Phony courts, phony racism

By Lorne Gunter, via the National Post:

As if more proof were needed of how out-of-control Canada's human-rights commissions have become, and what a threat they pose to impartial justice, along comes the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal's ruling last month against Michael Shaw, a white Toronto police officer.
In the spring of 2005, Constable Shaw was patrolling the Bridal Path--a singularly wealthy Toronto neighbourhood composed of large mansions on sprawling multi-acre estates. Ronald Phipps, a black man, was criss-crossing a street in the Bridal Path, delivering letters in substitute for the regular mail carrier, who was away.
Even though Mr. Phipps was wearing a Canada Post uniform and carrying two official mail satchels, the officer thought his behaviour was unusual. For instance, Mr. Phipps returned to a home at which he had already delivered mail, and retrieved it.
So the officer followed Mr. Phipps for a short distance, then asked him for some identification. He ran his name through police computers, thanked him for his cooperation and sent him on his way. He also verified Mr. Phipps' identity with a regular letter-carrier he knew in the area, a carrier who happened to be white.
From this series of events, Mr. Phipps gleaned that he had been racially profiled. He filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and, in June, adjudicator Kaye Joachim determined that the fact that Mr. Phipps "was an African-Canadian in an affluent neighbourhood was a factor, a significant factor, and probably the predominant factor, whether consciously or unconsciously, in Const. Shaw's actions." He found the officer guilty of discrimination.
Mr. Phipps admits that Const. Shaw never insulted him. He was not detained, not even briefly, nor was he arrested. He was asked for ID, thanked for producing it and permitted to go about his business. He was not tasered or struck with a club. No racial slurs were hurled at him.
He claims that since the incident he has been teased mercilessly by his co-workers. But that is their misbehaviour, not Const. Shaw's.
He claims that since the incident, he has had trouble sleeping, has lost weight and is having difficulty fulfilling his second job as a personal trainer -- all because a police officer asked him to produce some ID four years ago.

Read the rest here.

HST gets ex-premier Vander Zalm hopping mad

By Katie Mercer, via the Victoria Times Colonist:

One of B.C.'s feistiest former premiers is calling for a revolt against the Liberal government's new harmonized sales tax.
Bill Vander Zalm -- the defiant Dutchman who resigned as Socred premier in 1991 -- says something needs to be done about the "$2-billion tax grab."
And he's willing to lead the charge.
"That's why Bill Vander Zalm thought, 'Well, if nobody else is going to bring this out, I'm going to have to step to the fore and do it anyways,'" the 75-year-old told The Province Thursday.
"I don't want to get involved in politics, but I'm concerned about what's happening to the province and I don't mind tackling issues."
Beginning next July, the seven-per-cent provincial sales tax and the five-per-cent goods and services tax will be merged into a 12-per-cent HST.
Previously PST-exempt items -- restaurant meals, taxi fares, hydro and cable bills and more -- will be seven per cent more expensive.
Vander Zalm says he's irked that the Liberals broke their election promise to not introduce a new tax during an economic downturn. What's worse, he says, is how they announced it.
It was hot and muggy last Thursday -- the same day as commissioner Thomas Braidwood was grabbing headlines with his much-anticipated report on police use of Tasers -- when the announcement was released.
Vander Zalm said it was a smart political move to effectively bury the story. The year-long delay before the tax is implemented will also help citizens to forget the issue, he added.

Read the rest here.

Decline and Fall of the American Empire

By John Quinn, via TheBurningPlatform.com:

"The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight."

Edward Gibbon – The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

After ruling much of the known world for centuries, Rome fell due to a number of factors that, historians believe, would not have been fatal in isolation, but that proved terminal in combination. Military overspending and overreach, an untenable economic system, and currency debasement all played a role. As has been well documented, the Roman emperors attempted to distract the populace from the increasingly dire reality of their situation by providing bread and circuses. But entertainments could not stop the nation-state from yielding to the pressure of its own weight. There are numerous parallels between the end of the Roman Empire and the path the 226-year-old American republic is now on. One difference in these fast-moving times is that empires can rise more rapidly, but are also likely to decline more rapidly.

Read the rest here.

Of hawks and owls

My pal E.D. Kain over at The League Of Ordinary Gentlemen has an interesting post on the NeoConservative approach to war, and asks the question: why has this NeoCon approach become so mainstream within general Conservative thought?

Check it out. Whatever your thoughts may be on NeoConservative policies, it's a question worth considering.

Think of the senate buildings!

Earlier I commented briefly on certain California residents' inability to pay for the funerals of their dead. Well, Arizona is having a tough time of it, too. So tough a time, in fact, that Arizona's government is considering selling off its House and Senate and other legislative buildings:

Desperate state may sell Capitol buildings, others

By Matthew Benson, and JJ Hensley, via the Arizona Republic:

Call it a sign of desperate times: Legislators are considering selling the House and Senate buildings where they've conducted state business for more than 50 years.
Dozens of other state properties also may be sold as the state government faces its worst financial crisis in a generation, if not ever. The plan isn't to liquidate state assets, though.
Instead, officials hope to sell the properties and then lease them back over several years before assuming ownership again. The complex financial transaction
would allow government services to continue without interruption while giving the state a fast infusion of as much as $735 million, according to Capitol projections.

Read the rest here.

H/t to the Full Comment blog.

Hey, at least they're not imposing a stupid Harmonized Flat Tax on their constituents. I'd love to have the Campbell administration leasing its legislative buildings back from private owners.

Irony is a martyr who's afraid of being killed

Geez, what a whimp:

Mr Abu Aita’s lawyer, Hatem Abu Ahmad, said that he is preparing a legal action against Baron Cohen and Universal Studios alleging that the Martyrs’ Brigade reference could get his client in trouble with the Israelis and the homosexual association could get him killed by the Palestinians.

Think of the dead!

Forget the children. The dead have some serious problems, or at least, they do in California:

By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, via the Los Angeles Times

More bodies go unclaimed as families can't afford funeral costs

The poor economy is taking a toll even on the dead, with an increasing number of bodies in Los Angeles County going unclaimed by families who cannot afford to bury or cremate their loved ones.At the county coroner's office -- which handles homicides and other suspicious deaths -- 36% more cremations were done at taxpayers' expense in the last fiscal year over the previous year, from 525 to 712.

The county morgue, which is responsible for the indigent and others who go unclaimed, saw a 25% increase in cremations in the first half of this year over the same period a year ago, rising to 680 from 545.
The demands on the county crematorium have been so high that earlier this year, officials there stopped accepting bodies from the coroner. The coroner's office since has contracted with two private crematories for $135,000 to handle the overflow."It's a pretty dramatic increase," said Lt. David Smith, a coroner's investigator. "The families just tell us flat-out they don't have the money to do a funeral."

Read the rest here.

H/t to the Full Comment blog.

City vows Olympics bylaws won't restrict newspapers

By Bob Mackin, via The Hook:

VANCOUVER - Political protests and newspaper distribution will be allowed in bubble zones around 2010 Winter Olympics venues from Jan. 1 to March 31, Vancouver’s Olympic operations director Paul Henderson told city council on Thursday.
But city council refused requests by several citizens, including 24 hours’ general manager Philip Tan, to amend an omnibus bylaw package that aims to prevent marketing activities by companies that aren’t Games sponsors.
Tan sought an amendment to explicitly protect media publications from anti-advertising legislation that restricts printed matter from being distributed or displayed.
“I’m concerned the city might face sponsorship pressures (for enforcement),” 24 hours’ general manager Philip Tan told council.

