Mark Steyn vs. the ‘Sock Puppets’
Warming up for his appearance before a human rights tribunal next month, Mark Steyn recently confronted his phony "accusers" on live TV. He got the better of them, but they will have the upper hand in court.
Mark Steyn is in the business of making predictions. The possible consequences of some of those predictions recently led him to make another one: “My career in Canada will be formally ended next month.”
How has it come to this?
On June 2, Steyn and Maclean’s magazine — the nation’s oldest newsweekly — are obliged to defend themselves against charges of “flagrant Islamophobia” at a British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal.
The saga began two years ago, when Maclean’s published an excerpt of Steyn’s bestselling book, America Alone, which asks how the West’s changing demographic profile — specifically, the difference between Muslim and non-Muslim birthrates — will affect its future.
In December 2007, the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) filed Human Rights Commission complaints against Steyn and the magazine in three different jurisdictions, charging them with “exposing Muslims to hatred and contempt” for, among other things, accurately quoting a Norwegian imam who boasted that Muslims were breeding “like mosquitoes.”
The CIC demanded that Maclean’s print five pages of unedited Islamist propaganda in the interest of “fairness” and “balance.” Maclean’s refused. In fact, publisher Ken Whyte’s response to the group — that he would rather see the magazine go bankrupt than bow to their blackmail — outraged the CIC as much as Steyn’s original article.
The story soon became an international cause célèbre. Unlike many other Canadians who’ve been caught in the HRC’s clutches over the last ten years (and subsequently ruined), Steyn and his co-defendants are well-connected and eloquent, with relatively deep pockets and high profiles. Their case has helped expose a bizarre quasi-judicial set-up that’s part extortion scheme, part secret police.
Now the petitions have been signed and the op-eds written, and members of Parliament faxed and emailed. There seemed to be little more to do than wait anxiously for that first tribunal to start.
Then the paperback edition of America Alone was released north of the 49th parallel this month, complete with a cheeky yet ominous yellow badge on the cover that read “Soon To Be Banned In Canada.”
The undisputed highlight of the subsequent media blitz came when Steyn confronted his “accusers” for the very first time. On live TV.
(”Accusers” because the real complainant is Mohammed Elmasry, the CIC president and terrorism advocate; three young, photogenic, and properly “outraged” Muslim articling students are fronting for “ElMo” in public, and have therefore been nicknamed “the Sock Puppets” by Steyn’s supporters. One of these supporters, Tarek Fatah of the rival, moderate Muslim Canadian Congress, derisively calls the trio “the boy band.”)
These students had insisted for months that they “just wanted to debate the issues in public.” Yet when that opportunity presented itself, they refused to share the set with Steyn.
So in the middle of his interview, Steyn called to the students, who were hovering off stage, challenging them to make their charges to his face. After some shouting, chairs were rearranged and the “debate” finally took place.
The foreign-born students seemed embarrassingly unfamiliar with English common law, not to mention elementary literary devices like sarcasm and hyperbole. They read aloud samples of Steyn’s Maclean’s columns with as much venom as their wavering voices could muster. As usual, accurate quotations from Muslim leaders were singled out for particular scorn:
Signora Fallaci then moves on to the livelier examples of contemporary Islam — for example, Ayatollah Khomeini’s “Blue Book” and its helpful advice on romantic matters: “If a man marries a minor who has reached the age of nine and if during the defloration he immediately breaks the hymen, he cannot enjoy her any longer.” I’ll say. I know it always ruins my evening.
That “signora” is, of course, the late Oriana Fallaci, whose animus towards Islam preoccupied the last years of her life. After reading that passage of Steyn’s, Muslim student Khurrum Awan compared Fallaci to notorious Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, whose name remains a byword in Canada years after his conviction and deportation for “spreading false news.”
Host Steve Paikin was shocked, and asked Awan if he’d really intended to make that comparison. He had.
As time ran out on the shouting match, Steyn made a gesture toward reconciliation.
“Wanna go to dinner?” he asked.
“No!” Awan yelled back.
After this embarrassing performance — and those of the CIC’s lawyer Faisal Joseph (when he bothers to “perform” at all) — Steyn might be forgiven for looking forward to June 2 with confidence. He isn’t.
Canadian Human Rights Tribunals have a 100% conviction rate on “hate speech” charges. According to the BC Human Rights Code, decisions brought down by that province’s Human Rights Tribunals have “the same force and effect” as “a judgment of the Supreme Court.”
So, “when the British Columbia ‘Human Rights’ Tribunal finds us guilty,” writes Steyn, “they are statutorily obligated to issue a cease-and-desist order that will have the effect of preventing Maclean’s running any writing on Islam by me or anybody of a similar bent — even though the plaintiffs have not challenged the accuracy of a single fact or statistic or quotation.”
He continued:
So four weeks from now I’ll be banished from the Canadian media. … But a year or two down the line, many other subscribers to Maclean’s and the Chronicle-Herald and eventually the Globe and the Toronto Star will be wondering why there are whole areas of debate that no longer seem to get much of an airing in the public prints. In 1989, Muslims who objected to Salman Rushdie burned his novel in the streets of England. Two decades on, they’ve figured out that it’s more efficient to use the “human rights” commissions to burn the offending texts metaphorically, discreetly, offstage … and (ultimately) preemptively.
In many respects, the June 2 Tribunal’s guilty verdict will represent the ultimate triumph of those “progressive” “Trudeaupian” ideals that have been infecting the nation’s institutions for generations.
“At one point,” remarked Steyn after that televised “debate,” “I looked across at the Sock Puppet Three and thought: It’s not about who wins the argument. They’re the future of this country, and that’s that.”
Kathy Shaidle blogs at FiveFeetOfFury. Mark Steyn has called her new e-book Acoustic Ladyland a “must read.”
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103 Comments
1. OmegaPaladin:The more I read about political correctness, the more I think the counter reaction will be devastating. When the West takes its gloves off, the result is a lot of death and destruction. See World War II for more details.
There are plenty of innocent Muslims out there. To you noble people of peace and righteousness: Stop these Islamic Supremacists! Do not support their insanity. They will only lead to a hell on Earth for everyone.
May 21, 2008 - 2:43 am 2. Benson:Second to OmegaPaladin’s remarks, with one caveat: “innocent Muslims” who are “people of peace and righteousness” by definition cannot believe the Koran is the comandments of the creator-deity, delivered to mankind via the angel Gabriel and Mohammed. How many Muslims deny the inerrancy of the Koran?
It seems to me that Islam simply does not have a rational, peaceful, outspoken and significant minority, though one may be struggling to be born in Iraq as a consequence of the G. W. Bush foreign policy.
May 21, 2008 - 4:26 am 3. tehag:Doesn’t another column at PJM today quote Niemoeller? Here’s the Canadian version: “First they came for the homophobes, but since I was for gay rights, I said nothing; then they came for the anti-Semites, but since I hated Palestinians, I said nothing, now they’re coming for the anti-Moslems, and….?”
