Christie Blatchford and Helpless; Controversial book author discusses lawlessness in Caledonia

Videos courtesy of SDAMatt2. While I prefer ‘The Michael Coren Show’ when it has panel discussions about a variety of national and international issues, last Friday’s episode with Christie Blatchford, the author of Helpless: Caledonia’s Nightmare of Fear and Anarchy, and How the Law Failed All of Us was definitely one worth watching. I had heard of the Grand River land dispute and the lawlessness in Caledonia, Ontario at this time, but I wasn’t aware that is was this bad.

This is a perfect example of what happens when we allow political correctness to affect our legal system. Police were unwilling to protect the citizens of Caledonia, let alone arrest any of the occupiers because of their ethnicity. While some would compare this incident to what occurred at the G20 in Toronto, I think it is a mistake. The occupiers in Caledonia weren’t ill-informed students looking to break windows, they were an armed militia that terrorized a community because of its skin colour. Letting them hold a community hostage resulted in more than a few broken windows and a torched police car.

There are times when police should give protesters their space, but this wasn’t one of those times. With people being threatened, beat up, forced out of their cars and homes at knife point, law enforcement should done something, no matter what ethnicity the criminals were.

Anything But Sanity: Stewart/Colbert Rally and Radical Muslim Yusuf Islam

Hat tip to Blazing Cat Fur for this story. Those who haven’t already donated to Blazing Cat Fur’s legal fund, please visit his website and help out as best you can. This from Aaron Worthing at Patterico’s Pontifications…

…I have been watching the Jon Stewart rally and my Tivo’s running a bit behind because I have been pausing to deal with life, but my jaw dropped wide open when Stewart introduced a man named “Yusuf.” That would be Yusuf Islam, the man formerly known as Cat Stevens, who then played a rendition of his song “Peace Train.”

That would be the same Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens who endorsed the Fatwah against Salman Rushdie… And this ___hole is in the rally to restore sanity?!

Worthing includes a links to a New York Times story from 1989 about Yusuf Islam’s support of for the call Salman Rushdie’s death, and another from Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs, outlining among other things, Yusuf being arrested, deported and barred from entering Israel for donating thousands of dollars to Hamas, an Islamic terrorist organization. How is having an Islamic radical like this supposed to help in restoring “sanity”?

As many bloggers, including Doug Powers and Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey have pointed out, this event is a joke. Call it “Irony-Stock” or “LOLapalooza” (I am more preferable to “Rally to Secure the Drones”), but instead of being a meaningful event about specific issues or simply to demonstrated American voter frustration with the “ruling elites” in Washington, what we have here is not only political laziness, but a desperate act to round up support for the Democrats through, as Bill Press so “eloquently” put it, a “Big Masturbation Festival”, where those attending are made to believe that they are “free-thinking and unique individuals”, not “drones” who’s votes are need to hold back what appears now to be a Republican sweep, in Congress at least. The inclusion of an Islamic radical as entertainment for this event highlights this point as it shows that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are very out of touch with what the average American, especially when it comes to fears of Muslim fundamentalism. What could be more inappropriate after yesterday’s terrorist scare concerning the explosive devices found aboard cargo planes bound to the United States from Yemen than to invite an individual who supports and promotes such radicalism to perform at your event? Were they out of their minds?

If anything, Yusuf Islam’s appearance at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s ‘Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear’ demonstrates just how little thinking had gone into this event. There is nothing “sane” about this. Yes, this event was a joke, a very unfunny one directed at youth who couldn’t care less about the real problems America is facing, but it is also more than that. It is a clear example of just how irrelevant and offensive these comedians have become. If it isn’t Colbert making a mockery of himself and the Congressional Democrats, it is this ill-conceived publicity stunt. This shtick just isn’t funny anymore…

UPDATE: Ed Morrissey from Hot Air has posted about Yusuf Islam’s appearance at the “Rally to Restore Sanity.” While Yusuf would like people to believe that he was simply joking about wanting Salman Rushdie dead, Ed isn’t buying it. Morrissey also goes on to say that Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have turned a “waste of time” into a “despicable, offensive embarrassment.” So what is the Comedy Central’s position on this? As Ed points out, they had previously censored South Park in fear of Muslim’s reaction to the cartoon portrayal of Mohammend, something which the show’s creators received death threats for. So has Comedy Central made the leap from appeasement of fundamentalist Muslims to condoning Islamic radicalism? If I were them, I would be drafting a statement condemning this nonsense right now.

UPDATE: Hat tip to Hot Air’s Allahpundit for the link. The Daily Caller’s Matthew Boyle and Laura Donovan were at the ‘Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear’ and discovered what should have been obvious. They found that the attendees were going to, more of less, vote Democrat, no matter who is running.

