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WITH NEARLY A FORTNIGHT TO GO BEFORE IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE AMERICAN ELECTORATE MAKING THE FINAL CHOICE on the path America must take between Freedom and Happiness for the 21st century, it's emerging that the Religiopolitical Right and their friends among the Dregs of Society are resorting to Drastic Measures for "winning of hearts and minds" into four more years of failed socioeconomic policy in the name of "saving America from herself" by keeping America a White Christian Nation not unlike apartheid South Africa in its zenith.
Some interesting details from Right Wing Watch, for starters:
Does anyone else get the sense that the Religious Right is starting to get a bit terrified about what the election has in store for them and their agenda?
Please vote! Our children's future depends on it!
In my 70 years, I have never seen an election where coverage was so one-sided and biased or where censorship by the liberal media was so widely practiced and where media coverage was so slanted as I have seen in this election process. Their plan is working. The only chance conservatives have is to make sure they care enough to vote.
If the liberals win the upcoming election, America as we have known it will no longer exist. This country that we love, founded on Judeo-Christian values, will cease to exist and will be replaced by a secular state hostile to Christianity. This “city set on a hill” which our forefathers founded, will go dark. The damage will be deep and long lasting. It cannot be turned around in the next election, or the one after that, or by any election in the future. The damage will be permanent. That is why it is so important for you to vote and to encourage friends and family to vote. This is one election where your vote really counts.
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Earlier today we noted the American Family Association starting to panic over the possibility of an Obama presidency, declaring that “if the liberals win the upcoming election, America as we have known it will no longer exist.”
And it is starting to look as if abject terror is slowly overtaking the entire Religious Right movement. For instance, Sarah Posner points us to this post from Stephen Strang proclaiming, in all seriousness, that “life as we know it will end if Obama is elected”:
[P]eople who hate Christianity will be emboldened to attack our freedoms. Christianity is already persona non grata in academia and in the liberal media. People such as Bill Maher and Michael Moore, who hate God and God's people, will think the election verifies that the nation as a whole believes as they do and will jump for glee. Meanwhile, Christians seem almost asleep. There is no outcry!
"I think what you'll see is Barack Obama solidifying power in short order, either through the legislative process with hate crimes legislation. And then he'll turn on talk radio with reenactment of the 'Fairness Doctrine.' I'm not so sure he'll wait for an act of Congress. I think he'll do some of this with unconstitutional but never challenged executive orders, but he will silence his critics within days," he explains. "One thing you can always count on is [that] liberals, unlike conservatives, know how to use power -- and they will use it swiftly and decisively. And all I can say is heaven help us if this man becomes president of the United States."
Scarborough contends Obama is a committed socialist who intends to radically transform the United States.
David Corn has a good post up on the MoJo Blog detailing the varying last-minute attacks the Right is throwing at Obama right now, ranging from “Obama is a commie who hates the rich and wants to kill the American Dream” to “Obama will destroy Christianity in the United States and enslave you within an Islamic dictatorship.”
And speaking of the so-called "American Family Association" whipping up the old weeping and wailing and boohoohooing about This Country That We Love being in danger: Doesn't this smack of apartheid South African appeals to fear over what might happen if apartheid were to suddenly collapse, especially so the Loss of White Afrikaner Honour and Pride?
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ANOTHER UNLIKELY PROPAGATOR OF PLAYING TO THE CRUDEST OF PREJUDICES AND IGNORANCE FOR THE SAKE OF INDECISION 2008 happens to be the Ku Klux Klan: Folders promoting same have been used over recent days as a wrapper for copies of Oklahoma's Ada Evening News, much to the chagrin of the gazetta's publishers and the district attorney of Pontotoc County (of which Ada is shire town), who is considering Hate Crimes charges against such responsible.
(The Klan, for its part, tries washing its hands, Pilate-stylee, of responsibility for what happens to its brochures as are downloaded and reprinted off their website. Which doesn't sit well with the publishers of the Evening News, who are prepared to file charges of Unlawful Distribution against such involved.)
Your Correspondent, though, is grateful that readers thereof are consigning such garbage to the most approriate place therefor: the recycling bin.
IN CASE YOU'RE WONDERING ABOUT THE RELEVANCE THEREOF, WE MAY BE ALL THE CLOSER TO HIGH-SPEED RAIL SERVICE BETWEEN CHICAGO, MILWAUKEE, MADISON AND THE TWIN CITIES within measurable distance thanks to freshly-signed legislation authorising funds for track upgrades and equipment that will allow for high-speed passenger rail:
between Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison in three years' time; and
continuing onward to the Twin Cities (via Wisconsin Dells, LaCrosse and Winona in five years' time.
Which, once the service is up to full strength, will see six return trips ever day @ top speeds of 100 mph or thereabouts. But will it play in LaCrosse?
READERS, TRY TO SPOT THE CODE, WEASEL AND "DOG-WHISTLE" TERMS IN THE FOLLOWING TRANSCRIPT OF REMARKS (VIA CROOKS AND LIARS) from Rush Limbaugh's radio programme of Tuesday the 14th as suggests that blacks are somehow secretly preparing for the imminence of what white supremacists call RAHOWA (RAcial HOly WAr):
From the time of my birth, 57 years ago, to today, this country has grown and expanded, prosperity has opened its doors for more and more people around the world, not just people born in this country. We know the stories of Asians emigrating and running rings around people born in this country academically in California. We know all about the immigration, legal and illegal, to get into the country. We know that the standard of living has risen. We know that technological advancement is going along at light speed. And yet during this period of time, whether it be the last 57 years or be it the last 20 years, it seems that a majority of the black population has remained angry, frustrated, and behind. They've been left behind. They are acting like they've been left behind, and of course we've heard that this is because of racism, natural systemic institutional racism in America, that we are unfair, that this country is just horrible and rotten.
