In a thread from yesterday, commentor “Billy B. ByTown” has offered readers a series of astonishing confessions. One must admire him/her for one thing, and on a multitude of contradictory levels – how many people have the courage (even from behind the safety of a pseudonym) to openly declare their unqualified cowardice?
The problem, in my view and in reality, is that free speech does indeed provoke murder. As long as western society is under siege, I do not see what good it does for individuals to select themselves for a death lottery and even less to endanger others.
Interestingly enough, he doesn’t elaborate on “what good it does” for individuals to submit.
It’s a fitting preface for this David Warren column titled “Wages of retreat” . A brief exerpt;
Israel faces, as we in the West also face, an enemy who will not be reconciled. It makes no sense to offer concessions to such an enemy. The whole idea of �withdrawing behind more defensible borders� is built upon illusion. Either you carry the battle to the enemy, or the enemy carries the battle to you. It is the same story, finally, in Iraq and Afghanistan. We fight them there, or they fight us here. Israel is looking directly into that quandary. We still look on from far away.
Billy B. is still among the “far away”. But, thinking it over, his confession is a bit disingenuous – for he’s not really concerned that taking a stand on such issues from the relative safety of North America is likely to visit violence upon himself or others. What we are witnessing from Billy B. is just practice for the real thing.
I published the Jyllands-Posten cartoons on this site, and also host the full collection on another server, Tens of thousands viewed them, yet I recieved not so much as a single email of protest, much less threats. So, let’s not exaggerate the risk one takes in North America in pushing the Mohammed envelope – this isn’t Holland, after all.
We can only hope that “Billy B” and others of his kind can summon up the true courage it takes to remove their blinders and view the real world “wages of retreat”, both past and present. At the very least, they might drop the unsupportable and absurd argument that speech can kill, for (as I once reminded Warren Kinsella) – Harry Potter is not a documentary.
Perhaps it will assist them in rethinking this willing march towards submission before we are forced “look on it” from over our own back fences.
Billy B states in a followup post that “My original point was a simple one and I will state it again. I do not have the right to put others at risk.”
And he’s right about that – on the question of whether or not to concede our fundamental democratic freedoms to threats of violence, we do not have the right – we have the duty.
Don’t know about your right to free speech but mine is protected by what I am physically prepared to do to anyone who offers a physical threat to me in execising that right.
When it comes right down to it we are each responsible for backing up our own words and principles…this has not yet been surrendered to nanny state…or sundry despits and foamy mouthed fanatics.
Right on Kate.
Cowardice and leftist loathing of western democracy are likely the two factors that will bring us all down if they succeed in becoming the standard of our culture.
Isn’t it interesting, that saving seals, protesting everything from Walmart to Christianity are more important to the left, than standing up against a fanatical fourteen hundred year old cult that would take away everthing we have. And, which is spreading as we speak.
Mohammed kills 54 Mohammedans on Mohammed’s birthday.
Happy birthday, Mohammed. +
Pakistanis strike to protest suicide bombing
AFP on Yahoo ^ | 4/14/06 | AFP
Posted on 04/14/2006 12:23:38 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
KARACHI (AFP) – Commercial life ground to a halt in several Pakistani cities in a strike called by an Islamic party to protest this week’s suicide attack that killed its top leaders and some 50 others.
Army troops took up positions in Karachi, where a suicide bomber Tuesday blew himself up on the dais at a public rally commemorating the anniversary of the birth of Prophet Mohammed.
The bombing killed the entire leadership of Sunni Tehreek, a moderate Muslim group, sparking rioting in the volatile port city during which protestors burned shops, vehicles and public property.
The attack placed the government of President Pervez Musharraf under pressure over what Islamic parties called its failure to ensure security.
In addition to troops, police spread out in the port city of 15 million people, which has a history of political, sectarian and ethnic violence and is the country’s revenue engine.
Public transport was off the roads in Karachi and traffic was reduced.
Some 50,000 people flocked to the burials Thursday of the four slain leaders amid tight security.
Authorities have already closed educational institutions and also shut all gas stations in Karachi apparently for fear of a repetition of a burning of a petrol pump after Tuesday’s bombing by angry supporters of the party.
“There was a total shut down throughout Pakistan,” Sunni Tehreek spokesman Shahzad Munir told AFP.
He said a meeting of a coordination committee was in progress to decide the group’s next move after a deadline it had handed the authorities for arresting those behind the bombing expired.
Officials said the strike passed off peacefully.
Several other Sunni and Shiite religious groups also rallied to condemn Tuesday’s massacre. +
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1615170/posts
Caroline Glick: The Fateful Hour Has Arrived
After the September 11 attacks, George W. Bush was revered by Americans and lovers of liberty around the world. His soaring rhetoric and stated determination to fight for all that is good and sacred in this world won the hearts of millions and instilled in them the hope that the great battle for civilization had been joined by a force capable of defending it.