…For instance, Liz Pifer, a student at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pa., told TheDC that though she plans to vote in the midterm elections on Tuesday, she didn’t know who was running for Pennsylvania’s open Senate seat. She later said that she thought Joe Sestak was running, and that she’ll probably vote for him because he’s a Democrat. As for House candidates, she said, “I don’t know who’s running”…

…McIntosh, who is registered in Virginia, said he plans vote Tuesday for Democratic candidates down the line, even though he doesn’t know who they are.

Melissa Miller, who came to rally from Texas with her husband Tom, said, told TheDC she’s voting for the Democrat
House candidate, but couldn’t name the candidate from her district.

“I was mostly paying attention to the governor’s race,” Miller said.

Anti-Tea-Party-ness and anger toward Fox News dominated most signs at the rally on the National Mall, a clear fit for comedian Stewart’s jabs at what he calls extremism.

Shoshana Senn, 15, of Arlington, Va., thinks Tea Partiers are “dumb.”

Senn made the trek to the rally from DC’s suburbs with her mom, who she said dressed up like a “zombie Tea Partier” for Halloween.

Elwin Guild, who currently live in Connecticut but lived in the District for 30 years before, said he was pleased with the rally’s outcome…

I recommend that my modest readership give Boyle and Donovan’s article a full read as it has a fair bit more than I posted here. Is anyone really surprised about this? The average attendee has no idea who is running in their district, has an ill-informed position on the Tea Party, calling them “dumb” and “extremist”, and don’t want to vote for Republicans. I would also imagine that they had no idea who Yusuf Islam was when he got up on stage to perform. I don’t think they would have enjoyed his music knowing he believes that Islamic apostates, those who convert away from Islam, should be killed. What did I say about the “Rally to Secure the Drones”?

As for numbers, I am going to wait for more information on that. All I am reading so far is biased accounts from media outlets which are purposefully low-balling Glenn Beck’s ‘Restoring Honor Rally’ (CBS’ 87,000 instead of NBC’s Domenico Montanaro’s 300,000-325,000). Seeing how Arianna Huffington and Oprah Winfrey paid for buses to get people to today’s rally, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was more, but I seriously doubt the figures I am seeing concerning attendance.

UPDATE: I have a new post up on Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s ‘Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear’. Give it a look, it has new reports on attendance and impressions of those who attended from various political pundits.

UPDATE: Aaron Worthing at Patterico’s Pontifications has two posts up concerning Salman Rushdie’s thoughts on Yusuf Islam performing at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s ‘Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.’ This first post is about Rushdie’s response to the news that the man who had supported calls for his death was at the event, while the second is a follow-up with Stewart’s comments after being questioned by Rushdie about having this Islamic radical at his rally. In short, Rushdie wasn’t impressed and Stewart really couldn’t care how he felt about this Yusuf being at the event.

It is moments like these that expose Jon Stewart’s lack of integrity. It doesn’t matter who is threatened by Islamic fundamentalists like Yusuf Islam, Stewart really wanted to hear Peace Train performed at his ill-conceived and poorly executed rally… Pathetic…

UPDATE: Now Hot Air’s Allahpundit is weighing in on Jon Stewart’s comments to Salman Rushdie about Yusuf Islam performing at the ‘Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.’ He doesn’t appear to be anymore impressed than the rest of us about Stewart’s comments, but spends the majority of his post disproving the belief that Yusuf either didn’t mean what he said or that he has apologized to Rushdie for supporting calls for the author’s murder. I recommend my modest readership give the post a read as Allahpundit does take a fair bit of time debunking this myth.

Voter Fraud? What Voter Fraud? Democrat Denial and Bob is FURIOUS!

If you haven’t heard what has already been happening, I recommend you give Michelle Malkin’s recent column a read. She also has an earlier post discussing the various allegations of voter fraud by Democrats, most of which is still be ignored by the mainstream media. So with all these stories slowly coming out, Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey is reporting on Betty McCollum’s assertion that voter fraud doesn’t exist. Pay attention closely to the audience’s reaction to this claim…

Yes, nothing underlines a gaffe more than the audience outright laughing at the absurdity of what was said. It wasn’t too long ago that ACORN’s voter fraud was national news, so it doesn’t make that anyone who has been paying attention would make such an absurd statement. The truth is getting out, and voters know exactly who is responsible, and they are getting angry about it. Don’t believe me? Just ask Bob…

As Bob points out, Democrats are getting caught trying to rig this election. They are even stooping so low as to deny soldiers from New York and Illinois their absentee ballots. Even with their political careers in jeopardy, it doesn’t make sense that these candidates would stoop to such lows, let alone deny that their colleagues are actually doing this. To the average American voter, lying about voter fraud is almost as bad at the act itself, so McCollum isn’t doing herself any favours with statements like this.

