Eye on a Crazy Planet

Qatar’s withdraws bid to usurp headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) from Montréal

2013-05-24T20:28:00.000-04:00

May 24, 2013 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, Jean-François Lisée, Quebec’s Minister of International Relations, La Francophonie and External Trade (and Minister Responsible for the Montréal Region), and Michael Applebaum, Mayor of Montréal, are pleased to learn that the State of Qatar has withdrawn its bid to move the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) from Montréal.

Alleged Rob Ford video not hurting Toronto’s international reputation: study

2013-05-24T16:44:00.000-04:00

Of course it isn't.

The only people obsessed with how the rest of the world is reacting to news about Rob Ford's alleged foibles are the usual suspect coterie of pathetic, self-obsessed, self-described "progressives."

ALSO : At a news conference today, Rob Ford denies crack cocaine use

The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald inadvertently argues that every Muslim in the west should be interred or deported

2013-05-24T13:55:00.000-04:00

Basically making the banal and morally vapid argument that 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter,' The Guardian's columnist Glenn Greenwald wrote on Thursday that the horrific beheading of an off-duty soldier on the streets of London was not an act of terrorism.

Greenwald's reasoning boils down to his question: "Can it really be the case that when western nations continuously kill Muslim civilians, that's not "terrorism", but when Muslims kill western soldiers, that is terrorism?"

The ramifications of the position taken in Greenwald's column are staggering if indeed he and more to the point, if Muslims living in the west genuinely believe it.

Employing a puerile moral equivalency, Greenwald maintains that "it's true that the soldier who was killed yesterday was out of uniform and not engaged in combat at the time he was attacked. But the same is true for the vast bulk of killings carried out by the US and its allies over the last decade."

But there's a matter of major significance that Greenwald's thinking postulates. The terrorists who murdered Lee Rigby as he was innocently walking in the London suburb of Woolwich were Nigerian Muslims who had immigrated to England. If they are not terrorists, if they are behaving the same way he says western nations do in Islamic countries, then on whose behalf were they acting? The west hasn't attacked Nigeria, nor were the Woolwich terrorists wearing Nigerian or any military uniforms.

Speaking of terrorism, Greenwald wrote, "the term at this point seems to have no function other than propagandistically and legally legitimizing the violence of western states against Muslims while delegitimizing any and all violence done in return to those states."

By that logic, when US or UK soldiers launch attacks against the Taliban, or al Qaida, or during the wars against Iraq, if a Muslim is killed, then it is an attack against all Muslims.

Greenwald's position only makes sense if one takes the position that the west is in a war against all Muslims and more to the point, that the reverse is also true.

And if that's the case, if Glenn Greenwald is correct, then every single Muslim in the west is an enemy soldier walking among us, which gives western countries the right to deport or inter them in prison camps until the war is over.

Of course Greenwald is wrong. Like most moral relativists, he hasn't the capacity to think through the implications of the rhetorical contortions he distorted himself into while acting as an apologist for terrorism.

All Muslims are not at war with the west. The vast majority find the Woolwich terrorists as repugnant as anyone else.

Nor is the west at war with all Muslims. Western civilians living in Islamic states do not go around killing Muslim soldiers, nor is anyone in their right mind claiming they have such a right. If a Catholic is murdered by a Muslim terrorist, as often happens, the Pope does not give dispensations that allow the killing of any available Muslim in retaliation.

But this recent horror in Woolwich does highlight another aspect of the dilemma the west faces in dealing with its growing Muslim population.

Sunder Katwala wrote in The Globe and Mail:

The hearts of the vast majority of Britain’s three million Muslim citizens will have sunk on hearing the news of the Woolwich killing. The condemnations came quickly, yet many were also scratching their heads wondering how Britain’s Muslim majority could ever get their voices heard more powerfully than the dramatically newsworthy preachers of hate.

The "preachers of hate" to whom Katwala refers are embedded in many of England's and the west's mosques. Just as in the movie Trainspotting, his friends warily accepted the sociopathic villain Begbie, similarly many Muslims may find the Jihadist "preachers of hate' scary and deplorable, but tolerate them nonetheless because to their co-religionists, they are "one of us."

Until all western Muslims and the rest of us shun and ostracize the preachers of hate, be they in the mosques or on the editorial pages of The Guardian, then we will remain a long way from seeing the end of terrorism in our streets.

Hell really must have frozen over - I'm in agreement with Rick Salutin twice in the same month

2013-05-24T09:23:00.000-04:00

Last week Salutin wrote a fine tribute to the late Toronto Sun publisher Peter Worthington.

