grove and will not be interviewed here now or in the future.
Source
18 May, 2012
No realism allowed in Trayvon Martin case
We read:"Few people don’t have a strong opinion about the night Trayvon Martin died, its preceding moments and the aftermath, and one Florida Fire Chief has suffered severe repercussions at work after a controversial post he pasted to a Facebook status update reflected negatively on his department.
Miami-Dade Fire Captain Brian Beckmann dropped two ranks back down to firefighter after the following Facebook status was posted to his timeline:
“I and my coworkers could rewrite the book on whether our urban youths are victims of racist profiling or products of their failed, (expletive), ignorant, pathetic, welfare dependent excuses for parents, but like [special prosecutor] Mrs. Corey, we speak only the truth. They’re just misunderstood little church going angels and the ghetto hoodie look doesn’t have anything to do with why people wonder if they’re about to get jacked by a thug.”
Source
17 May, 2012
Must not imitate Indians
We read:
"You must have heard by now about his “racist” ad – a series of commercials where Ashton portrays different men looking for love on some faux dating site. It’s all a sort of stealth stand-in advertising PopChips snacks. The ad’s conceit is simple – Ashton presents himself as several different characters making videos for a generic dating site that subtly mentions PopChips. He does his best metrosexual German designer (Karl Lagerfeld to be exact), a sensitive biker named Swordfish, an English stoner/hippie-type and an Indian Bollywood film producer. Objectively, the portrayals are all really high-school level improvs but you can see the idea. Ashton gets to show off his comedic range, have some laughs and make some dough. Well, that might have happened if not for the delicate sensitivities of much of our world today.Must not mention that blacks are especially privileged
The ugly slurs and screams started almost immediately. RACIST! How dare he? Kutcher was accused of donning “brownface,” a term morphed from the “blackface” method employed during post-Civil War minstrel shows where some acts took to mocking black people and their culture. In this case, Kutcher was deemed guilty almost instantly of insulting Indian people, causing PopChips to suffer a corporate aneurism. They pulled the offending ad and immediately retreated to a corner
But why is this racist? What did they do that was so cruel or even offensive? And how come he can portray a pasty-faced German bisexual and that’s okay? Don’t they have feelings too? Why isn’t an English stoner named Nigel off limits? Aren’t slack-jawed, biker-types deserving of blanket cultural protection as well? What if Swordfish is Polish or Dutch or even part Chinese? Isn’t that just as insensitive? Is it only the race being poked at that’s wrong?
Source
We read:
"An exposed post on Twitter led to the announced resignation Wednesday of Associated Students of the University of Nevada Sen. Spenser Blank.
Blank’s tweet read: “these girls are being so loud in the library.” Blank tweeted. “...oh wait, they’re black #racisttweet #sorryimnotsorry,” according to Wednesday’s Coffin & Keys newsletter, a secret society publication on campus.
“(Blank) engaged in behavior that was not appropriate or becoming of an (ASUN) officer or the Nevada learning community,” ASUN Director Sandra Rodriguez said.
Source
16 May, 2012
Must not promote suntans?
H&M is a Swedish clothing firm with outlets in many countries
Just days after "tanorexia" became a household word (thanks to New Jersey Tanning Mom Patricia Krentcil), fashion retailer H&M has come under fire for featuring a deeply tanned model in their latest swimwear campaign, sparking outrage from the Swedish Cancer Society for promoting tanning as a fashion accessory.
"The clothing giant is creating, not least among young people, a beauty ideal that is deadly," the group wrote in an opinion piece in the Swedish Newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Thursday, AFP reported. "Every year, more people die in Sweden of [skin cancer] than in traffic accidents, and the main cause is too much sunning."
H&M released an apology almost immediately.
It seems like a stretch to say that a clothing campaign could single-handedly lead to an uptick in skin-cancer, especially given the media focus on the dangers of tanning beds.
Source
Isn't it "racist" to mention skin color?
Is antisemitism becoming another form of "allowable" hate speech?
Hatred of America, hatred of conservatives, hatred of the rich and hatred of Christians are of course just fine according to the "sensitive" Left. Sad that Jews seem to be joining that list again -- in highly "correct" Canada at least.
In Europe, the humour of Dieudonné M’bala M’bala has come to be seen as so toxic that public venues regularly shun him. On Tuesday, pressure from local authorities forced the French comic to scrap a show in Brussels. A performance in March is under investigation by Belgian police as possible anti-Semitic hate speech. Last year, the mayor of Angers in France blocked Dieudonné, as he is known, from using an auditorium there, forcing him to perform outdoors on the city outskirts.
