So apparently today is International Free Press Day and the free screechers are urging people to demonstrate their support by publishing a Mohammed cartoon. Okay, I’m working up my nerve. For better or worse, here I go.

Hmmm, you know what. I don’t feel brave or the least bit worried. Maybe I did it wrong. Lets try that again.

Ah, there we go. Now I feel brave and worried. Have a happy International Free Press Day.

Dr. Dawg deftly pulls the plug on David Warren’s latest bilgewater, but he misses what can only be considered a stunning admission.

It is crucially important to fight back: to denounce those who try to silence us;

Considering those who have been “silenced” are almost exclusively neo-Nazi Jew haters, I fail to see how Warren’s reference to “us” is anything but an admission that he too is a neo-Nazi Jew hater or at the very least sympathizes with neo-Nazi Jew haters. Either way, one of the Jewish lobby groups should look into whether or not the Ottawa Citizen is currently employing a Jew hater.

Made man, Conservative MP Rob Anders is lying on your dime.

In an Anders’ communique, one of 10 different versions mailed out, he claims: “It is now illegal to hold opinions that offend radical Muslim activists,” and “under Section 13 of the so-called ‘human rights’ code, Canadians have been prosecuted for holding personal beliefs which offend radical Muslim imams and liberal activists.”

It never ceases to amaze me how many lies conservatives can pack into such a tiny space. The first lie in Anders’ “communique” is that it’s now illegal to hold opinions that offend radical Muslim activists. Wow! That sounds pretty scary when you think about it. The problem though, is that it’s not illegal to hold opinions that offend radical Muslim activists. In fact, it’s not illegal to hold opinions that offend anybody. This is such a whopper that it not only stretches credulity, it muscles credulity out into the back alley and puts a bullet in the back of its skull, mafioso style.

The second lie Anders is telling his constituents is that Canadians are prosecuted by Human Rights Commissions and Tribunals. HRCs and their Tribunals don’t prosecute people, they adjudicate complaints between two parties that are in dispute in much the same way that a libel court does. Anders is simply attempting to rewrite reality in the same way that all free screechers do.

The third lie in Anders’ deceitful missive is the claim that, “Canadians have been prosecuted for holding personal beliefs which offend radical Muslim imams and liberal activists.” This is flat out false. There have only been a few complaints filed against Canadians that address grievances my a member or members of the Muslim community. None of them have made it to the tribunal stage where they might be “prosecuted” and if memory serves me correctly, at this time all but one has been dismissed. How a dismissed complaint equals “prosecution” in any sense of the word is a mystery, but it’s a lie told repeatedly by free screechers.

What is the most disturbing about Anders’ taxpayer funded propaganda however, is the sneering he directs at “the so-called ‘human rights’ code”. Socalled ‘human rights’ codes are the result of a mature democracy that enshrines protection for its citizens from the tyranny of the majority. For Anders to sneer at our human rights code in such a manner and attempt to cast it as the boogeyman displays contempt for the very social fabric of our society. Of course this attitude from conservatives is not new; many free screechers harbour a deep hatred of Canada’s rights and freedoms. But to see such naked contempt for the rights of Canadians displayed by a Member of Parliament and at their expense speaks volumes.

Email Rob Anders (Anders.R@parl.gc.ca) and let him know you disapprove of paying for his lies to the public and that your human rights are neither “socalled” nor scary.

Apparently the neo-nazis have won and the decision has unleashed an orgy of stupid from the free screechers.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that Section 13, Canada’s much maligned human rights hate speech law, is an unconstitutional violation of the Charter right to free expression because of its penalty provisions.

Wow, that’s pretty amazing feat considering the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has no authority to rule on the constitutionality of Section 13.

Update: Big City Liberal Strike Back, who has been following this a lot more closely than I have, has some initial thoughts on the ruling.

1) S.13(1) itself is safe, ie. constitutional as per the Taylor decision.

A shameful abuse of Canada’s hate speech laws has finally been corrected.

David Ahenakew, a former senator with the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, has been found not guilty of wilfully promoting hatred.

Provincial court Judge Wilfred Tucker, handed down his decision in Saskatoon Monday in Ahenakew’s second trial on the charge. The judge said the Crown did not prove that Ahenakew had the intent necessary for a conviction.

