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28 February, 2011
Australia: "Racist" Baa Baa Black Sheep put out to pasture
We read:"Black sheep are on the endangered species list as some children in north Queensland learn to sing Baa Baa Rainbow Sheep.
The English nursery rhyme may have survived for 200-plus years but political correctness could finally put it out to pasture. Some schools in Britain have banned the song for being racist, but Pelicans Innisfail Child Care allows children to sing about black sheep or rainbow sheep.
Director Pam McLaughlin said some teachers sang the changed lyrics, and some children already knew the changes. "We just go with whatever the children want," Ms McLaughlin said. "The kids are just singing and having fun. Some sing black sheep, some sing rainbow sheep. It's just a song. "We don't have anything that says, 'You have to sing it this way'."
Australian National University social psychologist Michael Platow said he doubted Baa Baa Black Sheep would teach racism. "I don't know why a child would associate a black sheep with a black man," he said.
Source
A very confused libertarian
The writer below is Mark Anderson of the Las Vegas Political Buzz Examiner. He claims to be a libertarian who is opposed to big government but seems to be just a hater.
He wishes for the GOP to be vaporized and then says it is wrong to hate!
For those not up on Nevada politics, Sue Lowden is a mainstream Republican who lost the GOP nomination to the Senate in 2010 to a Tea Partier."To me, I can't tell the difference between the GOP and a hate group.So both the GOP and the Libertarian party are nativist crackpots! I think I know who the crackpot is! And calling people with whom you disagree nativist crackpots sure sounds like civil discourse.
Some people still say mean and inappropriate things about Sue Lowden. I don't like it. I hope the GOP gets vaporized if they keep running right wing extremists. It's wrong to hate people.
My dream for 2012 (I mean it, since President Obama supports open borders and the Executive can't do anything if the House doesn't appropriate): Sue Lowden and President Obama campaign with one another throughout Nevada, and they both win! Two candidates from different parties and running for different offices on the campaign trail together would be one of the finest displays of bipartisan civility I've ever seen before in my entire life!
Libertarians are compelled to root for Democrats in senatorial races and the presidential race. The LP was hijacked by a nativist crackpot. The Republican Party is a nativist crackpot party.
Source
27 February, 2011
Must not mention reality in France
We read:"Zemmour's "controversial" remarks included his observation that most drug dealers in France were black or Arab, and that employers "have the right" to deny employment to those two groups of people.
Zemmour's criminal speech occurred on a popular talk show during a discussion of why French police seem to stop minorities more than whites. Said Zemmour: "But why are they stopped 17 times? Why? Because most dealers are blacks and Arabs. That's a fact."
So Zemmour wound up in the French dock, and must now pay $14,000 to five groups that sued him for racism.
According to the New York Times, the French court said Zemmour had "gone beyond the permitted bounds of the right to freedom of speech," and that ". . . Zemmour had a particular responsibility to respect those limits as a 'professional of the media and of expression.'"
Source
MN: Judge will hear Internet suicide case
We read:"A Minnesota judge will determine if a former nurse charged with helping two people commit suicide over the Internet is guilty of aiding suicide, officials said. ...
The law applies to those who 'intentionally advises, encourages or assists' suicide and provides for a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine. [William] Melchert-Dinkel, 48, allegedly helped two people commit suicide -- one a Canadian citizen, the other lived in England.
His attorney has argued free-speech rights protected his client's actions."
Source
26 February, 2011
First amendment is at issue in St. Louis sign appeal
We read:"At issue is the city's effort to remove a two-story mural — that protests condemnation proceedings — from the side of a brick building near Soulard. The city has said the mural, on 13th Street and visible from two highways, is about 10 times larger than the sign ordinance allows. The city also says it doesn't fit within any categories that are exempt from the ordinance, such as art.
Jim Roos, who had the words "End Eminent Domain Abuse" painted on his building in 2007, calls the crackdown censorship. His attorney, Michael Bindas, of the Institute for Justice, said that in refusing some signs but exempting others, the city is making the exact type of content-based decisions that are prohibited by the First Amendment.
U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey had sided with the city on the matter in March, prompting Roos' appeal. There is no set timeline for the appeals court panel to rule.
Roos, the founder of the inner-city property management company Neighborhood Enterprises, has had several of his properties declared "blighted" and taken by eminent domain. The building that hosts the mural is within a 219-acre area that has also been targeted under the Land Clearance for Redevelopment Authority Law.
The redevelopment authority was the first to take issue with the mural, saying it ran afoul of the city's blight ordinance. The appeals court ruled in 2008 that the authority could not make that decision.
Source
"Obamacare" now incorrect
It's the new "n" word!"'ObamaCare' ... is a disparaging reference to the President of the United States. It is meant as a disparaging reference to the President of the United States. It is clearly in violation of the House rules against that," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla. "ObamaCare," according to several blogs, is the new "n" word.
Assume, for the sake of argument, "right-wingers" use "ObamaCare" in a "mean-spirited" way. The left well understands and embraces the tactic: personalize or make a caricature about a policy; or use a description to induce a negative reaction. Here are a few:
"Reaganomics": Used to personalize and attach to a "cold-hearted conservative" president an economic agenda the media opposed and assumed would fail.
"Star Wars": Used to derisively describe Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, a missile defense program critics thought technologically impossible.
Source
25 February, 2011
Racist union demonstrators abuse black Tea Partier
If a conservative had abused a black man like this it would be top headline on the NYT. But don't hold your breath this time."[The black] man with the Gadsden flag turned out to be Leland Robinson, 51, a Denver native...They were actually offended that he was well-dressed! Not his place to do that apparently. Pix at link.
At this point, an agressive woman with a purple SEIU shirt assailed Robinson with a flurry of insults. “That’s your problem. You’re an entrepreneur, so you don’t work. You don’t know what work is until you get into an educational area. …
You’re uneducated, unethical, immoral, and you don’t know what life is. That’s your problem. Why don’t you go behind that fence where you belong? Why don’t you go back with your own kind?”
Next, this lady in red rudely got in Robinson’s face. Lady in red: “I asked you a question: Do you have any children? That you claim, that you claim.”
Robinson: “Do I need children to understand what’s going on?” Lady in red: “You need children to understand education.”
Bystander: “What did you mean when you said does he have any children that he claims?”
Lady in red: “Because he’s such a free spirit and an entrepreneur, I would assume that he’s not supporting children. … (To Robinson:) You are a big-mouth take-care-of-yourself man. You don’t care about anyone.” ...
When I asked the lady in red why she was so incensed at Robinson, a man she had never spoken to in her life, she said “He comes here dressed to the nines, look at him. He is portraying someone not from this community.”
She admitted that her assumption that this black man has children he doesn’t support was racist, but said “What I said is racist, but I am not a racist.”
Source
More gross twisting of the constitution
Using a remarkably broad definition of "speech". It is speech that is protected by the First Amendment, not prancing around with your clothes off."The federal 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a Maryland strip club law prohibiting employees from being unclothed, showing private parts or simulating sex acts while working at a place serving alcohol is unconstitutional.Left-dominated courts never stop their gross twisting of the constitution. They use it to protect things it does not protect (such as stripping) and also use it to ban things it does protect (such as religious observance). And to top it they find in the constitution protection for things the constitution does not even mention (such as abortion)
The plaintiffs, the Legend Night Club and the Classics Night Club, operate adult entertainment establishments in Prince George's County.
