Lawrence Martin: The Vast Right-Wing Media Conspiracy

Not often do I read something that leaves me baffled. But such is the case with the latest mutterings of the Globe & Mail's Lawrence Martin. In what is apparently not satire, he tries to put forward the case that journalism has moved to the RIGHT of the Canadian public. He goes on to make many references to American media outlets that one can only assume he believes the same has occurred in the U.S.

Think about that for a second. Mr. Martin is asserting that journalists in the mainstream media have become more right-wing, more conservative than the average person in the public. Considering that poll after poll after poll of journalists asserts that 98% label themselves as liberal or very liberal, how could he make such an assertion with any sense of credibility? One can only surmise that Martin is working under the old presumption that "if you tell a lie enough times, maybe people will start believing it."

Because of the parrot-like behaviour of so many in the MSM, look for others to recite this now as a fact. It's SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for how the Left operates.

How anyone could watch last year's U.S. Presidential election campaign or Canada's recent Constitutional Crisis and come away believing that there is a RIGHT-wing bias in the media is surely beyond the comprehension of even the most learned psychiatrists the world over!

It's one thing for people to have different political views but to think as Lawrence Martin does takes a special kind of stupid.

Anne Wortham on Barack Obama: No He Can't

Further to this very popular post of mine on Dr. Anne Wortham, here is something she wrote a few days after the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election. It's well worth a read!

Barack Obama = Chance the Gardener ?

I heard a fascinating interview today where the guests compared the speeches of Barack Obama to those of Chance the Gardener, the famous character in the 1979 film, Being There. Here's the trailer:


First, no one is attacking Obama's intelligence. Rather, they're questioning the substance of Obama's speeches and wondering if there's a whole lot more meaning attached to his words by those listening than anything to do with the words themselves. You can listen to the interview yourself by clicking here (@33:45).

Michael Ignatieff vs. "ET"

Michael Ignatieff has just written an editorial, published by the National Post.

A regular commenter on SDA, who goes by the nickname of "ET", wrote a rebuttal:

There's an essay by Ignatieff in the National Post today. Quite incredible. It outlines clearly his view of himself, Canada, the world. It's not a constructive but a disturbing presentation.

He is moving into the traditional Liberal reductionist strategy of 'let's all feel good, get along together and love each other'. By this I mean that the Liberal strategy has been to minimize and isolate dissent, questions, debate, analysis. Instead of this hard rational interaction which involves us all in the future of our country, the Liberal strategy has been to reject dissent and debate, and therefore the exercise of reason..and move us into living only on the emotional level. And only one emotion - that of acceptance of anything. No questions. No dissent.

Notice how when we have questioned the role of the Bloc in the Coalition, we have been chastized for 'bashing Quebec' rather than criticizing the role of an isolate regional party in decision-making.

Then, Ignatieff moves into the second part of this mantra is the off-repeated nonsense that 'Canada is the best in the world, and the most tolerant and the most...etc". Again, such reductionist claims rejects our right to self-examine ourselves, to question ourselves, to dissent, debate and participate in our future.

Since we are 'the best', and we are 'tolerant', this means that we are NOT ALLOWED TO DOUBT. Such a repression of doubt is actually a key strategy of all Sovereignist Rule.

The Liberal rhetoric doesn't deal with reality. It operates only within the realm of fiction, a fictional account of ourselves and others created by our Sovereign, by our Ruling Party, to calm and soothe us into submission to its rules.

This declared tolerance ignores reality, it rejects the reality that Canada rejects freedom of speech.

The reality that Canada has set up a balkanized immigration framework - one which the Conservatives are working to undo - is ignored. The Liberals set up immigrants into isolate groups, told them to 'stay as you were in the old country', discouraged integration, discouraged collaboration, and thus kept them economically isolated.. and funded them for this narrowness of perspective. In return for their votes. The Conservatives are working to encourage integration, collaboration across cultures, shared future agendas.

Bilingualism set up a framework of power, which, because it is fiction rather than reality, moved this governmental power into the bubble isolation of cabals in Montreal-Ottawa.

Ignatieff's rhetoric promotes what he calls a 'stable government' over differences - and tell us that all that is needed to manage 'all problems' is a stable government. What the heck does that mean? Dictatorships provide stable government; that's their basic nature.

