Oops!

Now that Larry King has announced his retirement, it's time to take a fond look back at some of his most idiotic/inept interviews (the one where he asks Sharon Tate's sister how she could speak to Roman Polanski after he so brutually murdered Sharon is, pardonez moi, a killer) and ask: he had a TV show for how long?

This Weekend, T.O. is Motown

BCF, that funny, funny feline, calls this weekend's huge Islamic  conference "Jihadstock"--the reason I was inspired to revise Joni:

Well, I came upon a child of Mo
He was walkin' on down the road
And I asked him, "Where are you goin'?"
This he told me:
Said, "I'm goin' down to old T.O.,
Gonna go to a big shindig.
Gonna call 'the Jew' an ape 'n' pig,
Watch a Da'wa show now."

We are kafirs, we are clueless,
We are fools who've been duped by cons,
And we've got to get ourselves to keep our guard up...

Update: Here's a photo showing what this year's fashionistas will be wearing.

Oh, Grow Up!

The thing about the Nanny State (Big Brother in a starched dress and cap) is that someone has to be the nanny and someone has to be the child. And that, writes Marni Soupcoff in the National Post, maintains people in a permanent state of childhood, incabable of weathering the exigencies of life:

In light of tomorrow's Canada Day celebrations, pointing out that outlawing hurting people's feelings is now a regular part of this country's modus operandi may make me a party-pooper. But waiting for another time won't make the truth any easier to bear: From human rights commissions to hate crime laws to civil lawsuits, Canada has made an art of punishing otherwise perfectly legal behaviour simply because it happens to make someone feel bad. We've become a nation of petty grievance-hoarders and tip-toers terrified of offending.

The big problem with this state of affairs (besides how generally unbecoming it is)? It's slowly making us a spiritless, brittle people. The ability to navigate the ups and downs of a life -- with a particular emphasis on the downs--is what fosters resilience and flexibility.

If you never have to face the consequences of getting cut from a team, or turned down for a job, or insulted by a heartless idiot, you never develop the sense of perspective (or sense of humour) that it takes to be a well-rounded and capable individual who has confidence he can handle defeats. That's something parents have to teach their kids, and countries have to teach their citizens. Losing hurts, but you can't expect mom and dad or a human rights commission to shield you from everything but sunshine and roses. 

"Infantilization for the good of the nation" (but really as a means of exerting control and preserving the power of those pushing a particular ideology)--that's what our "human rights" system boils down to; it could well be its motto. (Oddly enough, sharia is all about infantilization, too.)

Shades of the Bard

Obama has at least one fan in the Middle East--the potentate to whom he famously bowed deeply and obsequiously. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (which are in cities where no infidel may tread with their treyf infidel cooties), calls the American "an honourable man." 

Indeed. I have no problem applying Shakespeare line's--"For Brutus is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men"--and the spirit in which it is delivered to Obama and Co.

The Rotten Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Toxic Tree

Hooky Hamza's son "jailed for a year after confessing to throwing missiles at police officers during violent protests outside the Israeli embassy."

The Other Side of the COIN

Andrew Bostom says that when it comes to an understanding of Islam, cashiered General Stanley McChystal is no Alexis De Tocqueville, and that any strategy that redacts the jihad from this war is destined to fail.

Who's The Next Aqsa?

Even though Aqsa Parvez's father and brother received life sentences for her murder, Robert Spencer says there are bound to be lots more Aqsas--Muslim girls killed for flouting male authority. The reason: such "honour" crimes

are broadly tolerated, even encouraged, by Islamic teachings and attitudes. Yet no authorities are calling Islamic leaders to account for this. The life sentences given to Muhammad and Waqas Parvez give Muslim spokesmen in Canada and the United States a new opportunity to speak out. They have a new chance to acknowledge that Islam’s shame/honor culture and devaluation of women has created communities in which abuse of women is accepted as normal. They could call for a searching reevaluation of the meaning and continued relevance of material from the Koran and Sunnah that devalues and dehumanizes women, and call in no uncertain terms for Muslims to reject explicitly and definitively the literal meaning of such texts. They could call for sweeping reform and reexamination of the status of women in Islam. They could call upon every mosque in the West to institute classes teaching against honor killing and directly challenging the teachings and assumptions that give it justification.

For any of this to happen, Muslim leaders in the West would have to adopt an utterly unfamiliar and uncharacteristic stance: that of self-reflection and self-criticism, rather than excuse-making, finger-pointing, and evasion of responsibility. But with the mainstream media and law enforcement continuing to abet that evasion, this is unlikely in the extreme. Much more likely is that many, many more Muslim girls in the West will die miserably like Aqsa Parvez. No one is speaking up for them or defending them. Instead, the mainstream media is abetting the denial and obfuscation of the Islamic community by never calling them to account for their bland evasions of responsibility for honor killing.

Who's the next Aqsa? She's probably an ordinary sort of girl, living in an ordinary sort of neighbourhood. She's the girl next door. And even though she lives in a country where there are "human rights" galore, soon enough she will be lying cold and dead in the ground, like Aqsa.

When there's an annual Islamic Honour Killing Week on university campuses and Queers Against Islamic Honour Killing (QuAIHK) march in the Pride parade, maybe, just maybe, the next batch of Aqsas might stand a chance.

When Things Were Rotten

Let's compare and contrast, shall we? In 1998, Mark Harding of Meaford, Ontario was convicted of "three counts of inciting hatred against Muslims"--a hate crime under our Criminal Code. What "hateful" things did Harding say about this identifable group? Did he perchance call for their "mass slaughter"? Opine that all Muslims were "filthy terrorists"? Suggest that Hitler's "solution" could solve the Muslim "problem"? Don't be silly. According to this 1999 National Post piece by Faisal Kutty,

Harding published and distributed pamphlets in Toronto through his organization, the Christian Standard. According to Detective Dino Doria, who lead the investigation, the Standard, which describes itself as a “self-supporting group of Christian soldiers serving God and the Lord Jesus Christ in Canada and around the world,” was a one-man show.

