Today's Guardian has an article about an Italian headmaster who has banned Christmas carols from the schools winter concert.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/30/christmas-is-cancelled-italians-outraged-over-school-decision-to-ban-festivities
Last year evidentially, during the concert, a bunch of Muslim students were ordered by their parents not to sing the carols. They stood there silently while the other kids sang. Some of the Muslim parents went onto stage and pulled their kids out of the chorus. The Headmaster Marco Parma decided that it was not a good sight and decided to cancel the carols.
Mr. Parma is wrong. He wants a school that is multicultural. That is not what he is promoting, he is promoting segregation and a heckler's veto (Where a legitimate voice is stifled by a dissenter who creates a scene causing the former to be quieted by authorities to "Keep the Peace". )
In a multicultural world, every religion and every culture is celebrated by everyone. Music is an international language. The notes are the same if you are Catholic, Jewish, Muslim or a Sub Genius.
They tell a history, music can cause revolution (See VERDI and the Italian Unification) it soothes a child, it honors heroes. It can expose villains.
Stifling Religious music, teaches nothing but distrust. It causes dislike and hate. What's more, is in Italy, there is an official state religion, it is Roman Catholicism and that makes this kind of decision even more dangerous. It teaches majorities to dislike minorities, to fear that the acceptance of others means that the majority's culture no longer matters.
Now this isn't about making fun of another religion, It doesn't mean that participating in the music of another culture is accepting the ideals of the other culture. It means that one respects the culture of all people. That is what music does. It breeds acceptance. If you don't want to accept the views of others, then go off and be among your own. You may not learn anything, you may be disliked for your parochial attitudes but at least within your bubble you can be what you want to be.
What Parma fails to see, is that he has missed a teaching and a learning opportunity. He is a failure as an educator. He needs to stand down or be fired and let someone who gets it, teach it. Multiculturalism is inclusive, not exclusive. It adds it does not take away. If you do not want to participate, don't, but if you do, you may learn a thing or two about people you do not understand and they may learn about you.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
An Open Letter to President Obama : The Problem With Accepting Syrian Refugees.
Dear Mr. President,
Don't you EVER call me bigoted or frightened or xenophobic because I will not support your half baked plan to admit Syrian refugees into America. Its not b/c of them that I object, its because of YOU!
You have proven yourself to either be the dumbest President since Harding, or the biggest liar since Clinton. You may be both, but I fear more the latter than the former.
You see, in order to engender trust in your work and that of those that work in your administration, you have to be RESPONSIBLE. You are not. You never take responsibility. Any problem you encounter is always someone else's fault. You claim to never know anything when there is a MAJOR screwup in your administration. You find out when you read it in the newspapers. This does not engender trust.
You also say things you cannot prove or back up! You see Mr. President, ISIS was not the JV team; you do not have Isis contained; Your former Secretary of State knew a lot more than she allegedly told you, and she used private e-mails which she later destroyed without your approval, and your staff (ie Ms. Jarrett) planned lies about most if not all of it.
By the way When the President of the United States of America draws a "line in the sand" and then has to let the Europeans pull your foot out of your mouth, that does not engender trust in you or your word.
By the way When the President of the United States of America draws a "line in the sand" and then has to let the Europeans pull your foot out of your mouth, that does not engender trust in you or your word.
You promised transparency, but yours has been the least transparent administration since Nixon. You promised to not spy on us, LOL! Nixon is in the clouds saying "Whoa, this guy is good". Hell even J Edgar Hoover would be impressed. You spied on our allies and lied to them about it. Your IRS targeted your "enemies" but you take NO responsibility for their actions. Instead your administration has covered its wrong doing up. Cover ups do not engender trust.
Personally, I don't think you or anyone working for you, could spot an Islamic or for that matter ANY Terrorist if he was standing in front of them with a lit bomb screaming "JIIIIHADDDDD!" and wearing an Allahu Akbar!!! Pin. Hence I do not think your administration can be trusted to properly vet incoming refugees to determine which of them may be the one to blow something up in the USA.
No Mr. President, I am neither a bigot nor a xenophobe, I am just an ordinary American citizen who has lost faith in his government's, and more importantly his President's ability to preserve his freedom OR his safety. That is why so many Americans are against taking in Syrian Refugees right now. If you would step out of your Rose Garden for a few minutes and talk to the part of your constituency that you do not like, you might learn a thing or two. Who knows, you might even apologize correctly for your past behavior and that of your staff and start to get back the trust of the public that you had three short years ago but squandered since.
