Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Emory University Professor Says We (Whites) Are All Racists

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


Hat tip Campus Reform

Photo of
George Yancy
(Emory faculty profile photo)


Of all the "white privilege" screeds I have heard in recent years, this is about the silliest. It comes from an Emory University professor named George Yancy, and in this piece, he asks us white folks to admit that we are all racists. Campus Reform has the report.

http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=7115

"The letter, according to Yancy, was inspired by a series of 19 interviews he conducted with various public intellectuals on the topic of race, including well-known philosophers such as Peter Singer, Noam Chomsky, and Cornel West."


(Three dopes.)


I don't wish to rehash the same things I have said in the past about America's racial history except to say that we do acknowledge the evils of slavery and segregation and have taken major steps to correct those injustices and educate our youth about them. This guy Yancy, however, is trying to make a point about virtually all white people. To stereotype an entire people by applying  a fill-in-the-blank-"ist" to them is racist in itself. In addition, it is just plain silly. That it comes from a university educator is doubly troubling-but hardly surprising.

Maybe Professor Yancy should examine his own racial attitudes as he has his gende

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

"Cultural Appropriation" at Oberlin (Food Fight)

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com

A food fight erupted at Oberlin College in Ohio last month. It seems that some students (mostly Asian or Asian-American) were not pleased at the campus cafeteria's attempt to serve Asian food. Not authentic, they claimed. (What else is new?) So now, we have a case of "cultural appropriation" to deal with-a micro-aggression, if you will.)

http://www.newsweek.com/oberlin-college-students-protest-culturally-appropriative-dining-hall-food-407466

First of all, at the risk of stereotyping (a micro-aggression in itself) , I am a little saddened to find that some Asian-American students are jumping on the political correctness bandwagon. At UC Irvine, where I teach part-time, about half of the student body is Asian-American. For the most part, they don't join in the silly reindeer games that go on. They are too busy studying and enjoying their campus experience with more traditional pursuits.

At any rate, as one who has lived and traveled extensively overseas, and as one who appreciates all kinds of foreign cuisines, I appreciate how hard is to get authentic food (and beer) outside of the country of origin. For example, if you happen to be in Europe, I do not recommend trying any Thai or Chinese restaurants even if you can find them. The same thing goes for the US. If you want really good Chinese food, I recommend Chinatown in San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York. Mexican food? East LA or Santa Ana, California. Authentic German beer? The only place I know is the Hofbrauhaus in Las Vegas. They ship it directly from the parent Hofbrauhaus in Munich in barrels. Having lived in Italy, I have yet to experience the real thing in any Italian restaurant in the US.

Matter of fact, we just returned from a week's vacation at a plush resort in Puerto Vallarta. (That's in Mexico for all you UC Santa Cruz  Community Studies and History of Consciousness majors.) One night the main dining room featured Asian night with Chinese and Japanese dishes. There were also two restaurants there that featured Continental fare. Too bad the poor students of Oberlin weren't there. They would have seen a true case of cultural appropriation gone horribly bad. (The Mexican food, on the other hand, was excellent.)

By the way: If you are an American traveling abroad, I don't recommend trying a hamburger. You will be very disappointed. You should not, however, complain you are a victim of cultural appropriation. You know where they will tell you to go.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: If you are in Ohio and expect authentic Chinese food, you are out of luck. But you are not a victim of anything.

Friday, December 11, 2015

San Bernardino: Did Obama Tell NSC and FBI to Downplay Terror Angle?

Hat tip Daily Caller


A source has told Daily Caller that when the San Bernardino shooting took place, President Obama instructed the National Security Council and the FBI to downplay the Islamic terrorist angle.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/12/10/report-obama-told-nsc-to-downplay-terrorist-angle-of-san-bernadino/#ixzz3tzBU0qXg

This is hardly surprising if true. It is part of the pattern Obama has set for 7 years ever since he entered the White House.

Once police entered the site of the San Bernadino massacre they got enough information to set their sights on the Redlands address where Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik resided. By the time the two killers were both shot to death in a police shootout, it was clear to law enforcement what this was. Farook's name was picked up by someone monitoring a police scanner and eventually, he was officially identified. The FBI subsequently announced that this was a terrorism case. Meanwhile, Attorney General Loretta Lynch has been stressing her concern over Islamophobia. As far as she, Obama and White House press spokesman Josh Earnest are concerned, the talking points are that there is no evidence that they were part of a larger terrorist cell-whatever that means. Oh yes. Obama is screaming for more gun control.

