Getting the warm fuzzies yet?
It is the complaints that are not made that give her more concern.
“I would say that for a province as large and as diverse as Ontario, to have 2,500 formal complaints a year, that that’s a very low level,” the activist lawyer and former mayor of Toronto said. In the long term she would like to see human rights complaints decrease, but in the interim they “may have to spike.”
“Barbara Hall is a notoriously stupid woman, but that doesn’t make the explicit import of her words any less disturbing: that she intends for the OHRC to manufacture, in-house, human rights complaints…”
Macleans fires back – “Protest while you still can.”
It appears that the ultimate solution to this sorry situation is for the Supreme Court of Canada to reconsider its support of Section 13(1) in light of all that has transpired since 1990. The fears of the dissenters have come true, and then some. Canada needs an unambiguous reaffirmation of the right to freedom of expression, and assurance that reasonable limits on free speech are in fact reasonable.
In the meantime, Parliament should act to abolish Section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act on the grounds that it applies a hopelessly vague and subjective limit on freedom of expression. That freedom, as the Supreme Court has repeatedly acknowledged, is absolutely fundamental to a healthy democracy. The system of human rights star chambers has wandered far beyond the “reasonable limits” envisioned by Parliament and the Charter, and no amount of tinkering will do. Liberal MP Keith Martin recently tabled a motion to eliminate Section 13(1) from the Canadian Human Rights Act. That motion needs to be acted upon through legislation. The sooner the better.
The film industry is worried that they may not receive money to support their efforts but where were they when the Human Rights Commissions attacked freedom of speech?…
Ask the Scold!
And as always, there’s much more at Free Mark Steyn, including cool tshirts!
I ditched my subscription to Macleans magazine many years ago. I am now going to subscribe again! I would encourage anyone who agrees with their position on free speech to do the same.
Note to self: First thing Monday AM, Subscribe to ” Macleans”
“note to self” Send money to Kate’s free speech defense fund. “DONE”
CTV is reporting a select group of reporters were briefed on documents to be released tomorrow from the raid. Keith Boag had no idea why he was not among the choses, Mike Duffy was. He says this gives the conservatives time to shape the story. Bet tomorrow the cbc will be negative all day long. Notice the smirk on Boag’s face as he answers the question. It seems the conservatives had 2 hotel rooms and switched back and forth, poor waiting media didn’t get a pic of those leaving the rooms, they went out the fire escape.
Tomorrow news should be fun.
Have not laughed so much in a long time reading http://askthescold.blogspot.com/. Hilarious. But scary that it’s all so close to being true.
less is more, the most common type of life on earth.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
“More significant is the fact that gas hydrates concentrate 164 times the energy of the same amount of natural gas.
And gas hydrate fields are found in abundance under the coastal waters of every continent. Calculations suggest there’s more energy in gas hydrates than in coal, oil and conventional gas combined.”
“Scientists unlock frozen natural gas
Methane hydrate deposits are vast potential energy source; researchers had problems with a consistent flow of thawed gas
A remote drilling rig high in the Mackenzie Delta has become the site of a breakthrough that could one day revolutionize the world’s energy supply.
For the first time, Canadian and Japanese researchers have managed to efficiently produce a constant stream of natural gas from ice-like gas hydrates that, worldwide, dwarf all known fossil fuel deposits combined.
“We were able to sustain flow,” said Scott Dallimore, the Geological Survey of Canada researcher in charge of the remote Mallik drilling program. “It worked.””
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2004521/posts
It is a surprise to most who think of viruses simply as parasites that they make up the largest component of biomass on this planet (Bamford 2003, Research in Microbiology 154; 231-236). So far every living organism that has been studied to date has had at least one virus associated with it, and viruses out number all other life forms by at least an order of magnitude (Ackerman 2003, Research in Microbiology 154; 245-251). When considering that not only is viral presence on this planet all encompassing, but every sequenced organism to date has a major component of its genome that is viral in origin, it becomes apparent that viruses are integral players in the evolution of what we presently consider life.
dont feel so bad about innoculations or government, its omnipresent.
Make no mistake. What Barbara Hall is proposing is state totalitarianism, where an unelected and unaccountable set of bureaucrats decide for themselves what you, the citizen, may think and say.
This is a clear violation of our charter rights. Hall has already done this, in her judgment that Macleans is ‘Islamophobic’. She made this judgment, as an official government statement, despite the clear legal facts that:
1)the Ontario HRC had no legal right to review and therefore judge the content of Macleans;
2)she made this official judgment in violation of civil and criminal law, and charter rights, which requires that the defense be given a hearing. There was no hearing from Macleans. The OHRC made the judgment without any defense.
