Thursday, January 12, 2017



A confused theologian thinks you can defend pluralism by attacking it

Rev. Bird has got a screed published by Australia's public broadcaster which is a rather good example of the Leftist tendency to abuse words.  He first condemns the pluralism that actually exists in Australia -- with voices like those of Pauline Hanson and Cory Bernardi -- so apparently wants to shut them up.  But he then says that we need to defend our pluralism.  But he is the one who is attacking it!  I suppose such addled thinking is what we have to expect of a theologian.  He probably thinks the doctrine of the Holy Trinity (1+1+1 =1) makes sense too.  Excerpt below


We are at risk in Australia of creating a political climate where extremists like Holland's anti-immigration activist Geert Wilders or Greece's communist leader Dimitris Koutsoumpas are electable, writes Mike Bird. We must rise to defend our pluralism.

Burning anger has, lamentably, become the dominating feature of the Australian political climate.

Walking through Melbourne's Brunswick recently, I noticed Sex Party signs that say "Tax the Church" — trying to create the impression that all churches are contemptible multi-million dollar mega-complexes built on the moral bankruptcy of a televangelist.

Meanwhile, Liberal MPs Cory Bernardi and George Christensen are reportedly set to attend a dinner to raise funds for an anti-Islam and anti-immigration group called the Q-Society, whose views can be easily characterised as xenophobic.

How did this happen? How did we come to the point where disdain for others was the new normal in Australian politics?

The rancorous debates over same-sex marriage, immigration, refugees, and climate change, combined with people's fatigue with the two-party system, has created the perfect storm for some political monster to emerge from the abyss of communal fragmentation and political opportunism.

Who's laughing now?

I recoil at the idea of an anti-immigration party in the Senate just as much as I fear the possibility of the Sex Party ever having the balance of power in the Senate.

I shudder when I think of the prospect of the Greens' Lee Rhiannon or Pauline Hanson as president of the Senate, holding ministerial office, or even — heaven forbid — the office of prime minister.

SOURCE





Muslim girls MUST swim alongside boys during school lessons in Switzerland after the country wins legal fight with Turkish migrant parents

Muslim students will now have to take part in mixed-gender swimming lessons, even after the European Court of Human Rights said that religious freedoms were being interfered with.

Switzerland won a case at the ECHR on Tuesday after a ruling said that authorities were justified in saying that mixed-gender swimming lessons were part of a 'full school curriculum' and the children's 'successful integration' into society.

The case was brought on by two Swiss nationals of Turkish origin who wouldn't send their teenage daughters to compulsory mixed-gender lessons, according to the BBC.

While the ECHR did say that religious freedoms were being interfered with in the lessons, judges said unanimously that the interference did not amount to a violation.

The ECHR said in a statement that the refusal to exempt girls from swimming lessons 'had been an interference with the applicants' right to their freedom of religion'.

The law involved with the right for freedom of religion, however, was made 'to protect foreign pupils from any form of social exclusion,' the ECHR said in a statement.

The court said that schools are important for social integration.

Exemptions, the ECHR said, are 'justified only in very exceptional circumstances'.

'Accordingly, the children's interest in a full education, thus facilitating their successful social integration according to local customs and mores, prevailed over the parents' wish to have their children exempted from mixed swimming lessons,' the court said. 

The court said that 'very flexible arrangements' have been offered, including allowing the girls to use a girls-only changing room and letting them wear burkinis during lessons instead of traditional swimwear.  

Education officials said that exemptions from swimming lessons were only available to girls who had reached puberty.

The Swiss nationals' daughters had not reached puberty when their parents kept them from swimming lessons.

In 2010, the parents had to pay a fine of almost €1,300 (£1,100) 'for acting in breach of their parental duty'.

At the time, the parents said the fine was a violation of their human rights, particularly article nine of the European Convention on Human Right. Article nine covers the right of freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

In 2012, Switzerland's highest court in Lausanne ruled that the obligation to attend mixed-gender swimming lessons was not a violation on religious freedom. 

SOURCE






Black Freddie Gray Prosecutor Faces Civil Charges after Conducting an ‘Independent Investigation’

the Baltimore state attorney at the center of the Freddie Gray fiasco, will face civil charges. After the criminal case against the police officers fell apart, five of the six officers filed a lawsuit against Mosby and Assistant Sheriff Samuel
Refusing her claim of prosecutorial immunity, the judge reasoned that “Plaintiffs’ malicious prosecution claims relate to her actions when functioning as an investigator and not as a prosecutor.”

The Baltimore Sun noted how Mosby’s decision to launch her own independent investigation had already helped her prosecution of the officers fail, since prosecutors “had to turn over documents that would normally be protected from the evidence discovery process.” It’s safe to say that the risk of conducting her own investigation has not yielded a reward.

This is an unusual trial for a state attorney to be facing, but Mosby’s aggressive and seemingly political tactics — such as her appearance onstage at a Prince concert honoring Gray’s death — give reason for suspicion about her actions and motives.

The criticisms of Mosby’s handling of the case are too numerous to recount, but many who followed the events in Baltimore alleged that Mosby’s actions constituted extreme or even gross negligence. Former deputy state’s attorney Page Croyder wrote in the Baltimore Sun that Mosby’s decision to charge the officers a mere two weeks after the incident “reflects either incompetence or an unethical recklessness.”

A George Washington University law professor also filed a complaint that she violated conduct rules. Even Democratic Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake accused Mosby of rushing to charge the officers for political reasons.

This latest case is the beginning of yet another chapter in the court drama that started when Mosby used Gray’s death to enter the limelight. But now she will be the one defending her actions during that dark hour for the city of Baltimore.

SOURCE





CBS radio deceptively flips races of Chicago Facebook Live torturers, victim



By now you’ve heard about the four black Chicago teenagers who kidnapped a mentally disabled white teen and tortured him on a Facebook Live video stream. The four attackers have each been charged with a hate crime, felony aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and are being held without bail.

Again: the attackers were black, the victim white. But you wouldn’t know that from this Thursday morning CBS Radio News report on the incident. In fact, the report leads you to believe the exact opposite:

    The viral video of a beating and knife attack in Chicago suggests the assault had racial overtones. CBS’s Dean Reynolds tells us the victim is described as a mentally-challenged teenager.

    In the video he is choked and repeatedly called the n-word. His clothes are slashed and he is terrorized with a knife. His alleged captors repeatedly reference Donald Trump. Police are holding four people in connection with the attack.

As you can see, the report completely fails to mention the races of the involved parties — and heavily implies that the attackers were white and the victim was black:

    The report is technically correct, but widely misleading. By noting the attackers used the n-word during a racially-motivated attack while “referencing” Donald Trump, the clear implication is that the victim was black and his attackers were racist Trump fans.

    The n-word was indeed used to refer to the victim, but only in the more neutral sense that is often used in black vernacular. Omitted from the report are details that would [have] corrected that misapprehension.

Also left out of the report? The fact that the attackers yelled “f*** white people.”

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, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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