Reap what you sow. It’s not as if the various HRCs are newborn institutions. They’ve been in place for decades. They shouldn’t have been created. For decades political parties in Canada campaigned to implement ‘Canadian Values.’ Now your laws enforce those values.
Not what you wanted? Tough–it’s what Canada choose in election after election: not human rights (American, founding father-style) but Human Rights (U.N.-style). Canadian values backed by laws that create well-funded bureaucracies to compel obedience to those laws.
The HRCs function as the institutions of justice function everywhere According to heroes like Rev. Wright, the American justice system resembles that of the HRC: only the guilty are charged and convicted. The behavior of the HRC is like that of justice systems everywhere.
IIRC, I saw a blog entry stating that the money contributed to Steyn’s defense fund was mostly donated by Americans. To Americans: stop meddling! Canadians who support Canadian Values don’t defend hate criminals; neither should you.
You and Steyn are not Canadian enough for Canada. You’re not the kind of person Canada wants. You should flee to a country that is freer–your choice of countries, or revolt, slay your oppressors and install a limited government that supports freedom.
In this there should be no halfway measures: either the Canadian government may, like China, determine which speech is acceptable in Canada, or it may not. Obey the law or destroy the commissions.
tehag
May 21, 2008 - 4:46 am 4. lizzy:this is how the world ends
May 21, 2008 - 4:46 am 5. charles p. smith:not with a bang but a whimper
I saw Mr. Steyn and the “sock puppets” on the TVO show just this past weekend. It was scary. These articling law students, as earnest as they think they are, are really beyond the pale. They have had their feelings hurt. That is the bottom line. And their feelings are hurt because their faith – Islam – says they should not have their feelings hurt. This has nothing to do with hate speech. This has to do with hurt feelings. And it these 3 soon-to-be-lawyers had any integrity, honesty and intestinal fortitude they would be focusing their wrath on those within Islam who are giving it a bad name. Well, worse than what is already, given the written word in their religious books. They showed their true colours when Mr. Awan likened Orianna Fallaci to Ernst Zundel. I was stunned – much like Steve Paikin. The 3 did not want to discuss the facts as outlined by Mr. Steyn and Macleans or the statements made by people considered to be “leaders” of Muslims in their respective countries – these were dismissed as “obscure Muslims”. Hardly. They only wanted to show that their feelings were hurt because these facts were written up. They were over matched and looked foolish, particularly Mr. Awan who was close to foaming at the mouth.
At the end of the show Steve Paikin came on to advise that there was an hour long discussion between all of them after filming and Mr. Paikin advised that another show is being worked on. Somehow I don’t think that will happen.
Mr. Steyn is absolutely correct – these people are the future of my country. We are doomed due to hurt feelings.
May 21, 2008 - 5:21 am 6. Frank Logan:THE SILENT MAJORITY
(author unknown)
A man whose family was Jewish German aristocracy prior to World War Two owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism.
‘Very few people were true Nazis ‘he said,’ but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.’
We are told again and again by ‘experts’ and ‘talking heads’ that Islam is the religion of peace, and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace.
Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam. The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.
It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of rape victims and homosexuals.
The hard quantifiable fact is that the ‘peaceful majority’ the ’silent majority’ is cowed and extraneous.
Communist Russia comprised Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.
China’s huge population, it was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.
The average Japanese individual prior to World War 2 was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword,shovel and bayonet.
And, who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were ‘peaceful & loving’?
History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points: Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don’t speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awake one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.
Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late.
As for us who watch it all unfold; we must pay attention to the only group that counts; the fanatics who threaten our way of life.
May 21, 2008 - 5:23 am 7. RJGatorEsq.:Human Rights Commissions:
Where free speech, and free societies, go to die.
May 21, 2008 - 5:33 am 8. LeChat:I feel sorry for the average Canadian citizen who has to put up with this insanity. I’m old enough to remember a time before political correctness threatened to destroy entire societies.
May 21, 2008 - 5:46 am 9. Johnny Maudlin:Since I live in the US, what I say is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
By the way, I don’t have Islamophobia. A phobia is an unreasoning fear. My fear of Islam is perfectly reasoned, and is based on its history, the statements of its Imams, and its actions.
I understand Pyjamas Media is a privately funded hobby for a wealthy right winger. I wonder how the writers view themselves, in terms of integrity. Kathy Shaidle, on her blog last Saturday, demonstrated quite nicely what her values are. As Senator Ted Kennedy was being rushed to the hospital after suffering a seizure, the good Christian woman Kathy Shaidle was instructing her readers to please get some priorities, and posting a picture of the tombstone of Mary Jo Kopechne. All these years later, when a man is fighting for his life, this is the kind of hateful message Shaidle offers to the world. She is an embarrassment to any serious journalist.
May 21, 2008 - 6:06 am 10. Louis S. Coletta:With freedoms come responsibilities. Liberty is a result of wearisome struggles. I may be tired of the constant pressure of Islamo-nazis but I will not give-in, give-up, or give-out. To live in this earthly time means commenting, preparing, and stationing myself and those around me to defend, contend, and offend those of ill-will against the freedoms so bravely fought for so long ago. Without this struggle, I am dead to my life and the evil of sin, Isalmo-nazis, or government oppression wins the day and those expessions so freely given, through previous struggles, are silenced and I must fight actively to regain them again. I, an American, will continue to support M. Steyn and pray for his vindication from this evil and oppression and that free thinking minds, such as his, will never be silenced by small minded nazis ever.
May 21, 2008 - 6:08 am 11. Ken Bond:Hey PQ Guys: Bring on the RCMP chaps. Commenter “Omega Paladin” may be closer to the mark than he realizes.
May 21, 2008 - 6:12 am 12. Sock Puppet Censorship : Wikistan:[...] disturbing attempt to muzzle the media north of the border. Death threats and fatwas not having the desired effect on your [...]
May 21, 2008 - 6:27 am 13. Misanthropicus:RE M. Steyn & Muslim circular thinking (sic!) and the political correctness & cowardice ecouraging it.
Remember the Denmark cartoons and the hysterical Islamic response to it? Wasn’t the true read of that response “You hurt my feelings by describing me as absurd, cruel and famatic. This is not true and if you do not crawl on shattered glass from here to Medina and repent, I will behead you, since this is how insensitive people must be treated.”
Remember the “unconditional love” craze here (what an absurdity!)?
Now eat it – remember the Arabic/Muslim kids in Britain yelling and screaming in TV interviews “You have to accept us in our own terms!”
Remember the word ENTITLEMENT? Remember other cultural relativism and open-mindedness, New Values postulates?
The trial of Steyn in Canada doesn’t differ a iota from Stalin’s kanguroo courts in Soviet Union during the 30-s, the purges era.
May 21, 2008 - 6:48 am 14. Dylan Bruns:The rest of the supposedly civilized world are becoming more and more backwards, through no fault of Muslims. They are just taking advantage of the medieval policies of these countries. What really is the difference between Human Right Courts and religious police in Saudi Arabia? Sure, they don’t bash your head in, but the idea is the same. If you espouse views contrary to the state religion, your in trouble.
