It's amazing what adjectives can be racist

Again from Taranto:

"The Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald accuses Sen. Saxby Chambliss of racism, or something approaching racism anyway:

"In a Tuesday interview on Fox News, Chambliss was talking about Republican expectations for the president's address when he said, "I think what you're looking at is folks on my side anxious to see what the president has to say (Wednesday) night. I think he's going to have to express some humility based on what we've seen around the country during August, and that's not his inclination."

Take a closer look at those two sentences. Sen. Chambliss states clearly that "to express some humility . . . is not (Obama's) inclination." It's not an unfair parsing of the senator's remarks to see them as coming uncomfortably close to suggesting the president is "uppity."

The word "uppity" is defined as "assuming airs beyond one's station," and--intended or not--that's a clear subtext of Chambliss' suggestion that the president is insufficiently humble.

Additionally, using the word "uppity" in connection with a black person is seen widely as something of a racial slur.

As a native Southerner, Chambliss should have understood the connotations of his suggestion that a black president should "express some humility" in delivering an address to the nation.

Chambliss' remarks were at least an artless articulation of his expectations for Obama's Wednesday address, and reasonably could be considered more troubling than his congressional colleague's far more vocal, but far less insidious, outburst.

The reference at the end is to Rep. Joe Wilson.

This is at least the third time we've witnessed the tactic of imputing racism by free association. In April 2008, a guy in the Los Angeles Times said it was racist to call Obama "elitist" because that means "arrogant," which means "uppity." He also suggested that if you call Obama "out of touch," it "plays harmoniously," whatever that means, with "the notion of blacks as 'others.' "

Then in August 2008, Slate's Tim Noah said that it's racist to say that Obama is "skinny," because Obama's slender build is a physical characteristic just like his skin color.

Now we have someone from a home-state newspaper (it's an unsigned editorial) chiding Chambliss for saying something that reminded the writer of the word "uppity."

We suppose we'll keep hearing this sort of thing even when Barack Obama is a lame duck--which is racist, by the way, because duck, like chicken, is a kind of poultry, and fried chicken is stereotypically associated with blacks. To our mind, it all portends racial progress. No one can possibly take this stuff seriously, which means that racism and racial stereotyping have lost much of their sting.

Source

Naughty French politician

We read:

"The French Interior Minister faced calls for his resignation last night after he was caught on camera making apparently racist remarks directed at Arabs.

As outrage greeted the video clip on the internet Brice Hortefeux claimed that critics had misinterpreted his quip: “When there’s one that’s all right. It’s when there's a lot of them that there are problems.”

He insisted that he had not been talking about Arabs, as many had assumed, but about Auvergnats — people from the Auvergne region of central France.

The incident happened at a summer congress of the ruling centre-right Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in Seignosse, southwest France, last weekend. Mr Hortefeux is seen in the video posing for a photograph alongside Amine Benalia-Brouch, a member of UMP whose father is Algerian and mother Portuguese.

An unidentified woman says, apparently in reference to Mr Benalia-Brouch’s Muslim background: “He eats pork and he drinks beer.” Mr Hortefeux, 51, cuts in amid laughter as a group of party activists look on: “He doesn’t fit the prototype at all. Not at all. We always need one. When there’s one, that’s all right. It’s when there's a lot of them that there are problems.”

The comment went unnoticed until the video was sent to Le Monde, the French daily newspaper, which posted it on its website last night.

Source

It's all a bit unclear but I initially got the impression that the politician was saying that UNOBSERVANT Muslims were a problem if there were a lot of them. The politician handled it clumsily, though.

I suspect that the fuss arose because most French people DO think that Muslims are best in small doses. The elite immediately thought that the politician was giving voice to the general view, which you are not allowed to do.

Despite being a third-party candidate, the anti-immigration politician Jean Marie Le Pen got more votes than the socialists in the Presidential election before last so I don't think there is much doubt about what the average Frenchman thinks. Le Pen keeps getting fined for what he says but he goes right on saying it. The average Frenchman cannot afford to do that, though. He has to shut up.

California State University, Northridge: A mustache is hate speech?

We read:

"A picture of President Obama with a Hitler-style mustache adorned a booth on campus during Greek Week. When asked how Obama compared with Hitler, the response was, “Read the literature.” The young adults manning the booth could not articulate the problem in their own words, but relied heavily on their printed materials. Asked if they were CSUN students, they responded with pride, “Oh no, we are working for the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee.”

After observing the distorted picture of President Obama, English professor, Elyce Wakerman said, “My first reaction to the poster was shock. Hitler is like the symbol of evil and to put his mustache on a face is to demonize the person. It’s demonizing Obama without any basis. It’s hate speech.”

Professor Wakerman went on to say, “I have relatives that were killed in the Holocaust, and for me the image was troubling. If I had to look at that poster every day, it would be very chilling to me.” Professor Wakerman asked the people in the booth how Obama compared with Hitler, and their response was, “He (Obama) wants to kill us if we get too expensive.”

When asked about the claim of hate speech, CSUN media law professor, Jens Koepke said, “It sounds like the speech doesn’t come close to constituting legal hate speech.” He asked, “Does this speech constitute ‘fighting words’ as the Supreme Court defined it? Does the speech pose an imminent threat of violence or an incitement to violence or an attempt to intimidate?”

Source

The law Prof. got it right but if you read on, the writer still wants to ban such displays -- because of the "stress of having our president vilified"!

I wonder what she thought of all the "Bush=Hitler" speech of recent years. Did she want that banned because it might be stressful to Republicans? We don't need to guess the answer to that, I think.

Drug control becomes speech control

We read:

"When the government accuses a doctor of running a ‘pill mill,’ prosecutors portray every aspect of his practice in a sinister light. Prescribing painkillers becomes drug trafficking, applying for insurance reimbursement becomes fraud, making bank deposits becomes money laundering, and working with people at the office becomes conspiracy.

When Siobhan Reynolds thinks a doctor has been unfairly targeted for such a prosecution, she tries to counter the official narrative by highlighting the patients he has helped and dramatizing the conflict between drug control and pain control. But now the government has turned its reinterpretive powers on Reynolds, portraying the pain treatment activist’s advocacy as obstruction of justice and thereby threatening the freedom of anyone who dares to suggest there is more than one side to a criminal case.”

Source

Pamela Anderson ad pulled from US airports



We read:

"An animal rights television commercial featuring former Playboy centrefold Pamela Anderson has been deemed too racy for US airports.

Senior officials from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the CNN Airport Network had barred the advertisement because of concerns it could be seen by children.

The ad features former Baywatch star Anderson as a scantily clad airport security guard who strips passengers of leather, fur and other skins. The ad had been due to air from September 10 in New York airports, targeting attendees from the fashion industry descending on the city for New York Fashion Week, which gets under way today.

PETA said that CNN Airport Network had said in a letter it was "particularly sensitive because children make up part of the demographic in airports".

Source. Video here.

Probably a reasonable commercial decision. PETA seem to use nude or near-nude females a lot. It rather makes clear that their appeal is not to reason.

Must not mention concentration camps in a joke



Australia. Facetious reference to a fat comedienne (above) deemed incorrect

"Shock jock Kyle Sandilands has dismissed his concentration camp jibe as "just one of those things" amid renewed calls for him to be sacked.

The radio star insulted Holocaust survivors yesterday by saying comedian Magda Szubanski should be put into a concentration camp to lose weight.

But today he went on air saying he did not mean "to offend her (Szubanski) or anyone else with those comments".

Jewish leaders called last night for his sacking.

Source

Concentration camps were in fact first used by the Spaniards in Cuba and later by the British in South Africa -- both over 100 years ago. They have never been the sole preserve of Hitler or Jews.

The radio host has now been suspended from his job.

Embarrassing British dessert



Britain's Spotted Dick becomes Spotted Richard

"For generations it has risen above all the schoolboy sniggers. But it appears the smirking has to stop as modern sensitivities struggle to cope with the jokes prompted by one of our most loved puddings - Spotted Dick. Now those sensitivities have seen a prudish council changing the name to Spotted Richard after canteen staff tired of the giggling.

The latest attempt to censor classic Victorian suet and raisin pudding has angered traditionalists, who have fought several battles in recent years over the name. The defenders of the old ways have been joined by Klaus Armstrong-Braun, a councillor who was taken aback when he saw the name change in the canteen at the headquarters of Flintshire council in North Wales. 'I couldn't believe it, it seemed ludicrous,' he said. 'Spotted Dick is part of our heritage. 'It just seemed political correctness gone mad. 'There was a sign in the dining room for things like rice pudding and then this Spotted Richard - I had to ask what it was.

