E-Jack-U-Layton: NDP Leader Caught in Bawdy House Years Ago

SunTV broke this story yesterday on New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Jack Layton’s exploits at a well-known bawdy house during his time as Toronto City Councilor. Thanks to SDAMatt2 for the video (hat-tip Blazing Cat Fur).

And here’s Jack Layton’s respond to this story.

Not really a response at all actually. It’s a dodge. In my opinion, his dishonesty pretty much confirms police suspicions about what occurred. Instead of answering the question posed to him by reporters, he changes topics and attacks the nature of politics. Says a lot about the man who seems set on leading the opposition, if not a coalition government.

So what should be taken away from this story? Not much. It damages Jack’s credibility, but considering that this man is leading the NDP, it isn’t like he had much credibility to begin with. I mean, how can anyone take you seriously with the kind of candidates your party is running? I mean, aside from Libby Davies.

I can see disheartened Liberals refusing to vote NDP over this story, but not much else. Actually, considering former President Bill Clinton’s popularity, ill-informed and immoral youth might actually vote for Jack because of this past indiscretion.

The real question raised by this story is why did it take sixteen years for this incident to come to light? Surely NDP insiders knew of this past discretion, but why was it SunTV that broke this story? I think it speaks to the quality (or lack thereof) of journalism in this country. According to Blazing Cat Fur Andre Coyne of Maclean’s Magazine, as well as others in the media, knew of this story months ago (hat-tip Five Feet of Fury). So why wasn’t it reported? While I might not be a devoted follower of the station, SunTV has demonstrated with this story that they are needed to report on news other media outlets refuse to due to their political biases.

Liberal Party supporters will be happy with the release of this story. It might just be enough to keep them as the official opposition. With this incident now made public, they could only hope that it spreads fast enough and far enough to change their party’s political fortunes. Is it possible? Maybe, but this story might have come out too late to have any significant impact on predicted election results.

We’ll see come Monday, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this loses NDP much needed votes in some of the closer races. As Kathy Shaidle of Five Feet of Fury said, talk of an NDP election win could just be another case of premature Jack Layton.

UPDATE: More information is coming out, this from Jenny Yuen at the Toronto Sun.

The Velvet Touch Massage parlour — where Jack Layton was found during a 1996 police visit — was suspected by himself and others to be a rub and tug since it opened, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti says.

The massage parlour at 787 Dundas St. W., which ceased operations shortly after the police came calling, opened in 1994 and was among 26 suspected bawdy houses Toronto Police cracked down on with more than 300 charges.

Layton has denied any wrongdoing and said he did not know it was a suspected bawdy house…

…As for his thoughts on Layton being caught in the room with an attractive 5-foot-10 Asian woman, he’s not really buying that the NDP leader didn’t know it was a place where he could get sexual services.

“He’s claiming he got a legitimate massage, but the issue here is it’s clear it was a rub and tug and most people in society would know that when they go in. I’d be very surprised that a very smart politician would not have known … and Jack was very smart.”

The Velvet Touch doesn’t sound like a “community clinic” at all. How many “community clinics” are suspected of underage prostitution? The more we hear about the it and what is suspected to have occurred there, the more damning this story becomes. I don’t know how anyone who cares about women’s rights, let alone self-proclaimed feminists, could support a man who frequented a massage parlour suspected of sex trafficking of young girls.

“Jack the John” Layton literally got caught with his pants down and now, with a day left in this campaign, the NDP and its supporters are lashing out, calling this story an unsubstantiated smear. Hopefully Canadians are smart enough to to understand that just because charges weren’t laid, doesn’t mean a crime didn’t occur.

Stupid: Theo Caldwell and Michael Coren Prove That They Are

I haven’t been doing much blogging with final exams, but now that they’re over, I figured that I would get back to doing what I enjoy. The issue that got me writing today was SunTV’s Theo Caldwell and his guest Michael Coren, the host of ‘The Michael Coren Show’, bashing Sarah Palin during a discussion about the Middle East. Thanks to SDAMatt2 for the video clip.

How do Coren’s comments about the history of the term “blood libel” prove that he is smarter than Sarah Palin? It doesn’t. This doesn’t show anything but their political leanings, but let’s humour these two twits for a few minutes.

