After finishing a movie, I just happened to turn on the news to find out that there was a bombing in London – specifically at the Glasgow Airport.

I am only doing a news post, as there is plenty of good coverage out there right now (and I couldn’t even being to do it justice) :

Glasgow attacked in airport terror strike

Glasgow Attack Seen Tied to London Bombs

The Hunt for Terrorists

Hot Air coverage number one, number two, and number three

Ace of Spades Coverage

Sky News – Be United, Resolute and Strong

ABC News – Flaming SUV Rams airport, 4 arrested

Good pix and video over at Flaps

Thanks to Hot Air for the top-notch coverage. My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of the U.K., I hope it doesn’t get worse in the coming hours.

Here is a question – does freedom of speech truly exist, or is this a fallacy that has been propagated over the years? Mind you, I am not specifically talking about the First Amendment which states:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The government already has shown that limitations exist on free speech such as in the case of Brandenburg v. Ohio which states, essentially that the government cannot restrict speech unless it is “inciting and likely to incite imminent lawless action”. Also, as we’ve recently seen, the First Amendment does not cover obscene material either.

What I am talking about is the ability to say what is on your mind, in a public setting, without the entire nation calling you a racist. For example, Universities have the ability to restrict speech if racial, ethnic or sexual slurs are used and there are a number of cases where companies have fired individuals for blogging.

I understand that, in some cases, laws may have been broken (a blogger posted company secrets, a direct verbal or written attack may have been made) but what about someone who is just speaking their mind – even if you don’t like what is being said? What exactly does this mean for freedom of speech?

The truth of the matter is, I believe, is that we as free individuals should have the ability say whatever we want. We should have the ability to say nigger, boogey, jig, jiggaboo, skinhead, moylie, molignon, schvotza, jungle bunny, greaser, greaseball, dago, guinea, wop, ginzo, kyke, zebe, hebe, yid, mockey, himey, mick, donkey, turkey, limey, frog, zip, zipperhead, squarehead, kraut, hiney, geri, hun, slope, slopehead, chink, gook, bush nigger, cabbie, towel head, sand nigger, camel jockey, honkey, cracker, olive nig, beef curtain, goombah, twinkie, cupcake if we want to without automatically being called a racist by someone (or some organization).

These words, in and of themselves, mean nothing – they are just words. It’s the context of how the words are use, the emotion and experience(s) connected to the words and the individuals that hear them is what causes a problem.

It seems to me that society has become more sensitive over time (call it overly PC if you well), has selective hearing when it comes to certain things, and is ready to attempted to restrict you ability to say what you want at the drop of a hat.

One time I was out at dinner with some friends and I was telling a story about a how someone in my family was called a “spear chucker”. As the couple next to us got up to leave, the female came up to my table and said that I was a racist because of my use of “spear chucker” and that she was going to complain to the manager of the restaurant.

Subsequently, the manager came to our table asking us to pay our bill and leave because of our actions. I attempted to explain the situation but my story was falling on deaf ears – that is until my parents came, just by chance, to the same establishment. Once the manager looked at my family, he understood the situation and was extremely apologetic.

The woman who came up to the table didn’t hear the entire conversation (ie – selective hearing) but assumed that my actions and speech were inappropriate based on her beliefs and biases. I should have the ability to say anything without being penalized by society as long as I am not “inciting and likely to incite imminent lawless action.”

This is a muted example, but what about someone who is racist? What about someone who says zipperhead and means it when talking? The same should be true – they should have the ability to say it without being attacked by others.

Slowly, it seems as if those “rights” to express views are being modified and limited. Society has swung to the point where it is overly governing it’s own actions. We need to be careful because, eventually, this behavior or self-censorship will creep into other things. (like hunting, going to certain types of movies, certain places to eat – what have you) If one chooses to use this language, we as a people, need to recognize the actions for what they are – ignorant, uneducated, or insensitive.

We should let the actions of others reflect who they truly are and we, I feel, should not attempted to restrict them from being ignorant, uneducated or insensitive. We just need to recognize their right to freedom of speech… and then we need to recognize our right to think that they are assholes.

Today was a VERY long day and I didn’t have the ability to get online for most of it. There are a few things I would like to touch on before heading off to bed…

1st – Jessie Davis -

kELLEY made a comment in one of the posts:

“HOWEVER, WHAT IS UP WITH A 5 MILLION DOLLAR BOND? EVEN OJ ONLY HAD 1 MIL?”

