Must not Mention Black Educational Failure

We read:

"The founder of Overstock.com rejected the NAACP's demand for an apology Friday after an Internet video surfaced of him saying that Utah minorities who don't graduate from high school might as well be burned or thrown away.

Patrick Byrne's comments were posted on YouTube. The video clip was from a debate two weeks ago in Provo, where he was speaking in favor of vouchers, public aid for families sending kids to private schools. A statewide voucher program that would grant $500 to $3,000 per child based on family income is on the Utah ballot Nov. 6.

On the YouTube video clip, Byrne says: "Right now, 40 percent of Utah minorities are not graduating from high school. You may as well burn those kids. That's the end of their life. That's the end of their ability to achieve in this society if they do not get a high school education. You might as, just throw the kids away."

Byrne has made similar remarks in other debates. He said Friday he had no intention of apologizing and claimed his comments were taken out of context. "These folks have been selective in their editing," Byrne told The Associated Press. "I very clearly said the system is throwing away 40 percent of the minority kids because they're not graduating. I'm saying that I'm against throwing kids away. "People against vouchers are in favor of throwing the kids away," Byrne said.

Source

NJ voters to decide fate of 'Idiot' language in Constitution

We read:

" In about two weeks, New Jersey voters will decide whether to eliminate insensitive phrasing in the state Constitution that characterizes people with disabilities as "idiots" and "insane."

The offensive language, adopted in the Constitution in 1844, is aimed at barring people with limited mental capacity from voting: "No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage."

At least seven other states _ Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico and Ohio _ have the words "idiot" or "insane" in their constitutions to define who can vote.

Source

I wonder what the replacement terms will be? Maybe "mental defective" and "mentally ill"? Probably not. Or are they going to let morons and madmen vote? I think I can guess which party they would vote for.

Catholic Radio Station in Pittsburgh Rejects Sponsorship by Abortionists

Rare to see ANY media stand up for conservative values:

"A public radio station here stopped running underwriting messages from Planned Parenthood and returned its $5,000 donation after the station's license holder, Duquesne University, decided the organization was "not aligned with our Catholic identity." The decision by the station, WDUQ 90.5 FM, came in the midst of the station's fall pledge drive, and it appears to be costing the station contributions.

Source

It's a long way from balance in the media but maybe it's a start.

Christian Objection to Pro-homosexual "Training" Upheld

We read:

"A federal appeals court has reversed a lower court decision against a Boyd County High School student who claimed anti-harassment training violated his free-speech right to freely practice his religion.

A three-judge panel ruled the lower court should reconsider Timothy Morrison's claim that school policy on harassing speech prevented him from expressing his Christian belief opposing homosexuality. U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning had granted a summary judgment to the Boyd County School District against Morrison.

Morrison's claim seeks only nominal damages. The policy the claim addresses was changed by the school board after Morrison filed his suit.

Two of the judges concluded that even though the policy had been changed, it may have had a chilling effect on Morrison while it was in effect and therefore he should have the opportunity to make that case in court....

No significant monetary damages are at stake, but the outcome of the case remains important, said Kevin Theriot, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based legal organization that takes on religious-rights cases. "It indicates our client's free speech rights could have been violated," Theriot said. "The amount of the damages isn't the issue. It's the principle involved." ....

Source

See here for coverage of the ACLU role in the matter.

Another Leftist Simpleton

There are many things that drive Leftists to hate the world they live in but there is one Leftist enemy of free speech (he condemns a wide variety of conservative utterances as "hate speech") who seems to have a strange respect for society's instititutions. I refer to the "Rev." Jim Sutter. The "Rev." title is at least a mail-order title but the many other titles and distinctions he claims for himself appear to be totally bogus. Below is one of his recent effusions:

"Perhaps someone could help Horowitz understand some basics of politics. First, leftists cannot, by definition, be fascists, they are at opposite ends of the political spectrum. Secondly, Communist and Nazi ideology are mutually exclusive. It's ironic, in almost every article by these hate mongers about their being greeted with skepticism at best, or being booed off the stage, or being completely banned from most campuses, the hate mongers claim that those who oppose them are "racists", who are stifling "freedom of speech" (even though freedom of speech has no application in this particular situation, see Hate Speech vs. Free Speech entry, this blog), and offer nothing but insults to those who do not welcome Horowitz's brand of racism with open arms.

