Michael Harris' American Witchhunt

Mr Harris has a touching belief that terrorism should be fought almost exclusively in the courts and that no extraordinary legal (or intelligence) steps need or should be taken.

Mark
Ottawa

OK. I originally put this comment in another thread. But, since it is more appropriate here, I will put it in this one as well...

Actually, I am a little more "sympathetic" to the Mike Harris article. No, I don't believe that it's all smoke and mirrors and that there is no terrorist threat. And no, I don't think that Bush and company are deliberately setting out on a witch-hunt. But, I am concerned that, just as it was with McCarthy, in 50 years, it may look that way.

When people put down and make fun of McCarthy, my usual response is to admit that, from today's point of view, it does seem to have been something that would fall into the range between silly paranoia and draconian fear-mongering. However, at the time and in the proper context, I kind of understand how McCarthy and his supporters must have felt. In 1945, only the Soviet Union was communist. By 1954, two-thirds of the world was under communist control (with more coming). And, in all cases, it was the result of an armed takeover by a minority with Russian-supplied weapons. Who could blame people in America for suspecting such an attempt might occur in their country. After all, the Depression had whipped up a good deal of mis-led "communist sympathizers."

Today, we have terrorist attacks and leftist hug-a-terrorist people within our midst. So, who could blame the U.S. administration for reacting with what may indeed (someday in the future - from a historical perspective) look like a witch-hunt? Already the US has become a "May I haff yer papers pleeez" country. That kind of makes me feel like the Islamic nut-jobs are scoring little victories.

Where I differ from Mike Harris-types and even the Bush Administration is on the solution. The actions of McCarthy and his ilk came about because rather than take an aggressive posture with external communists and deal with them decisively before they had nuclear capabilities, the US government took a defensive posture and thus, had nowhere else to go but to become fearful and paranoid about what may be going on in their own country.

If history does look back on this time and claim that the US administration conducted poorly targeted "witch-hunts" it will be for the same reason. We are not dealing with the Islamic states that sponsor terrorism aggressively and immediately. Instead we are taking too defensive a posture.

In other words, "Let's do whatever it takes to crush the capacity of these states that promote and harbour terrorist ideals and pave them over (if necessary) and the repercussions (however undesirable) will be dealt with more quickly and painlessly than if we take a defensive stance."

The author is obviously perturbed, hence potentially dangerous. Maybe 3-5 years at Gitmo Spa & Resort would make him understand a thing or two...

Some witch-hunters have witches & communists, some have McCarthy, President Bush, Christians, Prime Minister Harper, etc.

You know, nothing you could say or do will change the (closed) mind of that woman, except maybe the smile on the face of that young lad with the beard and bulky coat sitting next to her on the train as he plays with the switch in his hand...

And dear Mr Harris, as so often, cannot get basic facts right. "Tailgunner Joe" was a Senator:

"Feb. 22 [1950] at the suggestion of Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas, the Tyding Committee was created of 5 members, a subcommittee of the Foreign Relations Committee, to investigate McCarthy's accusations..."
history.acusd.edu/gen/20th/1950s/mccarthy.html

The Committee on Un-American Activities was a House of Representatives committee with which Sen. McCarthy was not involved.
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAhuac.htm

And the Rosenbergs were convicted in 1951, not 1950.
experts.about.com/e/e/et/Ethel_and_Julius_Rosenberg.htm

Mark
Ottawa

Mark C, we’ve had a go at this before. I don’t know for sure but I still think Harris is like Andrew Sullivan – a one issue guy – same sex marriage, that causes him to short circuit.

Sullivan was in favour of Iraq until Bush took a position on SSM that Sullivan didn’t like. Now it’s either his AIDS medication or blind hatred that have caused Sullivan to go off the rails.

Similarly I’ve heard Harris on CFRA and he can be sensibly conservative until the subject of SSM comes up and then he goes into his anti-Harper witch-hunt screed.

Also, I agree with bryceman, we’re way too soft. We essentially adopt a harbouring state instead of crushing them.

when you can't handle reality, you create stories about invented conspiracies ?

"Next to Christmas and corporate fraud, fear is the biggest business in America."

Yeah and who peddles it?

Shoot the messenger. I don't think witch hunts are the problem, it's the messenger. They fall all over themselves for breaking news and headlines. S.T.F.U. and wait for a press release.

I find it an absolute brand new level of hypocracy Harris has acheived by writing a fear-mongering editorial about the evils of fear-mongering in the West....Astoundingly hypocritical!