The Standard’s recorded phone message told callers that Muhammad was a false prophet, and that the Qur’an was the work of the devil. In a pamphlet entitled “Are all the Muslims living in Canada today TERRORISTS [sic],” Harding suggested that Muslims “sound peaceful and try to act peaceful, but underneath their false sheep’s clothing are raging wolves, seeking whom they may devour, and Toronto is definitely on their hit list.”

Muhammad "a false prophet"? Some Muslims terror-minded wolves garbed in fake fleece who have Toronto in their crosshairs? How shocking! At least to the likes of F. Kutty and, oh yeah, B. Farber, that is:

Nobody should oppose Harding’s right to believe in and to preach his belief in the exclusive truth of Christianity and the falsehood of Islam, just as a Muslim must have the right to advocate belief in the exclusive truth of Islam.

But Harding went beyond this. He tried to create fear of Muslims. He was not debating theology or ideology. If Harding’s stereotyping and calls to be wary of Muslims were not hatemongering, then what is? Bernie Farber, director of community relations for the Canadian Jewish Congress, said that Harding’s material “could have been a tinderbox. It could lead to violence.” Many would agree.

No doubt. And many would also agree that Bernie was right about that tinderbox thing. But not in the way he meant. Post-9/11, post-Toronto 18, Harding's words seem prescient if not downright prophetic. And a tinderbox has been set off, in no small part due to the exquisitely sensitive climate of political correctness that the Dorias and Farbers labored so long and so hard to create, the one that made it verboten to say anything negative about Muslims and their beliefs. Today, of course, there is violence and hatred in Toronto, but it isn't directed against Muslims. You can find it, among other places, at taxpayer-funded Palestine House, which backs Hamas and Hezbo and their annihilationist agenda; on university campuses, where the Israel-loathing is palpable and there's an anual Let's Hate Zionism Week (a.k.a. IAW); and on city streets, where police protect hatemongers and tell those with balls enough to stand up to them to move along and not make any trouble.

And then there's our old friend Salman Hossain, whose latest musings re the "filthy" Jews and his call to eliminate them (a final Final Solution) I posted on yesterday. Hossain is someone who actually does call for a genocide, who is a stereotyping hatemonger, who is inciting hatred against an identifable group, and who has been doing so repeatedly for years. And yet, unlike Mark Harding (who is/has done none of the above and who, nonetheless, has a criminal record) he has yet to even be charged with a hate crime, let alone been convicted of one.

Something really stinks here. I think it's the stench of the "human rights" carp (a bottom-feeder) rotting from the head down.

Update: Where else can you find "hatemongers"? At Islamic conferences, via satellite hook-up.

"I have no doubt that he (Obama) would not be unhappy to see the destruction of the state of Israel as long as he can say that my hands have not shed this blood..."

Historian Richard L. Rubenstein speaks some harsh truths about the current occupant of the White House--what motivates him, and what it bodes for Israel's and the West's future (or absence thereof).

Hossain Sings 'Brice' to Bentley

Don't tell me not to post,
Just stop my seethin'.
Life's fleetin' and Jew-hate's
A lot like breathin'.
Don't bring around a charge to reign in Judenhass.
Don't tell me not to spew,
I've simply got to.
So who's in thrall to Jews?
It sure as heck ain't me--
I can't believe that it is not you.
Don't bring around a charge
To rain on my Jew-hate...
I'm gonna rant,
And rant now.
Make 'em all pant,
I know how.
One site that's called FJT,
One site 'bout conspiracy.
Do it for Dar al Islam.
Do it all for Allah's plan.
Eyes on the target that's clear
One nuke and--boom--disappear.
Hey, Mr. Farber, I'm still here!
I'll trot my rage out,
Talk genocide.
Rattle my cage, sir,
The Jews and pigs and monkeys,
Gauge, sir, how folks are Zion's flunkies.
Get ready for me, Jews, to end "dishonour".
I simply gotta spew till you're a goner.
Nobody, no nobody is gonna reign in my Jew-hate!

Yoo Hoo, Mr. Attorney General...

Here is Salman Hossain's latest spewage of sewage (posted yesterday). See if you agree with me that it satisfies all the requirements of "hate speech" as defined in the Criminal Code:

This is the reality that we are facing today. Violent Jewish terrorists getting away with any atrocities and nobody seeming able to do something about it. Meanwhile Muslims are being framed and locked up for fabricated terrorism charges. Some of these Muslims are framed when they are co-opted to run anti-Terrorism drills and exercises whilst others locked up for the flimsiest of excuses. This is why we need violent and forceful regime change in the following Jew-infested Western nations: Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States, and many others. These nations need to be invaded and occuppiedwith armies that will begin the final extermination of the Jews (both crypto-Jews and overt Jews) residing within these realms. Their permanent elimination can only bring about a downgrading of all conflicts and other related problems in the world. Their mass liquidation is the only solution. Regardless of all the evidence of their terrorism and other crimes that they try and hide amongst other peoples or even amongst themselves, the truth about what they are doing is starting to be disclosed. Therefore, the only solution to the Jewish problem is outright slaughter. Nothing more, nothing less.


Salman Hossain

One good thing about Salman--he isn't afraid to call 'em as he sees 'em, especially when it comes to the mass slaughter of Jews. That should make it easy for authorities to lay charges, since he's not even bothering to couch his desire for Jewlimination in fluffy "human rights" pieties. Obviously, though, something is preventing the powers-that-be from doing what would come naturally had Salman's name been, oh, off the top of my head, Ernst. What, oh, what could that impediment be? Fear? Cluelessness? Political Correctness? Fear? Hypocrisy? Fear?

The ball's in your court, Mr. Bentley. And something tells me that's exactly where it's going to remain.

Go To "L"

In response to a Fanny Brice op-ed piece in the Toronto Star, someone with the same last name as the Egyptian tyrant who suffered an ignominious loss to Israel in the Six Day War writes a letter to the editor in which he high fives Pride organizers. (Oddly enough, there's no link to his letter online.) "Those of us who want freedom and human rights for Palestinians," he fumes,

are ourselves the ones decrying the hateful prejudice--in this case a ruthless theocracy that relegates non-Jews to a status for which basic human rights and dignity cannot be afforded. Pride organizers should be proud of their refusal to be thrown over by the Zionist lobby.