America is the greatest nation on Earth and it does have the ability to defend the world against regimes like Iran and its allies. It can prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. It can take those weapons out of North Korea�s hands. It can bring Damascus to its knees and force it to cough up Iraq�s arsenal of pathogens. And no, military might is not the only way for it to accomplish these tasks.
But America cannot, and it will not accomplish any of these goals if it continues to abide by strategies and frameworks that serve only to strengthen its enemies and permit its �allies� to behave perfidiously. It cannot and will not defend the world from evil, demonic regimes like Iran�s if it continues to allow the likes of the EU, Russia, Egypt and China to undercut its will at every turn.
This week Teheran threw down the gauntlet. The greatest battle of this war – the battle to prevent the world�s most dangerous regime from attaining the most dangerous weapons known to man – has begun. The moment has arrived for President George W. Bush to make clear if he is, in the final analysis, the leader of the free world or its undertaker. + via LGF
http://www.paulding.net/bin/url.cgi/13252.17
What is remarkable about the Billy-b’s ‘buzz’ perspective (BBB), is its isolationism and its refusal to acknowledge reality.
At bottom, yes, he/she is a coward. A physical, a moral, and intellectual coward. He not only won’t stand up for his freedoms, but, he asserts that ‘someone else’, the government, must do this for him. That’s the view of a child, a scared child.
But, it’s more than that. What puzzles me about his assertion, is that he KNOWS that freedom is right. It isn’t that he, himself, is an Islamic fundamentalist who rejects individualism, rejects freedom, rejects human rights. He’s aware of these human rights and values them. But – he won’t lift a finger or say a word, to preserve, protect, maintain them. Nothing.
His excuse is that his ‘elders’ (the gov’t, the academia etc) aren’t doing it for him; and, therefore, he won’t.
He won’t, because he says that he doesn’t want to be hurt or to have others hurt. What is remarkable about a BBB rejection of personal hurt, is its ‘Stuck in Stupid’ mindset. By not standing up for what is right – this perspective enables and permits a society that deeply wrongs and harms everyone. Therefore, if this perspective is all about ‘not hurting myself or my family’..then, this inaction will do precisely that. It will harm, deeply and irrecovably, everyone.
This BBB perspective assigns all causal power to Force rather than the Rule of Law. If someone says ‘I’ll beat you up if you print those cartoons’ – and you back down, then the Rule of Law which asserts freedom of speech has lost, and Pure Force has won.
Or, give me your new TV or I’ll burn down your house. Or….
Once we, as a society, reject the Rule of Law and accept rule by Force, then, whoever can bully, maim, lie, threaten…the most, will rule over everyone. We, by our refusal to fight for our freedoms, actually destroy them, ourselves.
maz2 – why should the defence of the Western world’s freedoms be only up to George Bush? Where’s the rest of the world? Or are we all Billy-B types?
Canada had abdicated any role in its self-defence. The state of disrepair of our military leaves us unable to do much at all. The PM is just at the beginning of a many year process.
Canada has been the Billy B type.
enough
Even good muslims live with risks under Islamic dictatorships, they can be persecuted or killed by the regime entirely by mistake and there’s not a damn thing their family’s can do about it.
Non-muslims fare even worse under Islamic rule, they can be killed with impunity.
So the apologists who are willing to live under the threats of muslims because they don’t want anyone to face any risks should think twice – they are at risk whether they like it or not, and only more so when they cower in the face of these risks because the threats will certainly become bolder, it’s a typical tactic of thugs. And the cult of Islam typifies thuggery, it’s the kind of respect they desire – respect out of fear. Works good too apparently.
ET, here are the youth of Nepal— far away—- willing to die/have died.
The warrior— Lion of Judah— Ariel Sharon is incapacitated in Israel. Israel is fighting its war with the USA as its ally.
Prime Minister Harper has visited the PPCLI in Alberta. He knows his first duty is to protect the security of Canada and its people— even sleeping Billy.
Prime Minister Harper has accepted the obligation and duty of putting people, i.e., soldiers at risk. The Prime Minister is our leader; a leader leads. Power to Prime Minister Harper.
Long live freedom and democracy in Nepal.
Stand with the youth of Nepal. +
Youth of Nepal are leading pro-democracy movement
San Francisco Chronicle – 8 hours ago
Kathmandu, Nepal — The Nepalese New Year dawns today, with Nepal’s young lashing furiously at the past. “We will not ask the king to leave the throne — we will go and take the throne and put it on display … + via googlenews
My point in the other thread was that we have already conceeded our fundamental democratic freedoms.
Right to property? We don’t have one, just ask a disabled vet.
Right to free speech? We don’t have one, just ask the Western Standard.
Right to self defense? Legally you are allowed to run and hide, so long as you don’t harm your assailant while running away.
So don’t wear your Mohamed t-shirt in Rexdale, baby. Big Brother will kick you again after the Faithfull are done with you.