Page one of the Frank Luntz playbook: in any discussion of "terrorism" ALWAYS reference 9/11. Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame.

P.S. anyone else notice how Harper has consistently performed suboptimally since Luntz came to Ottawa to advise him how to win a majority? Yes, yes it all makes sense now...

"OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper came under attack from opposition critics Monday who charged he listens to Republican pollsters instead of Canadians.

"I think if Mr. Harper was listening to Canadians instead of American right-wing pollsters, he would be taking very different positions on issues," said New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton."

www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=c4a55c5d-1686-4e7b-b6e5-405bffce4748&k=14446&p=1

I listen to Mike Harris on CFRA a lot and he's quite OK - except that he is still in a September 10th mindset.

Why do some people, and, as Mike demonstrates, it's not just the loony left, just not get it? It's like they cannot believe barbarians really do want to kill them in spite of the fact that they are so nice and reasonable. In fact it's precisely because of that.

Let's review, shall we:

Number of Chinese and Russian citizens murdered by their own Communist governments (est. from the book Death by Government): approximately 95,000,000 (not counting those killed in Cuba or Vietnam, to name two other Communist countries)

Number of Communists executed by Joe McCarthy:
0

The columnist makes the familiar charge that McCarthy "ruined lives". Being a member of the Communist Party was illegal under the Smith Act. We may or may not find that draconian, but it was a well known fact. So repsonsibility for ruining one's life has to be one's own.

As for the Hollywood 10, which McCarthy had nothing to do with, every last one of the accused really was a communist (see "illegal" above) and lied about it (so much for having the courage of their convictions). Each parleyed his subsequent noteriety into a successful writing career (albeit under fake names; they still got paid), even though most of them were actually hacks.

That Communists had infiltrated the highest levels of government, were spying on military installations, etc is a fact now collaborated by the Venona intercepts and other declassified Soviet documents.

That some Leftists insist on getting their "news" from old Arthur Miller plays and poorly documented, singular events from the 17th century, rather than widely publicized discoveries from the 1990s, says a great deal about them, none of it very surprising.

If the Jihadists win and take over the west, the left will simply want to make a movie about starring idiots like Geoge Clooney or Sean Penn ... that is if the mullas will agree to the funding.

The rest of us will be in the woods lobbing missiles into Torontostan.

Harris can be okay but he loses all rationality when it comes to anything dealing with George Bush.

FYI: McCarthy was right.

If the Jihadists win and take over the west, the left will simply want to make a movie about starring idiots like Geoge Clooney or Sean Penn ... that is if the mullas will agree to the funding.

The rest of us will be in the woods lobbing missiles into Torontostan.

"Some men you just cain't reach."
-- Cool Hand Luke

Well, since he got everything wrong about McCarthy, his so-called opinion doesn't really hang together very well. Just because you make stuff up and get it printed, doesn't mean it's true.

"McCarthy was right" . It's just that his methods were wrong. Too bad, because it gave a bad name to conservativism.

Me bad, I read M Harris' rant and with a quick look at the picture thought he was a she. Same observation though, won't believe in terrorists until he is in valhala waiting for the guy in fromt of him to finish picking out his goats... err virgins.

If Canada had gone through our own communist witch hunts, we would not be saddled with the likes of Layton, Hargrove, Trudeau, Chretien etc.
enough

I would like whatever Harris is high on!

Next time full scale war breaks out (and it will), it must become obligatory to put wusses like little Mikey in the trenches.

Mikey has a cooking show, also. One caller-in complained that the crust on Mikey's chicken-pot pie recipe was flaky and too brown. Mikey said it was George's fault.

Epitaph for Mikey:

Here lies Aunty-American. ...-

Sermon for today:

List of Islamic Terror Attacks from

9/11/01 to 12/31/03

LINE
This is a partial list of the attacks that have taken place in the name of Islam since September 11th. The entries on this list are from that day through the end of 2003 (not including the 9/11attacks on America).

To view the religiously-motivated Islamic terrorist attacks for subsequent years, go to the main page and follow the links. ...-
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/attacks-2001-2003.htm

Wow. Just when I thought the logic of the left could not further regress...

Just over two hundred years ago (when Canada was ruled by the British) the British Army committed numerous atrocities in the Napoleanic War in the Carribean. The end result was that Canada (because after all, Canada and Britain were the same. And don't claim otherwise, Canadians are so quick to point out that "Canada" won the War of 1812, even though it was in reality the British Army, No double standards now!) cornered the market on SLAVERY.

