by Bill Levinson

[See also American Liberal Liberties Union, WSJ]

To: American Civil Liberties Union info “at” aclum.org (Massachusetts section)
cc: fire “at” thefire.org, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education; bacow and barbara.grossman “at” tufts.edu (Tufts University President Bacow and Committee on Student Life head Barbara Grossman); info “at” tuftsprimarysource.org (The Primary Source)

The American Civil Liberties Union says:

“Freedom of speech is protected in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and is guaranteed to all Americans. Since 1920, the ACLU has worked to preserve our freedom of speech. Learn more and take action to protect the right to free speech.”

We are calling on the American Civil Liberties Union to put the above mission statement into effect with regard to Tufts University’s alleged attack on the First Amendment Rights of its students. The Washington Times reports:

(more…)

By Andrew L. Jaffee

Join the Boycott (JTB) overcame censors at AOL and Lycos, and now Yahoo! Why would a responsible organization like JTB be censored in a free society? “Join the Boycott, an initiative of the Friends of Israel Community, is a Yahoo Geocities website addressing the serious problem of anti-Israel propaganda in the Los Angeles Times, and anti-Israel bias in general. Join the Boycott has been providing ongoing commentary on this subject for over 5 years. Join the Boycott advocates responsible consumer protest as a means to combat anti-Israel bias.” Note that certain keyword that I highlighted, Israel. Yes, in these upside-down, politically-correct times, double-standards are commonplace.

Apparently, Yahoo! GeoCities has no problem hosting sites such as The Lebanese Marxist-Lenninist [sic] Page, which features a link for a “boycott israel campaign” and these two images:

(more…)

Response to Committee on Student Life’s decision against The Primary Source
To: The Primary Source
cc: Tufts University Committee on Student Life, and posted to the Intenet
From: Bill Levinson

Regarding:
TUFTS UNIVERSITY
OUTCOME OF THE COMMITTEE ON STUDENT LIFE’S HEARING OF COMPLAINTS BROUGHT BY DAVID DENNIS AND THE MUSLIM STUDENT ASSOCIATION AGAINST THE PRIMARY SOURCE
APRIL 30, 2007
Sophia Gordon Hall, 6:30pm-midnight

….The second [complaint], filed by the Muslim Student Association (“MSA”), represented by Shirwac Mohamed and Nayema Khan, charged The Primary Source with harassment and creating a hostile environment on campus through the publication of “Islam-Arabic Translation: Submission,” a commentary published in its April 11, 2007 edition that imitated the format of the MSA’s advertisement for events during Islamic Awareness Week.

…In the case of the Muslim Student Association (“MSA”) v. The Primary Source, by a vote of 7 to 0, we find that the MSA proved, by a preponderance of the evidence, that The Primary Source harassed Muslim students at Tufts, and created a hostile environment for them by publishing “Islam-Arabic Translation: Submission.” The Committee found that the MSA established that the commentary at issue targeted members of the Tufts Muslim community for harassment and embarrassment, and that Muslim students felt psychologically intimidated by the piece.

(more…)

By Andrew L. Jaffee

I had feared that Turkey’s constitutional crisis over electing a new (Islamist) president may have led to military (secular) intervention. It seems my fears have been allayed, short-term:

Turkey’s parliament has failed for a second time to elect the Islamist-rooted governing party’s candidate for president, Abdullah Gul.

Mr Gul, the only nominee, withdrew his candidacy after the vote was rendered invalid by an opposition boycott.

But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (AKP), with his “autocratic tendencies,” has not given up his dream of steadily moving Turkey away from its secular roots, planted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and towards Islamist “ideals:”

(more…)

By Andrew Whitehead

On May 2, Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of the Chicago Office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), North Americas largest Islamist terrorist supporting group, had an article published titled “Freedom is not spelled ‘Feardom’” in the on-line edition of the Middle East Times:

http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070502-091843-5785r

In the article, Rehab writes:

(more…)

By Andrew L. Jaffee

Is it the letter or spirit of the law? What about when you can’t figure out either the letter or spirit of the law? Can we differentiate between 1) thoughts, speech, emotion and 2) tangible actions? Can things like thoughts, speech, emotion, and race be defined in a legal statute? I’ve read the text of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R. 1592, which passed the U.S. House yesterday. I’m not a legal expert, but the bill seems to codify the concept “race” — i.e., “members of certain religious and national origin groups were and are perceived to be distinct ‘races’.” H.R. 1592 also specifies that a hate crime can be prosecuted on the basis of the victim’s “real or perceived” race, “whether or not acting under color of law.” Huh? Can race be defined? I thought true, open-minded evolution would lead us not to codify race, or single out only certain “races.” We’re all one human species, aren’t we? It is 2007, right? Patronizingly condescending on one end, eugenics on the other, or a bit of both?

(more…)