Archive for the ‘internet/free speech’ Category

“Where is your God now?”

Posted: October 8, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech
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Calvary aprox 29 AD:

He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God

New Hampshire Aug. 4, 2008:

The same officer reappeared and arrested Frost and Jayson Gardner for being too loud. While in custody, the police asked the men, “Where is your God now? There’s no God behind these walls.”

Well as you can guess there is now a lawsuit. Here is more from the ADF’s press release concerning their suit:

“Christians shouldn’t be arrested for expressing their beliefs. Arresting someone simply because he chooses to exercise his First Amendment rights in a public place is unconstitutional,” said ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco. “These young men wanted to tell those who passed by about their faith. They were singled out and arrested for sharing their faith and worshiping God while much noisier activities have not undergone the same scrutiny. It is our hope that this suit will result in a more properly worded state statute.”

Well this is part of the job description:

If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin; but as it is they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me also hates my Father. If I had not done works among them that no one else ever did, they would not have sin; but as it is, they have seen and hated both me and my Father. John 15:18-24

So I guess those two guys are in good company.

Oh and an fyi to lgf see how easy it is to say that you are quoting a press release?

When you have the Charleston Gazette’s editorial board behind you…

Posted: October 8, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
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…then you are really doing well.

Congratulations Charles you’ve managed to get your slanderous attack on Robert Stacy McCain actually repeated in a Newspaper in Charleston West Va.

Now Don Surber writes for a paper in the same city (Charleston daily mail) so far be it from me to deride the state but I suspect that this was based on the clip from Rachel Maddow via LGF now that’s sourcing for you!

So to try to score a cheap shot against Sarah Palin they have committed an actionable offense. Once they repeated that claim in print and online it became so. And since the paper is on the net so if it’s picked up by a paper or a blogger in the UK. Robert Stacy and co might even choose to sue under British Libel laws.

Robert Stacy has already taken the first step demanding a retraction:

Over the years, this malicious campaign against my reputation has metastasized spectacularly on the Internet, as individuals and organizations with various political or personal motives have elaborated and repeated them. Some of the original sources for these accusations (e.g., a column by Michelangelo Signorile) contained factual errors, which have been incorporated into the urban-legend mythology, producing a Gordian Knot of non-fact that is not worth the effort it would take to unravel it. Like ancient Alexander, however, I am prepared to swing the sword. Retract, please.

These charges have, as I say, taken on an Internet life of their own. However, never before have they been published in a print newspaper. Whatever malice against the former governor of Alaska inspired your publisher, editors and writers to undertake this false and dishonorable guilt-by-association smear, it was a most foolish blunder. Retract, please.

Congratulations Charles you now have a chance to make Robert Stacy a fair amount of change and to have your charges refuted in a court of law and it will likely not cost you a cent. Then again if he is already going to court one more person in the doc won’t make a difference will it? You will make a real great witness at the trial. I suggest deleting those Archives asap.

Kevin Jennings, Harry Hay, NAMBLA and feet of clay

Posted: October 7, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
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You might not see as much of him at lgf but Zombie is still doing the work that used to earn him praise and links by Charles. He is an admirer of Kevin Jennings work but he does some digging and doesn’t like what he sees concerning his praise of Harry Hay:

How could you not know any of this? What were you thinking when you praised Hay in public? Aren’t you by your own self-description an expert in the history of the gay rights movement? How else would you know the obscure details of Harry Hay’s activist career, which you mentioned in your speech? I’m no expert myself, but Harry Hay’s proclivities were quite well-known, and the photos, links and quotes presented below were uncovered after a mere 30 minutes of searching.

Yes, I know that many mainstream media outlets showered praise on Harry Hay in their obituaries about him when he died in 2002. And nary a mention of his NAMBLA activities was made at the time. But as a prominent gay rights activist yourself, and as a fan of Harry Hay’s early activism, weren’t you of all people the kind of person who should have known of Harry Hay’s unsavory later affiliations? Just because his NAMBLA connection was swept under the rug for a mainstream audience, doesn’t mean it would stay hidden forever.

He lays out the links between Hay and NAMBLA pretty clearly and begs him to nip this in the bud while he can.

(Imagine the headlines if you don’t extinguish this scandal ASAP: Obama appoints activist “inspired” by NAMBLA supporter to protect the nation’s children. Do you really want to see that?)

Well you won’t see headlines with the MSM but it’s only a matter of time before Beck gets his scalp, and apparently from the post’s update it appears that no amount of denial is going to change facts.

As Zombie concludes that he did know about Hay’s background the question becomes does Zombie think Jennings should resign or wait till his scalp is eventually claimed by Fox or Beck or someone else?

It’s clear that he things highly of Jennings previous work but feet of clay are feet of clay and the question is still on the floor. Is the Obama administration passing these guys because they didn’t vett them or because they did and agreed with them?

The Decline and Fall of Little Green Footballs…

Posted: October 7, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
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…is Chronicled is some detail at Gates of Vienna (via lgf2) in a post sarcastically called Becoming the MSM:

Sometimes even prominent bloggers make mistakes. But Rule #1 of blogging is to correct all errors promptly and post retractions. A blogger’s credibility supposedly hinges on such prompt corrections.

To this day, Charles Johnson has not corrected or retracted these two factual errors, nor any of the others.

And, strangely enough, his credibility hardly suffered at all. His star didn’t begin its descent until he picked fights with some of the big guns in the American blogosphere. Now — two years later — he is finally recognized as a retailer of smears and falsehoods.

Funny about that.

It’s not funny at all but the explanation as to why it took so long for him to be figured out is explained in the next sentence.

Charles Johnson made his substantial reputation back in October 2004 as one of the major bloggers who helped discredit CBS, Dan Rather, and the forged “Killian Memo”.

Basically most people here in the states weren’t familiar with what was going on over there. We saw Charles become a 9/11 hawk, saw what he did with both Rather and the Fauxphotography and with those precedents decided that he knew what he was doing. We assumed this was a blog war and figured it was both a bit of a blog war and and to some degree an honest disagreement along the lines of “who do we want as allies”?

I wrote a defense of Charles back in April at the start of his big break with US bloggers and had this to say about some of the people he was talking about:

BTW: I didn’t include the “other side” on the various disputes because this particular post was concerning Charles and LGF. I’ve read and been happy to quote both Atlas and Jihad Watch on various topics and will continue to do so. I would recommend checking out both sites and Charles’ archives if you want the full back and forth between them. I don’t listen to, read or watch Beck so frankly I’m not really interested.

On the Vlaams Belang

(BTW I don’t have a problem with either Geller’s or Johnson’s positions as they are both in my opinion decisions of conscience)

I linked to Pam and I’ve linked to Gates, didn’t have a problem with either as I simply assumed it was a stronger version of the old CIA debate over how pure allies in the war on terror have to be.

Since I had read Charles regularly until other blogs overtook him in my attentions I missed a lot of the banning. It wasn’t until he went after Robert Stacy that I actually saw Or cared what was going on.

So I must confess that I’ve been more concerned with my own situation so here is the link to the Gates Correcting page for LGF. I suggest you read it along with Charles Charges from his archives (while they are still there anyway). It will not surprise you now but it might have before. Gates of Vienna is dead on with this:

He has become the Dan Rather of the blogosphere.

Back in those heady days when political blogs first came into their own, the bloggers promised the MSM that they would “fact-check their a**.”

But what about the major blogs? Who will fact-check their a**es?

The answer, in a word, is: nobody.

I am a very minor blog in the scheme of things but for what it’s worth I’m sorry I didn’t give your situation the attention it deserved.

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