Source

Homosexual attack on free speech

They want to target those who sign petitions they don't like

"This Thursday in a federal court in Washington state, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle will, ahem, settle an important question... Specifically, Judge Settle must resolve whether Washington state’s Public Disclosure Act, requiring the Secretary of State to publically disclose the signers of petitions, violates First Amendment protections for voters signing a petition. That is, does it violate the rights of those signers not wanting to be threatened or intimidated . . .

“There have been few precedents on whether the names and addresses of people who sign petitions should be considered a public record,” wrote Ballot Access News editor, Richard Winger, recently. “Some states provide by law that the records are not public, but most states do not.” Thus, in most states, any citizen could request (and pay for) copies of the actual petitions turned into the Secretary of State, containing all the names and addresses and often other personal information.

Enter Brian Murphy. He started a website — WhoSigned.org — in essence to “out” the signers of Referendum 71 petitions. He pledged to create a searchable database of all those people who had signed the referendum petition and he encouraged supporters of the domestic partnership legislation to have a “dialogue” with those who had signed the petition.

Unsurprisingly, some petition signers became more than a little concerned about the nature and tone such a dialogue might take. Larry Stickney, the head of Protect Marriage Washington, which sponsored Referendum 71, accused opponents of taking “the politics of personal destruction to new levels. I am a personal recipient of dozens of obscene and threatening e-mails and phone calls since we filed this.”

Source

Criticizing Obama is "hate speech" (again)

We read:

"Inhofe’s comments were very unfavorable toward the president’s policies. “I have never seen so many things happening at one time so disheartening to America.” Inhofe said, according to the World.

That remark and others including his thoughts on global warming and his disappointment in that he thinks Obama “is obsessed with turning terrorists loose in America” inspired an angry Schultz to dedicate the opening segment of his Sept. 3 MSNBC show to attacking Inhofe.

Schultz called Inhofe’s dissent and concern over the president’s policies “hatemongering.” The MSNBC and liberal radio host launched into a tirade about Inhofe and questioned his exercise of freedom of speech.

Source

It doesn't take much to wind the Leftist mouth frothers up, does it?

Canada: Warman loses one. Internet hate speech ban unconstitutional

The aptly named Warman has been waging war on free speech in Canada for years and he has claimed quite a few victims. He is by far the most frequent "human rights" litigant in Canada

"A provision in the Human Rights Act that bans hate speech on the internet is unconstitutional, according to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. In a decision released Wednesday, the commission's tribunal dismissed a complaint filed against Marc Lemire, a webmaster who runs freedomsite.org, a site that bills itself as "Canada's freedom resource center."

The complaint, which alleged that messages posted on the site were discriminatory and exposed minority groups to "hatred and contempt," was filed by Ottawa lawyer Richard Warman.

In rejecting the complaint, commissioner vice-chair Athanasios Hadjis ruled that Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act violates the Charter of Rights and Freedom, "which guarantees the freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression."

Hadjis said that it is not within the commission's ability to change the rules — that must be done by the courts — so he refused to impose penalties on Lemire or order him to take down his website.

Warman had asked the tribunal for a cease-and-desist order against Lemire, and a $7,500 fine. Warman accused Lemire of posting anti-Semitic and anti-gay material on the web.

Source

It's looking like these Canadian human rights bodies have learnt a lesson from their effective defeats by Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant.

Must not hate Obama?

The Left sure hated George Bush. They must have run right through the English vocabulary in finding ways to express their loathing of him

"Nearly 100 demonstrators lined the streets outside a Tempe church Sunday to protest what they consider hate speech. Last month Pastor Steven Anderson delivered a sermon at the Faithful Word Baptist Church, near 48th Street and Southern Avenue, entitled "Why I hate Barack Obama."

In response to that sermon and several subsequent controversial comments by Anderson, the People Against Clergy Who Preach Hate held a Love Rally Sunday outside Anderson's church. "It's hard to believe we could have someone of a religious nature wishing our president was dead," said protester William Crumb.

Several of Anderson's parishioners, who declined to identify themselves, defended their pastor's sermons. "I hate people that hate God," said one Faithful Word parishioner. "As far as I know we live in America, we have freedom of religion, freedom to assemble and the freedom of speech," added another Faithful Word parishioner.

Protesters say they'll continue to picket Faithful Word Baptist Church so long as Anderson continues to preach what they consider hate.

Source

True to form, the Left are trying to shut down speech they don't agree with.

Bad Supreme Court precedent can and should be ignored

We read:

"Next Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a rare second round of oral arguments in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. At issue is the documentary Hillary: The Movie, which was produced by the conservative group Citizens United and intended for distribution before the 2008 elections. As Justice Stephen Breyer noted during the first round of arguments back in March, the film "is not a musical comedy." It's a 90-minute political harangue attacking Clinton's ideas and character. In other words, it's exactly the sort of controversial political speech the First Amendment was written and ratified to protect.

Yet under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain-Feingold Act), which bars corporations and non-profit organizations from sponsoring "any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication" that mentions a candidate in a federal campaign within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election, Citizens United was forbidden from using the film to express the political views of its members and supporters. So it's a welcome sign indeed that the Court wants to subject this noxious law to some additional scrutiny.

Source

Religious actress fired by ABC over homosexual storyline

We read:

"If you tuned in to the soap "One Life to Live" this week, you may have noticed there's been a change of character. One character in particular. Actress Patricia Mauceri says she was fired and abruptly replaced for objecting to a gay storyline because of her religious beliefs.

Mauceri played the recurring role of Carlotta Vega on "OLTL" for the last 14 years. But when she objected to how the writers wanted her deeply religious character, a Latina mother, to handle a storyline involving homosexuality, she objected. And for that she claims she was fired.

Mauceri, 59, a devout Christian, told FOX News that character Vega's gay-friendly dialogue was not in line with the character she helped create by drawing on her own faith. "I did not object to being in a gay storyline. I objected to speaking the truth of what that person, how that person would live and breathe and act in that storyline," she said. "And this goes against everything I am, my belief system, and what I know the character's belief system is aligned to."

Mauceri said she was replaced despite offering changes to the script and hoping for a compromise.

Source

There is no doubt that ABC were within their rights. And its also within their rights for Christians not to watch crap ABC propaganda.

An interesting thought experiment though: What if she were a Muslim and her objections stemmed from her Muslim faith? Islam is at least as condemnatory of homosexuality as Christianity is. Can there be any doubt that ABC would have negotiated in that case? Christians can be treated with contempt. Muslims cannot.

Reynolds, Lorillard challenge tobacco law on free speech grounds

I suppose logos count as "speech":

"Tobacco legislation signed by President Barack Obama in June violates the First Amendment protections for free speech, according to a lawsuit joined by Reynolds American Inc.’s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.

The legislation “imposes unprecedented restrictions” on companies by “limiting their ability to disseminate truthful information about tobacco products to adult consumers,” according to the lawsuit, filed today in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Reynolds, the second-largest U.S. cigarette maker, and third-biggest Lorillard Tobacco Co. sued after opposing the legislation that gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight over tobacco products. The law goes beyond discouraging youth smoking and limits the use of colors and logos in most advertising and packaging so severely that the producers have “virtually no means” to communicate with adult tobacco users, the suit said."

Source

They probably have a point but I doubt that they'll get much sympathy -- so either way this will probably end up before SCOTUS

Harvard censorship under attack

We read:

"Harvard Medical School is backing off a new student policy that would have restricted interaction with the news media after students complained it would chill their ability to talk about current issues in medicine, school officials said this week. "We need to be very careful," said Dr. Nancy E. Oriol, the dean of students, who helped develop the policy. Promising it would be revised, she said the policy was intended to help students, rather than limit speech or control what they say on controversial topics.

But several students said the policy was an attempt to keep them quiet about issues like medical conflicts of interest. "This is one of many ways that medical education implicitly teaches behaviors that differ significantly from the values that we hope physicians will uphold," Nate Favini, a Harvard medical student and chairman of the Student Council Advisory Board, said. "Instead of limiting students, we should encourage bold thinking and allow them to advocate for the reforms that our health care system so badly needs," he added in an email to the paper, reports Times writer Duff Wilson.

Favini and some Harvard Medical faculty said they were encouraged by the decision Tuesday to retract the policy. "The policy was extremely ill advised," Dr. Marcia Angell, a Harvard lecturer and former editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, told the Times Tuesday.

The policy says: "All interactions between students and the media should be coordinated with the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Public Affairs. This applies to situations in which students are contacted by the media as well as instances in which students may be seeking publicity about a student-related project or program."

