The Lost Boys of Neverland Have Been Discovered

In March of 2001, Rahim Jaffer, an Alliance MP, got into a bit of trouble when a hoax he had helped to perpetrate, blew up in his face.

Jaffer then owned a string of coffee shops in Edmonton, one of them set to open on the very day that he was supposed to do a radio interview with Peter Warren, on Corus Radio Network.

To solve the problem, Jaffer had his administrative assistant, Matthew Johnston, appear in his place.  However, when the show was aired, someone recognized Johnston's voice and called into the station to complain.

Peter Warren, the show's host, says the hoax was eventually revealed, but not before both Johnston and Jaffer tried to cover it up. Warren says his producer asked Jaffer directly if they had talked to him on the air.

"She reached him [Jaffer] at his cafe in Edmonton and said to him, 'Was that you on the interview with Peter Warren on the Corus Radio Network an hour ago?' and his answer was, 'Yes it was. I was happy to do the interview'."   Warren says they finally got an admission from Johnston and Jaffer when they asked them to put their version in writing.

Jaffer's friend, Ezra Levant, would later say that "Matthew had acted entirely on his own".

However, Preston Manning, leader of the Reform Party that had morphed into Alliance, gives a slightly different version of the story, one far more believable.  (Think Big: My Adventures in Life and Politics, p. 379-80)

After realizing that he had set up the radio interview on the day that he would be opening his new coffee shop, Jaffer made arrangements himself with Matthew Johnston, to appear in his place. Since it was radio no one would see him, and the Edmonton-Strathcona MP drilled his replacement on potential answers to specific questions.

When the media got wind of the hoax, Jaffer and "his team" went into damage control.  According to Manning:

Chuck Strahl, the House leader, first learned of all this from Jason Kenney at a strategy meeting at Stornoway. Chuck told Jason that Rahim's account had better be the whole truth, because the media would be looking for contradictions, and if they found any Rahim would be in even greater trouble. Jason [Kenney] then said "I wouldn't worry about that. $40,000.00 buys a lot of silence."

Apparently that was the amount of taxpayer funded 'severance' given to Matthew Johnston for keeping quiet.

The reference to $ 40,000.00 was made without elaboration. The next day the same statement about $40,000.00 was repeated by Ezra Levant to both Chuck Cadman and Deborah Grey, who at his time demanded an explanation. Ezra then said that it meant nothing, that he was just shooting off his mouth and it was no big deal.

I would say that fraud is a pretty big deal. Matthew Johnston was later named senior vice-president of Levant's magazine, the Western Standard.

Jason Kenney, Rahim Jaffer and Ezra Levant were once known as the "Snack Pack".  All young Reformers, all single (Jaffer later married Helena Guergis) and all products of the Fraser Institute.

A decade later the two remaining members, Kenney and Levant, have become more like the Lost Boys of Neverland, from J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan.

They are boys who fall out of their prams when the nurse isn't looking and were lost by their nannies in places such as Kensington Gardens. Having gone unclaimed for seven days, they were whisked off to Neverland, where they live with Peter Pan. There are no "lost girls", because girls are much too clever to fall out of their prams and be lost in this manner.

A little tumble out of a pram does explain a lot, and when we hear of another hoax involving Jason Kenney and Ezra Levant, it becomes clear that this pair simply refuse to grow up.

Bureaucrats working in Jason Kenney’s department posed as immigrants to pull off an elaborate stunt for Sun TV News, according to documents obtained by CP’s Jennifer Ditchburn. (Wait. What? How is this real?)  According to Ditchburn, what happened was this: Sun TV was supposed to film a citizenship reaffirmation ceremony in their studios, but the department could only find three people willing to participate. Instead of cancelling the stunt, they had federal employees, presumably on the federal clock, stand in for the rest of the crowd.

And in typical fashion, Kenney is blaming someone else.

" I want always to be a boy, and have fun. Come with me where you'll never, never have to worry about grown up things again " Peter Pan

Canadians Love Chiquita Bananas so Consiga una Vida Levant

Ezra Levant really outdid himself on Fox News North, Stephen Harper's personal aping station, by telling Chiquita International senior vice-president Manuel Rodriguez, to basically go screw his mother ... in Spanish.

So much class.

What got Ezie in a tizzy?  Chiquita joined thousands, and thousands, (did I mention thousands?) of others who actually know that the Tar sands are the most polluting region on the planet.  Is Levant going to swing out at all of them?

Did Harper and his chimps really think that there would be no backlash to their decision to back out of Kyoto?  Does he think that Canada can survive on the Petro dollar?

Levant should stick to picking lice off Brian Lilley's back and leave journalism to the more advanced species.

As for me, I'm stocking up on bananas.  All Chiquita.

So Levant:  consiga una vida!

Ezra Levant's Rant Has a Ring of Truth, But His Din is Deafening

One of my right-wing friends asked me to watch Ezra Levant's take on the Attawapiskat crisis, feeling, I suppose, that he presented a compelling argument.

Levant is right when he suggests that it is hypocritical for Charlie Angus to use the photos of the devastation against Stephen Harper.  Angus has been the MP in the riding for seven years.  Why have we not seen these photos before?

In fact, the NDP MPP, Gilles Bisson has served the area since 1990.

In fairness, though, how often does any MP or MPP share images of the horrendous living conditions that many of our aboriginal people are forced to live under?  This should not be "a scoop".

HOWEVER, the rest of the 11 1/2 minutes on the video, is just noise.

Noisy false accusations.  Noisy skewed figures.  Noise, noise, noise.

Right off the top, the Harper government does not give $34 million a year to the band.  According to Âpihtawikosisân, for the 2010/11 fiscal year, the federal government contributed only $17.6 million.  The rest of their budget (which they post online) comes from other sources.

The five year, $90 million figure used by Harper, includes a school that had to be torn down because it was built over toxic waste.

Levant tries to make this about "white guilt" and reverse bigotry, because we don't have faith in native people to take care of themselves.  But he ignores the fact they are not given the same allowance for education and healthcare, as non-native communities.  Everything has to come from these allotments.

An important fact that many commentators forget (or are unaware of) is that section 91(24) of the Constitution Act of 1867 gives the Federal Crown exclusive powers over "Indians, and Lands reserved for the Indians."  You see, for non-natives, the provinces are in charge of funding things like education, health-care, social services and so on.  For example, the Province of Ontario allocated $10,730 in education funding per non-native pupil in the 2010-2011 fiscal year. For most First Nations, particularly those on reserve, the federal government through INAC is responsible for providing funds for native education.

The federal payments are legal treaty commitments, not "hand outs" as implied.   If they spent it all on housing, how could they afford other basic Canadian rights, like the right to education and health services?