And there it is: the "L" word. The one that such "human rights" champions like to toss around with--you should pardon the expression--gay abandon; the one they don't realize is like one of those airport security scanners and reveals all the nasty naughty bits lurking beneath the sheep's clothing. My letter:

I would like to ask Mark Nasser, who commends Pride organizers for “their refusal to be thrown around by the Zionist lobby” why it is that that’s the only kind of “lobby” we ever hear about? What is that we never hear about, say, the Tamil “lobby” or the Sikh “lobby” or the Islamic “lobby,” even though each of those groups have what amounts to such a body that lobbies on behalf of its interests? I would suggest that the reason only those who support Israel are accused of gathering together in a “lobby” is a throwback to historical accusations about Jews coming together for nefarious purposes--a modern day “Elders of Zion”, if you will.

I might suggest it--but then I’d only be accused of being a lobby member myself.

And here's my poem for Nasser's namesake:

I belong to the Zionist lobby;
In fact, you could say it's my hobby.
We are ever so caring;
Eat smoked meat and herring;
And endeavour to never be snobby.

Two Extremes in the Globe

Globe and Mail political 'toonist Martin Gable depicts the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding away from Toronto's G20; G&M columnist Margaret Wente thinks summit violence was no biggie, and that we need to get a grip.

Summit Tumult Engenders Distant Distress

The G20 rampage has come to the attention of a nation that professes to be mighty concerned about any violation of "human rights":

Iran has strongly condemned the Canadian police for arresting hundreds of protesters during the recent G20 summit in Toronto, describing the move as an inhuman act.

"The use of various violent tools and ways to counter a peaceful rally is by no means justified. The move by the Canadian government is a blatant breach of basic rights of citizens to freedom of expression," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday.

The spokesperson also warned against the "new and dangerous" approach adopted by Canada toward the civil rights of its citizens, expressing Iran's profound concern over a lack of life security and a possible violation of rights of those arrested in that country during the last few days...

"Profound concern," Mr. Pederast? Wow. That's so much deeper than concern that's merely, er, deep. You Iranians must really care about "human rights."

Update: How "human rights" play out in Ayatollahville.

The West Expiates Incapacitating "Guilt" Via Age-Old Method

Without mentioning it specifically, Shelby Steele explains why the queer community has fallen prey to Zionhass--and it has nothing to do its being more sensitive to "injustice" by virtue of its having once been oppressed. It happens to be the same reason why much of the West has once again contracted a bad case of Jew flu. For lack of a better term, let's call it civilizational guilt:

There is a chilling familiarity in all this. One of the world's oldest stories is playing out before our eyes: The Jews are being scapegoated again.

"World opinion" labours mightily to make Israel look like South Africa looked in its apartheid era -- a nation beyond the moral pale. And it projects onto Israel the same sin that made apartheid South Africa so untouchable: white supremacy. Somehow "world opinion" has moved away from the old 20th century view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a complicated territorial dispute between two long-suffering peoples. Today the world puts its thumb on the scale for the Palestinians by demonizing the stronger and whiter Israel as essentially a colonial power committed to the "occupation" of a beleaguered Third World people.

This is now--figuratively in some quarters and literally in others -- the moral template through which Israel is seen. It doesn't matter that much of the world may actually know better. This template has become propriety itself, a form of good manners, a political correctness. Thus it is good manners to be outraged at Israel's blockade of Gaza, and it is bad manners to be outraged at Hamas's recent attack on a school because it educated girls, or at the thousands of rockets Hamas has fired into Israeli towns -- or even at the fact that Hamas is armed and funded by Iran. The world wants independent investigations of Israel, not of Hamas.

One reason for this is that the entire Western world has suffered from a deficit of moral authority for decades now. Today, we in the West are reluctant to use our full military might in war lest we seem imperialistic; we hesitate to enforce our borders lest we seem racist; we are reluctant to ask for assimilation from new immigrants lest we seem xenophobic; and we are pained to give Western Civilization primacy in our educational curricula lest we seem supremacist. Today, the West lives on the defensive, the very legitimacy of our modern societies requiring constant dissociation from the sins of the Western past--racism, economic exploitation, imperialism and so on.

We are weenies. Pathetic guilt-ridden weenies. Weenies who have convinced themselves (must've been something in the purple Kool-aid) that the guiltier we feel, the more virtuous we are. Weenies whose overwhelming sense of guilt has rendered them bonkers. Irrational. Nuts. And, oh yeah, weenies whose guilt has made them easy-pickings for a civilization that is on the offensive, that doesn't pause to doubt its own legitimacy, and that never feels guilty about anything. (Jews having to die for the world's sins--now where have I heard that one before?)

The last time six million Jews disappeared from the earth, it was because of a malevolent megalomaniac who thought he was doing the world a favour by ridding it of the Jewish contagion. This time around if six million or more are wiped out, it could well be because of people who love trees, buy organic food, keep tabs on their carbon footprint and march in solidarity with Pride paraders. For the Jews, of course, it matters not a whit if the people who want them gone harbour the worst of intentions, or the very best.

Well-Meaning Gay Jews Who Get It--But Not Completely

Martin Gladstone, the guy who spearheaded the campaign to remove the phrase "Israeli apartheid" from the 2010 Pride parade (a campaign that ended up backfiring--big time), writes in Friday Night magazine:

The message to the one million people who attend Pride is clear: if the gay community, so historically oppressed, now brands Israel as the new South Africa, a vile racist regime, then it must be true.

I couldn't disagree more. The actual message is that gays aren't inherently more saintly or wise as a function of they're having been "so historically oppressed." They can be just as clueless, hateful and susceptible to "progressive"/Islamist propaganda as anyone else. Had the well-intentioned Gladstone not been convinced of the veracity of this false supposition--the one upon which he obviously based his campaign--perhaps we might have been spared the whole anti-anti-apartheid fiasco.