The above two factors are signs of a totalitarian regime. We expect this in Communist countries, in fascist countries, in dictatorships.
Wake up, Canadians. This happened here. In Canada.
And now, the OHRC has plans to increase its above two powers; the power to make judgments that violate our fundamental charter right of freedom of speech and to make judgments without the defense’s statements.
The OHRC now plans to search people’s speech/writings on its own, and evaluate this speech/writings on its own. No-one needs to be ‘offended’, no-one needs to make a complaint. Any and all could find the speech/writing perfectly acceptable. But, if the OHRC bureaucrats don’t like what you’ve said/written, they’ll charge you. On their own.
This is totalitarianism. Clear and simple. In Canada.
Quote from ET: This is totalitarianism. Clear and simple. In Canada.
You are correct, but what is truely frightening is this isn’t the ELECTED government enforcing communist doctorine it’s low level unelected bureaurats deciding what’s best for society at large. They only consult with the snot and bawlers special interest groups because they tell the leftarded commies what they want to hear about race and bigotry. These bureaurats have apparently become paid activist on the tax payers dime.
Were the hell is the Provincial leaders, why are they not stopping the spread of communist doctorine in Canada?
I sent this to “Dalton”–that’s the only name given–McGuinty at his web site:
‘My husband and I are outraged by the undemocratic and arrogant words and actions of the Ontario Human Rights (sic) Commission (OHRC) regarding both the case against Macleans magazine and the OHRC’s plans for expanding its mandate in June, 2008.
‘ “Commissar” Barbara Hall is a dangerous person: her plan to actively root out and stifle the free speech of law-abiding Ontarians is Orwellian and would fit just fine in a Communist gulag. Her weasel words “Ultimately, none of us are [sic] free until all of us are free. . . ” is code for “You may say what WE want you to”. Some freedom!
‘We’re observant Christians, whose families have lived in Ontario for over 200 years, and we know that Barbara Hall and her ilk sure don’t include us in their narrow and arbitrary idea of freedom.
‘Unless you hadn’t noticed, Mr. McGuinty, Ontario is part of Canada, a democracy, where all citizens are guaranteed Charter rights.
‘Barbara Hall’s mandate is a serious stain on the integrity of your government. By what authority do the appointed apparatchiks of the OHRC presume to—via kangaroo courts where Ontarians are denied due process—harass, persecute, judge, and punish fellow citizens with whom this politically correct agency disagrees? As we’ve said, the OHRC’s new mandate is outrageous.
‘We expect that you and your government will take appropriate steps to rein in this atrocity and protect law-abiding Ontarians from the arbitrary depredations of this dangerous, unelected, out of control, and repressive government agency.
‘Sincerely’
I’d like to copy this to the OHRC and my left-wing (useless) federal and provincial members of parliament, but am not sure if I want them to know who I am: put your head over the rampart and you might well become a target.
I think it’s becoming that bad. (In parts of the public service, with their “Equity [sic] Policies”, it’s been that bad for over a decade. Check Chris Kempling.)
Watching the clips of the ‘scorned’ media members this a.m.,I can’t help but think how much Keith Boag reminds me of the bratty 6 yr.old that all the other kids hate,and is whining about not being invited to the popular kid’s Birthday party! Roger Smith on ctv isn’t much better. Watch for the vitriol toward PMSH/Cons. start to really escalate.Nice to see cbc trot out the spittle-spewing,always up for an ‘outrage’ Ralph Goodale this am..blames the Cons.’in and out scandal’for the Libs losing the last election!
http://tinyurl.com/49bk4g
Kate makes National News Watch, re: lawsuit.
concerned canadian – copy your excellent letter to other leaders. Freedom of speech, and the right of each and every citizen to THINK, is a basic right – not of a nation – but of our species! If you don’t fight for this right, these sanctimonious and arrogant bureaucrats will take this right from us.
rose – that’s exactly the point. The people who are taking away our charter rights of freedom, and our species’ rights to think, are not our representatives. We didn’t elect them.
They are totally unaccountable appointed bureaucrats, who have self-defined themselves as morally and intellectually superior to the ‘rest of us’. As such, they have set themselves up as our superiors, to supervise, judge and constrain our speech and thoughts. Who the h*ll to do they think they are? How dare they set themselves up as our superiors! How dare they use the apparatus of the state to take us to court if THEY don’t like what we say/write!
