Olympic-Class Hypocrisy In San Francisco
Dave Gibson
April 11, 2008
The city of San Francisco went to great expense and trouble to accommodate the Olympic torch and the army of Chinese paramilitary guards who accompanied the storied symbol, while circumventing the thousands who assembled to protest China´s abysmal human rights policies. Considering the extremely liberal and activist nature of the San Francisco´s city officials, the effort made to aid a brutal dictatorship seems more than hypocritical and is quite puzzling.
San Francisco Supervisor estimated the total cost of overtime for police officers working the event to be over $400,000.
San Francisco was the only U.S. city to host the torch which is on its way to the Beijing Olympics.
Last year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 9-1 to condemn conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage, and his show as so-called "hate speech." Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval introduced the resolution which failed due to the lone dissenting vote cast by Supervisor Ed Jew.
Sandoval took the action in response to Savage´s July 5, 2007 broadcast, in which he spoke very frankly about the damage being done to this country by illegal immigration. While savage spoke only of illegal aliens, Sandoval´s measure sought to condemn the host for "defamatory language…against immigrants."
Sandoval even went so far as to compare Michael Savage (who is Jewish) to the Nazis. Sandoval told reporters: "Don´t fool yourselves. This kind of speech just incites behavior that is nothing short of hysteria. It´s the kind of hysterical behavior we saw in Nazi Germany 60 years ago.
Using the power of the city government to silence the speech of a commentator is extraordinary and frightening, and it nearly succeeded in San Francisco.
In 2006, the San Francisco Board of Education voted to eliminate the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps from all of the high schools within the district. Board members cited the military´s "Don´t Ask, Don´t Tell" policy regarding homosexual service members as the reason for the unprecedented action.
Shortly after the 4-2 vote, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter told the press that he knew of no other school district in the nation that has ever banned the JROTC program.
Despite the fact the more than 1,600 San Francisco high school students participated in JROTC, the Board of Education took the drastic measure to send a message to the military in support of gay rights.
The Board of Supervisors did pass a rather weak-kneed resolution against China, and called for an investigation into the abuses taking place in Tibet. However, the language used in this resolution truly seemed anemic when compared to that which was used in their condemnation of Michael Savage. In fact, the resolution against Savage received more votes than the one condemning human rights violations in China!
Of course, there was no effort made by Board members to refuse the Chinese visit, and the city´s leadership welcomed the Chinese delegation, with Mayor Gavin Newsom joining the motorcade secretly carrying the torch.
If ever there was an opportunity to stand up for human rights, environmentalism, and workers´ rights it is right now as the Olympics are about to be held in Beijing. China is not only the world´s worst offender on all of the aforementioned issues, but is also supporting the genocide in Darfur, as well as suppressing the people of Tibet and Burma.
The political leadership of San Francisco has set themselves up as defenders of human rights, and they have used the power of government to send a message to those they deem to be in violation of those rights. It is more than curious that these people would then use those same powers to support a regime which imprisons people for their political beliefs.
If the San Francisco Board of supervisors want to take a stand in defense of human rights…Why would the spend their energy attacking Michael Savage and then show their support for a country which uses slave labor?
Why would they allow a government which executes dissidents to perform a public relations stunt within their city limits, and force the citizens of San Francisco to pay for it?
If Supervisor Sandoval is looking for someone to compare to the Nazis, he need look no further than China´s communist leaders. Too bad he seemed to lack the courage he displayed confronting a talk show host.
San Francisco Supervisor estimated the total cost of overtime for police officers working the event to be over $400,000.
San Francisco was the only U.S. city to host the torch which is on its way to the Beijing Olympics.
Last year, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted 9-1 to condemn conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage, and his show as so-called "hate speech." Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval introduced the resolution which failed due to the lone dissenting vote cast by Supervisor Ed Jew.
Sandoval took the action in response to Savage´s July 5, 2007 broadcast, in which he spoke very frankly about the damage being done to this country by illegal immigration. While savage spoke only of illegal aliens, Sandoval´s measure sought to condemn the host for "defamatory language…against immigrants."
Sandoval even went so far as to compare Michael Savage (who is Jewish) to the Nazis. Sandoval told reporters: "Don´t fool yourselves. This kind of speech just incites behavior that is nothing short of hysteria. It´s the kind of hysterical behavior we saw in Nazi Germany 60 years ago.
Using the power of the city government to silence the speech of a commentator is extraordinary and frightening, and it nearly succeeded in San Francisco.
In 2006, the San Francisco Board of Education voted to eliminate the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps from all of the high schools within the district. Board members cited the military´s "Don´t Ask, Don´t Tell" policy regarding homosexual service members as the reason for the unprecedented action.
Shortly after the 4-2 vote, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter told the press that he knew of no other school district in the nation that has ever banned the JROTC program.
Despite the fact the more than 1,600 San Francisco high school students participated in JROTC, the Board of Education took the drastic measure to send a message to the military in support of gay rights.
The Board of Supervisors did pass a rather weak-kneed resolution against China, and called for an investigation into the abuses taking place in Tibet. However, the language used in this resolution truly seemed anemic when compared to that which was used in their condemnation of Michael Savage. In fact, the resolution against Savage received more votes than the one condemning human rights violations in China!
Of course, there was no effort made by Board members to refuse the Chinese visit, and the city´s leadership welcomed the Chinese delegation, with Mayor Gavin Newsom joining the motorcade secretly carrying the torch.
If ever there was an opportunity to stand up for human rights, environmentalism, and workers´ rights it is right now as the Olympics are about to be held in Beijing. China is not only the world´s worst offender on all of the aforementioned issues, but is also supporting the genocide in Darfur, as well as suppressing the people of Tibet and Burma.
The political leadership of San Francisco has set themselves up as defenders of human rights, and they have used the power of government to send a message to those they deem to be in violation of those rights. It is more than curious that these people would then use those same powers to support a regime which imprisons people for their political beliefs.
If the San Francisco Board of supervisors want to take a stand in defense of human rights…Why would the spend their energy attacking Michael Savage and then show their support for a country which uses slave labor?
Why would they allow a government which executes dissidents to perform a public relations stunt within their city limits, and force the citizens of San Francisco to pay for it?
If Supervisor Sandoval is looking for someone to compare to the Nazis, he need look no further than China´s communist leaders. Too bad he seemed to lack the courage he displayed confronting a talk show host.