Meanwhile, Joanne Cohen writes (in a letter to the editor of the Jewish Tribune):

...As this is not a matter of 'free speech' as QuAIA claims, but rather a matter of public safety and human rights, as well as antisemitic discrimination, marginalization, defamation and harassment and criminal intimidation from our lawful purposes contravening not only the City of Toronto's anti-discrimination policy--despite City Council resolutions on this matter--but also de facto harassment and discrimination on grounds of ethnicity, religion, creed, conscience and national origin contrary to the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (effectively denying Jews and Israelis and those supportive of Jews and Israel equal benefit of this tax-funded festival without undue concern for their safety), as well as demonstrated criminal intimidation from our lawful purposes contrary to the Criminal Code (in which Jews can expect public vilification and harassment and menacing behaviour and security concerns as a condition of our participation in this tax-funded festival, unlike ANY other group), I would suggest that our leadership continue to monitor this issue closely, remove Pride Toronto's public funding (municpal, provincial and federal), and pursue human rights complaints against the City of Toronto, Pride Toronto, its sponsors and criminal charges against QuAIA and all others empowering any unlawful behaviour.

Oh, honey. Didn't you get the memo? The only Jew-haters authorities are prepared to pursue at the moment are "menacing," Depends-wearing former Wehrmacht recruits and their scary markers of doom. If they won't go after Salman Hossain, who has publicly and repeatedly called for Jews to be annihilated, what makes you think they'd charge QuAIA, which, after all, belongs to one of Canada's super-special victim groups?

Ms Cohen continues:

I commend the efforts of our colleague Martin Goldstone and the courage of those planning to march with the Jewish LGBT group Kulanu, but as my own safety has been threatened repeatedly and I have faced regular harassment from QuAIA and their associates, I will not be in attendance at Pride or other LGBT community events. Please be careful in your travels around Toronto Pride should you be wearing pro-Israel insignia or flags. I have proudly worn or carried Israeli flags at Toronto Pride for many years, including mounting a float in 2002, but it is no longer safe for me to do so. Happy Pride.

Sounds to me like Judenhass/Zionhass has rotted out another well-meaning endeavour.

Hello Gramma, Hello Gramps, Here I Am At Hamas's Camp...

Camp is really very straining /Think the UN one would be more entertaining.

A Jew-Hater Projects His Hopes and Dreams For Israel Onto, Um, Israel

Chavez sez it's curtains for the 'genocidal' Jew-state.

More or Loesser

While listening to part one of Mark Steyn delightful tribute to one of my favurite song writers--and making turkey schnitzel; who says this gal can't multitask?--I thought of a way to update a Loesser tune familiar to most neophyte/inept piano duettists:

Hearts and minds,
We'll win 'em if we can.
They'll like us
And not the Taliban.
(Sadly,
The way it's goin'
The COIN
Ain't clicked;
Ain't doin' the trick, but...)

Hearts and minds,
I know we're infidel.
Tho' they're cold
Might melt 'em, who can tell?
Madly,
We disavow the truth,
Forsooth,
Jihad's no passing fad, dad...

Double Vision

So nice to see Naomi Klein, the Goddess of Virtue, taking time out from her busy Goddess schedule of Israel-bashing to cast a Divine glance at another of her bugaboos: ee-vil capitalism. It's that system, you see, and especially the "financial sector," that's responsible for the bulk of the world's problems; the reason, writes Klein (in the Globe and Mail), why

workers, pensioners and students have taken to the streets against austerity measures in Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Greece, often marching under the slogan: “We won’t pay for your crisis.” And they have plenty of suggestions for how to raise revenues to meet their respective budget shortfalls.

No doubt their suggestions are perceptive, selfless and ineffably wise. Or maybe not, since, as those who don't live in Naomi's world(view), would be churlish enough to point out, a system is simply not sustainable when a spoiled rotten public sector keeps demanding more, more, more while tax revenues keep going down, down, down.

So what's up with these diametrically opposed viewpoints? Why is it that me and Naomi will never see eye-to-eye? The best explanation I have yet to read comes from Thomas Sowell's brilliant book Intellectuals and Society. Sowell says there are two kinds of people: those who see themselves as "the annointed ones"--that would be Naomi. And those who manifest "a tragic vision"--that would be moi:

The two visions differ fundamentally, not only in how they see the world but also in how those who believe in these visions see themselves. If you happen to believe in free markets, judicial restraint, traditional values and other features of the tragic vision, then you are just someone who believes in free markets, judicial restrain and traditional values. There is no personal exaltation resulting from those beliefs. But to be for "social justice" and "saving the environment," or to be "anti-war" is more than just a set of beliefs about empirical facts. This vision puts you on a higher moral plane as someone concerned and compassionate, someone who is for peace in the world, a defender of the downtrodden, and someone who wants to preserve the beauty of nature and save the planet from being polluted by others less caring. In short, one vision makes you somebody special and the other vision does not. These visions are not symmetrical.

More on the tragic vision:

In the tragic vision, barbarism is always waiting in the wings and civilization is simply "a thin crust over a volcano." This vision has few solutions and many painful trade-offs to ponder...

A tragic vision is a sort of zero-based vision of the world and of human beings, taking none of the benefits of civilization for granted. It does not assume that we can begin with what we already have and simply tack on improvements, without being concerned at every step with whether these innovations jeopardize the very processes and principles on which out existing level of well-being rests. It does not assume that the chafing restrictions to us caused by social contrivances--from prices to stigmas--are caused by those contrivances. Above all, it does not assume that untried theories stand on the same footing as institutions and practices whose very existence demonstrate their ability to survive in the world of reality, however much that reality falls short of what can be imagined as a better world...

In brief: one vision is sexy and effervescent and hopeychangey and rather childish; the other is boring, dead sober and adult. Hence the great appeal the former holds for the young.

They Came, They Rampaged, They Smashed to Smithereens

I think what happend in Toronto over the weekend is a lot like what happens when a teenager's parents are away, and the kid organizes what he thinks will be a fairly intimate, containable gathering that, once word gets out that there's a party, attracts all the wrong sorts of people and quickly spirals out of control. (How many times have we seen that scene in the movies?)

Now that the party's over (it's time to call it a day/They've burst your pretty balloon and taken the moon away) who should pay for the damage? Insurance companies? Or the guy (what was he thinking?) who foolishly insisted on having the party?

