The Irish Trojan's blog - Brendan Loy's homepage: "The NAACP chairman is a bigoted idiot, and the media doesn't care:

Here's a question for you. If the chairman of the NAACP were to equate Republicans with Nazis, compare conservative judges to the Taliban, and call Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell "tokens," that would be pretty newsworthy, don't you think?"

MSM covers for Black Racism in black racism month.

La Shawn Barber’s CornerNew Justice Alito: "“He said first of all it was different then,” she said. “He said, ‘I was an advocate seeking a job, it was a political job and that was 1985. I’m now a judge, I’ve been on the circuit court for 15 years and it’s very different. I’m not an advocate, I don’t give heed to my personal views, what I do is interpret the law.’” (Source)"

LaShawn doesn't know why he backtracked.
But he didn't; nor did he say HOW he would interpret the law. He, correctly, said what he does.

neo-neocon Anti-War folk: "Ah, to have perfectly clean hands! To obtain a magic bullet that targets only the guilty is a wonderful goal indeed. But it is, unfortunately, an unrealistic dream at the moment--although the smarter and smarter the bombs (and intelligence) get, the closer it is to being realized.

The United States, Israel, and most Western states who engage in combat all aim mightily towards that goal. And that goal is getting closer and closer; compared to the messy horror of WWII or even an event as recent as the Gulf War, collateral damage has taken far fewer lives.

But this progress has had has the unintended effect of lowering the bar and raising expectations. Now there are many people who want (and expect!) that civilian (or 'innocent') casualties in war, or in targeted terrorist assassinations, become zero. And that seems impossible."

The Belmont Club Looks at Hate Speech on Religion: "Blackadder star Rowan Atkinson has launched a comedians' campaign against a government bill to outlaw inciting religious hatred. ... Mr Atkinson told a meeting at the House of Commons on Monday night there are 'quite a few sketches' he has performed which would come into conflict with the proposed law.

He added: 'To criticise a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous but to criticise their religion, that is a right. That is a freedom. The freedom to criticise ideas, any ideas - even if they are sincerely held beliefs - is one of the fundamental freedoms of society.'"

I think making fun of what people believe is often offensive, in poor taste, and even rude. But should be legal.
Prolly even making fun of their race, but that's a bit worse. What about their "sexual orientation."

Danish Paper Apologizes. Dutch Cartoon on Its Way | The Brussels Journal: "As The Brussels Journal reported earlier radical Danish Muslim organizations toured the Arab world three weeks ago and themselves added three additional pictures to the original twelve. One of them shows Muhammad as a pedophile demon, another the prophet with a pigsnout, while the third one depicts a praying Muslim being raped by a dog. These pictures had been intentionally added by Muslim radicals in order to incite antipathy towards Denmark, or, as they themselves put it, to “give an insight in how hateful the atmosphere in Denmark is towards Muslims.” Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen commented that he was “speechless” at such behaviour from “people whom we have given the right to live in Denmark.”"

Since the original 12 include some questionable ones, there is an important issue of "borders." I thought Piss Christ was on the wrong side of the border; meaning a total end of gov't money to support it, and the artist. Perhaps Mohammed with horns is on that side, too -- but it gets harder, after some suicide bombing.

UN (Christian) style Human Rights are NOT compatible with an Islam that is offended by every cartoon about Mohammed. Freedom and offense OR no offense but no freedom. I support choosing freedom.

The Anchoress writes of her friend of 20 years, Jane. Now gone:
"Two days after a wonderful Christmas she has a backache that sends her to a doctor.

Jane was not doctor-phobic. Being the sole provider for her children, she understood that she needed to stay healthy. She ate right, she had yearly check-ups, mammograms, etc.

There was no clue that anything was wrong, and yet the doctors last week said this growth inside her was so massive it must have been going on for years. From her kidney to her heart, the blackness grew. She is gone."

We pray for you, and her, and her children.