May 21, 2008 - 6:56 am 15. JayHawk Phrenzie:RE: Johnny Maudlin
After all, what is some poor little innocent woman compared to the greatness of Ted Kennedy.
So he killed a girl, at least he was the “Liberal Lion”.
If there were any true justice in the world, this despicable lowlife would not be in the Senate, but Democrats have no standards.
May 21, 2008 - 6:58 am 16. Kathy Shaidle:Guys, just ignore Johnny Maudlin. He’s an admitted pot head and a well known troll up here.
One question, Johnny: when Mary Jo was fighting for her life, where was Ted? Drunk and passed out, then on the phone with his lawyer.
Yes, my values are to remember a helpless young woman who was left to die so a rich boy could get away with murder and live a long, successful life. Guess I’m funny that way…
I love the idea of a progressive male feminist like yourself siding with a patrician, spoiled brat! Scratch a leftwing man and you will always find a sexist pig.
And I’ve never called myself a “good Christian woman”. In fact, if you knew how to read, you’d know that for the 8 years I’ve been blogging, I’ve always called myself the world’s worst Catholic.
Go back to digging up roaches in the ashtray and leave the grownups to talk amongst themselves, deary.
May 21, 2008 - 7:02 am 17. psa:Thank you, Mark Steyn.
Tim Blair bravely sums up the current thug play:
…
NORTHERN STAND
Facing insane demands from idiots, the Canadian magazine Maclean’s responds:
We told them that we couldn’t possibly meet their demands. No publication could. It would violate an editor’s responsibilities to his publication, his readers, and his profession. We told them we would rather go out of business than to give over complete control of space in the magazine to anyone on such terms. We stand by that decision.
Well said. More of that, please, from publications worldwide. Further stand-by-that-decision news from Mark Steyn. [link provided]
Posted by Tim B. on 04/19/2008 at 04:12 PM
Permalink
http://timblair.net/ee/index.php/weblog/northern_stand/
May 21, 2008 - 7:05 am 18. Jim M:Lizzy has a point. As one of Ayn Rand’s characters said….’the world will not end in fire and brimstone….but in goo’
May 21, 2008 - 7:31 am 19. Johnny Maudlin:Kathy: quickly, as I’m off to work. I have a job. Think about it Kathy. Instead of pan handling with offers of re tread newspaper columns for sale, leave the house, get a job. Now; my name is John Daly. Anyone who has peripheral vision can see that by looking at the “profile” information on my blog.
Secondly, the drug I abuse is Oxycontin. Your skill for reporting is just really very poor. Do you realize how remarkably “high school” and terrified you sound when you ask others not to speak with me, or just to ignore me? Where the hell does that come from?
The irony, I think, is delicious. Your notoriety is almost entirely based on the savage racism you display in attacking minority groups like Muslims, in Canada. Your supposed concern about Muslims is that they may, one day, introduce Sharia law, a harsh code that is most unforgiving. At the same time you preach that we should not forgive Senator Ted Kennedy, that now as he is fighting for his life, is the time to remember his terrible lapse in judgment. It is that thinking that defines you Shaidle. Cowardly? Grow up Kathy. I come here, a minority of one, and you, the so-called tough girl, ask your pals to ignore me. Who is the coward?
Re think your stuff Shaidle. The God you profess to believe in is watching. Just how relapsed to intend to get?
May 21, 2008 - 8:00 am 20. Sigmund, Carl and Alfred:Johnny Maudlin is an idiot.
Funny how ‘offended’ and ‘outraged’ he is.
This is the same kind of pipsqueak who took great delight in Dick Cheney’s heart problems and surgery and loudly hoped for the worst, like legions of others of his ilk.
Johnny Maudlin is yet another poster child for school choice and voucher programs. Clearly, a public school education has failed him.
May 21, 2008 - 8:03 am 21. Joe C.:We should liberate Canada before it’s too late!
May 21, 2008 - 8:04 am 22. Assistant Village Idiot:Siggy, you should know better than to dis Idiots – I thought you were my pal!
Johnny Maudlin has trouble staying on topic, so he shovels every criticism he can think of into every discussion. I don’t think we should discourage him, I think we should keep his rants as excellent examples of the foaming tangentiality so common on the left. I count eleven different topics in his two short comments. That is an easy way to always claim that your disputants haven’t answered you – while they are attempting to patiently answer one thing, you throw in three new ones, rather like whack-a-mole.
Johnny, for the record, I know nothing about Kathy other than what I read here, and nothing of you other than what I read here. Advantage: Shaidle.
May 21, 2008 - 8:44 am 23. BMoon:Apart from the ever-entertaining and joyous grapplings of Mark Steyn, there is anoter bright spot to this otherwise sordid chapter of modern leftist mutations and cowardly acquiescence to Islamofascism- the picture of a mainstream media entity actually growing a pair and battling alongside the often solitary conservative.
Is there actually a chance that the mainsteam media will get it and reach down and find their long-lost manhood?
May 21, 2008 - 9:29 am 24. Johnny Maudlin:Admittedly my comment was not on topic. Forgive me
My point is simply this: please take the time to honestly assess the credibility of any person who is preaching anything to you. Shaidle’s stated agenda is clear. The subtext is also pretty obvious. She is interested in making a name and reputation for herself. She is either;
- as antagonistic as she appears to be
- putting on a show to draw readers to her blog, with her unbroken string of hateful mean-spirited and yes (by any reasonable definition) racist material.
I say she has very little credibility, street or otherwise. Outside the very small circle she is so anxious to protect. Peace and out.
May 21, 2008 - 9:43 am 25. Blazingcatfur:Johnny Maudlin: “Secondly, the drug I abuse is Oxycontin” and it has clearly got the upperhand.
May 21, 2008 - 9:52 am 26. Assistant Village Idiot:JM – thank you for reading attentively. Point delivered.
May 21, 2008 - 10:01 am 27. christopher rivers:“an embarrassment to any serious journalist.”
I’ve worked with a lot of serious journalists in my newspaper days, i suppose i was serious myself. Right now they’re telling kennedy jokes, except when they’re on camera reciting pieties to make naive stiffs like maudlin happy.
May 21, 2008 - 10:03 am 28. Spider79:Off to work now Johnny. Those groceries aren’t going to bag themselves.
I fail to see how summarizing Steyn’s saga before the CHRC is hateful, mean spirited and racists. It is a shame there is no AHRC so you could file a case against her.
May 21, 2008 - 10:09 am 29. Dr. Casbah:Hey, Johnny
I thought you were off to “work.” How do you find the time to post messages during business hours? Did you get sent home because you were high on your hillbilly heroin?
May 21, 2008 - 10:34 am 30. Mark Steyn vs. the ‘Sock Puppets’..Warming up for his appearance before a human rights tribunal next month, Mark Steyn recently confronted his phony “accusers” on live TV. He got the better of them, but they will have the upper hand in cou:[...] A must read, for our intellectually gifted friend from Canada, Mark Steyn. Pajamas Media [...]
May 21, 2008 - 10:37 am 31. LSD:A contest between the able representation of just principles and the willful manipulation of identity politics promoted through youth.
