Speech Police Investigate Posters

Remember those Family Guy-quoting racist posters noted a little bit ago?

Well, it appears they’ve spread outside of our little Internet circle? The city’s official speech police, the Human Rights Commission, has launched an investigation into those posters!

KYW 1060 reports:

Nick Taliaferro, executive director of the Human Relations Commission, says its response is more like outreach than investigation: “We are not policemen. We don’t go out and try to arrest people. What we do is try to proactively engage the community in ways that will resist that type of poisonous engagement of an otherwise very decent community. You won’t find better people than you will find at Shiller and Almond Street.” Taliaferro says the commission will look to see if the law was broken and if the poster had any effect beyond creating upset.

They are not policemen, yet they will look and see if the law was broken. Clearly, these posters aren’t sanctioned city billboards — someone has to pay with some time in jail.

Phila. Human Relations Commission Probes Racist Fliers [KYW 1060]

Family Guy-Quoting Racists!

Hey, look, there are racist posters everywhere! I guess. The above shot is from Cottman and Frankford; it was posted at Domelights (the thread later turns into posters arguing that few black officers go to benefits for slain white officers). It’s also, uhm, a freaking joke from Family Guy.

And, hey: A poster at Young Philly Politics found a different one (uh, I guess) after regaling us with a story of buying a new belt at the Gap outlet and realizing some people might not like Barack Obama because he’s black.

Bush’s speech puts off another disappointing ‘Family Guy’ for about 15 minutes

Last night was Our Fearless Leader’s big ol’ speech about Iraq. It delayed my Family Guy, but I figured Bush was going to talk about, oh, you know, the illegal spying on Americans that he “authorized.” (He left that to Dick Cheney.)

And, you know, whatever. I guess I pay attention to the news a little more than Joe Average, being a quasi-media critic and all, but — come on! — Bush was talking about WMDs and how we didn’t find them but, come on, everyone thought Iraq had them. Eh? Eh? I’m sorry, Mr. Bush, but I don’t even remember what “WMD” stands for anymore. Watermelon something? Washington? No idea.

Eventually, around 9:10, Bush got to the idea that Iraq had elections and “YAY!” and everyone was smiling. He also quoted some Iraqis’ one-liners about freedom and voting after the election, which is fine, but I was kind of hoping he’d say it in the original Arabic (or whatever) first. Because could you imagine Bush trying to speak a foreign language? But, alas.

At that point I about tuned out. I did hear, though, that Bush things terrorist try to be on “the offense.” Which means terrorists have some good shooters, but they don’t play much D. So they’re kind of like the Sixers. I always knew that Allen Iverson was up to something.

In Sunday Speech, Bush Is More Humble, but Still Firm [NYT]
US Defends Decision on Domestic Eavesdropping [Reuters via NYT]
Photo by Elginite