La Shawn Barber’s Corner: "Until a thing negatively affects us, we generally don’t pay much attention to it. To many blacks, Hispanics were just another minority group, united as brothers-in-arms against “white oppression.” Now that employers are skipping over American citizens to hire people who ought to be in a jail cell instead of an employment office, I hope to see all Americans, especially blacks, unite against the tide of foreigners flouting our laws and changing our culture for the worst. That’s a new kind of oppression."

English is key.

Dean's World Google sucking up to Commie China: "I have a simple proposal: the apartheid government in South Africa, in the 1980s, asks internet search engines operating in South Africa to block any sites regarding anyone named Mandela, the African National Congress, the notion of democracy, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or even the Declaration of Independence. Google rolls over like a cheap whore and says 'Yes master! You're in charge!' and then tells the rest of us 'hey, we're only complying with local laws and customs.' What's your reaction?

Here's mine: Screw you Larry. Screw you Serge. Screw you Google. I am completely uninterested in doing business with you. You're damned right I'm unreasonable: Guilty as charged!"

Almost convincing.

Media Lies : "Is spying on US citizens....
....when they're in public unconstitutional? The ACLU says so, but I kind of doubt it."

I don't know the law, but if it's legal to videotape "johns" visiting prostitutes, I think getting every protest on film is good. Even digital film

Media Lies Unhappy at all the attention on Woodruff: "I heard Paul Harvey mention that Woodruff has four children and his cameraman has three, and I thought, 'Wouldn't it be nice if just once in a while they reported these types of things about our soldiers when they're injured.'

In the coming days, Woodruff will get an inordinate amount of attention from our media. Meanwhile our troops will continue to languish in obscurity. No reports from Iraq. No breathless reporting from Landstuhl. No coverage when they fly home. No interviews with their wives and other family members. No regular updates on their progress."

Public Eye is also full of how Woodruff getting injured will change the debate. I think tracking news stories of Woodruff vs. other soldiers will be interesting.

Media Lies US - Canada mine safety: "I immediately wondered why we don't have similar safe rooms in American mines. Eleven of the twelve Sago miners that died may have survived if they had had such a system. (The twelfth was killed in the original explosion, according to media reports.)

In a related story, Willisms looks at the claims surrounding the Sago fire and finds them wanting. The supposed 'cuts' in Mine Safety were actually lower increases than what the demagogues would have liked.

In fact, mine safety has improved steadily every year for the past twelve years, with both fatalities and injuries decreasing in raw numbers and rates each year. Hopefully, the US will send experts to Canada to study the safe rooms and analyze the incident in an effort to improve safety even further here in America."

I had never heard of safe rooms -- almost obviously a good idea for safety. Wonder how much they cost.

Grim's Hall - SWAT kills unarmed Doctor: "'In my opinion, there are no accidental discharges,' said John Gnagey, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association. Gnagey was not familiar with the Fairfax case but said that in general, 'Most of what we see in law enforcement are negligent discharges, fingers being on the trigger when they shouldn't be.'"

More training; suspension, firing the officer? Big legal judgment against the officers doing the arrest. It's a sad unintentional but life-taking negligent mistake; punishment should be swift and sure.

normblog - Shalom Lappin of Engage: "Regardless of what one thinks of Zionism and the creation of Israel in historical terms, Israel is a country that has existed for close to sixty years, and it now has a population of 6,869,500. Of these, 5,529,300 (80%) are Israeli Jews, who constitute a clearly recognizable national entity characterised by a language, shared culture, and common history. Using the rhetoric of anti-Zionism to criticise Israel’s repression of the Palestinians in the occupied territories is, in most cases, a device for rendering the call for Israel’s elimination palatable. By reducing an entire nation to an ideology, one gives the appearance of calling for a change of political regime when one is, in fact, advocating the destruction of one country and its replacement by another."

The hypocrisy of the Jew haters on the Left is terrible. But Norm consistently underestimates the fuel that envy gives to hatred: envy of the "other brother" (God loves him better!), envy of the rich (unfair!). In the ME, envy of the successful Jews (they must be cheating!).

Norm's own socialism is popular primarily because of this envy / desire to punish the rich -- yet he seems unwilling to examine that aspect of socialist popularity.