Notice that Ignatieff is betraying that his ideology fits right in with the Old Liberal Modus Operandi - that of the Sovereign Ruler, he who rules over the multitude and masses by divine right, he who makes the decisions for them and rejects their right to 'doubt', to question, to do anything other than 'accept'. Power to the Ruler rather than Power of, by, for, the People.

Then, Ignatieff says of Canada, that: "Our vocation in the world is to help other countries deepen and develop their citizenship as we have deepened and developed our own."

Incredible, the pompous vanity, the arrogant self-congratulatory assertion of supremacy and the idea that such perfection, superior as it is to that of other peoples, means that we must Guide and Rule and Teach the less-perfect in the world. All this arrogance - in one sentence.

So, it's clear that Ignatieff is setting himself up as a Sovereign. Many Canadians feel comfortable with this infrastructure - that reliance on government rather than the self. This has been the ideology since colonization. But I maintain that the new Canada isn't as simple and passive as the Old Canada and won't support being moved back into the realm of the hapless ruled.

Posted by: ET at December 20, 2008 11:37 AM

Joe Biden: Democrat VP Nominee

Barack Obama has picked Senator Joe Biden as his vice-presidential nominee. 36 years in the Senate and a core part of an institution that currently has a 14% Approval rating with Americans.

Now that's Hope and Change if I've ever seen it!!!

Obamamania: Preaching to the Choir

This is absolutely priceless!

Mohammed Elmasry: The Continued Exploits of a Clown

Headline: Muslim leader accuses Harper of indifference to 'brown skinned' Omar Khadr

Hold the presses! Stop regular scheduled TV programming! The almighty Mohamed Elmasry speaks!

Although, this is the same man who:

1. Has publicly declared that all Jewish adults over the age of 18 are legitimate targets of suicide bombers.
2. Has written in the Montreal Gazette that Zimbabwe's horrific dictator, Robert Mugabe, is simply misunderstood.
3. Launched a Human Rights case against Maclean's magazine, which cost them at least $100,000 to fight (and him nothing), but then didn't even have the decency to show up for his case.

Yes, when this moronic clown speaks, we should all listen. Notttttttt!!!

Omar Khadr - Future Liberal MP!

July 1, 2013 - Toronto - After a disastrous defeat by the Conservatives in 2009, the reconstituted Liberal Party of Canada, announced it newest candidate today. Omar Khadr, once an alleged al Qaeda terrorist and Guantanomo Bay prisoner, announced his candidacy today in the riding of Toronto-Danforth.

Liberal leader Bob Rae started the press conference by introducing Khadr: "Once an innocent child, illegally incarcerated by the American government, Omar has fought a righteous campaign in support of human rights for all ethnicities. Five years ago, when I was instrumental in freeing him, I must confess that I didn't know him very well. But having spent much time with him and his family ever since, I am now proud to call Omar a key member of the Rainbow Coalition that is the new Liberal Party of Canada."

The Challenge for Black America

Jonathan Kay's latest posting refers the reader to this table about the living arrangements of American children under 18 years of age in 2006. I've done the required calculations to convert the numbers into percentages:

		White	Black	Hispanic	Asian
Living with both parents		76%	35%	66%	83%
Mother only		16%	51%	25%	10%
Father only		5%	4%	4%	3%
Neither parent		3%	10%	5%	3%

Anybody who doesn't see the obvious problem in the Black community either has an agenda or is so daft to not be worth listening to. Hmmm, might Jesse Jackson have a few things to learn from Bill Cosby?

The Globe and Mail's Series on Drug Abuse: Part 1

Finally, and I mean FINALLY a major newspaper is shedding some truth on what is REALLY happening with the Vancouver Downtown Eastside's failed drug policy. The public has been inundated for decades with nothing less than misinformed propaganda to keep this failed policy going and actually ramp it up even more.

I strongly encourage you to read Margaret Wente's column, the first of 4 parts on this critical subject. And then watch this talk by David Berner, which I filmed earlier this year:
The next time you hear some "expert" advocating the continuation of enabling drug addicts, ask yourself this simple question: "If I had a friend who was an alcoholic, would I offer him a drink of whiskey when he visited my home?"

Action vs. Rhetoric

Charles Krauthammer shares his thoughts on the recent military action in Colombia. Had the UN or the EU been in charge, the hostages would still be ... well, hostages.

The motto of the British S.A.S. : "Who Dares Wins"

Editorial: Obama's views on Canadian oil don't match his country's interests

Editorial from the Vancouver Sun:

Quick now, which country is the leading supplier of petroleum to the United States? Wrong.