I was unaware that bail was set for Bobby Cutts and that is, indeed, the case. kELLEY’s question on bail was set so high made me wonder how such a number is determined. From Thinkquest.org:

Bail Hearing – As soon as possible following the indictment, the defendent should receive a formal bail hearing. A tentative bail is set by the judge on the arrest warrant; this gives the defendent an opportunity to contest the bail that is set while he or she awaits trial. To determine bail for a particular suspect, the judge takes into account

• Past criminal record
• Gravity of current charge(s)
• Flight risk
• Financial Situation

If the defendent poses little flight risk and the charges are not serious, the judge might release him or her ROR, (Released on Own Recognizance). This means that the defendent is not required to pay bail; the court feels that it is likely that he or she will return to stand trial. In the gravest cases, the judge might refuse bail, thereby forcing the defendent to await trial in jail

Every case is different – in this case, it seems as if the judge felt this number as appropriate.

2nd- R: London Terror

London was on alert after two bombs were found. I haven’t had a chance to read up fully on the situation, but there is a LOT of good coverage on the topic out there that I plan on reading tomorrow:

Hot Air as a LONG wrap-up with several updates
The Pirate’s Cove
Webloggin has great coverage as well – including maps
Dave in Texas
Flapsblog has an amazing amount of detail on the event

This just goes to remind us that it truly is a different world…

3rd – RE: iPhone -

In case you missed it, the iPhone came out today…. no, I did not get one.

4th, and final, RE- Comment by B on Jessie Davis

“B” had an outstanding comment to Mindy on the Jessie Davis story, as well as kept me in line with a point I was making – this is the email I sent to “B”

I just wanted to say you had an outstanding comments post at the site
today (I was away almost all day and I didn’t see it until now).
Also, thanks for questioning me on what Mindy said – I was referring
to the “cop” aspect of her comment, not that race was the cause.

Thanks for the feedback and input, I truly appreciate it.

Thanks for the posts, B, as well as keeping me honest!

It seems as if my post yesterday calling bullshit on a post from Rachelstavern.com has really worked some people up.

I thought for a moment – asked myself if I was missing something – and then came to my senses. In doing so, I decided to search the news.google.com archive for the earliest stories on the case that I could find. Here is one from the AP (posted 6/21). Interesting, no mention of race at all in the coverage, but there was this:

“The little boy told investigators: “Mommy was crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy’s in rug.””

Also…

“Authorities have repeatedly talked with and searched the home of the man who fathered Davis’ son, although investigators have said Canton police officer Bobby Cutts Jr. is not a suspect. Cutts, 30, says he had nothing to do with Davis’ disappearance. The woman’s family also says he is the father of Davis’ unborn baby.”

Did they say authorities have repeatedly talked with and search the home of the BLACK man who fathered Davis’ son? Nope, don’t think so.

Ok, so that is one story… what else is there? Cantonrep.com has a story about the surveillance tape of Cutts at sports bar seized. Here is what they say about Cutts:

“Cutts, a Canton police officer who was off-duty that day, came into Champs, a bar and restaurant on 30th Street NE, around 9:30 p.m. and didn’t leave until 12:30 a.m., according to bar owner John Shaheen.”

According the article was Cutts a BLACK police officer? No!

Now there are two random stories. Let’s take a third (just for shit and grins). This one comes from wkyc.com titled “Details emerge about boyfriend’s whereabouts in missing mom case”

“Early in the investigation, sheriff’s investigators said Davis’ boyfriend, Bobby Cutts Jr’s, alibi checked out. But when asked directly by a Canton newspaper reporter, Cutts would not speak of his whereabouts.”

Hmm…. No mention of Cutts being Davis’ BLACK boyfriend.

Mindy from the comment section put’s it best (spelling left as was originally posted):

interrational relationship has nothing to with the murder! I’m in a interrational marriage and have a mixed son just like Jessie Davis and my husband isn’t the sterotype rachel think he is. WHITE GIRLS get murdered every day while being pregnant or not by every race. Everyone is forgetting he is a police officer who killed his girl infront of his 2 year old son and then just left him to find for him self or maybe even die if no one found him.

Two out of the three stories do mention that Cutts is a police officer, one mentions the comments the son made… and NONE mention race.