May 21, 2008 - 10:40 am 32. terrence:Johnny Maudlin said, ‘My point is simply this: please take the time to honestly assess the credibility of any person who is preaching anything to you.’
As one of many people who have made that assessment regarding you, I can assure you that you have no credibility; NONE, ZIP, ZERO, NADA. It is obvious that you have little or no credibility with most people who comment on your silly comments.
You are reduced to posting irrelevant, risible, silly comments on other peoples’ bloggs because nobody goes to your own silly excuse for a blogg. You are pathetic.
May 21, 2008 - 11:47 am 33. Johnny Maudlin:Terrence, my lord you have difficulty with context, eh? Again, odd that folks who are in the process of rising up against the gathering hordes of Muslims are so…tribal.
My stats are public, Terrance. Not setting any records, but about 60 folks think I am worth reading on a daily basis. I am proud of that because the operating word is “read”. How many folks are reading you Terrence? In comments sections are anywhere else?
My blog is not like Shaidle’s. Her blog is basically a comic book, with super heros like the Freedom Five (all of whom are quite free already last time I checked…) and villains like the coming Muslim hordes. Crap, from the top of the page to the bottom. Poorly written, poorly researched link based crap.
Well, hang together. But if you are at all honourable, I suggest you will examine the writings of Shaidle, and there you will see this supposed standing up for Kopechne is just nonsense. Shaidle’s schtick is to attack, attack, attack. To attack a man with brain cancer, well…
If this is the kind of thing you admire, and if you truly buy the goods Shaidle is selling, with regard to her motivation, very little can be done to enlighten you.
May 21, 2008 - 12:11 pm 34. ApplePie:When did the right to free speech stop being a human right?
May 21, 2008 - 12:18 pm 35. Herschel Smith:Pity poor Canada. What has happened to her?
May 21, 2008 - 12:42 pm 36. bluetech:It is a bummer that we are fighting for the right to let Maudlin speak his mind here.
May 21, 2008 - 12:46 pm 37. A mid-day video break | The Anchoress:He should be thanking Kathy.
[...] fun today, as you can see. Also, Pajamas Media has some great features up today. Don’t miss this piece on Mark Steyn by Kathy Shaidle. by TheAnchoress @ 12:22 pm. Filed under Blogs and Blogging, TV/Pop [...]
May 21, 2008 - 1:23 pm 38. Nahanni:“Pity poor Canada. What has happened to her?”
The same thing that has happened to Europe. And Canada will suffer the same fate as Europe.
Ismamification and the institution of the Sharia.
Those who are not willing to defend themselves deserve to die like the sheep they are.
May 21, 2008 - 1:38 pm 39. ExtremeCentre.org » Canada, pays de zombies: Blog Politique Francophone pour les Libertés Fondamentales et Contre Tous les Totalitarismes, qu'ils soient de Droite ou de Gauche:[...] May 21, 2008 – by Kathy Shaidle [...]
May 21, 2008 - 1:56 pm 40. Mark Webster:I have just this to say for Canada, for ElMo and his sock puppets – and lastly, for poor maudlin Johnny – How incredibly pathetic.
May 21, 2008 - 2:01 pm 41. brujotejano:I agree completely with the tenor and tone of Kathy’s article, as well as her reference to the Mary Jo Kopechne trajedy. On the otherhand, please lighten up on the pothead references. Some of us libertarians (and veterans) like me prefer relief that doesn’t cause systemic problems and does ease the orthopedic pain.
May 21, 2008 - 2:04 pm 42. Magnus:Johnny Maudlin–you are a first class idiot. I hope you look good in a burqa.
May 21, 2008 - 2:24 pm 43. Kazinski:Johnny,
May 21, 2008 - 2:25 pm 44. Robert:What is wrong with bringing up Mary Jo Kopechne when Teddy is in the news? Everytime James Earl Ray was on the news they mentioned that he shot MLK, when Manson is in the news Sharon Tate comes up, when Sirhan Sirhan dies or is diagnosed with a brain tumor, Robert Kennedy will be in the news. Why not remember Teddy’s victim?
If Sharia becomes law in Canada, the good thing is that Canada has a long porous border with the U.S.. The Sharia enforcers can’t keep American militiamen from crossing the border to kill the Sharia enforcers.
May 21, 2008 - 2:51 pm 45. cjg of eroticalee:Dear Johnny you’re trying hard but for me the great “Sammy Maudlin” made more sense and was far more entertaining to boot.
May 21, 2008 - 2:52 pm 46. Stan:Johnny Maudlin says: Quote” My point is simply this: please take the time to honestly assess the credibility of any person who is preaching anything to you.” Unquote.
Good advice. Now apply that to Teddy Kennedy.
May 21, 2008 - 2:53 pm 47. Andrew X:How does a drunken buffoon who abandons a woman to drown in a car have any credibility? Why is he worshiped by those who claim to be more caring than us heartless conservatives?
Mary Jo Kopechne??? Who the hell cares? At least on this topic at this time? Didja notice that this civilizational life or death topic was completely sidelined by such a foolish digression, and how many here have been suckered into allowing that to happen? Do ya think maybe that tactic is also being successfully used elsewhere by people who do not want to confront the ramifications of what we are (supposed to be) talking about here? Helloooo. Notice, people.
Second point is something that may work in civilizations favor. Namely that civl disobedience in the face of these commissars would be easy to do en mass. It simply requires people deliberately choosing to be “offensive”. And once a critical mass is met, which would not take much, people would begin to realize that the roof has not fallen in, and the state will be far too overwhelmed with such “lawbreaking” to possibly respond. The Emperor will be revealed to have no… teeth, I suppose.
And that is what is required. It really wouldn’t take that much. It won’t solve anything completely, but it would be a titanic crushing of the authority of these vile little zampolits.
Canadians, your forefathers gave their lives at Dieppe and Normandy and elsewhere that you may be free. Now you are asked to “feel uncomfortable that you might just possibly possibly be considered to have maybe offended someone just a bit” in the same cause.
You know what to do. Get to work.
May 21, 2008 - 2:59 pm 48. Michael Hiteshew:LeChat wrote, “I feel sorry for the average Canadian citizen who has to put up with this insanity.”
I should too, but I don’t. Canadians vote for more of this stuff at every opportunity. They could stop if they choose. They don’t. Freedom of speech, as is often noted, ends at the US-Canadian border.
Canada is what Canadians have made it. Why pretend otherwise?
May 21, 2008 - 3:09 pm 49. macgruder:Johnny,
forgiveness is a personal decision, and ultimately, is in the hand’s of God as you understand him. Kathy issued no spiritual opinion either way, but noted simply that the man was responsible for the death of a woman, for which he was forced to no public account—simply because he had money and familial connections.
your politics are your own, but were mary Jo Kopechne killed in the car of a young George Bush, would you be so very concerned about the spiritual congruity of someone who felt the need to remind us of her death in his hour of despair? would you post snide, rebuking messages at Kos, Pandagon, DU or elsewhere carefully rebuking the posters who noted his actions years earlier.
