Ann Coulter takes the conservative pulse at CPAC. Attendance is up 40 % at CPAC.
Her speech
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Salim Mansur on the Koran
My friend Salim Mansur continues his discussion of the Koran. As I have told Salim my Christianity has Hindu roots. The tradition that all gods are a manifestation of one true God resonates with me. I am a devout follower of Jesus of Nazereth.
His was a message of love and forgiveness. I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, but understand the Bible is also told in allegory for the mortal mind. There are universal truths in all of the worlds great religions. I, unlike Ayaan Hirsi Ali, believe that there can and are moderate Muslims who will eventually defeat the jihadi apostates. Ayaan Hirsi Ali , is a valued ally in the fight against the jihadis. People of all faiths and non faith must help in this fight against jihadi extremism or we are all lost.
The Qur'an was revealed to an Arab of noble lineage born among idol worshippers so that they may learn of Abraham's God. Muhammad's mission was to bring to pagan Arabs what God revealed to Jews through prophets raised among them.
The unambiguous words of the Qur'an instructing Muhammad on how to contend with evil are of universal import. It would be right to suggest, for instance, when the Allied leaders insisted by force of arms on the unconditional surrender of the German Nazis and Japanese militarists they acted in accordance with the Qur'an's precept.
We do not need to fast forward to our times to know who greatly violated the Qur'an. Among the immediate followers of Muhammad were those who would have shamed Macbeth as they committed murder and mayhem, including killing members of the prophet's immediate family.
Iran's ayatollahs, imams and potentates of the Arab-Muslim world, and some Muslims -- wherever alone or collectively spewing anti-Jew bigotry overflowing from their blackened hearts -- are the progeny of those from Islam's earliest days of post-prophetic history who gave tongue to the Qur'an to varnish their evil deeds.
Mutilated
The Qur'an is regularly mutilated by some Muslims, and in keeping with its warning no other people in our time may be more likened to apes than those Muslims who engage in or condone terrorism, honour killing and oppressing minorities.
History is a cautionary tale of civilizations ruined when wicked people go unchecked and unpunished. Hence, those who fight those Muslim perpetrators of evil to protect civilization are the just warriors of good faith acting in accordance with the teachings of Islam's sacred text.
His was a message of love and forgiveness. I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God, but understand the Bible is also told in allegory for the mortal mind. There are universal truths in all of the worlds great religions. I, unlike Ayaan Hirsi Ali, believe that there can and are moderate Muslims who will eventually defeat the jihadi apostates. Ayaan Hirsi Ali , is a valued ally in the fight against the jihadis. People of all faiths and non faith must help in this fight against jihadi extremism or we are all lost.
The Qur'an was revealed to an Arab of noble lineage born among idol worshippers so that they may learn of Abraham's God. Muhammad's mission was to bring to pagan Arabs what God revealed to Jews through prophets raised among them.
The unambiguous words of the Qur'an instructing Muhammad on how to contend with evil are of universal import. It would be right to suggest, for instance, when the Allied leaders insisted by force of arms on the unconditional surrender of the German Nazis and Japanese militarists they acted in accordance with the Qur'an's precept.
We do not need to fast forward to our times to know who greatly violated the Qur'an. Among the immediate followers of Muhammad were those who would have shamed Macbeth as they committed murder and mayhem, including killing members of the prophet's immediate family.
Iran's ayatollahs, imams and potentates of the Arab-Muslim world, and some Muslims -- wherever alone or collectively spewing anti-Jew bigotry overflowing from their blackened hearts -- are the progeny of those from Islam's earliest days of post-prophetic history who gave tongue to the Qur'an to varnish their evil deeds.
Mutilated
The Qur'an is regularly mutilated by some Muslims, and in keeping with its warning no other people in our time may be more likened to apes than those Muslims who engage in or condone terrorism, honour killing and oppressing minorities.
History is a cautionary tale of civilizations ruined when wicked people go unchecked and unpunished. Hence, those who fight those Muslim perpetrators of evil to protect civilization are the just warriors of good faith acting in accordance with the teachings of Islam's sacred text.
Union members denounce Sid Ryan
Paul Moist and the national union want little to do with sid ryan's racism and now members of CUPE denounce him too. Resign sid ryan.
An open letter to Sid Ryan and the CUPE Ontario leadership:
We, the undersigned academic members of CUPE Ontario, wish to express our outrage at the recent actions taken by Sid Ryan and other CUPE Ontario officials. These actions, which approve a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, both violate the authority with which they have been entrusted and, worse, undermine academic freedoms.
CUPE national, as well as the University of Toronto Education Workers, CUPE local 3902, have disapproved of this motion and decision, and for good reason. The most urgent matter of concern to the union is the ratification of reasonable contracts across Ontario. The primary mission of the union is to ensure the fair employment and treatment of its members. The current leadership has overreached its mandate, recklessly and irresponsibly dabbling in complex international politics. This leadership has demonstrated its resolve to continue in this fashion even though it is not competent to do so, it has not been elected to do so, and it is not in its jurisdiction to do so. These actions have harmed our union.
An open letter to Sid Ryan and the CUPE Ontario leadership:
We, the undersigned academic members of CUPE Ontario, wish to express our outrage at the recent actions taken by Sid Ryan and other CUPE Ontario officials. These actions, which approve a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, both violate the authority with which they have been entrusted and, worse, undermine academic freedoms.
CUPE national, as well as the University of Toronto Education Workers, CUPE local 3902, have disapproved of this motion and decision, and for good reason. The most urgent matter of concern to the union is the ratification of reasonable contracts across Ontario. The primary mission of the union is to ensure the fair employment and treatment of its members. The current leadership has overreached its mandate, recklessly and irresponsibly dabbling in complex international politics. This leadership has demonstrated its resolve to continue in this fashion even though it is not competent to do so, it has not been elected to do so, and it is not in its jurisdiction to do so. These actions have harmed our union.
George Jonas on freedom
A sad piece by Jonas on Canada/s ever expanding nanny state. I, like JOnas don't smoke and spend a lot of time convincing patients not to smoke. I also believe we are being regulated into total passivity and that big brother really is already here.
Relax, Sergeant. Put away the pepper-spray. Don't worry about the forelock-tugging subjects of Ontario's iatrogenic-matriarchal-eco-tyranny giving you any lip.
People no longer believe they have a right to smoke--or speak, crack a joke, own a pet of their choice, or wish each other Merry Christmas -- without approval from Big Nanny. Canadians whose fathers and grandfathers fought fiendish despots to defend their freedom and independence have surrendered, without firing a shot, to the social engineers of the liberal-fascist state.
Relax, Sergeant. Put away the pepper-spray. Don't worry about the forelock-tugging subjects of Ontario's iatrogenic-matriarchal-eco-tyranny giving you any lip.
People no longer believe they have a right to smoke--or speak, crack a joke, own a pet of their choice, or wish each other Merry Christmas -- without approval from Big Nanny. Canadians whose fathers and grandfathers fought fiendish despots to defend their freedom and independence have surrendered, without firing a shot, to the social engineers of the liberal-fascist state.
Separatist snake oil?
Pauline Marois thinks it is a good time for Quebec to separate. Many of us find her and her movement to be pretty pathetic.
Andre Juneau, president of the National Battlefields Commission, said he received more than 150 threats of personal violence against him for planning the re-enactments.
I strongly suspect the separatists will sneak onto the Plains of Abraham this summer anyway and declare the British have forfeited the battle by not showing up.
Montcalm will be declared the winner and Wolfe will be condemned both for being a chicken and trying bring such things as parliamentary democracy and personal liberty to a remote corner of feudal New France.
Marois also said an independent Quebec would have a seat at the international table with all the big boys, including members of "la Francophonie", which includes such French-speaking international superstars as Andorra, Benin, two of the Congos, Djbouti, Gabon, Rwanda and the Republic of Vanuatu (I had to look it up).
Their economies are doing great I think, as long as the price of bananas holds up.
Who knows, with a little work, the PQ could make Quebec just like Haiti.
Andre Juneau, president of the National Battlefields Commission, said he received more than 150 threats of personal violence against him for planning the re-enactments.
I strongly suspect the separatists will sneak onto the Plains of Abraham this summer anyway and declare the British have forfeited the battle by not showing up.
Montcalm will be declared the winner and Wolfe will be condemned both for being a chicken and trying bring such things as parliamentary democracy and personal liberty to a remote corner of feudal New France.
Marois also said an independent Quebec would have a seat at the international table with all the big boys, including members of "la Francophonie", which includes such French-speaking international superstars as Andorra, Benin, two of the Congos, Djbouti, Gabon, Rwanda and the Republic of Vanuatu (I had to look it up).
Their economies are doing great I think, as long as the price of bananas holds up.
Who knows, with a little work, the PQ could make Quebec just like Haiti.
Friday, February 27, 2009
The CAF replies?
The jihadi apologists from the caf are upset that they can't have more free money from the public trough. It is interesting that the current president of the jihadi apologists is an Orthodox Christian, like me. The caf says very little about the brutal treatment, murders and discrimination of Christians, Bahais and other religious minorities in virtually every Arab country. Christians are escaping the Middle East and Arab lands in droves. Yet the caf talks only about discrimination in Israel and the West. Christians and religious minorities in Arab countries can only dream of having the rights of Israeli Arabs. the so calledOrthodox Christian president of the caf is a fig leaf for the jihadi apologists.
Will this one get through?
Michelle Malkin reveals obamessiah's latest scandal ridden commerce secretary pick.
But while investigating the story for the Seattle Times, I interviewed temple donor Siu Wai Wong, a bald, robed 40-year-old priest who could not remember when or by what means he had given a $1,000 contribution to Locke. He also refused to say whether he was a U.S. citizen, explaining that his "English (was) not so good." Although an inept state campaign-finance panel absolved Locke and his campaign of any wrongdoing, the extensive public record clearly shows that the Locke campaign used Buddhist monks as conduits for laundered money.
The longtime reluctance to press Locke -- who became a high-powered attorney specializing in China trade issues for international law firm Davis, Wright & Tremaine after leaving the governor's mansion -- on his reckless, ethnic-based fundraising will undoubtedly extend to the politically correct and cowed Beltway. Supporters are now touting Locke's cozy relations with the Chinese government as a primary reason he deserves the Commerce Department post. Yet another illustration of how "Hope and Change" is just another synonym for "Screw Up, Move Up."
But while investigating the story for the Seattle Times, I interviewed temple donor Siu Wai Wong, a bald, robed 40-year-old priest who could not remember when or by what means he had given a $1,000 contribution to Locke. He also refused to say whether he was a U.S. citizen, explaining that his "English (was) not so good." Although an inept state campaign-finance panel absolved Locke and his campaign of any wrongdoing, the extensive public record clearly shows that the Locke campaign used Buddhist monks as conduits for laundered money.
The longtime reluctance to press Locke -- who became a high-powered attorney specializing in China trade issues for international law firm Davis, Wright & Tremaine after leaving the governor's mansion -- on his reckless, ethnic-based fundraising will undoubtedly extend to the politically correct and cowed Beltway. Supporters are now touting Locke's cozy relations with the Chinese government as a primary reason he deserves the Commerce Department post. Yet another illustration of how "Hope and Change" is just another synonym for "Screw Up, Move Up."
Geert Wilders goes to Washington
Here is Geert Wilders recent Speech in Washington and a clip from the communist news network.
Wilders in Washington: his speech at the US Capitol
By Adams • on February 26, 2009
Thank you very much for inviting me. And - to the immigration authorities - thank you for letting me into this great country. It is always a pleasure to cross a border without being sent back on the first plane.
I feel very honoured to have the privilege to speak and to show my short documentary Fitna here in this heart of your democracy, here in the US Senate.