Read the rest here.

Anglican priest disgraces authentic Christianity

By Dexter Van Zile, via the Jewish World Review:

Anglican Priest Naim Ateek is making the rounds in support of his most recent book, A Palestinian Christian Cry for Reconciliation (Orbis, 2008), in which he falsely accuses Israel of perpetrating a "slow and creeping genocide" against Palestinians — who have one of the fastest growing populations in the world.
Apparently, leveling false accusations at the Jewish people and their homeland is not enough to get one barred from polite society in 21st century America.
So much for history progressing in an upward spiral.

Read the rest here.

The BC New Democrats just don't quite make the cut

As Sean Holmann quite rightly points out:

I can just hear the Liberals quaking in the West Annex right now. "Oh no, the New Democrats are demanding answers...to questions!"
The Globe and Mail's Pat Brethour described that response as muted. I describe it as another example of New Democrat equivocation, proving once again this party, in the main, seems incapable of lighting its hair on fire - even when given kerosene and a blow torch.
The New Democrats simply don't seem to have what it takes to be British Columbia's opposition. And, if the party can't do that, it certainly doesn't have what it takes to be British Columbia's government.

Indeed. If you want to govern an entire province, you need to show that you've got the balls to pull it off. I mean, hell, look at Gordon Campbell. The guy's politics are atrocious and his party's mired in scandal, but you don't see him moping about, do you? No! He picks himself up, has a lollypop, and imposes a 12% Harmonized Sales Tax on his constituents.

That's politics you can believe in.

Kinda wish I lived in Halifax

Why, oh why, do I have to live in the land of pot and Anglicans? Don't get me wrong, B.C.'s nice, but I kind of wish I could be in Halifax right now:

The ECP CENTRE’s first Eastern Canada conference - in Halifax - is going to be an exciting event.
Canada’s pre-eminent Freedom Fighter Ezra Levant will be our feature speaker on Saturday.
You will also hear from two other champions of freedom: Connie Fournier of freedom blog, Free Dominion, and Scott Brockie, an entrepreneur who was dragged through Ontario’s human rights system by a homosexual activist, but who has lived to tell the story.
At this conference, you will learn about the ongoing assault today against our fundamental liberties in Canada. You will learn about the necessary link between our Judeo-Christian heritage and our tradition of liberty. You will learn about the link between love of child and a parent’s commitment to pick up his sword in this battle.
If you are a freedom fighter, this conference will encourage and strengthen you in this difficult battle. You will hear from motivating speakers and you will be able to network with other like-minded attendees.

Well, it's in September. I don't suppose anybody would be willing to pay my way in exchange for live-blogging of the event, huh?

Didn't think so.

What is the role of criticism in religion?

My bloggin' friend mbrandon8026 from the Freedom Through Truth blog had an interesting post up recently, on Jim Corcoran's complaint against several members of the Catholic Church before the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The complaint, and mbrandon's thoughts on the complaint ( which you can also read at your one-stop-shop for HRC coverage, The Lynch Mob ), are interesting enough, but I thought that he raised a very, very interesting point. Namely:

So, my answer to all the naysayers to what I am about to say is, if you are not Catholic, your opinion does not matter to me about the Church since you have not been there, and cannot understand, any more than I can understand your way of life, other than anecdotally. If you are a Catholic and want to be in disagreement with the Church teachings on something, and want to live out that disbelief as opposed to just explore your thoughts and feelings, then you are not really a Catholic and need to go someplace else. Being a Catholic is not for the faint of heart and it is not a smorgasbord. Sorry, but as Walter Cronkite said every evening at the end of his broadcast "and that's the way it is".

Personally, I think that I tend to agree. Someone who isn't part of a certain religion doesn't really have ground to stand on if they want to criticise the policies of that religion. Except, there has to be some way to criticise a religion without actually joining it, or otherwise, I couldn't criticise Scientology, and somebody like Justin Trottier couldn't criticise the Catholic Church, and somebody like Pamela Geller couldn't criticize Islam. There has to be a way to criticise a religion without being a part of that religion, while at the same time, there has to be an acknowledgement that a religon's in-house policies are its own.

Now, I think that the answer can be found in a religion's interaction with the outside world. For instance, if the activities of a religion infringe upon the rights of others - certain Islamic practices in the world today, for instance, or the litigiousness of Scientology ( which I'll call a religion for now, even though it's a border-line cult ) - then those others should be able to react. If a religion wants to interact with the outside world, then the outside world can interact with that religion.

I dunno - what do you think?

50 Books You Should Read Before Entering the Real World

Sent to me by Amber Johnson, via Job Profiles:

Books possess generations of wisdom and knowledge. From fictional characters struggling for growth in the face of adversity to career coaches giving advice, books can help you explore life's biggest questions. For young people getting ready to enter the real world for the first time, books can offer a welcome respite from uncertainty or fear. Here are the 50 books everyone should read before entering the real world.

Read it all here.

Atheist bus ads 'pathetic:' Philosopher

By Randy Boswell, via the Victoria Times Colonist:

Canada's most renowned philosopher has weighed in provocatively on the debate surrounding the "atheist bus" campaign, describing as "pathetic" the cross-Canada advertising effort to promote the idea that "there's probably no God."
In an interview published Monday by the British-based magazine Philosophy Now, McGill University professor Charles Taylor first labelled as "hilariously funny" the controversial bus-ad crusade, then compared the humanist groups waging the campaign to reactionary 19th-century bishops who got "very rattled and very angry" following the publication of Charles Darwin's landmark 1859 treatise about evolution, On the Origin of Species.
"Putting things on buses, as though that's going to make people somehow change their view about God, the universe, the meaning of life and so on," scoffed Taylor, a defender of religious faith and the recent winner of philosophy's two most prestigious international prizes following the 2007 publication of A Secular Age, his latest acclaimed critique of modern life.
"A bus slogan! It's not likely to trigger something very fundamental in anybody," Taylor told the magazine, the most widely read philosophy publication in the English language. "This new phenomena is puzzling — atheists that want to spread the 'gospel,' and are sometimes very angry."

Read the rest here.

Animal Farm - 2009

By Jim Q, via TheBurningPlatform.com:

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”
George Orwell – Animal Farm
The United States has gradually degenerated from a Republic based on individual liberties to a socialized oligarchy run by an exclusive few. The country was founded upon the platform of individual rights. We declared our independence from Great Britain because of excessive regulation and taxation. Americans fought for the right to live their lives free from the subjugation of an overbearing governmental body. The Founding Fathers declared our independence with these immortal words:

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Since the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the United States has gone from taking personal responsibility for our own lives to dependence on government to make all decisions in our lives. There are 306 million Americans and we have defaulted on our responsibility for governing this nation to 535 corrupt politicians, 10 “too big to fail” banks, a secretive Central Bank, 17,000 corporate lobbyists, and thousands of government bureaucrats. Essentially 306 million citizens are managed by a few thousand elitist rulers. George Orwell’s classic novel Animal Farm was inspired by the a scene he witnessed:

“I saw a little boy, perhaps ten years old, driving a huge carthorse along a narrow path, whipping it whenever it tried to turn. It struck me that if only such animals became aware of their strength we should have no power over them, and that men exploit animals in much the same way as the rich exploit the proletariat.”

Orwell wrote the novel during World War II and published it in 1945. It was a contemptuous indictment of Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union. He recognized that propaganda and abuse of language could smoothly control the opinions of enlightened intellectuals in democratic countries. He saw through the prism of Soviet propaganda to the true evil of Stalin and his KGB Dogs. Intellectuals in Great Britain’s Ministry of Information attempted to censor his right to publish the book because it would offend their supposed ally Joseph Stalin. He knew the truth, while intellectuals were horribly wrong. Stalin murdered 700,000 Russian citizens during the Great Purge of the 1930s.

