Ezra Levant vs. Free Speech

As anyone following the "Ann Coulter in Canada" farce knows, her primary supporter in the Great White North is a conservative commentator named Ezra Levant. He's mostly known as an exile from the Conservative Party, as well as defending his "right" to reprint the inflammatory cartoons depicting Muhammed the Prophet as a terrorist.

When the provost of the University of Ottawa politely but firmly reminded Ann Coulter, that her usual hate rhetoric is illegal here, Levant was one of those accusing the provost of hate speech himself -- just because Coulter is a conservative -- and has filed a complaint to the Human Rights Commission, despite the fact that the hates its very existence. Sensing hypocrisy yet?

Anyway, a short time ago, an amateur stand-up comic in British Columbia was taken to that province's HRC, for yelling at a lesbian couple that was talking during his act (and if you didn't already guess, it's alleged that he used homophobic slurs). Levant, you guessed it, says that this isn't an issue, and the case has no merit.

So let's recap: it's okay to print sacrilegious and racist cartoons of Muslims (I know he says it's about free speech, but when he prints a cartoon depicting Moses or Jesus in the same light, then I'll buy that claim); it's okay to scream slurs at a lesbian couple in a public place; but God forbid that you remind a hatemonger, that we don't take kindly to her saying things like "we should kill all Muslim leaders and force the people to convert to Christianity", or "Canada's lucky we allow them to exist on our continent".

When this chucklehead comes to the HRC, defending America's answer to Osama bin Laden, I hope they throw him out on his ass.

Harper Must Go

The grassroots movements protesting Emperor Harper's attacks on Canadian democracy, are growing more and more all the time. I'm hoping to be involved in a rally in Hamilton in the next couple of weeks (will keep anyone interested from here posted on that).

Sure enough, there are still some Conservative trolls (and Members of Parliament) insisting that Harper is a great leader, that this is all perfectly normal, etc. I really wish the right-wing would stop pissing on the public and trying to tell us that it's raining -- it's not only unethical but it's just plain insulting to our intelligence.

They claim that suspending Parliament is a normal procedure -- if so, then why does it rarely happen, and is widely considered a bad thing whenever it does? Furthermore, why does Harper conspicuously only do this, when his ass has been put in a sling?

They claim Harper hasn't been accused of war crimes. Excuse me? His administration has been caught -- in writing -- knowing about the torture of war prisoners in Afghanistan (not all of them Taliban, I might add), and not only has have the Harperites done nothing to stop it, but they have consistently muzzled and vilified anyone who brings it up in public. They have also done everything in their power to obstruct an investigation into the matter (which, in any other world, would be a crime by itself).

Incidentally, one of the many things shut down, by proroguing Parliament, has been the investigation. For a party that claims to be innocent of wrong doing, they do a really bad job of not looking like they have something to hide.

They finally claim that there is no evidence of torture, and that anyone who says otherwise is against the Canadian troops (yet another example of modern McCarthyism and slander). Well, anyone who's paid any attention to this story at all, knows that there have MANY allegations, from sources including our on-the-frontlines diplomats, the Red Cross (who personally met with the Harper cabinet), and various soldiers (even if some top soldiers were apparently kept in the dark). I would therefore argue that anyone trying to get this issue resolved properly, is the real sort of patriot needed right now.

I can go on -- and intend to, later -- but suffice it to say that the Harper government and his lackies will stop at nothing to control Canada with an iron fist, and they clearly have no qualms about using Thought Police-style tactics to do it.

To anyone reading this, please do something about it. If you are Canadian, protest at your MP's offices, city halls, anywhere that can get attention (if you're on Facebook, look for the group "Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament").

If you're not Canadian, please re-post this anywhere you can. We must get the word out to as many people as possible -- at the very least, show the world that we aren't all like Harper.