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rant

Gag me with a Hate Crime

My favorite left of center blogger from Lexington celebrated the addition of new protected groups under Federal hate crime law. It’s funny because after almost a year in office this is President Obama’s most successful legislation signed to date. Obamacare has been trapped within a Congressional stalemate between the hard-left and slightly less radical Democrats. Obama being completely ineffective in providing any leadership whatsoever the only green twig he can find to say that he accomplished something is this laughable enlargement of hate crime constituencies. Even so, Obama is still quite capable of making permanent and unconstitutional changes even with his obvious leadership handicap.

Supporters of expanded hate crime laws always bring out the most grotesque examples of murder and mayhem. To make the false argument that such crime can only be punished under these laws. The truth is that standard laws already exist for every variation of mental, emotional, and physical abuse possible.

Appropriately, it is named for Matthew Shepard, a gay young man tortured and killed eleven years ago this month, as well as James Byrd, Jr., the black man who in that same year was dragged alive behind a truck in Jasper, Texas by three white men, until his limbs and head were severed.

Yes! Yes! Yes! The deaths of these two men were horrific. I would support the death penalty for everyone who was involved. The death penalty is not used often enough period! Why is my life less important than a disabled man if both of us were murdered in the same manner? All U.S. citizens enjoy the equal protection of the law yet how can this be when it is made explicit that some men are more equal than others?

Standard crimes of theft, terrorist threatening, or murder are all based on the provable actions of someone to commit said crimes. Hate crimes are different in that it does not require any action to commit a hate crime. Hate speech laws are used mostly to silence the opposition when they speak the truth. Actual crimes of libel, slander, and defamation  already cover the valid reasons for stopping the speech of another person.

Harassment, as vaguely defined in the directive, allows an individual to accuse someone of discrimination merely for expressing something the individual allegedly perceives as creating an “offensive environment.” The definition is so broad that anyone who feels intimidated or offended can easily bring legal action against those whom he feels are responsible. Moreover, the directive shifts the burden of proof onto the accused, who has to prove the negative, i.e. demonstrate that he or she did not create an environment which intimidated or offended the complainant. If the accused fails to do so, he or she can be sentenced to paying an unlimited amount of compensation for “harassment.”

This comes from the European Union. Hate speech laws have no purpose other than to club the opposition into submission.

Categories
hopkinsville

Alan Keyes Live

Alan Keyes gifted Hopkinsville with his presence and his knowledge. The full speech runs about 50 minutes in total courtesy of John McCubbin. Some topics included are why Mr. Keyes is supporting Bill Johnson for U.S. Senate over Rand Paul. His thoughts on the healthcare plan being debated in Congress now and his reasons why all Americans should speak boldly for the rights of the unborn.

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hopkinsville rant

Climate Failure

Mullins, a retired state employee, was one of seven landowners who shared $65,000 in what is believed to be the first sale of carbon credits for trees in Kentucky. That means they were paid for allowing their trees to do what comes naturally: Absorb carbon dioxide. […]

Here we have the other half of the carbon trading marketplace. The Blue Heron buys carbon credits to sooth their guilty conscience. Then that money is paid out to men like Rodney Mullins who are laughing all the way to the bank. For those who live on this planet men are paid for their time and labor but in BizarroWorld men are paid for the work they are NOT doing. When the coal plant burns fuel to produce electricity the trees will absorb it for as long as they remain alive. This mechanism has worked for a very long time without need for a government subsidy. The Blue Heron should ask why are they paying to finance another man’s lifestyle of NOT doing something.

MACED had been planning to sell credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange. But carbon credits are trading very low there now as that emerging market waits to see what Congress will do about climate legislation.

Proponents say that if that legislation includes a cap-and-trade plan, it will bolster a market in which companies that put carbon into the atmosphere pay landowners for allowing their trees to absorb carbon.

Translation: The carbon credit market can’t sustain itself unless it is made mandatory by government fiat. Again I ask how does taxing carbon producers and subsidizing landowners improve the carbon absorption on the landowners’ property.

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Random Links

Be Not Afraid

Be Not Afraid

You shall cross the barren desert, but you shall not die of thirst. You shall wander far in safety though you do not know the way. You shall speak your words in foreign lands and all will understand. You shall see the face of God and live.

Be not afraid.
I go before you always;
Come follow me, and I will give you rest.

Credit to Michael Yon for re-posting this prayer originally from 2007.

Categories
hopkinsville

Ham Festival 2009

HamFest in Cadiz was noticably cooler/wetter this year than last. I was there at 10 o’clock Saturday and the Sun hadn’t yet broke through the clouds. I walked all of the booths but didn’t find anything that appealed to me.

Walking down the main drag was very entertaining though.

Categories
hopkinsville

The Pigs of Trigg County

Last year, when I visited the Trigg County Ham Festival I did notice the many pig statues that appear in Cadiz but didn’t focus on them. The Unusual Kentucky blog wondered where they come from. I think Cadiz has collected enough of these that there is probably a viable breeding population.

More photos of HamFest 09 still to come.

Categories
hopkinsville

CCBOE Gettin’ Stimulated

IN OTHER BUSINESS TODAY (FRIDAY), THE BOARD VOTED TO AMEND THE 2009-2010 WORKING BUDGET TO REFLECT A 3.3 MILLION DOLLAR CUT TO THE STATE S.E.E.K. FUNDING, WHICH WILL BE REPLACED WITH AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT FUNDS. SUPERINTENDENT BRADY LINK AND ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT RIM WATSON TOLD THE BOARD THE CHANGE IN FUNDING WOULD NOT ALTER ANY PROGRAMS PLANNED FOR STUDENTS.

The Board of Education is feeling stimulated. Have you received your stimulus yet? What this story tells me is that the BoE will be in-debted to Obama for about $3 Million. I would be suspicious of any lesson plans that leave blanks for “praise Obama” sessions. It would have been better to cut whatever was lost when the state removed that S.E.E.K. money and do without. Speaking of doing without… it doesn’t mean taking food from the mouths of babes.

When teachers crank up the computer lab’s air conditioning at Central Elementary School, someone must plop a bucket in the hallway to catch the condensation water that starts falling from the gaping hole in the ceiling.At nearby Fannie Bush Elementary School, dozens of desks are pushed together in classrooms nearly 20 percent smaller than recommended. The 275 students share one set of boys and girls bathrooms. Some classes are held out back in rotting, wind-rattled trailers.

It is unacceptable that some students must go to school in sub-standard conditions. However, we should ask why can’t those school districts afford to build new schools sooner.

Bluegrass Politics

Meanwhile, thousands of children started classes this fall at crumbling, cramped schools. This comes 20 years after the state Supreme Court ruled in a landmark school-funding decision that “students must be given equal educational opportunities, regardless of economic status or place of residence.”

The new Christian County Middle School is expected to cost $22 Million. For that, the new school will have every technological advantage possible. Lesser school districts simply aren’t able to build such a monstrosity. I believe the attitude of equal experiences for everyone bankrupts smaller districts that can’t afford the gadgetry of larger districts. Remove the requirement to be equal and districts might build schools without Internet (SHOCKER!!), but they might have better success focusing on their reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic.