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58 Comments

1. HawkWatcher:

Mark Steyn speaks his mind and is one of my champion truth-disclosers. He won’t be silenced.

I’m glad to have the Constitutional right to be offended and to offend others. I believe that all hate speech laws should be struck down in the USA. The 1st Amendment is very clearly written, and hate speech laws are an infringement on our rights. They are at the top of the slippery slope that could lead to CHRC-style inquisitions in this country.

Like CIC in Canada, CAIR fights the 1st Amendment as many concerned Americans divulge the Islamic doctrines underlying so many worldwide deaths and atrocities. CAIR will lose, just as the “terrorists” will, and truth shall prevail.

Oct 11, 2008 - 2:45 am 2. LeighB:

I read Mark Steyn faithfully and am glad this went his way. I may not always agree with Mr. Steyn but I always learn something.

Oct 11, 2008 - 4:49 am 3. David Thomson:

Barack Obama most assuredly will also try to take away our First Amendment rights. The odds are overwhelmingly high that he will try to impose these nefarious Canadian style policies on America. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Oct 11, 2008 - 5:49 am 4. kevin c:

THE ONLY WAY WE CAN STOP THESE “COMMISSSIONS” IS TO NOT ACCEPT THE PREMISE OF THERE AUTHORITY. TELL THEM TO KISS YOUR BACKSIDE. ONE OF OUR WEAKNESSES IS WE ACCEPT TO MUCH OF THE CHAREGS FROM THE LEFT AND ISLAM, WHEN THE REAL HATE MONGERS RESIDE IN ANTI FREEDOM IDEOLOGIES LIKE ISLAM AND COMMUNISM. THERS A REASON ISLAM AND COMMUNISM ARE BACKWARD SOCIETIES AND ITS THE LACK OF FREEDOM AS THE SOLUTION TO THE HUMAN EXISTENCE.

Oct 11, 2008 - 6:01 am 5. tanstaafl:

The case against Mark Steyn marked the second time Canadian Muslims had duly followed the example of these other “victim” groups in seeking redress for their “hurt feelings.”

Poor babies, can’t admit to the truth in acknowledging their own wackos, like Mullah Krekar in Norway. I’ve been Islam neutral most of my life, but in recent years have been developing a rather intense contempt for this religion/way of life, whatever.

I guess even the CHRC didn’t want to look like absolute boobs for finding an individual guilty who’d simply echoed the words of the mad Mullah of Norway relative to the relationship between stealth jihad and Muslim birth rates in Europe.

Democrats in America have a little stealth jihad of their own going on.

Can you imagine a seamless Democrat Congress and President? Since under conditions of Democrat political correctness, only certain kinds of “speech” are free, it seems they would all be very favorably disposed to resurrecting the (anti) Fairness Doctrine where some yahoo at the FCC would be deciding what constitutes “balance” in reportage over the airwaves.

Nancy Pelosi is a big proponent of the Fairness Doctrine. That way, radio commentators would be barred from pointing out the obvious, observing that she (not to mention Harry Reid and others) is not especially intellectually perspicacious

Oct 11, 2008 - 7:03 am 6. Still More Post-Trial Steynianism « Free Canuckistan!:

[...] Kathy Shaidle at Pajamas Media [...]

Oct 11, 2008 - 7:22 am 7. Kathy Shaidle:

Exactly, Kevin.

If they ever come after me, and I wish they would, they won’t know what hit them.

Oct 11, 2008 - 8:05 am 8. tanstaafl:

Mark Steyn himself has some observations on the reasons why a declining MSM would have a vested interest in electing an individual who might well be inclined to impose restrictions on “alternative” media. (Certainly the Obamabots attempts to interfere with radio interviews, to get the justice dept. to bar an Ayers/Obama ad and to get the (lawyer heavy) “truth squad” in Missouri up and running…are all worrying signs for the future of “free speech”.)

I think this is really the worrying thing, that old media, which is on the ropes in terms of its market share, if they can drag their guy across the finish line, and it took them some effort in the primary season, if they can drag their guy across the finish line, I think you’re going to see a lot of attempts by the Pelosi-Obama left-wing government to regulate the internet and talk radio and all kinds of other things. I think this is in a sense a defensive play by the mainstream media.

Mark Steyn, Columnist to the World

Oct 11, 2008 - 8:14 am 9. Guy Plante:

Islam is always billed as a tolerant religion, but it is obviously “tolerant” only of those who agree with it.
So it’s no big surprise when you have the likes of CAIR and other apologists for Islam and wacko Muslims worldwide (and if that comment makes me an islamophobe, so be it)always having a hissy-fit about any kind of “presumed” slight to its tenets or to its “peace” image.
Apparently in Canada Islam has managed to “convince” (in not too subtle ways)the Human Rights(for Muslims only,it seems)Commission that anything said about Islam, even when quoted verbatim from its less-than-holy book, is always “islamophobic”.
How about someone bringing accusations against the worst fomenter of hatred in the world – the Koran – before the CHRC? I bet that the islamlovers woud sing a different tune, wouldn’t they?

Oct 11, 2008 - 8:45 am 10. cfbleachers:

There are disturbing parallels indeed between the “truth squad” goons who seek to impose a chokehold on principled dissent, in a variety of ways, against a variety of mediums.

