Karl's Weird News

Black Civil Rights Activist Battles to Close ‘Redneck Shop’ That Sells KKK Paraphernalia

A black civil rights activist is fighting to close a store that sells KKK robes and T-shirts emblazoned with racial slurs. David Kennedy is confident he can make it happen. After all, he says he owns the building.

Since 1996, the Redneck Shop has operated in an old movie theater that, according to court records, was transferred in 1997 to Kennedy and the Baptist church he leads.

“Our ownership puts an end to that history as far as violence and hatred, racism being practiced in that place and also the recruiting of the Klan,” Kennedy said. “This is the same place that we had to go up into the balcony to go to the movies before the Klan took it. So there’s a lot of history there.”

But legal documents also indicate that the man who runs the store, 62-year-old John Howard, is entitled to operate his business in the building until he dies. Now the dispute may go to court.

Holocaust-themed Rio Carnival float causes strain

A Carnival float with a pile of model dead bodies commemorating the Holocaust is causing unease before the lavish parades in Rio de Janeiro this weekend.

The Viradouro samba organization, or school, plans to feature the grim display when it marches in the Sambadrome parade strip on Sunday, despite objections from a local Jewish group.

“Really, it makes no sense addressing this theme with drums and dancing girls,” said Sergio Niskier, president of the Israelite Federation in Rio de Janeiro state, referring to the slaughter of Jews by Nazi Germany in World War Two.

Golfweek noose elicits strong reaction

The editor of Golfweek magazine said he was overwhelmed by negative reaction to the photo of a noose on the cover of this week’s issue, illustrating a story about the suspension of a Golf Channel anchor for using the word “lynch” in an on-air discussion about how to beat Tiger Woods.

“We knew that image would grab attention, but I didn’t anticipate the enormity of it,” Dave Seanor, vice president and editor of the weekly magazine, said from the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.

“There’s been a huge, negative reaction,” he said. “I’ve gotten so many e-mails. It’s a little overwhelming.”

Among the critics was PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who said he found the imagery to be “outrageous and irresponsible.”

Monkey meat at center of NYC case

From her baptism in Liberia to Christmas years later in her adopted New York City, Mamie Manneh never lost the longing to celebrate religious rituals by eating monkey meat.

Now, the tribal customs of Manneh and other West African immigrants have become the focus of an unusual criminal case over alleged illegal meat smuggling, and touching on issues of religious freedom, infectious diseases and wildlife preservation.

The case “appears to be the first of its kind relating to that uniquely African product,” defense attorney Jan Rostal wrote in a pending motion to dismiss. “Unfortunately, it represents the sort of clash of cultural and religious values inherent in the melting pot that is America.”

Students Wear Confederate Flag Shirts To Oppose Peace-Shirt Group

Students at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High School are waging a war on peace.

Recently, sophomore Skylar Stains decided to hold Peace Shirt Thursdays at the school. Skylar and her friend, Lauren Lorraine, started wearing peace shirts and soon recruited more friends to wear them. Now, the “Peace Shirt Coalition” as they call themselves, has close to 30 students from all grades.

“We’ve worn handmade peace shirts every Thursday since the first week of school, without fail,” Skylar said.

But what started out as a light-hearted gesture soon started to be taken out of context.

Students started approaching the group members, yelling obscene things at them, said Lauren.

“People just turned on us like that,” she said. “At least 10 boys stood up and yelled things at me at once, and we couldn’t even walk through the halls without a harsh comment being made.”

La. Pol’s ‘Buckwheat’ Remark Sparks Ire

A white state lawmaker in a runoff election called a black civil-rights veteran who had helped her campaign “Buckwheat,” prompting the NAACP to urge voters to kick her out of office.

Rep. Carla Blanchard Dartez, a Democrat, acknowledged that she ended a Thursday night conversation with Hazel Boykin by saying, “Talk to you later, Buckwheat.” Dartez had been thanking Boykin for driving voters to the polls.

Buckwheat, a black child character in the “Little Rascals” comedies of the 1930s and ’40s, is viewed as a racial stereotype.

