I’m taking a short sabbatical. Next week I’ll post a report on this event.
In the meantime, check out the long blogroll. Lots of good blogging going on.
Update (4/27): Just a quick update because I think this is important. The Duke rape accuser has cried rape before. Ten years ago she claimed three men had raped her three years earlier. (Source)
Shortly after I sent Townhall.com’s editor my review of Star Parker’s White Ghetto, I read an op-ed called First comes baby, then comes marriage?, by Maryann Reid. As if the dire statistics in Parker’s book hadn’t depressed me enough, the op-ed disheartened me even more.
Black liberals have serious personal problems with me and my blogging. I write too much about negative things going on in the black community and too little that’s positive, they say.
My typical response was, “Start your own blog and write about positive things,” or “Stop reading my blog if it upsets you so much.” I’d already explained here and there why I blog the way I do, but I decided to confront the question head on.
A post called Do You Hate Black People may give the most straightforward answer to why I focus on certain topics.
Some have argued that as a high-profile and “educated” black blogger, I should do something to uplift blacks instead of always condemning them. I approach the controversy from a totally different perspective. I’m not condemning anyone; my sin is airing dirty laundry in front of a mostly white readership. There are plenty of black bloggers, writers, politicians, educators, etc., writing and talking about positive things going on in the black community. But too many for my taste gloss over what ails us.
Too many avoid the harsh truth. “Racism” is a cop-out and too absurdly childish for serious discussion. That’s why I skip it. You’ll never hear me say or write that racism doesn’t exist; I choose to focus on what we bring on ourselves.
Filed under: Cultural Decline, Faith, Pop Culture
OK. This is very cool. I want to do it, too!
Check out Michelle’s latest “Vent” video segment. On tap: media bias, Mary McCarthy, John Kerry, Sandy Berger, the recent (and phony) immigration raids, and other topics.
Previous post (with comments open): Hot Air: World’s First Full-Service Conservative Internet Broadcast Network
Update III (4/27): The Duke rape accuser has cried rape before. Ten years ago she claimed three men had raped her three years earlier. (Source)
The girl’s got an active, though not terribly original, imagination. I wonder if the alleged rapists were white…
Remember, readers — as more info like this seeps out — the vapid, asinine, hypocritical, and race-mongering news stories, op-eds, speeches, and talking heads we’ve endured for the past couple of weeks. I’m on the edge of my chair waiting to hear/read what they’ve got to say about this.
Update II (4/26): One more comment on this post, and I’m done…unless something big happens today. I ran across a few articles about the “lack of diversity” in baseball and the lone black player on Duke’s former lacrosse team (let’s face it, it’s over).
Do you notice that very few people complain or write about the “lack of diversity” of football and basketball teams? Both sports are overwhelmingly dominate by blacks, yet not a peep. Not a serious peep, at any rate.
Interesting…
Update (4/25): Nifong the lyncher?
If/when the rape charges fail, Nifong will have a few misdemeanor cases to keep him busy. Go get ‘em, Mike!
A commenter says: “Sounds like Mr. Nifong is trolling for cooperating witnesses…”
Newsday quoting Steve “I don’t care what you say about him he’s got a point” Sailer:
“The Times, he says, loves a story in which blacks might have been criminally victimized by whites, because it reverses the all-too familiar pattern. So the Times jumps at the chance to show whites acting badly, thus elevating the paper’s self-appointed status as the arbiter of social and racial justice. As Sailer puts it, ‘The Duke lacrosse team, a bunch of rich preppie jerks, makes a wonderful target for other whites wishing to parade their moral superiority.”
I don’t know how she does it.
Michelle Malkin — wife, mother of two, author of three books, syndicated columnist, speaker, FOX News guest host, and prolific blogger extraordinaire — has started a new venture called Hot Air, a conservative Internet broadcast network.
From the site:
Continue reading Hot Air: World’s First Full-Service Conservative Internet Broadcast Network
Tuesday, April 25: Check out a BBC article about the conference.
Gunn Nutt has posted lots of photos and a wrap-up.
Captain Argghh! has a wrap-up, as does Blackfive.
Also see Instapinch, Sgt. Hook, Beltway Blogroll…
OPFOR: “Met LaShawn Barber on the elevator first thing in the morning. What a classy broad. ”
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(Pictures here. Join the video/audio feed and chat here. )
I’m here!
