Leftist Australian Prime Minister silences critic


A typical Leftist modus operandi. Stalin would understand.

"It was the night a young Lion roared but was seemingly silenced by the might of the public relations machine. A 19-year-old Lions service club volunteer who suggested the PM was "too stingy to buy a $2 scratchie ticket", was gagged within two hours of The Sunday Mail attempts to investigate her claims.

It all began with an email from the teenage fundraiser who was selling $2 footy doubles in the corporate dining area of last weekend's Indigenous All Stars game at Skilled Stadium. "We were going around the tables in the function room with most people buying tickets gladly to support the Lions Club," she said. "I then approached the table where the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, was sitting. Not only was he too stingy to buy a ticket, he wouldn't even look me in the eye and completely ignored me. His was the only table that didn't buy any tickets. I am upset that he would treat a volunteer this way and was disinterested in supporting the Lions club."

Two hours later, after the intervention of the PM's office, the NRL PR machine and the Lions club, the teen changed her mind, saying she'd been reprimanded for speaking out.

SOURCE

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Wisconsin Teacher Accused of Sex Assault of Girl

(Milwaukee, Wisconsin) A 26-year-old teacher and girls soccer coach, Emily Louise Patterson, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old female student. Patterson coached at Brown Deer High School and taught at Mukwonago High School.

Patterson faces one count of sexual assault of a student by school staff.

According to the complaint, Patterson and the girl became friends during the 2008-2009 girls soccer season and became physically involved in January of this year.

Patterson is charged with one incident that allegedly occurred when she spent the night at the girl's house.

According to the complaint, the incident involved Patterson and the girl groping and touching each other outside their clothing.

Authorities were alerted to the alleged relationship when rumors started circulating among Brown Deer High School students.

Cancers in Younger Iranians

(Tehran, Iran) Iranian health experts have raised alarm about an unexplained surge in malignant cancers within the 18-to-25 demographic group.

"Among all types of cancer, stomach cancer has spread the fastest to become most commonly diagnosed cancer case in the country," said the head of the Cancer Institute of Iran, Abdollah Fazlalizadeh.

"Oncologists believe drug consumption, genetic disorders and people's eating habits are the main factors behind the deadly malady," Fazlalizadeh noted. [...]

"Skin cancer is the most diagnosed cancer among Iranian women, with breast cancer taking the second place," said the Iranian oncologist Mohammad-Reza Mir.

As I understand, cancer clusters are not uncommon, although infrequent, and they usually aren't associated with a whole nation. One must wonder if there is some link to the Iran-Iraq War which occurred about the same time as the individuals in the cancer demographic were born.

Muslims use barratry to chill free speech

"Barratry" is bringing repeated legal actions solely to harass. It is an offence in some jurisdictions.

"A federal judge has dismissed an attempt by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to re-file a lawsuit against Air Force special agent P. David Gaubatz and his son Chris, the father-and-son team that investigated and exposed the group's terrorist ties.

Defense lawyers are hailing the decision as a victory over CAIR's alleged plan to "chill" free speech critical of the organization through an avalanche of court cases and legal costs. "We briefed, counter-briefed, we spent thousands of dollars on the case," said Daniel Horowitz, one of the three lawyers for the defense. "Only then did they file this new lawsuit, which would have effectively forced us to start all over."

"But the new lawsuit didn't have anything substantively new," Horowitz told WND. "And yet, that's their whole goal. They know they can't win the case, but they can chill the First Amendment by making it so expensive to speak against them that no one can challenge Saudi-funded CAIR. In the end, they can just keep getting more and more money from overseas and burn out opposition with lawsuits."

Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, however, "denied as moot" CAIR's request to re-file the case. CAIR now has until March 1 to re-file "an appropriate motion for leave to amend."

"The judge looked at papers and said, 'Look, you don't have a right to do this; everything was fully briefed; you had your opportunity,'" Horowitz explained. "In terms of the First Amendment, it's a powerful ruling," Horowitz continued, "because it recognizes that by chilling free speech, you undermine it, even if you lose the case in the end. CAIR was trying to exploit that to the max, and the judge said no."

