It’s that time again, for me to talk about all the people who have been talking about Jennifer Lynch and her wondrous multi-colour commission, with gratuitous mention of the various other commissioners and commissions currently mucking about in the Dominion.
First off, let’s talk all about Mark Steyn’s fundraiser to help defray some of Ezra Levant’s legal costs from his – latest – HRC-related lawsuit. Here’s what Mark’s got to say about it, in a sort of running commentary on his blog:
For our ten biggest spenders on our special Ezra Levant free-speech fundraising day, we have some special bonus gifts. The five biggest spenders in the course of the day will also receive, free, one of our brand new, exclusive SteynOnline mugs. They’re not yet available for sale, but we’ve got a few advance copies, and the top five fundraisers between now and midnight (Eastern) will get one slipped into their shipping cartons – together with a personal thank-you card from me. They’re very cool, and, if you want to start the day with a couple of extra shots, this is the way to do it.
But the fun doesn’t stop there! Jonah Goldberg, my distinguished colleague at National Review (and with Rob Long one-third of the Goldberg-Long-Steyn Three Tone-Deaf Tenors act), is also doing his bit for the cause of northern freedom. Jonah’s kindly donated five copies of his runaway success Liberal Fascism – which is not just a bestselling book but an important one, too. So the next five biggest spenders (after our coffee mug winners) will receive Liberal Fascism – and Jonah’s offered to autograph the book personally to the lucky recipients.
All day today we’re holding a special fundraiser for Ezra Levant, free speech champion and the most sued man in Canada, to help him see off the Canadian Islamic Congress’ last surviving sock puppet, and restore some of Canada’s lost liberties. Or as Don Sharpe says: “Let’s bring down the gavel on Islamic lawfare.”
We’re a little over halfway through our 24 hours, and I’m very grateful to all the freespeechers who’ve stopped by so far, from Australia to Singapore to Brazil, from Helsinki to Monte Carlo to Chipping Ongar to Palestine – er, Palestine, Texas, that is. Don’t forget, for every copy of every item sold at the Steyn store, we’ll give 50 per cent of the cover price – ie, our entire profit – to Ezra’s legal defense fund.
In the dying moments of our Socktastic Sockquidation Socktacular, I’d like to thank all the folks who swung by in these past 23-plus hours to buy a book, CD, mug or T-shirt and help support Ezra Levant, a great fighter for freedom. Fittingly enough, our biggest-selling item today was the SteynOnline Free Speech Special, containing three books – my own Lights Out, Ezra’s Shakedown, and Kathy Shaidle & Pete Vere’s Tyranny Of Nice – that the state censorship lobby doesn’t want you to read.
I’ve been immensely heartened by the support for Ezra from all corners of the globe, from Finland to the Philippines, from Sydney to Sao Paulo, from Monte Carlo to Moose Jaw. Tomorrow we’ll announce the winners of our special prizes, but for tonight’s closing remarks I like what the Closet Conservative says:
I think there are several lessons to be learned from this event… Ezra Levant, Canadian Zhooooo Extraordinnaire publishes Danish Mohammadoodles, gets investigated by Kanadian Kangaroo Kourts, and then posts his interrogation on the intertubes and BAM! Support and donations roll in from all over the world.
Steyn, from his Secret American Lair, with the enthusiastic help of fellow hatemongers all over the intertubes, gets a massive fundraising campaign going to help Ez fight the global jihad via its insidious lawfare tactic.
This says to me that there are many good people willing to fight, write cheques, write words and write songs to grind those bastards down.
There are. Khurrum Awan is the last sock in Mohammed Elmasry’s drawer – and, as one reader put it earlier today, “Awan is the loneliest number.” But he’s symptomatic of the larger struggle – of the freakshow alliance between Islamist intolerance and statist social engineering. If he ever sincerely wanted to “start that debate” he’s always on about, he must know by now that he’d lose. So all he has left is semi-illiterate litigious bluster.
If you missed your chance to buy yourself some nice t-shirts and mugs and books and whatnot from the SteynStore, why not mosey on over and pick something up anyway? Can’t hurt. More coverage from Deborah Gyapong, No Apologies, Because No One Asked, Sharpe Stick, Allan’s Perspective, Closet Conservative, and from Mark Steyn in NRO’s The Corner:
Having threatened physical violence against the editors, I wonder if I might beg their indulgence. Readers will recall Ezra Levant, my comrade in Canada’s battle for free speech (coming soon to the U.S., mark my words*) and the man whose video interrogation by the Alberta “Human Rights” Commission lit up the Internet.
Because his campaign has been so successful, Ezra has been subject to a ton of frivolous lawsuits designed to bury him. The latest is from the Canadian Islamic Congress’s Khurrum Awan, the phony “plaintiff” in my show trial in Vancouver last year. Fighting off Islamic “lawfare” takes time and money. So we’re having a little fundraiser for Ezra over at my place: You get some autographed books and other stuff, and the profits go to help a great warrior for liberty keep up the fight, and end a disgusting system that imposes lifetime speech bans on supposedly free-born citizens.
