Ezra Levant…..Folds, Mutilates, Spindles And Shreds…Courtesy J.M. Heinrichs

My criticisms of Canada’s so-called human rights commissions have been on two grounds: their goal is the unconstitutional restriction of free speech, and their methods are procedurally unsound and arbitrary.To those I would add a third critique: the commissions themselves have become corrupted. They have been turned into tax-funded machines for the personal vendettas of some very angry men, who now resort to planting “evidence” of racism on suspects. It’s not entrapment; it’s positively framing people. Read on.

The unconstitutional substance and arbitrary procedures of these commissions make them improper to begin with — which is one reason why the federal (and Alberta) commissions have a 100% conviction rate for thought crimes cases. But the personal corruption of the commissions makes them a disgrace, even on their own terms. As Woody Allen joked in Bananas, “this trial is a travesty. A travesty of a mockery of a sham!”

In real court systems, travesties of mockeries of shams can be taken to the Judicial Council, where rogue judges can be held to account. But human rights commissions aren’t run by judges, and there is no ethical oversight, other than from legislatures. That’s my earlier argument: the insanity of these commissions has to be brought to the attention of the commissions’ only masters — politically accountable legislators.

Ten years ago, I worked in the Canadian Parliament as the question period co-ordinator for the Official Opposition. (For American readers, question period is a daily, 45-minute question and answer session where government cabinet ministers are peppered with questions by opposition legislators. It’s like a press conference, but with other politicians asking the questions, not reporters.) It’s probably the quickest and easiest venue for accountability on a specific problem like this.

If I were writing QP questions for the opposition Liberal Party today, I’d hang the antics of the human rights commission around the neck of the man who is ultimately responsible for it — and in the case of the federal HRC, that would be Rob Nicholson.

I’d probably start off like this:

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Justice Minister. One of his staff, Dean Steacy of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, has admitted under oath that, as part of his job, he joined a neo-Nazi website called the “Stormfront”, and posted racist remarks there. Can the Minister please explain why taxpayers’ dollars are paying someone in his department to join neo-Nazi groups to spread bigotry?

Mr. Speaker, can the Minister tell us: was this a rogue act by a single hate-monger who infiltrated the human rights commission? Or did others at the commission approve of this race-baiting strategy, too? Did the minister himself know? Or did he turn a blind eye to state-sponsored bigotry in his own department?  Mr. Speaker, it’s not just Dean Steacy who spreads hate in the name of human rights, using taxpayers’ money. Richard Warman does it, too. He used to work for the CHRC, but then he left to work with them, filing dozens of complaints at the CHRC about hateful words. But now it turns out that Warman himself writes many of those hateful words, including calling Senator Anne Cools a “n*gger” and a “c*nt”, and then complaining about it. Will the Minister immediately intervene to stay all of Richard Warman’s complaints, and launch an internal investigation to see whether the evidence he planted was done with the collusion of his old friends at the CHRC?

Mr. Speaker, given the confession of the Minister’s employee, Dean Steacy, that the CHRC plants racist evidence that the CHRC then uses to investigate and convict others, and given the proof that the CHRC’s most prolific complainant has planted racist, sexist remarks, will the Minister launch an independent review of all so-called “hate message” cases that the CHRC has ever conducted to see if they were all corrupted by planted evidence?

Criticism of the human rights commissions has generally come from conservatives. But isn’t a government-funded campaign to spread racist remarks precisely the sort of thing that should outrage lefties, too?

It might also be the sort of question that someone should put to the far-left Canadian Jewish Congress, which awarded Warman a human rights award last year. Did they know that Warman called Canada’s first Black, female Senator a c*nt and a n*gger? Now that they do know it, will they rescind their award? Or — and this is my unhappy guess — are they part of this whole scam?

UPDATE: Of course, those are the questions I would write for the Liberal Party — but I am sympathetic to the Conservative government. The real Liberal Party or NDP would probably not give the government the benefit of the doubt. Their questions would sound like:

Mr. Speaker, even though it has been public knowledge for weeks that the CHRC employs racist provocateurs like Dean Steacy, who spread bigotry on the Internet, the Justice Minister still hasn’t done anything about it. Is that because he has no idea what’s going on in his own department? Or is it because he agrees with this bigotry? Is the Minister a bigot, or is he clueless?

I know Nicholson enough to know he’s neither bigoted nor clueless — he’s likely facing resistance from bureaucrats and civil service lawyers giving him a dozen “yes minister” reasons why the CHRC can’t be reformed or abolished. But they’re not the ones who are ultimately politically accountable — he is.

