Category: free speech

American Conservative Union, CPAC, and why they didn’t defend free speech

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I know this is getting away somewhat from the subject of refugees, but it’s not entirely so because we questioned way back in December of 2007 why the American Conservative Union’s, David Keene, was so intent on promoting the Kennedy bill which ultimately opened the door for more Iraqis to enter the US.   It didn’t strike us as a particularly conservative position in light of the tanking economy and our national security concerns.

And, we are interested because of our interest in Geert Wilders’ right to speak on issues considered by some to be politically incorrect as Judy just mentioned in her post earlier this morning.

We attended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last February (here) to hear Wilders speak, but the speech really wasn’t at the CPAC meeting, it was just in the same hotel.  Now, all these many months later, Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch gives us more details on what actually happened at last year’s CPAC meeting.

I won’t go into what just happened this past weekend at the Western CPAC meeting, you can follow the links in Mr. Spencer’s post for that, but here is how Spencer describes how it came about last year that “conservative” organizers shut out Geert Wilders.

What does this have to do with jihad? Everything. The Ziegler video, with its depiction of Keene’s egregious behavior, gives a good opportunity to spotlight the failure of the conservative mainstream to deal with the jihad issue. David Keene is not only the head of the ACU, but also of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which I criticized at Newsweek last February for its Grover Norquist-mandated refusal to deal with the jihad or Islamic supremacism in any meaningful or effective way.

At the time I was interviewed by Newsweek, Pamela Geller was working tirelessly behind the scenes to secure a speaking slot for Geert Wilders at CPAC, but CPAC was dragging its feet. With that in mind, I told Newsweek that people were afraid to deal with this issue, and added at Jihad Watch that “Keene’s, or someone’s, priorities are seriously out of order. Wilders should be front and center at CPAC, and the defense of free speech its central theme.”

I didn’t know it at the time, but after I was interviewed by Newsweek and before their article appeared, Keene decided to honor Wilders at CPAC and give him an award. But when the Newsweek piece hit, with quotes from me as well as David Horowitz saying, “How is it possible that a conservative conference does not have a single panel on the threat from radical Islam?,” Keene was furious. He was so furious that he canceled the award for Wilders and refused to let him speak at all, saying he wasn’t going to look as if he was being pushed around by Robert Spencer. Suddenly a few remarks in Newsweek by David Horowitz and me were controlling David Keene’s world. Principles? Free speech? Jihad and Islamization? Pah. For Keene, it was just a schoolyard fight, and he was behaving like a schoolyard bully — as he does here with Ziegler.

Spencer also reminds us of the connection Keene’s pal, Grover Norquist, has to the Islamist movement in the US.    Follow Spencer’s links or search RRW for ‘Grover Norquist.’

With friends like these, who needs enemies.

Free speech under attack at Temple University

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

We’ve been following the hate campaign against Geert Wilders, the Dutch politician who speaks out against militant Islam, for a while. Our posts on him are here. David Horowitz reports at FrontPage Magazine here and here on an attempt to stop Wilders speaking at Temple University in Philadelphia. (Temple is my alma mater so I’m especially interested in this.)

As part of its Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, and its campaign to Stop the Campus War Against Israel and the Jews, the David Horowitz Freedom Center is sponsoring  appearances by Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders at Temple and Columbia universities (October 20 and 21). The Muslim Students Association has issued a statement condemning the event and calling on the Temple Administration to close it down.

Here is part of the MSA’s statement:

Temple MSA speaks for the many Muslims and socially conscious students and faculty on campus when we say that the presence of Geert Wilders on our campus is a breech of Temple University’s pledge to ensure the wellbeing and safety of all students and faculty on campus. The Muslim population at Temple feels attacked, threatened, and ultimately unsafe that Mr. Wilders has been invited to voice his hate-driven opinions. The fact alone that backpacks are prohibited for entry to this event reinforces our argument that this creates an unsafe atmosphere where prejudiced, racist and vehemently hateful words will be disguised under the veil of academia.

