Conservative Blogger
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Rutgers Students Stage Sit-In To Protest Condoleezza Rice Commencement Speech
This is what's destroying America. Soon only view will be the leftist view.
Rice declines Rutgers commencement invite; says it has become a distraction
Commencement should be a time of joyous celebration for the graduates and their families. Rutgers' invitation to me to speak has become a distraction for the university community at this very special time,” the former secretary of state under President George W. Bush said in the statement.
"I understand and embrace the purpose of the commencement ceremony and I am simply unwilling to detract from it in any way."- Condoleezza Rice"I am honored to have served my country. I have defended America's belief in free speech and the exchange of ideas. These values are essential to the health of our democracy. But that is not what is at issue here. As a professor for thirty years at Stanford University and as (its) former Provost and Chief academic officer, I understand and embrace the purpose of the commencement ceremony and I am simply unwilling to detract from it in any way."
On Monday, roughly 50 Rutgers University students staged a sit-in at a school administration building in New Brunswick to protest the school's invitation to Rice to appear at the university's commencement.
The school's Board of Governors voted to pay $35,000 for her appearance at the May 18 ceremony. She was going to be awarded an honorary degree.
But several faculty members and students wanted the invitation rescinded because of Rice's role in the Iraq War. Rutgers' New Brunswick Faculty Council passed a resolution in March calling on the university's board of governors to rescind the invitation.
Photos and videos of Monday's protest posted to Twitter showed students lining a staircase leading to University President Robert Barchi's office, The Star-Ledger reported.
Some students held up signs reading, "No honors for war criminals," "War criminals out" and "RU 4 Humanity?" the report said.
The sit-in was one of the largest in Rutgers' history, according to The Daily Targum, a student newspaper. Police reportedly responded to the site of the protest after a glass door was broken and a student cut their hand.
Barchi and other school leaders had resisted the calls to "disinvite" Rice, saying the university welcomes open discourse on controversial topics.
"We cannot protect free speech or academic freedom by denying others the right to an opposing view, or by excluding those with whom we may disagree. Free speech and academic freedom cannot be determined by any group. They cannot insist on consensus or popularity," Barchi said in a letter to campus last month.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Why is school teaching kids ethnic slurs?
- Teaching a kindergarten student an ethnic slur.
- Teaching a kindergarten student a pejorative for a part of the female anatomy.
- Teaching a kindergarten student fake words.
- All of the above.
But she was even more disturbed to learn that her child and all the other kids in the class were being taught “imaginary words.”
“You wouldn’t put ‘Polack’ in a reading list for a child,” Zola said. “That’s offensive to Polish people. So why are you teaching them ‘wop’?”“I’m very offended and upset about this,” Zola told me in a telephone interview from her home in Hendersonville, Tenn.
The first homework assignment included a list of words that Zola’s daughter was supposed to practice at home. Among the words were “nist,” and “plad.”
“Her grandfather was going over the words along with their definitions so she could understand what she was reading,” Zola told me. “But there were two words that had no meaning.”
So she wrote a note to the teacher asking for an explanation.
The teacher replied, “They are make-believe words. It is part of our curriculum.”
A few days later, her daughter returned home with another assignment.
“Please practice these words at home tonight,” the instructions read. “Remember not all of these words are real words. Some are made up words.”
Among the made-up words were “tid,” “rok,” “rix” and “hep.”
Zola sent back the homework assignment with a note written to her daughter’s teacher.
“We do not teach our child anything fake,” she wrote.
But the assignment also included two other words that made Zola furious – “wop” and “mut.”
“If you were to look up either of those words, they would not be something you would discuss with a five year old,” she told me.
“WOP” is an ethnic slur used against Italians. You’ll just need to Google the other word.
“You wouldn’t put ‘Polack’ in a reading list for a child,” she said. “That’s offensive to Polish people. So why are you teaching them ‘wop’?”
I spoke to the principal of the school – a very nice lady – who assured me the assignments had nothing to do with Common Core.
