“But why does [Minnesota Democrat] Ellison think calling someone a Muslim is a “smear”?”

While self-aggrandizing “swastika hunters” prowl the washrooms of Ontario hockey arenas searching for Bic wielding 10 year olds, the Canadian leftosphere marches on unopposed…

… classic antisemitic themes such as the blood libel are found in Oxfam’s poster in 2002 of the “Israeli orange”, which promoted boycotting of Israeli products, and of Israel in general. (Following a wide protest, this poster was withdrawn.)

As I’ve said in the past – if it’s anti-Semitism you’re looking for, scratch a “progressive”.

we shall surrender on the seas and oceans,
we shall surrender with growing confidence and growing weakness in the air, we shall
surrender our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall surrender on the beaches,
we shall surrender on the landing grounds,
we shall surrender in the fields and in the streets,
we shall surrender in the hills;
we shall always surrender,

(source)

And people scoffed when Ramesh Ponnuru * called them the party of death;

The Bush-assassination fantasies are concocted by his political opponents and at least arise from his acts — invading the world; slaughtering 14 million Iraqi civilians or whatever it’s up to by now; shredding the constitution. By contrast, the Obama-assassination porn is written by his worshippers and testifies to one of the most palpable features of the senator’s campaign — its faintly ersatz quality, its determination to appropriate Camelot and every other mythic narrative.

And it’s not just an American phenomenon.
This macabre longing for martyrdom in some quarters may be less “assassination porn” than it is political pragmatism – a subconscious recognition that the tsunami of emotion propelling the refreshingly achievement-free candidate of hope is likely to crash unhappily upon Reality Rock the first time he’s faced with a difficult foreign policy decision.
Better a dream denied than a dream deflated. After all, it’s a recipe that stood the test of time for an abbreviated Kennedy presidency that was, likewise, long on promise and short on delivery. Perhaps that’s where they keep finding the similarities.

I came up with the ultimate plan for world peace.
It’s a such an astoundingly simple plan, actually, I can’t believe no one has thought of it before. (Well, perhaps Victoria did.)
Make everyone speak English – and only English.
Because really, how long has it been since two English speaking nations went to war?
Exactly.
From the comments, DrD;

It’s an interesting discussion. The specific issue of linguistics is a subset of the larger issue of “cultural diversity”. I hear touted frequently the advantages of cultural diversity, but rarely any concrete example of the supposed advantage beyond the “more pavillions at folkfest” boilerplate. While I can imagine off hand possible advantages of having linguistic diversity within Canada — facilitation of trade links with the Orient for instance, the numbers of individuals who would require such skills for the advantage to accrue to the larger population as a portion of that larger population is miniscule. Even the supposed necessity to preserve language for the preservation of cultural gems is dubious. For example, while the latin dance scene is alive and well in Calgary, tango in particular, very few of the participants speak more than a smattering of Spanish, and the leading instructor is Japanese. Since the aim of language is communication, efforts by government to artificially preserve languages which would otherwise disappear in the larger linguistic sea in which they exist are effectively efforts to thwart communication and preserve divisions which would otherwise be more likely to disappear. Unscrupulous politicians may exploit such divisions to gain political advantage, but this does not equal an overall gain for the population as a whole. While I do not advocate efforts to deliberately suppress linguistic diversity, neither do I see any reason for taxpayers to fund efforts to preserve linguistic diversity in the absence of any observable advantage for those taxpayers.

