Congressional grandstanding over terrorism

If this is the best they can do about terrorism, America is in a bad way:

"A bipartisan group of legislators on Thursday introduced legislation in Congress to strip citizenship from any American found to be involved in terrorism.

If the Terrorist Expatriation Act passes, an American would lose citizenship if found to have provided material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization — as designated by the secretary of state — or participated in actions against the United States.

Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, and Scott Brown, R-Massachusetts, co-sponsored the bill. An identical bill is being introduced in the House by Reps. Jason Altmire, D-Pennsylvania, and Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania.”

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It seems reasonable to make support for terrorism a crime but what if the person's family have been in America for generations? Where are they going to be sent to? Or they just continue to live on in the USA as non-citizens?

All quite crazy and totally contrary to the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment protects even naturalized citizens, not only native born Americans. So the whole nonsense would almost certainly be knocked over by SCOTUS. It's all just for show -- to show that they are tough on terrorism! It in fact shows how weak and impotent they are

Controversial cartoon



The cartoon depicts a Nazi storm trooper in Berlin of 1943 buying "Jew free soap". It was published in Finland and caused a lot of controversy -- for various reasons. You can read the discussion here.

Finland was allied with Germany in WWII so Finns know the history of Nazism better than most and I think that part of the disquiet in Finland over the cartoon was an awareness that Nazis were a lot like modern-day Leftists -- and modern Leftists (particularly obesity warriors and Greenies) are very keen on products being "free" of various demonized components. So it could be seen as a mockery of the modern-day Left. And later comments by the cartoon author tend in that direction

The Nazis were in fact nature freaks so the comparison is a fair one.

The cartoon has been taken down from its original source in a major Finnish daily. Once again, certain topics are not supposed to be even thought about.

Jail for using word "pussy"

Miaow?

"Meet Jennifer LaPenta. The Illinois woman, 19, was jailed Monday after a judge was offended by the t-shirt she wore to a friend's court hearing. LaPenta, wearing a black shirt with the message, "I Have The Pussy, So I Make The Rules," ran afoul of Judge Helen Rozenberg, a Circuit Court jurist who handles misdemeanor and traffic cases.

A miffed Rozenberg, 56, summoned LaPenta from the gallery, and cited her for contempt of court. The judge then immediately sentenced LaPenta to 48 hours in jail, and had her removed from the courtroom in handcuffs.

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Sounds like a stupid woman meets a bitchy judge. The speech was almost certainly entitled to 1st Amendment protection, though, so the judge could be in some trouble if the matter is taken any further.

Should the American flag ever be incorrect in America?

You can bet that the Mexican flag is never incorrect in Mexico

"On May 5, five students at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Calif., were sent home for wearing clothing featuring the American flag. Their offense: trespassing on Mexican heritage during Cinco de Mayo. Administrators called the flag-wearing "incendiary" and likely to cause violence.

The school district overrode the decision, and the boys were allowed to return to school. In response yesterday, about 200 students staged a walkout carrying Mexican flags. The question is: Who taught these kids to hate America so much?

There should be nothing disrespectful about the U.S. flag to Americans of Mexican descent or to any other immigrant group. Teaching children that their heritage is at odds with their citizenship promotes disunity and divisiveness. While the high school's administrators may have been responding to a real public-safety threat, that threat was the product of their failure to instill a sense of national pride in their students.

Identity politics has become such a staple of public life and education in recent decades that incidents like this illustrate the poisonous effects it has on the nation. In the past, immigrant groups would attempt to outdo each other in demonstrating their patriotic attachment to the country that gave them safety, opportunity and freedom. Today, immigrant activist groups think patriotism is at best an inconvenience, at worst a sellout. They have replaced the melting pot with hardening battle lines in a struggle for power.

Not all flags are created equal. Some flags may be fashion statements, but the American flag is the patriotic symbol of the nation in which we live. This is why the American flag flies outside schools as opposed to, say, Zimbabwe's.