Remember, they are no longer bound by someone complaining to them! They, and they ALONE, evaluate and decide the validity of our speech/thought. We, the people, have no such rights.
MaryM I was just about to drop that in.
You’re quick! 🙂
Way to go Kate!!
quote by Kate: “That’s the best protection that anybody has when dealing with a blogger,” said McMillan. “It’s the ones that hide behind anonymity that will . . . cross the line most often.”
Like a certain public washroom graffiti ‘expert’ person?
With regard to another type of censorship, I’d like to connect readers with a list of the Harper government’s accomplishments:
http://jacksnewswatch.com/2008/04/20/sandy-harper-govt-accomplishments
it’s at Jack’s Newswatch, compiled by Sandy. Scroll down the page till you get it.
The MSM in Canada are not information agencies for the public but Liberal propaganda agents.
They never inform us of what the government is doing. Instead, they misinform, don’t inform, slander within a pure anti-Harper/CPC agenda.
The current Liberal strategy is One Scandal A Week. Every Monday, they come up with some new hysteric accusation; their MSM are all over it. It lasts for about a week, since almost all are factually groundless. The misinformation and bias, however, are spread far and wide. That’s a very obvious Liberal strategy; look for it every Monday.
Meanwhile, the MSM and everyone, completely overlooks what this government has done in two years. Check out that list. Link it to other blogs and get the word out, to offset the juvenile agenda of the Liberals.
Why? Because we have a deeply uninformed and misinformed electorate. All they hear is from the Liberal propaganda system, aka, the MSM. They don’t hear any truths.
Just as a minor example, the federal govt provided half the funds for 700 hybrid buses in Toronto. Not ONE person knows about this. If you google it, you’ll come up with MSM press with McGuinty/Miller taking full Liberal credit for these buses. Not one word about the federal initiative and input. People need to know the truth.
So- link that post to as many other sites as possible.
This BBC article reports comments made by a UN special rapporteur to UN headquarters regarding biofuels. The report is several months old but I just noticed it today. This is for those who have not noticed it earlier.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7065061.stm
It was, he said, a crime against humanity to divert arable land to the production of crops which are then burned for fuel.
Philip Carl Salzman, Uncle Sam wants you!
It is very common for anthropologists, and foreigners in general, to be regarded as spies, agents, dubious, and perhaps dangerous. So the oft heard plea of researchers—”We can’t ever work for government or people will think all of us all the time are spies and agents”—seems at the very least naive, and, one cannot help thinking, disingenuous…
So it is not much of a surprise that the American Anthropological Association has condemned the Human Terrain System, under which anthropologists and other social scientists have served with military units in Iraq and Afghanistan…
The muddy water of the anthropological swamp has been recently stirred by the proposals of Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense, to the Association of American Universities, for cooperation in generating knowledge—on China, on terrorism, on religious ideologies, and on the application of social science—to help America cope with the challenges of “jihadist extremism, ethnic strife, disease, poverty, climate change, failed and failing states, [and] resurgent powers.” More specifically, Gates proposes a set of consortia funded by the Pentagon to develop knowledge relevant to the future security of the country.
(Via CSP) Robert Kagan, The End of the End of History
“Why the twenty-first century will look like the nineteenth.”
AB updates since the AB provincial election
The Minister in Charge of the AB HRC is now the newly minted MLA, Lindsay Blackett. The HRC now is under the newly minted Department of Culture and Community Spirit (used to be Tourism, Parks, Recreation, and Culture). It is quite absurd that the HRC, a quasi-judicial entity, still remains outside of the Justice system.
Also noteworthy is that the newly minted Justice Minister is the newly minted MLA Alison Redford. Her background is in law and as a human rights activist. How “active” remains to be seen but it will be most unfortunate if Czarina Barbara Hall finds an ally here to increase the hold of HRCs rather than reign them in.
So far the AB PCs have uttered nothing in terms of where they stand re the AB HRC – or for that matter in terms of what is happening with the federal CHRC/CHRT. Time to put the premier and the new minister under fire before they decide to follow (again) the lead of Central Canada.
The Minister’s e-mail address is
ccs.minister@gov.ab.ca
His executive assistant’s address is
heather.malekoff@gov.ab.ca
Address of Premier Ed
premier@gov.ab.ca
AB Human Rights Commission
humanrights@gov.ab.ca
I have just written a long letter (yes, very polite but very pointed) to all of the above and know that it has been received by the executive assisant early Monday morning.