Gays should be hanged, says Iranian minister

Homosexuals deserve to be executed or tortured and possibly both, an Iranian leader told British MPs during a private meeting at a peace conference, The Times has learnt.

Mohsen Yahyavi is the highest-ranked politician to admit that Iran believes in the death penalty for homosexuality after a spate of reports that gay youths were being hanged.

President Ahmadinejad, questioned by students in New York two months ago about the executions, dodged the issue by suggesting that there were no gays in his country.

Concert at Serbia death camp stirs anger

Stray dogs wander forlornly around the rundown gray brick barracks that used to house of one of the most notorious World War II Nazi death camps in the Balkans.

Soon, the site where some 48,000 Jews, Serbs and Gypsies perished in the 1940s will be throbbing to the rhythms of rock music.

For Serbia’s small Jewish community, the weekend concert at the Sajmiste camp near the center of Belgrade is the latest indignity to befall a site they say needs to be saved from decades of neglect and deterioration.

“It’s like holding a wedding at a graveyard,” said Aleksandar Mosic, a Jewish chairman of the camp’s memorial center, ahead of Saturday’s concert by British band Kosheen.

BBC apologises after ‘black people in dark’ comment

The BBC apologised Wednesday after a top national radio presenter triggered protests by saying she could not see black people in the dark.

Radio 2 DJ Sarah Kennedy made the comment when, during a discussion about winter road conditions on her morning show, she explained how she had almost run over a pedestrian.

“You know what happened to me yesterday? It was this black guy. It’s lucky he opened his mouth to yawn or do something and I saw him. He was wearing a black hat, black clothes and he was just invisible,” she said.

Fury as DNA pioneer claims black people are less intelligent than whites

One of the world’s most eminent scientists is at the centre of a row after claiming black people are less intelligent than whites.

James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize for his part in discovering the structure of DNA, has drawn condemnation for comments made ahead of his arrival in Britain tomorrow for a speaking tour.

Dr Watson, who now runs one of America’s leading scientific research institutions, made the controversial remarks in an interview in The Sunday Times.

The 79-year-old geneticist said he was “inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa” because “all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – whereas all the testing says not really”.

‘White power’ chanted during immigration discussion at school

“On Tuesday in a Spanish-language class at Holy Family High School, a single handful of students used heated and inappropriate rhetoric in a discussion on immigration. In a class of approximately 30 students, fewer than six students voiced strong anti-immigration opinions. The remaining two-thirds of the class were silent or voiced support for immigrants. At the end of the discussion, one student inappropriately said “white power,” two or three times. Most of the students in the class did not hear the comments. Contrary to media reports, there were no chants by more than one student. Two students, who were offended, asked to leave the classroom and were given permission to leave. However, the discussion ended when other students realized how these students were affected and all of the students remained until the end of class.”

Poland targets ‘gay’ Teletubbies

A senior Polish official has ordered psychologists to investigate whether the popular BBC TV show Teletubbies promotes a homosexual lifestyle.

The spokesperson for children’s rights in Poland, Ewa Sowinska, singled out Tinky Winky, the purple character with a triangular aerial on his head.

“I noticed he was carrying a woman’s handbag,” she told a magazine. “At first, I didn’t realise he was a boy.”

EU officials have criticised Polish government policy towards homosexuals.

Arrests at Russian gays protest

Two West European MPs and a Russian gay rights leader have been arrested in Moscow, as violence broke out at a banned protest by gay rights activists.

Anti-homosexual protesters threw kicks, punches and eggs at the gay rights group, chanting “Moscow is not Sodom”.

The gay rights demonstrators were trying to deliver a petition to the mayor of Moscow, demanding the right to stage public marches.

MPs from Germany and Italy were reportedly among those arrested.

‘Wopburger’ to stay on menu

In what might be called political correctness v. menu tradition, round 2, the Blue Parrot restaurant in Louisville has decided not to rename the 88-year-old item it has always called a wopburger.

“We’ve had so many people coming in and calling us, telling us ‘I can’t believe you’re changing the name. Please don’t change the name,’” said Joan Riggins, who owns the restaurant with her father, Joseph Colacci and her brother Richard Colacci.