Source

With that level of ignorance he could of course be an Ivy-League graduate but the ignorance is profound nonetheless. He is clearly a mental midget who NEEDS to claim various distinctions because he is deep-down aware of how little he really knows.

He of course offers no evidence for anything he says but full documentation of how very socialist Hitler was can be found here

Oxford University students stirring the pot again

They have a long tradition of it:

"Less than a month after Columbia University gave Holocaust denier, Iranian president Ahmadinejad, a platform in the name of freedom of expression, the Oxford University debating society has contacted Holocaust denier David Irving using the same argument and asked him to participate in one of the society's forums in November. The club also wants to invite Belarus dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, and chairman of the British Nationalist Party (BNP), Nick Griffin.

Debating society president, Luke Tryl, told the British Guardian newspaper that the Oxford Union debating society "is famous for is commitment to free speech" and that the three had been invited despite their "awful and abhorrent views" He argued that the students at Oxford are intelligent enough to challenge and ridicule them....

Last month Irving told the Guardian that his views on the Holocaust have not changed at all and that his views have become stronger over the years. In several books he plans to publish soon, Irving maintains that "the Jews are the architects of what happened to them in the Second World War" and that the "Jewish problem" has been the cause of most wars in the past hundred years. Irving also claims that the gas chambers in Auschwitz never existed and that the camp was not an extermination camp and has only been publicized because it was well preserved.

Source

"Stirring the possum" (saying deliberately provocative things mainly for amusement) is a popular tradition in Australia too. And if students cannot rebel against conventions, who can? I think Irving is mainly a publicity-seeker these days too. What he says does vary a lot from time to time.

"N-word" OK in an Album Title



We read:

"To some, it's a hurtful racial epithet. For Nas, it's an album title. The rapper told MTV News that he would indeed be naming his new album after the N-word. And he denied earlier reports that the album's title would be spelled "N---a," considered in some circles a less inflammatory epithet. He said the disc is due out Dec. 11. "(People) shouldn't trip off the (album's) title; the songs are crazier than the title," he said in an interview posted on MTV's Web site.

But some have been outraged by the rapper's choice.

"The title using the 'N' word is morally offensive and socially distasteful. Nas has the right to degrade and denigrate in the name of free speech, but there is no honor in it," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said in a news release. "Radio and television stations have no obligation to play it and self-respecting people have no obligation to buy it. I wish he would use his talents to lift up and inspire, not degrade."

Source

Would Jackson speak of a white user of that word in that permissive way? No way! Which clearly makes Jackson a racist, does it not?

Fascism comeback in Italy?

Italy was where Fascism was invented:

"Recently, Italian lawmakers once again took aim at modern life, introducing an incredibly broad law that would effectively require all bloggers, and even users of social networks, to register with the state. Even a harmless blog about a favourite football squad or a teenager grousing about life's unfairness would be subject to government oversight, and even taxation - even if it's not a commercial website.

Outside Italy, the legislation has generated sniggers from hardly sympathetic industry observers. Boingboing cleverly reports Italy is proposing a "Ministry of Blogging." Out-law.com plays it straighter, calling the measure an "anti-blogger" law.

Source

Some Amusing Recent History

When the comments facility on the first incarnation of this blog began to be grossly abused, I began to take corrective measures -- deleting foul-mouthed abuse etc. This of course caused much anger against me on the part of the deleted ones, anger which still simmers, apparently. Trolls are an old problem on blogs, however, so I just ratcheted up the defensive measures until the offensive commenters went away.

Their departure was facilitated when Kim, one of the regular commenters on the old blog, started her own site with the promise that she would not delete anything. And most of the "old gang" seem to have turned their attention there. The blog concerned gets rather scrappy-looking at times but most of the posts are reasonable so I am happy to give it a link.

