31 May 2007 @ 12:38PM >> I always thought that a “Tunnel of Oppression” was nothing more than a brilliant parody concocted by the minds of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. But I guess I was wrong. And just where will you find a “Tunnel of Oppression” out in the world beyond South Park? Why, on a college campus, of course! (Quite many of them, it seems.)

If you’re having trouble imaging what a “Tunnel of Oppression” might look like, here are some videos to get you started. (One question, though: why does it have to be a tunnel, exactly?)

This education in political correctness has been brought to you by today’s Quote of the Day, courtesy of John Derbyshire:

I have this flash mental image of a stranger showing up on an American campus and asking someone for directions to the Dean’s office. “Sure: you keep right going here, turn left at the Museum of Tolerance, past the Office of Diversity Awareness, cross over Peace Plaza, hang another left at the Matthew Shepard memorial, around behind the Tunnel of Oppression, and it’s right there, next to the Global Warming Awareness study hall...”

22 May 2007 @ 9:30AM >> “Edwards charges $55,000 to speak to UC Davis students about poverty“

14 May 2007 >> From Ann Althouse:

I keep reading about how hybrid cars and compact fluorescent lightbulbs can reduce the production of greenhouse gases, but I have yet to see an article about the savings that could be achieved if we were to stop delivery of newspapers and magazines and do all of our news reading on line.

30 April 2007 @ 6:47PM >> Two writers for National Review have commented on the film Indoctrinate U. Stanley Kurtz wrote:

Last week I attended the premiere of Indoctrinate U, Evan Coyne Maloney’s documentary about campus political correctness. It’s a fun and powerful piece of work that deserves a wide audience. The film features plenty of encounters between Maloney and college officials who, after being embarrassed by Maloney’s questions, invariably summon police to have him evicted. These confrontations are entertaining, but the real force of this film flows from Maloney’s recounting of a series of incidents of campus political correctness. I had never heard of any of these cases. Yet each of them is remarkable.

[...]

The end result of this torrent of outrages is that foes of campus PC have grown jaded. That’s where Indoctrinate U comes in. This film hits you in the gut, in a way that no column or blog post can.

Meanwhile, Carol Iannone called Indoctrinate U “a terrific must-see” and added:

It is sound, shocking—even to someone who knows a lot about political coercion on today’s campuses—and also, amazingly, highly entertaining. It is both amusing and sobering at once. It deserves widespread distribution in theatres across America.

11 March 2007 @ 12:47PM >> Czech President Vaclav Klaus on environmentalism:

Environmentalism is a religion that is based more on political ambitions than science, the president of the Czech Republic warned Friday.

Speaking at the Cato Institute, a public policy think-tank, President Vaclav Klaus said that environmentalists who clamor for policy change to combat global warming “only pretend” to be promoting environmental protection, and are actually being driven by a political agenda.

“Environmentalism should belong in the social sciences,” much like the idea of communism or other “-isms” such as feminism, Klaus said, adding that “environmentalism is a religion” that seeks to reorganize the world order as well as social behavior and value systems worldwide.

14 November 2006 @ 8:16AM >> “We are entering an era where when the Speaker instructs you what to do, you do it.“

24 October 2006 @ 8:08AM >>

The gavel of the speaker of the House is in the hands of special interests, and now it will be in the hands of America’s children.Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the San Francisco Democrat who’s convinced she will soon be Speaker of the House

(Hat tip: Mickey Kaus.)

20 September 2006 >> This quote isn’t from a rioter in Syria, Iran or Saudi Arabia; it’s from a speaker at a “peaceful” demonstration in London:

Muslims take their religion very seriously and non-Muslims must appreciate that and must also understand that there may be serious consequences if you insult Islam and the prophet.

Whoever insults the message of Mohammed is going to be subject to capital punishment.

I think that warning needs to be understood by all people who want to insult Islam and want to insult the prophet of Islam.

Unless this mindset magically disappears from the face of the earth, it seems we have three options:

1. Fight it,
2. Surrender our freedoms and say only what the Jihadists allow, or
3. Die.

Which would you prefer?