Schools should spend less time telling patriotic students not to cause a ruckus simply by wearing the national colors and more time teaching the kids who are offended by the American flag how wrongheaded their views are.

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Internet Police: London Signs Warn Against Accessing “Extremist” Material



We read:

"Police signs have begun springing up in internet cafes in London warning users that they could be reported to the police and face criminal charges if they access “extremist”, “offensive” or “inappropriate” material.

The signs, which state that the owners of the premises are actively working with the Metropolitan police, have drawn criticism due to their vagueness and questionable legality.

Equally, by what authority do they co-opt, whether by persuasion, bullying (“You aren’t refusing to cooperate with the police are you Mr Internet Cafe Owner, are you?”) Internet cafes into joining such a self defined and vague scheme?

We have previously reported on filtering and blocking of all kinds of political websites including Prisonplanet.com in public domains in both the UK and the US. This type of catch all censorship creep is part of an ongoing agenda to use legitimate concerns such child pornography to regulate and control the internet as a whole.

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I am an extremist. On my FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC blog I ridicule practically all the conventional wisdom about diet. I point to the research showing that eating vegetables does you no good and that eating fatty food does you no harm. That would DEFINITELY be "extremist" in Britain. So I'd better be careful if ever I go to Britain again.

Florida cops no longer shielded from public shaming

We read:

"Forget Consumer Reports — the Internet bypasses professional reviewers.and lets regular people share their experiences with everything from cars to hotels to police officers.

But not everybody likes to have bad reviews of their performance available to the public. In Florida, cops got their pet politicians to pass a law making it legally perilous to get too specific when giving thumbs-down to uniformed arm-twisters.

That law is now a thing of the past, tossed out as a First amendment violation by a federal judge.”

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FCC announces plan to seize control of Internet

A new maneuver:

"U.S. regulators will claim authority over companies offering Internet access in a setback for AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. and a win for Web content providers such as Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and EBay Inc.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski plans to say tomorrow that the agency will extend rules used for telephone service to Internet providers, a commission official, who declined to be identified, said today in an e-mailed statement.

The agency will pledge to stop short of provisions such as the authority to control rates.” [Good of them!]

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No doubt this too will end up going to SCOTUS

SCOTUS to rule on violent video games

We read:

"The Supreme Court will decide whether free speech rights are more important than helping parents keep violent material away from children.

The justices agreed yesterday to consider reinstating California’s ban on the sale or rental of violent video games to minors, a law the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco threw out last year on grounds that it violated minors’ constitutional rights.

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The kids just get pirate copies of the games anyway

School must not educate foreign child about expected Western manners

The kid needed to hear that his manners would be perceived as "eating like a pig"

"In April, 2006, Luc Cagadoc, then a seven-year-old Filipino boy, was allegedly told by a lunch-room monitor at his Montreal elementary school that he ate “like a pig” and was ordered to sit at a table by himself.

The boy ate with a fork and spoon, in the Filipino tradition, and his slurping noises, as well as the spilling of food, disturbed the other kids.

In any case, Maria-Theresa Gallardo, the mother of the boy, was furious when her son reported the incident. She argued that eating with a fork and spoon was an integral part of the Filipino cultural identity and that any attempt to force her child to use another set of cutlery amounted to discrimination, if not racism.

However, in Quebec, under certain circumstances, people can apply directly to the Human Rights Tribunal, even if the commission previously rejected their complaint. And so the tribunal agreed to hear the Cagadoc family’s case, even though the evidence was murkier than what would have been deemed acceptable by a small-claims court. Last week, that tribunal ruled against the school board, arguing the boy had been discriminated against because of his ethnicity.

Ms. Gallardo had asked for $24,000 in damages, but she’s satisfied with the $17,000 award.

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AL: School denies band prayer charge

We read:

"A group that promotes the separation of church and state claims Oxford High School’s band director routinely leads his symphonic band class in prayer, a charge school officials deny.