Levant also mentions the fact the De Beers has been generous to Attawapiskat, but they just don't appreciate it.  However, in order to mine in their backyard, De Beers had to sign an Impact Benefit Agreement, contractually obligating them to provide training and job opportunities, to the native community.  And the reason the Native workers don't return home to build a house is because as part of the Indian Act, they can't get a mortgage on a reserve.

This reduces them to children, depending on their father figures, Papa Harper and Papa De Beers, with no mention that Attawapiskat's "baby daddies" (???) are legally responsible for the things they provide.  How much profit is De Beers making from that mine, and the best they can do is send some old tin work shacks that they are no longer using???!!!  They should be ashamed, not congratulated.

Many of our aboriginal Canadians are living in Third World conditions, and this story only shone a light on Canada's shame.

It is rich that Harper is sending auditors to Attawapiskat, when he recently reduced funding to the Comptroller and Auditor General, whose jobs are to keep track of his spending.

Levant's rant was hate mongering.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Count how many times he screams "white people".  "White, white, white", as if it's a badge of honour and privilege.

Harper's base will eat it up.  Fortunately, Harper's base does not represent the views of the majority of Canadians.

And neither does Ezra Levant.

Dog Whistle Politics and the Return of Old Dance Partners

 "Borrowed in part from the legacy of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, Canadian neo-conservatism owes much of it's character to the right-wing populist tradition of the West. "Indeed, Canadians became exporters of neo-con innovation in the 1990s. 'I would say Margaret Thatcher and Mr. [Preston] Manning are the two non-Americans we learned most from'', said U.S. Republican House Speaker, Newt Gingrich in 1995.

I know him [Preston Manning] because I watched all of his commercials. We developed our platform from watching his campaign.' Like cowboy culture, Canadian neo-conservatism is a growth industry, spawning a whole generation of Will James outlaws in hot pursuit of political power." (Slumming it at the Rodeo: The Cultural Roots of Canada's Right-Wing Revolution, Gordon Laird, 1998, Douglas & McIntyre, ISBN: 1-55054 627-9, Pref. xiv-xv)

The political cartoon above, first appeared in the Alberta Report Magazine on March 27, 1995, under the caption 'Preston Manning and Newt Gingrich dancing in newt suits'. The two men formed a lasting friendship as they worked out ways to promote combative style politics.

Republican pollster Frank Luntz, was then working with Canada's Reform Party, but took his leave to help Newt draft his Contract With America. Ralph Reed of the U.S. Christian Coalition wrote a corresponding document Contract With the American Family, to bring in the Religious Right.

Jason Kenney and company travelled to Washington in 1995 to attend a Christian Coalition conference, and soon after:

... Even more ominous for democratic rights in [British Columbia] is the recent hatching of the B.C. clone of Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition. With 1.7 million active members and a $25 million (US) annual budget, the U.S. organization has become a formidable lobbying force in American politics, installing its anti-choice, anti-gay agenda and candidates at all levels of government, from school boards to Congress .... the Christian Coalition of Canada materialized after dozens of conservative Christians in this country thronged to Washington, DC, last fall [1995] to attend a major convention of the U.S. organization.

"Advisors" to the new CCC reportedly include Ted and Link Byfield (owners of the ultra-conservative B.C. Report and Alberta Report magazines), Jason Kenny (head of the Canadian Taxpayers Association), and Alex Parachin (head of the Christian Broadcasting Associates in Toronto, the Canadian branch plant of Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network).

The B.C. chapter is sure to be a factor in the upcoming election, giving a boost to Reform Party candidates and any others who will go on record opposing abortion ... While Don Spratt may be telling readers "Nobody has anything to fear from the Christian Coalition," progressive activists and journalists will have to make sure the electorate knows better." (The Christian Coalition Comes to Canada, by Kim Goldberg, The Albion Monitor, May 5, 1996)

"Journalists will have to make sure the electorate knows better"? Yeah. Good luck with that. A decade and a half later and they still don't get it.

Even Kelly Block's recent attack on our aboriginal communities, stems from American neoconservatism. She's working on behalf of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, described as a pyramid scheme. And CTF is a spin-off of Grover Norquist's Americans For Tax Reform.

Both traverse the country with their debt clocks and force conservative politicians to sign pledges not to increase government revenue. Jason Kenney had Mike Harris sign it in 1995. Enough said.

I now watch American political commentary programs, because it's the only way I know what Harper's next move will be. And it is also the only way to understand the politics of the Conservative Party of Canada. They are part of the Conservative movement that began in the U.S. in the 1940s, imported by Ernest Manning, and they have been in lock step ever since.

We just didn't notice until they came to power in 2006. It has been said that the Harperites introduced Western style politics, but in fact, it was American style Conservatism.

Listening to someone like Evan Solomon, is like having a hockey commentator call the plays at a baseball game. He's not even in the ballpark.

Dog Whistles and Playing to the Base

A letter in Time magazine this week, discusses why many Republicans don't trust Mitt Romney. "They are distrustful of his recent public conversions on abortion, gun control and gay rights, or turned off by his Massachusetts health care law." (November 18, p. 20)

Those conversions of course, refer to the fact that he used to respect gay rights and women's reproductive rights, feared guns, and was committed to improving the health of his constituents, or at least assuring that all had access to good health care. All of these things are now kacky poo poo to the Republican base.

How did they let it get this far?

It's because they only played to that base with dog whistle politics. Saying the right thing to stir up the ignorant and now they are forced to draft policy to appease the ignorant, or risk being unelectable.

On Chris Matthew's Hardball this week, they discussed the rise of Newt Gingrich, who now has the perfect blend of ignorance and moderation, to make everyone happy. At least for now. Newt used to be deemed too right wing. His politics haven't changed, only the expectations of the conservative base.

One panelist on the program, Chicago Tribune columnist, Clarence Page, said that segregation is making a comeback. Instead of signs reading "Blacks to the back of the bus" or "Whites only", Anglo Republican politicians are simply ignoring the concerns of black communities, and turning others against them by suggesting that they are demanding too much.

Be more like the Huxtables and not depend so much on us white folks. You had it better under slavery, so go with that.

Michelle Obama was booed recently by NASCAR fans, prompting Rush Limbaugh to praise them for going after the "uppity" first lady. It was blown out of his dog whistle as "uppity n.....", and the base sang Hallelujah.

Our own Fox News North painted First Nation struggles as being against "white people and Indians" with another banner "we're on your side". The "Indians indulged" makes it pretty clear whose side they're on.

Harper government policies are also a promotion of the new form of segregation. He doesn't attack women, but instead removes the word "equality" from the Status for Women mandate, puts an end to affirmative action and pay equity initiatives, closes 12 of the 16 Status for Women offices and eliminates their research funding.

His government doesn't overtly attack minorities, but closes down Human Rights Commission offices, so that those suffering from discrimination have no place to address their concerns.

Gawd, I wish our media would catch up. Maybe we should send them all dog whistles for Christmas, because they sure as hell are not trying to communicate to us.

