t’s a funny old world. I have now been contacted by two journalists informing me that Bedfordshire Police are investigating The Spectator. Why? Because of the Melanie Philips blog where she referred to the “moral depravity” of “the Arabs” who killed the Fogel family in Israel. CoffeeHousers can judge for themselves if they agree or disagree with her language and views – but should this be illegal? The Guardian has written this story up, claiming The Spectator is being investigated by the Press Complaints Commission. This is untrue. The PCC tell me that a complaint has been lodged, but that’s as far as it has gone. They investigate only if they believe there is a serious prospect that their code has been breached, and it hasn't. Our blogs, as well as the magazine, adhere to the PCC code.
But all this raises an interesting point about freedom of speech. It baffles me why the Bedfordshire Police – who presumably have plenty real crime to solve – should have to sit down with a print-out of Melanie Philips' blog and decide whether to prosecute The Spectator for printing her remarks. It’s not their fault: laws have been passed which means that (for example) Tony Blair faced a six-month investigation from the North Wales Police when they read in Lance Price’s memoirs that he had been rude about the Welsh. In a way, I felt Blair deserved it – because it was under him that such daft laws crept their way into the system. Under him that Britain started to become a country where people are prosecuted for what they say, rather than what they do.
Just over a year ago, the Crown Prosecution Service put out a statement saying that they had decided, on balance, not to prosecute Jan Moir for her remarks about Stephen Gately. This again conjured up another mental image: of CPS officials, all bent over a page of the Daily Mail and working out whether the author should be put in jail. Again, think of the other crimes going in in Britain – the other demands on the CPS time. How did we get to this point? The Bedfordshire Police are not expected to be a local Stasi. Last time I checked, this is not East Germany. To me, the idea of being imprisoned for what you say, or what you tweet, is deeply sinister. And one which should raise more protest than it does.
From DennisPrager.com:
Thursday, March 24, 2011 Radio Show
20110324 – 01 Kinetic Military Action
Prager H1: We’re not waging war against Colonel Kaddaffi; we’re engaged in a “kinetic military action.”… Dennis talks to London-based columnist, Melanie Phillips. She’s now under investigation by UK police for calling the Palestinians who murdered a family in Israel “savages.”… Detroit is emptying out…
Thursday, March 24, 2011 Radio Show
20110324 – 02 Corn Is the New DDT
Prager H2: The price of corn has skyrocketed because so much of the harvest goes to making biofuel. People in the Third World are going hungry so liberals can feel good about themselves… The Chevy Volt may be going the way of the Edsel… Dennis talks to Robert Royal, president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His new book is The God That Did Not Fail: How Religion Built and Sustains the West… Dennis considers the upside down moral nature of the Left.
Thursday, March 24, 2011 Radio Show
20110324 – 03 Words that Count
Prager H3: Frank Luntz, renown pollster and Fox News analyst, returns to the show to talk about his new book is Win: The Key Principles to Take Your Business from Ordinary to Extraordinary… Frank thinks Dennis should run for President.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Radio Show
20110323 – 01 Discriminating Church
Prager H1: An unmarried pastor claims he's a victim of discrimination because of his marital status. This may be true, but is it wrong? Why can't a church say it wants a married pastor to lead its parishioners? This is an issue that says a lot about where our society is today.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Radio Show
20110323 – 02 Male/Female Hour: Looking Back
Prager H2: When women of the past couple of generations, the sexually liberated generations, look back on their past, are they happy with their sexual experiences? Do they wish they might have been a little more traditional in their thinking? Callers tell their stories.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 Radio Show
20110323 – 03 Anxious about Libya
Prager H3: As the West keeps it up attack on Libya, there are disturbing questions about who we are fighting for… Today is the first anniversary of one of the worst, if not the worst single piece of legislation ever written – ObamaCare. Even a good liberal like Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz, has his doubts.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Radio Show
20110322 – 01 The Wrong Direction
Prager H1: The vote for a new constitution for Egypt went in the wrong direction. It helps the people we don't like, the Muslim Brotherhood, and hurts the people we do… The President announces we're in Libya as a humanitarian gesture. But how long will it last? No one seems to know... Leftist Democrats think we're in Libya for oil.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Radio Show
20110322 – 02 Insulting Evangelicals
Prager H2: Chris Matthews and David Corn of Mother Jones have a laugh while insulting Evangelicals' devotion to the nation of Israel. Have Matthews or Corn ever had a coffee with an Evangelical, let alone tried to understand their theology?.. Why do Leftists defend Israel's enemies?