THUS (using little Mikey's logic) Canadians are still guilty of SLAVERY. They are no different today than they were in 1806.

Has anyone thought for a moment that going overboard on security for air flight helps to keep the industry afloat?? My wife fly's all over North America and Europe from Ottawa...she said to me that it makes her feel better about flying knowing that there is a zero tollerance standard, and, although some trips she probably could get away with con-calls, she still feels safe flying and meeting clients face to face. I like Mr Harris, but, maybe he should ask the tens of thousands who keep the industry going who fly from New York to Dublin to Italy to India to Heathrow to Costa Rica etc how they feel about "overboard security"???

Anybody out there have a photo of McCarthy dressed in drag? (The feds left him alone because he had the 'goods' on all of them.) Bwahahahaha!

I have listened to Michael Harris on the net and he does have a hate on for George Bush and Americans. He also doesn't like Stephen Harper much either, because he invited SH to call in several times, and SH didn't. Also, when people call in with a differing opinion, he's curt, patronizing, and arrogant. But, when someone calls in who agrees with him, they stay on the line for a long time (it's been upto 10 min) and he relishes in their adoration.

el al has been doing their security like that for a long time and it is very effective. quite frankly, it should be done with profiling. if you have a problem with that take a freakin bus.

Davie boy it was Hoover not MaCarty that is said to have dressed in drag.

Not sure what happened in Michael Harris' mind but he sure has hate on for George Bush because of the Iraq war and Stephen Harper for siding with our traditional allies, who all thought it was the right thing to do with information available on WMD's. This type of obsession against something of any sort is unusual and not helpful to the obsessor or the obsessed.It's just plain unfortunate that Mr.Harris can't get over what's past and control his obsession with the Iraq war, it can't be changed, it has happened. He is now working to put a very good Prime Minister down here in Canada with his continued rants. If he can't control his obsession, we will have to shut him out.Many of us have, he is a friend of the left at this point , which he often decries. Guess it's a case for a psychoanalyist to figure this one out. Haven't seen the likes in memory.

Snakey on a plane or snake on a plane?

One would think Harris would have at the very least found out that the "59 year old lady" has a name.

It is Catherine Mayo and here is some info.

Mayo went to Pakistan to meet her fiance (whom she "met" online around 9/11/01) in 2003.

He could not get a visa to come to the US.

She lived off and on in Pakistan , seeking in her own words the "full muslim experience".

She published numerous anti-American articles in the Pakistani press during that time, including a published "letter" to the prisoners at Gitmo.

This is from the Boston Globe,

"It was March 2003, the eve of the US invasion of Iraq, and into the office of dumbfounded Pakistani newspaper editor Najam Sethi walked an articulate, fresh-faced Vermont woman, saying she wanted to vent her anger at America in his pages.

Violence-plagued Lahore teemed with anti-American sentiment, yet Catherine C. Mayo seemed to move about with ease, Sethi recalled. And writing for the Daily Times of Pakistan, Mayo told about her 1960s activism. About her love of Cat Stevens and Howard Dean. About the mountains and lakes of her native Vermont. And about her shame and anger at America."

after the end of the cold war and the russians opened their vaults, it came out that they had no code name for Ethel Rosenberg.

because she wasnt a spy.

nor was she a kowtowist to the circular jail-house-snitch logic of the mccarthy hearings for instance in which they would 'go easy' on you if you just 'give us the names'.

she refused to finger her husband julius but was in turn fingered by greenglass. the rest is history.

F* mccarthy.

Actually, I'm rather glad the Michigan judge pinned back the NSA's ears regarding warrantless wiretaps. It's easy enough for them to get a warrant if they want one; they'd just prefer not to bother. I'm paranoid enough that I'm not going to sign off on Big Brother because of the terrorists; we might eventually get rid of them, but once we let him in, he's here to stay.

RobertJ

You're at the wrong blog.

You made a right turn at Kos and went backwards at DU.

Please refrain from any conspiracy theories on your way out.

Now hit the road.

Another point , Michael Harris' show on CFRA is always flooded with Muslims when the subject of Iraq war comes up, which is as often as anyone happens to mention the name Bush and he gives them plenty of time. His own preambles to his shows must leave a lot of people fed up with being on hold as well. Don't know how the show stands in ratings.

I had heard, I don't know if it is true, but I had heard that John F. Kennedy was the co-council sponsor of the McCarthy hearings/trials. Anyone know about that?