When it was discovered that neo-Nazis had infiltrated the Reform Party, Preston Manning fell back on his father's tired line, when the media exposed his extremist elements.

"A bright light attracts bugs."

But as my own father might say: "So does shite."

Has the Ottawa Press Gallery Joined Big Bird's Red Army?

The late Dalton Camp, former president of the now defunct federal Progressive Conservative Party, tells a story in his book: Whose Country is This Anyway, of a group of young conservatives who had disrupted a speech by Jean Charest.

Charest at the time, was leader of the federal PCs.

The loudest among them, accused him of being a Communist. He was, this bombastic young man claimed: "Saying Communist things, expressing Communist sentiments and generally sounding like a Pinko". (p. 27)

What brought on this accusation, was Charest's concern for the homeless and unemployed. That's all it took. "Pinko" notions for sure.

Camp only mentions that the man was 25 and an officer with the Conservative Youth. I've often wondered if it was John Baird, because he fit the description, being just that age when the event took place. Baird had already been arrested in Kingston for disrupting a campaign stop by former Liberal premier of Ontario, David Peterson.

Baird went on to win a seat under Mike Harris, helping to make sure that no "Pinko" ideas prevailed. In fact, the Harris government created the most homeless people in the history of the province, and John Baird gutted social services with the help of Enron's accounting firm.

But I digress.

Brian Lilley of Fox News North is seeing "red" these days, literally. In an attempt to create a bit of "controlled controversy", he accused members of the Ottawa Press Gallery of having a "soft spot" for communists.

It began with his "outing" of Nycole Turmel, the interim NDP leader, as not only being a member of the Bloc, but also of the Quebec Solidaire, a Communist party, according to Lilley, made up of Marxists, Trotskyites and "radical feminists".

He's got the lingo down anyway.

Quebec Solidaire is a Quebec separatist party, but they are hardly communists. They are social democrats concerned with the environment, women's issues and globalization.

Lilley was hoping to generate rage from the reporters on Parliament Hill, but instead only invoked laughter. He made a complete ass of himself.



And remember, Lilley refers to the Toronto Star, as the 'Red Star'.

Just another right-wing voice for Rupert Murdoch's media empire. Lilley's sister station, Fox News, is accusing Newsweek and other "Pinkos" in the media, of hating Michelle Bachmann.

There is nothing the left fears more than a conservative, pro-life, pro-family, pro-gun woman. Throw in the fact that she’s intelligent and attractive, and sorry excuses for men, like Bill Maher, will be hurling vulgarities at her in no time.

The problem with Michelle Bachmann, is that she gives women a bad name. She wants to be the President of the United States, but is ignorant of its constitution and has publicly stated that her husband "commanded her" to become a tax lawyer.

What will he "command her" to do if she heads up the most powerful country in the world? I shudder to think.

But this kind of nonsense resonates with Fox viewers on both sides of the border.

However, I think I saw Susan Delacourt Talking to Mr. Snuffleupagus

I posted before on U.S. Conservative personality Ben Shapiro, and his new book: Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV

In it he claims that Sesame Street promotes multi-culturalism, collectivism (sharing) and other "pinko" notions.

I always knew there was something more to Big Bird's relationship with his no eared furry friend. I mean what kind of name is Aloysius Snuffleupagus? A commie for sure.

I'll bet he lost those ears during an interrogation.

However, we can't just dismiss Shapiro as another right-wing nut. I mean he is, but he's a well financed right-wing nut.

His book was published by Broadside Books, which is owned by News Corporation, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch.

Murdoch of course, is the man behind Fox News, and it was he who helped Stephen Harper to launch Fox News North.

Broadside Books is the official publisher to the Tea Party.

Is This a Laughing Matter?

Brian Lilley closes his segment by saying that his accusations of Communist leanings had hit a nerve with the Ottawa media, who were "touchy" on the subject. He didn't hit a nerve, so much as a funny bone, but we do have to take this "commie" stuff seriously, because there are people out there who believe it.

Remember, Anders Breivik, though he railed against Islam, went after politicians and affiliates of the Labour Party in Norway. Killing children before they grew up to be "lefties".

He also saw a "conspiracy among the media and political elite" to silence his views.

The women's movement hit a snag in the early 1900s, when their leaders were accused of being engaged in Communism. This made it difficult for them to find work or be published.

A list of Americans suspected of Communism, include: Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, New Deal Liberals, Democrats, Critics of McCarthy and McCarthyism, American Civil Liberties Union and Civil Libertarians, Rock and Roll musicians, Gay activists and gays and lesbians, Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, Librarians and Library patrons, Union leaders, Film stars and Hollywood writers, University Professors and public school teachers, scientists, some Artists and Painters, Feminists and leaders of the women's movement, Peace Groups, The Girl Scouts, American Writers and Playwrights, etc., etc.

And those targeted by Joseph McCarthy were not laughing.

I'd like to think that Canadians are smarter than this, but then I thought we were too smart to elect Reformer Harper, and we will have had at least a decade of the neocon before he will be voted out (I hope).

(Do you think the neoconservatives are "breeding like rabbits"?)

So is Brian Lilley really the next Joe McCarthy? Hardly.

I see him as more of a Charlie McCarthy. A funny little puppet who makes us laugh.

But if you see Big Bird and Mr. Snuffleupagus lurking about, be on your guard. Who knows what they're cooking up.

Sorry Ezra. He's Not Just a Man in a Suit

While Ezra Levant and Sun Media "protest too much", the links between the Harper government, the English Defense League and the international patriot movement, which includes the Tea Party Express, continue to mount.

In the following Sun TV segment, Levant once again goes after the "anti-Israel, pro-terrorist" CBC. This time for suggesting that the Jewish Defense League was a terrorist organization.



Levant lists those on the U.S. State Department roll, which does not include the JDL.

That's because the JDL is on the FBI's list of domestic terrorist organizations. And for good reason. According to their files, the JDL has been involved in plotting terrorist attacks within the United States, including:

The two terrorist plots prevented by law enforcement in 2001 were being planned by domestic extremists. Ronald Mike Denton was planning to attack his former place of employment, the Chevron Oil Refinery at El Segundo, California, when he was arrested in March 2001. In December 2001 Irving David Rubin and Earl Leslie Krugel, members of the extremist Jewish Defense League, were arrested as they were in the final stages of planning attacks against the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California, and the local office of U.S. Congressman Darrell Issa.

Both were charged in the incident.

The JDL was also involved in a letter bomb incident that killed an office worker.

LOS ANGELES -- A California court has sentenced to life in prison William Ross, who, together with the American-Israeli couple of Robert and Rochelle Manning, was charged in a 1980 mail-bomb killing.

The sentence closes a case that aroused strong emotions and protests among Orthodox and nationalist groups in Israel and Los Angeles and has dragged through the federal courts since 1988. According to court testimony, Ross, a member of the Jewish Defense League, enlisted the Manning couple, also JDL members, during the 1970s to construct and mail a booby trap.