The “fairness doctrine” in the hands of Nancy Pelosi, “calls to action” by the campaign of Senator Obama during an appearance by Stanley Kurtz, the swarm of dorsal fins sent to Missouri, Code Pink showing up and disrupting, shouting, screaming incoherent chants during serious discussions…leftist totalitarianism is peeking out beneath the veil of “champions of tolerance”.

I am glad that Mark Steyn, one of our most courageous voices speaking truth to power, was not bothered further by this clear attempt at censorship. I am even happier that the imbecilic show trial brought down some heat on the producera of mendacity..even moreso that it shed light on the dangers of leftist authoritarianism.

I do not care where you sit on the political spectrum, if you believe in strangling principled dissent, you are an enemy of freedom.

The reason I despise those who stole our information stream and why I choose to argue strenuously against the leftists who benefit from that abject cowardice, is precisely the point of pointing out this parallel. It is not because I hold dear any particular right wing or even right of center hot button issues, it is because fighting against leftist jackbooting of my country is the most important issue, bar none, that any of us face if we love freedom and if we are to self-govern this land of ours.

The left has gone too far. They have become despicable and untenable in a “by any means necessary” infusion of tactics and enforcements. They have become dangerous and irrational.

It was allowed to happen in Canada and anyone who does not believe it could just as easily happen here, isn’t paying attention.

I cheered for Mark Steyn and I cherish his brilliant talents at speaking truth to power…but that power is no longer in our hands. We are about to give it away and our freedoms are more at stake by what was witnessed here in a “win” than is clear to the naked eye.

We no longer get “facts” in our “news”. Some are held back, some are filtered, some are photoshopped, some are forged, some are staged, …if we are not able to garner facts upon which to self-govern this land of ours…we are already under the totalitarian thumbs of those who intend to command us to think a certain way, to behave a certain way, to dream a certain dream and to vote a certain vote.

When the “truth” is owned by those who choose to Cuisinart the facts and then strain out any of those which are inconvenient to the “message”…we are slaves to that “message”.

Pick any other issue (abortion, gay rights, economic highs and lows, Middle East conflicts, terrorism) and they pale in comparison. We can’t even vote on the best way to address them, if we are victims of a gang rape of our information stream.

Vote no to leftist totalitarianism. Vote no to having your freedoms stolen from you. Vote no to giving absolute power to a party complicit in stealing your ability to speak, your ability to know, your ability to dissent from their policies. Vote no to tyranny of “the message”. Vote no to having your information filtered and obscured. Vote no at each and every opportunity.

Because if you don’t…you could replace Mark Steyn in that seat one day, only here…in America…and when they come for you, we might not be able to find out the truth to save you. They won’t let us, and the “facts” we get…will suggest you are guilty.

Oct 11, 2008 - 9:38 am 11. Marc Malone:

How in the world did a Human Rights Commission ever get put into place? Amazing. Political Correctness at its finest. Clear laws on clear subjects make for good society. Murky laws on murky subjects do the reverse. It’s when softheadedness is in the ascendanct. Time for some people to start going back to Church to rediscover the truth about right and wrong.

Oct 11, 2008 - 9:42 am 12. tlawler:

TRUTH SQUADS? we are are seeing the same free speech restrictions here in the u.s. Am i the only one who sees what happened to steyn and what is happening in the u.s.

If i say that i think obama whould be a bad president

Oct 11, 2008 - 9:55 am 13. David W. Lincoln:

Lets take a look at the different political parties in Canada.

First of all, we have the Conservative Party of Canada which will not lift a finger to strike section 13 from the Human Rights Code (for this was the section that was used to go after Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn and others. For it is as odious as the section of the Soviet Constitution
that was used to imprison Natan Sharansky).

The Liberal party of Canada had a member, Keith Martin, promote a private member’s bill that would do this. But, during the election that is taking place in Canada, the leader not only dropped it but also promised to reinstate the court challenges program which has been used time and time again to come up with judge made law. This is the way for the same sex crowd to make their gains in the political arena.

The New Democrats are about as interested in protecting the freedom of speech of social conservatives as Hitler was in protecting the lives of Jews.

So, does anyone else see room in the federal political arena that takes seriously what Wayne Eyre wrote as a guest column in the National Post.

Here it is:

As campaigning for the October election continues, I humbly offer Stephen Harper a political platform which, if espoused, would, I think, win him the majority he seeks.

In no particular order, then, Mr. Harper should:

-Call for new House of Commons rules whereby caterwauling and hollering by opposition members would result in their immediate ouster from the chamber by the Speaker. The basic decorum of the British House of Commons, where members can generally speak without a bellowing override from members opposite, puts our House to shame. Canadians are fed up with the daily bedlam in Parliament. A call for basic order and propriety would be met with universal approval.

-Talk about water as the new oil and promote the idea of super-tankering or pipe-lining water from Canada to parched areas of the United States, Mexico and even perhaps to countries overseas. Less than 1% of Newfoundland’s freshwater, for example, could be shipped south and yield billions of dollars annually. Ditto for Manitoba, Quebec and British Columbia, where billions of gallons now empty uselessly into oceans. It’s estimated that the multi-billion dollar expenditure of any water-pipeline construction would pay for itself in a few years.

