Losing my religion

While I was off on Friday, Ted Belman, editor of Israpundit, took exception to last week's column about the 'blogburst' which had right-wingers publishing those infernal cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

This is what he wrote the Star, and posted on his blog:

Antonia Zerbisias writing in the Toronto Star, claims that Israpundit, of which I am the Editor, leads the “Cartoon Crusade” because it is motivated by hate. This derives from her belief that Israpundit or its contributing authors, “hate Muslims”.

With all due respect we hate what some Muslims do, including suicide bombings, brutal beheadings, incitement of hatred, unbridled propagation of anti-Semitism, honour killings, discrimination against gays, Christians and Jews and female genital mutilations to name just a few. I am sure that many Muslims also hate these acts.

Read the rest here - and while you're there, look around.

While I was off, I missed the big fuss over Ezra Levant's publishing of the cartoons in the Western Standard. (Much self-promotion here and here - all courtesy of the Godless Broadcasting Corporation.) Interestingly, Levant himself claims that he printed 40,000 copies of the magazine, in a column eerily timed to come out on the very same day the magazine did.

Hmmmm. Double hmmmm. That's because, last I looked, Levant's average total circulation was sitting around the 29,237 mark, for the period Feb. 1/05 to July 31/05. Could the new Conservative government have brought such a boost to Levant's bottom line, or was he counting on big sales this edition, or was he, um, exaggerating?

Matthew Good charitably goes with the promotion angle.

It seems to me that anyone possessing even the smallest amount of class, or character for that matter, would have simply published the caricatures based on their beliefs, consequences be damned, without drawing attention to it. Instead, this entire episode has produced one overwhelming result – the promotion of a magazine and its publisher.

Tim over at Peace, Order and Good Government, Eh? has one of the smartest takes I have read on this whole issue, and his comments are civil and intelligent. (Okay, he uses a lot of naughty words, but only with the best intentions.)

If I walk into a gangsta rap clubhouse and declare for all to hear that anyone who listens to Snoop Dogg is an asshole with no musical taste, I am well within my rights, but I should not be surprised when my features are forcibly rearranged.

If I go into a Montreal biker bar and declare that only pansies ride Harleys, I should not be surprised when, in taking a contrary position to mine, a number of the patrons decide to rearrange my dental work.

If I go into a Wyoming redneck bar and proceed to explain to a number of the patrons that Christianity is a backward religion adhered to by brain-damaged inbred knobs, I should not be surprised to wake up in a hospital a short time later nursing some fairly grievous injuries.

The vast majority of Muslim people actually follow the precepts of peace that Mohammed pretty clearly set down in the Quran. That there is a large minority that has twisted their religion into a cause for hatred is well known, much in the same way that U.S. fundamentalists have twisted Christianity to justify their hatred of gays and Islam.

All this reminds me of a brilliant cartoon the Star's Patrick Corrigan did a few years ago. Depicting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, he had a fifth rider come up over the horizon ... Religion. The other guys let out a great big "UH-OH!''

Incidentally, Warren Kinsella posted a link to this on his blog. It pretty much sums up how I see this situation too.

“Freedom of expression and the protection of vulnerable minorities from group vilification are fundamental values of a secular, pluralistic democracy. These two values must be delicately balanced against one another. We hope that that calm re-establishes itself so that this issue can be discussed in an atmosphere of mutual respect, without intimidation.”

Which brings me to the e-valanche of hate mail I got last week. I lost count. It was in the thousands - and I answered every single one. Hence my inflamed wrist and elbow, and my days off. 

Iain, who is attached to the magic fingers which heal me, was telling me yesterday that he doesn't get all this warring religion insanity. "We all believe in the same God,'' he said, referring to Jews, Christians and Muslims. "All we're fighting over is His messengers."

Yup.

Ragged On

MSNBC's Don Imus in the Morning, and both Rogers and Shaw Cable got their wrists slapped with a regulatory decision last week over some November 2004 comments I wrote about back then.

Morning jock Don Imus, whose syndicated shock-talk radio show is simulcast on MSNBC, was probably just joking when he and his crew made racist, derogatory remarks during coverage of Yasser Arafat's funeral on Nov. 12.

But many Americans, and obviously a few Canadians, weren't laughing when they caught this exchange between Imus, his sports anchor Sid Rosenberg and their producer Bernard McGuirk over images of the crowds mourning the death of the Palestinian leader.

IMUS: They're (Palestinians) eating dirt and that fat pig wife (Suha Arafat) of his is living in Paris.

ROSENBERG: They're all brainwashed, though. That's what it is. And they're stupid to begin with, but they're brainwashed now. Stinking animals. They ought to drop the bomb right there, kill 'em all right now.

McGUIRK: You can just imagine standing there.

ROSENBERG: Oh, the stench.

IMUS: Well, the problem is that we have Andrea (Mitchell, NBC foreign correspondent) there. We don't want anything to happen to her.

ROSENBERG: Oh, she's got to get out. Just warn Andrea, get out, and then drop the bomb, kill everybody.