I have a notion that the PCs are trying to bury the HRC issue by organizational/people change. Hopefully there will be many new e-mails/letters/faxes that will go to the above named addresses in the near future as whatever was sent in before may or may not have been passed on to the new minister. Although the executive assistant came over from the previous minister in charge (H. Goudreau), this also may or may not mean continuity is continued but the new minister cannot deny knowledge of the HRC issues.
Guess how an equivalent map of Canada would appear.
(Via Comment Central) Where News Breaks
Researchers extracted the dateline from about 72,000 wire-service news stories from 1994 to 1998 and modified a standard map of the Lower 48 US states (above) to show the size of the states in proportion to the frequency of their appearance in those datelines…
Michael Novak, Remembering 1968
The lack of realism in the cultural revolution of the 1960s led to the birth of “the center Right.”
Pope Benedict (B16!), who grew up under totalitarianism in Nazi Germany, is well aware of the threats to our freedoms. Here’s an excerpt from the speech he gave in Yonkers to young Catholics last Saturday, April 19th. (I’ve left in some specifically Christian references, which many here reject, though I think the rest of the message will resonate with most of us here. ‘Better Benedict than Barbara, I’d say!)
“. . . My own years as a teenager were marred by a sinister regime that thought it had all the answers; its influence grew – infiltrating schools and civic bodies, as well as politics and even religion – before it was fully recognized for the monster it was. It banished God and thus became impervious to anything true and good. Many of your grandparents and great-grandparents will have recounted the horror of the destruction that ensued. Indeed, some of them came to America precisely to escape such terror.
“Let us thank God that today many people of your generation are able to enjoy the liberties which have arisen through the extension of democracy and respect for human rights. Let us thank God for all those who strive to ensure that you can grow up in an environment that nurtures what is beautiful, good, and true: your parents and grandparents, your teachers and priests, those civic leaders who seek what is right and just.
“The power to destroy does, however, remain. To pretend otherwise would be to fool ourselves. Yet, it never triumphs; it is defeated. This is the essence of the hope that defines us as Christians; and the Church recalls this most dramatically during the Easter Triduum and celebrates it with great joy in the season of Easter! . . .
“The second area of darkness – that which affects the mind – often goes unnoticed, and for this reason is particularly sinister. The manipulation of truth distorts our perception of reality, and tarnishes our imagination and aspirations. I have already mentioned the many liberties which you are fortunate enough to enjoy. The fundamental importance of freedom must be rigorously safeguarded. It is no surprise then that numerous individuals and groups vociferously claim their freedom in the public forum. Yet freedom is a delicate value. It can be misunderstood or misused so as to lead not to the happiness which we all expect it to yield, but to a dark arena of manipulation in which our understanding of self and the world becomes confused, or even distorted by those who have an ulterior agenda.
“Have you noticed how often the call for freedom is made without ever referring to the truth of the human person? Some today argue that respect for freedom of the individual makes it wrong to seek truth, including the truth about what is good. In some circles to speak of truth is seen as controversial or divisive, and consequently best kept in the private sphere. And in truth’s place – or better said its absence – an idea has spread which, in giving value to everything indiscriminately, claims to assure freedom and to liberate conscience. This we call relativism. But what purpose has a ‘freedom’ which, in disregarding truth, pursues what is false or wrong? How many young people have been offered a hand which in the name of freedom or experience has led them to addiction, to moral or intellectual confusion, to hurt, to a loss of self-respect, even to despair and so tragically and sadly to the taking of their own life? Dear friends, truth is not an imposition. Nor is it simply a set of rules. It is a discovery of the One who never fails us; the One whom we can always trust. In seeking truth we come to live by belief because ultimately truth is a person: Jesus Christ. That is why authentic freedom is not an opting out. It is an opting in; nothing less than letting go of self and allowing oneself to be drawn into Christ’s very being for others (cf. Spe Salvi, 28).”
Remember, too, that the Christian Church, which proclaims truth—the first victim of the censors—has always been one of the first institutions attacked by the secular, totalitarian regimes, which murdered tens of millions of their citizens or sent them to gulags. I truly believe we’re on our way down that slippery slope. (Well done, Concerned Canadian. Please send that letter to all kinds of politicians.)
lookout – thanks so very much for Benedict’s speech. You know, I’m an atheist, but I am awed, overjoyed, overwhelmed and feel our world is so graced – by Pope Benedict.
He has the courage to confront – as he did in his Regensburg speech in 2006 – a speech that confronted Islam for its rejection of Reason. Benedict insists on Reason coupled with faith. [That’s Aristotle!].
