Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

Student Sues L.A. City College District Over Gay-Marriage Speech

Los Angeles Times' story here.  

Me: Free speech anyone?  The curse of political correctness must be defeated.  It's an abomination, a betrayal of American liberty, a tyranny allowed to go unchallenged too long.

INSANITY, COWARDICE, AND CAPITULATION IN ENGLAND

- Update 2/17/09 - Daniel Schwammenthal offers excellent commentary in his Wall Street Journal opinion piece, "Britain's Surrender to Islamists."  Bret Stephens has produced an important column on the West's reaction to Mr. Serrano's crucifix in urine (the mocking of Christianity) with the West's refusal to protect free speech when it comes to critiquing Islam.

- Update 2/15/09 - UK ministers who banned Wilders admit: We haven't watched "Fitna"

- (Original Post)  Andy McCarthy notes the astonishing reality of contemporary England [my emphases]:

It has come to this: If you are an Islamic radical, trained to carry out terrorist atrocities in al-Qaeda’s jihad against the United Kingdom, the British will welcome you with open arms. Not content with that, Great Britain will lobby insistently for your release from custody so that you may freely roam British streets—and the halls of Westminster.

If, by contrast, you are a duly elected representative in the democratic government of a country to which England is bound in the European Union, and you speak about the undeniable—though mulishly denied—nexus between Islamic doctrine and jihadist terror, Great Britain will slam her door in your face.

That is the lesson in the appalling saga of Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch parliament and Exhibit Umpty-Umpth illustrating the depths of capitulation to which the West has sunk in its half-hearted bid for cultural survival.

McCarthy continues:

Three Cheers for the new "International Free Press Society"

Details at the IFSS website here.  It's greatly needed.  May its influence grow.

GEORGE F. WILLS EXPLAINS WHY THE "FAIRNESS DOCTRINE" SHOULD NEVER BE REVIVED

 George F. Will's article serves as a touchstone essay on the subject.  As to media abundance (and variety) today, Will notes:

 . . . today there are about 14,000 radio stations, twice as many as in 1969; 18.9 million subscribers to satellite radio, up 17 percent in 12 months; and that 86 percent of households with either cable or satellite television receive an average of 102 of the 500 available channels. . . Whereas in 1980 there were fewer than 100 talk radio programs, today there are more than 1,500 news or talk radio stations. . . 

Because liberals have been even less successful in competing with conservatives on talk radio than Detroit has been in competing with its rivals, liberals are seeking intellectual protectionism in the form of regulations that suppress ideological rivals.  [Read more. . .]

DEFENDING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AGAINST MOB INTIMIDATION BY PRO-GAY MARRIAGE ACTIVISTS

- - UPDATE 12/8/08 - I have no respect for organizations and groups that go after individuals.  A restaurant manager who supported Prop. 8 has had to resign because of hatred against her. More here.  Update 12/15/08 - Still more details.

- Mark Krikorian reports:

 Well, this doesn't happen everyday. A bunch of well-known religious leaders came to the Mormon church's defense by taking out this full-page ad in The New York Times denouncing the persecution of the church over Proposition 8.

Evangelicals will recognize the names Colson, Seiple, Olasky, Sider, Cizek plus others.  You can add your name to the list at nomobveto.org   I congratulate those who have initiated this public proclamation against mob intimidation.  That such shameful measures should have been employed by pro-gay marriage activists can only be viewed as unconscionable and disgusting. 

MICHAEL BARONE - THE COMING LIBERAL THUGOCRACY

 Click here.   We can't say we haven't been warned.  Serious stuff.

Update - After posting the above, I came across this IBD editorial along the same lines, "The coming Counterrevolution To Hush The Alternative Media. Sound too wild and outlandish? It's must reading (my emphases):

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY - ILLUSTRATES THE DEMISE OF FREE EXPRESSION (NOT TO MENTION SANITY) ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES

Paul Mirengoff writes:

From Nat Hentoff, via the Weekly Standard's scrapbook, comes the latest evidence of the demise of free expression (not to mention sanity) on college campuses:

At Brandeis University. . .professor Donald Hindley, on the faculty for 48 years, teaches a course on Latin American politics. Last fall, he described how Mexican migrants to the United States used to be discriminatorily called "wetbacks." An anonymous student complained to the administration accusing Mr. Hindley of using prejudicial language. It was the first complaint against him in 48 years.

