Thursday, April 05, 2012


In defence of Samantha Brick

This subject is not my line of country at all but  a claim by Mrs Brick has sparked a huge internet furore so I thought I might add a little more to it.  You can read about it all here or here

Basically, Mrs Brick says that it can sometimes be a handicap to be good looking.  Now she doesn't look remarkably attractive to me but these are matters of taste and it appears that in her experience her looks have caused jealousy among other women and  unwanted attention from men.  I am sure there are many attractive women who would report similarly and I have myself known one very attractive woman who had exactly that problem.  And it was as disturbing to her equilibrium as it apparently is to Mrs Brick.

So what Mrs Brick said seemed  perfectly reasonable and even commonplace to me.

So why the furore?  I guess that you are not supposed to say such things.  It crosses a politically correct boundary. Not only are all men equal but all women are equal in looks too, apparently.  Feminists certainly bridle at displays of feminine pulchritude at times.

I certainly think that people were entitled to say that Mrs Brick is not in fact pretty.  From what I can see, I think her looks are middling myself.  But to condemn and abuse her for raising the subject is egregious and -- I can find no other word for it  -- bitchy.

Mrs Brick comes out of the affair looking (in the sense of character) far better than any of her detractors.






British police investigate local newspaper over claims billboard poster about gypsy site 'incited racial hatred'

Gypsies are very prone to petty crime so disquiet about their  proximity is entirely reasonable



A local newspaper is being investigated by police for allegedly 'inciting racial hatred' over a billboard headline about a proposed gypsy camp.

Officers have handed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) about the Western Mercury's billboard poster - reading 'Gypsies could be on your doorstep' - which had been placed outside newsagents across its circulation area.  The Somerset newspaper has since apologised and removed the 'inappropriate' billboards.

However, the CPS is now deciding whether to press charges after being handed a file compiled by police after they interviewed 'witnesses' following the complaint.

The offending poster was reported to police by local Green Party councillor Tom Leimdorfer after he spotted it outside his local shop in Congresbury, north Somerset.  He said: 'I was horrified when I saw it. It was clearly inflammatory.

'If the headline had been about black people or Muslims it would quite clearly not have been acceptable. So why should this be any different?  'In my ward we have a community of about 200 Romany gypsy residents - some of whom have been here for generations.

'There is a difference between saying gypsy camp planned - which would be factual - and gypsies could be on your doorstep which is connecting with people’s fears.'

However a spokesman for the Campaign Against Political Correctness said: 'I think most people would be horrified to think that something like this could result in criminal charges.

'They have apologised and people should be grown up enough to recognise that. It is concerning that they could be prosecuted for a headline in a newspaper.

'A lot of people might think that resources in the police could be better spent at this time too, rather than investigating this.'

The row erupted over billboards which were placed outside shops in the area on March 22.   The headline related to the front-page story on the Weston Mercury on March 22 relating to proposed gypsy sites on the outskirts of Weston-super-Mare.  A different headline - reading 'Gypsy camps right next door to new homes' - was used in the newspaper, which has not prompted any complaints.

The story concerned proposals by North Somerset Council to persuade developers to build travellers' camps alongside housing developments on the Weston Villages development.

Cllr Leimdorfer, 69, a district councillor for Congresbury, ripped down the poster outside his local shop before calling Avon and Somerset Police to complain under the Race Relations Act - and also reporting himself for theft.

The Weston Mercury, a weekly paper with a circulation of 16,000, apologised and removed they billboard as soon as editors were made aware of the complaint.  They also published a letter from Cllr Leimdorfer in the following week’s edition and printed an apology on page 3 titled ‘Promotional poster’.  It conceded that the wording on the poster was 'inappropriate' and may have 'caused offence'.

Cllr Leimdorfer, who was interviewed by the police, has since said he does not wish the newspaper to be prosecuted.  But despite this, officers have now handed a file over to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will now decide whether to press formal charges.

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: 'On March 22 police recieved a number of complaints about a poster being used to advertise the Weston Mercury.  'Police officers made contact with the newspaper, which had also been contacted by a complainant.  'The newspaper had taken the decision to withdraw its posters with immediate effect.

'They subsequently issued an apology in next week’s edition as well as a letter from the original complainant.  'The matter has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.'

The Weston Mercury, which is owned by the Archant newspaper group, declined to comment on the matter.

SOURCE







Australia: Politically correct court puts toddler  in danger

A MOTHER with a troubled past has won access to her daughter, 2, after a court ruled concerns for the girl's safety had to be balanced against her right to know her indigenous culture.

The girl has been cared for by her non-Aboriginal father since she was five months old, after her Aboriginal mother was admitted to hospital with drug-induced psychosis.

Three other children of the woman, who has a history of drug abuse, violence and mental illness, live with a previous partner and his family.