Democrats are going to be suffering significant losses this election so the last thing they should be doing is giving frustrated voters yet another reason to throw them out of office… Pathetic…

P.S. If you haven’t donated to Blazing Cat Fur’s legal fund, or haven’t any idea as to what is going on, please visit his website and help him out as best you can. It doesn’t matter whether you are Canadian, American or otherwise, he needs your help.

UPDATE: Continuing with the voter fraud theme, Michelle Malkin is reporting that the New Black Panther Party official Quannell X is gearing up to “monitor” voting at the polls. For those who have forgotten, to the New Black Panther Party, “monitoring”, as they showed in the 2008 election, includes voter intimidation.

I wonder if Attorney General Eric Holder will pretend, like Better McCollum, that it isn’t actually happening? Wouldn’t surprise me, especially since he has a history of letting criminals go unpunished…

Quick Post; Blazing Cat Fur still needs your help

I realize that I am not the most influential Canadian blogger, but I would like to do what I can to get the call out for support for one of the better known Canadian bloggers out there, Blazing Cat Fur. As I have stated previously, Richard Warman has filed a $500,000 lawsuit against him on frivolous grounds. According to the suit, Blazing Cat Fur has violated Section 13 (1) of the Human Rights Act, which states that “it is discriminatory to communicate by phone or Internet any material that is likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt.” How did he do this? By linking to sites Mark Steyn’s website, SteynOnline.com.

I could spend the hours writing about the dangers of Section 13, but Marc Lemire at ‘The FreedomSite Blog’ has done a good job addressing this issue. What I am trying to do is send up the call for assistance for a fellow blogger. This fight for his freedom of speech, as well as our own, has just begun and he need all the help we can offer. Blazing Cat Fur is still asking for our support, and I want to do anything I can to give it to him. Whether you are Canadian, American or otherwise, send whatever donations you can.

Blazing Cat Fur is ONE OF US, and many of us rely on his site for news on stories which affect us, many of which we miss because of the amount of stories that are in the news, both national and international. I can’t count how many times I have turned to “the Kitty” for sources, ideas for posts or simply a laugh after a depressing news cycle. The Canadian blogosphere will not be the same without him… Upsetting…

Election Season Joy: Behar’s B-words and Barbara’s Bluntness

When Joy Behar, a co-host on ‘The View’, called Nevada Republican Senate candidate a “bitch” and said “she is going to hell”, I am pretty sure that wasn’t taken as a term of endearment. When she said “those flowers were picked by illegal immigrants and they’re not voting for you, bitch” after receiving a beautiful bouquet from Angle, I am sure that she wasn’t being gracious. So why is Behar now saying it was? This from Steve Krakauerat at Mediaite.

Yesterday we asked if Joy Behar should apologize for calling Sharron Angle a bitch – and then doing it again the next day.

Well guess what? She did! And then she called the rest of the women on The View bitches too.

“I really shouldn’t have called her a bitch,” said Behar today. “To me, that’s a term of endearment. I reserve that word for people that I know and love. So that was a mistake and I take it back”…

Krakauerat might be thrilled about this, but myself and Angle’s supporters aren’t. This is a non-apology from a shrew who isn’t sorry she said all those hateful things. Why even make such a statement if you don’t mean it? Well, as NewsBusters.org’s Noel Sheppard pointed out, her remarks are actually help Angle’s campaign. Even Barbara Walters understands this, pointing it out to a clueless Behar yesterday…

So is this the reason for the apology an attempt to reverse the support Angle received when Behar called her a bitch? Maybe. It could also have to do with a conversation she might have had with Walters about what kind of language is and isn’t appropriate on the show. In any event, this whole episode displays Joy’s complete lack of integrity. You can disagree with someone without having to slander them on national television. If Behar had the mental capacity to debate Angle on the issues of the campaign, she probably would have done that instead of demonstrating just how vacuous her mind is.

One final point which I missed when saw the second video, one pointed out by Sheppard and Hot Air’s Allahpundit. It is pretty racist to assume that illegal immigrants picked the flowers Angle sent. I doubt she meant to say something that offensive, but it isn’t the first time we have seen this kind of nonsense from Behar, allowing others to make such offensive statements on her CNN Headlines show, so it wouldn’t surprise me if she does have these thoughts. Also, in case Behar didn’t know, illegal immigrants can’t vote. She is right that they won’t be voting for Angle, but legally they can’t vote for Harry Reid either.

I guess this is what we can expect from Joy Behar though. In any event, this did backfire on her. As Barbara Walters said, “you are so offensive to many people that they will raise money to whomever you disapprove of.” Maybe Behar should have been making such statements about other Republican candidates like Christine O’Donnell and Joe Miller. If the donations to Sharon Angle’s campaign are any indication, she could have filled up the coffers for these candidates… Hilarious…