Read the rest here.

Temporary jobs in other parts of country can be tricky at tax time

By Roger Haineault, via the New Brunswick Business Journal:

If nothing else, the Tax Court of Canada continues to provide clarity for people from these parts who find themselves working on the other side of the country.
Last week, a decision was handed down in which the appellant lost the moving expense claim he made on his 2006 income tax return when he went to work in Fort McMurray, Alta. The fact he made significant income over the next three years had no bearing.
A few years ago, I wrote a column about the Tax Court of Canada case Cavalier v. The Queen. Kenneth Cavalier felt he should be able to deduct his moving expenses.
In 1998, he made a claim after he accepted a seasonal position in Fort McMurray. He included the cost of his flight, meals and temporary accommodation.
He retained ownership interest in the home he shared with his wife, and allowed his mail to be sent to that address. He kept his old bank accounts and used an ATM while in Alberta. He did, however, redirect some mail that he was expecting during the four-month window.
The Canada Revenue Agency disallowed the claim and he appealed the decision to the Tax Court under a recourse called the Informal Procedure. Decisions made under this method aren't precedent setting. There's no set of requirements the government has to follow and the claim could still be disallowed if the government lost the case.

Read the rest here.

Apollo 11 re-visited

I'm linking to this at the wrong time, but one J. Habakuk Jephson ( I know it's a pseudonym, but what's the point of going to the trouble of making one if nobody refers to you by it? ) has taken the time to compile exhaustive reports of: the population statistics, politics, government, protests, and war, entertainment and sports statistics and information, general information, and other miscellaneous pieces of news from the days of July 16th-24th, 1969, the days surrounding the Apollo 11 expedition. For the most part, it's focused on Canada in general, and Alberta, and Edmonton, Alberta in particular.

You can read it all at The Days of Apollo 11: July 16-24, 1969. Personally I think it's pretty cool that someone has taken the time to provide such an extensive and detailed glimpse into those days: almost like a tapestry of information. Speaking as someone who wasn't around in '69, it sounds like interesting times.

Also, reading this blog alerted me to the existence of Blind Faith, yet another one of Eric Clapton's many musical projects. So that was cool.

China steps back from one child policy

By Jane Macartney, via the Times Online:

China is taking the first step towards ending its one-child policy with the authorities in Shanghai encouraging thousands of couples to have a second baby.
For the first time in 30 years, officials in the country’s economic capital have urged eligible parents to plan for a second child. The move was prompted by the growing demographic imbalance in the city and fears that the younger generation will not be able to support the ageing population. The one-child system, where all pregnancies are monitored and sometimes terminated by order, was enforced to control a population that is the largest in the world at more than 1.3 billion.
“We advocate eligible couples to have two kids because it can help to reduce the proportion of the ageing people and alleviate a workforce shortage in the future,” said Xie Linli, the director of the Shanghai Population and Family Planning Commission.
The one couple, one child family-planning policy is less rigorous than its name suggests. Urban parents are permitted to have two children if the husband and wife were only children. In rural areas, couples are allowed a second child if their first is a girl.

“Shanghai’s over-60 population already exceeds three million, or 21.6 per cent of registered residents,” Zhang Meixin, a spokesman for the Shanghai commission, said. “That is already near the average figure of developed countries and is still rising quickly.”

Read the rest here.

My sympathies for the family...

"The woman and the victim both live in east London’s Asian community, and their relationship is believed to have angered her family by bringing dishonour upon them."

My sympathies. Lord knows the only appropriate response was this:

A LONDON woman has been warned that she is at risk of being murdered after a man had acid poured down his throat by a gang in an apparent "honour crime".
The young married Muslim woman is alleged to have had an affair with the victim, a 24-year-old Danish Asian. He was stabbed twice in the back and beaten with bricks, before acid was poured all over him and forced down his throat.

All you need is love, after all.

The dark side gets toasted

By Gerry Forbes, via the Calgary Sun:

Attention Star Wars fans -- Luke Skywalker can now join the dark side without incurring any wrath from the Jedi knights.
Lucasfilms will be unveiling the Darth Vader toaster at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego, so we go from "Luke, join me on the dark side" to "Luke, join me for some peanut butter and jam on toast."
The toaster comes in the shape of Vader's helmet and will toast your bread to your favourite degree of burned.
But wait, there's more.
Not only do you get toast, you get Darth Vader's image burned into your bread slices, so you can figuratively chew him out for all his evil deeds.
This little gem comes in at about US$55 and if you're not heading to San Diego for the convention, it's available on line at www.starswars.com.
May the toast be with you.

Read the rest here.

I totally need one of those!

"The police claim that the mere act of defending female pants-wearing also violates General Discipline."

Ah Sudan. The enlightenment capital of the world, man.

A liar sues over being called a liar - lying ensues

You just can't make this stuff up, sometimes. I mean, we all know that Khurram Awan is a liar - he's testified to lying in court - but suing for being called on it in an attempt to come across as truthful - that's just dishonest.

Alright, technically, Khurram is suing over being called a perjurer, which I don't believe he was actually called - so, um...I guess he's lied about that too. Here's Ezra, the recipient of the lawsuit notice, with some of the details:

Khurrum Awan, the youth president of the Jew-hating Canadian Islamic Congress, has threatened me with a lawsuit. You can see the rambling, typo-ridden libel notice here. (Seriously, Khurrum: spell check. It’s free.)
Awan is an experienced practitioner in the soft jihad of “lawfare”, the abusive practice where lawsuits are filed against critics of radical Islam just to harass them and silence them, Erin Brockovich-style. He’s done it before: Awan fronted the CIC’s three identical “human rights” complaints against Maclean’s magazine for publishing an excerpt from Mark Steyn’s best-selling book America Alone. Awan wasn’t the actual complainant in those cases – the CIC’s president, Mohamed Elmasry, was. But Awan was the public spokesman for those nuisance suits.

[...]

Let’s walk through Awan’s libel notice page by page.
The first thing to note is that the letter is signed by Brian Shiller – who just happens to be the same lawyer representing Richard Warman, the serial complainant and litigant-of-fortune behind nearly 90% of all section 13 censorship prosecutions in Canada. Yes, that’s the same Richard Warman whose conduct was denounced as “disappointing” and “disturbing” by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, because Warman published anti-Semitic bigotry on the Internet. Warman joined a neo-Nazi organization, and published on their website that Jewish politicians were “scum”.
Classy.
Warman is suing me, the National Post and bloggers Kathy Shaidle, Kate McMillan and Connie and Mark Fournier.
Come to think of it, if Warman and Awan are ever waiting in Shiller’s office at the same time, I think they could pass the time quite pleasantly with a discussion about those zhoos, don’t you?

The zhoos: scum or media manipulators? Discuss.

And, of course, Shiller’s other client is Warren Kinsella, who has also filed a nuisance suit against me. One of Kinsella’s complaints is that I repeated his own boast that he had given help and advice to… Khurrum Awan!
In other words, these guys aren’t even hiding the fact that they’re part of a concerted effort to censor me, Mark Steyn and other critics of radical Islam and Canada’s abusive human rights commissions.

[...]

