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Last night I attended the premiere in Los Angeles of a new documentary film by StandWithUs, called Tolerating Intolerance: Hate Speech on Campus.
What this film documents is astonishing to those of us who are not currently on campus. Today at many universities it is common for invited guests to give speeches in which they rage, in guttural, hate-filled tones, against "Jews" and "Zionist Jews," and call for the destruction of the state of Israel.
Note that the state of Israel cannot be destroyed without killing and/or driving out all the Jewish people who live there. Note also that no one calls for the destruction of any other state. It is therefore perfectly evident that calls for the destruction of the state of Israel are identical to anti-Semitism -- in other words, hate speech.
It is all but incomprehensible that such speech is tolerated on campus.
Roz Rothstein, national director of StandWithUs and director of the film, at one point in the film interviews Manuel A. Gomez, Vice Chancellor for student affairs at the University of California, Irvine. Chancellor Gomez himself describes the speech in question as "abhorrent," but states that as free speech it is protected. Rothstein then offers him the opportunity to use his own right to free speech, and to speak publicly, and/or encourage the university faculty to speak publicly, stating that the speech in question is abhorrent.
Amazingly, not only do the universities at which such speeches occur tolerate it, they do not publicly distance themselves from it in any way.
Not only that, the film provides footage documenting that speakers who come to campus to speak in favor of Israel, are often shouted down, and even prevented from speaking entirely, by those who oppose them.
By this policy universities support a system in which free speech is only available to those who deny it to others.
Roz Rothstein, Director Of The Film, And National Director Of StandWithUs (Right), Introducing Students Who Appear In The Film. Click For A Larger Image. Note: This photo is merged from two smaller photos.
UCLA Professor Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl, appeared and received a standing ovation.
In his remarks, Professor Pearl stated:
I found students being exposed to a racist orgy.
If there are any college administrators here, they will not like to see their college's names listed in the film as someone who invited [racist agitator] Malik Ali.
He called for the public to observe that speech advocating the destruction of Israel is identical to anti-Semitism, and called for exposure to the world of the toleration of this sort of speech on campus.
Pro-Israel, pro-peace speaker Nonie Darwish, of Arabs for Israel, also spoke. I've described her in this previous post as "a firecracker." Her speech last night again merited that description.
Arab American Nonie Darwish.
A few excerpts from her remarks:
This kind of speech reminds me of the hate speech I grew up with in Gaza. It should never be tolerated.
When I grew up there was never suicide bombing. But generations of hate speech led to it. It should never be tolerated in any civilized country.
She earned a standing ovation as well.
Contact StandWithUs to arrange to show the documentary to friends or associates.
The Dems are seeking to use the courts to go after the GOP. I opposed this when the GOP did the same thing to Clinton, and I oppose it in this case as well. If we want to have a country, we can't permit elected officials to attack each other through the courts. I provide more detail on my views on this subject in this previous post.
As noted here previously, the planned ground zero museum, which was to have been known as the International Freedom Center, had been seen by many as an attack on America. Now, it has been evicted:
Following months of acrimony, Gov. George Pataki evicted the International Freedom Center from the memorial block at Ground Zero Wednesday, saying it had generated "too much controversy."
Pataki said that "freedom should unify us," but the proposed center had not, with some victims' relatives and political leaders charging its location was inappropriate, and its programing not focused sufficiently on 9/11.
New York Mayor Bloomberg has not done himself credit in this instance:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that while he understood the governor's decision, "I am disappointed that we were not able to find a way to reconcile the freedoms we hold so dear with the sanctity of the site."
However, former Mayor Giuliani supports Pataki:
Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said in a statement: "The governor has made the right decision."
Governor Pataki deserves great credit for this.
DON'T MISS THIS GREAT ARTICLE BY CRAIG TITLEY, screenwriter of Scooby-Doo and Cheaper by the Dozen:
Red, White and Blue Dawn
How Hollywood needs to stop worrying and love the flag...When the studios make movies that leave ticket buyers feeling good about their country, that celebrate the everyday heroes who live among us, and that aren’t afraid to turn the people who want to destroy our way of life (today, Islamic terrorists) into movie villains then moviegoers, red and blue, will flock to the theaters.