In a letter faxed to Oxford Superintendent Jeff Goodwin April 23, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation claims band director Chris Pennington violates students’ First Amendment religious freedoms and demanded the problem be corrected immediately. The group also alleged Pennington threatened a failing grade for band students who did not show up for a concert at a Baptist church.

Principal Trey Holladay said during a phone interview Monday that Pennington has not led prayers and the church concert was not mandatory. He said any prayers are led by students.”

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FCC Chairman Genachowski expected to leave broadband services deregulated

Sounds good

"The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has indicated he wants to keep broadband services deregulated, according to sources, even as a federal court decision has exposed weaknesses in the agency's ability to be a strong watchdog over the companies that provide access to the Web.

The FCC currently has "ancillary" authority over broadband providers such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon and must adequately justify actions over those providers. Last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the agency had exceeded its authority in 2008 when it applied sanctions against Comcast.

The ruling cast doubt over the FCC's ability to create a "net neutrality" rule that would force Internet service providers to treat all services and applications on the Web equally.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is expected to respond soon to the court ruling. Three sources at the agency said Genachowski has not made a final decision but has indicated in recent discussions that he is leaning toward keeping in place the current regulatory framework for broadband services but making some changes that would still bolster the FCC's chances of overseeing some broadband policies.

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Cheeky new Hertz commercial

Support for Arizona? The open borders crowd will probably go ballistic!

"The television commercial features an obviously-in-love 20-somethings couple renting a Volvo C70 convertible, climbing into the car, and then encountering a number of potential travel destinations from which to choose on the screen of the car’s NeverLost® navigation system. Then, at the 19-second mark of the video, the couple selects Arizona — not Alabama, Alaska, Alberta or Arkansas — as their destination of choice.

Once word gets out about the ever-so-subtle message of this commercial, I expect members of the pro-illegal immigration crowd will demand Hertz officials pull the it (i.e., succumb to political correctness). Conversely, I hope Hertz® officials will decide to support the governor of the Grand Canyon State for taking decisive action after the federal government would not.

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Red white and blue colors are "racist" in insane Britain



We read:

"A pensioner who put up a red, white and blue election poster telling voters to kick out MPs was accused of racism by police.

After being inundated by canvassing politcians, Roy Newman, 74, decided to tell other voters: ‘GET THE LOT OUT.’

But 90 minutes after he put up the homemade sign up in an upstairs room at his house, two police officers arrived and threatened with arrest.

They said the Union Jack-coloured lettering on a white background could be considered 'racist'. He was told there had been a single complaint and he was ordered to remove it or change it otherwise he would end up in court.

And the furious pensioner , chairman of his local history society and a former Samaritan , slammed police for wasting their time. He said : ‘Three years ago vandals put a brick through my window and when I called the police all they offered me was a crime reference number.

‘Put up a poster and a police car with two uniformed officers arrives quick as a flash - it's unbelievable.’

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A wicked cross again

We read:

"A religious watchdog group says a cross and motto on the emblem of an Army hospital in Colorado violate the constitutional requirement for separation of church and state and should be removed.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation asked the Army this week to change the emblem of Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson, outside Colorado Springs.

The emblem says "Pro deo et humanitate" or "For God and humanity."

Fort Carson commanders will review the complaint, Lt. Col. Steve Wollman said. He said the emblem had been approved by the Army Institute of Heraldry and has been in use since 1969.

Wollman said references to doctors serving God and humanity date to the time of Hippocrates, a pre-Christianity Greek physician.

Wollman said the cross, which has a pointed base, is both an emblem of mercy and a symbol dating to the Middle Ages, when pilgrims carried a cross with a spiked base to mark the site of a camp.

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British Christian preacher on hooligan charge after saying he believes that homosexuality is a sin

We read:

"A Christian street preacher has been arrested and charged with a public-order offence after saying that homosexuality was sinful.

Dale Mcalpine was handing out leaflets to shoppers when he told a passer-by and a gay police community support officer that, as a Christian, he believed homosexuality was one of a number of sins that go against the word of God.