And while she was unfamiliar with the specifics of the classroom assignment, she said it’s not unusual for teachers to use fake words to teach children about phonetics.
Really? Why not just use real words?
The principal never answered that question. She never returned my subsequent telephone calls. And neither did the Sumner County Schools spokesperson. (I called him three times -- it’s really impolite not to return phone messages)
So here’s the bottom line from Zola.
“I want my daughter to be able to know what she’s reading,” she said. “There’s a difference between reading a word and knowing what that word is – and comprehending it. I have a hard time doing it when the definitions of those words are inappropriate for someone her age.”
That seems like a pretty reasonable request to me.
Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is "God Less America”.
Friday, May 2, 2014
leon jenkins naacp
Statement – Resignation of Los Angeles President Jenkins
May 01, 2014
(Baltimore, MD) – NAACP Interim President and CEO Lorraine C. Miller
has accepted the resignation of Los Angeles NAACP President Leon
Jenkins.
In his letter of resignation, Mr Jenkins stated, “Please be advised
that the legacy, history and reputation of the NAACP is more important
to me than the presidency. In order to separate the Los Angeles NAACP
and the NAACP from the negative exposure I have caused the NAACP, I
respectfully resign my position as President of the Los Angeles NAACP.”
The national office of the NAACP is developing guidelines for its branches to help them in their award selection process.
Internal memos reveal EPA worked behind the scenes to kill Alaska mine project
WASHINGTON – The Environmental Protection Agency came under fire Thursday after new emails surfaced that allegedly show government officials worked in secret with tribal leaders and other environmental groups to preemptively oppose the controversial Pebble Mine project in Alaska before a review was even conducted.
The internal memos published by The Washington Times show EPA officials working behind the scenes as early as 2008 to kill the gold and copper mine project -- two years before any scientific study or survey was conducted looking into the environmental impact.
“As you know I feel that both of these projects (Chuitna and Pebble) merit consideration of a 404C veto,” EPA official Phillip North wrote, according to the emails.
North, according to the Times, pushed to have the mine’s veto added to the agenda of a 2009 agency retreat.
But the EPA announced in 2011there would be a neutral and scientific review of the mining project. At the time, they said that concerns raised by environmental groups and local tribes would be investigated, but that no decision had been made.
“Alaska is a long way from Washington, D.C.,” Rep. James Lankford, R-Okla., told Fox News. “There is no reason for Washington, D.C., to run affairs in Alaska.”
Lankford says the EPA pre-judged the case and didn’t wait for a full scientific review.
“They are to be neutral in this, and they are definitely not neutral in this,” he said.
In a statement Thursday, the EPA said the emails in question were "authored by a low level staffer stationed in Alaska who had no decision making authority for the Agency.
"Additionally, the focus should be on what the agency has actually done which is taking a deliberative approach based on the science. In fact, the agency leadership had not made a decision on whether to proceed to 404(c) action until the scientific analysis was complete," the EPA said.
The newly published emails are just the latest twist in the Pebble Mine saga which began years ago.
Mine opponents have been urging EPA to take steps to protect the region. They say the project would threaten the billion-dollar commercial fishing industry in Bristol Bay and the 14,000 jobs linked to it.
Supporters, including Pebble Limited Partnership, the investment group behind the proposed multi-billion dollar copper and gold mine, accuse the government of using “junk science” to sabotage the deal.
“Rather than allowing the filing of a mining permit application, the EPA employees secretly plotted with environmental activists to undermine the ability of land owners to objectively evaluate and develop the proposed mining of the Pebble deposit … and thereby establishing a precedent that will have long-term harmful impacts on investment and job creation in the United States,” Pebble Partnership wrote in an April 29-dated letter to the EPA.
The letter also accuses the EPA of misusing taxpayer money to “create a flawed, junk science laden report, called the Bristol Bay Assessment, designed to negatively influence government, financial markets, and public policy.”