Source

Google Censors Illegal Immigration Information On Web

I suppose I am taking a risk in putting this up on a Google-hosted site. They have blocked four of my blogs recently for no obvious reason so this site might well be next. It might be an idea to bookmark now the mirror site for this blog:

"WARNING! Google is now blocking the worlds largest archive of information about the negative impact of illegal immigration on American citizens from view via false warnings of Malware. The ALIPAC site is not infected and is safe for use.

Public access to the extensive information archived by ALIPAC over the last five years has been blocked on Google, by Firefox web browsers, and on Twitter! "Google's own software admits we have no viruses or malware on our site," said William Gheen of ALIPAC. "The readings indicate that Google scanned our site on the 19th and we were clean and now they are arbitrarily blocking us for the second time this week. Our technicians tell us our site is clean and Google will not offer us any explanation or assistance despite mulitple attemps to reach out to them."

ALIPAC is now declaring an emergency and making the claim that the blocking of alipac.us is politically motivated and involves wrongful acts by Google employees or the broader influences within the Google corporation. All other major online virus protection services are declaring that ALIPAC.us is not infected including Norton Antivirus, McAfee, and AVAST....

Source

The above warning is from a couple of weeks back and was widely disseminated so Google caved in at some stage and now appear to have lifted their blocks. They do much the same with me. They block you for various periods of time and then lift the blocks. It is just a way of harassing conservatives. That they do eventually lift the blocks shows that there was no justification for the blocks in the first place.

Understandable but inappropriate

St. Charles (MO) teacher faces suspension after playing rude song in class

" A classroom lesson with an anti-police theme and repeated foul language is stirring up some controversy in St. Charles, Missouri. The trouble started after a song was played in a class at St. Charles West High School.

Apparently, an AP English teacher played a song that some of the students and parents found questionable and offensive. The song in question is called "F*** the Police" by the group NWA. The song stirred up controversy when it was released back in 1988.

News 4 is told that the song was being played in the class to try to teach the advanced 12th graders how views on offensive speech can change over time. It was supposed to be a lesson on cultural norms.

Superintendent Randal Charles says that some undisclosed disciplinary action has been taken against the teacher. Students tell News 4 that the teacher is facing a one week suspension. The teacher's name has not been released, but News 4 has learned that she has been teaching at St. Charles West for three years.

Source

I am no fan of the police myself. See here. And I think that use of foul language is a personal decision. But for a teacher to teach in class language that is widely disapproved of seems irresponsible and deserving of some disciplinary measures.

How Awful! French Canadians joke about the sacred Obama

We read:

"Canada's French-language broadcaster broke television regulations by airing a comedy sketch suggesting Barack Obama would be easy to assassinate because the first black American president would stand out against the White House.

Broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), said on Monday it received more than 250 complaints about a popular New Year's Eve show that featured cracks about the US president.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council issued a public reprimand of Radio-Canada in May and the CRTC agreed. Radio-Canada is the French-language broadcasting arm of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

In one segment of the "Bye Bye 2008" comedy program, two hosts discussed Obama's election in November 2008. Obama, who took office in January, is the first black US President. "We're not racists. It will be good to have a Negro in the White House. It will be practical. Black on white, it will be easier to shoot him," one of the show's hosts remarked.

Source

But talk about shooting George Bush was great fun, of course

Wicked "blonde" comment in an Australian parliament



Conservative politician refers to a young Leftist politician in an "offensive" manner:

"Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek has been accused of offending women in [Queensland] State Parliament after referring to a female Minister as "illegally blonde". Speaking in Parliament this morning, Mr Langbroek was criticising a speech made by Climate Change Minister Kate Jones and then referred to her as "the Minister for illegally blonde''.

Legally Blonde, starred Hollywood siren Reese Witherspoon, as a supposedly dumb blonde sorority queen who went to law school.

An angry Ms Jones immediately demanded he withdraw the comment. "If that is what you said I find it offensive and I find it offensive for every woman who sits in this house,'' she said.

Amid calls from the Opposition MPs that she "can't take it", Mr Langbroek withdrew the comment.

Source

This is all a bit hard to follow but I think the lady has let her side down. If "legally blonde" or just "blonde" implies stupidity, surely "illegally blonde" implies the opposite? The lady seems not to be deep thinker: A kneejerk reaction instead, the familiar Leftist rage. Or is any reference to blondeness "offensive"? Rather strange in the light of how many women dye their hair blonde.

International bureaucrats gag free-market speech

To maximize tax revenues, the OECD wants one set of financial rules and tax rates for the whole world and they are determined not to hear arguments against that:

"The bureaucrats at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are trying to suppress dissenting voices according to free-market activists who have traveled to Mexico City to defend tax competition, fiscal sovereignty, and financial privacy at the Global Tax Forum.

The harassment began in Cabo, the original venue for the conference. Center for Freedom and Prosperity President Andy Quinlan and Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute made reservations at the hotel where the conference was scheduled to take place. But last Friday, the reservations were canceled, supposedly because the OECD had reserved the entire hotel. Mitchell remarked that, "This was an extraordinary step for the OECD to take in hopes of insulating delegates from free market views." That issue became moot, however, when the conference was suddenly moved to a hotel in Mexico City to avoid a hurricane.

Today's episode was far more disturbing. OECD officials this afternoon tried to have Quinlan and Mitchell (who are guests at the Mexico City hotel) removed from a public lobby outside the meeting venue. An OECD security official came up to Dan Mitchell and asserted that CF&P officials had to leave the lobby – even though it also serves as entrance to a restaurant and business center. Mitchell refused and the OECD official backed down, perhaps because the ejection attempt was witnessed by a member of the press who was covering the event. "For a group that ostensibly has transparency as one of its goals, the OECD's hypocrisy is remarkable," said Quinlan. "Not only do they refuse to allow taxpayers to observe their events, they don't even want them anywhere in the immediate vicinity."

Source

Allowing politicians to be questioned and challenged is "taking away democracy"??

An undoubted Leftist viewpoint -- as long as the politician is one of their own:

"The key to a orderly town hall meeting, it seems, is a closed door. The Florida Alliance for Retired Americans turned its annual health care forum into a ticketed event mostly for its members, ensuring a friendly audience for U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings of Miramar and Robert Wexler of Boca Raton. ‘The seniors and the veterans built this country, and no one is going to come in here, disrupt us and embarrass us or take away our democracy,’ said Tony Fransetta, president of the liberal, union-affiliated group. But outside the closed doors of the South County Civic Center was the hollering, finger-pointing and sign-waving that has defined public meetings on health care this month as Congress contemplates sweeping reforms. …

The atmosphere outside the town hall resembled a county fair. People carried American flags as well as umbrellas to shield them from the sun. A high school marching band played upbeat tunes. A handful of seniors sat in lawn chairs in the shade, their placards flapping against their tuna fish sandwiches.”

Source

Must not joke about race (if you are white)

We read:

"Oxford University has banned its students' Conservative Association from using its name after a race row. OUCA, which boasts Margaret Thatcher as its patron and William Hague as Honorary President, was embroiled in a scandal in June when student politicians were urged to compete to see who could tell the most offensive racist joke.

Nick Gallagher, the group's publications officer, was asked to repeat 'the most inappropriate joke you have ever told' as part of a drunken hustings for the next president of the body. He said: 'What do you say when you see a television moving around in the dark? Drop it n****r, or I'll shoot you!'

A source who was at the meeting said: 'Everybody laughed their heads off. When one person raised concerns, the joker said it was okay because it was a joke made by Chris Rock, the American comedian - who is black - which obviously makes it fine.'

Source

ROTC student suspended for telling Muslim to respect flag, remove hijab

Must not criticize Muslims

"Maybe it's because her dad served in the U.S. Marines ... or because her high school mascot is a fierce-looking eagle ... or because she plans to enlist in the Army next summer after graduation to defend her country ... whatever the reason, when Heather Lawrence saw a fellow student refuse to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and recite it with the class, the 16-year-old Junior ROTC member saw a teachable moment and took it.

And for that, she's been suspended five days.

Lawrence's troubles with administrators at Springstead High School in Spring Hill, Fla., began last Wednesday when she noticed a female Muslim student refusing to participate in the Pledge. The student was wearing a hijab, the traditional Muslim headscarf.

Later in the day, Lawrence encountered the student between periods and told her she should stand for the pledge, reported Hernando Today. "Take that thing off your head and act like you're proud to be an American," Lawrence told her.

Although the student walked away and filed no complaint, a teacher overheard Lawrence's comment and reported her to school administrators. On Friday, Lawrence was called to Assistant Principal Steve Crognale's office and her father was called and informed she would be suspended for five days.

