The Canadian Manifesto 7: From the Book of Genesis

The idea of a "new conservatism" took root after World War II, ignited by the fear of Communism. But it was Irving Kristol, a former Trotskyite, who first promoted the idea of creating a political movement under the banner of Neoconservatism.

A confirmed Straussian, it was Kristol who suggested that they team up with the Religious Right, following Leo Strauss's axiom that religion was necessary to control the masses.

According to Shadia Drury in her book , Leo Strauss and the American Right:

...Kristol shares Strauss's view that a healthy dose of religious enthusiasm is indispensable for transcending the nihilism that is at the root of America's troubles. He is so convinced of the political utility of religion that he is blind to the immoderate nature of groups such as the Moral Majority of Jerry Falwell or the Christian Coalition of Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed. Kristol has encouraged the Republican party to embrace the religious right; and the party has been listening. (1)

Stephen Harper has also been listening, telling his followers to forget the tired wish list of the fiscal conservatives, and embrace the ideology of the social conservatives, or what he calls "theocons", as a route to holding on to power. (2)

It's important to understand that the tenets of religion are immaterial. Both Kristol and Strauss were Jewish, and Strauss himself claimed not to understand Christianity, believing it to be rather foolish.

Says Drury: 'Strauss believes that a healthy society is one that is bound together by a single authoritative truth that provides the citizens with shared values and a common way of life'.

He saw an irresolvable conflict between the interests of the individual and the interests of society, and felt that the conflict could only be resolved,

...by lies and deceptions, and that the greatest among these is religion. The reason is that human beings are selfish and self-centered and will not be willing to sacrifice themselves for others in the absence of belief in a god who punishes the wicked and rewards the just. Further, Strauss believes that the existence of such a god cannot be established by reason or philosophy. The gods of "shuddering awe" are necessary to civilize humanity and to turn natural savages into husbands, fathers, and citizens. What is needed is something grand enough to capture the human imagination, something magnificent and majestic, something splendid and sublime, such as Judaism, Christianity, or Islam.(3)

And yet we are witnessing the results of too much religion that has manifested itself in terrorism, both foreign and domestic.

Following Francis Schaeffer's belief in the necessity of a Northern European* (which includes Canada, Australia and New Zealand) revolution to turn this cabal of states into a Christian theocracy, the Neocons have selected that particular religion, while bringing Judaism along for the ride, with both fighting the forces of Islam, in what they call "a clash of civilizations".

Recently, Stephen Harper claimed that 'Islamicism' is the biggest threat to Canada. The religion. And he promises to bring back tough Patriot Act style legislation, no doubt targeting all who practice the faith.

In Canada.

It breaks my heart.

So What's Wrong With a Christian Nation?

Nothing. Many former leaders have been guided by faith. Tommy Douglas was Evangelical and gave us universal healthcare. J.S. Woodsworth was Evangelical and gave us prison reform. Lester Pearson was Evangelical and gave us the peacemakers.

Harry Stevens, a cabinet minister in the government of R.B. Bennett, followed what he referred to as "Christian economics". (4)  He fought against corporations who were destroying small business, and headed a Parliamentary Committee and Royal Commission, investigating the practices of chains like Simpsons and Eatons, referring to them as "big shots".

William "Bible Bill" Aberhart, also embraced the war on "big shots", lamenting so much "poverty in the midst of plenty", during the Great Depression.

But today's Christian Right movement is different.  It is embraced by "big shots" and defined by corporate greed, war profiteering and righteous indignation.  They hate any form of liberalism, socialism and even democracy, which they believe is over rated.  Instead, it is being replaced with what they call "authoritarian democracy", where you must not demand, but obey.

The National Citizens Coalition, that Stephen Harper left to run for the leadership of the Alliance Party, not only promote a free market (with no pesky regulations or need to pay taxes), but endorse the notion that government should only be responsible for foreign policy and defense. (5)  The religious side of our government, led by men like Ted Byfield, feel that the only thing government should regulate is morality.

I can't imagine living in a country like that, though I suppose we might have to get used to it, if the left can't get their act together.

But What if We Don't Go to Church?

There are many radicals in the movement, who would like nothing better than for "Northern Europe" to become a church-going nation (?), led by the United States.  Jeffrey A. Eisenach, formerly with the now defunct,  Progress and Freedom Foundation, takes it even further, as they must reclaim the world for Christianity.

Should the world fail to understand this messianic role of the USA, there will be need of recourse to “compelle intrare,” based on which Saint Augustine approved forcible joining of heretics to the Church.

However, Strauss suggested that political leaders didn't really need to go to church or practice any faith, so long as they understood the importance of using it to manipulate.