Upcoming forums

By Ezra Levant on January 19, 2008 postCount(’27’); postCountTB(’27’);

I have three upcoming interviews:On Sunday, I’ll be on the John Batchelor show, out of Los Angeles, at 7:20 p.m. Pacific Time. You can listen online, here.

On Monday, I’ll be on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. Details here.

On Tuesday, I’ll join Mark Steyn on The O’Reilly Factor.

Let me know what you think of them.

Francis Albert…Cool With Out the Irony…Courtesy J.M. Heinrichs..

I love this post on Frank Sinatra over at Ed Driscoll.com. Ed posts what he describes as a “tremendous” article on The Voice written by Michael Kelly, but even better is Ed’s own comments on the legendary Sinatra phenomenon. Kelly writes:

And what Frank Sinatra projected was: cool. And here is where the damage was done. Frank invented cool, and everyone followed Frank, and everything has been going to hell ever since.

Ed explains:

Maybe it was simply that while Sinatra was indeed cool, he never succumbed to its successor pose: irony. Which, in retrospect, may have saved him from himself, unlike those who followed in his wake.

Well, that is a “tremendous” bit of insight on Mr. Driscoll’s part. My loathing for irony knows no bounds. It’s nothing more than laziness disguised as “cool.” It’s a way for the shallow Jon Stewarts and David Lettermans of the world to take no risks, ridicule everything, believe in nothing, and be rewarded for it.

Sinatra was a different kind of cool. Twenty-years before it was chic to defend civil rights, Sinatra was punching out hotel clerks for not letting black members of his band in. There was nothing detached about Sinatra. In the 60s he was a Kennedy man — in the 80s a Republican backing Reagan. And quietly, year after year after decade after decade, Sinatra did more fundraising concerts for charity than any other performer.

Yeah, he had his flaws, and they were legendary, but they were flaws of temper and weakness, not shallowness. And he also just happens to be the single greatest intepreter of a song this old earth of ours has ever produced.

I saw Sinatra live in 1992. He was 77-years old. I’ll never forget Angel Eyes; the way he sang it, the way the spotlight blinked him out when it was over. I’d seen Springsteen just the week before. Nothing the 43-year-old Boss did came close to that moment. Bruce worked his ass off for three-hours giving all he had but couldn’t touch Ole’ Blue Eyes sitting on a stool under a single light, holding a cigarette, singing “‘Scuse me while I disappear.”

He is missed.

Libertas

Minnesotans for Global Warming: Our Kind of Warmingists!

Onya, Elmer and Daryl!

Please visit the website of Minnesotans for Global Warming and offer them your support today! Also check out their fantastic blog and the M4GW Gift Shop.

Have you done your part for Global Warming today?

Forward this post to your friends and help Save a Flamingo! (They’re neater than Polar Bears anyway…)

…

Ship a national story HMVS Cerberus…Courtesy of J.M. Heinrichs

The Cerberus, completed in 1870, arrived in Melbourne on April 9, 1871, and was
stationed in Port Phillip Bay to keep hostile raiders at bay.
“It is not often appreciated that the Cerberus was part of a belief that Russia was
going to take over Australia and part of a rivalry between France and Britain and
was once the strongest armed ship in the world,” Mr Molesworth said.

“Some people say she was a fizzer because she never went to war, but she was
never intended to go to war. She was always intended to be a deterrent and was plac-
ed in Port Phillip Bay as the strongest ship of her day and no one came to challenge.”
He said Victoria, lagging behind NSW as a colony, had expanded greatly with the
discovery of gold, and the Cerberus was a symbol of that colonial rivalry.
At Federation, the Cerberus, flagship of the Victorian navy, was given to the Comm-
onwealth to make up part of Australia’s first naval force, although it remained in Port
Phillip Bay.

In 1926, Sandringham Council purchased the Cerberus from the Commonwealth
Government for a breakwater at Half Moon Bay at the request of the Black Rock
Yacht Club.

“She was flooded on a shallow sandbank. She was such a huge wall of iron that it
was a fast and cheap way of getting a breakwater,” he said.
Mr Molesworth has been part of five committees to save the Cerberus, which is
breaking up and subsiding.

He said the last advisory committee managed to get the support of the Kennett
Government to have the Cerberus as a preferred project for Centenary of Feder-
ation funding, but this was rejected at the last moment.
“Unfortunately, the Prime Minister has a Sydney-centric approach to the Cent-
enary celebrations�.,” Mr Molesworth said.

“But the silly thing is that the Cerberus is an Australian story, not just a Vict-
orian story. It is the last surviving flagship of a colonial navy in the world.
“It was the second ship through the Suez Canal. It was the prototype on which
all modern steel ships were based and adopted an approach which led to the devel-
opment of the submarine.