In the opinion issued Thursday upholding a lower court's injunction against enforcing the law, the court said the statute "prohibits a broad swath of expression protected by the First Amendment." The court, quoting another case, said the law could even affect non-erotic performances like "a political satire, a Shakespeare play depicting young love or a drama depicting the horrors of rape."
Source
24 February, 2011
SCOTUS refuses Kentucky Ten Commandments case
We read:"The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear more arguments in a case in which courts struck down displays of the Ten Commandments in the Pulaski and McCreary County courthouses, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky announced Tuesday.I guess that they are tired of the barrage of cases of this sort. One might however have hoped that the Roberts court would have taken the opportunity to narrow the definition of what constitutes the "establishment" of a religion. Putting up copies of the ten commandments clearly establishes nothing.
... The counties posted copies of the Biblical laws in 1999, but a federal judge said the displays were an improper government endorsement of religion and issued an injunction barring the counties from keeping them on the courthouse walls."
Source
Mississippi Gov. bows to PC pressure from the NAACP?
We read:"Mississippi GOP Gov. Haley Barbour on Monday issued his strongest language yet on a state license plate honoring a Ku Klux Klan leader, telling the Associated Press he would not sign the proposal if it reached his desk.Describing Forrest as a Klan leader is tendentious. He always denied membership but was influential in persuading them to disband. His influence stemmed from his brilliant performance as a general in the Confederate army and for that reason there are all sorts of things around Tennessee named after him to this day. A license plate more or less will not make much difference to that.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) last week called for Barbour to condemn a proposal to create a license plate honoring Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Klan leader. Barbour refrained from formally disavowing the proposed plate, sparking controversy.
Source
In his later years Forrest was notably friendly towards blacks -- And some say that he always was.
23 February, 2011
What a weak wriggle-out!
Tufts, a Massachusetts University, is the hotbed of fanatical liberalism that you would expect. So it is no surprise that FIRE recently named it one of the worst American colleges for speech restrictions.
Pleasingly, that seems to have riled Tufts people a bit -- perhaps because it was reported in the Puffington Host. They are so encased in their own little mental cocoon that they think their speech codes are fair and free!
Reality is a little pesky, however. A few years ago the university ruled that two articles in a student newspaper (about blacks and Muslims) made the newspaper "guilty of harassment and creating a hostile environment", which is an offense at Tufts.
Below is the completely dishonest way a Tufts spokesman tries to wriggle out of the situation.Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman thoroughly disagreed with FIRE's branding of Tufts and believed the organization has exaggerated a lack of free speech on campus.Brucie might make a good theologian but he is no logician. Neither FIRE nor anyone else is critical of anybody disagreeing with anything. It is using the weight of the university to condemn particular utterances that is the issue. For an individual student to call something harassment is fine. It is when the university tries to suppress the "harassment" that there is a problem.
According to Reitman, it is just as essential to acknowledge offensive material as it is to allow that material to exist. "That's the purpose of community learning — so that we have those conversations that at times include the voice in the community that says, ‘they don't have the right to say that,'" Reitman said.
"I think that's an ingredient of that conversation. It always will be. I will always support a person's right to say, ‘they don't have the right to say that,' because that's their opinion." Reitman said that FIRE itself is guilty of not truly respecting the freedom of expression.
"If FIRE is saying we are at fault because we are restricting people from having an opinion that can be voiced, aren't they doing exactly that by saying a group of people doesn't have the right to call something harassing behavior?" he said. "I think they're hypocritical even in making this argument. So they're saying that people don't have the right to call something what they think it is. So they're the ones in my mind who are talking about censoring."
In logic, Brucie's defense is what is known as a "straw man" argument. He can't answer the actual charge put to him so he makes up another argument to answer. But I am sure Tufts is proud of him. I guess they don't teach logic there. Or is it just that Leftism routinely rots the brain?
While I am having fun with Brucie, let me note this little bit of dialogue with him: "But what does the dean of student affairs do on the Hill? "Besides warning people to be careful in Mexico?" Reitman asked jokingly, referring to this past spring break."
If a conservative had said that he would run a fair risk of having "racism" shrieked at him. It would be claimed that he is "stereotyping" Mexicans or some such. Using his own standard of logic, I therefore find him "guilty of harassment and creating a hostile environment" for Hispanics
FBI: Web-based services hurting wiretapping efforts
My heart bleeds:"Web-based e-mail, social-networking and peer-to-peer services are frustrating law enforcement wiretapping efforts, a lawyer for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation told lawmakers Thursday, but she did not offer concrete ideas on how to fix the problem.
President Barack Obama's administration is debating ways to deal with Web-based services not covered by traditional wiretap laws, including incentives for companies to build in surveillance capabilities, said Valerie Caproni, general counsel at the FBI."
Source
22 February, 2011
Why Isn’t The Mainstream Media Covering The Hate Speech of Wisconsin Protesters?
What happened to all those Democrat calls for "civility" that followed the Giffords shooting?"As many of you know, this week in Wisconsin local public employee unions, with the help of bussed in protesters from the President’s PAC Organizing for America, are rallying outside the state capital to demonstrate their anger over the Governor’s budget which calls for state workers to contribute to their pension and health plans (albeit to a lower extent than private workers do).Pix at link.
The tone, language, and hate speech displayed by these state workers and the demonstrators from the president’s PAC are just as hateful and more widespread than anything real or manufactured about the Tea Party. None of this hatred is being reported in the mainstream media.
Things started getting nasty when unions began calling Wisconsin Governor Walker “Mini-Mubarak” comparing his actions to that of the recently deposed Egyptian despot. Along with the hateful analogy, the creators of this ditty said the governor had “threatened to call out the National Guard if workers protest against these cuts!”
As the budget vote neared, the protest rhetoric got more hate and violence oriented, comparing the governor to Hitler, rapists and drawing targets on his face. Most disturbing is the fact that many of these protesters are teachers responsible for our children.
Source
Google hate speech?
We read:"Internet users who search online using keywords related to religion, gender or nationality may be in for a nasty surprise.
Racist and sexist stereotypes are spreading on the web via Google's "autocomplete" function, despite steps the search engine has taken to limit inappropriate content.
The feature, which is designed to streamline internet research, suggests a drop-down list of search phrases based on other users' online activity. Other online platforms and programs use similar technology.
Terminology that refers to a person's faith, ethnic group or sexuality sometimes leads to potentially offensive suggestions in Google's search bar.
An anti-racism campaigner, Alex Gollan, said that while the technology was a legitimate research tool it might also perpetuate prejudice by encouraging users to look up inflammatory material.
"A lot of people sit around on Google when they're bored and [click on] whatever stands out as being the most antagonistic," said Mr Gollan, who created the Facebook group Australians Against Racism and Discrimination.
Kevin Dunn, a professor and lead researcher on the 14-year Challenging Racism project at the University of Western Sydney, said the technology could also legitimise narrow views held by a minority.
Source
21 February, 2011
CNN basketball article stirs up race row by labelling All-Star game as 'Black Thanksgiving'
We read:"CNN has been dragged into a race row after an article on its website referred to a major basketball game as ‘Black Thanksgiving’. A piece by analyst David Aldridge about the NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles has infuriated readers by billing it as a ‘national holiday’ for African Americans.
Users flooded the CNN message boards to slam the well-known commentator's article as 'utterly ridiculous' and either 'incredibly stupid or incredibly offensive'.
'I've just grown really tired of it being cool to celebrate black dominance, and completely taboo to have anything majority white,' said one reader.