Meanwhile, Ezra Levant talks about Mark on his blog: Mark Steyn, my friend and ally:
Mark Steyn has done a lot of heavy lifting on the fight for freedom of speech in Canada, which is all the more amazing considering he is based in the U.S. I think we’re lucky that he continues to fight for us, given how easy it would be for him to simply ignore Jennifer Lynch, Richard Warman and the rest of the censors at the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
For one day, starting at midnight tonight, Steyn has generously offered to donate the proceeds from his book sales at his website’s store to my legal defence against Khurrum Awan’s nuisance suit.
If you want a copy of anything Steynian — or even a copy of Shakedown, which he sells on his site! — please do your shopping tonight or tomorrow!
Meanwhile, Mark Steyn continues his Khurram coverage with a query: Is Khurrum Awan a Jewish secret agent?
“Ernst Gauss” (last heard from in these quarters here and here) writes:
You may or may not have noticed, but it seems that the CHRC has decided it would be better if they did not jail Terry Tremaine…for now.
There is no doubt at all that Terry’s fate is a direct result of the efforts of you and Mr. Levant. You are quite correct, people who value freedom owe the both of you a debt. In particular Ezra Levant, who fights his battles directly in the maw of the beast. You both deserve to be congratulated, thanked, and supported.
As for you finding the relationship between Ruby/Shiller, Warman, Khurrum, the CJC etc unusual, if you took the time to consider what we evil “white supremacists” have been saying for years, it makes perfect sense. The most important thing for the Tribe (Official Jews, if you prefer) is to retain their cudgel of legal censorship and professional victim status. Who better to advance their interests than Khurrum, a former sock puppet for the CIC, now a Sock Puppet for the CJC?
A month ago Khurrum was a loose cannon, detrimental to their interests. Now he is their weapon, aimed at those who would undermine the “hate” laws they worked so hard to put in place. Look for a flood of behind the scenes lawyering money to mysteriously make an appearance, as has been the case throughout Warman’s career.
You might want to consider picking up a book co-written by Canadian Claire Hoy and a former Canadian Mossad agent called “By Way of Deception”. I expect you’ll survive reading it without turning into a white supremacist. But reading the book may just give you some insight as to why some of us see this issue as just one more battlefield in a larger war.
To paraphrase a well known writer, “not all the Chosen are hot for world dominance, but enough share the goals to make up an impressive support network”. You have your ethnic/religious groups you keep your eye on, and I have mine……..
Regards,
Ernst Gauss
Khurrum Awan, Zionist Sock Puppet? The must cunning weapon of the International Jewish Conspiracy yet?
More coverage from Clipmarks, and Closet Conservative ponders the longest suicide note ever:
OMG. Is this ever good. Ezra Levant’s post about his latest lawfare antagonist, writing “the longest suicide note ever”.
Seriously EVAH.
Second, have you heard the Shakedown song yet? Matthew Johnston from the Shotgun Blog explains:
This past weekend was the ninth annual Liberty Summer Seminarheld in Orono, Ontario. We will release video of all the speeches and events shortly, but we have a very special video that we are releasing right now.
The incredibly talented musician Lindy Vopnfjord put together a song in honour of our friend and former publisher, Ezra Levant, and his continuing battle against the Canadian Human Rights Commission. The song, appropriately called “Shakedown,” sharing a name with Ezra’s book, is a tribute to freedom of expression, and hammers home the message that the Canadian Human Rights Commissions are in violation of this traditional Canadian freedom.
The song was debuted at this year’s Liberty Summer Seminar. Here is the video:
Also noted by Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Human Rights Commission Exposed, Ezra Levant, and the Freedomsite Blog. Meanwhile, Jason Kenney makes a guest appearance.
Third, more coverage of the Court of Queen’s Bench decision backing up the Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal ruling against Orville Nichols, from The Seattle Stranger. Also, more from the Melfort Journal: Don’t blindly follow orders:
This is a great country we live in, Canada. We have rules that protect people from being discriminated against based on a multitude of factors, including: gender, religion, ethnicity, marital status and beliefs. It is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects people from discrimination, and closer to home there is the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code, which performs a similar act.
The Court of Queen’s Bench recently upheld a decision that states a person was discriminated against when a marriage commissioner declined to marry him and his same-sex partner.
A recent news release from the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission states that marriage commissioners are statutory officers appointed to perform civil marriages. It also states that to allow public officials to insert their personal beliefs into decisions about who and who should not receive a public service would undermine the protections of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.
So public officials are not allowed to use personal beliefs in their actions, but personal beliefs is what makes people human. People are not mindless drones, robots that blindly follow orders and do exactly what they are told despite knowing in the back of their mind that it goes against their beliefs.
Whether it is right or wrong for same-sex marriages to occur is not the issue, what is concerning is that public officials are expected to be drones of the system.
