Daily Archives: October 3, 2012

Speech that silences

Posted: October 3, 2012 at 1:18 am

The SAC at U of L is no stranger to religious extremists, such as the one pictured fuming above from last year.

By Rae Hodge

FACT: If I catch you on my campus using a roped-off Free Speech Zone to yell pro-slavery and anti-gay sentiments to a group of black students within earshot of the Office for LGBT Services, I will repeat WILL publicly humiliate you in front of your intended audience by demolishing your arguments until you are speechless, befuddled and blushing deeply. My rhetoric will be swift, uncompromising and executed with extreme prejudice.

And, yes, thats exactly what happened Tuesday when Drake Shelton, the white supremacist would-be leader of the as yet unformed Protestant Christian Church of Louisville, jumped on his racist soapbox at U of L to beat his separatist drum to the tune of Leviticus 25:44, with a sign propped at his feet reading: This colony never kidnapped slaves from Africa.

While I would love to detail how this interaction unfolded, whats more important here is recognizing how this incident reflects two major problems with the debate regarding hate speech on public college campuses. The first problem is that debate has so far been framed as one where First Amendment rights are at odds with eliminating racism. The second is that the proponents for the protection of hate speech rarely, if ever, think to build an argument that can withstand the christening edge of my bloody axe. U of Ls patron is Minerva, goddess of both logic and war; bigots should therefore be prepared for both from this campus.

Charles R. Lawrence III, a remarkable author and law professor at Georgetown, published an article back in 1990 in the Duke Law Journal called On Racist Speech. In it, he forms a profound interpretation of Brown v. Board as a free speech case when he argues that segregations inherit problems include the message of inferiority to black students. The cases success, then, is in part its elimination of that system of messages in schools.

Students often gather outside a roped off free speech area near the SAC to confront.

Lawrence makes a crucial distinction in the essay: that hate speech in public is not regulated because it is assumed that the listener can escape without being stripped of rights; a black student on a campus is an unwilling listener who cannot escape hate speech without de facto segregation. Safe passage in common areas, then, is part of a universitys obligation to provide equal educational opportunities.

Lawrence also speaks to the silencing nature of hate speech, which is counter to the aims of free speech and seeks to exclude and minimize the voices of its victims. He posits that If the purpose of the First Amendment is to foster the greatest amount of speech, racial insults disserve that purpose.

In a climate of racial harassment, the speech and political participation of students within a racial minority becomes subdued. If a university is asking black students to bear the burden of insult in the name of free speech and for the greater good, then those students must be fairly represented in the universitys deliberations on the matter.

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What Is Neoclassical Liberalism?

Posted: at 1:16 am

Jason Brennan, an outstanding libertarian political philosopher who teaches at Georgetown University, has written Libertarianism as an introductory guide, and much of the material in it will be familiar to readers of the Mises Daily; but it deserves careful study by anyone interested in its subject. Brennan has a talent for explaining libertarian views in striking and effective ways. The book consists of 105 questions about libertarianism and Brennan's responses to them.

In defending libertarianism, Brennan stands resolutely against the consensus position of his fellow political philosophers. Today, books touting the virtues of deliberative democracy are ubiquitous; but Brennan dissents.[1] Libertarians

do not regard democratic participation and deliberation as the highest form of life. Many nonlibertarians have an almost religious reverence for democracy. They love democracy so much that they wish to see democracy in every aspect of life. They want democracy to be a way of living. They want everything open to democratic deliberation and decision making. Libertarians instead want to insulate people from political control. They do not want every decision to be subject to discussion. They believe one of the greatest freedoms of all is not having to justify yourself to others. If your entire life resembles a committee meeting, you are not free. (p. 69)

Brennan's objections would apply even to a democracy of the intelligent and informed; but in practice, democracy turns out to be rule by the incompetent. Brennan in his comments suggests a reborn Mencken:

Voters not only are systematically mistaken about basic economics, but they cannot figure out which candidates know more than they do in democracy incompetent leaders with false beliefs win. Libertarians say: If the candidates seem clueless, it is because the system works. (p. 72)