All week I’m working at home, sun streaming through the window. This morning I awake to a chilly, nasty, drizzly day. Yuck. But here I am at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning live-blogging for my country! MilBlog Conference 2006 will be the first of many, God willing.
Other live bloggers: Gunn Nutt, Euphoric Reality, Soldiers’ Angels, and Two Babes and a Brain.
Military wife Andi of Andi’s World (met at BlogNashville) spearheaded this conference. I just met Matt of Blackfive. Don’t expect many pictures. Most of these guys blog under their first names and want to remain unidentified. I forgot my camera anyway.
Milblogs: Past, Present and Future
8:48 a.m.: Austin Bay is opening the first MilBlog Conference. Panelists are Buzz Patterson, Matt of Blackfive, CJ of A Soldier’s Perspective, Citizen Smash (”Lt. Smash”) of Indepundit, Steve of Threadwatch (met at BlogNashville), John Noonan of OPFOR…
This is why it’s important to keep journals. CJ (who says his blogging is therapeutic) is talking about reading his grandfather’s journals as a kid. His grandfather fought in WWII. Think of the memories and recorded events found in those pages. I’ve kept a “journal of life” (16 black-and-white composition notebooks) since I was 16 years old, over 20 years ago. It’s tough to read some of that stuff. Young, stupid, learning, growing. But it’s a chronicle of my life and my physical, mental, and spiritual development. It’s a record of events that are important to me. If I wanted to write a memoir one day, those journals will come in handy.
Smash is talking about how he started milblogging back in 2002 just to chronicle events. He’s talking about his quick rise in the blogosphere as the go-to soldier blogger when the war first started, although he wasn’t in Iraq at the time.
One of Matt’s friends was killed in an ambush in Iraq. One of the people his friend saved was a Newsweek reporter, who didn’t mention the man when he wrote about the story. That made Matt angry, understandably, and this prompted him to start Blackfive.
Monday, April 24: Comments closed on this post. A defense lawyer wants to see the evidence. Read and discuss the latest news.
Update (4/23): Read Newsweek’s latest story about this case. It’s long and detailed enough to cover almost everything we know so far.
The emerging images pop right out at you: two strippers start dancing, the players get rowdy, the strippers get angry and start to leave, the players get angry and call them names as they head out, one of the strippers returns the taunts, the drunk accuser-stripper goes back in to retrieve her shoe (but may not have found it), second stripper is angry at the players and the drunk stripper, calls 911 to report name-calling, has someone else call 911 to report drunk woman in her car, cop arrives and sees drunk woman passed out, drunk woman is taken to a “substance abuse” center, realizes she may be in big trouble because of her past drunken criminal behavior (leading police on a car chase and trying to run down an officer), claims rape, is sent to hospital where exam reveals injuries “consistent” with rape, points the finger at three men at the party, media and black “leaders” go crazy and play up race angle, DA - in a fight for political survival - takes the race bait and vilifies 46 men, some of whom weren’t at the party, tests all but the black player, and despite no evidence charges two men with rape.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
And this is highly unlikely to have happened: “She [the stripper] identified Reade Seligmann, 20, with 100-percent certainty as the man who forced her to perform oral sex on him.”
Yet no DNA connected Seligmann or Finnerty to the accuser; no DNA under her nails from trying to fight them off. No connection also means their DNA wasn’t found on her, either. Don’t mean to be graphic, but if someone had forced me to…let’s just say the lab techs would have a sufficent sample of blood evidence to work with.
Also see this must-read comment.
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Update (5:05 p.m.): This case is burning up the search engines, too. In the last hour, I’ve had over 800 unique visitors looking for information about this case. To give you some perspective, an “Insta-lanche” may generate about 500 visits per hour, depending on the time of day and how Glenn describes the post.
By the way, the wonderful e-mail I’m getting greatly outweighs the troll droppings and hate e-mail. Thank you.
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Continue reading Duke Rape Case: Vulgarity, Hypocrisy, Double Standards, Myths, Money, Etc.
Filed under: Duke Rape Case, Haters, Justice
Update IV (4/21): Earlier I complained that Congressman Tom Tancredo was not on the list of speakers for FRC’s illegal immigration discussion. I just got word that he will participate. 