Today, the dearest of our many freedoms is under attack all throughout Europe. Free speech is no longer a given. What we once considered a natural element of our existence, our birth right, is now something we once again have to battle for.
As you might know, I will be prosecuted in my own country, because of my film Fitna, my remarks regarding Islam, and my view concerning what some call a ‘religion of peace’. A few years from now, I might be a criminal. And on top op that The Kingdom of Jordan also threatens to prosecute me for insulting islam and ask for my extradition.
Whether or not I end up in jail is not the most pressing issue; I gave up my freedom four and a half years ago. I am under full-time police protection ever since because of death threats from muslims and terrorist groups linked to Al Qaida. In the last few years I lived in different safehouses, army-baracks and yes: even prison cells in order to be safe. But it’s not about me. The real question is: will free speech be put behind bars? And the larger question for the West is: will we leave Europe’s children the values of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem, or the values of Mecca, Teheran and Gaza?
This is what video blogger Pat Condell said in one of his latest you tube appearances. He says: “If I talked about Muslims the way their holy book talks about me, I’d be arrested for hate speech.” Now, Mr. Condell is a stand-up comedian, but in the video he is dead serious and the joke is on us. Hate speech will always be used against the people defending the West - in order to please and appease Muslims. They can say whatever they want: throw gays from apartment buildings, kill the Jews, slaughter the infidel, destroy Israel, jihad against the West. Whatever their book tells them.
Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake, my prosecution is a full-fledged attack by the left on freedom of speech in order to please Muslims. In fact it was started by a member of the Dutch Labour party. If you read what the court of Amsterdam has written about me, you read the same texts that cultural relativists produce. In fact, cultural relativism is the worst disease in Europe today. Most of our politicians believe that all cultures are equal. Well let me tell you they are not. Our Western culture based on Christianity, Judaism and humanism is in every aspect better than the islamic culture. Like the brave apostate Wafa Sultan said: it’s a comparison between a culture of reason and a culture of barbarism,
Back to my country. How low can we go in the Netherlands? About my prosecution, The Wall Street Journal noted: “this is no small victory for Islamic regimes seeking to export their censorship laws to wherever Muslims reside”. The Journal concluded that by The Netherlands accepting the free speech standards of, “Saudi-Arabia”, I stand correct in my observation that - I quote - “Muslim immigration is eroding traditional Dutch liberties”.
Now, if the Wall Street Journal has the moral clarity to see that my prosecution is the logical outcome of our disastrous, self-hating, cultural relativists immigration policies, then why can’t the European liberal establishment see the same thing? Why aren’t they getting at least a little bit scared by the latest news out of, for example, the UK. News that tells that the Muslim population in Britain is growing ten times as fast as the rest of society. Why don’t they care?
The answer is: they don’t care because they are blinded by their cultural relativism. Their disdain of the West is so much greater than the appreciation of our many liberties. And therefore, they are willing to sacrifice everything. The left once stood for women rights, gay rights, equality, democracy. Now, they favour immigration policies that will end all this. Many even lost their decency. Elite politicians in Europe have no problem to participate in or finance demonstrations where Muslims shout “Death to the Jews”. Seventy years after Auschwitz they know of no shame.
Two weeks ago, I tried to get into Britain, a fellow EU country. I was invited to give a speech in Parliament. However, upon arrival at London airport, I was refused entry into the UK, detained fot three hours and sent back on the first plane to The Netherlands. The reason: I would threaten community harmony and therefore public security. And all this because of my film Fitna. An absolute disgrace. The British Home Secretary even publicly admitted on BBC TV that she never watched my film Fitna but deciced to ban from the UK anyway.
If i would have been admitted to the UK would have loved to have reminded the audience of a great man who once spoke in the House of Commons. In 1982 President Reagan gave a speech there very few people liked. Reagan called upon the West to reject communism and defend freedom. He introduced a phrase: ‘evil empire’. Reagan’s speech stands out as a clarion call to preserve our liberties. I quote: If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly. What Reagan meant is that you cannot run away from history, you cannot escape the dangers of ideologies that are out to destroy you. Denial is no option.
Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest to defend freedom in general and freedom of speech in particular. I propose the withdrawal of all hate speech legislation in Europe. I propose a European First Amendment. In Europe we should defend freedom of speech like you Americans do. In Europe freedom of speech should be extended, instead of restricted. Of course, calling for violence or unjustly yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre have to be punished, but the right to criticize ideologies or religions are necessary conditions for a vital democracy. As George Orwell once said: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”.
Let us defend freedom of speech and let us gain strength and work hard to become even stronger. Millions think just like you and me. Millions think liberty is precious. That democracy is better than sharia. And after all, why should we be afraid? Our many freedoms and our prosperity are the result of centuries of endeavour. Centuries of hard work and sacrifice. We do not stand alone.
Ladies and gentlemen, our enemies should know: we will never apologize for being free men, we will never give in. We will never surrender. There is no stronger power than the force of free men fighting for the great cause of liberty. Because freedom is the birthright of all man.
Freedom must prevail, and freedom will prevail.
Thank you very much.
Geert Wilders
Voorzitter Tweede Kamerfractie Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV)
Geert Wilders MP
Chairman Party for Freedom (PVV)
Wilders in Washington: his speech at the US Capitol
By Adams • on February 26, 2009
Thank you very much for inviting me. And - to the immigration authorities - thank you for letting me into this great country. It is always a pleasure to cross a border without being sent back on the first plane.
I feel very honoured to have the privilege to speak and to show my short documentary Fitna here in this heart of your democracy, here in the US Senate.
Today, the dearest of our many freedoms is under attack all throughout Europe. Free speech is no longer a given. What we once considered a natural element of our existence, our birth right, is now something we once again have to battle for.
As you might know, I will be prosecuted in my own country, because of my film Fitna, my remarks regarding Islam, and my view concerning what some call a ‘religion of peace’. A few years from now, I might be a criminal. And on top op that The Kingdom of Jordan also threatens to prosecute me for insulting islam and ask for my extradition.
Whether or not I end up in jail is not the most pressing issue; I gave up my freedom four and a half years ago. I am under full-time police protection ever since because of death threats from muslims and terrorist groups linked to Al Qaida. In the last few years I lived in different safehouses, army-baracks and yes: even prison cells in order to be safe. But it’s not about me. The real question is: will free speech be put behind bars? And the larger question for the West is: will we leave Europe’s children the values of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem, or the values of Mecca, Teheran and Gaza?
This is what video blogger Pat Condell said in one of his latest you tube appearances. He says: “If I talked about Muslims the way their holy book talks about me, I’d be arrested for hate speech.” Now, Mr. Condell is a stand-up comedian, but in the video he is dead serious and the joke is on us. Hate speech will always be used against the people defending the West - in order to please and appease Muslims. They can say whatever they want: throw gays from apartment buildings, kill the Jews, slaughter the infidel, destroy Israel, jihad against the West. Whatever their book tells them.
Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake, my prosecution is a full-fledged attack by the left on freedom of speech in order to please Muslims. In fact it was started by a member of the Dutch Labour party. If you read what the court of Amsterdam has written about me, you read the same texts that cultural relativists produce. In fact, cultural relativism is the worst disease in Europe today. Most of our politicians believe that all cultures are equal. Well let me tell you they are not. Our Western culture based on Christianity, Judaism and humanism is in every aspect better than the islamic culture. Like the brave apostate Wafa Sultan said: it’s a comparison between a culture of reason and a culture of barbarism,
Back to my country. How low can we go in the Netherlands? About my prosecution, The Wall Street Journal noted: “this is no small victory for Islamic regimes seeking to export their censorship laws to wherever Muslims reside”. The Journal concluded that by The Netherlands accepting the free speech standards of, “Saudi-Arabia”, I stand correct in my observation that - I quote - “Muslim immigration is eroding traditional Dutch liberties”.
Now, if the Wall Street Journal has the moral clarity to see that my prosecution is the logical outcome of our disastrous, self-hating, cultural relativists immigration policies, then why can’t the European liberal establishment see the same thing? Why aren’t they getting at least a little bit scared by the latest news out of, for example, the UK. News that tells that the Muslim population in Britain is growing ten times as fast as the rest of society. Why don’t they care?
The answer is: they don’t care because they are blinded by their cultural relativism. Their disdain of the West is so much greater than the appreciation of our many liberties. And therefore, they are willing to sacrifice everything. The left once stood for women rights, gay rights, equality, democracy. Now, they favour immigration policies that will end all this. Many even lost their decency. Elite politicians in Europe have no problem to participate in or finance demonstrations where Muslims shout “Death to the Jews”. Seventy years after Auschwitz they know of no shame.
Two weeks ago, I tried to get into Britain, a fellow EU country. I was invited to give a speech in Parliament. However, upon arrival at London airport, I was refused entry into the UK, detained fot three hours and sent back on the first plane to The Netherlands. The reason: I would threaten community harmony and therefore public security. And all this because of my film Fitna. An absolute disgrace. The British Home Secretary even publicly admitted on BBC TV that she never watched my film Fitna but deciced to ban from the UK anyway.
If i would have been admitted to the UK would have loved to have reminded the audience of a great man who once spoke in the House of Commons. In 1982 President Reagan gave a speech there very few people liked. Reagan called upon the West to reject communism and defend freedom. He introduced a phrase: ‘evil empire’. Reagan’s speech stands out as a clarion call to preserve our liberties. I quote: If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly. What Reagan meant is that you cannot run away from history, you cannot escape the dangers of ideologies that are out to destroy you. Denial is no option.
Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest to defend freedom in general and freedom of speech in particular. I propose the withdrawal of all hate speech legislation in Europe. I propose a European First Amendment. In Europe we should defend freedom of speech like you Americans do. In Europe freedom of speech should be extended, instead of restricted. Of course, calling for violence or unjustly yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre have to be punished, but the right to criticize ideologies or religions are necessary conditions for a vital democracy. As George Orwell once said: “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear”.
Let us defend freedom of speech and let us gain strength and work hard to become even stronger. Millions think just like you and me. Millions think liberty is precious. That democracy is better than sharia. And after all, why should we be afraid? Our many freedoms and our prosperity are the result of centuries of endeavour. Centuries of hard work and sacrifice. We do not stand alone.
Ladies and gentlemen, our enemies should know: we will never apologize for being free men, we will never give in. We will never surrender. There is no stronger power than the force of free men fighting for the great cause of liberty. Because freedom is the birthright of all man.
Freedom must prevail, and freedom will prevail.
Thank you very much.
Geert Wilders
Voorzitter Tweede Kamerfractie Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV)
Geert Wilders MP
Chairman Party for Freedom (PVV)
CPAC 2009
I had planned to go to CPAC 2009, but for lots of reasons I couldn't go and decided to see Ayaan Hirsi Ali instead.
I had a great time last year at CPAC 2008. I even got to hear and see President Bush and vice president Cheney. This year also sound like a lot of fun. My friend Andrew Lawton is there, as well as a few of my other friends. I am jealous. Have a great time everybody.
You can see the feed from CPAC 2009 here. More from Captain Ed.
Hopefully I will be at CPAC 2010.
I had a great time last year at CPAC 2008. I even got to hear and see President Bush and vice president Cheney. This year also sound like a lot of fun. My friend Andrew Lawton is there, as well as a few of my other friends. I am jealous. Have a great time everybody.
You can see the feed from CPAC 2009 here. More from Captain Ed.
Hopefully I will be at CPAC 2010.
Mark Steyn is back
His first piece in Maclean's in a while. Wonder when some progressive or jihadi apologist will try an hrc complaint?
His first column expose the hatred of much of the environmentostalinist movement for children and themselves.
Answer: motherhood and apple pie. If we didn’t have so much motherhood, we wouldn’t have all these people eating apple pies, manufactured in a plant in Guangdong and then shipped on some massive floating carbon footprint all the way to Price Chopper in Cedar Rapids. Motherhood is the root cause. As Mr. Kotler says:
“You don’t need to ask what you need to do for the world. You already know.