After an investigation, during which Mr. Hindley was not told the nature of the complaint, Brandeis Provost Marty Krauss informed Mr. Hindley that "The University will not tolerate inappropriate, racial and discriminatory conduct by members of its faculty." A corollary accusation was that students suffered "significant emotional trauma" when exposed to such a term. An administration monitor was assigned to his class. Threatened with "termination," Mr. Hindley was ordered to take a sensitivity-training class.

Though named for one of the greatest exponents of free speech ever, it's not surprising to see Brandeis in the vanguard of the assault on campus freedom (when my daughter attended an information at Brandeis, the admission's officer boasted that Angela Davis and Abbie Hoffman are alums). But if I had replaced "Brandeis" in Hentoff's piece with most any well known private college in the U.S., would you have been surprised at the report? 

Me:  You can't help but be impressed by the courage (cough!) shown by faculty colleagues.  Hentoff says, "Individual tenured members of his department, though outraged, would not stand up publicly on his behalf. One of them explained to him, "I'm about to retire." He and others fear retaliation."  

SAVE US FROM THE MUSLIM CENSORS - RANDOM HOUSE WITHDRAWS BOOK OUT OF FEAR

Asra Q. Nomani, herself a Muslim writes (and laments) today in the Wall Street Journal the story of a book never seeing the light of day.

Starting in 2002, Spokane, Wash., journalist Sherry Jones toiled weekends on a racy historical novel about Aisha, the young wife of the prophet Muhammad. Ms. Jones learned Arabic, studied scholarly works about Aisha's life, and came to admire her protagonist as a woman of courage. When Random House bought her novel last year in a $100,000, two-book deal, she was ecstatic. This past spring, she began plans for an eight-city book tour after the Aug. 12 publication date of "The Jewel of Medina" -- a tale of lust, love and intrigue in the prophet's harem.

Read how and why the book got squashed.  I personally am getting tired of "Muslim threats" on life and limb, on editors and publishers, on buildings and institutions.  When is this going to stop?  Religion of peace????  Please...

RALPH PETERS - "THOUGHT POLICE: THE LEFT VS. FREE SPEECH"

Ralph Peter's elegantly-written article deserves reading:.

  "The left's view of the First Amendment: Free speech is great, as long as it's their free speech (or extreme pornography). But dissenting views must be censored. The more effective the opponent, the more important it is to shut him down."

Further,

The extreme left loves to pretend it stands for freedom. It never has and never will. From the Reign of Terror in Paris onward, its core agenda has been the tyranny of egomaniacal intellectuals. The hard left hates an open debate - especially these days, when it's out of new ideas.

The left pretends that campuses should enjoy freedom of speech, yet activist students shout down, harass and even attack speakers whose views they dislike. That's brownshirt behavior, folks - as surely as show trials are Stalinist.

Hardcore leftists never welcome a freewheeling debate - they'd rather force their beliefs on the rest of us. It's an article of faith for the left that folks like you and me are too stupid to know what's good for us (we're so dumb, some of us even believe in God).

ISLAM'S ATTEMPT TO CONTROL FREE SPEECH IN THE WEST

A comprehensive summary of the issue can be found here.

UNBELIEVABLE "FREE SPEECH" TRAVESTY IN CANADA

Update 6/10/08 - Rich Lowry offers his comments.

- I am delighted that Mark Hemingway has written a comprehensive account of the Canadian "Human Rights" Tribunal's runaway idiocy.  It's target this time is Mark Steyn and Maclean's magazine.  I don't have time to write particulars, but please click through to see where "political correctness" leads.  Andrew Coyne, who is live blogging the trial, offers a Q&A with National Review. He offers extremely valuable comments.  (Note: I blogged on another Canadian free speech case earlier.)

BRITAIN MUZLES THEIR OLYMPIC ATHLETES FROM CRITICIZING THE CHINESE REGIME

Oh brother!  Talk about a kow tow to tyranny and an abject overthrowing of  free speech!

British Olympic chiefs are to force athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China's appalling human rights record – or face being banned from travelling to Beijing.

The move – which raises the spectre of the order given to the England football team to give a Nazi salute in Berlin in 1938 – immediately provoked a storm of protest. . . 

Should a competitor agree to the clause but then speak their mind about China, they will be put on the next plane home.

