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.

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)

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.

Levant and Wilders. Who's the Loser Now?

Ezra Levant interviewed the Islamophobic Geert Wilders, on his popular (?) program 'I'm better than Glenn Beck Because...', and with all the feigned shock he could muster, exposed those darn lefties who were trying to muzzle the Dutch MP.

Levant did everything but weep.

I read Dana Milbank's Tears of a Clown, about Beck, and apparently he used to dab menthol ointment under his eyes before going on, to get the tear ducts flowing. Maybe I'll send Levant a jar.

Wilders spoke recently at a Conservative approved event, as part of the Tulip Festival. It was quite lovely. Everything a Tulip Festival should be.

But he may miss next year's because he's about to go on trial for hate speech. Guess the Dutch don't like him either.

One of Europe's most prominent right-wing populists, Wilders argues that his remarks comparing Islam to Nazism and calling for a ban on the Quran are part of legitimate public debate that is protected by freedom of speech. Muslim groups say Wilders is infringing their right to freedom of religion by increasing discrimination against them.

Ezra must be getting so excited.

His Danish cartoon story is getting old, but Wilders is giving him lots of fresh material.

I think I'll send him that ointment now.

A Harper Majority Means Canada Now a Haven for Haters

Now that the media can free themselves from the shackles of nonsense, and frame their stories around neoconservatism, welcoming Newt Gingrich, Anne Coulter and even the late Irving Kristol into our lives, we can start having serious discussions on what the success of this movement means to Canadians.

For starters it means that we will be free to show hatred toward anyone we decide we should hate. And for Harper's team they barely waited for the new to wear off their majority before heading in that direction.

This week the controversial Geert Wilders made an appearance at the taxpayer funded National Arts Centre. Billed as part of the "Tulip Festival", it was just another platform for this Dutch MP to spew his hatred against Islam. Neocons love him.

The radical International Free Press Society is a strong advocate for hate speech, and support people like Wilder and even our own helium sucking Ezra Levant. Levant returns the favour with a little Fox News North interview.

I can only handle about 2 minutes of Levant's nonsense but got as far as the "death threats" and the UK banning him from speaking. Gee, I can't imagine that happening anywhere, can you? And death threats? Shocking.

But as Warren Kinsella reminds us: "Wilders isn’t really the issue, here. A more salient issue, for Canadians, is the kind of government we can, and should, expect for the next four years".

It's gonna' be a rough ride.