But in Montreal, the city’s largest concert promoter has rented a prime downtown theatre to Dieudonné for four performances next week of the same show under investigation in Belgium. And tickets are going fast.
In a letter last month to the promoter Evenko, which is part of the Montreal Canadiens operation, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, questioned why the company was providing Dieudonné wih a stage at the Corona Theatre.
“It is well-known that Dieudonné’s trademark is not humour but hatred toward Jews,” Luciano Del Negro, the organization’s vice-president (Quebec) wrote.
Source
15 May, 2012
Must not accuse employees of laziness?
Australia. Chubb runs a lot of security trucks for delivering cash
A CHUBB Security boss was forced to apologise to workers and undergo counselling after circulating an email describing injured cash-in-transit guards as "oxygen thieves".
But the National Union of Workers believes the punishment is too lenient and have called for him to resign.
The email, written on April 24 and obtained by The Sunday Telegraph, was sent by Chubb's national security manager Brian Lee.
Mr Lee, a former NSW policeman, was formerly the company's manager of compliance in charge of workplace ethics. He made the comment in an exchange with a counterpart at Chubb Victoria, who needed to fly a worker to Sydney for weapons testing.
Mr Lee was first asked in the email: "You don't have anyone there on workcover who can pick up one of my guys from Airport (sic) on 2nd May?"
He responded the same day, writing: "I have plenty of oxygen thieves, but they can only work limited hours, so I may need to use a couple of them depending on the amount of time needed."
He then circulated the email to four Chubb supervisors in Sydney, asking them: "Do we have a body and vehicle around who can help?"
Workers were irate over the "oxygen thieves" comment, sticking copies of the email around Chubb offices in protest. The remark referred to guards injured during cash-in-transit robberies or those on restricted duties because of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Source
He has obviously not yet learned to be "sensitive"
Sir David Jason: Political correctness is killing the British sense of humour
We read:
"As the star of Only Fools and Horses and Open All Hours, Sir David Jason is responsible for some of the most amusing moments on television. The comic actor says many of them would, however, never make it to the screen these days because of a growing “political correctness” that is killing comedy.
Sir David, who was knighted by the Queen in 2005, points to the speech impediment suffered by Ronnie Barker’s shopkeeper, Arkwright, in Open All Hours, which created much gentle comedy.
“Barker’s character had a stutter and he got nothing but good mail from people who stuttered because, basically, they were saying they bring people to the front,” he says at the first anniversary performance of Shrek The Musical at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. “The other thing was that they didn’t think it was disrespectful. He only ever got positive responses.”
Earlier this month, a tabloid newspaper was widely criticised after it published a headline poking fun at the speech impediment suffered by Roy Hodgson, the newly appointed England football manager. The Press Complaints Commission said it had received more than 100 complaints.
Sir David points out that one of the most popular episodes of Only Fools and Horses, called “Stage Fright”, involves a nightclub singer who can’t pronounce his Rs.
Source
14 May, 2012
Far-Left Vanderbilt U in trouble with Tennessee Legislature
We read:
"For some time I’ve been commenting on a critical front in the battle for religious liberty on campus, the fight for religious liberty at Vanderbilt University. For those who haven’t been following this case, a summary: In the name of a particularly empty-headed and hypocritical brand of “nondiscrimination,” Vanderbilt is requiring campus Christian groups to be open to non-Christian leadership, even as it protects the special prerogatives of its large (and powerful) community of fraternities and sororities.
Faced with this pattern of behavior, last night the Tennessee legislature came through, passing by overwhelming margins a bill that would force Vanderbilt either to apply the alleged all-comers policy to fraternities and sororities or grant Christian groups the right to choose leaders that share the group’s faith. The bill (which also protects religious liberty at state public universities) now goes to Governor Haslam for his signature.
Source
TN: Campus policy violated First Amendment
We read:"All John McGlone wanted to do was share his Christian beliefs with students at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville. One on one. Instead, he was asked to leave campus by police simply because he didn’t give the university notice two weeks ahead of time, and he didn’t disclose what he wanted to talk about.
Now McGlone has won a case before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled Tennessee Tech’s policy was unreasonable and violated the First Amendment."