“Stop having children. It’s that easy.”
It really is! So he’s calling for a five-year moratorium on having children, planet-wide. The Soviets had five-year plans but Mr. Kotler wants a five-year ban—“because a billion less people is a great place to start.” Key word: “start.” Experts agree that the carrying capacity for the planet is about two billion people. Actually, they don’t agree: some of the earthier-than-thou eco-types say it’s only 300 million. But Mr. Kotler doesn’t want to sound like an extremist or anything, so he’s starting with that best-case scenario. If the planet’s carrying capacity is two billion tops, we need to unload a good 4½ billion. And, while no one outside of Dutch hospitals is arguing for compulsory euthanasia (yet), not adding to the total would be “a great place to start.”
Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury
Irwin Cotler has a piece on the state of justice and democracy in Bangladesh. I had hoped that the recent elections in Bangladesh were a sign of a downturn spiral for fundamentalism. I'm not so sure now.
Western nations such as Canada have an important role to play in monitoring Mr. Choudhury's trial and holding Bangladesh to the promise borne out of its recent electoral rejection of fundamentalism. Indeed, we abdicate this responsibility at our own peril. Brave moderates like Mr. Choudhury are our best hope against popular descent into radicalism and terror.
What Mr. Choudhury has suffered so far is deplorable. But his case offers Bangladesh the possibility of finally ending this ugly chapter and improving its human rights performance, even if it cannot undo the wrongs Mr. Choudhury has already endured. Both Bangladeshi democracy and an innocent man's life are at stake.
Western nations such as Canada have an important role to play in monitoring Mr. Choudhury's trial and holding Bangladesh to the promise borne out of its recent electoral rejection of fundamentalism. Indeed, we abdicate this responsibility at our own peril. Brave moderates like Mr. Choudhury are our best hope against popular descent into radicalism and terror.
What Mr. Choudhury has suffered so far is deplorable. But his case offers Bangladesh the possibility of finally ending this ugly chapter and improving its human rights performance, even if it cannot undo the wrongs Mr. Choudhury has already endured. Both Bangladeshi democracy and an innocent man's life are at stake.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
obamessiah withdrawing troops from Iraq...
except for 50,000 troops. Not what moveon and the daily kos were thinking exactly.
Senate Democrats Surprised by Obama Plan to Leave Up to 50,000 Troops in Iraq
Senate Democrats want to hear an explanation from the White House as to why up to 50,000 troops would stay behind in Iraq.
By Trish Turner
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters that he is heading to the White House later in the day to hear an explanation.
"I have been one who has called for significant cutbacks in Iraq for some time. And I am happy to listen to the secretary of defense, the president, but when they talk about 50,000, that's a little higher number than I had anticipated," Reid said.
Senate Democrats Surprised by Obama Plan to Leave Up to 50,000 Troops in Iraq
Senate Democrats want to hear an explanation from the White House as to why up to 50,000 troops would stay behind in Iraq.
By Trish Turner
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters that he is heading to the White House later in the day to hear an explanation.
"I have been one who has called for significant cutbacks in Iraq for some time. And I am happy to listen to the secretary of defense, the president, but when they talk about 50,000, that's a little higher number than I had anticipated," Reid said.
Dennis Miller on Obamessiah's speech
The dems love the nanny state and thats what obamessiah is giving them. I loved O'Reilly's comment on pelosi's aerobics.
Good for Paul Moist
CUPE national through its President Paul Moist rejects Sid Ryan's bigeted position on Israel. I congratulate Mtr Moist for denouncing the excesses of Sid Ryan. It is obvious he is embarrassed by ryan the racist. He didn't reply when I called ryan a racist earlier this month.
Statement From Paul Moist, CUPE National President
updated 11:27 a.m. ET, Tues., Feb. 24, 2009
OTTAWA, ONTARIO - CUPE National would like to state that it does not support the resolution passed by the Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee (OUWCC) of CUPE Ontario on February 22, 2009. The views expressed in the resolution are those of a small number of CUPE Ontario members. The resolution does not represent CUPE National policy.
Statement From Paul Moist, CUPE National President
updated 11:27 a.m. ET, Tues., Feb. 24, 2009
OTTAWA, ONTARIO - CUPE National would like to state that it does not support the resolution passed by the Ontario University Workers Coordinating Committee (OUWCC) of CUPE Ontario on February 22, 2009. The views expressed in the resolution are those of a small number of CUPE Ontario members. The resolution does not represent CUPE National policy.
A Handmaid's Tale?
I read A Handmaid's Tale by margaret atwood many years ago. I hated it. I thought it was anti male, anti Christian and anti American.
Given its leftist, man hating, radical feminist, Quebec separatist supporting, pompous source, I was not particularly surprised. I emailed my friend Barbara Kay this afternoon and wrote that she must be reading my mind. Apparently I am not alone. Thank you Barbara, you've let us of us who don't think atwood is a great writer come out of the closet.
Fictional drivel
Barbara Kay, National Post
Published: Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday's front page news contained an unprecedented case of literary lese majeste. A parent of a Grade 12 Toronto high school student petitioned for the removal from the school's reading list of The Handmaid's Tale, a 1986 novel by the queen of Canadian literature, Margaret Atwood.
A review board concluded that the book should remain a classroom text. No surprise there. It is hard to imagine the venerated Ms. Atwood being effectively "dissed" by a mere parent.
The parent thinks the novel, a futuristic fantasy of a totalitarian society --American, not Canadian!--in which women become the reproductive slaves of conservative patriarchs, is "fictional drivel." Well, of course it is, and so is much else in the gifted Ms. Atwood's diverse oeuvre, but the parent misses the greater point.
The Handmaid's Tale isn't drivel because of the sex and violence that concerned the parent. It is drivel because it is a paranoiac fantasy whose principal purpose and effect is to stir up hatred of men.
Hatred of any other identifiable group in a novel would normally render a book unfit for school curricula (situational selection should not be confused with censorship). But inciting hatred against men in the guise of art is neither an aesthetic nor ethical crime in educational circles. Rather it is a virtue, borne aloft in a misandric cultural zeitgeist that Ms. Atwood was herself influential in shaping.
The setting of The Handmaid's Tale is "the recent future." The United States has morphed into the Republic of Gilead, dominated by Christian fundamentalists, who have conscripted fertile women into a program of forced breeding.
Dystopian fiction deserves critical respect when its premises are grounded in psychological or historical reality. That sexual relations in the West on a collective scale ever did or ever could descend into Ms. Atwood's ideologically self-indulgent nightmare is -- well, fictional drivel.
History does of course provide horrific examples of experiments in eugenics: Urged on, ironically enough, by "progressive" women, Alberta once permitted sterilization of the intellectually handicapped, a blot on Canada's rights landscape. But generally speaking, Western conservatives, religious or not, are the most likely to resist any government intrusion into citizens' private -- let alone reproductive -- lives.
Mass eugenics coincides historically with anti-religious collectivist visions run amok. The Chinese program of forced abortions came from the atheist, utopian left. The Nazi Lebensborn program, which seems to have been Ms. Atwood's inspiration, in which fertile young women were lodged at breeding farms, there to be impregnated by SS officers in order to improve Germany's Aryan stock, grew out of anti-religious paganism allied with fascism.
On its face, Lebensborn seems like something of a harbinger of Ms. Atwood's vision. But a crucial distinction makes a mockery of Ms. Atwood's alarmist projection: Unlike Ms. Atwood's fictional victims, German women were never forced to breed.
Quite the opposite: The Lebensborn "handmaids" were willing volunteers, seduced by the perks of higher social status, nutritious food and high quality medical care, luxuries ordinary Germans could only dream of at the time.
On the other hand, German men were pressed into battle, millions of them to die ghastly deaths. For history's real forced sacrifice -- forced gendered sacrifice, that is -- look to the millions of young males in the First and Second World Wars who were maimed, shell-shocked and blown to bits to satisfy or subdue the bloodlust of tyrants and ethnic revanchists. By comparison, having sex with fit, virile men, living in luxury for nine months and earning the plaudits of your nation would seem an enticing alternate to an odds-on grisly death.
But in Ms. Atwood's conspiracy-theorist feminist universe, women are victims, men masters of their fates. Women cannot be seen as opportunistic or exploitative, and men cannot be seen as themselves victims or objects of pity. Theory demands that her fictional women emerge as innocent dupes of warring control freaks.
There exist warrior cultures, where courting death and subjugating women are virtues, but America's isn't one of them. Even in warrior cultures, boys must be brainwashed into compliance (as anyone who has seen Hamas "motivational" videos can attest). In Nazi Germany, love for war was inculcated into boys with Teutonic efficiency and persistence, and yet conscription was still necessary. Left to choose freely, men will fight to protect their loved ones, defend their country or uphold their honour, but few men love war for its own sake.
The Handmaid's Tale is a nasty, anti-American trifecta of bigotry: a cheap thrust at men, conservatives and religious Christians.
It is not a "cautionary tale," as one Atwood admirer characterized it in Monday's news story. For here we are 23 years later. Forced-breeding camps? Hardly. Politically and culturally, women's issues rule; abortion is rampant; fatherlessness is pandemic. It is men--insofar as their traditional roles as providers, progenitors and protectors are concerned -- who are the endangered social species.
The Handmaid's Tale is merely a tale told by a feminist, and like so many other such heavy-handed ideological screeds, it is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Given its leftist, man hating, radical feminist, Quebec separatist supporting, pompous source, I was not particularly surprised. I emailed my friend Barbara Kay this afternoon and wrote that she must be reading my mind. Apparently I am not alone. Thank you Barbara, you've let us of us who don't think atwood is a great writer come out of the closet.
Fictional drivel
Barbara Kay, National Post
Published: Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Monday's front page news contained an unprecedented case of literary lese majeste. A parent of a Grade 12 Toronto high school student petitioned for the removal from the school's reading list of The Handmaid's Tale, a 1986 novel by the queen of Canadian literature, Margaret Atwood.
A review board concluded that the book should remain a classroom text. No surprise there. It is hard to imagine the venerated Ms. Atwood being effectively "dissed" by a mere parent.
The parent thinks the novel, a futuristic fantasy of a totalitarian society --American, not Canadian!--in which women become the reproductive slaves of conservative patriarchs, is "fictional drivel." Well, of course it is, and so is much else in the gifted Ms. Atwood's diverse oeuvre, but the parent misses the greater point.
The Handmaid's Tale isn't drivel because of the sex and violence that concerned the parent. It is drivel because it is a paranoiac fantasy whose principal purpose and effect is to stir up hatred of men.
Hatred of any other identifiable group in a novel would normally render a book unfit for school curricula (situational selection should not be confused with censorship). But inciting hatred against men in the guise of art is neither an aesthetic nor ethical crime in educational circles. Rather it is a virtue, borne aloft in a misandric cultural zeitgeist that Ms. Atwood was herself influential in shaping.
The setting of The Handmaid's Tale is "the recent future." The United States has morphed into the Republic of Gilead, dominated by Christian fundamentalists, who have conscripted fertile women into a program of forced breeding.
Dystopian fiction deserves critical respect when its premises are grounded in psychological or historical reality. That sexual relations in the West on a collective scale ever did or ever could descend into Ms. Atwood's ideologically self-indulgent nightmare is -- well, fictional drivel.
History does of course provide horrific examples of experiments in eugenics: Urged on, ironically enough, by "progressive" women, Alberta once permitted sterilization of the intellectually handicapped, a blot on Canada's rights landscape. But generally speaking, Western conservatives, religious or not, are the most likely to resist any government intrusion into citizens' private -- let alone reproductive -- lives.