-Offer matching funding to the provinces for massive upgrades exclusively to the Trans-Canada Highway. In 2000, the Chretien administration considered spearheading an infrastructure project that would upgrade the entire system to freeway quality. Most provinces preferred the improvement of heavier-traffic trade routes (often not inter-provincial) and border crossings with the United States. But it’s now time to lay down a world class, trans-national highway that matches the excellence of U. S. Interstate routes. -Join MP Keith Martin’s initiative to kill Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act — the one that deals with speech that’s “likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt.” Section 13 is custom-made for Islamist,

and other, anti-free-speechers who — with no hit on their own wallet — can, and do, launch capricious and malicious suits against others.

Mr. Harper had it right in 1999, when he publicly opined that “Human Rights Commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society… It is, in fact, totalitarianism. I find this very scary stuff.”

-Rule that those who arrive in Canada without credible, or any, identification papers should be sent back, on the next plane available, to the country from which they came. The immediate granting of rights and

social benefits to uncredentialed arrivals is crazy.

-Declare that, henceforth, the military — not the police — will be dispatched to clear road blockades by First Nations protesters, or any other group that erects them. Negotiation is the only acceptable means of resolving disputes or claims that result in roads being blocked to all who wish to use them. -Take a page from retired general Rick Hillier, who recently said on CBC Radio that Canada should advise NATO that, unless European member nations properly step up to the plate in Afghanistan, we will start pulling out of that country — and perhaps out of NATO itself. We’ve played the role of noble sucker long enough.

-Admit that the $2-billion his government has invested in biofuel research was misguided — the process seriously erodes world food reserves, and more energy is needed to produce biofuels than they save — and that the way to proceed is to encourage the production and use of electric-cars and hybrids, while also immediately reducing government tax on all fuels (not just 2 cents per litre on diesel in the next four years). Mr. Harper once promised he would remove the GST from gasoline once it hit 85 cents a litre. The billions of dollars in recent government surpluses would readily counterbalance the cut in fuel taxes.

-Run with the excellent suggestion of Manitoba Metis activist Jean Allard that each Indian (not unaccountable chiefs and band councils) personally receive an annual payment of about $5,000 — an inflation-adjusted version of a provision from a 19th-century treaty Cree Chief Big Bear signed, whereby each Indian was given land and $5 a year “treaty money.”

Allard argues that the original $5 a year, applied to current land prices (averaging roughly $1,000 an acre vs. about $1 an acre in the 1870s) is now worth about $5,000. If individuals received $400 a month — representing half of native spending, with the rest remaining intact to fund government services — native poverty would plummet. Families could move off reserves, pay the rent by combining the family payments and get jobs through which to build new, independent lives.

Oct 11, 2008 - 9:56 am 14. tlawler:

only facist and communist restrict free speech. how is that public officials in the heartland of the u.s create

Oct 11, 2008 - 9:58 am 15. tanstaafl:

…it is because fighting against leftist jackbooting of my country is the most important issue, bar none, that any of us face if we love freedom and if we are to self-govern this land of ours.

Yes, the only real “issue”.

As for Guy Plante’s suggestion, the CHRC might look into those numerous passages in the Koran where Allah encourages (nay, recommends) the slaughter of Unbelievers and Infidels.

(second best of course, dhimmitude and the paying of taxes to your Islamist masters of the universe. (sounds like the Democrats’ plan)

At the very least, the CHRC could note how convenient were Allah’s sundry violent (and otherwise) recommendations to the maintenance of Mohammed’s “lifestyle”.

Oct 11, 2008 - 10:02 am 16. Someone75:

I fully respect Mark Steyn’s right to spew vile Islamic racism. Congratulations on your victory and carry on, sir. Swat those mosquitoes.

Oct 11, 2008 - 12:23 pm 17. Some Sanity in Canada: Mark Steyn Found Innocent | Where Liberty Dwells:

[...] Shaidle has a good article here reflecting on Canada’s chilling suppression of individual [...]

Oct 11, 2008 - 12:39 pm 18. fred:

People like “Someone75″ are horribly misinformed about Islam, because their intellectual sloth will not deign to motivate them to read the Qur’an, ahadith, and The Reliance of the Traveler. Nor do they possess the true history of Muhammad and his sock puppet deity.

Therefore, in that condition I have described it is no surprise that he would accuse Mark Steyn, whose books and articles about Islam I have read, of his “right to spew vile Islamic racism.” There is no informed argument here, only a judgment that is pro forma and used by the Left when it disagrees with critiques of their protected groups.

The West is in deep trouble. There will be the Devil to pay unless and until we begin to be informed about what Islam really is.

I too had wished that this case would have been set up to appeal to the higher and more legitimate courts in Canada. As it stands, the CHRC remains as it is, without any constraints on its abilities to terrorize and shut down whatever is deemed within its capricious purview.

Oct 11, 2008 - 12:48 pm 19. Knights13:

Good for him. We Canadians seem to think free speech is an American thing. So what if he says bad stuff about muslims? I say bad stuff about a lot of things. Everyone should have their opinion.

I’m tired of fascists and communist running around crazy.

Oct 11, 2008 - 1:05 pm 20. USAF Captain:

fred writes:

“People like ‘Someone75′ are horribly misinformed about Islam, because their intellectual sloth will not deign to motivate them to read the Qur’an, ahadith”

..”Someone75″ is a jerk.