When pressed to justify the suspension, Crognale said it was because she made a threat, the father claimed. Under further questioning, Lawrence said Crognale "backed off" and said Heather had "caused mental duress" for the Muslim student, even though she had made no complaint. Crognale said school policy allowed him to suspend Heather for 10 days.

"You have someone in the States who is able to enjoy our educational and health care systems, yet it's okay for them to be disrespectful, and it's not okay for my daughter to speak her mind," Mark Lawrence told the Tampa Tribune. "That's her First Amendment right. That's her freedom of speech.".

Source

Savage set to sue British Leftist politician

We read:

"She quit as Home Secretary almost three months ago but Jacqui Smith hasn’t been forgotten — not, at least, by the American “shock jock” whom she banned from Britain.

Michael Savage, one of 16 people on a list of “undesirables” drawn up this year by Ms Smith, has given her until tomorrow to agree to pay more than £100,000 in damages and costs or be sued for libel. She must also retract allegations that he incites violence, and apologise, he says.

Mr Savage, 67, whose controversial Talk Radio Network show has eight million listeners, has been accused of racism and homophobia. He is the third-most popular radio talk-show host in America. The Home Office said that he was “considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence”.

In an interview with The Times Mr Savage said that he had tried the diplomatic approach with the Home Office but now wanted action. His British lawyers had sent Ms Smith a letter saying that if she did not comply they would issue a personal writ against her immediately.

He accused Ms Smith and the Home Office of putting his name on the exclusion list to provide “political balance”. He cited Home Office e-mails that his lawyers have obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showing that one official accepted that he had never incited violence. Another document said his name would show that those excluded “are not all Islamist extremists”....

Mr Savage said: “Why do they continue to dig their heels in when their own e-mails condemn their position? I am a member of the American media, a commentator. I provoke people to thought, not to kill.”

The Home Office has said it will fight a libel action and that there is little prospect of Mr Savage’s name being taken off the exclusion list.

Source

Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA) joins worst offenders of liberty

With 3,400 students, Bucknell claims to be the nation's largest private liberal arts university:

" Thanks to its continuous distortions and abuses of its own policies on free expression to suppress political speech, Bucknell University has earned the dubious honor of being placed on FIRE's Red Alert list. Institutions on the Red Alert list are unrepentant offenders against basic rights that are guaranteed either by the U.S. Constitution or the schools themselves, and they have policies and/or practices that demonstrate a serious and ongoing threat to current and future students. They are the "worst of the worst" when it comes to protecting liberty on campus.

Though repeated letters from FIRE, backed up with documentary evidence, have made clear to Bucknell that its suppression of the political activities of the Bucknell University Conservatives Club (BUCC) was a violation of its supposed core principles of free expression, Bucknell has continued to willfully misinterpret its policies and offer after-the-fact defenses that make a mockery of campus expression and severely endanger free speech at Bucknell. In spite of this, and of the fact that its actions have sparked widespread public condemnation and negative publicity, Bucknell has refused to accept wrongdoing for its suppression of BUCC's activities."

Source

Town-hall clash! Cop vs. Obama 'Joker' poster

We read:

"This used to be America," argued a protester outside a health-care town hall meeting in Reston, Va., after a police officer threatened him with arrest for holding up a sign with a picture critical of Barack Obama.

The officer's response? "It ain't no more, OK?"

A video of the town hall held earlier this week by Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., shows an unnamed protester standing on school grounds carrying a sign that read "Organizing for National Socialist Health Care – The Final Solution" and depicted Barack Obama in the Joker's makeup.

Officer Wesley Cheeks Jr. then told the protester that even though others were holding signs, his sign was unacceptable because of the depiction of Obama.

Source

Woman accused of contempt for dinner blessing

We read:

"A Florida school district worker whose husband read a prayer at a private banquet has been cleared of contempt accusations brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The case arose after the Santa Rosa County School District in January agreed to eliminate all religious activity, including prayer, at school-sanctioned events. However, district worker Michelle Winkler was at a private banquet held at a Naval base to honor non-instructional school district employees and her husband read a brief blessing prior to the meal, according to reports of the case.

The ACLU alleged that subjected her to contempt charges.

Winkler, a clerical assistant for the district who was represented by Liberty Counsel's Senior Litigation Counsel Horatio Mihet and David Corry, was examined during a recent seven-hour hearing in federal court. Eventually, District Judge Casey Rodgers found that Winkler's husband's prayer at a voluntary gathering outside of school did not violate any court order.

Liberty Counsel founder Mathew D. Staver expressed relief over the victory but frustration over the ACLU's actions. "The wheels came off the ACLU's steamroller. While we are pleased with the ruling, we are saddened that a wonderful woman had to spend a day in court, with the ACLU's crosshairs aimed at her back. Prayer is neither contemptuous nor criminal. It is outrageous that the ACLU sought civil contempt charges against an outstanding woman whose husband prayed a beautiful prayer at a privately sponsored event held off campus. The ACLU needs to take a good dose of the First Amendment and call us in the morning," he said.

Source

Black Group Comes Out In Support Of Glenn Beck

We read:

"LOS ANGELES—BOND Action, Inc., a national cultural action organization, has come out in support of FOX News Channel broadcaster Glenn Beck. Beck has been under attack from the radical left-wing group ColorOfChange.org after he said last month that he believes President Obama is “a racist.” ColorOfChange.org was founded by Van Jones; a self-described “rowdy black nationalist.” Jones now serves as White House environmental advisor (“green jobs czar”). So far advertisers including Geico, Ally Bank, and Sargento Cheese have been intimidated into pulling ads off The Glenn Beck Show. “BOND Action, Inc., will be working to expose the source behind the boycott and counter it,” said Founder and President, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson.

“Glenn Beck is right, Obama is a racist! ” added Rev. Peterson. “Where were the boycotts and outraged activists when President George W. Bush was being falsely maligned as a ‘racist’? This is a blatant double standard. This boycott is an attempt to silence Beck from continuing his expose’ of Barack Obama’s socialist agenda and his radical ‘green jobs czar’ Van Jones.”

ColorOfChange.org claims some 33 advertisers have pulled their ads off The Glenn Beck Show, but that number is reportedly exaggerated. ColorOfChange.org has a checkered past. The group reportedly endorsed outrageous statements by rapper Kanye West that former President Bush gave troops permission to go to New Orleans and shoot black people during Hurricane Katrina. Beck’s television program draws more than 2 million viewers and BOND Action, Inc., is calling on advertisers not to cave in to pressure.

Rev. Peterson said, “ColorOfChange.org claims that it exists to ‘strengthen Black America’s political voice’—but it’s clear that they are a left-wing, racist political group that deal in lies. This attempt to silence Beck is an attack on free speech and must be countered.”

Source

Florida Students Sent Home After Wearing 'Islam Is of the Devil' Shirts



We read:

"A handful of students were sent home from Florida schools this week after showing up in shirts proclaiming that "Islam is of the Devil," part of a fiery church campaign to "expose" Islam as a religion of violence.

Three high schoolers were forced to leave Tuesday for wearing the shirts made by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., where school officials say violated the district's dress codes. A middle schooler was also asked to change clothes because of the shirt, which got a 10-year-old fifth grader sent packing on Monday, when the incidents began.

"Students have a right of free speech, and we have allowed students to come to school wearing clothes with messages," school district staff attorney told the Gainesville Sun. "But this message is a divisive message that is likely to offend students. Principals, I feel reasonably, have deemed that a violation of the dress code."

Source

So messages must not be "divisive"? And must not offend? Can't find those bits in the 1st Amendment. And Muslims can call America "The Great Satan", of course

Some amusing reactions from Poland

We read:

"In the wake of the unfortunate race-swap decapitation performed by unknown persons on an image used on Microsoft's Web site in Poland, I thought I'd wander over to the Polish press and see what it might have to say on the subject.

You see, we spoke Polish at home. And, well, I wondered whether the coverage in the country of my blood might indeed differ in any way from that in the U.S. Some Polish papers, like the rather energetic tabloid Super Express seem not have to made much of the story.

The more serious Dziennik pointed to critics who suggested that at least Microsoft "left the Poles an Asian." Dziennik also pointed to the Web site of the Medical University of Lublin which, while having two white professors on its Polish language site, introduced a black professor on its English language version.

Perhaps the most influential national daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, had its say Wednesday in an article entitled "The Black Hand of Microsoft." Gazeta Wyborcza opted for a less than sympathetic tone. "The black man's face was removed digitally," wrote the paper, "but they forgot about his hand."