Riggins says her family knows that “when certain words are used a certain way, they can be derogatory in context.”

“But that was never meant to be that way with us,” she said. “We used the word to mean ‘Italian.’ It was a name we used without any meaning as a term of a endearment.”

Polish PM: More gays bad for society

Poland’s conservative prime minister rejected European Union criticism Thursday of a proposal to fire teachers for “homosexual propaganda,” saying it was not in the interest of society to have more gay people.

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said homosexuals did not face discrimination in his country, responding to an EU parliament vote to send a mission to Poland to investigate recent anti-gay comments by senior officials.

“Nobody is limiting gay rights in Poland,” Kaczynski told reporters hours after the vote.

“However, if we’re talking about not having homosexual propaganda in Polish schools, I fully agree with those who feel this way,” he said. “Such propaganda should not be in schools; it definitely doesn’t serve youth well.”

Man arrested for naked Hitler birthday event

A Canadian man has been arrested after he was found walking around naked with a swastika taped to his body to mark Adolf Hitler’s birthday, police said on Friday.

Police in Nanaimo, British Columbia, on Canada’s Pacific coast, said they were called to the scene by concerned residents, and the man told them he was “honoring Hitler’s birthday.” He was detained and will undergo a psychiatric assessment.

Hitler party ‘distasteful and offensive’

White supremacists are holding a rock concert in Wellington tonight to commemorate Adolf Hitler’s birthday. The plan has appalled Jewish and anti-racist groups but they say, though the event is offensive, it is not illegal. The concert, organised by local branches of skinhead gang Hammerskins and neo-Nazi organisation Blood and Honour – which has been banned in parts of Europe, will bring Australian “viking rock” band Blood Red Eagle to play in Wellington tonight. Adolf Hitler was born on April 20.

SHARPTON’S JUST A LEADER TAWANA-BE: KOCH

Former Mayor Ed Koch surprised an almost exclusively black audience yesterday by telling the Rev. Al Sharpton he had spoiled his chance to become “a crossover leader” by refusing to apologize for “the Tawana Brawley hoax.” Koch was speaking at a conference sponsored by Sharpton’s National Action Network when he brought up his relations with Sharpton.

German army in ‘racist video’ row:

A video aired on German TV has shown an army recruit on firing practice being ordered to pretend he was in New York’s Bronx facing hostile African Americans. In the grainy 90-second video, the instructor tells the soldier to swear as he fires his gun. US civil rights leader, Al Sharpton, said it was outrageous to depict blacks as “target practice”.

German speakers can read more and watch the video here.

Pennsylvania DJ fired for repeating Imus slur as part of contest:

A radio station in the Poconos fired its longtime morning DJ on Wednesday for holding an on-air contest in which listeners were encouraged to say “nappy-headed ho,” the slur that got talk-show host Don Imus suspended.

Gary Smith, of the “Gary in the Morning” show on WSBG-FM in Stroudsburg, was fired after station management reviewed a tape of Tuesday’s broadcast, said Rick Musselman, executive vice president of station owner Nassau Broadcasting Partners L.P.

Smith told listeners to call WSBG and say “I’m a nappy-headed ho” for Tuesday’s “Phrase that Pays” contest, Musselman said. He said three of the listeners who called were awarded tickets to a NASCAR promotion at a local club.

Blair blames spate of murders on black culture

Tony Blair yesterday claimed the spate of knife and gun murders in London was not being caused by poverty, but a distinctive black culture. His remarks angered community leaders, who accused him of ignorance and failing to provide support for black-led efforts to tackle the problem.

‘World’s worst car’ jibe puts Malaysia’s anger into Top Gear:

NOTORIOUSLY opinionated television presenter Jeremy Clarkson has found himself embroiled in a row with the Malaysian government. Clarkson savaged the Perodua Kelisa mini in a review on the TV programme Top Gear. He said the model, 2,400 of which have sold in the UK, was “without doubt not just the worst car in its category, but in the world”. The BBC presenter suggested the car’s name sounded like a disease and he described the small, three-cylinder model as a “piece of junk” with no flair, no passion and designed just to make profit. He then further fuelled Malaysian ire by attacking a Kelisa with a sledgehammer, before suspending it from a crane and blowing it up.

