OK to Abuse Christianity Still

Even the sight of a Christmas tree is suppposed to upset Muslims, according to Leftists. And they make great efforts to ensure that we don't upset people's religious sensibilities. So they no doubt will be manning (personing?) the barricades over this:

"A punk-rock style, trendy tight fit and affordable price have made Cheap Monday jeans a hot commodity among young Swedes, but what has people talking is the brand's ungodly logo: a skull with a cross turned upside down on its forehead. The jeans' makers say it's more of a joke, but the logo's designer said there's a deeper message. "It is an active statement against Christianity," Bjorn Atldax told The Associated Press. "I'm not a Satanist myself, but I have a great dislike for organized religion."

"One cannot just keep quiet about this," said the Rev. Karl-Erik Nylund, vicar of St. Mary Magdalene Church in Stockholm. "This is a deliberate provocation (against Christians) and I object to that." Nylund complained that Swedish companies don't treat Christianity with the same respect that they afford other religions. "No one wants to provoke Jews or Muslims, but it's totally OK to provoke Christians," he said."

Source

We all know how many Leftist protests there will be about it all don't we? Leftist hypocrisy and double standards never stop. I personally think that people should be free to wear what they want on their clothing but I also (even though I am an atheist) think that people should be free to make whatever reference to Christ and Christmas that they want. That sort of consistency and genuine principle is unknown to most of the Left, however. What it shows is that their only real goal is not to help but to hurt. In the name of tolerance they practice discrimination. They are themselves as intolerant as their Communist heroes.




A Political Quiz

The holiday season is a good time for something fun and lighthearted so I though I might direct readers to: "A Humorous Political Party Quiz to Test If You're an Archconservative, Leftwing Wacko, Antigovernment Libertine or a Commie Sympathizer". It's been around for a while but I am guessing that there will be a lot of readers here who have not seen it yet. You can find it here

Confederate War Hero Bad; Socialist Mexican Good

"Stonewall" Jackson has towns, counties, parks, rivers, creeks, lakes, forests and buildings named for him all across the southern US. But that is now bad. A press excerpt:

"The debate comes down to this: Was Stonewall-Flanders Elementary School named for the legendary Confederate general Stonewall Jackson or for stone fences that adorned front yards in the neighborhood? Harlandale Independent School District trustees will consider the question as they decide whether to grant a former district administrator's request to rename the school after Cesar Chavez, the late social activist.... Calzoncit says Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson was a racist and the school should not bear his name"

Source

Note that NOBODY is defending the naming of the school after Jackson. They are defending the name on the basis that it does NOT refer to Jackson. It seems to be universally accepted that nothing should be named after a racist. But almost everybody was racist before World War 2 (including that great fan of Aryans, Democrat President Woodrow Wilson) so should we celebrate none of our ancestors? Psychologists even tell us that we are ALL racists so should we just stop naming things after people?





Northern Ireland Shows the Way

(This post is outside the normal scope of this blog but I hope that we are all more relaxed over the holiday season and I think lots of readers here will be interested in it)

Northern Ireland: That's where Protestants and Catholics are always shooting one-another, Right? Maybe. But note this:

"A United Nations report has labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America. England and Wales recorded the second highest number of violent assaults while Northern Ireland recorded the fewest. The study, based on telephone interviews with victims of crime in 21 countries, found that more than 2,000 Scots were attacked every week, almost ten times the official police figures. They include non-sexual crimes of violence and serious assaults. Violent crime has doubled in Scotland over the past 20 years and levels, per head of population, are now comparable with cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Tbilisi".

Source

So what's going on? We know that Scotland lives under very draconian gun bans. What about Northern Ireland? Why is its crime-rate so LOW despite the religious tensions? Answer: Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that is generally armed, or at least where you cannot assume that any given person is not armed. So it's that good old deterrent effect at work again. As in the USA, the more guns, the less crime.

A Brutal Asian Fraternity Kills a Member: So Race Card is Played

A press excerpt:

"A Houston lawmaker is urging University of Texas officials to reconsider last week's decision to ban an Asian American-interest fraternity whose members were involved in hazing the night freshman member Phanta "Jack" Phoummarath drank himself to death. Rep. Hubert Vo wrote UT President Larry Faulkner last week that the university should consider alternative punishments such as probation, community service or alcohol abuse training for the members of Lambda Phi Epsilon, rather than canceling the registration of the entire group.

Group punishment, Vo said, is unfair and could send the wrong message to the Asian community by destroying an important social and support network for Asian students, many of whom are children of immigrants and first-generation college students. Vo said Tuesday his concern has nothing to do with race and that he doesn't expect Asians to get special treatment at UT.....

Brett has said members of Lambda Phi Epsilon, which was not affiliated with UT's Greek community, told university investigators that new members were expected to drink large amounts of liquor and were required to shave their heads when they were installed as active members.

But Vo, a Democrat who emigrated from Vietnam about 30 years ago, said UT's decision may discourage Asian students who need all the resources they can get while pursuing their education. "Cutting off a fraternity like this means cutting off the support network for the students," Vo said.

Source

If this typical Democrat support for murderers has nothing to do with race, why mention it?

Christmas Card Update

On December 10th I put up an email from a company manager who sent out NRA Christmas cards to all his business contacts -- cards that actually mentioned Christmas. He has just sent me an update about what happened:

"I also wanted to give you a short update on the item I sent you about the selection of Christmas cards I sent to my clients. These card were the ones I bought from the National Rifle Association. It appears that it was tempest in a teapot. I sent out 300 cards, and got not one single, solitary complaint. I actually did get one complaint, but it turns out that the customer was joking about being offended. As an aside, more people wished me a Merry Christmas that in years past. Possibly, I was just more aware of it this year after listening to Bill O'Reilley and John Gibson discuss the "War on Christmas." I also am an avid listener of some of the programs on National Public Radio, long viewed as a bastion of liberal thought. I heard quite a few Merry Christmases from them, also.

Bigotry Against Southerners

An interesting post from a blogger in the American South. Excerpt:

"In recent online discussions I have been twice accused of being a racist when the person arguing with me found out I live in Houston Texas. There seems to be this bigoted stereotype that those of us in the southern United States are just a bunch of unenlightened inbred racist bastards. It was very unsettling to me to be accused of this living as I do in one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the USA, and one which has a very good record of race relations.

The blogger then presents statistics that show Texas as LESS racist than other places. Ignorance, thy name is Leftism.

Racism at Cornell

Psychologists at Cornell are making an effort to sell their dubious services to minority students there. Nothing wrong with that. Selling your services is very American. But how come you can target race -- which Leftists say does not exist (It's "socially constructed") -- as part of what you do? Note this excerpt:

"Counselors at the Ivy League school hold group talks such as "The Joys and Challenges of Being Other Than Caucasian at Cornell" and have drop-in sessions at the international student center, the engineering school and other spots....

At Cornell, the new outreach includes multilingual sessions and culture-specific marketing. Cornell literature even promotes Frandsen-Pechenik as the school's "very own Latina psychologist."....

"Most psychologists I meet are not understanding of, say, being the first in your family to go to college and having the weight of the family on your shoulders," said Cisneros, a senior from Dallas.

Source

"Anglo" students have problems too. Some "Anglo" students too are the first in their family to go to college. I was myself. So how about a talk on "The Joys and Challenges of Being Caucasian at Cornell"? And will Cornell be promoting its "very own Anglo-Saxon psychologists"? We know it's not going to happen but why not? Shouldn't all students be treated equally?




People like these Accuse Conservatives of Racism

I think I will let these press excerpts speak for themselves:

"While Councilman Michael Ashford was being ushered away from a breakfast table by union boss Bill Lichtenwald, he heard Mr. Lichtenwald say to Councilman Frank Szollosi, "Why are you talking to those people?" Mr. Ashford, who is African-American, said he felt racially offended by the remark, which is further adding to the divide between A team and B-team Democrats".

Source

And:

"A high-ranking official within the Liberal Party of Canada resigned Monday after he made disparaging comments on his blog about NDP Leader Jack Layton and his wife, NDP candidate Olivia Chow. Mike Klander, executive vice-president of the federal Liberal party's Ontario wing, stepped down after photographs of Chow, the NDP candidate for the Toronto riding of Trinity-Spadina, and a chow chow dog were posted on his blog dated Dec. 9 under the heading "Separated at Birth.""

Photo of Ms Chow below:



Source

Can Anyone help?