When researching his book, Stephen Harper and the Future of Canada, William Johnson interviewed Harper's former fiancee, Cynthia Williams.   When asked about his faith she became embarrassed and said that they never went to church or anything.  (6)  Harper's VP at the National Citizens Coalition, Gerry Nicholls, confirmed this, but said that Harper did have strong "spiritual" ideas. (7)

Ezra Levant has denied that Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, was a Christian fundamentalist, because he never went to church.  But you don't have to go to church to believe in something, and the manifesto he created made it clear that Europe must return to it's Christian roots.

The New York Times referred to this new doctrine as a "civilizational war that represents the closest thing yet to a Christian version of Al Qaeda." 

I suspect that Harper's Evangelism is more political than ecclesiastical.  He is one of The Chosen.

OK.  So Whose Version of Christianity Do We Obey?

Ronald Reagan moved Evangelicals into his government at an alarming rate.  Stephen Harper has done the same.  The idea is to restructure our laws to fit with The Old Testament.  I get it.

But Christian sects are often at odds with each other, in how they interpret the Bible.

In his book, Faith in the Halls of Power, D. Michael Lindsay discusses this, using as an example, the Aids crisis.  Gary Bauer, Reagan's family values czar, felt that Aids was God's punishment for homosexuality.  However, C. Evertt Koop, partner of Francis Schaeffer and Reagan's Surgeon General, disagreed.  He thought it his Christian duty to help, and the Koop Report promoted safe sex, including the use of condoms, anathema to many in the movement.

Harper appears to have painted himself into a corner on this issue.  He refused to attend an International Aids Conference and scrapped plans to build an Aids vaccine plant, in favour of bullet factory, though he cashed in on a photo-op with Bill Gates, who was willing to help finance the former.

Part of this neocon/Religious Right mandate, is to remove the teaching of evolution from classrooms, and replace it with Creationism.  But again, whose version?

According to John Baldock (Women in the Bible), there are at least two versions. 

In weaving together two accounts of the creation of the universe from different traditions, the opening chapters of Genesis offer us contrasting images of the nature of the relationship between man and woman. In the first account, which dates from C-400BC and is the more recent of the two, the relationship is seen as one of equals for we are told that God 'created humankind asleep he removed one of his ribs and made it into a woman. Whet the man saw her, he said, 'she shall be called Woman [Hebrew] in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them'. ... However, in the second account, which is dated to I000-900BC, we are told that God first created 'the man', then the plants, animals and birds. He then caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep he removed one of his ribs and made it into a woman.

This is why we need the separation of Church and State.  It's that simple.  And we need the truths of science, not "noble lies".  Everyone should be allowed to practice their religion freely without being put on a list.

The neocons tell us that they are doing "God's work".  But looking at the Tea Party and the new right's addiction to war and greed, have they ever considered that this might just be the devil's handiwork?

Just a thought.

Footnotes:

*The idea of a 'Northern European' Christian movement, comes from the Reformation when Northern Europe, with the exception of Ireland and pockets of Britain, turned Protestant, and southern Europe remained Catholic, while Central Europe fought holy wars for the remainder.  The belief is that the "colonies" were won by the Protestants.

Sources:

1. Leo Strauss and the American Right, By Shadia B. Drury, St. Martin's Press, 1999, ISBN: 0-312-12689-1, p. 19

2. Stephen Harper and the Theo-cons: The rising clout of Canada's religious right, By Marci McDonald, The Walrus, October 2006

3. Drury, p. 11-12

4. Reaction and Reform: The Politics of the Conservative Party Under R.B. Bennett 1927-1938, By Larry A. Glassford, University of Toronto Press, 1992, ISBN: 0-8020-7673-4, p. 139

5. The Myth of the Good Corporate Citizen: Canada and Democracy in the Age of Globalization, By Murray Dobbin, James Lorimer & Company, 2003, ISBN: 1-55028-785-0, Pg. 200-203 2

6. Stephen Harper and the Future of Canada, by William Johnson, McClelland & Stewart, 2005, ISBN 0-7710 4350-3

7. Loyal to the Core: Stephen Harper Me and the NCC, By: Gerry Nicholls, Freedom Press, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-9732757-8-0

The Canadian Manifesto: How the American Neocons Stole my Country

Maurice Vellacott's administrative assistant, Timothy Bloedow, once accused me of hating Christians. This was in response to my criticism of his critique of Dr. John Stackhouse's review of Marci McDonald's book: The Armageddon Factor.

(Did you get all that?)

Though Prof. Stackhouse was critical of McDonald for focusing too much on the Apocalyptic nature of some religious groups, he agreed with her concern for reconstructionism. "There are Christians about whom even other Christians should be wary, especially those who talk about things like theocracy and Christian government."

Bloedow runs a website called christiangovernance.ca, promoting just those things that we should be wary of.

In his new book Faith in the Halls of Power, D. Michael Lindsay reveals that the Moral Majority/Christian Right, was inspired by Francis Schaeffer, who ran a commune in Switzerland, promoting a second American revolution. This time they would not be taking on the British, but the Humanists, reclaiming the United States for Christianity.

