Idiot Provocatuer

When an agent of the state usually an undercover cop, encourages groups to take illegal or questionable actions which can get them busted they are called agent provocatuers.

Well Ezra Le Rant the Zionist apologist and right wing mouthpiece,publisher of the Western Standard has taken his hatred of all things Arab to its logical extreme. Weeks after the controversy is over, like the opportunist he is , Ezra has decided from the safety of Calgary to publish some of the controversial anti-Mohammed cartoons.

That this is reprehensible goes without saying, that it is NOT freedom of speech goes without saying as well. Why? Because Ezra and his pathetic palagarized rag; the Western Standard are claiming they are doing it cause it's a news story. And they love to fabricate news.

Sorry Ezra the story is over and has been for almost two weeks. Had you published them then, perhaps you could have ecked out a modicum of press sympathy. Publishing them today just proves you are a provocatuer and an idiot. Publisher defends decision to reprint cartoons

And predictably the Blogging Tories one and all are cheering Ezra, well even idiots have friends. Other idiots.

And he is only doing it after another Zionist publication in Calgary the Jewish Free Press also deliberately published them as a provocation. Beating him to the punch.

On February 9, Jewish Free Press reprinted three of the drawings, considered blasphemous under Islam.But the Jewish Council of Calgary immediately slammed the move, dissociating itself from the newspaper and denying any type of support to such hateful publication

Friday 10 February 2006
Ezra Levant takes Canadian Foreign Minister to task for statement on Mohammed cartoons

In an op-ed column published today, Ezra Levant, editor-in-chief of the Western Standard takes newly-appointed Conservative Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay to task for a statement released this week, his first as Minister, on the Mohammed cartoons controversy stating "Freedom of expression is a legally enshrined principle in Canada, but it must be exercised responsibly. We commend those Canadians who have acted appropriately."

Hey Ezra since you are now publishing stale dated controversial material perhaps in the name of freedom of speech you will serialize Mein Kamph since Helen Reisman the owner of Coles/Chapters/Indigo Books has banned that book from her stores as insulting to Jews. And that was done years ago, but still it is an outrage against the Freedom to Read.

Canadian magazine publishes cartoons

CALGARY, Alberta, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- A Canadian magazine published the controversial cartoons of Mohammed Monday, even though the editor called them "boring" and "bland."

Ezra Levant, editor of the Western Standard, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that publishing the cartoons is "completely normal" because the cartoons are at the center of the major news story of the day.

The cartoons originally commissioned and published by the Danish newspaper Jyllens Posten have sparked huge demonstrations throughout the Muslim world. Most of the cartoons show Mohammed with the most controversial giving him a bomb for a turban.

"We're not publishing them for their editorial merits. They're boring cartoons, they're bland," Levant said.

Mohamed Elmasry, head of the Canadian Islamic Council, told the Toronto Globe and Mail that he wants Levant prosecuted under Canadian laws making hate speech illegal.

Mon, February 13, 2006

Media runs scared More than meets eye in failure to show cartoons By Ezra Levant

Canadian Muslims press for charges over cartoons
Reuters Canada, Canada - 3 hours ago
... The Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, based in Calgary, said on Monday it filed a complaint against the Western Standard, a right-wing weekly newsmagazine ...
Muslims may sue over cartoons Canada.com
Calgary magazine reprinting cartoons Globe and Mail
Calgary Muslims uneasy after controversial cartoons republished CBC Calgary
Global National - CTV.ca - all 25 related »

And while we are at it let's remember that Ezra and his right wing demagouge pal Rob Anders were forced to apologize to Senator Ron Ghitter for their outrageous statements made in a fund raising letter.

Ezra likes to talk about self hating Jews but he had no problem picking on fellow Jewish Calgarian; Senator Ron Ghitter who had been the Human Rights advocate in Alberta and then was appointed to the Senate. Of course Senator Ghitter was a well known liberal being a Red Tory. It was Conservative PM Brian Mulroney that appointed him to the Senate.

Ezra Levant, a pepper pot of the first order with enthusiasm spilling out of his shirtsleeves, leaves far more Alliance members – including Harper – angry at him than laughing at his antics. Certainly Alberta Tory Jewish Senator Ron Ghitter, a Mulroney appointee, was not amused when Levant, in a fundraising letter sent to 31,000 Albertans, accused Ghitter of being “lazy and un-Albertan.” Levant had to apologize.

LARRY ZOLF:
Ezra Levant is no Oscar Levant

SEE Magazine
Copyright © 1998. All Rights Reserved.

---

UGLY RUMORS
BY SEE STAFF

Far Right savant and Reform Party Animal Ezra Levant is angry that Tory Senator Ron Ghitter has slapped the Reform Party of Canada, Levant et al with a million-dollar lawsuit for libel. The action was filed by Ghitter because of a nasty piece of Senate Reform propaganda Levant had a hand in. The mail-out made disparaging remarks about Senator Ron's attendance at Upper House functions.

But when Ron filed his lawsuit, Ezra began to whimper. Poor thing. Levant called Ghitter a big baby who goes crying to his lawyer just because he didn't like what someone said about him, in print.

Geez, it kinda reminds us of the time we wrote something about Ezra that he didn't like and he went crying to his lawyer.

SEE Magazine:Thursday, October 29th., 1998

THE SENATE

Tuesday, April 11, 2000

The Senate met at 2:00 p.m., the Speaker in the Chair.

Prayers.

SENATORS' STATEMENTS

Apology to the Honourable Ron Ghitter

Statement in Response

Hon. John Lynch-Staunton (Leader of the Opposition): Honourable senators, as my statement, I should like to read part of a statement by our former colleague the Honourable Ron Ghitter, regarding the apology that he received from Mr. Ezra Levant and Mr. Rob Anders, which states as follows:

...I have now received a complete and unequivocal apology from Mr. Levant and Mr. Anders...

In addition to the apology which will be published this week in The Calgary Herald, The Calgary Sun and The Edmonton Journal, the settlement also includes the full payment of all my legal costs and a substantial contribution to the Tom Baker Cancer Clinic and the Sheldon Chumir Foundation which will be made in equal sums.