Mr Aldridge, 46, quotes ESPN sports writer Mike Wilbon's ‘Black Thanksgiving’ label, saying NBA players are ‘royalty in Black America and everyone wants to be near them’. ‘The old saying is that ballers want to be rappers, and rappers want to be ballers. That's really, really true,’ he wrote.
‘Basketball is a culture. It isn't for everyone, though the game is loved by people of all colours. There is a rhythm to it, just as if McCoy Tyner was dribbling a ball instead of playing piano.’
He quotes Todd Boyd, professor at the University of Southern California, who said the NBA All-Star Weekend is a ‘celebration of African American culture’.
Source
I don't understand this controversy very well but I gather that the "offense" is in seeing blacks as having a world of their own. But they do to an extent so this would seem to be just another example of reality-denial.
Must not use abbreviations
"Paki" is a common abbreviation for "Pakistani" in Britain. Britain has a lot of Pakistanis."Paul Daniels, the magician, has been accused of racism for suggesting that the word "Paki" is no more offensive than the abbreviation "Brit".
Daniels, 72, wrote on Twitter during the Brit Awards ceremony last week: "What's this about 'Brit' awards? Surely not? Isn't that like calling someone a 'Paki'? Not PC dahlings."
He quickly added: "Hey, all I am saying is that I don't understand why one abbrev is OK and another isn't. It's all how you say it surely, not the ab itself."
Sam Tarry, campaign organiser with the anti-racism group Searchlight, said: "The word 'Paki' is offensive and racist, it is not something that can be compared to the word 'Brit'.
"It has been used not just to define people from Pakistan, but Asian people in general, and it has a long, nasty history. In the 1970s people used to talk about 'Paki-bashing'."
Source
Daniels is perfectly right. It's just another abbreviation. But people do get uptight about abbreviations at times. I (like many Australians) use "Abo" as an abbreviation for "Aborigine", but you do hear the abbreviation branded as "racist" sometimes.
20 February, 2011
A case where "incorrect" speech clearly did some good
We read:"It was lambasted on Top Gear as "lazy", "feckless" and "flatulent" but Mexico's Mastretta car company may yet have the last laugh. The firm says it is parlaying its new-found fame into greater car sales - and could soon have vehicles on the road in the UK.Mastretta normally makes buses
The British TV show, which is no stranger to controversy, received hundreds of complaints over the episode, in which the description of Mastretta was said to parallel the national character.
The company's marquis vehicle - the sleek sports car Mastretta MXT - was also derided as little more than a giant "tortilla" on wheels. But the controversy has had the unexpected upside of bringing the formerly obscure auto maker to international prominence. Internet traffic on the company's website has shot up, and there has even been an increase in visits to the factory. Better still, orders for the MXT are beginning to pour in.
Source
Australia: Must not call people fat?
We read:"The Exclusive Brethren have been called terrible things in their time, but "fat" was too much for Ron Arkcoll, of Goulburn. He took action. This week, after a long and expensive inquiry, the Mulwaree Shire Council censured Councillor Geoff (Peto) Peterson for intimidating, harassing and abusing the local brethren leader by calling him fat one afternoon last September in the stairwell of the council offices.
Chest pains sent the councillor to Canberra Hospital in August and he found himself in the recovery ward with a young brethren woman from Cowra. According to Cr Peterson, he passed the time joshing with her brethren visitors and it was one of those who first remarked you could identify brethren because "the women wear ribbons in their hair and the men are all chunky".
Shortly after his discharge from hospital, Cr Peterson bumped into Mr Arkcoll, another sect member named Pugh and a council officer in the stairwell of the Mulwaree Shire Offices. After asking how things were going with the rates issue, the councillor mentioned - and the form of words is disputed - fat Brethren men.
"Angry, humiliated and shocked", Mr Arkcoll complained to the council's general manager, Chris Berry.... A team of three spent a month and $20,000 investigating everything ... They found against the councillor. On Tuesday, the council rejected by eight votes to one his plea for time to prepare a rebuttal.
"I got dusted," Cr Peterson told the Herald. He must now have counselling and apologise to Mr Arkcoll and Mr Pugh in writing.
Source
19 February, 2011
Must not notice that someone is black, apparently
This was said 11 years ago but has just been dredged up:"Weeks after sexist behaviour cost him his job at Sky Sports, racism was added yesterday to the accusations levelled against Richard Keys.
The shamed football presenter was taped referring to a black player as ‘choco’. Keys, who today attempts to revive his career by starting a £200,000-a-year radio job alongside his partner-in-disgrace Andy Gray, made the comment while preparing for a broadcast.
Keys and former footballers Graeme Souness and Ray Wilkins are heard discussing Jamaican-born David Johnson, who at the time was tipped to represent Scotland.
Johnson, then a striker at Nottingham Forest, had been tipped to play for Scotland but it turned out he was ineligible. Wilkins starts asking a question before Souness, himself a Scot, interrupts, saying sarcastically: ‘He looks like a Jock, doesn’t he?’
Keys replies: ‘Choco Jocko.’
Source
Hillary demands Net freedom abroad as domestic restrictions loom
We read:"Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged governments abroad Tuesday to embrace internet freedom even as the United States moves to tighten online restrictions at home. ...
Clinton’s speech came a day after the House voted to extend to December 8 three controversial domestic spy provisions of the Patriot Act. And Customs officials seized 18 more internet domains without giving the pirate website owners a chance to challenge the forfeiture.
What’s more, the Obama administration on Thursday is expected to testify before a House subcommittee about the need to expand the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which already requires telcos and internet access providers to have wiretapping capabilities."
Source
18 February, 2011
Must not protest against the Hildabeest
We read:"As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her speech at George Washington University yesterday condemning governments that arrest protestors and do not allow free expression, 71-year-old Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes, brutalized and left bleeding in jail.I think peaceniks are stupid but he was doing no harm. And it sends a clear message about what to expect from Left-run America.
She never paused speaking. When Secretary Clinton began her speech, Mr. McGovern remained standing silently in the audience and turned his back. Mr. McGovern, a veteran Army officer who also worked as a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years, was wearing a Veterans for Peace t-shirt."
Blind-sided by security officers who pounced upon him, Mr. McGovern remarked, as he was hauled out the door, "So this is America?" Mr. McGovern is covered with bruises, lacerations and contusions inflicted in the assault.
Source
No free speech in Austria
In Austria, a free speech activist has been charged with inciting religious hatred and faces three years in prison after criticizing Islam and Shariah law — comments similar to those recently expounded by major European leaders in the UK, France and German on the failures of multiculturalism.
Source
17 February, 2011
Spain cracks down on converts to Judaism
In the Middle ages, Spain had a substantial Jewish population. Eventually, however, they were given the choice of "Leave, convert or die". Many fled to other Mediterranean countries while others converted to Catholicism. So many Spaniards (descendants of the "conversos") now have some Jewish ancestry.
And throughout the Hispanic world that ancestry is being rediscovered -- with some of the people concerned interested in returning to their ancestral Jewish religion. Information is scarce but it would appear to be one such group that Spain is now persecuting: "The more things change, the more they remain the same ...""My friend Angel Martín has alerted me to a disturbing affair in Spain, which involves a small religious group known as the Congregación del Olivo. More than six years ago, the Spanish legal authorities and police undertook to treat this peaceful group as if it were a terrorist conspiracy or similarly dangerous band, charging it with various crimes. The group categorically denies every charge made against its members. The media have reported on this affair in a completely one-sided way, not even bothering to solicit the views of the accused persons and repeating the claims lodged against them without confirming the truth of these accusations.