As I have mentioned before, I get a lot of email from readers of this blog who are in the military. I have just got an email that I think I should share in case anyone reading this can help:

"The army here in Iraq has apparently blocked the whole 72.x.x.x domain, and that is where Townhall.com is located. Can you contact them and tell them they have fans (and financial contributors) in Iraq that cannot access their site? Maybe they can change their IP address, maybe they have an alternative address, or maybe they can contact someone and complain that their site is being blocked. By law, the army cannot block some sites and leave others accessible unless they have a really good reason.

I think it is pretty disgraceful when a mainstream conservative site like Townhall is blocked.

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all who come by here from your TT bloggers

Postings may be a bit light over the festive season




The "Non-existent" Attacks on Christmas

When people point out to Leftists how intolerant their attacks on Christmas are, what do they do? Increasingly they deny that such attacks happen! Denial is an old Freudian defence mechanism and Leftists have never been very comfortable with reality (which is why they are so keen on censoring it) so I cannot say that I am surprised by such a response but it sure must take some huge mental gymnastics to dismiss as unimportant or non-existent such examples as the four below (Taken from Deroy Murdock):

* In Manhasset, N.Y., Town Supervisor Jon Kaiman upbraided a Catholic priest who appeared at a Dec. 2 Christmas festival. "We're here to celebrate the holiday tree lighting," Kaiman said after Father Nick Zientarski offered a blessing. "This is not the place for a religious ceremony." Kaiman apologized after he unleashed a maelstrom.

* Centennial, Colo.'s Heritage Elementary School banned cookies shaped like Christmas symbols, candy canes bearing religious messages, and teacher and student references to seasonal gatherings as "Christmas" parties.

* A Memphis, Tenn., public library allowed a Nativity scene _ provided Jesus, Mary, and Joseph were excluded. (Manger, yes. Messiah, no.) Attorneys persuaded the library to reverse this decision.

* Much as "Uncle Joe" [Stalin] erased his enemies from photos of VIPs taken atop Lenin's Tomb, Stalinists at Ridgeway Elementary School in Dodgeville, Wis., airbrushed the lyrics to "Silent Night." Children in its "Winter Program" instead sang these bastardized words: "Cold in the night, no one in sight/winter winds whirl and bite/How I wish I were happy and warm/safe with my family, out of the storm."

Traditional Dress OK -- but not if it's Scottish

I am sure that Muslim garb would have been OK. And if the guy had accused people in Muslim garb of looking like clowns there would have been hell to pay

As I myself wear full Highland dress on occasions (See here) I was pretty disgusted to read this story. Every person with Scottish connections recognizes the kilt as a formal and dignified form of dress. Excerpt:

"Nathan Warmack wanted to honor his heritage by wearing a Scottish kilt to his high school dance. Then a principal told him to change into a pair of pants. What began with a few yards of tartan has sparked an international debate about freedom, symbols and cultural dress. More than 1,600 people have signed an Internet petition seeking an apology for the high school senior....

And while they weren't trying to dress in kilts, a few boys were allowed to wear skirts to class at Franklin Community High School in Indiana in 1997, when a superintendent said different people express themselves in different ways....

After Nathan Warmack and his date posed for pictures, principal Rick McClard, who had not previously seen the kilt, told the student he had to go change. Warmack refused a few times and said the outfit was recognizing his heritage. Warmack alleges McClard told him: "Well, this is my dance, and I'm not going to have students coming into it looking like clowns."...

Several Scottish heritage organizations are angry, saying the kilt is a symbol of Scottish pride and considered formal dress. "To say the traditional Scottish dress makes you look like a clown is a direct insult to people of Scottish heritage and those who live in Scotland," said Tom Wilson, a Texas commissioner for the Clan Gunn Society of North America, a Scottish heritage organization.

Sinterklaas

We mentioned here yesterday the heartburn being caused in some quarters over the Dutch Santa Claus (Sinterklaas) -- the trouble being that Sinterklaas has a helper called "Black Pete". Black Pete carries a large bag with him into which he puts naughty children to teach them a lesson. This centuries-old joke is now of course seen as "offensive" among those who make a profession out of being offended. Anyway, I thought readers might like to see a picture of Sinterklaas and "Zwarte Piet" with his bag. The picture was taken in Australia on Sydney's most famous city beach -- Bondi. Santa Claus gets around, you know.

Incorrect to Photograph your own Children

I guess we are all pedophiles now, according to the loony below:

"Parents have branded a headteacher Scrooge after she banned them from filming their own children. Barbara Williams has banned camcorders and cameras from Christmas concerts at Blaenllynfi Infants' School in Caerau....

Chairman of governors at Blaenllynfi, Rev Keith Andrews, said Mrs Williams had told him it was local authority policy. 'I support the policy because of child protection issues,' he said. 'If anybody gets photographs of children, they can be published anywhere.'

Source

It's just a desperate attempt to appear "holier than thou".

Update

A good comment from a reader: "This is scary. It is getting to the point that we cannot touch another in sympathy, hold a hand in comfort, give a hug of simple affection, and now take pictures of our children and grandchildren without some idiot thinking it will be used for pornography! It is not only ridiculous but a way of negatively controlling people so that there is no normal any more only distance and coldness. When are people going to realize there has never been nor ever will be perfect protection from evil in this world and that you cannot give up being a human being to try to avoid evil? It just doesn't work that way. Evil is evil and it will always find a way. Just the same as you can't prevent all accidents"




Nativity Scene Removed even in Holy Ireland

Press excerpt:

"Christmas cheer at the country's biggest hospital has been replaced by outrage over a decision to remove a festive crib due to fears of offending non-Christians. No sooner had the crib at St James's Hospital in Dublin been erected than it became the latest victim of political correctness. Hospital bosses ordered its removal yesterday, leaving many staff very angry. The crib, which was donated to the hospital by a patient, was assembled in the hospital concourse in the centre of the huge hospital development".

Source

Who on earth is a nativity scene going to offend in Holy Ireland? REMOVING it has certainly caused offence but that does not matter of course: Which shows that "avoiding offence" is just a pretext for the Left. UPSETTING ordinary people is the real aim.

Truth Forbidden in Australia

Australia's largest city, Sydney, has been suffering a long time from the aggressive and criminal behaviour of young Muslim men who are the children of Arabs who were allowed into Australia as refugees during the civil war in Lebanon. And the politicized police have been made to treat the offenders concerned with kid gloves. Last weekend, young Anglo Australians got sick of police inaction and held a rally to deal with the Muslims themselves. Under the influence of the hot weather and much beer, however, the rally turned into a huge riot that the police could barely restrain.

The riot did however wake the authorities up to the fact that they were going to have to deal with the Muslim problem themselves and, under the pretext of restraining "racism" among Anglo-Australians, new laws have been rushed through that enable better police control of aggressive gatherings. We will see this weekend what happens as a result. I have been monitoring the ethnic incidents daily on my Australian Politics blog.

As I mentioned, the authorities in Sydney blame everybody but the Muslims (sound familiar?) and various media figures have been caught in that net. Note the following quote about popular Sydney radio announcer Brian Wilshire :

"The career of veteran 2GB announcer Brian Wilshire is in limbo after he called Lebanese-Australians "inbreds" and questioned their intelligence on air. Wilshire, 61, was yesterday pulled off air and made to apologise for comments he made on Thursday night. Discussing Middle Eastern boys involved in violence he said: "Many of them have parents who are first cousins, whose parents were first cousins ... The result of this is inbreeding."

Source

Note that there was no attempt to look into the truth or falsehood of what he said. That was apparently seen as irrelevant. If you want to express your support for Wilshire, he can probably be reached here: surfreport@mrpc.net




A Small Victory for Christmas Music

In Towson, near Baltimore, the local business association runs the town's Christmas celebrations ("The ceremony is sponsored by Baltimore County government and the Towson Business Association, which does most of the legwork"). And important in the celebrations are a local choir, a choir that has been there for many years to give voice on the big day when the Christmas tree is lit up and Santa arrives.

But this year the head of the business association, Susan Doordan, told the choir not to sing anything religious. But about half the songs the choir normally sings are in fact religious. So the choir rebelled. No songs at all for Towson this year, they said.

That got things rumbling. The head of the business association suddenly discovered that there was in fact no ban on religious songs and called the choir back and told them to sing whatever they liked.

The full story was here under the heading: "Tradition triumphs over political correctness at tree lighting" but has now been taken down and is now no longer available even in their archives. Why am I not surprised? The journalist who wrote the story was Loni Ingraham.




A Good Email

I get lots of emails both from readers of this blog and from readers of my other blogs. And I have often noted how the email address of the people who write to me ends in "mil" -- meaning that the writer is a member of the U.S. military. So no prizes for guessing that lots of military men greatly dislike political correctness.