“He said detractors of the ship’s restoration believed it would cost too much,
but he believed it would cost more in the long run to do nothing.
“If you leave it like it is, it is a safety responsibility of the City of Bayside. So,
if it collapses, who’s going to foot the bill to move it or make it safe?”
He said the Cerberus could be turned into a public tourist attraction and linked
with other renowned historic sites, and could bring tourist revenue into Bayside.
-June Yu

HMVS Cerberus

and another classic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS6-b7CONDI

The Eternal Wisdom of Howard Beale

Howard Beale was the main character in the 1976 (The year I graduated from high school) movie Network. His “mad as hell” speeches ought to be brought up from time to time. Amazingly, they get more timely with each passing year.

I wake up feeling like that most days.

Sometimes I think Howard Beale was the voice crying out in the wilderness to prepare the way for… The Beef of God.

Peter Finch died within a year after filming Network, and was awarded an Oscar posthumously.

The past 500 visitors World Map…Site Meter. You’re damn good, Site Meter. Damn good.

Click here to see a live, zoomable version of this map.

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Click here to see a live version of this graph

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Is black the new Teflon?

Is Black The New Teflon?

By Madeleine Begun Kane

Obama’s campaign has an ace:
It’s a joker, that card they call race.
Every Hill-team critique
Draws their racism-pique.
Can’t attack him: He’s black! That’s their case.

Well DAMN!…Lookie Here…

Domain Name		bbc.co.uk ? (U.K.)
IP Address		132.185.144.124 ? (British Broadcasting Corporation)
ISP		British Broadcasting Corporation
Location		Continent  :  Europe Country  :  United Kingdom  (Facts) State/Region  :  London, City of City  :  London Lat/Long  :  51.5, -0.1167 (Map) Distance  :  4,093 miles

Everyone say hi to the BEEB. Hi BEEB, everything meet with your approval, did it?

Should I make England a stop on my book signing tour. Goin’ to OZ I am. Ya’ see Meeja Watch in OZ, made me a STAR.

Are you here to do the same?…LOL.

For your listening and dancing pleasure…The Blues Brothers..

Nine little-known facts about Ezra Levant

Enjoy:

Why the Canadian *cough* “Human Rights Commission” is bound to lose.

(h/t Dr. Sanity)

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(note:  previous posts here on this issue here and here.  spot.)

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OK. I think I’m relatively calm, now. So…

A few hours ago, I posted on the (to use an Opinion Journal word) kerfuffle between Canada, the U.S. and Israel.

Shortly after that post, I left the house on the mountain and walked out into a nice cozy 13 degree’s F. I was going to A store for a few items for meals, I will prepare during the week and other things.

On my way to FIRST (yes, that is a clue) grocery store, I saw several people at a do it yourself car wash. You see, in this area, Sunday is get the hell out of town day for touristas. Anyway, electing to stay off “back roads” because of the possibility of “black ice” AND knowing full well that taking the main roads to do said shopping, were going to be packed.

At least, the lovely touristas we heading OUT and not IN, which happens to be Friday’s.

Back to the car wash…as said several were washing cars. Did anyone ever see what happens to a car being washed at 13 degree’s F? It fucking freezes, that’s what happens.

Not so much the hot soap wash part, the rinsing off with cold water part, it fucking freezes. The dumb bastards washing those cars, now have a mobile ice cycle. GEEZUZ H. CHRIST!

OK, onward and downward…Secondly, I noticed a plethora of ‘Ron Paul 2008 signs’, in peoples yards and on the right-of-ways……and people think ME a bit deranged..HA!

Forgetting that this grocery store Food City (in  parts of the Carolina’s, Virginia, Tennessee) pharmacy is closed on Sunday’s, I then head to *a REAL pharmacy in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, a scant 6 mile trip (heading OUT of the area).

(*REAL pharmacy, is something like a Walgreen’s. You see before switching to a Walgreen’s, I had my Rx’s filled at the UNREAL pharmacy at Food City. The reason for the switch WAS, the UNREAL pharmacist at the UNREAL pharmacy, mixed up one Rx one day and when I noticed, I went back and inquired why these pills were bright yellow instead of white, the UNREAL pharmacist, thinking it was an affront to his manhood, copped an attitude, told me the bright yellow pills were exactly the same as the white pills, (they were NOT) and sneered with spittle coming from his mouth, after his narrative, a “have a nice day”.

Being a smart ass myself, I immediately looked him dead in the eyes and without blinking said…”typically, when I say that to someone and with the tone and sneer you used, I’m being a genuine smart ass and I do believe you are being a genuine smart ass, when I asked a question concerning what I put in my body”. “Since that is the case, what time do you get off today?” “The reason being, I will most happily meet you outside the store when you leave”. NO ANSWER!

