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7 September, 2009
Bad Supreme Court precedent can and should be ignored
We read:"Next Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a rare second round of oral arguments in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. At issue is the documentary Hillary: The Movie, which was produced by the conservative group Citizens United and intended for distribution before the 2008 elections. As Justice Stephen Breyer noted during the first round of arguments back in March, the film "is not a musical comedy." It's a 90-minute political harangue attacking Clinton's ideas and character. In other words, it's exactly the sort of controversial political speech the First Amendment was written and ratified to protect.
Yet under the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (also known as the McCain-Feingold Act), which bars corporations and non-profit organizations from sponsoring "any broadcast, cable, or satellite communication" that mentions a candidate in a federal campaign within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election, Citizens United was forbidden from using the film to express the political views of its members and supporters. So it's a welcome sign indeed that the Court wants to subject this noxious law to some additional scrutiny.
Source
Religious actress fired by ABC over homosexual storyline
We read:"If you tuned in to the soap "One Life to Live" this week, you may have noticed there's been a change of character. One character in particular. Actress Patricia Mauceri says she was fired and abruptly replaced for ing to a gay storyline because of her religious beliefs.There is no doubt that ABC were within their rights. And its also within their rights for Christians not to watch crap ABC propaganda.
Mauceri played the recurring role of Carlotta Vega on "OLTL" for the last 14 years. But when she ed to how the writers wanted her deeply religious character, a Latina mother, to handle a storyline involving homosexuality, she ed. And for that she claims she was fired.
Mauceri, 59, a devout Christian, told FOX News that character Vega's gay-friendly dialogue was not in line with the character she helped create by drawing on her own faith. "I did not to being in a gay storyline. I ed to speaking the truth of what that person, how that person would live and breathe and act in that storyline," she said. "And this goes against everything I am, my belief system, and what I know the character's belief system is aligned to."
Mauceri said she was replaced despite offering changes to the and hoping for a compromise.
Source
An interesting thought experiment though: What if she were a Muslim and her ions stemmed from her Muslim faith? Islam is at least as condemnatory of homosexuality as Christianity is. Can there be any doubt that ABC would have negotiated in that case? Christians can be treated with contempt. Muslims cannot.
6 September, 2009
Reynolds, Lorillard challenge tobacco law on free speech grounds
I suppose logos count as "speech":"Tobacco legislation signed by President Barack Obama in June violates the First Amendment protections for free speech, according to a lawsuit joined by Reynolds American Inc.s R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.They probably have a point but I doubt that they'll get much sympathy -- so either way this will probably end up before SCOTUS
The legislation imposes unprecedented restrictions on companies by limiting their ability to disseminate truthful information about tobacco products to adult consumers, according to the lawsuit, filed today in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Reynolds, the second-largest U.S. cigarette maker, and third-biggest Lorillard Tobacco Co. sued after opposing the legislation that gives the U.S. Food and Drug Administration oversight over tobacco products. The law goes beyond discouraging youth smoking and limits the use of colors and logos in most advertising and packaging so severely that the producers have virtually no means to communicate with adult tobacco users, the suit said."
Source
Harvard censorship under attack
We read:"Harvard Medical School is backing off a new student policy that would have restricted interaction with the news media after students complained it would chill their ability to talk about current issues in medicine, school officials said this week. "We need to be very careful," said Dr. Nancy E. Oriol, the dean of students, who helped develop the policy. Promising it would be revised, she said the policy was intended to help students, rather than limit speech or control what they say on controversial topics.
But several students said the policy was an attempt to keep them quiet about issues like medical conflicts of interest. "This is one of many ways that medical education implicitly teaches behaviors that differ significantly from the values that we hope physicians will uphold," Nate Favini, a Harvard medical student and chairman of the Student Council Advisory Board, said. "Instead of limiting students, we should encourage bold thinking and allow them to advocate for the reforms that our health care system so badly needs," he added in an email to the paper, reports Times writer Duff Wilson.
Favini and some Harvard Medical faculty said they were encouraged by the decision Tuesday to retract the policy. "The policy was extremely ill advised," Dr. Marcia Angell, a Harvard lecturer and former editor in chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, told the Times Tuesday.
