This Should Be Fun: Brock on the Attack, Jackal in a Cringe
“TUESDAY, Nov 18 – Human Rights Panels. Canadian Jewish Congress chair Bernie Farber, author Waren Kinsella, blogger Mike Brock and lawyer Noa Mendelsohn Aviv on Michael Coren.”
My pal Mike Brock (on whose radio/podcast the Al and Mike Show) is a hardcore libertarian and major free speech proponent. Noa Mendelsohn Aviv runs the Freedom of Expression section of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (note to BCL and Dawg – I don’t think she’s a Nazi but I’ll check).
The Lying Jackal we know and Burny is a well know autocrat who runs the Canadian Jewish Congress.
What’s interesting is that the Jackal and Burny apparently asked to be on the show. Hmmm. Wonder why?
Now, look at the date, November 18 six days before the CHRC gets Mooned by their handpicked internal investigator on Monday November 24. Three days after the CPC votes to repeal s. 13.
The Commission has had the Moon Report for several weeks – it is off being translated into French at the moment. Speculatively, do you think the Jackal and Burney might have had a heads up on the contents of that report? And do you think that report might just be a tiny bit critical of the shenanigans the CHRC has been indulging in?
Now the Jackal is a cunning creature and he knows you want to get out in front of bad news. We’ve already seen the fallback – mistakes were made, tweaks, staff training and anyone who says otherwise is a Nazi – but keep s. 13 as the last barrier to the hordes of neo nazis surging through Canada’s streets.
After the terrific victory at the CPC policy convention today, the Free Speech rebellion in Canada has moved front and center on the CPC agenda. Harper’s own Minister of Justice voted for the repeal of s. 13 as did a substantial number of members of his caucus.
The Jackal knows this. He knows Burny is losing. He knows the trout and the cowboys in the hate speech section are in danger of being tossed. So he wants a debate. One problem of course – it is unwise to debate someone who is suing you or has threatened to sue you so a good chunk of the blogosphere was left on the sidelines.
But Brock wasn’t. And my pal Mike is going to wipe the studio floor with the Jackal. Any bits Mike misses Noa Mendelsohn Aviv will pick off with a lawyer’s eye for the fatal detail. I suspect that Burny will play the Barney role and be pulled out to make some lame point or other.
Blood sport on TV…
(OK, now, please, somebody, tape this for me….I don’t get Coren out here in Lotusland.)
November 16th, 2008 at 12:16 am
My thoughts are that the CJC & B’nai Brith likely wrote most of the report so I doubt they fear it’s contents. I hope I’m wrong.
November 16th, 2008 at 12:25 am
Possibly…but I doubt it. Moon maybe pro Human Rights in concept but I very much doubt he was thrilled with what he found at the CHRC. Depending of course how far in he dug.
And he took submissions and some of those submissions were pretty blistering. He knows he can’t just ignore those because he knows the people who sent them will have to be addressed. Plus he is a law prof and law profs are all about process.
But we’ll see.
November 16th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Moons report entirely ignores this particular controversy. He has said as much. In fact, if he is sticking to his mandate—and he says he will—most of even the B’nai Brith recommendations, for example, will not even be covered.
November 16th, 2008 at 5:59 am
This should go as well for the Jackal as things went for Randy Couture at UFC 91.
November 16th, 2008 at 7:08 am
The NGOs and their sycophant mouth piece will advance Moon’s report as the ONLY solution because, as I suspect, it will state that tinkering a bit with section 13 will cure all the abuses….thus avoiding outright repeal of this vile uncivil statute.
The NGOs who gave us this public censorhip mechanism are strategically pulling back to a secondary defense position.
They can’t sell HRC aggressive speech code Stalinism any more ( too many media and arts community people opposed to this) so they will run at half throttle with some fine tuning to section 13 that cuts the media and arts slack while keeping the intimidating power intact to censor the little guy and his basement computer.
Have fun with the Jackal Mike, and make sure you have had your rabies shots before you go into the studio on Tuesday ;-)
November 16th, 2008 at 7:08 am
I have never in my life left a comment on a blog before – so you should be flattered! This, by the way, includes those that routinely insult me, lie about me, etc. In other words, not nice and interesting ones like yours. But your comment about Bernie Farber was sent to me and in the interests of truth I really should correct it. Television and our show in particular simply do not work in the way you assume. We book weeks and often months ahead. We ran an entire hour with Kathy Shaidle and her co-author and decided to do a follow-up with a debate. We thought of December or even January 09 but found a gap in November and offered it to Bernie. He agreed. No conspiracy, no plot. We weren’t even aware of the timing of which you speak. Frankly, the day I allow The Michael Coren Show to be used by anyone is the day I pack it in. What I can tell you is that we had difficulty bringing people on who were willing to come on to debate with Mr. Kinsella. So be it. Thanks. MC.
November 16th, 2008 at 8:46 am
He took submissions, but they were limited to a select few, they came from B’Nai Brith, elmo and the CJC, Moon’s response to Ezra’s e-mail indicated he would not be digging too deeply into the seemier side of CHRC standards and practices.
November 16th, 2008 at 10:54 am
With respect, Jay, the “law profs”, Law Societies, and other misc. legal hangers on have been invisible and almost unheard from regarding trampling of citizens’ rights and abuses of process by the various HR agencies.
In fact, and I haven’t been able to find it again, there is/was an effort being made in Ontario by the Legal Profession, to greatly strengthen the Human Rights quasi legal fortress.
I think one has to realize that there are a lot of young radical lawyers that have NO commitment to the rights of the individual (to put it politely). They’d like to tear the system down and rebuild it in a different way.