Their brand of Christianity, where the Bible is not just the Truth, but the only Truth. Schaeffer writes that 'If we accept part of the Bible as a myth, we might as well be consequent and accept the whole Bible as a myth. Why, I can have more respect for a Teddy boy who tells me that killing a friend with a bicycle chain is all right. He at least has a philosophy.'

There is no compromise.

Schaeffer's commune became the launching pad for the Moral Majority/Christian Right. He encouraged his followers to become active, starting the anti-abortion movement, as a test for the power of pugnaciousness. Presidential hopeful (I hope not), Michelle Bachmann, claims that Schaeffer influenced her own views on abortion.

Lindsay tells us that while many Evangelical leaders initially agreed with the necessity for such a movement, others soon lost the taste:

Even though the Moral Majority succeeded in galvanizing evangelicals in the 1980s, as early as 1985, leaders within the group were growing uneasy about the alliance between religion and politics. Moral Majority vice president Cal Thomas resigned from the organization to pursue a career as a columnist. When I interviewed Thomas, he told me that evangelical political action at the time was — and according to him still is — "operating in the flesh and attaching God's name to it.... It's doomed to futility."

In 1996, Thomas and evangelical pastor Ed Dobson (no relation to Focus on the Family's James Dobson) wrote Blinded by Might, in which they asked, "How can [evangelicals] impose a morality on people that you can't impose on yourself?" Citing rampant materialism, sexual promiscuity, and evangelical hubris, Thomas and Dobson renounced their involvement with the Religious Right. (Lindsay p.56)

But the worst of them kept going, amassing fortunes, feeding off people's fears and prejudices.

Surprisingly, however, the most scathing denunciation came from Schaeffer's own son, Francis Jr.

In his book Crazy for God, he suggests that the movement is one of rampant racism, ignorance, perversion and greed.

Most of us would agree, but as expected, the right-wing noise machine sprung into action, launching attacks on their guru's son.

Everyone Has a Manifesto

Geert Wilders has a manifesto. Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist, has a manifesto (which is not unlike that of Wilders).

Francis Schaeffer himself, argued that the Communists had a manifesto and the Humanists had a manifesto, so the Christians should also have a manifesto.

A written statement declaring their intentions, motives, and views. So he wrote one, which became the guide for the Moral Majority/Religious Right.

After researching this movement for several years now, I've determined that somewhere there is a Canadian Manifesto. There has to be.

The connections between the Conservative-Reform-Alliance Party and the American Neoconservative/Religious Right movement, are too profound to be random.

So I've decided to make that the title of this particular body of research, as I organize my writings and thoughts. (Is that possible?)

The Canadian Manifesto will lay bare the war on women, gays and ethnics, and the attempts to turn Canada into a theocracy. It will also reveal how the real power in Canada has been sent South. The final chapter of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine.

Not a conspiracy theory, but in the words of Joe Friday, "just the facts". However, I will not change the names to protect anyone, since none are innocent.

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.

Mea Culpa: Thank You Reader for the Correction

On March 12, 2000; Pope John Paul II called for A Day of Pardon:

Let us forgive and ask forgiveness! While we praise God who, in his merciful love, has produced in the Church a wonderful harvest of holiness, missionary zeal, total dedication to Christ and neighbour, we cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken towards the followers of other religions.

I recently posted on the connections between the English Defence League, the Patriot Movement, that includes the Tea Party Express and Anders Behring Breivik.

I suggested that the media should not make this about religion, but hate.

However, one of my readers corrected me, by saying that it was very much about religion. An extension of the Clash of Civilizations, embraced by the Harper government and the neoconservative movement as a whole.

Because, while the Pope's confession did not specifically apologize for The Crusades, it was clear to most that that was his intent.

Political journalist Jacob Weisberg was invited to an event at the American Enterprise Institute, where Bernard Lewis was being given an award for articulating the 'The Clash" for the AEI.

Jason Kenney's former "assistant", Alykhan Velshi, was plucked from AEI, to make sure that Kenney stayed on track with immigration policies. He co-authored this piece with Andrew C. McCarthy, yet another advisor to the International Free Press.

Says Weisberg:

The term neoconservative has many meanings, including "former liberal" and "Jewish conservative." In recent years, however, it has taken on clearer definition as a philosophy of aggressive unilateralism and the effort to impose democratic ideas, especially in the Arab world. The neoconservatives are also a distinct group in and around the Bush administration, which includes Paul Wolfowitz, the former deputy secretary of defense, and Scooter Libby, the former aide to the vice president who was convicted last week on multiple counts of perjury. These men pushed for the invasion of Iraq and remain identified with hard-line positions on Iran, Syria, and North Korea.

