Category: Current Affairs

Some have remarked that the American Left is creating a new climate of fear in which people who express contrary points of view may have their property vandalized and even their persons attacked.

It’s true.

HERE’S AN EXAMPLE.

AND ANOTHER.

AND YET MORE.

AND MORE.

This first one concerns a restraunteur who owns a chicken restaurant that was going to lose power. Rather than have all the food go bad when it could do people good, he gave it away and sent these guys out to advertise the fact.

This next one speaks for itself:

(Source: Florida Cracker)

GO CRACKERS! BEAT THE BIG BLOWS!

Daniel Pipes on the persistent refusal of major media sources to label terrorists as “terrorists.” Excerpt:

The reluctance to call terrorists by their rightful name can reach absurd lengths of inaccuracy and apologetics. For example, National Public Radio’s Morning Edition announced on April 1, 2004, that “Israeli troops have arrested 12 men they say were wanted militants.” But CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, pointed out the inaccuracy here and NPR issued an on-air correction on April 26: “Israeli military officials were quoted as saying they had arrested 12 men who were ‘wanted militants.’ But the actual phrase used by the Israeli military was ‘wanted terrorists.'”

(At least NPR corrected itself. When the Los Angeles Times made the same error, writing that “Israel staged a series of raids in the West Bank that the army described as hunts for wanted Palestinian militants,” its editors refused CAMERA’s request for a correction on the grounds that its change in terminology did not occur in a direct quotation.)

One more reason the MSM has *major* problems.

GET THE STORY.

Daniel Pipes on the persistent refusal of major media sources to label terrorists as “terrorists.” Excerpt:

The reluctance to call terrorists by their rightful name can reach absurd lengths of inaccuracy and apologetics. For example, National Public Radio’s Morning Edition announced on April 1, 2004, that “Israeli troops have arrested 12 men they say were wanted militants.” But CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, pointed out the inaccuracy here and NPR issued an on-air correction on April 26: “Israeli military officials were quoted as saying they had arrested 12 men who were ‘wanted militants.’ But the actual phrase used by the Israeli military was ‘wanted terrorists.'”

(At least NPR corrected itself. When the Los Angeles Times made the same error, writing that “Israel staged a series of raids in the West Bank that the army described as hunts for wanted Palestinian militants,” its editors refused CAMERA’s request for a correction on the grounds that its change in terminology did not occur in a direct quotation.)

One more reason the MSM has *major* problems.

GET THE STORY.

THIS IS NOT A JOKE.

IT IS AN OUTRAGE.

More from the Home School Legal Defense Fund:

======================================================================
From the HSLDA E-lert Service…

======================================================================

September 22, 2004

Michigan–Homeschoolers Portrayed as “Terrorists”

Dear HSLDA members and friends:

On Monday, September 20, the Muskegon Chronicle reported on a Department of Homeland Security sponsored terrorism drill involving the Muskegon Area Intermediate School District and the Muskegon County Emergency Services. A mock attack would occur on a public
school bus.

The simulated attack would come from a fictitious radical group called “Wackos Against Schools and Education” who believe everyone should be homeschooled.

We immediately called the Muskegon Chronicle and explained how this is offensive to millions of people who have chosen to exercise their right to homeschool.

Homeschoolers have never committed violent acts against public schools or any terrorist acts. Comparing us to the most dangerous people in the world is a terrible insult and a travesty.

The newspaper promised to print our response in a follow-up story.

In addition, calls poured into the Muskegon Intermediate School District and the Muskegon County Emergency Services, who issued apologies which are printed below.

Sincerely,

Chris Klicka
Senior Counsel
Home School Legal Defense Association

Apology from County:

——————————
Muskegon Area Intermediate School District (MAISD)

September 21, 2004

The Muskegon Area Intermediate School District (MAISD) shared the disappointment of others when we learned the September 21, 2004, emergency preparedness drill referenced home-schoolers as the fictitious group responsible for a mock disaster. We apologize.

According to Dan Stout, Chief Deputy, Emergency Services of Muskegon County, this scenario was constructed in his office. A sample scenario was required in order to receive the necessary funding
to stage the event. The Muskegon Area Intermediate School District and our local schools did not construct the scenario, but participated with other county agencies, hospitals, and emergency responders
in conducting the drill.

This exercise was meant to sharpen the skills and response time of our emergency services personnel, but was unfortunately clouded by the choice of this fictional group. We believe this exercise had everything to do with testing emergency response time and the protection of our children. It had nothing to do with the home school population.

As educators, we believe that the first and most important teacher is the parent, whether in home schools, public schools, or non-public schools. We all work together to ensure a safe and secure
environment for our children to live and grow.

We sincerely regret offending home school educators. We believe that all parents are educators and do important work at home with their children.