Martín, who has followed this story for some time, is seeking to bring greater public scrutiny to the matter, which on its face appears to involve oppressive state action against inoffensive people who have violated no one’s rights and who seek only to live in peace according to their religious convictions.
Source
British motoring commentators get death threats after jabs at Wales
We read:"If you thought you were going to make it through a week without hearing about how the wily hosts of Top Gear ruffled someone's feathers, think again. According to WhatsOnTv, James May, Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond have begun receiving death threats after making disparaging comments about Wales in a recent program.These guys are just funsters being deliberately provocative. But humor is dangerous these days. Whining is now praised -- where once it was despised. It was particularly despised in Britain as a matter of fact. But the Left have eroded the national character with THEIR constant moans about "racism' etc.
The BBC program hosts reportedly remarked that fast cars should be test-driven on Welsh roads because no one wants to live there.
That latest bit of bashing was apparently the last straw. The trio has taken turns giving the Welsh a hard time in the past, with May calling their language "baffling and dangerous" among other offenses.
The death threats are only the latest in a series of cultural mishaps that have befallen the show. Last year, Top Gear riled Muslims by donning the traditional headwear of women, and it irked Christians by portraying a baby Stig in the traditional role of the newborn Jesus. Most recently, the show invoked the ire of the Mexican ambassador to the UK by unleashing a rash of stereotypes about his countrymen.
Source
16 February, 2011
Must not portray blacks in anything but a favorable light
We read:"After Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) took to the floor of the House of Representatives on 2/8/11 to declare that a Pepsi Max Super Bowl ad was “demeaning,” Project 21 fellow Deneen Borelli debated the claim with Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly and Princeton professor Imani Perry.Video at source
Perry says Lee “has a point,” but Deneen calls it a case of “selective outrage” over an ad meant to be racy. Deneen added that there is a “huge double standard” over the commercial’s content considering the silence on the left with regard to a recent rally in California where progressive activists were taped calling for the torture of black conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Source
British football pundit accused of 'casual racism' after making joke about Chinese names
A fuss over trivia. He wasn't insulting anyone."Commenting on a bungled move for the ball by Chelsea player Fernando Torres, he said: ‘It’s come off his chest, his knee, and his toe. It’s almost like that Chinese player Knee Shin Toe’.Names in Chinese often sound amusing in English. There was a big Chinese grocer in Sydney's Chinatown years ago called "Say Tin Fong". I must confess that my friends and I usually DID say "Tin Fong" as we walked past -- rather loudly sometimes. And there was a Chinese grocer over the road from my High School called "Wing On". I am sorry to say that he was sometimes told to "wing off" by some of my fellow students.
Hoddle - who enjoyed a glittering career playing for Tottenham, Monaco and England - was sacked as the national team manager in 1999 when he claimed in an interview that disabled people were paying for their sins in a previous life.
Source
Even my mother used to tell me jokes about pseudo-Chinese names. One was: "Have you heard about the latest novel set in China -- called "Spot on the Wall" by Hoo Flung Dung?". And my mother was good friends with our local Chinese grocer so there was no animus in it.
Such jokes are just a harmless tradition in my view. But we live in more sensitive times now.
15 February, 2011
MS: Southern leader on specialty license plates?
We read:"Plans for a Mississippi specialty license plate honoring controversial Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest are reviving tensions over 'unreconstructed' Southerners and their place in the modern South.The myth that the North fought to free the slaves lingers on. Even Lincoln said it did not: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery". Find one mention of slaves in the Gettysburg address. More on Lincoln here.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans want to honor Forrest on a 2014 specialty license plate. Mississippi has more than 150 specialty plates, the most popular ones being 'Choose Life' and NASCAR-related license plates.
But the state NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and a Facebook group are raising objections."
Source
GOP seeks to bury regulation of “political speech”
We read:"Seeking to hammer the final nail in the coffin of the Fairness Doctrine, two Republican lawmakers who are former broadcasters have reintroduced a bill that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from regulating political speech on the airwaves.Instead of trying to stop the fairness doctrine, conservatives should insist that it be extended to newspapers too. That would put the cat among the pigeons! The fairness doctrine would never be heard of again! Can you imagine the NYT being obliged to run editorials by Sarah Palin? All the Leftist NY Jews that the paper serves would rip it up in fury.
Amid calls for the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine after the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz, last month, Reps. Mike Pence of Indiana and Greg Walden of Oregon unveiled this week the Broadcaster Freedom Act, which would ban the FCC from forcing broadcasters to give free airtime to opposing sides on controversial issues."
Source
14 February, 2011
Irish jokes now endangered
We read:"New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has defended himself after he learned the hard way that jokes about the "inebriated Irish" do not go over well with Irish audiences. The Irish Voice reported that "there were some boos from an astonished crowd" when those words emerged from Bloomberg's mouth Wednesday night at the American Irish Historical Society, where more than 100 leading Irish-Americans were celebrating the publication of a book titled "Celebrating 250 Years of the New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade."Bloomberg WAS rather crass -- and I can't say I am surprised about that. He is just one big ego.
The mayor remarked that he lived near the society's headquarters and was used to seeing "inebriated Irish hanging out the windows."
"He was trying to be funny," said one official who was there. "It wasn't funny. Some people took it as a personal or ethnic [comment]."
Among those in attendance were the Irish Consul General, Noel Kilkenny, and the parade's Grand Marshal, author Mary Higgins Clark."
Source
Rastamouse provokes complaints of racism and teaching bad language
We read:"He is an animated reggae-singing mouse who has become a hit for the BBC, entertaining children with his attempts to fight crime and spread love and respect. Yet dreadlocked Rastamouse has provoked more than a hundred complaints to the corporation with parents expressing fears the show is racist and encouraging the use of slang.I don't have much sympathy with the claim that it stereotypes Jamaicans. I think it glorifies Jamaicans, if anything. But I am amazed that the BBC is teaching non-standard English. I thought that the BBC had an educational role.
The BBC has received complaints from six viewers that the animated show stereotypes black people, while another 95 have complained about the language used in the show.
The Rastafarian mouse, who leads a band called the Easy Crew and speaks in Jamaican Patois, uses phrases such as "me wan go" ("I want to go"), "irie" ("happy"), "wagwan" ("what's going on?"). His mission is to "make a bad ting good".
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I know what is going on though. Accent is very important in England, with RP ("Oxford English") being far more prestigious than any other. BBC announcers all used to speak RP but Leftists hate anything that is not "equal" so the BBC has made a point in recent years of using announcers with "Regional" accents. Teaching Jamaican English is just the logical endpoint of that process, I suppose. The fact that Jamaican English is not even used by all people of Jamaican ancestry does not matter, obviously. Tearing down good English is all that matters.
13 February, 2011
Quebec labor union bullies conservative blog
We read:"And you thought it was just the Egyptian government who wanted to sweep the net of bloggers they didn’t like. Well, think again. In Quebec, one of the province’s most powerful unions – the Centrale des Syndicats du Quebec (CSQ) – is threatening to sue the webmasters of a popular right-of-center blog, www.lesanalystes.ca, as well as a retired professor, Reynald du Berger, claiming that the site featured “hate speech” in a series of posts by Mr. Du Berger and others on January 30, 2011.
The offending words? In translation, they are:“we have too many leftist sissies! Have you noticed that in Quebec (and it was remarkably in evidence at the meeting of the Quebec Freedom Network on October 23 [2010]), the right, is young and male, the left is composed of old feminized men and old women.”The complaint then cites other bloggers who discuss the vasectomy rate in Quebec, and complain that women want castrated men, and that one in two college professors shouldn’t be teaching.
