 |
|
Libertarian Party: Halt the Massacre of Innocent Children by Ending Prohibition on Self-Defense in Schools
|
|
Libertarian Party: Halt the Massacre of Innocent Children by Ending Prohibition on Self-Defense in Schools
Vision to America
Vision to America December 16, 2012
|
50-Year-Old Transgender Basketball Player Joins Jr. College Women’s Team…Is This Fair?
by
Mike Opelka
This story will likely cause powerful, emotional reactions from several different directions. It involves a 50-year-old father and Desert Storm veteran who wants to play college basketball again.
Before you answer the question about a college allowing someone more than twice the age of the average player to compete, realize that this person has likely just become the first to play competitive collegiate sports as a man and a woman.
You read that correctly.
This is the story of Robert Ludwig, now Gabrielle Ludwig, a
50-year-old recent sex change operation recipient who is now playing for
the women’s basketball team of Mission College in Santa Clara, Calif.
After her procedure this past summer, Ludwig petitioned the court for a new birth certificate that would designate her sex as “female.” On Nov. 30, a judge awarded her the new birth certificate and in the eyes of the government, Robert Ludwig is now officially Gabrielle Ludwig.
That one piece of paper opened doors for Ludwig. However, there were concerns that her previous time as a college player might be a problem. Back in 1980, then-Robert Ludwig played for Nassau Community College and the bylaws of the Community College Athletic Association only permit a player to participate for two years. But the athletic association decided to reinstate Ludwig’s full eligibility, based on the fact that he was now legally a “she” and deserved the full two years of permitted playing time with her new gender.
With all of the legal hurdles cleared, Gabrielle Ludwig on Dec. 4 stepped down from her position as assistant to the coach of the Mission College Saints, to #42, a member of the team.
Coach Corey Cafferata met his new player a year ago when Ludwig was
coaching a youth league team that played in the Mission College gym.
They talked about the possibility of finding a spot on the roster and
stayed in touch. But Cafferata also told the Associated Press that Gabrielle was not given a guarantee that she would make the team:
Outsports.com reported that an ESPN radio affiliate recently suspended two announcers for on-air comments made about the situation. Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin of ESPN 980 are currently benched after referring to Gabrielle as “it” and also making remarks about her appearance. The statement from the station:
This story will likely cause powerful, emotional reactions from several different directions. It involves a 50-year-old father and Desert Storm veteran who wants to play college basketball again.
Before you answer the question about a college allowing someone more than twice the age of the average player to compete, realize that this person has likely just become the first to play competitive collegiate sports as a man and a woman.
You read that correctly.
Credit: AP
After her procedure this past summer, Ludwig petitioned the court for a new birth certificate that would designate her sex as “female.” On Nov. 30, a judge awarded her the new birth certificate and in the eyes of the government, Robert Ludwig is now officially Gabrielle Ludwig.
That one piece of paper opened doors for Ludwig. However, there were concerns that her previous time as a college player might be a problem. Back in 1980, then-Robert Ludwig played for Nassau Community College and the bylaws of the Community College Athletic Association only permit a player to participate for two years. But the athletic association decided to reinstate Ludwig’s full eligibility, based on the fact that he was now legally a “she” and deserved the full two years of permitted playing time with her new gender.
With all of the legal hurdles cleared, Gabrielle Ludwig on Dec. 4 stepped down from her position as assistant to the coach of the Mission College Saints, to #42, a member of the team.
Image: Martin E. Klimek / USA Today
“Gabrielle has earned a spot on this team,” he said. “She practices hard. She runs hard. She is no different from anyone on the team — she is a great, coachable player.”“Coachable” or not, Ludwig’s presence on the court has brought controversy.