Brennan displays little respect for the chief icon of the American democratic tradition. He notes that

many Americans would rate Abraham Lincoln as the greatest president. Yet Lincoln fought the civil war not to free slaves, but to force the South to remain part of the United States. In the course of war, Lincoln suppressed habeas corpus, created the first national draft, suppressed free speech, censored and punished newspaper editors who criticized his war efforts, and was at least complicit in waging total war against innocent Southern civilians. By normal standards, this makes him a monster. (If I did these things, you would regard me as a vile and despicable person.)[2] (pp. 623)

If Brennan rejects democracy, what has he to put in its place? It will come as no surprise that his answer is libertarianism, but it is a different sort of libertarianism from that which the term will suggest to many of my readers. Followers of Murray Rothbard regard each person as a self-owner. Self-owners have the right to acquire property; and although the free market that results from implementing libertarian rights leads to greater prosperity than any alternative arrangement, the principal justification for these rights does not lie in their good consequences. To the contrary, they are natural rights.

To Brennan, this is not libertarianism sans phrase, but "hard libertarianism." It is but one of three forms of libertarianism, and not the one he prefers. Indeed, he says that in "some respects, it is an aberration inside classical liberal political thought" (p. 11).

What are the other forms? First is classical liberalism. Supporters of this position, though they favor the free market,

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Myth and Truth About Libertarianism

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[This essay is based on a paper presented at the April 1979 national meeting of the Philadelphia Society in Chicago. The theme of the meeting was "Conservatism and Libertarianism."]

Libertarianism is the fastest growing political creed in America today. Before judging and evaluating libertarianism, it is vitally important to find out precisely what that doctrine is, and, more particularly, what it is not. It is especially important to clear up a number of misconceptions about libertarianism that are held by most people, and particularly by conservatives. In this essay I shall enumerate and critically analyze the most common myths that are held about libertarianism. When these are cleared away, people will then be able to discuss libertarianism free of egregious myths and misconceptions, and to deal with it as it should be on its very own merits or demerits.

This is a common charge, but a highly puzzling one. In a lifetime of reading libertarian and classical-liberal literature, I have not come across a single theorist or writer who holds anything like this position.

The only possible exception is the fanatical Max Stirner, a mid-19th-century German individualist who, however, has had minimal influence upon libertarianism in his time and since. Moreover, Stirner's explicit "might makes right" philosophy and his repudiation of all moral principles including individual rights as "spooks in the head," scarcely qualifies him as a libertarian in any sense. Apart from Stirner, however, there is no body of opinion even remotely resembling this common indictment.

Libertarians are methodological and political individualists, to be sure. They believe that only individuals think, value, act, and choose. They believe that each individual has the right to own his own body, free of coercive interference. But no individualist denies that people are influencing each other all the time in their goals, values, pursuits, and occupations.

As F.A. Hayek pointed out in his notable article, "The Non Sequitur of the 'Dependence Effect,'" John Kenneth Galbraith's assault upon free-market economics in his best-selling The Affluent Society rested on this proposition: economics assumes that every individual arrives at his scale of values totally on his own, without being subject to influence by anyone else. On the contrary, as Hayek replied, everyone knows that most people do not originate their own values, but are influenced to adopt them by other people.[1]

No individualist or libertarian denies that people influence each other all the time, and surely there is nothing wrong with this inevitable process. What libertarians are opposed to is not voluntary persuasion, but the coercive imposition of values by the use of force and police power. Libertarians are in no way opposed to the voluntary cooperation and collaboration between individuals: only to the compulsory pseudo-"cooperation" imposed by the state.

This myth has recently been propounded by Irving Kristol, who identifies the libertarian ethic with the "hedonistic" and asserts that libertarians "worship the Sears Roebuck catalogue and all the 'alternative life styles' that capitalist affluence permits the individual to choose from."[2]

The fact is that libertarianism is not and does not pretend to be a complete moral or aesthetic theory; it is only a political theory, that is, the important subset of moral theory that deals with the proper role of violence in social life.