“And yes, the majority of union members are women, feminized men and collectivists …who like “negative ” discrimination against men and whites. When BB boomers all retire, approximately 80% of all state employees will be women or immigrants. And even if about 64% of positions are already occupied by women, discrimination … continues to apply for some 700,000 government employees. I’m sick of “YOUR” hypocrisy. Of “YOUR” propaganda. Of “YOUR” holier than thou reactions. Thebacklash against “YOUR” follies (union / collectivist / etc.) will be terrible. Might be time to stop pretending that “everything is fine”? “
According to the CSQ,“It is clear that these comments are hateful, defamatory and that they undermine the dignity, integrity and honor of women, older workers, teachers, seniors, gays, trade unionists and immigrants. And when these people write that the backlash against union and collectivist follies will be terrible, it’s disturbing because it borders on an incitement to violence.”Wow – if that’s a call to violence, then every other blog in the country should be shut down, including this one. But the CSQ has sent a lawyer’s letter, demanding the comments be removed, a retraction published, and a public apology issued. In response, webmaster Ian Senechal has refused to back down, describing these tactics as intimidation.
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British police force uses gobbledygook to hide unpopular news
We read:"Police were last night accused of using gobbledegook to ‘bury bad news’ about changes to checks on gun owners. Two forces used a 351-word statement to say they were abandoning automatic checks when gun owners renew their licences.
Campaigners for plain English branded the press release, from Hertfordshire Constabulary and Bedfordshire Police, as one of the worst examples of ‘corporate management-speak’ they had seen.
It began: ‘Collaborative initiatives between Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire Constabulary have succeeded in delivering enhanced services, whilst realising considerable efficiencies in a number of areas. Firearms Licensing is one of several functions that has been reviewed and proposals have been developed for joint working, with a collaborative unit due to be established at the start of March.’
Planned changes to gun checks were not mentioned until the 75th word. They appeared in a paragraph of two sentences stretching to 91 words.
Essex Police, who are planning similar changes in an effort to save money, explained their proposals in a much simpler two-line statement. The Essex statement said: 'We are moving towards renewal notices by post rather than the current practice of making personal visits. The move is currently under consultation.'
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12 February, 2011
"Smuggle Truck" Game Draws Fire from Immigration Activists
We read:"A new online game is drawing criticism from immigration rights advocates, who say it's insensitive and offensive.
The game, called "Smuggle Truck," lets players drive a truck across what resembles the U.S.-Mexico border. Players encounter obstacles like mountains, cliffs and even dead babies.
If the truck hits those obstacles, "immigrants" fall off the truck's bed. Players succeed by getting the most "immigrants" across the border. Drivers can also earn rewards like a "Green Card." That goes to players who save passengers' lives.
The creator of the game, Alex Schwartz, says on the game's website that it is "interactive satire." He says it was inspired by friends' struggles to immigrate to the United States legally.
But immigration rights advocates say the game is offensive, and pokes fun at human suffering. They also maintain that the game propagates stereotypes, with its depictions of cartoon babies bouncing off truck beds, among other things.
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Must not mention that falafel is popular in the Middle East
McGuire is an influential figure in Australian radio, TV and sport."Eddie McGuire has been accused of peddling "disgusting" stereotypes over a jibe he made about Sydney's western suburbs during his breakfast show.
McGuire, who is president of Collingwood AFL club, was taunting Greater Western Sydney Giants coach Kevin Sheedy when he dismissed the ethnically diverse part of the city as "land of the falafel".
He said any recruits signing to the Giants would soon get tired of living there. "I've just a put a team together of your 17-year-olds who'll be sick of living up in the land of the falafel in western Sydney playing in front of a 12,000-seat stadium that's still not put up," McGuire said.
The jibe, although meant jest, has angered listeners. Mazhar Hadid, a councillor for the Sydney west suburb of Liverpool, described the comment as "completely inappropriate".
"Eddie McGuire is supposed to be a very respectable person but this comment is just insulting to the residents of the western suburbs," he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
An official from Greater Western Sydney Giants said the comment was "disgusting" and sent the wrong message.
Kevin Dunn, an academic at University of Western Sydney and expert on racism in Australia, said: "It's a flippant remark and a silly stereotype. It just betrays an ignorance.”
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11 February, 2011
Over sensitive Chinese-American legislator gets an earful
We read:"Meng’s office has been inundated with more than 50 hateful and racist phone calls and e-mails since she publicly criticized Limbaugh for mocking the way Jintao speaks during a segment of his radio show Jan. 19.What Limbaugh said is roughly what Chinese sounds like to Westerners. If that's a problem, get over it
On Thursday and Friday alone, Meng received about 30 calls and e-mails from people across the United States, some of whom used anti-Chinese slurs and profanity when lambasting Meng for asking that Limbaugh apologize for performing what she described as a racially insensitive impression of the Chinese leader.
On his radio show Jan. 19, Limbaugh lamented that a speech Hu gave during a recent visit to the White House was not translated as he listened to it on television.
“Hu Jintao, he was speaking and they weren’t translating and they normally have some translator every couple of words, but Hu Jintao was just going ‘Ching chong. Ching chong, chong chong!’” he said during the show, proceeding to spend more than 15 seconds mocking and imitating Hu’s accent. The AP reported that on the following day he addressed his remarks but did not make an apology.
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How hate speech SHOULD be dealt with
By exposing it for what it is, not by legal bans on it"In December, the King County Metro Transit Authority in Seattle was scheduled to post advertisements on their buses which showed Palestinian children looking dolefully at some bombed buildings with the caption: Israeli War Crimes-Your Tax Dollars At Work.
Due to the strenuous efforts of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, Act For America, Stand With Us, the local Jewish Federation, Atlas Shrugs and other national groups the Transit Authority decided not to accept the advertisements and informed the Israel-bashing group, the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, who had sponsored them.
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10 February, 2011
Anti-Christian school principal crumbles when faced with lawsuit
You've got to confront these types. They'll make their own laws if you let them."It’s the same old song, out in California – a Christian child being discouraged from participating in a school talent show because the lyrics he wants to share celebrate Jesus Christ.
The show was held at Superior Street Elementary School in Los Angeles, and scheduled in the evening, outside school hours. No students were required to attend, and no restrictions were placed on the content of whatever songs those participating might elect to perform.
Several days after the January auditions, though, Superior Street Principal Jerilyn Schubert notified the 5th-grader’s mother that her son would not be allowed perform to the song, “We Shine” because of its religious message – a message the principal said she considered to be “offensive” and a violation of the “separation of church and state.”
The boy’s mother pointed out that audiences would understand that the song was her child’s choice, not the school’s … adding that he had personally selected the song and had been practicing it for months. She reminded the principal that no restrictions had been placed on musical content.
The principal, in turn, explained that other students who had selected songs with profane and vulgar lyrics had been told to select different material … the implication being that lyrics celebrating God were somehow equivalent to profanity and vulgarity. Finally, the true problem emerged: “Couldn’t he pick a song that doesn’t say ‘Jesus’ so many times?” the principal asked.
Of course he could – but he shouldn’t have to do so. Which was exactly the point made in a lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District on January 28 by the Alliance Defense Fund, along with allied attorney Daniel R. Watkins, and reaffirmed in a request for a temporary restraining order filed on February 2.
After being served with the TRO, district officials suddenly changed their tune, announcing that the student would be allowed to perform to “We Shine” at the February 4 talent show after all.
