Oh, what a difference a single year can make!
Can it be only a year ago that Jason Kenney [1], Member of Parliament for Calgary-Southeast and Canada's diligent minister of immigration, was loudly barring [2] the nation's gates to British Member of Parliament George Galloway [3], whom he proclaimed to be a grave threat to our national security?
Galloway, after all, had been unstinting in his criticism of the ill-starred and destructive U.S.-U.K. misadventure in Iraq, and, worse, had dared to attempt to bring food, fuel and water to the besieged people of Gaza. Our immigration minister was particularly incensed that Galloway had spoken out in support of the elected government of Gaza, which Kenney deemed to be tantamount to supporting terrorists.
Well, all Canadians rested easier, no doubt, knowing that the articulate Respect MP for Bethnal Green and Bow (who as far an anyone knows has no criminal record and had spoken in Canada without incident the year before) would not perturb our placid commonweal with his dangerous notions. No kerfuffles would be caused in Canada by angry protesters opposed to Galloway’s controversial views, thank you very much!
But where was our vigilant immigration minister when word leaked out precisely a year later about the imminent arrival of self-described "mean-spirited, bigoted conservative" Ann Coulter [4], the notorious American advocate of religious persecution, not to mention murderous violence against "liberals," abortion providers, New York Times reporters and myriad others she finds disagreeable?
Indeed, where were the grim and unrelenting officers of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, who only a year ago so sternly declared Galloway's inadmissible to our country "on security grounds" as required by the Immigration Act?
Coulter, after all, has been quite clear about her views, which it would be reasonable to infer might incite some Canadians to noisy if law-abiding disagreement -- as indeed seems to have occurred last night in Ottawa [5].
Was it not she, after all, who famously said [6] of the Muslim world that “we should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity”? Or that the United States should be “engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East and sending liberals to Guantanamo”? Or of American liberals, that “we need to execute people like (so-called “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh) in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too”?
Or -- significantly, speaking of our national security, as we were -- that citizens of our Dominion had "better hope the United States does not roll over one night and crush them. They are lucky we allow them to exist on the same continent."
Astonishingly, however, Kenney and Citizenship and Immigration have been nowhere to be found. Not so much as a cross word has been spoken of Coulter and the danger she presents to the realm!
One can only wonder why all of Canadian officialdom has been suddenly struck dumb, and Coulter left to roam the land unmolested, stirring up disorder by uncharacteristically rude Canadians. With Coulter having been given the bum's rush from the University of Ottawa, what horrors can be next? Will the Honourable Member for Calgary-Southeast fiddle while the University of Calgary, the intellectual heart of the Reform Party [7], burns?
Or could it be that Kenney was nowhere to be found because he agrees with Coulter’s views? Surely not!
All of Canada is wondering: Where is Jason Kenney when you really need him?
Links:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Kenney
[2] http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/20/george-galloway-banned-canada
[3] http://www.georgegalloway.com/
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Coulter
[5] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ann-coulters-speech-in-ottawa-cancelled/article1509793/
[6] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ann_Coulter
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary_School
[8] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2010/03/coulter-kerfuffle-wheres-jason-kenney-when-you-really-need-him#comment-1126923
[9] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2010/03/coulter-kerfuffle-wheres-jason-kenney-when-you-really-need-him#comment-1127014
[10] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2010/03/coulter-kerfuffle-wheres-jason-kenney-when-you-really-need-him#comment-1127044
[11] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2010/03/coulter-kerfuffle-wheres-jason-kenney-when-you-really-need-him#comment-1127240
[12] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2010/03/coulter-kerfuffle-wheres-jason-kenney-when-you-really-need-him#comment-1127271
[13] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2010/03/coulter-kerfuffle-wheres-jason-kenney-when-you-really-need-him#comment-1127452
[14] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2010/03/coulter-kerfuffle-wheres-jason-kenney-when-you-really-need-him#comment-1129099
[15] http://rabble.ca/print/blogs/bloggers/djclimenhaga/2010/03/coulter-kerfuffle-wheres-jason-kenney-when-you-really-need-him#comment-1167728
[16] http://rabble.ca/user
[17] http://rabble.ca/user/register
"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to [Islam]."
This is pretty much the gist of what the Muslim Brotherhood--the group behind the Salafi Muslim Students Associations--likes to say, when the infidels aren't listening. Do a bit of reasearch and you'll find some other unpleasant quotes about Jews, Baha'is, Ismaili Muslims, homosexuals and other people the Salafis hate.