Source
13 May, 2012
Cyberbullying and Bullying Used As Pretexts for Censorship
We read:
"In the name of fighting “cyberbullying,” many New York legislators would like to force blogs to remove blog comments that offend readers, unless they “disclose information about the authorship of the supposedly offensive post including the writer’s name and home address.” As a law professor notes, the cost of doing that “might well be prohibitive for many Web site operators, whose only option at that point would be just to delete all the comments.”
On the bright side, the Tennessee legislature has belatedly heeded public criticism, and limited the state’s ban on posting images that “cause emotional distress” to comply with the First Amendment.
The U.S. Senate has passed restrictions on speech aimed at cyberbullying and “harassment” that UCLA School of Law’s Eugene Volokh has concluded violate the First Amendment, including an expansion of “stalking” provisions that were used unsuccessfully to prosecute a Twitter user who repeatedly criticized a religious leader. These provisions are contained in the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011, in a version of the bill that has passed the Senate but not the House.
Source
Criticism of Obama's class war is a "threat" against the President?
We read:
"Former Saturday Night Live star Jon Lovitz is learning the hard way that despite liberals' claims to love humor and comedy, they can't stand it when their own side is being criticized. The liberal comic is facing a huge amount of criticism on Twitter for taking exception to President Obama's continual assertions that wealthy Americans don't pay a "fair" amount of taxes.
While Lovitz has been bashed on Twitter, he clearly wasn't expecting to be accused of making some sort of violent threat against Obama. And yet that's exactly what happened last night on the HLN show Dr. Drew where the host, Drew Pinsky, seemed to genuinely believe that.
The comedian appears visibly shocked when he realizes instead that the woefully uninformed Pinsky actually seems to believe Lovitz had made some sort of death threat against Obama when all he had done is made a profane critique of the president's class warfare agenda.
Source
12 May, 2012
R.I.P.: Van T. Barfoot died at the age of 92 on 2 March 2012
Remember the guy who wouldn't take the flag down? You might remember a news story several months ago about a crotchety old man who defied his homeowners association and refused to take down the flagpole on his property and the large flag that flew on it. Now you can find out who, exactly, that old man was.
On June 15, 1919, Van T. Barfoot was born in Edinburg -- probably didn't make much news back then. twenty-five years later, on May 23, 1944, near Carano , Italy , Van T. Barfoot, who had enlisted in the US Army in 1940, set out to flank German machine gun positions from which fire was coming down on his fellow soldiers. He advanced through a minefield, took out three enemy machine gun positions and returned with 17 prisoners of war
If that wasn't enough for a day's work, he later took on and destroyed three German tanks sent to retake the machine gun
positions.
That probably didn't make much news either, given the scope of the war, but it did earn Van T. Barfoot, who retired as a colonel after also serving in Korea and Vietnam , a Congressional Medal of Honor.
What did make news was a neighborhood association's quibble with how the 90-year-old veteran chose to fly the American flag outside his suburban Virginia home. Seems the rules said a flag could be flown on a house-mounted bracket, but, for decorum, items such as Barfoot's 21-foot flagpole were unsuitable.
He had been denied a permit for the pole, erected it anyway and was facing court action if he didn't take it down. Since the story made national TV, the neighborhood association has rethought its position and agreed to indulge this old hero who dwells among them.
"In the time I have left I plan to continue to fly the American flag without interference," Barfoot told The Associated Press.
More speech restrictions in Germany
A German man exercized a basic right provided in the German constitution -- a right to call for resistance to the governing elite -- and a right with clear similarites to the American Second Amendment -- and he got prosecuted over it.
Because he was clearly within his rights, however, the verdict against him was simply based on the fact that he had criticized Muslims, which runs against German law prohibiting "incitement to hatred and insult and defamation of a group of people"
Now Germany has its own version of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands and Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff in Austria - Michael Mannheimer has undergone legal prosecution for making statements about Islam displeasing to Muslims and their politically correct allies.
Mannheimer ran afoul of German authorities after he issued a "Call to General Resistance of the German People according to Article 20, paragraph 4 of the Basic Law
Mannheimer's internet declaration of resistance earned him a criminal conviction and a fine of 50 Euros for 50 days (2,500 Euros) from a court in the southern German town of Heilbronn in the state of Baden- Würtemburg.
In Mannheimer's defense, though, he referenced violence merely as an ultima ratio according to the traditional understanding of Article 20(4) and its underlying political philosophy. Moreover, it was not incitement to violence, but Section 130's provisions on incitement to hatred and insult and defamation of a group of people (i.e. Muslims) that formed the basis of Mannheimer's conviction.