The left is full of utopian dreamers. They are simply unrealistic, they can’t admit that the world has evil people in it. The left is paralysed like Mr Dithers was into cowardice because they�ve spent their whole lives preaching that everyone and every culture is EQUAL.
Simple examples are the Mayor of Toronto who won�t deal with home break-ins in the middle of Toronto where we once felt secure. I�ve just phoned my alarm system guy to get more gizmos. But Mayor Miller thinks it�s the perpetrators who are the victims. He blames the USA and builds some basketball courts for the victimized-perpetrators. He�s deluded. As a lefty he just can�t understand that this crime problem has to be confronted. He can�t confront because the special interest groups that voted him in are all deemed by the left to be �victims� and he can�t turn against his base. A population that won�t even get outraged by crime is too timid to tackle Islamofascism. So they blame the US for that too, because it�s safe to blame the US.
We have to work hard to get Jane Pitfield elected as Mayor of Toronto and John Tory as Premier. We have to take our country and cities back from the cowardly left. We must no longer be timid about being conservative, we need to get very aggressive before it�s too late. Meanwhile as David Warren says, have a Happy Easter or have a joyous Seder.
“Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life. Thus people haunted by the purposelessness of their lives try to find a new content not only by dedicating themselves to a holy cause but also by nursing a fanatical grievance. A mass movement offers them unlimited opportunities for both.”
Fits you fear junkies to a tee. When did it become safe be scared and to hate again? When harper was elected or that old bs “9/11 changed everything”?
Come out fighting keyboarders…it’s safe. I think the left (and most of the country) can show you that you can be pissed and not jacked on fear.
Try hope…not hunting and swarming your usual bogeymen with your computers.
What are you talking about, steve in bc?
1) Passionate hatred? Who is talking about hatred? The ability to differentiate between good and bad, is not an emotional but has to be a rational act.
2)Yes, your quote can describe fundamentalist masses – whether within the religious, political or other realm. It can describe Islamofascism, of course – which is generated within a population deprived of political and economic roles, who are uneducated, whose leaders manipulate them by propaganda, for various reasons…but..the examination of fundamentalism, is not, to my knowledge, the point of this post.
3)What’s your point about Harper? Again, your are completely wrong. Differentiation and evluation has nothing to do with hate; and everything to do with reason. Do you, when you become aware of someone killing their daughter because she smiled at a young man, do you judge this behaviour as amoral – out of your reason or out of ‘hate’? I hope it’s a rational decision!
4) 9/11 is bs????? How dare you denigrate the lives of those people. Who are you, to pontificate that those lives lost is ‘bs’/
And yes, 9/11 did ‘change everything’. Until that time, the US had refused to take Islamofascism seriously. After that time – it had no choice. Or, do you think they should have done nothing?
5)What do you mean by ‘try hope’. That’s what you typed on your keyboard. Hope. How does typing that on your keyboard manage to transform that word into a reality?
And, hope for what? Are you seriously suggesting that the answer to Islamofascism is hope? Hope for what? That they won’t hijack another plane? Plant another bomb in a subway? In a commuter train? In someone’s wedding reception? In a mosque? Hope will stop them in their tracks?
Wow. Please explain.
A racial bloodbath is coming to Europe, the birthplace of socialism/communism.
The so-called “tolerance” of the politically correct leftists is its polar opposite: racial hatred, intolerance, bloodbaths. +
More racism tolerence in France
Posted by mucho muchacho
On 04/14/2006 1:47:44 PM PDT � 6 replies � 277+ views
Breitbart ^ | Apr 14 3:45 PM US/Eastern | JEROME PUGMIRE
Warming up on the touchline, a black player jogs toward fans at the Parc des Princes soccer stadium. As he gets closer, a barrage of monkey chants explodes _ “OOOH! OOOH! OOOH!”_ and racist insults fill the air. Such scenes are increasingly common at the home stadium of Paris Saint-Germain, or PSG, one of France’s top soccer teams, and are finding expression in elite soccer leagues across Europe, raising fears that a global sport that calls itself “the Beautiful Game” is getting uglier. … “Understand one thing: PSG has no police authority or lawmaking power,” the club’s director of communications,… +
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1615206/posts
The new Neville’s would call Churchill a “fear junkie”.
Now that we have Harper as PM for hopefully a good 10 years, we need to get conservatives elected at the Provincial levels and at the municipal levels where they are 90% left. That’s the only way to overcome the 9/11 deniers.
The hypocrisy of the Left never fails to amaze me. Their belief is premised on the confiscation of other’s property, so they call the others “greedy”. And now, steve in bc, in speaking for the Left with its never-ending, ever-changing lists of grievances accuses the other side of having “fanatical grievances”.
“People haunted by purposelessness of their lives…(trying) to find a new content…by nursing a fanatical grievance” perfectly describes the Left, whose every idea is defined by passionate hatred — of the US, Jews, the Rich, the West, capitalism, corporations, etc., etc.
