Sunday
Let's celebrate Journalists' Freedom Day today. In this story Olivia Ward of the TO Star reprises the lives of three dead brave writers. Quoting pieces from a book by Terry Gould Ward pays tribute to those who knowingly write in the face of certain death.
"These are not foreign correspondents who were caught in the crossfire," says author Terry Gould, Vancouver-based author of Murder Without Borders: Dying for the Story in the World's Most Dangerous Places. "They're people who took a stand in their own countries and hometowns. They were warned they were going to die, but they were not afraid to speak the truth."Gould's book chronicles the life stories of Vega, Hassan, Garcia-Esperat and other high-profile journalists who refused to be silent and paid the ultimate price."They knew they had only three options: agree with the aggressors, stay silent, or continue to expose the crimes," the author says. "They knew they would be the first to fall, but they believed something good would come of it."
Read this load of crap from Warren Kinsella and you will understand that those of us who are not Liberals are repulsed by the arrogance of those that are. In his blog here he lays out the return of the Messiah and the welcoming back of the "Canada's Natural Governing Party" - nauseating! So Iggy is now leader and all the pols wrath will be directed on the BQ and the NDP for not granting the NGP its wish for an early election. Another year of whining from the Liberals about not being allowed to get back into power. Perhaps if they, the NGP, would tell us what they wanted to do instead of bleating about them not being the Cons and should be elected because they are not, then people might be interested in turfing Harper.
Now for the biggie. here is a copy of a snippet of the agenda for Monday evening. This is how you spend many many millions of dollars, write it in a vague bureaucratic way and then get to vote on it with as few details as possible. But the advocates will say, as Bob-"I can see clearly now"-Spooner did the other day, "We are not voting on the money we are only applying for it!" True Bob but who will dare to vote against the money fairy when it arrives?
"These are not foreign correspondents who were caught in the crossfire," says author Terry Gould, Vancouver-based author of Murder Without Borders: Dying for the Story in the World's Most Dangerous Places. "They're people who took a stand in their own countries and hometowns. They were warned they were going to die, but they were not afraid to speak the truth."Gould's book chronicles the life stories of Vega, Hassan, Garcia-Esperat and other high-profile journalists who refused to be silent and paid the ultimate price."They knew they had only three options: agree with the aggressors, stay silent, or continue to expose the crimes," the author says. "They knew they would be the first to fall, but they believed something good would come of it."
Read this load of crap from Warren Kinsella and you will understand that those of us who are not Liberals are repulsed by the arrogance of those that are. In his blog here he lays out the return of the Messiah and the welcoming back of the "Canada's Natural Governing Party" - nauseating! So Iggy is now leader and all the pols wrath will be directed on the BQ and the NDP for not granting the NGP its wish for an early election. Another year of whining from the Liberals about not being allowed to get back into power. Perhaps if they, the NGP, would tell us what they wanted to do instead of bleating about them not being the Cons and should be elected because they are not, then people might be interested in turfing Harper.
Now for the biggie. here is a copy of a snippet of the agenda for Monday evening. This is how you spend many many millions of dollars, write it in a vague bureaucratic way and then get to vote on it with as few details as possible. But the advocates will say, as Bob-"I can see clearly now"-Spooner did the other day, "We are not voting on the money we are only applying for it!" True Bob but who will dare to vote against the money fairy when it arrives?
5 comments:
It was my good fortune in my youth to have been taken under the wing of Foster Meharry Russell, the only Cdn winner of the Elijah Parrish Lovejoy Award for Courage in Journalism. We had very rigorous debates on assorted issues in his office.
I doubt that he would have wimped out on journalistic principles as have the current editors and publishers who had on Feb 8/06 written an editorial (How free should we be?) concerning their non-publication of the Danish Mohammed cartoons. The spineless editor failed to explain why they declined to reproduce the cartoons other than to say, “Freedom of speech and freedom of the press comes with a certain amount of responsibility.” That was it.