In my experience, the argument about facilitating trade through language acquisition is nonsense. I’ve exported show dogs to buyers in Denmark, Singapore, China, Brazil, and Quebec. The inquiries I’ve received over the past few years, and did not follow up on, have come from Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, Spain, Italy, etc. Those who could not speak English used the services of a translator[1] – at their expense.
Which makes complete sense, when you think about it. When one’s market extends from Asia to Europe to South Africa on any given day, which language do you propose one learn? It’s much easier to find a translator and pay them to do the job.
[1] Footnote:
A typical call goes something like this…
Translator: Ms. Catherine, I have a call from Mr. David from Brasil. Can you hold on?
Me: Sure, no problem.
Translator: Blehdyblah deblahdeblah.
Mr. David: Blehdyblahdeblahdebla hblehdyblah Ms. Catherine deblahdeblah, blehdyblahdeblah deblahblehdyblahde blah deblah blehdyblahblahblahblah. Deblah dedede Sharky blah blahdeblahdeblah. Blehdyblahdeblahdeblah blehdyblah deblah blahdeblah blehdy. Blehdy blahdeblahdeblade blah blehdy deblah. Blehdyblahdeblahdebla hblehdyblah blahdeblahdeblah. Blehdyblahdeblahdebla hblehdyblahdeblah blahdeblah blahde blah blah blah deblah. Deblah blehdy blahblahblahblah. Deblah dedede Sharky blah blahdeblahdeblah. Blehdyblah deblahdebla hblehdyblahdeblah blahdeblah blehdy. Blehdy blahdeblahdeblade blah blehdy deblah. Blehdyblah deblahdeblah blehdyblah blahdeblahdeblah. Bleh dyblahdeblahdebla hblehdyblahdeblah blahdeblah Blahdeblah deblah deblah. Blahdeblah.
Translator: OK. Thank you. Ms. Catherine?
Me: Yes?
Translator: Mr. David wants to know – is your dog Sharky for sale?

From: Flexner, Allison
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 7:46 AM
To: *CNN Superdesk (TBS)
Cc: Neill, Morgan; Darlington, Shasta
Subject: Castro guidance
Some points on Castro – for adding to our anchor reads/reporting:
* Please say in our reporting that Castro stepped down in a letter he wrote to Granma (the communist party daily), as opposed to in a letter attributed to Fidel Castro. We have no reason to doubt he wrote his resignation letter, he has penned numerous articles over the past year and a half.
* Please note Fidel did bring social reforms to Cuba – namely free education and universal health care, and racial integration. in addition to being criticized for oppressing human rights and freedom of speech.
* Also the Cuban government blames a lot of Cuba’s economic problems on the US embargo, and while that has caused some difficulties, (far less so than the collapse of the Soviet Union) the bulk of Cuba’s economic problems are due to Cuba’s failed economic polices. Some analysts would say the US embargo was a benefit to Castro politically – something to blame problems on, by what the Cubans call “the imperialist,” meddling in their affairs.
* While despised by some, he is seen as a revolutionary hero, especially with leftist in Latin America, for standing up to the United States.
Any questions, please call the international desk.
Allison

(For those who missed it – 537 days have elapsed since bionic Adidas man’s last exhalation.)
More turd-polishing…

h/t to reader “wnc” – “CTV leads with the fact (see website) that Castro outlasted nine US presidents. Never mind term limits, lack of democracy etc. Expect more hagiography over the next few days. Stay tuned for a CBC/CTV special on Trudeau’s ‘historic’ visit to Cuba.”
Perhaps Sasha can narrarate.

His intellect is one of the most broad and complete that can be found. He is an expert on genetics, on automobile combustion engines, on stock markets. On everything.
Combined with a Herculean physique and extraordinary personal courage, this monumental intellect makes Fidel the giant that he is.

(I advise you gird yourself with a shot of gravol before continuing with that link.)

And give Americans a candidate everyone can vote for?

horribly wrong …. Should Dr. Henry Morgentaler be awarded the Order of Canada?
Yes – 13% 5109 votes
No – 87% 33841 votes
Or did it? It shouldn’t come as a surprise that even pro-choicers would see the “ick” factor in this. But what of the folks who hand out the Orders?

Explained;

… Modern Christianity, however, is a far different creature from modern Islam. Every religion is, to a greater or lesser extent, a balance between reason and faith in its teachings and day to day practices. The great fault of modern Islam is not its having missed the sexual or industrial revolutions, but having missed the epistemological revolution of the thirteenth century. The Islamic world seems medieval in its attitudes and outlook because it is medieval, or more accurately early medieval, in its thinking.
[…]
What separates the citizen of a liberal democracy and his medieval ancestor, and the Cario slum dweller, is how they go about solving the bigger problems of life. How do I decide something is true in ethics, politics or science? The dictum of the Thomists was “Nihil est in intellectu quod non sit prius in sensu.” (Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses). Evidence and rational thought are the ideal of modern life, even of post modern life. It is an ideal we fall short of but the alternative is the life of the modern medievalists. The Islamists and so many of the actual “moderate” Muslims – moderate in the sense they occupy the intellectual middle ground between liberal democracy and theocracy – act upon faith. What that means in practice is not living according to the teachings of an ancient holy book, but the interpretations of the holy book.
If one’s interpretations are based on reason, on an attempt to rationally analyze the text and compare and contrast with the evidence of one’s senses, one admits that religious teachings are a matter of debate and even disagreement. If one’s interpretations are based solely on faith, not merely faith in accepting a certain set of assumptions as true, but faith in applying those principles as well, how does one debate with others? I say this is the truth. Why? Because it is. What are your reasons? There are not reasons, only faith. The only way to resolve the conflict is to follow or fight. For a modern Christian faith extends as far as accepting certain assumptions as true without evidence, their application and mitigation with empirical evidence is done – or at least striven to be done – by reason.