The policy says: "All interactions between students and the media should be coordinated with the Office of the Dean of Students and the Office of Public Affairs. This applies to situations in which students are contacted by the media as well as instances in which students may be seeking publicity about a student-related project or program."
Source
5 September, 2009
Google Censors Illegal Immigration Information On Web
I suppose I am taking a risk in putting this up on a Google-hosted site. They have blocked four of my blogs recently for no obvious reason so this site might well be next. It might be an idea to bookmark now the mirror site for this blog:"WARNING! Google is now blocking the worlds largest archive of information about the negative impact of illegal immigration on American citizens from view via false warnings of Malware. The ALIPAC site is not infected and is safe for use.The above warning is from a couple of weeks back and was widely disseminated so Google caved in at some stage and now appear to have lifted their blocks. They do much the same with me. They block you for various periods of time and then lift the blocks. It is just a way of harassing conservatives. That they do eventually lift the blocks shows that there was no justification for the blocks in the first place.
Public access to the extensive information archived by ALIPAC over the last five years has been blocked on Google, by Firefox web browsers, and on Twitter! "Google's own software admits we have no viruses or malware on our site," said William Gheen of ALIPAC. "The readings indicate that Google scanned our site on the 19th and we were clean and now they are arbitrarily blocking us for the second time this week. Our technicians tell us our site is clean and Google will not offer us any explanation or assistance despite mulitple attemps to reach out to them."
ALIPAC is now declaring an emergency and making the claim that the blocking of alipac.us is politically motivated and involves wrongful acts by Google employees or the broader influences within the Google corporation. All other major online virus protection services are declaring that ALIPAC.us is not infected including Norton Antivirus, McAfee, and AVAST....
Source
Understandable but inappropriate
St. Charles (MO) teacher faces suspension after playing rude song in class" A classroom lesson with an anti-police theme and repeated foul language is stirring up some controversy in St. Charles, Missouri. The trouble started after a song was played in a class at St. Charles West High School.I am no fan of the police myself. See here. And I think that use of foul language is a personal decision. But for a teacher to teach in class language that is widely disapproved of seems irresponsible and deserving of some disciplinary measures.
Apparently, an AP English teacher played a song that some of the students and parents found questionable and offensive. The song in question is called "F*** the Police" by the group NWA. The song stirred up controversy when it was released back in 1988.
News 4 is told that the song was being played in the class to try to teach the advanced 12th graders how views on offensive speech can change over time. It was supposed to be a lesson on cultural norms.
Superintendent Randal Charles says that some undisclosed disciplinary action has been taken against the teacher. Students tell News 4 that the teacher is facing a one week suspension. The teacher's name has not been released, but News 4 has learned that she has been teaching at St. Charles West for three years.
Source
4 September, 2009
How Awful! French Canadians joke about the sacred Obama
We read:"Canada's French-language broadcaster broke television regulations by airing a comedy sketch suggesting Barack Obama would be easy to assassinate because the first black American president would stand out against the White House.
Broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), said on Monday it received more than 250 complaints about a popular New Year's Eve show that featured cracks about the US president.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council issued a public reprimand of Radio-Canada in May and the CRTC agreed. Radio-Canada is the French-language broadcasting arm of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
In one segment of the "Bye Bye 2008" comedy program, two hosts discussed Obama's election in November 2008. Obama, who took office in January, is the first black US President. "We're not racists. It will be good to have a Negro in the White House. It will be practical. Black on white, it will be easier to shoot him," one of the show's hosts remarked.
Source
But talk about shooting George Bush was great fun, of course
Wicked "blonde" comment in an Australian parliament
Conservative politician refers to a young Leftist politician in an "offensive" manner:"Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek has been accused of offending women in [Queensland] State Parliament after referring to a female Minister as "illegally blonde". Speaking in Parliament this morning, Mr Langbroek was criticising a speech made by Climate Change Minister Kate Jones and then referred to her as "the Minister for illegally blonde''.This is all a bit hard to follow but I think the lady has let her side down. If "legally blonde" or just "blonde" implies stupidity, surely "illegally blonde" implies the opposite? The lady seems not to be deep thinker: A kneejerk reaction instead, the familiar Leftist rage. Or is any reference to blondeness "offensive"? Rather strange in the light of how many women dye their hair blonde.
