The cost of politically correct policing

From Time Magazine, "Crimes of the Century":

His surname is now synonymous with "monster." Yet at least 17 times, Jeffrey Dahmer was able to get young men and boys to come home with him. In one incident, on the night of May 27, 1991 in Milwaukee, a 14-year-old managed to escape and wandered into the streets with Dahmer in pursuit. When the cops started asking questions, Dahmer was able to convince the police that it was merely a lovers' quarrel. The police conclusion: "Intoxicated Asian, naked male. Was returned to his sober boyfriend."

The next time a cop answers a 911 call, will he remember Konerak Sinthasomphone or will he remember Henry Louis "Skip" Gates?

It turns out Harry Reid just wants the right Democrat - not a Black one

What was that principle again? Anyone appointed by Blagojevich would be too "tainted" to serve in the Senate. Unless, of course, they're the right Democrats,and they don't happen to be African Americans.

Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones.

Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Sources say Senate majority leader Harry Reid pushed against Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. , and suggested Gov. Rod Blagojevich appoint state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth to President-elect Obama's vacant Senate seat.

Sources say the Senate majority leader pushed against Jackson and Davis — both democratic congressmen from Illinois — and against Jones — the Illinois Senate president who is the political godfather of President-elect Barack Obama — because he did not believe the three men were electable. He feared losing the seat to a Republican in a future election.

Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero confirmed that Reid (D-Nev.) and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) — the new chief of the Senate Democratic political operation — each called Blagojevich’s campaign office separately Dec. 3. Sources believe that at least portions of the phone conversations are on tape.

Jesse Jackson jr., Danny Davis, Emil Jones, and now Roland Harris, are all African Americans. What does Reid have against appointing an African American as a fellow Senator?

Meanwhile, Burris is not going to quietly let the Democrats bar the door to the Senate chamber:

In a letter to Harry Reid, Dick Durbin and Dianne Feinstein, a lawyer for Roland Burris forwards his formal appointment documents.

"I write to ensure his smooth transition," writes Timothy Wright III, the lawyer, citing Marbury v. Madison as precedent, a case in President Thomas Jefferson tried to stop appointments made by his predecessor, John Adams.

"Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Marbury v. Madison over 200 years ago, the law of the land has been that an appointment is complete and irrevocable once the last act required by the person vested with the appointment power is performed," Wright argues.

I previously asked the question somewhat facetiously, but now... just what are the Democrats going to do when Burris shows up on Tuesday?

A blow for human rights in Canada

Mark Steyn gave National Review Online an update on Canada's Human Rights Commission, an organization which was not interested in human rights, particularly the right of free speech.

...earlier this month, over 99 per cent of delegates to the Conservative Party convention voted to abolish Section 13 (the "hate speech" provision) of the Canadian Human Rights Act, and a brave principled Liberal, Keith Martin, renewed his private member's motion in the House of Commons to do the same.

This morning, the CHRC issued the so-called Moon Report on free-speech issues. Most of us expected it to be a whitewash. Instead, Professor Moon says:

1. The first recommendation is that section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) be repealed so that the CHRC and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) would no longer deal with hate speech, in particular hate speech on the Internet.

This is a great tribute to what Ezra calls his campaign of "denormalization" of Canada's Orwellian "human rights" racket. They're not yet ready to throw in the towel completely, but it's fluttering limply on the edge of the ring. Canada may be preparing to rejoin the ranks of free nations.

Meanwhile, The Spring City Chronicle wonders if we may need some deliverance here from the speech police.

This guy sounds like a racist redneck, fine, bad man. Two things bother me: First is this notion that you can be charged with a hate crime without any underlying other crime having been committed. I can rationalize a hate crime enhancer which would increase the penalty for another crime, but that wasn’t the case here. Refuse him service, kick him out of the bar and have him arrested for disorderly conduct if he doesn’t go, but charging that words prove someone’s beliefs is, to me, charging someone with a “thought crime”. That seems more than a little Orwellian.

When their fall-back position is false cries of racism

Stu Levitan and Brian Fraley mix it up on WisOpinion the Show this week, and I have an analysis of the exchange over at FoxPolitics.net.

But Levitan can’t help himself. When Fraley criticizes former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, Levitan comments (at 12:20), “It’s interesting that you would cite Louis Butler right after I talked about racism.” When Fraley calls him on it and asks if he’s not allowed to criticize African American politicians because he is Caucasian, Levitan responds that of course Fraley can talk about African American politicians (thanks for the permission), “But it’s interesting.”

I think its interesting that the political left is already intellectually exhausted by what has been a rather shallow political campaign season so far. You'd think they would have more to say than false cries of "racism."

Can we do IQ tests to test this?

In the middle of sheer puffery for the long-exiting Waukesha Schools Superintendent Dave Schmidt* on the Waukesha NOW website, one of Laura Dritlein's interviewees strays revealingly into politically incorrect waters. Lillie Wilson, president of the Waukesha Branch of the NAACP, let's her obsession with identity politics do the talking.

Schmidt brought sincerity to Martin Luther King Day celebrations and got the schools involved. Schmidt also garnered the support of other superintendents in Waukesha County to attend the NAACP Freedom Dinner. "With his support, we knew we could get the support of the other superintendents," said Wilson.

"All ethnic groups learn at a different pace. Schmidt believed in finding out what the students need. He realized you have to zero in on the student.

I'm glad Schmidt's acceptance of a dinner invite left such a memorable impression.

But surely the newsworthy part of the article is that the head of local NAACP believes "All ethnic groups learn at a different pace." Pray tell, at what pace do African American learn? Or Hispanic students? How about the white children? Orientals? Should she be asking for separate classrooms by race to accomodate this phenomena? Was she suddenly comfortable with the one research work (that I am aware of) on the subject, or is Charles Murray still taboo?

Or can we dismiss her as just another racial politics crank?


*"Concrete things such as opening new schools, a planetarium and a pool would define his legacy."

Equalizing the races in Green Bay

GREEN BAY (AP) - Police, school and city representatives signed a historic mediation agreement Thursday designed to improve race relations - the first of its kind in the state.

The voluntary agreement includes pledges to boost minority recruitment and hiring in the police and fire departments, city administration and the Green Bay Area Public School District. It took two years to reach the agreement, which is the first citywide agreement signed in Wisconsin, said Kenith Bergeron, a conciliation specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service in Chicago.

As part of this pledge, the Green Bay Packers promise to add more white players as running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs to equalize the salary disparity.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Angela McGlowan

Yes, I know there are two of the same ads running on top of each other. Two different ad buys are overlapping for a day. For those of youwho are tempted to click the ads (please do, of course), you might be interested that Kathryn Lopez interviewed her for National Review.

Kathryn Jean Lopez: What’s the point calling people names like “bamboozler”?

Angela McGlowan: I decided that it was time to stand up and call a spade a spade. For 50 years liberals have conned and used blacks, Latinos, and women into supporting an agenda that sells them out and betrays their values. We’ve become the dupes of the Democrat party. Liberals have gotten away with their civil-rights shell game for too long. They’ve boxed blacks, Latino, and women in to their predetermined pens because without a stranglehold on these three groups Democrats can’t win elections. So I decided to call them what they are: bamboozlers.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com