It is the Left, and not the right, who are completely and totally bound up in finger-pointing and grievance.
Yes, nomdenet, leftists (Neville Chamberlain) would call Churchill a “fear junkie’. But, he saw reality, he warned the world about Hitler’s agenda, while the leftists always deny reality. They view fundamentalist Islam, as a kind of ‘spice that enriches’ (Bruce Bawer, While Europe Slept, 28)instead of recognizing that it is a fascist regime.
Fascism is real; it isn’t a fiction created by the postmodern imagination. Islam is not simply a religion; it is a political and social infrastructure. Never ignore that.
The Iranian president is attempting to root this ideology and its political infrastructure within his control. He is using ‘mass mob control’ to achieve this. He wants to prevent democracy and the loss of political power – which is why Iran and the ME states are running the insurgency in Iraq. And, he wants to mobilize Muslims against the West and democracy. He’s trying to get the West to attack – that’s the agenda of his nuclear project. Get the West to attack, so that the Muslim people will be mobilized within a mob hysteria.
How will ‘hope’ deal with fascism?
Israel will be annihilated, vows Iran’s president
Posted by jmc1969
On 04/14/2006 4:52:24 PM PDT
Eaminer ^ | April 15 2006
Opening a conference supporting the Palestinians, Mr Ahmadinejad fired a series of verbal shots at Israel, saying it was a “permanent threat” to the Middle East that will “soon” be liberated and questioned the validity of the Nazi Holocaust against Jews in World War II. “Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation,” Mr Ahmadinejad said. “The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm,” he said. The US, France and Israel accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear programme to secretly build an atomic bomb. Iran denies this, saying its… +
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1615316/posts
Churchill’s Reply To The Nazis:
THE PATH TO VICTORY
�What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terrors, victory, however long and hard the road may be. For without victory, there is no survival.�
Sir Winston S. Churchill
http://myhero.com/myhero/hero.asp?hero=winstonchurchill
Is this the same ET I castigated in the Benedict 16 thread?
Here, I couldn’t agree with this person more.
Sign me: Confused.
It took Pearl Harbour to wake up the American Firsters to the Nazi threat.Most of what the left preaches today is just regugitated pap from cowards of the same era.
There are always people drawn to the symboyls of power. They become appologists out of fear & admiration of the very thing, that would kill them first. The latter is not hard to understand when you realise how much hatred, some bear towards Western Civilization & any idea of indvidual freedom, is an insult to there vain Aristocratic impulses. Or, as ET so elegantly put it.
“Once we, as a society, reject the Rule of Law and accept rule by Force, then, whoever can bully, maim, lie, threaten…the most, will rule over everyone.”
For any bully this sweet. Why bother with courts when the biggist & strongist dictate? When a group who act like barbarians start dictating what you can read , see, or hear. Than you cower in personel apprehension .Bluntly said, you have taken on the mind of the slave.
maz2–the youth in Nepal are not fighting for democracy–they are communists–my daughter spent a few months there two years ago–she met many of them–
I don’t know what the SF Chronicle is talking about–is this more spin?
Always stare a bully down, otherwise they’ll completely take over. Appeasement doesn’t work; a bully sees it only as weakness.
Doesn’t our National Anthem say “We stand on guard for thee”? Then, get your hands out of your pockets, stop leaning against the wall, and stand tall!
George:
This report says the youth are wanting to establish a republic; a democratic parliamentary republic.
The “communists” in Nepal call themselves “Maoists”, after you-know-who. The Maoists are hoping to subvert the movement & etablish a communist tyranny.
Note that this report comes from the New York Times!
Long live free and democratic Nepal. +
Extract from :
This Nepalese generation is something new
By Somini Sengupta The New York Times
SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 2006
KATMANDU, Nepal As the Nepalese New Year dawned, Nepal’s young were lashing furiously at the past.
“We will not ask the king to leave the throne – we will go and take the throne and put it on display,” Gagan Thapa, 29, the political symbol of young Nepal, told a crowd of thousands on the outskirts of the capital Thursday, New Year’s Eve in Nepal. The vast majority, dressed in baseball caps and jeans and looking well below the age of 30, roared in approval.
A brassy anti-monarchy call-and-response echoed through the warren of terraced lanes.
…
The young people who have been on the front lines of these protests are the children of parliamentary politics in Nepal. Democracy brought more than elections to this Himalayan kingdom. It ushered in new schools and colleges. Roads were built connecting the countryside to the capital. Feisty independent news media were born.
Many of those who joined the recent demonstrations, if they even had any memory of the pro-democracy movement of 1990, had never joined a political protest before.
Ila Sharma, 39, remembered watching her neighbors light torches and march in the street in the spring of 1990. Last Saturday, she joined a protest march. …
The irrepressible protests that have gripped Nepal over the last several days demanding the end of palace rule and the reinstatement of Parliament are in large measure a function of demography and its discontent.