You ever ask yourself how it is that people not even born here can come here and in a few short years begin prospering in school, their own business or what have you, yet people who are born in this country somehow have been raised to hate it, to think they're still back in the days of slavery. I actually think, after studying all this ACORN stuff and reading what Stanley Kurtz has written about this, I actually believe that what has taken place here in addition to liberal Democrat legislation, such as the Great Society and the war on poverty, which a lot of people will now acknowledge really busted up the black family by the government taking the place of the husband and father, free to roam around and bear no responsibility. The mother remained the mother, she got the financial assistance from this legislation, from the federal government. The federal government became the father. The father didn't have to hang around in order for the kids to be okay, depending on how you define okay. But as you study more and more of this ACORN stuff, you find that it has been part of an entire movement that has been going on for two, maybe three decades, right under our noses.
We thought that it was just liberal welfare policies and all that that kept blacks from progressing while other minorities grew and prospered, but no, it is these wackos from Bill Ayers to Jeremiah Wright to other anti-American Afrocentric black liberation theologists with ACORN, and Barack Obama is smack dab in the middle of it, they have been training young black kids to hate, hate, hate this country, and they trained their parents before that to hate, hate, hate this country. It was a movement. It was a Bill Ayers, anti-capitalist, anti-American educational movement. ACORN is how it was implemented, right under our noses. They're doing far more, folks, than just cheating when it comes to elections and registration. They are in deep in this mortgage crisis. ACORN and Obama and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, the Democrat Party, have their fingerprints all over the subprime mortgage crisis. The whole concept of affordable housing was people that can't afford a mortgage are going to get one, because America is unfair.
It has been a movement, it has been a religion, and Obama and Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers were all up to their big ears in it.
Which should be enough for the REAL "Right-Thinking Americans" amongst us to take this self-annointed "Truth Detector" to task for what essentially borders on incitement to insurrection or violence in especially the emotionally-unstable among his audience of Angry White Men Eating Krispy Kreme Donuts to the Point of Gluttonry.
The kind who may unconsciously be allying themselves with the Dregs of Society who associate with racists, white supremaists and apologists for apartheid South Africa--or, to paraphrase Stewie Griffin, "the kind of idiots you see @ Taco Bell @ one in the morning! The guys who just whiffed their way down the bar skank ladder, and then some!! (Especialy if such Dregs of Society tend to be alcoholics, drug addicts, gamblers, chronic spendthrifts, spousal and/or child abusers, sex fiends or maniacs or suffer from certain emotional disorders making them unable to face Reality.)
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STICKING WITH THE APPEALS TO LATENT AND CRUDE RACISM FOR THE MOMENT, YOUR CORRESPONDENT CAN JUST IMAGINE the white-supremacist community calling for a Global Day of Solidarity with the Oppressed and Persecuted Afrikaner Peoples of South Africa coincident with the traditional Day of the Vow holiday on 16 December, commemorating a supposed Voortrekker victory against a massed Zulu army in 1838 (itself commemorated by the Voortrekker Memorial outside Pretoria).
And expect among the highlights nothing less than a manufactured display of vitriolic white-supremacist emotion in form of a recitation (in the original Afrikaans) of The Vow prior to combat (via Wikipedia):
Hier staan ons voor die Heilige God van hemel en aarde om ´n gelofte aan Hom te doen, dat, as Hy ons sal beskerm en ons vyand in ons hand sal gee, ons die dag en datum elke jaar as ´n dankdag soos ´n Sabbat sal deurbring; en dat ons ´n huis tot Sy eer sal oprig waar dit Hom behaag, en dat ons ook aan ons kinders sal sê dat hulle met ons daarin moet deel tot nagedagtenis ook vir die opkomende geslagte. Want die eer van Sy naam sal verheerlik word deur die roem en die eer van oorwinning aan Hom te gee.
Which, in English translation, is as thus:
Here we stand before the Holy God of heaven and earth, to make a vow to Him that, if He will protect us and give our enemy into our hand, we shall keep this day and date every year as a day of thanksgiving like a sabbath, and that we shall erect a house to His Honour wherever it should please Him, and that we also will tell our children that they should share in that with us in memory for future generations. For the honour of His Name will be glorified by giving Him the fame and honour for the victory.
As well as "freewill offerings" expected to go to causes expected to assist in the "evacuation" as "religiopolitical refugees" of the Afrikaner populace "from danger of further persecution," and resettled in the hope of reclaiming their past desire of being honest and simple farmers and pastoralists--only to wind up diverting funds to "other, more pressing causes" without prior notice, and trying to keep the whole a secret.
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AS IF RUSH LIMBAUGH'S POSSIBLE USE OF DOG-WHISTLE CALLS TO ARMS IN THE NAME OF G-D, COUNTRY AND "RACIAL HONOUR" WEREN'T DISGUSTING ENOUGH, consider where the Anti-Defamation League is spotting fresh patterns in anti-Semitic conspiracies seeking to cash in on the current or otherwise imminent socioeconomic meltdown, which, if History is any barometer, is prime time for anti-Semitic propaganda @ its crudest, targeting especially such Who Should Know Better:
Conspiracy theories linking Jews and Israel to the global financial meltdown are taking on global reach as the financial crisis on Wall Street continues to affect markets around the world.
According to Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which first reported a spike in anti-Semitic postings on U.S. financial Web sites, "anti-Jewish invective and conspiracy theories are spreading globally" in European and Latin American countries and the Middle East as a result of the global economic crisis.
One widely circulated conspiracy theory suggests that "$400 billion in funds was secretly transferred to Israeli banks" just prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other major investment banks.Launched on an anti-Semitic Web site sponsored by a Washington, DC-based Holocaust denial publication, the false rumor has ricocheted across the Internet and around the world, appearing on numerous Web sites and comment boards with few questioning its veracity or citing its origins.
"One disturbing side effect to the global economic meltdown is the resurgence of the Big Lie," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director."Anti-Jewish invective and conspiracy theories are spreading globally.While it is still early, we know from experience what can happen when anti-Jewish myths gain a foothold and move from the far fringes into the mainstream."
Mr. Foxman pointed to similarities between the "$400 billion" conspiracy theory and the myth that spread around the world after 9/11 -- that "4,000 Jews" did not report for work the day of the attack on the WorldTradeCenter – which is today believed by many around the world."Whenever world events are difficult to explain or understand, Jews are the most convenient scapegoat," said Mr. Foxman.