Source

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Ohio Stimulated at $294,000 Per Job

The Obama administration is trumpeting Ohio jobs created by stimulus money.

Ohio received $220.6 million in stimulus money for sewers and other water-pollution control projects -- the fifth most of any state. But Ohio had by far the largest number of projects, with 274 in 187 communities statewide, officials said.

The state also funded 62 drinking-water projects with $58.5 million in stimulus dollars, including $5 million for a new drinking-water system for Buckeye Lake.

Officials said many of the projects would not be going forward without the stimulus funding, and that combined they are responsible for nearly 750 jobs that otherwise wouldn't be in place.

Now, according to my el-cheapo calculator, each job required more than $294,000 of stimulus money to create. Kind of pricey, eh? Furthermore, the duration of the 750 jobs is not reported but they mostly appear to be short-term. Consequently, it's hard to dispute the contention that the stimulus money won't be doing much stimulating.

Iran Launches Home-Made Destroyer

(Tehran, Iran) According to Iran's state news agencies, the nation launched a new home-made guided missile destroyer today.

The new vessel, called Jamaran, has the capacity to carry about 120 people and is armed with surface-to-air missiles, torpedoes and modern naval cannons, Iran's Press TV reported.

Notably, Iran has been known to exaggerate when boasting of its military capabilities.

Unbelievable: Obama Shifting NASA Mission from Moon to Muslims

President Obama recently announced he would be diverting funds away from NASA's plans to return to the moon, but failed to mention what his plans for the future of NASA might look like.

According to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, President Obama has asked NASA to "find ways to reach out to dominantly Muslim countries," in a push to make the agency a tool of international diplomacy.

The Orlando Sentinel reports: In addition to the nations that most of you usually hear about when you think about the International Space Station, we now have expanded our efforts to reach out to non-traditional partners,” said Bolden, speaking to a lecture hall of young engineering students. Specifically, he talked about connecting with countries that do not have an established space program and helping them conduct science missions. He mentioned new opportunities with Indonesia, including an educational program that examines global climate change."

Canceling the Constellation program already threatens to put the U.S. behind countries like China and Russia. When did Kennedy's once undeterred vision of American space exploration transform into Obama's plan for an international science "welfare" program? When did NASA become a tool of diplomacy and an extended arm of the EPA?

SOURCE

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Homeland Security Loses Guns

(Washington, D.C.) The Department of Homeland Security apparently has a problem with lost firearms.

The problem, outlined in a new federal report, has prompted disciplinary actions and extra training.

Most of the misplaced weapons — including handguns, shotguns and military rifles — were never found. "Most losses occurred because officers did not properly secure firearms," says the Homeland Security inspector general report.

At least 15 of the guns ended up in the hands of gang members, criminals, drug users and teenagers, inspector general Richard Skinner found. His report documented 289 missing firearms from fiscal year 2006 through 2008, although not all were lost because of negligence. Some were lost in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and others were stolen from safes.

The report is the first accounting of guns lost by Homeland Security's 185,000 workers.

Maybe the system didn't work.

Legal Polygamy

According to the Kurdish Herald, polygamy is legal and accepted in the countries indicated in red on the following map.



Legal Polygamy
Although polygamy is a societal norm throughout the Muslim word, it's important to note that the laws governing multiple wives vary from location to location.

Caning of Women in Malaysia

(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) On February 9, three Muslim women were caned at the Kajang Women's Prison after being sentenced in syariah court for engaging in illicit sex.

Reportedly, it's the first time that women have been caned in Malaysia.

It's understandable that women's rights activists have expressed outrage.

All Women's Action Society (Awam) president Sofia Lim Siu Ching said the home ministry needed to explain why the punishment was carried out in secret.

"The expediency and the secrecy reek of bad faith and betray a troubling disregard for public opinion on an issue that has drawn attention around the globe," she said in a statement Thursday.

