People who like the idea of "post-Christian" Europe should think carefully about this poor woman's comments:
Van Gogh's mother was the first to speak inside the austere hall of the crematorium.
"We are here together because our child is dead, murdered," said the frail, grey-haired lady, her voice choking with emotion.
"Theo was respected... A barbarian robbed us of the thing we loved most dearly," she said, her hands shaking.
"This week I felt my life fill with anger and hatred... Let no social worker, psychologist or another member of the thought police tell us we cannot hate, that we have to turn the other cheek." (Subdued mood as hundreds attend funeral of slain Dutch filmmaker, Agence France Presse, November 9 2004)
(Carville) "[In] 2008 there is going to be a significant third- party movement in the United States that is going to combine Naderism and Buchanan-ism. It is going to be anti- immigration, antitrade, very, very cool on military intervention. It would certainly not be great for Democrats to have that." (James Carville and Stanley Greenberg, Christian Science Monitor, May 20, 2004, By David T. Cook)
To which I would add election reform and taking measures against voting fraud will be a major issue.
Personally, I think the way these diverse constituencies can unite is if they both get serious about the need for political decentralization. Issues like abortion and gay rights were never intended to be national. Real decentralization would allow states like Utah to do things like ban abortion—and impose a death penalty for drug trafficking—and other states would find themselves taking a rather different route.
Significant decentralization of immigration policy proved itself in the past to be more restrictive in practice than federalized immigration policy after 1870.
Recently, I snarled at the San Francisco Chronicle for leaving out the most important part of an article they reprinted, omitting that the Sierra Club had been "persuaded" for $100 million by a mysterious benefactor to ignore the environmental effects of excessive immigration.
Correspondence with the paper's reader rep reveals that it was the wire service of the LA Times, the original publisher of the groundbreaking article ("The Man Behind the Land" by Kenneth R. Weiss, October 27, 2004) that had removed the vital revelations. The version which appeared in the Baltimore Sun also left out the immigration angle entirely.
Moneybagman David Gelbaum lives in Newport Beach, so perhaps there was some influence brought to bear on la Times to put a lid on the scandalous fact of a rich Wall Street investor essentially buying the Sierra Club. Or maybe self-censorship just kicked in.
The First Amendment of the Bill of Right's guarantees the right to freedom of speech.
It does not say "except when that speech is construed as offensive."
Clear Channel Communications, which owns radio stations in Milwaukee, apparently disagrees:
"MILWAUKEE — A radio station pulled a conservative talk radio show from the airwaves Monday as Hispanics continued to protest its host and his use of a racial slur."
Michael Belling, "whose show consistently tops the ratings", was covering the election when he said: "You watch the voter turnout on the near south side [of Milwaukee], heavily Hispanic, and compare it to the voter turnout in any other election, and you're going to see every wetback and every other non-citizen out there voting."
According to Maria Monreal-Cameron, president and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin (contact it), Mark Belling's implied hatred should lead to his dismissal. She says:
"He has every right in the world to free speech. He does not have the right to hate speech."
Local CBS affiliate WDJT-TV was also "reviewing" its contract with Belling—but what did you expect from CBS? (WDJT-TV says "we read every message we receive" so send them one).
Of course, the best example of race-based hatred is not Michael Billing's one-time comment. Have a look at the MECha organization—the Moviemiento Estudiantil Chicano de AZTLAN Chicano Student Movement. These people are wild….but their hate-mongering is well protected by the first amendment. For example, here's Miguel Perez of Cal State Northridge MEChA:
"The ultimate ideology is the liberation of Aztlan." [When asked political preference] "Communism would be closest. Non-Chicanos would have to be expelled ...opposition groups would be quashed because you have to keep the power."
Antonio Villaraigosa, former Speaker of the California Assembly and national co-chair of the John Kerry for President Campaign is one of the more high-profile Mechistas. Asked about his affiliation with this Chicano hate group, he replied:
"This is a country of opportunity and this is also a country of free speech."
I hope he remembers his dedication to free speech when it is spoken against him or la raza.
Clear Channel said Mark Belling's program would return. But it's not saying when.
What a disappointment Clear Channel Communications Inc. is. They sacrificed Mark Belling, one of their top-rated radio hosts to appease the gluttonous desires of professional Latino agitators.
Speaking of freedoms, I am free to protest their cowardice…and free to change the channel.
[email Mark Belling—but it's a Clear Channel address. Email Clear Channel CEO Mark Mays. Vote to reinstate Mark Belling]