"(The father) continues to hold many concerns about the mother's mental health and her propensity to abuse a wide variety of substances ... to help her deal with stresses and problems in her life," the Federal Magistrates Court said.  "He believes the mother has a flawed level of insight into the responsibilities of being a parent.

"More importantly, he is fearful there will always remain the possibility the mother will have a relapse of her mental illness and this (could) pose a significant threat to (the girl's) wellbeing, both in a psychological and physical sense."

The mother argued the father was once also a heavy user of cannabis, and was "controlling" and had used a family violence order to shut her out of her girl's life.

The court ordered the mother have access to her daughter for four days a month, rising to six days when she turns three.

Magistrate Stewart Brown said he had reservations about the stability of the mother's home and the durability of her recovery from substance abuse.

"The essential nub of the case is how best to balance (the girl's) need for security and safety ... with her right to maintain and enjoy strong cultural connections to the indigenous peoples to whom she is matrilineally related," Mr Brown said.

"The mother ... argues that (the girl), as an Aboriginal child, needs to be with other relatives who similarly identify, so she can be exposed to strong role models who will assist (her) to understand who she is culturally.  "Given the contemporary history of this country, these are significant and compelling concerns."

Mr Brown said changes to family law in 2006 recognised racism was prevalent, particularly towards Aborigines.

SOURCE





Modern Anti-Semitism Has Found a "Good" Cause

The serial killer in France that shot 3 little children coming out of school, one of them an 8-year-old girl that was grabbed by her hair and shot in the head to make sure she was really dead, just wanted justice. As far as he's concerned, he was "avenging the deaths of Palestinian children," and he did it by murdering some Jews.

Is this some kind of novelty? Not really. For one reason or another, anti-Semitism has been around for more than 2,000 years. But let's not go back that far into history -- in the past century, Jews have suffered discrimination, pogroms, demonic rumors that everyone believed, and of course -- the Holocaust. What's happening today is just another wave in a sea of hatred that has been around for very long.

I'd like to clarify in advance, that I do not mean to underplay Palestinian rights or to say they don't deserve a state, because they most certainly do. But it's very comfortable for some people to overlook the facts and just plain hate Israel for Palestinian suffering. It doesn't seem to matter if the reasons are
solid or not. If you'd like to know what I'm talking about, here are a few examples:

1. It's awful when Palestinian children get killed, but many choose not to understand what's behind the other side of the fence. Hamas uses children as human shields -- it shoots at Israeli cities from schools, hospitals and kindergartens. Hamas teaches toddlers to wear suicide bombs and makes them believe blowing themselves up in public places is noble and holy. These children are used to armed fighting from a very young age, but no one seems to be bothered about children being used as an army. Why?

2. Israeli peace offers have been rejected by the Palestinian leaders time and time again. Generous peace offers for 96 percent of all the territories in question and equal land-swaps for the rest, have been offered to the Palestinian leaders at least two times. Is it really a state they want? Because they could have had one long ago.

3. In 1948, after Israel had been invaded by all its neighboring Arab countries that wanted its annihilation before it was even born, as a result of the war, about 600,000 refugees fled into neighboring Arab countries. At the very same time, about 600,000 Jews were expelled penniless from neighboring Arab countries and settled in Jewish Israel. They never went back or asked for any of their property. The Palestinian refugees, on the other hand, never became citizens in countries such as Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and are being discriminated there by law until today. No one seems to care about their situation.

4. The worst breaches of human rights towards Palestinians are made by their own regime: Gaza is ruled by Sharia law, meaning women can be murdered for the honor of the family, thieves get their arms chopped off, and executions are no big deal. During the years of terrible rivalry between Hamas and PLO, Palestinians were lynched, tortured and executed without trials by their own regime. Their rights are breached in terrible ways in the neighboring countries, as well. But all we ever hear about is how Israel breaches Palestinian human rights, all the while forgetting to mention that their leaders have made Israel their declared enemy.

I would go on, but I think you get the picture. The point is that for many, the Palestinian problem has become a great excuse to hate Jews. It all seems "legitimate," since people tend to blame only Israel for the terrible situation that has become a status quo. The real picture is a lot more complicated, but not many are interested in the details. For some, it's just a lot more comfortable to have a politically
correct reason to hate, than to search for the truth.

It's all just fine, except for two small problems:

1. It doesn't help solve the conflict. If there was more pressure on the Palestinian leaders to accept previous peace offers, for instance, it may have been a lot more efficient.

2. When hatred starts to rise and flood, you never know how far it will go. Three children were murdered in Toulouse this week. Is that the worst that it's going to get?

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCHAUSTRALIAN POLITICSDISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL  and EYE ON BRITAIN (Note that EYE ON BRITAIN has regular posts on the reality of socialized medicine).   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  For readers in China or for times when blogger.com is playing up, there is a mirror of this site  here.

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