No one can take joy in Ted Kennedy’s final struggle, as we all will pass that way soon enough. But the notion that it is beyond the pale to mention the name of a woman he killed and has never publicly, or privately to my belief, reckoned with is absurd.
regardless, a magazine and an opinion columnist are about to be shut down by an Orwellian kangaroo court that shits on the very notion at the core of Western civilization. You dont like Kathy Shaidle–got it. She doesn’t like that miffed feelings, fronting for a ninth century political movement, can shut down legitimate speech and inquiry.
I have to say, all in, I like Kathy Shaidle.
May 21, 2008 - 3:11 pm 50. ENOUGH! , An Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings:[...] Mark Steyn vs. the ‘Sock Puppets’ [...]
May 21, 2008 - 3:27 pm 51. Boris:I’m glad I live in America.
But Mark Steyn is a massive tool.
May 21, 2008 - 3:38 pm 52. Cain:Muslim people are their own race now? Truly Johnny, you have a dizzying intellect. Lay off the pills.
May 21, 2008 - 3:40 pm 53. RichNet:Over the weekend I, pretty much by accident, managed to watch a 1966 movie, Khartoum, with Charleston Heston and Sir Lawrence Olivier about British General Gordon in Egypt and the Sudan. Forty-one years ago they made a movie about fighting fanatic Muslims in the 1880’s – and 120+ years later we’re still fighting these fanatics. Only now they’ve managed to move HERE. Where are our General Gordon’s and our societal confidence? We’d better find both in short order.
May 21, 2008 - 3:54 pm 54. ChknLtL:It’s easy to feel smug about the travesty of the Canadian HRC, but while we’re busy patting ourselves on our collective back for our supposed exercize of freedom of speech, try to remember how many times you saw the famous Danish cartoons bravely displayed in the US media. And why is it that the same brave US media are letting Mark Steyn and McLean’s take this fall all by themselves?
The Canadians may be further down the road, but so far as I can tell, we’re on the same pathway and it doesn’t lead anywhere I’m proud to go.
May 21, 2008 - 4:33 pm 55. Paula Blabdrool:Muslims are cool!
May 21, 2008 - 4:38 pm 56. Media Mythbusters Blog » Blog Archive » Media Bias Roundup - 05/21/08:[...] Pajamas Media – Mark Steyn vs. the ‘Sock Puppets’ [...]
May 21, 2008 - 4:58 pm 57. terrence:You a fool, Johnny Maudlin, a silly old fool.
May 21, 2008 - 4:59 pm 58. wanderer:Abnother second. The Us is every bit as far along the left imposed path to pc tyranny as Canada. Seems to me its been reported that a devoutly fundamentalist Christian photographer in New Mexico has been ordered to the NMHRC’s scaffold for refusing to serve as the photographer at the “marriage” of a same sex couple and is now facing fines and punishment for discrimination against homosexuals.
May 21, 2008 - 5:01 pm 59. Michael Lonie:With the moral relativist powered demonocrats in the White House and in control of Congress the fate of Steyn, Lemire, and Levant will be mere child’s play compared to the actions aimed at republicans and conservatives south of the 49th.
Paula,
What color is your burkha?
ChknLil,
You have a good point. Only about two periodicals in the USA reprinted the Danish cartoons. That whole controversy was a setup by the Danish Imams, since the same cartoons had been published months before the storm broke, including in an Egyptian paper, and there was no controversy then. Furthermore, a Supreme Court capable of finding the Kelo case a constitutional taking and of letting McCain-Feingold slide by is capable of gutting the First Amendment for PC reasons. We must be much more attentive and protective of freedom of speech.
There is an anecdote about Horatio Nelson that seems appropriate to me. He once picked up a fireplace poker and said that it did not matter in which direction he laid the poker down, but that if Bonaparte said that it must be laid in a particular direction it was instantly necessary that it be laid in some other direction. Ordinarily I would be polite about religios matters, but if Muslims demand, wirh threats, that we not make criticisms of Islam, then it is instantly necessary that we criticize it severely.
May 21, 2008 - 6:27 pm 60. Bod:Excellently said, Boris …
So Steyn’s a tool – but – is he right?
May 21, 2008 - 6:46 pm 61. Merton:I predict some time before 2099 the US will find it necessary to invade Canada and re-train those that servive about Western Civilization.
May 21, 2008 - 6:49 pm 62. Seerak:That is if we were able to servive ourselves.
I have no idea why the Canadians put up with these PC tribunals. They have no problem breaking our speed laws.
Joe C.:
We should liberate Canada before it’s too late!
Let me know when you got the troops ready to roll, Joe. As an expat Canuck, I’ll be there with boots on.
May 21, 2008 - 6:58 pm 63. narciso:The sock puppet, illustrates the situation, himself. The ostensible point is how Steyn, Levant, & co; are increasingly under pressure
May 21, 2008 - 8:08 pm 64. G MacDonald:not to be able to publish anything about the
progress of Wahhabi/Salafi Islam’s political branch. Which has used the surfeit of inflammatory surahs (#5&9 come to mind) to inculcate, train, cadres, apologist, followers from Montreal to Marrakesh and everywhere in between. That Steyn uses more than a ’spoonful of sugar’ to make the medicine go down. The irony that if the Islamist were to prevail;
“Mr. Maudlin” would be the first on the chopping block goes unremarked. He has been stalwart in this endeavour, that’s why the likes of the Spectator, The Times, et al have abandoned him. The CIC now uses this tool to block the very consideration of such ‘dangerous
information; much like the successful ‘libel
tourism’ pioneered by the Mahfouz clan. Their
website is a trophy wall of cowardice; on the point of those who have retracted their statements under pressure.
.
Freedom of speech, thought and expression are to be cherished and fought for!
Anyone who embraces the core western values (our freedoms, democracy etc) should be welcomed in the West. Anyone who will not embrace these values must not be allowed into the West (those who are already here but do not embrace our core values should leave).
This country will belong to the our enemies if and only if we give it (Canada) to them. We may be reaching a turning point in the abusive section 13. I think the momentum is growing against it, and as more and more people become aware of it and its abuses, it will be abolished. I don’t know of a single individual that I have talked to about the HRCs (and I have talked to many many people) who wasn’t shocked beyond belief, and utterly outraged by the HRCs once they found out what was going on. It isn’t that we need to convince people that the HRCs behaviour is wrong, we just make them aware of the HRCs despicable abuses in the first place. Revulsion towards the HRCs will follow quite naturally.
When we defeat the HRCs all other forms of political correctness and societal self effacement must be confronted full force.
In the interim – however long that is we must all be prepared to champion free speech by practicing it – damn the radical imam – full steam ahead!
We have been a lapsed nation, the West has been a lapsed civilization for the last 40 years.
Lapse no more!
There are legions of people in the West who are passionate about its survival. They must be roused to the dangers that are facing us. Many many people, are not YET in tune with what is going on – and we have to tune them in. Maybe if we all shout really really loud…
Our enemies have been working the institutions. Squeaky wheel gets the grease and Islamofacists know it! They scream, and scream feigned outrage at the Wests “insensitivity” for embracing western values. The response of the media and public institutions et al has been to stumble timidly all over themselves (and one another) apologizing for being Western.