The issue is not so much the attack on my integrity, which I found to be very hurtful, as much as it is the growing direction of politics in Canada where personal attacks are becoming more and more common. The issues involved are the very basic concerns of leadership, dignity and the fundamental responsibilities of those involved in public life to maintain an element of decorum, fairness and above all civility in their conduct.

To be clear, those of us in public life have an obligation to aggressively debate the issues, to question the policies of others, to engage in the cut and thrust of political dialogue and to advance our agendas and arguments in the most persuasive manner. However, to enter into unsavoury and mean-spirited tactics of character assassination, based on alleged facts that are false, and out of context interpretations, as a means to encourage campaign contributions is not only unacceptable, it is deplorable.

If such tactics are left unchallenged there will be a continuing growth of disrespect for our institutions and the dedicated men and women who choose to serve in them. The result will be that fewer and fewer talented Canadians will agree to serve in our Parliaments, our Legislatures and our City councils.

In this case the ultimate responsibility lies with Preston Manning.

Mr. Anders is a Reform M.P. and Mr. Levant was a close advisor to Preston Manning at the time he wrote and distributed the letter. They acted with Mr. Manning's authority, and the blessing of the Reform Party.

Mr. Manning had the following to say when I threatened a law suit.

There is nothing in the letter that is libelous, Ghitter has no grounds to sue.

With the things in that letter being on the streets of Alberta every day, what's Ron going to do, sue all the rest of Alberta? I mean he's an unaccounted, unelected Senator for whom Albertans have less and less respect.

This is the same Mr. Manning who previously is quoted as saying,

We will campaign on principles and specifics and avoid the simple bashing of opponents and the manipulation of symbols. I want to emphasize that we in the Reform Party are not interested in personal attacks on individuals or in bashing any group or region in Canada.

Mr. Ghitter ends his statement by saying:

I think it would be appropriate, and it is to be hoped that Mr. Manning would also publicly apologize for his support and encouragement of such deplorable conduct and defamatory statements by one of his M.P.s and a senior advisor in his office.

Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!

Who's in charge here: monarch or regents?

Edward Greenspon - EDWARD GREENSPON
Friday, May 18, 2001

Ezra Levant, private citizen, stood in front of the National Press Building at noon yesterday doing what he does best: sounding incredible rather than credible, huffing and puffing over legal action, digging into his mental thesaurus for powerful adjectives to hurl at his opponents, circling squares instead of squaring circles. In short, making a bad situation worse.

That the downfall of Stockwell Day's top communications adviser, after just 13 weeks in position, should come over a threatened lawsuit confirms that the master of the universe is a poet at heart. Mr. Levant, a lawyer by training, has proven himself to be something of an obsessive litigator in his short time in politics.

In addition to failing to get his boss to cut and run in a timely fashion in the infamous Goddard case, he actively aided and abetted Mr. Day in smearing the entire Canadian judiciary over the alleged bias of Quebec Superior Court Judge Joel Silcoff. Last year, Mr. Levant himself was forced to settle a defamation suit brought against him and Alliance MP Rob Anders for calling former Alberta Senator Ron Ghitter lazy and un-Albertan.

Mr. Levant apparently went a lawsuit too far in sending a letter Wednesday, along with three of his employees, threatening rebel MP Chuck Strahl with a defamation action unless he immediately and unconditionally apologized for remarks the group found offensive. In turning away from Mr. Day's leadership on Tuesday, Mr. Strahl had complained that "the current leadership has exercised consistently bad judgment, dishonest communications and lack of fidelity to our party's policies." Mr. Levant and his group took the words "dishonest communications" personally.

Although everyone referred to Mr. Levant's resignation yesterday as voluntary, they didn't hide that the letter had been the final straw. In disclosing that the Young Turk spokesman was out, Alliance House Leader John Reynolds stated that Mr. Levant's letter "was not cleared through the process." He also criticized Mr. Levant's leak of the letter to the media as unacceptable.

And so the self-described Stock-aholic vanished, albeit not without a trace.

Ezra hates Ghitter because his human rights commission investigated and made reccomendations around Religious and Minority Tolerance after James Keegstra was charged with promoting Anti-Semitic Hate speech and literature in his Social Studies classes.

Ezra defends Keegstra but denounces fellow Calgarian Ron Ghitter. And he denounces the Palestinan Student Association at the University of Calgary as more anti-Semitic than Keegstra. He also slandered another Jewish academic in his attack on the Palestinian Students Association.

And while attacking opponents of the State of Israel's illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories Ezra has no problem defending Anti-Semitism in the name of Free Speech. If it is of course coming from fundamentalist Christians who make up the Right he so loves. Like Mel Gibson.

To its credit, the Asper's National Post is occasionally objective. On August 14, 2003 it published a defence of Mel Gibson by Ezra Levant, a practising Jew, entitled "Don't Criticize Mad Mel."

"The Book of Mathew reports an incontrovertible fact: a Jewish court condemned Jesus for blasphemy," Levant writes. "Of course they would have done so, he was leading a new religion. The lesson that most Christians take from the story, and certainly traditional Catholics like the Gibsons, is that Jesus did not die because of the Jews, but because of the sins of all mankind. He had to suffer to redeem everyone else from their sins...

Mel Gibson's attackers are not just labelling a movie as anti Semitic. They are calling the Bible anti Semitic... Their hysterical attacks reveal much more about their own tolerance than they do about Mr. Gibson's." (A-14)

And here is another example of Ezra's real politick's they aren't about Jewishness they are all about the Fundamentalist Right Wing. Like the Evangelical Chrisians defense of Israel is not about defending Jews but about the coming Rapture.

Conservative magazine out of touch
Curiosity led me to the Western Standard web page, in particular the book review section, where publisher Ezra Levant reviews and recommends the latest books. Curious to know what’s listed? Black Rednecks and White Liberals, Help Me God: The Ten Commandments, Judicial Tyranny and the Battle for Religious Freedom, State of Fear, and The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America.

