“Or, Thomas Friedman in Stripped [sic] Trousers, Silk Stockings and Garters”
Unintentionally hilarious piece in something called the Asian Tribune, by one John Chuckman, “a retired Chief Economist for Texaco Canada” and a “prolific writer” whose work has appeared at “SmirkingChimp” and “Democrats with Spine”
(I dunno, I think “Jealous Much?” — without typos — would have been a more accurate, if less colourful, subhead…)
Some highlights:
“Another Canadian, David Frum, made it all the way to the White House with his custom-tailored scribbling. So too such a genuinely dangerous American as Pat Buchanan. How does a man like Thomas Friedman pick up prizes writing advertising copy for the Pentagon? As I said, loyalty is handsomely rewarded.
Note the use of key words like “imperialist” and “neo-con” throughout. I especially enjoyed Chuckman’s contention that Paul Martin is “essentially a decent man” — “I don’t wish his government any harm…”
It will be interesting to see how, ‘the back door man’, Ignatieff holds up under questioning from the media. Is he all intellectual fluff or does he have balls.
According to this jerk, Ignatieff, “….has been a consistent advocate for Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq – that is, for the mass murder of one hundred thousand innocent civilians and the utter destruction of their country as a decent place to live.”
Notwithstanding the inflated casualty figure, I really didn’t know that Iraq under Saddam was such a great place to live . Thanks for informing me, Mr. (up)Chuckman.
Absolutely incredible how deluded the anti-Chimpy McBushitler crowd is.
Actually, it is very interesting to see how much anger Bush provokes in Lefties: makes them show their true,foaming-at-the-mouth, ravenous, bloodthirsty, lunatic selves. Who else has done this in recent memory, hmm……I know, REAGAN! The previous incarnation of Hitler, that’s right!
And as history shows us, all the Left’s prognostications on Reagan really turned out right, eh? (note:sarcasm)
“It will be interesting to see how, ‘the back door man’, Ignatieff holds up under questioning from the media.”
Your observation implies that the media will grill him. I have my doubts.
What’s more interesting is where the future lies as it relates to Ignatieff and how pundits have argued that he could be a succerssor to Martin.
Won’t that be interesting?
We’ll all be able to point out the MSM’s bias when, through their bias coverage, they suggest that Ignatieff’s views on Iraq should not preclude him from being prime minister.
The Iraq war, just like the GST, free trade (Mulroney) corruption, etc., are all red herrings.
The GST bad under Mulroney; acceptable under the Liberals
Free Trade bad under Mulroney; acceptable under the Liberals
Mulroney corruption must be dealt with by throwing the bums out; Liberal corruption? “Oh, they’re all corrupt, so there’s no point in changing parties.
Yep, I can’t wait until Ignatieff replaces Martin and to see how the MSM argues that the Iraq war – assuming years from now that all troops are out – is a forgotten issue and how we should all just move on.
To imagine Ignatieff as a candidate for Prime Minister is quantum leap. It’s not whether the media will grill him, it’s how he plays the game.
you’ll notice that the author also writes for SmirkingChimp, YellowTimes, Democrats with Spine…
And Asian Tribune subtitles itself: “Striving for Asian Solidarity”
Pierre claims that this guy isn’t a crank, but his comments and writing outlets belie that. Just because he was formerly chief economist for Texaco Canada doesn’t mean he hasn’t caught Hellyer’s disease!
trudeau’s resurrection? God help us another academic reality hick
Chuckman is certainly a prolific writer with articles all over the internet – a one man global marxist content provider. He sees neo-cons under every rock, and running dog lackies of the imperialist Yankess all over the place.
That’s where neocons come from….under rocks.
This same article got flogged to me too, this morning, via e-mail.
I declined to post it. I had read it at another site last night. It appears that Chuckman is a great promoter of his words, a Google link-junkie if you wish. He always uses other blogs and media for his writings.
As for the piece itself, I have no comment. But I do wish he thought more about the topics he writes, than promoting himself.
Left liberal/socialists are in shock re Mikhail Ignatieff & Tsar Paul AdScam Martin. Worthy Axworthy has conflated the schmozzle into two (2) words: >>>>>
Lloyd Axworthy: Ignatieff a “Bush Apologist”
Submitted by Simon on Sat, 2005-12-03 01:28. Ignatieff
Former Liberal Foreign Affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy appears to have called Michael Ignatieff an “apologist for Bush.”
Canadian blogger Dan McKenzie attended a panel discussion that included Mr. Axworthy at the University of Manitoba, of which the former minister is now President, and filed a report about what was said. McKenzie notes: >>>
http://www.simonpole.ca/
This Ignatieff venture looks like big trouble in Librano camp.