Young Nepal has been at the forefront of the recent rambunctious, often violent, pro-democracy protests that have left four people dead.
Whether Nepal descends into further tumult or sees a new political age in the Nepalese calendar year of 2063 will depend on whether they can be appeased.
With his country’s crisis mounting by the day, King Gyanendra seemed to make the slightest of nods in that direction. In a brief statement read on state- owned television shortly before midnight, he called for general elections “with the active participation of all political parties committed to peace and democracy.”
But the king said nothing about when elections would be held…. +
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/14/news/nepal.php
Do you guys ever go outside where you could get hurt?
Relax…the West has an advantage in weapon systems. Used to be the godless Communists, your Dads were hiding from now, it’s you and the godless Islamists. No wonder Iran wants the Bomb…they’re surrounded by US bases and North Korea has it and no one fucks with them.
As the saying goes, if you argue with an idiot, they�ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Canada supports sanctions against Iran in nuclear program continues
Peter Morton and Steven Edwards, CanWest News Service; Financial Post
Published: Friday, April 14, 2006
WASHINGTON – Stephen Harper’s Conservative government has quickly aligned itself with the hard-line U.S. position on Iran’s controversial nuclear strategy by stating international sanctions may soon be necessary.
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay outlined for the first time Thursday the Harper government’s position on Iran’s refusal so far to comply with United Nations demands to abandon a nuclear fuel enrichment program.
“I believe Canada is in the position that we do support the international need to respond in one voice, the need to demonstrate to Iran that we very clearly want them to comply on pain of sanctions if sanctions are necessary,” MacKay said after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
But MacKay said he told Rice that sanctions should only come after a series of “progressive responses” in coming months if Iran refuses to comply.
“I don’t think we want to take any drastic steps that would destabilize the very volatile situation right now,” he said at a joint news conference at the State Department. “We do believe it is necessary to start weighing all of these options in very short order.”
Iran has until April 28 to comply with UN Security Council orders that it stop all enrichment programs.
But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday there would be no concessions in talks with Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who was in Tehran this week to try to convince the Iranian government to comply.
Iran would only promise that it would “accelerate” its efforts to ease international worries the country is trying to build a nuclear bomb.
The face-to-face between ElBaradei and Iran Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Larijani marked a key step in the Security Council’s countdown for Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program. +
http://www.paulding.net/bin/url.cgi/13253.4
I truly hope that the Billy Boy’s of this country are a small minority of the population. I can hardly believe his mentality. Since when has playing ostrich ever helped the cause? Since when has standing up for what you believe in, become ” the wrong thing to do?”
The Billy Boy’s in our nation must never ever have any positions of power. It is people like him who could bring this country to it’s knees. He is exactly the type of person that Osama and his followers think all Western society is made up of. They think they can destroy us by making us making us feel unsafe, afraid to say or do what we believe in. They think that a few acts of terrorism will make us all afraid to come out in direct daylight, in case our shadows attack us. They think we are all just like Billy Boy…. that is… they think we are wimps.
The time has come for us to take back our freedoms of all kinds. Billy boy, you can go hide under a blanket in your basement if you wish. We wouldn’t want you to break any fingernails.
A lot of big talk on this thread – most of it bullshit methinks. Very easy to berate Billy B. for “lack of courage” but as I read his original post, he didn’t say that he would be personally afraid to stand up for his rights. He simply made the very practical assertion that he didn’t think he had the right to endanger others through personal heroics.
Join the real world boys and girls. This isn’t an academic discussion. We’re talking about very nasty people here. This isn’t, as somebody said, Holland, but it “isn’t Kansas” either.
Would I be personally afraid to take a stand? Probably not – I’ve been in some pretty dicey situations with unpleasant folks in my younger days and walked away in one piece. Do I believe that I have some Godlike prerogative to endanger others – either my associates or people I might not even know? Hell no.
If you big talkers want to do something to prevent terrorism, put the heat on your elected representatives to beef up internal security, plug the gaps in our porous borders and either deport or intern those who have been identified as dangerous by CSIS but continue to wander freely around the country.
I have more respect for terrorists willing to die for their misbegotten cause than for people who mock a fellow citizen who doesn’t feel entitled to put others at risk.
So, what do you guys & gals thinks of Hamas’s latest offer? To recognize Israel in return for a return to the 1969 borders?
Every other Arab nation also agreed long ago to a peace treaty along those terms….
Isn’t it possible that the majority are sincere, and that a peace treaty long those lines might lead to genuie cooperation among the west and middle east to eradicate extremism?
Best,
T.
so do you respect terrorists that blow up afghan schoolchildren too, zog ? just curious.
Billy B. isn’t a coward (or, at least he’s not demonstrating that in this blog’s comments). He’s actually being very clever. What he is doing is prepping his battle area.