"This belief that only Jews could be responsible for something so catastrophic and damaging to the global economy plays directly into some of the worst anti-Semitic stereotypes," said Mr. Foxman. "The idea that there is Jewish control of the banking system and the world economy has its antecedents in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Nazi-era propaganda."
International Response: Europe and Latin America
Anti-Semitic expressions in response to the financial crisis are spreading in European and Latin American countries, with many appearing on Web sites as articles or comments from unidentified individuals who are angry and seeking to place blame for the spreading impact of the crisis.Some are accompanied by vicious anti-Semitic caricatures and images.
The following is a snapshot of the global anti-Semitic reaction that has emerged as a result of the ongoing financial crisis as compiled by ADL:
• United Kingdom: The Web site of the mainstream British newspaper, The Independent, featured in its comments section a post by a visitor identifying himself as "Errol Flynn" that repeated the claim about the alleged $400 billion transfer from Lehman Brothers to Israeli banks. In response to a second article on the economic crisis, another reader commented, "So the banks used to be Jewish-owned … has anything changed?" Both posts were eventually removed by the site's administrators.
• Russia: The Web site of Pravda newspaper published an article arguing that French, German and Italian leaders are advocating a bailout of European banks to benefit "Rothschild, Kuhn Loeb, and other banking magnates," a reference to well-known Jewish banking families. The article continued, "The trouble is most of Europe is sick of their Zionist puppet governments, the wrecking of the universities and the flood of third world immigration. Another Hitler, running a united Europe, could be elected in a heartbeat."
• Germany: Some discussion forums and blogs made casual linkage between the crisis and Jews or repeated anti-Semitic stereotypes of the "money-savvy" and "financially dominating Jew." One comment on Ariva.de, an independent provider of financial news, stated: "When it comes to money Jews are always in the say."
• Spain: Op-eds making reference to Jews and the financial crisis appeared in the newspaper El Pais. While the articles did not directly accuse Jews of causing the crisis, the comments section following the articles contained several anti-Semitic entries. One writer declared, "The crisis is not a financial problem but an economic one … it is what is behind this gruesome scene of savage capitalism of the Zionist students of Milton Friedman." Additionally, several financial Web sites featured articles with anti-Jewish themes, including one stating that "Lehman's management board is made up of Jews who were only interested in results no matter at what price." (Cincodias.com).
• Venezuela: The host of a virulently anti-Semitic radio program claims that the fact that the U.S. Congress recessed for the Jewish High Holidays after voting on the $700 billion bailout proposal was evidence "that the U.S. government is controlled by the Jewish lobby."
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
Which has Your Correspondent, for one, wondering whether such specimens of Zealotry and True Belief in anti-Semitic conspiracies about Jewish control of business and finance have in mind for what may best be called "Christian Business and Finance," let alone "capitalism based on Christian Principles."
In particular Low Church such.
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SO MUCH FOR JOHN McCAIN'S INVOKING A FREE-TRADE PACT WITH COLOMBIA IN THE FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE THE OTHER NIGHT as among several Worthy Jobs-Creation Initiatives as would Help Save America From Herself within the parameters of free-market capitalism as Great White Father:
Human Rights Watch is taking the Colombian Government and its judiciary to task for failing to investigate real or likely interconnexions vis-a-vis right-wing paramilitary goon squads in the provinces and prominent Colombian politicos, especially in its legislative chambers.
Come to think of it, how many prominent and powerful GOP politicos here in the "morally superior" United States have interconnexions themselves vis-a-vis racists, white supremacists, Christian Reconstructionists, anti-Semitic elements, apologists for apartheid South Africa and suchlike among those who "just whiffed their way down the bar skank ladder" thanks to alcohol and Certain Explicit Sexual Practices That Some Readers May Find Offensive? Something worth thinking about there....
NO DOUBT THE CHAMPERS CORKS ARE POPPING WHOLESALE @ FOX PROLEFEED TODAY ON THE NEWS THAT THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is conducting enquiries into so-called "voter registration fraud" by the activist organisation ACORN over voter-registry drives in four states which were suspected to be "contaminated" to the point of "undermining electoral integrity and purity" come Indecision proper.
Never mind that the "contamination" in question involved voter-registry documents which contained fictitious names or characters, even with the laws in some states requiring third-party voter-registry campaigns to turn in all registrations collected on a timely basis (even if ACORN's staffers flagged such looking suspicious).
Which has Your Correspondent wondering if Fox Prolefeed, in league with their Neoconservative droogs, wants electoral franchise restricted all the more to white male European-American Low Church Christians owning real property on Free and Clear Title "to protect electoral purity and integrity"--in other words, maintain one-party rule from everlasting to everlasting, even playing word games to excuse what amounts to dictatorship with weasel words like "Unitary Executive Privilege" to excuse reducing the Presidential role to a superdivine "Prophet, Seer and Revelator" who, for all we know, is probably drunk, stoned or otherwise mentally unstable.
Methinks the whole smells of politically-motivated dirty tricks reeking of disenfranchisement. Especially of the poor and National Minorities.
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NO WONDER THE NEOCON/FASCISTI MOVEMENT IS AFRAID OF RAHOWA, AND WILL STOP @ NOTHING TO "PREEMPT" IT IN THE NAME OF "RACE HONOUR" most misguided--as witness this exchange transcribed by Media Matters for America from Bill Cunningham's nationally-syndicated talkback show of the 10th (originating from WLW Cincinnati for and on behalf of Clear Channel-owned or -controlled stations):
CUNNINGHAM: What are you going to do if he loses, Miss C?
MISS C: He won't lose.
CUNNINGHAM: If he loses, are you gonna burn down this town?
MISS C: There's too many good white people tired of white men.
CUNNINGHAM: White people are tired of white men?
MISS C: Yes. Yes. We've had 43 white men presidents, and we're in the lowest point of history. Our stock markets, our money, home foreclosures -- white people cannot lead -- white men. Now it's time for them to get out the way.
[...]