Japan diplomat: Blonds ‘no good’ in Mideast talks

Blond, blue-eyed Westerners probably can’t be as successful at Middle East diplomacy as Japanese with their “yellow faces,” Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso was quoted by media as saying on Wednesday.

“Japan is doing what Americans can’t do,” the Nikkei business daily quoted the gaffe-prone Aso as saying in a speech.

“Japanese are trusted. If (you have) blue eyes and blond hair, it’s probably no good,” he said.

“Luckily, we Japanese have yellow faces.”

German Lawyer Charged After Ending Legal Filing With ‘Heil Hitler’

German prosecutors on Tuesday charged the former lawyer for far-right activist Ernst Zundel with incitement, accusing her of denying the Holocaust and ending one of her legal filings with “Heil Hitler.”

Polish Teachers Promoting ‘Homosexual Culture’ to Be Fired, Official Says

Teachers deemed to be promoting “homosexual culture” in Polish schools will be fired, the deputy education minister said Thursday. But the minister, Miroslaw Orzechowski, also insisted that homosexual teachers would not be targeted. “There is no place for the promotion of homosexual culture” in Polish schools, Orzechowski, who has a key role in drawing up a new education law aimed at banning what his party called “homosexual propaganda” in schools, told the all-news station TVN24. He said the ministry still has not defined what it means by homosexual propaganda.

Yet another reason not to pee behind a statue of Mary in a Catholic cemetary

A photographer for a Cedar Rapids television station has been fired for urinating in a cemetery while covering the funeral of an Iowa soldier killed in Iraq.

Gerry Edwards of Center Point was dismissed in December by KGAN-TV, where he was a photographer for 24 years.

In November, Edwards was at a cemetery to cover the funeral procession for Sgt. James Musack, 23, of Riverside.

While waiting for the procession to arrive, Edwards urinated on the ground near a cemetery monument.

A journalist from a Kalona newspaper was nearby and photographed the incident. The editor sent the photo by e-mail to KGAN managers with a note that said, “Urinating behind a statue of Mary in a Catholic cemetery within clear view of a public road, not to mention the numerous members of the Army who were on hand for the funeral, is inexcusable.”

Cherokee Nation votes to expel ‘freedmen

Cherokee Nation members voted Saturday to revoke the tribal citizenship of an estimated 2,800 descendants of the people the Cherokee once owned as slaves.

With all 32 precincts reporting, 76.6 percent had voted in favor of an amendment to the tribal constitution that would limit citizenship to descendants of “by blood” tribe members as listed on the federal Dawes Commission’s rolls from more than 100 years ago.

Asian paper’s ‘I Hate Blacks’ column assailed:

A San Francisco weekly newspaper that bills itself as “The Voice of Asian America” is facing harsh criticism from that very community for publishing a column Friday titled “Why I Hate Blacks.”

In the column, AsianWeek regular contributor Kenneth Eng listed “reasons” to discriminate against African Americans. The piece has been pulled from the newspaper’s Web site, but the print edition of the free paper, owned by the politically influential Fang family, was still available in news racks Monday.

Eng called himself an “Asian supremacist” in January in another installment of the column, which runs under the label “God of the Universe.”

Carnival attracts 3 million in Germany – Muslims offended

Carnival parades accompanied by the shrieks of crowds and the thump of loud music drew crowds of an estimated 3 million people to three of Germany’s western cities Monday, but there were also complaints at crude humour by float designers.

A Muslim leader criticized a float in the city of Dusseldorf that satirically suggested Islam was not peaceful. The float carried two identical cartoon-style papier-mache figures, each wearing a suicide-bomber’s belt and carrying a dagger and a pistol.

The first was labelled ‘the cliche,’ the second was labelled ‘the reality.’ Both scowling figures were labelled ‘mullahs,’ a term used to describe both Shiite and Sunni clergy. The float was part of a carnival parade watched by more than half a million people in the western city of Dusseldorf.

‘This hasn’t got anything to do with humour,’ said Aiman A Mazyek, general secretary of the National Council of Muslims in Germany. ‘The message it gives me is: ‘We love our prejudices, we’ll stand up for them, even if they are flagrantly untrue.”