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Obama's DHS Seizes Websites for Merely LINKING to Copyrighted Material
At that rate all news-oriented blogs -- such as this one -- are criminal operations"Apparently the Department of Homeland Security is now authorized to rewrite and enforce copyright infringement laws. In a stunning precedent, the recent round of domain seizures to shut down websites that allowed illegal streaming of the Super Bowl also included a few other websites that were seized simply for linking to infringing content.
Mike Masnick of TechDirt, who received and published a DHS seizure affidavit, had this to say in a must-read article:
"...the affidavit itself is chock full of legal and technical errors, compounded by assertions-as-facts that seem to have little basis in reality. This is immensely troubling, especially given that the specific legal issues here are hardly settled law, and Homeland Security seems to be acting as if these cases are no brainers, allowing them to flat out seize domains, even when those websites have been declared perfectly legal in their home countries.
The biggest problem is that Homeland Security seems to suggest -- without a hint of doubt -- that merely linking to infringing content is criminal copyright infringement. That is a huge stretch. Homeland Security and ICE may be in for a bit of legal trouble trying to prove that embedding is direct infringement"
Until these unprecedented seizures, online copyright infringement was dealt with by simply asking infringing websites to remove the material and replace it with a link to the source. Previous cases have normally been battled out in civil court. Alternative news giant, Matt Drudge, is currently fighting a seemingly ridiculous civil lawsuit over linking to news stories.
These new actions by the DHS and the courts seem to be motivated more by private corporate profits than by actual copyright law. Nonetheless, the agenda seems to be to make nearly every website that links to copyrighted material guilty of criminal infringement.
What's more, it is also another tyrannical tool being used to control the flow of information.
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9 February, 2011
Must not criticize high interest rates -- if the government is charging them
But if it's banks, credit card companies or payday lenders charging high interest rates, you can call them what you like, of course"Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has apologized for using the word "shyster" to describe the high-interest, taxpayer-funded loans from the U.S. and Canadian governments that were used to bail out the automaker in 2009.
Marchionne's comment came during a question-and-answer session after he made a speech on Friday before the National Automobile Dealers Association. In the speech, the Chrysler CEO discussed the possibility of merging Fiat and Chrysler. Afterwards, he told reporters: "I want to pay back the shyster loans first."
The New Dictionary of American Slang defines "shyster" as "a dishonest and contemptible lawyer or politician." It noted that the origin of the word is "unknown and hotly disputed....
Chrysler owes $5.8 billion to the U.S. government and $2.3 billion to the Canadian government at an average interest rate of 11 percent, according to the automaker.
"As the only parties willing to underwrite the risk associated with Chrysler's recovery plan, the two governments levied interest rates that, although appropriate at the time, are above current market conditions," said Marchionne in his apology. "This was done with the full support and understanding of the members of Chrysler Group LLC.
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Dutch MP Geert Wilders back in court over 'hate speech'
We read:"Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders has returned to court in Amsterdam to face trial for inciting hatred, before a new set of judges.
The trial was put on hold in October when an independent appeals panel upheld a complaint about the judges' handling of the process.
Mr Wilders' lawyer told Monday's hearing that the trial should start completely from scratch. He wanted evidence from Islamic experts which the court rejected last year.
The case against Mr Wilders refers to comments made in 2006 and 2008 in which he called Islam "fascist" and compared the Koran to Hitler's book Mein Kampf. He is accused of inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims, Moroccans and other groups.
During the initial trial, Mr Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party which came third in June 2010 elections, had accused the court of denying him a fair hearing. He was prevented from calling a number of witnesses on Islam, including a convicted killer, Mohammed Bouyeri, who murdered film-maker Theo van Gogh. Mr Wilders argued that Bouyeri was "living proof" that Islam inspired violence.
The process eventually collapsed when an appeals panel said that Mr Wilders' fear of bias from the first trial judges was "understandable" because they did not approve a request for further expert testimony from Dutch academic Hans Jansen.
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8 February, 2011
Super Bowl commercial accused of making light of Tibet suffering
We read:"A Super Bowl advert for Groupon, the online voucher company, has been accused of making light of the suffering of the Tibetan people.Is there anything left that you can joke about?
The company, which offers cut-price goods and services when internet users buy en masse, aired the commercial during breaks in last night's game, which was watched by an estimated 100 million people.
In the Groupon advert the actor Timothy Hutton says: “The people of Tibet are in trouble, their very culture in jeopardy”, in apparent reference to the Chinese government's refusal to accept the Himalayan region's autonomy.
But then he adopts a more jovial tone, noting that Tibetans are still able to “whip up a great fish curry”, and that "since 200 of us bought at Groupon.com, we're each getting $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15."
The light-hearted reference to Tibet's political turmoil failed to impress some viewers, who took to Twitter and other social network sites to express their displeasure.
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How referring to gossip as 'jungle drums' led to six-month racism probe in Britain
We read:"A health watchdog has had its funding withdrawn after its chairman was bizarrely accused of racism for using the phrase ‘jungle drums’ to describe gossip.
The innocuous remark at a public meeting was seized upon by an equality campaigner – and the ensuing race row has lasted six months at a cost to the taxpayer of tens of thousands of pounds.
The trouble began at a gathering of the Wiltshire Involvement Network (WIN), an independent health watchdog, in Potterne Wick, Devizes, when chairman Anna Farquhar, 70, noted that gossip about NHS changes had been spreading within the Health Service, remarking: ‘You cannot help the jungle drums.’
The term comes from the use of wooden drums which were traditionally used in parts of Africa to communicate messages over long distances.
But a member of the public in attendance at the meeting in the local Scout headquarters, Sonia Carr, declared the phrase to be racist.
Mrs Farquhar immediately apologised for any offence but Mrs Carr, a member of the Wiltshire Racial Equality Council, was unsatisfied and submitted an official complaint to Wiltshire Council, which launched a costly investigation.
After producing a ten-page report, the council barred all members of WIN from council premises and meetings. It also withdrew funding to cover the group’s administration costs.
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7 February, 2011
Racist hate speech at a Leftist rally
"Common Cause" is officially a "nonpartisan, nonprofit citizens' lobby and advocacy organization". But it was founded by a RINO who worked for Democrat President Lyndon Johnson and its current President and Chief Executive Officer is Robert W. Edgar, a former Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania. The rally mentioned was specifically designed to harass conservative donors"A political watchdog group that organized a rally at [AGAINST] a weekend meeting of conservative political donors near Palm Springs apologized Thursday for hateful comments made by some attendees that were videotaped by a conservative activist and circulated online.See the hate for yourself here (Video)
The interviews were posted on YouTube and created a stir in the blogosphere. In the video, Hartsock is heard laughing as he goads his subjects with questions like, "After we impeach Clarence Thomas, what do we do with him?"
One white woman suggests the black Supreme Court justice should be lynched, while a white man says, "Put him back in the fields." No one interviewed by Hartsock was identified, and it's not clear if they knew who they were talking to.
The rally was held Sunday after a panel discussion hosted by Common Cause called "Uncloaking the Kochs." It took place near the site of a four-day meeting of wealthy conservative political activists organized by brothers David and Charles Koch of Wichita-Kan.-based Koch Industries, one of the nation's largest privately held companies.
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Pursed-mouth Leftist doesn't get satire
We read:"The Koala, a tabloid launched last week by some California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) students, has achieved its publishers’ apparent goal: to inflame the university community with hate speech.It's a protest against political correctness that is so extreme it is supposed to make you laugh. But laughter is discouraged in the Gulag of an American university. You can judge the publication for yourself here.