Oct 11, 2008 - 1:12 pm 21. Guy Plante (NHGuy):

I cannot for the life of me understand why those who dare challenge or question islam (lower case intentional) is always labelled a “racist”. Since when is islam a race?
Islam is a completely totalitarian belief system that tolerates no dissent of any of its teachings. It controls every aspect of its adherents’ life: social, political, religious, financial, you name it, and its one avowed goal in this world is to make islam dominant over the entire world.
If that’s simply too hard for some to understand or to believe, then we are all in a heap of camel dung.

Oct 11, 2008 - 1:56 pm 22. HawkWatcher:

Like many good libs, 75 needs to ignore the truth in order to pursue the current purpose in its life…to “get in their faces”. The commission exonerated Steyn and the magazine of the false charges as any ignoramus like 75 can read here. 75 will never explain what race Islamics are because they encompass all races and that fact destroys the charge of racism. Keep getting in our faces…it’s fun because you make it easy for us to destroy your worthless leftist ideology.

Oct 11, 2008 - 3:42 pm 23. Battlecat:

Obama’s campaign has been stifling free speech with cries of “racism!” at every hint of criticism. Someone needs to stand up and declare that the race card does not work anymore. Free speech is not politically correct, it is constitutionally correct. G-d help us if Obama’s ACORN buddies steal the election for him.

Oct 11, 2008 - 5:20 pm 24. Michael Lonie:

Mark Steyn offered to contribute $1,000 to the sock puppets in order to finance their appeal of the Commission’s ruling. He wants them to appeal so as to get the case before a real court of law to make the argument that the HRCs violate the Charter Right to free speech. I doubt they will take him up on his generous offer. What they will do is continue their harassment. It costs them almost nothing and forces the defendents to spend enormous amounts of money on the cases. That alone will have a chilling effect on free speech. If writers and publishers have to factor in going bankrupt from such harassment they will cease to offend, except for a few brave souls.

Oct 11, 2008 - 7:48 pm 25. Bob:

Can you imagine a Democrat Congress and a Democrat WhiteHouse? (and God forbid two new Supreme Court Justices) .. The media outlets that are reporting and vetting Barack Obama would be shut down and/or stifled so quickly by passage or the (alleged) Fairness Doctrine we may never even know what happened .. We’d just turn on the radio and TV one day and they’d be gone .. Mark Styne and others would be figures found in the books and magazines in the abandoned house in Ayn Rand’s “We the Living” ..

Oct 11, 2008 - 8:21 pm 26. fred:

Then that means someone is going to have to sponsor a bill before Canada’s parliament that challenges the HRC’s infringement upon free speech. If the Muslim savages won’t do take up Steyn’s offer and their socialist allies won’t take up the offer, then someone has got to force the issue. The degree of cowardice in Canada about this is amazing. And we in the U.S. are not entirely safe from this sort of thing. Guess who buys the loyalty of just about every university campus and U.S. agency and department? The moolah from the Ummah, that’s who.

Oct 11, 2008 - 8:23 pm 27. Guy Plante (NHGuy):

Bob asked: “Can you imagine a Democrat Congress and a Democrat WhiteHouse? (and God forbid two new Supreme Court Justices) .. ” I’d rather not think about it, thank you.
Some people I know tell me that Sarah Palin scares the s**t out of them, to which I reply “Well, Nobama terrifies me!” And they look at me as if I had just grown another head.
Sad to say, many many people here in the U.S. only “hear” Nobama’s rhetoric, they don’t really understand that he’s telling them just what they want to hear. ” He’ll ‘tax the rich’”, they say, as if they won’t feel the pinch.How conveniently they forget that “the rich”, for the most part, create the jobs that make the U.S. economy hum along.
If Nobama gets elected, and he is able to implement all he has promised, and it doesn’t work out, we’ll undoubtedly hear “It’s all Dubya’s fault”. Poor George. Next thing you know he’ll be blamed for the price of toilet paper. Oh? He’s already been blamed for that, you say? ;D)
By the way, did anyone remember that October 11 was the anniversary of Charles Martel’s 732 defeat of the poor misunderstood mooslums at Tours?

Oct 11, 2008 - 11:33 pm 28. Mark Steyn Victorious… But Don’t Celebrate Yet | PoliticsMuch.com:

[...] orginally posted at PajamasMedia.com. We claim no responsibility for this content. Please click on the link above to read and comment on [...]

Oct 12, 2008 - 7:37 am 29. fred:

Guy Plante (NHGuy)

Greetings from another New Hampshire person! Actually, the date was October 10, 732 Anno Domini, and the battle was in between the cities of Poitiers and Tours, closer to Poitiers – about 20 km outside of Poitiers near the river Vienne.

The army Al Ghafiqi was about 30,000 and had been ravaging Aquitania, Languedoc, and Narbonne. Martel’s army stole a march over the hinterlands, avoiding roads and towns, so the Muslim spies would not know he was coming. He caught Al Ghafiqi by surprise and was able to choose the ground for battle. Historians consider this battle PIVOTAL for the survival of Christianity and Western Civilization (not that any of today’s Leftists give a hoot about that, they are allied with dar al Islam). One of the fortuitous events of that battle was the fact that some of the auxiliaries of Martel’s army threatened the baggage train of Al Ghafiqi’s army, where they had all their loot. When elements of Al Ghafiqi’s army found out about that, they left the battle to go and try to protect their loot. So typical of the followers of Muhammad: they are really just greedy for our wealth and our women. Jihad gives them instant martyrdom and entrance into heaven (actually, it’s hell, but don’t tell them that!)and justification for stealing and raping.