It's not Saudi Arabia. It is Canada by a long shot.

This year so far, the U.S. has imported more than 2.5 million barrels a day from Canada, compared with 1.5 million from the despotic desert kingdom. Last year, imports from Canada totaled 2.4 million barrels a day, compared with 1.4 million from the Saudis.

Don't take our word for it. These are figures from the June 13 report of the Energy Information Administration, which bills itself as the disseminator of official energy statistics from the U.S. government.

Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama might want to review these numbers carefully before he again condemns Canada's leading export as a "dirty, dwindling and dangerously expensive" 19th-century fossil fuel. It also happens to be the elixir of life for the U.S. economy and will continue to be long after Obama has left the Oval office -- if he ever gets there. But Obama's energy adviser, Jason Grumet, has warned that climate change trumps oil, specifically oil from Alberta's oilsands. The production of oil from the oilsands generates about three times more greenhouses gases compared to production of conventional oil, according to U.S. environmentalists.

Obama has promised to cut U.S. dependence on foreign oil by 35 per cent by 2030 and invest $150 billion US in alternative energy. "The possibilities of renewable energy are limitless," he said in Las Vegas this week. To flip Obama's campaign slogan, that's change we can't believe in. It should've stayed in Vegas.

As we have seen with President George W. Bush's effort to enhance U.S. energy security by investing in ethanol, not only are there limits to alternative energy, but disaster results from uninformed, misguided policies.

Should the U.S. follow Obama's reckless route, Canada will have no lack of customers for its oil, which will remain the world's principal energy source for many decades. But without Canadian supplies, the U.S. will become increasingly dependent on hostile or unpredictable regimes such as those of Venezuela, Nigeria, Algeria, Angola and Russia.

Obama's attack on Canada's oil industry on the heels of his pledge to abrogate or renegotiate the North America Free Trade Agreement does not augur well for Canada-U.S. relations should he succeed in his bid to occupy the White House. If his recent comments accurately reflect the direction he intends to take his country, he will put the U.S. in peril, stifle economic growth, lower Americans' standard of living and undermine the most important trading relationship in the western hemisphere.

He has a few months to sharpen up his policies and groom his team before the presidential campaign is in full swing. Replacing his energy adviser would be a good start.

The Diminishing Effects of Inflammatory Rhetoric

While out & about today I heard a discussion about this complaint from the Pivot Legal Society. When I got home I wrote this letter to CKNW's Sean Leslie, who read it on-air:

Sean, I listened to your discussion with "Mike" with great interest. While of course I have great empathy for those who are living in less than optimum conditions, I take great exception to the use of the phrase, "Human Rights Violation". Do people like Mike and those others on the Pivot Legal Society deliberately avoid keeping themselves apprised of what's going on outside the pampered borders of North America?

Thoughout Africa there is actual genocide occurring. In Tibet, people are being truly oppressed. In North Korea the citizens are literally starving.

Yet in Vancouver we have groups going to the UN, claiming Human Rights Violations over housing issues?!?!? Give me a break! One day perhaps these people will learn that if you're going to use stronger and stronger rhetoric, you better be able to back it up with facts that substantiate it. When you can't, you'll quickly learn the effects of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" parable.

You're entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts

In a recent column, Thomas Sowell presents a series of random thoughts - think of it as a "rant from an intellectual". One of those thoughts was this:

Among the many wise things said by the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was that you are entitled to your own opinion, but not to your own facts. Yet an incredible number of people make up whatever "facts" are needed to support whatever they choose to believe.

Varied opinions are great. I might not agree with your opinions but I do support your right to have them. But in recent years I've noticed a disturbing trend, namely people inventing facts and theories ... that just coincidentally happen to support their [twisted] views.

In recent times, here are some of the more outrageous invented facts I've heard:

1. 9/11 was a conspiracy of Bush et al and thus the invasion of Afghanistan was unlawful.
2. No plane flew into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
3. Cuba is the most democratic country in the world.
4. China has a benevolent government and means no harm toward anyone.
5. Canadian Conservative leader Stephen Harper, if elected, will take away the rights of women to have abortions, even if they're raped.
6. The WW2 Holocaust is simply an invention of the Worldwide Jewish Conspiracy.
7. The war in Iraq is still going badly for the Americans.