Got that? Prohibiting backpacks shows that there will be hate speech. The only reason for the ban must be that people hate Muslims, not that any Muslim has ever carried anything dangerous in a backpack. But these Muslim students are lucky: they’ve gotten university administrators to do their work for them:

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the attempts to shut down the Temple speech of Geert Wilders which is being sponsored by a student organization called Temple University Purpose is the role played by three Temple University administrators who run the student activities program and who at a meeting last week pressured the TUP students to close down their event….These administrators told TUP leader Brittany Walsh that Wilders did not have free speech rights at Temple or in America because he was a foreigner.

I’m going to reproduce Brittany Walsh’s reply in full because it is so eloquent. We are fortunate to have students like her standing up for our rights.

“[You} stated in our meeting that Mr. Wilders is not an American citizen and therefore the First Amendment does not apply to him. The American Bill of Rights is not written to confer rights on Americans as to what they can do, but rather these American rights are conceived as limitations on government.  The Bill of Rights says Congress shall make no law abridging free speech and not once claims this only applies to American born citizens, but rather to all of man kind. Freedom of Speech has proved an essential tool in providing a medium for progressive social change in the United States; ie: Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Equal Rights Movement, Vietnam War protests, and even the Equal Human Rights Movement occurring right now in the U.S. advocating on behalf of the LGBT community. Throughout world history, we have witnessed the devastation caused when individuals are deprived of this Right to advocate on behalf of themselves. Many men and women have sacrificed their life or suffered severely to allow you and I to be free; thousands are still doing so today.
Furthermore, I would never dream of telling the Muslim Students Association that they may not practice their religion or espouse their beliefs, but I expect that same respect and consideration to be extended to all individuals and/or groups.  As was stated previously in our meeting, regardless of how I may, or may not, feel about what Mr. Wilders believes, I do believe it is his right to say it. Temple University Purpose will defend Mr. Wilders, and anyone else for that matter, against institutions and communities who attempt to silence them. The Right to Freedom of Speech is a fundamental right upon which this country was founded. Our founding fathers found that tyrants will always seek to silence those in opposition in an effort to squash non compliant beliefs and felt it to be of vital importance that men and women alike are protected from future governments, mob rule, and tyrants who seek to steal their voice. All of this being said, it would be a disservice to the Temple community, hypocritical of TUP’s mission, and a disrespect to all of those who have sacrificed for our right to invite Mr. Wilders to Temple, to rescind his invitation. The Temple community is being provided with a rare opportunity to have an open forum with a highly intelligent, though controversial, politician. Moreover, it is my hope that the community will come together, let their voices be heard, and participate in this educational experience being provided for them. Temple University Purpose plans to go ahead with the event on the 20th of October and hope we may do so with your support.” 

David Horowitz puts the matter in context:

Everywhere you look these days Americans’ most basic freedom is under attack by the jihadists of the international left. The infamous UN Human Rights Commission which includes the worst human rights violators on the planet (now joined by the Obama Administration) has recently passed a resolution against religious defamation — defined as linking Islamists to terrorism. At home Democrats have attached a “hate crimes” amendment which would make thinking a crime to the new defense appropriations bill. Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been banned from owning a National Football League team on the grounds that he is a conservative and conservatives are hateful.

The speech is scheduled for today. I’ll give you an update when I find out what happened.

Update from Gateway Pundit, 10/21/09:  Radical leftists shouted down Geert Wilders at Temple University last night. The good little indoctrinated leftists chanted, “Hey Hey, HO, HO, this racist bull—-’s got to go.” They forced the university to shut down the event early.

Geert Wilders wins his case against Britain’s ban

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

The truth-telling Dutch politician Geert Wilders, whom we’ve written about many times, can now be allowed to enter Great Britain, the Telegraph reports.

Wilders challenged the decision by then home secretary Jacqui Smith which led to him being turned back at Heathrow Airport.

The ruling by the Asylum and  Immigration Tribunal means the head of the Freedom Party, who is accused of Islamophobia, could now be allowed into the country.