CUNNINGHAM: Will this town burn down if he loses?
CO-HOST: I don't know. What do you think?
CUNNINGHAM: Yeah. I think there will be 100 cities burning if Barack loses. Yeah, that's what the black intelligentsia says.
[...]
ERIC DETERS (700 WLW radio host): Is it true, Willie, that you've been playing this Flavor Flav. Is he really in charge of the Inaugural?
CUNNINGHAM: Yeah. Flavor Flav, 50 Cent, and Diddy.
DETERS: Oh my God.
CUNNINGHAM: It's going to be the best Inaugural. Normally you wear - you wear, you know, black tails, white -- this is going to be a rap concert. I mean, it's going to be the best ever.
Which is enough to wonder if the Ku Kluxer crowd is preparing for coded instructions to move in as agents provocateur to provoke rioting and civil disorder "just in case."
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MEANWHILE, IN KEEPING WITH THE BELIEF THAT "IT'S A SMALL WORLD, AFTER ALL," and that global events may have some interesting insight for us "morally superior" Americans in especially interesting times such as these, the BBC is reporting on the findings of a Kenyan Government tribunal into the notorious post-election violence earlier this year:
An international tribunal should be set up in Kenya to try those implicated in clashes after December's disputed poll, an inquiry into the violence says.
The commission found that in some areas, the violence was planned and organised with the support of politicians and businessmen.
It said if no tribunal was formed a sealed list of those responsible would go to the International Criminal Court.
More than 1,500 people were killed and some 300,000 more fled their homes.
The BBC's Peter Greste in the capital, Nairobi, says the political split after December's elections became an ethnic one, and Kenya neared a civil war.
President Mwai Kibaki and then-opposition leader Mr Raila Odinga signed a power-sharing deal in February, forming a coalition government.
The commission of inquiry was appointed following recommendations by the international mediation team lead by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Its report was presented to President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga and will be made public immediately.
Mr Annan is expected back in the country to receive the report on Friday.
On Tuesday, the cabinet said it would implement the recommendations of another inquiry into electoral fraud which called for a radical overhaul of the electoral commission.
[***]
What started as spontaneous violent reaction to the perceived rigging of elections, later evolved into well-organised and co-ordinated attacks on members of President Kibaki's community and Party of National Unity (PNU), he said.
"These were systematic attacks on Kenyans based on their ethnicity and their political leanings... Guilty by association was the guiding force behind the deadly revenge attacks," he said.
The commission would give Mr Annan a sealed list of names of prominent politicians, businessmen and a section of the police force who were behind the violence and supporting evidence, Justice Waki said.
If an international tribunal was not created, the list would be handed over to the ICC in The Hague.
The commission found that the police force and other security organs were overwhelmed by the scale of violence and failed to act.
"This free-for-all was made possible by lawlessness stemming from an apparent collapse of state institutions and security forces," Justice Waki said.
The report also noted that the security forces failed to act on actionable intelligence on the likelihood of violence and other early warning signs.
[***]
Human rights groups say that in the past, the government has tended to ignore the findings of similar inquiries.
But they warn that the government cannot afford to do that this time round, if it wants to avoid another blood-bath.
Hassan Omar, the vice-chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, said the "big fish" had to be held accountable.
"We need to end the culture of impunity in Kenya," he told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
"The country needs to come to terms with its past. They need to afford some level of justice to those who are the victims."
Insightful ... and @ once a warning about the potential for what could happen after Indecision 2008 in case certain Dregs of Society continue to act as if they had an ur-Soverign Immunity to pervert and manipulate electoral purity and integrity.
Hence, a reminder to remain all the more vigilant for warning signs of electoral interference and intimidation, especially such tending to the anonymous or coming from groups with patriotic-sounding or otherwise "feel-good" names with what turns out being mail drops such as FedEx Office, The UPS Store, Mail Boxes Etc., Mail & More and suchlike which (in theory) allow for privacy being protected. And report on any such timely to law-enforcement agencies, not to mention the Election Protection Hotline on freecall 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
Remember: Intimidation of voters, or interference with voter registry campaigns, is a penal offense, no matter how low or crude it may get. And if evidence exists that such intimidation campaigns are racially targeted, enhanced penalties may apply @ the court's discretion.
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EN 'N DING MAAR: Even with John McCain's using a deceptively-smooth tone and nuance of voice in campaign appearences, there's always the danger for such concealing sinister intentions which may prove dangerous in and of themselves.
Consider Keith "Countdown" Olbermann's comments from the other night as suggested where The Terrible-Tempered Mr. Bang, in the interest of preserving the peace, safety and good order of the Nation, should suspend his campaign (hat tip to Brilliant at Breakfast):
It is rather unfortunate for your ilk (and you no doubt know who you are) to accuse anyone and everyone suspected of supporting "liberal" or "secular-progressive" causes or movements, and/or their articles of faith, as being "Communists" or "Communist sympathisers" without any proof or substantiation, in the Joe McCarthy stylee back in the 1950's.
Which, in the end, would turn out to be his own undoing, especially after the CBS News programme See It Now devoted the entire 9 April 1954 broadcast to depicting the Real Sen. McCarthy (a Republican from Little Chute, Wisconsin, know)--as a drunken boaster, for one, not to mention rather fast and loose with the facts. Which, in the end, would be a setup for his own undoing in the nationally-televised Army-McCathy Hearings in the summer of 1954, finally unravelling when he was asked on live television "Have you no sense of Decency, Sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of Decency?" and he tried to evade the issue--but to no avail.
By that fall, there was talk in the Senate of a censure motion against McCarthy--which occured on November 9th that year, voting 67-22 to censure Sen. McCarthy for "conduct tending to bring the Senate into dishonour or disrepute" in the name of anti-Communism. And it would be his political death knell, eventually succumbing to liver disease brought on by years of heavy drinking on May 4, 1957.
Which I have presented in the interest of History Lesson.