All of these statements are false. If you believe them then you are one of the people that Patrick Moynihan was warning us about. My advice: Start reading more credible literature.

America Needs To Find Its Common Voice

You might have noticed that I've been a bit down lately, feeling rather depressed at reading/hearing things like this. My feelings of hope hit a new low when I read that Michelle Malkin had received wishes of her death by a deeply disturbed man in Bellingham, Washington. I could have marked it down as yet another low mark on the proverbial Humanity Watch totem pole. And perhaps I should have, but it's not in my DNA to give up. So instead I chose to leave the following comment on the associated blog entry of Bellingham Herald journalist, Sam Taylor:

As a Canadian reader about 50km north of you, believe me when I say that I am deeply saddened to see such inflammatory discourse going on between citizens in your country.

Remember those thousand points of light that George Bush Sr. spoke of? Together they are supposed to form a brilliant beacon of freedom that represents what the United States of America truly represents. Or at least it used to.

I remember my father, who was born in Germany and just a young kid when WW2 ended, telling me the story of what happened when he, his mother, and his 4 younger siblings entered the refugee camp. When the officials came around asking him which of the 4 sectors of the country they wished to go to, his answer was simple: "A-MER-I-CA, We Love AMERICA!!!"

He ended up as a refugee coming to Canada six years later but he never forgot the kindness and incredible generosity that your forefathers gave to his homeland, giving the rest of his family a chance for a future blessed with democracy and prosperity.

Perhaps when freedom unchallenged goes on for too many generations, people take it for granted. No country is perfect but Mr. Knappenberger seems to have lost sight of what a great country America still is.

Michelle Malkin is an honourable person and a superb writer. While people like Knappenberger may not agree with what she says and may dislike her ethnicity, it goes far, far beyond the pale to wish her hurt in any way (let alone murdered!)

Your country seems to be going through an intellectual civil war of sorts. This is terribly unfortunate, not just for all of you, but for the world as well.

After the challenges of the Iraq War, the conviction toward freedom & liberty for all may be muted in the hearts & minds of many Americans but I believe that resolve can be found again. The people of Tibet are crying out for it. So are those in Taiwan and Darfur and the independent countries of Eastern Europe.

No one is saying that Americans have to shed blood in all of these places but a solid resolve, 300 Million strong, that liberty, democracy, & free enterprise are the best way forward for all human beings would be the best gift that Americans could possibly give to the world.

Step #1 in that unity of purpose involves toning down the rhetoric towards anyone who expresses an opinion different from your own.

Sincerely,

Robert Werner
Vancouver, BC

The Danger of Rhetoric

Fitna, the movie:


Jeremiah Wright:


Pat Robertson:


I've got to believe that there's a special place in hell for these people who use "God" to justify their rampant hate.

More on Gore

You've just got to read this! Here's a snippet:

One of the world's foremost meteorologists has called the theory that helped Al Gore share the Nobel Peace Prize "ridiculous" and the product of "people who don't understand how the atmosphere works".

Dr William Gray, a pioneer in the science of seasonal hurricane forecasts, told a packed lecture hall at the University of North Carolina that humans were not responsible for the warming of the earth.

WWF's Julia Langer: Bought & Paid For

CKNW's Bill Good had the World Wildlife Federation's Julia Langer on as a guest this morning. On the WWF website she is billed as an "expert" about Global [Environmental] Threats.

Early on in the discussion, she was berating Stephen Harper's pronouncement that Canada simply cannot meet the goals of the Kyoto agreement. Among other gems, she stated: "At least the previous [Liberal] government didn't abandon Kyoto."

I screamed at my radio, "But madam, they did absolutely NOTHING!!! Of course they abandoned it, by inaction!"

A perfect analogy is this: Let's say she had a bunch of yard work she needed to get done. Her first friend - a Liberal - eagerly said that he'd help her with it. But when the day arrived, he never showed up. She called him several times and he kept assuring her that he would eventually make it over to help. But he never did. So with just a few hours left in the day she called another friend - a Conservative. He immediately came over, surveyed the amount of work in front of them and said, "I will do the best that I can, but with so little time left in the day we won't be able to achieve what you originally set out to do."

She thought about this for a moment and then screamed at and berated her Conservative friend.

That, in a nutshell, is the attitude of Julia Langer and her ilk.

By the way, her Chinese neighbour has done nothing with his yard and his weeds are now spilling over onto her property. But she won't say anything to him because that would be politically incorrect.