I thought that for once I might however put up an excerpt from one of the emails I have received from military men:

"I also wanted to tell you I enjoy the Tongue Tied web site. Keep up the good work. I also wanted to let you know I am a civilian contractor (retired Air Force) working in Iraq. The morale of both the troops and civilians here is really high. People take a lot of pride in serving their country and being part of history. I have a 21 year old son who is in the Army and is stationed in Baghdad. He just re-enlisted this week. I couldn't be prouder of him. I just wanted you to get a glimpse of things from my perspective".

Thank goodness for the internet! Without it all we would hear is the doom and gloom that the media never tire of shovelling at us.

Food, Nutrition and Calories

A little while ago I put up a post ridiculing an "expert" who said that food can be high in calories but have no nutritional value. The statement is absurd because the human body produces calories from food and if food is not nutrition what is?

A number of readers have however written to me who agree with the "expert" -- usually taking the trouble to tell me also how their own diet of fruit and nuts (or whatever) has benefited them.

So I think I may have been a bit unfair to the "expert". I suspect that in current American usage "nutrition" means "food that I approve of". Being a straight-talking Australian, that caught me by surprise.

Are Blondes Now Politically Incorrect?

First, a news excerpt:

"Miss Iceland Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir was crowned the surprise winner of the Miss World 2005 in a lavish ceremony watched live by millions across the globe. The 21-year-old Reykjavik student, daughter of Miss Iceland 1983, expressed her delight and astonishment at beating out a field of 102 young women from around the world. The green-eyed brunette will serve as a goodwill ambassador and charity fund-raiser for children's causes throughout next year and is likely to profit from a host of modelling and acting contracts.... Vilhjalmsdottir is a student from Reykjavik who has interned as a policewoman during her summer holidays while studying courses in anthropology and aspiring towards a career in law".

The winner:



Miss Russia Yulia Ivanova won the bathing suit section:





Miss Australia:



I thought Miss Australia looked better but perhaps I am biased. But note that she is a blonde and even the ENTRANTS from such such fair-haired populations as Russia and Iceland were dark-haired. Since I think it is no mystery that "gentlemen prefer blondes" (Why otherwise are two thirds of the blonde ladies walking around the place not born that way?) so I have no doubt that we are once again being told by the powers that be that our attitudes are all WRONG and that we should have a different ideal of feminine beauty from that which most of us do have.

And the ideal of beauty displayed by Miss Russia is appalling. If ever a girl looked like she needs a good feed, she does. But the lady I most like the looks of (looks only) is Pamela Anderson, so I guess I would think that!

Update

No blonde hair in the photo below either:



(Miss World 2004, Maria Julia Mantilla Garcia of Peru(2L) hands over her crown to 2005 winner Miss Iceland, Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir(2R) as first runner up Miss Puerto Rico, Ingrid Maria Riviera Santos(R) and second runner up Miss Mexico, Dafne Molina Lona(L) look on.)




Georgia Strikes Back

Leftist tyranny in the schools has got so bad that a law is now seen as needed to protect school staff who say "Merry Christmas"!

"There's still no peace on Earth in the fight over Christmas and public places. A new bill in the Legislature would protect public workers or public school students from being punished if they say "Merry Christmas" to each other, instead of "Happy Holidays."

Source

The Tragic Dutch Sparrow

I guess this is a sort of animal (think PETA) correctness but it is in any case totally unbalanced -- and unbalanced in the sense of being insane. First a press excerpt:

"A sparrow that knocked over 23,000 dominoes and almost derailed a world record attempt before being shot dead will be enshrined in the Rotterdam Natural History Museum, the museum said Friday....

Although common, the house sparrow's numbers have fallen by more than 50 percent in the past 20 years due to human encroachment on their habitat. On Friday, public prosecutors in The Hague issued a euro200 ($235) fine to the exterminator who killed the bird.

Source

A common bird was shot to stop it messing up an event on which many people had worked hard for a long time and it is treated as a national tragedy. I can only conclude that the Dutch have become totally unhinged by all the hostile Muslims in their midst. They seem to be totally unable to do anything to stop the Muslims other than post thousands of armed gurads everywhere so they waste their time and energy on trivia which they can control. All sense of proportion and all perspective have been totally lost.

Update: Bible OK After All

This one has been rumbling on for a long time but this may be the end of it. If the notoriously Leftist 9th Circuit approves, it is not likely to be reversed later. Press excerpt:

"A federal appeals court reinstated a California man's death sentence, ruling Thursday that jurors did not invalidate their deliberations by considering biblical arguments in favor of vengeance. The Los Angeles jurors in the 1979 case of Stevie Lamar Fields unanimously agreed that death was the appropriate punishment after their foreman circulated biblical and other religious passages - "an eye for an eye," for example - that seemed to require it....

A federal trial judge in Los Angeles reversed Fields' sentence five years ago, citing jury misconduct. The decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate it appears to be the first of its kind and could make Fields, now 49, a candidate for execution in the near future".

Source

Christmas Fightback

A good email from a company manager who reads this blog:

"This year I bought the Christmas cards my company sends to our clients from the National Rifle Association. I have been a member of the NRA for many years. The cards clearly state, "Merry Christmas and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year, with the NRA logo prominently displayed on the back. I have instructed my employees to refer any calls complaining about the message to me. My reply will be "All of the folks in this office Celebrate Christmas, and our cards reflect our best wishes for you and your family. Sorry if it offends you. Your religion or lack of religion doesn't offend me."

So far no complaints from the perpetually offended and aggrieved classes. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you good folks at Tongue Tied. Keep up the Great work."

"Insensitive" to Depict a Hellhole as a Hellhole

There are few misfortunes that can befall a human being which are greater than being born in Communist North Korea. I will spare readers details of the brutality and the millions of deaths from starvation but I hope most readers have heard of it already. Just to the South, however, is the wildly prosperous, capitalistic and democratic South Korea. So you might think that the Korean Southerners, of all people, would want to get the word out about the vast suffering among their cousins to the North. But it just aint so. Computer games that give any sort of negative view of the North are banned in South Korea! We read:

"Ghost Recon 2, designed for Xbox players, is one of a host of new video games in which the virtual bad guys are North Koreans. But if the Korea Media Rating Board has its way, the game boxes will be stamped "Banned in Korea." While American game designers see North Koreans as diabolical enemies, South Korean game censors say they see North Koreans as wayward cousins. Unhappy that North Koreans are replacing Nazis and cold war Soviets as all-purpose bad guys in electronic battle games, the Korea Media Rating Board, appointed by the president of South Korea, is putting out the word to foreign game makers: check with us before you pay for a translation.

Source

It took a lot of American blood to rescue South Korea from a Communist takeover similar to what has happened in the North but if the North are just "wayward cousins" maybe America should not have bothered. Though the South Koreans are hardly alone in allowing "sensitivity" to elbow out truth.




Update on the Anti-Christmas Crusade:

Sanity has a loss in silly Seattle

"Lunch menus imprinted with the words "Merry Christmas" have been discarded and replaced in the Federal Way school district south of Seattle. The December lunch menus for all 23 elementary schools were recalled and reprinted with the words "Happy Holidays" at a cost of almost $500.

Source

But a win in Madeira, Ohio:

"A couple has struck a national nerve by offering bracelets that urge: "Just say 'Merry Christmas.'" "It has been so incredible. We've been bowled over by the response," Jennifer Giroux said Thursday.... "There's a national frustration," Giroux said. "Christians have kind of felt empowered to take back Christmas for Christ."

Source

Nutritious Food is Bad for you?

It is difficult to know where to start commenting on this piece of nonsense from a supposedly learned man. Excerpt:

"SpongeBob SquarePants, Shrek and other characters kids love should promote only healthy food, a panel of scientists recommended. In a report released Tuesday, the Institute of Medicine said television advertising strongly influences what children under 12 eat.

"The foods advertised are predominantly high in calories and low in nutrition -- the sort of diet that puts children's long-term health at risk," said J. Michael McGinnis, a senior scholar at the institute and chairman of the report committee.

The report said evidence is limited on whether TV advertising leads to obesity in children. A study hasn't been done that would demonstrate a direct cause and effect".

Source

If something is high in calories, then it is also high on nutrition. Calories are a measure of how much nourishment a food contains. So the above statement is just politically correct nonsense. What they presumably mean is that advertised foods are TOO nutritrious. There is so much nutrition in them that they make you fat. So we have yet another abuse of language from our would-be dictators.

And they have the gall to tell people to do something while at the same time admitting that they have no evidence for what they say! And since what is supposedly good and bad for you keeps changing, the chance that they ever will have such evidence is remote.




Poisonous Tacos in Nashville?