McGUIRK: It's like the worst Woodstock.

ROSENBERG: Look at this. Look at these animals. Animals!

According to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision:

17. The Commission finds that certain comments made during both the 12 November 2004 and 19 November 2004 broadcasts of Imus in the Morning were abusive within the meaning of section 3(b) of the Regulations.

18. More specifically, the Commission is of the view that comments made during the 12 November 2004 broadcast that Palestinian people are "brainwashed," "stupid to begin with," and "stinking animals," and that a bomb should be dropped on them and that they should be "killed right now" were clearly disparaging, insulting and abusive within the meaning of section 3(b) of the Regulations.

<SNIP>

21. "Raghead" generally refers to individuals, primarily male, from Middle Eastern or South Asian cultures who wear turbans or other pieces of clothing on their heads. The term is dismissive and intended to be disparaging, in so far as it groups together people of different cultures in a trivializing and insensitive manner and mocks their choice of cultural, and often religious, attire. "Raghead" is also understood to be an ethnic slur. The phrase "pack of rabid sheep" used to describe the Muslims’ mentality dehumanizes them by evoking images of savage animals with little intellect.

Ultimately, the CRTC ruled that these were isolated incidents and that there should be no sanctions or restrictions placed on MSNBC, the way constraints were placed on the carriage of Al Jazeera in Canada. Fair enough. I am against censorship, especially if it involves prior restraint. But I can't help but wonder why some people can get away with saying things about some groups and not the other way around?

Which reminds me: When the cable operators inevitably apply to carry the new English-language Al Jazeera, which has no history, let alone any history of anti-Semitism, will it be allowed to operate as freely as any other channel?

Stercus accidit

Further to yesterday's post about Canada Free Press' Judi McLeod getting punked by the unMel Gibson -- and you gotta hand it to her for not taking down her embarrassing column -- she writes this:

And if I thought the Mel impersonator was mean, that was before I saw the two emails that followed the revelation of the Great Pretender’s faux blog. Two emails of response to moi, that is if I’m not counting the hatchet attack by the Toronto Star’s Antonia Zerbisias on her blog, but then I never count the Toronto Star for much of anything

Errare humanum est, perseverare diabolicus.

Cogita ante salis

Canada Free Press is a whacko news site that touts itself as the ''fastest-growing independent news source'' in the country. (Note that the site has several times trashed me.) Owned by the, um, eccentric Judi McLeod, it hosts the musings of everybody from Ann Coulter-wannabe Rachel Marsden to American free market fink-tanker Tom DeWeese.

I have long thought of McLeod as a right-wing crayon artiste. Now I think she should be weaving baskets.

That's because I just got word from a couple of bloggers in Ohio that McLeod has been bewitched by their satirical Mel Gibson site, Mel's Musings. (Check it out; it made me snarf my cran juice all over the screen.) It filters U.S. politics through Gibson's religious prism, with a lot of Latin tossed in.

The mischievous duo, who prefers to remain anonymous, tells me that it all began a few days ago when, as one of them emailed, he

found an article by Judi McLeod, "Tragically Hip in Sweden,'' which ominously describes the secularism run amok in Sweden, as exemplified by jeans with skulls on them commonly worn by the Swedish youth.  I thought it was hilarious, and posted it on my blog, with commentary.

(I added the links.)

The McLeod piece about Cheap Monday jeans reads

Politically correct mores are alive and thriving in Sweden where the Rev. Karl-Erik Nylund, vicar of St. Mary of Magdalene Church in Stockholm, laments, "No one wants to provoke Jews or Muslims, but it’s totally OK to provoke Christians."

Cheap Mondays are starting to sell abroad. The jeans and their anti-Christian message are being shipped to Norway, Denmark, Britain, the Netherlands, France and Australia.

Orjan Andersson, the creator of the brand, says he’s working on introducing Cheap Mondays to the U.S.A. and elsewhere.

That means jeans with the anti-Christian message are coming soon to an outlet near you.

The makers of Cheap Mondays with their logos of upside crosses may find a willing overseas clientele among young people who think it’s hip to advertise an anti-Christian message.

But not if those young people get another message first: Cheap Mondays originate from a country that will not protect its female population from immigrant-Muslim rapists.

The blogger, who points out the unattributed similaritities between McLeod's story and this AP report, goes on:

Judi McLeod contacted me, thinking I was Mel Gibson and told me how excited she was about my having posted the article on the site.  A series of letters has followed during which Judi and I have shared our "mutual" frustration with the socialist politics which have taken over California and Canada.  And, Judi has placed a link to my site on the front page of the Canada Free Press.

Now Judi has contacted me and asked me if I would mind if she published a story on "Mel Gibson's" Blog in the Free Press!

It gets better. Not only does Free Press now link to the joke Mel Gibson blog, McLeod herself has written about her ''unexpected gift'' on the feast of the Epiphany from the movie star in a column entitled Braveheart in Real Life.

Overjoyed to think that someone I had admired for so long from afar had posted my story to his blog I sent off a quick thank-you email, never really expecting to ever have it answered.