I was also in Salem Mass. in 1994 and had a chance to tour the town. I don't remember anything about the girls been taken around from town to town to hunt witches, could be wrong, but I am pretty sure that part never happened. I think the author is confussed with the European witch hunts, inwhich entire towns were sometimes wiped out after the hunts.

Interestingly, 19 people were hung - none were burned in Salem - and one man was crushed to death by being placed between two large slabs of oak and having rocks piled on top of him. The reason this man was crushed was that the town wanted to extract a confession from him. You see, the law was that if a person confessed to witchcraft the local town could seize his property, it would not be passed to his family after his death. The man was very successful and the town wanted his land and money. He never confessed.

I will not bend over for Islamofascist scum.
Nor will I quietly stand by while my own government turns a blind eye to them. Harris is twisted in his assertion that increased efforts at surveilance equals a so called "Big Brother State".

A hard fact is the nature of the people who pose these threats...they will gladly hold their own "Witch Hunts" against anyone who they deem to be unfit according to their own perverted moral sense.
How many innocents have been tortured, mutilated, murdered by the edicts of mullahs and immams??

I will not stand by and listen to the likes of him call for the endangerment of our people and nations.

OMMAG

I suspect history would have recorded the Salem witch trials somewhat differently if one of the witches, rather than being a defenseless scapegoat to the town's inner turmoil, actually pulled out a wand, and with one swipe, caused the townhall to crumble killing all inside.

Curious why you might post the September 11, 2001 victims alongside this post. What motive? Why have you not also posted a list of the 10's of thousands of Iraqis killed since March 2003? Or a list of Israelis killed in the past month? Or ...

Not sure what happened to Michael Harris. He used to have a regular column in the TorSun and then he and Puffy Duffy did a weekend thing on CTV for a while. He always seemed a very rightwing, hard on crime, tough on Lib politicians kind of guy. Musta got bitten by a camel... (I'm currently watching Spiderman)

Well Kate, I haven't posted here for a while but I just wanted to thank you for your writing. This posting is a case in point. You didn't write any of it, but simply put the writing beside the list of names. Well done!
Despite the guy above me (Richard) who just doesn't seem to get it, you've written a great op-ed without writing anything!
Good for you!

Michael Harris,
Your time is up. Either the Islamomurderers will force the issue or the response to them will.

Anti-Americanism today is the equivalent to the KKK of yesterday.

Bye bye.

Also surprised there wasn't more comment about the "gotcha" juxtaposition. You're much too clever for saskaplain.

you're wrong bacardi the most poignant point of the post was Kate's own words, beware the witch hunters.

Today's Islamic threat cannot be compared with Salem witches or McCarthy's communist fixation.

Neither massacred thousands of Americans. Neither went on to take over, or work to take over, dozens of Countries on this planet. Neither sacrificed their children for their fanatical cause.

This article is worthless crap.

But what were the "root causes" of Salem and McCarthy?

Theology & collectivism.

trent: it was Robert Kennedy the co-council, in his early days of practicing law as an employee of the government.

he redeemed himself when he again became a govt employee this time as attorney general in jfk's administration, by tripling the number of indictments against organized crime.

the numbers dropped down to 'normal' after he left that post and stayed that way when he stopped a bullet in L.A.

yo, dougie doug: kos? DU? and the biggie: conspiracy theories?

the only conspiracy was the one to frame Ethel Rosenberg. she did NOT have a code name with the kgb because she was NOT a spy for the russians. period.

nor was she a kowtowist to the circular jail-house-snitch logic of the mccarthy hearings for instance in which they would 'go easy' on you if you just 'give us the names'.

nor was she a kowtowist to the circular jail-house-snitch logic of the mccarthy hearings for instance in which they would 'go easy' on you if you just 'give us the names'.

nor was she a kowtowist to the circular jail-house-snitch logic of the mccarthy hearings for instance in which they would 'go easy' on you if you just 'give us the names'.

nor was she a kowtowist to the circular jail-house-snitch logic of the mccarthy hearings for instance in which they would 'go easy' on you if you just 'give us the names'.

nor was she a kowtowist to the circular jail-house-snitch logic of the mccarthy hearings for instance in which they would 'go easy' on you if you just 'give us the names'.

nor was she a kowtowist to the circular jail-house-snitch logic of the mccarthy hearings for instance in which they would 'go easy' on you if you just 'give us the names'.

I win !!!