This group of neocons were not impressed with the Pope's apology, choosing instead to rewrite history, by erasing a century of two, and laying all of the blame on Islam.

In his address, the 90-year-old Lewis ... spoke at length about the millennial struggle between Christianity and Islam. Lewis argues that Muslims have adopted migration, along with terror, as the latest strategy in their "cosmic struggle for world domination." This is a familiar framework from the original author of the phrase "the clash of civilizations"—made more famous by Harvard scholar Samuel Huntington.

I've never read Lewis's interpretation, but I would imagine it reads much like the Protocols of Zion, that predicted it was the Jews who were in a "cosmic struggle for world domination".

In fact Weisberg found it odd that the Jewish Bernard Lewis, would be opposed to the Pope's message, since it included Christian atrocities against Jews, during the Crusades.

The preaching of the First Crusade inspired an outbreak of anti-Semitism. In parts of France and Germany, Jews were perceived as just as much an enemy as Muslims: they were held responsible for the crucifixion, and they were more immediately visible than the distant Muslims. Many people wondered why they should travel thousands of miles to fight non-believers when there were already non-believers closer to home.

There had not been so broad a movement against Jews by Christians since the seventh century's mass expulsions and forced conversions. While there had been a number of regional persecutions of Jews by Christians, such as the one in Metz in 888, a plot against Jews in Limoges in 992, a wave of anti-Jewish persecution by Christian millenniary movements (who believed that Jesus was set to descend from Heaven) in the year 1000.

Crusader Godfrey of Bouillon, wrote: “... to go on this journey only after avenging the blood of the crucified one by shedding Jewish blood and completely eradicating any trace of those bearing the name 'Jew,' thus assuaging his own burning wrath.”

But Lewis wanted none of this. The Pope was wrong. The Muslims are to blame, Period!

The reader who corrected me, pointed out that the English Defence League "does battle", under the red and white flag of the Crusades, eventually claimed by England as the St. George's Cross.

And those in the the movement that is sweeping Europe, claim to belong to the PCCT Knights Templar. (the legitimate Knights Templar have no affiliation and have denounced the EDL and Breivik)

This modern adaptation was created by EDL founder, Paul Ray, who calls himself the "Lionheart of England".

Ray is a religious skinhead who formed the EDL, but who now lives in exile in Malta where he leads an anti-Muslim group called The Ancient Order of the Templar Knights. If you’ve been following the news recently, the name of Ray’s organisation should ring a few bells.

When the Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik’s 1,500-page ‘manifesto’ went public yesterday, it was full of the same Holy War rhetoric favoured by Ray. Amongst its hubris was the claim that “God will revive the ancient order of the Knights Templar”. Eerily similar, especially when you think about the claims Breivik has made about his close relationship with the EDL

A "religious skinhead". What an apt description.

My reader was right and I was wrong. This is a religious movement. The PCCT states that other religions and cultures can reside with Christians, but that they must follow Christian principles. No other churches. No other religious celebrations.

On the other hand, 'Christian' atheists and 'Christian 'agnostics' are OK. Breivik was not a Christian fundamentalist but apparently a Christian agnostic.

Ezra Levant, in his dismissing the Norwegian terrorist as a nut, wants it to end there. We're on a need to know basis.

And what we don't need to know is his close relationship with Geert Wilders, a hero to both the EDL and Anders Behring Breivik.

I spent several hours yesterday, researching, and have filled half a notebook. My stomach was a bit too queasy to blog on it yesterday, but I'm going to organize my research and continue the story.

This was not an isolated case. The actions of one "nut". It is huge. And it is the return of fascism.

Who said this?:

"By its decision to carry out the political and moral cleansing of our public life, the Government is creating and securing the conditions for a really deep and inner religious life. The advantages for the individual which may be derived from compromises with atheistic organizations do not compare in any way with the consequences which are visible in the destruction of our common religious and ethical values. The national Government sees in both Christian denominations the most important factor for the maintenance of our society".

Paul Weyrich?

Nope.

Stephen Harper?

Nope? Though it wasn't unlike his "theocon" speech to the Civitas Society, when he claimed they had to shift their focus to the social conservatives.

George W. Bush?

Nope.

It was Adolf Hitler.

A Closer look at Geert Wilders

The American Enterprise Institute is not the only group attempting to rewrite history. Harper government pal Geert Wilders, tells quite a fairy tale, in his speeches.

In Rome, on the invitation of yet another anti-Islamic group: The Magna Carta Foundation, he tells the adoring crowd:

Together with Jerusalem and Athens, Rome is the cradle of our Western civilization – the most advanced and superior civilization the world has ever known.

As Westerners, we share the same Judeo-Christian culture. I am from the Netherlands and you are from Italy. Our national cultures are branches of the same tree. We do not belong to multiple cultures, but to different branches of one single culture. This is why when we come to Rome, we all come home in a sense. We belong here, as we also belong in Athens and in Jerusalem.