You see, he’s now granted himself the right to tell you to shut up when you speak your own mind (whoever you might be) – and he can justify telling you to shut up by vague hints that you might be putting others at risk by speaking out.
It’s a backhanded way to claim the moral high ground when endeavoring to suppress free speech.
Of course, such reasoning deliberately ignores (and it has to) one of the actors in these sorts of transactions. It’s not simply between the free-speaker and the potential victim, it’s between the free-speaker, the potential victim, and the *bringers-of-violence*. *That* is the hand-waving that Billy B. wants you to miss. You need to miss it, in order to get the feeling that the free-speaker is somehow directly involved in the harm that would come to the victim, and therefore liable.
Re Grant’s post:
“I truly hope that the Billy Boy’s of this country are a small minority of the population. … Since when has playing ostrich ever helped the cause? …The Billy Boy’s in our nation must never ever have any positions of power.”
I hate to break this to you, Grant, but people like BillyBBT have been in power in North America for a L-O-N-G time: how about Jean Chretien, Paul Martin and Beel Cleenton? They closed their eyes and rammed their heads in the sand BIG TIME the whole time they were in power. And gave/give George Dubbya a rough time for being a war-mongering redneck and not peace-making enough.
Read Kate’s “Meet the New Boss” (April 15). Under the Martin government, Chinese agents and informants, who it was clear were operating in Canada, were ignored in order not to, according to the head of the Asian desk of CSIS “[piss] off or annoy the Chinese [because] they’re too much of an important market.” So much for the Lieberal Government standing on guard for Canada and Canadians. Isn’t one of the prime responsibilities of any government to guard the national security of its citizens?
Then there’s the Tamils who PMPM liked to party with, the sheltering of Hamas and Al-Q’ada cells, our porous border that allowed terrorists to almost bomb the LA airport, and it goes on and on. Who knows what else?
If the left/libs want to know why so many of us are pissed off with the Lieberals they could start by taking a close look at all of the security breeches by the former Lieberal Government and their utter hypocrisy in their inflammatory criticism of George Bush and the “war mongering” U.S., when they were allowing carte blanche to those who would threaten our freedoms here in North America.
And if the lefties want to know why we’re so happy that PMSH and his CPC government are in power now, it’s because Canada finally has a principled government with a backbone, that is willing to smoke out agents and informants who desire only to harm us. Lieberals got rich from trade with China, while the security of our democracy got short shrift.
We’re sleeping better at night as, I suspect, is Chinese dissident Lu Decheng who just arrived in Canada after exile in Thailand.
Like the line from an old song, “everything old is new again”.
I was re-reading Churchill’s memoirs of the Second World War recently. I was really struck by the parallels between 1930’s appeasers and their spiritual descendents of today.
Rationalization of cowardice as: circumspect prudence; as appreciation of the Nazi/Islamofascist point of view; as acknowledgment of the Nazi/Islamofascist “legitimate grievances”; as denial of national responsibilities onto a falsely revered League of Nations/UN; of those who clearly call for standing up against evil as being called warmongers and neanderthals by glib ignoramuses.
The list of apt parallels is remarkable.
Grant, thanks for that post. I totally agree with your sentiments.
Unfortunately, I think the Billy Boys are far from a minority in Canada. Also, as you may have noticed, until the Conservatives took over, with the estimable PMSH at the helm, it was the Billy Boys who were running–into the ground–our once proud country.
I’ve been a teacher for many decades. I have bad news: a critical mass of students, their parents, and the educational bureaucracy behave more like Billy Boys by the minute. A short list: They’re: 1) self-referential, 2) want entertainment and instant gratification, 3) believe opposites at the same time (magic thinking), e.g., while favouring children’s substantive rights–especially, it seems, for the worst of them, who know all about their rights– they expect teachers, almost single handedly, to exercise effective authority to make the growing number of miscreants behave, and 4) are quite woefully ignorant of the facts about most issues, as they’ve been force fed the most egregious PC pap for the past 25 years. (Check out Gage’s grade 8 geography text: Whenever possible, the European legacy is dissed. Virtually all Third World problems are blamed on the West. Mention of corrupt, totalitarian governments is absent.) Also of critical importance is that 42% of graduates from Canada’s secondary education facilities are not literate enough to fill the jobs employers are offering. (Excellent raw material for Billy Boys.)
Thinking effectively is sort of like a Rubics Cube: it’s multi-dimensional. With the MSM and computers all around them, our kids’ “thinking” often reminds me of a flat line. They want to be entertained and to receive instant gratification at the push of a button. CONTEMPLATING? What’s that? And if I don’t do it, someone else–ever heard of the nanny state?–will. Besides, the lax judges , using the Charter–remember PMPM’s Charter values?–will always rule in favour of my rights over any responsibilities. There’s always someone else to blame. (In the old days, adults didn’t let kids get away with this ruse.)