1 September 2006 >> The Inverted Logic Award goes to Hammasa Kohistani, “[t]he first Muslim to be crowned Miss England”:

“Even moderate Muslims are turning to terrorism to prove themselves. They think they might as well support it because they are stereotyped anyway.”

Makes sense. No better way to disprove the stereotype than by blowing some people up.

Ms. Kohistani added that “there is this hostility” which comes “mainly from the Government.”

Someone should remind the beauty queen that last summer’s London bombings suggest that “this hostility” might be coming from somewhere besides “the Government.”

Thankfully, there are a number of Muslims far more sensible than Ms. Kohistani:

“This sentiment of denial, that sort of came as a fever to the Muslim community after 9-11, is fading away,” said Muqtedar Khan, a political scientist at the University of Delaware and author of “American Muslims.” “They realize that there are Muslims who use terrorism, and the community is beginning to stand up to this.”

Muslim leaders point to two stark examples of the new mind-set:

A Canadian-born Muslim man worked with police for months investigating a group of Islamic men and youths accused in June of plotting terrorist attacks in Ontario. Mubin Shaikh said he feared any violence would ultimately hurt Islam and Canadian Muslims.

In England, it’s been widely reported that a tip from a British Muslim helped lead investigators to uncover what they said was a plan by homegrown extremists to use liquid explosives to destroy U.S.-bound planes.

[...]

Salam al-Marayati, executive director of Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles, says working closely with authorities underscores that Muslims are not outsiders to be feared. It also gives Muslims a way to directly air their concerns about how they’re treated by the government.

“We’re not on opposite teams,” al-Marayati said. “We’re all trying to protect our country from another terrorist attack.”

In 2004, his group started the “National Anti-Terrorism Campaign,” urging Muslims to monitor their own communities, speak out more boldly against violence and work with law enforcement. Hundreds of U.S. mosques have signed on, al-Marayati said.

[...]

Imam Muhammad Musri, head of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, said he has tried to address this problem in the eight mosques he oversees in the Orlando area.

He regularly invites law enforcement officials to speak with local Muslims and encourages mosque members to come to him with any suspicions, even if they overhear something said in jest. Musri says he also speaks regularly with local FBI and police to establish a relationship in case a real threat emerges.

“Here in Central Florida, talking to most people, they are literally upset by the actions of Muslims—or so-called Muslims—overseas in Europe and the Middle East, because they say, ‘We wish they would come and see how we’re doing here,’” Musri said. “We know who the real enemy is—someone who might come from the outside and try to infiltrate us. Everybody is on the lookout.”

27 August 2006 @ 11:37AM >> Here’s what you’ll find at the Holocaust International Cartoon Contest exhibition currently being held in the Iranian capital:

There is [...] a drawing of a Jew with a very large nose, a nose so large, in fact, that it obscures his entire head. Across his chest is the word “Holocaust.” Another drawing shows a vampire, wearing a big Star of David, drinking the blood of Palestinians. A third shows Ariel Sharon dressed in a Nazi uniform, emblazoned not with swastikas, but with the Star of David.

The show’s curator is quoted as saying, “It is not that we are against a specific religion...”

Of course you’re not.

11 August 2006 @ 8:53AM >> The Quote of the Day, “Should’ve stayed on the weed,” is from Glenn Reynolds, in response to this tidbit about one of the people plotting yesterday’s thwarted terrorist attack:

Neighbors identified one of the suspects as Don Stewart-Whyte, 21, from High Wycombe, a convert who changed his name to Abdul Waheed.

“He converted to Islam about six months ago and grew a full beard,” said a neighbor, who refused to be identified. “He used to smoke weed and drink a lot but he is completely different now.”

8 August 2006 @ 2:49PM >> Giant Robot Imprisons Parked Cars

24 July 2006 @ 12:45PM >> If John Kerry were president, peace would magically descend on the Middle East:

U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who was in town Sunday [...], took time to take a jab at the Bush administration for its lack of leadership in the Israeli-Lebanon conflict.

“If I was president, this wouldn’t have happened,” said Kerry [...]