Mass eugenics coincides historically with anti-religious collectivist visions run amok. The Chinese program of forced abortions came from the atheist, utopian left. The Nazi Lebensborn program, which seems to have been Ms. Atwood's inspiration, in which fertile young women were lodged at breeding farms, there to be impregnated by SS officers in order to improve Germany's Aryan stock, grew out of anti-religious paganism allied with fascism.
On its face, Lebensborn seems like something of a harbinger of Ms. Atwood's vision. But a crucial distinction makes a mockery of Ms. Atwood's alarmist projection: Unlike Ms. Atwood's fictional victims, German women were never forced to breed.
Quite the opposite: The Lebensborn "handmaids" were willing volunteers, seduced by the perks of higher social status, nutritious food and high quality medical care, luxuries ordinary Germans could only dream of at the time.
On the other hand, German men were pressed into battle, millions of them to die ghastly deaths. For history's real forced sacrifice -- forced gendered sacrifice, that is -- look to the millions of young males in the First and Second World Wars who were maimed, shell-shocked and blown to bits to satisfy or subdue the bloodlust of tyrants and ethnic revanchists. By comparison, having sex with fit, virile men, living in luxury for nine months and earning the plaudits of your nation would seem an enticing alternate to an odds-on grisly death.
But in Ms. Atwood's conspiracy-theorist feminist universe, women are victims, men masters of their fates. Women cannot be seen as opportunistic or exploitative, and men cannot be seen as themselves victims or objects of pity. Theory demands that her fictional women emerge as innocent dupes of warring control freaks.
There exist warrior cultures, where courting death and subjugating women are virtues, but America's isn't one of them. Even in warrior cultures, boys must be brainwashed into compliance (as anyone who has seen Hamas "motivational" videos can attest). In Nazi Germany, love for war was inculcated into boys with Teutonic efficiency and persistence, and yet conscription was still necessary. Left to choose freely, men will fight to protect their loved ones, defend their country or uphold their honour, but few men love war for its own sake.
The Handmaid's Tale is a nasty, anti-American trifecta of bigotry: a cheap thrust at men, conservatives and religious Christians.
It is not a "cautionary tale," as one Atwood admirer characterized it in Monday's news story. For here we are 23 years later. Forced-breeding camps? Hardly. Politically and culturally, women's issues rule; abortion is rampant; fatherlessness is pandemic. It is men--insofar as their traditional roles as providers, progenitors and protectors are concerned -- who are the endangered social species.
The Handmaid's Tale is merely a tale told by a feminist, and like so many other such heavy-handed ideological screeds, it is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
I attended another wonderful dinner event today. This time the speaker was none other than Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I got to speak to this titan of freedom and express my admiration to her at the cocktail party before dinner. After a gourmet dinner we listened to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I will be able to supply the transcript later.
She painted a very dark picture of a lost Europe where Islam will triumph and freedom will be lost. She adheres to a position that there is not such a thing as moderate Islam and the religion itself is the problem. There can be no separation of Church and state in islam. There can be no criticism of the faith. She spoke passionately about the European Muslim culture of welfare abuse and spousal abuse. That Europe's greatest mistake was not demanding more integration. She spoke about how there is a very high level of dropouts among Muslim immigrants and that European battered wife shelters are full of Muslim women.
After her speech there were several questions . I asked about the Mark Steyn case and jihadi lawfare. She said that was the tactic used throughout the UK and Holland. She talked about Geert Wilders and his banning from the UK. My friend Marc Lebuis of Point de Basculetold her things were as bad in Canada with a silent press and the hrcs. Interestingly Pearl Eliadis rose and defended elmasry's sock puppets saying they were earnest young lads. She said that Mark Steyn was not dragged in front of the hrcs and it was just Macleans. She also disparaged Mark Sten as just earning a lot of money from the books he writes. Hirsi Ali defended Mark Steyn and said he wrote well documented books that were the truth!
I couldn't resist going to talk to her after the talk and I must say I got a bit hot under the collar. One of her friends said I should be more civil so I left. I did say that elmasry was behind the sock puppets and reminded her that she had called BCF toxic. She denied this and said it was a fabrication of the NP. ( She is not a NP fan.) She actually knew of me because of my letters in the Gazette and we both attended Marianopolis College. I did give her my card and said I was sorry if she found I was too aggressive. She accepted my apology. I did not back off on my position that I thought the hrcs should be abolished and that particularly section13 a should be abolished now. . I replied that it 's huge cost was causing a chill on speech . She said the sock puppets deserved free speech. I replied that were in every paper and every radio station and had no right to publish Maclean's. She said the outcome of the maclean's case was the correct one. She is actually a nice lady, though with views I find abhorrent, but I learned that I must never lose my cool.
I did speak to Ayaan Hirsi Ali again and told her that elmo was behind the sock puppets. She told me she had followed the case and was completely aware of what was going on. She said she was an admirer of Mark Steyn. She signed a copy of her book Infidel for me. I even forgot to go out and put more money in the parking meter and I didn't get a ticket! It was a wonderful evening.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Cut spending!
I am glad HM Government has instructed the CBC to tighten its belt. If only this was true of government spending as a whole. I would like big cuts to many programs. Eliminate the SOW altogether, slash the civil service. Bring in a flat tax and eliminate thousands of civil servants. I am now beginning to like the concept of a negative income tax ( Mike Brock and Senator Segal talked me into it) . This could also save billions in administrative costs for the myriad of programs we have now. I would like to see the CBC budget slashed even further.
Stephen Harper's Conservative government said Wednesday it expects the taxpayer-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corp to clamp down on costs amid reports that the broadcaster is facing an advertising revenue shortfall for the coming year.
"We expect the kind of belt-tightening at the CBC as we see with other broadcasters," Deirdra McCracken, spokeswoman for Heritage Minister James Moore, said Wednesday.
"The CBC is already receiving over $1-billion from taxpayers per year."
Stephen Harper's Conservative government said Wednesday it expects the taxpayer-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corp to clamp down on costs amid reports that the broadcaster is facing an advertising revenue shortfall for the coming year.
"We expect the kind of belt-tightening at the CBC as we see with other broadcasters," Deirdra McCracken, spokeswoman for Heritage Minister James Moore, said Wednesday.
"The CBC is already receiving over $1-billion from taxpayers per year."
40 days for life
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wickedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent . It is also the beginning of 40 Days for life. I was unable to attend the opening event last night in Montreal. I think it is a great way to honour lent. Fasting and praying for life and peaceful protest honour the spirit of Lent.
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wickedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
RIP Ivan Cameron
David Cameron, Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition in the United Kingdomn and his family have suffered a terrible loss.
I cannot imagine the grief of losing a child. My deepest sympathies to Mr Cameron and his family.
Cameron's 'beautiful boy' dies
David and Samantha Cameron have passed on their thanks for the messages of support after the death of son Ivan, their "beautiful boy".
William Hague, standing in for the Conservative leader as PM's questions was suspended, said Ivan had brought "joy and love to those around him".
Gordon Brown said everyone's thoughts and prayers were with the family.
Six-year-old Ivan, who had cerebral palsy and epilepsy, died at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London.
Mr Brown, who suggested suspending the weekly Commons clash as a mark of respect, said every child was "precious and irreplaceable" and that the death of a child "was something that no parent should have to bear".
This is my MP
The jihadi apologist and supporter mulcair is a true hot head.mulcair's recent antics are just as embarrassing. At least this time he didn't leap over any desks. Another reason the defeat of the socialist bloq coalition was so necessary.(h/t Hunter and Conservative Reporter).
Durban II
I am very proud of HM Government that has already decided Canada will not attend the farce that is durban II. I agree with this piece in the NP The US shouldn't go either. listening to a bunch of murderers and despots criticize the west and Israel, serves very little purpose. Hopefully obamessiah will convinced by billary that this is indeed a very bad idea.
Obama should join Ottawa in boycotting Durban II
Posted: February 25, 2009, 7:00 AM by Kelly McParland
As President Obama struggles with America’s economic woes, his new team is also hard at work putting a new face on U.S. foreign policy, with an emphasis on multilateral engagement. From Tehran to Tokyo, the world is trying to decipher Barack Obama’s promise of change.
An early test of the President’s vision of his diplomatic outreach is the announcement that the United States will attend an upcoming preparatory meeting (prepcom) in advance of April’s “Durban Review of the United Nations World Conference Against Racism” in Geneva that Canada will not attend. Known as Durban II, it follows up the 2001 UN Conference Against Racism convened just before 9/11 in South Africa.
Obama should join Ottawa in boycotting Durban II
Posted: February 25, 2009, 7:00 AM by Kelly McParland
As President Obama struggles with America’s economic woes, his new team is also hard at work putting a new face on U.S. foreign policy, with an emphasis on multilateral engagement. From Tehran to Tokyo, the world is trying to decipher Barack Obama’s promise of change.
An early test of the President’s vision of his diplomatic outreach is the announcement that the United States will attend an upcoming preparatory meeting (prepcom) in advance of April’s “Durban Review of the United Nations World Conference Against Racism” in Geneva that Canada will not attend. Known as Durban II, it follows up the 2001 UN Conference Against Racism convened just before 9/11 in South Africa.
Horrible
Matthew 18:6 King James Bible
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
A cardiologist in Quebec has allegedly murdered his two children. He didn't then have the decency to die. This is apparently a custody thing. How could someone sworn to protect and preserve life do such hideous evil. As a physician myself I am saddened and horrified. Even his colleagues can't stand the sight of him.
May God have mercy on him.
My deepest sympathies to his wife( also a physician) on the loss of the most precious gift from God.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
A cardiologist in Quebec has allegedly murdered his two children. He didn't then have the decency to die. This is apparently a custody thing. How could someone sworn to protect and preserve life do such hideous evil. As a physician myself I am saddened and horrified. Even his colleagues can't stand the sight of him.
May God have mercy on him.
My deepest sympathies to his wife( also a physician) on the loss of the most precious gift from God.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
A great interview with HM PM Stephen Harper
HM PM Harper did a great interview with Larry Kudlow. Kudlow was very impressed and said we are lucky to have HM PM Harper and I absolutely agree. Watch the video here.
An Interview with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
What follows below is the transcript of my interview with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on last night's show. Mr. Harper is a trained economist and quite an impressive statesman. Our northern neighbors are lucky to have him at the helm. We covered a wide range of key topics including the ailing banking system, risks of protectionism, oil sands and autos. As you'll see below, Mr. Harper offered some very wise observations and insight.
LARRY KUDLOW: All right. We are honored to welcome Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the program. Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER: It's nice to be here, Larry.
KUDLOW: Let me begin with an interesting subject here, banking. Everybody's talking about banking. The Canadian banks appear to be in much better shape than the American banks. They have fewer toxic assets. Their losses aren't nearly as bad. No one's talking about bankruptcy up there. I want to learn from our northern cousins. What can you tell us? Why are Canadian banks looking better than our banks?
HARPER: Well first of all I can tell you, it is true. We have, I think, the only banks in the western world where we’re not looking at bailouts or anything like that.
KUDLOW: No TARP money sir, if I’m not mistaken? No TARP money?
HARPER: We haven’t got any TARP money. We’ve gone in and done some market transactions with our banks to improve liquidity. But I think the reasons are really complex, Larry. You know, first of all, our banks are private. We don’t have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac equivalent mucking around in the system....
An Interview with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper
What follows below is the transcript of my interview with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on last night's show. Mr. Harper is a trained economist and quite an impressive statesman. Our northern neighbors are lucky to have him at the helm. We covered a wide range of key topics including the ailing banking system, risks of protectionism, oil sands and autos. As you'll see below, Mr. Harper offered some very wise observations and insight.
LARRY KUDLOW: All right. We are honored to welcome Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the program. Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER STEPHEN HARPER: It's nice to be here, Larry.