"What a person does with his or her life is vital and important, but is simply irrelevant to libertarianism."

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Park HS principal leaving for central office job

Posted: at 1:15 am

RACINE Park High School Principal Dan Thielen will leave his leadership post at the school Oct. 15 for a human resources job at Racine Unifieds central office, the district announced Tuesday.

Thielen, a Racine native and Parks principal for the past six years, will serve as interim executive director of human resources, filling a spot vacated when Steve Hejnal retired Sept. 30.

Thielen said district officials asked if he would be interested in the position and he said yes, choosing to take on the new job to enhance his district-level experience and understanding.

Im enrolled in a superintendent program through Cardinal Stritch and Im looking to get my superintendent license, he explained. Ive always been one in this district who wanted to understand all aspects of running a school district, not only being a principal or a teacher but the central office side too.

Thielen was selected for the human resources position because of his experience with elementary, middle and high schools as well as with staffing and scheduling, Unified spokeswoman Stacy Tapp said.

An email about the change was sent to staff Tuesday, Thielen said.

Thielens directing principal job will be filled on an interim basis by Park Blue School Principal Dennis Christensen. The Blue School principal post will get filled by Park Spanish teacher Tana Winski, and her job will be filled by a long-term substitute, Thielen said.

When asked what hell miss about Park, 1901 12th St., Thielen quickly replied, Everything.

Im gonna really miss everything. The staff, the staff is wonderful. The students. Im gonna to miss the spirit of this place. Theres such positivity that flows through this building.

Thielen has heard some staff speculate he is being moved out of Park on purpose because of the schools achievement levels. But thats not the case at all, he said.

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Transportation Disaster Response, Post-Accident Communications, and Accident Investigation …

Posted: at 1:15 am

October 2, 2012 - NTSB is offering courses in disaster response, post-accident communications, and accident investigation at its training center just outside Washington. Courses will include Transportation Disaster Response - Family Assistance; Transportation Disaster Response - Emergency Responders; Aircraft Accident Investigation Orientation; Managing Communications Following An Aircraft Accident or Incident; Cognitive Interviewing for Accident Investigators; and InvestigatingHuman Fatigue Factors. National Transportation Safety Board 490 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC, 20594 USA Press release date: September 26, 2012

The National Transportation Safety Board is offering the following courses in disaster response, post-accident communications, and accident investigation in the coming months at its training center just outside Washington:

The TRANSPORTATION DISASTER RESPONSE FAMILY ASSISTANCE course (Oct. 10-12), which was developed for commercial transportation officials, representatives of federal agencies, staff of non-governmental relief organizations and emergency managers, is instrumental in understanding how any organization involved in the accident response can most effectively support the family assistance efforts. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/Ycqm

The TRANSPORTATION DISASTER RESPONSE EMERGENCY RESPONDERS course (Nov. 14-16) for emergency responders and planners provides participants with the tools to most effectively manage a major transportation disaster. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/YcqJ

The AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION ORIENTATION course (Oct. 23-24), led by senior NTSB management and investigators, details how the Safety Board investigates major aircraft accidents and what it expects of participants in an investigation. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/Y3Sk

The MANAGING COMMUNICATIONS FOLLOWING AN AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT OR INCIDENT course (Oct. 25-26) will teach participants what to expect in the days immediately following an aviation accident or incident and how they can prepare for their role with the media. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/YcqT

The COGNITIVE INTERVIEWING FOR ACCIDENT INVESTIGATORS course (Nov. 13-14) provides participants with the tools to conduct sound investigative interviews of participants in, and witnesses to, transportation incidents or accidents. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/Y3hR

The INVESTIGATING HUMAN FATIGUE FACTORS course (Nov. 15-16) will provide participants with information and guidance to evaluate the role human fatigue plays in accident causation. It will cover fatigue-related issues including sleep length, sleep disorders, circadian rhythms, work schedules, and the effects of fatigue on performance and alertness. Learn more at http://go.usa.gov/Y3hC

Information about the NTSB Training Center, course registration information and a complete listing of all public courses offered there is available at http://go.usa.gov/T8A

NTSB Training Center: 571-223-3900

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Minister denies Indonesia's 1965 rights abuses happened

Posted: at 1:15 am

Jakarta (The Jakarta Post/ANN) - The Indonesian government has rejected the findings of its independent state body National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) declaring the 1965 communist purge a gross human rights violation and has refused to apologise for the victims of the atrocity.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto rejected the Komnas HAM conclusion and insisted that the mass killings, which were state-sponsored according to the rights body, were justified to save the country from communists.