Croatia probes Hitler likeness, jokes on sugar packets

Small packets of sugar bearing the likeness of Adolf Hitler and carrying Holocaust jokes have been found in some cafes in Croatia, prompting an investigation, the office of the state prosecutor said on Monday.

“The local district attorney in (the eastern town of) Pozega has opened an investigation and is currently looking at the matter,” said Martina Mihordin.

The Novi List daily newspaper reported that officials at a small factory in Pozega have confirmed the sugar packs were produced on their premises.

Nazi camp used for nude pics

Accusations of “extraordinary bad taste were levelled on Sunday after details emerged of an Austrian designer snapping nude photos at a former Nazi concentration camp.

The woman used the memorial site at the former Mauthausen death camp as backdrop for nude photos of herself, the news magazine Profil wrote in its latest edition.

The photos – shot in the late 1990s – show the woman naked and in sensual poses in front of a camp watchtower and before a sculpture depicting a dying soldier.

Profil quoted the woman – whom it did not name in its initial reports – as saying the photos were an “artistic thought experiment”.

Group Demands Apology From Georgia Lawmaker for Memo Saying Evolution Is a Jewish Conspiracy

A Jewish organization is demanding an apology from a Georgia legislator for a memo that says the teaching of evolution should be banned because it is a myth propagated by an ancient Jewish sect.

State Rep. Ben Bridges denies writing the memo, which attributes the Big Bang theory to Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism.

Bridges has long opposed the teaching of evolution in Georgia classrooms and has introduced legislation requiring only that “scientific fact” be taught.

Landlady cleared for throwing out two lesbian PCs ‘kissing’ in pub

A landlady who swore at two lesbian police officers fondling in her public house – The Old Cock – has been cleared of a public order offence.

Nikki Hackett was accused of banging her fists on a table and telling the pair: “We don’t want that ****ing thing or your sort in here.”

Uncomfortable onlookers saw the pair passionately kissing each other during a night out in the traditional pub, prompting swift action from Mrs Hackett.

Polish MEP causes outrage with anti-Semitic remarks

A Polish member of the European Parliament has caused outrage among European Jews with a tract saying that Judaism has no place in most of Europe, partly because Jews create their own ghettoes.

Professor Maciej Giertych, a non-affiliated MEP, also caused strong consternation in EU circles, not least because the tract bears the parliament’s logo and was available online Friday.

It was first distributed at the assembly in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

The anti-fur mob? They can p*** off

Designer Julien Macdonald has declared war on animal lovers protesting against his use of fur in London Fashion Week.

Some onlookers were shocked to see his autumn collection relied heavily on different types of fur – even to create an entire dress.

But he remained unrepentant, saying: “People who don’t like fur can p*ss off. I love fur. It’s a beautiful natural product from animals.”

Tim Hardaway: ‘I Hate Gay People’:

Former Miami Heat superstar Tim Hardaway told a local sports radio show that he “hates gay people.”

The five time All Star was asked how he would deal with a gay teammate. “First of all I wouldn’t want him on my team,” said Hardaway. “Second of all, if he was on my team I would really distance myself from him because I don’t think that’s right and I don’t think he should be in the locker room when we’re in the locker room.”
…
“Well, you know, I hate gay people,” Hardaway said in response to Le Batard. “I let it be known I don’t like gay people. I don’t like to be around gay people. I’m homophobic. It shouldn’t be in the world, in the United States, I don’t like it.”

Wilders: get rid of half of Koran!

If Muslims want to stay in the Netherlands, they should tear out half the Koran and throw it away. And they shouldn’t listen to the imam. Faction leader of the Freedom Party (PVV) Geert Wilders said this in an interview with daily newspaper De Pers on Tuesday.

He said the holy book of Islam contains “plenty of terrible things.” Wilders said once again that Islam is a violent religion. “If Mohammed lived here today, I would propose he be tarred and feathered as an extremist and driven out of the country,” he said.