I guess Egypt, the Incas, Mesopotamia, etc., were rank amateurs.

A continuation of the erasure of the contributions of ancient cultures, choosing only those of white skin.

And it is not just talk.

On the eve of the invasion of Iraq, a group calling themselves the American Council for Cultural Policy, met with George Bush and the Pentagon, with the request that they be allowed to have the ancient treasures housed in the museums. What couldn't be taken was destroyed.

It's as though Iraq had no history at all.

Wilders continues his blas-tory.

I am here today to talk about multiculturalism. This term has a number of different meanings. I use the term to refer to a specific political ideology. It advocates that all cultures are equal. If they are equal it follows that the state is not allowed to promote any specific cultural values as central and dominant. In other words: multiculturalism holds that the state should not promote a leitkultur, which immigrants have to accept if they want to live in our midst ... My friends, I dare say that we have known this all along. Indeed, the premise of the multiculturalist ideology is wrong. Cultures are not equal. They are different, because their roots are different. That is why the multiculturalists try to destroy our roots..

Again playing the victim. They are being persecuted simply because they belong to "the most advanced and superior civilization the world has ever known".

If these guys represent that "superior civilization", it clearly has "root rot".

Here's another group burning an anti-Nazi flag. Yep. The lost tribe of the superior intellects.



The Magna Carta Foundation even blame the Muslims for the right's denying Patriot Act.

All European countries have the equivalent of the ‘U.S. Patriot Act’, ours is ‘The Civil Contingencies Act 2004.’ Which allows the PM, or whoever happens to be in charge at the time to declare ‘Martial Law’ if they think Civil Unrest will, or might occur. When ‘Martial Law’ is declared we will be living in a Dictatorship and totalitarian rule will have been achieved, we will never get out from under it.

Islam is the virus they are using to bring the Act into force. It is deliberate and pernicious gerrymandering for the benefit of an agenda that has been hidden from us for many years.

Islam "is a virus". An "evil religion". Read the Old Testament lately?

The sad thing is that most Christians don't feel this way, and most Muslims are just as afraid of terrorism as anyone else. But a multicultural society that allows all faiths and cultures to live in peace, is being destroyed by this noisy and dangerous movement, in the name of "patriotism".

Just what the American founding fathers were afraid of, which is why they called for the separation of church and state.

Not to worry though. The neocons have that one covered too. They are rewriting textbooks, to remove Thomas Jefferson, replacing him with Billy Graham.

Did you ever think you would be seeing this in your lifetime? It's like the world has gone mad.

The difference is that in Europe and the United States you can read daily about the Tea Party movement, and the rise of fascism (especially in Europe).

All we get are photo-ops.

I have a few more postings on this 'Patriot' game, involving the Tea Party, Fox News, North and South, the Religious Right, the EDL, the Neoconservatives, and the Harper government.

I thank my reader for steering me in this direction, though I may never sleep again.

Because not only Muslims are on their radar.

Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake: The multiculturalist Left is facilitating islamization. Leftist multiculturalists are cheering for every new shariah bank, for every new islamic school, for every new mosque. Multiculturalists consider Islam as being equal to our own culture. Shariah law or democracy? Islam or freedom? It doesn’t really matter to them. But it does matter to us. The entire leftist elite is guilty of practising cultural relativism. Universities, churches, trade unions, the media, politicians. They are all betraying our hard-won liberties.  Geert Wilders

The national Government will allow and confirm to the Christian denominations the enjoyment of their due influence in schools and education. And it will be concerned for the sincere cooperation between Church and State. The struggle against the materialistic ideology and for the erection of a true people's community (Volksgemeinschaft) serves as much the interests of the German nation as of our Christian faith. ...The national Government, seeing in Christianity the unshakable foundation of the moral and ethical life of our people ... Adolf Hitler

What Sun Media Doesn't Want You to Know About Anders Behring Breivik

When Ann Coulter came to Canada to speak, and fabricate a threat to free speech, her visit was sponsored by two right-wing organizations: The Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute and the International Free Press.

Clare Booth Luce is a conservative women's "think tank" with ties to the Republican Party and the Heritage Foundation.

It's very feminine, with lots of pink, and has little groups like 'Liberty Belles' and 'Luce Ladies', not to be confused with 'loose ladies', which is a different institution.

The International Free Press was created in 2009, as an extension of the Free Press Society in Denmark. It's founder, Lars Hedegaard, is constantly challenging Denmark's hate laws, to play himself as the victim of oppression.

IFPS has expanded internationally, hence the title, and even has a branch in Canada.

Their advisory board includes both Ezra Levant and Geert Wilders.

The IFPS is not really about "freedom of the press" or "free speech". It's only about the freedom to bash Muslims and multiculturalism (immigration).