In the past few months, LA hip-hop radio has all but stopped playing songs that slam America and celebrate drugs and murder -- and started playing songs that are fun and uplifting. I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this.
Hollywood needs to go in the same direction. And the significance goes beyond the box office:
Just as important as the positive effect these films [of 1985] had on Hollywood’s bottom line is the positive effect they had on American’s image in the world. It has been said that American pop culture was as responsible as anything else for bringing down the Berlin Wall. If that’s the case, then what are our current films doing for the world, and for our own security, here and now in 2005?
Howie Morgan, campaign manager for Minuteman founder, Jim Gilchrist, who is running for Congress, forwards a copy of this letter sent by Gilchrist to House Majority Leader, Tom Delay and to Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert:
September 26, 2005
Congressman Tom Delay
House Majority Leader
242 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Majority Leader Delay,
Ever since I filed as a candidate for Congress in the 48th Congressional District, people have recognized my values and beliefs as similar to those of former President Reagan and the mainstream of the Republican Party. I am proud to carry those ideals to the voters of California as we go forth in my campaign.
Today I hereby declare to you, Speaker Hastert, and the rest of the House Caucus that upon election to the 48th Congressional District of California that I will organize with fellow conservative members as part of the Republican Caucus.
I strongly support a Constitutional conservative agenda that will work for Americans on issues like creating jobs, maintaining a strong national defense, protecting our national security, strengthening Social Security, providing real tax relief for working Americans, and making our country’s future brighter by improving our children’s education.
Sincerely,
Jim Gilchrist
Candidate for Congress
This is fascinating, inside-baseball look at a move by Gilchrist to make common cause with the Republican leadership. I think it's exactly the right way to go for the Gilchrist campaign. I also think the Republican leadership would profit by having someone like Gilchrist involved. It would assist them in moving toward a stronger position by the GOP on controlling the borders. It may be that whichever political party takes the lead on this key issue, will find that doing so wins votes in upcoming elections.
From today's Times Online:
Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'
RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.
According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.
The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.
I found that to be a surprising conclusion. I was curious how they arrived at it.
[The study] compares the social peformance of relatively secular countries, such as Britain, with the US, where the majority believes in a creator rather than the theory of evolution.
...Gregory Paul, the author of the study and a social scientist, used data from the International Social Survey Programme, Gallup and other research bodies to reach his conclusions.
...The study concluded that the US was the world’s only prosperous democracy where murder rates were still high, and that the least devout nations were the least dysfunctional.
...He said that the disparity was even greater when the US was compared with other countries, including France, Japan and the Scandinavian countries. These nations had been the most successful in reducing murder rates, early mortality, sexually transmitted diseases and abortion, he added.
The flaw in the study is that America is by far the most religious democracy in it -- for that matter, in the world -- so any differences between America and other nations would appear to correlate with religion. If they correlated per capita income, personal wealth, size of houses, number of cars, or anything else America has more of per capita, it would all appear to correlate with religion. They could just as easily have concluded, more of these things correlate with countries named, "America."
Note that their opposition of a belief in God to a belief in evolution is a false opposition. Many people believe in both. Documentation is found in this Pew study.
Perhaps there is more to the study than is described in the Times Online article. Based on the article, the study appears to be deeply flawed.
From an WSJ article by Newt Gingrich and Peter Ferrara (subscription required):
In February, for example, OMB projected a federal budget deficit of $427 billion for the current 2005 fiscal year (ending in October). A few months later, in July, OMB projected the deficit at $333 billion. The February projection was off by almost $100 billion, or 28%. This episode is not unique. In February 2004, OMB's projected deficit (for fiscal year 2004) was off by $109 billion.
CBO is no different. In March, CBO projected a deficit of $394 billion for the current fiscal year. Last month, its projected deficit was $331 billion. CBO's numbers changed by $63 billion in five months. The changes in these federal deficit projections resulted because OMB and CBO had projected massive losses from the 2003 Bush tax cuts. Those losses never happened. Thus, in February 2003, OMB projected federal revenues of $2.135 trillion for fiscal year 2005. That was before the Bush tax cuts. Now OMB projects that, with the tax cuts, federal revenues for 2005 will be $2.140 trillion -- slightly more than the revenues it projected before the tax cut.