Stupidity is defined as “a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, wit, or sense.” The lack of understanding is what we’re looking at here, particularly the context in which the term “blood libel” was used. Following the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, Sarah Palin, along with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, etc were blamed for the actions of Jared Lee Loughner. After numerous statements by members of the press that Sarah had “blood on her hands,” she responded and correctly stated that her detractors were manufacturing a “blood libel” against her. Why was she correct? Let’s take a step back to examine the term itself.

As Coren stated, “blood libel” is a term that originated in 12th century Europe, but it has evolved overtime. Now, as liberal Havard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz pointed out, it’s used to characterize any false accusation that relates to the killing of human beings.

…The term blood libel has taken on a broad metaphorical meaning in public discourse. Although its historical origins are rooted in theologically based false accusations against the Jewish people and individual Jews, its current usage is far broader. I myself have used it to describe what I believe to be false accusations against the state of Israel by the Goldstone report. The fact that two of the victims are Jewish is irrelevant to the propriety of using this widely-referenced term…

…Sarah Palin was accused of being responsible for the death and wounding of multiple human beings. She reasonably believes that accusation to be false in fact and politically inspired. She is entitled, in my view, to use the term “blood libel” in the context of an accusation of responsibility for bloodletting, without regard to the religion or ethnicity of the perpetrator, the victims, the accusers or the accused…

The question is whether or not Coren truly understood the context of Palin’s comments. Surely he couldn’t be so petty as to constantly find excuses to assert his belief that the former Alaskan governor is an intellectual inferior, could he? I have sent him a few e-mails in the past, one with a link to Alan Dershowitz’s article, but he hasn’t replied to me nor made an effort to apologize for his mistakes on his show. I guess Michael isn’t the courageous intellectual he would have his audience believe.

As for Caldwell, what can I say? He spent a part of yesterday’s show admitting his mental deficiency, so I don’t see the point in spending anymore time to prove his stupidity. I’m not a fan of Caldwell nor his politics. It’s only been two days the start of his show, ‘The Caldwell Account’ on SunTV and I have lost interest in anything he or his guests have to say. Be it his childish antics when introducing guests, his inability to maintain composure, or his uneducated and ill-conceived opinions on issues like American politics, he isn’t worth watching. It’s almost like he and his show are the personification of the myths and lies spread by the left about Fox News. Even on their worst days, Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity are far more professional than this twit.

In the end, this nonsense not only speaks volumes about Theo Caldwell and Michael Coren, but it also says a lot about SunTV. The left is always criticized for its dedication to a group of intellectual elites, but that doesn’t mean the right is lacks a similar intelligentsia. These are the pseudo-conservative pundits, like David Frum who believe themselves better than anyone who doesn’t share their educational pedigree or upbringing. This is where this hatred of Sarah Palin and other like her comes from on the right. People like Sarah haven’t achieved fame and political power as these elites have, and their ability to connect and rally the conservative base scares them. Instead of emulating Palin, instead of sticking to core conservative principles, they would prefer to brand her and others like her as “stupid” and “radical” to appease their left-leaning colleagues. That demonstrates real stupidity.

If SunTV wants to claim it speaks for the average Canadian, Caldwell and Coren aren’t helping them. Such ill-informed pseudo-conservative nonsense demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of their audience. That’s real stupidity.

UPDATE: I want to add this video from uffdamega52. It’s a clip from Glenn Beck’s radio show discussing another book smearing Sarah Palin, but it’s the last minute of the segment which I want my modest readership to pay attention to.

It isn’t just Beck saying this. Mark Levin as well as many other conservative pundits have pointed out that Palin and others like her are a threat to their political power. This is the exact same nonsense we see when Theo Caldwell and Michael Coren take cheap shots at the former Alaskan governor.

I’m hoping this nonsense won’t be common as SunTV goes forward. If it is, I won’t be wasting my time watching it.

A Coren Clip: Panel in Agreement on Muslim Riots

I posted on this the other day, but I still wanted to discuss the panel discussion on ‘The Michael Coren Show’. Here is the clip of the segment thanks to SDAMatt2.