While saying that Microsoft's Polish operation was not commenting at all on the issue, Gazeta Wyborcza made much of the suggestion that the laptop in the shot may actually be a barely anonymized Apple model and that the monitor on the table doesn't seem to be connected to anything. The paper even quoted Vijay, a commenter from the PhotoshopDisasters blog, who wrote: "The white head and black hand actually symbolise (sic) interracial harmony."

Source

UCLA Drops Threats Against Internet Speech

In the usual Leftist way, UCLA can't take criticism:

"Wilde launched the website ucla-weeding101.info last month to argue that he was "weeded out" of UCLA's Graduate School of Education for his dissenting views. On August 6, UCLA Senior Campus Counsel Patricia M. Jasper sent Wilde a letter arguing that the domain name constituted "trademark infringement and dilution" and suggested the website might be a criminal offense under the California Education Code. Jasper also wrote that UCLA was acting in part to protect its "reputation" and ordered Wilde to shut down the site by August 17.

FIRE immediately wrote UCLA Chancellor Gene D. Block, pointing out that no reasonable person would mistake Wilde's site as being an official UCLA site or having the college's endorsement, and that the First Amendment protects the use of organization names on "cybergriping" sites. Further, although a disclaimer for such an obviously unaffiliated site is legally unnecessary, the site now contains a prominent statement explicitly alerting readers that the site is "not supported, endorsed, or authorized by UCLA or the University of California."

On August 18, Jasper notified FIRE that FIRE's letter was under review and that she "anticipate[d] having a fuller response ... in the very near future." Yesterday, FIRE took the case public, and within hours Jasper faxed FIRE to say that, while the university would appreciate more changes to the site, "[i]n any event, the University hereby withdraws the demands made upon Mr. Wilde in our letter to him of August 6, 2009."

Source

If Leftists had to put up with the torrent of abuse and criticism that Christians get, they would dissolve into blubbering cot-cases

Leftists putting out fake-hate again?

Leftists have a long history of creating fake hate incidents and fake hate-speech and attributing it to conservatives. This time it looks like they got caught red-handed. There have been quite a few prior examples of such fakery noted on this blog. See here, for instance. Real hate speech is so rare among white conservatives that blacks and Leftists have to make it up from time to time.

"One of two people suspected of shattering 11 windows Tuesday morning at the state Democratic Party headquarters has an arrest record and a history of helping a Democratic political candidate, public records show.

Police said that about 2:20 a.m., 24-year-old Maurice Schwenkler, now in custody, and an at-large accomplice took a hammer to the picture windows displaying posters touting President Barack Obama and his health care reform efforts.

Early Tuesday, Democratic Party chairwoman Pat Waak said the damage to her building in Denver's art district was a consequence of "an effort on the other side to stir up hate." She tempered her statement after Schwenkler's political history was revealed.

Balmer said he suspects the vandalism might have been aimed at making the GOP look bad. "This sounds like the type of Democratic tactic from the left fringe trying to make Republicans look mean-spirited," Balmer said. "In this case, it blew up in their face. He was caught red-handed." Schwenkler allegedly tried to conceal his identity while committing the crime by wearing a shirt over his face, a hooded sweat shirt and latex gloves, according to police descriptions.

When a Denver police officer on patrol spotted two people smashing windows, the suspects fled on bicycles. Schwenkler was arrested after a short foot pursuit, but the other suspect sped away, police Detective Vicki Ferrari said.

Source

TinTin under attack again



We read:

"Brooklyn's chief librarian has yanked a nearly 80-year-old book from the shelves because it depicts Africans as monkeys. Tintin Au Congo is the only book in the city library system hidden from public view after a reader complained that it was "racially offensive."

The popular Belgian children's work - due to be made into a movie by Steven Spielberg - is locked behind a series of hidden doors on the third floor of Brooklyn's central library. "'Tintin au Congo' was relocated," said director Richard Reyes-Gavilan. It "had illustrations that were racially offensive and inappropriate for children."

Donna Lieberman, head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, blasted librarians "for taking the easy way out" and not considering the "long term in engaging in censorship."

Source

Ireland's new blasphemy law

We read:

"The Irish government plans to bring into force a new law in October that critics say is a return to medieval justice. The legislation, aimed at providing judges with clear direction on the 1937 Constitution's blasphemy prohibition, imposes a fine of up to 25,000 euros - about $39,000 - for anyone who "publishes or utters matter that is (intentionally meant to be) grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion."

Police with a search warrant will be able to enter private premises and use "reasonable force" to obtain incriminating evidence.

The initiative has stunned some Irish and international commentators who say it contradicts Ireland's recent emergence as a more multicultural, tech-savvy country that has in recent years showed its independence from the Roman Catholic church by liberalizing its divorce law

Source

Hah! It's clear from the way the law is worded that it's Muslims, not Catholics who are being placated.

Microsoft Edits Black Man Out of Photo, Apologizes



We read:

"Software giant Microsoft Corp. is apologizing for altering a photo on its Web site to change the race of one of the people shown in the picture.

A photo on the Seattle-based company's U.S. Web site shows two men, one Asian and one black, and a white woman seated at a conference room table. But on the Web site of Microsoft's Polish business unit, the black man's head has been replaced with that of a white man. The color of his hand remains unchanged.

The photo editing sparked criticism online. Some bloggers said Poland's ethnic homogeneity may have played a role in changing the photo.

"We are looking into the details of this situation," Microsoft spokesperson Lou Gellos said in a statement Tuesday. "We apologize and are in the process of pulling down the image."

Source

I wonder where the law is that says you must not delete pictures of blacks? Poland is probably the "whitest" country there is so a judgment that a picture of a black man might not appeal to Poles is understandable. Jesus Christ is almost always pictured as a thin pale-skinned blond blue-eyed Northern European when he was almost certainly a short swarthy Middle Eastern man with curly black hair and dark eyes. People identify best with scenes and images that are familiar to them and getting people to identify with the scene in an advertisement is part of selling.

But it has of course been taken as an insult to blacks to assume that images of them might not appeal to Poles. Images of old people don't seem to appeal to anyone very much either, but old people are generally mature enough to handle that. The Leftists behind this protest are assuming that blacks are not mature enough to handle the possibility that Poles might prefer to look at people like themselves. That does not show much respect for the maturity of blacks.

A Communist-sympathizing Obama apparatchik is behind the attack on Glenn Beck

We read:

"Is Glenn Beck finished?" is the headline over an article on a left-wing website, insisting that a campaign against Beck's Fox News Channel program has cost him 36 advertisers and that his show may be cancelled as a result. The campaign against Beck is being waged by a group called Color of Change, whose co-founder, Van Jones, is now Obama's green-jobs czar.

Not coincidentally, Beck has repeatedly singled out Van Jones for criticism, citing evidence of his communist past. The source of this evidence is New Zealand blogger Trevor Loudon, the same researcher who originally unearthed the fact that Obama's mysterious mentor "Frank" in Obama's book Dreams from My Father was Communist Party member Frank Marshall Davis. We confirmed that identification with a separate source and ran with the story last year, even obtaining the 600-page FBI file on Davis. It also came out that Davis was a sex pervert, doper, and pornographer.

Trevor Loudon, who deserves far more credit than he gets for smoking out the communists in and around the Obama Administration, broke the Van Jones story back on April 6 and has run several follow-ups. Among other things, he revealed that Jones was a leading member of a Marxist organization known by the acronym STORM, which means Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement. A 96-page history of the organization mentions how several STORM members had traveled to Cuba in the summer of 1999 as part of the Venceremos Brigade. This is the group that was originally sponsored by the Castro regime and the Weather Underground.

It seems clear that Jones has undergone, with powerful sponsors and benefactors, an extreme makeover. Beck, to his credit, is trying to peel away the protective cover. He needs our support to remain on the air and pursue this story. The trail will most certainly lead beyond Jones himself.

Source

Fonts

I asked for comments about the larger font I have started using on my two new sites: Political Correctness Watch and Eye on Britain. Most people liked the larger font but those who did not seemed to dislike it mainly because it made a narrow column slow to scroll through. I have therefore changed the template on both blogs to the one with the widest main columns available for the site. I think that should go closer to suiting everybody. Sadly, though, in both cases, the wide column templates had no colour whatevever! I am hoping that someone who knows their way around templates a bit better than I do might eventually tell me how to change them into my usual green and yellow pattern.

Must not say blindness is a handicap??

Regarding Democrat NY governor Paterson who is both blind and black and whom the Democrats are trying to get rid of. Schwartz is a Pateron aide:

"Schwartz didn't comment on Gaspard's call yesterday but ripped into Staten Island Democratic state Sen. Diane Savino, who said Paterson's blindness may make it difficult for him to be an effective governor - especially in a digital age.