Leading Questions

If you're at loose ends tonight, you might want to swing by this one:

Monday June 28, 7pm

Isabel Bader Theatre
93 Charles St W, Toronto
FREE, no tickets required
Join
HANEEN MAIKEY (Israel/Palestine)
and COLIN ROBINSON (Trinidad and Tobago)
in conversation with
ANDIL GOSINE (Moderator, York University)
in an urgent and rare discussion on struggles for sexual liberation. You are invited to listen and participate in exploring questions on how queer communities are working for sexual rights, and against the pressures of homophobic nationalisms and heavy-handed gay internationalisms.

- How are Palestinian and Caribbean queer people negotiating their sexualities under difficult conditions? 

- How are these struggles connected to histories of colonialism?

- What are the tensions that international queer solidarity efforts in Canada need to consider in supporting sexual rights work around the world?

*Presented as an alternative to the human rights talks originally scheduled at the same time and cancelled due to the Pride Toronto censorship of the phrase "Israeli Apartheid." Organized in cooperation with Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA), and the Pride Coalition for Free Speech.

Haneen Maikey is director of al-Qaws, a nonprofit organization working for sexual and gender diversity in Palestinian society.

Colin Robinson co-founded Caribbean Pride, the oldest Caribbean GLBT entity outside the region, and CAISO (Coalition Advocating Inclusion of Sexual Orientation).

Andil Gosine is Coordinator of the Sexuality Studies program and an Associate Professor at York University.

This event is wheelchair accessible.
For information: quaia.toronto@gmail.com

Working for "sexual and gender diversity in Palestinian society," eh? Now that's got to be a mighty lonely and frustrating job--the "human rights" equivalent of being the Maytag repair man.

Perhaps she'd make more headway were she prepared to jettison the malarkey about "colonialism" being behind the paucity of diversity and ask one pointed question: What does the Koran/sharia law have to say about homosexuality and how has it influenced the treatment of queers in "Palestine" in general and Gaza in particular?

Blame It On Barbara Hall

Prior to her run in with Cop 3748, former lefty Shaidle indicted the police M.O. on the Newsblog site:

I’m a bit confused about what “kids these days” want. Over the intervening decades, leftist protesters got what we were asking for in many respects: the G20 is now all about (cough) “environmentalism,” for example. Starbucks has great employee benefits and fair trade coffee, but their windows still get smashed. I’d be willing to bet the police cruisers they burned yesterday (sending plumes of toxic smoke into the air) passed all the latest emissions standards. For all I know, Toronto cops even use no-lead bullets.

Of course, when I say “use,” I don’t mean the cops fired on anyone yesterday while they were engaged in millions of dollars of property damage. Gaia forbid! Property rights aren’t protected in our constitution anyhow, and besides, I can tell you from personal experience that Canadian police are unwaveringly dedicated to protecting all the wrong people during instances of politically tinged public disorder.

(To cite just one example: after being assaulted by an Arab Federation leader/union bigwig last month, my husband was the one who got cautioned to “keep it peaceful.”)

Going out on a limb, I think this sort of squishiness could have brainwashed messed with police thinking.

Update: Steyn says the summit would have been an opportune time for jihadis to topple the CN Tower because the fuzz were too busy roughing up accredited journalists to turn their attention to anything else.

Scary Right-Wingers With Hidden Agenda Have a Run In With Snippy Cop

Kathy Shaidle describes the less-than-friendly encounter she and her husband Arnie had with a policeman, likely not a local one. They were at Queen's Park to attend a small pro-Israel protest, and he apparently took them for typical protester types even though, as Kathy explains, they hardly looked the part:

We were both dressed like typical middle aged Torontonians out on a Sunday afternoon: I'd advised Arnie not to wear any black, so we had on sunglasses, shorts, no weird or provocative t-shirts.

We were standing there silently when a white, male officer who looked a little like a central casting Angry Cop, with a really fake smile and firey eyes crossed the street towards us.

He stood chest to chest with Arnie and told him to move along.

Alas, Arnie stopped filming and didn't hit the audio record button again until the end of our exchange. Here is how it went, from memory.

Cop 3478: Sir, I'm going to ask you to move along. There's really nothing to see here.

Arnie: We're just standing on a public sidewalk. What are we doing wrong?

Cop 3478: Just be on your way, sir. Please.

Arnie: Why?

Cop 3478: Because I'm asking you to.

Arnie: I don't see why I should have to move.

Cop 3478: Now you're gonna tell me all about your rights! You people know all about your rights! But you have NO responsibilities, do you?!

Me: Well, I pay for this sidewalk, and I pay your salary.

As you can hear from the audio below, Cop 3478 finds that concept particularly hilarious. He walked away from us, laughing somewhat hysterically.

He also resents having to give me his badge number, which he is obliged to do.

We exchanged a few more words (below), and Arnie and I remained in place while he retreated. After about another five minutes, we left.

Time to revise an ancient TV show theme song, I think:

There's a stand off down on King,
Yonge Street windows getting broke.
There are sewer rats down under.
And cars going up in smoke.
There are anarchists who hate.
Who knows what they'll conflagrate?
Cop 3478 where are you?

The Wild Ones

What are the G20 protesters protesting? Watching protest coverage on the CTV News channel, I saw a sign that answers that question. "FIGHT ALL INJUSTICE," it said.

All injustice? Wow. That's so non-specific while at same time so comprehensive.

It reminds me of an exchange in that proto-biker flick, The Wild One. (Biker flicks: now there's an extinct genre ripe for revival). "What are you rebelling against, Johnny?" the dewy-eyed ingenue asks the exceedingly young and hot Marlon Brando, who--be still my heart--is encased in leather. "Whaddya got?' is his reply.

The retort to the all-inclusive Utopian was also on view, in what amounted to a small counter-protest. "DON'T PROTEST. START A BUSINESS." it read.

Capital--or should I say captitalist?--advice.

She's Their Kind of Jewess

Found this link to the malign Ms. Klein on the Palestine House site.

Free...free...taxpayers!

He's Here. He's Queer.

Get used to it. And, oh yeah, Allahu Akbar!