“Apparent” because, while The Koala has certainly engendered impassioned responses, the predominantly white males behind the publication have refused to discuss what it is they have wrought — or to identify themselves.... and they demanded 30-packs of beer from journalists who requested interviews, which, given their likely ages, smacks of soliciting criminal acts — and challenges their legitimacy as a newspaper, as they describe The Koala.
It is The Koala’s content that most effectively challenges the newspaper claim. Just about every demographic — except straight, white males — is addressed with violent, prurient and/or grotesque language: gays and lesbians, women, rape and pedophilia victims, pediatric cancer and burn patients, African-Americans, Latinos, Asians and Muslims. The Koala is a miasma of isms.
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6 February, 2011
Must not spoof Obama
We read:"KFC in Hong Kong has pulled a video ad campaign selling a fish fillet sandwich using an Obama look-alike. A spokesman for Yum! Brands declined to say exactly why the ad was yanked from air, but he did maintain it “was meant to be a spoof.” “No disrespect was intended,” said spokesman Ben Golden via e-mail, according to the blog Obama Foodorama.
The impersonator is shown in what looks like a rally boasting the president’s message for change. "Change, not only for America, but for the whole world," the actor says in the ad. "Not only for your mom, but for you, for your stomach, for a better taste!"
The video is complete with a spoof on Obama's campaign tagline: “Mmmm, change is good!”
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"Homeland Security" seizes LEGAL sports site
It is just an indexing service, as Google is on a much larger scale. And what has it got to do with homeland security anyway?"Together with several other sites, popular sports streaming and peer-to-peer website Rojadirecta has had its domain seized by U.S. authorities.
A large notice appeared on Rojadirecta.org's website informing users, "This domain name has been seized by ICE-Homeland Security Investigations, Special Agent in Charge, New York Office, in accordance with a seizure warrant obtained by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York [...]"
The seizure of the site is particularly controversial because Rojadirecta, a Spanish site, was found by Spanish courts to be operating legally. The domain's closure has been accompanied by a spate of other crackdowns by the government...
Rojadirecta, which compiles links to live broadcasts of sports events such as the NBA, NFL, and MLB, typically receives more than a million visits each day and is "listed among the 100 most popular sites in Spain in terms of traffic," according to TorrentFreak. TorrentFreak also notes, "Similar to BitTorrent sites, Rojadirecta doesn't host any copyrighted material. Instead, it indexes HTTP links to sports streams that can already be found on the Internet, and also carries links to .torrent files which are hosted on other sites."
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5 February, 2011
Prime Ministers must not speak of "hot" women?
We read:"New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has come under fire after saying in an interview he would like to trade places with Shane Warne because Liz Hurley [above] is "hot."
Asked on a Kiwi radio program whether he’d like to be the cricketing great, Mr Key replied: '”Yeah, well, given, his current liaisons with Liz Hurley” TVNZ reports.
The right-wing National Party leader went on to add: “I like Liz Hurley, actually. I reckon she is hot.”
The surprising conversation started after breakfast show host Tony Veitch asked the right-wing National Party leader which sporting star he would like to be. Also making the politician’s “hot” list were actresses Jessica Alba and Angelina Jolie.
Mr Key's admissions have reportedly infuriated women’s groups.
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Only women are allowed to criticize women?
That seems to be the rule on British TV. I suppose it's the British equivalent of the American restriction on use of the word "n*gger"."Andy Gray and Richard Keys may have been unceremoniously dumped by Sky Sports after their off-air sexist banter was made public, but women television presenters can still apparently criticise each other with impunity.Women are notoriously b*tchy about the appearance of other women.
Kirstie Allsopp, the face of such programmes as Location, Location, Location, has upset a financial commentator after publicly taking her to task over her appearance on a television show.
“Finance woman on BBC Breakfast clearly came directly from a night out,” the baronet’s daughter told her 90,000 followers on Twitter, the social-networking website. “It’s debatable whether that’s a skirt or not – hard to take her seriously.”
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4 February, 2011
Time to Reform Denmark's Anti-Hate Speech Law
We read:"Danish reporter Lars Hedegaard was found not guilty yesterday of hate speech charges by the criminal court in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen. Hedegaard was prosecuted earlier this year for comments he made in his home in December 2009 about "honor killings," as practiced by Muslims.
Hedegaard argued in his defense that when making the statements he was unaware that it would be published on a blog. Nonetheless, the criminal case against him proceeded and he still faces a libel suit filed by some 15 individuals and organizations, most of whom are Muslim.
As liability under the law is based only on the plaintiff's perception or feeling threatened, denigrated or insulted, truth is not a defense.
Many European countries have laws similar to Denmark’s Section 266(b) of the Criminal Code, under which Hedegaard was prosecuted. Rather than protecting the people they were intended to defend, these laws are often exploited by plaintiffs seeking to suppress the expression of personal opinions with which they disagree.
The Danish law, which is quite broad, penalizes “whoever publicly or with the intent of public dissemination issues a pronouncement or other communication by which a group of persons are threatened, insulted or denigrated due to their race, skin colour, national or ethnic origin, religion or sexual orientation…” Offenders may be fined or imprisoned for up to two years.
Regarding Islam and Muslims, like much of the Western world, Denmark’s interpretation of anti-hate speech law seems to reflect the latest prevalent politically correct speech. While anti- discrimination/anti-hate speech laws should protect people from discrimination and incitement to violence against them, Danish law seems to have crossed over to favoring Orwellian Newspeak as a mode of expression, thus limiting free speech.
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Thou shalt not complain
I missed the Stalinesque episode below when it happened late last year but it is so appalling that I feel I have to draw attention to it. American universities really are akin to Communist dictatorships in many ways. Thank goodness they don't own tanks and armies. They can still crush and kill people, however. See the Charles Plinton case for one instance of that."The University of Georgia (UGA) has withdrawn charges of "disorderly conduct" and "disruption" filed against a student after he sent a mocking e-mail to UGA Parking Services to complain about the lack of parking spaces for scooters on campus. Although Parking Services specifically asks students for both "negative & positive" comments on its performance, student Jacob Lovell spent nearly a month under the threat of punishment after submitting his e-mail. UGA backed down after Lovell came to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.There is a video about the episode here.
"Jacob Lovell just wanted to park his scooter on campus, and when he found it a frustrating experience he sent a joking e-mail to the department that had asked for his feedback. But when it received his e-mail, he was threatened with punishment!" said FIRE President Greg Lukianoff. "Only on a college campus could a clearly flippant response to requests for complaints about parking on campus be turned into a judicial investigation for disorderly conduct."
UGA Parking Services requests feedback from the public and encourages people to submit both "negative & positive" comments. On August 17, 2010, Lovell e-mailed Parking Services with his complaint about its service. His flippant and joking e-mail mused, "Did you guys just throw darts at a map to decide where to put scooter corrals?" and otherwise made fun of the department for what he perceived to be its poor job of providing parking for scooters.
Four hours later, Parking Services replied, "Your e-mail was sent to student judiciary." On September 3, 2010, Associate Dean of Students Kimberly Ellis sent Lovell a letter charging him with two violations of UGA's University Conduct Regulations, stating, "Specifically, it is alleged that Mr. Lovell engaged in disorderly conduct and disrupted parking services when he sent an email to them that was threatening."
The letter required Lovell to make a disciplinary appointment by September 13. Ellis informed Lovell that failure to do so would result in his record being "flagged," rendering him unable to add, drop, or register for classes. Lovell complied with this requirement on September 13.