Sisters in Islam (SIS) executive director Hamidah Marican said the three cases constituted further discrimination against Muslim women in Malaysia, and asked if the men involved in these cases were similarly caned.

"It violates constitutional guarantees of equality and non-discrimination as the whipping of women under Syariah criminal offences legislation contradicts civil law where women are not punishable by caning under Section 289 of the Criminal Procedure Code," she said.

In response, the Malaysian Muslim Lawyers Association (PPMM) President Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar said that the women protesters are ignorant. He explained that syariah caning is not really a bad thing.

"It must be stressed again that the syariah caning is different from the civil caning. The syariah caning does not cause injury to the offender compared with the civil caning which leaves a scar," he said.

The debate regarding the caning of women remains heated in Malaysia.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Special Needs Teacher and Special Needs Student

(Indianapolis, Indiana) A 40-year-old special needs teacher at Pike High School, Taine Abdullah, was arrested yesterday for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male student.

Reportedly, the school system was alerted to the allegation on Tuesday by a student. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was then notified and Abdullah was relieved of her teaching duties.

The situation continues to be investigated by Sex Crimes detectives and the school system.

Abdullah was booked into custody. A bail amount wasn't reported.

British Hospital Going Private

(UK) Here is a surprising report about a hospital in England, home of the much-heralded socialized health care system. It appears the National Health Service (NHS), for the first time, will be turning a big district hospital over to the private sector.

A debt-ridden NHS hospital is to be taken over and run by a private company in what will be a groundbreaking departure for healthcare provision in England. [my bold]

Hinchingbrooke Hospital, a district general hospital in Cambridgeshire, will be run by one of five private sector organisations from next year, after the withdrawal of the only NHS organisation bidding for the contract.

Stephen Dunn, director of strategy for the East of England health authority, told The Times that no other bids were being considered for the next stage of the vetting process. He said that the decision should not be regarded as controversial, given the pressures on the NHS, and would set an important precedent for the future financing and development of high-quality health services. He said that several other health authorities had approached him for information about how East of England was running the selection process.

Selected from five possible candidates, the successful bidder on the seven-to-ten-year contract will be announced in October. Interestingly, an NHS trust pulled out of the bidding, indicating it would cost time and money and they had better things to do with their time.

Companion posts at The Jawa Report and SocGlory.

How did religion evolve?

The article below is very limited. The authors rightly say that basic concepts of right and wrong have often previously been shown to be largely hardwired (inborn). They also rightly see that religion reinforces and refines moral and ethical ideas but does not cause them. So the authors only achieve a negative: They exclude morality and a need for co-operation as a reason for religious beliefs. The only positive conclusion they have to offer is the very vague statement that religion is a "byproduct of pre-existing cognitive functions". That tells us precisely nothing, it seems to me. So let me answer the question. I don't think it is hard at all. I would say that religious beliefs are a product of a very basic and distinctive human trait: A hunger to understand -- in particular, a hunger to understand the world about us. And supernatural beliefs answer questions that otherwise lack answers. Is that clearer than a "byproduct of pre-existing cognitive functions"?

Religion evolved as a byproduct of pre-existing mental capacities, and not because it fulfilled a specific function of its own -- though it can facilitate co-operation in society, a study concludes. The new study, published Feb. 8 in the research journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, takes a somewhat different track, exploring the link between morality and religion.

Some scholars claim that religion evolved as an adaptation to solve the problem of co-operation among genetically unrelated individuals, while others propose that religion emerged as a byproduct of pre-existing cognitive capacities," said study co-author Ilkka Pyysiainen of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies in Finland.

Pyysiainen and a co-author, evolutionary psychologist Marc Hauser of Harvard University, reviewed the two competing theories using the principles of what they call experimental moral psychology. "Religion is linked to morality in different ways," said Hauser. "For some, there is no morality without religion, while others see religion as merely one way of expressing one's moral intuitions."