If you stand on the street corner and claim that the Holocaust was a hoax, don't expect them to come to your rescue. Because they know that making such a false statement could incite hatred, just as most of their questionable statements about Islam do.

Breivik's manifesto was filled with diatribes against Islam and multiculturalism, the new catch phrase for "non-white".

Why has this become the rallying cry of the far right?

According to Harvard's Dr. John Trumpbour, it is part of the new right-wing foreign policy initiative: The Clash of Civilizations, which, as Lawrence Martin reveals in Harperland, is a philosophy that Stephen Harper prefers to peacekeeping.

As the cold war ended, the neoconservative movement, without an internal communist threat to combat, found a new enemy within, “multiculturalism.” The shifting of immigration patterns and the articulation of U.S. culture as diverse and contested created a backlash with a reified Western, Nordic, or “Judeo-Christian” culture threatened by allegedly unassimilable emigrants from alien civilizations. In a subtle and wide-ranging exploration of the use and abuse of theories of civilizational clash in U.S. society and politics, Trumpbour holds up the construction of the Muslim enemy as a mirror of our own society’s anxieties and fears.

Our "Judeo-Christian" heritage.

Since when?

Four hundred years ago when Samuel De Champain was residing at Port Royal, a companion, Marc Lescarbot, wrote in his journal of their little club, where men took turns hunting and preparing feasts. But he said "not the artisans because they were of a different sort".

They were from the Jewish ghetto at Pons.

The Social Credit Party, the forerunner to Reform-Alliance-Conservative, was based solely on the notion of a Jewish Conspiracy, not unlike the new Islamic conspiracy. They were going to take over the world.

When Hitler's propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, sent the SS St. Louis adrift, knowing that those countries who condemned Germany's antisemitism, would prove to be hypocritical, Canada was one of the countries who turned the doomed ship away.

Instead of rewriting history, we should try to learn from it.

Geert Wilders, has become the new face of hatred. He has inspired the English Defence League, part of the new right-wing "patriot" movement. In this video they wait to meet their hero (poor quality).

They claim not to be racist, but refer to all from the Middle East as "Pakis" and use the old "they're breeding like rabbits" line, used throughout history, whenever a new group arrives "threatening to ruin western civilisation".

In researching my own Irish heritage, I found many old newspaper accounts suggesting that the Irish "bred like rabbits" and would soon be taking over.

It's odd that when rabbits "breed like rabbits" they create more rabbits. But when people "breed like rabbits", they cease to be human.

The language of hatred.

The English Defence League has since been linked to Anders Behring Breivik:

British police are investigating links between Anders Breivik and the English Defence League, a group the gunman described as a ‘blessing’ in an online forum.

But is the nationalist group no more than a blip on the fringes of society, or is it part of a larger movement threatening to destabilise multiculturalism in Europe?

... ethnic minorities, are increasingly becoming targets of hateful ideologies as fascist movements such as the EDL gain momentum across Europe. And it is these movements Breivik is said to have been associated with. Dr Robert Lambert, co-director of the European Muslim Research Centre at Exeter University says Breivik’s target was a multicultural society. He shot Labour party activists and targeted the prime minister because they represented what he despised.

It doesn't matter whether Geert Wilders ever heard of the EDL or the EDL of Breivik. This is part of a larger movement, operating under the guise of "free speech" and opposition to "multiculturalism", instead of what we used to call them: white supremacists.

In the following video, Ezra Levant justifies the appearance of Geert Wilders at the National Arts Centre, by claiming that the federal government owns the building. But it does not.

We own the building, and we were not consulted. The Harper government approved and so it was done.



Levant interviews Wilders here and squeals when the Islamophobe is acquitted of hate crimes.

Now Levant wants us to believe that Breivik is just a nut and that his actions had nothing to do with the toxic atmosphere created by the neoconservative movement and their 'Clash of Civilizations'.

We are watching these civilizations clash, and it won't end well if we don't stop this now.

Many European nations are investigating this new radical right. The Obama administration tried early on, but were shot down by the GOP. They can't afford an investigation into the radical right, because all roads lead right back to them.

If Harper wants to investigate the radical right in Canada, he only needs to hold a caucus meeting.

The big news stories in the past week or so, are not unrelated. Rupert Murdoch's media empire that includes Fox News and their spawn, Fox News North (not owned by Murdoch but he helped to create it), inflames these movements. They provide validation. "We're on your side" they say.

Instead of denouncing their actions, people like Glenn Beck attack the victims, and Levant the media, who he sees dancing with joy that the latest terrorist attack was not perpetrated by Muslims.

How did we get to this point?

Hopefully, this will inspire a dialogue, that includes the influence of Canada's Religious Right (Jim Flaherty's pal Charles McVety also invited Wilders to speak at his Christian College), and this government's policies, that reflect those of the U.S. Neoconservative movement.

We are charting a very dangerous course.