Coulter has said some dumb things (and resembles an anorexic, wizened Sarah Jessica Parker), but she's right about two things: Canada's smothering political correctness and the threat posed by radical (Salafi/Wahhabi) Islam--now the majority Muslim sect in the world.
Do you recall the Aqsa Parvez tragedy? Canadian 'feminists' tripped over themselves trying to deny that Muslim honour killings were, in fact, a reality. Somehow, the awfull, bag-over-head mysogeny of the hijab, niqab and burqa are held up as sacrosanct expressions of women's empowerment as reproductive rights. When confronted with the reality that (Salafi) Muslim men are, in fact, wife-beating (the Qur'an recommends it) mysogenistic pigs, multiculti types equivocate about 'glass ceilings' and stuff. None of these people will discuss Islam's homophobia (or pederasty), preferring to talk about Harper and gay marriage, or something. And the Canadian HRCs really are a joke, especially Syed Soharwardy (a nasty antisemite) and the Cartoon Jihad. Along with the Ottawa Police fearing for Coulter's safety, a low point for free expression in Canada came with the death threats against NDP MPP Cheri di Novo, for speaking out against the MSA-sponsored 'Israel Apartheid Week' Jew-bashing hate-fest.
Every would-be and successful airline terrorist since 9/11 has had the following in common: Muslim male, under 40, Arab, South Asian, or African ancestry, Muslim names (except for 'Richard Reid'). Many had travelled to Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, or other known al Qaeda hotspots. No elderly Chinese ladies, little Christian boys, or twenty-something girls with 'the Bahamas' stamped on their passports. Given limited resources, personnel and time, does it make sense to frisk, search and interrogate these people? Public safety does justify 'discrimination'. Canadian Blood Services redlists homosexuals, young males are risk-rated for auto insurance, and blind people aren't allowed to drive. 'Racial' (really, ethno-religious, gender and age) profiling works and can save lives. If Muslims can't abide by this, they're welcome to find alternate means of travel (i.e., the 'camel' and 'carpet' comments)...or stay put. This reminds me of a prof I had (Indian, very swarthy, heavy accent), who went to Northern Ireland, from Eire: the guards waved him right through, while the white, Christian men with Celtic names got grilled and searched. Things may be different in the future, but right now it's Muslim terrorists that represent the threat.
However, there are things the Ann Coulter's and Mark Steyn's won't admit. Conservative hero Ronnie 'Mr Mommy Poop Pants' Reagan helped fund and arm the Mujahedin, who fought Commie tyranny such as bans on burqas and pederasty, as well as schooling for girls. Eventually, things came to a head, when two Mujahedin warlords fought over a preteen boy (I'm really not making this up) and Mullah Omar and the Taliban took over. We all know what happened next. Yet, if you flip through '80s copies of the National Review and other right-wing rags, you'll marvel at the philo-Islamist propaganda. Rush 'Vicodin' Limbaugh also supported that Dubai World Ports deal, pushed by Dubya and opposed by Hillary Clinton (Bill lobbied for it), and Barack Obama). Fox News' commentators attack Geert Wilders as a 'racist'...no doubt, due to the fact that a Saudi owns part of the network. And it was Bush's hire-a-Muslim affirmative action 'diversity' policies that lead to the meritless promotion of Nidal 'S.O.A.' Hasan to Major. The right-wingers have to admit that their dhimmi hands stink like camel dung as badly as the lefties.
ACSial - It is one thing to point out oppressive realities within communities, and it is another to then claim that 1 billion people who identify as Muslim (the majority of whom are NOT Wahhabis) are responsible for terrorism or complicit in it. You bring up Asqa Pervez as an example of Islamic oppression? IF that family was Christian, I doubt their religous affiliation would even be brought up as a reason for the abuse. Really, her tragic death had nothing to do with the religous following of her family, but it had to do with domestic and child abuse - something that many women in Canada sadly experience. Do you see all Catholics painted as pedophiles as people seek justice from sexual abuse? No. Just like you don't see the same outrage towards Jewish women or Mennonite women wearing their traditional dress as Muslim women face.