KUDLOW: Let me begin with an interesting subject here, banking. Everybody's talking about banking. The Canadian banks appear to be in much better shape than the American banks. They have fewer toxic assets. Their losses aren't nearly as bad. No one's talking about bankruptcy up there. I want to learn from our northern cousins. What can you tell us? Why are Canadian banks looking better than our banks?
HARPER: Well first of all I can tell you, it is true. We have, I think, the only banks in the western world where we’re not looking at bailouts or anything like that.
KUDLOW: No TARP money sir, if I’m not mistaken? No TARP money?
HARPER: We haven’t got any TARP money. We’ve gone in and done some market transactions with our banks to improve liquidity. But I think the reasons are really complex, Larry. You know, first of all, our banks are private. We don’t have a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac equivalent mucking around in the system....
Geert Wilders on Fox
I don't agree with everything Geert Wilders says , but he must be allowed to speak. That is what 800 years of common law tell me.
Here is his movie.
Here is his movie.
More kinsella
My goodness this must just be feeding poor little kinsella's Narcissus complex. (h/t Kathy.) Its probably time to let sleeping cats lie.
The fair and balanced left?
A reporter at the Baltimore NBC stations doctored a youtube clip to try and make John Gibson look racist. He has been fired. he should be sued by John Gibson. I wonder if the lefty blogs that posted this dreck will now apologize.
Baltimore Reporter Out of a Job After Posting Doctored
A reporter for an NBC affiliate in Baltimore who inserted a racist remark into a video clip of FOX News' John Gibson and posted it on YouTube is no longer employed by the station, FOXNews.com has learned.
The offensive video clip was doctored so that the viewer heard Gibson using the words "bright blue scrotum" in reference to Attorney General Eric Holder, rather than to a defining characteristic of a monkey on the loose in Seattle.
The video circulated rapidly on blogs and news Web sites Thursday and was not corrected for hours.
John Sanders, the technology reporter for WBAL-TV, admitted in a Breitbart.tv report that he was the person responsible for the clip. The station confirmed Sanders' actions on Tuesday and, in a statement, referred to him as a "former" employee.
Baltimore Reporter Out of a Job After Posting Doctored
A reporter for an NBC affiliate in Baltimore who inserted a racist remark into a video clip of FOX News' John Gibson and posted it on YouTube is no longer employed by the station, FOXNews.com has learned.
The offensive video clip was doctored so that the viewer heard Gibson using the words "bright blue scrotum" in reference to Attorney General Eric Holder, rather than to a defining characteristic of a monkey on the loose in Seattle.
The video circulated rapidly on blogs and news Web sites Thursday and was not corrected for hours.
John Sanders, the technology reporter for WBAL-TV, admitted in a Breitbart.tv report that he was the person responsible for the clip. The station confirmed Sanders' actions on Tuesday and, in a statement, referred to him as a "former" employee.
Facebook not for the young?
I liked this article from Time. I have over 730 Facebook friends. I am certainly not young.
Facebook is five. Maybe you didn't get it in your news feed, but it was in February 2004 that Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, along with some classmates, launched the social network that ate the world. Did he realize back then in his dorm that he was witnessing merely the larval stage of his creation? For what began with college students has found its fullest, richest expression with us, the middle-aged. Here are 10 reasons Facebook is for old fogies:
Facebook is five. Maybe you didn't get it in your news feed, but it was in February 2004 that Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, along with some classmates, launched the social network that ate the world. Did he realize back then in his dorm that he was witnessing merely the larval stage of his creation? For what began with college students has found its fullest, richest expression with us, the middle-aged. Here are 10 reasons Facebook is for old fogies:
Forget Quebec?
I am of two minds on this NP editorial. Half of me agrees. Quebec often behaves like a spoiled child stamping its collective feet. I am however a federalist and I think ignoring Quebec could have disastrous consequences for the federation. The problem is not federal engagement, but Quebec disengagement. The grits will certainly not ignore Quebec and the grits have had majority governments based on a Quebec base. It is dangerous for Canada and dangerous for the Tories to abandon the idea of more Quebec seats. There must be some tough love but not too much!
The current PM, Stephen Harper, has even declared the Quebecois a nation within a nation -- as close are they are ever likely to come to a declaration of special constitutional status -- and given the provincial government something of an official presence at international summits of French-speaking nations. Yet one off-the-mark quip about artists' propensity for pleading poverty while attending gala dinners -- a quip Quebecers mistakenly perceived as a slight against their culture-- and all of Mr. Harper's efforts to built bridges with Quebec voters vanished in a puff of smoke.
Enough of the decades of appeasement; it's time for Ottawa to adopt a tough-love attitude toward Quebec. And who better to do that then Mr. Harper and his Tories? They've got nothing to lose.
The current PM, Stephen Harper, has even declared the Quebecois a nation within a nation -- as close are they are ever likely to come to a declaration of special constitutional status -- and given the provincial government something of an official presence at international summits of French-speaking nations. Yet one off-the-mark quip about artists' propensity for pleading poverty while attending gala dinners -- a quip Quebecers mistakenly perceived as a slight against their culture-- and all of Mr. Harper's efforts to built bridges with Quebec voters vanished in a puff of smoke.
Enough of the decades of appeasement; it's time for Ottawa to adopt a tough-love attitude toward Quebec. And who better to do that then Mr. Harper and his Tories? They've got nothing to lose.
Some lefties really don't like Iggy
An interesting piece in the leftist guardian about our own count chokula. Seems catsmeat has found the perfect master. They are bothminions of Narcissus. Though I must admit I did like some of iggy's old opinions , before he sold out and became leader of the libranos.
But why not demand more in return for his support of the budget than three reports? Why not propose tangible amendments addressing Employment Insurance, for example, or the coming deficits? Why not seek to differentiate himself from Harper, and the Liberals from the Conservatives, in a genuine and meaningful way? And why antagonise the New Democrats? (New Democrat leader Jack Layton responded to Ignatieff's caving in by suggesting that the new Liberal leader was just like his ineffectual predecessor, Stéphane Dion, that a new Conservative-Liberal coalition had been established and that Ignatieff's demand for reports was "a fig leaf".
Why did Ignatieff do what he did? Because he has no interest right now in bringing down the government and thereby being compelled to share power. Because his political career has been about his own glorification, about his desire – for it seems to be the only reason he entered politics in the first place – to be prime minister. He may generously be called a chameleon, a shifty academic difficult to pin down, but perhaps more accurately he ought to be called an egotist who is sure of his own superiority and who seems to lack any real passion for the country he intends to lead
But why not demand more in return for his support of the budget than three reports? Why not propose tangible amendments addressing Employment Insurance, for example, or the coming deficits? Why not seek to differentiate himself from Harper, and the Liberals from the Conservatives, in a genuine and meaningful way? And why antagonise the New Democrats? (New Democrat leader Jack Layton responded to Ignatieff's caving in by suggesting that the new Liberal leader was just like his ineffectual predecessor, Stéphane Dion, that a new Conservative-Liberal coalition had been established and that Ignatieff's demand for reports was "a fig leaf".
Why did Ignatieff do what he did? Because he has no interest right now in bringing down the government and thereby being compelled to share power. Because his political career has been about his own glorification, about his desire – for it seems to be the only reason he entered politics in the first place – to be prime minister. He may generously be called a chameleon, a shifty academic difficult to pin down, but perhaps more accurately he ought to be called an egotist who is sure of his own superiority and who seems to lack any real passion for the country he intends to lead
Monday, February 23, 2009
Another gitmo release success
Yes thats what we need more Gitmo prisoners to refill the ranks of al qaeda and the taliban.
A former Afghan inmate at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay has joined the Taleban's high command in Pakistan, UK government officials say.
They say Mullah Abdul Kayum Sakir, who was released last year, is now closely involved in planning attacks on British and other Nato forces in Afghanistan.
They say he is operating with impunity from the Pakistani city of Quetta.
The Pentagon says more than 10% of 520 inmates released so far have returned to what it calls terrorism.
A former Afghan inmate at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay has joined the Taleban's high command in Pakistan, UK government officials say.
They say Mullah Abdul Kayum Sakir, who was released last year, is now closely involved in planning attacks on British and other Nato forces in Afghanistan.
They say he is operating with impunity from the Pakistani city of Quetta.
The Pentagon says more than 10% of 520 inmates released so far have returned to what it calls terrorism.
M.I.A.
I actually like the British rapper M.I.A.(Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam), who is of Tamil origin. I do have major problems with her support of the Tigers and her politics in general. Her father is quite active in the tigers. As I have said before as a Malayalee , the Tamils are literally my cousins and I am not very happy wth the Singhalese. The violence of the tigers has gotten way out of hand. They have become a criminal gang. She of course says that they are not terrorists.S
She just had a baby with Benjamin Bronfman and but didn't get an Oscar.
I congratulate on her new baby and she should have gotten the Oscar.
Some Czechs have ...
cohones and some do not. This may be emotionally satisfying, but I'm not sure it actually works. I prefer chemical castration for repeat sex offenders.
The Czech Republic has been strongly criticised by Europe's leading human rights body for continuing to surgically castrate male sex offenders.
The Council of Europe said castrations had sometimes been performed without warnings of side effects and on men not capable of making an informed decision.
Those requesting castration feared life in jail if they did not do so, it said.
The Czech government says 94 procedures have been performed in the past 10 years, all in accordance with its laws.
A further 300 Czech men have undergone chemical castration - involving the injection of drugs that suppress the production of male hormones - since 2000, according to government figures.
The Czech Republic has been strongly criticised by Europe's leading human rights body for continuing to surgically castrate male sex offenders.
The Council of Europe said castrations had sometimes been performed without warnings of side effects and on men not capable of making an informed decision.
Those requesting castration feared life in jail if they did not do so, it said.
The Czech government says 94 procedures have been performed in the past 10 years, all in accordance with its laws.
A further 300 Czech men have undergone chemical castration - involving the injection of drugs that suppress the production of male hormones - since 2000, according to government figures.
Why is Cotler a grit?
A speech from Irwin Cotler on anti semitism. Given the actions of the grits including iggy and his war crimes comments and their latest defense of the uber anti semitic caf.. Cotler should join his wife and many other prominent members of the Jewish community and abandon the grits.
What we are witnessing today - and which has been developing incrementally, sometimes imperceptibly, and even indulgently, for some thirty-five years now - is a new sophisticated, globalizing, virulent and even lethal antisemitism, reminiscent of the atmospherics of the 30s, and without parallel or precedent since the end of the Second World War.
The new anti-Jewishness overlaps with classical antisemitism but is distinguishable from it. It found early juridical, and even institutional, expression in the United Nations' 'Zionism is Racism' resolution - which the late US Senator Daniel Moynihan said "gave the abomination of antisemitism the appearance of international legal sanction" - but has gone dramatically beyond it. This new antisemitism almost needs a new vocabulary to define it; however, it can best be identified using a rights-based juridical perspective.
What we are witnessing today - and which has been developing incrementally, sometimes imperceptibly, and even indulgently, for some thirty-five years now - is a new sophisticated, globalizing, virulent and even lethal antisemitism, reminiscent of the atmospherics of the 30s, and without parallel or precedent since the end of the Second World War.
The new anti-Jewishness overlaps with classical antisemitism but is distinguishable from it. It found early juridical, and even institutional, expression in the United Nations' 'Zionism is Racism' resolution - which the late US Senator Daniel Moynihan said "gave the abomination of antisemitism the appearance of international legal sanction" - but has gone dramatically beyond it. This new antisemitism almost needs a new vocabulary to define it; however, it can best be identified using a rights-based juridical perspective.
A little less anti-semitic?
Sid Ryan has apparently not being exposed as a bigot, yet his union still passed a watered down version of the Israeli academic boycott. When I spoke to Paul Moist, national president of cupe, about the bigot ryan, it was interesting he didn't defend ryan at all. ryan is an embarrassment to labour and Canada.
