www.thornwalker.com/ditch/olson_12.htm
Freak show #12
By DOUGLAS OLSON
If you find this article interesting, please send a donation of $2 to TLD. More information appears below. |
Idiot of the Month
Crying "Jesus will save you," a 46-year-old man jumped into the lions' den at
the Taipei Zoo earlier this month and attempted to convert the beasts to
Christianity. He also reportedly said, "Come bite me," as one of the males
ripped off the man's jacket and sank his teeth into the fool's leg. To the
everlasting detriment of the Taiwanese gene pool, zoo workers drove off the
animals, which had already been fed, with water hoses and dart
guns.
Our marine brethren
The Ninth Circus [sic] Court of Appeals issued a 17-page opinion in October,
analyzing the legal right of animals (whales, porpoises, and dolphins in this
case) to sue the government. Reluctantly, the court concluded that they have no
such right: "If Congress and the President intended to take the extraordinary
step of authorizing animals as well as people and legal entities to sue[,] they
could and should have said so plainly," wrote Judge William A. Fletcher for the
court. Masochists can read the entire opinion by checking out The Cetacean
Community v. George W. Bush, et al., at www.ca9.uscourts.gov.
Big Brother at OPM
The federal Office of Personnel Management is probing the background of
some employees, who, it says, were "placed into jobs without having undergone
a coordinated suitability review or reinvestigation process." Individual
employees we refuse to call bureaucrats "workers" on the job
for 20 years or more are now being harassed for their fingerprints (which all
federal employees are supposed to give at hiring), subjected to credit checks,
and grilled about divorces, altercations with the law, overseas travel, and other
non-work-related aspects of their lives. When items that "could be called
derogatory" turn up, OPM says, the employees will be allowed to respond and
"put the information in context." Mighty white of them!
Americans are getting smarter ...
A September Gallup poll found Americans' faith in the press at its lowest point
in at least 30 years. Just 9 percent of respondents had a "great deal" of
confidence that news was being fully, accurately, and fairly reported by
broadcast and print media. Thirty-five percent claimed "a fair amount" of trust,
39 percent had "little" confidence, and 16 percent the
smartest of the lot had "none at all."
... As the media get ever more dishonest
As evidence to support the previous item, we recommend an article in the
September 2004 issue of Imprimis, "Media Bias against Guns" by John Lott, Jr.,
which is available at www.hillsdale.edu/newimprimis/2004/september/default.htm. In this piece, Lott recounts media
coverage of the 2002 shooting at Appalachian Law School in Virginia by an
African immigrant, which left three dead. Out of 218 stories printed in the
following week, only four mentioned that two other students got guns from
their cars and used them without firing a shot to stop the
rampage. The Washington Post said students "pounced on the gunman and held
him," while Newsday claimed that he was "restrained by students." Confronted
by Lott, the Post asserted that the pro-gun omission was not "intentional," but
had been dictated by "space constraints."
The cost of free speech
A University of New Hampshire freshman was evicted from his dormitory and
banned from all campus housing for joking about overweight women. In
October, Timothy Garneau posted fliers warning that "9 out of 10 freshman
girls gain 10-15 pounds. But there is something you can do about it. If u live
below the 6th floor take the stairs. Not only will u feel better about yourself but
you will also be saving us time and wont be so sore on the eyes." [sic] Garneau
spent nearly two weeks living in his automobile before UNH relented and
allowed him to move into a different dorm.
Enriching our culture
Remember Tawana Brawley, the young New York Negress whose claim of rape
by a gang of prominent white men set the nation on fire in the late '80s
and was later proven to be a total hoax? It's working in reverse now, as we see
in the case of a North Carolina white woman who dared complain of being
brutally raped for hours by seven Hispanic men. The Latino Connection, an
"activist" group, is raising hell solely because of the race and alleged "good
reputations" of the accused although they are all in the United States
illegally (what a surprise!). The group is suggesting that the victim may have
"contributed to the events," according to the local paper. The rumor is also
being floated that she might be a prostitute, although authorities say none of
the men mentioned either of those excuses when they were first questioned.
There's plenty of evidence of forcible sex, say the police, and the woman was
bruised so badly that she could not walk for days.
It isn't the hate it's the victimhood
The Georgia Supreme Court has voided that state's "hate crime" law as "unconstitutionally vague" because it enhanced prison sentences when perpetrators acted "because of bias or prejudice" but failed to designate "protected classes" of victims. Ironically, the favored classes were stripped out of the final bill because many lawmakers did not want to to go on record as voting to include homosexuals. So now we know heterosexual white males are the problem (aren't they always?). "Protecting" every group but straight white males is perfectly fine, but if they are included, the result is unconstitutional. Ain't equality fun!
November 20, 2004
© 2004 Douglas Olson. All rights reserved.
Douglas Olson contents
page.
If you found this column to be interesting, please donate at least $2 to our cause. You should make your check or m.o. payable in U.S. dollars to WTM Enterprises and send it to:
WTM Enterprises
P.O. Box 224
Roanoke, IN 46783
Thanks for helping to assure a future for TLD!
Notice to visitors who came straight to this document from off site: You are deep in The Last Ditch. You should check out our home page and table of contents.