This speech, again, focuses on reason, and on the fact that objective reality exists; that the world is not as the leftist postmodernists claim – just a personal relativist creation of our individual minds. The external world exists regardless of what we may think of it; truth exists and is not relative to us or any group. And we have the capacity of Reason, to examine and discover that truth.
This also underlies what we must understand as the outrageous denial of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, with their rejection of our Right To Reason; their view that there is no such thing as Truth. Therefore, we may not examine, question, critique beliefs and behaviour, for all such are relative to the user. We must not offend their beliefs, even if those beliefs deny truth, and deny the rights of others.
lookout:
Amen to that.
Interesting how the Pope’s critics (Bill Maher, for one) try to discredit him by saying he was a member of the Hitler Youth.
And, interesting how some insist that the leader of the National Socialist movement was Christian and following Christian tenets. Obviously, the Pope’s own experience reveals something different.
Freedom from responsibility is not a new concept, but it has been refined to a fine art by, as you say, the secular totalitarians (utopians), whose adaptation a scientific theory which should have been relegated to the scrapheap of history once the nature of DNA was articulated (the science is NOT settled on the theory of evolution).
Ignorance and hatred have always been part of human nature and the secular utopians have taken it to a new level.
BTW, I’m not Catholic, but admire this Pope’s ability to articulate his positions on universal truths in a strong yet humble way.
Is it just me or is Barbara Hall sounding more and more like Torquemada?
CBC ran several news clips on the raid inside the Conservative Party’s national headquarters last week. Yet hours later when Mr. Corbeil was arrested for his involvement in the Sponsorship Program, how long were did the clips last last?? Less than a minute. (CBC National.) And Keith Boag is crying??
As a Monty Python fan I can’t get rid of a mental image: “Nobody expects the Human Rights Commission!”
“Politics took over climate science through exploitation of public fear and lack of knowledge
How the world was misled about global warming and now climate change
By Dr. Tim Ball”
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2704
Warning: Pic of Mao Stlong, Red-Green, from UN.
Sayings of Mao Stlong: “”He told Maclean’s magazine in 1976 that he was “a socialist in ideology, a capitalist in methodology.””
FYI – Barbara Hall was appointed to the OHRC by the McGuinty government on Nov 28, 2005
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/commission/commissioners
It is the McGuinty government and your local MPP that should be the focus of your complaints about her “judge, jury and executioner” mentality.
Ah, Indonesia. A beacon of Islamic tolerance:
“Indonesia: Over 100 churches close in 3 Years”
(Christianity Today)
Islamic extremism and local governments have closed more than 100 churches in Indonesia within three years, according to a persecution watchdog agency.
From 2004 to 2007, 110 churches were closed in Indonesia as a result of attacks from radical Muslim groups or by local governments coerced by these groups, reports Compass Direct News.
UK muslim demands to change GMT to Mecca Time. No one is surprised…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7359258.stm
These “victims” of an alleged racial slur apparently do not need the Human Right Courts,
A group of mostly black youths beat up badly two white youths in Montreal on st-Catherine street
There are some more details, but not much,
at CFCF 12
More from the Montreal Gazette on the black youths beating up two white young men for an alleged racial slur,
…The video, posted by someone under the alias Perky and titled “Racist Insults Results In Massive Beat-Down In Montreal,” does not show the triggering exchange of words, but begins with a rush of about a dozen, mostly black, young men who surround, stomp and kick the two victims who crumble to the ground. At least one white male is seen contributing to the beating. At one point, one of the attackers takes a running jump onto the chest of one of the dazed Waterloo men as a car honks trying to get through the melee. The beating ends when another man kicks the second victim in the head…
Read the whole thing here
… … …
Dr. Nathan W. Toronto, Where Have All the Bombers Gone?
Palestinian terrorist organizations – as terror firms marketing competing brands of resistance – have made a dramatic shift from suicide bombings to indirect fire missiles. This article explores the strategic and operational reasons behind this change in terrorist tactics.
A further thought to my previous post.
Rather than send any material to the Alberta Human Rights Commission generally, it might be more productive to send it directly to:
Marie Riddle, Director of AB HRC
e mail is marie.riddle@gov.ab.ca
My letter has just been forwarded.
Is there anyone in BC who can provide a small bank of e-mail addresses as above to which we can send e-mails? With the upcoming airing of the MacLeans/Steyn issue in June in the BC HRT, perhaps this is going to be the next big opportunity to gain public support against the HRCs.
