Bad enough to make Boris Johnson write like Sam Francis. Boris Johnson is a Member of Parliament, the “ex-sainted editor” of the London Spectator, a man so repectable that even his sex scandalwas respectable, involving as it did a person of the opposite sex.

But today I see he’s writing like this:

“This case wasn’t even about religion, or conscience, or the dictates of faith. At least it wasn’t primarily about those things. It was about power. It was about who really runs the schools in this country, and about how far militant Islam could go in bullying the poor, cowed, gelatinous and mentally spongiform apparatus of the British state.”[Telegraph The Shabina Begum case never had anything to do with modesty,By Boris Johnson,
March 23, 2006]

As I say, the tone sounds somewhat reminiscent of the late Sam Francis, and things must be pretty serious to make Boris Johnson talk like that.

By the way, the controversy was over allowing Muslim schoolgirls in a Bedfordshire school to wear the jilbab, not much different from the chador or abaya. The current Islamic school uniform in the town of Luton is the salwar kameez.

When I saw this picture of Hillary Rodham Clinton at a news conference I thought the man standing next to her, on her left side, was President Fox. It’s not, it’s the US Congressman from the 16th district of New York. I realized my mistake at once, of course. It couldn’t be Fox, because he’s 6′5″ and Hillary is only 5′ 8″1/2.

The picture was taken at press conference where she announced that Republican attempts at immigration enforcement would “make the baby Jesus cry.” (I’m paraphrasing; Senator Clinton is a member of the Religious Left) [Mrs. Clinton Says G.O.P.'s Immigration Plan Is at Odds With the Bible, New York Times,By Nina Bernstein, March 23, 2006]

From the BBC:

Racism row lecturer is suspended
A lecturer who suggested ethnicity could influence average intelligence levels has been suspended from his job.

Dr Frank Ellis was suspended from his post as a lecturer at Leeds University [in Britain] pending disciplinary procedures. The university emphasised that the suspension was not itself a penalty but said it had been deemed appropriate given “the seriousness of the issues”.

The lecturer in Russian and Slavonic Studies told a student newspaper there was a “persistent gap” in IQ levels.

That there is a “‘persistent gap’ in IQ levels” is of course what makes Ellis’s offense so heinous.

More than 500 students signed a petition calling for him to be sacked. Many of them later demonstrated in Leeds against his views. Leeds University had previously said that those views were “abhorrent” but there was no evidence he had discriminated against students.

But on Thursday, university secretary Roger Gair [send him mail said in a statement that details of the disciplinary process “must remain a private matter” between employer and employee. But he said three issues were being looked into:

- In publicising his personal views on race and other matters, Dr Ellis had acted in breach of the university’s equality and diversity policy, “and in a way that is wholly at odds with our values”.

- He had “recklessly jeopardised” the fulfilment of the university’s obligations under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

- He had failed to comply with “reasonable requests” - for example, to apologise for the distress which his remarks on race and other matters have caused to many people, or to give an undertaking he would make no further public comments suggesting one racial group is inherently inferior (or superior) to another “unless there is no possibility whatsoever that anyone hearing or reading his comments might reasonably associate him with the University of Leeds”. Mr Gair said the university was “clearly and publicly distancing itself” from his comments.

“Given the seriousness of the issues I have been outlining, the vice-chancellor, Professor Michael Arthur, has decided to suspend Dr Ellis from his duties while the disciplinary process is underway,” he said. He added: “I must emphasise that suspension is not in itself a disciplinary penalty.”

Dr Ellis has expressed support for the Bell Curve theory, examined in a bookby Richard Hernnstein and Charles Murray, which concludes that ethnicity can play a part in IQ levels.

He has previously maintained he has never treated a black student differently to a white student, and said he had “done nothing wrong”.

Labelling him a racist was “an attempt to close down any discussion” and an attack on his freedom of speech, he said.

The disciplinary process might take some time to complete - possibly months. The university said it intended to make no further public comment until it had been concluded.

A reader writes:

Reminds me of the scene in “Deuce Bigelow, European Gigolo,” where Deuce (Rob Schneider) finds T.J. Hicks (Eddie Griffin) by looking at the only Waffles and Chicken joint in Holland.

TJ: How’d you find me?

Deuce: It’s the only chicken and waffles place in Holland.

TJ: So a black man’s gotta be at a chicken and waffles place? That’s racist.

Deuce: But you are here.

TJ: Yeah, but figuring it out is racist.