Len Rudner, regional director, Canadian Jewish Congress Ontario Region, said: "While workers face an uncertain economic future and students at one of Canada's largest universities are scrambling to recover from a lengthy strike that has jeopardized the current academic year, it boggles the mind to consider that CUPE Ontario's leadership has no matter more pressing than promoting a resolution that is bigoted on its face and discriminatory in its intent. It is unfair, unbalanced and unhelpful.
"We do not believe that this vote represents the will of the majority of university workers in Ontario any more than Resolution 50 represented the will of CUPE Ontario workers generally. CUPE national president Paul Moist has stated that the academic boycott motion is contrary to the core values of CUPE. We are hopeful that Mr. Moist's leadership on this matter will prevail."
Len Rudner, regional director, Canadian Jewish Congress Ontario Region, said: "While workers face an uncertain economic future and students at one of Canada's largest universities are scrambling to recover from a lengthy strike that has jeopardized the current academic year, it boggles the mind to consider that CUPE Ontario's leadership has no matter more pressing than promoting a resolution that is bigoted on its face and discriminatory in its intent. It is unfair, unbalanced and unhelpful.
"We do not believe that this vote represents the will of the majority of university workers in Ontario any more than Resolution 50 represented the will of CUPE Ontario workers generally. CUPE national president Paul Moist has stated that the academic boycott motion is contrary to the core values of CUPE. We are hopeful that Mr. Moist's leadership on this matter will prevail."
Sunday, February 22, 2009
The Colour Purple
I recently went to see The Colour Purple at the Canon Theater. I hadn't liked the movie much, but I really enjoyed the play. It was a quite a moving experience. It's theme was God is love and God is in all of us. Also that God moves in mysterious ways. There were also themes of redemption and forgiveness. The singing and dancing was excellent. The musical ended in a multi part Amen and I concur The Theater was packed and the audience very appreciative.
A Eurosceptic in charge
Vaclav Klaus gave an amazing speech at the EU parliament which made many lefties walk out. The EU is now run by a Eurosceptic. President Klaus is a great man. He understands the nature and forms of communism which seek to enslave us all.
He is also of course a global warming denier. Environmentostalinism is just another way for the state to control us.
He is also of course a global warming denier. Environmentostalinism is just another way for the state to control us.
Another mcliar sham
Lorrie Goldstein has a good piece on dalton's latest bullying. It is pretty clear that mcliar has no real concern for "green energy" and is only interested in setting up potemkin villages to mask his utter failure as a premier.
Further, for McGuinty and Smitherman to suggest that deciding on the suitability of the Lake Ontario proposal, or any other, is a simple matter of installing wind-testing equipment and making an easy decision, is absurd. These are complex determinations in a relatively new field, so let's hope someone has introduced our Abbott and Costello of the environment to the concept of "net energy."
That is, the difference between the energy a renewable project generates and the non-renewable (usually fossil fuel) energy it takes to build it. Unless you get that right, you end up with wind turbines that never replace the fossil fuel energy it took to manufacture them, before they fall apart.
(Leading Canadian geoscientist J. David Hughes explains this in one of the essays in Carbon Shift, edited by Thomas Homer-Dixon, coming out in April.)
Let's also hope McGuinty and Smitherman have read up on Germany, a world leader in wind farms.
As Spiegel Online recently reported in an article titled "Wind Turbines in Europe Do Nothing for Emissions-Reduction Goals," while Germany produces 15% of its electricity from renewable energy "the new wind turbines and solar cells haven't prohibited the emission of a single gram of CO2 (carbon dioxide)."
This is in part because under the European Union's disastrous Emissions Trading Scheme, built on carbon credits: "Germany was able to sell unused (carbon) certificates across Europe -- to coal companies in countries like Poland or Slovakia ... Thanks to Germany's wind turbines, these countries were then able to emit more greenhouse gases than originally planned."
Further, for McGuinty and Smitherman to suggest that deciding on the suitability of the Lake Ontario proposal, or any other, is a simple matter of installing wind-testing equipment and making an easy decision, is absurd. These are complex determinations in a relatively new field, so let's hope someone has introduced our Abbott and Costello of the environment to the concept of "net energy."
That is, the difference between the energy a renewable project generates and the non-renewable (usually fossil fuel) energy it takes to build it. Unless you get that right, you end up with wind turbines that never replace the fossil fuel energy it took to manufacture them, before they fall apart.
(Leading Canadian geoscientist J. David Hughes explains this in one of the essays in Carbon Shift, edited by Thomas Homer-Dixon, coming out in April.)
Let's also hope McGuinty and Smitherman have read up on Germany, a world leader in wind farms.
As Spiegel Online recently reported in an article titled "Wind Turbines in Europe Do Nothing for Emissions-Reduction Goals," while Germany produces 15% of its electricity from renewable energy "the new wind turbines and solar cells haven't prohibited the emission of a single gram of CO2 (carbon dioxide)."
This is in part because under the European Union's disastrous Emissions Trading Scheme, built on carbon credits: "Germany was able to sell unused (carbon) certificates across Europe -- to coal companies in countries like Poland or Slovakia ... Thanks to Germany's wind turbines, these countries were then able to emit more greenhouse gases than originally planned."
Travesties
I like Tom Stoppard. I recently went to see Travesties at the Soulpepper Theater. It was a very enjoyable 2 hours and 40 minutes.
It is the recollections of a minor British consular official of his time in Zurich in 1917. At that time Stoppard noted that Lenin, Joyce and Tzara were all in Zurich in 1917. It is an extremely cleverly done play. The recollections of the very confused Arthur Carr are reality mixed in with fantasy. The play was very funny , in a very literary way. The acting was excellent. I particularly enjoyed the vaudeville ending and the majic tricks by the character playing James Joyce.. Tickets are going fast, so go see this as soon as you can.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
I pity Warren Kinsella
I'm not sure what is wrong with Kinsella. I hope his friends and family will get him the help he needs. It seems he has continued his wild accusations and invective.
Blessed are They
I recently saw the premiere of Blessed are They, a new play put on by the Infinitheatre in Montreal. It was staged at St James United Church. It is a play about religion , in general and Christianity in particular. I admit my bias. I am a Christian and believe the United Church of Canada has in large part abandoned God and Christ. They are almost as bad as American Unitarians who pray to ,whom it may concern.
I found the play thought provoking , if somewhat offensive. It does the usual Evangelical bashing while glorifying the weak beliefs of the United Church. Its authour, Bruce Smith states that people have different needs. Yet he seems to dismiss the faith of many Evangelicals. He even has a character refer to homicide bombing and link this to Evangelicals.
My friend Deborah Rankin likes the play somewhat better than I did. You should see it and make up your own minds.
Salim Mansur on the Koran
My friend Salim Mansur on the desecration of the Koran by the jihadis and their apologists.
My mentor and friend the late Wilfred Cantwell Smith -- he was perhaps Canada's greatest scholar of Islam -- would remind his audience the Qur'an is to Muslims what Jesus is to Christians. Hence, in terms of belief the Qur'an, not Muhammad, is divine to Muslims as is Jesus for Christians.
The Qur'an categorically instructs there is no compulsion in religion. Muslim thugs read the text even as the Qur'an's instruction fails to register in their hearts and minds while its mysteriousness completely eludes them.
The Qur'an is violated by Muslim thugs. The result is to be found in the misery of the Arab-Muslim world as a broken civilization.
One of the profound mysteries surrounding the divine in its descent into our corrupt world is the response it generates, and the extent to which it is mutilated.
Jesus was crucified. The Qur'an is daily mutilated by Muslim fanatics, and they insist their reading of it is an act of devotion.
My mentor and friend the late Wilfred Cantwell Smith -- he was perhaps Canada's greatest scholar of Islam -- would remind his audience the Qur'an is to Muslims what Jesus is to Christians. Hence, in terms of belief the Qur'an, not Muhammad, is divine to Muslims as is Jesus for Christians.
The Qur'an categorically instructs there is no compulsion in religion. Muslim thugs read the text even as the Qur'an's instruction fails to register in their hearts and minds while its mysteriousness completely eludes them.
The Qur'an is violated by Muslim thugs. The result is to be found in the misery of the Arab-Muslim world as a broken civilization.
One of the profound mysteries surrounding the divine in its descent into our corrupt world is the response it generates, and the extent to which it is mutilated.
Jesus was crucified. The Qur'an is daily mutilated by Muslim fanatics, and they insist their reading of it is an act of devotion.
Detainee rights?
Once again obamessiah has confirmed another Bush policy.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's Justice Department sided with the former Bush administration on Friday, saying detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights.
In a two-sentence court filing, department lawyers said the Obama administration agreed that detainees at Bagram Air Base cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detentions. The filing shocked human rights attorneys.
"The hope we all had in President Obama to lead us on a different path has not turned out as we'd hoped," said Tina Monshipour Foster, a human rights attorney representing a detainee at the Bagram Air Base. "We all expected better."
And furthermore Gitmo's not so bad afterall.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's Justice Department sided with the former Bush administration on Friday, saying detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights.
In a two-sentence court filing, department lawyers said the Obama administration agreed that detainees at Bagram Air Base cannot use U.S. courts to challenge their detentions. The filing shocked human rights attorneys.
"The hope we all had in President Obama to lead us on a different path has not turned out as we'd hoped," said Tina Monshipour Foster, a human rights attorney representing a detainee at the Bagram Air Base. "We all expected better."
And furthermore Gitmo's not so bad afterall.
butcher mugabe celebrates as Zimbabwe burns
It is astonishing to hear this monster praised for his accomplishments. stalin, mao and kim jong il would be proud. I pray that Almighty God will deliver the people of Zimbabwe of this tyrant.
The president was showered with praise despite an economic crisis that has produced the world's highest inflation, last put in July at 231 million percent.
The cholera epidemic, meanwhile, has killed more than 3,759 people while seven million people -- more than half the population -- need emergency food aid, according to UN figures.
"We indeed salute you our commander-in-chief and hero, and further pray that the Almighty God grant you many more years," the defence ministry added.
Mugabe's chief secretary Misheck Sibanda also praised his "visionary leadership, selfless dedication to the ideals of national unity, sovereignty and empowerment of the indigenous majority."
Sibanda said Mugabe has provided an "enduring legacy that should inspire both current and future generations."
State-run newspaper, The Herald, urged other political parties to "salute" Mugabe's legacy, as a top UN humanitarian assessment team was scheduled to arrive in Harare later Saturday on a five-day visit.
The president was showered with praise despite an economic crisis that has produced the world's highest inflation, last put in July at 231 million percent.
The cholera epidemic, meanwhile, has killed more than 3,759 people while seven million people -- more than half the population -- need emergency food aid, according to UN figures.
"We indeed salute you our commander-in-chief and hero, and further pray that the Almighty God grant you many more years," the defence ministry added.
Mugabe's chief secretary Misheck Sibanda also praised his "visionary leadership, selfless dedication to the ideals of national unity, sovereignty and empowerment of the indigenous majority."
Sibanda said Mugabe has provided an "enduring legacy that should inspire both current and future generations."
State-run newspaper, The Herald, urged other political parties to "salute" Mugabe's legacy, as a top UN humanitarian assessment team was scheduled to arrive in Harare later Saturday on a five-day visit.
Miss Julie: Freedom Summer
I went to see the CanStage production of Miss Julie. It is an adaptation of the play by Sewdish playwright August Strindberg. The play is set in the American south just after the signing of the civil rights act. It is a tale of illicit love and power relationships on a number of levels. I found the play quite
compelling. The actors were good. I hope to one day see the original. It is worth seeing, but be warned it was quite violent and very sexual.