Sadly the racial profiling of Muslims is limited if it is to save lives, as you claim. Because not only are the wrong people targetted (ie: not all South Asians or Arabs are Muslims, but are lumped into the category no matter what their faith), but Islam is too large and too diverse to be able to contain with stereotypes. Although the ilk of Ann Coulter love to try. But finally, a religous identity is not akin to a physical barrier like blindness!If that were the case, can you please advocate for Catholics to not be around children in order to keep them safe?
You seem to be okay with people judged, tried and convicted on the basis of their last name and nothing more. It has been done before and sadly, it does little to keep people safe. Are you supportive of war time measures to intern Japanese citizens because Japan was our enemy so many decades ago? Do you feel that made Canada safer?
I am at least thankful you mentioned the Western involvement in arming once irrelevant and small fanatical Islamic groups. And while many people have written extensively on how to deal with terrorism, two things remain important to me. The social structures of health, education and home will fight terrorism because many Islamic groups provide that in various countries. But secondly, if we are going to talk about violence and innocence, it can not be stated enough that the role of state governments in the current wars and drone attacks is a far more effective form of terrorism that fuels the anger that you feel threatens so many innocent lives.
And for the record, i find Canadian Blood Services discrimination of gay men gross and disgusting as well.
I was hoping that cockroach was stopping in Montreal....I've got a dozen eggs rotting and putrifying with her name on each one. She's one of these arrogant,self-righteous,distorted conservative lunatics a la Glenn Beck and Lush Rimbaugh who looks at liberal political parties who are all wimpy push overs and mistakingly believes that that reflects liberals in general...That liberals are all tree hugging politically correct pacifists.
I would be a a wake up call to Ms Coulter...I'm a liberal that will push back twice as hard when I'm pushed...I'm a liberal who isn't ashamed of my views...They are just as pointed as the views of neocons and just like neocons I'm unapologetically more than happy to share them.
I'd love Ms Coulter and the rest of the minnions from the right to try and kill me...Please try..I'd love an excuse to play football with their heads.
My question is how do these people look in the mirror at themselves.These people who equate social justice,health care,curing the sick,helping the poor,compassion,empathy,diversity,personal freedom,science and progression with Nazi Germany...What in the hell kind of world do these fanatics want to live in? These cretins all hide behind their bible and they are the most evil and despicable pieces of shit on the planet...Fuckin'cockroaches...vermin...And it's amazing that since Obama became president,we all find out that Hitler was a hippie....Before these mental patients cry out Hitler and label everything that goes against conservatism as Nazism,they should really pick up a book and read some of Hitler's speeches...He SEDUCED the German people with socialism and nationalism and conditioned them with relentless constant propaganda...In most of Hitler's speeches,he spoke about his hate of communism and always contradicted socialism and championed a Ónly the strong survive' society...So you know what Hitler actually was? A NEOCON!
Finally,to all the Canadians paying money to listen to these extremist lunatics like Bush,Palin and Coulter...PLEASE do yourselves and Canada a HUGE service and apply for a work visa,find a job in the US,move somewhere where you'd feel at home like Waco,TX,get a green card and officially become what you envy so much....And please don't come back.
Shmeen,
The fact remains that Salafi Islam, riding on Saudi petrodollar funding, is taking over the 'ummah'. You see this with the MSAs, which host talks from religious scholars linked to jihadism. You see this with Imams like Aly Hindy, Mohammed Elmasry and Syed Soharwardy, with their open contempt for Canadian values (the Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant HRC complaints) and outright seditious libel (a Criminal Code offense that goes unenforced by PC police and prosecutors). And you see this with the radicalisation of Muslim expat communities, like Tower Hamlets in London (you can find a torrent of the 'Dispatches' doc, if you haven't seen it). CAIR and its Canadian sister have been exposed as a jihadist front by the FBI. Radical Salafis have also availed themselves of prison outreach programmes, especially in the U.S., where they're recruiting thugs for jihad. In Turkey, the Fetullah Gulen movement is consolidating its takeover of the judiciary, police and media, with only the Kemalist military--now under attack by trumped-up 'coup' charges--standing in the way. (Gulen is being harboured by the U.S., BTW.) Most of the Western 'reverts' to Islam convert under Salafi auspices. Salafi Islam represents a dire threat to public safety--on the air, or on the ground.