So, on October 10, 732 Anno Domini, Satan suffered a huge setback in his plans for our destruction.

Oct 12, 2008 - 8:13 am 30. Janet:

Barack Obama’s Involvement with ACORN Unearthed, Missing
Cleveland Leader ^ | October 9, 2008 – 9:08pm.

While Barack Obama’s connection with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has not gone entirely unreported, it has not been fully explained. Most media background pieces simply note Obama’s involvement in a 1995 lawsuit on behalf of ACORN. Obama’s own website, as well as most major media, fail to reveal the full depth and extent of his relationship with the organization.

Attempts to hide evidence of Obama’s involvement with ACORN have included wiping the web clean of potentially damaging articles that had appeared, and were previously publicly accessible. Unfortunately, those behind the attempted cover-up failed to realize that in today’s day and age, nothing disappears forever. There also exists another layer of the web, the hidden web, which is full of information included in proprietary scholarly databases where these very same “missing” articles can be easily uncovered.

Obama’s campaign website states:

Fact: Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.

Is that really a FACT, or just another lie? Let’s take a look at a quote from a 2004 article – Case Study: Chicago- The Barack Obama Campaign – written by Toni Foulkes, a Chicago ACORN Leader, which was published in the journal Social Policy. Did we mention that Social Policy recently pulled this particular article from their website, while leaving links to all other articles up?

“Obama took the case, known as ACORN vs. Edgar (the name of the Republican governor at the time) and we won. Obama then went on to run a voter registration project with Project VOTE in 1992 that made it possible for Carol Moseley Braun to win the Senate that year. Project VOTE delivered 50,000 newly registered voters in that campaign (ACORN delivered about 5,000 of them).

Since then, we have invited Obama to our leadership training sessions to run the session on power every year, and, as a result, many of our newly developing leaders got to know him before he ever ran for office. Thus it was natural for many of us to be active volunteers in his first campaign for STate Senate and then his failed bid for U.S. Congress in 1996. By the time he ran for U.S. Senate, we were old friends.”

Not only does Foulkes boast of Obama’s ACORN leadership training, but also makes it clear that Obama’s post-law school organizing of “Project VOTE” in 1992 was undertaken in direct partnership with ACORN. The tie between Project VOTE and ACORN is also something that Obama and others have attempted to disprove in recent weeks as ACORN has come under fire for allegations of voter registration fraud.

As recently as March 2008, the Los Angeles Times also made reference to Barack Obama’s involvement with ACORN:

“At the time, Talbot worked at the social action group ACORN and initially considered Obama a competitor. But she became so impressed with his work that she invited him to help train her staff.” (LA Times, March 2, 2008)

All this information was easily pulled up with minimal time investment. It took less than thirty minutes to find, despite attempts by some to bury the truth. If I could find this with little effort, imagine what could be dug up with a serious, in-depth investigation. Scary, isn’t it?

Nevertheless, Barack Obama’s campaign website continues to lie and deny the truth about his involvement and association with ACORN. No matter how many times you say it, it does not make it true. The facts do not lie, Senator Obama. It’s time to come clean and tell the truth, and it’s time for the American people to demand it.

Oct 12, 2008 - 8:28 am 31. Andrew Ian Dodge:

Well a Conservative victory in Canada might help the ludicrous situation that exists in Canada when it comes to free speech.

Oct 12, 2008 - 9:25 am 32. tanstaafl:

Muslim groups know what they’re doing when they pursue one of these cases, Rachel Ehrenfield, Ezra Levant, Mark Steyn.

They’re stirring up the pot, drawing attention to themselves, getting out there and in your face. Although obviously not a court of law, the “plaintiff” position in a case before a CHRC costs nothing, whereas the “defendant” pays egregiously through the nose to “defend” himself.

And then, haha, after Levant’s defense costs upwards of $100,000 out of pocket, the case is dropped.

Mission (intimidation) Accomplished.

Even the people at CAIR (I have to imagine) aren’t so much genuinely offended per se at all this dumb stuff they claim is insulting to Islam, etc. as they are interested in drawing attention to themselves and making incursions in the name of “soft” jihad.

Recently, the head of CAIR was interviewed on (American) TV and was asked whether he would condemn Hamas and Hezbollah. He replied that he would condemn “terrorism”, but when pressed on H&H, he repeated his answer and said the questioner could take it as he would.

A soundbyte worth a thousand words.

Oct 12, 2008 - 9:39 am 33. Rubicon:

Steyn said “I think this is in a sense a defensive play by the mainstream media.”
Add the Missouri truth squads, UN resolutions to make “offending Islam” a crime, and so much more, it is obvious freedom of speech is under direct & indirect attack by those whose idea’s cannot stand up to truth.
By deflecting attention away from their failures & their suspicious activities, many on the left have been able to use a compliant, if not complicit MSM, to deliver their versions of facts to the public, despite their versions of facts being total fabrications of truth.
Steyn is right when he mentions this & he is even more right to warn us just how dangerous such idea’s are. Over the years the left has had free reign to say almost anything they want with impunity. Now, based on political control, they want speech to be edited!
God help us, many have diabolical plans to grab wealth & power, & their plans seem to match those of despots past & present!