The kids couldn’t articulate this–they don’t know enough and, furthermore, have trouble organizing information effectively, which takes both TIME and EFFORT–but they feel it in their bones and see the results everywhere. (And I genuinely LIKE the kids I teach. But, unlike in the past, I now don’t see them willing to grow up. The average ten year old–and often the adults in his/her life–behaves more and more like a toddler: Someone else will look after things.)
Right thinking and right actions demand both facts and ethics. Our society’s running close to empty on both scores these days. Billy Boys are everywhere–lots are just too damned comfortable to want to contemplate having to inconvenience themselves to fight for the freedoms on which their privileged lives are built.
Talk about magic thinking! We either fight for our lives and freedoms now, over there, or we fight MUCH HARDER for our lives and freedoms on our own turf, with many more losses. Billy Boys, WAKE UP! The choice is NOT to fight or not to fight–as you seem to think–but where and when we’re going to fight. It’s much better for Canada if we make that decision ourselves. Problem: a country needs adults in order to do that. The good news? The Conservatives.
The bad news? Toddlers pretend everything’s fine and, I’m afraid, in Canada, they seem to outnumber the adults. Id love to be proven wrong.
Betcha “they” can read Billy’s comments, too. Don’t wake/tell him. He’s asleep. +
Listening in on the enemy
National Post ^ | 2006-04-15 | Stewart Bell
Posted on 04/15/2006 4:56:30 AM PDT by Clive
Listening in on the enemy
Exclusive: Canada’s master eavesdroppers
Inside a bland brick building that could pass for a high school, past two security checkpoints, down a hall decorated with the office bowling trophy, a red sign hangs on a beige door.
“Restricted Area,” it warns.
Beyond the door, noisy fans whirr, cooling row after row of computers the size of refrigerators that are carrying out the most secretive and sensitive tasks of the Canadian government: hunting down the phone calls of suspected terrorists, reading their e-mails, breaking their codes and more — all in the name of national security.
This climate-controlled room in a government building in south Ottawa is the brawn of the Communications Security Establishment, the federal agency charged with defending Canada in ways that are as formidable as they are unknown.
From its headquarters near the Rideau River, the CSE operates a vast electronic eavesdropping system that works with allies in the United States, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand to analyze intelligence on foreign adversaries. +
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1615484/posts
Is there anyone else on this blog who wonders what the HELL CSIS does? They don’t seem to be very effective at averting Chinese spies, or Tiger Tamil and Al-Q’Ada cells, or all the other cells coming into Canada who seem intent on using our country to further their own political agendas and ends than participating in our Parliamentary democracy.
I have very little confidence in them, especially after having met a retired CSIS officer who lives very high off the hog but doesn’t seem to be very bright–a little wimpy, in fact: And this guy was looking after Canada’s security?
What do others feel about CSIS? Are they effective?
Until now, it mattered not whether CSIS was effective or not – the decision to act was in the hands of apologist, terrorist-coddling Liberal kleptocrats who placed electoral gain above all other considerations.
Be your own CSIS. The ‘net has given you the tools.
Start here: +
Iran Military Guide (link excellent information by GlobalSecurity.org)
Global Security – Iran ^ | Current | Various – site maintained by John Pike
Posted on 04/15/2006 8:42:08 AM PDT by Dark Skies
This purpose of post is to provide an informational link for Freepers who are following the story of a possible military conflict with Iran. The link is to an excellent source (Global Security) for information on Iran’s military and intellegence capabilities. It is jammed-packed with current information and historical data. +
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1615566/posts
Direct Link:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/
Rewrite headline: Fraser Institute report blasts Librano$ +
Fraser Institute report blasts RCMP
CanWest News Service; Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, April 13, 2006
CALGARY – A study released Wednesday blasted the RCMP for becoming too political and said the national police force needs to disassociate itself from the federal solicitor-general and Prime Minister’s Office and get back to their job of cracking down on crime.
The Fraser Institute report authored by Barry Cooper highlighted high-ranking officers’ involvement in the sponsorship scandal and the RCMP taking orders from the PMO when enforcing security at the 1997 APEC summit in Vancouver as examples of the RCMP becoming too politicized.
In the sponsorship scandal’s case, the force was itself the recipient of illegal federal dollars and was criticized by the auditor general, the report stated.
The report claims the status of the RCMP has been reduced to that of another government department no longer at arm’s length from government and no longer able to combat political corruption and crime effectively.
“The participation of the RCMP in the sponsorship scandal is in some respects the logical outcome of the preceding decade and a half of change but all the more serious because the Mounties are central to the administration of justice in Canada,” the report said.
The Fraser Institute document also said: “The politicization has resulted as well in the imposition of a wide range of agendas and priorities that have little or nothing to do with effective policing E The reason that the RCMP exists is not to be an affirmative-action opportunity for allegedly disadvantaged minorities but to put crooks in jail. +
http://www.paulding.net/bin/url.cgi/13253.17
via nealenews.com +
AdScam SSM Chretien co-opted the Mounties:
Former Canadian Prime Minister Attends Gay Activist Award Ceremony and is Feted for Gay �Marriage�
PHILADELPHIA, May 2, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) � Homosexuals gathered to commemorate the world�s first gay pride parade held in Philadelphia in 1965 and to present awards to activists and others who have advanced their cause. Among them Friday was former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, recognized for his part in championing same-sex �marriage� in Canada.
