Monday, March 31, 2008

Montague By-Election Result

Congratulations to Bill Dobson, elected Deputy Reeve of Montague Township this evening. The result of the byelection matched pretty much what I would have expected. I think Bill will do a great job, and I hope that both Pat Dolan and Vince Carroll will continue to play an active part in township life and politics because they both have a lot to offer. All three have strong support in the township.

The best part of the result for me is the turnout - over 1,200 votes cast. Electronic voting seems to have really worked and it should give food for thought to Elections Ontario and Elections Canada. In rural areas such as ours, turnout in all elections would likely be dramtically improved through the option of internet and telephone voting. It would seem to be worth pursuing at all levels of government. It won't stop Liberals buying TV sets for native voters in Saskatchewan, of course, but no voting system is perfect.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Fitna Pulled: CHRC Investigates Successful Anti-Hate Tactics

As the Dutch film Fitna is pulled from Liveleak after staff received death threats, no doubt Warman, Kinsella, Steacy et al are carefully studying the anti-hate tactics used in this case to effect such a successful and speedy resolution. If only Canada had laws allowing people who publish controversial material that disagreed with Lucy Warman to be threatened with summary execution, how much better their world would be.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Investigation Begins Into Quebec Brawl

An investigation has been launched after a brawl in Quebec that left Liberal leader Stephane Dion seriously damaged. Chief Investigator Jason 'Clouseau' Cherniak alleges that while M. Dion was on a peaceful tour of the maritimes, members of the Quebec wing of the Liberal Party charged across the country and began punching M. Dion mercilessly. It is claimed that there may have also been some taunting involved.

"M. Dion was doing what he has done since he became Our Leader," said Clouseau. "Nothing at all. This was an entirely unprovoked attack."

Witnesses say that M. Dion did not fight back, but curled up in a ball while the attackers landed nearly a dozen press stories on him.

That Ontario Economic Policy In Full

Tax. Spend. Repeat.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Don't Be Fooled

As Jonathan Kay makes clear, opposing the thought-crimes provisions of Section 13, and the dirty tricks of the 'investigators' who prosecute them does not make one a Nazi.

On that same note, just because Cherniak looks like an idiot and writes like an idiot, don't be fooled. He actually is an idiot.

Monday, March 24, 2008

TDPC Corgis have a submission for the Guinness Book of Records

Rumour has it that Doggerel celebrates his 280th birthday today.
The corgis are most impressed...

Overfeeding The Troll

Apparently, while I was sleeping and preparing to wake up to another year of advancing age this morning, the world of the Blogging Tories was being rocked by controversy over a comment appearing on this very blog, which contained an off-colour joke about Warren Kinsella's father.

Since I am the custodian of the offending comment, let me make some remarks.

1. It's out of line, no question.
1a. My own father died (as I made inferentially clear in my original post) of colon cancer when I was 14. No, I don't want or need anyone's pity. But I do get why the comment is out of line. I get that at a very personal level.
2. I'm not going to censor it, because the marketplace of ideas is already dealing with it.
3. Nobody has complained to me about it.
4. Warren had not complained to anyone about it, doubtless recognizing it for what it was, and the author for who he is.
5. Those who started the complaint chorus are riding uninvited to the defence of Warren Kinsella, who is clearly more capable of defending himself than half the bloggers out there combined, and has his own blog and his own high profile in political circles with which to do so.
6. The ensuing controversy, wailing and gnashing of teeth is giving the commenter in question exactly what he wanted; in fact I would say it was force feeding the troll to the extent that he'll end up as foie gras before we're done.
7. Dignified silence, which is what Warren himself was observing, would have been by far the best and most effective response, as well as displaying the most character.

It's a stupid joke from a well known troll. Period. It doesn't say anything about 'the right'. It certainly doesn't say anything about the Conservative Party, and I don't even see it as saying anything about me.

I now return to my regularly scheduled birthday celebration commiseration.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Enough Is Enough

Warren Kinsella has finally succeeded in provoking me. I know, I know, it's not usually worthwhile to feed the trolls. Up until now I have managed to avoid tackling any of his pro-CHRC, pro-Warman, pro-Steacy, pro-dirty investigative practices, pro-thought control screeds. But Mr. Kinsella has overstepped the mark today.

In a post about the rather sad 'march' by 25 (or thereabouts) white supremacists in Calgary today, Kinsella has the audacity, the gall, to tell me what my father fought for in the Second World War. According to Kinsella, my father didn't fight for freedom of speech, or freedom from state tyranny, or freedom from state control over every aspect of human existence. No, what he was actually fighting for was to stop those 25 sad muppets from marching in Calgary today.