Outsports.com reported that an ESPN radio affiliate recently suspended two announcers for on-air comments made about the situation. Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin of ESPN 980 are currently benched after referring to Gabrielle as “it” and also making remarks about her appearance. The statement from the station:
We strongly believe two of our employees crossed the line when discussing a transsexual person on their program last Thursday. Such intolerance and insensitivity will never be tolerated by this company. Due to the nature of their conversation, the pair have been temporarily removed from ESPN980′s Sports Reporter program.Listen to the audio from ESPN 980 that triggered the suspension:
There have also been mixed reactions from fans in the stands. Some have issues with the gender reassignment topic, others with her size, and still others with her age. However, Dale Murray, the commissioner of the conference told EdgeBoston.com that her age was likely to work against Gabrielle:
“She just happens to be a bit taller than everyone else,” he said. “What if she was born a female and six-feet five-inches? She’s a little older than other community college players, so that’s probably to her disadvantage.”Ludwig is not immune to the complaints and controversy, and just last week she gathered the Saints together and offered to quit. The Chicago Sun Times reports that the team rejected that offer. In fact, it appears to have unified them. Says teammate Amy Woo:
“We all love her. If someone is going to talk against her, they are talking against all of us because it’s like she is part of a family.”Lest you think this is the first time a transgendered person has played college sports, it has happened before. In Sacramento, the Cosumnes River College women’s team had a transgendered player on their squad for an entire season, and little was said or written about it.
Pro sports have a 35-year history with topic of transgendered athletes. Back in the mid-70s, another veteran of the U.S. Military, Dr. Richard Raskind underwent a sex change and became Renee
Richards. An excellent tennis player with professional aspirations, Richards was denied entry into the U.S. Open tournament and took her case to the New York Supreme Court. In 1977, Richards won the suit and was allowed to play professionally.
Image: AP / KERRY COUGHLIN
How do you feel about the issue?
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/50-year-old-transgender-basketball-player-joins-jr-college-womens-team-is-this-fair/
Westboro Baptist Church To Picket Sandy Hook Elementary, Praise God For Shooting
By Melissa Stusinski
Westboro Baptist Church announced via Twitter that they will travel to Newtown, Connecticut to picket the site of the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre.
Westboro’s announcement, made by Margie Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper, adds that the church will “sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgement.”
The tweets put out by Sandy and Margie were met with several outcries. One user, @GoGetMyCoffee, responded by saying, “You are one of the most disgusting people on Earth,@DearShirley. I wish it was you and your hate group instead of those beautiful children.”
The Examiner notes that Westboro Baptist Church has been banned from picketing at several places, though a Supreme Court ruled that the group is allowed to picket funerals. Despite the ruling, several communities and states have passed the laws that require picketers to remain a certain distance away from the funeral.
Clytemnestra with The Daily Kos writes of the decision by Westboro Baptist Church to picket the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings:
“Before reading that they would be there, I had made a decision that if I found out they were going to be there, I would [be] one of those lining the streets to that the vile Westboro Baptist Church has no place to stand and picket. With cane and folding chair if I have to.”Along with announcing they would picket the site of the Newtown elementary school shooting, members of the Westboro Baptist Church sent out a series of tweets about the shooting, saying:
Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.
Get a sign"God H8s Fag Marriage" & put it up in CT. #WarnNeighbor #YourDuty MT @DAVIDMDRAIMAN: @mopdog666 @MargieJPhelps NEED PROPER SOURCE.
It's so true that #godsenttheshooter to CT. Watch the video so named at #godhatesfagsdotcom! Or #signmoviesdotcom! m.sodahead.com/united-states/…
Praise God! You raise the children to rebel against God. You know better. Now, the worst grade school shooting in US History. #FagMarriage
WND News
 |
| Here's how intelligence analysts evaluate terror threat |
If
a Muslim terror group's death toll for the year reaches 770, exceeding
the number of people it has killed in any previous year, should we see
it as getting stronger or weaker?
It all depends on whom they're killing.
Here's an inside look at how intelligence analysts sift the data and make these critical judgments ...
|
| Read the latest now on WND.com |
| Plus! |
If
you were ever taken hostage by Muslim or leftist terrorists, this is
the guy you'd want to lead the rescue team that saves your life ... a
hero of almost biblical proportion.
|
| Click here for details |
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cowboy Byte
|
| December 16, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
'Family Guy,' 'American Dad' pulled after rampage
NEW YORK (AP) — Hollywood
has responded to the rampage at a Connecticut elementary school by
pulling back on its offerings, and one star says the entertainment
industry should take some responsibility for such violence.