Legally Blonde, starred Hollywood siren Reese Witherspoon, as a supposedly dumb blonde sorority queen who went to law school.
An angry Ms Jones immediately demanded he withdraw the comment. "If that is what you said I find it offensive and I find it offensive for every woman who sits in this house,'' she said.
Amid calls from the Opposition MPs that she "can't take it", Mr Langbroek withdrew the comment.
Source
3 September, 2009
International bureaucrats gag free-market speech
To maximize tax revenues, the OECD wants one set of financial rules and tax rates for the whole world and they are determined not to hear arguments against that:"The bureaucrats at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are trying to suppress dissenting voices according to free-market activists who have traveled to Mexico City to defend tax competition, fiscal sovereignty, and financial privacy at the Global Tax Forum.
The harassment began in Cabo, the original venue for the conference. Center for Freedom and Prosperity President Andy Quinlan and Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute made reservations at the hotel where the conference was scheduled to take place. But last Friday, the reservations were canceled, supposedly because the OECD had reserved the entire hotel. Mitchell remarked that, "This was an extraordinary step for the OECD to take in hopes of insulating delegates from free market views." That issue became moot, however, when the conference was suddenly moved to a hotel in Mexico City to avoid a hurricane.
Today's episode was far more disturbing. OECD officials this afternoon tried to have Quinlan and Mitchell (who are guests at the Mexico City hotel) removed from a public lobby outside the meeting venue. An OECD security official came up to Dan Mitchell and asserted that CF&P officials had to leave the lobby even though it also serves as entrance to a restaurant and business center. Mitchell refused and the OECD official backed down, perhaps because the ejection attempt was witnessed by a member of the press who was covering the event. "For a group that ostensibly has transparency as one of its goals, the OECD's hypocrisy is remarkable," said Quinlan. "Not only do they refuse to allow taxpayers to observe their events, they don't even want them anywhere in the immediate vicinity."
Source
Allowing politicians to be questioned and challenged is "taking away democracy"??
An undoubted Leftist viewpoint -- as long as the politician is one of their own:"The key to a orderly town hall meeting, it seems, is a closed door. The Florida Alliance for Retired Americans turned its annual health care forum into a ticketed event mostly for its members, ensuring a friendly audience for U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings of Miramar and Robert Wexler of Boca Raton. The seniors and the veterans built this country, and no one is going to come in here, disrupt us and embarrass us or take away our democracy, said Tony Fransetta, president of the liberal, union-affiliated group. But outside the closed doors of the South County Civic Center was the hollering, finger-pointing and sign-waving that has defined public meetings on health care this month as Congress contemplates sweeping reforms.
The atmosphere outside the town hall resembled a county fair. People carried American flags as well as umbrellas to shield them from the sun. A high school marching band played upbeat tunes. A handful of seniors sat in lawn chairs in the shade, their placards flapping against their tuna fish sandwiches.
Source
2 September, 2009
Must not joke about race (if you are white)
We read:"Oxford University has banned its students' Conservative Association from using its name after a race row. OUCA, which boasts Margaret Thatcher as its patron and William Hague as Honorary President, was embroiled in a scandal in June when student politicians were urged to compete to see who could tell the most offensive racist joke.
Nick Gallagher, the group's publications officer, was asked to repeat 'the most inappropriate joke you have ever told' as part of a drunken hustings for the next president of the body. He said: 'What do you say when you see a television moving around in the dark? Drop it n****r, or I'll shoot you!'
A source who was at the meeting said: 'Everybody laughed their heads off. When one person raised concerns, the joker said it was okay because it was a joke made by Chris Rock, the American comedian - who is black - which obviously makes it fine.'