Michael Mannheimer's case is bad news for free speech in Germany and, along with increasingly frequent similar cases, places in like legal danger others like Nonie Darwish and Ibn Warraq.
Following on the prosecution of Elisabeth Sabbaditsch-Wolf, Mannheimer's case shows that not just politicians such as Wilders, but also private citizens will be subject to legal sanction provided that they become too prominent in their criticism and condemnation of Islam.
Their loss, in turn, will be the loss of societies at large robbed of the opportunity to learn about Islam from all perspectives, an issue of immense global importance today.
Source
11 May, 2012
You could be fired for 'liking' a Facebook page
We read:
"Six workers in the US were fired for 'liking' the Facebook page of their boss's political opponent after a federal judge ruled that clicking the 'like' button is not constitutionally protected speech.
But does the act of merely clicking a button on a website constitute fully fledged support of the opposition?
"Whether or not it's justifiable to terminate them solely for liking the opponent candidate on Facebook, I think is a very long, almost quantum leap," says Young.
In the case in the US, Sheriff B.J. Roberts of Hampton, Virginia, fired six of his staff members for liking the Facebook page of his running opponent in the 2009 election. He said that their actions had "hindered the harmony and efficiency of the office".
The staff members sued, claiming that their First Amendment rights had been violated.
However, Judge Raymond A. Jackson of the Federal District Court said in his ruling that clicking the "like" button did not amount to expressive speech.
Essentially, because there was no actual writing or speech involved, the act of clicking a button is not afforded constitutional protection under the ruling.
A lawyer for one of the workers said he would appeal Judge Jackson's ruling.
Source
If pole dancing and flag burning are protected as speech, It is difficult to see why "Like" clicking is not protected also. Besides, "like" may just express interest or amusement. It is not necessarily a wholehearted endorsement of someone. Burger King Offends Hindus
We read:
"Hindus have asked Burger King Corporation to publicly apologize and immediately withdraw a poster seen in Spain, which shows Hindu goddess Lakshmi promoting a meat sandwich, which they termed repugnant.
Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was highly disturbing to see goddess Lakshmi, who is highly revered in Hinduism, modeling for a meat sandwich as shown. Lakshmi was meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not for pushing meat sandwiches in the streets for mercantile greed of a global corporation.
Rajan Zed pointed out that Hinduism promoted strict vegetarianism insisting on ahimsa (not harming living creatures) and non-killing, and renouncing animal slaughter and meat eating. It suggested taking of sattvik (vegetables, fruits, etc.) and avoiding rajasik (eggs, etc.) and tamasik (meat, intoxicants, etc.) foods.
Source
Hindu religions might seem wacky to us but try to explain the Christian triune God to a Hindu and he will think that you are the crazy one. Odd though Hindu devotions may seem to us, they are nonetheless often deeply felt.
For an American Hindu organization to complain about an advertisement in Spain smacks of publicity-seeking, however. I guess that they have learned American ways and found that getting "offended" a lot can have payoffs of various sorts
10 May, 2012
Homosexual hate speech
Most of what Dan Savage said is too vile for this blog but you will get the general idea
Savage was apparently invited by the college to address students about his “It Gets Better” campaign. An announcement on the Elmhurst web site promoted the free and public event. While the college is saying that that the talk went off without a hitch, Peter LaBarbera, the founder of the group Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (an organization that works to expose the so-called “radical homosexual agenda”) has a very different view.
LaBarbera has called the discussion crude and inappropriate. On the flip side, Elmhurst spokeswoman Desiree Chen says that it was a success that included ”a great mix of people of all ages.” According to the college, 1,200 people showed up to the event.
Now, here’s where things get interesting. LaBarbera also claims he was unfairly removed from the event after questioning Savage and his past tactics.
According to LaBarbera the “anti-bullying” bigotry was laced with profanity and filthy and distorted accusations about believing Christians. “Savage made wildly inappropriate comments,” he said:
“The Pope. I’m going to digress for a moment about the Pope. The Pope recently said that gay marriage is a threat to the survival of the human race,” he said. “Because once…gay marriage is legal, everyone is going to get gay married. What he‘s saying is that there’s no such thing as a straight person.”
At this point, the audience roared with applause and laughter. Then, he continued with his statements about the Catholic leader’s views on gay marriage
Source
He's a truly disgusting human being. Anyone aiming at homosexual acceptance should see him as a deadly enemy. He's just brimming over with hate
Jeremy Clarkson cleared by British regulator for likening Japanese hybrid car to the Elephant Man
We read:
"Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has been cleared of any wrongdoing after comparing the shape of a new Japanese car to the Elephant Man. Controversial Clarkson said the Japanese car and camper van hybrid looked like 'people with growths on their faces'. He then mimicked the famous disfigured Victorian man Joseph Merrick - played by actor John Hurt in the 1980 film - as he spoke about the car.