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!

From Archie Bunker to Don Cherry: Why Words Matter

One of my favourite episodes of All in the Family was the one where Archie Bunker is singled out by a group of "concerned Americans" and asked to join their club. At his first meeting he has a rude awakening, when they all put on white sheets.

For several seasons we heard him use terms like "Japs", "Chinks", "Hebes", "Pinkos", Dagos", "Polacks" and "Coons". Hurtful words that made us cringe, but we accepted them, because they came from Archie Bunker.

However, in the above episode, Archie finally realizes that words do matter, because they can and often do, turn into something more. The local chapter of the KKK was planning to burn a cross on his son-in-law's lawn because of a letter Mike Stivic had published in the paper, that painted him as a "commie".

Hatred hit home, and it was only then that Archie took notice.

For years we listened to the rantings against foreigners taking over hockey from Don Cherry, and again we laughed. After all, it was Don Cherry. Making bombastic statements was his shtick.

But then he entered the political arena, campaigning for Rob Ford and denouncing progressives as "pinkos". On Fox News North he tells Brian Lilley that he appreciates what "yous guys" were doing, trying to take the country back to the 1950s, and Lilley refers to him as a true Canadian "patriot".

Cherry didn't disappoint the audience and you could almost hear the cheers when he used the term "multiculturalism baloney".

It should come as no surprise that Anders Breivik, the Norwegian home-grown terrorist, uses the same language, protesting against immigration and multiculturalism.

And just as we knew that the right-wing would spin this, far right Swedish politician, Erik Hellsborn, writes on his blog:

What was it that really drove Behring Breivik? In the manifesto, he says very clearly: anxiety. Concern that multiculturalism and Islamisation threaten the Christian West's existence. In a Norwegian Norway, where the Left's preposterous dreams of a multicultural society had not taken root, this tragedy would never have happened. If there was no Islamisation and mass immigration, there would have been nothing to trigger Behring Breivik to do what he did.

Stephen Harper refers to multiculturalism as a "weak nation strategy", despite the fact that most Canadians like the fact that we are that kind of society.

Archie: I'm gonna go into town and get me a good Jew lawyer.
Mike Stivic: Do you always have to label people? Why can't you just get a lawyer. Why does it have to be a Jewish lawyer?
Archie: Because if I'm going to sue an "A-rab," I want a guy that's full o' hate!

I doubt Breivik ever listened to Don Cherry or watched All in the Family, but his "manifesto" can be found everywhere. On right-wing stations like Fox News, north and south, and even in government parlance.

He did not act alone but had millions of people behind him.

Don Cherry, I know, would never attempt to justify this man's actions, but let's hope it's his wake-up call. He has a huge following, and those who don't wince at his words, hang on to every one of them.

This has certainly been Norway's wake-up call, as they are now planning to investigate all of these right-wing "patriot" groups.

And I believe that Breivik's actions may have a different affect on the populace. The crowd of mourners included people from all cultures and religions, and one young man made an impassioned plea to the nation that they not abandon democracy because of this.

The judge in the case, is wisely refusing to give oxygen to this young man to spew his hatred in a courtroom, barring the media from what would surely be a sensational event.

I posted recently on a group in Great Britain, the English Defence League, another in the "Patriot Action Network". It has since been learned that they have connections with this Norwegian.

EDL warns that the Muslims "are breeding like rabbits". Where have I heard that before?

Different era. Different vctims.

Harper's National Citizens Coalition created an anti "Boat People" campaign, doing all the math, if Canada allowed those fleeing Vietnam to settle in Canada. One "man of the cloth" even referred to it as "ethnic indigestion".

But guess what? Their numbers were a little off. Go figure.

Mike Stivic: Why couldn't they say "Buddha, bless you" in Chinese?
Archie Bunker: Because they don't say that, that's why. If they say... Well, if they say anything at all, it's "Sayonara".
Mike Stivic: That's Japanese.
Archie Bunker: Same thing.
Mike Stivic: It's not the same thing!
Archie Bunker: What are you talking about? You put a Jap and a Chink together, you gonna tell me which is which?
Mike Stivic: That's right, because I find out about them. I talk to them as individuals.
Archie Bunker: Sure you talk to them. You say, "Which one of you guys is the Chink?"
Mike Stivic: [yells] I don't believe this. He's making me crazy!

I know the feeling, though not the kind of crazy that inspires bombings and mass murders.

Yesterday, when the Toronto Sun revealed that Jack Layton was once again battling cancer, they were forced to close down the comments section, but not before one reader posted this:

"Who couldn’t help but rejoice in NDP leader Jack Layton’s devastating news"

Why would the Sun be shocked by this? The same paper that compared Layton to Lenin.

If the Neoconservatives want to take us back to the 1950s, they've already accomplished a return to the 1960s, Cold War mentality, when everything was a "commie plot".