First a news excerpt:

"Citing health concerns, the city is considering a ban on taco trucks and other mobile food wagons that dot the busy streets in Nashville's immigrant neighborhoods. But critics say the proposed ban has more to do with cultural differences than health. "There's a resounding feeling that these actions are driven by racism," said Loui Olivas, a business professor at Arizona State University. Nashville is one of several cities with fast-growing Hispanic populations that have tried to restrict food trucks recently, he said. "Folks weren't pointing fingers or speaking loudly with traditional hot dog vendors or bagel or ice cream vendors," Olivas said. "That's always been a part of growing up in America. Why the concern now?"

The racism accusation should succeed at putting the kybosh on the whole move of course and I think this is one occasion where such an accusation will do some good. We read the real reason for the ban a little later on -- a reason that goes all the way back to Adam Smith:

"The 31 trailers were chosen for inspection because they operate every day throughout the city, health inspectors say. "They're not created to function as a full-time restaurant, and that's become the case," said Bradley, who has received complaints from businesses near the food trucks.

Source

What Adam Smith said was that businessmen "seldom gather together except to conspire against the public interest." And getting governments to make rules that squash your competition is as old as the hills.

Sexy Student Newspaper OK in Indiana

As a libertarian conservative, I just DON'T believe in censoring things -- which is why I was scornful of the banning of a student newspaper in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The Tennessee paper got into hot water for frank descriptions of sexual activities. But just about the same thing has just got an official OK in Indiana. The only difference appears to be that the students there were more careful to get the authorities onside first. Press excerpt:

"Students were trying to protect fellow teens' well-being with a high school newspaper article on the risks of oral sex, school officials said. The four-page report in last week's Columbus North Triangle emerged after a student brainstorming session, said Kim Green, the school's publications adviser. The report, titled "That Other Sex," discussed oral sex and its medical and psychological risks and featured student interviews on how widespread it has become....

Columbus North Principal David Clark said that he was uncomfortable at first with the content when students discussed the article with him before its publication, but agreed it was important after hearing their arguments".

Source

"Insensitive" to Discuss the Death Penalty

The traditional method for executing criminals who have been condemned to death is hanging and that method was recently used by the government of Singapore to execute a Vietnamese-Australian drug-runner that they caught transiting their airport with a huge stash of heroin on him.

Well, it's no news that many people oppose the death penalty. Given how crooked police and prosecutors often are (See here), I oppose it myself. But Australia's hard-Left "Indymedia" thinks we should not even do opinion polls about hanging. They say:

"Media polls leading up to the execution by Singaporean authorities of an Australian man last week appear to have returned a sentiment that roughly half the country thought Nguyen Tuong Van "should hang". Apart from being grossly offensive and insensitive, the posed question of "Should Van Nguyen Hang" .... ".

So just asking if the drug-runner should hang or not was "insensitive". As usual, discussion of anything in plain language was being declared taboo. Plain language is the enemy of the Left. They NEED obfuscation to hide their total hypocrisy. They held all sorts of rallies and vigils to protest the killing of a death-dealing drug runner but killing untold numbers of totally innocent unborn babies is perfectly OK, of course. And when did any Leftists hold a rally against any of the innumerable executions that the Chinese Communists regularly carry out? Dramatizing themselves is all that Leftists really care about.

It does however make sense that the contemporary Western Left would want to make opinion polls on the death penalty as incomprehensible as possible because such polls regularly show that the general public favour exactly what the Left is arguing against. For more on that see here.

False "Racism" Charge Trotted out Again

This sounds bad:

"A former lieutenant in the Allegheny County sheriff's office filed a federal lawsuit yesterday claiming she was discriminated against based on her race, gender and the fact that she chose not to donate to the sheriff's political fund-raising events.... Yvonne Evans, who was the first black woman ever to make sergeant in the department, began working for the sheriff's office in 1986"

But we also read:

"She was fired in February 2004. Chief Skosnik told Ms. Evans in a letter that she had been fired because of derogatory comments she made about Sheriff DeFazio. But Ms. Evans said that's not the case"

And we read next:

"Ms. Evans said she had a reputation for speaking her mind and for standing up for the deputies under her command. She said she always spoke boldly to the sheriff -- including swearing at him"

Sounds to me that by her own admissions the Chief had fair reason to sack her. And I guess it was SO racist to make her a Lieutenant in the first place. (Excerpts from here)




"Sexy" is Taboo in Spring Hill, Tennessee

Is "sexy" a "lewd" word? They seem to think so in Tennessee. The word was banned when it appeared on a sign that was advertising hair-care products in Spring Hill, Tennessee. As a suave Tennessean explained: "The city's sign ordinance says you can't have any lewd language," he said. "I know it's the name of a product, but people objected to the word 'sexy' on the sign." (Source).

"Lewd" means obscene or indecent. So how is it indecent to be sexy? Heaps of women would take it as a compliment to be told that they are sexy. Are there no sexy women in Tennessee? Or is it just that you're not allowed to mention it? Its officials sure make Tennessee sound like an uptight place.


Update: Contraception Information Still Banned in Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Pretty prehistoric in my view

Press excerpt:

""A censored version of the Oak Ridge High School newspaper will be printed, schools superintendent Tom Bailey said Tuesday. Administrators at Oak Ridge High School went into teachers' classrooms, desks and mailboxes a week ago to retrieve all 1,800 copies of the student-produced newspaper. An article about birth control and another on student tattoos and body piercings were cited by administrators as the reason for the seizures. Bailey told The Oak Ridger newspaper on Tuesday the edition will be reprinted without the birth control story and with an edited tattoo story....

The seizure of the newspapers had sparked debate inside and outside the school. Monday night's school board meeting drew a large crowded that included students who wore tape with the word 'censored' across their mouths and shirts with protest messages that read 'Ignorance isn't bliss.'"

Source

"Stop Snitchin" is Banned Speech in Boston



The Mayor of "tolerant" Boston is trying to confiscate all t-shirts with the words "Stop snitchin" written on them. As it tartly says here: "It is unknown on what grounds the shirts will be seized, the move appearing to be in direct violation of the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments".

"Snitching" means to inform the authorities about lawbreaking among your friends and companions. In Australia it is called "dobbing" and is a national no-no. Whatever you think of it however, free-speech principles should allow you to say whatever you like about it.




Secretive Trial in Georgia

We read here that "A hearing is scheduled today [Friday] for the Carrollton High School history teacher accused of making racist remarks during a class lecture"

So what awful things did he say? Nobody is telling. But I guess this comment speaks volumes:

"We've investigated the situation extensively, and we believe these statements were made," said Wilson, who would not comment on what the remarks were. "Whether they were made intentionally or not, or taken out of context, is not the issue. It was inappropriate regardless," the superintendent said".

That sounds to me like the whole thing is one of our usual Leftist over-reactions to something innocent -- something that is "offensive" only IF it is taken out of context or with the intention distorted.

And what a GREAT education the students are being given when one of their senior administrators tells them that context and intention don't matter! It is one of the major foundations of the Western legal system that intention DOES matter. But not in Carrollton, Georgia, apparently. If I were a Georgian, I would be pretty annoyed about such a Hicksville picture of my State being given to the world.




Sanity has a Small Win in Maine

In Brunswik, Maine, a local firemen's organization wanted to put up a memorial to the past sacrifices of their colleagues. But they wanted to put on the memorial an inscription of a poem that refers to God! Horrors!

And the poem does not refer to women in the "right" way either. It ends: ""And if according to my fate, I am to lose my life, Please bless with your protecting hand, My children and my wife."

Which inspired one local councillor to say: "To put a monument in 2005 on a public piece of property which completely cuts women out of the equation is wrong"

Go figure! Fortunately, the loonies lost and the poem will be allowed. See here

I support Khushboo!

I support WHAT?



Khushboo is a filmstar in the Southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu, which has its own language and culture. Like a lot of Indian ladies, however, she is pretty feisty. As we see from this press excerpt:

"The south Indian film star's comments on pre-marital sex landed her in controversy and sparked off demonstrations across the state. She said that no educated male should expect his bride to be a virgin... Khushboo made the comments while responding to a survey on sexual habits of Indians....

There have been demonstrations across Tamil Nadu since Khushboo made her comments and her effigies have been burnt in public. A large number of complaints have also been filed in several courts across the state. The complaints claimed that Khushboo's "insensitive" remarks had "deeply wounded" the Tamil psyche and hence she should be "punished".

Source

Khushboo is obviously much more assimilated to Western culture than are most Tamils but I do sympathize with Tamil families who feel that they have been defamed and insulted. Perhaps she could have been more diplomatic.