Pebble Partnership has said the mine deposit is one of the largest of its kind in the world, with the potential of producing 80.6 billion pounds of copper and 107.4 million ounces of gold over decades.
In February, the EPA announced it was taking the first steps toward restricting the development of the mine, citing concern for a premier sockeye salmon fishery in southwest Alaska. The agency employed a rarely used veto process under the Clean Water Act that gives the government the ability to stop or slow the process.
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy told reporters the EPA was working on how it can best use its authorities “to project Bristol Bay rivers, streams and lakes from the damage that will inevitably result from the construction, operation and long-term maintenance of a large-scale copper mine.”
Pebble Partnership CEO Tom Collier called the move an example of government overreach.
He told The Hill this week the project had “become the poster child for an expansion of EPA authority."
While the EPA process is underway, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is prohibited from approving a permit for the project.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Why Benghazi should matter to every American
The mainstream media declared the Benghazi story insignificant long ago. To the extent it is covered, the focus is usually on the horrific and unnecessary deaths of four Americans. The Obama administration dismisses it as a lot of fuss about a few silly talking points.
But everybody is missing the big-picture story of the Benghazi affair and its cover-up. It’s about the White House using the intelligence community for its own political purposes, and lying to the American public in order to win an election. It’s about abuse of power, and that is a big deal.
That’s why the administration cannot be allowed to investigate itself. That’s why it is time for Congress to appoint a special committee to get to the bottom of the story.
Benghazi is no longer just a political issue. It’s not just a partisan witch hunt. It goes to the heart of what our system of government is all about.If it turns out that Benghazi and the cover-up were just a series of junior level mistakes, that is the end of it. But if it turns out the administration was using the military and intelligence communities for political purposes prior to the attack, during the attack and in a subsequent cover-up, it must be held accountable. Because once the precedent is set, future administrations will feel no reluctance to do the same.
America has the most powerful military and intelligence services in the world, probably in the history of the world. They have an infrastructure that endures separately and beyond any administration or politician.
At the same time, the military-intelligence complex takes its orders from the American people, through their elected/appointed representatives in the White House and Cabinet.
It’s a sacred trust at the heart of our Constitution, as set out in civilian control of the military. But it comes at a price – that our civilian leaders do not abuse that power and bend the military and intelligence communities to do their political dirty work.
The president doesn’t order the military to seize political opponents. He doesn’t order his intelligence community to lie about national security for political purposes. He uses the military or intelligence communities to protect the United States and our citizens, not to help him win elections.
That’s the heart of the Benghazi scandal and cover-up. The White House twisted intelligence to suit its political needs.
I was part of the Nixon administration during Watergate. I was a junior staffer on the National Security Council and helped keep the classified files. At the heart of the Watergate investigation was the president’s abuse of power – secretly using the intelligence community for political purposes and then using the intelligence community for cover when it became public.
It was a difficult time for the nation, and certainly for anyone in the White House. But it was necessary, especially in hindsight. It wasn’t just about a president lying to the American people. It was a check on the seemingly unlimited power of the president to use the military and civilian career government bureaucracy for his own political goals.
It is now incumbent on the congressional leadership to act. There have been countless hearings into Benghazi by numerous congressional committees, but none have had subpoena power to demand the paper trail, or to force government workers to testify about what they knew and when they knew it.
The questions at the heart of the Benghazi scandal and cover-up are specifically:
1. Did the White House fail to provide adequate security at the Benghazi consulate because it didn’t want to acknowledge that a terrorist threat remained, even though Bin Laden was dead?
2. Did the White House order the intelligence community to change its analysis so the president could claim his policy was a success, rather than a failure, just a few weeks before an election?
3. And, finally, what was the relationship between an overzealous White House staff and the president himself? What did the president know, and when did he know it?
This is no longer just a political issue. It’s not just a partisan witch hunt. It goes to the heart of what our system of government is all about. That’s why it’s time for Congress to act and create a bipartisan special committee to get to the bottom of this, once and for all.
That’s why Benghazi matters.
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