Schwartz called the comments "insensitive and totally inappropriate" and said "Diane Savino owes a public apology to Gov. Paterson ... [and] every visually impaired New Yorker."

Source

Paterson appears to have got the job as deputy governor as a "token black" but when Eliot Spitzer imploded over his wandering penis, Paterson became top dog. His public approval ratings as governor are in the basement however and Democrats know that they will lose with him as the candidate in the next gubernatorial election.

Must not call a Lebanese a terrorist?



Many Lebanese are Muslims but I don't know if this guy is. I guess he does look terrifying so I can understand the description:

"After getting booted from Big Brother 11 on Aug. 15, Chime Simone is not giving any interviews to the press, but she did issue one statement on Wednesday. Since she remains under contract with CBS, the network apparently approved her request to send an apology for a remark she made on the show to hollyscoop.com, a celebrity gossip site that previously employed Simone as a freelance journalist.

According to one source, the site had been receiving protest emails because of Simone’s behavior in the BB house — specifically when she called fellow houseguest Russell Kairouz [pic above], a Lebanese-American, “a terrorist.” Simone made the comment after Russell had repeatedly yelled at her and other houseguests. “I used a phrase that was insensitive given his Middle Eastern descent, and I apologize to all who are justifiably offended with my use of that racially charged term,” Simone wrote in an e-mail to the website. But she fell short of apologizing to Kairouz. “Russell constantly demoralized many of us on a consistent basis and his conduct was alarming, daunting and terrifying,” Simone wrote."

Source

You can of course call Christians "Taleban" all you like.

Font size

I have moved to a larger font for my new Political Correctness Watch site and my new Eye on Britain site.

I would be interested if anyone has any strong feelings about it being now too large, just right etc.

No free speech for Lou Dobbs?

I certainly don't always agree with Lou Dobbs but ....

"One campaign is a petition to call upon CNN head John Klein to fire Lou Dobbs for his repeated displays of anti-immigrant/anti-Mexican propaganda and for his equally racially divisive and inflammatory pot-stirring insistence that President Obama is not an American citizen.

Freedom of speech is one thing, hate speech is another. Intentionally inciting hatred and fanning the flames of racial division is a dangerous, destructive practice that does nothing to bring about productive, candid, honest dialogue about race this country desperately needs right now. These actions are completely unacceptable from someone who claims to be a journalist working for a mainstream news organization like CNN that claims to be “America’s most trusted name in news.”

Dobbs has been stoking the flames of racial fear and paranoia for far too long, and he, along with CNN, must finally be held accountable for it. If Dobbs wishes to continue along those lines then let him continue at Fox News where that kind of behavior is expected and where barely veiled and often blatant racism, sexism, homophobia and hatred is the order of the day.

Source

Lots of Leftists seem to display the sort of compartmentalized thinking that often characterizes madmen. The writer above says that "candid, honest dialogue about race" is desperately needed but then rules out allowing one of the most candid, honest speakers from being heard. She wants a MONOLOGUE of Leftist pieties, not a DIALOGUE of any kind. It appears that when Leftists propose a dialogue they mean it as nothing more than an opportunity for others to agree with them. I suspect that they actually NEED everyone to agree with them. They know that they are denying half of reality and need universal agreement to save them from confronting that. They can't AFFORD for there to be free speech.

There's one man in Britain who gets away with saying what he thinks



Being 88 probably helps

"Prince Philip has never been shy about expressing his opinions on a huge range of subjects – often with cringe-making results. But now he appears to have put his foot in it again, over his views on goatee beards.

At a recent Buckingham Palace garden party, the gaffe-prone Royal was chatting to a guest and struck up conversation by asking what he did for a living. The man, one of 8,000 guests hoping to meet the Queen and other members of the Royal Family, replied: ‘I’m a designer, sir.’

The 88-year-old Prince is said to have replied: ‘Well, you didn’t design your beard too well, did you?’ The remark, made at a garden party on July 21, left the guest speechless but his embarrassment didn’t end there. The Duke of Edinburgh – who wore a beard as a young man – was then overheard saying: ‘You really must try better with your beard.’

Source

I suspect that the Prince found "designer" to be a pretentious self-description. I would. A designer of what? Rocket ships?

More official speech bans in Britain

We read:

"It could be construed as a black day for the English language — but not if you work in the public sector. Dozens of quangos and taxpayer-funded organisations have ordered a purge of common words and phrases so as not to cause offence.

Among the everyday sayings that have been quietly dropped in a bid to stamp out racism and sexism are “whiter than white”, “gentleman’s agreement”, “black mark” and “right-hand man”.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission has advised staff to replace the phrase “black day” with “miserable day”, according to documents released under freedom of information rules. It points out that certain words carry with them a “hierarchical valuation of skin colour”. The commission even urges employees to be mindful of the term “ethnic minority” because it can imply “something smaller and less important”.

The National Gallery in London believes that the phrase “gentleman’s agreement” is potentially offensive to women and suggests that staff should replace it with “unwritten agreement” or “an agreement based on trust” instead. The term “right-hand man” is also considered taboo by the gallery, with “second in command” being deemed more suitable.

Many institutions have urged their workforce to be mindful of “gender bias” in language. The Learning and Skills Council wants staff to “perfect” their brief rather than “master” it, while the Newcastle University has singled out the phrase “master bedroom” as being problematic.

Advice issued by the South West Regional Development Agency states: “Terms such as ‘black sheep of the family’, ‘black looks’ and ‘black mark’ have no direct link to skin colour but potentially serve to reinforce a negative view of all things black. Equally, certain terms imply a negative image of ‘black’ by reinforcing the positive aspects of white. “For example, in the context of being above suspicion, the phrase ‘whiter than white’ is often used. Purer than pure or cleaner than clean are alternatives which do not infer that anything other than white should be regarded with suspicion.”

Source

Britain: Must not disparage nudists?

We read:

"Harriet Harman [One of Britain's extreme Left politicians] is set to embrace yet another minority group who claim to be victims of discrimination – naturists.

The Government Equalities Office, which is overseen by Labour’s deputy leader, is promoting claims that devotees of skinny dipping and nudist campsites suffer prejudice equivalent to that experienced by gays, ethnic minorities and the elderly.

A submission written by British Naturism has been included in a review into discrimination. “Naturists encounter prejudice in employment,” it reads.

“This is a particular problem for people in the caring professions and education. Any occupation requiring an enhanced Criminal Record Bureau check is potentially a serious problem.”

Source

Once again: Bush=Hitler OK; Obama=Hitler not OK

We read:

"In the wake of this week's beating of a black fisherman in an apparent hate crime, a leader of the Jewish community says hate speech becoming more acceptable. Speaking at a City Hall news conference with Mayor Sheila Dixon and clergy leaders on the beating of James Privitt, Art Abramson said that he's heard hate speech at the recent town meetings on health care reform..

The executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council said he is bothered by comparisons of various health care reform plans to Nazi atrocities. "Identifying this health care plan as a Nazi like plan shows how quickly we are accepting out there these comparisons...comparisons that are wrong as these people have no idea of what happens when we begin to see Nazi like plans," Abramson said.

Abramson says as hate speech becomes more acceptable in conversation, incidents like this week's beating will increase.

Source

One might note that Mr Abramson is the author of a site that includes an entry about "How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler's Rise to Power" -- so connecting Bush to Nazism is obviously fine by him. Shame on you for your hate-speech, Mr Abramson!

"Radio Speech Is Not Free Speech" (??)

Hitler would agree with the little Nazi lady writing below. Hitler used his control over German radio to great effect:

"On August 11, 2009, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in a unanimous vote became the first elected body in the United States to stand up to Hate Radio. Their resolution urges "the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to conduct a comprehensive investigation on hate speech in the media, allowing public participation via public hearings, and asks the NTIA to update its 1993 report on the Role of Telecommunications in Hate Crimes."

For two years, San Francisco's Hispanic/Latino Anti-Defamation Coalition has been trying to get some traction on this issue. They've staged rallies against Michael Savage worked with the Media Alliance, Common Cause, and Broadcast Blues to protest hate radio, and supported the National Hispanic Media Coaltion's campaign to convince the FCC and NTIA to act. But HLADC leader Aurora Grajedas saw she could better affect national change by working with her own city's board of supervisors. Acting locally is a good lesson for all activists.

