Graphic in the Kentucky Kernal brings protests and racial slurs to UK

In a 9-0 vote on Thursday, the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights called on the commonwealth’s educational institutions Thursday to stop hate-related incidents and intensify programs to increase diversity on their campuses.

For the past two weeks the University of Kentucky has been consumed with controversy. A cartoon published in the UK paper, the Kentucky Kernel depicted a black student standing bare-chested on a slave auction block as a white auctioneer takes bids from fictitious fraternities with names suggesting that they are all-white and racist: Aryan Omega, Kappa Kappa Kappa (KKK) and Alpha Caucasian.

Almost immediately after being published, protests erupted on campus, and a racial slur was written on a student’s door.

Commission Chairman Henry Curtis noted that in addition to the recent events at UK, the commission has received reports of Ku Klux Klan fliers being distributed at the University of Louisville and hate literature being spread in Bowling Green, Owensboro, Morgantown and Winchester (Brian Stephens, an Advisory Council Member with Kentucky Equality Federation held a counter protest at Morehead State University; click here to read the story from The Independent).

UK President Lee T. Todd Jr. appeared briefly before the commission and said the recent incidents at UK were “ugly and should not have happened.”

Are we slipping backwards, or moving forward in Kentucky? Isn’t adding domestic partner benefits part of that diversity? Republicans in the Kentucky Senate wouldn’t agree (story).

The Culture War Is Real

By: End Marriage Prohibition

Bill O'Reilly is finally right about something! There really is an ongoing culture war being waged in America. According to O'Reilly, the values of White, heterosexual, Christian, business-owning, republican, male, NASCAR fans are constantly being assaulted by gay, femi-nazi, tree-hugging, secular progressives (a.k.a. a bunch of Hippies). And while their may be different types of people here, no group of people will ever change the other. Blacks will never get Whites to change their color. Heterosexuals can't "cure" gays. Tops make horrible Bottoms and Jews can't unkill Jesus. In other words, no matter how diverse we remain our culture will not suffer. If anything, diversity just adds flavor.

The real war on culture comes from what adversely affects every single one of us regardless of race, religious preference, sexual orientation, nationality, sex or gender identity. What morphs us from loving, imaginative children into apathetic, slogan-reciting monsters? There is only one common threat that hurts all people. Ads. Commercials and billboards intentionally seek to undermine our pursuit of life, liberty and happiness by redefining what it means to live a free and happy life.

Bill O'Reilly, who makes a killing from commercial ads, wants us to believe that tolerance, power-sharing, equality and diversity are the greatest threats to America. That is where O'Reilly is wrong. That is like saying war is fought with pizza, artwork and good music. Women demanding and getting equal pay for equal work won't destroy our way of life. However, girls being raised to believe they should look like Barbie may become anorexic, depressed or even suicidal.

The real threat comes from how we are developed to be the perfect consumer. My gay marriage will not cause your parents to divorce. Yet the mainstream media (a.k.a. the Theater of All that is Absurd) only focuses on these types of frivolous issues as opposed to the real issues that deserve our attention.

When children are misled into believing Barbie has the ideal figure then our culture is under attack. By the way, it was determined that it is physically impossible for Humans to look like Barbie. Women would have to be 6'5" and surgically altered in order to look like that. When people truly believe Britney Spears looks fat then you know our culture has been successfully distorted.

Bill O'Reilly is right about there being culture war ravaging America, but it has nothing to do with Mexicans speaking Spanish or gays getting married. This war is about people learning to become apathetic jerks with severely distorted views and opinions.

So what can we do? How do we become a real cultural warrior? Stay tuned for Part 2 after a few words from our sponsors...

Matthew Shepard Act an empty gesture?

Andrew Sullivan and Steve Chapman's recent comments on the Matthew Shepard Act got me thinking....are they correct? Is the HRC making a bigger deal of this than it really is?

Read their comments before you decide:

A constitutional federal hate crimes bill can only target a minuscule number of "hate crimes" that are related to interstate commerce:

For all its grand intentions, the bill doesn't really do much at all. Supporters would like to make every hate crime a federal offense. But they can't. And the ones they can outlaw are so few and far between that it's hard to see why they bother...

The provision in question snares only those crimes in which someone crosses state lines (as with most federal laws), uses "a channel, facility or instrumentality of interstate or foreign commerce," or uses a weapon that has traveled across state or international boundaries.

What's the relevance to the murder of Matthew Shepard, or to most of the other attacks on gays? None whatsoever. You might think it's better to do nothing than to do something irrelevant. But for a lot of U.S. Senators, there's no gesture like an empty gesture.

And when you realize that the Shepard case was nothing like the incident the interest groups made it out to be, the pointlessness of this exercise is overwhelming. Except it isn't, of course. The primary point of such a federal bill is to raise funds for a federal interest group like the Human Rights Campaign. It's a perfect fundraising vehicle because it is emotionally visceral, can be framed as a simple case of "are you for beating gay people to death or not?", and gives HRC a slim reed of legislative achievement to sell to its members and donors by direct mail. It's about the money. Period.

Anyone notice a little dislike for a certain national organization? Andrew Sullivan has been critical of the HRC calling them "a patronage wing of the Democratic party, designed primarily to get its members jobs in future Democratic administrations or with Democrats on the Hill (even while Howard Dean treats them like the help)." Sullivan is a gay political commentator and the author of four books, distinguished by his often personal style of political analysis. His political blogs are among the most widely read on the Web.

Regardless if you agree with him or not, U.S. President Bush has promised to veto the legislation saying it is a matter for the states.