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AGAINST THIS BACKDROP, THEN, AND IN VIEW OF WHAT AMOUNTS TO A WOEFUL LACK OF KNOWLEDGE ON YOUR PART on what exactly "Communist," "Communism" and "Liberal" mean in their meanings captured standard, permit me to enlighten you--even if it means such amounts, in your own view, to infection with a Loathsome Disease--as to the meaning of "Communist," which has both a noun and adjective sense.
As a noun, "Communist" is defined thus:
(initial capital letter) A member of the Communist Party or movement.
An advocate of Communism.
A person regarded as supporting politically leftist or otherwise subversive causes.
(initial capital letter) A Communard.
As an adjective, meanwhile, "Communist" is defined thus:
(initial capital letter) Of or pertaining to the Communist Party or Communism in general.
Pertaining to communists or communism.
Meanwhile, "Communism" is this defined, as a noun throughout:
A theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
(often initial capital letter) A system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.
(initial capital letter) The principles and practices of the Communist party.
Communalism.
As for "Liberalism," such is thus defined, as a noun in all senses:
The quality or state of being liberal, as in behavior or attitude.
A political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social, or economic institutions to assure unrestricted development in all spheres of human endeavor, and governmental guarantees of individual rights and civil liberties.
(sometimes initial capital letter) The principles and practices of a liberal party in politics.
A movement in modern Protestantism that emphasizes freedom from tradition and authority, the adjustment of religious beliefs to scientific conceptions, and the development of spiritual capacities.
As for "Progressive," such is thus defined as an adjective:
Favoring or advocating progress, change, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are, esp. in political matters: a progressive mayor.
Making progress toward better conditions; employing or advocating more enlightened or liberal ideas, new or experimental methods, etc.: a progressive community.
Characterized by such progress, or by continuous improvement.
(initial capital letter) Of or pertaining to any of the Progressive parties in politics.
Going forward or onward; passing successively from one member of a series to the next; proceeding step by step.
Noting or pertaining to a form of taxation in which the rate increases with certain increases in taxable income.
Of or pertaining to progressive education: progressive schools.
(Grammar) Noting a verb aspect or other verb category that indicates action or state going on at a temporal point of reference.
(Medicine/Medical) Continuously increasing in extent or severity, as a disease.
Meanwhile, as a noun, "Progressive" has these meanings captured standard:
A person who is progressive or who favors progress or reform, esp. in political matters.
(initial capital letter) A member of a Progressive party.
(Grammar)
The progressive aspect.
A verb form or construction in the progressive, as are thinking in They are thinking about it.
Given the preceding, then, you will see that "Communism," "Liberalism" and "Progressive" are ideologically and @ once mutually incompatible with each other. Yet, for your part, you still subscribe to the flawed thinking that liberals must probably be "closet Communists," yet lack any semblance of credible proof to confirm the interconnexion.
Which raises the question of why you deem it necessary to equate Liberalisn with Communism in the same broad context, and what so motivates this false dichotomy being packaged as fact to an audience tending, for the most part, to be poor, undereducated or homeschooled, easily-influenced and socioeconomically marginalised, with few or no real opportunities for socioeconomic advancement.
We, the Right-Thinking Americans--the REAL Right-Thinking Americans, come to think of it--deserve answers. Honest, fact-based answers, rather than carefully-scripted platitudes and bromides you're expected to memorise to the letter under pain of dismissal or a poor performance rating.
Or are you "only following orders" to parrot out this flawed equation as a propaganda meme to Those Who Should Know Better?
MEMO TO READERS: You're strongly encouraged to pass this along to your friends and e-mail circles ... and, may I recommend also, to especially such scions of fanatical conservative propaganda excess with clear and present danger for causing harm to The Nation.
I WILL ACKNOWLEDGE THE POINT OF THE LEADING IMAGE TO THIS BLOG ITEM in view of my being under such circumstances which preclude my being able to hold down a traditional 9-to-5 position, let alone some having "advised" in past that persons in circumstances such as mine (i.e., receiving targeted jobs assistance) should consider applying for later-shift positions where "greatest need" exists to fill vacancies, in turn translating into better pay and benefits thanks to "shift differentials."
Meanwhile, on to business:
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SO MUCH FOR THE GOP'S SEEING IN THE ACTIVIST GROUP ACORN SOME CLASS OF A "BLACK BEAST" "UNDERMINING ELECTORAL INTEGRITY AND PURITY" though their voter-registration initiatives that the GOP and their media lackeys (Fox Prolefeed especially) are seeing as favouring the Democrats all the more: Firedog Lake makes note of how the GOP and ACORN may actually be all the closer than most realise thus:
Republicans are trying to pretend ACORN is part of some grand Democratic conspiracy. What are they actually doing? Registering new voters - the horror, the horror.
Most hypocritically Republicans have been working with ACORN for years. Earlier today I posted a picture of John McCain at an ACORN rally. (Here is another one on the left.) According to a Miami-Dade Community College press release,
The rally will feature sponsors of the bill, prominent leaders representing various constituencies, and immigrants themselves. Sen. John McCain, chief co-sponsor of the legislation, will be the main speaker.” The release notes the event “is being sponsored by the New American Opportunity Campaign (NAOC), a coalition of local and national advocacy organizations, in partnership with ACORN.
And according to the Sun-Sentinel, McCain was the “principal speaker” at the “immigration reform town hall rally” organized by “the Archdiocese of Miami, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, ACORN, People for the American Way, and the Service Employees International.”
Why would McCain speak at such an event? Maybe because ACORN was backing his immigration bill. The ACORN website states,
"Fortunately, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) have introduced a good immigration reform bill, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act (S. 1033).” ACORN “strongly supports this bill and will work hard to make it become law.”
John McCain Wasn't alone among Republicans who have worked with ACORN. Texas Governor Rick Perry worked closely with the group.
According to the Houston Chronicle,
the Houston chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, has raised its profile and earned the respect of local officials.” The article notes, “the group's proudest moment came last week when Gov. Rick Perry signed a bill that makes important changes in the use of contracts-for-deed, a form of home lending that withholds a title from buyers until they have fully paid their loan.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist? He wasn't "bothered’ by ACORN FL registration efforts and even signed a voting rights bill promoted by ACORN. According to the Orlando Sentinel,
Both Gov. Charlie Crist and Secretary of State Kurt Browning have said they don’t mind ACORN being active in Florida’s election process. When reporters asked Crist if there was a problem with ACORN here, he said, ‘No.’