It’s sympatico.
It’s not by accident that so much of what is offered as debate by the modern left on the critical issues facing our times sounds less like reasoned argument than it does “Silence infidel!“
(I have more to say about this here)

Total votes:
Clinton 8,914.030
Obama winning 8,392,514
Total Delegates!
Obama 1,806
Clinton 1,789
This is undemocratic! I demand a recount!

I’d like to thank you.
Generally speaking, I’m a bit of a stickler about leaders of political parties having achieved some sort of electoral legitimacy before expecting their public policy views to be widely reported…

Ms. Woodfield, who has unsuccessfully run for office provincially and municipally, said the federal Greens disrespected Canada’s troops when Ms. May said Tuesday that “the (report’s) recommendation of more ISAF forces from a Christian/Crusader heritage will continue to fuel an insurgency that has been framed as a jihad. This, in turn, may feed the recruitment of suicide bombers and other insurgents.”
The “Christian/Crusader” reference prompted the federal Conservatives to fire off a release condemning the Greens. Ms. May’s party shot back with a release Wednesday criticizing the Tories for spinning the Greens’ message to suit their own agenda.
Ms. Woodfield, mother of Pte. Braun Scott Woodfield, 24, who died in Afghanistan in 2005, said the initial release from the Greens was offensive.
“I fear that with the words (Ms. May) used, that she’s painted a target on the back of every uniformed member of NATO that’s over” in Afghanistan.

But given her high profile alliance with Stephane Dion, all I can say about the press’s eager coverage of the dizzy Lizzy is “faster, please!”

With a fine piece of investigative work, Iowahawk has uncovered the not-yet-released report of the Alberta Human Rights Commission’s investigation into Ezra Levant.
Read it here.

John Robson does a fine job reminding us that real environmental progress comes from capitalists:

It’s opera. My wife is listening to opera while jogging. The heroine will, one assumes, come to a tragic end. But the batteries won’t, because she’s using a digital player. On which, I trust, I can record the sound of environmentalists applauding the technological advances capitalism brings.

We’ll wait for the applause, but somehow I’m just not hearing it.

Unhappy with his plans to pull out of Afghanistan combat operations being ignored by everyone, Dion struck out on a new tack today.

Invading a nuclear power.

Jack! is sure to have some fun with this.

Cheers,
lance

Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, available at Amazon;

Liberal fascism: The Fondest Dreams of the American Left, available at the Baltimore Chronicle;

The important thing is that we, on the higher ground both actually and figuratively, need to remember that, when they begin their historic migration from their doomed regions, we not give them the keys to the city. They certainly should be offered assistance in their time of need, but we need to keep a firm grip on our political systems, making sure that these guilty throngs who allowed the world to go to hell are gerrymandered into political impotence in their new homes.
There will be much work to be done to help the earth and its residents—human and non-human—survive this man-made catastrophe, and we can’t have these future refugee troglodytes, should their personal disasters still fail to make them recognize reality, mucking things up again.
It should be considered acceptable, in this stifling new world, to say, “Shut up. We told you this would happen.”

Liberal Fascism: Lighting The Way for the American Left available at a Canadian Human Rights Commission nearest you.

I wanted to let you know that linking to non-public officials who may be involved in this process could make things worse. Even if you do not live in Canada, at best it will increase the sympathy of the Tribunal to the complainants. It doesn’t matter if you’re not officially affiliated with Steyn, because they can use it as an example of harrassing behaviour that his articles and books are encouraging.

Try your luck with this Skill Testing Question:

Since the Nazis imposed state censorship over speech they deemed offensive, and the Canadian Human Rights Commission imposes state censorship over speech they deem offensive, does this mean that those that use the CHRC to impose state censorship over speech they deem offensive are “Nazi sympathizers”?

