Free to Defame?

Does the 1st amendment protect the making of untrue defamatory statements? The issue arises from the oppressive actions of a California woman who does not like her neighbours:

"Lemen owns a cottage only feet from the restaurant and led a campaign to restrict it because she said it disrupted the neighborhood. Aric Toll, 41, a chef who bought the restaurant and bar with his parents, filed a defamation lawsuit against Lemen, saying she was ruining his business.

After a trial, a judge ordered Lemen to stop videotaping Toll's customers and barred her from telling anyone that the bar makes sex videos, dabbles in child pornography, distributes illegal drugs, encourages lesbian activities, has mafia links, is a whorehouse or sells tainted food - all false statements, the court said, that Lemen had made. She appealed the order before it could be enforced.

Source

It looks like the case could end up before SCOTUS. I don't think any prior restriction on the woman's speech is warranted. An award against her of large monetary damages should see justice done. Once defamation is forbidden, saying negative things about politicians could end up in court so often that political free speech would effectively be ended.

Though even lawsuits by politicians seeking monetary damages for defamation can be used to have a chilling effect -- which is more or less what has already happened in Singapore. As long as truth is an absolute defence, however, that should be of no great concern. Many jurisdictions, however, require that truth alone is not a sufficient defence in defamation cases. The utterance sometimes also has to be of "public benefit".

Partly because of the 1st Amendment, defamation is much harder to prove in the USA than it is in Britain or Australia, for instance. Gutnick vs. Dow Jones is a case in point for Australia.

Some comments from a lawyer about different jurisdictions here and a commentary on the current British situation here. I like the Australian laws best, oddly enough.

Radio station 'vilified' Lebanese people

But truth is no defence in the kangaroo courts ("Tribunals") that have sprung up in many countries to police political correctness:

"Leading Sydney broadcaster 2GB was guilty of vilifying Lebanese people when presenter Brian Wilshire said they were inbred and had very low IQs, according to an investigation by the media watchdog.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority found yesterday that a 2005 broadcast on the top talk station was a breach of the Commercial Radio Code of Practice. Wilshire made his remarks in a talkback segment late at night just days after the Cronulla riots.

Source

For some facts on the Muslim inbreeding problem in Australia, see here. See also here on Muslim IQ.

Illegal to Criticize Homosexuality in France

We read:

"A member of France's ruling party has been fined almost $4,000 for comments opposing homosexuality, under the country's hate speech law. Christian Vanneste was fined by a court in Douai, in northern France, and charged an additional $2,000 in court fees.

The case stemmed from comments Vanneste made in 2004, when the mayor of a small southwestern community performed a homosexual "marriage", later declared illegal. Vanneste said homosexuality was "inferior" to heterosexuality and said the practice would be "dangerous for humanity if it was pushed to the limit."

Source

To me Vanneste's comments seem not only reasonable but true. But truth never has mattered to the Left. And there is obviously no right to say what you think in France. And exactly WHY should ANY group be beyond criticism?

Scandalous Party at Tarleton State University

We read:

"Photographs that partygoers posted on Internet sites showed some fraternity members and others eating fried chicken, drinking malt liquor from bottles wrapped in brown paper bags and dressed in faux gang apparel....

One picture shows a young white woman wearing a kerchief on her head and a red-and-white checkered apron and holding Aunt Jemima syrup....

The university continues to investigate to determine if students will face disciplinary action, which could range from a warning to suspension, said Wanda Mercer, vice president of student life.

Source

Can you think of anything worse than a white man eating fried chicken or drinking liquor from a bottle? And BAN that syrup!

Seriously, if blacks tend to like fried chicken, what's wrong with mentioning it? And I have certainly drunk liquor out of a bottle at times! And I meant no ill to anybody by doing so.

Even Blacks not Allowed to Voice Dislike of Homosexuals

Even though most blacks DO scorn homosexuality:

"Isaiah Washington has entered a treatment facility. This is what sources connected to ABC and Touchstone have confirmed to me, after Life & Style magazine broke the story about an hour ago.

According to my ABC sources, one of the options the higher-ups at ABC/Disney had been considering was to release Washington from the cast of Grey's Anatomy, without giving him a farewell episode. However, I'm told by an insider that Washington agreed to do "whatever it takes" to keep his position at Grey's and to make amends with the gay and lesbian community. He also vowed to seek help for his psychological issues-hence, his entry into a treatment facility this morning.

Source

I guess the funny hat helps!

My previous post about this was on 22nd.

Must not Diss Burger Flippers



We read:

"A leading restaurant association has called for the cancellation of a TV commercial featuring Britney Spears' estranged husband, Kevin Federline, as a failed rap star working in a fast-food eatery.