(Via MESH) Maj. Pat Proctor, The Mythical Shia Crescent
Sometime in late 2006, America awoke to the realization that, by deposing Saddam Hussein and toppling his Ba’athist regime, it had inadvertently removed a major obstacle to Iranian dominance in the Middle East. Assessments of the associated events reached hyperbolic levels. Dire warnings of a growing Iranian hegemony began to surface. Sunni leaders such as Jordan’s King Abdullah II began to warn the West of an emerging “Shia Crescent,” led by Iran and encompassing Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq.1 The idea caught fire in American media and became the dominant narrative in discourse on Middle East policy.
But how realistic is this amalgamation? Is a Shia Crescent really emerging that is capable of challenging more than a millennium of Sunni domination in the Islamic world? Will Iran lead it? On the surface, the idea appears plausible. Yet, a more in-depth examination of the prospective members of this geopolitical realignment raises numerous questions…
Ang Lee slams Bill C-10
funny how you people never attack bill C-10 which wants to deny funds to controversial artists.
so much about freedom of expression.
Looks like Canada’s favourite imam kicked off a cross country fundraising trek in Halifax today.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Metro/1051014.html
“The Blogosphere Cross-Examination: Part 1 – New Revelations
The nature of tyranny is not conservative. It is liberal by its very nature and therefore expands its tentacles exponentially.”
[…]
“I recorded the whole hearing, and although the audio quality was not perfect, it was good enough for the blogosphere’s purposes. My intent was to broadcast some of the more juicy and memorable moments of the hearing in order to bring CHRC operations into the light of public scrutiny. Little did I know, as I made my way through the audio recordings again, that I would begin to uncover some very disturbing facts concerning Dean Steacy’s testimony in relation to other testimony given at a previous CHRT ruling. Some time before March 25, I stumbled across some seemingly unimportant details of testimony given by Richard Warman at the 2006 Beaumont Hearing, which, for some inexplicable reason, I could not forget. As I listened to Dean Steacy’s testimony at the Warman v. Lemire Hearing on March 25, 2008, and compared them to Richard Warman’s testimony at the Warman v. Beaumont Hearing on December 12, 2006, I soon discovered there were questions that needed to be answered.
And so I now begin my presentation of the facts as I understand them and the questions I have about those facts:
A. Who Knew About WiFi Tapping?”
http://www.socon.ca/or_bust/?p=842
Gore Won’t Ask Wealthy Hollywoodans to Alter Lifestyle to Save Planet:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/04/20/gore-wont-ask-wealthy-hollywoodans-alter-lifestyle-save-planet
Nope, is isn’t up to Beckam and company to give up any of their mansions (even when they have several,) it’s up to the little guy to sacrifice for the greater good.
What an ass.
atheist quebecois separatiste
Hey idiot, how do you equate not giving some hack free money with violating their free speech rights?
Since when did “artists” achieve a sacred right to other people’s money?
Are you so stupid you can’t see the difference between banning speech and declining to subsidize it?
You must be a Quebecor and a leftard. You embody the worst of both.
This comment is in response to some of the observations about the lack of coverage of important issues by the media. Interestingly, going on in BC at the moment is the Basi Virk trial. The trial focusses on suspected corruption around the sale of BC Rail. While this may seem to be of interest primarily to BC’ers, there are a number of witnesses involved who have strong ties to the Federal Liberal party. In part, this is about the BC Liberal machine. So my question is how come there is virtualy NO coverage of this trial. It is to the point where the only coverage available is from bloggers attempting to let people know what is happening. The story is about the Campbell government most specifically, but has the potential to implicate others, including federal Liberals. Why no coverage — even in BC??
Here is a comment from an earlier discussion of this case from an article about Liberal insider Mark Marissen: http://www.bcbusinessmagazine.com/bcb/people/2007/06/01/mark“ Dave Basi and Bob Virk are former ministerial assistants to provincial cabinet ministers, charged with accepting benefits to provide a BC Rail bidder with inside information. Both were also lieutenants in Marissen’s federal Liberal operation. Basi, in particular, had a reputation as a go-to guy when it came to signing up new party members to help in a close vote. Dhaliwal blames Basi for the takeover in his riding. Worse, the prosecutors say the benefits came from Eric Bornmann, another key member of the Marissen team. His lobbying partners included Jamie Elmhirst, former B.C. president of the federal Liberal Party. The investigation took police to a number of senior Liberals, including a visit to Marissen’s office looking for information.”
Links to some bloggers on this are here: http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article/113452755-18-april-2007-bcs-future-on-trial
Sent to all MP’s and I’m asking that you make your voices heard, too.