The key to winning is defiance, grass roots awakening, and an in-your-face response to those who are audacious enough to assert that we have no right to live as free and a proud people in our own lands. If they don’t like how we live, they can leave.
Death before dhimmi!
.
May 21, 2008 - 8:18 pm 65. Manny:Thanks Kathy for bringing this horrendous abuse of power to the world’s attention.
And thanks also to the yanks offering to invade Canada — we should hold a referendum on this.
May 21, 2008 - 9:17 pm 66. Johnny Maudlin:Merton: I could agree more. Only the fitt servive. If the shue fitts, then, ware it.
May 21, 2008 - 9:54 pm 67. Johnny Maudlin:Macgruder: I think you’ve nailed down the issue, as I see it. I despise the actions George Bush has taken, and if he were diagnosed with a brain tumour tomorrow, I would feel lousy for him and his family. And he’s a man who I consider guilty of murdering literally hundreds of thousands of human beings.
May 21, 2008 - 9:57 pm 68. Mark Steyn, Canada and Free Speech | conservativeintelligencer.com:[...] June 2nd, the Canadian Human Rights Council (a bit of Orwellian nomenclature, that) will render its judgement against Mark Steyn and Maclean’s magazine. This tribunal is equivalent in authority to the [...]
May 21, 2008 - 10:43 pm 69. Warren Z:Here are some examples of Islamic belief:The Noble Koran 98:6 Verily, those who disbelieve (in the religion of Islam,the Koran and Prophet Muhammad) from the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) and Al-Mushrikun will abide in the fire of Hell. They are the worst of creatures.
The Noble Koran 9:29 Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the last day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and his Messenger and those who Acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e.Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians). Until they pay the Jizah with willing submission and feel themselves subdued.
The Noble Koran 9:5 Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them. But if they repent and accept Islam then leave their way free. Then when the Sacred Months have passed. Then kill the Mushrikun (unbelievers) wherever you find them and capture them and besiege them, and prepare for them each and every ambush.But if they repent and perform As-Salat (Islamic prayers) and give Zakat, then leave their way free.
The Noble Koran 5:33 The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and hos Messenger and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified, or their hands and their feet be cut off on the opposite sides, or be exiled from the land. That is their disgrace in the world, and a great torment is theirs in the Hereafter.
Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol8, Bk 82 Hadith 795 Tha Prophet cut off the hands and feet of the men belonging to the tribe of Uraina and did not cauterize their bleeding limbs till they died. Vol 2 Bk 23 Hadith 413 The Jews brought to the Prophet a man and a woman from amongst them who had committed adultery The Prophet ordered both of them to be stoned to death near the place of offering the funeral prayers beside the mosque. Vol 7 Bk 62 Hadith 88 The Prophet wrote the marriage contract with Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years until his death.
The Noble Koran 9:111 Verily, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their properties for the price that theirs shall be the Paradise. They fight in Allahs cause, so they kill (others) and are killed.
The Noble Koran 8:67 It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war (and free them with ransom ) until he had made a great slaughter (among his enemies) in the land
Sahih Al-Bukhari Vol 4 Bk 53 Hadith 386 Umar sent the Muslims to the great countries to fight the pagans. When we reached the land of the enemy, the representative of Khosrau came out with forty thousand warriors, and an interpretor got up saying, Let one of you talk to me Al-Mughira replied Our Prophet the Messenger of our lord has ordered us to fight till you worship Allah alone or give tribute and our Prophet has informed us that our lord says Whoever amongst us is killed (martyred), shall go to Paradise to lead such luxurious life as he has never seen, and whoever amongst us remains alive, shall be your Masters.
May 21, 2008 - 11:16 pm 70. Ciscokid:The Life of Muhammad P 367 The Apostle said Who wil rid me of Ibnul-Ashraf? Muhammad bin Maslama , brother of Bani Abdul-Ashal, said, I will deal with him for you, O Apostle of God, I will kill him”. He said “Do so if you can” He said O Apostle of God, we shall have to tell lies He answered, “ Say what you like, for you are free in the matter. The Noble Koran 5:51 O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians as friends, protectors helpers they are but Auliya to one another . And if any amongst you takes them as Auliya, then surely he is one of them,
Am I an Islamophobe because I find this belief offensive?
Frank Logan –
For all the back & forth on this issue, there’s no denying what happened in the past “historically” by ignoring & dismissing tyrants, dictators, despots & fanatic’s.
Many cliché’s are made fun of thereby diminishing their value but make fun of this one all you want – “Those who “ignore” history are destined to repeat it.” Sums up the lesson anyone with a brain should come too by reading your post.
If walks like a duck & quacks like a duck – it’s a duck. Cliché’s do have their uses for summing things up quickly.
Your post was the most relevant on this issue.
May 22, 2008 - 4:24 am 71. Kathy Shaidle:Dennis Miller was so impressed by Steve Paikin’s performance as debate ref that he interviewed him yesterday. Here is the audio:
http://www.no-libs.com/index.php/MyBlog/Thought-Police/Dennis-Miller-Interviews-Steve-Paikin.html
May 22, 2008 - 4:30 am 72. rookie1824:To: Assistant Village Idiot
Re: Your sarcasm
Brilliant!
May 22, 2008 - 4:48 am 73. Daily Blogger - Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 | Jack’s Newswatch:[...] Pajama’s Media (Kathy Shaidle) | Mark Steyn vs. the ‘Sock Puppets’ [...]
May 22, 2008 - 6:36 am 74. Bugs:Joe C: Even Quebec?
May 22, 2008 - 7:42 am 75. Johnny Maudlin:I listened to the interview, and I note that Dennis Miller was very clear in describing the three law students from Osgoode as speaking in a very “measured” way. He emphasized that he was impressed by that.
May 22, 2008 - 7:48 am 76. qrstuv:Well, Johnny Moronic inspired me to watch the sock puppets.
It’s pretty clear that they do not understand either private property or free speech.
“We had no choice but to get the government TO MAKE THEM use their property to help us broadcast our voice.”
Then again, not clear that Canada has property rights or free speech.
May 22, 2008 - 4:51 pm 77. qrstuv:Gah! This guy really seems to think that McClean’s is essentially public property.
May 22, 2008 - 4:53 pm 78. qrstuv:Listen to it yourself and decide if they’re calm.
Yeah, right.
May 22, 2008 - 4:59 pm 79. qrstuv:It’s also clear that what the sock puppets are really objecting to is what they THINK he thinks or what they THINK he’ll make other people THINK.
George Orwell would have loved this.