There was a response in my mail from the actor/director/producer by the end of the day.

Fiercely independent, impressively creative and downright courageous, Mel Gibson is no cookie cutter Hollywood star.

To my way of thinking, he’s a beacon of light in the dark, whose Ash Wednesday 2004 release of The Passion of the Christ brought the authentic last hours in the Life and Times of Jesus Christ the Savior back before the masses of the 21st century.

<SNIP>

This is the same kind of inspirational thinking to be found on the new blog. If you’re a discouraged Christian worried about the future, a visit to www.melgibsonsblog.blogspot.com is like an elixir and sends you on your way with newfound hope.

Taurus excreta cerebrum vincit.

I am going to Hell for this post, aren't I?

Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards all

Happy holidays, Deck the halls, Merry Christmas, Chappy Chanukah, Feliz Navidad, Falalalala.

May 2006 not blow as badly as 2005 did for Mother Earth and all her children.

I may pop in once in a while but mostly I am off until the New Year, which is good news for these people, who are oh-so-quick to seize upon anything that makes Muslims look bad. At least some of them apologized.

(Tip of the felt antlers to Elvid!)

It's Pat!

Don't miss my pal Vinay Menon's takedown of Pat "Thou shalt assassinate" Robertson today.

This fusion, of religion and government, has created a formidable nexus south of the border, as special-interest groups — buoyed by a president who has Jesus on speed-dial — lobby for change in every imaginable public arena.

From Janet Jackson's nipple to Terri Schiavo's brain, from teaching "the controversy" of evolution to railing against "activist" federal judges, the goal is simple: the United States of America should promptly be recast as the world's largest theocracy.

As one reader put it to me:

Should not the name of Pat Robertson be placed on the US No-Fly list?
After all, he's liable to hijack a plane down to Venezuela, to slam it
onto the Casa Rosada and assassinate Hugo Chávez himself.

Should the broadcast license for his program not be revoked?
Not only has he advocated outright assassination, but of a foreign high
official protected by diplomatic protocol.

What about the view from the UK's Tony Blair?
Does this not mean that Pat Robertson should not be allowed to set foot
in the UK?
Let's face it, he's a cleric who has advocated violence...

I like what Beverly of Las Vegas emailed CNN the other day:

Robertson gets a huge amount of free airtime for espousing violence and Cindy Sheehan can't even pay for ad space to speak the truth.

Funny how that works, hunh? Networks will sell commercials to corporations that pollute or poison the air, and host pundits who do the same. But when it comes to advocacy ads or airtime for groups promoting peace or progressive causes, forget it.

Ah, that liberal media.

Trouble at home

Apologies for getting to your comments so late.

My 88-year-old Mom, Loula, fell and broke her hip. She's in Montreal. My brother George, who happened to be visiting, is holding down the fort until I get there later this week. Trying to arrange for surgery, internist consults and such via long distance with cell phones not being allowed in hospitals ain't easy.

Later.

Pray for Loula. She's one amazing gal.

Gay Olde Time?

CHAPTER III, Verse 1:

Just when you may have bought The Da Vinci Code line about Jesus being married to Mary Magdalene, along comes this:

Theological speculation claiming a gay Christ takes its starting point from the fact that the Bible doesn't say unequivocally that Jesus was straight. He could have been gay.

For those watching Maclean's closely for signs that the conservative and Catholic Kenneth Whyte, who recently became editor and publisher, is shifting the magazine rightward, this may be reassuring.

Or not.

Jesus Loves Y'all

CHAPTER II, Verse 1:

Some Canadian Christians wish we could have more evangelical and fundamentalist broadcasting here. Other Canadian Christians are glad that you need an illegal satellite dish to catch most of it.

Here's an example of why:

Let me give you the gay agenda for public schools: one, start brain-washing your children from day one with their position; two, consider sex education guidelines developed by SIECUS, this powerfully connected Washington lobby.  Children ages five to eight are to be taught that it feels good to rub all parts of the human body.  Children ages nine to twelve are being taught that homosexuality is as satisfying as heterosexuality.  Children fifteen to eighteen are being taught that erotic photographs, porno movies and literature will enhance your sexual fantasies.

That came out of John Hagee Today last fall. The show, which originates from Texas, continues to air on Burlington, Ontario-based Crossroads Television.

Yesterday, the broadcast industry's industry's own watchdog group slapped CTS for it.

Presumably CTS did not enjoy it.

Jesus Loves To Watch

CHAPTER I, Verse 1:

Armageddon is in the American evangelical TV forecast.

The grassroots online journal AlterNet has the News at 11:

Some evangelical talk show hosts see more conflict on the horizon in the Middle East. For instance, J.R. Church of "Prophecy in the News" recently predicted that the United States would attack Syria, probably with a nuclear bomb. As proof the host pointed to a passage from Isaiah, which warned that Damascus would be reduced to a "ruinous heap."

Which is what the fabulous gay guys next door with the traffic-stopping garden call my house.