Parker Rice, There Will Be Forgiveness

Parker Rice has withdrawn from Oklahoma University. He should have made the University expel him. The University would have had to present charges to Rice and give him a hearing. I don't know whether "leading a racist and exclusionary chant" is grounds for expulsion or not.

I don't think a public university can expel a student for protected speech. The University of Oklahoma is a public institution. It takes money from the government. In order for speech to lose it's protected status, there needs to be a true threat or incitement. Rice's chant didn't meet that criteria. Therefore, expulsion by the university is unconstitutional.

University of Oklahoma President David Boren says he wants to avoid the creation of a "hostile educational environment for others." How exactly does a racist chant create a "hostile environment?" Is the university going to ban the word "nigger?" OK, ban the word. Acknowledge that black people are a protected class. How many protected classes can be created?

Surely lesbians are oppressed. The word "dyke" is therefore banned. Homosexual men face marginalization. The word "faggot" must therefore be banned. Transexuals? Outliers! The word "tranny" is on the banned list. If an auto repair shop is doing business with the university and wants to continue the relationship, they can no longer use that offensive abbreviation. Women might insist the words "bitch," "slut," and "cunt" be outlawed.

Is Huckleberry Finn going to be banned? What about the thousands of rap songs that use the word "nigger?" I get that that is "their word," and that confers the right to use it. Who decides who will retain the right to use the word?

Another thing is, once a word is banned, it becomes seductive.

The offended mob is not appeased by Rice's withdrawal and public humiliation. There is a protest planned at Rice's parent's house this evening. The protest is being organized by a Dallas group called Next Generation Action Network. Hmm, that sounds very familiar to Al Sharpton's National Action Network. Could it be that Shakedown Al is the shot-caller here?

Parker Rice is six months removed from high school. How many people have got all their shit together at that age? Next Generation Action Network's Facebook page says that they demand "PUBLIC acknowledgement and apology" from Rice. His public shaming and abject humiliation up to this point is not enough? They are also "urging the Department of Justice to investigate ALL SAE chapters across the nation for racial discrimination and possible hate crimes in an attempt to shut down the ENTIRE fraternity."

There is no public accomodation for private institutions. If a fraternity wants to exclude anyone, for any reason, that is their right. A fraternity is not a public accomodation.

Next Generation Action Network's founder is Dominique R. Alexander. He looks like a nice enough fellow, from his picture. His bio describes him as ordained Minister at The True Love Missionary Baptist Church.

Since Alexander is an ordained Baptist minister, he must know that Jesus instructed us that "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says , ‘I repent,’ forgive him."

Reverend Alexander, I believe that Parker Rice has repented in his heart. Will you please forgive him, and instruct your followers do likewise?

A Good Ol' Fraternity Lynching

When I was in college, I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to become a defense attorney, because I believed that everybody is entitled to a defense. I have an instinct to defend the indefensible. This humanist desire surfaced early in founder John Adams' life, when he represented the British soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre.

Today I feel of kindred spirit with the members of Oklahoma University's Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. They were videotaped chanting a racist declaration on a bus trip, using the wording, "There will never be a nigger SAE. You can hang him from a tree, but he can never sign with me."

The community has reacted with customary anguish. Students rallied against the fraternity. Many students taped their mouths shut and wrote the message "UNHEARD" on the tape. I don't know what that means. Maybe it means that they don't want to hear that someone doesn't like them. I wonder if any of them appreciate the irony of demonstrating against offensive speech by taping their mouths shut.

The national chapter of SAE suspended the Oklahoma chapter. I think that is appropriate. But it won't end there. The President of Oklahoma University has given the chapter until midnight tonight to pack their bags and leave the house. That seems a bit harsh. A landlord may give a tenant a Three-Day Notice to Perform Covenant or Quit premises if the tenant is causing damage or creating a nuisance. The short notice seems to be a gross violation of due process.

The nuisance created seems to be coming from the student body. Their threatening behavior has prompted the university to park police squad cars in front of the fraternity house. The campus group Unheard has planned "peaceful" protests on campus. Funny how those "peaceful" protests always culminate in civil disobedience, property damage and mass arrests.

But it won't end there. University President David Boren wants the students involved to be expelled. "I don't have much sympathy for them," he said. This incident is surely embarrassing to the students involved. The tape is going to follow them around everywhere, for the rest of their lives.

Some might argue that the shame of the tape's widespread distribution is punishment enough. It won't be. The entire pan-Hellenic community at Oklahoma has been summoned for diversity and sensitivity training at the request of David Boren.

In the South, lynching was often performed not just as extra-judicial punishment, but to send a warning. The message to black men was: know your place. Seems to me that this is figuratively happening to the SAE fraternity. Wikipedia says that lynching is done to "intimidate a minority group" and that it is "an extreme form of informal group social control."

I feel bad for those fraternity members involved. Their stupidity is going to be a millstone hung about their necks for the rest of their lives. The allegation of racism is enough for perpetual damnation. And there will be no trial, just punishment.

Netanyahu's Address

Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech to AIPAC today. Tomorrow he will address a joint session of Congress. He told listeners that he didn't intend "to show any disrespect to President Obama or the esteemed office that he holds. I have great respect for both."

Bibi, the feeling is not mutual. Barack Hussein Obama holds you in utter contempt. So does everyone in his Administration. Last year, an administration official called Netanyahu chickenshit. The official who made the comment bravely hid behind the veil of anonymity.

The year before that, Secretary of State John Kerry threatened a third intifada if Israel didn't "resolve the issue of settlements." In other words, to withdraw to the 1948 borders.

Obama's Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, has advocated for American military intervention in Judea and Samaria. To protect the Palestinians from the Israelis. She referred to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a situation that "does require external intervention."

A story that broke yesterday involved Obama threatening to shoot down Israeli warplanes should they attempt to strike Iran. According to a Kuwaiti newspaper, Netanyahu told Kerry that Israel was planning the attack.

Reuters' Jeff Mason interviewed Obama today. Why didn't Mason ask Obama about this?

In any case, the report was not surprising. I have been reading reports for years of Obama officials warning Israel from using Iraqi airspace. One nation that has reportedly granted overflight privileges to Israeli warplanes is Saudi Arabia. If Israel did attack Iran, Saudi Arabia would be cheering vigorously from the sidelines.

If and when Iran does consummate its nuclear ambitions, the Saudis will buy their own nuclear arsenal from Pakistan.

That Obama is so defensive about Netanyahu addressing Congress indicates that Obama knows that any agreement with Iran is a bad deal. If it were a good deal, Obama could just point to the agreement. The interim agreement gives in to Iran's demand that they have the "right" to enrich uranium. It says nothing about Iranian research into advanced centrifuges.

The interim agreement does not limit Iran's construction on its heavy-water reactor at Arak. This reactor will produce enough plutonium for one or two nuclear weapons each year when complete. And the interim agreement does not restrict Iran's ballistic missile program.

As of this writing, fifty-four Democrat lawmakers are going to boycott Netanyahu's address. Senator Tim Kaine said that "there is no reason to schedule this speech before Israeli voters go to the polls on March 17." The deadline for conditions of the interim agreement being met is March 24. That reason enough for you, Tim?

Elizabeth Warren just announced that she will be boycotting Netanyahu's speech, as well. Obama is whipping them good. Even money says Obama has something disruptive planned. Obama used Code Pink to try to arrest Henry Kissinger. At this point nothing would surprise me.