Ezra is a born again Zionist, who uses his Jewishness when it is convinient to justify his attacks on other Semites, which includes liberal Jews and Arabs. His real agenda is the Calgary agenda to promote an Evangelical Bible Based Republican style right wing political movement in Canada. What is laughable is that if you scratch away the veener these guys end up being the real Anti-Semites.





Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Ezra, Levant, Western, Standard, Muslim, Alberta, Cartoons, Canada, Blasphemy, Mohammed

Vue Covers My CBC Campaign

Got an email from a reporter from Vue Weekly last week and did a phone interview with him about my Hey CBC Ezra Does Not Speak For Me campaign. Let a thousand flowers bloom as they say.

And in this week's edition they published this;

CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED AGAINST CBC RIGHT-WING 'FLACK'

MURRAY SINCLAIR / murray@vueweekly.com

Recall campaigns, in use in some US states, British Columbia and once in Alberta, are usually aimed at removing politicians from office between elections.
But one local activist has started a similar type of campaign online to get rid of a conservative pundit from a CBC Newsworld show.

Eugene Plawiuk told Vue it’s “extremely disrespectful” that Ezra Levant is used as Alberta’s representative by veteran broadcaster Don Newman for a cross-Canada regional panel on his afternoon Politics show.

“There’s a constant use of Ezra, as if he knows anything,” charged Plawiuk, a self-described “unabashed left-winger.”
“He doesn’t deserve to be on as a pundit from Alberta. It makes us look like right-wing nut bars.”

Levant, who has been a lawyer, columnist and an activist in conservative groups and parties, made the news recently when he stopped publishing his Western Standard magazine in favour of an online format.

Plawiuk said that Levant, who didn’t return repeated interview requests for this story, wrongfully believes that Albertans are “genetically” disposed against Liberals and for the Conservatives.

“Levant also deliberately refuses to make any reference to the NDP in this province, which happens to have four sitting MLAs, and has been a force in provincial and federal politics since the founding of the CCF in Calgary,” Plawiuk’s website charges.

In a past entry, he charged that the “Conservative Broadcasting Corporation,” when “reporting on news from Alberta for political comments ... is sucking up to the right wing rump of the right wing with Levant.

He “is not a journalist, but a public-relations flack for the right,” Plawiuk added.

In September, Plawiuk wrote to CBC ombudsman Vince Carlin that he’s “tired of the right-wing bias shown by Ezra Levant,” who he says does not reflect the reality of politics in Alberta.

“Get someone else to comment on Alberta politics, or at least balance him out with someone who is not part of the extreme right.”

Carlin replied that he forwarded Plawiuk’s concerns to the producer of Politics, but the activist answered back that nobody on the show was listening to him, as Levant kept on appearing as a talking head.

CBC spokesman Jeff Keay didn’t respond directly to Plawiuk’s campaign, but said generally “Don [Newman] has a broad range of people on the show.”

Jim Thompson of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting said his group hasn’t done any content analysis to determine whether the CBC is providing a diversity of voices. He said Alberta MPs, who are all Conservative, would likely say the CBC is left-wing, but he wouldn’t comment on whether the CBC was using Levant to battle this perspective.

Plawiuk said he “wouldn’t be as ticked” if Levant was appearing on a non-public network that wasn’t supported by tax dollars, an arrangement he noted the conservative pundit dislikes despite appearing regularly on the CBC.

The activist started his anti-Levant campaign in late October by sending out emails on the listservs of the NDP and other progressive groups, while his blog is linked to several other leftist and non-ideological websites.

He doesn’t know how many in cyberspace have heeded his request to email the CBC and ask for Levant’s removal as Newman’s only Alberta voice, but a number of people have told him they’ve done so, including one who created an online logo stating “Hey CBC, Ezra Levant does not speak for me!” for use in the campaign.

The activist denied that he’s advocating censorship, and said his campaign speaks to a bigger issue that goes beyond cyberspace.

Alberta is changing politically, said Plawiuk, citing the thousands of newcomers coming into the province, the decline of the Reform movement and the departure of conservative standard-bearer Ralph Klein from the premier’s chair.
“Nobody talks about the Ralph revolution anymore,” he said. “They talk about the Ralph failure.”

Plawiuk suggested in one email to the CBC that “there are other more ‘expert’ folks you could use, or at least to give balance and have on along with Ezra,” citing as examples local blogger Ken Chapman and the Parkland Institute’s Ricardo Acuña.

The activist told Vue that Edmonton Journal legislature reporter Graham Thompson or someone from the Calgary Herald or that city’s CBC would be acceptable in place of Levant, who he charged “blusters on with half-facts and innuendo.”

He said even Edmonton Sun columnist Neil Waugh would be a more insightful voice on the right, as would Link Byfield of the defunct Alberta Report magazine, given his long experience with the conservative cause..

Associating Levant with a “small voice from Calgary,” Plawiuk said there was a regional dimension to his campaign, charging that Newman’s show was turning down Edmonton voices in favour of what he called Canada’s most Americanized city.

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting spokesman Thompson said CBC cutbacks have gutted regional programming, which has “certainly affected the diversity of perspective that the CBC has been able to offer its audience” in his mind. V

Interesting that Friends of Canadian Broadcasting doesn't do content analysis. That's not what they say on their web site. And their actions say otherwise. However I guess what they don't do is look at specific programs. Though Don's show has slipped in some American spin which should concern them.

FRIENDS of Canadian Broadcasting is an independent, Canada-wide, non-partisan voluntary organization whose mission is to defend and enhance the quality and quantity of Canadian programming in the Canadian audio-visual system. FRIENDS is not affiliated with any broadcaster or political party.

FRIENDS relies upon individuals for donations to finance its watchdog role, public policy initiatives, public opinion leadership and research activities directed at our priorities.

Looks like CBC's top-ranked managers, specifically president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch and CBC-TV executive vice-president Richard Stursberg, have been stung by Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

A fundraising letter sent recently to Friends' members – who number 66,000 dues-paying households – attacks the duo for their "incompetence, neglect and recklessness" and "appallingly deficient vision."