Oct 12, 2008 - 1:01 pm 34. Otis:

Farakhan has called Obama the Messiah. It is a penalty of death for a muslim to blasphemy the muslim faith to call a so called christian the messiah. This means that Obama is really a Muslim in christian clothing. wake up and see the pigs come home

Oct 12, 2008 - 3:02 pm 35. John Wordsworth:

Surely it is time we stood up against the tyranny of the human rights bureacracy. If I had the “pleasure” of being told to appear in front of these tyrants I would treat them with the same contempt they have for the fundamental right of free speech. Surely there is an appetite to disband these kangaroo courts and ensure that there be not one penny paid in dismissal compensation to these self important tyrants .

Oct 12, 2008 - 5:42 pm 36. Someone75:

USAF Captain:

Yeah, I am a jerk. Good argument. I don’t agree with you, and therefore, ipso facto, I am a jerk.

You people are so afraid of the “brown” man, it would be amusing if it wasn’t so scary. Fred Phelps is radical and hateful, but you don’t blame all Christians for his actions, do you?

Oct 12, 2008 - 10:18 pm 37. John smith:

Surely it is time we stood up against the tyranny of the human rights bureacracy. If I had the “pleasure” of being told to appear in front of these tyrants I would treat them with the same contempt they have for the fundamental right of free speech. Surely there is an appetite to disband these kangaroo courts and ensure that there be not one penny paid in dismissal compensation to these self important tyrants .

Oct 12, 2008 - 11:56 pm 38. John smith:

USAF Captain:

Yeah, I am a jerk. Good argument. I don’t agree with you, and therefore, ipso facto, I am a jerk.

You people are so afraid of the “brown” man, it would be amusing if it wasn’t so scary. Fred Phelps is radical and hateful, but you don’t blame all Christians for his actions, do you?

Oct 13, 2008 - 12:04 am 39. Michael:

“You people”? You project your own inner feelings on those you disagree with. Guess what, the only reason race is a factor this election is because the left uses it as a blugeon.

If Obama wasn’t the farthest left of any politican in Washington he would win in a landslide. But he is that and he is supporting the most repressive political philosophy this country has ever seen on the presidential stage. He will “unite” this country because no disagreement will be tolerated as it will just be hate speech that must be suppressed.

By the way, truth is only hateful when it offends the left or Islam. Hmm, intesting confluence.

Oct 13, 2008 - 7:30 am 40. Sheila:

Is Someone75 and John Smith the same person?

Oct 13, 2008 - 8:10 am 41. Free Speech 3, Canadian Islamic Congress 0 « Jay Keating’s 2008 Weblog:

[...] at Pajamas Media, Kathy Shaidle nicely captures the insanity: I wouldn’t put it past the Canadian Islamic Congress to scold [...]

Oct 13, 2008 - 8:58 am 42. Credit Man:

the best way for steyn or anyone else when faced with the condemination of an NGO like this is to ignore it. Then when found guilty, sue them in civil court.

Oct 13, 2008 - 9:27 am 43. Credit Man:

on second though, if your were an author, just ignore these truth squads and you will sell more of your literature.

Oct 13, 2008 - 9:29 am 44. tanstaafl:

Surely there is an appetite to disband these kangaroo courts and ensure that there be not one penny paid in dismissal compensation to these self important tyrants.

Maybe Canadians will eventually get on board and recognize the petty and small minded (not to mention ignorant and destructive) thinking of their “human rights” commissions.

Oct 13, 2008 - 4:55 pm 45. schnargley:

Whatever. How low can you be? Right-wing nuts trying to mock and dismiss human rights comissions. All this little “victory” means is that we of the progressive movement need to step up our ability to use the state to punish intolerant views, to silence all those who abuse free speech, to march lock step with those freedom-loving peoples of the world like the Muslims who are mercilessly oppressed under western liberal democracy to the point that they even are prohibited from practicing Sharia.

Oct 14, 2008 - 12:39 am 46. Otis:

Pull out of Iraq?!?!

Perhaps the U.S. should pull out of Chicago?

Body count:

In the last six months:

292 killed
(murdered) in Chicago;

221 killed in Iraq.

Chicago…. Who Runs it: Senators: Barack Obama & Dick Durbin

Rep: Jesse Jackson Jr.,

Illinois Gov: Rod Blogojevich,

Illinois House leader Mike Madigan,

Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike),

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (son of Mayor Richard J. Daley)

…..our leadership in Illinois…..all Democrats.

Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago.

Of course, they’re all blaming each other!

Can’t blame Republicans; they’re aren’t any!
State pension fund $44 Billion in debt, worst in country.

Cook County
(Chicago) sales tax 10.25% highest in country. (Look ‘em up if you want).

Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country.

This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois.

And he’s gonna ‘fix’ Washington politics for us?

Wake Up America!

Pull out of Iraq?!?!

Perhaps the U.S. should pull out of Chicago?
Body count:
In the last six months:

292 killed
(murdered) in Chicago;

221 killed in Iraq.

Chicago…. Who Runs it: Senators: Barack Obama & Dick Durbin

Rep: Jesse Jackson Jr.,

Illinois Gov: Rod Blogojevich,

Illinois House leader Mike Madigan,

Illinois Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan (daughter of Mike),
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (son of Mayor Richard J. Daley)
…..our leadership in Illinois…..all Democrats.
Thank you for the combat zone in Chicago.
Of course, they’re all blaming each other!
Can’t blame Republicans; they’re aren’t any!
State pension fund $44 Billion in debt, worst in country.