So Mr. Levant. Meir Weinstein (aka Meir Halevi, aka Marvin Weinstein) is not just a man in a suit, and the Jewish Defense league is indeed a terrorist organization.

I've posted on them and their close relationship with the Harper government before.

Who is the JDL?

The Jewish Defense League was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane in New York City in 1968, and has been listed as a "right-wing terrorist organization" and a "hate group". They have been involved in the bombing of Arab and Soviet properties in the U.S, alleging that they were "enemies of the Jewish people".

Besides creating the JDL, Rabbi Kahane was behind the Kach Party in Israel, which was eventually banned as racist and undemocratic. They were behind the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre, a terrorist attack on unarmed Muslim Palestinians, while at prayer, killing 29 and wounding another 125.

Meir Weinstein, the national director of the Canadian branch of the Jewish Defense League, joined the JDL, at the age of 20, after reading the book Never Again written by Meir Kahane.

And though he denies involvement with the Kach Party, despite the fact that both share a clenched fist logo, his inspiration, Rabbi Kahane, was behind both groups.

After the Rabbi's assassination in 1990, the Kach movement split in two, creating the Kach and Kahane Chai. And for Ezra Levant's information, both of these are on the U.S. State Department's anti-terrorist watch list, as well as Canada's.

So he might want to rethink his claim that his buddy Weinstein, is just "a man in a suit" who hates terrorists.

The English Defense League

In January of this year, Weinstein and the Canadian JDL, held what they called their "first" rally in support of the English Defense league. According to the National Post:

A “support rally” for the controversial English Defence League is scheduled to take place at the Toronto Zionist Centre on Tuesday night. Tommy Robinson, the EDL leader, will speak at the rally through an on-line hookup. It is believed to be the first Canadian rally for the EDL.

“I am disappointed that the JDL would support an organization whose record in the U.K. is one of violence and extremism,” said Bernie Farber, CEO, of the Canadian Jewish Congress. “This is more than unwise and I sure hope they reconsider this decision.”

The rally took place as planned.

Meir Weinstein, announced recently that his group would ally with the British organization, which is known for violence and extremism ...The JDL said it is forging ties with the British group to "take a stand against the forces of political Islam."

In an online hook-up with English Defense League founder Stephen Lennon, who goes by the name Tommy Robinson, the Briton said Canadians "need to wake up. The Islamicization of your country is on its way." The Canadian Jewish Congress has opposed the alliance between the two rightist groups, saying that while Islamic fundamentalism is "a real threat," combating it with "generalized hatred against Muslims, as does the EDL, is only a recipe for fuelling more conflict.

Republican candidate, Rabbi Nachum Shifren, travelled to England to speak at a rally, calling the targets of their hatred, "Muslim dogs", and Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network, expressed support for the EDL, comparing it to the American Tea Party movement.

True "patriots" one and all.

Tommy Robinson is right.

Canadians do need to "wake up". But not to the threat of Islamic fundamentalism, but to the threat of home-grown terrorist organizations, that have aligned themselves with our current government.

And thank you Ezra Levant.

I've spent days researching the EDL, Geert Wilders and Anders Behring Breivik, pouring over hours of video. But my best links come from you.

Maybe you'd do less damage to Harper's credibility, if you just stopped talking.

Sorry Ezra. You Don't Get Off That Easily

Given that Ezra Levant attacks Muslims at every opportunity, I was curious what he would have to say about the Norwegian disaster, and he didn't disappoint.

First off, he's right to say that this was not a religious issue. Anders Breivik was not a Christian fundamentalist, but part of a "Patriot" movement, promoting the idea that multiculturalism is destroying western civilization.

However, Levant suggests that CBC "and their kind" are "positively relieved, even thrilled, the mass murder here was done by someone who wasn’t Muslim".

He's creating an "us vs them" mentality, where the left hate Christians, and will take the Muslims side over them every time.

The Patriot movement is not concerned with religion, though some will invoke God. They are concerned with color. The English Defence League calls them all "Pakis".

This is not a holy war, but a race war.

The Watchmen of the Patriot Action Network focuses on things like immigration, "commies", and "lefties", and the Tea Party Express is part of the Network.

The media needs to avoid making this about religion. It has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with hate.

Glenn Beck didn't play the religious card this time, but the poltical one. The "leftie" labour party, running youth camps, he compared to the "Hitler youth".

Speaking on his radio programme yesterday, he said the teenagers attending the Labour youth camp on the idyllic island were like the Nazi leader's infamous young followers, and branded any kind of political trip for youngsters as 'disturbing'.

He failed to mention that he himself runs right-wing indoctrination camps for youth, across the U.S., called the 9/12 Project.

Now that's disturbing!

Rupert Murdoch Lied? It Can't be True!

During his testimony to the British Parliament, Rupert Murdoch claimed not to know about the phone hacking.

However, two former executives with News Corp disputed the claim, saying that Murdoch was warned several times that phone hacking at one of the company’s tabloid newspapers was more widespread.

He didn't get the memo. Sound familiar?

Ann Coulter is Not a "Free Speech Heroine". She's an Idiot.

I must admit that I had never heard Ann Coulter speak, but have read many of the things she has written. Certainly no intellectual, but if I understand correctly, she is a comedian, akin to a shock jock.

Bill Maher had her on as a guest this week and my "shock" was not in her anticipated "hate speech", but in how ignorant she is, or at least acts.

Coulter was blaming the current debt crisis in the U.S., on medicare and social security. When pressed about the wars and the extension of the Bush tax cuts, she declared that they had nothing to do with the current debt.

WHAT???

No. Apparently, the sick and the elderly are to blame.

Not expensive wars or corporate tax cuts. Not the bailing out of Wall Street.

Ezra Levant, that chick magnate, is smitten with Ann Coulter, and interviewed her recently on Fox News North, opening the segment with scenes of an "angry mob", protesting Coulter's intended visit to the University of Ottawa.

Although Levant prefers to use the terms "Demonic Mob" and "Mad Mob".

In the photo above, the young man in the background, with the red eyes, is not part of a demonic mob", but young neocon, Michael Sona, a Conservative staffer.

Sona was the activist who tried to steal the ballot box at the University of Guelph.

The votes in that box were allowed to stand, but it had the desired effect, because Sona's actions resulted in a ruling that no other special ballot polling stations, similar to the one in Guelph, would be authorized anywhere else in Canada during the campaign.

Controlled controversy 101.



In the above segment Coulter and Levant discuss the mob mentality, with Coulter suggesting that the only violence, or threats of violence, come from the left wing.

Obviously she hasn't been watching the Tea Party protests, where one man carried this sign.



Coulter also claimed that only the left will compare right-wingers to Nazis and/or other dictators. Again she needs to get out more.




Even Canada's Sun Media jumped on the bandwagon.