Fox pulled new episodes of "Family Guy" and "American Dad"
that were to air Sunday to avoid potentially sensitive content. The
originally scheduled episode of "Family Guy" had Peter telling his own
version of the nativity story. The "American Dad" episode told the story
of a demon who punished naughty children at Christmas. Both series plan
to substitute reruns.
In addition, Fox confirmed that a
schedule repeat of "The Cleveland Show" for Sunday was swapped for
another rerun of that series out of the same concern, and premieres for
Tom Cruise's "Jack Reacher" and the family comedy "Parental Guidance"
were postponed after Friday's shooting rampage in Newtown, Conn., that
ended with 28 people dead, including 20 children as well as the gunman.
Hollywood should take some responsibility for such violence, Jamie Foxx, one of the industry's biggest stars, said Saturday as he promoted Quentin Tarantino's upcoming, ultra-violent, spaghetti Western-style film about slavery, "Django Unchained."
In an interview, Jamie Foxx said actors cannot "turn their back" on that fact that movie violence can influence people.
The film's press junket was
continuing in New York as scheduled. Tarantino said he was tired of
defending his films each time the nation is shocked by gun violence, saying "tragedies happen" and blame should fall on those guilty of the crimes.
_____
Online:
"Django Unchained": http://www.unchainedmovie.com
_____
Follow Nicole Evatt on Twitter at http://twitter.com/NicoleEvatt
Obama administration gives Muslim pedophilia protected status
Army acknowledges pedophilia part of Islam
Manual warns soldiers in Afghanistan not to talk about certain subjects
by Jack MinorA new Army manual that warns American soldiers in Afghanistan to avoid talking about certain topics has unwittingly acknowledged that Western taboos such as pedophilia are an inherent part of Islamic culture.
“By mentioning that pedophilia and women’s rights and saying that soldiers should not mention such things they are tacitly admitting that those things are indeed part of Islam,” said Robert Spencer, founder of Jihad Watch.
According to the Wall Street Journal, a new 75-page Army manual suggests U.S. soldiers are to blame for the large number of deadly attacks on them by Afghan security forces. The manual reportedly says the soldiers may have brought the attacks on themselves because of insensitivity towards Islamic culture.
“Many of the confrontations occur because of [coalition] ignorance of, or lack of empathy for, Muslim and/or Afghan cultural norms, resulting in a violent reaction from the [Afghan security force] member,” the draft report prepared by Army researchers and obtained by the Journal said.
Clare Lopez, a senior fellow with the Center for Security Policy, said the suggestion that U.S. soldiers are to blame for the attacks on them by Afghan security forces is outrageous.
“To suggest that our troops are somehow being murdered because of our insensitivity to their culture is essentially saying it’s our own fault that the troops are being killed because we weren’t nice enough to them,” Lopez said. “The fundamental refusal to acknowledge that the enemy fights because of what he says he fight for, which is Islam, is a failure by our professional leadership from Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on down. Because of this, we have no strategy.”
This year alone, more than three dozen attacks have killed 63 coalition forces. In an attempt to quell the attacks the Army report has issued a list of “taboo conversational topics.”
The topics include “making derogatory comments about the Taliban,” “advocating women’s rights” and “directing any criticism towards Afghans” or “anything related to Islam.”
WND contacted the Army to request a copy of the manual. Army spokesman Ray Harp responded by saying it would not release a copy, for security reasons. He explained the Army wished to avoid detailing specific tactics, techniques and procedures outlined in the handbook.
Regarding the WSJ copy, Harp said whoever released it was not authorized to do so.
“While the handbook does contain information we do not want freely distributed into the hands of our enemies, it is labeled with the ‘For Official Use Only’ restriction,” Harp said. “While still officially unclassified, we require the information to be protected from an open distribution and it should not have been released to anyone outside of those who needed access to it for official purposes.”
Elaine Donnelly, director of the Center for Military Readiness, says while she has not seen the draft copy, she can understand how it is beneficial for the Army to help teach soldiers about cultural differences. Unfortunately, she said, Congress and military leaders often go too far.