After a while, Kim asked me to become a contributor at her blog. Since my TT posts had interested her readers in the past, she no doubt quite reasonably thought that more posts from me would be of interest to her readers too. I accepted. My presence on Kim's blog seemed to stir up quite a storm, however. There were huge numbers of comments on each of my posts -- very few of which I read. All the comments that I did read, however, were most abusive about my being there. In the end Kim bowed to the outrage and un-invited me. So I ceased posting there. I thought it was a rather good demonstration of how childish the commenters concerned were.

For some reason, however, Kim and at least some of the "old gang" have again begun to frequent the comments on this blog. They must have become tired of listening to one-another, I suppose. They are perfectly welcome here while they remain civil and I have had to deal with only one "bad apple" so far. And I have still used only some of the tools I have available to exclude his comments.

OK to Slur Giuliani

We read:

"Josh Marshall/TPM called Rudy Giuliani a fascist and compared him to Mussolini and even posted a video of Benito.

If a right-winger did the same with Obama - and compared him to hmmm let's say Mobuto - the entire MSM would be up in arms. It's a rank slur. But Josh is a Leftie so he will get a pass....

No one could be further from socialism than Rudy. Rudy and the GOP stand for small government, low taxes a free marketplace and liberty. Josh Marshall and his comrades on the Left have more in common with fascism than Rudy and the GOP.

Source

Sen. Joe Biden Says Blacks are Naturally Dumb

Taranto puts this matter rather well so I am reproducing his post below:

"Sen. Joe Biden visited the Washington Post editorial board this week, and the Post reports he did not exactly cover himself in glory:

"Biden also stumbled through a discourse on race and education, leaving the impression that he believes one reason that so many District of Columbia schools fail is the city's high minority population. His campaign quickly issued a statement saying he meant to indicate that the disadvantages were based on economic status, not race.

After a lengthy critique of Bush administration education policies, Biden attempted to explain why some schools perform better than others--in Iowa, for instance, compared with the District. "There's less than 1 percent of the population of Iowa that is African American. There is probably less than 4 or 5 percent that are minorities. What is in Washington? So look, it goes back to what you start off with, what you're dealing with," Biden said. He went on to discuss the importance of parental involvement in reading to children and how "half this education gap exists before the kid steps foot in the classroom."

The Biden campaign moved quickly to clarify the senator's remarks in a statement: "This was not a race-based distinction, but a discussion of the problems kids face who don't have the same socio-economic support system (and all that implies--nutrition, pre K, etc.) entering grade school and the impact of those disadvantages on outcomes."

Now, we don't think Biden's comments were terribly invidious, and it is true that he has a tendency toward linguistic imprecision. But if a Republican candidate said the same thing, would the Post be as charitable?

Source

A University Gets it Right for Once

We read:

"The University of Maryland is under fire for denying activists from the Clothesline Project, a campus rape-awareness event, permission to publicly name alleged rapists. The university cites the danger of lawsuits from those named, and that's certainly a reasonable fear. Yet the university should also oppose naming alleged rapists because it could defame and harm innocent men.

A significant percentage of allegations of sexual assault are false. According to a study conducted by former Purdue sociologist Eugene J. Kanin and published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, in more than 40 percent of the cases reviewed, the complainants eventually admitted that no rape had occurred. Mr. Kanin also studied rape allegations in two large midwestern universities and found that 50 percent of the allegations were recanted by the accuser.

Source

Another "Noose"

We read:

"A noose was found today in a doctors' break room at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport. Administrators at the hospital and medical school said they have notified federal authorities and asked them to investigate. An employee about 11 a.m. found a rope with nooses at both ends hanging from a bed. LSUHSC police and administrators were notified.