Ignatieff spent most his professional life in the UK. He only recently moved to Harvard.
Mark
Ottawa
Lloyd Axworthy is president of The University of Winnipeg, not Manitoba.
Toronto Star EKOS Poll today (not available on-line)
Harper is only leading in the polls in Alberta. The poll also found that 55% of Canadians agreed with the statement that “Harper is just too extreme fo be Canadian Prime Minister: up from 46% from a poll taken just before the election.
Also: The poll conducted surveyed 626 people in downtown Toronto, and is considered accurate to within 92.5, 19 times out 0f 200.
It’s what Harper comes up with…the GST thing is okay but then he starts back to getting tougher on drug crime (all encompassing).This is what is going to resonate with the people? Doesn’t mean a thing to me.
Credit where credit is due????????? But, he’s no moonbat even though he says his reflections are “from … outer space”(his words). ******
Excerpt from:
Simonpola.ca
Two-fisted reflections from around the world and outer space>>>
Ignatieff: Canada’s Prince of Darkness?
Submitted by Simon on Fri, 2005-12-02 17:36. Ignatieff
Strong words. Even stronger when you realize they come from former Texaco Canada chief economist Jack Chuckman. Chuckman has just written an op-ed on Ignatieff that’s getting picked up in various places around the internet. Chuckman says of Ignatieff’s advocacy of torture and approval of the War in Iraq:
These are not views the majority of Canadians support. Since there are many rumors that this unpleasant man is to be groomed as a potential future prime minister, there is great cause for concern.
Read the whole thing.>>>>
The Conservative candidate in Etobicoke did an undergraduate degree in political science at York.
Doesn’t sound like your kind of guy.
Mr. Ignatieff said: “There are necessary rituals of politics.”
So if any rookie Conservatives make a gaffe, we now understand (from someone Liberals tout as future PM material) what is an acceptable answer.
IGNATIEFF wears silk stockings and garters?
What is he, a GIRLY MAN?
That and his ANTI-UKRAINIAN BIAS, too!
Who else’s culture does he feel disdain for?
Yep, he’s the poster boy of “Liberalism”!
Yep, he’d make a great MP and a great PM. Paulie M. should sing the praises of the all-Canadian EGGHEAD we got there!
What’s that awful, sulfurous smell? Oh, it’s hard-boiled egghead!
As we used to say in high school, “Gag me with an entire place setting”.
And, yes, “neo-con” has now widened to include a) anyone Jewish and slightly rightish or b) anyone who’s ever had a positive thought about Israel or c) anyone who’s ever thought, “well, at least it’s nice for the Iraqis that Saddam’s out of power” or d) anyone who had a friend who had a friend in college who was Jewish or e) anyone who votes Republican or f) anyone who thought of voting Republican last year or g) any Canadian who in any way shape or form, even if silently, approves of America and/or her imperialistic behavio[u]r (viz. Mr. Ignatieff above) or h) anyone who’s ever had a secret crush on Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, or Paul Wolfowitz. In other words – it is now officially a thoroughly gutted and meaningless word.
Belinda must be pissed right off at the thought of someone else being considered as the next Lib leader. All that time without knee pads…..
Harper did well here today on his law and order policy. Drugs – street drugs – are a huge problem in Vancouver and he said that the Tories will never agree to use taxpayers’ money to fund free heroin clinics. This was met with great applause from locals who have seen the downtown eastside turn into open heroin and crack use. The free heroin clinics have had modest success. Die-hard junkies don’t use them and property crime here is the highest or second highest in N. America. Also heard a francophone on CPAC saying how much respect she had for a man who kept his word even if it was unpopular with others. Gradually, he’s getting his message out while the Librano$ continue to act as though this election was just a pesky little exercise they had to go through before they could seize absolute power.
In marshalled order set by Lucifer, who left his station last.
Normblog reviews Michael Ignatieff’s book on the moral problems of fighting terrorism. He also examines Conor Gearty’s objection to Ignatieff’s thesis. Ignatieff’s reasoning is very close to my own: that maintaining morality, such as banning torture, comes at a price — a price we should be willing to pay, up to a point. Gearty differs with Ignatieff, arguing that if human rights are held less than absolute or if the concepts of right or wrong are admitted into the debate then we are down the slippery slope to torture in some form.