Yours truly
Anthony Colleluori
Anthony Colleluori
AKA That Lawyer Dude.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Facebook won't let you see this, fortunately, That Lawyer Dude will: Christine Hoff Sommers on the Fallacy of the Gender Gap.
Want some real truth? Here it is. Facebook will not let us post this on their site (It violates their community standards??!!!) but I will let you see it. GO HERE.
Sommer drew the ire of Georgetown University's Hoya Newspaper because she tells the truth about the sacred cow of higher ed. She debunks the theory of the wage gap. Watch the video, then you can argue with me below. I think this is the best debunking of "liberal./progressive think" that I have seen.
Sommer drew the ire of Georgetown University's Hoya Newspaper because she tells the truth about the sacred cow of higher ed. She debunks the theory of the wage gap. Watch the video, then you can argue with me below. I think this is the best debunking of "liberal./progressive think" that I have seen.
Monday, April 27, 2015
To Have and To Hold: SCOTUS Takes on Gay Marriage
On Tuesday April 28th the United States Supreme Court will be asked to decide if homosexuals have the right to marry each other (same sex marriage) and/or if a couple is married in a state which practices marriage equality has a right to have that marriage recognized in a state that does not have permit gay-marriage.
If I were a member of SCOTUS (and fortunately there is little chance of that) I believe I would decide the matter that 1. Government needs to get out of the marriage business. We do not have an interest in marriage we have an interest in contracts. All contracts should be honored across state lines due to the theory of comity (legally it means reciprocity among sovereigns). I do not believe the federal government should be sanctioning what is really a religious ceremony. As a contract, I should have the right to contract with any one I choose who is of age and who is not otherwise coerced by me or others to enter into a contract. In other words if a contract is voluntarily and knowingly entered into, it should be enforced everywhere. 2. I would let each state decide if the wanted to issue contracts for marriage but if they did, they would have to allow everyone to have one equally. I would not set a national standard because in the end, it just is not part of the business of the United State's Government. It is a local issue to be decided on a state to state basis.
The issue also presents a divide in the very middle of America's heart and heartland, but it is an important issue. The hypocrisy on both sides of the issue is as ironic as it is unspoken. The anti-marriage equality group do not want to give people the right to contract with whomever they choose but they want to allow the right not to contract to be observed. The pro-marriage equality group wants to allow the right to contract but not the right to not contract. Stupid is as stupid does.
On this issue I have just one more thing to say. To all you "Christians" who do not "support" marriage equality: Do you serve divorced couples? Do you have baby showers for out of wedlock moms? Do you allow people who have committed adultery to later marry in your establishment? Do you serve people who do not make their child support payments? Do you serve people who have stolen from others or even killed others? Is that not supporting that lifestyle which is directly DIRECTLY forbidden by the TEN COMMANDMENTS?? God did not tell Moses that marriage was between a man and a woman but he did say don't kill, don't commit adultery or fornication, don't steal. How is it your "religion" forbids you from servicing homosexual couples but not those committing acts specifically forbidden in the Ten Commandments??
Got news for those types (Mr. Huckabee, Santorum, any number of shop owners and others who want to do away with homosexuals) of politicians and business people: YOU ARE BIGOTS. YOU ARE PREJUDICED, and no amount of joining together to present that view will absolve you of YOUR sin of hypocrisy.
If I were a member of SCOTUS (and fortunately there is little chance of that) I believe I would decide the matter that 1. Government needs to get out of the marriage business. We do not have an interest in marriage we have an interest in contracts. All contracts should be honored across state lines due to the theory of comity (legally it means reciprocity among sovereigns). I do not believe the federal government should be sanctioning what is really a religious ceremony. As a contract, I should have the right to contract with any one I choose who is of age and who is not otherwise coerced by me or others to enter into a contract. In other words if a contract is voluntarily and knowingly entered into, it should be enforced everywhere. 2. I would let each state decide if the wanted to issue contracts for marriage but if they did, they would have to allow everyone to have one equally. I would not set a national standard because in the end, it just is not part of the business of the United State's Government. It is a local issue to be decided on a state to state basis.