"Define gross human rights violation! Against whom? What if it had happened the other way around?" Suyanto said on the sidelines of a meeting with the House of Representatives' budget committee yesterday.

Suyanto indicated that the mass killings during the communist purge were justified as they were aimed at protecting the country.

"This country would not be what it is today if it didn't happen. Of course there were victims [during the purge], and we are investigating them," Suyanto added.

After a thorough investigation lasting nearly four years, Komnas HAM finally declared the killings in the 1965 purge a state-sponsored gross human rights violation.

The investigation found that widespread mass killings had occurred during the period and featured similar patterns, starting with victims being arrested and detained in military camps, where they were interrogated, tortured, raped or murdered.

Following its investigation, Komnas HAM recommended the government set up a reconciliation and truth committee, and that a presidential apology be made to the families of victims as well as to survivors.

However, according to Suyanto, such a recommendation was unreasonable due to the lack a legal basis.

"We can't do that because the Constitutional Court has repealed the law on truth and reconciliation," he said.

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Human Circuit to Integrate Cutting Edge Media and Technology Solutions for the Howard University Health Sciences …

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GAITHERSBURG, Md., Oct. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Human Circuit announced its collaboration with B-Line Medical to integrate cutting edge media and technology solutions for the Simulation Center's Management System at Howard University.

Bruce Kaufmann, chief executive officer for Human Circuit, said the company's systems are designed to maximize the full potential of B-Line Medical's software.

"We are confident that we will provide the optimal turn-key solution for managing and operating the Howard University Health Sciences Simulation Center Management System," Kaufmann said. "No othersystems integratorhas developed simulation centers that utilize the advanced network enabled digital video distribution topology and equipment pioneered by Human Circuit."

To better prepare health sciences students for careers as healthcare providers, simulation and clinical skills training facilities offer hands-on opportunities in clinical situations. These facilities digitally record and store student performance footage on video servers so that administrators and instructors can view and evaluate students in real-time.

B-Line Medical and Human Circuit have integrated video and audio equipment into several of these types of facilities and applied designs and applications specifically for case study rooms, self-teaching labs, patient exam rooms, observation rooms and the AV control and computer rooms.

The technology within the simulation center is a web-based digital solution that allows faculty to capture, debrief and assess student encounters.The video allows the faculty to assess the learners and provide feedback, but most importantly, it allows learners the opportunity to self-assess their skills.There is a master control room that acts as a central location for managing the technology.

Human Circuit has extensive working experience with healthcare institutions and teaching hospitals. "One example is the Johns Hopkins Medicine Simulation Center in Baltimore," said Jim Hatcher, Human Circuit chief technology officer."This project is one of many that represent the quality of work that Human Circuit and B-Line Medical can provide," Hatcher said. "It highlights our ability to collaborate with an architect and general contractor as well as a university or hospital IT department, institution project manager and end user resulting in successful project implementation. "It is a privilege to add Howard University to our long list of prestigious clients."

About the Howard University Simulation Center

The Howard University Health Science Simulation Center is a state-ofthe-art educational facility that provides the ideal environment to teach fundamental and advanced clinical and technical skills and procedures. The philosophy of the Center is that skills are better learned when students are afforded the opportunity for deliberate practice in a controlled environment. The Center will provide a simulated environment where medical students, nursing students, allied health students, dental students, post-graduate physicians, practicing physicians and other health care professionals learn and hone their clinical and technical skills. The ultimate goal is to promote patient safety through education.

About Human Circuit

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