A Hate-filled Would-be Censor Loses for Once

Warren County Community College in Virginia had a professor of English, John Daly, who is as far-Left as such types usually are these days:

"On November 13, Daly sent an email to student Rebecca Beach vowing "to expose [her] right-wing, anti-people politics until groups like [Rebecca's] won't dare show their face on a college campus." In addition, Daly said that "Real freedom will come when soldiers in Iraq turn their guns on their superiors."



Source

A charming example of the "tolerance" that Leftists are always saying that they stand for, of course. Anyway, for once he got into hot water over his intolerance and was forced to resign. Best of all, though, was this:

"School president William Austin said that he will incorporate tolerance seminars for professors during the next faculty in-service day to shield students from this type of harassment, as requested by Young America's Foundation. Rebecca Beach has called for Austin to select Young America's Foundation President Ron Robinson as the one to teach leftists how to be tolerant toward conservatives."

Rather amusing, actually. I think, however, that we will wait a long time for such fairness to extend to the Ivy League.

Update:

A reader advises: It probably doesn't make any difference to the story, but (this particular) Warren County Community College is located in New Jersey, not Virginia

Products Designed for Men not Allowed

Nor can we say that men are more interested in sport -- even though it is true

The above little lot of prohibitions arose from a feminist group who sound like a bunch of aggressive lesbians to my mind. Worldwide chocolate vendor Nestle invested its advertising dollars in the assumption that there ARE some ways in which men differ from women and that a greater interest in sport is one of those differences. They of course wanted to sell more chocolate and thought that the well-known feminine love of chocolate was "excluding" (horrors!) men. So they advertised one of their products in a way that was likely to appeal to men -- by associating it with sport.

But then the whiners with nothing better to do started up. Little girls are having their clitorises cut out with bits of broken glass throughout much of the Islamic world and the so-called feminists are worrying about how chocolate is advertised! Media excerpt:

"Confectionery giant Nestle is under fire in Britain over chocolate bar adverts suggesting football is "not for girls". The company is promoting a bar called Footie with wrapper slogans including: "It's definitely not for girls", "no passes to lasses" and "no wenches on the benches". Wrappers also contain an image of a woman holding a handbag framed in a no-entry road sign. The Women's Sports Foundation said such advertising undermined attempts to encourage girls to play more sport and improve fitness levels in teenage girls."

Source

Famous Play from the Shakespearean Era Censored



One of the contemporaries of Shakespeare was Christopher ("Kit") Marlowe. He is sometimes in fact held to be the REAL author of Shakespeare's plays. And, like Shakespeare, he understood people pretty well -- which is why some of his plays are still popular and are still performed. A recent production of one of his plays was altered, however. You'll never guess why: To avoid offending Muslims. Press excerpt:

"The burning of the Koran was "smoothed over", he said, so that it became just the destruction of "a load of books" relating to any culture or religion. That made it more powerful, they claimed. Members of the audience also reported that key references to Muhammad had been dropped, particularly in the passage where Tamburlaine says that he is "not worthy to be worshipped". In the original Marlowe writes that Muhammad "remains in hell"....

Charles Nicholl, the author of The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe, said it was wrong to tamper with Marlowe because he asked "uncomfortable and confrontational questions - particularly aimed at those that held dogmatic, religious views". He added: "Why should Islam be protected from the questioning gaze of Marlowe? Marlowe stands for provocative questions. This is a bit of an insult to him."

Source

If I were a Christian I think I would suspect that Hell is the present dwelling place of Mohammed too. And if Muslims can burn the world's most burnt book -- the Bible -- why cannot a Westerner burn a Koran? I personally think that the unending murderous deeds that are done in the name of Islam and with the apparent approval of much of the Islamic world should cause Islam to be treated with LESS respect, not more. So I think we should be listening to Marlowe, not censoring him. It may be worth noting that previous productions of the play have not seen the need to alter the powerful original story.

I wonder when our oppressors will get around to demanding that all copies of Marlowe's play be removed from public libraries?

"White Settlement" follow-up


The name of the small Texan town of "White Settlement" was seen by its Mayor and councillors as problematic so they had a vote designed to change the name of the town to "West Settlement". The voters rejected the proposal by a big majority. But some of the inhabitants are so annoyed that the question was even put that they now want to sack the mayor and his cronies over it! Press excerpt:

"Eighteen people bent on overthrowing the government of White Settlement met Saturday night in a makeshift war room at Best Western Fort Worth Inn and Suites. Two weeks after voters resoundingly defeated a measure that would have changed the city's name, the group agreed to devote its time and effort to a new election -- one to recall the mayor and one City Council member of this small suburb west of Fort Worth.... Although some business experts supported the name change and the proposal attracted national attention, many residents were outraged at the suggestion that outsiders might consider the city's name racist. The city was named after the historical location of an Anglo settlement amid Indian settlements in the mid-1800s. Residents turned out in record numbers to overwhelmingly reject the proposed name of West Settlement."

Source

It's about time people were called to account for false accusations of racism.

Christmas Procession "Dangerous"

More namby-pamby behavior from Britain:

"People taking part in a traditional Christmas procession have been ordered to replace their flaming torches with glow sticks because of health and safety concerns. The procession in Looe, Cornwall, attracts 500 people and has taken place for 20 years without an injury. But the harbour authorities and the council have decided the risk of fire was too great and feared being sued if there were an accident. The council has therefore spent 350 pounds on 500 glow sticks, which will be carried through the town on Dec 15".

Source

What the @#$%& is a "Glow stick" anyway? I don't think there is much doubt that taking the fun out of Christmas is the real aim of the excercise.




Blind People Offended by a Picture they cannot See?

Apparently it can happen in Britain:

"An insurance firm has been ordered to pull an "insensitive" magazine advert over fears it could offend blind people. Watchdogs upheld a complaint from a reader about the advert - which appeared to show a blind man riding a motorbike - because it "seemed to equate stupidity" with being blind.... The ad for Bristol-based eBike Insurance was headlined "There are none so blind as those who will not e" and text stated "go ebike insurance online - where you're the one in control". The ad also showed a picture of a man wearing a motor cycle helmet, but only the whites of his eyes could be seen and he appeared to have no irises or pupils. A reader objected that the ad was offensive, because it was in bad taste and insensitive to the blind and those with visual impairments.

Source

Some do-gooders may have had nothing better to do than raise complaints but the blind could certainly not be offended -- unless one of the "sensitive" people concerned described it to them -- and what truly "sensitive" person would do that?

Even Blacks can't Criticize Blacks Now

So it seems from the following article. Excerpt:

"Williams lamented the fact that some black principals haven't seemed as willing as their white counterparts to embrace some key parts of his reform agenda or meet for a few extra hours without pay - as salaried professionals often do - to help kids in the largely minority district. The fact that Williams, who is African-American, singled out principals by race has roused the political correctness police and prompted the principals' union to call for a School Board investigation".

Source

Yet another outlet for free speech closed off. The guy was trying to help black kids so guess who is going to suffer if he is muzzled? Is giving them money and phony educational qualifications the only way you are allowed to "help" blacks?




Clowns Offensive?

If you can't laugh at clowns what are they for? Severe sense of humor deficit in Sarasota Florida:

"In an effort to raise money for its 25th anniversary, the Hospice of Southwest Florida thought it would be a nyuck-nyuck-nyuck idea to place 70 fiberglass clown figures around town and have various businesses sponsor local artists to paint them. How benign would you think this could be? Instead, the fundraiser has become something of a pancake-makeup cause celebre in Sarasota, dividing the arts community while turning the clown project into a politically correct civic dunk tank....

There was some bozo concern the statues might lead to a pandemic increase in coulrophobia -- a fear of clowns. "The clown phobia thing is huge," Virginia Hoffman, chairwoman of the Sarasota Public Art Committee, sniffed to the Miami Herald. "I'm concerned about the fallout. What if there are protests by clown haters or people who want to vandalize clown statues?"

Source

Is there ANYTHING somebody won't get offended by? Thankfully, it looks like the city is going to ignore the whiners.

Australian Politics

I hope I can be forgiven a commercial of sorts but I want to let people here know that I now have a blog going that focuses exclusively on events in Australian Politics. As there seems to be a lot of goodwill towards Australia in the USA, I thought a few readers here might like to have an occasional glance at what is actually happening in Australia. After a couple of years blogging about political correctness, I have the impression that Britain leads the pack in looniness, followed by the USA and then followed by Australia. But that is only a matter of degree. We certainly have some lulus in Australia at times. Just as a matter of interest, I think below is the most loony bit of political correctness of all time (from Britain). Excerpt:

"A family doctor has been summoned to a formal hearing over his refusal to put a 34-year-old male patient on the list for screening for cervical cancer".