Cook County
(Chicago) sales tax 10.25% highest in country. (Look ‘em up if you want).

Chicago school system rated one of the worst in the country.
This is the political culture that Obama comes from in Illinois.
And he’s gonna ‘fix’ Washington politics for us?
Wake Up America

Oct 14, 2008 - 6:23 am 47. Otis:

What do the top ten cities with the highest poverty rate all have in common?

Detroit, MI (1st on the poverty rate list) hasn’t elected a Republican mayor since 1961.

Buffalo, NY (2nd) hasn’t elected one since 1954

Cincinnati, OH (3rd) .. since 1984

Cleveland, OH (4th) .. since 1989

Miami, FL (5th) has never had a Republican mayor

St. Louis, MO (6th) .. since 1949

El Paso, TX (7th) has never had a Republican mayor

Milwaukee, WI (8th) .. since 1908

Philadelphia, PA (9th) .. since 1952

Newark, NJ (10th) .. since 1907

Einstein once said, ‘The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.’

It is the disadvantaged who habitually elect Democrats yet are still disadvantaged. (writer unknown)

Oct 14, 2008 - 6:25 am 48. tanstaafl:

All this little “victory” means is that we of the progressive movement need to step up our ability to use the state to punish intolerant views, to silence all those who abuse free speech…

Are you for real, schnargley ?

Have you ever listened to some of those “human rights” commission dweebs, up close and personal ? Like most American liberals, they have little going for them (intellectually) except self-righteousness.

…the Muslims who are mercilessly oppressed under western liberal democracy to the point that they even are prohibited from practicing Sharia.

Oh, I don’t think there’s a problem. Wife beating, (dis)honoUr killings and so on seem to be getting along just fine, even in Canada, Britain, Italy… (of course, the perpetrators of (dis)honoUr killings get a little miffed when the civil authorities toss them in the clink, if that’s what you’re complaining about.)

Oct 14, 2008 - 9:00 am 49. Sheila:

Uh, tanstaafl, if you read all schnargley’s posts, you’ll find he’s being sarcastic (I think…)

Oct 14, 2008 - 9:16 am 50. Pope Linus:

Tom Sowell had a great quote: “Liberalism is totalitarianism with a human face.”

Ask Steyn about that, and I’m sure he’d agree.

Oct 14, 2008 - 9:20 am 51. marlowe anderson:

I 2nd the thoughts of Kevin (above). To it I would add Ridicule as one of the better weapons against these sluggish thinking members on HRC. Who actually gets to appoint them to these empty (or should be empty) positions. The 37 page document they released as their justification for their ruling in itself is laughable. The three commission members should be assigned the task of diagraming every sentence in their screed; that would give them about three months of work right there that would exceed anything useful they could do on their quasi judicial commission. Preferably that would be three months with pay withheld and donated to the homeless if their prose is found unworthy of a 10th Grader with a 6th Grade intellect. ( We won’t go into the question of whether any of them are smarter than a 5th Grader?)
Face it, HRCommissions are Animal Farm writ large: Some pigs are more equal than other pigs, remember?

Oct 14, 2008 - 9:25 am 52. Guy Plante (NHGuy):

Well, well, well. The party of the-one-we’ve-all-been-waiting-for has finally come around to accusing McCain/Palin of injecting the “race issue” into the campaign!
I have one question: How come it took so long???
At some point earlier in the campaign this summer Obama himself warned his followers that “At some point in this campaign you’ll hear from them (Republicans) that because I’m a different color than they are I shouldn’t be president!” And he’s accusing the McCain/Palin people of bringing up the race issue first?
(Forgive me if I botched the quote a little bit. I believe I captured the gist of it.)

Oct 14, 2008 - 9:54 am 53. sonya:

Obama’s speeches in Philly were filled with quotes from the radical blacks of the 60’s/70’s — Malcolm X, Stockely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver, and more. He said he very seldom quotes Martin Luther King even on the Anniversary during the Convention which he said speaks to the type of person he is because he is only 6.25% black but has been around radicals his whole life to give the speeches in Philly which he said were code words into the black community to riot if Obama doesn’t win because whitey would have bamboozled and hoodwinked the black community. I sat there stunned with the phone call.

Why hasn’t the MSM reported on any of this? I believe they are cut out of the same 60’s/70’s radical cloth and their wish is to have socialism in this Country and at the same time they ignore the fact that their pocketbook will be affected by this Marxist.

Oct 15, 2008 - 7:27 am 54. koedo:

I’d like to see Islam itself brought up on charges before the Commission for inciting hate and violence. Anyone who has actually taken the time to read the koran can find multiple and frequent calls to ‘murder’ Jews, Christians, apostates and homosexuals.

Don’t take my word for it, read the Koran yourself and you’ll see how violent and hateful it really is.

Oct 15, 2008 - 9:07 am 55. sonya:

Many are asking how we got into this financial mess. The truth, for the most part, is not being discussed on the media. The following will help you understand our national financial situation a little better.

This is a condensation of a series from the Investor’s Business Daily explaining “What Caused the Loan Crisis”:

1977: Pres. Jimmy Carter signs the Community Reinvestment Act into Law. The law pressured financial institutions to extend home loans to those who would otherwise not qualify. The Premise: Home ownership would improve poor and crime-ridden communities and neighborhoods in terms of crime, investment, jobs, etc.

