North Dakota decisions end Fighting Sioux nickname

We read:

"A state Supreme Court ruling and a Board of Higher Education decision have retired for good the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname after a four-year legal battle.

The court ruled Thursday that the board had the authority to dump the nickname at any time. The court rejected an appeal that sought to delay action.

A motion Thursday at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting in Mayville to reconsider its vote in May to retire the nickname died after nobody seconded it.

Claus Lembke, of Bismarck, the board member who made the failed motion after the court handed down its ruling, said the board was “giving in to a minority of people on the issue.”

In their ruling, the justices said the board had the authority to change the nickname before a Nov. 30 deadline set in a settlement with the NCAA. A group of eight Spirit Lake Sioux tribal members who want the school to keep the nickname were seeking to have the court bar any decision before the deadline.

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So the Left have a win on the ground that the name offends Indians, even though the Indians are not offended. It's just Leftist hate of other people's customs.

Forbidden political drawings in Britain

We read:

"Former skinhead Gordon Higinbotham is banned from showing his 15 neo-Nazi tattoos in public. In fact, to take his t-shirt off outside would be in breach of his anti-social behaviour order (asbo), because it could cause distress or incite racial hatred.

His tattoos include a vile foot-long image of Adolf Hitler, which dominates his back, and an intricate picture of the Ku Klux Klan, which runs across the length of his stomach.

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It seems to me that he would have a case to have his tatts classified as "art". And ANYTHING is allowable as "art"

No "Islamic extremism" in Obamaland

We read:

"President Barack Obama's advisers will remove religious terms such as "Islamic extremism" from the central document outlining the U.S. national security strategy and will use the rewritten document to emphasize that the United States does not view Muslim nations through the lens of terror, counterterrorism officials said.

The change is a significant shift in the National Security Strategy, a document that previously outlined the Bush Doctrine of preventative war and currently states: "The struggle against militant Islamic radicalism is the great ideological conflict of the early years of the 21st century."

The officials described the changes on condition of anonymity because the document still was being written, and the White House would not discuss it. But rewriting the strategy document will be the latest example of Obama putting his stamp on U.S. foreign policy...

That shift away from terrorism has been building for a year, since Obama went to Cairo, Egypt, and promised a "new beginning" in the relationship between the United States and the Muslim world. The White House believes the previous administration based that relationship entirely on fighting terror and winning the war of ideas....

Public opinion polls also showed consistent improvement in U.S. sentiment within the Muslim world last year, although the viewpoints are still overwhelmingly negative, however.

Peter Feaver, a Duke University political scientist and former Bush adviser, is skeptical of Obama's engagement effort. It "doesn't appear to have created much in the way of strategic benefit" in the Middle East peace process or in negotiations over Iran's nuclear ambitions, he said.

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If Obama is removing religious references, are we back to George Bush's "War on Terror"? How amusing!

School textbook mocks creationism

No respect for Christian beliefs? Or is it only Muslims, blacks and homosexuals who get respect? The book could have simply given the "generally accepted scientific theory" and not mentioned the Bible at all. It was after all supposed to be a science textbook, not a theological commentary.

"A Tennessee father says a biology textbook should be banned from his son’s curriculum because of it's ‘bias’ against Christians.

Kurt Zimmermann is appealing a Knoxville school district's decision to keep the book. He says the textbook used in his son’s biology class cites creationism as a "biblical myth." According to reports, he requests, 'non-biased' textbooks be used. In his words, the current textbook's phrasing misleads, belittles and discourages students in believing in creationism and calls the Bible a myth.

Knoxville County School superintendent Jim McIntyre says the committee's finding to keep using the book is appropriate. However he asks the board to hear Zimmerman's appeal Wednesday, April 7....

Local papers report Zimmerman pulls a quote from page 319 in the book, Asking About Life, where creationism is described as, "the biblical myth that the universe was created by the Judeo-Christian God in 7 days."

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As an atheist, I don't believe in either of the Bible accounts of creation (See Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2) but I think Christians and Christianity deserve respect.

Bigotry against black conservatives

We read:

"They've been called Oreos, traitors and Uncle Toms, and are used to having to defend their values. Now black conservatives are really taking heat for their involvement in the mostly white tea party movement — and for having the audacity to oppose the policies of the nation's first black president.

