Superintendent Todd Carlson of Shawano High School in Shawano, Wisconsin is sorry a student observed his First Amendment rights and had his article published in the school newspaper that denounces homosexuals adopting children. And so Superintendent Carlson is making amends by punishing this Christian kid for being so darn Christian. Superintendent Carlson has also decided in his infinite wisdom to censure this article by having it sent down the memory hole so that no one else will be confronted with this evil Christian’s views.

That’ll show that darn Christian kid, won’t it?

The article, “Should Homosexual Partners Be Bale to Adopt?,” was written by Brandon Wegner who was assigned the task of writing a counter-point to another student’s pro-homosexual adoption article. The piece was then published as an insert in the school newspaper, the Shawano Leader.

Shortly after the newspapers containing the insert were distributed, Superintendent Carlson issued a formal apology to the school and parents, removed the insert from surplus issues of the paper, and censured young Mr. Wegner claiming his article violated the school’s “anti-bullying” policy.

Wegner says that Carlson grabbed him up out of class and began to brow beat him in an attempt to get the kid to disavow his religious-based beliefs. According to Liberty Counsel, a First Amendment law firm, Wegner was quixotically bullied by Superintendent Carlson in an attempt to deter bullying.

Brandon was hauled before the superintendent on charges that he had violated the school’s bullying policy. Superintendent Todd Carlson told him that the column “went against the bullying policy,” and asked him if he “regretted” writing it. When Mr. Wegner stated that he did not regret writing it, and that he stood behind his beliefs, Superintendent Carlson told him that he “had got to be one of the most ignorant kids to try to argue with him about this topic,” that “we have the power to suspend you if we want to” and that the column had “personally offended me, so I know you offended other people!”

Carlson’s action is itself “ignorant.” Ignorant of our American laws, ignorant of tenets of tolerance, ignorant of public comportment, ignorant for abuse of his position as an authority figure, and just plain ignorant in a moral fashion.

Carlson’s bullying also makes the lie to the claim that our schools are meant to teach our children. The truth seems to be that Mr. Carlson simply wants to indoctrinate, not help students come to their own conclusions when offered all sides of the issues.

In fact, the school newspaper deserves kudos for having handled the issue properly. It gave room to advocates of both sides to air their views so that readers could make up their own minds. But Carlson doesn’t want any of this horrid teaching going on. He wants to tell kids what to think based on his own warped, left-wing ideology. None of this freedom of choice nonsense in HIS school, I’ll tell you what.

Superintendent Carlson should be fired. Not because he’s an extremist liberal, but because he has violated this kid’s rights at worst and violated the principals of actual teaching at best. He is no educator. He is an indoctrinator and that is just un-American.

(H/T Moonbattery.com)

Bright Minds and Dark Attitudes

Lower Cognitive Ability Predicts Greater Prejudice Through Right-Wing Ideology and Low Intergroup Contact

Gordon Hodson et al.

Abstract

Despite their important implications for interpersonal behaviors and relations, cognitive abilities have been largely ignored as explanations of prejudice. We proposed and tested mediation models in which lower cognitive ability predicts greater prejudice, an effect mediated through the endorsement of right-wing ideologies (social conservatism, right-wing authoritarianism) and low levels of contact with out-groups. In an analysis of two large-scale, nationally representative United Kingdom data sets (N = 15,874), we found that lower general intelligence (g) in childhood predicts greater racism in adulthood, and this effect was largely mediated via conservative ideology. A secondary analysis of a U.S. data set confirmed a predictive effect of poor abstract-reasoning skills on antihomosexual prejudice, a relation partially mediated by both authoritarianism and low levels of intergroup contact. All analyses controlled for education and socioeconomic status. Our results suggest that cognitive abilities play a critical, albeit underappreciated, role in prejudice. Consequently, we recommend a heightened focus on cognitive ability in research on prejudice and a better integration of cognitive ability into prejudice models.