Right on the first page of the libel notice is a pretty serious charge: Awan says I accuse him of committing perjury. That’s a grave thing to say about anyone, especially a law student or lawyer (I’m not sure which one Awan is now).
But there’s one problem with that: I have never accused him of perjury. The opposite, actually – I have, several times, noted that he was a serial liar to the public and through the media, but when he finally took an oath and testified in the B.C. show trial of Mark Steyn, Awan reverted to the truth. I specifically said he did not commit perjury. Here’s one example of what I wrote, live from the court house last year:
Julian Porter himself was at the meeting where Khurrum Awan and his junior Al Sharptons tried to shake down Ken Whyte and Maclean’s for cash and a cover story.
Porter asked Awan point blank if the CIC’s proposed “counter-article” was to be “mutually acceptable” to Whyte or of the CIC’s own choosing.
After obfuscating for a few rounds, Awan acknowledged that he never in fact offered a “mutually acceptable” article -- that was simply an after-the-fact lie, a little bit of taqqiya that Awan et al. has told the press.
Awan admitted that he made no such offer of a mutually acceptable author. It was to be the CIC’s own choice.
Awan and the other sock puppets had been lying for a year to the general public – pretending that they had made a “reasonable” offer to Maclean’s (as if there’s any reasonable way to demand a five-page rebuttal from a national magazine.) But under oath, Awan admitted that his public comments were false – he didn’t suggest that the rebuttal be written by an author mutually agreeable to him and Maclean’s. He demanded that Maclean’s submit to his choice.
I didn’t accuse Awan of perjury. I did the opposite – I recognized that when he was finally under oath, he finally told the truth for the first time.

[...]

Awan says that calling him a damn fool is defamatory. Well, unlike Awan’s favourite forums – human rights commissions – in real courts, truth is a defence to defamation. Whether or not Awan is a damn fool (or damned fool, to be more grammatically correct) isn’t really a matter of fact, though – it’s probably a matter of opinion. And, yes, it is my opinion that Awan is a damned fool.
If Awan asks a court to have a hearing into whether or not he’s a damned fool, I think he pretty much answers that question himself, don’t you think?

[...]

If he’s serious, Awan will serve me with a Statement of Claim within a few weeks. That will formally start the process, and I will have to reply with a Statement of Defence. That’s where the costs come in.
My lawyers are getting pretty good at cranking out defences to these nuisance suits, but it still takes time to go through them, line by line, to make sure they’re properly rebutted. I estimate that the cost of filing a defence will be $6,000. After that, it depends on Awan’s conduct – for example, will he try to avoid disclosing relevant documents? Depending on what procedure he chooses, we could have examinations for discovery – depositions, as they’re called in the U.S. Those could cost $10,000. It’s too premature to do the math beyond that.
Frankly, I think that Awan’s case is as weak as the other nuisance suits that have been flung at me. But that’s not the point – the point is that they all cost money and hassle, which is why they’re being filed against me in the first place. They’re trying to demoralize me – to stop me from fighting for freedom of speech and due process. Awan in particular is mad that his great PR campaign has backfired, and that while he is now viewed as a thin-skinned censor, he only made Mark Steyn more famous and better loved. And Awan is angry that I’ve undermined his favourite weapon of lawfare: HRCs. He loves them – he abuses them – and he wants to continue. That’s tougher now, given his public humiliation at the hands of a hundred bloggers (including me).

Go to Ezra's blog to read everything. More at Blazing Cat Fur. You can donate to help defray some of Ezra's legal costs, via PayPal, here. You can read Khurram Awan's rather badly-written lawsuit notice here.

Also, I do believe that I've found Khurram's theme song, to be played at all times in his presence.

The Weekly Mark Madness

Links Steynian:

The Discerning Texan

Kathy Shaidle

Sublime Oblivion

Sharp Right Turn

Directed-By

The Western Experience

Inoperable Terran

The Virginian

Power Line

The Conservative Wahoo

The Buffalog

The Aiken Standard

Blogs For Victory

Dprogram.net

Colonel Robert Neville

Illusory Tenant

To God and my country

Target Rich Environment

Real Clear Politics

Covenant Zone

Commonsense & Wonder

FunnyTV

Cromleys News

Snaggletoothie Of The Loyal Opposition

Right Wing News

Garth's Posterous

KitmanTV

This Too Shall Pass

Muslims Against Sharia

Verging On Random

Fathers4Fairness

Blazing Cat Fur

Dr. Roy's Thoughts

GoSanAngelo.com

Matthew Yglesias

The Washington Post, with more here.

The NonSequitur

The Washington Monthly

Free Dominion

Token Conservative

The Other McCain

Deltoid

Media Matters For America

Because No One Asked

Deborah Gyapong

TheoPalinism

Atlas Shrugs

Thwap's Schoolyard

Content Steynian:

In Macleans: One flap of a Butterfly’s wings . . .

In NRO's The Corner:

The simulation of assimilation

Watery graves

The Recession Is Beginning to Bite

Jail-order brides

No future

The Canadianization of American liberty

An Offer You Can't Refuse

L'état, C'est Moi

Queer Tee for the Straight Jew

On stage and screen: Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire

On Britain and Europe: Hindu Kushy

On the Hugh Hewitt show: Mark Steyn on Barbara Boxer's progressive apartheid, Joe Biden's progressive hole-digging, & Americans' progressing dislike for nationalized health care

Mark's song of the week: Tenderly

Mark's request of the week: The Big Day Is Almost Here!

In the OC Register: Warm-mongers prefer you in poverty

One year ago: Cherchez La Femme

Topical take: The Media In Mourning

In Macleans: Why do you leave the one you love?

On stage and screen: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Mark's song of the ( different ) week: Don't Explain

In the OC Register: A symbol of the Old West meets the gelded age

On Britain and Europe: The New Right, Er, Left

On culture: Jacksonian America

On the Hugh Hewitt show: Mark Steyn deconstructs President Obama's dissembling on health insurance

Mark's request of the ( different ) week: The Waiting Game

On Canada and the Commonwealth: Thank You And Goodnight

In Mark's blog:

All too plausible

Al that Jaz!

Name that Jew!

Director's cut

Pour la liberté!

Plus, more links Steynian, Levantian, and Freespeechian over at Free Canuckistan.

A sad farewell to the Taco Bell chihuahua

I remember those Taco Bell commercials. They were awesome - almost better than Taco Bell food itself.

By Robert Jablon, The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - Gidget the Chihuahua, the bug-eyed, big-eared star of 1990s Taco Bell commercials who was a diva on and off the screen, has died. She was 15.
Gidget suffered a massive stroke late Tuesday night at her trainer's home in Santa Clarita and had to be euthanized, said Karin McElhatton, owner of Studio Animal Services in Castaic, which owned the dog.

Sigh...

National copyright talks kick off in Vancouver

By Dawn Paley, via The Hook:

VANCOUVER - After a frustrated attempt to pass new copyright legislation last year, the Conservatives have started a new round of consultations to guide the creation of a new copyright law.
Heritage Minister James Moore and Minister of Industry Tony Clement kicked off the process yesterday morning, when they met with fourteen stakeholders and industry representatives for a closed round table event in Vancouver.
The consultations are the government's response to demands by artists, activists, and concerned people across Canada who turned out in droves to oppose Bill C-61 last year.
"We're very happy that it's happening," said Geoffrey Glass, who participated in yesterday's round table as a member of the group Vancouver Fair Copyright.
"But the process is new to us, we only heard about it last week, so we don't know in detail what's going to happen," Glass told the Vancouver Media Co-op by phone.
Last minute notice about the copyright consultations wasn't the only thing that irked watchdogs.
"There has been some criticism over the past week about perceived 'A' lists for those invited to roundtables and those excluded," wrote Michael Geist, the University of Ottawa's internet law specialist, in a blog post yesterday.
"My view is that the only list that really matters is the list of people who take the time to make a public submission," he added.
Glass agrees with Professor Geist, calling the participation of Canadians in the online submission process "essential."
Copyright law touches on various facets of people's daily lives. The law proposal which was shelved last year could have fined people for changing cellphone companies, jailbreaking iphones, and playing foreign DVDs in Canada.

