After I Argued with the Learn'd Astronomer

I came across this truly chilling U.S. government document, and its equally chilling website. Indeed, I wasn't sure, at first, that it wasn't some kind of NGO that ran the website, but no. Singling out Jews like this (no one else has their own page, right?), as especially deserving of protection from campus discrimination, is so nauseating that I can't even imagine what I might say in response. Coming on the heels of Alan Dershowitz's libel campaign against Norman Finkelstein, which succeeded in getting the dean at DePaul to deny Finkelstein tenure, despite his absurdly long list of qualifications and credentials, one has to take one's hat off to the attack dogs of the Jewish right. They're really getting things done.

No doubt, the "reverse racism" page will be up soon, too.

The whole thing, with its blurry warnings about criticism of Israel, is ugly, but it definitely crosses the line here, in this definition of anti-semitism

* Comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, or comparisons of Israeli/Jewish leaders to Nazi leaders, or comparisons of Jewish symbols such as the Star of David with the swastika.

The most absurd item though, is the one that defines remarks to the effect that "Zionism is racism" as anti-Semitic. Looks like academics should be careful about what they say. But, oh wait, it seems the the website has acknowledged that there's NO legal precedent for their definitions.

Glad they've gone out of their way to enforce something other than the law. As for civil rights law itself, well. . .