I replied to this inadequacy, but they declined to publish my riposte, which you can read here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/14880540/As-Free-as-the-Imagination
Ezra Levant was the only Cdn to publish the cartoons. He was also the only person in the entire Western world to have been called before the government to explain why he published them. (Only in Canada you say?) His defence cost him over $100,000. I am proud that he mentioned me in his recent book, which the editors of the local pudding declined to publish the book review, which can be read here:
http://poetency.blogspot.com/2009/03/shakedown-by-ezra-levant-book-review.html
Tarek Fatah, whom I have met and collaborated with, lives under constant death threat from Islamists. The same for the Cdn lesbian Muslim, Irshad Manji, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, both writers. And we have the case of murdered Canadian photographer, Zahra Kazemi. The violence and threats of lethal violence all come from Islamists.
Well it does. It’s not Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Hindus who currently clamour to repress speech under penalty of violence. It’s the Organization of the Islamic Conference, 56 Islamic states that are pressuring the world to implement blasphemy laws.
Actually there is no need to implement blasphemy laws, because the editors of the local newspaper already obey their sharia-inspired repression without the laws. And just to be sure, there are the self-righteous tut-tuts who swarmed Gordon Gilchrist, to back up the repression of free speech. And Canada's assorted Human Rights Commissions, in their own Orwellian newspeak way, are there to ensure that human rights are restricted.
Press freedom? Not even in Northumberland County.
What's the old saying: If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.
At a meeting in early 2008 at which he himself participated, Trustee Gilchrist was castigated for having called immigrants "enemies" in one of his letters to the local gazette. In his own defense, Gilchrist ignominiously squirmed and weasled his way through a litany of "But you completely misunderstood me..."-type comments.
The local gazette didn't repress Gilchrist's speech, Wally. They published his disgusting letters, didn't they.
The people who criticized those letters weren't repressing free speech, Wally. They were holding the feet of a bully to the fire of a free and open discussion.
Gilchrist obviously couldn't stand the heat, so he ran for cover. In doing so, Wally, he repressed his own speech. Imagine: a man with the honorific "Trustee" unwilling to stand up for his ideas in public.
Oh William, I can provide a number of examples of the local media repressing free speech. Delicate political correctmess.
That Gilchrist squirmed and whined reflects on him.
He is hardly a bully. He's a wimp. The real bullies were the gang-swarmers who used their free speech to shut his mouth.
The swarmers are the racists. The swarmers need to develop a thicker skin and debate the points that Gilchrist had made, instead of ad hominin accusations. Their motive was to shut him down, not debate his points.
I have been accused of being an Islamophobe. And yes I am. Anybody wanna make something of it?
“castigated for having called immigrants "enemies" in one of his letters”
That is a gross misrepresentation of what Gilchrist had written in his Feb 12/08 letter. Nowhere did he make a blanket assertion that immigrants were enemies. The real racists were those infected with political correctmess who accused Gilchrist of being a racist.
“They published his disgusting letters”
Neither letter was disgusting. While I did not agree with every point in his Feb 12/08 letter, I did not regard it as "disgusting". I am more disgusted by the self-righteous moral tut-tuts, the modern day censorious Ms Grundy-clones that avoided addressing the points Gilchrist made, but instead characterized him in a grossly misrepresentative manner. They were into character assassination, not debate.
His Feb 12/08 letter was not disgusting. The attitude of those who regard it as such, deserves the stink of disgust. And the same goes for the spineless editorial cowards of the local media.
Gilchrist had responded to a letter written by Jack Foote. I had also written a letter in response to Jack Foote. The letter was rejected. I eventually posted the letter to my blog, and it continues to be the most popular posting on my blog, largely because it has been embedded in web pages in the Ummah.
Mt letter starts off this: "I take exception to Jack Foote`s assertion that 'certain mode[s] of female attire including the hijab, etc. will not be tolerated.' I will defend a person`s right anywhere in the world to wear whatever attire they wish;"
The rest of the story can be read here, but be careful your fastidious delicate thin-skin sensibilities don't get bruised
http://cobourgtown.blogspot.com/2009/01/rejected-by-cobourg-daily-star.html
Sorry, I think I posted the wrong blog page. It should be this one:
http://cobourgtown.blogspot.com/2009/01/rejected-by-cobourg-daily-star.html
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