The brand of the car was not mentioned on the show but is believed to be a Prius
The star slurred his speech saying that the car resembled something you would not talk to at a party. Richard Hammond then dubbed it the 'elephant car'.
His behaviour on the BBC motoring show Top Gear in February sparked outrage with the boss of a disfigurement charity saying such comments led to ridicule and bullying. Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom received 41 complaints from outraged viewers and the BBC more than 55. But despite this, Ofcom announced its decision today not to proceed with the complaints.
A spokesman said that, after careful assessment, Ofcom had decided not to pursue them because they did not raise issues warranting investigation. He said: 'Ofcom recognises that the comments were potentially offensive to individuals living with facial disfigurement. 'However, on balance, we believe that they would not have exceeded the likely expectation of the audience, and any potential offence was justified by the context.'
But he added: 'We have informed the BBC of the issues raised by the complainants so they can be taken into consideration for future programmes.'
Source
9 May, 2012
Only official pronouncements may use the word "obese" in Britain
When the government blasts you for being fat that is OK: But not OK for anyone else?
"The word 'obese' should not be used when encouraging the public to lose weight as it may be 'derogatory', councils have been told. Instead, anyone who is dangerously overweight should merely be urged to try to 'achieve a healthier weight', according to guidelines drawn up by the health watchdog NICE.
The guidance tells officials to ' carefully consider the type of language' they use when designing posters and leaflets.
Under a new Government strategy, councils – rather than NHS trusts – have been given the task of combating rising levels of obesity. Ministers are giving town halls £ 5billion a year to tackle a range of public health issues, which also include binge-drinking, smoking and teenage pregnancies.
Source
"Blacklist" is blacklisted in Britain: Police ban word over claims it is racist
We read:
"Police chiefs have banned the word 'blacklist' over fears it is racist. They have also struck out its opposite - 'whitelist' - which is used by IT workers for a list of acceptable email contacts. Scotland Yard employees have been told to use 'red' and 'green' instead.
The move baffled officers, who said it would do little to help the force emerge from its latest racism crisis.
One officer said: 'Frankly we all sigh when things like this come around. Lots of good work is done to make sure policing reaches into all parts of society and helps the most vulnerable. This is not it.'
The measure is part of a drive by police chiefs to stamp out racism within the force. But officers within the organisation are said to have described the latest orders as 'bizarre'.
One source said that banning them won't solve any genuine problems the Met has with racism. They added: 'Do we really think these words are discriminatory? The truth is they're nothing to do with race whatsoever and are very common IT terms.'
Source
8 May, 2012
Is the "outrageous" Jeremy Clarkson the only realist in Britain?
We read:
"Jeremy Clarkson has risked outrage by suggesting that long queues for airport border control checks could be solved by "a bit of racism."
The BBC Top Gear presenter claimed that the long delays at Heathrow border control were because immigration officials were no longer allowed to use their discretion to wave certain passengers through.
He said: "Nobody is waved through any more. The result is plain for all to see. There's a two-hour wait.
"And the problem is: the only possible solution is to introduce a bit of racism."
He added: "Nobody likes a racist. Nobody likes prejudice. It has no place at work, at play, or in government. "But at Heathrow airport? Hmmm."
Clarkson, who is now notorious for his provocative comments, used his Sun newspaper column to wade into the controversy over passengers facing queues of up to three hours at Heathrow.
He claimed that liberal attitudes prevented officials targeting only passengers deemed "high risk".
"You can't get that sort of thing past the bleeding-heart liberals. They believe that . a hook-handed imam with fire in his heart and hatred in his eyes is just as likely to whip up anti-western sentiment as Joanna Lumley."
Source
1 May, 2012
AL Town Bows to Atheists and Removes Bible Verse From Welcome Signs
We read:
"Many residents in Sylvania, Alabama, are up in arms after a Bible verse was removed from four of the town’s welcome signs. The verse, Ephesians 4:5, was taken off of the signs after the Madison, Wisconsin-based group the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter calling its presence
unconstitutional.
The verse, which reads, “One Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism,” was painted over on each of the signs on Monday, according to Mayor Mitchell Dendy. The town’s leader claims that this is the first time that there has been a problem with the verse since it was posted three and a half years ago.