The spokesperson for CBC says Don has a broad representation from Alberta which of course is a lie. His regular, as in frequent, guest commentator on things Albertan is Ezra.

Keep sending those cards, letters, and emails to CBC. And please cc me at
eugene-at-union-dot-org-dot-za

See:

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
CBC, Don Newman, media bias, Ezra Levant, CBC politics, politics, Alberta, Canada, Vue Weekly

Trial begins in university professor's defamation lawsuit against Ezra Levant

© Provided by Edmonton Journal

Ezra Levant is accused of making defamatory statements against Farhan Chak, a former Liberal Party of Canada candidate in Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont.

A university professor and former Liberal Party candidate’s defamation lawsuit against pundit Ezra Levant has made it to court six years after it was filed.

(LIBEL HAS A SEVEN YEAR LIMIT FOR TRIAL) 

On Monday, Edmonton Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Shaina Leonard heard opening arguments in the case of Farhan Chak, who launched a lawsuit against Levant in 2015 over comments Levant made on his Sun News Network program.

According to Chak’s statement of claim, Levant alleged during his Feb. 25, 2014, broadcast that Chak was involved in a shooting at an Edmonton nightclub in 1993, when Chak was 19.

Chak was acquitted of the 1993 charges in what he called “a case of mistaken identity.” He vehemently denied any involvement in the shooting, saying he was at his parents’ home with friends and had “absolutely no knowledge of what transpired.”

For reasons that remain under dispute, neither the plaintiffs or the defendants were able to obtain a transcript of the 1993 trial.

Chak won the Liberal nomination in Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont under Stéphane Dion in 2007 but eventually withdrew his candidacy amid controversy stemming in part from the charges.

Levant is now the head of Rebel Media, while Chak is a professor at Qatar University with a doctorate in political science.

A file photo of Farhan Chak, when he was 

a Liberal candidate in Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont.

Levant made the allegation as part of a monologue about human rights commissions (Chak’s brother was a lawyer at the time for the Alberta Human Rights Commission.)

Leonard is expected to hear from six witnesses, the majority of whom will be called by the defence. The bulk of Monday’s hearing was testimony from Chak, who appeared by video from Qatar.

Chak lived much of his life in Edmonton, the son of refugees from Jammu and Kashmir.

He said Levant’s statements had a “devastating” effect, including on his health and his career prospects.

Chak’s lawyer, Imran Qureshi, said his client was never given an opportunity to respond, and that Levant’s statements were “at best reckless and at worst malicious.”

“This was not by accident,” Qureshi said. “The very purpose of the broadcast and the defamatory statement was to villainize Dr. Chak.”

Chak’s 2015 statement of claim seeks $1 million in damages.

Levant’s lawyer, Barry Zalmanowitz, cross-examined Chak on his memories from the 1994 trial. 

ZALMANOWITZ IS THE TOP LIBEL LAWYER IN THE PROVINCE. THE SUN IS A CLIENT

Levant’s statement of defence argues that the statements were “substantially true.” He also claims the defences of fair comment, qualified privilege and responsible communication on a matter of public interest.

BOILER PLATE DEFENSE

Other defendants in the case include Sun News, Sun Media Corp. and Quebecor Media Inc.

Postmedia, this newspaper’s parent company, purchased Sun Media’s English language newspapers in 2015.

The trial is scheduled to run four days.

EZRA HAS BEEN TRIED 

BEFORE FOR LIBEL

IT DID NOT GO SO WELL

Ezra Levant loses libel case, must pay $80,000 to man he defamed as ‘illiberal Islamic fascist’

In his blogging about Canada’s hate speech laws, right-wing pundit Levant defamed a young law student as a serial liar, a bigot and a Jew-hater, a judge has found

Matthew Sherwood for National Post

Joseph Brean
November 27, 2014

In his blogging about Canada’s hate speech laws, right-wing personality Ezra Levant defamed a young law student as a serial liar, a bigot and a Jew-hating “illiberal Islamic fascist,” bent on destroying Canada’s tradition of free expression, a judge has found.

For these unfair, false and “extremely serious” written comments, which were motivated by “ill will,” and showed a “reckless disregard for the truth,” Mr. Levant must pay Khurrum Awan $80,000, Judge Wendy Matheson of Ontario Superior Court ruled Thursday.

Mr. Awan is now a lawyer in Saskatchewan, but in 2007 he was the public face of a campaign to protest the representation of Muslims in

Maclean’s magazine. This led to three failed human rights complaints and spurred Canada’s first online culture war over the hate speech section of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

That law has since been repealed by the Harper government and this case was one of the last loose ends in the broader conflict. As a total victory for Mr. Awan, it represents the revenge of the “sock puppet.”

This was the condescending nickname Mr. Levant and others used for him on the theory the law student was being manipulated in his anti-Islamophobia advocacy by Mohamed Elmasry, former head of the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), who had earlier torpedoed his own credibility with inflammatory comments about the Mideast conflict on a television talk show.

But Mr. Awan did not have as close a relationship with Mr. Elmasry as Mr. Levant repeatedly claimed, nor did he share his controversial views, Judge Matheson found.

As she put it, “Much of what [Mr. Levant] wanted to talk about at trial related more to Dr. Elmasry than to [Mr. Awan].”

She ruled there is “ample evidence before me demonstrating express malice on the part of [Mr. Levant],” especially the fact he “did little or no fact-checking regarding the posts complained of, either before or after their publication.”

“I find that [Mr. Levant’s] dominant motive in these blog posts was ill will, and that his repeated failure to take even basic steps to check his facts showed a reckless disregard for the truth.”

Mr. Levant “ought to have been aware of the serious ramifications of his words on the reputation of this law student. Yet, at trial, he repeatedly tried to minimize his mistakes and his lack of diligence.”

The judge rejected the argument of Iain MacKinnon, Mr. Levant’s lawyer, readers of his blog would not take his comments “at face value” because they would be “well aware of Mr. Levant’s penchant to stir controversy and make outlandish comments.”