Read the rest here. More at Michael Geist's blog, and don't forget to check out Michael Geist's new website focusing just on this issue: Speak Out On Copyright

How to get rich as a copywriter

Or, the Killer and the Poet.

Review: The Adventures Of Johnny Bunko

Check it out, via The Simple Dollar.

Newspapers targetted by Olympic bylaw

By Bob Mackin, via The Hook:

VANCOUVER - From New Year's Day until the day before April Fool's Day, it could be harder to find a copy of 24 hours in Vancouver.
That's because a proposed bylaw going to city council today would ban advertising matter - including newspapers distributed by hand - "on, in, or above any zone street, venue corridor, pedestrian corridor or Olympic lane" from Jan. 1 to March 31.
"Our mandate is to deliver the news to the community and advertising is only one component of it," said 24 hours general manager Philip Tan. "Any bylaw which infringes on our ability to deliver that information goes against the public interest."

Read the rest here.

Well, this is kind of a cool idea

Via CTV.ca:

Superman meets Jabbar the Powerful in new comic series
Updated Sun. Jul. 19 2009 12:38 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Superman and Wonder Woman will soon be fighting injustice alongside the likes of Jabbar the Powerful and Noora the Light in a new comic series, which combines the superhero powers of the Justice League of America with The 99, a group of Islamic crime fighters.
The 99 was created in 2003 by psychologist Naif Al-Mutawa during what he calls a time of heightened mistrust of Islam in the post-9-11 world.
The comic series made its debut in 2006 to widespread acclaim for the 99 heroes, who are based on the 99 attributes of Allah in the Qur'an, such as generosity, wisdom and mercy.
"Comic books have historically been used to go after injustices that exist in the world," Al-Mutawa told CTV's Canada AM this week.
"I don't think it's a coincidence that Superman and Batman were created by Jewish teenagers and young adults during the height of anti-Semitism and that The 99 was created at the height of Islamophobia. A lot of times, culture speaks for the impossible situations that people exist in, and I think The 99's creation in '03 coming out of 9-11 is not a coincidence."
According to Al-Mutawa, while the characters are based on the Islamic faith, they do not openly practice their religion in the storylines, much like superheroes Spiderman and Batman, who themselves evoke Judeo-Christian traditions.

Read the rest here.

I certainly wish Mr. Naif Al-Mutawa well with his project. I hope it does well, and accomplishes the purpose that he has in mind, and makes him well-off to boot. You might scoff, but let me ask you this: surely it's better to have the debate about Islam in the pages of a comic book than before the courts, or in the streets? And besides, some of the greatest writing has come out of political or social motives ( in comic books as well - think Watchmen, or V For Vendetta ).

Besides, I think it's an accomplishment to get a comic book series published at all; something worthy of congratulations. And so, cheers to Naif Al-Mutawa!

Games 'free speech areas' won't be fenced, security officials say

By Jeff Lee, via the Victoria Times Colonist:

VANCOUVER — Olympic security experts plan to build unfenced "free speech areas" at every competition venue and near the main media centre in Vancouver.
Until Friday, the Vancouver 2010 Integrated Security Unit would only say that it was considering building some "optional safe assembly areas" for protesters at unspecified locations.
But the security unit now confirms that zones will be set up within close proximity of all of the sports venues as well as a number of other locations, and that none will be fenced or involve scanners or security screens. Vancouver Organizing Committee documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun also indicate that planning for some of the zones is far more advanced than previously known.
"There is certainly not going to be ... 'protest pens,'" said security unit spokeswoman Cpl. Jen Allan. "We're not going to be erecting 20-foot-high fences and saying okay, if you want to protest there's your area.
"The design of the proposed safe assembly areas has not yet been determined, but I can confirm that it is not our intention to fence these areas."
Allan said the police won't try to hide protesters by putting the zones in out-of-the-way places.
"There would really be no purpose of creating safe assembly areas if no one were to use them," Allan said. "So, if we don't make them visible and close to the venue and they are not going to meet the needs of the people who will use them, then it is all for naught."
She also repeated the comments of RCMP Assistant Commissioner Bud Mercer that protesters who don't like the assembly areas don't have to use them.

Read the rest here.

When truth is no defence

It's a rather grim piece of what I like to call surreality when you can't quote religious text anymore. Ah for the good old days, when you could quote the Koran in the morning, the Bible in the afternoon, take a couple of hours off for supper, and quote the Tao Te Ching at nights.

But those days are long past, I'm afraid:

By James Cohen, via the International Free Press Society

The article below is verbatim from Gates of Vienna:
An article today on ORF.at reports that a man was convicted of “belittling religious teachings” for what is essentially no more than quoting or summarizing Islamic scriptures.
Our Austrian correspondent ESW summarizes the case, based on the ORF report:
This occurred in a local court, under Austrian law (not EU law). A 43-year-old man was accused of belittling religious teachings and received a suspended sentence of €300. “Suspended” means that he does not have to pay the fine if he does not repeat the offense.
The defendant — who is a teacher and may lose his job — received the sentence because he wrote online under a pseudonym that “the Quran is a book of lies” and “the Muslims are the enemies of the Christians, and they (the Muslims) killed 200 Jews single-handedly.”
He added that he wanted to show and explain that the teachings of this religious group have never been scrutinized since its legal recognition by the Austrian state in 1912.
His expressed view of Islam was, however, vehemently disapproving. Here’s a direct translation of a sample of what he wrote online:
- – - – - – - – -
Islam was and always has been a “sect” for idiots. There is only one solution: Islam must no longer be legally recognized as a religious group. This damned Islam with its godawful double standards must be prohibited. Pedophiles and killers must be brought to justice. To all supporters of Islam (I say): Read this book of lies, the Quran, with all its contradictions. It is definitely not a direct transcription of the Holy Book. Some suras were eaten by Mohammad’s pets. If you glorify Mohammed so much, why don’t you all f**k camels like he did? Or aren’t you doing that already?
The defendant sat in the courtroom wearing a shirt with “Austria” written in large letters. He held a German-language copy of the Quran in his hands and quoted from it.
“I am not a Nazi,” he said. “I am a patriot.”
Incitement could not be proven. [Until the next time — ESW]
This is additional evidence — as if we needed it — that free speech does not exist in Austria, and that the country is rapidly being officially and legally Islamized.
The information the man cited can be sourced directly from the Koran. It doesn’t belittle religious teachings. It is the religious teachings.
It appears, however, that in Austria, just as in the UK, the truth is no longer a valid defense.
So now it’s official: Islam is “belittled” by accurate reporting on its core doctrines as laid out explicitly in the Koran.
The imams can stand up in the mosques on Fridays and declaim the same information, and it’s no problem. But don’t you dare to do it, or you may find yourself at the tender mercies of Austrian “justice”.

Read it here.

Alright, so this fellow was doing a bit more than merely quoting from the Koran. He was denouncing it, denouncing the religion of Islam, and denouncing the practitioners of Islam.