The New York Times reported, ACORN supported a law signed by Governor Crist which,
changed the rules last year to restore the voting rights of about 112,000 former convicts.
And according to Governor Crist's own website, Laura Goodhue, ACORN’s Florida policy director, and Travis Munnerlyn, an ACORN member, contributed to the agenda and presented for the Governor’s “H.O.P.E.” task force.
Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT) today announced the availability of free tax assistance for low- and moderate-income residents of Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford.
ACORN is among the centers recommended by Shays.
Michael Bloomberg? He kissed ACORN’s New York leader while announcing an affordable housing plan. The scandalous moment was caught on film.
What was all the excitement about? According to the July 1, 2005 edition ofCity Limits,
Bloomberg finally made good on a decades-old promise to include affordable housing in the development--though, as Alyssa Katz reports, it took an army of organizers to get there. The real prize for the mayor graces our cover: a warm smooch from ACORN's Bertha Lewis for his modest plan to protect or create 65,000 affordable units.
And when Bloomberg visited New Orleans, the Times-Picayune notes the
only time on his schedule when the public can see him will be at the 10:30 a.m. dedication of the ACORN Community Center at 1024 Elysian Fields Ave.
Arnold Schwarzenegger? According to the San Francisco Chronicle on 7/9/08, Arnold Schwarzenegger signed SB1137, a bill designed to help California homeowners avoid foreclosure.” He was joined by “members of community group ACORN, which helped draft the measure.
And the Mercury News reported the governor signed three copies of SB 1137, giving one to Perata, one to Dellums and one to a beaming Dorothy Hicks, an east Oakland resident and Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) activist.
Senator Mel Martinez even awarded a grant to ACORN:
According to the Times-Picayune on 10/3/03 the
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Mel Martinez recently announced that his agency has awarded grants to Xavier and Tulane universities as well as ACORN and the city of New Orleans. The money will be spent to remove lead, educate the public about the dangers of lead-based paint and support research.
The legislature passed two bills designed to help home-buyers get a fair deal on their mortgages. Gov. Tim Pawlenty signed the first bill April 20 and was set to sign the second bill as this issue goes to press.” The article notes, “The legislation was drafted according to recommendations made by a predatory lending study group established by Swanson prior to the legislative session. The study group contained representatives from the banking industry and the mortgage brokers association, as well as consumer advocates from organizations such as Illegal Aid and ACORN.
Even Mitt signed into law a bill supported by ACORN. According to the South Coast Today, Governor Mitt Romney signed a law that “cracked down on the practice of ‘loan flipping.’” The article notes state legislator John Quinn, who authored the bill, held “nearly two-years-plus of hearings and meetings” with ACORN and that ACORN supported the final bill.
And of course Joe Lieberman has met with ACORN. According to the Washington Daybook on 02/09/06, Joe Lieberman met with members of the ACORN Katrina Survivors Association.
Somehow, the GOP and their propaganda droogs have yet to "get the message" manifest in the old proverb about "let not your left hand know what your right hand is doing."
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AND TALK ABOUT SUGAR-COATED FLATTERY IN FORM OF "FEEL-GOOD," PATRIOTIC-SOUNDING NAMES FOR VIRTUALLY EVERY RECENT INITIATIVE OF JOHN McCAIN'S in trying to salvage what little support remains for him in the final run to Indecision 2008 among especially "home folks" types, as AllSpinZone's Steven Reynolds discusseth:
McCain has announced where the next “surge” is going to be, and it appears he will not put David Petraeus in charge. No, McCain isn’t going to replicate the surge from Iraq to Afghanistan, nor is he going to surge us into a confrontation with Iran. Well, that’s not what he announced today, anyway. He announced a new economic plan, just 21 days before the election, and according to CNN.com he’s calling it the “Pension and Family Security Plan,” to join last week’s “American Homeownership Resurgence Plan.” Note the martial language they use to promote this stuff, evidently hoping to cash in on a subject they think the American people feel confident in Mr. McCain, foreign policy. Why the heck doesn’t he just call for the creation a new agency, the “Department of Home Security” or use one of those nifty Bush-era slogans like “Operation Homeownership Freedom,” or something like that. Seems a bit all hat and no cattle to me.
McCain has failed here once again, appealing to the people with false labels that are far more marketing slogans than real solutions. But we’ll know that in a couple days when he comes out with yet another economic plan, which will be followed by another still, until about three months from now when he finally gets it right by supporting Obama’s plan from his seat in the Senate. Please, someone tell John McCain that panicky repackaging of the same old same old just isn’t going to cut it in this election? Then again, let him do as he must do, and leave the rest of us alone.
I envision the debate going something like this:
McCain: The people deserve my Homeownership Resurgence Plan, and they deserve to be protected by my Pension and Family Security Plan. . .
Obama: I believe Mr. McCain is a good man who is trying nearly every day to define another package to help Americans. Still, even after several revisions of John McCain’s visions for our economic future, the centerpiece is that John McCain still wants to give hundreds of billions of tax breaks to oil companies and the wealthiest of the wealthy, while taxing the health benefits of middle class America. We could call one of these plans “The Sweet Potato Pie Renewal Act,” but the title of the plan still means that average people will be his second priority compared to the most wealthy people in this country.
McCain, channeling Homer Simpson: Mmmm! Pie!!
Of course, that confrontation won’t happen, but John McCain has telegraphed his punch for tomorrow night’s debate at Hofstra University. Remember when Barack Obama talked about how John McCain wouldn’t address him face to face about William Ayers? That was then, and this is now. McCain says here he’ll bring it up, in an interview with KMOX in St. Louis. McCain’s spokesperson, Tucker Bounds indicates McCain will bring up William Ayers at the debate, too. As reported by Seth Colter Walls at Huffington Post:
After being asked by a Fox News host whether the lack of any mention of William Ayers during today’s speeches from McCain and Palin meant that “the gloves [are] going back on” after a week of tough attacks, Bounds rejected the idea.
