Scapegoat in the Making – DHS Document

April 14, 2009 by Be Holy

President Obama needs a scapegoat. He is in the process of creating one with the help of Janet Napolitano. George W. Bush worked for a while but Obama needs a handy underdog not unlike Hitler needing social unrest and the Jews. The DHS document is a wake up call. It smacks of the same sardonic mentality and underhanded efforts to stereotype veterans as were operative in the production of the Pennsylvania State University (video below). The admittedly unsubstantiated document targets various conservative segments of the population that have legitimate grievances with the current administration.

Roger Hedgecock who first covered the story wrote,

“The report linked people holding conservative views on immigration, abortion, the U.N., the New World Order, etc., to dangerous and violent “militias” that Missouri law enforcement were instructed to be on guard against. Conservative opinions were demonized and made the subject of law enforcement scrutiny.”

Liberty Paper’s Stephen Gordon also early writing:

“Also targeted in the report are veterans, folks anticipating additional restrictions to their Second Amendment rights, and those concerned about the loss of U.S. sovereignty.

This report implies that one harboring these sorts of views is a racist as well as a potential terrorism suspect.”

Michelle Malkin called the document “one of the most embarrassingly shoddy pieces of propaganda I’d ever read out of DHS. I couldn’t believe it was real.”

Ed Morrisey calls it “The execrable DHS report on “right-wing extremism”

The Anchoress thinks “DHS Documents picking a fight”

Jim Blazsik has a “Warning: If you are a pro-life conservative, you may be considered an enemy of the State.”

The “report”: Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment…. (PDF file here). The report state it has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorist are currently planning acts of violence but it say rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears. It points to returning veterans as possible perpetrators of violence.

Cheeky Exegesis

April 14, 2009 by Be Holy

The Anchoress gives us Stephen Colbert Defender of Gospels, taking on Bart Ehrman. I don’t know what Pope Benedict would say for the style of his exegesis? It does feel good seeing someone getting a few good punches in there for the Lord. I think, though, of Jesus turning the other cheek. However, my feistier side recalls, Jesus calling out his assailant in John 18: 22-23 when He was struck by the temple guard, saying,”If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?” But, I digress. I do like Colbert’s agility as an apologist. However, for the sake of reverence, feel on safer ground with Scott Hahn.

The Veteran- Penn State Student Affairs

April 11, 2009 by Be Holy

Our universities are churning out more and more bias just as the mainstream media does. I ask myself which came first the chicken or the egg. The ‘bias-slur’ case in point: the slant of “the Veteran,” the now infamous, Penn State University video produced by PSU’s Counseling and Psychological Services office.

James Taranto in a Wall Street Journal article writes:

“What if it was ‘Oh, the gay one,’ or ‘Oh, the Asian kid?’ ” asks Maggie Kwok, head of the Penn State Veterans Organization in an interview with the Daily Collegian, PSUs student newspaper. She is referring to a “training video,” prepared by the university’s Counseling and Psychological Service office depicting “worrisome student behavior.”

The office swiftly removed the video when it prompted a kerfuffle, but the PSU College Republicans preserved it on YouTube. It’s a fascinating documentation of academic prejudice.

Taranta says:

“We watched the other three videos in the series, and we must say we don’t see how the ‘context’ ameliorates the veterans’ objections to the depiction of The Veteran.”……

“The video about The Veteran is similar to the others, in that all depict abnormal behavior by young people who probably are normal, but are immature or temporarily impaired. But the characters in the other videos are all completely generic, with no distinguishing characteristics other than their sex. Only The Veteran is fleshed out enough even to be a stereotype.”…..

“In the video, The Veteran behaves inappropriately–but he also accuses the instructor of inappropriately bringing her politics into the classroom at his expense. We are meant to think the accusation is preposterous. But at a university that produces such a video, is it hard to believe that such things actually go on?”