Mr Mcalpine said that he did not repeat his remarks on homosexuality when he preached from the top of a stepladder after his leafleting.

But he has been told that police officers are alleging they heard him making his remarks to a member of the public in a loud voice that could be overheard by others.

Mr Mcalpine, 42, who earns about £40,000 a year in the energy industry, was arrested and taken to the local police station in the back of a police van after preaching in the Cumbrian town of Workington on April 20. After seven hours locked up in a cell, he was charged with using abusive or insulting words or behaviour contrary to the Public Order Act 1986.

Christian campaigners said last night they were alarmed that the police seemed to be using legislation originally introduced to deal with violent and abusive rioters and football hooligans to curb free speech.

Neil Addison, a barrister and expert on religious law, said: ‘People should be able to express their opinions freely as long as their conduct is reasonable. In fact, it is part of the duty of the police to protect free speech.’

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Free speech for us

We read:

"From reading New York Times editorials, I gather that the First Amendment protects celebrities who curse on TV and pit bull enthusiasts who sell dogfighting videos.

Yet somehow it does not protect conservative activists who hate Hillary Clinton, Christian student groups that exclude people who engage in extramarital sex, or petition signers who fear harassment if they are publicly identified as opponents of gay marriage.”

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Hate speech OK in Britain -- for Muslims

The prosecutors wimped out:

"A Muslim protester who daubed a war memorial with graffiti glorifying Osama Bin Laden and proclaiming 'Islam will dominate the world' walked free from court after prosecutors ruled his actions were not motivated by religion.

Tohseef Shah, 21, could have faced a tougher sentence if the court had accepted that the insults - which included a threat to kill the Prime Minister - were inspired by religious hatred.

But - citing a loophole in the law - the Crown Prosecution Service chose not to charge him with that offence and he escaped with only a two-year conditional discharge and an order to pay the council £500 compensation after admitting causing criminal damage.

Yesterday the decision was attacked by politicians and veterans who were shocked by the desecration of the memorial in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire.

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By contrast, a white holocaust denier recently got 4 years in jail

Clash at Brandeis U. over Israeli speaker

Apparently both Muslims and self-hating Jews are behind this censorship attempt

"Despite attending a historically Jewish university named after one of America's earliest Zionists, students at Brandeis University are protesting having Israel's U.S. ambassador as their commencement speaker, arguing that the school is biased against Palestinians.

The selection of Michael Oren to give the graduation speech has prompted the founding of competing Facebook groups, charges of the politicization of graduation, vows of protests, and claims that Mr. Oren does not represent Brandeis' values and is a "rogue-state apologist."

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Tintin in trouble again



Tintin in the Congo accused of racism in Belgian court

"He was, perhaps, Belgium's greatest 20th-century figure; a globe-trotting reporter who earned worldwide recognition for his adventures in the company of a faithful dog and a drunken sailor.

But Tintin faced ignominy yesterday as he was dragged before a court in his native land to be accused of racism and xenophobia. Lawyers told a judge in a Brussels civil court that “Tintin in the Congo” _ the second book in the series _ should be banned in Belgium or at least sold with a warning that it contains material likely to shock readers.

The case was brought by Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo, 41, a Congolese accountant who says that the work, first published between 1930 and 1931, perpetuates colonial stereotypes.

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Australian Leftist government retreats on web filter legislation

A "temporary" retreat that will probably become permanent:

"Kevin Rudd has put another election promise on the backburner with his controversial internet filtering legislation set to be shelved until after the next election. A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said yesterday the legislation would not be introduced next month's or the June sittings of parliament.

With parliament not sitting again until the last week of August, the laws are unlikely to be passed before the election.

Labor promised before the last election it would force internet service providers to block access to illegal content such as child pornography and X-rated images.

But the US government, Google and free speech advocates have said any efforts to censor the internet would slow download speeds, stop the free flow of information and be ineffective.

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