Results: Statistics bear out that it did not help.

How did the government get so deeply involved in the housing market? Answer: Bill Clinton wanted it that way.

1992: Republican representative Jim Leach (IO) warned of the danger that Fannie and Freddie were changing from being agencies of the public at large to money machines for the principals and the stockholding few.

1993: Clinton extensively rewrote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s rules turning the quasi-private mortgage-funding firms into semi-nationalized monopoies dispensing cash and loans to large Democratic voting blocks and handing favors, jobs and contributions to political allies. This potent mix led inevitably to corruption and now the collapse of Freddie and Fannie.

1994: Despite warnings, Clinton unveiled his National Home-Ownership Strategy which broadened the CRA in ways congress never intended.

1995: Congress, about to change from a Democrat majority to Republican, Clinton orders Robert Rubin’s Treasury Dept to rewrite the rules. Robt. Rubin’s Treasury reworked rules, forcing banks to satisfy quotas for sub-prime and minority loans to get a satisfactory CRA rating. The rating was key to expansion or mergers for banks. Loans began to be made on the basis of race and little else.

1997 – 1999: Clinton, bypassing Republicans, enlisted Andrew Cuomo, then Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, allowing Freddie and Fannie to get into the sub-prime market in a BIG way. Led by Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd, congress doubled down on the risk by easing capital limits and allowing them to hold just 2.5% of capital to back their investments vs. 10% for banks. Since they could borrow at lower rates than banks their enterprises boomed.

With incentives in place, banks poured billions in loans into poor communities, often “no doc”, “no income”, requiring no money down and no verification of income. Worse still was the cronyism: Fannie and Freddie became home to out-of work-politicians, mostly Clinton Democrats. 384 politicians got big campaign donations from Fannie and Freddie. Over $200 million had been spent on lobbying and political activities. During the 1990’s Fannie and Freddie enjoyed a subsidy of as much as $182 Billion, most of it going to principals and shareholders, not poor borrowers as claimed.

Did it work? Minorities made up 49% of the 12.5 million new homeowners but many of those loans have gone bad and the minority homeownership rates are shrinking fast.

1999: New Treasury Secretary, Lawrence Summers, became alarmed at Fannie and Freddie’s excesses. Congress held hearings the ensuing year but nothing was done because Fannie and Freddie had donated millions to key congressmen and radical groups, ensuring no meaningful changes would take place. “We manage our political risk with the same intensity that we manage our credit and interest rate risks,” Fannie CEO Franklin Raines, a former Clinton official and current Barack Obama advisor, bragged to investors in 1999.

2000: Secretary Summers sent Undersecretary Gary Gensler to Congress seeking an end to the “special status”. Democrats raised a ruckus as did Fannie and Freddie, headed by politically connected CEO’s who knew how to reward and punish. “We think that the statements evidence a contempt for the nation’s housing and mortgage markets” Freddie spokesperson Sharon McHale said. It was the last chance during the Clinton era for reform.

2001: Republicans try repeatedly to bring fiscal sanity to Fannie and Freddie but Democrats blocked any attempt at reform; especially Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd who now run key banking committees and were huge beneficiaries of campaign contributions from the mortgage giants.

2003: Bush proposes what the NY Times called “the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago”. Even after discovering a scheme by Fannie and Freddie to overstate earnings by $10.6 billion to boost their bonuses, the Democrats killed reform.

2005: Then Fed chairman Alan Greenspan warns Congress: “We are placing the total financial system at substantial risk”. Sen. McCain, with two others, sponsored a Fannie/Freddie reform bill and said, “If congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system and the economy as a whole”. Sen. Harry Reid accused the GOP ;of trying to “cripple the ability of Fannie and Freddie to carry out their mission of expanding homeownership” The bill went nowhere.

2007: By now Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee over HALF of the $12 trillion US mortgage market. The mortgage giants, whose executive suites were top-heavy with former Democratic officials, had been working with Wall St. to repackage the bad loans and sell them to investors. As the housing market fell in ‘07, sub prime mortgage portfolios suffered major losses. The crisis was on, though it was 15 years in the making.

2008: McCain has repeatedly called for reforming the behemoths, Bush urged reform 17 times. Still the media have repeated Democrats’ talking points about this being a “Republican” disaster. A few Republicans are complicit but Fannie and Freddie were created by Democrats, regulated by Democrats, largely run by Democrats and protected by Democrats. That’s why taxpayers are now being asked for $700 billion!!

If you doubt any of this, just click the links below and listen to your lawmakers own words. They are condemning!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68D9XrqyrWo&feature=related#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIgqfM5C8lY#

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9juJr8CSY4&feature=related#

Oct 15, 2008 - 5:34 pm 56. Marc Malone:

Otis – Thanks for the top ten list. Just guessing, but I’d bet those cities also have massive other-than-Asian minority populations. Nothing like driving out the evil tax-payers to make your books balance so well.

Oct 16, 2008 - 1:13 am 57. Someone75:

Sheila:

Hmm . . . not sure what happened there. I have no idea why my comment was posted as “John Smith”. Please attribute it to me – Someone75.

Oct 16, 2008 - 2:34 pm 58. old white guy:

islam=muslim=evil.

Sep 9, 2009 - 12:41 pm

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