"This day and time you just can't believe it's going on," hospital employee Janice Priest said. "I am very upset about it." LSUHSC Chancellor Dr. John McDonald issued a brief statement that said an investigation had begun and the U.S. Attorney's office in Shreveport has been notified. They would have jurisdiction if the noose incident was considered a hate crime directed at a particular racial or ethnic group. "Such an event is and will not be tolerated," McDonald said.

The head of the LSU system, John Lombardi, said the medical school and hospital will not tolerate such an incident. "It is not an act of free speech; this is a form of hate speech, which is clearly prohibited in our society," Lombardi said.

Source

Quite aside from Dr. Lombardi's poor grasp of the law, a regular correspondent of mine who is also a senior medical person at a hospital in Shreveport writes: "Hysterical: The noose was found in the Orthopedic Residents' call room. Orthopedic Residents learn to tie special knots to use traction devices to stabilize fractures, including suspected broken necks. This is highly skilled work, and they practice tying knots - like Boy Scouts do.

Update:

My source informs me that the medical person who tied the knots turns out to have been a BLACK female. Much hilarity in certain circles ensued, apparently.

This Could be a Problem for British Leftists

Take away abuse and lies and most of them would be struck dumb:

"Disgruntled fans of Sheffield Wednesday who vented their dissatisfaction with the football club's bigwigs in anonymous internet postings may face expensive libel claims after the chairman, chief executive and five directors won a high-court ruling last week forcing the owner of a website to reveal their identity.

The case, featuring the website owlstalk.co.uk, is the second within days to highlight the danger of assuming that the apparent cloak of anonymity gives users of internet forums and chatrooms carte blanche to say whatever they like.

In another high court case last week, John Finn, owner of the Sunderland property firm Pallion Housing, admitted just before he was due to be cross-examined that he was responsible for a website hosting a scurrilous internet campaign about a rival housing organisation, Gentoo Group, its employees and owner, Peter Walls.

Exposing the identity of those who post damaging lies in cyberspace is a growth area for libel lawyers.

Source

Britain: Must not Notice Skin Color

We read:

"Children were left in tears after they were separated according to their skin colour for school photos. More than 100 boys and girls aged from seven to 11 were lined up from the fairest skinned to the darkest.

But the segregation left several of the pupil so upset they cried to their parents when they got home. One angry mum said: "My 10-year-old was told to go further back in the line as she was not white enough. She came home devastated saying, 'I wish my skin was lighter mummy.'" Another parent, Ann Andrew, 49, said her daughter, Angela, 10, came home in tears and said: "My school's so racist."

Headteacher Val Hughes said pupils had been divided up according to skin tone but claimed it was to make it easier for the photographer. In a letter to Mrs Andrews she said: "Some classes were organised lightest to darkest skin tone and some darkest to lightest. This meant the photographer did not have to keep readjusting his reflector screens."

Source

Local "Hate Speech" (1)

I see that this blog has been "blessed" by having some of "the old gang" return to it -- complete with their accustomed foul-mouthed abuse. I very rarely ban any commenter or delete any comments but I will not tolerate personal abuse. So I do IP ban such commenters.

I have two options in IP bans. I can block comments from a specific computer or I can ban all computers in a certain area. To avoid inconveniencing innocent bystanders, I usually do only the narrow bans. The most obnoxious commenter here has been moving from one computer to another in a given area, however. As I ban one, he moves to the next. In future therefore I will use the wider bans on him.

My apologies to anyone inconvenienced by my response to this sick person.




Local "Hate Speech" (2)

I have recently been "honoured" by being included with Iain Hall as the subject of a long and very abusive tirade from an obscure Australian Leftist blogger who can't even handle line-breaks properly. He calls himself The Happy Revolutionary. If he is a happy one, I would like to meet an unhappy one!

Fellow Queensland blogger, Iain Hall, has undertaken the tedious task of fisking our revolutionary so I will take that task as largely done. I might observe, however, that the Revolutionary is so obviously biased that he could in fact encourage some people to read what I have actually written -- and I of course think that is a very good thing. One thing in his diatribe that did peeve me was his claim that I have only quoted others in my coverage of the James Watson "African IQ" affair. He obviously missed this.