She ordered Mr. Levant to remove the posts from his website within 15 days — they have been posted there for years — and pay Mr. Awan $50,000 in general damages plus $30,000 in aggravated damages.

“Mr. Awan is very pleased with the decision and is grateful that at long last he has been vindicated,” said his lawyer, Brian Shiller.
‘I find that [Mr. Levant’s] dominant motive in these blog posts was ill will, and that his repeated failure to take even basic steps to check his facts showed a reckless disregard for the truth’

Responding to the ruling, Mr. Levant called it “very troubling” and said he felt compelled to appeal.

“This is a shocking case of libel chill that should concern any Canadian who is worried about radical Islam, and the right to call out anti-Semitism in the public square,” he said in an email.

“If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will be open season on anyone who campaigns against anti-Semitism. It is a national gag order, which has the effect of silencing and punishing critics of anti-Semitism.”

The roots of Mr. Awan’s case go back to the early days of the vicious debate over Section 13, the hate speech clause of the Canadian Human Rights Act.

That debate began in 2007, when Maclean’s magazine published an excerpt from Mark Steyn’s book, America Alone, entitled “The Future Belongs To Islam.”

Offended by the article, Mr. Awan and three fellow law students complained to the magazine about its depiction of Muslims as a threat to the West and cited several other articles in Maclean’s on the same theme.

‘If this ruling is allowed to stand, it will be open season on anyone who campaigns against anti-Semitism. It is a national gag order’

Initially, they sought space for a rebuttal, but when that failed, they filed a human rights hate speech complaint in Ontario. Others followed federally and in British Columbia, brought by the Canadian Islamic Congress.

Judge Matheson describes the law students as “naive,” and said their meeting with Maclean’s executives represented a “significant failure of communication.”

“Ironically, while their original objective was in furtherance of freedom of expression, their perceived attack on the article and the venerated Maclean’s magazine resulted in their portrayal as attacking that very freedom,” Judge Matheson wrote.

The failure of the hate speech complaint became the primary example for the argument human rights tribunals had run amok as would-be censors. The fiasco was a key motivation for the government’s repeal of Section 13, the federal Internet hate law.

This massive national pivot on hate laws, which leaves criminal prosecution as the only legal response to hate speech, was in response to a blog-based campaign led by Mr. Levant, and marked a flip-flop for the federal Conservatives, who had supported Section 13.

National Post

Conservative Conundrum

A less than impassioned criticism by the 'Prime Minister' of Ezra Le Rant and his Western Standard and the Jewish Free Press both of Harpers home town; Calgary.In fact it isn't a criticism at all it's a defense of Le Rant. Harper regrets publication of controversial Muhammad cartoons

"Free speech is a right that all Canadians enjoy; Canadians also have the right to voice their opinion on the free speech of others," Stephen Harper said in a written statement, his first comments on the incendiary cartoons since the furor erupted.

Well what did you expect, Le Rant is one of the young Turks who surround Harper, like Jason Kenney, Rob Anders, etc. all members of the Republican wing of the Conservative party.

Harper is in a conundrum, as is his Conservative party, as are Blogging Tories because Le Rant may have put Canadian troops in harms way with his publishing the cartoons. The rioting over the cartoons has seen assualts on NATO troops in Afghanistan. And his publishing the cartoons has made it into the world wide Muslim press.

Legal redress sought over cartoons Aljazeera.Net
Canadian PM laments publication of Prophet caricatures Malayala Manorama

Ezra Levant is an Idiot.

On Tuesday, Lt.-Col. Tom Doucette told CTV News that the decision of Western Standard, a Calgary-based magazine, to reprint the cartoons could endanger Canadian troops serving in Afghanistan. "What it might do is slow things down, i.e., in concentrated centres," Doucette told CTV. "If we get crowds gathering, then we will try to avoid that." His comments bolstered a similar warning from Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor. "It doesn't help. Radicals in Syria and Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq, they get people roused up because their religion's being offended," O'Connor said, the Ottawa Citizen reported Tuesday. "We don't need any more risk in the area than we have."PM 'regrets' publication of Muhammad cartoons

Uh oh now all those Blogging Tories that support our troops in Afghanistan will have to make a choice defend an idiotic provocatation that was unneccary and that will lead to endagering our troops, or denounce Le Rant for his deliberate and calculated attempt to increase his magazines circulation and his own profile. The later being more the case than a case for Free Speech.

Ezra Levant, publisher of the Western Standard, told CBC television the magazine decided to publish the cartoons because it considered them newsworthy. "We're not publishing them for their editorial merits," he said."They're boring cartoons. They're bland. They're not interesting. We're not running them because we share their views. We're running them because they're the central fact that caused Muslim radicals around the world to riot."

Ezra is all about Ezra being the news. The Western Standard has no more real circulation than Alberta Report before it. So this is all about Ezra in the news. Always has been. And Ezra ain't news.

And his publishing the cartoons is sheer opportunism not a question of fighting censorship. The Canadian media didn't censor the cartoons they just didn't run them because of good sense and good taste. Something that is lacking at the Western Standard.

But again as I said it's not about the cartoons or freedom of the press or freedom of speech its about Ezra. He thinks now that the Conservatives are in power he and his right wing pals should get more press and be referred to like his counterparts in the U.S. are.

It's a tempest in a tea pot feuled by faux right wing outrage.

And unlike Voltaire I cannot support Ezra's right to so called Free Speech.

As a right winger he has now shown himself as a fascist who would deliberately publish material he knows will provoke a negative reaction in order to prove his point that his self appointed enemies, Canadian Muslims, are terrorists and reactionaries. To Ezra and his Conservative pals all Muslims are radicals. He is practicing the Goebbels school of propaganda not Free Speech.