Read the story and weep for spineless England.  Many in England are calling for a boycott of the Olympics under these  requirements.  (HT: Drudge)

PAUL MARSHALL- THE MIXING OF RELIGION AND POLITICS IS HERE TO STAY

Paul Marshall:

The problem with our contemporary talk of faith and politics is not that it exists but that it is so often so very shallow. We live in an increasingly religious world in which faith and belief affect every dimension of our existence, so our politicians better talk about it.  . . .

I have enormous respect for anything Paul Marshall writes. Yesterday he published an article in the Washington Post titled "Religion and Politics Do Mix." In it he pays special attention to the relationship of religion (and freedom of religion) to economic growth and development, a relationship too seldom discussed.

SELWYN DUKE - "THE RACE FOR THE AMERICAN MIND"

Selwyn Duke eloquently describes the threats to free speech which continue to grow in the U.S.  His article is definitely worth a read. After citing examples of censorship and the continuing threats, he concludes:

Education isn't easy when people aren't listening.  A great victory for the left is that it has dumbed-down civilization, making people lovers of frivolity and vice, comfortably numb.  It has created legions of disengaged, apathetic hedonists who wouldn't read a piece of commentary if it was pasted to a stripper.  Such people can be led by the nose and, when they occasionally notice the goings-on in their midst, will welcome the silencing of the "haters."

(HT: Michelle Malkin)

FREE SPEECH UNDER ASSAULT IN CANADA: THE CASE OF EZRA LEVANT

I don't have time right now to review the case of Mark Steyn, but will do so in due course.  Right now I want to post his comment on, and the link he provides to another case: the grilling that the Alberta Human Rights Commission gave to Ezra Levant, the man who published the Danish cartoons in Canada in the  Western Standard magazine.  Levant is utilizing video documentation of the interrogation to alert the world to what is happening.  Check that link!   As one news source reported:

"A secular government bureaucracy has essentially been hijacked by a radical Muslim imam," [Levant] said. "It's being used to further his fatwa against these cartoons."

Update 1/13/08 - Mark Steyn has more.

Update 1/14/08 - Stanley Kurtz notes absence of MSM coverage:

The electrifying Ezra Levant story has lit up the blogosphere. In the mainstream media it is nowhere to be seen. This is what the blogosphere is for. Will MSM even bother to show up? With how brief a story, how many days late?

(Later) - Kurtz also alerts us to Levant's opening statement to the Alberta Human Rights Commission today which he says serves as a "free speech document."

The UN Doesn't Like Any Criticism of Islam

Robert Spencer is on top of the story.  (Underlining in what follows is my own)

Mark Steyn: Freedom of Speech vs. "Human Rights Commissions"

Mark Steyn notes:

If you want to know the difference between a country with a First Amendment and a country with "Human Rights Commissions", here it is:

The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission's decision to impose a 'lifetime' ban on a local Catholic's freedom to publicly criticise homosexuality, was upheld this week in its entirety by Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench.

Accusations of "Islamophobia" Chill Free Speech

Darcy notes: "The Canadian Islamic Congress  as we all know has filed a Human Rights complaint  against Macleans magazine for publishing an excerpt from Mark Steyn's book America Alone."

Stanley Kurtz takes this very seriously. After reviewing the situation (he includes several valuable links), Kurtz concludes:

Connect the dots and you will see that the attack on Mark Steyn in Canada is part and parcel of a world-wide assault on free speech that has already reached well into America. This is our battle. It is essential that there be widespread public condemnation of the attack on Mark Steyn. Not only does this "human rights" complaint have to fail, it has to fail miserably and with embarrassment. Otherwise, whatever the formal result, the chilling effect will be one more victory for the forces trying to destroy our rights.

Me: I recommend reading not only Kurtz's full comments but also the excerpt Macleans published from Mark Steyn's book.

Nobel Peace Prize Might-Have-Beens

The Weekly Standard lists truly heroic men and women whom we may fervently hope survive to be considered for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. Let us further hope that the Nobel Prize committee in Oslo awakens from its politically correct slumbers to pay attention.

In Olso Friday, the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded to the Burmese monks whose defiance against, and brutalization at the hands of, the country's military junta in recent weeks captured the attention of the Free World.

The prize was also not awarded to Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara and other Zimbabwe opposition leaders who were arrested and in some cases beaten by police earlier this year while protesting peacefully against dictator Robert Mugabe.

Or to Father Nguyen Van Ly, a Catholic priest in Vietnam arrested this year and sentenced to eight years in prison for helping the pro-democracy group Block 8406.