But so what? What poor, sickly religion cannot stand up to such things? What pathetic, whining, puling little group of worshippers goes running to the courts when somebody denounces them and their practices? Why not respond? Why not denounce the denouncer in turn? Take to the mean streets of public opinion? Write a rebuttal; write several rebuttals; distribute them within your church; online; in the streets?

Why go to the courts? What are you afraid of? Surely you are not that incapable of defending your beliefs? Or perhaps you are, in which case, perhaps it's time that you gave some serious thought to why you're practicing that religion in the first place.

Words are the most flimsy things on the planet. They depend entirely on meaning, on context, to even exist - distinctly from the other noises that we produce, anyway. But they represent something far more powerful: an idea. You can seek to criminalise the words without being able to stamp out the idea; if you show yourself incapable of responding to either or both, then you are in for some tough times. And if you show yourself so intellectually lazy, then the doubts will spread, and soon it won't just be a 43-year-old school-teacher denouncing you - it'll be his students, and their parents, and anybody with the common sense to see the ridiculousness of your position, and the intellectual laziness with which you will defend that which it is your prerogative to defend in the first place.

And as for the courts which ruled in his favor, let me express no small amount of disgust. They have managed not only to pander to a religion, they have also managed to further the mandate of that religion, and its intellectually lazy followers. In that respect, the courts have failed just as much as the followers in maintaining a respect for words and debate and thought itself. These courts have succeeded in prosecuting a dogma, and doing it successfully too, and neither of which is anything to be proud of whatsoever. The one (s) who ruled against this fellow should be ashamed.

Libel and such

Jay Currie has some interesting things to say on libel law and libel reform. Check it out, eh?

Don't let the facts stop you

The BC Human Rights Tribunal continues its long line of intelligent decisions:

By Charlie Smith, via The Georgia Straight

Hotel worker in 100 Mile House wins $5,547.60 human-rights award

[...]

Mahowich sought $15,964.56 for a loss of 36 weeks wages. Marion ruled that she didn't take steps to mitigate her loss, and there was no evidence that she sought other work in the meantime.

Marion also stated in her decision that accepted the testimony of one witness, who claimed that Mahowich told her that she intended to "take it to the max"--in terms of seeking damages--rather than going to work.
"In my view, Ms. Mahowich exaggerated the impact of the discriminatory conduct on her," Marion wrote.

In her decision, Marion awarded $3,547.60 in lost wages for the period from February to June, and another $2,000 for injury to her dignity, feelings, and self-respect

Read the whole thing here.

So, let me get this straight. You acknowledge that the complainant is probably using the system to get some easy cash at the expense of her employer, and yet, despite this, you decide to go along with her jury-rigging of the system?

Well, that's the natural response. You see, most delusional people would have just thrown out the case, but the truly dedicated and reasonable individual stays the course despite any mere and petty facts that may be involved in the proceedings.

A new seven-letter word

If you want to spit an insult at someone the next time you're in a hospital, trying yelling the words, preferably in the same sentence: 'private' and 'health' and 'care'. Inevitably, someone will start crying, a wolf will howl in the distance, and every time you say it, God will kill a puppy.

Ok, maybe I exaggerate, just slightly, but take a look at this story and see what you think:

Via CTV

Private physician clinics spread across Alberta

The Canadian Press
CALGARY -- Less than one year after a private medical clinic opened in Calgary to angry protests, similar "members only" facilities are spreading across the province.
Critics say they're taking physicians away from the public system, making it even harder for those who can't afford thousands of dollars a year in membership fees to find a family doctor. But those running the clinics say they enable doctors to give their patients the care they deserve while operating fully within Canada's medicare laws.
"It's obviously extra billing and queue jumping," says David Eggen, executive director of Friends of Medicare. "If this goes on unregulated, it'll spread like wildfire and we can see it, even in a recession, starting to expand here in Alberta."
Last September, protesters gathered as the Copeman Clinic opened in Calgary, saying they couldn't afford up to $3,900 a year in fees.
Several other clinics have since opened or are in the works, including Provital Health and Wellness, which is to open next month in Calgary. Former patients of the family doctors who will work at that clinic received a letter asking them to join. The letter suggests that "with a lower patient-to-doctor ratio our team is capable of spending the time to provide you with better care and concern." Attached is a fee schedule that puts cost for the first year at $3,500 and subsequent years at $3,000.
Copeman, which has several locations in British Columbia, has also said it will open an Edmonton clinic within months, says Eggen. Its website promises a location in Toronto in 2009, with other provinces to follow.
Many people have concerns about the spread of these clinics, says Irfan Dhalla, a Toronto physician with Canadian Doctors for Medicare.
"First and foremost, charging patients fees for access to medically necessary services undermines the key principles of medicare," he says. "And if patients have to pay a fee to gain access to insured health services, then that's illegal."
It's already hard to find a family physician in Canada, he says, and doctors at these clinics will see fewer patients in a day.
"By moving towards this model, it creates a situation where it's even more difficult for people who are looking for family doctors to find them."
An audit by the B.C. Medical Services Commission into the Copeman Health Centre cleared it of any allegations that its membership fees violate the Canada Health Act. Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert has also said it appears the clinics fall within acceptable legal guidelines.
Both Eggen and Dhalla say it's hard to track clinics that charge membership fees, since they don't have to register with the government and can quietly collect fees on the side. A report released last fall by the lobby group the Canadian Health Coalition estimated there were 16 "boutique physician clinics" across the country, although the number has almost certainly risen since then.
Gerard Boychuk, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo who wrote a recent report about Alberta and the Canada Health Act, says it would be difficult to prove that the clinics violate of the act. The part of the law which refers to user fees is very specific, he says.
Alberta was penalized in the 1990s for charging the public system for individual, medically necessary procedures and then charging people fees on top of that. For the membership fee to fall under that umbrella, someone would have to prove that they refused to pay the membership fee and were therefore refused medically necessary treatment.
"It can't be hypothetical, you'd have to have an actual patient," says Boychuk.
Still, the health act has traditionally been a political tool, he says. If private clinics grow dramatically in numbers and people start noticing an effect, the resulting political pressure on provincial and federal governments will likely have an impact.
"That probably matters more than the letter of the Canada Health Act," Boychuk adds.
Eggen says his group will keep watching the clinics and will push the provincial government to take a hard look at whether they're really helping public health care.
"The jury is still totally out on this - it's a matter of whether the government is willing to pursue it or not."

Read it here.

Notice in that second-to-last sentence "at whether they're really helping public health care". Notice that. Public health care. Not the patients. Not the sick, or the terminally ill, or those who are desperately in need of care or medication. Public health care.

That pretty much sums it all up right there, doesn't it?

Yes, but who will pay for it?

I've long been a fan of Corner Gas. I thought it was a brilliant show, and I was somewhat disheartened when it decided to pull a Seinfeld and end its very successful run on a high note. But this story from CTV kind of bothers me:

Saskatchewan holds talks on 'Corner Gas' site

The Canadian Press
REGINA -- The Saskatchewan government is wading into the discussion over the future of the set of the hit TV show "Corner Gas."
Tourism Minister Dustin Duncan says a meeting is to be held next Tuesday to talk about the potential development of the site in Rouleau, Sask. -- the town that stood in for the fictional community of Dog River.
Rouleau officials say the exterior set for the show's filling station is falling into disrepair since production ended last fall and tourists are disgusted.
But the show's producers say the filling station was designed as a set, not as a tourist destination, and it would be expensive to renovate.
Duncan, who visited the "Corner Gas" set as a tourist, says there's a lot of interest in the site and pride in the show.
The minister says it's early, but he hopes a compromise can be reached that would satisfy the community, the production company and Tourism Saskatchewan.