A male does not have a cervix, of course

More Racist Assumptions from the Left

We have all recently heard how incorrect it is to mention that blacks once picked cotton and how sports team managers dare not even mention blacks, but it seems that if you are a "liberal", none of that applies. Note the racially discriminatory comments below from the Left-leaning Houston Chronicle. The paper seems to imply that it is only blacks who object to homosexual marriage on religious grounds. If I were to play the "sensitivity" games that the Left play I would say that in the context of Leftist contempt for religion, the excerpt below is a "dumb N*****" claim:

""The hopes of gay rights advocates to stop the addition of a ban on same-sex marriage to the Texas Constitution ended last Tuesday. Texas voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition 2, the constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Among Harris County residents who cast a vote on the issue, 72 percent favored the ban. Across Texas, 76 percent of voters approved......

Inner city black voters in Harris County, many of whom have long experience with the denial of civil rights, favored the marriage amendment by an even higher majority than the general Harris County voting population. Black discomfort with homosexual marriage is rooted less in conscious discrimination than in religious belief, but support for the amendment brought blacks into incongruous accord with members of the Ku Klux Klan, whose members rallied in Austin in support of Proposition 2".

Cotton Picking Update

The school concerned has now dropped the song about picking bales of cotton. What a pity to lose such a lively and enjoyable song.

And a reader writes: "The weirdest thing of this is that the song was made famous in US by Harry Belafonte. The screaming ultra liberal himself."

Insulting Jews is OK of Course

We all know now that we can't have Halloween in case it upsets Wiccans and even MENTIONING blacks is a no-no if you are a sports coach. But Jews? No problem! They've been everybody's whipping boy for thousands of years so let the fun continue! And if even the French Ambassador to the Court of St. James can refer to Israel as "that shitty little country", surely anyone can diss Jews! And so it seems to be:

"For the second time in barely a year, a contestant on Donald Trump's TV show "The Apprentice" has made an anti-Semitic remark. And once again, the offender was not penalized for doing so. On this week's episode, Clay Lee, a 28-year-old Texas real estate agent, explains (in front of an audience) that his Jewish teammate, Adam Israelov, was cheap on a date because Adam is a "tight Jewish boy." Clay's later apology seems half-hearted, and with Adam out of the room, he blames Adam for being overly sensitive, asserting that Adam "needs to learn to relax.""

Source

The furious Leftist hatred of Israel is clearly fueling a re-emergence of open antisemitism. For the record, there are only two Jews who figure in my personal life and both of them are utter gentlemen.




You Can't Win Sometimes

A British bank was trying to figure out how to handle their staff redundancies in the most sensitive way possible. Sound fair? Sounds fair to me. So who would you ask about how their existing sacking procedures were perceived? The Archbishop of Canterbury? The Dalai Lama? The Pope? The Oracle of Delphi? How about asking the last lot of people who had actually been sacked? Sounds the most obvious source of information doesn't it? It does to me. BUT:

"High street bank Abbey has been criticised by unions after it emerged it has written to former employees asking them what it was like to lose their jobs. The company has written to staff forced out of their jobs earlier this year and asked them to share their experiences of being made redundant and how it affected them. It plans to use the information, from more than 1,000 online questionnaires, to improve its redundancy processes".

Source

I think that if I were in charge of the bank concerned, I would give up at that point. If you don't ask, you are "insensitive". If you DO ask, you are still "insensitive". I think we need a lot LESS "sensitivity" all round myself.

Christian Cross not Allowed as a Logo

Note the following news excerpt:

"A group called "Athletes United in Christ" sparked parent complaints at a Delaware high school assembly when it tried to promote a religious concert. The presentation at Newark High School in Newark, Del., was held with the purpose of encouraging students to make the right choices in life. Two parents complained about the Christian group, which handed out fliers about the concert and displayed its logo, which has the word "Christ" and a cross on it. The school immediately apologized"

Source

Read on and you will see that the group did NOT preach Christianity. It just had a cross and the name of Christ on its literature. If a Christian group is providing a social service, why cannot it advertise itself as Christian? When big firms make charitable donations etc, they are pretty keen to let it be known who it was that did the donating! But despite all that, the fact that the very sign of a cross was "offensive" to two lulus trumped everything. I rather hope someone one day gives the lulus something real to be offended about. I think such whiners obviously need something to whine about.




Weak Excuse to Diss Remembrance Day



Remembrance Day or Armistice Day is observed in the British Commonwealth and various European countries (including France and Belgium) to commemorate World War I and other wars. As with Veteran's day in the USA, It is observed on November 11 to recall the end of World War I on that date in 1918. And selling remembrance poppies on the day is part of the tradition. So why would the following have happened?

"A group of [British] war veterans has been banned from selling remembrance poppies in part of a shopping centre - after their stall was branded a fire risk. The Derby branch of the Burma Star Association has set up a stall in the city's Eagle Centre for several years. But complex bosses said the group were unable to do the same thing this year for health and safety reasons.

Source

Anything to do with the military drives the Left into hysterics -- witness their constant opposition in the USA to the ROTC and allowing military recruiters onto college campuses. So my guess is that this was just a bit of pandering to the British Left.

One Small Defeat for Political Correctness

I have mentioned here previously the heartburn that has been caused in certain breasts over the name of a Texan town called "White Settlement". Well, It looks like that heartburn will have to continue. Press excerpt:

"The biggest victory of the night went not to the Republicans or Democrats but to the proud citizens of White Settlement. Nine out of ten voters in the tiny Texan town rejected a move to "modernise" its name to West Settlement. The town was named in plainer-speaking times by a band of pioneers who wanted to show that their town was a haven from hostile American Indian attacks in the 1840s".

Mocking Mohammed a Deadly Sin but Mocking Mary OK

What a contrast we see below. Excerpt:

"Islam is no laughing matter. The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten is being protected by security guards and several cartoonists have gone into hiding after the newspaper published a series of twelve cartoons (view them here) about the prophet Muhammad. According to the Islam it is blasphemous to make images of the prophet. Muslim fundamentalists have threatened to bomb the paper's offices and kill the cartoonists....

The affair, however, has also led to a diplomatic incident. On Thursday the ambassadors of eleven Muslim countries, including Indonesia, a number of Arab states, Pakistan, Iran, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, complained about the cartoons in a letter to Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. They say the publication of the cartoons is a "provocation" and demand apologies from the newspaper....

Meanwhile in Brussels a young Muslim immigrant published a poster depicting the Virgin Mary with naked breasts. Though the picture has drawn some protest from Catholics (though not from Western embassies, nor from the bishops), this artist need not fear being murdered in the street. On the contrary, he is being subsidised by the Ministry for Culture."

Source

An infantile versus a mature attitude is what I see there.




Canadian Pro-Life Journalist Survives Ban Attempt

Even he was surprised

All over giving out a bookmark. If he had distributed a PRO-abortion bookmark that would have been OK of course. Press excerpt follows:

"In October Kennedy was informed that he had offended some of his fellow journalists after he distributed a pro-life bookmark in their mailboxes. The bookmark featured the famous picture of the out-stretched hand of baby Samuel as doctors were performing surgery in utero. He was told by press gallery president Alan Findlay that they were considering rescinding his part-time membership and expelling him from the group... But he and Interim editor-in-chief Paul Tuns both prepared defences of Kennedy's right to represent the paper at Queen's Park. Kennedy argued that he was being expelled for his pro-life views and defended his presence at the press gallery along freedom of expression and freedom of the press lines.... Although the proceedings are confidential and it cannot be reported who said what, Kennedy told LifeSiteNews.com that the case to expel him broke down quickly as many other members of the media found the punishment heavy-handed....

To satisfy Kennedy's critics, a compromise was settled upon during the one-hour meeting. Kennedy is allowed to remain as a part-time accredited journalist but will receive a written reprimand for what the gallery considered inappropriate activism on his behalf. The wording of the reprimand has yet to be decided. Furthermore, Kennedy has agreed to no longer distribute pro-life literature, including The Interim Newspaper, in the mailboxes of the members of the press gallery although he will be allowed to leave a quantity of them in a common room at the press gallery".

Source

So pro-life journalists are second-class citizens who have to be subject to special restrictions. No free speech in Canada!

Another Football Coach Risks his Arm

A brave man! Press excerpt below:

"A week after Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry was publicly reprimanded for insensitive comments about black athletes, Joe Paterno did not shy away from the topic of race during Tuesday's Big Ten coaches teleconference. At one point, the topic of the teleconference turned to the increased scoring in the Big Ten this season. After first mentioning that improved indoor practice facilities have helped the conference recruit kids from warm-weather climates, Paterno offered a supplemental explanation.