Meanwhile, on September 10, FIRE wrote UGA President Michael F. Adams, explaining that Lovell's grievance was protected by the First Amendment. FIRE also repeated to President Adams that UGA maintains unconstitutional speech codes in addition to the regulations used against Lovell's protected speech, and that administrators could be held personally liable by a court for the violation of students' constitutional rights, as a federal judge in Georgia ruled recently.
On September 14, Ellis informed Lovell that she "did not find sufficient evidence to move forward" with the charges and that the matter was now "closed."
Source
3 February, 2011
Biblical message of love is offensive?
We read:"Fox Sports has rejected a Christian group’s proposed Super Bowl commercial featuring the Bible verse John 3:16.
The Lookup 316 commercial by Fixed Point Foundation was refused a spot before the nation’s largest TV viewing audience because it contained too much “religious doctrine,” according to FOX.
"[The commercial] was deemed to be too offensive," said Larry Taunton, executive director of Fixed Point Foundation, to The Christian Post.
However, the commercial does not feature any preacher, sermon or Bible. Instead it offers a question: "John 3:16, what's that mean?" The answer is simple. Look it up.
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Mexico complains about BBC show's "offensive" slurs
We read:"Mexico's ambassador in London has written a furious letter to BBC bosses to complain about "offensive and xenophobic" comments made by presenters of the popular TV motoring show "Top Gear."If the cap fits, wear it.
Ambassador Eduardo Medina Mora was infuriated by "insults" made by presenters Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson and James May during Sunday's episode of the cult show, which has been sold to television channels around the world.
"Why would you want a Mexican car? Because cars reflect national characteristics don't they?," said Hammond as they discussed the Mexican sports car, the Mastretta.
"Mexican cars are just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight, leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat."
The trio then described Mexican food as "refried sick" before suggesting Mexicans spent all day asleep....
Top Gear is well-known for its edgy banter and its hosts are no strangers to controversy. Hundreds of viewers complained in 2008 about a joke made by Clarkson about murdering prostitutes.
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2 February, 2011
Speaking an obvious truth forbidden in the Border Patrol?
We read:"A former Border Patrol agent, Bryan Gonzalez, has filed suit against his former employer. He’s alleging he was fired for pointing out that legalizing drugs would end drug-war violence in Mexico.
The agent’s observation prompted an internal affairs investigation, which determined that Gonzalez held 'personal views that were contrary to the core characteristics of Border Patrol agents, which are patriotism, dedication, and esprit de corps"
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Australia: Three years jail for speech??
Prosecutions for speech are mercifully rare in Australia and this one is troubling. Everybody gets abused at some stage. Conservative bloggers get it almost daily. So people have to learn to get used to it. The fact that the abused person was Jewish is of course unpleasant but the abuser was an obvious nut anyway.
A substantial part of the student body at the University of California would have to be locked up under the criteria adopted in this case
The High Court of Australia has found a right to free speech in the constitution so this verdict could be overturned if it is appealed"Brendan Lee O'Connell, 40, was sentenced in the District Court in Perth yesterday after being found guilty on Friday of six racial hatred charges.
He faced seven charges related to the posting of a verbal altercation he had with Stanley Keyser and Timothy Peach, who are Jewish, and was found guilty on six.
An argument broke out between the three men at an IGA supermarket in South Perth on May 2, 2009, where a Friends of Palestine group was holding a protest against Israeli oranges. O'Connell was using a video camera at the event and in a video he later posted online, he labelled Mr Keyser a "racist, homicidal maniac". "You have a religion of racism, hate, homicide and ethnic cleansing," he said in the video.
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1 February, 2011
The inimitable Pat Condell again
Rather surprising that a Brit can get away with such outspokenness. He must have influential friends. He is anti-religion generally so that is probably the secret. After letting him condemn Christianity in the past, they would look foolish to bar him from criticizing Islam
Transcript here.
Christian-hating movie is a flop
Sad that Fred Phelps is the only one who had the guts to protest the movie"A controversial film telling the story of a hate-filled preacher who murders people he believes are gay has sparked protests in the U.S.
Members of Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas protested at the premier screening of Red State at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday. But they were met with an army of counter-protesters who supported the fictional film - and condemned the church-goers for their 'hate speech'. [But the film's hate speech about Christians is OK, apparently]
The film, which focuses on the congregation of a preacher who kidnaps and murders people he believes are homosexual, received 'good but not great reaction'.
Despite the controversy outside the cinema, Mr. Smith was unsuccessful in finding a distributor for his latest project.
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Posts from Brisbane, Australia by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).
"HATE SPEECH" is free speech: The U.S. Supreme Court stated the general rule regarding protected speech in Texas v. Johnson (109 S.Ct. at 2544), when it held: "The government may not prohibit the verbal or nonverbal expression of an idea merely because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Federal courts have consistently followed this. Said Virginia federal district judge Claude Hilton: "The First Amendment does not recognize exceptions for bigotry, racism, and religious intolerance or ideas or matters some may deem trivial, vulgar or profane."
Even some advocacy of violence is protected by the 1st Amendment. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that speech advocating violent illegal actions to bring about social change is protected by the First Amendment "except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."
The traditional advice about derogatory speech: "Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you". Apparently people today are not as emotionally robust as their ancestors were.
A phobia is an irrational fear, so the terms "Islamophobic" and "homophobic" embody a claim that the people so described are mentally ill. There is no evidence for either claim. Both terms are simply abuse masquerading as diagnoses and suggest that the person using them is engaged in propaganda rather than in any form of rational or objective discourse.
Leftists often pretend that any mention of race is "racist" -- unless they mention it, of course. But leaving such irrational propaganda aside, which statements really are racist? Can statements of fact about race be "racist"? Such statements are simply either true or false. The most sweeping possible definition of racism is that a racist statement is a statement that includes a negative value judgment of some race. Absent that, a statement is not racist, for all that Leftists might howl that it is. Facts cannot be racist so nor is the simple statement of them racist. Here is a statement that cannot therefore be racist by itself, though it could be false: "Blacks are on average much less intelligent than whites". If it is false and someone utters it, he could simply be mistaken or misinformed.
Whatever your definition of racism, however, a statement that simply mentions race is not thereby racist -- though one would think otherwise from American Presidential election campaigns. Is a statement that mentions dogs, "doggist" or a statement that mentions cats, "cattist"?
Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? "You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated." -- Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862
The spirit of liberty is "the spirit which is not too sure that it is right." and "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it." -- Judge Learned Hand
Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)
First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean
It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.
It seems a pity that the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus is now little known. Remember, wrote the Stoic thinker, "that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your judgment that they are so. So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you. Wherefore make it your endeavour not to let your impressions carry you away."
"Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates, and hearing all manner of reason?" -- English poet John Milton (1608-1674) in Areopagitica
Hate speech is verbal communication that induces anger due to the listener's inability to offer an intelligent response
Leftists can try to get you fired from your job over something that you said and that's not an attack on free speech. But if you just criticize something that they say, then that IS an attack on free speech
"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper
Why are Leftists always talking about hate? Because it fills their own hearts
Leftists don't have principles. How can they when "there is no such thing as right and wrong"? All they have is postures, pretend-principles that can be changed as easily as one changes one's shirt
When you have an argument with a Leftist, you are not really discussing the facts. You are threatening his self esteem. Which is why the normal Leftist response to challenge is mere abuse.
The naive scholar who searches for a consistent Leftist program will not find it. What there is consists only in the negation of the present.
The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) could have been speaking of much that goes on today when he said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."