Comments on The Burd Report: Sunday

Sorry, I think I posted the wrong blog page. It sh...

2009-05-06T13:10:00.000-04:00

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

“castigated for having called immigrants "enemies"...

2009-05-06T13:08:00.000-04:00

“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

Oh William, I can provide a number of examples of ...

2009-05-06T12:15:00.000-04:00

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?

What's the old saying: If you can't stand the heat...

2009-05-06T06:31:00.000-04:00

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.

It was my good fortune in my youth to have been ta...

2009-05-03T13:46:00.000-04:00

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.