"You have to be careful the way you say things sometimes," the Penn State coach said. "Poor [Air Force coach] Fisher DeBerry got in trouble, but the black athlete has made a big difference. They have changed the whole tempo of the game. Black athletes have just done a great job as athletes and as people in turning the game around."

Source

A lot of people did end up rallying to DeBerry's defence. So that -- plus the fact that it was only the truth being spoken -- probably emboldened Paterno. So I guess DeBerry ended up striking an effective blow for free speech after all.




Anything to Avoid Mentioning the C-word

Even if it makes what you are saying totally incomprehensible to 99% of people:

"A Somerset tourist attraction has denied changing the way its exhibits are dated for reasons of political correctness. Cheddar Caves Museum is using Before Present (BP) labels rather than Before Christ (BC) because it is easier to understand, a spokesman claimed. "We'd still use AD and BC when a piece can be dated, but BP when its age is effectively prehistoric," he said. BP dating is a year-numbering system counting back from 1950. Although not usually used in museums, it is used by scientists when carbon dating".

Source

And the guy has got the brass to say that his weird dating system is "easier to understand"!




A Real Halloween Horror

Read this press excerpt:

"A Tulsa parent is outraged over how her child was disciplined at school for wearing a costume. Crystal Harris says her 5-year old son was forced to take off his costume, and go through the entire school day with only his underwear on. The incident happened Monday at Walt Disney Elementary. School officials acknowledge they have a policy that forbids costumes, and that's why the teacher did what she did. They say they've have apologized to the family. Harris says however the teacher should be disciplined for embarassing her son. Harris' son has not been back to school since the incident, and she says she's considering legal action".

Source

How these Leftist teachers hate little kids! How brave of them to traumatize a 5 year old boy! Their twisted ideologies are all that matters to Leftists, not people. They perpetrate real horrors in the name of opposing make-believe horror.

Australia is Less "Correct"

Would the following headline be allowed in America?

"Black weekend for Aussie women sport

The Hockeyroos suffered their first loss to New Zealand in five years and 22 matches to cap a black weekend for Australian women's teams against their trans-Tasman foes. The 1-0 loss in the first Test of the three-match Oceania World Cup qualifying series followed the Australian netball team's record 61-36 defeat to the world champion Silver Ferns on Saturday night, also in Auckland........."

Source

More on Blacks in Sport

The big trouble Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry just got himself into by noting that blacks tend to be faster runners reminds me of an earlier similar episode (from 2003), where a black sporting manager also attributed superior sports performance to race. Excerpt:

"Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker, dismissing suggestions he made a racist assertion when speaking with reporters about day baseball, stands by his comments that black and Hispanic players are better suited to playing in the sun and heat than white players. "I'm not playing the race card. I'm telling it like it is," Baker said by telephone Monday. "What I meant is that blacks and Latins take the heat better than most whites, and whites take the cold better than most blacks and Latins. That's it, pure and simple. Nothing deeper than that."

Source

Despite a lot of pressure, and to his credit, Baker refused to apologize but I don't suppose that option was really open to DeBerry. Keith Burgess Jackson said all that needed to be said about the Baker episode.

Holy Moses! "African-American" is Incorrect Now

And you are not allowed to say that blacks run faster either -- even though they dominate running events in the Olympic Games. Note the following excerpt:

"Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry was reprimanded Wednesday for remarks about wanting to recruit more black athletes because they run faster. DeBerry, 67, in his 22nd season as the Falcons coach, apologized for the comments..... "There was no consideration to stepping down from my job," he said. "I feel like maybe a couple terms that I used should not have been used in any remarks that I would make to anybody. If I offended anybody by using the term African-American or by using the term minorities, I certainly did not mean to offend anyone....

During his weekly press luncheon Tuesday, DeBerry said, in part, "It was very obvious to me the other day that the other team (TCU) had a lot more African-American players than we did and they ran a lot faster than we did. "Afro-American kids can run very, very well. Their (TCU's) defense had 11 Afro-American kids on their team and they were a very good defensive football team."

Source

Even saying the obvious is now offensive in America. And how it can be offensive to compliment people on their athletic abilities when athletic ability is so prestigious in our society defeats my poor old brain too.

Update

Black sports columnist Michael Wilbon speaks some excellent good sense on the matter, saying: "DeBerry has nothing whatsoever to apologize for". Wilbon also comments on the call for more blacks in baseball.




Sense of Humor No Longer Tolerated

Low-fare regional carrier AirTran Airways can't take any hint of its being laughed at. As this excerpt shows:

"AirTran Airways said Thursday that it still has not resolved its tiff with Anheuser-Busch Cos. over an ad the beer company ran, and later pulled, that took a jab at low-cost carriers and their pilots. The ad, part of Bud Light's "Real Men of Genius" campaign, was called "Mr. Discount Airline Pilot Guy" and chided pilots for "minimal experience" and inability to work for a "reputable airline." AirTran executives said this week they would consider stopping sales of Anheuser-Busch products on its flights because of the ad, which is still available on the Internet".

Source

In boxing, a guy who is easily knocked out is said to have a "glass jaw". There are a lot of glass jaws these days that don't even need a punch to knock them out. The constant victim-talk of the political correctness mongers seems to have caused childish sulks to become routine among adults now. It was once a term of contempt to say of someone that "he can't take it" but it seems that no-one can take anything now.

(Hat tip to Peachtree Jaunts)




Surprise: school cancels Halloween celebration

If you can't even mention the Devil these days, it is obvious that the political correctness police (among whom our "educators" are prominent) will ban ANYTHING that is even vaguely religious if at all possible. And the supernatural references in Halloween were an obvious target. As we read in the following excerpt from the People's Republic of Massachusetts:

"When students at Underwood Elementary School walk to their classrooms on Monday, there will be no witches, SpongeBob SquarePants, or Johnny Damons there to greet them. No skeleton paintings or Frankenstein tattoos, either. The school's principal said yesterday he acceded to the complaints of a handful of parents who said that because the school's traditional Halloween celebrations offended their religious beliefs, they would not send their children to school if the revelry continued this year.... Of nearly a dozen parents interviewed outside the school yesterday, none supported the decision to cancel the celebration. Several parents said they are considering staging a protest by donning costumes on Monday and standing in front of the school.

"If they can cancel Halloween, what about Columbus Day and Valentines Day? We get Jewish holidays and Christmas off, so what's next?" asked Andrea Newman, whose two sons attend the school. ''All it takes is one person to be offended, and our school will ban it." Parents interviewed yesterday said they didn't mind not being able to celebrate the holiday, but they complained that it was political correctness run amok, particularly at a school where one-fifth of the student body is nonwhite and the website is in both English and Chinese. "The beauty of having diversity is to celebrate different cultures and holidays," said Renee Levin



Source

So some sorts of diversity are good -- particularly if lots of people disagree with it. But other sorts of diversity are bad -- particularly if only a tiny minority disagree with it. Makes a lot of sense doesn't it? But it makes sense if you realize that the real agenda of political correctness is not to help anybody but to upset as many ordinary people as possible. The political correctness creeps love humanity. It's just people they can't stand.




Women Driving Racing Cars

This bit of incorrectness gave me a laugh:

"Jenson Button, the Formula 1 driver, has dismissed the ability of women to compete in Grand Prix racing by claiming they are unsafe to drive during their periods and that their breasts stop them fitting into small racing cars. In an extraordinary interview, Button dismissed the prospects of Danica Patrick - an American racing car driver, who finished fourth in this year's Indianapolis 500 - moving up to compete in Formula 1 on the grounds that her figure could distract male pit mechanics. He told men's magazine FHM: "Danica is very quick. But in F1 cars I can't see it happening due to the G-force in fast corners. And one week of the month you wouldn't want to be on the circuit with them, would you? A girl with big boobs would never be comfortable in the car. And the mechanics wouldn't concentrate. Can you imagine strapping her in?"

Source

I don't care whether he was right or wrong but I am glad he still felt free to say it. And lots of people felt free to disagree with him too. Which is as it should be. It's called free speech.




Pigs and Ham Sandwiches

Was the story I mentioned yesterday about a ban on piggy banks "fake but accurate"? Apparently the banks concerned have denied the story. But I guess they would after all the adverse publicity. Anyway, the story has been heavily covered in the mainstream media and we all know how careful they claim to be about their "fact checking", don't we?

But whether that particular story is true or not, there have been other similar stories about pandering to Muslim "sensitivities" about pigs that do appear to have been confirmed -- such as this one.