In a 30-second ad for Nationwide Insurance, Federline is shown dreaming he is a rap star but then snaps out of it to face reality -- he's working at a burger restaurant.

National Restaurant Association's Chief Executive Steven Anderson has written to Nationwide saying the ad leaves the impression that working in a restaurant is demeaning and unpleasant and asking the commercial to be dumped

Source

The protesting restaurateurs must have limited awareness of pop culture because they seem to have missed that Federline is so pathetically lame that any comparison with him REALLY IS a terrible slur.

China Catches the Madness



We read:

"Companies looking to reach China's consumer market with pig images during Year of the Pig celebrations next month will have to adjust after a national television network adopted a policy to be sensitive to the country's small Muslim population, according to published reports. China Central Television said it would ban all verbal and visual pork references from advertisements during Lunar New Year celebrations next month

Source

Apparently Muslims are such delicate souls that they will self-combust just on seeing a picture of a pig! Jews too are forbidden from eating pigs but seem to have no problem with seeing pictures of them. Does that mean that Jews are stronger and wiser than Muslims? I think I had better not answer that!

That Pesky Woodpile Inhabitant Again

We read:

"A chief executive at one of the UK's largest financial services companies has apologised for using the phrase "n*gger in the woodpile".

Trevor Matthews, head of Standard Life's life and pensions business, made the comment at a staff presentation at its Edinburgh headquarters on Monday.

Matthews has posted an apology on the company's internal website and said the comment was "a terrible mistake".

Source

To the best of my recollection, the expression comes from an old story in which a black thief hid in a woodpile -- a story from those dim faroff days when you were allowed to criticize anyone you wanted to.

Must not Abuse the English!

It had to happen. For centuries, lots of people (particularly the Scots and the Irish) spoke ill of the English. But Australians are apparently now not supposed to do so.

Two translations may be needed below. "Pom" is the common word for the English in Australia but it is only very faintly derogatory. Many of us are to this day British-born, after all.

The other word is one common in both Australia and Britain but seems little-known in America: "whingeing" means whining, particularly the sort of whining an overtired baby or toddler does.

Compared with Americans, the English are much more likely to grumble about things rather than do something about it and in Australia they also sometimes compare various features of Australian life unfavourably with how it was back in England.

Australians are mostly a happy and laid-back lot (we have reason to be) so they complain less and they find it amusing that Poms who criticize Australia choose to live here. So the term "Whingeing Pom" is widely used and will be rapidly applied to any Pom who DOES whinge. Now read on:

"It's OK to use the word "Pom", but not in connection with lots of references to whingeing.

Radio advertisements for Tooheys New Super Cold beer featuring British men singing "Whinge whine bang-on gripe grumble" and "Slag whinge snivel cry 'Mummy"' to the tune of Land of Hope and Glory were banned yesterday by the advertising watchdog.

The Advertising Standards Board, which said last month it was acceptable to use "Pom" in the same ad campaign, has now ruled it vilifies the English to associate Poms with too much whingeing.

Source

The ban will be greeted by most Australians with mere amusement.

Cheering at School Sports Events is Becoming Strictly Regulated

Fun not allowed. What next?

"WIAA policy states that only cheers supporting one's own team are permitted - no put-downs, no innuendos. Every BHS game has a contest manager, often an administrator, to reel in a rowdy crowd and put a damper on inappropriate cheers, signs or attire.....

"It's unfortunate that some kids who legitimately want to cheer for their team are stuck in the middle of it," said School Board President Kevin Vodak. "But the bottom line to us was that the Badger Conference approves only positive cheers for your team. Maybe the original intent was to skirt the rules, to have some fun, but the hidden meaning was well known among students and it's gotten out of hand."

Head boys basketball coach Tom Steinhorst said a little old-fashioned "De-fense, de-fense" can go a long way. "(Student fans) do what they feel is cute and funny, and cute and funny aren't what we're looking for. We're looking for fire up, loud, positive, a great atmosphere," he said. "A lot of these cheers have nothing to do with our team; they're nonsense." ....

The very people assigned to riling up the crowd at the basketball games - the cheerleaders - are having trouble making headway with a sometimes rowdy student section. "We often don't get a lot of participation from the crowd at all," said Cheer Squad advisor Teri Fichter.....

"The cheers our squads do are politically correct," she said. "The ones (the fans) come up with are a little more risky."

Source

Good to see that the kids are resisting being dictated to. School political correctness has the saving grace of being BORING -- so that actually discredits it among kids.

Taranto has more.