I’ve never made it a secret that I’m a supporter of hate speech laws but I do believe such laws that infringe upon freedom of speech need to be kept on a very short leash lest they be abused. The Ahenakew case is a prime example of that need. No one disputes that what Ahenakew said was offensive and hateful but in order for someone to be charged with the crime of spreading hate speech an intent to do just that must exist. Ahenakew’s antiquated, bigoted views were merely his own and he had no history of willfully promoting hatred in the public sphere. If he had, his views would have come to light long before they did.

What will the free screechers say now that a “real” court has upheld the ruling of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal against Terry Tremaine.

In her decision, Justice Judith Snider wrote that the tribunal’s rulings were reasonable.

“The tribunal noted the extreme and violent nature of [Tremaine's] postings and concluded it would offer readers reason to hate and to be suspicious of minorities,” Snider found.

“It must also be noted that the tribunal was careful to balance Mr. Tremaine’s freedom of expression right with the equality rights of all individuals in reaching this decision.”

Update: Some background info for anyone not familiar with who Terry Tremaine is.

Part 5
Here are the fifth and sixth segments of last night’s Michael Coren Show on Human Rights Commissions in Canada featuring Noa Mendelsohn Aviv of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, blogger Mike Brock, Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress and Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella.

Part 4
Here is the fourth segment of last night’s Michael Coren Show on Human Rights Commissions in Canada featuring Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella.

About 2-1/2 minutes into the segment Warren argues that hate speech is actually a form of discrimination.

“People are being subjected to discrimination, not on the basis just of just accommodation and employment, they are getting those types of terrible things said to them, you know, when they come out of their home and see some statement(1) or what have you.”

(1)Earlier in the segment Warren introduced the scenario of a black kid exiting their home and being confronted with “Nigger go home” scrawled on their mailbox.

Warren references section 319 of the criminal code of Canada.

Part 6

Part 3
Here is the third segment of last night’s Michael Coren Show on Human Rights Commissions in Canada featuring Bernie Farber of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

Bernie deals with some of the fallacies surrounding Canada’s Human Rights Commissions. One in particular is that the tribunals are illegal and not up to par with other systems of justice in Canada by pointing out that the HRC tribunals are run in the same manner as other tribunals such as labour tribunals and mental competency tribunals.

Bernie refers to a Supreme Court decision that backs up the Human Rights Commission’s jurisdiction in handling hate speech complaints. He also mentions that Professor Richard Moon will be releasing a report next week on Section 13.

Part 5

Part 2
Here is the second segment of last night’s Michael Coren Show on Human Rights Commissions in Canada featuring blogger Mike Brock.

Despite beginning with a silly conspiracy theory that the Human Rights Commissions have a secret strategy regarding which cases are dealt with, Mike manages to score what I think was one of the few palpable hits in the debate around the 4 minute mark of this segment.

“I think that the potentiality for something to happen occurs in many of the individual rights that we have. I mean we have freedom of movement. Certainly if freedom of movement was more restricted we might see less crimes against property and other things like that.”

At the end of the segment Mike references the case of David Ahenakew that did not involve any of the Human Rights Commissions in Canada.

Part 4

Part 1
Here is the first segment of last night’s Michael Coren Show on Human Rights Commissions in Canada featuring Noa Mendelsohn Aviv of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

One key point Noa makes is that only the BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Federal Human Rights Commissions have the authority to deal with hate speech and these cases amount to at most 1-2% of the complaints that are filed. One key mistake Noa made was propagating the lie that it cost Ezra Levant $100,000 to defend against the complaints against him. Levant has yet to produce a single scrap of evidence to back up the ludicrous claims that he spent that amount of money.

Noa mentions several cases, one of which was a complaint against Catholic Insight Magazine. This case was dismissed and then appealed by the complainant, gay rights activist Rob Wells. No ruling on the appeal has been made yet. There has been no decision of any kind regarding the complaint filed with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission against the Chronicle Herald. The complaints against Ezra Levant and the Western Standard were dismissed.

Part 3

A very brief clip from last night’s Michael Coren Show on Human Rights Commissions in Canada.

Awwww! Isn’t that sweet. My sources tell me the show’s producers had to delay taping the next segment while stagehands helped Warren and Bernie untangle their tongues.

Lots more to come.

Part 2