Of course, the intent is not to have us believe what they are saying. They know it's not true but it doesn't matter. The devotees will believe it's true and they need to keep them angry and loyal. 'Don't be ashamed of those thoughts because we agree. We're just like you'.

Classic Karl Rove.

And Karl Rove's counterpart, Guy Giorno, has advised the same to Stephen Harper. Protect that "base" at any cost, even if it means appearing stupid.

Mob Mentality

In a bit of an intellectual aside, Coulter brings up Gustave Le Bon, a French social psychologist, sociologist and author of A Study of the Popular Mind. Without really going into his study, she simply suggests that he has the demonic left-wing mob mentality down pat.

Viewers swooned. She speaks French.

Le Bon suggested that the mob will take on the intellect of the lowest among them.

This very fact that crowds possess in common ordinary qualities explains why they can never accomplish acts demanding a high degree of intelligence. The decisions affecting matters of general interest come to by an assembly of men of distinction, but specialists in different walks of life, are not sensibly superior to the decisions that would be adopted by a gathering of imbeciles. The truth is, they can only bring to bear in common on the work in hand those mediocre qualities which are the birthright of every average individual. In crowds it is stupidity and not mother-wit that is accumulated.(A Study of the Popular Mind, By: Gustave Le Bon, Book One: The Mind of Crowds)

It should be noted that Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda mastermind, read Le Bon religiously, to reach to the lowest in Germany, and Mussolini kept a copy of A Study of the Popular Mind beside his bed.

Le Bon's biggest fears were realized, because he was concerned that in the wrong hands, the book could be used as a guideline to manipulate the masses for the lesser good, and indeed it was.

I can't help thinking that that is exactly what Fox News North and its big brother Fox News is attempting here. Reach out to the worst of people, and the worst in people.

Philosopher Hannah Arendt covered the Nazi trials at Nuremberg for the American press, and remarked on how "Unimaginative, ordinary and unthinking" they were.

Others may have hoped to see Bluebeard in the dock, she wrote, but for her, the horror lay in the fact that "there were so many like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic ... [but] terribly and terrifyingly normal." She was one of the first to refute the "monster theory" of less-than-human Nazis. ( Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History, By Erna Paris, Alfred A. Knopf, 2000, ISBN: 0-676-97251-9, P. 318)

And yet there were many PhDs in the party.

But to do what they did required ignorance, not intellect. A numbing of the masses, so the worst could dictate the actions of all.

In that atmosphere, hatred goes mainstream, and we all become desensitized to it.

Bombings, human rights abuses, war crimes.

Shrug.

“Crowds are somewhat like the sphinx of ancient fable: It is necessary to arrive at a solution of the problems offered by their psychology or to resign ourselves to being devoured by them.” Gustave Le Bon

"Thus inwardly armed with confidence in God and the unshakable stupidity of the voting citizenry, the politicians can begin the fight for the “remaking” of the Reich ..." Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf)

Sun TV, Ezra Levant and Why the Danish Cartoons Matter

Ezra Levant, long time neocon insider and self-proclaimed stockaholic (one of 3 Stockwell Day fans), is among the bombastic characters on Fox News North (Sun TV).

He used to run a small magazine (now out of business), where he published the infamous Danish cartoons, knowing, or at least hoping, that they would cause a stir.

He has gotten so much mileage out of those cartoons with Canada's right-wing, that he chose that as the topic for his debut performance on Sun TV, and in his best helium induced squeal, cried about "freedom of speech" and his rights as a Canadian.



Of course, as always, the subtext is Muslim.

In 2007, Harper MPs Brad Trost and Andrew Scheer (now Speaker of the House), went after CBC for plans to air an independent satire The Altar Boy Gang.

And just as Ezra spoke of being hauled in front of the Alberta Human Rights Commission, these two MPs wanted CBC to be hauled before a Parliamentary committee.

TWO Conservative Members of Parliament will seek to have the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) answer to a House of Commons committee for a television program the Catholic Civil Rights League has described as blasphemous.

So where was Levant's high-pitched squeal then? Suppression of free speech in Canada in the 21st century. Censorship akin to that of China.

CBC promised not to air the series, despite the fact that it was highly unlikely that it would result in hate crimes against altar boys. Or hate crimes against anyone.

But it was deemed 'sacrileges'. So why not the Danish cartoons depicting Mohammad in unflattering frames? Why were they not deemed 'sacrileges'?

Without actually lying, Levant also misinforms his viewers, by stating that the protests resulted in 200 murders. The "murders" were of protesters, when police opened fire on them. An important point, because without that background we might assume that the protesters, or "terrorists", murdered innocent Danes.

I had initially planned to ignore Sun TV, but after being sent several clips by my right-wing readers, I decided that it would be wrong of me to do so.

They need to be exposed.

One follower said "He's completely right... Since when did freedom of speech become a Conservative cross to bear? I thought that liberals were all about freedom of speech... What interesting times we live in when Conservatives are more liberal than Liberals...",and another: "Long live the freedom to have an alternative to CBC!"

I might agree if the conservatives actually believed in "free speech", but they don't. They've brought in a censorship bill with the help of Jim Flaherty's pal Charles McVety, and Flaherty will now only fund art projects and cultural events, deemed "inoffensive".

And what does the Liberal Party have to do with this? I think they mostly ignore Levant. He's such a silly little man.

Silly but Dangerous


In the 1920s in Germany, another silly little man, Julius Streicher, created a newspaper Der Stürmer, to combat what was deemed a liberal press. Anti-semitism had been around for centuries, but this was the first time that it became so organized.

Streicher hired cartoonists, like Philipp Rupprecht, who drew the cartoon to the right, depicting an outspoken Adolfus Hitler, who had been forbidden to address public meetings in much of Germany. The caption reads "He alone of two billion people on earth may not speak in Germany.”

Like Levant, Streicher was constantly being charged with hate crimes, and was the target of many lawsuits filed against him by the Jewish people. They feared that his often vile cartoons would incite hatred.

The publisher had a good lawyer, Harms Krafft, who at 12,000 marks a pop, found something in the country's "code law" to get his client, a decorated war hero, off.

Krafft's principal client, moreover, was a man well able to make a favorable courtroom impression. The rhetoric of patriotism was a familiar defense in Weimar Germany for everything from petty theft to political murder. And Julius Streicher was an authentic war hero. (1)

Streicher's vile cartoons, many pornographic, were deemed to be little more than "healthy public opinion." He argued that the German people had a right to know.

As the follower of Sun noted: "Long live the freedom to have an alternative to CBC", I wish progressives would find an alternative to what now passes for television news and commentary.

We have a right-wing show, a further right-wing show, an even further right-wing show, and then Sun TV.

We need someone daily exposing this movement, along with its think tanks, AstroTurf groups, and especially the Religious Right, now dictating most policy.

And we need it soon, before Sun TV becomes the only voice Canadians have.