Send in your answer and receive an entry in a draw for a free Canadian Human Rights Commission Reaction Figure!

*	A perfect choice for the unsympathetic Jew on your Holiday gifting list, designed and recommended by Danish cartoon censorship advocates everywhere.

Update – Ouch.

The rise of soggy-assed relativism has brought us to a point where putative spokespeople for parties and groups regularly insist on conflating, as if it’s a human right, completely different things. For example, the common-sense, obvious observation that it’s inappropriate for a journalist to collude with a political party to manipulate parliamentary proceedings which the reporter then reports on are regularly met with a sneering “Oh, so you’re saying that reporters shouldn’t ask questions…” and other such “arguments.” The lack of accountability to reason is betrayed by the apparent belief that reasonable interlocutors will be forced to say “touche”.
And now we’ve got Kinsella suggesting that someone who defends free speech is a hypocrite if he has ever taken legal action — and submitted the challenge to due process, not some kangaroo court — against the publication of false statements damaging to his reputation.
It’s apparent that Kinsella doesn’t know the difference between an argument and an assertion, or an argument and a cheapshot, and that he measures the cogency of whatever case he’s making by the amount of foam that builds up in the corner of his mouth when he’s making it.
Alas, it’s only other people who can see the foam, so he’s probably the only one who doesn’t understand that the National Post was doing him a favour when they wiped the spittle off their site.
“Some might say Ezra Levant is not fit to carry Richard Warman’s water bottle. I won’t.”
Well, as Me No Dhimmi pointed out, you did say it. And pretty much everyone says that Warren Kinsella is a craven, would-be tyrant who is prone to juvenile, self-destructive public meltdowns that he mistakes, remarkably and publicly, for personal victory and renown. In terms of convincingness, nothing Kinsella’s ever typed out in his life would come up to Ezra Levant’s proverbial ankles; is it even possible that Kinsella doesn’t understand that? You wouldn’t think so, and yet he goes and writes a piece like that. It’s like Joel Gray challenging Vladimir Klitchko to a fist fight. Go figure.

Using her best Maya Angelou impersonation, Oprah Winfrey yesterday endorsed Democratic candidate Barack Obama for audiences in Iowa. With this first-ever foray into presidential politics, Winfrey is breaking new ground, her campaigns to defeat obesity and illiteracy behind her.

Complete with egg;

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Now in the Sudan, there’s a British teacher who is possibly going to be stoned or lashed.
JOY BEHAR: A woman.
GOLDBERG: A woman, yeah. Because, in her class they had some teddy bears and she, one of the kids wanted to name his kid- his teddy bear Muhammad and she said “fine.” Apparently, other children complained to their parents, which is how it ended up in the hands of the religious leaders, and the religious leaders are very very upset. Now, do you think that they’re-
GLORIA ESTEFAN: They arrested her.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, they arrested her. It is a huge thing.
BEHAR: There are a lot of Muhammads, though, in that part of the world.
GOLDBERG: Yes, but they’re people, and not animals.
BEHAR: Right, but this isn’t even an animal. This is a stuffed toy.
GOLDBERG: Yes, it’s a stuffed toy.
SHERRI SHEPHERD: I think it’s like it’s sacrilegious to name a stuffed toy Muhammad. But you know, you would think that with her being in Sudan, she would know the rules and customs. Because I know I performed stand up in Turkey, and they gave me a big thick packet on the customs, and what you could and could not do, and how you would offend people. So I’m surprised that she didn’t know it might be offensive.
GOLDBERG: Yeah, because you’d think if you’re going overseas, I mean, we had this discussion yesterday about people coming to America and learning the customs and knowing what is cool, and what isn’t cool. But I find that maybe we are not- and I say we just as European and American, we’re not as anxious to learn the customs before we go places. It’s just one of the reasons we’re called the ugly Americans.

By extension, one can only assume Ms. Goldberg’s culturally relativist “View” extends as generously to the Sudan’s widespread practice of slavery.

der Spiegel;

With the number of homophobic attacks rising in the Dutch metropolis, Amsterdam officials are commissioning a study to determine why Moroccan men are targeting the city’s gays.

In related news: “Science inches closer to solving an age old question – “why is water wet?“
Stay tuned, because after the break, we explore how jooos control the media.

When the concept of “multiculturalism” was introduced to Canadians, most assumed it meant “more pavilions at Folkfest”.