Let me be very clear here. I DO think racial tension exists in the U.S., I just don’t think this case (as shown by the media when first reported) had anything to do with interracial sex. Sorry, Rachel, your claim that this is about interracial sex just doesn’t hold up. If there is anyone making this a racial story, it’s Rachel.

Update – please don’t complain that I didn’t take a random sample in my search for news stories. I did an ‘advanced search’ on google news with a date range from 5/19 to 6/23. The earlies stories came in on 6/21 and I pick three random from pages 1, 5 and 7.

So, Debbie over at Right Truth was having surgery today.

I wish her the best and hope all is well.  The world needs more bloggers like her!

Last evening I found a very interesting post over at RachelsTavern.com providing an alternative view on what the Jessie Davis/Bobby Cutts murder story – all the media attention is directly related to Interracial sex. What?!?

Before we even look at why she claims this to be the true cause for the attention, let us take a look at Rachel’s background. From her about section:

“Rachel is a sociology professor who lives and blogs in the New York City metro area. Her research and teaching focus on race, African American Studies, gender, sexuality, and popular culture.”

I bring this up so we understand where Rachel is coming from when she makes her statements. That said, let’s take a look at why she says this is about interracial sex.

Rachel wanted to see what people were thinking, and this is where she make her very first substantial comment case:

“I went around to a few blogs, and I visited AOL Blackvoices and a couple white supremacist message boards to see what they were saying, and quite frankly it was horrible….I can’t tell you how many racist and misogynistic comments I read; and not surprisingly the white supremacists were giddy over this case.”

So wait, were you looking for a general view of what society was thinking about this murder investigation or were you looking for the most extreme opinions of what the fringe of society was thinking? I mean, did you truly expect to see white supremacists says anything less than happy about this?

How many expected mother websites did you visit to see their reactions? How many forums focused on Grandmothers did you visit? How many law enforcement forums did you visit? Were they all saying the victim was “white trash”? Better yet, did you look at any Media blogs or forums, and if so, how many of them were talking about it as an interracial sex issue?

The piece of evidence she points out is the Christopher Vaughn murder story (which I spoke about a few days back). While the case was equally graphic and disturbing, it hardly had any coverage in the nation media. And this where Rachel makes her claim:

“I agree that white women victims get much more attention than Black, Asian, Latino, and American Indian women, and I agree that race is a big factor in the media attention the case has gotten, but I would be more specific than Terrence. It’s about interracial sex.”

Again, wait, what?

She then goes one to say:

“Interracial crimes make big sensational news stories, but crimes that involve interracial sexuality arouse the deepest passions of American bigotry. The OJ Simpson case, the Duke Rape, the Kobe Bryant rape case, and now this one–they all have tremendous sexual overtones.”

So, the OJ Simpson was given the attention because of interracial sex? Not the fact that a former Football superstar was involved? Not the fact that the crime was so severe? Not because the actual trial became a circus?

The Duke rape case was about interracial sex? You mean the attention wasn’t due to the fact that the case involved a major, and well respected, institution of higher learning or because of a sports team? You mean that it wasn’t because a number of people allegedly involved in the crime? You mean that it wasn’t because of the politics of the prosecutor?

Also, the Kobe Bryant case didn’t get the attention because he is a superstar or because he tried to hid the event? You mean it wasn’t because of the infidelity he committed?

Nope, according to Rachel – these all got the attention because of the interracial sex.

This is where things get really interesting. Rachel points to her own website, and it’s traffic, as proof that society is obsessed with race and sex. You know what, that very well may be the case. We me be obsessed with it, we may be obsessed with race and sex but that does not mean we are obsessed with both topics concurrently.

She then goes to show some of the searches ran on her site:

• black men impregnating white women stories
• savages on blondes
• Biracial family pictures black and white
• BLACK ATHLETE MARRYING WHITE WOMEN
• Black men breeding white girls
• black negro slave woman naked pictures
• black women with white men in adult movies
• differences between white and black women’s breasts
• blacks in bed sexing
• george lucas in love black women
• how do you feel about interracial relationship

So, as you already established you are researcher and teacher who focuses on race, African American Studies, gender, sexuality, and popular culture. You run a website that focuses on these very same topics. What kind of searches did you expect to have? Did you expect people looking for information on the rain in Texas or the wildfires out west? No, you are going to get searches that relate to the topic on your site!