Sources:

1. Jews, Nazis, and the Law: The Case of Julius Streicher, by Dennis E. Showalter, Museum of Tolerance

Rupert Murdoch Will Not Go Out in a Blaze of Glory

Rupert Murdoch, the man who has done so much to poison politics, is now trying to defend his "honour", after a scandal with one of his tabloids.

News of the World routinely hacked phone lines and even bribed cops to allow them to track 9/11 calls. And it was not the first time that the publication was in trouble.

Murdoch, 80, has been widely criticized for refusing to fire [Rebekah] Brooks who was editor of News of the World in 2002 when its reporters deleted phone messages left for a missing murdered schoolgirl, leading her family to believe she was still alive.

Just how low will they go?

We're quickly learning that in Canada, where Fox News North vilifies Muslims and refers to the Caledonia land claim protests as a struggle between "Indians and white people".

The scandal is also threatening the government of David Cameron, who was promised a daily television spot if Murdoch was able to take over British Sky Broadcasting, 'the biggest deal of his storied career'.

When it was discovered that the Harper government had spent almost a quarter million dollars to advertise their 'Canada Action Plan', I spent a few days researching, emailing and calling others who had initiated stimulus programs, and not one saw the need to bilk taxpayers for self-promotion ads. Some were quite surprised that Harper was being allowed to get away with it.

But in Britain, using tax dollars in such a manner is actually illegal, so Cameron took a lot of flak for his deal with the aging media mogul.

And to better understand the modus operandi, of Murdoch, let's compare:

Stephen Harper had lunch with him and his team, after which Harper's communications director, Kory Teneycke, was named to head up the project, now dubbed Fox News North (Sun TV).

David Cameron arranged a meal with Murdoch and his press spokesman, Andy Coulson, was plucked from News of the World. We'll call it 'The Eat, Bleat and Cheat club'.

Teneycke was fired for his involvement in the hacking of AVAAZ (now back). Coulson was arrested for his role in the hacking scandal.

This appears to be an issue that is not going away anytime soon, and many speculate that it could affect the Murdoch empire.

Poor Stephen Harper. If he loses his Fox News, where will he spread his poison?

When Hatred Goes Mainstream

Jolly Berlin crowds in the brightly-lit Kurfürstendamm nightlife district had more fun last week than these beery, sausage-stuffed revelers have had in months. Well-dressed German women and their swank, duel-scarred escorts vied with shopgirls and mechanics in spurring on with laughter, cheers and songs the most savage Jew hunt since those which immediately followed Adolf Hitler's elevation to power ...

The Jew hunters; tall, blond, mighty-muscled Nazi youths in civilian clothes, appeared suddenly on the Kurfürstendamm but seemed at first not to know quite what to do. Soon group leaders dashed up in snorting Mercédès and the Jew hunt was on, a peculiar feature being that the sidewalk crowds joined in a hunting chant taught them by the hunters. This was roared out one line at a time by the group leaders, all present then repeating in a fervent chant: Perish Jew! Get the Hell out! Blood-running noses! The best Jew is a dead Jew! Perish Jew! Suiting action to words, the Jew hunters plunged into night clubs, theatres, and cafés, dragged out every customer who looked like a Jew, beat him bloody on tho sidewalk, and slugged any women who seemed to have been with Jews irrespective of whether they were Jewesses or not.

The above is from a Time magazine article published July 29, 1935, under the heading 'Jew Hunt'.

We are all well aware of that horrible time in history, but what might be surprising is that while the Nazi youth appeared to be doing the beating, "well-dressed German women" spurred them on with "laughter, cheers and songs" and that "the sidewalk crowds joined in a hunting chant".

Ordinary Germany citizens desensitized to hatred.

The poster above is from the Young Americans Foundation, a conservative youth movement that has become increasingly volatile, especially toward non-white immigration and of course Muslims.

I've written of them before, under their other banner 'Young Americans for Freedom', both simply referred to as YAF. They have links to Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute, on which Preston Manning fashioned his Manning's Centre with a single corporate donation of ten million dollars.

Both Karl Rove and Harper MP Rob Anders graduated from Blackwell's school and Rove was once a member of YAF. Enough said.

In the poster above the group tells students how to identify a Muslim with things like "lasers in their eyes, venom from mouth and a peg-leg for smuggling children and heroine".

This is not unlike a children's book, The Poisonous Mushroom, written by Nazi Julius Streicher.

In the book, Streicher teaches youth how to identify a Jew:

- One can tell a Jew by his nose. The Jewish nose is bent at the tip.
- ...the lips are another distinguishing feature; they are usually puffed up
- From the eyes one can see that the Jew is: A false, deceitful person

So how are the teachings of YAF and Streicher any different?

Both promote xenophobia. Xenophobia that can lead people to accept horrifying things.

Fox News North and the English Defense League

So what does all of this have to do with us?

In the following piece from Sun TV, the station that came about after Stephen Harper's taxpayer funded lunch with Rupert Murdoch, Brian Lilley presents an interesting commentary.

He says that he had no interest in the Royal wedding until he learned that there was a group of Muslim protesters planning to disrupt the event.



Says Lilley: "Hopefully, maybe some soccer lads would take them out if they were to go ahead - rip them limb from limb..." Then he mockingly reminds his viewers that England is a Christian nation.

The video earned 42 'likes' and only 8 'dislikes', with one comment that someone should report Lilley to the CRTC. Fat lot of good that would do. Harper has appointed 11 of the 14 members, so I imagine that Lilley and his cohorts will be allowed to say pretty much anything.

However, this story is even more disturbing.

First off, the Muslim group was not the only one planning to protest that day. There were anti-capitalist groups, environmentalists, anti-poverty activists. But the only ones singled out were the Muslims.

The police themselves said that the biggest threat came not from any of the groups but from 'fixated' individuals.

While terrorist groups, anarchists and other political extremists are the most obvious potential security threats to the royal wedding, the most potent danger comes from obsessive lone operators, say experts.

These 'fixated' individuals are such a threat that in a small office not far from Buckingham Palace in central London a team of psychiatrists, psychologists and police officers are busy trying to counter that threat. The team is part of the Fixated Threat Assessment Center (FTAC), a unit established in 2006 with the responsibility of identifying and the power to indefinitely detain individuals who harass, stalk or threaten the royal family and others in public life.

However, if radical groups still concern Lilley and his faithfuls, I would be more concerned with the English Defense League, who promised to be on hand to take care of the Muslims.

According to the UK Guardian:

The English Defence League uncovered: Formed less than a year ago, the English Defence League has become the most significant far-right street movement since the National Front. The Guardian spent four months undercover with the movement, and found them growing in strength and planning to target some of the UK's biggest Muslim communities.

As warned the video contains coarse language, but it's the message that I find more disturbing than the profanity.

If they break through "they will murder them all."