SOURCE

What the article ignores is that the mental gymnastics required by political correctness are considerable. A simple soul who sees a lot of black crime is likely to have a low opinion of blacks and say so. But, as is often said, some ideas are so stupid that only an intellectual would believe them. And concluding that chronic black criminality is all Whitey’s fault is one such idea. So all the study really shows is that brighter people are more able to absorb the counterintuitive but politically correct cult that the elite have made normative in society. Only simpler people take their views from observable reality.

And we must also note that we are talking here about ADMITTED attitudes. And where some attitudes are much decried — as are racially-denominated attitudes — the truth of any admissions can only be speculated on. It could well be that attitude to blacks (say) is the same at all levels of IQ but only the simpler members of society are foolish enough to admit what they really think.

I could go on but I think it is already clear that this study proves nothing.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me here

(Washington Post) Before there was the Tea Party to define the phrase “far-right fringe,” there was Rick Santorum. He’s a nice-guy zealot who should never be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.

So, calling for the reduction of power and spending in the Central Government is “fringe”? Responsible spending levels is “fringe”? Stopping wasteful spending is “fringe”? Well, fine, then I proudly take up the banner of “far-right fringer”.

The problem is that his views are genuinely extreme and, in some instances, patently offensive. He is a cultural warrior who has equated same-sex marriage with polygamy, pedophilia and bestiality — and who has argued that gay men and lesbians should not serve openly in the military because “they’re in close quarters, they live with people, they obviously shower with people.”

Santorum is implacably opposed to Obama’s health care reforms. Among other objections, he has said that insurance companies should continue to have the right to deny coverage — or charge more — for individuals who have preexisting conditions. “I’m okay with that,” he said last month.

Eugene also mentions Santorum’s tough stance on Iran, and…..that’s pretty much it. The above is what makes Santorum “extreme and should never be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.” Hmmph. Say, Eugene, what do you think about allowing a guy who palls around with domestic terrorists, listens to racist, unhinged, bigoted, conspiracy minded, and anti-American preachers in church, was partly raised by a Marxist mother and grandmother, does business with a shady land dealer who raised money for Obama and eventually became a convicted felon, appoints tax cheats and communists, and surrounds himself with people well outside the mainstream. Not too mention all the golf, basketball, parties, and vacations. Who’s the extremist, Eugene?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

It’s heartening, but not entirely surprising that the Catholic Church overturned the decision of the Sacred Heart Primary School in Broken Hill to reject the enrolment of a young girl whose at-home parents, two women, are in a lesbian relationship.

Heartening for the little girl, even though the mums have wisely decided to spare her the inevitable unpleasantness of attending a school where she’s not wanted. But not entirely surprising, because if the Church had allowed this story to spin out of control it risked having to answer some very awkward questions about just how much money it sucks off the public tit, when it’s unwilling to comply with public standards as expressed in legislation such as the Anti-Discrimination Act.

The Catholic Church and its fellow travelers in the other denominations are pretty much out on their own when it comes to punishing kids for the sexuality of their parents. And be assured, that’s what was at stake here, and what Bishop Kevin Manning has avoided airing in public with his order to Sacred Heart to enrol the child.

All religious schools in this country, not just Catholic ones, enjoy the benefits of a grotesque double standard, where they put their hands out for a hand out, and a massive one at that, draining off billions of dollars from the education budget, while not having to measure up to the same standards demanded of public schools, most of which are woefully underfunded because of subsidies to the private sector.

Surely if the private religious schools are to trouser billions of dollars in taxpayer funds, at the expense of taxpayers who can’t afford to send their own children to those privileged institutions, more might be demanded of them when it comes to, say, not behaving like ignorant, medieval bigots. There’s no reason they can’t hang onto their vile opinions, but there’s no reason the rest of us should have to pay for them.

As long as they enjoy a free pass from the Act, however, we will continue to subsidise their ignorance, stupidity and hatred.