Breivik speaks of "cultural Marxism", a term used by Harper's buddy Paul Weyrich, and countless others in the new right-wing movement.

What now passes for conservatism.

Weyrich and his flock want to return to the 1950s, before the Civil Rights movement, when segregation was legal and acceptable. Others want to go back to the 1950s, when white women were churning out those white babies, in the post-war "baby boom".

But I'm not going anywhere with these guys.

I'm No Soothsayer But I Warned You

It doesn't take a genius to predict what will happen when hatred becomes policy. After the Norway attack became public, Peter MacKay suggested that it is still a volatile world.

It has been, and always will be, a volatile world, which is why it's the responsibility of governments to try to keep the peace. Unfortunately, the success of the neoconservative movement demands that people are kept riled.

I've been posting a bit on Fox News North/Sun TV, and how they use language, not to inform or inspire, but to incite. And while Harper will again stand back from this, remember, he was the one who went to Rupert Murdoch, with Kory Teneycke in tow, begging for our own Fox News.

And it was his government that allowed the Islamophobic Geert Wilders (above right with Anders Behring Breivik) to speak at the Tulip Festival. The Tulip Festival? I still can't wrap my head around that, because the last place you would expect to encounter hate speech is at a bloody flower show.

I'm not sure how the right-wing noise machine will spin this, but be sure that they will.

Terrorists? But They Aren't Islamic Fundamentalists!

On April 19, 1995, an explosion destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children under the age of 6, and injuring more than 680. And while the media immediately began to suggest that it was the work of Arab terrorists, an FBI profiler, Clinton Van Zandt, knew better.

He said that the perpetrator would be a white male, in his twenties, probably a military man and possibly a member of a fringe militia group. He took note of the date of the attack, coinciding with the Waco tragedy two years before, and occurring on Patriot's Day, the anniversary of the Revolutionary War Battle of Concord, which is revered by the militia movement. He was right and that is how they were able to catch Tim McVeigh, who was already in custody over a traffic violation.

So had Van Zandt immediately gone to believing that the bombing was perpetrated by an Islamic terrorist, McVeigh may never have been caught, and who knows what his next target might have been.

In fact, it is believed by many, that the biggest domestic threat in the United States, comes from these right-wing militia groups, which grew by 40% in 2009 and another 22% in 2010.

... by far the most dramatic growth came in the antigovernment “Patriot” movement — conspiracy-minded organizations that see the federal government as their primary enemy — which gained more than 300 new groups, a jump of over 60%.

Watch some of those Tea Party rallies, and see for yourself. Did the Koch Brothers know what they would be unleashing when they created this nationalism on steroids movement?

Maybe they did.

It's all about lowering corporate taxes (Stephen Harper wants to erase them), and getting government out of corporations' business, by ending demands that they protect the environment and not create dangerous products.

Anders Behring Breivik, the Norwegian "terrorist", belonged to the Patriot Action Network, which has branches around the world, including the U.S.

The Tea Party Express is listed as a partner, as well as "Commiebuster".

They also link to Concerned Women for America, the sister group of REAL Women of Canada.

(CWA) is the nation's largest public policy women's organization with a rich 30-year history of helping our members across the country bring Biblical principles into all levels of public policy. There's a cultural battle raging across this country and CWA is on the frontline protecting those values through prayer and action.

Anders Behring Breivik, has made public a manifesto. A game plan for getting rid of Muslims and Marxists.

So far, I've only read the highlights, but I've been researching the neoconservative movement for several years, and I've found the same language in almost all of the writings of neocons, and their many organizations.

Neoconservatism is fascism, and Islamophobia, the new anti-semitism.

The anger toward, and hatred of, Jews in Germany, did not take place overnight. It started with cartoons and hate speech in newspapers, and public gatherings.

The perpetrators were taken to court, but a clever and expensive lawyer had all charges dismissed. They got away with it so pushed the boundaries further.


One cartoon from the 1920s, showed a silenced Hitler, above the caption "He alone of two billion people on earth may not speak in Germany.”

He too cited the lack of "freedom of speech".

I keep asking myself what it's going to take to wake Canadians up. Will it be this? Or will the right-wing media spin the story so much, that it only again creates "shrugitis"?

Not in Canada you say?

Among those who saw a pattern of discrimination in the actions of the [Harper] government was Gar Pardy, the former head of the consular services section of the foreign affairs department. Opposition MPs were suspicious as well. Charlie Angus, an NDP MP from Northern Ontario, said he was told by an immigration official of discriminatory practices by his department. The department would periodically post photos of newcomers on advertising displays to promote immigration. "They identified who gets in these photos in terms of what ethnic groups they were interested in," said Angus. But one group, he was told, was deliberately left out of the promotion materials. "They said, 'No Muslims.' This came down from government orders."

(Harperland, Martin, Pg. 201)