Like I said, much of what was said I discussed in my last blog post. The panel is in agreement on who is to blame and who isn’t to blame. They also raise the point about why we are even in Afghanistan after this betrayal by President Hamid Karzai who used Terry Jones’ actions to score political points with Muslim radicals, as well as the brutal murder of those who are there trying to help the Afghan people. I could spend hours writing for and against our mission there, but this isn’t the point of this post.

What I want to point out is that both John Downs and Laura Babcock have apparently changed their minds on Islam. Instead of relying on political correctness, they both seem to have taken into account that this religion is far more violent than others. While it is remarkable that neither of them didn’t simply blame the Florida pastor and free speech, as Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has done, they also didn’t try to defend this barbarism through an ill-conceived moral equivalency as they have in the past. Let’s not forget that this is the same John Downs who blamed humans for the September 11th attacks.

Maybe John’s new beard has provided him the ability to reach rational conclusions without resorting to politically correct talking points. If any good is to come from the brutal riots still going on in the Middle East it’s that many on the left, formerly staunch defenders of Islam, are giving up on defending the indefensible. The evidence is so overwhelming at this point that no rational person can excuse this violence as the work of a few extremists. Once again, I am not saying that all Muslims are violent extremists, but let’s stop pretending that these radicals are fringe elements.

If those like John Downs and Laura Babcock really wish to educate themselves on the nature of Islam, Pajamas Media’s Hege Storhaug’s recent column is a definite must read (hat-tip Blazing Cat Fur). In order to combat this barbarism, we not only have to acknowledge it, but educate ourselves on it. It’s a shame that these lessons are only being learned now after so many have been murderer in the name of this “religion of peace.”

An Islamic Reformation? Lorne Gunter on the Qur’an Burning

I have to say I am perplexed by all this nonsense I have been reading and hearing for those who would blame Paster Terry Jones for the deaths of U.N. staffers and guards in Mazar-i-Sharif. Instead of placing the blame solely on those responsible, those like Lindsey Graham believe freedom of speech should be restricted because of what Islamic radicals might do. The problem with this idea is that it assumes that such provocative actions, like Qur’an burnings, are reasons for this violence. They aren’t. They are just excuses to fan the flames of Western hatred.

While Ed Morrissey’s post is probably one of, if not the best piece I have read on this story, I do want my modest readership to give Lorne Gunter’s column on this a look.

…What Terry Jones is not – for all his sins – is a murderer. That designation belongs to the Muslim extremists who, in retaliation for his Koran-burning stunt – have rioted for three days in Afghanistan and killed a total of 24 people so far, including seven international staff of the UN in Mazar-i-Sharif in the northern part of the country.

Jones may have conceived that a deadly reaction would occur in the Muslim world when he fired up the grill and tossed a Koran on it. He may even have desired it. And for that and for his narcissistic incitements now and in the past, no doubt the God he purports to represent will consign Jones to hell when his time comes.

But there has been a tendency in the West to blame Jones for the deaths that have occurred since news of his crass act got out. Those murders, though, hang solely on those who committed them. The deaths say as much about the state of Islam in the developing world and about the development of Afghanistan as they do about Jones and his vainglorious attention seeking…

The first point I would like to raise is that, just because Terry Jones is detestable, it doesn’t mean that he is a murderer. The truth is that Qur’an burning is far from a rarity stories like this would have you believe. Videos of others doing this around the world can be easily found online. Do I support burning scripture? Of course not. Aside from being extremely offensive, it’s pointless since doing so paints those who set the religious texts on fire, not those who murder in response, as the extremists. Mind you, I also don’t see the point in spending money to buy a copy of the Qur’an, let alone the matches used to start the fire.

The second point I want to raise is something I find troubling. The naive belief that somehow Islam as a faith can be separating from Islam as a political movement.

…After 9/11, my colleague, Jonathan Kay, and I wrote a series of editorials for the Post arguing that what the Muslim world needed most was a Reformation in which verbal attacks on Muhammad and the faith were not taken as direct insults and defilements. An intellectual separation of church and state would be a good idea, too. Such enlightenment transformations had, over time, ended the crusades and most of the big religious wars among Christians and between Christianity and other faiths.