Texas Mayor Singles Out N-Word for Ban

We read:

"It's one of the most reviled words in the English language, but if one Texas mayor gets his way, getting caught uttering the "N-word" will hit offenders where it hurts.

Mayor Ken Corley of Brazoria, Texas, has proposed a city ordinance that would make using the word in an offensive fashion a crime equal to disturbing the peace and punishable by a fine of up to $500. But legal experts said it's unlikely the law will stand up to the First Amendment....

Under the proposed Brazoria ordinance, users of the N-word would be fined only if a complaint were filed against them, thus protecting those who think they are using the word as a term of endearment.

Source

A number of comments:

1). "most reviled words in the English language". Reviled in the current U.S. climate of PC hysteria would be more accurate. We DO speak English in Australia but the High Court of Australia recently ruled that the word is not offensive at all in Australia.

2). The loophole that you can avoid penalty by claiming that you used the word affectionately is fun. Can whites use that defence? And if whites are disbelieved while blacks ARE believed, is that racism? And what if a black uses the word abusively? How do you prove that? Or don't you try? And is THAT racism?

3). Why ban just one "reviled" word? What about the c-word, the f-word etc. Is not singling out just one racial word racism? And too bad there's nothing about calling a white man a "cracka", eh?

4). Anybody using the word in writing would be smart to spell it with a single "g", as "niger" is simply the Latin word for black and even Brazoria, Texas, is unlikely to ban Latin.

5). I occasionally refer to people of sub-Saharan African ancestry as "negroes" but I believe that that word is "offensive" too in America. Should that word be banned too? It IS, however, the scientific term -- though Leftists would say that there is NO scientific term for people of African ancestry. But I wonder how people of African ancestry can be given special preferences ("affirmative action") if they cannot be scientifically described?

Confederate Flag Ban being Challenged as Free Speech Violation

We read:

"Bryce Archambo says, a high school administrator suspended him a day last September, when he disobeyed a direct order to take off his shirt or turn it inside out. It had a Confederate Flag on it. His hat did too.

He, his family, and some friends are now trying to prove their point, with a protest....

District lawyer, Tom Mickes, insists school administrators never suspended Bryce, they only asked him to turn the shirt inside out, because some students, both African-Americans and whites, might be offended by the rebel flag on it.....

Two more students tell News 4 a school administrator suspended them for not turning their shirts inside out.

Source

Note that the article above includes a comment by a black who defends display of the flag. There is news of the protest here. It happens today.

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' Free Speech Case

We read:

"The Supreme Court stepped into a dispute over free speech rights Friday involving a suspended high school student and his banner that proclaimed "Bong Hits 4 Jesus."

Justices agreed to hear the appeal by the Juneau, Alaska, school board and principal Deborah Morse of a lower court ruling that allowed the student's civil rights lawsuit to proceed. The school board hired former Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr to argue its case to the high court.

Morse suspended Frederick after he displayed the banner, with its reference to marijuana use, when the Olympic torch passed through Juneau in 2002 on its way to the Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Frederick, then a senior, was off school property when he hoisted the banner but was suspended for violating the school's policy of promoting illegal substances at a school-sanctioned event.

The school board upheld the suspension and a federal judge initially dismissed Frederick's lawsuit before the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals called the banner vague and nonsensical, but said that Frederick's civil rights had been violated.

Source

Racism! Whites not allowed in Black Caucus

We read:

"Freshman Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, D-Tenn., is not joining the Congressional Black Caucus after several current and former members made it clear that a white lawmaker was not welcome.

"I think they're real happy I'm not going to join," said Cohen, who succeeded Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., in a majority-black Memphis district. "It's their caucus and they do things their way. You don't force your way in. You need to be invited."

Source

Imagine the hysteria if there were a white caucus that blacks were barred from! ANY group wherein blacks were not allowed would be accused of racism so there are clearly a lot of racists in Congress -- black ones.

It rather reminds me of an old Australian political joke:

Q. What's the difference between a caucus and a cactus?
A. With a cactus, all the pricks are on the outside.

Confused thinking?



We read:

"The Oglala Sioux Tribe demanded Thursday that University of Illinois officials return the regalia worn by the school's Chief Illiniwek mascot, including the eagle feathers that were once part of the costume....

The resolution was submitted to the university's board of trustees ahead of its Thursday meeting in Chicago. It called the use of Chief Illiniwek "a degrading racial stereotype." ....

The university bought the costume, including a headdress with eagle feathers, in 1982 from Sioux Chief Frank Fools Crow, whose wife made it....