He was due to show his short film Fitna, which criticises the Koran as a ”fascist book”, at the House of Lords in February.

But Ms Smith said his presence had the potential to ”threaten community harmony and therefore public safety”.

It’s a sign of how far Britain has fallen that the normally sensible Telegraph calls Wilders a “far-right Dutch politician” in its sub-headline. Wilders objects to Muslims taking over western societies, and for that he is branded “far-right.” Oh well, Ann and I have been called the same thing; nowadays it’s a badge of honor. But I don’t think the Washington Times or Washington Examiner, which are somewhat equivalent to the Telegraph, would label us far-right.

Islam in Action: Blacks in Michigan attacked Muslim brother and sister; Christian group sues Maine

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

These posts from Islam In Action are a couple of days old, but I wanted to be sure to bring them to your attention.  The first is a story from Ann Arbor about Muslim kids being attacked on a school bus by black guys (where have I heard this before?).   Ah, the joys of multiculturalism.

Ann Arbor — The attorney for two Muslim teens attacked last month aboard a school bus is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to step in after Washtenaw County prosecutors decided not to file ethnic intimidation charges in the case.

The girl, 16, and her brother, 15, were attacked Sept. 8 after they left Skyline High School.

They said the incident began aboard a school bus and escalated after they got off the bus several blocks from their home.

The girl said a group of black teens removed her hijab, a traditional head scarf, and yelled ethnic slurs at her and her brother before punching her. The girl suffered a black eye and said she required stitches to the top of her head. Neither teen is being identified.

Maine lawsuit

The other good post on the same day is about Christian Action Network bringing a lawsuit against the State of Maine.

….the Christian Action Network (CAN) filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Maine for censoring a fundraising letter state officials claimed contained “an inflammatory anti-Muslim message.” Maine officials fined and banned CAN from mailing any future letters under the threat of criminal prosecution. Liberty Counsel represents CAN.

We told you about the State’s actions back in June, here.

American newspapers deceive foreign media, and they don’t like it

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Mark Steyn has a post on The Corner, Don’t Blame Us, Blame the Newspaper We Copied It Out Of, that deserves attention.

The USS Neverdock notices an emerging global trend: newspapers suckered by the Washington Post and the New York Times. Down under, the Sydney Morning Herald has retracted its “original” “report” of the Van Jones resignation:

A week ago, the Herald ran a story which, in its essence, was not true. The paper did not know this. It was the unwitting victim of a distortion created at The Washington Post, which produced the original story. 

We’ve commented frequently on reports in the media that leave out the most relevant and interesting facts. Ann has posted on any number of puff pieces on refugees in local newspapers in which the reporters don’t or won’t look below the surface. Those who do real reporting are heroes, and we’ve given them lots of space, most notably Brian Mosely and the Shelbyville (Tennesee) Times-Gazette.

Mark Steyn mentions a second retraction, this one from the Irish Times which was snookered by a New York Times story. And here’s his perceptive bottom line:

Of course, neither the Sydney Morning Herald nor the Irish Times are “unwitting victims” of the Washington Post and New York Times. It’s their choice to copy blindly any slab of hooey appearing in the Post and Times that happens to suit their prejudices without checking it for themselves. As the Neverdock points out, if you can’t do as well as some blogger using Google, maybe you shouldn’t be in the news business.

That’s exactly right. We get most of our information here at Refugee Resettlement Watch from poking around the Internet. Once we got started, of course we began getting information directly from people in the know, so that in some ways we became somewhat more like traditional reporters. (I should say Ann is, since I don’t do much original reporting.)

When you look at all the recent stories that the mainstream media have ignored or minimized, you do have to wonder why these media outlets exist at all. The Van Jones scandal and resignation, the undercover films of ACORN employees encouraging what they thought was a brothel using underaged girls, the huge Washington march on Saturday — these were covered well and thoroughly by websites, bloggers and Fox News — and little else.