OMB and CBO are not the only players in the scoring game. The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) and the Treasury Department also estimate the revenue impacts of tax policy changes. Their projections have similar problems. Consider the 1997 tax changes, which primarily involved a cut of 28.6% in the capital gains tax rate. According to a recent report from the American Shareholders Association by Dan Clifton, JCT estimated that revenues would increase $7.8 billion from 1997 to 1999, but decline $28.8 billion over the next seven years. Instead, the actual increase in federal revenues from capital gains taxes from 1997 to 1999 was more than 10 times higher -- $84 billion. What about the projected losses later on? Capital gains revenues have now grown to double their levels of 1996, just before the tax cut.
Gingrich and Ferrara find a consistent bias in the projections:
The errors were not random. They were strongly and consistently biased against pro-market, pro-growth reforms, and they are the long-recognized results of outdated methodologies employed by federal scoring agencies. The end result is that such errors greatly hamper or prevent Congress from adopting policies that would maximize economic growth and personal prosperity.
Tax cuts have powered the economy.
In this previous post, I stated:
Another highlight of the Convention for me was the chance to shake hands with Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minuteman Project. Jim is running for Congress.
I was told that Jim, an Independent, had been nearby but was, of course, not part of the Republican Convention -- and then the Republicans invited him in. A great move by the California Republican Party.
I was told that, but it turns out not to be true. I received email from Gilchrist Campaign Manager Howie Morgan:
The GOP establishment did not want us there. Just check out what was said by Campbell:
Gilchrist takes shot at Campbell
And the campaign rhetoric keeps on flying. Tuesday, American Independent Party congressional candidate Jim Gilchrist's campaign sent out a press release accusing [Republican state Sen. John] Campbell supporters of threatening to expel from the GOP any Republicans who help Gilchrist.
In the statement, Gilchrist said Republicans fear his candidacy because he's treating illegal immigration as a more serious problem.
Campbell dismissed the incident, which he said occurred when people staffing a Minuteman Project booth at the state GOP convention displayed a Gilchrist campaign sign. The convention was last weekend in Anaheim.
"At our events, you can advocate a position on a measure or an issue, but you can't advocate for a non-Republican [candidate] in the middle of a Republican convention," Campbell said.
He added that one of the convention staffers who said the sign had to come down is also working on his campaign.
The Republican Party would do a lot better by welcoming Gilchrist in a spirit of friendly competition. It would make everybody involved look good.
GWB was harshly criticized for moving too slowly in responding to Katrina. People said he was incompetent or even malicious. As usual, the facts were not of interest to those making such allegations. Today's news confirms reports that GWB was unable to move until permission to do so was received from the Louisiana state governor.
From the Washington Times:
President Bush yesterday sought to federalize hurricane-relief efforts, removing governors from the decision-making process.
"It wouldn't be necessary to get a request from the governor or take other action," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said yesterday.
"This would be," he added, "more of an automatic trigger."
Mr. McClellan was referring to a new, direct line of authority that would allow the president to place the Pentagon in charge of responding to natural disasters, terrorist attacks and outbreaks of disease.
"It may require change of law," Mr. Bush said yesterday. "It's very important for us as we look at the lessons of Katrina to think about other scenarios that might require a well-planned, significant federal response -- right off the bat -- to provide stability."
The irresponsible reaction from the ACLU: attack GWB for seeking to make a power grab.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) accused Mr. Bush of attempting a power grab in the wake of fierce criticism that he responded too slowly to Hurricane Katrina a month ago.
Note that the ACLU does not question GWB's statement that he was not permitted to respond to Katrina because the Lousiana governor wouldn't authorize him to do so. Their opposition to this move confirms that they accept that statement.
But the Libs will keep trying to tell you GWB didn't respond as fast as he should have.
The article continues:
"Using the military in domestic law enforcement is generally a very bad idea," said Timothy Edgar, national security policy counsel for the ACLU. "I'm afraid that it will have unforeseen consequences for civil liberties."