Update III: Feds warn businesses against harboring and hiring illegal aliens? Confused…
Update II (4/20): I’ve blogged about the Minuteman Project many times on this blog. Examples:
Secure Our Borders Campaign
Minuteman Civil Defense Corps
Curious George and the Fox
They are a peaceful group of American volunteers (civilians) standing watch on our borders, and they have another message for George Bush.
Regarding the immigration raid I mentioned yesterday, Michelle Malkin and Dan Riehl are both cynical. I agree that the timing is suspicious, but I’m glad to read any news story with the words “illegal immigration” and “arrests” in it, whatever the motives behind the arrests.
Fellow blogger Mark Tapscott, formerly of the Heritage Foundation, is back in the newsroom at the Washington Examiner. Read his editorial about Reconquista. (Hat tip: MM)
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Update: An immigration raid? Imagine that…
The Family Research Council will host a discussion forum on Christians, the rule of law, and illegal immigration on April 27. You must RSVP to attend. A live video feed will be available.
I read a story about one of the panelists, Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, Jr., of National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, that fired me up (annoying but free reg. req.).
Added to my to-do list was “contact Rodriguez and ask him whether he’s discussed the illegality of illegal immigration with Christ-professing illegal aliens” — particularly in light of Chapter 13 of Paul’s letter to the Romans — but it got bumped down the list by more pressing matters. Looks like I’ll get the chance to ask him face to face.
Missing from the line up is Congressman Tom Tancredo, the toughtest border control advocate in Congress and a patriot not just in name only. And he’s no mere Republican; he’s a true conservative.
In other news, the “will of the people” still means something to local and state governments, thank goodness. Georgia’s governor is no mealy-mouth, ineffectual, open-borders, nation-destroying liberal, I’m glad to say. Perhaps putting citizens first will become a trend. Let’s hope so.
The key to stopping the scourge, however, is forcing illegal-alien-hiring businesses to face the consequences — by suing them under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statute. (For example, the Supreme Court may be hearing such a case very soon).
I know I’m hoping against hope that the court will do the right thing, but you never know…
Related post:
Sources:
Answer: Does it matter?
With government schools, it all comes down to the black-white academic achievement gap, and don’t let anyone try to convince you otherwise.
Whether it’s the takeover of suburban schools (read: tax base) in Omaha, Nebraska, or the dumbing down of gifted programs in Montgomery County, Maryland, the achievement gap is at the center. If racism were the cause, black-run school districts like Prince George’s County and D.C. Public Schools would fare better, but obviously they don’t. (Ironically, DC’s per pupil expenditure is among the highest in the country.)
By now you’ve read these alarming headlines: “States Omitting Minority Scores,” “Schools skirt ‘No Child Left Behind’ rule,” “Whites Generally Not Left Behind,” “Educators say some Indian children being left behind,” etc. Some schools are not reporting test scores for minority students, as required under the No Child Left Behind law (NCLB), which was designed to hold schools accountable for low-achieving students.
You actually need to read such stories to the end to find out what’s going on. But first, let’s “cut to the chase” on NCLB. Feds to states: “States, you must improve minority students’ performance, or else. We don’t care how you do it, just do it. Unfunded mandate, my eye!”
If you prefer convoluted, governmentspeak explanations, knock yourselves out: White House: No Child Left Behind and the Department of Education’s NCLB page.
Back to the “hiding scores” meme. When reporting standardized test scores to the Department of Education as mandated by NCLB, states are allowed to exclude scores of groups too small to be statistically significant, and states decide what’s “too small.” For example, let’s say Florida decided not to report scores from racial groups of less than 20 students. In a school with 1,000 whites and 15 blacks, the black students’ scores wouldn’t be reported.
Sounds reasonable as far as statistics go, but the trend is troubling to some, I suppose. The practice disproportionately impacts black students, and that makes it automatically suspect (at least to social engineers). A few years ago I supported NCLB. I particularly liked that parents have the option of transferring their children to a different school if their neighborhood school fails for two consecutive years to meet a rigorous set of standards. There was no guarantee that the law would work, but I thought it provided an incentive for schools to retain students. It represented a shift toward “competition.”
Continue reading Are Government Schools ‘Hiding’ Blacks’ Test Scores?