Chretien, accompanied by two Royal Canadian Mounted Police, accepted the International Role Model Award at the gala hosted by Equality Forum, as part of a weeklong gay pride event. The Mounties also accompanied Canadian homosexual activists Kevin Bourassa and Joe Varnell as they received an award for becoming the first same-sex couple to challenge the law and legally �marry� in Canada. +
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/may/05050206.html
Re your comment, Kate, that decisions about security were made by “apologist, terrorist-coddling Liberal kleptocrats,” who I’m sure are exactly the ones who called the shots, it’s too bad there was no one in CSIS to be a whistleblower.
Too bad the Accountablility Act was so long in coming.
No Sleeping Billys here: It is our duty to resist, to fight fascist bureauc-rats.
The Easter Egg: Symbol of The Resurrection. +
‘Easter egg’ giveaway gets strong support
By MICHAEL JIGGINS
Staff Writer
TINCAP — An “Easter egg” giveaway here Thursday was the start of a new campaign to push back at agencies trying to dictate what products farmers can sell off their farms, according to a Leeds and Grenville Landowners Association member.
“Throughout the summer, I’m sure you’re going to see us all over the counties, yes, absolutely. The health unit has to be told,” Richard Berube told The Recorder and Times as vehicles streamed in and out of the parking lot at TK Tires, site of Thursday’s event.
The landowners organized the giveaway to focus attention on their contention that runaway regulations are infringing on the rights of rural residents and driving farmers off the land.
“All of a sudden we cannot have potluck dinners, we cannot have eggs at farmers markets, we cannot sell baked goods and it has to stop,” insisted Berube.
“Big Brother does not have to watch every step and tell us what to eat and what not to eat – we can make that choice.”
The association planned to give away 600 dozen eggs, and within the first hour after the 10 a.m. start, about half that amount was already gone.
At several times during the two-hour event, cars were lined up waiting for a place to park.
Meanwhile, a woman in an Easter Bunny costume carrying a sign that read “Free Eggs” stood on the east shoulder of County Road 29 waving at passing motorists, many of whom honked in support.
Although the eggs were given away, $1.50 was charged for each cardboard carton the eggs came in.
Customers interviewed said they were there to support local farmers and expressed disgust about how authorities swooped down on Shanly egg producer Shawn Carmichael’s farm March 23.
“I don’t like the limitations, I don’t think it’s necessary,” said Rory Ingram, who took home three dozen eggs. +
http://newsfeed.recorder.ca/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=17640
http://www.ruralrevolution.com/website/
Lookout: “The choice is NOT to fight or not to fight–as you seem to think”
I couldn’t agree with you more. Most Westerners DO NOT consider that we are at war. Most Islamo-fascists DO consider that they are at war. The only thing keeping a hard reality check from happening is that 911 class events haven’t occured. The fight is “over there” so the sleepy utopian masses can just go on ignoring it all.
On the other hand, if you’d ask a Thai,Phillipine, Iraqi, Iranian, Afghani, Indian, Pakastani, Indonesian, Palestinian, Israeli, Sudanese, Kenyan, Algerian, Morocan, Chechen, Russian, Syrian, and the thousands of victims of Islamo-fascism, they’d tell you right quick that we are in a war no matter what side they are on.
Flight 93: We are all Aboard
Flight 93: Symbolism too obvious to avoid.
Debris Trail: we’re obviously on the same wavelength. I call the Westerners you mention “adult toddlers”. (In Canada, there are fewer of these in the west–at least as far as Alberta!– than the east, I think.)
Although we have all the technological resources needed to confound the enemy, this lack of maturity in the West, e.g., developed world, is going to be our downfall. When so-called adults have no clue about the treasures of their cultural and moral heritage, to the point that they shoot it down–hey, didn’t Peter Pan, the perpetual child, do that to the bountiful Wendy?–there’s little hope that they’ll realize in time that all they hold dear–based on the very tradition they’ve rejected–is under threat, or more than half gone. Having spent most of our moral capital, the West is especially vulnerable. Talk about fiddling while Rome burns: the elites of the West and their willing–well fed and entertained–dupes are the proverbial grasshoppers.
It’s enough to make a grown person–what we used to consider an ADULT–cry.
The image I keep getting about the West squandering its historical/cultural/moral capital beqeathed by the Judeo-Christian values the West is founded on is of someone sitting on the end of a sturdy branch, sawing away at it; soon the branch will be completely sawed through and our guy with the saw, who has happily separated the branch from the tree, goes down with it.
Smart, eh?