But past studies, the authors said, show that people of differing religion or no religion show similar moral judgments when asked to comment on unfamiliar moral dilemmas. That suggests intuitive judgments of right and wrong work independently of explicit religious commitments, the researchers argued. "This supports the theory that religion did not originally emerge as a biological adaptation for co-operation, but evolved as a separate byproduct of pre-existing cognitive functions that evolved from non-religious functions," said Pyysiainen.

"However, although it appears as if co-operation is made possible by mental mechanisms that are not specific to religion, religion can play a role in facilitating and stabilizing cooperation between groups." This might help to explain the complex association between morality and religion, the scientists added. "It seems that in many cultures religious concepts and beliefs have become the standard way of conceptual moral intuitions. Although, as we discuss in our paper, this link is not a necessary one, many people have become so accustomed to using it, that criticism targeted at religion is experienced as a fundamental threat to our moral existence," said Hauser.

SOURCE (Journal abstract follows)

The origins of religion : evolved adaptation or by-product?

By Ilkka Pyysiainen and Marc Hauser

Considerable debate has surrounded the question of the origins and evolution of religion. One proposal views religion as an adaptation for co-operation, whereas an alternative proposal views religion as a by-product of evolved, non-religious, cognitive functions. We critically evaluate each approach, explore the link between religion and morality in particular, and argue that recent empirical work in moral psychology provides stronger support for the by-product approach. Specifically, despite differences in religious background, individuals show no difference in the pattern of their moral judgments for unfamiliar moral scenarios. These findings suggest that religion evolved from pre-existing cognitive functions, but that it may then have been subject to selection, creating an adaptively designed system for solving the problem of cooperation.

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Leftist hate speech

Comments are enabled on all my blogs so almost every day I get a comment from a Leftist on one or another of them. I often think I should pass them for publication just to show what the Leftist minds out there are like but anger and abuse are so uninteresting that I always just delete them. Anger and abuse seems to be the limit of the talents of Leftist commenters.

The abuse can be amusing at times though. I am, for instance, often accused of being a Christian bigot. Seeing that I am an atheist, the lack of insight in such comments is remarkable.

Sometimes I am told that I am just an old man who cannot keep up with the modern world and resist change for that reason. I am now 66 but have been a conservative since my early teens so that is a bad guess too.

And it is amazing the number of organizations that I am "in the pay" of. That I am just a retired academic sitting in front of my computer in an upstairs room in a backstreet of a city that most people have never heard of doesn't seem to be envisaged. The last organization I was "in the pay" of was the University of New South Wales in Sydney in 1983, at which time I retired from academic employment. After that I just developed my business interests -- with a degree of success that would enrage leftists even more if they knew about it.

And, of course, the antisemites are often out, accusing me of being a dupe of the Jews etc. Since I have written at great length about Jews -- not all of it complimentary (See the sidebar of DISSECTING LEFTISM) -- and also about the history, psychology and sociology of antisemitism, I think I am at least not a "dupe". I read the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" in my teens and even then thought they were rather bizarre. Yet "The Protocols" are the Bible of antisemites (hugely popular in the Middle East) and I am often told that I should read them.

And so it goes. What I have listed is just a tiny sample of the hate-filled comments that I receive. Hate is really what the Left is about. Other conservative bloggers also occasionally mention the unreasoning hate they get from Leftists. Michelle Malkin seems to get it in spades.

That people who are so brimming over with hate are always alert to find something in conservatives that they can characterize as hate is, I suppose, understandable. It deflects attention from what they are.

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Rhode Island Town Fires All Union Teachers

(Central Falls, Rhode Island) The Central Falls School Superintendent Frances Gallo presented a plan to correct abysmal performance in the school system. Reportedly, the high school has a graduation rate under 50 percent and half of the students at the high school are failing all their classes.

Gallo's plan calls for the "teachers at a local high school to work 25 minutes longer per day, each lunch with students once in a while, and help with tutoring." Unfortunately, the teachers' union had a cow, refusing to accept the onerous demands placed on the teachers.

Reacting to the union's rejection of the proposed changes, Superintendent Gallo fired every teacher and administrator at the school. The decision has deeply divided the community.