The issue also presents a divide in the very middle of America's heart and heartland, but it is an important issue. The hypocrisy on both sides of the issue is as ironic as it is unspoken. The anti-marriage equality group do not want to give people the right to contract with whomever they choose but they want to allow the right not to contract to be observed. The pro-marriage equality group wants to allow the right to contract but not the right to not contract. Stupid is as stupid does.
On this issue I have just one more thing to say. To all you "Christians" who do not "support" marriage equality: Do you serve divorced couples? Do you have baby showers for out of wedlock moms? Do you allow people who have committed adultery to later marry in your establishment? Do you serve people who do not make their child support payments? Do you serve people who have stolen from others or even killed others? Is that not supporting that lifestyle which is directly DIRECTLY forbidden by the TEN COMMANDMENTS?? God did not tell Moses that marriage was between a man and a woman but he did say don't kill, don't commit adultery or fornication, don't steal. How is it your "religion" forbids you from servicing homosexual couples but not those committing acts specifically forbidden in the Ten Commandments??
Got news for those types (Mr. Huckabee, Santorum, any number of shop owners and others who want to do away with homosexuals) of politicians and business people: YOU ARE BIGOTS. YOU ARE PREJUDICED, and no amount of joining together to present that view will absolve you of YOUR sin of hypocrisy.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Justice Delayed, Justice Not Served: State of Arizona v. Milke Finally dismissed. After 22 years on Death Row.
A perjurious lying cop (and a sex pervert) and a prosecution by omission. A SCATHING judicial opinion by one of America's most conservative judges and appellate panels and a wasted life. GOD DAMN IT just because they are cops DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE THEM!!! Guys like Detective Armando Saldate are a pox on the soul of American justice. The Maricopa County (AZ) Prosecutors office is and has been a stain on the criminal justice system for 30 or more years.Many Judges have no guts when it comes to disbelieving cops. (Especially when their reelections depend o PBA endorsements).
Twenty two years ago, the State of Arizona put a young mom on trial for killing her child. Not a single piece of physical evidence linked her to the killing. Only an oral confession to a cop not recorded and not true. She denied making the confession. Not taking it back, NEVER making it!! The actual killers denied her involvement, worse yet the prosecutor knew his cop the one who took the confession was a liar and sex perv who had used his badge to take advantage of a woman once. That he had lied to supervisors and under oath numerous (NUMEROUS) times. Nevertheless they tenaciously sought to kill this young mother. The never told anyone of the detective's (one Armando Saldate)penchant for lying under oath. Not the trial judge, not the jury and certainly not the defense. The case is an abomination.
Well today the case was finally dismissed. Finally.
Wanna know the SECOND worst part of this? Even though the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recommended charges against Saldate and others, NO ONE WILL BE PROSECUTED!!! NO ONE!!!! Can anyone say special prosecutor? Thank God for the Civil Rights statute and for the lawyers who will go after the money to give this woman a life at 47 but still what a waste of life, money and good will. Could you imagine being one of the jurors who believed that man and believed the prosecutor and now realizes that they sent a woman to her death??? Wanna know why the Pope is against the Death Penalty? Because only God should make the decision as to who lives and who dies. She waited 22 years for today. What a waste.
Twenty two years ago, the State of Arizona put a young mom on trial for killing her child. Not a single piece of physical evidence linked her to the killing. Only an oral confession to a cop not recorded and not true. She denied making the confession. Not taking it back, NEVER making it!! The actual killers denied her involvement, worse yet the prosecutor knew his cop the one who took the confession was a liar and sex perv who had used his badge to take advantage of a woman once. That he had lied to supervisors and under oath numerous (NUMEROUS) times. Nevertheless they tenaciously sought to kill this young mother. The never told anyone of the detective's (one Armando Saldate)penchant for lying under oath. Not the trial judge, not the jury and certainly not the defense. The case is an abomination.
Well today the case was finally dismissed. Finally.
Wanna know the SECOND worst part of this? Even though the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recommended charges against Saldate and others, NO ONE WILL BE PROSECUTED!!! NO ONE!!!! Can anyone say special prosecutor? Thank God for the Civil Rights statute and for the lawyers who will go after the money to give this woman a life at 47 but still what a waste of life, money and good will. Could you imagine being one of the jurors who believed that man and believed the prosecutor and now realizes that they sent a woman to her death??? Wanna know why the Pope is against the Death Penalty? Because only God should make the decision as to who lives and who dies. She waited 22 years for today. What a waste.
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