Here is an interview with one of the stars.
compelling. The actors were good. I hope to one day see the original. It is worth seeing, but be warned it was quite violent and very sexual.
Here is an interview with one of the stars.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Robson on the Battle of the Plains of Abraham
John Robson asks if the separatists actually understand anything about our history?
On the Plains of Abraham the political fate of the northern part of North America was settled. Not the ethnic fate, the political fate. And it was settled in favour of democracy and toleration. The British government promised francophones "langue, loi et foi" and kept their word. Does anyone think a victorious enlarged New France would have respected the English language, Protestant religion, common law or for that matter self-government?
It is not irrelevant here to observe that Quebec separatists don't even like their own history, let alone ours. They repudiate the Church and the deferential society of 19th-century Quebec in theory and in their personal lives. They call even the Duplessis years "the great darkness." Not one of them would advocate the political, cultural, religious or economic arrangements of 18th-century France.
So what's the problem? Are the Montcalmites sorry they missed their date with Robespierre and Madame Guillotine? Do they wish they had stood with Napoléon at Waterloo, and Napoléon III at Sedan? Quebec nationalists didn't exactly rush to the colours when France was threatened in 1914 or needed rescuing after 1940. What's wrong with British self-government, suppression of the slave trade and defeat of Hitler that you'd rather be part of, say, Vichy France?
The past isn't about competing narratives equally valid for various ethnic groups. It's about truth. The truth is that Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War. And in the process self-government vanquished absolutism on the Plains of Abraham, leaving everyone including Quebecers far better off.
On the Plains of Abraham the political fate of the northern part of North America was settled. Not the ethnic fate, the political fate. And it was settled in favour of democracy and toleration. The British government promised francophones "langue, loi et foi" and kept their word. Does anyone think a victorious enlarged New France would have respected the English language, Protestant religion, common law or for that matter self-government?
It is not irrelevant here to observe that Quebec separatists don't even like their own history, let alone ours. They repudiate the Church and the deferential society of 19th-century Quebec in theory and in their personal lives. They call even the Duplessis years "the great darkness." Not one of them would advocate the political, cultural, religious or economic arrangements of 18th-century France.
So what's the problem? Are the Montcalmites sorry they missed their date with Robespierre and Madame Guillotine? Do they wish they had stood with Napoléon at Waterloo, and Napoléon III at Sedan? Quebec nationalists didn't exactly rush to the colours when France was threatened in 1914 or needed rescuing after 1940. What's wrong with British self-government, suppression of the slave trade and defeat of Hitler that you'd rather be part of, say, Vichy France?
The past isn't about competing narratives equally valid for various ethnic groups. It's about truth. The truth is that Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War. And in the process self-government vanquished absolutism on the Plains of Abraham, leaving everyone including Quebecers far better off.
Krauthammer on obamessiah's foreign policy
Dr Krauthammer finds obamessiah's foreign policy so far, very weak in most instances.
Some are deliberate threats to U.S. interests, others mere probes to ascertain whether the new president has any spine.
Preliminary X-rays are not very encouraging.
Consider the long list of brazen Russian provocations:
(a) Pressuring Kyrgyzstan to shut down the U.S. air base in Manas, an absolutely crucial NATO conduit into Afghanistan.
(b) Announcing the formation of a "rapid reaction force" with six former Soviet republics, a regional Russian-led strike force meant to reassert Russian hegemony in the Muslim belt north of Afghanistan....
Dr Krauthammer thinks obamessiah is backing off his campaign rheotoric, but will have a lot of problems with his base.
He clearly understands that what he said in the campaign about NAFTA was demagoguery. Even in the campaign, he began hinting that it was not serious.
And, clearly, in the middle of a recession, he is worried about protectionism.
His problem is the Democrats at home, because ever since the passing of NAFTA in the '90's, the Democrats in the Congress have drifted to protectionism, and he has to hold them off.
In the stimulus package, he had a provision about buying America, which is a real problem, a threat to all of our allies. It raised a lot of alarm in Europe, and Obama managed to have added a provision in which you buy America, but only if it is in conjunction with our treaties.
So it softened it. It still leaves loopholes, but it softened it, and made peace with the Canadians.
Obama has a talent of throwing a bone to the left but governing in the center, as he will on trade, as he is doing on Guantanamo and interrogation. He leaves a lot of caveats and loopholes. It looks as if he is hanging left, but at least it looks as if, at the same time, he is governing reasonably, particularly on trade.
Some are deliberate threats to U.S. interests, others mere probes to ascertain whether the new president has any spine.
Preliminary X-rays are not very encouraging.
Consider the long list of brazen Russian provocations:
(a) Pressuring Kyrgyzstan to shut down the U.S. air base in Manas, an absolutely crucial NATO conduit into Afghanistan.
(b) Announcing the formation of a "rapid reaction force" with six former Soviet republics, a regional Russian-led strike force meant to reassert Russian hegemony in the Muslim belt north of Afghanistan....
Dr Krauthammer thinks obamessiah is backing off his campaign rheotoric, but will have a lot of problems with his base.
He clearly understands that what he said in the campaign about NAFTA was demagoguery. Even in the campaign, he began hinting that it was not serious.
And, clearly, in the middle of a recession, he is worried about protectionism.
His problem is the Democrats at home, because ever since the passing of NAFTA in the '90's, the Democrats in the Congress have drifted to protectionism, and he has to hold them off.
In the stimulus package, he had a provision about buying America, which is a real problem, a threat to all of our allies. It raised a lot of alarm in Europe, and Obama managed to have added a provision in which you buy America, but only if it is in conjunction with our treaties.
So it softened it. It still leaves loopholes, but it softened it, and made peace with the Canadians.
Obama has a talent of throwing a bone to the left but governing in the center, as he will on trade, as he is doing on Guantanamo and interrogation. He leaves a lot of caveats and loopholes. It looks as if he is hanging left, but at least it looks as if, at the same time, he is governing reasonably, particularly on trade.
Another Stellar speech from HM Minister of Immigration Jason Kenney
HM Minister of Immigration Jason Kenney gave a speech denouncing the new anti-semitism. Jason Kenney is the best of HM Canadian Ministers!
The following is an edited excerpt of Jason Kenney's speech in London, England, at the inaugural conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Commission for Combating Anti-Semitism on Tuesday.
In November, during a trip to Kiev, I paid my respects at the Babi Yar Holocaust site where more than 33,000 Ukrainian Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis over a two-day period in 1941.
For me this brought to mind a new dimension of the unfathomable evil of the Holocaust. Babi Yar was not about the mechanized and perversely discreet killing of the gas chambers. Here, men in uniform lined up and shot 33,000 individual human beings, one by one, non-stop over a period of two days. Even for those who were just following orders there had to be some deep blackness in their hearts, some hatred that allowed them to dehumanize the innocent individual human beings whom they shot.
The following is an edited excerpt of Jason Kenney's speech in London, England, at the inaugural conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Commission for Combating Anti-Semitism on Tuesday.
In November, during a trip to Kiev, I paid my respects at the Babi Yar Holocaust site where more than 33,000 Ukrainian Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis over a two-day period in 1941.
For me this brought to mind a new dimension of the unfathomable evil of the Holocaust. Babi Yar was not about the mechanized and perversely discreet killing of the gas chambers. Here, men in uniform lined up and shot 33,000 individual human beings, one by one, non-stop over a period of two days. Even for those who were just following orders there had to be some deep blackness in their hearts, some hatred that allowed them to dehumanize the innocent individual human beings whom they shot.
More From Tarek Fatah
My friend Tarek Fatah has more on the terrorist loving CAF.
Today, the CAF, a great Canadian institution built as a meeting place for Canadian Arabs of all political and racial hues, has been turned into a mouthpiece for Hamas and Hezbollah in Canada. The CAF used to support the peace process in the Middle East and held healthy debates on the pros and cons of the Oslo peace accord, but these days any backer of the two-state solution is automatically branded a traitor to the Muslim cause.
One need only listen to the words of the current CAF leadership to understand the abyss of mediocrity this federally and provincially funded organization has sunk into. Earlier this week, the current president of the CAF, Khaled Mouammar, called Immigration Minister Jason Kenney a "professional whore" because Mr. Kenney criticized the display and waving of Hamas and Hezbollah flags at a CAF-backed protest rally.
This is not the first time the CAF president has sunk to such low levels of public discourse, and his vitriol is not reserved exclusively for the Tories. During the 2006 Liberal party leadership campaign, the CAF president repeatedly reminded Muslim delegates to the convention that Bob Rae's wife was a Jew. An e-mail distributed by the CAF president said, "Rae's wife is a vice-president of the CJC [Canadian Jewish Congress], a lobby group which supports Israeli apartheid." And a flyer sent to Muslim delegates said, "Bob Rae supports Israeli apartheid. Don't elect a leader who supports apartheid."
In order to prove the point the jihadi apologists at the caf responded.
Morning all,
Tarek Fatah has earned the the perfect description by Late Malcom X and prove to be a very loyal "house Negro".
In this desperate attempt to malign CAF on the pages of Zionist mouth piece National Post, he is saying one thing correct: Yes, CAF awarded him that award, but that was when Tarek Fatah was cheating his way through and pretending to be pro-palestine, pro-social justice, pro-multiculturalis m and Anti-Liberal Party...etc (I am sure that every one knows this sell out, is fully aware of the shameless transformation of this sorry case of human being).
I admitt that I was duped by his fake lies and nominated him for that award.
Now, since he is totally exposed and has no cloth left, He should return that Award as he does not deserve the honour associated with it.
As for Irwin Cotler, Who's been acting as special adviser to israel's gov. in the last several years, even attending a high level conf. in Herzliya to advise israeli officals on how to counter , Acedemia, the media and public opinion re: Israel after summer 2006 War (whihc led to the isarel re-branding campaign).
Here, the Video fro all to see re: Canadian Liberal MP Irwin Cotler Advising Israeli Military
Officials on War Planning
As for Bob Rae, he is a committee member of the Jewish national Fund which was found by israeli court to be a racist group and cheating palestinian out of thir lands.
Ali Mallah
Glad the grits and the dippers, particularly mulcair, the jihadi apologist, are busy defending the caf. It shows exactly who they all really are.
Today, the CAF, a great Canadian institution built as a meeting place for Canadian Arabs of all political and racial hues, has been turned into a mouthpiece for Hamas and Hezbollah in Canada. The CAF used to support the peace process in the Middle East and held healthy debates on the pros and cons of the Oslo peace accord, but these days any backer of the two-state solution is automatically branded a traitor to the Muslim cause.
One need only listen to the words of the current CAF leadership to understand the abyss of mediocrity this federally and provincially funded organization has sunk into. Earlier this week, the current president of the CAF, Khaled Mouammar, called Immigration Minister Jason Kenney a "professional whore" because Mr. Kenney criticized the display and waving of Hamas and Hezbollah flags at a CAF-backed protest rally.
This is not the first time the CAF president has sunk to such low levels of public discourse, and his vitriol is not reserved exclusively for the Tories. During the 2006 Liberal party leadership campaign, the CAF president repeatedly reminded Muslim delegates to the convention that Bob Rae's wife was a Jew. An e-mail distributed by the CAF president said, "Rae's wife is a vice-president of the CJC [Canadian Jewish Congress], a lobby group which supports Israeli apartheid." And a flyer sent to Muslim delegates said, "Bob Rae supports Israeli apartheid. Don't elect a leader who supports apartheid."
In order to prove the point the jihadi apologists at the caf responded.
Morning all,
Tarek Fatah has earned the the perfect description by Late Malcom X and prove to be a very loyal "house Negro".
