Michael Hardner

Yeah, AW is right... this thread is just ridiculous.

Glenn Beck isn't a climate skeptic. He believes in Global Warming.

You're always going on about CAS. Can you please link to the original post where you complained about them ? I doubt that it will help me understand your issue with them, but at least I'll be able to compartmentalize it slightly.

Dirty Dancer dances on people's heads. That's his dance. He dances against sanctimony and pretense. He dances for all of us. He dances alone. He dances the box step.

It's kind of a bait-and-switch.... "Harper was just saying that China isn't green ..." and... they're not.

Ok on the pretzel thing, but seriously - threatening with legal action ? And besides, Cameron is Canadian so he should know what is legal here and what is not. Secondly, he didn't speak out agianst any group but against an individual. Not that your premise is wrong - there's definitely a dual standard here, but your example is not good.

Not sure where we're going with this... but sure... wheeee !

You're proving my point. "Some of us guys" are worried they're coming back so we've set up committees of people who will interrogate you to make sure you're not one of them. Get it now ?

The CBC story says "the organizers" canceled it. Some of us who dislike Coulter seem to be looking for a way to make this look like her fault, IMO. She's an insufferable hog-caller of the lowest order, but it's still sad that she couldn't speak yesterday.

Well, we have mechanisms in place to guard against persecution of minorities, due in part to the experience with the Nazis. How much of that is rear-view mirror thinking ? Is it useless to protect against social ills in the past ?

I can never understand these money conspiracies. How exactly would Canada look if we weren't conspired against ? The banks would make less money ? Ok..... The banks are capitalized at about $250 B and our GDP is 1.3 TRILLION collars.

Has anyone else noticed that this thread has produced 48 pages in just 4 days ? That seems like a record of some kind.

Do we need a 3rd thread on this ?

Speak out if you must. I too think it's the time for speaking not stopping speaking. I appreciate that you appear to understand the root logic of my beliefs here, and do not brand me as having the same opinions as Coulter.

But one is a personal insult delivered by an individual, while the other is an official communication from someone who represents an institution. Of course, it's still blurry. The stand-up comedian from Vancouver who was found guilty, or whatever, was delivering insults to someone from a stage which I would have thought protected his free speech.

That's an interesting take on it. It makes me wonder... How much should we fear the return of the mistakes of the past ? How much should we try to protect against them happening ?

Free speech is pretty well defined in law, and due to the HRCs it's actually discussed a lot more often in Canada than in the US so we're all familiar with what is allowed and what isn't. You can't ban offensive thought, or offensive speech. Hate mongering is a difficult grey area, but it should not be allowed IMO. That said, Coulter didn't even get a chance to speak, so we're all missing out on a chance to further the debate aren't we ?

The 'camel joke' was meant to be offensive, but the comparison you're making is off the scale. Calling today's conservatives 'Nazis in spirit' is as meaningless as saying we're the heirs to Stalin. I've always spoken up against that kind of hyperbole, as it stops all discussion from continuing. On another level, it's dreadfully short on imagination as far as insults go. "Speaking" and "Shutting down" are two completely different actions. I support her right to speak, to be offensive, and, incidentally, to face the consequences of whatever she says that is against the law. But she has to speak first. Also, I don't support her, Rush, Beck, or any of the hog-callers on US television. Furthermore, I think they are what's wrong with politics in America today. I have been denouncing them for years with all of my influence and power, which is to say none. But that's all I can do, and that's all anybody can do about merely offensive speech. Eventually, if their content is as lacking as I say it is, then it will drift away into history's gutter. Even now, the Republicans are starting to question how useful these drones are to them today. A bitter and angry minority does not appeal to the wide voter base that's out there. Do you remember the John Birch society ? They were another fringe group that outlived their usefulness with the Repubs, and eventually had to be cut loose. They're not well remembered today, but JFK, Martin Luther King and the like are.

Trolling can get you kicked off a website, or out of someone's house or disinvited to a university, but trolls shouldn't be threatened. I wish she had been allowed to speak, and I wish there were more outrage over the threats, which appear to have been real.

No, I would have the same opinion. There's a story about a student complaining about a 'content warning' given before a Women's Studies class. It's a no-win situation if people can complain about warnings. That said, your comments about those who approve of her being shut down are spot on. I'm sad that the students of Ottawa U gave in to their baser instincts and misbehaved as they did and I think that comments by Wyly and others comparing her to extremists of the past are themselves extreme. She earns her living offending people and making baseless and extreme comments, so people should expect the worst when she comes to town. I don't approve of what she says, but shutting her down isn't right, and it doesn't even advance the goals of those who oppose her.

There's a strange phenomenon whereby good right-of-center posters step in to assist on the arguments of not-as-good right-of-center-posters. It's kind of disappointing, because my whole schtick was that I was exploiting the vagueness of his comments on "other countries". So, your correction is correct, but it's not his correction.

So this was an expansion into Canada ? Ok, let's see what her sales do.

Two comments on that: 1 ) US presidents have a larger impact on Canada than any other leader, I would say. 2 ) Canada and the US are two of the closest countries in the world. When GWB spoke on Sept. 11, I didn't look to him as a foreign leader but as the leader of the west.

"Anne Coulter to Tour Canada"... What could possibly go wrong ? This is possibly the most ill-conceived tour since Malcolm MacLaren booked the Sex Pistols in the deep south...

She complained about THAT ? Somebody should complain about her complaint !