Levant, who is Jewish, had some harsh words for Elmasry. He described him as an "idiot" several times, and said he has no moral high ground to lecture him on journalistic integrity.
Levant pointed to controversial comments Elmasry made in October, 2004, when he said all Jews over the age of 18 are fair targets for suicide bombers. Elmasry made the comments on The Michael Coren Show, an Ontario program that runs on Burlington's Crossroads Television System.Elmasry later repeated the comments in a Globe and Mail interview, but eventually claimed he was expressing a widely-held Palestinian view, not his own personal belief."PM 'regrets' publication of Muhammad cartoons

Yeah Ezra is Jewish, so what. He is a perfect example of what he calls the self-hating Jew, he is Jewish when it is conveniant to be Jewish. Like now. Most of the other times he is just a regular WASP Right Winger like his other pals in the Calgary Conservative circle.

And yeah he uses a mistatement by his opponents to belittle them, like he has never done that and had to apologize. These are the debating tactics of a fascist. Never apologise never surrender. Ah, Dr. Gobbels would have been proud.

And Canadians deserved more outrage out of our PM rather than his weak tea 'regret'. Yeah we all regret your pal's in Calgary are idiots, but your job is not to defend them but to speak for Canadians whom they have insulted and outraged.





Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Harper, Canada,Ezra Levant, Western Standard, Cartoons, Blasphemy, Free Speech, Mohhamed, Islam, Muslims, Afghanistan, NATO, troops, apology, regrets

Canada Says No To Star Wars Jr.

John Gibson of FOX Calls Canada Dumb.
Quissling Canadian Ezra Levant Agrees.

Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber Defend the Defenseless

Ezra Levant Watch blog reports:
"Poor Ezra Levant has been driven completely mad by Canada's decision not to sign onto the US missile defense program. Ezra begins robustly and rambunctiously enough; that by not signing up to a missile defense program that doesn't work when Canada has other defense priorities more current than 1964, Canada is reducing its standing in the world, and will end up like once-mighty Belgium. (Belgium again.)"

Oh Ezra you cut me to the quick , nope sorry that was a paper cut.

Our very own right wing quisling Ezra (ranter) Levant is rushing about all verklempt about the failure of Canadians to be, wait, for it, DUMB.

Nope we did not sign on to the Americans Missile Defense system, Star Wars Jr. it’s just another American billion dollar scam to keep the Military Industrial Complex in cash. (1)

Despite unifying the Reform/Alliance Party with the Progressive Conservatives Ezra’s brand of Canadian Republican Lite tossed the baby out with the bath water. The Progressives left a sinking ship and the right got what it wanted, a tired old Tory party no different from your daddy's Tory party. And during the election they looked, well like a bunch of Tories, talk from the right run from the centre.

And the winners in the election were Canadians who got a Minority Government of Liberals who moved left to match the NDP and BQ. Three left parties got the majority of seats in the house. The left opposition in the House of Commons is as strong as Her Majesty's Official Opposition. And so Canadians won.

Stephen Harper and his Tories had to call for tax cuts for ordinary Canadians and not just his corporate pals, call for rollbacks in EI for "workers" as well as employers. Yep he choked on those words but he had to say it, the Left rules.

When faced with an ill timed announcement that we are part of the US missle defense plan the PM finally made a decision, to NOT join Star Wars Jr. No more Mr. Dithers.

And Harper and pals had already flipped flopped on Missile Defense back in September. They dropped missile defense like a hot potato, despite being her majesties loyal opposition, because, wait for it, it didn't seem to work.

Yep two Missile tests, two failures, ah American Technology, no wait they probably outsourced the work, quick alert Lou Dobbs!!!

Only an ideological anachronism like Ezra doesn't get it because the facts don't fit his dogma.

John Gibson at Fox Bashes Canada

When it comes to not supporting Star Wars Jr., he claims we are DUMB. We are dumb to expect the Americans not to be upset because we rejected their offer of a free fully paid for missle defense system whether we wanted it or not. We are dumb for expecting Condeleza Rice to do her job and not be petulant because we don't support Star Wars Jr.

Well those who support Americas FAILED missile defense system are dumber. Dumb American Right Winger, Dumb, Dumb and Dumber, there, I got that off my chest.

John how quickly you forget, that the Axis of Evil you refer to was concocted by CANADIAN David Frum, speech writer for George Jr. Of course you don't forget that fact you just chose to ignore it, like you do with the fact your missle system is a failure. F A I L U R E.

David Frum like Ezra is another Right thinking Canadian and the rest of us are flaming socialists, which is why he ran away from home to be with you.

When it comes to Star Wars Jr., maybe you should have hired Industrial Light and Magic instead of the Pentagon Contractors Association. Hey John can you say DUD. That's what the American Missile Defense system is. Pentagon experts, being boys with toys figure its all about missiles.It was a Republican Presidential Candidate that informed us that America suffered from ED. Now the Pentagon is proving it with its Missile system that is a DUD!

What’cha gonna do John declare a boycott of Canadian Beers, opps sorry we own Coors now. Stop investing in Canadian money markets, nope not at 25 cents on the dollar. The majority of your merchant banks have been sold to Canadian banks. And you already closed the market to our beef, and use illegal taxation on our softwood lumber and steel exports.

Taxation, damn it man, taxation the very cause that created FOX News and the Regan Republicans was tax cuts, damn it man at least be consistent. What hypocrites you talk free trade, talk tax cuts, and what do you do violate the WTO rules every chance you get. You don’t walk that talk.

Taxing softwood lumber is an attack on Canada, tax steel, again illegal, and you attack us, Japan and Europe. Free Trade indeed. And you call us friends and neighbours, sorry neighbors, boy I'd hate to see how you treat your enemies, nope seen that too. Those you don't invade you cuddle. Keep your enemies closer I guess is part of that my enemies enemy foreign policy.

In North America of the three Amigos, Canada is the largest economic engine of trade for US markets. But we are off your radar map. And speaking of radar maps while centralizing all NORAD command under US control, was an arbitrary decision so of course you should pay for it, in more ways than one.

And speaking of NORAD it sort of fell down on the job during 9/11. So NORAD failed, your missile defense system failed, your intelligence agencies failed, twice; before 9/11 and in the build up to the Iraq war. Aren’t you the country with the “Three Strikes” laws?