“I don’t think so at all… If you see some of the advertising coming from the RNC today, which we stand behind, and some of advertising that we’ll see going forward,” Bounds said, hinting at another onslaught of Ayers material still to come.
When asked if McCain plans to “go after” Obama on these topics this Wednesday, Bounds added: “So much of a debate is determined by the moderator and the questions that are posed to the candidates. I expect it could come up and I expect John McCain will ask Barack Obama to speak truthfully about his relationship with friend and unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. I think that voters deserve to know, deserve to vet these candidates to the fullest extent… Certainly, Bill Ayers raises questions. Certainly, Tony Rezko raises questions.”
The reason McCain himself has allowed surrogates to attack on the so-called character issues, rather than going out there himself 24/7 on them, is because Americans don’t like personal attacks, and are far more interested in solutions to problems than the barely disguised conspiracy theories that those personal attacks really are. If his aides persuade McCain to bring up William Ayers in front of a huge national audience, he will be sorry for it because of the effect in the polls. Oh, McCain should fire all of his campaign staff in that event. Because here’s the thing — Obama will handle such attacks smoothly and with dignity.
McCain was whining in just the last debate that he though Barack Obama was telegraphing his punches by announcing military policies as concerns going after Osama bin Laden. I’m thinking McCain meant that one shouldn’t alert the other side to any strategy in advance. Oops! That’s what he and Tucker Bounds just did!
We’re going to see a new economic strategy every day for the next three weeks from the McCain campaign, and each one will have a silly patriotic name dreamed up by refugees of the Bush White House. We’re also going to see some lame sparring that will border on the embarrassing for Mr. McCain tomorrow in the debate if he decides to go after Barack Obama on trivialities in this time of economic peril. This is just pathetic.
And remember, boys and girls, the McCain/Palin ticket's articles of faith insist that free-market capitalism--"pure" free-market capitalism, to be precise--is, was and will forever be the Great White Father, the Shining Hope and Beacon for the Lower Classes Heretofore Enslaved into Helpless Dependency Upon State Welfare and its Socialistic Tendencies, among other cheap platitudes in the vein of North Korean propaganda's hagiographic lavishing of "Eternal Leader" Kim Il Sung and "Great Leader" Kim Jong Il.
May I remind you @ this time of this rather infamous and notorious billboard as was spotted on your property along US Hwy. 63 over recent days:
In so doing, I would like to question your Logic and Wisdom behind the same, especially so:
The invocation of a stereotypically offensive image reeking of the salad days of Jim Crow-model racism and White Supremacy;
Your failing to disclose proper sponsorship information for the billboard in question, and why you cannot disclose that information @ this time;
Whether you were paid by certain weird and unwholesome elements to have this billboard put up on your property, and if so, how much was offered in leasehold; and
What sort of associations, political and otherwise, you would have, especially such of the weird and unwholesome sort (including racists, White Christian Supremacists, eugenicists, bigots, "patriot" elements and suchlike), and whether you have provided financial and/or moral support to such groups in the recent past.
The public has a right to know these things, Mr. Ford. We will not stand for any sort of pathetic-sounding patsies, platitudes or bromides you may offer just to excuse yourself of any liability you may wind up causing Our Beloved Nation and its prestige upon the world stage.
So who are you trying to protect by your silence in this regard? And how much are you receiving to keep quiet, if this be the case?
MEMO TO READERS: Your Correspondent, in line with past Open Letters in this blog, would like for you to share this with your friends and e-mail circles in the interest of spreading Knowledge and Enlightenment.
However, please share this responsibly and avoid "spamming."
Which can only cause harm and damage to a campaign, if truth be known.
IT'S PROBABLY JUST ME, BUT THERE COULD BE OTHERS AMONGST YOU READERS OF THIS WEBLOG WHO MUST CONCUR WITH ME that the Delusions of Grandeur which the McCain/Palin campaign must be having are inspired by what amounts to the Dream of Olwen dripping with hate and ultraviolence by which means they (and they alone) think they can be assured victory.
Which they (and their Neoconservative drookies) know is only likely to backfire, given past resort to the tactic as could flare up again under the right set of circumstances, unaware all the while that the vast majority of Right-Thinking Americans objects to a "whatever-means-necessary" approach in line with Machiavelli's dictum that "the ends must justify the means," regardless of cost, ethics or morals:
In other words, the belief that Evil is necessary so that Good may come as a key article of faith. Not to mention lies and distortions as required:
Meanwhile, perhaps it was time to ask:
how much longer it will be before the sick excesses of crude and potentially explosive hyerfanaticism returns to McCain/Palin rallies in this the homestretch into the election;
how much longer before a McCain/Palin rally deteriorates into disorder and violence, especially with casuaties or injuries, stoked by fanatical excesses rejuvenate; and
whether the request by the McCain/Palin campaign to tone down the vitriol and fanaticism translates into improved poll numbers, even if they still trail Barack Obama/Joe Biden in significant measure, since the appeal to reason was made.
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AS FOR THE WHOLE NOTION OF JOHN McCAIN PACKAGING HIMSELF AS A "MAVERICK" FOR PURELY POLITICAL PURPOSES AND EFFECTS, which is itself rather spurious (as some commentators have suggested), "Philologos," who writes about language for the Jewish weekly Forward, devoted one of his columns recently to the nuances behind the very word "maverick" in especially this particular context:
Although I try to keep this a Jewish-language column, sometimes a question is asked of me that offers a pretext for sneaking in an outside issue. Such is a letter I recently received from David H. Margulies of Bethesda, Md. Mr. Margulies writes:
“Contemporary political rhetoric has driven me to explore the origin and meaning of ‘maverick.’ A rather old Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary derives the word from one Samuel A. Maverick, (1803-1870), a western cattle rancher who did not brand his calves, and defines it as meaning: ‘1) An unbranded range animal; esp: a motherless calf; 2) an independent individual who refuses to conform with his group.’ To this, the Oxford English Dictionary adds, ‘A masterless person; one who is roving and casual,’ and ‘Western U.S. Anything dishonestly obtained, as a saddle, mine, or piece of land.’ Thus, part of the difficulty with proudly choosing to call oneself a maverick, as John McCain has done in his campaign, is that the word’s connotations are not necessarily positive. Also, do you have any view, or evidence, as to whether the branding of cattle might be viewed as contrary to Jewish law, and whether the original Samuel Maverick may have been Jewish himself?”