They know it too. Or at least the smart ones do. That’s why they moved so quickly to shut down debate on this most recent outrage.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me here

Earlier this year the State of Illinois moved to force religious-based children’s services to break their religious principles and give children in their charge to homosexual couples. Organizations such as Catholic Charities have been told by the state that they either break their religious principles or face being shut down by the state. So, pursuant to that agenda, the state has determined that all children currently in the hands of religious adoption agencies need to be removed immediately.

Representing Catholic Charities of three Illinois Roman Catholic Dioceses, the Thomas Moore Society filed an emergency motion to prevent the state from removing all the children in its care. Unfortunately, an Illinois appellate court refused to overturn the trial court’s decision to remove the children during the appeal process in which lawyers are now engaged. (Filings here and here.)

Still, other motions made in the emergency motion were granted. Thomas Moore informs that the matter “is now on an expedited schedule for briefing in the Appellate Court.” The fate of the children remains unknown at this point.

So what was so bad that the State of Illinois felt it necessary to take all children away from religious-based organizations? Have there been cases of abuse? Perhaps children’s services from religious-based groups have been rated lowly? Have adopting parents complained?

None of the above. In fact, there is no substantive reason at all for this attack on religious-based children’s services in the Land of Lincoln. Well, no reason except for a left-wing, pro-homosexual political agenda, that is.

You see, the state received precisely one complaint about Catholic Charities. It was from an activist homosexual who complained that the religious-based adoption agencies in the state would not willingly give children up to homosexual couples.

If there has been before such draconian actions taken by government based on a single, hazy, non-substantive complaint — one that did not entail any abuse of children — I’ve never heard tell of it. But here we have such a case. The complaint of one activist pushing the homosexual agenda was enough for the state to decide to force all religious children’s services to either break religious principles and give children to homosexual couples, or face being shut down by the iron fist of the state.

This overt attack on religious-based children’s services hits with interesting timing, too. This month the Illinois Dept. of Children and Family Services gave Catholic Charities its highest rating for children’s services. Catholic Charities received a Level 1 compliance score and was ranked as one of the best foster care providers in the state.

So on one hand, one state agency says that the services Catholic Charities provided to the State’s most vulnerable children is top notch, yet on the other hand another state agency (the Attorney General’s office) says that Catholic Charities is so bad it must be shut down.

It just goes to show that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan (a Chicago Democrat) has a political agenda and doesn’t really care what’s good for the homeless children of Illinois.

We all know that the Old Media is filled with double standards where it concerns treatment of conservatives and liberals. Last week we found yet another example of the media’s penchant to hypocrisy when a talking head on MSNBC used a derogatory term associated with gays yet the entire militant gay establishment and their pals in the Old Media ignored the whole thing. We all know that if a conservative had issued a gay slur like that the tale would have overshadowed every story in the news today.

Last week MSNBC’s left-wing talker Dylan Ratigan had fellow talking head Jimmy Williams on his program to discuss the debt ceiling talks going on in D.C. The discussion turned to head of Americans for Tax Reform Grover Norquist, whom Williams idiotically called a “petty criminal.” But what Williams said of the relationship he felt that Norquist and Newt Gingrich had was far worse. (My bold)

One person is controlling the agenda of the United States of America right now and his name is Grover Norquist. Grover Norquist was Newt Gingrich’s butt buddy…

First of all, it is simple-minded, and nothing but foolish demagoguery to seriously posit that Grover Norquist is “controlling the agenda of the United States of America right now.” Williams makes himself a clown with such nonsense. But that he goes on to use a gay slur right afterward truly makes of him no one worth taking seriously.

But Silly Jimmy’s veracity is not at issue here. The fact that he can go on national TV and call people “butt buddies” and not a peep about it is heard from the usual suspects in the gay mafia and the Old Media is telling. Were Williams a conservative the din would take weeks to die down. In fact, Williams would probably be fired and his livelihood summarily destroyed.