Or to Wajeha al-Huwaider and Fawzia al-Uyyouni, co-founders of the League of Demanders of Women's Right to Drive Cars in Saudi Arabia, who are

Another Reason Why I Have Bad Feelings About "Google"

Google bans anti-MoveOn.org ads   (HT: Drudge)   Michelle Malkin is also covering the story.  Read the "comments" section of her blog.  Some will be boycotting Google.  I started using alternative search engines a long time ago.

Vaclev Havel Calls on the Int'l Community to Support Freedom in Myanmar

Update 10/1/07 - The "Daily Mail" reports Thousands Dead in Massacre of the Monks Dumped in the Jungle.  It looks like the hoped-for revolution has been put down.  - The Heritage Foundation offers analysis of the roles China, India and ASEAN play (or should play)

**
Michelle Malkin is keeping close tabs on the Burmese crisis.  Vaclev Havel has issued a call for the international community to add genuine support to the pro-democracy movement.   National Review Online's editorial offers excellent background and analysis.  An excerpt:

Backing the protesters is morally sound because the Burmese regime is among the cruelest on the planet. It is responsible for a campaign of ethnic cleansing that has killed scores of thousands and displaced multitudes more. It is an unapologetic practitioner of forced labor. It conscripts children into its armed forces. It keeps Aung San Suu Kyi — the leader of an immensely popular pro-democracy opposition — under house arrest or worse (reports surfaced this week that she had been thrown in prison). It has shattered the Burmese economy: Resource-rich and once relatively prosperous, Burma now has a per capita income of just $200. What wealth does exist is concentrated in the hands of its rulers. Top general Than Shwe, who sees himself as a god-king, recently moved the capital from Rangoon to Naypyidaw, a place whose extreme remoteness protects his opulent palace from the righteous anger of the dispossessed.
 
Small wonder the Burmese have taken to the streets. Their protests began last month when a few hundred gathered to decry the junta’s decision to raise fuel prices by 500 percent. The protests have now spread across the country, and their ranks have swelled to the tens of thousands. Significantly, they are led by Buddhist monks, who represent

The Phoniness of "Free Speech" Boasts on Colleges Campuses

Mark Levin nails it:

Free Speech on College Campuses?

Who's kidding whom? Ask David Horowitz, FIRE, and other people who have to deal with left-wing administrators, faculty, and students about free speech. While Columbia University opened its arms to a leading terrorist, over at Seton Hall in New Jersey, Tom DeLay and Sirius radio host Andrew Wilkow had been invited by the campus Republicans to speak on Wednesday. The University has now canceled the event apparently claiming that DeLay would cast a negative light on their precious school. This is disgraceful.

At Stanford University, the Hoover Institution has appointed Donald Rumsfeld to a short-term chair, and students, led by an ex-professor, are leading protests against it — even though Hoover is an independent entity on campus.

Ask Ann Coulter, Bill Kristol, Pat Buchanan, Jim Gilchrist, and numerous others about the reception they've received at some of these schools. Ask these schools about their tenure policies, and how they discriminate against conservative academics. Ask them about their free speech codes, which have the effect of crushing civil dissent.

Academic Freedom and the Problem of Indoctrination in the Classroom: NAS vs. AAUP

Stanley Kurtz tells us the historical importance of this debate in these words:

History in the Making   [Stanley Kurtz]

I’d like to urge folks to go an read what I think will someday be looked back on as an historic debate on the meaning of academic freedom and the problem of classroom indoctrination. At the Inside Higher Ed website, Peter Wood, of the National Association of Scholars, has just posted a powerful reply to the recent "Freedom in the Classroom" statement issued by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP). (See "Truths R Us.") More important, Wood links to an extraordinary, formal, point-by-point response to the recent AAUP statement, co-authored by Peter Wood and Stephen Balch, and posted at the website of the National Association of Scholars (NAS).

Debates over academic freedom commonly hark back to now legendary statements by the AAUP from 1915, 1940, and 1970 on the topic. I believe that when future generations want to understand the nature of the debate over academic freedom and classroom indoctrination in our own era, they will hark back to the AAUP statement and the reply by the leaders of the NAS of 2007. This is history in the making, and compelling reading as well.