Soviet monument to make way for Reagan

Opponents of Poland’s former communist regime reportedly want to pay a posthumous homage to US President Ronald Reagan by erecting his statue in the place of a Soviet-era monument. In an open letter to the mayor of the southwestern city of Katowice, the former anti-regime activists said that the staunchly anti-communist Reagan had been a “symbol of liberty,” the Polish news agency PAP reported. As a result, they said, he deserved to become the centrepiece of the city’s Freedom Square, replacing a monument to the Soviet troops who drove out the occupying Nazis in 1945.

We do use books that call Jews ‘apes’ admits head of Islamic school

The principal of an Islamic school has admitted that it uses textbooks which describe Jews as “apes” and Christians as “pigs” and has refused to withdraw them. Dr Sumaya Alyusuf confirmed that the offending books exist after former teacher Colin Cook, 57, alleged that children as young as five are taught from racist materials at the King Fahd Academy in Acton.

Pastor, newspaper apologize over ad:

The minister of a Baptist church in South Portland asked for forgiveness Monday for frightening members of the Jewish community with a provocative newspaper advertisement that promoted his Sunday sermon about anti-Semitism.

The ad for the First Baptist Church appeared on the Religion & Values page of the Portland Press Herald on Saturday, touting a sermon titled, “The Only Way to Destroy the Jewish Race.”

The sermon was supportive of Jews but the words in the ad generated fear and anger, as well as complaints to the church and the newspaper.

Taiwan anthem played for China officials

A diplomatic gaffe marred Saturday’s inauguration of a China-financed stadium on this Caribbean island when a band performed the national anthem of Chinese rival Taiwan.

Chinese Ambassador Qian Hongshan and scores of blue-uniformed Chinese laborers who built the $40 million Queen’s Park stadium as a gift were visibly uncomfortable as Taiwan’s anthem echoed inside the 20,000-seat venue

No stoning, Canada migrants told:

Don’t stone women to death, burn them or circumcise them, immigrants wishing to live in the town of Herouxville in Quebec, Canada, have been told. The rules come in a new town council declaration on culture that Muslims have branded shocking and insulting.

Japan gaffe minister ‘must quit’:

Opposition parties in Japan are pressing Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa to step down for calling women “birth-giving machines”. The Democratic Party and two smaller parties are threatening to boycott budget hearings in parliament if Mr Yanagisawa, 71, does not quit.

Holocaust Memorial in Berlin Defaced by Neo-Nazi Sympathizers

The German authorities were preparing for criticism from the Jewish community after it was revealed that a Holocaust memorial in Berlin was being used as a public bathroom by tourists and by neo-Nazi sympathizers. The revelation in a Berlin newspaper is likely to trigger a new debate about how the Holocaust should be remembered in Germany.

Luzhkov Says Gay Parade Is ‘Satanic’:

Mayor Yury Luzhkov on Monday denounced gay rights parades as “satanic” and vowed that he would never allow such events to be held in the city.

Speaking during a Russian Orthodox Church conference at the Kremlin, Luzhkov said the city would reject any application to hold a gay pride parade and crack down on anyone who chose to march in defiance of the ban, just as it did in 2006.

“Last year, Moscow came under unprecedented pressure to sanction the gay parade, which can be described in no other way than as a satanic event,” Luzhkov said in televised comments. “We did not let the parade take place then, and we will not allow it in the future.”

 Party expels ‘racist’ Socialist:

The French Socialist Party has voted to expel a senior member for saying there are too many black players in the national football team.

New Trend On The Rise: The Patriotic Terrorist

What is a patriotic terrorist?

It is an American who claims to love his or her country while enjoying the enemy’s success against said country. It is a person who gets deeply offended if you question their patriotism, while also appearing to share the same ideals of the more spirited folk who like to blow up innocent people.

Patriotic terrorists love America with so much intensity that it appears to the untrained eye that they hate it. But it’s actually the most powerful form of “tough love” known to man, woman and Rosie O’Donnell. Patriotic terrorists love America so much that they realize it needs an intervention – and real terror is the only way to enable that intervention. In fact, to keep a mammoth, arrogant superpower like America in check, terrorism is the only thing we’ve got. Noam Chomsky knew this from the start, making him a patriotic terrorist of the highest order.