Of course, it is easy to find conservatives that are attacked for supposed gay slurs. Back in 2007 Ann Coulter was attacked for days for calling John Edwards a “faggot.” In 2009 a conservative radio host was fired for talking against gays. And who can forget Sarah Palin’s daughter, Willow, who came under fire for using such language on her Facebook account last year? Naturally, these are just a very few examples of the long knives being pulled out for anyone considered a conservative.

On the other hand, since the Tea Party movement got rolling in 2009 we’re constantly subjected to one leftist after another calling them “tea baggers,” itself a gay slur. Not one leftist, however, has ever scolded their fellows for using that slur against conservatives. To the contrary they rather revel in using it.

Heck, even as far back as 2007 New Mexico Governor Democrat Bill Richardson uttered a gay slur on a radio program and none of the lefty usual suspects ever called him on it. And just this year a union thug really went wild calling people “faggot” yet the lefty establishment ho-hummed their way to ignoring it all.

As I said at the start, none of this bias and hypocrisy is a surprise. We all know that the left and its handmaidens in the Old Media will give any left of center figure a pass for gay slurs and we also know that the same folks will work themselves up into a lather to wail and gnash teeth if they imagine that a conservative used such language. This is not new behavior, we all know. But, when we see it, we must chronicle it so that we can continue to keep records of it all.

Ontario’s attorney general says he’s looking into a complaint that a religious scholar told a Toronto gathering that homosexuals caught in the act should be executed under Islamic law.

Attorney General Chris Bentley says there is no place for hate speech against any group in Ontario — including the LGBTQ community.

Bentley says he has referred the issue to the province’s chief prosecutor and Toronto police, and they will decide if any charges should be laid.

Source

If a Christian had said the same there would be no problem, of course: Big fine straight away! Ask Stephen Boissoin. And Pastor Boissoin wasn’t advocating the killing of homosexuals — unlike the Muslim guy.

Though Boissoin did get off eventually by appealing to his Province’s highest court. No word on his legal costs but it would probably have been cheaper to pay the fine. So he still got penalized anyway.

A central reason why Boissoin eventually got off was because he did NOT “call for discriminatory practices”. That would not apply to the Muslim guy.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me here

First Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan tried to have published for public consumption all the names and addresses of every gun owner in her state. Apparently she meant to harass the legal gun owners in her jurisdiction. Now she has launched an effort to harass religious adoption institutions and on the thinnest of pretexts, too.

As to the gun owners, back in March Madigan thought it would be a good idea to publish all the names and contact info of the law abiding Illinoisans who followed the law and registered their ownership of guns with the state police. You see you can’t own a gun in Illinois without a Firearms Owner ID card (FOID). Madigan wanted to publish all that information so that anyone could identify any Illinois gun owner.

Fortunately, she failed because the state legislature jumped into gear and added a section to the state’s gun laws to make it illegal to expose to the public all the personal info of the state’s firearm owners. Even the Democrats in Illinois couldn’t stomach Madigan’s attempt to “out” every gun owner and leave them open for harassment and to be targeted by thieves and gangs looking for free guns.

Well, her left-wing agenda got shut down that time, but ol’ Lisa is not to be deterred from her extremist ideas.

The folks at Illinois Review, one of the best political websites in the state, did some FOIA tracking of Madigan’s latest attempt to instill a left-wing agenda in the Land of Lincoln. Madigan’s newest attack is an effort to harass and ultimately shut down religious-based adoption agencies in the state.

What IR found out is that Madigan used the power of her office to harass seven religious-based adoption agencies in the state — and by extension, every such agency — by sending threatening letters informing them that they are under investigation by the Attny Gen’s office. What did these seven adoption agencies do to get the full force of the AG to come down on their heads? It must have been an accumulation of complaints or multiple lawsuits or other legal dustups that preceded the investigations, right?

Well, not really.

No, what gave Attny. Gen. Lisa Madigan the excuse to attack every religious agency in the state was a complaint letter from a single gay couple from Lakeview about a single adoption agency.