Still, there is resistance to any such study, as opponents charge these groups are trying to shut down the First Amendment. But let us be clear, Radio Speech is not Free Speech. I will stand by Glenn Beck's right to stand on the street corner and say illegal immigrants should be made into a new fuel called "Mexinol." I may not like it, but I stand by his right to say it. But there is a difference between shouting on the street corner and broadcasting all over the country. [There certainly is a difference but being different does not make something wrong -- though I guess Leftists think it does. Ever since Hegel, they have wanted to convert us all into ants in an anthill]

Source

The specially protected status of homosexuals is acknowledged in Minnesota



We read:

"Serving some 40,500 students and 248,000 residents living in 13 communities, Anoka-Hennepin School District’s 2,700 teachers tackle huge assignments every school day. Well, one student says two of his teachers took it on themselves to add a little extra duty to their daily doings.

Alex Merritt [pic above] recently won a $25,000 settlement after reporting that while enrolled at the STEP school back in 2007-2008, two teachers harassed him with remarks about his perceived sexual orientation....

In the settlement negotiated with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, District 11 agreed to pay Merritt $25,000 and the two teachers, Diane Cleveland and Walter Filson, were reprimanded. Cleveland, a social studies teacher, was briefly reassigned, and placed on two-day unpaid suspension....

Details were unavailable regarding the disciplinary action taken regarding Filson, a law enforcement teacher.

Anoka-Hennepin denies any violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act and its settlement of this case “does not constitute an admission of any liability of violating the Minnesota Human Rights Act or any other law or of any wrongdoing,” the Department of Human Rights Web site reported....

Settlement of the Merritt incident also directs District 11 to submit training materials related to student harassment, its complaint process and sexual orientation as a protected class for the department’s approval.

According to Olson, as has been the tradition for many years, all Anoka-Hennepin staff members go through harassment training when they are hired and principals revisit the anti-harassment policy with their employees and students every year.

Source

Apparently the student (pic above) is straight but effeminate in some way. We read here that "Cleveland was found to have made comments such as: "[His] fence swings both ways" and also that he had a "thing for older men". Filson allegedly said the student enjoyed wearing women's clothes." Fullest details of what was said here.

The boy does seem to have been mercilessly and quite unforgiveably taunted and harassed by his teachers. I would have thought that such cruel and unprofessional teachers should have been fired regardless of whether the harassment concerned homosexuality or not. The boy must have been extremely distressed. I just hope he eventually manages to get over it.

My son has always been a quiet, inactive, non-sporty but thinking type and he got rather harshly disparaged by his teacher in Grade 4 who didn't think he was robust enough in his attitudes and actions. I immediately raised the matter with the Head Teacher and it was appropriately dealt with. But they still lost a pupil over it. I sent him to a different school the next year and he has never looked back. He now has a degree with First Class Honours in Mathematics and is working with great enthusiasm on his Ph.D. in Mathematics. He also has a girlfriend and lots of friends. So I am rather amused at the stupid value-system of that Grade 4 teacher. One wonders where the father of the boy in the above matter was. But my son was in a private school so parents undoubtedly have more leverage there. All the more reason for school vouchers.

The most interesting thing for me about the above incident, though, is how do you get to be a protected species? Fatties are often disparaged. Should they be especially protected? And what about Christians? There seems to be open season on them. Surely they should be protected from derogatory comments too? Half of the political Left would be doing sensitivity training if that one were brought in!

But Orwell knew the Left well, being one of them, and his saying that "Some pigs are more equal than others" seems to be a permanent feature of Leftist thought. (H/T Interested Participant)

Boycotts can work both ways, Wal-Mart

We read:

"Wal-Mart has joined a handful of craven corporations caving to demands from the radical Left that they withdraw their advertising from Glenn Beck's Fox News program to protest what the repressive zealots view as unacceptable speech by the controversial cable host.

Beck's critics are four political activists with an outfit called ColorofChange.org. They are outraged that Beck called President Obama a "racist" with "an abiding hatred of white people." Is Beck correct? I have no idea, but he has a right to voice his opinion, just as the four people with ColorofChange have a right to theirs.

But this quartet beating the drums for repression aren't satisfied just to publicize their disagreement with Beck, they also want to silence him because, they claim, he is trying "to convince the American public that President Obama's agenda is about serving the needs of Black communities at White people's expense."

Beck's views are, according to ColorofChange.org, "repulsive, divisive and shouldn't be on the air." Funny, I don't recall that the First Amendment guarantees freedom of expression to everybody except those whose opinions the four members of ColorofChange.og find "repulsive and divisive."

There is more to be said later in this space on ColorofChange. For the moment, the focus here is on Wal-Mart, which has joined Geico, Men's Warehouse, Proctor & Gamble, Progressive Insurance, Sargento, and a few others in pulling advertising from Fox that might have been slated to run during Beck's 5 pm slot.

Shareholders in these corporate monuments to brainless marketing will be interested to know that Beck's audience is bigger than those watching all of his competitors on MSNBC, CNN, CNBC and HLN combined. Don't be surprised if those same shareholders also wonder who should be served first - the millions of potential customers watching Beck or the Potemkin creation of a former MoveOn.org organizer and his three cohorts.

My guess is that many among Beck's viewers - and millions more people who have never watched his show - would be outraged to know these corporations are aiding and abetting a vicious, hypocritical campaign to slander him by an outfit apparently created for just such a purpose. Many of these viewers will also want to know what they can do to help Beck.

I have a suggestion for them - Boycott Wal-Mart. Remind these corporate cop-outs that politically inspired boycotts can go both ways, but the economic consequences are likely to be far more devastating to those who depend on consumers whose political views span the ideological spectrum. Or, to put it more bluntly for the marketing geniuses in Wal-Mart's Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters, there are far more Americans who agree with Beck and/or simply love the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment than the anti-free speech comissars on the extreme fringe of the far Left who are trying to shut him up.

And, given the likely demographic overlap of Beck viewers and Wal-Mart shoppers, the monster Big Box store chain is the perfect target of a counter-boycott. Can you guess who is more likely to feel pain first - the cable news guy whose ratings are skyrocketing as Obama's plunge or Wal-Mart?

Source

Discrimination in the name of anti-discrimination

We read:

"Another day, another casualty in a conflict pitting equality and demographic diversity against free speech and diversity of opinion. ‘A Singapore law professor who was to teach a human rights course at New York University Law School this Fall has withdrawn after students protested what they called her anti-gay views,’ the New York Times reported recently. …

The trouble is that the petition opposing Dr Thio imagined her appointment as a violation of NYU’s ‘own policy of non-discrimination.’ In other words, gay students (and members of other historically disadvantaged groups) are said to suffer actual discrimination when the administration hires faculty members who argue against anti-discrimination laws.

This confusion of speech and action — of allowing advocacy of discrimination and actually engaging in it — is common in academia, where academic freedom is too often limited to the freedom to advance prevailing ideals of equality.”

Source

Mexican Leaders demand freedom of expression

We read:

"Billionaire businessman Carlos Slim joined academics and human rights advocates on Monday in demanding a renewed national commitment to a free press and an end to attacks on journalists. Declaring free speech as a fundamental human right, the group of 21 leaders signed a nine-page Commitment to Freedom of Expression, a detailed proposal for Mexico to provide the public with access to information, transparency in government activities and the right to safely report news.”

Source

Sounds good but I kinda doubt that anything will come of it

Google are at it again

A few minutes ago I put up my latest post on POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH and about 5 seconds after it went up I got a message saying that all future postings to it would be blocked on suspicion that it is a "spam blog".

As the blog has been much the same for years it's all very strange. I have requested a review of the block so it should in theory be back in action in the next day or two. Last time they blocked my GREENIE WATCH blog (for the THIRD time), they removed the block after 24 hours approx. so that was not too bad.

They do sometimes fail to act on review requests, however, and my original Obama Watch blog has never had its restrictions lifted despite many requests.

So if you cannot access any further posts on POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, just go to the mirror site instead.

Woman charged with harassment over suggestive post

We read:

"A Missouri woman is accused of cyberbullying for allegedly posting photos and personal information of a teenage girl on the "Casual Encounters" section of Craigslist after an Internet argument. Prosecutors said 40-year-old Elizabeth A. Thrasher posted the 17-year-old's picture, e-mail address and cell phone number on the Web site in a posting that suggested the girl was seeking a sexual encounter.

St. Charles County Lt. Craig McGuire said Tuesday that the victim is the daughter of Thrasher's ex-husband's girlfriend. The girl, who has not been named, received lewd messages and photographs from men she didn't know and contacted police.

Thrasher, of St. Peters, is the first person charged with felony harassment in St. Charles County under a law passed in Missouri after the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier, who was the victim of an Internet hoax in a nearby community that drew international attention.