The moment the human rights discourse moves in this way into the realm of good and evil is the moment when it has fatally compromised its integrity. For once these grand terms are deployed in the discussion, all bets are off as far as equality of esteem is concerned. If we are good and they are bad, then of course equality of esteem as between all of us is ludicrous. Why esteem the evildoer in the same way as he or she who does good? >>> more
http://www.fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/
Iron Lady…
I’d hardly call it a law and order policy…at least not in the broader sense I would like to see.
It was a politicians promise just for you without recognizing reality requires more. Check the results of the US war on drugs. Clip the supply and the price goes up but demand is still there…so more street crime to pay for higher prices.
What is needed also is to reduce the demand and to legalise drugs…good income at the source. Believe me I’m no liberal , not after 30 years in probations and corrections.
Ignatieff vs. Democracy
Submitted by Simon on Sat, 2005-12-03 18:18. Ignatieff
Peter Worthington of the Toronto Sun points out the glaring hypocrisy of a professed defender of human rights shutting down those very rights in Etobicoke-Lakeshore with an uncontested nomination:
Riding members — especially Ukrainian-Canadians (traditionally among Canada’s most loyal citizens) — are upset that they were denied free choice, and claim Ignatieff mocked Ukrainians in one of his books (which he did). And what’s Ignatieff’s reaction to all this?
“A great evening … this is politics,” he said.
Does he insist, as a human rights scholar, that rivals be allowed to contest his acclamation?
Nope. He’s “not going to second-guess the party.”
Hmmm. One of Stalin’s old Bolsheviks couldn’t have said it better.
Ignatieff is getting it from the right and the left, a bad sign for a centrist party like the Liberals. >>>
http://www.simonpole.ca/
For those “non-Ukrainians” reading this, “imperialist” is definitely a word that Ukrainians would use to describe someone with connections to the late czar. My grandfather, a “white russian” (Ukrainian) came to Canada as a boy of I think 12, travelling alone, to get away from that attitude (as did many of his generation).
My mother was absolutely appalled when she heard the details of Ignatieff’s background. My grandparents likely rolled over. Possibly more than once (my grandmother’s parents came over before she was born).
“Believe me I’m no liberal , not after 30 years in probations and corrections.”
I think this is bullshit.Unless you are a jail guard or something like that , if you are a probations officer you are left wing-liberal or not. “Oh those poor criminals, its not their fault they are in trouble”.
Harper at least comes accross as sincere and honest.
When asked if he would use private heath care if his family was sick he said although he had never used private healthcare in the past,he would do whatever it takes to get the medical attention they needed.
It would have been very easy for him to say no because he was against private healthcare, unlike PMPM who ONLY uses private healthcare.
Contrast Harpers response with that of Layton. When asked the same he said that he and his wife had discussed this and if his wife were to get sick he would let her suffer rather than seek private healthcare.
Now, first of all in my view he is an ouright liar-something I have come to expect from all politicians. But to look even further into this it basically says that if he were PM he could care less about sick people having to wait for public heathcare.There would be no private healthcare regardless of the hardship put on the public.
Horny Toad
“Oh those poor criminals, its not their fault they are in trouble”
Get that bs all the time. Been lied to by the best…there are many people who would love for the world to take responsibility for their behaviour.
But I was talkng not about health care but about Harper’s proposal for minimum drug sentences. This doesn’t work anywhere it’s been tried unless you also hit demand and control and regulate distribution.
Did any of you hear Michael Ignatieff on CBC last night. I had to listen to CBC because I couldn’t find any local talk – and it pays to know the enemy.
Boston tenured professor, Haaavard no less. Canadian born but thirty years away. Public intellectual. Heir to PET in charisma and charm. If he can take Etobicoke, the heir apparent to PMPM. Savior of the Lieberal party.
He doesn’t believe that the fact his Conservative opponent has lived in Etobicoke his whole life and that he’s been in Etobicoke since oh say, what time is it, will have any bearing on how people decide to vote.
And as for his thirty years in the UK/US and his comfy tenured position at Haaavard, he prickily announced that he comes to Canada at least twenty five times a year. He’s in great demand in academic circles, you see. And he teaches a three weekcourse in Banff every year!
Apparently, if he wins the seat, he’ll be buying in Etobicoke, but if not, well…… Etobicoke is nice, but it’s no Haaavard.
And finally, in the brouhaha over his ‘anti-Ukrainian’ remarks in an earlier book, he wants to tell us that his ancestors are buried on Ukrainian soil. As if that’s important to a guy that doesn’t even live in the country he’d like to someday run. In any event, he tells the audience that he won’t be working for cultures but for community.
I guess that means Mr. Ignatieff does not agree with multi-culturalism nor the automatic hyphenation that supports it.