If for no other reason, you should look at Wood’s piece in order to read the "lost" section of the AAUP’s founding statement of academic freedom, which apparently exists nowhere else on the Internet, and which puts the AAUP of today to shame. But don’t stop there. These dueling statements on academic freedom and proper conduct in the classroom will resonate for years.

Political Correctness on American University Campuses

Update: 9/17/07 - Stanley Kurtz offers a powerful positive review of "Indoctrinate U."  He notes further that "folks in the Washington DC area have a chance to see it–and more. Indoctrinate U will be showing at the Kennedy Center as part of the American Film Renaissance film festival, which looks like it will be traveling to Dallas, Traverse City, and Hollywood as well. This festival will be showing a number of movies of interest to conservatives, including "The Call of the Entrepreneur" and "ACLU: At War With America."

**
Deroy Murdock writes of Indoctrinate U. as

a fascinating and jarring new film by first-time documentarian Evan Coyne Maloney. Supported by the Moving Picture Institute and premiering September 28 at Washington, D.C.’s American Film Renaissance festival, “Indoctrinate U.” CAT-scans the politically correct cancer that gnaws away at American higher education.

Murdock writes further:

Maloney reports that 91 percent of campuses restrict student speech. Brown University banned words that cause “feelings of impotence, anger, or disenfranchisement.” West Virginia University instructed students that “instead of referring to…‘girlfriend’ or ‘boyfriend,’” they should

Human Rights Abuse in Vietnam

Richard S. Williamson, former US Ambassador in the United Nations during the Reagan Adminisration who later served as a member of the US Human Rights Commission in Geneva, provides an update on human rights in Vietnam.  It's not a pretty picture.

Free Speech for Bloggers Denied in Egypt

Michelle Malkin has the sad update on the imprisoned blogger in Egypt.  An appeals court has upheld a four year prison sentence.

Malkin has the full report: 

Bad news:

An Egyptian appeals court endorsed a verdict sentencing a blogger to 4 years in prison on charges of insulting Islam and the president.

Judicial sources said Monday an appeals court in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria approved the verdict issued last month against 22-year-old Abdul Karim Nabil Amer. He was convicted on charges of "ridiculing Islam and insulting" President Hosni Mubarak.

Arrested last November, Amer is the first blogger to be sentenced to prison in Egypt.

The Free Kareem website has just issued this press release:

The Free Kareem Coalition is saddened by the Egyptian appeals court’s decision to uphold the four-year sentence handed

No Freedom of Speech in Egypt

Update 3/5/07 - Reuters has a follow-up story on the dangers of blogging in Egypt.  Click here.

***

Cliff May reports the following:

Our Moderate Ally in the Middle Eastern [sic]?   

Here’s what prolonged diplomatic engagement and about $2 billion a year in aid can achieve:

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (Reuters) - An Alexandria court convicted an Egyptian blogger on Thursday for insulting both Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced him to four years in jail over his writings on the Internet.

Abdel Karim Suleiman, a 22-year-old former law student who has been in custody since November, was the first blogger to

Human Rights Watch Watched

Read about "Human Rights Watch" here.  This survey and analysis claims HRW directs a "grossly disproportionate share of its criticism at the United States and Israel."  It is Leftist in orientation.  It has a full-time staff of 190 employees worldwide and a budget of approximately $22 million per year.

JEFF JACOBY SURVEYS THE CENSORING OF IDEAS IN THE U.S. TODAY

After citing many contemporary examples of intimidation and attempted censorship, Jeff Jacoby concludes his article saying,

The silencers are at work in the marketplace of ideas, using hook or crook to smother opinions they dislike. The lust to censor is as powerful as ever. If only liberty's defenders were equally vigilant.   (HT: Stanley Kurtz)

Columbia University - Scary, Unsafe Place of Mob Rule

Wow. . .    Universities are losing credibility, except as incubators of viciousness and mob rule.   Champions of reason?  Civil discourse?  Free exchange of ideas?  Forget it.   Do Ivy League Universities display leadership in intellectual seriousness?   What a joke!

Take a look at Columbia University students physically attacking the stage where Minutemen Project co-founder Jim Gilchrist attempted to give a speech.    Michelle Malkin has the story complete with video and  a liveblogged report.   

Randy at Rightwinged.com says

Malkin has had great coverage of these incidents over the years and I recommend doing some digging around her blog to learn more about past incidents if you're just learning about this pattern of intolerant liberal behavior. It only took me a minute to dig up this one post that links to many of these incidents.