Deb was in the Room
The wonderful Deborah Gyapong took time off from swimming the Tiber (and her posts on that are deeply moving) to stop by the Justice Committee hearing today. There she snapped some pictures.
Richard Warman was there. It was interesting to see him in person. He asked me to identify myself because I was taking pictures and took some of him. I showed him my press gallery pass. I don’t recall his name being mentioned so no, he was not sent “under the bus” as some bloggers speculated. Warman strikes me as quite young, young enough to be Jennifer Lynch’s son. deborah gyapong
Deb is a very much better Christian than I. I fear that my reaction would have involved a good deal of invective and not so much of the other cheek stuff. Who the f**k does this man think he is? A CSIS agent? The sheer, unbridled arrogance, the ridiculous self-importance, of the man and his bully boy tactics leave me stunned.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:08 am
The fact that he did that might suggest that you are closer to the truth than you might think.
And he was there conferring with Burney = WHY?
The MPs missed a golden opportunity to call him to testify there and then.
But it appears there really is an “Official high-level Cone of Silence” on this sordid affair.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:21 am
> so no, he was not sent “under the bus”
> as some bloggers speculated
It’s never a good idea to scapegoat the guy who knows where the bodies are buried. Guessing that what we’ve seen so far is only the tip of the iceberg, and that Lucy knows where the rest of the iceberg is. Jenny doesn’t want the rug peeled back from THAT pile of dirt. Also guessing Lucy has nothing to fear from the CHRC investigation of Lucy for the same reason.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:36 am
How far up is the rot in the Justice Department, it was like ole Home Week for the players. I use to consider civil servants one step up from slugs, but alas after watching that hearing I actually want to thank the civil servants that run this country because if those MPs are indicative of the management ability of MPs to run this country I’d be very scared for our future.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:47 am
I second Rose’s motion to place poltiticans/MPs and bureaucrats 1 step below “SLUGS”.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Any illusion that we the Citizens have any say in how we’re governed is just that, created and massaged by the bureaucracy.
When was the last time you remember actually changing (your)governments’ direction; and I don’t mean substituting Harper for Martin? The backbenchers have about as much influence as you or I…except for handing out the pork.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Jay, because you are fair I wanted to draw something to your attention. Mr. Levant posts some other pics of yesterdays proceedings on his blog. Here is a prime example of how he manipulates the facts. In one pic he claims that Warman is “chatting it up” with Mr. Farber and Mr. Vernon of the CJC. Now I looked at the pic. At best Farber seems uncomfortable not even looking at Warman. Vernon is turned away entirely seemingly speaking to someone else. More likely the camera picked up Warman standing near Farber and Vernon. Mr. Levant puts his own spin on it with little (really nothing) to back it up. It is exactly this sort of manipulation that many of us have come to understand as part of Levant’s shtik. Many have also turned away as a result.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
winnifred, thank you for saying that I am fair.
I would find nothing out of the ordinary for Warman to be talking to Farber or vice versa. After all the CJC gave Warman an award not so very long ago.
I realize that some people are deeply skeptical of Ezra’s willingness to go all in – and truth to tell I thought the remark about Freiman was entirely uncalled for – but you also have to look at results.
Two years ago the thought of the CHRC fighting for the continued, but significantly amended, s.13 would have been laughable. Two years ago a picture of Farber and Warman together would have been normal. Now people want to maintain that Farber was uncomfortable with Warman. As well he should be.
Tactically and strategically a two year campaign of a bunch of bloggers has paid off. s. 54.1.c is dead. s. 13, if it is not repealed, will be amended to properly protect the Charter Rights of Canadians. Literally thousands of editorials and news stories have been written outlining the abuses of the Commission and the profoundly disturbing Charter implications of s. 13.
We have not won yet but we can see victory from here. I’m willing to turn a blind eye to Ezra’s occasional lapses of taste in order to prevent the gross abuses perpetrated by the CHRC hate section and, to this day, denied by the coward Lynch.
October 27th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Winnie – love your attempt to divide and conquer – it must be the new tactic to demonize Ezra = Good luck”.
I suppose the photographer could have done a time-sequence and perhaps if you ask, someone might come forth with one that shows it more clearly. I’m sure there might be videos of the post-hearing love in?
“Vernon”? It is possible Vernon didn’t want anyone reading his lips??? :)
But given Warman’s challenge of Deborah (what gave him the right to demand any one’s credentials?)perhaps this was a just in passing shot rather than a show and tell?
October 27th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
I must say, I am most gratified to hear Truewest approve of the tone of the discussion. I understand he found it far more mature and effective than the earlier testimony of Steyn and Levant, whose comments were marked by bombast, name calling and shameless distortions. Name calling? While I agree with him that such makes for poor argument, the criticism arrives from an unlikely source.
As to Winnifried’s comments on Ezra, his caption to the photo states that Warman was chatting with Farber, and points out another person in the frame as being a Mr. Eric Vernon of the CJC. Besides the fact that the photo does show Mr. Warman leaning in as if he was speaking with Mr. Farber, we also know that Mr. Levant was present taking the picture, so he would likely know if Mr. Warman was speaking with Mr. Farber or not. I think we can take his word for it, but if you choose not to take his word that hardly gives you license to claim Levant is misrepresenting the fact, unless of course you were also present and are certain Warman was not speaking to Mr. Farber. Levant does not claim in his caption that Mr. Warman was speaking with Mr. Vernon. As to his comments about the appearance of someone’s hair, it is entirely up to him to comment on his blog in a way that he believes is informative and entertaining. If you do not find it as such you are free to go elsewhere, but he is under no obligation to meet your notions of propriety. The comments he offers on his blog are partisan, but that hardly could be considered a surprise.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
nicholas, I don’t think Ez took those pictures. But I think the point is that Warman was talking to Farber. (And looking at Farber’s body language I can’t help but suspect Farber wishes he wasn’t.)
October 27th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Agreed. Gyapong states Ezra was live blogging the event, and Levant offered no credit for the photos, but I am assuming he was present and took the photos. I need to take my own advise (as per usual). : )