Now, even if one letter from a citizen was enough to launch an investigation of a business in the state it most certainly is an abuse of her power for the Attny. Gen. to launch a major investigation of seven different businesses that are wholly unrelated to the one complained about, wouldn’t you think?

Ah, but Madigan isn’t looking for any legitimate exercise of the powers at her disposal. She is looking for a way to violate the religious freedom of the adoption agencies in the state that base their policies on religious ideals. Madigan and her left-wing pals, you see, want to end the right of religious-based adoption agencies to run their businesses as they see fit.

Madigan is following nothing less than an anti-Christian, radical gay agenda, here.

Imagine that you are sitting in your office carrying out your legal and Constitutionally protected business just like you always have, conscious that you have no complaints out against you, and a letter comes from the state’s top legal cop telling you that you are under investigation! It would most certainly have a chilling effect.

The fact is that this is no less than an attack on the Constitutional rights of Lutherans, Catholics and other religion influenced adoption agencies.

Check out Illinois Review for the detailed FOIA requests that they’ve received. Their coverage is thorough.

Is Marcus Bachmann, husband of Republican presidential candidate and Rep. Michele Bachmann, a closeted gay man? That’s the question that’s lighting the internet on fire this weekend.

Well, maybe in the insane-o-sphere, but, most of us on the Right have been celebrating the Declaration of Independence (kinda strange how the USA doesn’t celebrate Treaty of Paris, which was signed on September 3, 1783, ending the Revolutionary War. Or January 14, 1784, when the Congress of Confederation signed the Treaty. A thought for a different day.)

Dr. Bachmann runs his own “Christian Counseling” practice in Minnesota, and one of his specialties is “helping” people “overcome” homosexuality.

But many online pundits are pointing out that those who speak the most vociferously against homosexuality are often hiding something.

Of course! They’ve found us out! Everyone on the Right is gay! We’re either lesbians trapped in a man’s body or homosexuals trapped in a woman’s body.

ThinkProgress found a clip of Dr. Bachmann talking about homosexuality:

And there you go: George Soros funded Think Progress is pushing the smear. Shocker.

Anyhow, they push the meme like being gay is a bad thing. Interesting how they always seem to use this smear (along with “you’re a raaaaacist”)

BDS2 – Bachmann Derangement Syndrome. #2 because Bush will always be the first who pushed the left to complete unhinged behavior.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

The United Nations issued its first condemnation of discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender people on Friday in a cautiously worded declaration hailed by supporters including the United States as a historic moment.

Members of the U.N. Human Rights Council narrowly voted in favor of the resolution put forward by South Africa, against strong opposition from African and Islamic countries.

Muslim countries were against this? Shocking! All part of the intolerance of the Religion of Peace. Waiting for Liberals to finally realize that Islamic states and Sharia law are not as cuddly as they think.

“You just witnessed a historic moment at the Human Rights Council and within the U.N. system with a landmark resolution protecting human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people,” U.S. ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe told reporters after the vote.

Really? How will the UN actually protect said rights, when they mostly refuse to ever condemn the barbarities in Islamic states?

Couched in delicate diplomatic language, the resolution commissions a study of discrimination against gays and lesbians around the world, the findings of which will be discussed by the Geneva-based council at a later meeting.

I think it’s a safe bet that said report, which will surely cost millions, mostly American givings to the UN, will slam the US for not making gay marriage the law of the land, and, at best, will only nibble around the edges of the Islamic world, at worst, fail to even mention the Islamic world.

Baer told reporters the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama had chosen what he described as a “course of progress” on gay rights, both domestically and internationally.

US gays don’t feel that way. They know he is against gay marriage, and, wasn’t it just the other day that one interrupted an Obama speech? Which wouldn’t be the first time. Of course, we all know that Obama has to become a major part of every story, despite having done nothing.

But, we await the report, and its sure avoidance of anything Muslim. And the rioting in Muslim countries prior to the release, while they claim the report insults Muhammed.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.