Well, guess what…packed with touristas on their way OUT of the area. This plus construction on what we locals, call “The Spur”(during the week the construction poses no problem, as the permanent residents between the main towns in Sevier(pronounced severe) County, Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and County Seat, Sevierville, Tennessee……total would maybe…MAYBE fill a suburb in a major city).

The person I live with, must have a creamer for her coffee…NOT an ordinary creamer, just one that every fucking body and their brother(s) use. So while in another grocery store (Kroger in Pigeon Forge) thinking, surely as large a store as Kroger is, they would have scads of this creamer. WRONG and that’s what I get for thinking.

So after purchasing what I needed at Kroger, I then had to come back to the Food City, in Gatlinburg. Coming back, a somewhat dolty tourista from South Carolina drifted into the lane I was in, unfortunately, my Explorer was in the space he picked…NO wreck, but close.

At any rate to end this rant of the day…..That and this has been what has happened to this point. I’m now at my house cleaning my weapons, especially the Smith and Wesson, I carry in the Explorer.

I dearly hope YOUR day has gone better then mine. GOD, I feel better now.

The Problem With Boys

Via Instapundit, I got myself a story that totally and completely pisses me the fuck off.

My ~scarequote~ favorite ~/scarequote~ line:

“The number of boys drugged with stimulants to control “hyperactivity” has, in the past 20 years, risen 3000%!”

Why don’t you just lop off their testicles and get rid of that awful testosterone problem once and for all?

My hatred of most things lawyerly is legendary around here, but I must say God has a Beef with child psychologists as well. Basically, I have come to the inescapable conclusion that psychologists are at exactly the same level of sophistication as practitioners of Voodoo. Psychology is pseudo-medicine, and it’s currently destroying an entire generation of little boys, hand-in-hand with PC insanity.

Years from now, people are going to look back on this era and say, “They used to drug little boys back then, didn’t they? How primitive and ignorant they were.”

Along with lawyers, psychologists are just so much cordwood to stoke the fires of hell.

Update…to Canada posting…Canadians, Americans and Israelis….Just Relax…

Excerpts….

The Canadian foreign minister has apologised for including the US and Israel on a list of states where prisoners are at risk of torture.

Maxime Bernier said the list, which formed part of a manual on torture awareness given to diplomats, “wrongly includes some of our closest allies”.”It contains a list that wrongly includes some of our closest allies. I have directed that the manual be reviewed and rewritten,” he said.

“The manual is neither a policy document nor a statement of policy. As such, it does not convey the government’s views or positions.”

The document was mistakenly provided to the human rights group, Amnesty International, as part of a court case it is bringing against the Canadian government over the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan.

BBC

sunday morning amusements

http://producten.hema.nl/

 again, from our capt heinrich

wife school

ok, girls, i am just the messenger!

http://www.grouchyoldcripple.com/archives/005136.html

h/t capt. heinrich

Acabion GTBO: 750bhp, 340mph; 25mpg @ 250mph

I followed several links to reach the original story, but it started at Instapundit and ended at Jalopnik.

What we have here is a streamliner motorcycle powered by a turbocharged Suzuki Eye Abuser Hayabusa engine that puts out 750 horsies. The top speed is electronically limited (!!!) to 340 miles per hour. At 100 MPH it gets 100 MPG, and at 250 MPH it gets 25 MPG. By the way, 340 MPH is 5 and 2/3rds miles per minute!

The inventor, Peter Maskus, envisions limited access superhighways for very light and fast super-fuel-efficient vehicles like this. As gas prices continue to rise, expect to hear more about this kind of thing. Best of all, you can order one right now! Not cheap, however, at $2,730,000.00!

Frankly, there is no reason for this bike to be so expensive. Take it from a guy who builds his own motorcycles out of wrecked bikes. With a real production plan, you could do this bike yourself for less than $50,000.00. Forget the fancy schmancy motor, and it could be done for under $30,000.00. On a real production line, you could make that for under $20,000.00.

Here’s a BMW me and a friend made for less than $6,000.00:

There are five or six different bikes here: A BMW R1100RS, the suspension from the dual sport R1100GS, the fork from the sporty R1100S, the telelever from the R1150R, and the wheels from a K1200RS. Several bikes contributed body panels. IOW: I know of what I speak.

Here’s The Beef of God testing the beta version of this bike:

Bikes are soooo much more efficient than automobiles: Half the wheels with round profile tires means less than half the rolling resistance, way less than half the drag compared to most cars, and a gazillion times more fun. Problem is, sharing the road with clueless car drivers.