I gather that part of the Revolutionary's ire stems from the fact that his past vituperation has got him IP banned from commenting on Western Heart -- where I am a co-blogger. If any of his brainless abuse pops up on any of my own blogs, I will IP ban him too. I very rarely IP ban anyone but why those whom I do ban think I would tolerate personal abuse on my own blog I have no idea.

N.Y. Lawmakers Move on Anti-noose Bill

This sounds likely to be in breach of the 1st Amendment. If flag-burning and pole-dancing are protected ....

"Following a rash of cases involving nooses, the state Legislature Monday moved toward making it a felony to display the symbol of lynchings in the Old South in a threatening manner.

"We won't tolerate this," said Sen. Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican who sponsored the measure that passed Monday in the Senate. "There is no place for racism and intimidation in America."

The bill also covers etching, drawing or painting the symbol. He said that, as in the case of Nazi symbols and burning crosses, an intent to threaten or harass would be part of an anti-noose law.

Source

Australia: Criticism of Leftists an 'Attack on Freedom' -- Again

The first thing any Leftist does when someone disagrees with him is to question the motives of the other person. Does the other person work for "big oil" etc.? But do they howl when the same is dished out to them! No suggestion that they work for "big Labor" is allowed. And you CERTAINLY must not mention that the Leftist "researcher" concerned is an avowed admirer of Mao Tse Tung! It all shows just how rigid, dogmatic and elitist Leftists are. They really believe that their simplistic theories and demonologies are the whole truth and that any criticism of them is illegitimate:

"Personal criticism of a researcher by Workplace Relations Minister Joe Hockey was "extremely silly" and an attack on academic freedom, University of Sydney vice-chancellor Gavin Brown said yesterday. Speaking at a forum organised by the National Tertiary Education Union, Professor Brown said Mr Hockey had "played the man and not the ball" in attacking Sydney University's John Buchanan and other researchers over their findings that some workers were paid less under Work Choices legislation.

"It is legitimate for a minister to criticise conclusions but it is extremely silly to simply smear on the fact that the study was partly funded through the union movement," Professor Brown said. "I believe that universities have a sacred trust to do a critique of society. "I certainly think there should be no undue pressure placed upon researchers. Academic freedom is under attack." ....

Fellow academics Rae Cooper, Marian Baird, Barbara Pocock and David Peats had also felt the lash of criticism. [How AWFUL for them!] "If they can't write without being vilified, then it is a very sad state of affairs," Dr Buchanan said.

Source

But calling Christians "Ayatollahs" and "Taliban" is fine, of course.

Germany Still Intolerant

We read:

"Germany's far right political party, the National Democratic Party (NPD), says even the most avid promoters of tolerance in Germany are intolerant of NPD views.

Right wingers complain in anonymous Web chat rooms that German laws banning certain Nazi phrases and symbols stifle their freedom of speech. Some NPD opponents acknowledge an element of truth to those complaints but few would call members of the NPD victims.

Source

The truth that may not be mentioned is that the NPD is an anti-capitalist, pro-socialist party. Calling them Right wingers is a joke. They are just old Leftists. Prewar Leftists were also both socialist and nationalists. Even JFK was a holdover from prewar times when he said: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." The Pelosi/Reid Leftists of today would never say anything like that.

Noose hysteria backfires: Encourages Copycats

We read:

"When he reached his third-story workstation at a construction site near Pittsburgh two weeks ago, Errol Madyun saw the noose -- thick, neatly knotted and strong enough to hang a man. 'It was intimidating,' said Madyun, a black ironworker.

More than 400 miles south in North Carolina, Terry Grier, superintendent of Guilford County Schools, saw the same type of noose last month at predominantly black T.W. Andrews High near Greensboro. 'It was huge,' Grier, who is white, said of a noose he discovered hanging from a flagpole, one of four nooses placed at the school. ...

Law enforcement authorities, including the Justice Department, are expressing concern over a recent spate of noose sightings in the aftermath of events in Jena."

Source