Thought police on the loose

Have you noticed the change?

It's not only what you say, but what you think – or what people think you think – that determines your worthiness to have a place in our society.

What do Cliven Bundy, Donald Sterling and Brendan Eich have in common?

More than you think, and it's all about personal thoughts and words.

Say the "N" word, and you're finished – unless, of course you're a person of color who claims dibs on the use of that word, anytime, anywhere.

Say something that even smacks of criticism of people of any other color than white, or any other nationality than American, or any status other than legal American citizen – and you're finished professionally and otherwise.

Say something that indicates you do not go along with the party line about total acceptance of anything gay, and you will find you do not have the right to participate in our current culture.

It's not hard to find examples, which in itself, is frightening.

As I write, there's massive media and other outrage over an audio recording posted on an Internet gossip site, TMZ.

The recording purports to be a conversation between the owner of the L.A. Clippers Donald Sterling and a woman identified as V. Stiviano, his girlfriend.

The male voice reprimands the woman for posting pictures of her with black players and being seen with blacks. The voice tells her not to bring blacks to his games, but it's OK if she sleeps with them.

Almost instantly, the roof fell in on Donald Sterling from every direction – because, "he's a racist!"

Current and former players from a variety of teams piled on, saying how despicable the statements were, and that the Clippers should refuse to play. The team actually considered it.

There were cries he should not be allowed to own the team.

Given that the Clippers were scheduled for game four of their first-round playoff against the Golden State Warriors on April 27, a move like that would mean they'd forfeit the game.

Hmmm.

Mike Bass, NBA spokesman, said the league is "in the process of authenticating the validity of the recording" and was quoted by AP as saying the remarks were "disturbing and offensive."

But as of Saturday night, the identities of the voices were not verified. Who are they?

Hmmm.

Let's see.

We don't know where the recording came from. An illegal taping of a phone call? If so, who recorded it and who gave it to TMZ? More importantly, why?

Was it to jeopardize the outcome of the playoffs – in essence, throw the series? No doubt there's a lot of money riding on the games.

Then there's this, as reported by AP.

Andy Roeser, Clippers president, said they don't know if the tape is legitimate but that the female voice is that of "the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would 'get even.'"

A racist tape is the perfect 2014 way to "get even," and Sterling will have to fight to keep his team.

Then there's Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who was the target of government overkill, in more ways than one, to get him off his land.

In an interview with the New York Times, he was selectively quoted in a way that portrayed him as – guess – racist!

Why?

Because he recollected what government housing for blacks was years ago and what has happened to them since, and related that to slavery.

He said that under government largesse, blacks have become slaves to the system for food, clothing, housing, health care, education and even jobs.

Funny, I said that on my KSFO talk show years ago – just looking at the dependence of so many blacks on Uncle's largesse is comparable to being a slave to the government. You do what you're told, or you get nothing.

He spoke of the breakdown of black families, the number of single parent families, the high incidence of black abortions, the number of blacks in prison, unemployment and dropout levels.

All illustrate a breakdown of black culture because of government dependence.

No, it's not "slavery," but it really is, just with a different face.

The reaction to just this part of Mr. Bundy's statement was almost unanimous: "He's a hateful bigot."

Former supporter Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., called his remarks offensive and said he wholeheartedly disagreed.

Sean Hannity and other media conservatives also backed off their support on the land dispute.

Sad, isn't it, when truth is considered "offensive"?

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., piled on, after having called Bundy and his supporters "domestic terrorists." Reid said that Bundy's comments "revealed himself to be a hateful bigot."

Unfortunately, the next step is that Bundy's complaints against the government because of the land issue now should have no relevance.

After all, a bigot shouldn't even own land.

Then think of the CEO of Mozilla, who was forced out of his job because he took his own money, privately, and donated to the successful Proposition 8 campaign in California, which opposed gay marriage.

When that donation became public years later, it was only days till Eich resigned and gays cheered.

What's the message here?

If people don't go along with the "accepted" view on anything controversial, you're fair game to be denounced, insulted and deprived of your property and your career.

We're not on a slippery slope; we've slid nearly to the bottom.

When the government gets full control of all the information in our medical, school, IRS and all other records, we will have no privacy or secrets, we'll not be permitted to think anything the government doesn't first approve and we'll have turned into a regime Hitler could only have dreamed about.

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