Earlier today:
Reporter: Tim, the Toronto District School Board wants you to apologize for things that were said during the campaign, including a homophobic, or what they’re saying is a homophobic flyer that was distributed by your party – will you apologize?
Hudak: You know, I’ve answered the question before, and the answer is no.
Yesterday’s post stirred various Raelians – all using false names and/or fake email accounts, and regurgitating suspiciously-similar talking points – into a spit-flecked fury. Some of the more rational ones argued that Bob Rae should be permitted to break his written promise not to seek the permanent leadership because, well, we’re doing great in one poll.
As a rejoinder, a regular reader sent me this. It’s hard to read, but it makes clear that not all is well, one poll notwithstanding. As he put it: “Warren, this is really why we’re losing elections. Sitting MPs with zero members. What a joke. They wonder where their volunteers are.”
Below, one comment in response to today’s column. I don’t know who is moderating over there, but they need to pay closer attention, I think.
So it’s okay for the interim leader to break his promise to not run for the leadership, and to squelch the ambitions of anyone other than himself?
He’s not telling the truth. And this is one “stupid blogger” who intends to make that point, over and over.
The craggy railbirds of the Canadian media, Christie Blatchford and Rosie Dimanno, have been there to chronicle all of it in forensic detail, regurgitating the prosecutors’ “honour killing” axiom over and over. And one old Islamophobe, Robert Fulford, actually wrote in the National Post that “One lesson we can learn from Kingston is that mindless tolerance, when carried too far, can be fatal.”
“Mindless tolerance.” What’s mindless, in fact, is the likes of Fulford, who have dishonestly suggested that “honour killings” are permitted, or even encouraged, in Islam.
Problem: It’s a lie. If you were to comb through the Koran, in fact, you would not find a single passage that advocates “honour killing.” It isn’t there. Plenty of prohibitions against murder, however, are.
It’ll help with fundraising (I hope) and membership (I expect), and it’ll generally boost morale.
Could it be an outlier? For sure. But good news is good news, and you take it when you get it.
The coverage of his Kingston murder trial is starting to bug me.
So, here’s a quiz: is the phrase “honour killing” anywhere in the Koran?
“He was an impressive man,” says Newman, as he waits to go on to a Sun News talk show. “But he was the wrong man.”
The wrong man. That, in sum, is the verdict you are left with when you read — as I did, quickly — Newman’s impressive new book, When the Gods Changed: The Death of Liberal Canada. Ignatieff was brilliant, erudite, accomplished and decent.
And, mostly, the wrong man.