Brendan Eich - 4-7-2014

The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!

H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, 1926

The liberal left within the body politic has on more than one occasion proven their intolerance and desire to limit free speech to only that with which they unilaterally find acceptable. Their media sycophants have willingly chosen to collaborate in this devastating example of cowardice. It is a national disgrace.

Before proceeding, a quick refresher on the wisdom and brilliance of the framers and founders in the construction of the United States Constitution:

The First Amendment -

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

With that in mind, consider the case this week of Brendan Eich, the CEO of Mozilla. Mr. Eich was forced from his position, in the company he helped found, because of a contribution to supporters of California’s’ Prop 8, which delineated marriage as being between one man and one woman. His contribution was made public, five years AFTER he made said contribution, and on that basis, the company bowed to the hysteria brought on by the ignorant liberal left and forced him out.

One of the intriguing tidbits is that Mr. Eich, at the time of his contribution, agreed exactly with the position of then Senator and President-elect Barack Obama. The silence on that fact is deafening.

Of course, Mr. Eich is now labeled as intolerant, a homophobe and a hater of people. Absent from those baseless accusations is the fact that Prop 8 PASSED by a sizeable majority of the people in California.

Sadly, however, when the liberal left targets a citizen exerting his right to freedom of speech with whom they disagree, the result is a forgone conclusion.

The American people must unite and stand firm against these assaults upon the touchstone of liberty – the right to express ones’ opinion without fear of recrimination.

To complete the travesty of this weeks events, presented below is the entirety of the post from the new CEO of Mozilla. Please read it carefully and note the use of the word ‘equality’.

Where was the tolerance for Mr. Eich and his opinion, an opinion, again, shared by a majority of thr California electorate?

To wit:

Over the past few days we have been asked a number of questions about Brendan Eich’s appointment as CEO. This post is to clarify Mozilla’s official support of equality and inclusion for LGBT people.

Mozilla’s mission is to make the Web more open so that humanity is stronger, more inclusive and more just. This is why Mozilla supports equality for all, including marriage equality for LGBT couples. No matter who you are or who you love, everyone deserves the same rights and to be treated equally.

We realize that not everyone in our community or who uses our products will agree with this. But we have always maintained that as long as you are willing to respect others, and come together for our larger mission, you are welcome. Mozilla’s community is made up of people who have very diverse personal beliefs working on a common cause, which is a free and open internet. That is a very rare and special thing.

Mozilla has always worked to be a welcoming community, committed to inclusiveness and equality for all people. One voice will not limit opportunity for anyone. That was true yesterday and will be true tomorrow. Our Community Participation Guidelines state:

The Mozilla Project welcomes and encourages participation by everyone. It doesn’t matter how you identify yourself or how others perceive you: we welcome you. We welcome contributions from everyone as long as they interact constructively with our community, including, but not limited to people of varied age, culture, ethnicity, gender, gender-identity, language, race, sexual orientation, geographical location and religious views.

Our culture of openness extends to encouraging our staff and community to be candid about their views on Mozilla’s direction. We’re proud of that openness and how it distinguishes Mozilla from most organizations. Most of all, we want to ensure that all Mozilla users and community members know how deeply committed we are to openness and equality for all people.

* Deleted from above: “and to outline a series of actions we are taking to reaffirm this position”
Note – we deleted this text as it was from an earlier draft of this post. We are still considering a series of actions but in the interests of announcing our position this weekend we decided to narrow the scope and shorten this post.

The Hatred Spewed by Grayson

The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy!

H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy, 1926

The problem of racial bigotry stems primarily from voluntary ignorance and intentional stupidity. It is the coward who seizes on our differences as a people to divide us for their own sick needs and political purposes.

It is one thing when an imbecile like Kanye West makes statements that the reason New Orleans suffered as it did post-Katrina was because President George W. Bush hated black folks.

That sort of asinine comment can be easily dismissed for the lack of intellectual heft it shows.

It is another situation, one that should concern the electorate, when a sitting member of the United States House of Representatives chooses to spew hatred and ignorance and many take him seriously.

The media derision that has been pointed in the Congressman’s’ direction was muted, but what was commented upon opted out of presenting the facts.

Truth is always a proper response to hatred and stupidity.

Before presenting a compendium of media stories on the subject at hand, a refresher course in some specific facts of United States history.

The President who fought and won the Civil War, the president who signed the Emancipation Proclamation was Abraham Lincoln.

He was a Republican.

The rise of the Ku Klux Klan during the post Civil War era of Reconstruction was engineered by southerners who did not want equality in any manner for the former slaves.

The Klan was a creation of Southern Democrats.

The West Virginia Senator who served for 51 years and was lauded as a giant in Senate history was Robert Byrd.

He was a Democrat.

He was a member of the Klan.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation that attempted to resolve many of the issues related to segregation. A recap of the voting on that law might be in order:

The bill was voted on by 420 members -- 290 in favor, 130 opposed. Republicans voted in favor 138-34, and Democrats voted 152-96 in support. Democrats from northern states voted in favor 141- 4 and southern-state Democrats opposed the bill 92-11.

The point here is that Republicans have a strong history supporting equal rights, and it is the Democrats who have the questionable past of race hatred.

Why is this information of consequence?

Consider the following collection of news stories about a current member of the House and his ignorance and his race hatred.

It is a lesson that the American people should well note.

To wit:

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) used an image of a burning cross in an email slamming the tea party, comparing groups involved in the movement to the Ku Klux Klan.

Grayson first made the comparison between the tea party and the KKK in an interview with MSNBC's Al Sharpton on Oct. 17.

"They want their money back and they want the tea party out of their lives," Grayson said. "At this point, the tea party is no more popular than the Klan."

Grayson is standing by his comparison.

"[T]here is overwhelming evidence that the Tea Party is the home of bigotry and discrimination in America today, just as the KKK was for an earlier generation," he said in a statement provided to HuffPost. "If the hood fits, wear it."

Grayson's comparison is not novel. Professors Matt Barretto and Christopher Parker  make a similar case. "The authors argue that this isn't the first time a segment of American society has perceived the American way of life as under siege," the book's blurb reads. "In fact, movements of this kind often appear when some individuals believe that 'American' values are under threat by rapid social changes. Drawing connections between the Tea Party and right-wing reactionary movements of the past, including the Ku Klux Klan, Parker and Barreto develop a framework that transcends the Tea Party to shed light on its current and future consequences.

.Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) continued to stand by his recent comparison of the tea party to the Ku Klux Klan on Friday, during an MSNBC interview that ended with him accusing host Martin Bashir of "collaborating" with the conservative movement and its alleged racism.

Grayson began by defending a fundraising email that included an image of a burning cross that formed the "t" in "tea party." When Bashir pushed back, suggesting that Grayson may have taken his analogy too far, especially considering that the tea party hasn't actually lynched anybody, the outspoken Florida Democrat turned on the host.

“Do you think that racism is the same as calling out racism? Do you think that my effort to end racism in America is somehow analogous to racism itself? That’s ridiculous,” Grayson shot back at Bashir, who has himself made a habit of attacking the tea party for racially motivated attacks on President Barack Obama.

Grayson then suggested that Bashir was complicit in the tea party's supposed racism, in part because he'd questioned the appropriateness of the congressman's campaign email.

“The point I’m making is that if you don’t speak out against it, then in effect, you’re collaborating with it,” he said. “And, in fact, if you give someone like me a hard time for speaking out against it, then maybe you’re collaborating with it.”

Representative Alan Grayson should consider another line of work.