"I've been told I hate myself. I've been called an Uncle Tom. I've been told I'm a spook at the door," said Timothy F. Johnson, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a group of black conservatives who support free market principles and limited government.

"Black Republicans find themselves always having to prove who they are. Because the assumption is the Republican Party is for whites and the Democratic Party is for blacks," he said.

Johnson and other black conservatives say they were drawn to the tea party movement because of what they consider its commonsense fiscal values of controlled spending, less taxes and smaller government. The fact that they're black — or that most tea partyers are white — should have nothing to do with it, they say....

Tea party voters represent a new model for these black conservatives — away from the black, liberal Democratic base located primarily in cities, and toward a black and white conservative base that extends into the suburbs....

"I've gotten the statement, 'How can you not support the brother?'" said David Webb, an organizer of New York City's Tea Party 365, Inc. movement and a conservative radio personality.

Since Obama's election, Webb said some black conservatives have even resorted to hiding their political views.

"I know of people who would play the (liberal) role publicly, but have their private opinions," he said. "They don't agree with the policy but they have to work, live and exist in the community ... Why can't we speak openly and honestly if we disagree?"

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Despite previous governors' refusals, McDonnell issues Confederate history month proclamation

This should stir up the ACLU, the ADL, the SPLC, the NAACP and all the usual suspects

"Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month, bringing back a designation in Virginia that his two Democratic predecessors -- Mark Warner and Tim Kaine -- refused to do.

Republican governors George Allen and Jim Gilmore issued similar proclamations. But in 2002, Warner broke with their action, calling such proclamations, a "lightning rod" that does not help bridge divisions between whites and blacks in Virginia.

This year's proclamation was requested by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. A representative of the group said the group has known since it interviewed McDonnell when he was running for attorney general in 2005 that he was likely to respond differently than Warner or Kaine.

Richmond is the former capital of the Confederacy.

Sen. A. Donald McEachin (D-Richmond) said he was "stunned" to learn of McDonnell's decision and even more stunned that the proclamation did not include any reference to slavery. "It's offensive,'' he said.

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Will the SPLC now brand the entire State of Virginia as a "hate group"? They're crazy enough.

No free speech if you question feminist dogma

American University (AU) is a private United Methodist-affiliated research university in Washington, D.C.

"American University student Alex Knepper certainly has earned a Purple Heart, and perhaps even a Bronze Star with Valor, for his steely and courageous actions in defense of free speech, the First Amendment, academic freedom, and free and open intellectual inquiry. But where, pray tell, have been the American University faculty during this entire brouhaha surrounding Knepper’s “date rape” column?

So far as I can tell, the AU faculty — including the school of communications and law school faculty — have been conspicuously silent and Absent Without Leave (AWOL). Can it be that professionally trained academics, men and women who make their living examining and disseminating ideas, don’t see the danger to free speech posed by AU’s social and cultural jihad against Mr. Knepper’s heretical views?

Mr. Knepper, of course, had published a column in which he made the completely commonsensical point that young college women who get drunk at fraternity parties, and who then escort drunken men to their rooms are, in effect, asking for trouble.

Amazingly, albeit not surprisingly, stating the obvious has gotten Mr. Knepper into hot water with the left-wing campus thought police. But surely, there must be at least a few faculty members who don’t run with the pack, and who believe deeply in free speech and the First Amendment.

Mr. Knepper’s opinion piece has been widely condemned as “hate speech,” which should never have been published. And the student newspaper, the Eagle, after much emotional blackmail and intellectual bullying, has apologized for its supposed lack of editorial judgment.

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Jumped-up Pennsylvania teachers' college suspends professor over Facebook

We read:

"East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) has finally reinstated professor Gloria Gadsden this week after suspending her for more than a month, pending a psychological examination, because of comments about her students on Facebook.

Taking actions that would have been worthless if Gadsden had truly presented a threat as the university asserted, ESU put her on paid administrative leave because she had posted obvious jokes including that she ‘didn’t want to kill even one student.’

After FIRE intervened and a clinician found her fit for work, Gadsden returned to the classroom last week.”