Sincerely,

Michael H. Bozym,
Superintendent, Muskegon Area Intermediate School District
(MAISD)

**********

In the world today Homeland security is a very important issue. The training of our nation to respond to the many threats we face is of utmost importance. As part of a full scale homeland security exercise on September 21, 2004 in Muskegon, I wrote about a fictional group and fictional scenario for the exercise. This fictional group and scenario made reference to fictional people who are against schools.

This fictional group and scenario was not meant to offend any home school students. It has nothing to do with any home school population. Home school students and former students are a very important part of our nation. This scenario will not be used again.

Daniel Stout
Muskegon County Emergency Services
Daniel Stout: (231) 724-6341
stoutda@co.muskegon.mi.us

*****
Please forward all additional questions and comments to the Public
Information Coordinator at the Muskegon Area Intermediate School
District at ktank@remc4.k12.mi.us or (231) 767-7263.

Kristin Tank
Public Information Coordinator
MAISD
630 Harvey Street
Muskegon, MI 49442-2398
Phone: 231-767-7263
Fax: 231-773-3498
E-mail: ktank@remc4.k12.mi.us
Visit our Web Site: http://www.muskegonisd.org
——————————

OTHER RESOURCES:

Sep. 22: WorldNetDaily (Michigan)
Anti-Homeschooling Bigots Strike Again
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=1820

Sep. 22: Muskegon Chronicle (Michigan)
Homeschoolers Incensed by Drill Scenario
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?ID=1821

Powerline has some important questions for CBS to answer as part of its investigation.

READ THEM.

FASINATING STUFF.

Apparently, twelve days.

Story broke on Sept. 8, and today we get this on Drudge:

EXCLUSIVE // Mon Sep 20 2004 11:58:02 ET

STATEMENT FROM DAN RATHER:

Last week, amid increasing questions about the authenticity of documents used in support of a 60 MINUTES WEDNESDAY story about President Bush’s time in the Texas Air National Guard, CBS News vowed to re-examine the documents in question—and their source—vigorously. And we promised that we would let the American public know what this examination turned up, whatever the outcome.

Now, after extensive additional interviews, I no longer have the confidence in these documents that would allow us to continue vouching for them journalistically. I find we have been misled on the key question of how our source for the documents came into possession of these papers. That, combined with some of the questions that have been raised in public and in the press, leads me to a point where—if I knew then what I know now—I would not have gone ahead with the story as it was aired, and I certainly would not have used the documents in question.

But we did use the documents. We made a mistake in judgment, and for that I am sorry. It was an error that was made, however, in good faith and in the spirit of trying to carry on a CBS News tradition of investigative reporting without fear or favoritism.

Please know that nothing is more important to us than people’s trust in our ability and our commitment to report fairly and truthfully.

Glad that earth has finally managed to make contact with CBS. Now if we can just figure out how to get our linguacode to match up with theirs. Anybody have a Universal Translator?

I don’t know how effective such lists are, but at least they are being honest about the status (read: non-existence) of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia.

In recent times, the Saudis have become very conscious of the image problem they have in the West and have been trying to correct it with advertising campaigns, etc. Hopefully, this will further awaken them to the need to get a handle on the culture of paranoia and hatred being fostered in the madrassas and from the minbars of their country.

GET THE STORY.

A reader points to this story on what the U.S. has been doing to help fight the genocide in Sudan. Excerpts:

The significance of the administration’s action cannot be overstated. This marks the first instance that a party to the 1948 Genocide Convention, the most fundamental of all human-rights treaties, has formally charged another party with “genocide” and invoked the convention’s provisions while genocide has been in progress. In the past, the convention and the term “genocide” have been applied only retroactively by state parties, long after the violence ended. Former President Bill Clinton underscored this recently when he apologized for his administration’s inaction to stop the 1994 genocidal massacres of the Tutsis in Rwanda.

[T]he United States is taking the lead in trying to rally the international community to exert pressure on Khartoum, all the while continuing America’s unilateral economic sanctions.

The United States is also providing some 80 percent of the humanitarian aid and other support to keep Darfur’s 1.5 million refugees alive. While many other nations have so far failed to make good on their pledges, the U.S. is exceeding its aid commitment.

The European Union has hedged from using the G-word about Darfur. In the late 90s when it dropped the word “slavery” from the U.N. Human Rights Commission resolution censuring Sudan’s atrocities in the south, the EU representatives argued that such harsh terms have no place in diplomacy. But it was with just such bluntness that President Bush laid blame squarely on the regime back in 2001 for crimes against the southerners (he called the crimes “monstrous” and compared them to the Holocaust).

It is now up to the other members of the Security Council to seize this historic moment. On its response to the U.S. resolution rests the fate of the three African tribes of Darfur — and the world’s solemn promise to act to stop genocide.