In this desperate attempt to malign CAF on the pages of Zionist mouth piece National Post, he is saying one thing correct: Yes, CAF awarded him that award, but that was when Tarek Fatah was cheating his way through and pretending to be pro-palestine, pro-social justice, pro-multiculturalis m and Anti-Liberal Party...etc (I am sure that every one knows this sell out, is fully aware of the shameless transformation of this sorry case of human being).
I admitt that I was duped by his fake lies and nominated him for that award.
Now, since he is totally exposed and has no cloth left, He should return that Award as he does not deserve the honour associated with it.
As for Irwin Cotler, Who's been acting as special adviser to israel's gov. in the last several years, even attending a high level conf. in Herzliya to advise israeli officals on how to counter , Acedemia, the media and public opinion re: Israel after summer 2006 War (whihc led to the isarel re-branding campaign).
Here, the Video fro all to see re: Canadian Liberal MP Irwin Cotler Advising Israeli Military
Officials on War Planning
As for Bob Rae, he is a committee member of the Jewish national Fund which was found by israeli court to be a racist group and cheating palestinian out of thir lands.
Ali Mallah
Glad the grits and the dippers, particularly mulcair, the jihadi apologist, are busy defending the caf. It shows exactly who they all really are.
Andre Pratt
I went to see Andre Pratte , another Fraser Institute event. I was supposed to have dinner with him as well, but there was an illness in his family. Andre Pratte is editor of La Presse. He is a one of Les Lucides he advocates chamging the Quebec culture. To stop the massive state apparatus and deal with the fundamental poblems of Quebec. He wasnts a new political culture in Quebec.
he talked about every other province and the Federal government had substantially lowered their debt levels in the last decade, while quebec had not. he talked about how Quebec has giold plated social programs which seem immutable. He also mentioned the silliness over the Plains of Abraham re enecatment. Unlike uber separatist josee legault, he thought that the issue was relatively minor, but the separatists are much more up front and center in these kind of events. No One was there to counter their petty, pathetic arguments.
He said that one of the ways to change the culture is for more people to speak up. Most people who feel as the lucides to , don't come forward. The left and the separatists in the province are much better at getting their message across.
I like most of Pratte's views. he is a federalist, he wnats less government spending and more personal; responsibility. He also wants Quebec to reengage with the federation. The Quebec political culture is to just say no and whine that they don't get enough. He also said that Quebecers would always be nationalists, they are a tiny part of a huge North American population and unlikely to grow, inspite of the tiny baby boom of late.
There was a question and answer period. I said that I was a conservative and that many of my friends were profoundly upset at Quebec's response to HM PM Stephen Harper's open fedralism. I also told him about my friends that wanted Quebec pushed out of Canada. He siad if canada tried to push Quebec out, they would refuse to leave and stay kicking and screaming. everyone laughed. He also said that the Tories lacked a ground presence in Quebec. Counting on the ADQ was inadequate. The Tories need to get their own ground game , that takes time and money. I absolutely agree.
I wish more Quebecers thought like Pratte and the lucides, but unfortunately the statist, socialist, separatist mold has rotted the Quebec political culture for a long time and it will take a long time to change. Those of us who want change will have to continue in whatever small way we can, to speak out, as Mr prattes has said.
Indian Muslims
I mentioned this a while ago. It seems the NYT have actually caught up.
The nine are the Pakistani Muslim terrorists who went on an utterly senseless killing rampage in Mumbai on 26/11 — India’s 9/11 — gunning down more than 170 people, including 33 Muslims, scores of Hindus, as well as Christians and Jews. It was killing for killing’s sake. They didn’t even bother to leave a note.
All nine are still in the morgue because the leadership of India’s Muslim community has called them by their real name — “murderers” not “martyrs” — and is refusing to allow them to be buried in the main Muslim cemetery of Mumbai, the 7.5-acre Bada Kabrastan graveyard, run by the Muslim Jama Masjid Trust.
“People who committed this heinous crime cannot be called Muslim,” Hanif Nalkhande, a spokesman for the trust, told The Times of London. Eventually, one assumes, they will have to be buried, but the Mumbai Muslims remain defiant.
“Indian Muslims are proud of being both Indian and Muslim, and the Mumbai terrorism was a war against both India and Islam,” explained M.J. Akbar, the Indian-Muslim editor of Covert, an Indian investigative journal. “Terrorism has no place in Islamic doctrine. The Koranic term for the killing of innocents is ‘fasad.’ Terrorists are fasadis, not jihadis. In a beautiful verse, the Koran says that the killing of an innocent is akin to slaying the whole community. Since the ... terrorists were neither Indian nor true Muslims, they had no right to an Islamic burial in an Indian Muslim cemetery.”
The nine are the Pakistani Muslim terrorists who went on an utterly senseless killing rampage in Mumbai on 26/11 — India’s 9/11 — gunning down more than 170 people, including 33 Muslims, scores of Hindus, as well as Christians and Jews. It was killing for killing’s sake. They didn’t even bother to leave a note.
All nine are still in the morgue because the leadership of India’s Muslim community has called them by their real name — “murderers” not “martyrs” — and is refusing to allow them to be buried in the main Muslim cemetery of Mumbai, the 7.5-acre Bada Kabrastan graveyard, run by the Muslim Jama Masjid Trust.
“People who committed this heinous crime cannot be called Muslim,” Hanif Nalkhande, a spokesman for the trust, told The Times of London. Eventually, one assumes, they will have to be buried, but the Mumbai Muslims remain defiant.
“Indian Muslims are proud of being both Indian and Muslim, and the Mumbai terrorism was a war against both India and Islam,” explained M.J. Akbar, the Indian-Muslim editor of Covert, an Indian investigative journal. “Terrorism has no place in Islamic doctrine. The Koranic term for the killing of innocents is ‘fasad.’ Terrorists are fasadis, not jihadis. In a beautiful verse, the Koran says that the killing of an innocent is akin to slaying the whole community. Since the ... terrorists were neither Indian nor true Muslims, they had no right to an Islamic burial in an Indian Muslim cemetery.”
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Ann Coulter on historians
Ann discusses academic bias and the rankings of US presidents. And no I don't think Ann Coulter is a white supremacist defender.
Reagan and Eisenhower have recently started to move up in the presidential rankings -- for the same reason George Washington is always ranked one of the best. Historians ought to detest Washington, but his exclusion from the top ranks of these pompous historian polls would expose the absurdity of their rankings.
Putting preposterously overrated presidents like John F. Kennedy or FDR in the same category as Reagan or Washington is like a teenage girl ranking the Jonas Brothers with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles as the three greatest bands of all time.
Liberals may call him a "war criminal," but historians have inadvertently paid Bush a great tribute this week by ranking him as a "below average" president. I can only dream that, someday, no-name, left-wing historians will rank me as one of the all-time worst columnists.
Reagan and Eisenhower have recently started to move up in the presidential rankings -- for the same reason George Washington is always ranked one of the best. Historians ought to detest Washington, but his exclusion from the top ranks of these pompous historian polls would expose the absurdity of their rankings.
Putting preposterously overrated presidents like John F. Kennedy or FDR in the same category as Reagan or Washington is like a teenage girl ranking the Jonas Brothers with the Rolling Stones and the Beatles as the three greatest bands of all time.
Liberals may call him a "war criminal," but historians have inadvertently paid Bush a great tribute this week by ranking him as a "below average" president. I can only dream that, someday, no-name, left-wing historians will rank me as one of the all-time worst columnists.
Not everyone loves obamessiah
Michelle Malkin reports on an ( heaven forbid) a anti- obamessiah rally. I love the signs
Gimme, gimme, gimme: More scenes from the anti-Obama entitlement backlash
By Michelle Malkin • February 19, 2009 12:15 PM
So, a CNBC host is calling for a new “tea party” to protest Barack Obama’s out-of-control spendulus/entitlement culture? We’ve been doing it all week. Seattle, Denver, Mesa. Kansas this weekend. And more outbreaks to come. I’m posting a second round of photos from KFYI’s anti-porkulus protest in Arizona yesterday in opposition to Barack Obama’s visit to push his massive housing entitlement campaign. Thanks to La Mano at Sticker Patch for the pics. The revolt against the savior-based economy continues…
Gimme, gimme, gimme: More scenes from the anti-Obama entitlement backlash
By Michelle Malkin • February 19, 2009 12:15 PM
So, a CNBC host is calling for a new “tea party” to protest Barack Obama’s out-of-control spendulus/entitlement culture? We’ve been doing it all week. Seattle, Denver, Mesa. Kansas this weekend. And more outbreaks to come. I’m posting a second round of photos from KFYI’s anti-porkulus protest in Arizona yesterday in opposition to Barack Obama’s visit to push his massive housing entitlement campaign. Thanks to La Mano at Sticker Patch for the pics. The revolt against the savior-based economy continues…
obamessiah's friends
An interesting article in the NP. Seems with friends like these ...
Nope, it has already become clear that the biggest danger to Mr. Obama comes from his own party, particularly the small-minded zealots on the left side of it, whose interests extend to getting re-elected, pandering to special interests, and not much more.
Nope, it has already become clear that the biggest danger to Mr. Obama comes from his own party, particularly the small-minded zealots on the left side of it, whose interests extend to getting re-elected, pandering to special interests, and not much more.
Cher thinks the GOP almost killed her
I admit it I like some of Cher's music, but she is a leftist loon.
A just sentence?
I often complain about judges in this country, but at least they can appear to be neutral. I hope the judge in this case will reject the "punishment" meted out by the sentencing circle.
After five hours of maudlin rhetoric, including tearful presentations from Pauchay and the mother of his children, Tracey Jimmy, the circle recommended what The Canadian Press called "a life sentence of spiritual guidance and healing" instead of a prison term -- or, in other words, nothing. Only the most naive of observers could possibly be surprised.
The experts, of course, told us before the hearing that Pauchay would not necessarily get off easy. Others claimed that he has suffered enough. Remarkably, we continue to hear this, even though Pauchay repeatedly violated his bail conditions by getting drunk, and is facing a charge of assaulting his common-law wife some five months after his walk in the snow -- shortly after she had given birth to their third child, Miracle. Does it sound to you as though Pauchay has really absorbed the full implications of what he did, and prepared himself appropriately to take responsibility for another human life?
The sentencing circle is theoretically intended to help aboriginal Canadians feel "more connected" to an alien justice system that is inherently unfair to them -- the dubious proof of this being that they are so likely to run afoul of it, and display recidivism. The main benefit is supposedly provided by confronting the accused with the community that has been affected by his crime. In this case, however, the community itself is nearly as dysfunctional as the criminal; not surprisingly, reports from the Pauchay circle suggest that no one did a very good job of representing the children who died, or for, that matter, the real interests of little Miracle.
After five hours of maudlin rhetoric, including tearful presentations from Pauchay and the mother of his children, Tracey Jimmy, the circle recommended what The Canadian Press called "a life sentence of spiritual guidance and healing" instead of a prison term -- or, in other words, nothing. Only the most naive of observers could possibly be surprised.
The experts, of course, told us before the hearing that Pauchay would not necessarily get off easy. Others claimed that he has suffered enough. Remarkably, we continue to hear this, even though Pauchay repeatedly violated his bail conditions by getting drunk, and is facing a charge of assaulting his common-law wife some five months after his walk in the snow -- shortly after she had given birth to their third child, Miracle. Does it sound to you as though Pauchay has really absorbed the full implications of what he did, and prepared himself appropriately to take responsibility for another human life?
The sentencing circle is theoretically intended to help aboriginal Canadians feel "more connected" to an alien justice system that is inherently unfair to them -- the dubious proof of this being that they are so likely to run afoul of it, and display recidivism. The main benefit is supposedly provided by confronting the accused with the community that has been affected by his crime. In this case, however, the community itself is nearly as dysfunctional as the criminal; not surprisingly, reports from the Pauchay circle suggest that no one did a very good job of representing the children who died, or for, that matter, the real interests of little Miracle.
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