Read it here.

It's not that I don't think that the set should be turned into a tourist destination; in fact, I think that's a great idea. If I'm ever out to that corner of Saskatchewan, I might even try and make it down there. But surely you would think that if the tourists are 'getting disgusted' with the state of disrepair of the set, then some enterprising soul would swoop in, renovate despite the high cost, and rake in the dough when the tourists come flocking in? Why must this be a provincially subsidized project? It's a disheartening form of fatalism, really - to note something's disrepair, throw one's hands in the air, and remark at the cost of rebuilding the thing.

My fandom for the show perhaps only amplifies this pet peeve; the starkness of one's beliefs about the separation between Set and State really comes to the forefront when it's a Set that you love that's being merged with the State.

Good for India

They've taken one more step forward for tolerance. Real tolerance, not the touchy-feely kind which seems to transform itself into rather bizarre legislation:

By Praful Bidwai, via Mainstream Weekly

Landmark Judgment on Gay Rights: Litmus Test for Tolerance

The Delhi High Court judgment in the Naz Foundation case is a landmark verdict which decriminalises homosexuality and strikes a blow in favour of personal freedom on the solid foundations of inclusiveness and respect for diversity. It deserves to be welcomed by all those who value constitutional morality and the principles of personal privacy and human dignity. It “reads down” Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code—which treats “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” as a punishable offence—by confining its application to non-consensual penile non-vaginal intercourse and paedophilia.
One doesn’t have to be even remotely inclined to a particular sexual orientation or a belief system other than tolerance to appreciate the scope and logic of this judgment by Justices A.P. Shah and S. Muralidhar. It conceptualises freedom expansively within an uncompromisingly modernist perspective and offers a social vision that genuinely respects difference and diversity and does not discriminate against any citizen on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth (Article 15 of the Constitution).
The verdict doesn’t merely uphold the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. It enriches our understanding of discrimination, prejudice and social exclusion, and imparts new meanings to the concepts of inclusiveness, liberty and human dignity. It speaks to all citizens. It concerns all of us. That’s why we must all welcome it.
It’s dismaying therefore that relatively few social and political organisations have extended support to the judgment and committed themselves to amending Section 377 of the IPC. Religious groupings across the spectrum have expectedly opposed it. Less expectedly, no political party, barring the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Nationalist Congress, has welcomed it, and that too with caution. The Congress is badly divided on the issue. The Hindu Right fiercely opposes the verdict.

Read the rest here.

The gay penguin who was actually bi

Seriously:

Via Yahoo News

San Francisco's gay penguin has a change of heart

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - After six years together, the relationship between a pair of gay male penguins at San Francisco zoo is apparently over, with Harry leaving Pepper for another penguin -- Linda.
The Los Angeles Times reported Friday that the relationship between Harry and Pepper, who lived side-by-side, protecting eggs abandoned by other penguins, came to a shocking end when Harry moved into a neighboring nest with recently-widowed Linda.
The development has sparked a variety of reactions in the blogosphere, where Linda has been called a "home wrecker" who "lives for her own happiness, no matter who gets hurt."
Harrison Edell, a curator of birds at the zoo, had a more pragmatic explanation, noting that Linda's recently-deceased partner was a leader of sorts among the small zoo penguin community, commanding not one but two nests.
"For penguins, real estate means a lot," Edell told the Los Angeles Times, so "as far as penguins go, she was a pretty attractive prospect."

Read the rest here.

So, that's that, then. I wish our bisexual penguin friend well in his current ventures.

Blazing Cat Fur: Walter Cronkite is dead

Blazing Cat Fur: Walter Cronkite is dead

What I'm reading: Confessions Of A Crap Artist, by Philip K. Dick

I've said before that I've really become a fan of Philip K. Dick in a reverse fashion - reading his speeches and interviews and things before ever really getting into his work proper. Well, Confessions Of A Crap Artist was that introduction; the first book by Philip K. Dick that I've ever read. And it was excellent.

First, a brief synopsis:

Confessions of a Crap Artist is one of Philip K. Dick's weirdest and most accomplished novels. Jack Isidore is a crap artist -- a collector of crackpot ideas (among other things, he believes that the earth is hallow and that sunlight has weight) and worthless objects, a man so grossly unequipped for real life that his sister and brother-in-law feel compelled to rescue him from it. But seen through Jack's murderously innocent gaze, Charlie and Juddy Hume prove to be just as sealed off from reality, in thrall to obsessions that are slightly more acceptable than Jack's, but a great deal uglier.

Confessions was one of PKD's 'literary' novels, as opposed to his science fiction works, but really, I think that PKD's reach more than extends to this second field - indeed, the field that he tried to break into for practically his whole career. His dialogue, his handling of the characters, his plot line, the characters themselves, it's all great. It's arresting. It keeps the reader interested in the story - or at least, I know I was. It's easy to read, it goes by quickly, and it stays with the reader as a book having been worth reading. It is a true literary novel, from a truly good writer.

Of course, all of this is spoken personally. You, the other, may have a different reaction. Personally, I thought it was a very good book. Personally, I found the character of Judy Hume to be rather hateful; her husband Charlie to be rather pitiable, but with enough of his own flaws to not be pitied much beyond the initial reaction; Nathan Anteil, the man with whom Judy has an affair is, again, almost pitiable, but with his faults, and with a rather unlikeable and fatalistic view of the world, of his life, his new relationship; her brother, Jack, the crap artist, is genuinely bizarre, brushing insane, but at the end of the book, after he realizes that the world is not going to come to an end on April 23rd as previously thought, he probably has one of the most sane realizations of any of the characters within the book - namely, he may be nuts, but they're all nuts too.

In short, Confessions is a damned good read. Philip K. Dick, often poked and prodded into the science fiction niche, and respectable enough as that certainly is, truly deserves recognition for this work. That's all I have to say.

Confessions Of A Crap Artist. Check it out.

This Week's Mark Madness

Links Steynian:

Marc Lepine

Jay Currie

Kathy Shaidle

Winds of Jihad, with more here, and here.

Closet Conservative

Jihad Watch

Australian Climate Madness

The American Jingoist

Evil Dead

Filt <3

Forbes.com

Columbia Conservative Examiner

Threedonia.com, with more here.

Harrison's Home

Howard McEwen, CFA

TheTrumpet.com

Our Children's Children's Children

J. Miller Rampant!

Frank Pastore Show Run Sheets

Canadian Cynic

The American Conservative

This Chick's Perspective...

Liberalguy

The Tiger In DC

Commonsense & Wonder

Scaramouche

Five Feet Of Fury , with more here.

Small Dead Animals

Wintery Knight Blog

Girl on the Right

Creme De La Conservative

Content Steynian:

In NRO's The Corner:

The Canadianization of American liberty

An Offer You Can't Refuse

L'état, C'est Moi

Wishing will make it so

Queer Tee For The Straight Jew

Hindu Kushy

Nothing to worry about

Huddle Up a Little Closer

Gaia's Messiah

On Britain and Europe: The New Right, Er, Left

On stage and screen: Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire

In Macleans: Why do you leave the one you love?

Five years ago: The Tearjerker

On America: The Big Screen

In the National Review and the Philadelphia Bulletin: The Ecopalypse, 96 Months Away?

On culture: Huddle Up A Little Closer

Mark's song of the week: Tenderly

Guest-hosting the Rush Limbaugh program: July 8th and 9th

Mark's request of the week: What Rocks Is Capitalism

On stage and screen: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

On the Hugh Hewitt show: Mark Steyn on Barbara Boxer's progressive apartheid, Joe Biden's progressive hole-digging, & Americans' progressing dislike for nationalized health care

Mark's request of the ( different ) week: The Big Day Is Almost Here!