The search request that are more sexual, that is to say “blacks in bed sexing” are, most likely, people who came to your site thinking it was a porn site and wanted to find things that related to their fetish.

Here is why the case received so much attention – the son. The impact of the comments he made to his grandmother “Mommy was crying. Mommy broke the table. Mommy’s in rug.”

This is the comment that was said over and over and over. The news pounded this into our heads from the very beginning and was closely followed by the fact that the woman was pregnant and was due any day. The ex-boyfriend wasn’t a suspect in the beginning and wasn’t even mentioned until several days later.

What I think we have here is some who is too close to a topic – someone who can no longer see the forest from the trees – and is drawing a conclusion based on her biased opinion.

For the record, my very first reaction was “it’s Lacey Peterson all over again”. I *NEVER* thought about this topic being a racial issue until I read Rachel’s view.

Time for you to take a moment and read this post, it’s a very interesting take on the attention the Jessie Davis murder case is receiving.

Over the last few days there have been reports of Iran venturing into Iraq, but the story was not really picked up by the media. One can guess that this is due to a lack a hard proof. As I went out looking for an update today to the situation, to see if there was any other information available, I found out that there is a great amount of unrest in recent days due to Iranian fuel rationing.

It seems that Iranian leadership didn’t give its citizens a lot of warning for the fuel rationing:

“Iranians were given only two hours’ notice of the move that limits private drivers to 100 litres of fuel a month.”

That’s roughly 26 gallons folks. As a result, people started to protest. Cars were burned and gas stations were set on fire. People even turned their aggression a supermarket and a financial institution. There is a lot of good coverage of this story on the web, if you are interested:

Gateway Pundit has pictures and video of the aftermath, as does Pajamas Media.

The most interesting comment I found regarding the unrest and response to the rationing was this:

“Some MPs denied that the rioting on Tuesday and Wednesday had anything to do with the government’s rationing measures. “The attacks on the petrol pumps were organized well in advance by ‘agents provocateurs’ working for the US government, who incited some deranged individuals to set petrol stations alight,” Morteza Tamaddon told journalists.”

What is your first reaction to this comment? At first, it seems silly but at this point, it would not surprise me if something like this were to happen (quite frankly, not that it would be a bad thing either)

As for the Iran incursion into Iraq, The Merry Widow has some information (Thanks Right Truth):

“Unofficial and unconfirmed are 4, that’s right, 4 different incursions or invasions into another country in the ME.”

One has to wonder is the gas rationing is due to the Iranian government expecting some type of military action with the U.S.

Bonnie’s Blog of Crime has a quick update on the Jessie Davis story, one that I had not found while reading the news today.

Not only did the accused killer allegedly kill his lover and unborn daughter, as well as have multiple children with different women out of wedlock, it looks like there are allegations that he was a child abuser – this from his 9 year old daughter.

You have to wonder what prison will be like, if this person is convicted…

If you no understanding of a topic, how are you going to relate to they topic?  Yes, one can do their best to explain what a TV is, how a person interacts with the TV, and the potential pleasure and pains that can come from owning a TV, but if you have NEVER had the ability to actually see a TV there is no way you can truly understand the experience.  The same can be said for many things, but this seems especially appropriate with sickness… like depression.

Depression, much like any experience, is different from person to person.  Some people claim that depression causes them to be unable to sleep, others say there is a physical “heaviness” that can be felt in the body, and many others claim to have a sense of hopelessness or dread.  In many cases, I’ have no doubt people experience these feelings in some combination and to varying degrees – along with many other sensations that I have even suggested.

I have close friends that were completely incapacitated by a bout with depress.  They couldn’t go to work or interact with people. Daily life and activities became such a pain such a bother that, at the very basic level, their only concern was how they were going to make it to the next hour.  Literally, they began to live life from hour to hour, situation to situation, in order to survive.

Listening to these individuals explain what they are feeling and hearing completely irrational thoughts from highly educated people is scary.  As you have conversations with someone afflicted with depression you begin to see that the person you are talking to is almost a shell of who they once were.  I can have sympathy for what they are going through, I can offer to assist in any way, but they have become someone different, if only for a time being.  They have become someone I cannot relate to… and that is the point.

If you haven’t experienced it first hand, for yourself, you cannot truly say what the experience is.  And, if you can talk about the experience first hand you should not pass judgment on the condition.