Dear Members of Parliament
As you are undoubtably aware, Canada’s ‘Human Rights Commissions’ and tribunals have caused great concern for those who value our cherished values of freedom of thought, expression and association. The complaints brought against Ezra Levant and the Western Standard, Mcleans Magazine and Mark Steyn and the associated complaints and lawsuits brought by former HRC employee Richard Warman are all cause for alarm.
These have been followed by the unjust ‘verdict’ of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which while admitting a lack of jurisdiction, nonetheless pronounced Mclean’s Magazine guilty of spreading “destructive, xenophobic opinions.” Barbara Hall of whom I’ll speak momentarily, went on to say, “Islamophobic attitudes are becoming more prevalent in society and Muslims are increasingly the target of intolerance, including an unwillingness to consider accommodating some of their religious beliefs and practices. Unfortunately, the Maclean’s article, and others like it, are examples of this.” Apparently, Ms. Hall has the authority, despite a lack of a hearing or trial or an opportunity for defense by the accused, to publically declare them guilty of disseminating hateful speech.
More frighteningly, in an interview with the National Post Ms. Hall said, “I would say that for a province as large and as diverse as Ontario, to have 2,500 formal complaints a year, that that’s a very low level,” She went on to say that she expects “that in the interim, they may have to spike”. In other words, due to the Canadian spirit of generosity and tolerance there are apparently are not enough real cases, so she and her Commission will have to stir the pot in order to make work for themselves. Ms. Hall wemt on to say that, “Islamophobic attitudes are becoming more prevalent in society and Muslims are increasingly the target of intolerance, including an unwillingness to consider accommodating some of their religious beliefs and practices.” Where, other than in her own activist mind, is the evidence of this?
I challenge her statement. I follow the issues closely and can with some confidence say that there have been few issues of intolerance towards any minorities in Canada, including the Islamic community. Where are the beatings, the bombings, the burning of buildings or even breaking of windows? The only ‘incident’ widely reported in recent memory was the ‘burning of crosses’ on lawns across Prince George, if I recall correctly.
Ms. Hall, to her credit also said: “I think that part of freedom of speech is being able to say things and another part of it is being able to be critical of things that are said,” Had she ended there, she would be line with the beliefs of the vast majority of Canadians. But sadly, she used the phase in defence of the rationalization of the Commissions intent, saying she does not view the prosecution of free speech as wrong by saying: “I don’t view it as a chill. I view it as responsibility.” This is not only irrational but positively Orwellian in its’ ‘doublespeak’. There is a terrible double standard at play, with clerics being able to incite their followers through hateful and violent speech, while the objects of that hate – Canadian society at large – are to be muzzled for voicing their alarm.
As a Canadian citizen and a taxpayer, I am asking that you, as a representative of not only your own constitutents but the glorious history of the Magna Carta, Canadian jurisprudence and the flawed but nonetheless important Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, rescind Sec. 13 of the Act and that you take steps to curtail the powers of the federal and provincial ‘Human Rights’ tribunals and the self-important and power-mad individuals exemplified by Ms. Hall.
Sent to all MP’s and I’m asking that you make your voices heard, too.
Dear Members of Parliament
As you are undoubtably aware, Canada’s ‘Human Rights Commissions’ and tribunals have caused great concern for those who value our cherished values of freedom of thought, expression and association. The complaints brought against Ezra Levant and the Western Standard, Mcleans Magazine and Mark Steyn and the associated complaints and lawsuits brought by former HRC employee Richard Warman are all cause for alarm.
These have been followed by the unjust ‘verdict’ of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, which while admitting a lack of jurisdiction, nonetheless pronounced Mclean’s Magazine guilty of spreading “destructive, xenophobic opinions.” Barbara Hall of whom I’ll speak momentarily, went on to say, “Islamophobic attitudes are becoming more prevalent in society and Muslims are increasingly the target of intolerance, including an unwillingness to consider accommodating some of their religious beliefs and practices. Unfortunately, the Maclean’s article, and others like it, are examples of this.” Apparently, Ms. Hall has the authority, despite a lack of a hearing or trial or an opportunity for defense by the accused, to publically declare them guilty of disseminating hateful speech.
More frighteningly, in an interview with the National Post Ms. Hall said, “I would say that for a province as large and as diverse as Ontario, to have 2,500 formal complaints a year, that that’s a very low level,” She went on to say that she expects “that in the interim, they may have to spike”. In other words, due to the Canadian spirit of generosity and tolerance there are apparently are not enough real cases, so she and her Commission will have to stir the pot in order to make work for themselves. Ms. Hall wemt on to say that, “Islamophobic attitudes are becoming more prevalent in society and Muslims are increasingly the target of intolerance, including an unwillingness to consider accommodating some of their religious beliefs and practices.” Where, other than in her own activist mind, is the evidence of this?