This is not the Islam of sects like the Alevis, Ismailis, or other ultra-liberal sects, but a dangerous, violent, mysogenistic, homophobic, antisemitic, religiously-bigoted seditious movement, practising a very orthopractic form of Islam, rolled up with icky, pederastic, gynophobic Bedouin and Pashtun culture elements. Yes, there are paedophile priests...but nothing like 'Man Love Thursdays'. Yes, Hutterite women wear schmatas on their heads...but not the walking body-bag of the burqa. And there is nothing to compare with honour killings in Western societies. And, unlike Japanese North Americans (none of whom committed a single act of sedition), Canadian, American and British authorities have given openly-seditious Muslims lots of slack. The worst example was Nidal Hasan, promoted without merit because the Army brass wanted 'diversity', even though he literally told colleagues that 'infidels' should all be killed.
To return to my Northern Ireland example, I'd expect to be grilled by the guards at the Northern Ireland checkpoint...especially, given the Celtic cross I usually wear. At this point in time, though, the threat in the air is from Muslim male suicide hijackers, and it doesn't make sense to cavity-check a young East Asian woman in skimpy clothing and an old, white couple with round-trip tickets to Florida just to keep up a PC facade of 'fairness'. Even Massad Ayoob, a famous American cop and police instructor, says he's "okay" with this--Ayoob also travels with guns and firerms literature in his luggage... This isn't 'trying and convicting', but giving some people more scrutiny before boarding. And the ban on homosexual blood donations is sensible given that, A. gay men, particularilly in large urban centres, have appallingly-high rates of HIV infection (~12% in Toronto) and, B. the screening for HIV won't catch the presence of the virus in early stages of the infection.
To paraphrase Team America, the U.S. played the part of 'pussy' after the 9/11 attacks. This was the mass murder of 3,000, yet the Americans launched a feeble retaliation, avoiding especially the principals behind the attacks (Saudi Salafis). NATO has been a joke, with countries like Germany and Spain playing Sitzkrieg, instead of honouring their treaty obligations. It's also pretty rich for the Taliban and their apologists to scream "genocide!" after a drone mistakenly gets a farmhouse, after the mass murders of 9/11 and 7/7.
The author apparently does not realize that Galloway was not allowed entry into Canada because of support for a group designated as a terror group, not for what he has said. It was stupid not to let Galloway in, but it is not the same issue as preventing his entry to prevent free speech.
The author says that if Galloway were to speak in Canada, "No kerfuffles would be caused in Canada by angry protesters opposed to Galloway's controversial views," and that is exactly the point the other side would agree on. The people who oppose Galloway are not the ones who are using violence and intimidation to prevent free speech, but the people who oppose Coulter or as it appears, any ideas that do not fit in with ideology that the radical Left espouses, will resort to that type of behaviour. That behaviour may achieve a cancelled speech once in a while, but it discredits leftists everywhere and is one of the reasons why the left is getting more marginalized in the Canadian political arena. Unless you count Ignatieff as a leftist.
Interesting comments ACSial. Lots to chew on there.
The post above by ACSial is offensive in several places.
Someone have a good look at the body of writing this person has offered up here and you will see it is not an agenda of inquiry but one of hate, sexism and bigotry.
get used to it
or
get loud & rational, Canada.
'Fox North' is going to transform our nation into a pack of barking, yapping mindless neo-conservatives, narcissistic Ayn Rand 'Libertarians' & neo-liberals.... who will turn every nuanced statement or question into well-crafted, hate-filled 'sinister evidence' of liberal 'social pathology'
if we let it.
the best part is that we're not just encountering the conservatism of Canada, we're also impaired by a great portion of the media of North America which asserts that liberalism is synonymous with 'American Dream' or the 'American Way'...
even in their very best moments, with some of their most liberal public figures & academics, they're still disappointingly prone to belch, "America!" in their rhetoric with Tourettic frequency.
so in my dismaying experience with US liberals: they often only care about liberal issues for the World, until those issues brings them to any conflict against 'American Interests', at which point they revert to barking about 'those UnAmericans won't let us have what we want, & we're clearly superior... ! '
tragically, with the size of their media tonnage upon English-speaking entertainment, even Canadian liberals are hard-pressed to not presume that a 'natural state' from armed revolutionary democracy is whatever the USA advertises, rather than a non-violent, culturally organic, slowly evolving & transforming local solution for sovereign peoples.
when it comes to cultural propaganda, in many ways, even Canadian liberals are buying what the US mass media is selling as cultural superiority...
whatever we're told, the World won't become a better place because its composed of Good Americans, but because its composed of Good Global Citizens & Involved, Ethically-aware People.