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The race card

Students resist colleges, strap on empty holsters

We read:

"College students across America will once again strap on empty holsters in an act of silent protest against laws and policies banning licensed concealed carry on campus.

The protest, sponsored by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), will take place April 5-9, 2010 and comes on the heels of college administrators discriminating against concealed carry permit holders, and censoring students who disagree.

According to the group, colleges have repeatedly ignored or attempted to keep students from discussing the issue. In Pennsylvania, one college banned SCCC member Christine Brashier from handing out fliers about the group, stating, ‘You may want to discuss this topic but the college does not, and you cannot make us.’”

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Some people need to get a life



We read:

"The shop owners call it clever marketing, the locals call it pornography.

The cut-out drawing of a naked woman with a pizza slice covering her nether regions in the window of Pizza Supremo in Murray Bridge has had tongues wagging.

But owners Damien Eve, 37, and Sarah Budarick, 35,, who have had to remove the artwork after a visit from the police, say they don't know what all the fuss is about.

They moved into the Swanport Rd premises earlier this year and proudly displayed the eye-catching piece - painted by Mrs Budarick and entitled "A Slice of Heaven" - above the shop's verandah.

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Killing of white South African farmer due to hate speech?

We read:

"A South African white supremacist leader was bludgeoned to death by two of his farm workers in an apparent wage dispute, police said, but his followers blamed a fiery youth leader for a "hate speech" which they claim led to his killing.

Eugene Terreblanche's violent death on Saturday came amid growing racial tensions in the once white-led country and underscored an ongoing controversy over African National Congress Youth Leader Julius Malema's performance last month of an apartheid-era song that advocates the killing of white farmers.

Terreblanche, 69, was leader of the white supremacist Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging movement, better known as the AWB, that wanted to create three all-white republics within South Africa in which blacks would be allowed only as guest workers.

Andre Nienaber, a member of the group and a relative of Terreblanche, said he believed his death was "as a result of Mr Malema's hate speech and direct orders in the media to 'shoot the Boers dead'".

Boer means white farmers in Afrikaans, the language of descendants of early Dutch settlers, or Afrikaners.

Mr Malema is often in the news for his fiery rhetoric. Last month, he led college students in belting out a song that includes the lyrics "shoot the Boer". Mr Malema did not mention Terreblanche or any other person in his performance.

The song has sparked a legal battle in which the ruling ANC party has challenged a high court which ruled the lyrics were unconstitutional. The ANC insists the song is a valuable part of its cultural heritage and that the lyrics - which also refer to the farmers as thieves and rapists - are not intended literally and are therefore not hate speech.

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The irony of this case is that thousands of white farmers in South Africa have been murdered by black gangs in recent years -- with and without any hate speech from black leaders. Blacks in South Africa don't need a song to motivate them to kill vulnerable whites.

Indiana School Not Canceling Graduation Prayer Without Judge Order‏

We read:

"A central Indiana district isn't calling off a planned high school graduation prayer unless a federal judge orders it.

Greenwood School Board president Joe Farley says the district wants the judge to decide the merits of a lawsuit filed by the school's top-ranked senior. Greenwood High School student Eric Workman is asking a federal judge to stop a student-led prayer that the senior class voted to approve.

The lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on the 18-year-old's behalf claims that the prayer and class vote unconstitutionally subject students to religious practice.

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Bad language in an Australian safe-driving ad creates furore

"Unnecessary" is, I think, the word for this:

"A defiant Victorian Government won't dump the taxpayer-funded "don't be a d---head" campaign despite widespread backlash about the foul language.

The Opposition, teacher groups and hundreds of Herald Sun readers say the viral advertising campaign aimed at teaching young drivers to use seatbelts and not to talk on their mobiles is "a disgrace".

Roads Minister Tim Pallas refused to apologise for the bad language, claiming it was worth it if it could save one life. But at the launch of the advertising campaign he refused to use the word "d---head"

The foul language in the nine video clips produced by VicRoads was approved by the Government's Psychology Advisory Group as the best way to get a reaction among young people.

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Video at link. The ad also makes a derogatory remark about redheads, which has to be pretty close to racism -- as redheads in Australia are mostly of Scottish and Irish extraction -- so that was remarkably poor taste too.