May 22, 2008 - 5:05 pm 80. pappas44:Wow! Once again I’m amazed (not really)at the bullshit that some and I mean some Americans think and speak. I’m dam proud to be a Canadian, because it is the greatest country on earth, and we Canadians don’t have too run around telling ourselves that out loud in public ad nausea like Americans do, to every person who will listen or be forced to hear their rant because they have to say it loud enough over and over just like one of those hypnosis tapes. The reason we Canadians don’t have to do this is because we no it in our hearts. I live in a border town and just so you’ll know I’m not anti-American, actually I’m quite fond of our friends to the south. But when you start talking about my country and its faults, like the U.S. is a perfect country, that pisses me off! Manny you want to go live in the U.S. go ahead move, but as soon as you cross the border you better buy a gun so as to protect yourself from your new gun toting countrymen. Robert I am getting tired of hearing about our porous border propaganda that is totally bullshit, a porous border it what you have between the U.S. and Mexico. Americans talk about free speech like they have it, well I guess they do as long as they wait in a (long,long,long)line at their capital behind tons of huge wealthy lobby groups with millions to spend(hope they brought their check book with them). To be honest I feel sorry for or friends to the south as greed is taking over more and more of their country. Home of the hostile takeover, so a few can make a couple more dollars on their stocks, and to hell with the people who have worked their whole life at a company for 20 to 30 yrs and made it the successful company(s) it is, so what lay them off or fire them(so much for loyalty and honour). And what about this great nations healthcare, millions of people who can’t afford to pay for insurance and live with the threat of an illness or an accident could financially wipe-out their whole life savings in a instant, or worse the children, woman and men who die because they don’t have enough money or their insurance runs out and their kicked to the curb. Amazing with all this wealth in the states and people especially children are left to suffer. Healthcare may be slow in Canada sometimes but at least every man, woman and child has a free and legal right to it. “Freedom isn’t very free if you can’t afford it”. Now to those who talk about freedom of speech in the U.S. I can remember not to long ago when Bush was starting another war and some Americans wouldn’t believe his propaganda, their lives were threatened if they spoke out against the president or didn’t agree with him publicly. That brings to mind another truth and that is that American politicians along with the aid of the CIA are the best in the world at propaganda yes its true, it might have been mother Russia years ago and I mean many many years ago, but the American politicians learned very fast and in my opinion were better at it then anyone else by the cold wars end. I know our Canadian constitution may be different than the United States but is no less important. Are there laws that need changed here? Definitely. Have the human rights commissions gotten off track? Yes I do believe they have, and for some time now, but I don’t that was always the case. Should we do away with the Hrcs completely? I think we should. I believe the worst thing to happen to Canada was and always will be multiculturalism. Instead of forcing immigrants to fan out and populate the small towns and cities across the country and embrace their new freedoms and start over with a fresh life in Canada, like the original immigrants did years ago. Instead we started letting them all move into the big cities, grouping together and espousing their politics from their homeland instead of quietly assimilating into the Canadian culture and making this their homeland. I think it is sad that our government went after Ernst Zundell with a passion, even deporting him for spreading hate literature but these imams can spread far more hate and even talk about killing fellow Canadians but the government won’t do anything about it. Enough is enough it is time for the government to grow some balls and throw these people out of our country. I apologize if I have offended my friends from the U.S. but all of what I have mentioned was told to me by my American friends, which I have many. Thank you for taking the time to read this and may tomorrow bring us a better day!
May 23, 2008 - 12:43 am 81. tanstaafl:It is part of the overall strategy for the worldwide spread of the Ummah to use a country’s own legal systems to squelch any criticism of Islam.
A similar instance involved heavy Muslim agitation against Rachel Ehrenfeld’s book in Britain, and a court’s ruling there against her book.
(Ms. Ehrenfeld’s book Funding Evil: How Terrorism Is Financed–And How To Stop It was a little too specific and a little too correct for those propagating the Islamic agenda worldwide.)
Thankfully, when there was further agitation to make the British court’s ruling applicable in the US, the NY Supreme Court said “no”.
Do people in “the west” really want their societies to be responsive to the Sock Puppets and their handlers ?
Are people so weak, myopic and fearful (the Canadian Tribunal ?) that they can’t see the true agenda here ?
And (rhetorical question alert !) if the Koran is the immutable Word of God, why would it even need such defense from mere mortals ?
May 23, 2008 - 6:16 am 82. tanstaafl:Is the Muslim Brotherhood behind the Section 13 complaints against Maclean’s and Rogers Publishing?
It’s A Good Question
May 23, 2008 - 7:48 am 83. Steynianism 146 « Free Mark Steyn!:[...] STEYN vs THE SOCK PUPPETS: Who has the upper hand where it counts? …. [...]
May 23, 2008 - 11:50 am 84. That other HRC «:[...] of the sordid details of this assault on free speech may be found in this Pajamas Media post by Kathy Shaidle. Must reading; follow the links to see how deep and wide runs the sewer of political correctness [...]
May 25, 2008 - 7:49 am 85. Jason Failes:Benson wrote:
“Second to OmegaPaladin’s remarks, with one caveat: “innocent Muslims” who are “people of peace and righteousness” by definition cannot believe the Koran is the comandments of the creator-deity, delivered to mankind via the angel Gabriel and Mohammed. How many Muslims deny the inerrancy of the Koran?”
You are correct that the Koran is incompatible with modern secular living, but so is the Bible, and no one will deny that there exist millions of Christians “living the contradiction” of worshiping a violently xenophobic bronze-age screed, while living peacefully in a modern secular democracy.
In the end, I would wager it has to do more with social stability and quality of life where Christians compared to Muslims live, rather than a technical difference in the level of moral monstrosity between their two holy books.
As for this issue: BS. Any hate speech complaints should be fired straight at the source of these quotes, not at a reporter who drew attention to them…Unless drawing attention to hate speech is itself a crime now, in which case the next complaint should be against the tribunal itself, no?
May 27, 2008 - 7:47 am 86. Rob:On some twisted level this might be what free speech needed.
Imagine Johnny Maudlin – Kathy is going to be able to write your blog for you. Or at the very least have the “right” to respond in print.
I’m personaly not a writer but Im super excited about having my work on little bow wow’s blog aka Big City Fiber. I wonder how Warren is feeling about having Ezra and Styen write his blog? Can you say good times!!!!
Even better – The CIC should not bat an eye as ALL these wonderfull writers gear up to write Mo’s Friday paper for him.
Afer all they do have the “right” Don’t they?
May 27, 2008 - 11:40 am 87. sinned34:It’s horrifying to see such supression of free speech in Canada. Unfortunately, politics here are becoming so mired in partisanship that there is probably no hope that this will ever get resolved, and we will all be the poorer for it.
Politics these days are more like a sports than anything. Hate the other team and support your own, no matter what. The pathetic, continual contesting between Conservatives and Liberals are the reason I’ve generally stopped following politics.
Keep speech free, and fire all the politicians!
May 27, 2008 - 12:18 pm 88. Heijblok.com » Blog Archive » THE SILENT MAJORITY:[...] (BRON) [...]
May 28, 2008 - 3:36 am 89. politikly.com | politics and world news:A quote – an accurate quote – from a prominent Muslim leader is enough to get you brought up on hate speech charges. | politikly.com…
\r\nThis is what happens when leftists get the upper hand. It's already started here in the…
May 28, 2008 - 8:15 am 90. Mary in LA:You mean like <a href=”http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2013:34-35;&version=9;” this?