I challenge her statement. I follow the issues closely and can with some confidence say that there have been few issues of intolerance towards any minorities in Canada, including the Islamic community. Where are the beatings, the bombings, the burning of buildings or even breaking of windows? The only ‘incident’ widely reported in recent memory was the ‘burning of crosses’ on lawns across Prince George, if I recall correctly.
Ms. Hall, to her credit also said: “I think that part of freedom of speech is being able to say things and another part of it is being able to be critical of things that are said,” Had she ended there, she would be line with the beliefs of the vast majority of Canadians. But sadly, she used the phase in defence of the rationalization of the Commissions intent, saying she does not view the prosecution of free speech as wrong by saying: “I don’t view it as a chill. I view it as responsibility.” This is not only irrational but positively Orwellian in its’ ‘doublespeak’. There is a terrible double standard at play, with clerics and their followers being able to incite their followers through hateful and violent speech, while the objects of that hate – Canadian society at large – are to be muzzled for voicing their alarm.
As a Canadian citizen and a taxpayer, I am asking that you, as a representative of not only your own constitutents but the glorious history of the Magna Carta, Canadian jurisprudence and the flawed but nonetheless important Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, rescind Sec. 13 of the Act and that you take steps to curtail the powers of the federal and provincial ‘Human Rights’ tribunals and the self-important and power-mad individuals exemplified by Ms. Hall.
AQS- your comment is really, really strange! I mean, it’s totally illogical.
What does insisting on taxpayer money to fund a film project have to do with ‘freedom of expression’???? NOTHING!
The filmmakers are totally free to express their ideas in film. No-one is stopping them. They can go and get funding for their film from private citizens and corporations, who wish to fund that particular film and its ideas.
But, expecting the taxpayer to fund them, without the agreement of that taxpayer..’just because’ they define themselves as ‘artists’ – has absolutely nothing to do with freedom of expression!
It certainly has something to do with an an arrogant expectation that the taxpayer MUST fund them! Why should they be funded?
Warwick and ET, my sentiments exactly regarding the mentally challenged whiner from Quebec.
His solipsistic, specious thinking—same as Sarah Polley’s, who’s supposed to be so smart—is exactly how the kids are being brainwashed these days in our all left-wing, all the time public schools: “I’m entitled to my entitlements” is part of the deal. ’Talk about not knowing where one’s own rights end and another’s begin. A lot of our young people don’t have a clue—all aided and abetted by the left-wing administrators who impose one useless anti-bullying (duh!) scheme after another on their captive audience: quite a vicious circle. If the outcome weren’t so dire for all of us, it would be funny.
As you’ve both pointed out, filmmakers are free to make whatever films they like: they just don’t have the right to use my money. It’s that simple, simpleton de Quebec. Got it now?
ET, I obviously share your very high regard for Benedict. Thanks for your comments.
set you free, thanks too. Yes, though Benedict’s an incredibly gifted man–a major scholar and serious musician as well–he has the grace of humility, a very rare commodity these days.
Something else. As noted, the MSM is the Liberal Party propaganda site. It constantly misinforms the public about the government. According to Dion and the MSM – the Harper govt has ‘done nothing’. Heh.
Please see the basic list of accomplishments of this govt, compiled by Sandy, on her own blog and at Jack’s Newswatch. Above all, please send it to others. Since the MSM won’t inform the public, we have to. Apparently, some people have sent it to Liberal blogs, but those blogs have removed it.
http://crux-of-the-matter.com/2008/04/21/harper-govt-accomplishments-update
Send it to all blogs that you can think of.
Anyone catch this from CBC’s latest article on the EC raid:
“Giving some reporters a briefing before Monday’s court release of the warrant allows the party a chance to shape the story, but it also creates the impression that the Conservatives need to spin it, Boag said.”
Keith Boag is CBC’s own reporter. This is low even by CBCs standards. They usually at least try to hide their bias instead of directly introducing editorial into news articles.
The average wage increase in the private sector is 1.9%. In the public sector, it’s 3%.
And in Ontario, the public sector is effectively the province’s biggest employer. That’s not only the govt and all its bureaucRats, it’s the entire educational system from preschool to and including universities, health care, transportation, security (police, fire) and on and on and on.
All unionized. All therefore, focused not on the services they provide but on the benefits to their employees.