This week, at least part of his column shows uncharacteristic (for anyone at The Toronto Star) insight into some of the discord afflicting Toronto:

...If there’s any truism I cling to, it’s that: people don’t get the leaders they deserve. Why not? Because of all the haughty intervenors between the citizens and those who govern — they generally get the leaders they select, either sooner or later. Here I come to urban guru and U of T prof Richard Florida, who I do find embarrassing in this context, but also instructive. He wrote this week in the Globe and Mail: “It is time to convene a blue-ribbon commission on Toronto’s future . . . the top leaders of all of our key institutions must step up — our banks and corporations, schools and universities, labour unions, the city, the province, and more. No one can stand on the sidelines if we are going to forge the model of private-public partnership that is needed . . . ”

Does he really not get it — that this is exactly the mentality that led to the Ford mayoralty, out of widespread popular disgust for an unelected elect who think they have the right to gather in blue ribbon bodies and decide on behalf of everyone else?

Former Smitherman aide warns that the Toronto Star is growing Rob Ford's support by bullying him

2013-05-23T20:12:00.000-04:00

TORONTO – A former political aide to mayoral candidate George Smitherman said Thursday that support is growing for Rob Ford amid allegations the mayor appears in a video smoking what appears to be crack cocaine.

Bruce Davis suggested the media is creating public sympathy for Ford by hounding him for answers.

“When I talk to people out there, they have a lot of sympathy for the mayor,” Davis said. “They don’t have a lot of sympathy for people interrupting a press conference, or challenging him in the Tim Hortons drive-thru. That doesn’t go with Canadians.”

Gee, this is all sounding strangely familiar...

hmm..rudely, repeatedly interrupting a press conference like The Toronto Star's Royson James did here, perhaps?

More on the Ford pandemonium

2013-05-23T19:09:00.002-04:00

Gawker editor John Cook is jonesing for his crack dealer..apparently they haven`t been able to reach the lowlife blackmailer lately...

UPDATE: If the video does surface, your tax dollars will have paid for part of it

Plus this is a good read: Jonathan Kay on why

Rob Ford will never ever, ever give the Toronto Star the pleasure of his resignation

A very good piece, though I think Jon misses one point. It`s not just keeping taxes down that makes Ford so appealing to his base, but his overall respect for and interest in his constituents, of which making sure taxes are spent appropriately is a critical, but not the sole part.

Beyond that, as another blogger put it:

`Blind love doesn't guide his supporters, disgust with his opposition does`

McGill University to award honorary degree to the far left's favorite pseudo-intellectual half-wit

2013-05-23T18:45:00.000-04:00

...In an essay, “The Professor of Parody,” renowned philosopher Martha Nussbaum raised the issue of Butler’s style, calling it “ponderous and obscure” and “dense with allusions to other theorists, drawn from a wide range of different theoretical traditions…It bullies the reader into granting that, since one cannot figure out what is going on, there must be something significant going on, some complexity of thought, where in reality there are often familiar or even shopworn notions, addressed too simply and too casually to add any new dimension of understanding.”

Most famously, in 1998, philosophy professor Denis Dutton’s journal Philosophy and Literature awarded Butler first prize in its “Bad Writing Competition,” which claims to “celebrate bad writing from the most stylistically lamentable passages found in scholarly books and articles.” Butler received the award for this 94-word sentence that was published in the journal Diacritics:

“The move from a structuralist account in which capital is understood to structure social relations in relatively homologous ways to a view of hegemony in which power relations are subject to repetition, convergence, and rearticulation brought the question of temporality into the thinking of structure, and marked a shift from a form of Althusserian theory that takes structural totalities as theoretical objects to one in which the insights into the contingent possibility of structure inaugurate a renewed conception of hegemony as bound up with the contingent sites and strategies of the rearticulation of power.”

Read all of Barbara Kay's column in The National Post

Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian's vile terror apologist, is at it again

2013-05-23T12:09:00.000-04:00

This time, The Guardian's sanctimonious nitwit, who is so egregious a terror-apologist that even Bill Maher has called him out for it, was making excuses for the savages who beheaded an off-duty soldier on the streets of London yesterday:

That this was a barbaric and horrendous act goes without saying, but given the legal, military, cultural and political significance of the term "terrorism", it is vital to ask: is that term really applicable to this act of violence? To begin with, in order for an act of violence to be "terrorism", many argue that it must deliberately target civilians. That's the most common means used by those who try to distinguish the violence engaged in by western nations from that used by the "terrorists": sure, we kill civilians sometimes, but we don't deliberately target them the way the "terrorists" do.

But here, just as was true for Nidal Hasan's attack on a Fort Hood military base, the victim of the violence was a soldier of a nation at war, not a civilian. He was stationed at an army barracks quite close to the attack. The killer made clear that he knew he had attacked a soldier when he said afterward: "this British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."

h/t Sam Schulman

Here you go, Glenn - if they did it to you, I'm sure it wouldn't be terrorism..

check out the last 2 minutes of this video:

UPDATE: Murdered terror victim, Drummer Lee Rigby, father of a 2 year-old

Has hell frozen over? The Toronto Star has fallen in love with Conrad Black

2013-05-23T11:21:00.002-04:00

The Toronto Star, the least principled major newspaper in Canada, will suck up to anyone as long as they badmouth Rob Ford.