Sounds like IGNATIEFF has a HIDDEN AGENDA.
Just add it all up.
And it becomes frightening.
Remember, as a “Liberal” PM, one has near-absolute power. How far would this “charismatic, charming intellectual” go to advance whatever the hell might be his agenda?
The fact that he’s running for the “Liberals” (apparently, he’s not even a bloody member of the party) is all we need to realize that he’s not to be taken at his word. Hence the hidden agenda.
Scary also that he doesn’t get the message that “Liberals” and Etobikokians, particularly those of Ukrainian descent, do not want him to “represent” them.
Canadian Sentinel is accusing the Liberals & Ignatieff of having a hidden agenda. Could this hidden agenda be to oust AdScam Martin?
The Liberals are melting down. Down with the Librano$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Some Liberals want to recall Michael Ignatieff
CTV.ca News Staff
Some Liberals in Toronto’s Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding still want to choose their candidate, instead of simply supporting the party’s choice. They are calling for a new nomination meeting. >>>
via cnews
As I pointed out at my blog, the Star has now published an article that is openly hostile to Martin. If the agenda is hidden, it’s hidden in plain view.
It’s going to be tough to keep Canadian Conservatives from falling into the trap the Desmarais Powercor oligarchy has set for them with Prof. “Iggy”…he looks and talks like a neo-con but he’s a wholey owned subsidiary of Powercor Inc…like Mulrooney, Martin, Rea and Chretien.
His pal Bob Rae brought him into the powercor cartel and he is coronated the cartel’s judas goat when Martin drops the gold ring of Mordor. They hope he pulls some fiscal conservative liberals back to the party and attracts soft PC voters….perfect dark horse candidate for the upcomming liberal leadership…but he needs a seat and he needs an contrived saleable image…which the liberal media and academia will provide when Powecor fixers pull the strings….the current planted article by a US Marxist is perfect fodder to get us thinking of him as a conservative in a liberal shirt….the fact is he is a China lover and will open the trade gates with the Chi-coms….just as the Desmarais-PMO Cartel wants to enhance their Asian investment portfolio.
The natural response to Layton’s assertion that they wouldn’t jump to the front of the queue for healthcare should have been – if we had a REAL impartial media – well, how come you and Olivia lived in subsidized Ontario housing while you were both pulling in obscene salaries as Toronto city councillors? Did I miss it, or did somebody ask that question? There’s a list for subsidized housing, so presumably, they must have got to the front of the line somehow. Couldn’t have been they used their connections, could it?
Amarjit Ignatieff and Mikhail Grewal; Truth or Librano$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Tape this, AdScam Martin, Reid, & Earnscliffe Grope…..>>>>>
Big fight for nomination in Alta. Liberal riding
Canadian Press
EDMONTON � A 61-year-old who works driving a transit van for the physically disabled has won the Liberal nomination in one of only two Alberta seats the party took in the last federal election.
Amarjit Grewal, 61, was chosen on the second ballot to succeed veteran MP David Kilgour in Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont. >>>
ctv.ca via bourque
Yes, those renowned New England Gospel Clerics. ROFLMAO…since when? The 40’s, as in the 1840’s?
When Loonbats use American similes it sure would help if the dullards would use appropriate ones. Mr. (up)Chuckman would be advised to use the Baptists the next time he invokes stodgy, Gospel preachers secure in their tenure. Ask Ted Rall, those are the required targets of L3 screeds.
Or perhaps he was speaking about The AME, which does have strength in New England and is a long established Gospel Church? No, the African Methodist Episcopal is Black and hence immune from the rants of Leftists whose descent into shrill, unholy madness has been hastened by the mere existence of Chimpy McBusHitler…The World’s Dumbest Dictator.
How many Americans are really going to buy the idea that Harvard is a nest of Conservative Moneyed Interests…and Gospel Christian to boot? That Chuckman thinks so is obvious and that is an indication of exactly how absurd the man is. As if his endorsement of Saddam’s Iraq as a decent place to live wasn’t clue enough that this Loonbat is, well, loony.
Finally, Chuckman compares a Riding to a Congressional District. In a very limited sense they are. But in terms of the affect on a nation they are wildly apart. Because of an effectual Senate a US Congressman’s power is limited by his sonority and what the 400 odd other congressmen do. As well as what the Senate and the President have in mind.
An MP, and his or her party, has far more immediate power to change the direction a nation takes. The United State’s representative republic, with it’s power balance between the House, the Senate and the Executive, is far less subject to the immediate will of the people.
