Going after Deb Hutton?  Seriously?

That’s going way too far. It’s shameful, in fact.

Spouses, and families, are always off-limits.

If I was still involved, this wouldn’t be happening.  I can guarantee you of that.

UPDATE:  More here.

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And that wonderful quote corresponds exactly with my long-running view about religions (or any human institution, frankly): there are idiots in every organization. The Muslims have them, but so do Christians, Jews, you name it.  There is no monopoly on virtue, just as extremism is no exclusive club.

That doesn’t in any way exclude the criminal acts of idiots, of course.  Investigate and prosecute, to the fullest extent possible under law.  But don’t – as white supremacists and/or bigots like Kathy Shaidle, Arnie Lemaire and Kate McMillan and their ilk regularly do – suggest that Muslims alone are evil.

Every group has its fair share of evil people.  And idiots, too.

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Wonderful story, about Jerry and his friend in Toronto. Here.

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Quote unquote, with some minor edits for space.  John Wright, in the comments last night on wk.com:

• Hubris will make the Liberals lose…if you read the actual full poll release, it is a very diagnostic sounding…it doesn’t just have the vote number, but a lot more. I’ve said this publicly: the current Liberal regime is liked for its style, but it is not seen to be defined or with substance. 
• After three months at the helm, a greater proportion [of voters] want change than before. That’s hardly a great beginning…in fact, the underlying numbers look more like Kim Cambell’s than anything else. 
• I think the Tories have a soft ten point lead, because it is the same [numbers] they had at the start of the last election – and, last time I checked, Toronto proper isn’t known for its sturdy blue hue. And the underlying numbers don’t have a whole lot of growth for the PC’s at the moment – but anything can happen in a campaign. 
• It’s the NDP who likely has the greatest potential for a Minority or Majority. [But] they have a tough choice: get some budget sops on things like car insurance, or pull the plug after the budget is brought down…
• …neither the Grits or the Tories have demonized the NDP. The Liberals are undefined, except for style over substance – with the biggest movement for “change” we’ve seen in a decade.
• The PC’s have the baggage from the last campaign, and Mr. Hudak’s recent interviews have been in praise of Mike Harris’s mettle. 
• Watch the NDP: they can leave the Liberals in for another year…or they can do the deed now, as Spring arrives, and the “change in the season” becomes a metaphor for their campaign. 
• Sometimes the best people with the best hearts and intentions forget that getting along with your opponents is not what cuts it in the blood sport of politics. 
• Folks, these numbers are bad for this incumbent minority government. The budget…may not be enough to sustain them on the hustings. So, we will see over the next month whether this government will find its political inner being – or just be a populist group who can be swept aside easily by an electorate who wants change…

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Right here.

What’s it mean?

You know damn well what it means.

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Quote:

“One of the two men accused of an al Qaeda-backed plan to derail a passenger train in Canada questioned the authority of Canadian law to judge him, telling a court on Wednesday that the criminal code is imperfect and is not a holy book.

Chiheb Esseghaier, a Tunisian-born PhD student, faces charges that include conspiracy to murder and working with a terrorist group.

He and another suspect allegedly hoped to derail a passenger train, perhaps at a bridge near the U.S.-Canada border, with possible heavy loss of life, authorities said.

In a brief hearing where he was ordered back into custody, Esseghaier, 30, said the allegations against him are based on laws that are unreliable because they are not the work of God.

“All of these conclusions was taken out based on (the) Criminal Code,” he told a Toronto court. “The Criminal Code is not (a) holy book.”

I don’t see this as a big problem, personally. The holy Koran says, inter alia: “The punishment of those who [strive] for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides…: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter.”

The Koran is a holy book, unlike the Criminal Code, as he says. So, if he is indeed found guilty, Esseghaier seems to be expressing enthusiastic and unambiguous support for the execution, crucifixion, or dismemberment options.  Exile is possible, too, but doesn’t really amount to “heavy punishment,” now, does it?

So, there you go.  Problem solved.

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I actually watched CBC News last night, just to see the shiny new Justin Trudeau spot.  All I got was about five seconds of it, and then Chris Hall and Peter Mansbridge telling me what to think about it.  That made me turn off the TV.

Here, then, as a public service, is the ad in its entirety.  Decide for yourself what you think! To Hell with Hall!

 

What does Your Humble Narrator think about it, you ask? Well, it ain’t bad, but it ain’t epic, either. Here, again, are Warren’s Free Tips On How To Watch A Political Ad:

1. Watch it with the sound off.  TV is a visual medium.  When you force yourself to focus on only the pictures, Trudeau looks pretty good.  But when he’s tie-less, perched on the corner of the desk, and in the classroom setting, does he look however like a Prime Minister? Not yet.  More like a guy selling Registered Education Savings Plans.
2. Watch it with your emotional brain, not your logical brain.  As I wrote in Fight The Right, political decisions are mostly emotional.  Reason – if it plays any role at all – plays a supporting role. The emotional response the ad evokes is neutral: it doesn’t make you dislike Harper, necessarily, or like Trudeau.  If anything, my emotional response was: he looks young for his age.  That may or may not be a good thing.  For Obama 2008, it was good.
3. Watch it for the one thing it wants to tell you.  This is where I was a bit unclear.  Is its purpose to diss the Conservatives?  To promote Trudeau?  To raise money? To celebrate the continued use of Video Cassette Recorders in 2013? You got me.  If the objective was introduce Trudeau to the public as Liberal leader, it does that.  But the staccato, sentence-fragmenty delivery was off-putting, for me.

Anyway.  That, as I say, is just my take.  Take it or leave it.  Your reaction is more important, because you guys are normal, and I’m a political weirdo.

Comments are open, so fire away.

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One from a Westerner, here. And, from an Easterner, here.

The pan-Canadian consensus? Her goose is cooked.

The problem with the BC Liberal strategy is that they considered Christy Clark to be their key strength. When, in fact, she was their central weakness. She makes Kim Campbell circa 1993 look like the finest strategic mind since Talleyrand.

Adrian Dix is going to win.  It’ll be fine.

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