Thou shalt not criticise homosexuals

What kind of country arrests religious preachers in the streets and drags them to court? Britain, actually.

"A born-again Baptist who travels from America to preach the word of God on the streets of Britain is bound to be a bit … shall we say ‘eccentric?’ It should come as no surprise that such a person would be intolerant of homosexuality, which is regarded as a sin amongst Baptists.

But should religious people who hold such views be punished for expressing them in public? That is what the arrest and fining of the American Christian, Shawn Holes, in Glasgow earlier this month suggests.”

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There is not much free speech in Britain. Only Britain's highest court (the Privy Council of the Supreme Court) occasionally allows it and going to them is an expensive proposition.

4th circuit backs Phelps

We read:

"The father of a Marine killed in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters was ordered to pay the protesters' appeal costs, his lawyers said Monday.

On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered Snyder to pay $16,510 to Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case as to whether the protesters are entitled to free speech at the funeral. Phelps conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral in 2006.

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I must say that this is what I expected. Obnoxious as he is, I think Phelps clearly has done nothing to abridge his free speech rights. It is precisely to protect unpopular views that the 1st amendment exists.

SCOTUS will have the last word, of course, but they would have to invent some new doctrine to deny Phelps his 1st amendment rights.

After all, Phelps is right according to the Bible: God DOES hate "men who lie with men". See Romans chapter 1 and Leviticus 20:13. Is SCOTUS going to infringe the right to preach Bible teachings? Even I as an atheist hope not.

Victory for free speech at Duke

We read:

"Duke University has reversed a decision by its Women’s Center that prohibited the Duke Students for Life (DSFL) student group from holding a discussion on student motherhood at a Women’s Center venue during the group’s ‘Week for Life’ event.

The group’s president turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.

Only hours after FIRE exposed Duke’s decision to public scrutiny yesterday, Women’s Center Director Ada Gregory wrote to the group to say that ‘mistakes were certainly made that should not have occurred’ and that she had ‘taken steps to ensure that such an incident will not happen again.’”

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Footballer's name "too violent", according to dried-out old feminists



We read:

"National Organization of Women president Terry O'Neill stated Saturday that NOW has requested that former Husker Ndamukong Suh change his name before the upcoming NFL draft.

"It's too violent" said O'Neill. "I understand that football is a violent sport, but the idea that we could be looking at a future NFL star whose name represents a crude instrument of death is more than a little disconcerting to me." O'Neill was referring to the fact that "Ndamukong Suh" translated means "House of Spears".

When asked for a possible replacement, O'Neill had a suggestion. "Ndamukong Beludi", which, when translated means "House of Muffins".

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'Rape simulator' game goes viral amid calls for censorship



It's undoubtedly an obnoxious game but it is a good illustration of how censorship can backfire

"Attempts to ban a deplorable "rape simulator" video game have only caused it to spread virally across the internet, leading to calls for sites hosting the game to be blocked by internet censors.

In the game players earn points for acts of sexual violence, including following girls on commuter trains, raping virgins and their mothers, and then forcing them to have abortions.

US online retailers Amazon and eBay in February last year took RapeLay off their websites, but the game's Yokohama-based maker Illusion brushed off the protests, saying the game was made for the domestic market and abided by laws in Japan.

But attempts by women's rights groups such as Equality Now to ban the game have only created a black market for it online, with dozens of websites offering it as a free download.

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When and where does a right to parental censorship stop?

We read:

"Recently I was in line at my favorite coffee shop. In front of me was an apparent father-son duo. I had seen the father around town but did not know him. The son, who appeared to be late teens or older, was scoping out my “cops say” button. As I sometimes do I said, “Go ahead, ask.” He did and I went into reasons why drugs should be legalized. Abruptly, his father whirled and began screaming at me, “You be quiet! You don’t talk to him! He’s mine!”

My verbal response was that the young man had asked and I was responding. The father then said he had been trying to “get him off marijuana” for two years. I centered myself and remained quiet. The man, a local realtor as it turns out, did apologize to everyone else in the shop. His son apologized to me on the way out.

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