In 2005, the NCAA decided that Illiniwek and his dance are "hostile and abusive" toward American Indians, and barred Illinois from hosting postseason events.

Source

It's degrading and abusive but they still want it back?

A blogger who has mixed sympathies about the matter says:

"I still believe it's very demeaning to use Indian mascots in sports. How would white people feel if sports teams used cartoonish images of them, like perhaps the Cowboys, Vikings, 49ers, Fighting Irish, Quakers, Celtics, Patriots."

"Vikings" sounds rather good to me and he is obviously unaware of a major Scottish football team called "Celtic". Neither they nor any of their supporters seem to feel demeaned by the name. In religiously-divided Glasgow, they are the Catholic team. Many Irish migrated to Glasgow in the 19th century (I am myself descended from one of the families concerned) and their descendants support the Celtics.

Laughing at someone who is black is racism?

Whites get practical jokes played on them plenty of times but they have not got a "card" that can earn them millions of dollars out of it. From loony Los Angeles:

"The city is paying $2.7 million to settle a lawsuit from a black firefighter who claims he suffered racial discrimination after co-workers served him spaghetti laced with dog food. The City Council approved the award Wednesday, 11-1.

In his lawsuit, firefighter Tennie Pierce, 51, said after he took a bite of the meal two years ago, he noticed other firefighters laughing. He demanded to know what was in the food after a second bite but nobody answered.

Pierce said he suffered retaliation for reporting the incident and verbal slurs, insults and derogatory remarks, including taunting by firefighters "barking like dogs (and) asking him how dog food tasted," the lawsuit said.

David Wellman, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz hired by Pierce's attorney, said the association of a black man and dog food "resonates with the deep historical roots of slavery and the corresponding dehumanization." "It's not just silly stuff. It's racially motivated," he said.

Source

Update:

Larry Elder points out that the prank was clearly NOT racist.

"Third World" a Racist Term?

From Britain:

"Will Hutton, the author and left-leaning polemicist, is at the centre of a race row after describing a respected Asian professor of economics as a "Third World intellectual".

The head of the Work Foundation and former editor of The Observer made the comment about Lord Desai, the Labour peer, in an exchange of letters in Prospect magazine over the economic prospects of China....

Mr Hutton's comment has angered academics. Professor David Dabydeen, of Warwick University, said that it was racist. "Hutton has made a sad and dreadful attempt to ghettoise ideas that are different from his because they are voiced by a person of colour."

Source

I guess Third World and Western countries are really the same in all respects -- or if they are not the same we must not mention it. I was very supportive of Indian academics and their work during my research career but I did notice some characteristic differences -- some desirable, some not. But I guess I am not allowed to mentions instances of that.

"Minority" Protection Likely to Defeat EU Swastika ban

We read:

"Hindus in Europe have joined forces against a German proposal to ban the display of the swastika across the European Union, a Hindu leader said. Ramesh Kallidai of the Hindu Forum of Britain said the swastika had been a symbol of peace for thousands of years before the Nazis adopted it. He said a ban on the symbol would discriminate against Hindus....

The group said banning the swastika was equivalent to banning the cross simply because the Ku Klux Klan had used burning crosses.

Source

The Indian symbol is most usually the mirror image of the German one but they do use it both ways

My previous comment on the above matter was on 16th.

Speaking English is racist?

That seems to be the idea here:

"A bar owner who faced a discrimination complaint over a message in his window has removed a sign that read "For Service Speak English" and replaced it with one reading "Here We Speak English."

Housing Opportunities Made Equal, an area agency that handles fair-housing issues, filed a complaint with the state in July 2005 over the original sign. The Ohio Civil Rights Commission later ruled that it was discriminatory.

Ullum, 64, removed the "For Service Speak English" sign in November as part of a settlement agreement. The housing agency will not take issue with the new sign, executive director Elizabeth Brown said.

Source

It's discriminatory to ask people to speak the national language? I guess it's discriminatory not to go out with ugly women too. I mentioned this case at its outset -- on October 9, 2005.

National flag a symbol of racism?



Today Australia, tomorrow the USA?

"The Australian flag has been banned from this year's Big Day Out in Sydney after organisers branded it a "gang colour" and symbol of hate.

The Daily Telegraph has learned organisers of the Aussie rock festival at Homebush will confiscate any flag or bandana bearing the national symbol at the gate.

Source

How the elite hate the patriotism of ordinary people! They claim that the ban is because "racists" use the flag but is not their reaction to the deeds and attitudes of a tiny minority an example of that evil, overgeneralized "stereotyping" that they condemn in others? By the same logic, all blacks are to blame for the actions of the criminal minority of blacks.