Va Tech poet exploits massacre

I was really hoping that people would hold off of any criticism and exploitation until at least a month after this event, but it appears that people can't help but look for opportunities to exploit... even 1 day after the largest fatal shooting in our nation's history..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/17/AR2007041701132.html?hpid=topnews
Washington post (little mention)


Pay dirt

Her words silenced the room on a topic that silenced the nation. Famous Poet Nikki Giovanni was at today’s memorial service helping a nation come to grips what the deadliest mass shooting in modern history.

“We are Virginia Tech. We are sad today and we will be sad for quite awhile. WE are not moving on, we are embracing our mourning. We are Virginia Tech. We are strong enough to know when to cry and sad enough to know we must laugh again. We are Virginia Tech. We do not understand this tragedy. We know we did not deserve it but neither does a child in Africa dying of AIDS, but neither do the invisible children walking the night to avoid being captured by a rogue army. Neither does the baby elephant watching his community be devastated for ivory; neither does the Appalachian infant in the killed in the middle of the night in his crib in the home his father built with his own hands being run over by a boulder because the land was destabilized. No one deserves a tragedy. We are Virginia Tech. The Hokier Nation embraces our own with open heart and hands to those who offer their hearts and minds. We are strong and brave and innocent and unafraid. We are better than we think, not quite what we want to be. We are alive to the imagination and the possibility we will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears, through all this sadness. We are the Hokies. We will prevail, we will prevail. We are Virginia Tech. "

Put the blame where it lies: Criminals

It's slightly old news, but reading it is a breath of fresh air. It's comforting to know the whole world hasn't gone mad.

Originally Posted by Dave Markowitz

From the Philadelphia Inquirer|Letters.

...We have to stop pointing the finger everywhere but at the very people who prey on us each day. Over time we have allowed our value system to erode. We refuse to hold people accountable for their actions and constantly make excuses for their inexcusable behavior. The incessant cry for tougher gun laws is a good example. Until we're ready to strictly enforce the current laws there is no reason for tougher ones. . . .

Joseph Fox

Chief of Detectives

Philadelphia Police Department

Philadelphia

PBS values $ over fair reporting

Unfortunately, I first found out about PBS' new series (America at a Crossroads) when I learned that they've decided to cut the one segment that would've set this documentary apart from the rest, the clash between the fundamentalist Muslims and the moderate Muslims of the Western World.

Arizona Republic: Silencing Muslim moderates

The segment was titled, Islam vs. Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center. By and large, the clashes it depicted involved people like [Dr. Zuhdi] Jasser condemning violence perpetrated in the name of Islam, and fundamentalist imams condemning the ...[moderates] of the world as false Muslims.

The producers cite contexual issues as the main cause for pulling the segment, but the truth is a little more nefarious.

Then, the PBS producers hired a five-member team of consultants to review all the segments of the Crossroads series - among them a university professor who teaches a course on Islam in the United States.

That academic . . . screened a cut of Islam vs. Islamists for a group of Nation of Islam leaders - a rather serious breach of journalism protocol, considering that the Nation of Islam was a major part of Burke's Islam vs. Islamists investigation. According to an e-mail from McCloud to Burke, "These representatives (of the Nation of Islam) were outraged at the implications here and assert that if this airs, they will promptly pursue litigation."

But that's not the end of the story.

Apparently, the producer and one of the moderate Muslims in the segment are out of the closet conservatives. (Gasp!) PBS is funded by the American public via mandatory donation (i.e. your federal income tax), so as far as I can figure with the Democratic majority they don't want to hurt any feelings and risk their main source of funding, the United States Government.

The newest reports are that PBS cancelled the show on political grounds.

The producer of a tax-financed documentary on Islamic extremism claims his film has been dropped for political reasons from a television series that airs next week...

Key portions of the documentary focus on Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser of Phoenix and his American Islamic Forum for Democracy, a non-profit organization of Muslim Americans who advocate patriotism, constitutional democracy and a separation of church and state.

..."I was ordered to fire my two partners (who brought me into this project) on political grounds," Burke said in a complaint letter to PBS and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...

It appears that life and PBS isn't without a sense of irony.

Burke wrote that his documentary depicts the plight of moderate Muslims who are silenced by Islamic extremists, adding, "Now it appears to be PBS and CPB who are silencing them."

MSNBC rules 1st Amendment Unconstitutional

MSNBC announced last night that they'd be pulling Don Imus from their lineup as a direct result of the backlash resulting from derogatory and offensive comments that he had made earlier regarding the Rutgers Women's basketball team.

MSNBC's action came after a growing list of sponsors - including American Express Co. (AXP), Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), Staples Inc. (SPLS), Procter & Gamble Co. (PG), and General Motors Corp. (GM) - said they were pulling ads from Imus' show for the indefinite future.

Now let me preface this by saying that I don't agree with what Don Imus had said. Moreover I do think it's offensive and shouldn't be defended, but that is not my issue with this.

We've seen Rosie O'Donnel speak some pretty offensive things recently. In the last few weeks she's defended a convicted and confessing terrorist, said that the U.S. government has blown up the twin towers, claiming that the British were directly responsible for Iran kidnapping their sailors, and just today she said something sensible.

...Rosie said the next step is the "thought police"...

Later she was quoted as saying,

"... if it impedes on free speech in America, democracy is at stake. Because democracy is based on freedom of speech and freedom of the press. So we really have to worry about that in this country. "

I don't think I'd ever find myself saying this, but I wholeheartedly agree with Rosie.

America is treading down a slippery slope. Limiting even offensive free speech is still limiting free speech.

If we as a nation will allow the censorship of free speech in the name of being offensive where do we draw the line?

I've seen MSNBC's program Imus in The Morning once or twice. Guess what, I couldn't watch him for more than a minute or two because frankly, his program was neither interesting nor entertaining. That's the way it should work. Let the people decide.

Do you all remember when the FCC could only fine you for profanity on network television and the public airwaves?

But like so many other things this is being used by those that don't value the constitution for their own purposes.

Rev. Jesse Jackson took the opportunity to comment on the lack of ethnic diversity at the radio station, "Imus is on 1,040 hours a week and yet they have virtually no black show hosts." Liberal pundits like Keith Olbermann have jumped on the opportunity to fan the flames and have called for the firing of their political opponents. Likewise, conservative bloggers have jumped on the bandwagon calling for limiting the free speech of their opponents, people like Rosie O'Donnel.

My point is simply this: you will never agree with everything you hear, but don't be alarmed it's always been that way in free societies. In fact it's the one thing that makes America great.

We should be very concerned when people think that the 1st Amendment is only valid as long as no one gets offended.

Preliminary Blog up!

Ah that's much better.

I'm far less constrained by the cumbersome templates and html of other blog sites. I'm still currently in the design phase of my blog construction, so I'm taking recommendations for my site design.

Tell me what you think... what do you like? What don't you like? What do you wish I had? What could I do without?

Let me have it.