No John we don’t tremble in fear of North Korea launching missiles at North America, because that’s not what its really about. The reality is that Star Wars Jr. is being set up to defend the US from China. Preparation is being made for when the economic battles and international competition for Imperialist Power end up not as a battle for consumers, but an actual war.

But wait the Republican Right Wing loves China; it’s the new capitalist marketplace. It seems that we all forget that during the Cold War there were 3 super powers. Three, trey, troy, three, and one of them was China. Still is, just quiet about it. She made her peace with Nixon, Nixon of all people. But that put the Republican Right between a rock and a hard place as allies of China against Russia.

The enemy of my enemy, very simple politics you Americans have. I blame it all on football; it’s where Americans get their Leaders and their Military strategy from. Which is why the U.S. supports Pakistan, Russia supported India, and China played them both off, still does, clever. And they still have Tibet. Tibet which was taken over by China the same time as Eastern Europe fell to Stalin. The Chinese play chess, so do the Russians, Americans just point their heads in one direction and charge.

Nope its good old competition in the market place, capitalism is war by other means. This may be a safer conflict for Canadians, then waiting for an American dud missile to drop on us. It’s a calculated risk, but Canadians are known as risk takers, especially if our neighbor is so dumb as to risk all our security with its warmongering and jingoism. Not much we can do about it, just politely smile nod our heads in that knowing way, and move to the other side of the room.

Recently China released an internal Chinese Military Assessment from its Chiefs of Staff written in 1999. The document was ‘leaked’ onto the Internet; nothing gets leaked from China unless the Party wants it leaked, as part of this new shadow war.

It’s about how to destabilize the USA. Not one word about tanks or missiles, it was about using the market to buy up shares, outstanding federal bills of credit, American dollars. Buyout American corporations, get more offshore work, and sell more goods to Wal-Mart. It was a plan to dominate the market. If the 20th Century was Americas, the 21st Century is China's.

China knows that you are a weak Empire, and as she purchases more market share here, it will not be for America's use but for her use. She is creating the Fordist manufacturing culture of prosperity that was once the domain of the USA, Europe, Japan and Korea. What kicked started these post war economies is kick starting China. If China once was a sleeping giant, she has woken up and is on her way to becoming the new capitalist behemoth.

Historically all trade and expansion of the last 500 years was westward, and once you get to the California Coast, it’s off we go westward to China to fulfill Columbus’s dream. So will America’s new cold war be with China? Your fetish for missile defense points in that direction.

Now that’s really DUMB.

Footnotes:

(1) It was a Republican President; Dwight D. Eisenhower who coined the term, Military Industrial Complex, fifty years ago when he warned they were dominating America’s economic, military, judicial and political elites. He was right America has a new ruling class.

Western Standard RIP

As I predicted here Ezra Levant's version of Alberta Report has followed in its footsteps.

To my deep regret, the Western Standard has decided to stop publishing our print edition.

Financial pressures force publisher of Calgary-based conservative magazine to discontinue its hard-copy format

This appears when you try and subscribe

We are temporarily unavailable.

And the last 'print' edition posted on the web site is September 17!

Buzzwords - September 17, 2007 by Western Standard

All other copy updates for the past month is posted on their website, which you can access for free.

To read this article, you need to be a registered user.

Registration is free and confidental.

Note: If you experience difficulties after you have registered or logged in, please enable cookies on your browser.

Which sort of defeats the purpose of subscribing.

The only active online page freely available is their Shotgun Blog.

My how the mighty have fallen. The ruthless nature of capitalism once again defeats its most stalwart advocates on the right in Canada. Perhaps if they had a business plan instead of just doctrinal faith that their minority opinion was valuable. Or at least had the business smarts to make it a charity like the Fraser Institute.

And the whining is only starting.

Jonathan Kay on Ezra Levant and the demise of the Western Standard

One of the Last Conservative Print Magazines in Canada Goes out of business

When magazines die

The Battle of the Standard

I wonder if anyone bothered to tell CBC and Don Newman, that his 'voice of Alberta' no longer is publishing.

Ezra Levant is a loser. He lost his job as communications mouthpiece for Canadian Alliance Leader Stockwell Day. He lost his seat to Harper. He now has lost his magazine.


Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Alberta Report, Don Newman, media bias, Ezra Levant, CBC politics, right wing politics, Alberta, Canada, Western Standard

Deja Vu: Gen XYY Neo-Cons

Another book on the neo-con youth revolution has been released.....Sigh.
Cute couple on the cover...thought it was a Women are from Ottawa, Men are from Medicine Hat kinda of advise book.

Another call from the right wing youth movement is just well so boooooring. If the right hasn't gotten its shit together after years of us suffering the earlier generation of neo-con youth revolutionaries that unholy cabal of Ezra Levant, Jason Kenney and Robert Anders, all Fraser Institute interns and Reform/Alliance/Conservative party hacks, then its never going to get its shit together....thank the gods of war for that.

So lets see Ezra published his manifesto for the conservative youth generation Youthquake back in 1997, published by the Fraser Institute with an introduction by Jason Kenney then President of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

The recent Fraser Institute publication Youthquake, by Ezra Levant, has been receiving quite a lot of attention from book reviewers. Here are some excerpts from the book:

On Government Charity:

"Too many programs designed to be social safety nets turn out to be hammocks: they trap people instead of getting them back to work."

On Pensions:

"Where the Canada Pension Plan is contributory—you have to pay into it to collect it—Old Age Security is pure gravy. You get it just for being old. It’s like a giant birthday present for every Canadian turning 65."

On Health Care:

"Sounds like a list for Santa: ‘I want free health care everywhere, all the time, plus peace on earth and my very own pony.’"

On Politicians And Pork:

"[I]n politics, only two things have value: money and votes. And where you find those twin political currencies, you’ll find government gravy."

On Youth And Debt:

"Just because we’re young doesn’t mean we should get free education. . . . We’ve been living in this fantasy world for so long, living off our credit and a smile, but now it’s catching up to us"

History will likely record Baby Boomers as the one anomalous generation to receive transfers from both its parents and its children.