As Canadians we should also take note that these guys use Geert Wilders as a role model. The same Geert Wilders who was given permission by the Harper government to speak at this year's Tulip Festival in Ottawa.

The Tulip Festival for heaven sake. Why were Canadians not outraged? Are we also now becoming desensitized to hatred?

In Lawrence Martin's book Harperland, he speaks of our immigration department specifically stating "NO MUSLIMS" in their recruitment ads. Why do we accept that?

The G-20 in Toronto is now best known for the largest number of domestic human rights violations in Canadian history, where citizens were beaten, strip searched, and held in cages. Where was our outrage?

Instead we shrugged and said "well, you shouldn't have been there".

Social activist Joe Levitt once stated that he had "lost confidence in the common man". And Gerald Caplan, NDP insider and columnist, laments that we are "going backwards into a world that we thought would never exist again." (p.12)

Why are we standing on the sidewalk cheering on the attack of everything that Canada once stood for? We might as well put on the jackboots and join in if we are going to do nothing.

What if Geert Wilders had spoke out against Jews at the Tulip Festival? Christians? The disabled? Would we have reacted differently?

This government is not only condoning hatred, but encouraging it.

When will we say "enough!"?

So You Want to Return to the 1950s? OK. I'm Game.

In reading books and essays written by, and not just about, the neoconservatives, I've found many common elements, from the philosophers they quote to the people they hate.

One common desire most share, is to return to the 1950s, when women knew their place and everyone went to church.

And just as they tap into Alexis de Tocqueville to justify the government getting out of the business of helping the poor, they use his observations about religion, noted during his travels to the United States, as reason for a theocratic state.

De Tocqueville wrote that most Americans were not only Christian, but spoke the common language of the Bible. "The people's voice was the voice of God". Few mention, however, that he also commented that this would create a lot of hypocrites.

Touche.

But why the 1950s as the target decade?

I suppose the 1920s, while roaring, was an age of high income disparity and heavy gambling on Wall Street, that created the "crash". The 1930s was a decade of poverty and the 40s, synonymous with war.

They can't jump to the 1960s, because of the civil rights movement, that they believe was the beginning of the end. The 1950s on the other hand, invokes memories of sock hops, soda fountains and mom in her apron baking cookies.

Who wouldn't want to live then?

Don Cherry, in his interview with Sun TV, says that he believes in what the right-wing station is doing, trying to recapture that decade (with all of its Cold War mentality), because the 1950s was when Canada was at its best.

OK, I'm game.

Because the wonderful life that these guys remember, was the result of the creation of the Welfare State.

William Beveridge, the engineer and author of the Welfare State, believed that if people were expected to rally behind their country during war, then their government should take care of them during peace time. Show them what they had fought for. A better life.

The people responded in Britain by choosing Clement Attlee over Winston Churchill in 1945.

Canadians were also ready for a society free from poverty and inequality, and demanded social reform. The government responded by introducing several social welfare policies, many borrowed from the CCF (now the NDP).

Liberal prime minister Louis St.Laurent, established the Canada Council to support the arts, and expanded social welfare programs, like the family allowance, old age pensions, government funding of university and post-secondary education and an early form of Medicare termed Hospital Insurance, laying the groundwork for Tommy Douglas' healthcare system in Saskatchewan and Pearson's nationwide universal healthcare in the late 1960s. (Wikipedia)

In the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower, expanded social security and reduced military spending, even warning against the "military- industrial complex.

Yet these things from the decade that Cherry so fondly remembers, are anathema to the neoconservative movement, he so loudly endorses.

It was not a decade when people were expected to take care of themselves, but one where the government stepped in to make sure that all people were taken care of.

It was also a period when trade unions were strong, fighting for better wages and benefits, that allowed families to thrive. In the U.S. the average worker income increased 61% between 1950 and 1959.

Those are the 1950s that the neocons aspire to recreate, and yet they are fighting against the very things that gave us that decade.

Paul Weyrich, another man behind the success of the movement and Stephen Harper, is a co-founder of the Religious Right. At a meeting of the controversial Heritage Foundation that he helped to create, he stated: "We're not here to get into politics. We're here to turn the clock back to 1954 in this country. And once we've done it, we're going to clear out of this stinking town."

If that means a return to strong labour unions, caring governments and the strengthening of the welfare state, I'm in.

I'll be the one marching down the street, carrying a sign: 'Women are people too'.

Don Cherry Should Stick to Hockey and Stay Out of Politics

My right-wing followers keep sending me links to Sun TV and to articles by right-wing columnists, but this interview with Don Cherry on Fox News North just makes me incredibly sad.

This is so beneath him.

I have mentioned the wonderful memory we have of Cherry, when my kids were young, but since he's entered the political arena, I find it hard to remember that he is a kind man.

My son ran into him recently at Canadian Tire, spotting him in line, looking nervous. He didn't recognize him at first, because he said he looked like a little old man. No one appeared to notice or care and he went through the line without so much as a wave or a nod.

So my son followed him out to the parking lot to say hello and noticing that he was wearing a Tampa Bay Lightening hat asked "what, no Boston Bruins"? Cherry laughed and said "No. I'm not going to jump on that bandwagon".

They shook hands and when my son told me that, I wondered if Don Cherry knew that he had just shaken the hand of a "left-wing pinko". Because like me, my son cares about things like poverty and homelessness, and worries about the impact of the ignorance revolution.

I love Brian Lilley's introduction, referencing an article from the Toronto "red" Star. Yes, the Star, that communist rag. What a goof. This from a station that, if you look at about the one minute mark, announced underneath that the new cabinet would be "nameded" today.

Instead of bashing "pointy headed academics", they might want to take a few spelling lessons.

One of my favourite Youtube channels is that of The Young Turks, and they also cover the ignorance of the new right. Discussing Pat Buchanan, and Harper mentor Peter Brimelow, at about the three minute mark, you'll see that these "white nationalists" also suffer from a brain cell deficiency.



They almost make Don Cherry's "multiculturalism baloney", "left-wing pinkos" and "these types of people" sound intelligent. And "university professors who have never worked a day in their life"? Where is that coming from?

Cherry's brother, Dick, who was my children's elementary school principal, is the total opposite of his brother. Quiet, intelligent and caring. I wonder what he's thinking now?

Had I been in that line-up at Canadian Tire, I probably would have just ignored this outrageous character, afraid of what I might say to him. I prefer to keep the fond memories.

Harperite Pal Geert Wilders Acquitted of Hate Speech Charges

The man invited by the Harperites to speak at this year's Tulip Festival, Geert Wilders, has been acquitted of hate crime charges.

Wilders has also appeared on Fox News North and had Ezra Levant in such a tizzy they had to administer smelling salts, in fear that his dizzy spell could put him into a coma.

The audience wouldn't have noticed.

Can't wait to see who we have at next year's Tulip Festival.

Maybe Franklin Graham.