How dare he tell me, and the millions of other children and grandchildren, what their forbears sacrifice was about? How dare he presume to set himself up as the arbiter of what such a momentous and complex event as the War was about? It's an insult and a slight on every single veteran and every single member of their families.

Now, since I knew my father in person, at least until I was 14, let me tell you what he fought for. He fought for the right to true freedom. Freedom of thought. Freedom of association. Freedom to question. Freedom to judge. Freedom to own and protect property. Freedom to create and publish. He fought for freedom from state control of thought, property, reproductive rights, political views and association.

Now, Kinsella always avoids dealing with the fundamental double standard he espouses. Those of us who recognise that freedom is indivisible, that your freedom is my freedom and vice versa are not debated by Kinsella, but simply labelled Nazis, because today's target of the HRCs and their supporters happens to be the neo-Nazis. It's convenient that an unpopular and undesirable group is under attack by the HRCs, but it is of no reassurance to any right thinking person. Because yesterday the HRC target was white supremacists. Today it's Macleans magazine and Ezra Levant. And tomorrow, well, tomorrow who knows?

My father didn't fight against Nazism just because it is an odious and repellant belief system, although it is. He fought against the tyranny that underpinned Nazi Germany at a deeper level too - that tyranny that exists anywhere a state controls the thoughts and actions and very beliefs of its citizens. It doesn't matter whether the code of belief was drawn up by Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Castro, Trudeau, Warman or Kinsella. State enforcement of a code of belief (or a code of non-belief) is tyranny, plain and simple, and it's the enemy of freedom. It was my father's enemy, and he saw it regaining the upper hand in the years before he died. Not long before then, he said to me that there is nobody less tolerant than a liberal, and what prophetic words those have turned out to be.

So don't you dare tell me that my father fought on your side of this issue, Kinsella. You're everything that's wrong with the Canadian political system. You're what Jason Cherniak wants to be when he grows up. You're all about winning and nothing about values. You're all about labels and nothing of substance. You're all about using the HRCs to silence people with whom you disagree. You're all about freedom for you and censorship for them. One rule for you and one rule for them. One rule for Liberals taking taxpayer dollars and another for those poor people who pay the taxes in the first place. You're just as elitist, just as tyrannical, and just as much a dictator as those you profess to despise.

As for those 25 idiots in Calgary today? I'm willing to bet the 200 counter demonstrators shouted them down pretty well, and that's what freedom is all about.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Reports of TDPC's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

Some people have emailed me privately, and one has commented, that things seem pretty dead around here. In particular I've been asked about the Montague Township by-election for Deputy Reeve and why I haven't gone back to the days when this blog was most 'alive'. If by 'alive' we mean incendiary.

So... here are some quick answers:

1. Dead? No, just sleeping. I have a new job which is keeping me busy, so posting is more occasional, that's all. Sitemeter tells me people do still stop by and a lot of Google-driven traffic shows up even when I don't post, so all is not lost.

2. Montague? I'm staying out of it, as my way of contributing to reconciliation and healing in the township. I like to think I am making a contribution on the Economic Development Committee. However, I will say that I like the electronic voting approach, and that I think we have a very strong slate of candidates to pick from. With one exception, I'd be reasonably happy whoever wins.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I'm Confused

I had always thought that the feminist movement was keen to avoid the 'abortion is murder' meme, and that they thought there was a clear moral difference between a woman's choices concerning her own body and reproductive preferences and a man who beats, maims or kills a pregnant partner and / or her wanted child.

Now, when Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime bill comes along, which seeks to protect pregnant women from the increased risk of domestic violence that pregnancy brings with it, that same feminist movement is opposing it, and in the process claiming a moral equivalence between the male violence C-484 targets, and their own embrace of abortion.

For the record, I am not opposed to legal abortion, but would like to see Canada fall into line with most other civilised countries and have at least some legal framework around it, and term limits.
I am not what I was recently shocked to see described as a 'fetus fetishist'. I'm just a fan of consistency and integrity in debate, rather than the 'whatever suits me goes' approach of BnR.

Heavy Load Causes Structural Concerns At Ottawa School

Laden with the weight of an unprecedented volume of unsold copies of the Ottawa University Engineering Student Society's newspaper Oral Otis, an Ottawa University Wimmins Studies professor has begun showing stress fractures. Professor Kathryn Trevenen, teacher of 'Feminist Political Thought,' has accumulated the weight of the last three issues of the newspaper over the course of this winter and it appears that this has been too much for her sense of humour, which has now collapsed.

If you are concerned about your own professor cracking up this winter, you are advised to contact the CBC.