Now almost a decade later another round of neo-con whiners come up with, well more of the same. And they are dopplegangers of the Levant/Kenney/Anders gang.

Tasha Kheiriddin (Toronto, ON) became the Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation in February, 2004.

Adam Daifallah (Quebec City, QC) is a Canadian author and journalist. A native of Peterborough, Ontario, he is currently a law student at Laval University in Québec City, where he is the recipient of the Richard J. Schmeelk scholarship. Adam was a member of the editorial board at the National Post, as well as the newspaper's curling columnist, from 2003 to 2005

In Rescuing Canada's Right, the authors examine the problems facing the Conservative Party and the broader conservative movement, and offer concrete solutions on how to fix them.

Hey what are ya saying that Levant, Kenney and Anders and the rest of the conservative youth movement failed? If thats so what makes these two think they have anything new to say, let alone that their prescription for change can succeed.

Some of the issues the book will address:

• Why the Conservative Party and its predecessor parties have such a poor electoral record;
• Why today's Conservative Party is not really conservative.
• Why a new political vision is necessary to inspire Canadians--and what it should be.
• How the Liberals use public money to entrench an unhealthy reliance on the state--and how the right has failed to challenge it
• What Canadian conservatives can learn from the American and British experiences
• How to build a Canadian Conservative counter-culture in the media, academia, and the law
• How the right can break through to the young, and to immigrants in Quebec
• An action plan to end Canada's democratic deficit and level the political playing field.

Rescuing Canada's Right will be a hard-hitting and groundbreaking work that will introduce new ideas and a passionate call for change for 21st century Canada.

Ho hum heard it all before, hey isn't this what the Reform Party was all about before it sold out to get elected, and then wasn't this what the Alliance was all about and now.....well you get the idea. The Conservative revolution failed due to the internal putsch like politics of Alberta Tories over Preston Manning. And the young Turks behind that putsch were Levant/Kenney/Anders.

Nothing hard hitting here, nothing groundbreaking, lets see a Canadian Conservative Counterculture already dominates our media, academia and the law.

Their new vision for Canada is Republican Lite. The only difference between this 'new generation' of conservatives and their youthful elders; Levant, Kenney and Anders, is these two are from Ontario.....

And Ezra Can Apologize Too

And while we are getting apologies by folks who accused Mahar Arar of being a terrorist how about Ezra Le Rant and his Western Standard publishing a front page apology to the Arar family. These are just a few examples I am sure you can find more, and more, and more.....

Layton wants to negotiate with Taliban terrorists (is NDP star candidate, Monia Mazigh -- wife of Maher Arar -- Layton's terrorism advisor?)

Alghabra was stopped at the U.S. border and searched and fingerprinted -- whether that was by reason of demographic profiling, or because he was on a watch list is uncertain. What is certain is that Alghabra turned it into an opportunity to gain media face time, Maher Arar-style, as an anti-American, anti-security mouthpiece.

Looking for a good read? Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant reviews and recommends the latest books. Buy them today!

Confessions of An Innocent Man: Torture and Survival in a Saudi Prison
by William Sampson
McClelland and Stewart, 432 pages

Unlike Maher Arar and the Khadr terrorist family, William Sampson has not received lavish government attention and aid, nor a public inquiry. Sampson suffered torture at the hands of Saudi Arabia, and that is one regime Canada doesn't want to offend. His book is about heroism--and Canada's diplomatic cads.

See

Arar

Ezra Levant



Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
O'Connor, Arar, RCMP, CSIS, Syria, Torture, Rendition, Ahmad, El, Maati, Abdullah, Almalki, , Muayyed, Nureddin, torture, CIA, ICC, Hague, Harper, Day, Kenney, Graham, Conservatives, Liberals, government, Canada, USA,
Ezra, Levant, Western, Standard, Muslim, Alberta,

CBC's Anti-Alberta Bias

Once again Don Newman interviews Ezra Levant on his Politics Show when it comes to Alberta Politics. And once again Ezra asserts that Albertans are 'genetically' disposed against Liberals, which is the flip side of his assertion, and those of other right wing historical revisionists in this One Party State, that Albertans are genetically disposed to vote Tory.

Levant also deliberately refuses to make any reference to the NDP in this province which happens to have four sitting MLA's , and has been a force in provincial and federal politics since the founding of the CCF in Calgary.

I am getting a little tired of the Don and Ezra show, which is an attempt to belittle Albertans as right wing red neck's when this province has a history being red, and it ain't just our necks.

I am asking fellow progressive bloggers from Alberta to email the CBC and protest about Don Newman only using Ezra has his 'voice of Alberta'. There are a wealth of other commentators available who are not so partisan and biased. And if we have to have comments from the right, then how about some fair and balanced perspective with someone from the left.

Contact Politics

By Mail:
Politics
P.O. Box 3220,
Station "C",
Ottawa, Ontario
K1Y 1E4

By Phone:
Comments: 613-288-6985
Fax: 613-288-6975

Or don_newman@cbc.ca

The CBC’s Office of the Ombudsman deals with complaints about information programming.

If your complaint involves Sports, Arts, Entertainment or Children’s programming, or if you have comments to make or questions to ask about CBC programming in general, please visit the CBC Contact page at www.cbc.ca/contact.

Complaints should be in writing. Please indicate the name of the program and whether it was on CBC Radio, CBC Television, CBC Newsworld or the CBC web site. Please
be specific. If you feel a program or report was unfair or biased, for example, please indicate how it was unfair or biased. When we receive your complaint we will ask the relevant programmers to respond. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Office of the Ombudsman again to request an independent review.

Please include:
Name, address and telephone number.

Here is how you can reach us:

E-mail:
ombudsman@cbc.ca

Mail:
Vince Carlin
Ombudsman
CBC
P.O. Box 500, Station A
Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6
Fax: 416/205-2825
Tel.: 416/205-2978

For complaints about Radio-Canada programs, please click on www.radio-canada/ombudsman.

Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
CBC, Don Newman, media bias, Ezra Levant, CBC politics, politics, Alberta, Canada, NDP