Isn't that something? People in danger of losing their lives evidently doesn't rise, in the eyes of the ACLU, to a threat to "civil liberties."
By taking this position, the ACLU makes itself a danger to the lives of Americans.
Muslims are seeking to force US businesses to observe their religion, counter to US law with regard to other religions.
There are businesses that require employees to work on Christmas. US law prevents Christian employees from suing to force such businesses to do otherwise.
There are businesses that require employees to work on Saturdays. US law prevents Jewish employees from suing to force such businesses to do otherwise.
But Muslims are claiming the right to walk off the job to pray, 5 times a day. They did this at Dell. Dell was threatened with a lawsuit by CAIR, and Dell folded, as discussed in this previous post.
Now Muslims are trying the same thing on Tyson:
Muslim employees at Tyson halt strike pending talks over praying
NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) -- Muslim employees at the Tyson Fresh Meats plant in Norfolk have agreed not to strike pending negotiations of alleged religious discrimination by management.
The meeting between both sides on Friday was productive, said Fardusa Council, a negotiator for the Muslim employees. All Muslim employees had planed to strike if a resolution was not reached, but that is being put on hold as the two sides work together, she said.
The employees are alleging that they are being denied the right to pray -- something that they say was previously approved by Tyson officials, said Ahmed Hashi, a spokesman for the Muslim population in Norfolk.
...The situation began to come to a head last Friday when 10 Muslim employees walked off of the job. Subsequently, the 10 individuals were counseled for violation of Tyson's policies and the union's labor agreement with the company.
Mickelson said the same 10 deliberately walked off the job the following day and were fired as a result.
The Muslim faith requires five prayers, or "salats," during the day, one each at dawn, midday, mid-afternoon, sunset and nightfall. If the prayer is not completed within a specified amount of time, the prayer is then considered void.
..."However, because we're a manufacturing operation, we're not able to let everyone leave the production line at the same time without shutting down entire sections of our operations," Mickelson said. "Since we have more than 200 Muslims working our second shift, this has sometimes been a point of contention and misunderstanding."
..."We'd like to keep our job and keep our religion," Yousuf [one of the Tyson employees to walk out] said.
This is jihad, folks. It is the insistence that those of other religions submit to Islam. Non-Muslim employers must be forced to submit to the demands of Islam, and Muslims must be granted special privileges (like the right to sue people who don't let them stop working for religious purposes) that those of other religions don't have.
We must say to the Muslims, this isn't Iran. This isn't Syria. If you want to live here you have to adapt. You can find companies to work for that let you observe your religion in your preferred fashion, or you can work for other companies and follow the same rules as everybody else. But you can't force a company to give those of your religion privileges that those of other religions don't have.
I just called the Tyson plant and had a great conversation with the plant manager, Randy, telling him how much I support Tyson, and discussing the substance of this post.
You can email your support to Tyson here.
From the Washington Times:
ANARCHOTERROR IN GAZA
To people of goodwill who want to see an Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement, the anarchy and chaos that have engulfed Gaza since Israel uprooted its settlements and withdrew its military has been a very ugly jolt of reality. Both President Bush and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have sought to give the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, a chance to build a democratic country that would live in peace next to Israel. But Gaza is coming to look more like Afghanistan under Taliban rule than a viable democracy.
Today, it is a place where masked Hamas terrorist operatives openly parade in the streets and vow to destroy Israel and commit mass murder; where terrorists, no longer having to worry about the Israel Defense Forces, routinely smuggle arms and contraband across the Egyptian border, despite the existence of an agreement between Egypt and Mr. Abbas to police the Philadelphi Corridor given up by Israel; and where armed gangs drag people from their homes and loot and destroy property turned over by Israel to the control of the PA without interference from the Palestinian security forces.
Read the whole thing.
This site has been following efforts by President Musharraf of Pakistan to reform Islam. Today we see another, mostly favorable, report:
Pakistan says it has resolved a dispute with religious schools and they will now register with the government.
President Pervez Musharraf enforced his registration demand following the London bombings in July and also said all foreign students must be expelled.
The madrassas had refused to co-operate unless a demand that they disclose their funding be withdrawn.