Source

I can't see any free speech protection here. It is akin to libel, which is certainly not protected

A name-change meant to deceive travellers

We read:

"A row erupted in Britain on Monday over the rebranding of Oxford Airport as London Oxford Airport - despite being 60 miles from the capital's centre. Officials said they hoped the rebranding of the airport at Kidlington near Oxford in southeast England would raise its international profile and attract more passengers.

But heritage campaigners slammed the rebranding as insulting, saying historic Oxford city, with its prestigious university, did not need to be seen as an offshoot of the British capital. "Good grief. Oxford is a great place in its own right and I find it insulting it is being considered just another offshoot of London," said Ros Weatherall, from the Oxford Civic Society. "Trying to make Oxford seem like a suburb of London is very misleading...

Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce, which represents businesses in the area around Oxford, said it was a "good idea" which could benefit the whole region. "Oxford and Oxfordshire is a place in its own right but you're linking tourism and business and it's an excellent business opportunity," said Claire Prosser, the chamber's policy executive.

Eight airports currently use the capital's name including London Stansted Airport, which is about 40 miles from the capital and London Luton Airport, 35 miles away.

Source

There's only one airport in London: Heathrow. Thanks to a fast and frequent express rail connection to central London, Gatwick is also pretty convenient. Gatwick is 28 miles South of London. The train goes at about 100mph so it is a fun ride.

"Lil' Monkey" Doll Brings Racism to the Toy Aisle (?)

OK to call George Bush a chimp but ...

"Putting a cute baby and a cuddly monkey together can sometimes seem like a good marketing idea, but in today’s PC world, that pairing will get you fired.

Wholesale giant Costco had to pull thousands of its “Cuddle with Me” baby dolls because some parents thought the African-American plastic doll and the plush monkey she had as a pet was a bit racist, according to media reports. Probably more offensive was the cap on the baby’s head that read “lil’ monkey.”

According to the Costco website you can buy a black, Hispanic or Caucasian "Cuddle with Me" doll with a Panda bear. (We're not touching that one.)

Brass Key, the company that makes the toy, has apologized for the misunderstanding, saying the offensive meaning was not within their company's "realm of thinking." ...

A Costco spokesman said he regrets that the product offended anyone and the doll has been pulled from all stores. It took a complaint from a man who bought the doll in Greensboro, N.C. to get the racist ball rolling on this one. A chain letter soon followed that eventually reached Costco execs and the PC police.

Source

Americans have got to be on the alert to follow Leftist rules about race all the time. Lose focus once and you are in trouble.

Nazi slogans 'OK in English' says German court

Rather permissive for a German court:

"A Federal appeals court has ruled that people can be prosecuted for displaying Nazi slogans in Germany only if they are in the German language.

The Federal Court of Justice on Thursday overturned a lower court's ruling convicting a neo-Nazi of transporting a shipment of 100 T-shirts with the slogan, "Blood and Honour," written in English. The slogan is a direct translation of the German "Blut und Ehre," a motto of the Hitler Youth.

The display of Nazi symbols or slogans is forbidden in Germany, but the court ruled that the ban only applied to those written in the German language.

It sent the case back to the lower court and noted that the defendant could still be found guilty, because the shirts also carried banned Nazi symbols.

Source

This is a pity in a way. It would have been interesting to see how an English court ruled on the matter. But now the English will be to embarrassed to prosecute (I hope).

"Blacklisting" now a bad word in Britain

We read:

"The Citizens Advice service has banned staff from using the term ' blacklisting' over fears that it is offensive and 'fosters stereotypes'. The taxpayer- funded quango, which advises members of the public on consumer, legal and money issues, has instead replaced it with 'blocklisting' to avoid appearing 'prejudicial'.

The two terms are both used in IT to mean the same thing. They refer to what are effectively lists of computers or computer networks which have been identified as sending spam and enable mail servers to ban or flag up mail sent from them.

Emails to members of staff at the service say the move has been made to keep 'in line with aims and principles of the Citizens Advice service'. Critics branded it 'daft' and 'political correctness going over the top', but the Citizens Advice has refused to back down, even though critics say it renders everyday communications unintelligible...

The ban on blacklisting applies across the whole of Citizens Advice. A former volunteer said banning blacklisting was 'the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen' and has stopped helping at his local branch because of it. John Midgley, co-founder of the campaign against political correctness, said: 'This is just daft and another example of political correctness going over the top.'

Source

Nazis for Me, but Not for Thee

We read:

"It’s this week’s fashion on the left, and among such fashionably contemplative moderates as Mort Kondracke, to blast Rush Limbaugh for comparing Democrats to the Nazis. It’s no surprise that the Obama hardcores are misrepresenting the sequence and substance of events, but I would have hoped that Kondracke would at least have noted that Rush’s comparison — even if Kondracke thought it unwise — was neither gratuitous nor demagogic.

To recap, the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, started this episode by comparing American citizens who oppose Obamacare to the Nazis and asserting that her political opponents were donning “swastikas.” (Sen. Barbara Boxer simultaneously ripped Obamacare dissenters for their Brooks Brothers suits — it’s not altogether clear where on the twill the swastika goes.) Pelosi’s tactic was the shopworn smear we on the right have dealt with for six decades. There is no conceivable substantive connection between opposition to Obamacare and German National Socialism — they are antithetical. By invoking the Nazis, Pelosi was patently slandering dissenters as racist thugs.

Rush responded, and the response did not smear Democrats. He repeatedly and explicitly qualified that no one was saying Obama was Hitler, that Pelosi was Goebbels, or that the Democrats were engaged in the genocidal barbarity of the Third Reich. The comparison he drew was a substantive one: between the Democrats’ proposal for socialized medicine and the German installation of socialized medicine beginning with Bismarck and reaching its shocking apotheosis with Hitler’s National Socialism. The point was to show that if Pelosi wanted to engage in Nazi comparisons, the health-care policies of Nazi Germany had far more in common with the health-care policies of the Democrats than with those of the conservative opposition, which wants health care kept private and reforms to be market-based.

Source

No Free speech for Lynndie England

We read:

"A Friday lecture at the Library of Congress by Lynndie England, one of the most recognizable figures of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, was scratched over safety concerns after opposition from library employees produced violent threats, the organizer said. In addition, organizer David Moore said he canceled the entire series of lectures on veterans' issues, saying free speech "is pretty well dead" because of the ability of a vocal few to make a public fuss.

Ms. England, a 26-year-old former Army Reservist, had been scheduled to discuss her authorized biography as part of the ongoing lecture series sponsored by the Library of Congress Professional Association, an employee group...

Mr. Moore, a German acquisitions specialist at the library, said he received several "vicious" e-mails and telephone calls threatening violence. After informing police and the library's inspector general of the threats, library President Angela Kinney called him Thursday evening to say the event would be canceled....

Mr. Moore declined to name the protesters, but a posting on the Small Wars Journal blog by a "Morris Davis," who says he is a Library of Congress employee, was particularly critical of Ms. England's scheduled appearance.

Source

Once again, no freedom for conservative speech

Relying on rational argument is not the Leftist way. Coercion is their bag. They can't debate so they try to silence those who disagree with them.

"Calls to boycott Whole Foods Market are growing louder and more sophisticated following a Wall Street Journal opinion article by the company's chief executive, John Mackey, in which he criticized President Obama's health care plan and offered his own alternative.

Mackey's article first prompted individuals to threaten taking their business elsewhere. But now the Progressive Review, an online alternative publication, is calling for a formal boycott, and campaigns are popping up all over, including on Facebook, a popular online social networking site.

Protesters are hoping a boycott will cut into the success of Whole Foods, the 10th largest food and drug store in the U.S., which reported sales of $1.8 billion for the last quarter, a 2 percent increase from the previous quarter....

Whole Foods pays 100 percent of the premiums, but not the deductibles, for all employees who work 30 hours or more per week, or about 89 percent of its workers, and gives each employee $1,800 per year in "health-care dollars" that can be used for health and wellness expenses, according to the article.

Among the recommendations he made: equalizing tax laws for health insurance benefits; repealing all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines; repealing government mandates regarding who they must cover; and enacting tort reform and Medicare reform....

Mackey's article appeared to be consistent with the views of dozens of doctors and business executives who have weighed in on the controversial bill. But Mackey's comments have drawn a much harsher reaction and is being compared to an "organized campaign to defeat a single payer health insurance system."

Yet Mackey did draw supporters as well on the forum who said they would start shopping at Whole Foods because of Mackey's article.

Source

The "objectionable" article by Mackey is here