Fourth, Peter Worthington’s latest column for the Sun papers has appeared in the Edmonton Sun: Rein in the human rights bureaucracy, and in the Owen Sound Sun Times: The wrongs of human rights too plentiful. Also covered by Canadian Human Rights Commission Exposed, and Marc Lemire. Meanwhile, the recent editorial in the Calgary Herald on Stephen Boissoin’s recent appeal recieves some additional commentary from No Apologies. Also, Northumberland Today’s recent story covering Jim Corcoran’s complaint before the OHRC against several members of the Catholic Church is noted by the ADF Alliance Alert.
Fifth, Tom Waldman, via the Internet Review Of Books, gives a review of Ezra Levant’s Shakedown:
Like unemployed youth, liberals with too much free time can pose a problem for society. In America, we have seen proof of this repeatedly over the past two decades, as long-standing organizations dedicated to the civil rights, dignity, and respect of various groups continue to behave as if the country has not changed since 1950.
There are African-American leaders who will see no progress until every last racist either dies or renounces his former self; and feminists who rail against rampant sexism even as more and more women achieve economic and political power. The recent debate over same-sex marriage predictably has been personalized by a number of prominent gays who argue that advances in the status of their people are meaningless unless Adam and Steve can legally exchange vows in all fifty states.In his entertaining and persuasive book, author Ezra Levant demonstrated to this Yankee reader that a similar disease afflicts the Left in Canada. To be sure, Levant is no disinterested observer: his target, the Canadian Human Rights Commission, in 2008 charged him with discrimination. He had been hauled before the CHRC—Alberta version—as a result of having published in his magazine Western Standard controversial Danish cartoons depicting Mohammed. The case was brought by a Calgary imam born in Pakistan.
Levant’s penchant for self-promotion, which is evident throughout the book, should not prejudice the reader against his sound argument that by refusing to acknowledge positive change, the left is destroying its own credibility. He also shows how the Canadian Human Rights Commission can disdain such cherished concepts as freedom of speech and freedom of expression in its zeal to obtain justice for a diverse collection of victims.
Sixth, Howard Levitt writes in the Financial Post that: Human rights policy not the same as law:
An employer changes its shifts. As a result, one worker can no longer find childcare. Whose problem is this?
Most would say it’s the employee’s. The Ontario Human Rights Commission, no surprise, has a different view. According to the Commission, that employer is now guilty of discrimination and must reorganize her shifts to accommodate her childcare needs.
What impact will that have on workplace efficiency? For that matter, what will the reaction be of other employees who equally dislike their new shift schedule? Those issues, of course, don’t matter to the Commission.
The Ontario Human Rights Code prohibits discrimination based on “family status,” that is, being in a parent-child relationship. Very few employees or employers are even aware of this right.
Eighth, the Toronto Star receives a letter from one Jeff Burke that’s worth a read Chinese dissident in for letdown:
Re: Chinese dissident saved by Canada details horror, Opinion July 26
Claiming that he’s “elated by the precious gift of freedom” afforded to him in Canada, Jiang Weiping, a Chinese writer who now lives in Canada after years of suffering in prison for exposing corruption in China, declared in Haroon Siddiqui’s latest column that now he “can write and publish what I want, and nobody will penalize me.”
Unless, that is, he hurts their feelings.
Mr. Weiping is in for a real letdown once he gets wind of the Canadian Human Rights Commission’s views on the matter of free speech.
Jeff Burke, Toronto
Finally, “Bigoted and Unnecessary”; and The Nose On Your Face has taken the time to compile the top nine little-known facts about Ezra Levant:
9. Global warming began when Ezra Levant willed the temperature in Canada up a few degrees–you know, just to take the chill out of the air. 8. 95% of all monsters surveyed reported that they are either “absolutely terrified” or “hysterically afraid” of Ezra Levant. Levant already ate the remaining 5%.
7. Ezra Levant once looked Helen Thomas directly in the face and lived to tell about it.
6. (tie) Ezra Levant can grow a thicker mustache than both Tom Selleck and Rosie O’Donnell.
6. (tie) Ezra Levant is actually registered twice as a lethal weapon: once for himself and once for his aura.
5. Ezra Levanteats live cougars sprinkled with Jack Bauer, washes it down with a sandpaper and Chuck Liddell milkshake, and then wipes himself with Chuck Norris.
4. Ezra Levant got the gang from Scooby Doo to stop meddling. Singlehandedly.
3. Ezra Levant forced the band “Better Than Ezra” to change their name to “Alberta Human Rights Commission”: because no one is better than Ezra.
2. New studies show that Muslim suicide bombers aren’t sacrificing themselves for Allah, they’re just trying to escape the wrath of Ezra Levant.
1. If you ever find yourself being persecuted for your views by one of those politically correct government types, simply say “Ezra Levant” three times really fast. He will appear out of thin air and reduce the offender to a whimpering kitten in no time flat with his irresistible onslaught of crane-style verbal kung fu.
More updates to come, I’m sure.
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