Source
ROTC student suspended for telling Muslim to respect flag, remove hijab
Must not criticize Muslims"Maybe it's because her dad served in the U.S. Marines ... or because her high school mascot is a fierce-looking eagle ... or because she plans to enlist in the Army next summer after graduation to defend her country ... whatever the reason, when Heather Lawrence saw a fellow student refuse to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and recite it with the class, the 16-year-old Junior ROTC member saw a teachable moment and took it.
And for that, she's been suspended five days.
Lawrence's troubles with administrators at Springstead High School in Spring Hill, Fla., began last Wednesday when she noticed a female Muslim student refusing to participate in the Pledge. The student was wearing a hijab, the traditional Muslim headscarf.
Later in the day, Lawrence encountered the student between periods and told her she should stand for the pledge, reported Hernando Today. "Take that thing off your head and act like you're proud to be an American," Lawrence told her.
Although the student walked away and filed no complaint, a teacher overheard Lawrence's comment and reported her to school administrators. On Friday, Lawrence was called to Assistant Principal Steve Crognale's office and her father was called and informed she would be suspended for five days.
When pressed to justify the suspension, Crognale said it was because she made a threat, the father claimed. Under further questioning, Lawrence said Crognale "backed off" and said Heather had "caused mental duress" for the Muslim student, even though she had made no complaint. Crognale said school policy allowed him to suspend Heather for 10 days.
"You have someone in the States who is able to enjoy our educational and health care systems, yet it's okay for them to be disrespectful, and it's not okay for my daughter to speak her mind," Mark Lawrence told the Tampa Tribune. "That's her First Amendment right. That's her freedom of speech.".
Source
1 September, 2009
Savage set to sue British Leftist politician
We read:"She quit as Home Secretary almost three months ago but Jacqui Smith hasnt been forgotten not, at least, by the American shock jock whom she banned from Britain.
Michael Savage, one of 16 people on a list of undesirables drawn up this year by Ms Smith, has given her until tomorrow to agree to pay more than 100,000 in damages and costs or be sued for libel. She must also retract allegations that he incites violence, and apologise, he says.
Mr Savage, 67, whose controversial Talk Radio Network show has eight million listeners, has been accused of racism and homophobia. He is the third-most popular radio talk-show host in America. The Home Office said that he was considered to be engaging in unacceptable behaviour by seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts and fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence.
In an interview with The Times Mr Savage said that he had tried the diplomatic approach with the Home Office but now wanted action. His British lawyers had sent Ms Smith a letter saying that if she did not comply they would issue a personal writ against her immediately.
He accused Ms Smith and the Home Office of putting his name on the exclusion list to provide political balance. He cited Home Office e-mails that his lawyers have obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showing that one official accepted that he had never incited violence. Another document said his name would show that those excluded are not all Islamist extremists....
Mr Savage said: Why do they continue to dig their heels in when their own e-mails condemn their position? I am a member of the American media, a commentator. I provoke people to thought, not to kill.
The Home Office has said it will fight a libel action and that there is little prospect of Mr Savages name being taken off the exclusion list.
Source
Bucknell University (Lewisburg, PA) joins worst offenders of liberty
With 3,400 students, Bucknell claims to be the nation's largest private liberal arts university:" Thanks to its continuous distortions and abuses of its own policies on free expression to suppress political speech, Bucknell University has earned the dubious honor of being placed on FIRE's Red Alert list. Institutions on the Red Alert list are unrepentant offenders against basic rights that are guaranteed either by the U.S. Constitution or the schools themselves, and they have policies and/or practices that demonstrate a serious and ongoing threat to current and future students. They are the "worst of the worst" when it comes to protecting liberty on campus.
Though repeated letters from FIRE, backed up with documentary evidence, have made clear to Bucknell that its suppression of the political activities of the Bucknell University Conservatives Club (BUCC) was a violation of its supposed core principles of free expression, Bucknell has continued to willfully misinterpret its policies and offer after-the-fact defenses that make a mockery of campus expression and severely endanger free speech at Bucknell. In spite of this, and of the fact that its actions have sparked widespread public condemnation and negative publicity, Bucknell has refused to accept wrongdoing for its suppression of BUCC's activities."
Source
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