A senior religious affairs ministry spokesman told the BBC the madrassas would not need to disclose funding.
President Pervez Musharraf says his registration policy is aimed at checking the activities of a handful of madrassas that preach hatred and extremism.
...Details were not disclosed but the religious affairs ministry spokesman said the madrassas would only have to submit their annual financial report at the end of every year.
An official statement said the two sides agreed to register nearly 13,000 Islamic seminaries by the deadline of 31 December.
...[Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz] said the government wanted to discourage teaching which developed negative tendencies and hatred, and led to sectarianism and terrorism.
Such practices, Mr Aziz said, were against the teachings of Islam.
This is a big win: the madrassas will register with the government of Pakistan, and will submit an annual financial report.
It's fascinating that the madrassas refuse to discose their sources of funding.
Most people who provide funding to other religious institutions are proud to do so, and frequently do so publicly. It appears to be evidence of ill-intention on the part of the madrassas and those funding them, that the madrassas wish to keep their sources of funding secret.
Earlier this week, Daniel Pipes wrote in praise of Musharraf.
..Lauding Jewish groups in the United States, Mr. Musharraf remarked that they "were at the forefront in opposing the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Bosnia," adding: "I am told that the largest contributor to the Bosnian cause was the Jewish-American businessman and philanthropist, George Soros."
Most news coverage of the Musharraf speech focused on the prospect of Pakistan opening diplomatic relations with Israel (Reuters: "Pakistan leader urges US Jews to help make peace"), but what is potentially of lasting importance about the Musharraf address – beyond the mere fact of its being delivered to a Jewish organization – was the president's respectful, accurate, and constructive comments about Jews.
He began with the important observation that Jews and Muslims "have many similarities and few divergences in their faith and culture," then listed three specifics: belief in the oneness of God, shared ways of greeting, and a common phrase in the Talmud and Koran. And Moses, he pointed out, is the prophet most often referred to in the Koran.
...Mr. Musharraf's reaching out to Jews is part of a much broader project of developing what he calls "Enlightened Moderation" in Islam. Although until now more talk than action, even the talk is a major achievement. Sadly, only he and one other Muslim leader, King Abdullah II of Jordan, are articulating a moderate version of Islam, but at least those two are doing so.
For his efforts, Mr. Musharraf deserves appreciation and encouragement.
History is unpredictable. Who would have thought a leader of Islamic reformation would come to power in the midst of a hotbed of Islamofascism, such as Pakistan?
And yet -- that's exactly where such a leader is most needed.
The policies of GWB are to be given credit. Per Victor Davis Hanson:
Two-thirds of Al Qaeda are scattered. Bin Laden's popularity is waning, as it always does in the Middle East when former romantic killers remain incognito, cannot come out of hiding, and resort to issuing stale videos. It is hard to account for the end of Libyan and Pakistani nuclear trafficking, of Syrians in Lebanon, or of unquestioned dictatorship in Egypt, without the prior American resolve to remove Saddam.
From commenter Heather:
In addition I would just like to say that chemicals used to construct WMDs were found and have been widely publicized. The left discredits this by saying the chemicals were individually not weapons. If I have a gun in my living room and bullets in my bedroom I can still shoot someone just as dead. Also, if the chemicals were used for nothing more than fertilizer ans such than why were they so well hidden or buried? I know they were hidden, buried,and mislabeled because I have family that helped find them.
The MSM blackout on first-hand reports, such as this, from our own returning troops, documents the bias of MSM, and demonstrates to the American people that MSM is not reporting the truth about Iraq.
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JESSE JACKSON'S GETTING SUED FOR ASSAULT:
Within minutes following adjournment of the meeting, Jonathan Jackson struck Rev. Peterson and Rev. Peterson was physically threatened and verbally assaulted by both Jesse Jackson and Jonathan Jackson. Incited by Jackson’s earlier remarks, an angry crowd gathered, cursing, shoving and encircling Rev. Peterson and one of his associates. “I feared for my life,” said Peterson.
..Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said, “Jesse Jackson attempted to use every legal trick at his disposal to have this case dismissed, and he failed. This trial is a major step in holding Jackson accountable for his actions.”
It's about time.