The city, like many others that are attacked by the FFRF, doesn’t have the means to pay for a costly legal battle, so covering the verses was apparently the most practical and prudent approach.
Source
These atheist activists are just Christian-hating Leftists. How can you be offended by something you don't believe in? If you were made to take part in some religious activity that might be wearisome but when you can just drive right on past it doesn't affect you at all. For years atheists just ignored religion and happily got on with their own lives. It is only Leftists with their constant desire to control others that have started in recent times to make an issue of this.
And why do Leftists hate real Christians? Because Leftism is itself a rival religion that preaches salvation by government. Given the moronic nature of government, they might as well preach salvation by Satan. Government as an invention of the Devil is certainly believable at times.
Homosexuality must be accepted as a legitimate alternative lifestyle -- except when it must not be mentioned as a possibility at all!
Figure that one out!
Fox News analyst Monica Crowley on Friday apologized for tweeting the news of Sandra Fluke’s engagement with the comment, “To a man?”
Crowley’s initial post Thursday about the Georgetown Law student prompted a flurry of responses, including ones calling her “homophobic“ and a ”terrible person.” She retweeted a few of them, and tweeted that she loves “exposing the Left’s total lack of a sense of humor.”
That came to an end Friday afternoon, however, when Crowley wrote: “Regret my tweeted question caused a stir. I certainly & unequivocally apologize to Sandra & anyone else I offended. Not my intention.”
Source
Posts from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).
"HATE SPEECH" is free speech: The U.S. Supreme Court stated the general rule regarding protected speech in Texas v. Johnson (109 S.Ct. at 2544), when it held: "The government may not prohibit the verbal or nonverbal expression of an idea merely because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Federal courts have consistently followed this. Said Virginia federal district judge Claude Hilton: "The First Amendment does not recognize exceptions for bigotry, racism, and religious intolerance or ideas or matters some may deem trivial, vulgar or profane."
Even some advocacy of violence is protected by the 1st Amendment. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that speech advocating violent illegal actions to bring about social change is protected by the First Amendment "except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."
The traditional advice about derogatory speech: "Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you". Apparently people today are not as emotionally robust as their ancestors were.
A phobia is an irrational fear, so the terms "Islamophobic" and "homophobic" embody a claim that the people so described are mentally ill. There is no evidence for either claim. Both terms are simply abuse masquerading as diagnoses and suggest that the person using them is engaged in propaganda rather than in any form of rational or objective discourse.
Leftists often pretend that any mention of race is "racist" -- unless they mention it, of course. But leaving such irrational propaganda aside, which statements really are racist? Can statements of fact about race be "racist"? Such statements are simply either true or false. The most sweeping possible definition of racism is that a racist statement is a statement that includes a negative value judgment of some race. Absent that, a statement is not racist, for all that Leftists might howl that it is. Facts cannot be racist so nor is the simple statement of them racist. Here is a statement that cannot therefore be racist by itself, though it could be false: "Blacks are on average much less intelligent than whites". If it is false and someone utters it, he could simply be mistaken or misinformed.
Whatever your definition of racism, however, a statement that simply mentions race is not thereby racist -- though one would think otherwise from American Presidential election campaigns. Is a statement that mentions dogs, "doggist" or a statement that mentions cats, "cattist"?
Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? "You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated." -- Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862
The spirit of liberty is "the spirit which is not too sure that it is right." and "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it." -- Judge Learned Hand
Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)
First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean
It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.
It seems a pity that the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus is now little known. Remember, wrote the Stoic thinker, "that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your judgment that they are so. So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you. Wherefore make it your endeavour not to let your impressions carry you away."
"Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates, and hearing all manner of reason?" -- English poet John Milton (1608-1674) in Areopagitica
Hate speech is verbal communication that induces anger due to the listener's inability to offer an intelligent response
Leftists can try to get you fired from your job over something that you said and that's not an attack on free speech. But if you just criticize something that they say, then that IS an attack on free speech
"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper
Why are Leftists always talking about hate? Because it fills their own hearts
Leftists don't have principles. How can they when "there is no such thing as right and wrong"? All they have is postures, pretend-principles that can be changed as easily as one changes one's shirt
When you have an argument with a Leftist, you are not really discussing the facts. You are threatening his self esteem. Which is why the normal Leftist response to challenge is mere abuse.
The naive scholar who searches for a consistent Leftist program will not find it. What there is consists only in the negation of the present.
The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) could have been speaking of much that goes on today when he said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