The More Things Stay the Same, the More They Stay the Same

The blueprint for Canada's neoconservatism movement was created several decades ago, and while much of it was inspired by the Religious Right south of the border, a good deal was homegrown.

In fact in some areas, we inspired them.

However, the move to legislate Canadian morality began, or was renewed, in 1963, when the Anglican Congress sought out Pierre Berton, to write a book on Christianity in Canada. Under Pope John XXIII, Vatican II, sought to modernize the Catholic faith, to meet the challenges of a changing society*, and the Congress was hoping to do the same for protestants.

I have Berton's little book: The Comfortable Pew, and have read it. They couldn't have chosen anyone better. But not everyone saw it that way, and one man raised, pardon the pun, 'Holy Hell'. Ted Byfield, one of the founding fathers of the Reform Party, would call it blasphemy and suggest that the government should start to legislate morality.

We now have that government.

Byfield would go on to help create the Civitas Society, thought to be the policy arm of the Harper regime.

They list as their Founding Directors: Janet Ajzenstat, Ted Byfield, Michael Coren, Jacques Dufresne, Tom Flanagan, David Frum, William Gairdner, Jason Kenney, Gwen Landolt [REAL Women of Canada, an anti-women group], Ezra Levant, Tom Long, Mark Magner, William Robson, David E.Smerville [National Citizens Coalition], Michael Walker [Fraser Institute]. A few names I'm sure you'll recognize.

David Frum, in outlining the new conservatism, suggests that one determination in establishing policy, is that "it must eliminate incentives to personal misconduct..." and that government should never offer protection "against the miseries caused by idleness and addiction." (1)

Brian Lilley, one of the characters on Fox News North, applies this theory to the decision by Stephen Harper to fight against the continued life of Insite in Vancouver.

He writes that Deciding on InSite is a moral judgment

There has been snickering among my critics on the left who think giving junkies a good place to shoot up is an honourable thing. It turns out that I committed the sin of questioning heroin injection sites, labeling them clearly (they are not safe) and pointing out that just because it is backed up by peer-reviewed literature doesn’t mean it is the right thing to do.

But Dan Gardner reminds us that it is indeed the right thing do, even on moral grounds.

A long list of scientific research papers published in prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals showed that Insite had done exactly what it was designed to do. Overdose deaths down. Rates of HIV and hepatitis C infection down.

And yet:

From the moment the Conservatives came to power in 2006, they insisted that the decision on Insite's future would not be guided by politics or ideology. The evidence would settle it. But as the evidence of Insite's effectiveness steadily mounted, the Conservatives' hostility to the facility never wavered. They wanted to close it then. They want to close it now.

That's because as usual, they care nothing for the evidence, but base all decisions on the need to legislate morality.

Their version of morality, where killing human beings in war is fine but saving lives through a program they disapprove of, is deemed immoral.

Expect more of this. Much more, as Harper will implement an agenda drafted at least a half century ago. Or perhaps as one of Jason Kenney's teachers once said, "not the 1950s, but the 1550s."

Footnotes:

*Jason Kenney attended St Ignatius Jesuit school in San Francisco, which was created to refute Vatican II. An old video surfaced recently of Jason Kenney from his time at St. Ignatius, along with an article he had written then, comparing Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan. He had started a petition demanding that all Catholic universities in the U.S. remove the word 'Catholic' from their name if they promoted this. A former teacher claimed that Kenney was trying to take the Church back to the 50's "I do not mean the 1950s, I mean the 1550s: Obedience, obedience, obedience."

Sources:

1. What's Right: The New Conservatism and What it Means for Canada, By David Frum, Vintage Canada, 1996, ISBN: 0-679-30858-X, Pg. 12-13

A Harper Majority and Native rights

Someone sent me a link to the above video. An interview on Fox News North between longtime Conservative insider, Ezra Levant, and Gary McHale, an anti-native rights activist.

McHale runs a website Caledonia Wake up call, that focuses in part , on Caledonia land claims, an issue that has sparked, often violent, protest.

He also runs a group: CANACE (Canadian Advocates for Charter Equality), that "exposes" racial (white) discrimination. He goes after the OPP for not arresting the native "terrorists" and was once arrested himself, for attempting to tear down native flags and replace them with Canadian ones.

The Caledonia situation is a complex issue, and the protests necessary before the subdivision was built, when it may have been too late. The provincial government reimbursed the developer and the matter, I believe, is still before the courts.

However, what I find troubling about the piece, is the constant referral to "Indians" and "white people". They stopped short of saying "Settlers and Injuns".

Can we expect more of this kind of inciting "white people" against "Indians"?

I'd written before of Randy Hillier, an Ontario Conservative MPP who once headed up a group called the Lanark Landowners Association, whose motto was “This Land is Our Land: Back off Government”. McHale represents a similar "settlers uprising".

Recent Wikileaks cables reveal concern shown by the United States toward native protests, that could hamper Harper's Border Security deal.

Environmental protests, especially against the tar sands and anti-war protests, are mentioned frequently.

Will we see more of an "us vs them" mentality, where men like Gary McHale, a blowhard "white man" is seen as an authority on First Nations issues?

When Stephen Harper was first elected in 2006, there was a great deal of concern shown by Native Canadians, given his close relationship with Tom Flanagan, who has written often trivializing land claims, and expressing the need for taxes to be collected on reserves.

With a majority, will Harper now become more forceful? Less tolerant of legitimate protest? We'll have to watch the situation closely. I don't like the tone of the arguments at all.

Dear Ezra Levant. You Don't Scare Us You Disgust Us

After Bell dropped Fox News North, Ezra Levant has come out swinging, suggesting that they are attacking our freedom of speech.

This is about freedom versus censorship — Bell’s power to force CTV on everyone, versus your right to a different view. Freedom of speech is a Canadian value. Bell Canada’s hardball play isn’t just abusing its regulatory privileges. It’s unCanadian, too. Maybe they don’t care about freedom over there, but I bet if enough Canadians cancel their Bell contracts, they’ll listen.

Gee. I'm ready to send in the troops. Our very freedom is on the line here folks.

Levant provides a phone number:

1-888-759-3474.

And an email address:

executive.office@bell.ca

I'm going to contact them and thank them. Sun produces enough poison in print. We don't need it on our airwaves.

Levant believes that his "hard hitting" news scares us. It doesn't. It only disgusts us.

Thank you Bell Canada.

Sun TV Suffers Another Blow

Sun TV, better known as Fox News North, have suffered another blow.

Bell Satellite just dropped them over a fee dispute.

There were reports the new channel had an estimated 37,000 viewers across Canada tune in for its initial half-hour, when it hit the airwaves with what it called "hard news and straight talk.''

Since then there have been suggestions that audiences have declined sharply. But Lavoie dispute that, saying "our ratings are going up day-by-day," adding that coverage of the federal election between 8 p.m. and midnight drew around 100,000 viewers.

Gee, if only we had more elections.