Sure. Simply by being inside the Oval Office for an extended period of time, the mere presence of John Kerry’s superior intellect would bring about a peace that had eluded the region for generations.

I’m surprised Kerry’s ego hasn’t yet acquired enough mass to become visible to the naked eye.

3 May 2006 @ 9:36AM >> The quote of the day, courtesy of Osama bin Laden:

[T]he crime committed by a freethinker is the worst of crimes, that the damage caused by his staying alive among the Muslims is of the worst kind of damage, that he is to be killed, and that his repentance is not to be accepted.

[...]

Indeed, this is our Prophet’s law regarding anyone who mocks him, and belittles Islam and scorns it... They should be killed... It is intolerable and outrageous that the heretics are among us, scorning our religion and our Prophet.

Therefore, you must fear Allah and do His will. Do not consult anyone about the killing of these heretics. Be secretive in carrying out that which is required of you.

How exactly does one “give peace a chance” with someone like this? Failing to act against this type of corrosive ideology just gives bin Laden and his followers a chance to keep killing. In what way does that further the cause of peace?

3 April 2006 @ 11:34AM >> Not exactly the strongest case against immigration reform:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says golf fairways would suffer if illegal immigrants were returned to their native country.

“You and I are beneficiaries of these jobs,” Bloomberg told his WABC-AM radio co-host, John Gambling. “You and I both play golf; who takes care of the greens and the fairways in your golf course?”

27 March 2006 >> Sean Penn has an Ann Coulter doll that he uses for performing ritual mutilation:

In an interview with The New Yorker magazine, Penn reveals, “We violate her. There are cigarette burns in some funny places. She’s a pure snake-oil salesman. She doesn’t believe a word she says.”

24 March 2006 @ 4:55PM >> The Quote of the Day, courtesy of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld:

If you believe everything you read in Maureen Dowd, you better get a life.

7 March 2006 >> From Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:

The world will be in the hands of Islam over the next few years.

21 February 2006 >> Yeah, I want to hand my money over to an outfit called “Violent Cooperation Company”:

Our companys name is VC “Violent Cooperation.” Violent Cooperation inc. was founded in 2001 with the purpose to finally solve the dilemma between seller and buyer: “Will the buyer send money or does seller send out the goods first?” At one moment when many action sites started up Violent Cooperation’s Escrow Service, the decision of a unique problem has been found to a very common, sore problem. Violent Cooperation has opened a consumer-to-consumer market in the USA, amongst them eBay is known.

(From a spam e-mail recently received.)

16 February 2006 >> The quote of the day, from Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, on the 12 Danish cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed:

Unfortunately, people in the Muslim world feel that this is a new 9/11 against themselves.

Hmmm...flying planes into buildings...publishing cartoons. Yep, that’s about the same.

Update: The Pub Philosopher writes:

Of course, he is right. In the 9/11 attacks, Muslim fanatics killed people and in the Cartoon Wars, Muslim fanatics killed people. Somehow though, I don’t think that’s what he meant.

27 January 2006 @ 6:42AM >> Robert Kuttner at Tapped, the weblog of The American Prospect, assesses the cause of today’s hyper-partisanship:

What has really happened in recent years, however, is a shift by tightly disciplined Republicans to the hard right, while Democrats have become more moderate and centrist.

17 January 2006 >> In a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King day, Ray Nagin, the Democratic mayor of New Orleans, chose an odd way to mark the occasion:

Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it’s destroyed and put stress on this country. Surely he doesn’t approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses.

In the 2004 election, many Democrats accused Republicans of injecting God into the political debate. I guess God can be useful to Democrats as well, when used to bash America.

1 January 2006 @ 1:46PM >> All the best to you and yours for 2006! This year will be an exciting one for Internet media, I have a feeling. There will also be a few of interesting developments with this website, and with the upcoming film Indoctrinate U.

As you contemplate 2006, allow me to leave you with a simple thought that may help steer you through the unknown twists and turns of the year ahead:

3000 years ago in Egypt, cats were worshipped as gods.

They have not forgotten this.
(Source Unknown)