But because much of Islam has not gone through a similar evolution, the publication of Danish cartoons of Muhammad or false reports of a Koran flushing at Guantanamo Bay detention camp (both in 2005) or last month’s Koran burning by Terry Jones set off deadly spasms of protest in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and elsewhere…

This idea wrongly assumes that the Protestant Reformation was in response to differences between scripture and Catholic teachings and traditions. Having actually studied the period in question, having read the personal writings of Martin Luther from the time he published the Ninety-Five Theses, religion was simply an excuse for what was predominantly a political movement. Luther was just the most successful critic in a long line of critics who believed that Catholic Church was sinful. The reason he escaped the fate of his predecessors is because of his political support. Luther’s criticisms, most notably his belief that man was defined through faith alone, the key point of contention between Catholics and Protestants to this day, was the excuse European royalty needed to turn the masses against the Church to seize political power and wealth the Vatican had amassed.

Am I saying that the Catholic Church, let alone Christianity, didn’t need the Reformation? Of course not. The Church and its leadership had become corrupt, concerning themselves with politics and riches instead of doing the work of God. The difference is that there wasn’t a shift in Catholic teachings, nor was there a significant shift in the religious beliefs in Europe because to the Reformation as the differences between the Christian faiths, for the most part, are fairly minor. Even Martin Luther had to revise many of his beliefs on Christianity, most notably the belief that man was defined through faith alone as it contradicted in the Book of James (James 2:24 “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only”).

The political landscape of Europe had changed, but that was pretty much it. To suggest that an event similar in Islam would somehow reform the religion and do away with Sharia, a key tenet of Islam, is laughable. One might as well ask Christians and Jews to ignore the Ten Commandments. Am I saying that Islam doesn’t need to be reformed? Of course not, but one would have to be incredibly naive to believe that the problems the world is facing because of Islam has to do with a few corrupt leaders. Andrew C. McCarthy made it clear in a recent piece that these problems lay with Islam itself.

If you have been reared in a culture that worships suicide bombers, that dehumanizes Jews as the children of monkeys and pigs, and that insists Israel is not merely the enemy but does not have a right to exist. And these positions, it bears emphasizing, do not represent some fringe Islam of al-Qaeda terrorists who have purportedly hijacked an otherwise peaceful religion. This is mainstream Islam, the sorts of things you would hear in a classroom at al-Azhar University or a television show on al-Jazeera — the place where, according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, people turn for “real news,” the place where Muslim Brotherhood guru Yusuf Qaradawi lionizes suicide bombers in his popular weekly program, Sharia and Life.

Just because the vast majority of Muslims aren’t violent, that doesn’t mean they don’t condone the actions of jihadists. Contrary to what Gunter and others would believe, a Reformation-type movement wouldn’t be enough to fix these problems in Islam.

What Terry Jones’ burning of the Qur’an have revealed the dark nature of Islam. This barbarism has been going on for centuries, long before the Florida pastor took a lit match to the Islamic holy book, and this savagery will continue long after he and his congregation are a footnote in history. These religious teachings, contrary to what those like Lorne Gunter would believe, are just as much to blame for the deaths of the U.N. workers as those who carried out these horrific murders.

When Reality Is Satire: Earth Hour In Japan, AYFKM? (via SOYLENT GREEN)

Found this via The Daily Bayonet (hat-tip to Blazing Cat Fur). Suffice to say, radical environmentalists simply don’t know when to quit. If anyone needed proof of the World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF) hatred for humanity, look no further then their treatment of the Japanese people who are still dealing with the earthquakes and tsunami which left thousands dead and thousands more homeless. Instead of demanding that the Japan shut its lights off for an hour, why not make an effort to bring electricity to those who are now without it?

Guess they can’t let human suffering get in the way of their radical environmental agenda eh? Disgusting…

In my Alpha Proxima Day 2011 post, I noted in passing that the Japanese were valiantly trying to avoid perpetual Earth Hour as they recovered from the quake/tsunami/reactor cooling failure. Contrarily, in true GreenLeft fashion, the WWF couldn't let a crisis go to waste. We did hesitate a bit (about calling for Earth Hour in Japan) because there are many without electricity in disaster-hit areas," said Naoyuki Yamagishi, climate change programme … Read More

via SOYLENT GREEN