I have a lot of faith in the FBI and its director, James Comey. They are over-stretched and doing yeoman work under impossible circumstances, Yet, they are hampered by a president who acts like he doesn't care how many Americans are killed by Islamic terrorists right here in the US. As for the new attorney general, the book is still out on her. She was respected during her tenure as US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn). She is certainly an improvement over the corrupt Eric Holder. Yet, we will have to see how she performs under the direction of Obama.

The next year cannot pass quickly enough until Barack Obama is out of office. I believe the correct term would be criminal negligence.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Obama's Address to the Nation: Nothing New

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


It was fitting that President Obama said something to the nation after the San Bernardino attacks. This was the worst Islamic attack since 9-11  in terms of deaths. After virtually years of disengagement, he had to come out and say something. The problem is he said nothing new.

Obama told us of all the things we are doing in concert with the mysterious coalition of 65 countries. The problem is that what he is doing has proved ineffectual. He talked about taking out ISIS oil tankers. The fact of the matter is that we have refrained from attacking oil wells and trucks controlled by ISIS due to-get this- environmental concerns. After all, if we blow up an oil well, it might contribute to (gasp) Climate Change.

Obama also mentioned getting the Turks to close their border with Syria. Really? The Turkish-Syrian border is wide open because Turkey wants to buy oil controlled by ISIS, and of course, Western fighters heading to Iraq or Syria to join ISIS transit through Turkey-a country that is supposed to be a NATO ally.

So what it all comes down to is business as usual. We are conducting air strikes-except that most of our bombers return to base without dropping their bombs due to the Commander in Chief's insistence that there be no civilian casualties.

Of course, the President wants to crack down on gun sales so that the next victims will be unarmed when terror strikes in an American city. He asked why should people on a no-fly list be allowed to buy guns. Fair enough except I would ask why people on a no-fly list are walking around our country to begin with, and what about those reports that DHS actually has a couple of dozen employees who are on the no-fly list?

Go figure.

Finally, it was right and proper that the President warned Americans not to react against innocent American Muslims, but it should be noted that since 9-11, the American people have shown remarkable restraint with a few minor exceptions. We know how not to blame innocent people for the crimes of others.

That notwithstanding, the President needs to understand that there are threats roaming around in our country, and those threats will increase dramatically if he goes through with his plans to admit refugees from the Syrian war. We simply do not know who these people are. Though Tashfeen Malik was not a refugee, her admittance into the US shows that our immigration system is not functioning.

All in all, it was a disappointing speech by the President, but it was totally expected. He is driven by a radical leftist ideology that is hurting this country greatly.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Climate Change Trumps Terror in Paris

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com



How's this for a high carbon footprint?


The atmosphere in Paris this week must be absolutely surreal. Two weeks after the deadly attacks by ISIS in Paris, the city is now host to world leaders discussing the REAL THREAT to life as we know it-Climate Change. After all, can't they see the leaves turning brown in the Tuileries?

And no surreal atmosphere would be complete without the presence of President Obama, who repeated his mantra that there could be no greater rebuke to terrorism than to go ahead with this inane conference of world leaders, some promising to turn over billions of dollars to the other world leaders who came with their hands out.

And not to be outdone, the anarchists of the world showed up to trample all over the candles set out on the Place de la Republique to honor the dead, get themselves sprayed by water cannons, and get arrested.

ISIS must be laughing.

Meanwhile, the US media is reporting opinions as facts as they trumpet Climate Change. The Orange County Register is devoting virtually all of page three today to articles about the conference that should be in their opinion section.

"World Leaders Gather to Try to Save Earth"

http://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2015/11/30/leaders-of-warming-earth-meet-in-paris-to-cut-emissions

"I've come here personally, as the leader of the world's largest economy and the second-largest emitter, to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it," Obama told the conference."

Imagine, our president (not the leader of the world's largest economy) PERSONALLY went to Paris to once again apologize for America. And don't think that the leader of the world's largest emitter (China) is promising anybody in Paris anything.

And of course, the same evening Obama emitted those now-famous words, he and his colleagues were seen dining in one of Paris' most expensive eateries. ( I didn't know there was more than one way to mash peas.)  But what about the rest of us at home who will have to foot the bill for all these agreements while trying to defend ourselves from Islamic terrorists?

We can always eat cake, right Michelle?