Speech Police in Full Force Across American Academia

""Generally speaking there are no bigger champions of free speech than journalists and academicians; after all, members of both groups earn their livings publishing news and information.

But a disturbing new trend is taking root in America that promises to chill freedom of speech and, indeed, is already having a stifling affect.

As reported by The Daily Beast here and by NaturalNews here, the University of California– whose president, Janet Napolitano, is President Obama's former Homeland Security chief – has implemented a new speech code that at once aims to celebrate America's diversity while essentially tearing at the fabric of its traditions, culture and heritage.

'That's racist and sexist'

The DB report notes the irony thusly:

Fifty years after the birth of the free speech movement at the University of California, Berkeley, officials across the UC system are encouraging faculty and students to purge mundane, potentially offensive words and phrases from their vocabularies.

Administrators want members of campus to avoid the use of racist and sexist statements, though their notions about what kinds of statements qualify are completely bonkers. "America is a melting pot," "Why are you so quiet?" and "I believe the most qualified person should get the job," are all phrases that should raise red flags, according to the UCspeech police.

Such phrases, we are being led to believe, constitute "microaggressions" - defined as "everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership."

So, the "solution" to ensuring freedom of speech, UC style, apparently is to limit speech.

One such microaggressive phrase: America is the land of opportunity. That's "racist" and "sexist."

So far the UC speech code "rules" are merely requests - but because they come from Napolitano, that gives them much more weight. As The DB reported:

On January 5, Napolitano dispatched letters to UC deans and department chairs inviting them to attend seminars "to foster informed conversation about the best way to build and nurture a productive academic climate." That's bureaucrat-speak for learn to keep your mouths shut.

As further noted by The College Fix, seminars were held on nine of the 10 UC campuses throughout the past school year. One professor who chose not to attend shared some of the details and education materials with the publication.

The "microaggressions" were contained in a handout entitled, "Recognizing Microaggressions and the Messages They Send." They were adopted from a book byColumbia University Psychology Prof. Derald Wing Sue, which lists dozens of examples of ordinary statements pertaining to America's founding heritage that are now, somehow, offensive.

Saying, "There is only one race, the human race," is offensive, for example, because it denies "the significance of a person of color's racial/ethnic experience and history."

"America is the land of opportunity," really implies that "people of color are lazy and/or incompetent and need to work harder."

Asking an Asian, Latino, or Native American "why are you so quiet?" is like giving the order "assimilate to dominant culture."

And so on.

Oh, it's a curb on free speech, alright

The really problematic issue here is how such insanity bodes for the country's future. The California university system is attended by tens of thousands of students every year - students whose minds are filled with this ridiculousness and who carry it forth as they begin their professional lives.

Ironically, in response to an inquiry into the seminars by The College Fix, UC spokeswoman Shelly Meron said in an email that, "These seminars are not an attempt to curb open dialogue, debate or classroom discussions."

That, of course, is patently false; if you are accusing someone of committing a "microaggression," are you not then, by process, requesting that said offender not make such statements in the future?""

http://www.naturalnews.com/050401_free_speech_universities_microaggression.html

As if Our Current Slave Labor Nation Wasn't Enough Today, a New Executive Order to Authorize Government-dictated American Slave Labor Force

""When President Obama signed Executive Order 13603, entitled, "National Defense Resources Preparedness," in 2012, many immediately saw it for what it certainly can be: An order mobilizing a huge force of American slave labor.

The 10-page document is essentially a blueprint for a complete federal takeover of the entire U.S. economy, an act that dwarfs, by far, what Obamacare has successfully taken over (the entire health insurance market, for starters).

In particular, the plan calls for taking control of:

-- "all commodities and products... that are capable of being ingested by either human beings or animals";

-- "all forms of energy";

-- "all forms of civil transportation";

-- "all usable water, from all sources";

-- "health resources... drugs, biological products, medical devices, materials, facilities, health supplies, services and equipment"; and

-- forced labor (or "induction" as the Executive Order delicately refers to military conscription).

Unlimited power

In addition, federal officials will be permitted to "issue regulations to prioritize and allocate resources" (what gets taken first, in what amounts, and who gets them). And each government department and agency "shall act, as necessary and appropriate" (meaning, they will pretty much get to do whatever they deem as necessary and appropriate).

Granted, a lot of this language had appeared in prior Executive Orders that were periodically issued during the Cold War.

However, more than previous national security-related EOs, 13603 reads more like a document created by a totalitarian administration intent on, and obsessed with, controllingeverything.

The order, for example, doesn't bother to even discuss the (negative) implications to personal liberty and constitutional processes. There is no attempt to explain, moreover, how full government control over the economy and governing processes would enable officials to effectively deal with the various trappings of disaster: cyber attack, suicide bombings, sniper shootings, chemical warfare, nuclear missiles or any other threat.

More likely, the government's responses would be more inefficient, ineffective and feckless (think Hurricane Katrina or Superstorm Sandy, on a much larger scale), because that is the nature of massive bureaucracy: inertia, in-fighting and bureaucratic red tape.Nothing gets done in a timely, cost-effective manner.

But Obama, via his EO, has essentially guaranteed such a response, and what's more, he's prepared to force Americans into "service" in the process.

Others noted that complete authoritarianism coupled with chronic inefficiency would more than likely trigger the formation of underground resistance and other movements and networks aimed at circumventing and even undermining the national authority. Talented people with various, critical skills might even be tempted to flee the country for pockets of freedom close by (Canada) or elsewhere in the world.

And again, there is nothing in Obama's order ensuring protection of constitutional rights. Indeed, there is plenty in his order that guarantees usurpation of constitutional rights – privacy, speech, assembly, private property, due process, state's rights.

In the past, presidents pushing to expand their power past constitutional limitations have often used "emergencies" to do so. The most current "emergency" was declared by President George W. Bush on Sept. 14, 2001, and it continues to remain in effect to this day.""

Obama's order has no time table, 

timeline or constraints on government

Read On:

http://www.naturalnews.com/050397_Obama_Executive_Order_slave_labor_force.html