Or <a href=”http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2015:7;&version=9;” this?
Or <a href=”http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%208%20;&version=9;” this?
May 28, 2008 - 5:56 pm 91. tanstaafl:Comparison of any passages in the Bible to passages in the Koran has absolutely nothing to do with a concerted effort on the part of Islamists worldwide right now in these times to squelch any criticism of Islam in “western” societies.
From cartoons, to written publications, to books, to art, to speaking, to the Three Little Pigs, to movies and videos (Theo Van Gogh lost his life for Submission and Geert Wilders was forced to withdraw his short film Fitna from the internet) to the canceling of Mozart’s opera Idomeneo in Berlin (originally performed in 1781, it showed King Idomeneo on stage parading around the severed heads of Buddha, Jesus, Mohammad and the sea god Poseidon) to the swirl on the ice cream wrapper at Burger King et al. and etc.
zip zilch nada
May 29, 2008 - 9:27 am 92. Independent Voter:When I hear that Styen is going to be on an American talk radio program, I always make an point to listen to him. He is very knowledgeable and lucid in his statements.
I am sorry to read he is having a similar problem to that of Michael Savage with CAIR.
May 29, 2008 - 11:34 am 93. link 688 | Molrak.com:[...] Pajamas Media » Mark Steyn vs. the ‘Sock Puppets’ [...]
May 30, 2008 - 4:03 pm 94. Pajamas Media » The Kafkaesque Show Trial of Mark Steyn:[...] As previously reported in Pajamas Media, Steyn was accused of “flagrant Islamaphobia” after his bestselling book America Alone was excerpted in Canada’s oldest newsweekly magazine, Maclean’s, in 2006. [...]
Jun 11, 2008 - 12:48 am 95. Jason Failes:Mary in LA, can’t help but notice you left Luke 19:27 off the list:
“But as for these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king-bring them here and slaughter them in my presence!”
I think you make my point for me. Modern Christians’, living in affluent secular society, are almost mandated to cherry-pick their Bible to make their faith compatible with modern living.
Few Christians today even know that passage (or say it doesn’t matter as it was a parable, but that just doesn’t hold water. It’s clear what J is saying from this parable and many others using similar imagery), but to a member of the Inquisition, Luke 19:27 was a mission statement.
Today’s Muslims are living in the equivalent of our Inquisitional era. With improved education and quality of life, in a few generations Muslims could be ignoring most of their Koran as effectively as Christians ignore most of their Bible, but for passages like those Mary posted.
Jun 12, 2008 - 10:17 am 96. albatros:so muslim often press charges at human rights courts against real or imagined violations of their human rights, most of the time claiming islamophobia as the principal offense. that is their right. others do it too and that’s ok. where I disagree is the turnout of those charges. a very positive exception is france where a court true to western principles ruled that the mohamed cartoons were not to be banned.
all this fuzz and outrage often cover a fact that seems very important to me: ALL islamic nations (with the exception of turkey which is a very secular state as required by the constitution) have refused to sign the declaration of human rights because it was not compatible with islamic law. one major point in the declaration of human rights is that all men and women are to be treated equally by the law. sharia law makes a distinction between muslims and non muslims, men and women. to me this is pure racism and it pains me to no end that the leftist ‘elites’ of the west fail so miserably to acknowledge this outrageous fact.
now I have a theory why this is the way it is: selfdeception out of subconscious fear. fear of the unavoidable consequences if they admit the truth. they feel that the only way to deal with islam and preserve western values is to get rid of it in western countries. and just like an alcoholic deceives himself into thinking that another drink won’t do any harm while he knows that drinking is bad, they comfort themselves with the illusion that the problem is going to somehow disappear. now in recent years we have observed a dramatic rise in atroucious islamic activity around the planet, christians in muslim countries are slaughtered in thousands, muslim communities are building in europe that are completely apart from the host culture and regimes in muslim countries are turning more and more radical as they succumb to the evergrowing influence of the muslim brotherhood. and the more obvious the facts explode into our faces, the more the left refuses to acknowledge those facts and connect the dots.
my personal estimation is that there is going to be an absolutely huge explosion in a few years when the silent majority will finally have had enough and confront muslims about their loyalties. and the later this confrontation will take place the messier it will be. but there is no way to avoid this confrontation.
Jun 15, 2008 - 2:35 pm 97. Mario:What’s amazing is that the Left in Canada and around the world (including the US) still goes on rants about McCarthyism in the United States and Christian radicals controling the country. Leftists in Canada and Europe seem blind to the fact they are mere steps away from living under Sharia law and losing any concept of free speech. Oh well….
Jul 14, 2008 - 6:04 pm 98. Pajamas Media » Canada Charges Comedian with Not Being Funny:[...] juvenile encounter at a late night comedy club. After all, when they aren’t taking author Mark Steyn to court for “blatant Islamophobia” or prosecuting publisher Ezra Levant for reprinting the Danish Mohammed cartoons, they’re [...]
Jul 18, 2008 - 12:57 am 99. Club Troppo » Hate speech laws are hateful to liberal freedoms:[...] little surprising that, outside the RWDB blogs, virtually no attention has so far been paid to the current trial of Canadian right wing pundit Mark Steyn on (effectively) religious vilification proceedings by the British Columbia Human Rights [...]
Jul 21, 2008 - 2:59 pm 100. Pajamas Media » Ezra Levant 1, Canadian Thought Police 0:[...] The magazine was headquartered in the province of Alberta, leading two different local Muslim groups to file complaints against Levant with the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Established in the 1970s to hear discrimination complaints in the areas of housing and employment, Canada’s HRCs slowly morphed into a combination censor board/secret police, “investigating” so-called “hate sites” on the web, fining Christian organizations and individuals found guilty of “offending” gay activists, and charging Canada’s oldest magazine, and its columnist Mark Steyn, with “flagrant Islamophobia.R… [...]
Aug 8, 2008 - 7:55 am 101. Ezra Levant » Winds Of Jihad:[...] The magazine was headquartered in the province of Alberta, leading two different local Muslim groups to file complaints against Levant with the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Established in the 1970s to hear discrimination complaints in the areas of housing and employment, Canada’s HRCs slowly morphed into a combination censor board/secret police, “investigating” so-called “hate sites” on the web, fining Christian organizations and individuals found guilty of “offending” gay activists, and charging Canada’s oldest magazine, and its columnist Mark Steyn, with “flagrant Islamophobia.” [...]
Aug 9, 2008 - 4:13 pm 102. Pajamas Media » Fighting Back When Called a ‘Racist’:[...] with the trial upcoming, and the country waking up to the ‘lawfare’ against Levant and [Mark] Steyn, are people waking up to what happened to me, and what it [...]
Aug 15, 2008 - 12:47 am 103. Chronicling the Canadian P(olitical)C(orrectness) sickness « Full Metal Cynic:[...] Read about another rect Canadian case here involving author Mark Steyn [...]
Aug 15, 2008 - 4:42 am