Students and adult supporters have expressed solidarity with Superintendent Gallo and her plan. A rally was held Wednesday in downtown Providence.

Bahaba Big Bucks

(Guangdong, China) A endangered fish believed to have medicinal properties has been caught and sold for more than $500,000.

The 135-kilogram Chinese Bahaba (Bahaba taipingensis), the first fish of its species caught in at least a year, was thought to be more than 50 years old.

A fishery in Guangdong Zhanjiang purchased the fish for 3.45 million yuan.

According to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the Bahaba's swim bladder "is highly appreciated for its medicinal properties and as a general tonic for health."

Its use in traditional Chinese medicine resulted in the species being heavily overfished, to the point where any catch is widely reported in China's media.

With the high bounty on the head of the fish, it's probably not going to survive much longer.

Counselor Gets Jail for Sex with Juvenile

(Baltimore, Maryland) In October 2009, a 17-year-old juvenile sex offender escaped from the New Directions treatment program and subsequently spent the night in the home of a female counselor, Tyra M. Greenfield.

The youth was later returned to custody and Greenfield, 26, was arrested for child sexual abuse and harboring a fugitive.

The circumstances of the escape were surprising to police, said Lt. James DeWees, commander of the Golden Ring state police barracks, who investigated the incident.

"Very rarely do you ever think that someone inside a facility like that would go to the lengths that they went to, to assist him in escaping and then harboring and to ultimately be charged with a sex crime at the end of it," DeWees said.

Earlier today (2/17/10), Tyra Greenfield pleaded guilty to engaging in sex with a confined child and was sentenced in accordance with a plea agreement. Circuit Judge Kathleen Cox gave Greenfield one year in the Baltimore County Detention Center and three years probation upon her release.

Bishop Declares Hospital No Longer Catholic

(Portland, Oregon) The Diocese of Baker has decertified, as no longer Catholic, central Oregon's largest medical center.

Baker Bishop Robert F. Vasa said St. Charles Medical Center in Bend "gradually moved away" from church ethical and religious standards and can no longer be called Catholic.

"As bishop, I am responsible for attesting to the full Catholicity of the hospitals in my diocese, a responsibility which I take very seriously, and I have reached the conclusion that I can no longer attest to the Catholicity of St. Charles," Bishop Vasa wrote in the Feb. 18 issue of the Catholic Sentinel, diocesan newspaper for Portland and Baker.

The main point of contention is tubal ligation, a form of permanent female reproductive sterilization.

According to the bishop, the St. Charles board of directors believes that Catholic doctrine is merely a suggestion and, therefore, optional. Nevertheless, the bishop said that the medical center can keep the name and the cross on top of the building. Heh.

Court: Facebook gripes are free speech

Excellent verdict:

"A former Florida high school student who was suspended by her principal after she set up a Facebook page to criticize her teacher is protected constitutionally under the First Amendment, a federal magistrate ruled.

U.S. Magistrate Barry Garber’s ruling, in a case viewed as important by Internet watchers, denied the principal’s motion to dismiss the case and allows a lawsuit by the student to move forward. …

Katherine Evans, now 19 and attending college, was suspended in 2007 from Pembroke Pines Charter High School after she used her home computer to create a Facebook page titled, ‘Ms. Sarah Phelps is the worst teacher I’ve ever met.’”

Source

I hope this costs the school a motza. Let's hope the principal can be sued personally.

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Pro-Abortion License Plate

(Richmond, Virginia) The Virginia General Assembly has voted to create a pro-abortion license plate with proceeds going to Planned Parenthood.

The Senate voted 26-8 to create the “Trust Women/Respect Choice” plates.

After the first 1,000 plates are sold, $15 from each $25 plate would go to Planned Parenthood.

The House voted 77-22 for the plate, but it diverted the proceeds to an unused fund that supports women with unplanned pregnancies.

Frankly, I find it disturbing that the State of Virginia is to provide fundraising for Planned Parenthood. Since when did fundraising for an activist group become a government function?