I have no evidence at all, but I do have a view, which is that Samuel Maverick is as likely to have been Jewish as is my Russian-born grandfather to have descended from Apache Indians. Presumably, Mr. Margulies asks this question because of the rabbinic prohibition on tsa’ar ba’alei h.ayyim — that is, on causing animals unnecessary pain, a feature of Jewish law that is not found in other traditional legal systems. But you don’t have to be Jewish to pity animals, and cattle branding, although an ancient custom that already existed in Pharaonic Egypt, is not mentioned in, let alone prohibited by, the Bible or (to the best of my knowledge) any other code of Jewish law.
Yet now that we’ve corralled “maverick” for this column, we can permit ourselves a brief discussion of it. Mr. Margulies is certainly right about the word having changed its ambience over time, moving steadily in a more positive direction. Looking at the word’s use in a political or social context alone, we find my 1961 (although based on older editions) Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defining a maverick as “A refractory or recalcitrant individual who bolts his party or group and initiates an independent course”; my 1966 Random House Dictionary of the English Language giving us “A dissenter, as an intellectual, an artist, or a politician,” and my 1999 Encarta World English Dictionary offering an “independent person … who refuses to conform to the accepted or orthodox thinking on a subject.”
From a disagreeably “recalcitrant individual” to a neutrally viewed “dissenter” to a gutsily “independent person” is a fair stretch for a word to travel in half a century. Clearly, it’s better to be considered a maverick today than it once was. But for that very reason, I don’t think Mr. Margulies need worry that John McCain, by advertising himself as one, may be giving Americans the impression that he is recalcitrant. When words shift meanings, their speakers are quick to adjust. In 1960, “awesome” could mean only inspiring fear and wonderment, but no one thinks that’s what you mean when you call a rock band awesome today.
In general, languages are never static. Although we who speak them may have the impression that the words we use are like items in a department store, all having their assigned place and value and waiting to be taken off a shelf, they are more like the flora and fauna of a jungle, each inhabiting an ecological niche that may be in the process of expanding or contracting, and each competing for living space — some being born and others growing old and dying, some devouring others and others being devoured.
The words that change most quickly are usually slang words that sometimes have life spans of only a few years. Those that change the slowest do so at a glacial pace. (That’s pre-global warming, of course; the word “glacial” itself is now undergoing a meltdown.) “Nice,” which is one of the most commonly used adjectives in the English language, has meant what it means today since the 18th century; before that, however, it also meant foolish, wanton, extravagant, elegant, rare, slothful, delicate, effeminate, coy, modest, fastidious and finely discriminating. (This last meaning perished not long ago. Within recent memory you could still say “That’s a nice distinction” and be understood to be talking about something subtle, not about something pleasant.)
“Maverick” was originally a negative word because, among ranchers and cowboys, someone who didn’t brand his cattle was considered headstrong and irresponsible; he’d end up having the cattle stolen and causing quarrels over their ownership. Nowadays, not only are we all against tsa’ar ba’alei h.ayyim, but we’re also hungry for authentic-sounding politicians who have their own opinions and stick to them, so that “maverick” has found a new environment in which to prosper. Mr. Maverick, were he alive today, might even have ended up being nominated for vice president. If elected, though, he wouldn’t have been the first Jewish one.
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IN RESPONSE TO ANOTHER DEMOCRATIC-SPONSORED SCHEME OF SOCIOECONOMIC STIMULATION BASED SOLELY ON ISSUING MORE "CHEER CHEQUES" to encourage especially wasteful and needless spending among the Lower Classes @ Wally World especially, the GOP is taking exception thereto by contending that such lacks anything remotely resembling "healthy" jobs creation.
This from the same crowd seeing low taxes=jobs=social order as an article of faith all too important to gloss over, unaware that such an article of faith is coming back to haunt Our Beloved Nation and threaten Our Antient and Pecuilar Soverignty and Soverign Identity as a Pecuilar Among the Nations. That, and their desire to see unemployment reduced to a theoretical nil rate consistent with free-market capitalism.
Which, come to think of it, IMHO, they would prefer to achieve only through a "complete and final" ban on abortion, contraception and family planning aimed @ creating a pool of poor, undereducated and easily-influenced unskilled labour, in turn to be reinforced by blanket bans on the immigration of "undesirable peoples" (further reinforced by the old Natal Dictation Test, and the traps deliberate) and "essential industries" (manufacturing in particular) being given what amounts to disincentives to update or modernise plant and machinery in the interest of keeping a "morally superior" American agro-industrial socioeconomic base all the more labour-intensive by way of outdated or otherwise superannuated plant and machinery for which parts may no longer be available without cannibalising older machinery (and taking some factories out of production in the process, all the while "advised" not to modernise production for the sake of a nil unemployment rate).
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MEMO TO MIDDLE- AND HIGH-SCHOOL PARENTS: Tired of all the whispers and rumours of bullying, hazing, taunting and other forms of harrassment targeting your children falling on deaf ears, especially such considered "prominent and powerful citizens" in the community who, Tradition expects us to believe, are Good Christians All and, ergo, can do no harm by virtue of their faith?
Fear that reporting such incidents to The Proper Channels will only result in "reprisals" as can include "shunning," harrassment, threats of dismissal from jobs, loss of livelihood, damaged credit records, etc.?
Fear Not!
There is a newly-launched website, www.schooltipline.com, which allows you to discreetly and confidentially report real or suspected reports of teasing, taunting, bullying, hazing and other forms of abuse, harm or torment targeting students, which will be shared with local school authorities in utmost confidence and trust.
Which you will no doubt want to make use of. Even if the reports are mere rumours or whispers "east side, west side, all around the town ..."
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