“There is a cultural problem that the military needs to confront, but I’m not sure this manual is the best way to go about it,” Donnelly said. “If the information in it is for our soldier’s protection so as to prevent something from being provocative, it might save a life, but if as the article suggests it is calling for soldiers to be overly deferential, that’s not called for.”
Donnelly noted the example of Navy Lt. Florence Choe, who was shot by an Afghan guard in 2009 for wearing shorts while jogging along the perimeter of the base.
“I’m not saying this was her fault, but if her commanders had taken the time to acknowledge that individuals in that part of the world have a different attitude in regards to women in shorts, it might have saved her life,” she said.
However, Donnelly says there are other taboos supposedly in the report that appear to have gone too far.
The Army manual also advises soldiers to avoid “any criticism of pedophilia” or “mentioning homosexuality and homosexual conduct.”
“In that part of the world homosexuality is condemned, and pedophilia is accepted. It’s not like our culture at all and that needs to be acknowledged. We don’t have to be subservient to be cautious,” she continued. “Unfortunately, often times our leaders want to go overboard, believing it will help our relationships with these countries, but the truth is it doesn’t.”
The Army manual has drawn sharp criticism from Marine Gen. John Allen, the top military commander in Afghanistan. Allen reportedly has rejected a proposed foreword written by the Army using his name.
“Gen. Allen did not author, nor does he intend to provide, a foreword,” Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said. “He does not approve of its contents.”
Spencer says the ban on criticizing pedophilia has put the military in a difficult position. By attempting to show cultural sensitivity, it is forced to acknowledge that pedophilia is an inherent part of Islamic teaching.
“This draws attention to the fact that despite denials by the U.S. government and groups like CAIR, these things are a part of official Islam,” Spencer said. “However, I don’t expect them to have the honesty to acknowledge the inconsistency.”
He said that by telling soldiers not to speak against pedophilia, the military and the U.S. government is essentially endorsing the behavior.
“We are essentially sending the message that the United States endorses pedophilia by refusing to speak out against it. I don’t see any way around this.”
Clare Lopez, also a senior fellow with the Clarion Fund, said the new manual is another example of how the military is sending the message that Western culture and values are subservient to Islam.
“It’s another step in a process of submission to the appeasement of Islam that the United States leadership including military leadership has been pursuing for quite a while,” she said. “The entire program seems to be geared to appeasing the Taliban and jihadists by giving in to their world view which says Islam should not be offended and letting them decide what is offensive.”
She said the problem is not limited to the Obama administration but began in Afghanistan under President George W. Bush.
“This actually began in 2004 when we helped Afghanistan enshrine Islamic Shariah law in the constitution. Once we did that, we no longer had any purpose being in the country because we gave the enemy everything they asked for,” she noted. “That’s what they fight for, the imposition of Shariah. All of these other measures that followed from that point on have been a further attempt to win their hearts and minds. It hasn’t worked as is evident by the fact they are still killing our soldiers.”
The Army manual is in keeping with policies by the Obama administration to deliberately scrub all training materials that criticize Islam. Earlier this year, the FBI destroyed all of its materials that taught there was an Islamic connection to terrorism.
WND previously reported the Pentagon refused to give assurances that soldiers who burned the Quran would not be turned over to Afghan authorities to face trial.
Cmdr. William Speakes, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said: “It would be premature to speculate at any potential outcomes. Any disciplinary action if deemed warranted will be taken by U.S. authorities after a thorough review of the facts pursuant to all U.S. military law and regulations and in accordance with due process. We have made no commitments beyond that.”
When asked if that meant the only commitment officials were willing to make was that the soldiers would not be tried in an Afghan court, Speakes said: “No. The only commitment we have made is that we will take any appropriate disciplinary action deemed necessary by the investigation. Any suggestions that we have made more detailed commitments beyond what I just told you is inaccurate.”
Spencer said the Army manual sends the message to Middle Easterners that despite statements by our government, they cannot expect any help from America when it comes to fighting for basic human rights.
“Anybody in these Muslim countries that wanted to see freedom of speech, a crackdown on pedophilia, or rights for women were disappointed at the time that we endorsed the Afghan constitution which enshrined these principles in Islamic law,” Spencer said. “It sends the message to advocates of human rights and freedom that the United States is not going to help them and they are on their own.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)