In Mark's blog:

Al that Jaz!

Name that Jew!

Director's cut

Pour la liberté!

The collected writings of Salman Hossain

Plus, more links Steynian, Levantian, and Freespeechian over at Free Canuckistan.

Government of Canada moves to monitor Internet users

By Jesse Kline, via the Western Standard:

the spring, the Government of Canada introduced two pieces of legislation that would greatly expand the power of the state to monitor its citizens online activity. The legislation, known as the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century (IP21C) Act, would force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to install costly surveillance systems on their networks and give police wide ranging new powers that do away with judicial oversight.
According to University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist, the legislation would create additional requirements for ISPs and expand police powers. These ISP requirements can be broken down into two components. First, ISPs will be required to install costly surveillance equipment on their networks. Part of the cost will fall to taxpayers while the remainder will be carried by the companies themselves. Some smaller ISPs will be exempt from this requirement for a period of three years, creating an unfair burden on the larger, more successful companies. Second, the legislation would require that all ISPs give personal information to the government, including the names of their customers, as well as their IP, e-mail, and mailing addresses—on demand and without any judicial oversight.
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Police will also gain expanded powers under this legislation. First, they will be able to obtain information about Internet-based messaging, including tracking what sites people are visiting and who they are communicating with. This information will be subject to a judicial order. Second, police will be able to order ISPs to preserve data on their customers. Third, police will be able to obtain a warrant to remotely activate tracking devices in technologies such as cellular telephones. Fourth, the legislation also deals with computer viruses and makes it easier for the government to coordinate its efforts with international governments.
There are numerous problems with the proposed legislation that should be alarming to freedom loving Canadians. It forces private business to not only be complicit in the government's attempt to spy on its citizens, it also forces them to shoulder much of the financial responsibility for the new policy. As such, some ISPs may be forced out of business. In addition, the legislation gives law enforcement officials unprecedented access to private communications and forces ISPs to preserve private data and disclose subscribers identities. "This is now a formal way in which the government will determine who you're in contact with, how often and for what purpose. If identified that someone or some area you're in contact with as being a danger, you're then connected to that," said UBC professor and civil libertarian Richard Rosenberg in an interview with Vancouver's News1130. Moreover, the legislation does away with the principles of judicial review, probable cause, and our constitutional right "to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure."

Read the rest here.

Researchers translate the secret language of cats

Via the Victoria Times Colonist:

LONDON - Cats coax their owners into giving them what they want with a special purr that blends their normal soft, low sound with a high-pitched element that is hard to ignore, British researchers said Tuesday.
The high-frequency part is similar to a cry or a meow, and cats incorporate this into their normal, contended purr to exploit the nurturing instincts of humans for their own needs — usually to get fed, according to scientists.
Lead author Dr Karen McComb of Sussex University in southern England said she initiated the study after being repeatedly woken up in the mornings by her own cat, Pepo.
"I wondered why this purring sounded so annoying and was so difficult to ignore. Talking with other cat owners, I found that some of them — including co-author Anna Taylor — also had cats who showed similar behaviour," she said.

Read the rest here.

Well, that's kind of cool.

A rather misleading use of the words 'human rights'

I sympathise with the plight of working among dock-workers, I really do. Seriously, I'm sure that some of them aren't the most sensitive bunch; it can't be easy to be a woman, for instance, working down there. But this story in the Vancouver Sun raised my eyebrows a little bit (emphasis mine ):

Who can change the longshoremen's behaviour?

By Rick Oustin, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER — The transient nature of work at the Vancouver Ports makes it almost impossible to stamp out harassment in the workplace, says a senior industry executive.
Unlike most jobsites, where managers and employees work side by side, the port is a sprawling conglomerate of workplaces with no single group overseeing operations.
One day a longshore worker could be working for Crescent Co., the next day for Empire Stevedoring and the next day International PCDC Canada.
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union dispatches longshore workers each morning. But they may be sent to work for any of more than 66 companies that are members of the BC Marine Employers Association, or BCMEA.
Andy Smith, president and CEO of the BCMEA, said employers try to deal with human rights abuses.

[...]

An employee might spend just one shift on a site, so there is no opportunity for employers to uncover and deal with human-rights abuses, Smith said.
However, Gordie Westrand, president of International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 500, said the union will do its part.
"If we're aware of it, if a harasser has the ability to move from dock to dock, they'll be met at each dock by the union," Westrand said. "We aren't here to stop the actions of a few people on one dock. We are determined to stop the poor behaviour on all docks."

[...]

As well, if a worker is suspended or fired for human-rights abuses, under the union contract he can attend the dispatch hall the next day and be assigned to a new employer. With more than 60 employers to choose from, workers have no incentive to change objectionable behaviour, Smith said.
"The change has to occur in the heads of the ILWU members and casuals," he said. "That doesn't excuse the BCMEA, the employers or the ILWU," all of whom must work together to stamp out workplace abuses.
The ports are in the jurisdiction of the Canadian Human Rights Commission, which has the power to investigate harassment issues, but doesn't, Smith added. "Where are they? They don't seem to care."

Read the rest here.


I've touched on this sort of thing before. Namely: using comparisons that, honestly, pervert the meaning of what they're supposed to convey. A human rights abuse isn't being harassed by your co-worker at the docks - although it's certainly harassment, or even discrimination. A human rights abuse is when people are trapped in a burning building for voting the wrong way, or when women aren't allowed to feel the light of the sun upon their faces in a country over-run with religious dogmatism. That's a human rights abuse. Even a violation of our freedom to speech or press or religion could be considered a human rights abuse, I suppose - although I personally would probably tend to think of that in terms of civil liberties.

I think one the greatest dis-services that we can do to a cause is to de-legitimize it through comparing it to our own, comparatively minor struggles, such as comparing the plight of the Vancouver-area dockworker with the plight of someone genuinely striving for their life and freedom in a corner of the world not paid nearly enough attention to.

My latest in the Citizen

Here it is, via the Cowichan Valley Citizen ( although really, the link is the Canada.com site ):

Stay off education high horse

My school is better than your school.
And although, technically, I don't even have a school (what with being home-schooled and all), who is to say that I can't make that statement? Or perhaps a better question to ask is which, between the Frances Kelsey model and the Cowichan Secondary model, is the better of the two? A more contentious, divisive, and partisan issue apparently could not be found -- nothing so goading as somebody writing in the paper about educational models, I suppose. And who would have ever guessed that high school could have an element of drama about it?
Personally, I think that we seem to be confusing the means with the end; the educational institution with the education itself.
Who cares if someone goes to a private school, a religious school, a public school, or a home school, as long as the schooling itself actually occurs? If it works for you, why would you care if it works for anybody else? Isn't the result of an education -- however you may define the word education -- much more important than the method of that education?
I don't want to put down anybody who's gotten involved in this debate so far -- after all, it's always a good thing when education becomes a matter for debate. I just think that we should be careful that we don't descend into a form of class snobbery (pun always intended); the sort of "I'm a homeschooler, you're a public schooler, he's a private schooler" school of thought, with classes of people separated not by wealth, but by book learnins and grade performance and "socialization" skills.
It's a good thing that people have taken the time and devoted the energy to compare and contrast educational methods, and I'm not endorsing some great rising up of the high school proletariat or anything, but I just think that we need to watch ourselves, because it's far too easy to turn into a class snob in these sorts of situations.

Read the rest here.