One of the things I asked in my post yesterday was: "Will we soon be banned from eating ham sandwiches?" And it seems that I might have been a bit prophetic there. A reader writes: "Actually the company across the street from us has already told the vending companies to delete all pork products from the break rooms and cafeteria. Why? The Muslim employees. So, the Muslim employees have decided, backed by a spineless, whimpering management, that no employee can buy pork products at lunch. What's next, banning the employees from bringing a ham sandwich from home?"

I report, you decide

It Had to Happen

I knew that piggy banks could not last. In case you have not seen the story already, note the following press excerpt:

"British banks are banning piggy banks because they may offend some Muslims. Halifax and NatWest banks have led the move to scrap the time-honoured symbol of saving from being given to children or used in their advertising, the Daily Express/Daily Star group reports here. Muslims do not eat pork, as Islamic culture deems the pig to be an impure animal. Salim Mulla, secretary of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, backed the bank move. "This is a sensitive issue and I think the banks are simply being courteous to their customers," he said".

Source

How come WE have to give up OUR customs when THEY come to live in our countries? How about Muslims showing some "sensitivity" to our customs? Will we soon be banned from eating ham sandwiches?. It's the same logic (or lack of it).

Viscount Horatio Nelson

As I hope we all know, last Friday was the 200th anniversary of the destruction of a large Franco/Spanish fleet at Trafalgar by a British force under the command of Admiral Nelson -- thus ending the threat of an invasion of England by Napoleon. In the expected politically correct way, official British government celebrations have been muted for fear of "offending the French". See one account of that here.

So I am going to do my little bit here to mark the event and I don't give a damn about whom it might offend.

I want to concentrate on just one thing: Why did Nelson in effect commit suicide during that battle? He stood in full view in a prominent position on his flagship dressed in every bit of the colourful regalia he was entitled to. He made himself as prominent a target as he could, in other words. And he remained there even when his ship came to close quarters with a French ship full of musketeers. One of those musketeers eventually got him, of course.

Why would he do such a thing? He was the most popular man in England at the time and was sleeping with the most beautiful Englishwoman of the day. He can hardly have been depressed. I think the reason is is clear. He was displaying a virtue that is incomprehensible to the politically correct whiners of today: Heroism.

He knew that his fleet was heavily outnumbered and he knew that the fate of England hung on the battle. And as every military man knows, the spirit and morale of your troops is a hugely important factor in who wins a battle. So although his sailors already regarded him as someone not much less than the Messiah who would lead them to the promised land, Nelson wanted to ensure that every one of his men was a lion of courage. And he did that by setting the example personally.

Update

I am delighted to read that, despite initial British government resistance, popular enthusiasm ensured that the great victory and great heroism of Viscount Nelson was in the end properly celebrated in Britain. See here




Babies Incorrect

A nice American Christian family (see here) have just had their 16th child and the invariably vituperative San Francisco far-Left columnist Mark Morford is trying his best to portray that as pathological. Excerpt:

"Who are you to say that the more than slightly creepy 39-year-old woman from Arkansas who just gave birth to her 16th child yes that's right 16 kids and try not to cringe in phantom vaginal pain when you say it, who are you to say Michelle Duggar is not more than a little unhinged and sad and lost?...

But that would be, you know, mean. Mean and callous to suggest that this might be the most disquieting photo you see all year, this bizarre Duggar family of 18 spotless white hyperreligious interchangeable people with alarmingly bad hair, the kids ranging in ages from 1 to 17...

It's wrong to be this judgmental. Wrong to suggest that it is exactly this kind of weird pathological protofamily breeding-happy gluttony that's making the world groan and cry and recoil, contributing to vicious overpopulation rates and unrepentant economic strain and a bitter moral warpage resulting from a massive viral outbreak of homophobic neo-Christians across our troubled and Bush-ravaged land...."

Source

There is really no arguing with someone as hate-filled as that but I suppose I should mention that large families of 10 or more children were normal in 19th century America and Australia and still are in many parts of the world today. I myself am descended from one such family. And Morford's claim that such large families are causing the world to become overpopulated is certainly common Green/Left rhetoric but is totally fact-free in the usual Leftist way. Almost all of the countries of the developed world are in fact at the moment undergoing sub-replacement birthrates. So their populations are in fact in the process of SHRINKING. Only immigration is keeping the numbers up.

Doll Incorrectness

The busybodies of this world have always hated Barbie dolls but now even the language you use to talk about dolls has come under fire -- using some very far-fetched reasoning (if you can call it reasoning). Apparently you can't "adopt" dolls. As the following excerpt notes:

"A popular toy-marketing campaign, in which girls browse through hospital-style nurseries to choose a lifelike doll to "adopt," has come under fire from prominent adoption advocates who say the program - featured at scores of stores nationwide - conveys a harmful notion that adopted children are salable commodities".

Source

So something that appeals to the natural motherly instinct of little girls is now incorrect. Why am I not surprised? Could it be that all political correctness is primarily aimed at upsetting ordinary people rather than helping anybody?




Can you Refer to a Sports Team without Using its Name?

It seems you can in Kansas City -- particularly if the team concerned is the Washington Redskins. The Kansas City "Chiefs" recently had a win over the "Redskins" but the Kansas City Star referred to the losing side only as "the Washington team". That there are all sorts of teams for all sorts of things in Washington did not bother them apparently. The excerpt below explains the reason behind this insulting behavior.

"In a story about the protest, the paper said, "The Star's policy is not to use Washington's team name because it is a racial slur."

And what about the "Chiefs"? The paper wrote that, "the Chiefs were actually named for former Mayor H. Roe Bartle -- known as The Chief -- who was key in getting the team to come to Kansas City in the 1960s."

Source

A racial slur? I thought "Redskins" conveyed an heroic image! Why else would a sports team have adopted it? I don't think they meant to portray themselves as primitive morons, do you? Or is it a slur to portray someone as heroic these days? I guess it is in certain loony Left circles.

I get pretty red in the face myself at times so maybe the Redskins will have to come up with a story that their original coach got red in the face a lot when he was coaching them and so they are really named after him. It would be no sillier than the present farce.

Update

A reader has emailed me with the following sarcastic comment on the explanation given for the name "The Chiefs":

"So I guess the former Mayor was a participant in the sport of primitive archery since that's the arrowhead that's been on the side of the helmet forever".

Do I See a Name-Change Coming up?





I don't know exactly where the place above is but apparently it is for real

Update

Here is an actual map to Satan's Kingdom!

Black or Colored?

Further to my speculation yesterday about how long the term "black" would remain politically correct, a reader sent in the following interesting comment:

"When I was a kid in Alabama, in the 1950's, my housekeeper (we called her a maid) who was the woman who basically raised me and is likely responsible for the few people skills I have, hated being called "black" more than "n*****". She said that she was brown or colored or a Negro but not black. At that time it was a major pejorative term. There is a reason that the NAACP is not the NAABP.

You Can't Mention the Devil Either Now

This is a really curly one. Being myself an atheist, any mention of the Devil merely amuses me. So why are Leftist unbelievers bothered by mention of the Devil? Do they secretly fear that he is real and that he will come and get them if he hears his name mentioned? That's the only way I can explain the story below, anyway. Excerpt:

"When C.D. Hylton High School's marching band performs during Friday night's football game, they will be playing a different tune. This year, the marching band is performing a Georgia-themed halftime show, to celebrate their upcoming trip to perform at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta in December, band director Dennis Brown said. Until recently, the Charlie Daniels Band song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" was in the marching band's line up of Georgia-themed music. The lyrics of the song describe the devil's attempt to steal the soul of a fiddle player in Georgia by challenging him to a fiddling duel. On Oct. 2, The Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger published a letter to the editor arguing that while no one objected to that song about the devil, there would be objections if the band were to play a song about God or other spiritual beings. After that letter ran in the paper, Brown dropped the song from the marching band's program".

Source

So it looks like the objector really does believe that the Devil is a spiritual being and that all mention of spiritual beings is taboo -- unless of course it is the Dalai Lama or some primitive tribe explaining their beliefs. In which case the whole thing is treated as great wisdom, of course.

Since most of the world has always believed in spiritual beings, we seem to be required to cut out a vast area of discussion and debate if we are not allowed to mention them.




No Freedom for Circuses any more

Circuses are a form of entertainment and entertainment has to be varied or people will lose interest in it. That seems to be lost on the regulation-loving Europeans. As the following excerpt shows:

"The European parliament is set to vote on a report calling for standardised rules for circuses performing across the continent. MEPs suggest circuses should be referred to as part of Europe's cultural heritage, but they disagree on whether they should include presentation of animals or not. The report contemplating the "new challenges for the circus as part of European culture" is to be voted on Thursday

Source

And this is not pie in the sky. European circuses are already regulated. But even more regulations are needed, apparently.