Guaranteed to Make You Toss Your Baklava

Silky-smooth shill for Islam Harpoon Siddiqui interviews sly, Zionist-loathing Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has apparently come up with a "roadmap for better Israeli relations."

By George, I Think He's Got It

Don't get me wrong--I think Queers Against Israeli Apartheid is a revolting and ridiculous group of clueless useful idiots. And I don't think too highly of Pride parade organizers, who crumpled under the pressure of the big lie lobby. But there's something utterly risible about one of the biggest boosters of state censorship and the "human rights" system, someone who has foolishly assumed that victims groups would stand by other victim groups by virtue of their mutual victimhood and that in the pecking order of victim groups the Jews would always rank numero uno (because of the Holocaust), making this statement (in the Toronto Star):

QuAIA's place in the Pride march sends a disturbing message. In good Orwellian fashion, the rights of some in the community apparently trump those of others.

Fanny Brice said it best, "Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade."

Actually, Bernie, Fanny Brice never said it. Bob Merrill wrote it and Barbra Streisand sang it (way to pander to the queer crowd, though). But in good, Orwellian fashion, you've managed to overlook Christians being "trumped" for saying mean things about Muslims and homosexuals, and Richard Warman's painstaking efforts to root out celler-dwelling sieg-Heilers on your behalf. And let's not even get into Salman Hossain of Filthy Jewish Terrorists fame "trumping" the Jews.

As Liza Minnelli once said, "Life is a cabaret, old chum, come to the cabaret."

Update: As always, Steyn says it best:

After 40 years of "human rights" fetishization, Jews are more equal than a penniless white supremacist posting to the Internet from his mum's basement. Congratulations, Bernie. That worked out well. Now you're beginning to get the picture, why not get off the book-burning team and stand for real freedom? The Canadian state won't help you against Salman Hossain. Free speech will. Jews prosper when they stand with liberty, not when they form malign alliances with state bullies that always prove short-sighted and self-defeating.

As Eliza Doolittle said, "Loverly."

Update: Do you suppose Bernie didn't refer to Barbra by name but used the distancing mechanism of "Fanny Brice" because he didn't want to sound too, you know, gay (the thinking being something like "I'm up for a pander, but let's not get carried away and give people the wrong impression")?

Islam's 'Solution' for All Mankind

Peace, peace, and more peace: the trailer for the "convergence" of the faithful in Toronto (made before the featured speaker learned he wouldn't be able to be there in the flesh).

Same Time Next Année

Next year's G20 summit will be held in Paris, France, where they're used to "youts" running riot and setting cars on fire. Nicolas Sarkozy boasts it will cost a tenth of what the Toronto confab cost. (Guess French riot gear is less pricey--and more fashionable--than ours while attendees will be feted with economical les Big Macs instead of chi-chi local fare.)

Update: French swag must be cheaper, too.

Who Were Those Masked Men?

See the "protesters" along the street.
Watch them torching cars to feel the heat.
Just remember as you hear them bleat
It's called anarchy.

Hooligans who've come from ev'rywhere
To smash windows, and to show they "care".
Now there's smoke and tear gas in the air--
It's called anarchy.

Loopy in T.O.

"Protesters" made a special point of smashing the windows of a Scotiabank and more than a few Starbucks. Why those two in particular? A caller to a phone-in show on AM640 "explained" that the bank was targeted because the International Monetary Fund is front and centre in the international global conspiracy to control the, er, globe. And Starbucks was a focus of rage because those venti soy lattes cost ten bucks a pop due to the fact that the company sends most of the proceeds to Israel. (Cue the Twilight Zone music.)

Dear Anarchists

Smashing store windows and setting police cars aflame with Molotov cocktails isn't the way to woo us to your 'cause'.

My question: how do you 'anarchists' pass the time in between summits, when the eyes of the world aren't upon you? It must be really boring to be you most of the time.

My other question: by 'anarchists,' you really mean violent thugs, malcontents and degenerates, don't you?

Spencer's Take

Mincing no words, Robert Spencer calls everyone's favorite die-hard secular Muslim Tarek Fatah "slippery and untrustworthy."

Horse Play

Hamid Karzai, who can tell a strong horse from a weak one, is getting set to ditch the infidel pony and ride with the Taliban stallion.

THIS Is What They're Discussing at the G8?

The Gaza, ahem, situation (which has nothing to do with a self-adoring Jersey boy's six pack) is 'unsustainable'.

Nice 'Work' If You Can Get It

An Iraqi 'refugee' in the U.K. is living large courtesy the British taxpayer.

Update: More nice 'work'.

To Summit Up

My favorite summit "protester"; my least favorite summit "protester".

Germany Helps Out 'Deprived' West Bank Acting Students

Those mean Israelis won't let them study in Israel (what's wrong with those nasty Jews?), prompting compassionate Germans to step into the breech, reports Deutsche Welle:

For the first time, a German-Palestinian theater production is taking the stage. Titled "Antigone 2010," it is being performed in several theaters in Germany's Ruhr region, which is one of three European Capitals of Culture this year.

Students from Drama Academy Ramallah, in the Palestinian Authority capital in the West Bank, and the Folkwang University of the Arts in the western-German city of Essen present the work in both a German and an Arabic version.

The play is based on the ancient Greek drama "Antigone," but staged in a modern way, with lighting and sound effects and plenty of action. Directors chose Sophocles' "Antigone" because it represents the birth of occidental theater and therefore the beginning of the art of acting, they said.

Sophocles' play touches on universal issues like the relationship between man and God - or gods, the role of the state, and questions of guilt, atonement, and fate.

Drama Academy Ramallah opened in October 2009 as the first school for actors on Palestinian territory. It is a joint initiative of Folkwang University and the Al-Kasaba Theater and is funded in part by the German-based Mercator Foundation, which has invested 300,000 euros ($370,000) in the project.

The "Antigone 2010" project reflects the success of the young Drama Academy Ramallah, which gives Palestinian students the unique opportunity of developing their acting skills on home soil.

New perspectives for Palestinians

Until now, Palestinians had no opportunity to officially study acting in their homeland. While Israel has numerous high-class drama academies, these are inaccessible to Palestinians.