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 Radio Show
20110322 – 03 Ultimate Issues Hour: Raising Good Kids
Prager H3: How do you raise good kids? The question is critically important to the future of our society. We train people to be brain surgeons. But there are no goodness lessons. Parents need to ask themselves: what do you most want your child to be – successful, smart, good.
Monday, March 21, 2011 Radio Show
20110321 -1 Disaster Averted
Prager H1: The worse fears about the nuclear power plant disaster in Japan appear to have been averted… What's the mission in Libya? Does anybody know? Who's in charge?
Monday, March 21, 2011 Radio Show
20110321 -2 Shores of the Tripoli
Prager H2: The Arab League which begged us to intervene is now unhappy we've intervened… Are we going to depose Kaddafi? Let him stick around? This confusion can't be helpful to anyone.
Monday, March 21, 2011 Radio Show
20110321 -3 Halls of Montezuma
Prager H3: Dennis talks to Max Boot, senior fellow at the Council for Foreign Relations about the Libya situation… Why do mothers (and fathers) let their daughters leave the house dressed like that?.. Hit seventy, get sick and you're pretty much on your own in the UK. Here's a possible solution in the US -- let the states take care of the problem and find their own fixes.
Friday, March 18, 2011 Radio Show
20110318 – 01 Mad Libya
Prager H1: Even after the Arab states called for intervention in Libya, Pres. Obama still would not intervene. Now that Kaddafi fears military intervention he has begun talking about a cease fire. Dennis also discusses the radiation threat from Japan, and the "Bullying" summit at the White House; why is the federal government involved stopping school bullies?
Friday, March 18, 2011 Radio Show
20110318 – 02 Happiness Hour: Fun v Happiness
Prager H2: A new study says the experience of pleasure or positive feeling is far less important to long term happiness than engaging in meaningful activity. Dennis could have saved them the money; he wrote a whole chapter called "Fun v Happiness" in his happiness book.
Friday, March 18, 2011 Radio Show
20110318 – 03 Open Lines
Prager H3: Per usual, callers set the agenda. Issues raised include: do you think Willie Mays was the best baseball player of all time; a caller from Japan asks why doesn't the Left find anti–Jewish rhetoric in the Muslim world appalling; do you feel that most people are selfish; do you like what you are good at, or are you good at what like doing; do you think that God punishes one for the sins of their father.
Frank Luntz on Winning through Good Communication
Dennis talks to Frank Luntz, renown pollster and Fox News analyst. His new book is Win: The Key Principles to Take Your Business from Ordinary to Extraordinary. Cats Kill 250 Million Birds a Year
Royal: How Religion Built the West
Dennis talks to Robert Royal, president of the Faith & Reason Institute in Washington, D.C. His new book is The God That Did Not Fail: How Religion Built and Sustains the West.
Corn Is the New DDT
FLASHBACK: The Delta Smelt Obsession Starves CA Farmers and Workers
Melanie Phillips Investigated for Calling Palestinian Infant Murderers “Savages”
WSJ: ObamaCare Costs Keep Rising... and Rising
Why Do We Let Them Dress Like That?
Single Pastor Says He's a Victim of Discrimination
Dennis in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 4
Who Won the Egyptian Election This Past Weekend?
Thousands of Seniors Denied Cancer Treatment in UK
MIT: Did You Get in Because You’re a Woman?
WSJ: What’s the Mission?
Meaningful Better than Fun
Dennis could have told them that for free. But now there's research to back Dennis up. Click here to read the article.