The American voter splits his power between three people…his congressional representative, his Senator and his President. In commonwealth models the voter puts all his marbles in one representative’s pocket. So what happens in Etobicoke-Lakeshore is, indeed, an important race to watch. As are they all.
When Loonbats bark about America.
John Chuckman is a Loonbat. Distinguished from the American Moonbat by his Canadian nesting place. A frequent contributor to such models of lucid thought as YellowTimes, CounterPunch, SmirkingChimp, Asian Tribune, and Democrats with Spine he has had …
This long article (two parts) on Ignatieff from the Ottawa Citizen is actually worth reading. A main point is that Ignatieff, reluctantly, had come to believe the liberalism must from time-to-time use military force and the an unofficial US empire may be a Good Thing. Must make Lloyd “Soft Power” Axworthy squirm–and many, many other Liberals.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/citizensweekly/story.html?id=baeac30d-5b08-4c4e-84d5-bcc1d4068263
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/citizensweekly/story.html?id=8bb16ad2-eaad-4efe-9574-4e32a6ad6cf0
Mark
Ottawa
Sounds Machiavellian to me…a government with teeth.
Yhe MSM will not give Ignatieff a hard time. This is a given. Mr Dithers manipulation of the internal fiberal system has gotten rid of Copps & Cretien. Good things come in threes. I enjoy watching Mr Dithers tinkering at his own demise. Long live democracy.
Take note Canadian Sentinel,most of the people kicked out of the fiberal party after the Gomery report weren’t card carrying liberals either.
I’m actually surprised the Liberals picked him – his pedigree seems far more in keeping with the conservative platform. He might be the only Liberal candidate on the table who can make a conservative look good to the typical Ontario liberal voter … though it’s more likely that his arrogance will undo him rather than his beliefs. This will definately be a riding worth watching on election night. Disgruntled liberals are going to go somewhere … some CPC some NDP. Perhaps it’s one less liberal seat in Ontario … and everyone will count.
They’re counting on Iggy Flop to speak in Trudeau-like vague, faintly cerebral sentences that put most folks to sleep. That way, they’ll be impressed by somebody who can use big words and dazzle with big visions that, Trudeau-like, are more delusions or hallucinations. Saw John Kerry on PBS a while ago – reminded me of Iggy. And Martin, with his overblown “I Love Canada” reminiscent of Molson ads, is morphing into Howard Dean. I can see it. And it ain’t pretty.
Toad:
As a fellow (former) P.O., I and most of my ex-colleagues are definitely not left-wing or liberal. This came as a surprise to me at the outset of my career: how tough most of the P.O.’s were in their attitude towrads crime and social ills.
You may not believe it and there are exzceptions, but it is true.
People at the John Howard Society and others like that, however, are another story…
“his ancestors are buried on Ukrainian soil” – what, did the serfs revolt?
The Mohammedans no longer “love” Paul and Mikhail Ignatieff. Ignatieff is a “bully”. They have turned & endorsed the party of Jack & Svend. >>>>
“The MCC statement said if Muslim Canadians have any doubt over the true intentions of Paul Martin and the Liberal Party, they should look no further than the parachuting of Michael Ignatieff into the riding of Etobicoke Lakeshore.
The MCC considers Mr. Ignatieff, who celebrated the illegal invasion of Iraq and supported the torture of Muslims, as George Bush’s Trojan Horse into Canada. The statement said Mr. Ignatieff may try to masquerade as a progressive intellectual, but he cannot fool Muslim Canadians who are familiar with his endorsement of the Bush Agenda and his support of torture.
The MCC statement said, “Mr. Ignatieff brings to Canada the greed and corporate agenda of the current US administration and we consider him to be a threat to Canadian values. The fact that Paul Martin’s Liberal Party machinery would manipulate his candidacy and allow him to bully his way into Canadian politics, should be a clear message to all Canadians, particularly Muslim Canadians. Paul Martin and the Liberals are pushing Canada towards the integration with the USA while deceiving Canadians that they are doing the opposite.” >>
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1534432/posts
Strategic voting is one thing, but ethnic special interests open up a whole other can of worms. For all that, I don’t care what it takes to defeat the Liberals, just do it.
Yeah, the enemy of my enemy is not my friend, Maz.
I really don’t care what the fuck that nest of vipers, the MCC, says. Just an apologist for Muslim terrorism and aggression around the world. Having said that, it’s obvious we can all disagree about Iggy’s writings.
I think the point here is the process or lack thereof, and the evil beast he has lashed his saddle to….
“Prince of Darkness”
I believe that title belongs to someone else.
http://www.randomhouse.ca/readmag/page44.htm