Ramallah's first students are between 20 and 30 years old and come from Bethlehem and Jerusalem. They receive free tuition at the academy, but need to be able to cover their living expenses themselves. The drama course is demanding, with eight to 10 hours of classes daily for three years. At the end, the students receive a bachelor degree.

"It's like a dream," said 22-year-old Ramallah student Amjad Haschin. "I'm so happy to learn and study in Palestine."...

Ironically, Antigone may not be the best choice for this joint venture, since the main character, who is brazenly stiff-necked and defiant in the face of a powerful authority determined to make her bend to his will, could well be taken as a metaphor for Israel.

She Ate It Braised, With Fava Beans and a Nice Chianti

A Salon magazine scribe who obviously has way too much time on her hands consumes placenta and writes about it.

Now there's something you won't find on the menu at any of the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (although one time one of them made fried pig's ear sandwiches, which kind of made me want to hurl).

Europe in a Tacky, Tuneless Nutshell

You won't be able to read it online unless you pay for it because it's behind a firewall, and you probably don't want to shell out the cash to buy it, so maybe you can pick up the New Yorker issue with Anthony Lane's droll piece about uber-kitschy Eurovision Song Contest at your local library, where it's free. If you do, you can read stuff like this, a delicious rebuke to those who tout the superiority of European ''culchuh":

The third method [of winning the contest], which is by far the most popular, and which has brought mirthful pleasure to millions on an annual basis, is to sing in Eurovision English: an exquisite tongue, spoken nowhere else, which raises the poetry of the heartfelt but absolute nonsense to a level of which Lewis Carroll could only dreamed. The Swedes are predictably fluent in this ("Your breasts are like swallows a-nesting,' they sang in 1973), and the Finns, too, should be hailed as early masters, with their faintly troubling back-to-back efforts from the mid-seventies, "Old Man Fiddle" and "Pump-pump," but the habit continued to flourish even during those periods when the home-language ruling was in place, as cunning lyricists broke the embargo by smuggling random expostulations into their titles and choruses. Hence such gems as Austria's "Boom Boomerang," from 1977 (not to be confused with Denmark's "Boom Boom," of the following year), Portugal's "Bem-bom," from 1982, and Sweden's "Diggi-loo Diggi-ley," which won in 1984. The next year's contenders, spurred by such bravado, responded with "Magic, Oh Magic" (Italy) and "Piano Piano" (Switzerland). Not that the host nation relinquished the crown without a fight, as anyone who watched Kiki Danielson can attest. Her song was called "Bra Vibrationer." It was, regretably, in Swedish.

In which, no doubt, it sounded far less weird and icky.

Update: This year's winner is a German named Lena, who sang "Satellite," not to be confused with a German named Nena, who sang "99 Luftballons," though not in the contest.

Update: The antithesis of--and antidote to--crappy European songs.

Update: The far-from-inimitable Kiki Danielson sings the all-too-forgettable Bra Vibrationer. With oddly-attired dance duo thrown in at no extra charge.

Update: Diggi-loo Diggy-ley, anyone?

Update: Nuki Nuki--a song that wasn't in the Eurovision contest, but sounds like it should have been.

Americans In the Mood for Hopenchange

The kind that leaves Obama out in the cold.

Zionhass on Parade

The problem with "diversity" and "inclusivity" is that, while those certainly sound like wonderfully warm 'n' cuddly concepts, the way they generally play out these days is that there's always a "diverse" faction that, to paraphrase a great Jewish malapropist, want to include the Jews out. Without perhaps intending to, Justine Apple, spokesperson for Jewish gay organization Kulanu, shows how it works in this Xtra report. The article details Jewish frustration/anger following Pride organizers reversing their decision to nix "Israeli apartheid" from this year's event. Justine isn't necessarily against QuAIA getting the axe. At the same time, though, she thinks their symbolism during last year's parade may not have been in keeping with the spirit of "inclusivity" and "tolerance" her group promotes:

Justine Apple of the queer Jewish group Kulanu told Xtra later that she isn’t opposed to policy discussions but that the QuAIA contingent in last year’s parade crossed a line. One marcher wore a T-shirt with a crossed-out Swastika on it.

“Their use of the swastika, whether crossed out or not, is absolutely unacceptable to me,” said Apple. “The minute any Jewish person – any informed person – sees that, you immediately want to leave that parade. It screams hate.”

Although Apple spoke against PT’s announcement, she still encourages members of Toronto’s Jewish community to march with her contingent in the Pride parade next Sunday.

“We want to galvanise as many people as possible to march with us and show our strength in numbers,” she says. “Kulanu promotes inclusivity, diversity, acceptance, tolerance. We feel those values have been removed from the Pride parade and we want to bring them back.”

Maybe they should ban swastikas.

Me? I don't plan to march in the Pride parade. However, I'm seriously considering organizing a march for another derided, marginalized community--the Square, Straight, Monogamous and Tattooless, or SSMT. We SSMTers have been seriously underrepresented and misrepresented, and I feel it's high time to redress this unfortunate situation. Unlike that other parade, however, we pride ourselves on our lack of "tolerance" and "inclusivity" in the sense that we refuse to tolerate the intolerance of Jew-haters.

We're kind of funny that way.

No 'Jihad' Here Either

From the Telegraph via the National Post:

Saudi Arabia is reviewing its terrorism strategy after uncovering a female-run network that was fundraising for al-Qaeda. Heila al-Qusayyer, the middle-class mother described as al-Qaeda's "first lady," was running a cell of 60 alleged rebels. She is believed to have been the Arabian peninsula's main fundraiser for al-Qaeda. The woman was married to a former Aramco executive who gave up his material possessions to become a radical preacher. Counter-terrorism officials had assumed young men and boys were the principal agents of radical Islam. Saudi security chiefs have now set up a specialist all-female unit at King Saud University to study the appeal of Islamist insurgency to women and how best to tackle it.

I could be way off base here, but I think it might have something to do with the Koran's call to wage jihad on the infidel until the planet capitulates. (Or, in the immortal words of Islam's founder: "He who fights that Islam should be superior fights in Allah's cause.")

Just a hunch, mind you.