November 16th, 2008 at 11:00 am
This wasn’t exactly what I was looking for but it does have a recent historical bearing on where we are now
http://www.lsuc.on.ca/media/april1505holocaustmemorial.pdf
Look at the list of the participants on page two.
The Upper Canada Law Society is in this up to their wigs.
November 16th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Jay I’m with ya buddy but honest to god can we not just focus on the job at hand and stop the childish name-calling? Look we are going to still have a battle on our hands. There is a minority government Harper will not want to press a resolution from Winnipeg (from where I am returning as I post) to Parliament with both the dippers and the Libs nowhere onside.
We need to make ourselves look professional, elegant yes even a bit mainstream to get our message to MPs. This is a war my friend and we have to aqct and think strategically. Hell they read your site and Ezra’s and see you calling Kinsella “Jackal” and Farber “Burney” it turns people right off. I spoke to a lot of delegates and they like the direction but too many pointed (mostly to Ezra) out that the discussion on the rightwing blogs are silly. I agree.
Let’s get into this by keeping our eye on the arguments. The more we use silly and stupid namecalling the more people see us as dinos with nothing to say!!
November 16th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Michael, thanks for setting the record straight. You may not have been aware of the timing but I’ve no doubt the Jackal was.
As for “What I can tell you is that we had difficulty bringing people on who were willing to come on to debate with Mr. Kinsella.” I bet. He, or his nasty little pal Lucy, are suing virtually every major mildly rightish blogger in Canada. And he is far too scared to debate Ezra. Plus, and even now this counts for something, the man is a liar and, in a gentler age would simply be shunned by people who have any serious regard for the truth.
Gus, a year ago the only people who cared about the abuse of s. 13 were on the ultra far right. And a humourless bunch they were. Calling the Lying Jackal by his proper name or unctuously referring to the sockpuppets as the “Muslim law students” was no fun. It did not make the discussion interesting.
The MPs should have no trouble getting “the message” 99% of the CPC policy convention voted in favour of it. How can they not get it?
As for Ezra – he is a provocateur. His job is to keep this issue in the press until the CPC kills s. 13 dead. And to do that he has to spend a lot of time “over the top”.
Now, while I am here, I have to ask, why is this even a problem? All Nicholson has to do is insert one line into the throne speech and introduce a three line bill which already has a measure of bi-partisan support. And do it in the face of an entirely disorganized Opposition which is terrified of an election. How hard can that be?
November 16th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I love it when wimps use someone else’s “tone” or “attitude” as their lame excuse not to support Cause XYZ. Sheesh. Why do I always suspect they are really working for the other side – sort of the opposite of agents provocateur? Agents Collaborateur perhaps?
This issue never would have made it this far if it hadn’t been for “obnoxious/silly/whatever” people like Ezra Levant and other “right wing bloggers”. Who cares what those party hacks tell you they think? They’re probably just unprincipled nobodies who blow with the wind. If they really wanted to change the world they wouldn’t be wasting their lives as Conservative Party delegates. (see: “if you know so much about great careers, how come you’re just a guidance counsellor?”) Party politics is a scam run by con men and kept alive by suckers. The real fight is online and they’re just jealous because they are too sucky to risk their cocktail party invites to join us.
Tom Paine called King George an “ass”, and worse. Yeah, his tone REALLY hurt the American Revolution! I’m sure lots of boring, goody goody people thought so in those days. And who remembers them now? And aren’t you glad they were outnumbered?
November 16th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
“The more we use silly and stupid namecalling the more people see us as dinos with nothing to say!”
No, quite the reverse, it is often necessary to attract ‘their’ attention since being polite presently results in concerned inaction. Measures which add to their collective self-esteem are non-productive and dangerous when corrective actions are necessary. Sometimes it is important to let individuals know that they really are not respectable.
Cheers
November 16th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Ok keep on thinking you are in a schoolyard. beats me why you think somehow this gets attention. I have been talking this up with lots of people and either they arent interested or they get it but are embarassed by much of what they read online.
I will carry on discussing this civilly. You guys continue with your immature catcalls.
November 16th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Gus, you carry on however you want. And we all very much appreciate your efforts.
But, as i pointed out earlier, a year ago this issue was not even a speck on the radar, now it is a featured resolution of the CPC Policy Conference.
Forgive me for thinking that we are doing something right.
November 16th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Call me when this thing gets passed into law. The CPC resolution means nothing if Harper isn’t willing to spend the political capital to make a legislative change the primarily benefits assholes, including neo-nazis, who traffick in hate.
As Mr. Williams correctly observes, having venom-spewing bullshit artists like Shaidle and Levant leading the charge increases the political cost of amending the legislation. In the meantime, the defamation suits pile up and the PayPal begging bowl sare rattled endlessly and shamelessly.
November 16th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Gus
“A gentleman never offends unintentionally.”
Cheers
November 17th, 2008 at 4:59 am
Also? Beware The “I Have a Friend Who Says” Guy.
Flannery O’Connor: When you’re talking to the deaf, sometimes ya gotta shout.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:02 am
Gus Williams:
I’m with you on the “civility” issue. Gus, it saddens me to know that there are “consultants” making BIG BUCKS in Canada training corporate employees in how to use cutlery, how to eat, how to order wine, meet someone, shake someone’s hand, make conversation etc. Canadians are seen to be boorish and ignorant internationally, not “nice and kind” as popular Canadian mythology leads one to believe.
November 18th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Kathy I have a friend who says you are wrong.
“The more we use silly and stupid namecalling the more people see us as dinos with nothing to say!”
I have a lot to say and only name call when it’s bloody well deserved.