Whatever You Do, Don't Mention 'Islam' or 'Muslims' or 'Jihad'

John "Al Quds" Brennan demonstrates his (and Obama's) M.O. in this communique, from the Washington Times:

Dozens of Americans have joined terrorist groups and are posing a threat to the United States and its interests abroad, the president's most senior adviser on counterterrorism and homeland security said Thursday.

"There are, in my mind, dozens of U.S. persons who are in different parts of the world, and they are very concerning to us," said John O. Brennan, deputy White House national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Times, Mr. Brennan said he would not talk about lists of targeted American terrorists. However, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been tracking down U.S. nationals and U.S. passport holders who pose security threats, like the Yemen-based al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, he said.

"They are concerning to us, not just because of the passport they hold, but because they understand our operational environment here, they bring with them certain skills, whether it be language skills or familiarity with potential targets, and they are very worrisome, and we are determined to take away their ability to assist with terrorist attacks," Mr. Brennan said.

The remarks came in response to questions about procedures used by the president to order lethal strikes on U.S. citizens who have joined al Qaeda or other terrorist groups...

Nope. No jihad here, folks. At most, a question of "terrorism". Best shuffle off now.

QuAIA Riot

The movie.

From Shmuck to Esteemed Pundit in No Time Flat

Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, who resigned from office due to a scandal arising from his predilection for doing the horizontal mambo with ladies for hire, has been hired by CNN.

There's No Escaping the Politics of Pride

Pride parade organizers pulled a fast one, promising to ban the big lie from having a presence in this year's event so that the city wouldn't nix its funding, then reversing themselves in the face of a sustained outcry from its own egregiously--and agressively--"progressive" community. Prior to the reversal, organizers had agreed to ban the words "Israeli apartheid" because they averred that "politics" had no place in Pride (or pride of place) in this supposedly apolitical exhibition. But it's awfully hard to keep politics out of things when a) the cancer of Zionhass has metastasized, especially in leftist and Islamist circles and b) it's an election year in the city, with each of the mayoralty candidates jockeying frantically for position. To give you a taste of the fallout from what is actually a hugely political event, here's a portion of the report by the Toronto Sun's Sue Anne Levy (a member of the LGBTQ community, which makes what follows seem that much odder) that was posted on the Ceej site:

...City officials appeared to be running for cover Wednesday.

Rita Davies, executive director of culture who issued the Pride grant, referred me to Diversity Manager Ceta Ramkhalawansingh for comment.

Late Wednesday afternoon Ramkhalawansingh, who indicated one month ago that the group might be in violation of the city’s anti-discrimination policies, left me a bizarre voice-mail message saying Pride Toronto is now in compliance.

But gay activist Martin Gladstone — who produced a DVD documenting the QuAIA contingent last year — said the facts about QuAIA’s hateful messaging haven’t changed.

“The only thing that has changed is that Pride has taken the city’s cheque and rebuked the city’s policy,” he said, adding that Pride’s actions have “emboldened” the group and will create a “free-for-all hatefest” at the parade this year.

Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said the group is “very disappointed” with Pride’s about-face. “They got bullied and intimidated into flip-flopping,” he said.

“It shows a lack of integrity, a lack of honour and a lack of justice,” he added, saying this will not stop any Jewish groups from marching in the parade this year.

[Mayoral candidate Giorgio] Mammoliti said he’ll put another motion to the July council asking that the grant money, plus the nearly $200,000 Pride Toronto will get in policing and clean-up resources, be paid back retroactively and all future city funding be discontinued.

“This is something Pride has to learn a lesson on,” he said. “Taxpayers cannot be expected to dole out money to spread hatred.”

[Mayoral candidate] Rocco Rossi said he was “appalled” and “disappointed” with Pride’s reversal, noting nothing has changed to support that decision. He said the next mayor and council should definitely discuss whether to fund Pride next year.

Openly gay mayoralty candidate George Smitherman would only say he finds it “entirely objectionable” the parade is being “hijacked and threatened by a sideshow” that has nothing to do with Pride.

“Unfortunately there are still those in our city who would look for any reason to deny funding and support for Pride and this only plays into their hands,” he said, no doubt referring to [conservative candidate Rob] Ford.

Time for Bernie to shake the mothballs off his queer T for the straight Jew, I guess.

One Jew-Hater High Fives Another

The sultry and adorable Wahida Valiante says, "You go, girl!" to the fetching and hoydenish Libby Davies.

'Peace' Naik

MEMRI has "an ideological profile" of Peace TV's Dr. Zakir Naik. Dr. Naik has the distinction of having been banned both in Britain and Canada.

Update: Naik's out; Yee's in. Here's how the Journey of Faith conference announces the change of keynote speaker due to circumstances beyond its control:

Dr. Zakir Naik Unable to Attend the 3rd Annual Journey of Faith Conference on July 2nd - 4th 2010

All praises are due to Allah and we seek His assistance and guidance for our success in this world and the next.

The organizers of the 3rd Annual Journey of Faith conference, regret to announce that Dr. Zakir Naik will be unable to attend this year's conference due to the uncertainty of his admission to Canada.

While no official public notice or announcement has been issued regarding the Canadian government's decision to revoke Dr. Naik's visa, we have no choice but to assume, based on various reports, that such a decision has been made and abide by it at this time.

Nonetheless, the attendees and supporters of Journey of Faith will not be left empty handed. The conference will go on as planned and Dr. Zakir Naik will be joining us via live video conferencing along with all the other speakers already scheduled. Join us this Canada Day weekend for a journey towards understanding our Divine Manual: The Holy Qur'an.

The Journey of Faith conference is an invitation to Muslims and peoples of other faiths to learn about Islam. It is not to promote a particular speaker or individual. We are confident that in keeping with our mission statement and vision we will continue to achieve our collective goals.

We seek to promote a healthy and balanced understanding of Islam through the Divine Revelations and Prophetic Traditions.

Our mandate is to endorse and present the proper understanding of religious sources and to avoid human whims and desires which often lead to extremism, intolerance and religious violence...

Yes, human "whims and desires" simply won't do: submission--complete and unquestioning--to Allah is the thing.