In this instance, it really is the pot calling the kettle black. Or is it the Black calling the pot a kettle?

Here Etobicoke Councillor Doug Ford talks about what his brother Rob has accomplished as mayor of Toronto (despite numerous interruptions from a Toronto Star reporter):

What have his opponents done do benefit the city that compares with Ford's accomplishments? The answer is plain - little or nothing, and they are driven by nothing more noble than resentment.

UPDATE: The sleazeballs at The Toronto Star now admit they don't even care if the Ford "crack" video is authentic, but say he still has to go.

Of course. That's now they've always felt, even before there was any hint of such a video.

Jesus vs Mohammed

2013-05-22T17:09:00.003-04:00

h/t Small Dead Animals

Gay Rights and Gun Rights Linked in Seattle Posters, Causing Gun Control Freaks' Heads To Explode

2013-05-22T16:33:00.001-04:00

Across Seattle, reports alt-weekly The Stranger, posters are appearing linking gay rights and gun rights in ways that are just freaking out the usual control-freaky suspects. Some of the posters suggest that disliking guns is just like disliking homosexuality: a personal foible that ought not be turned into legislation. Other posters suggest that armed gays "aren't going to take shit from homophobes." It's clearly inconceivable that anybody could actually hold in his or her mind, simultaneously, a regard for the right of people to love who they want and respect for the right of self-defense, so it must be some horrible, trollish plot.

Terror attack in London! Muslim terrorists behead off-duty soldier in broad daylight!

2013-05-22T15:03:00.000-04:00

More HERE

h/t Blazing Cat Fur

Rob Ford Derangement Syndrome

2013-05-22T13:49:00.000-04:00

Rob Ford helps raise Toronto's international profile

2013-05-22T10:00:00.001-04:00

The self-obsessed left will be driven into histrionic fits over this segment on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.

But even as a Ford supporter, I find this pretty funny (and as they say in Showbiz, "there's no such thing as bad publicity") :

Toronto Star's vendetta against Rob Ford - time to put up or shut up

2013-05-21T22:03:00.002-04:00

The Toronto Star has been engaged in a vendetta against Rob Ford that has manifested into an obsession.

Now they accused Toronto's mayor of taking crack cocaine based on the word of Somali drug dealers and a grainy cell phone video they want to sell for $200,000.

According to Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, Ford has categorically denied he is in the video and that the has used crack cocaine.

We do know there are other people who look like Rob Ford. Did the Star verify in any way it was actually Rob Ford in the video before going about their usual business of trying to destroy his reputation?

It's time for the Star to put up or shut up. Either buy the video and establish you're telling the truth, or send your so-called journalists to crawl back under their collective rock.

The Star has put more than $200k worth of time and energy into trying to destroy Ford. If what they are alleging is the truth, why not pony up the dough?

What are they waiting for?

UPDATE: Read this post by Blazing Cat Fur to understand why Ford is bulletproof against his attackers.

Blind love doesn't guide Rob Ford's supporters, disgust with his opposition does

2013-05-21T18:44:00.001-04:00

An important piece from Blazing Cat Fur that delineates why Rob Ford's support has remained so solid:

DiManno and it would seem most of Toronto's downtown, just don't get the Ford thing, which is odd given they created him. Ford is a symbol, he is Toronto's Sarah Palin. Why? Because we love how he drives the liberal- left crazy. It really is that simple. They condescend and we reciprocate - by supporting Rob Ford who is better, in our humble opinion, as our Mayor than anything they have to offer.

It's official - Color Purple author Alice Walker is certifiably nuts - endorses theory that the earth is secretly run by reptilian space aliens

2013-05-21T11:28:00.000-04:00

From Alice Walker's blog:

Earlier I wrote that David Icke reminded me of Malcolm X. I was thinking especially of Malcolm’s fearlessness. A fearlessness that made him seem cold, actually, though we know he wasn’t really. All that love of us that kept driving him to improve our lot; often into quite the wrong direction, but I need not go into that. What I was remembering was how he called our oppressors “blue eyed devils.” Now who could that have been? Well, we see them here in David Icke’s book as the descendants of the reptilian race that landed on our sweet planet the moment they could get a glimpse of it through the mist that used to cover it (before there was a moon). No kidding. Deep breath! Yes, before there was a moon! (Oh, I love the moon; can I keep it? Please?). Anyway, there they came, these space beings (we’re space beings too, of course, not to forget that). But they looked…. different than us. And they were.

More at Elder of Ziyon

'Piranhas' descend on Mayor Rob Ford

2013-05-21T10:05:00.001-04:00

The feeding frenzy continued over the weekend as the Star reportedly stalked the mayor’s family both in Etobicoke and up at their cottage, leaving the mayor’s mom absolutely beside herself.

I still remember how in 2009 when I dared suggest the former mayor David Miller trotted out his family for the first time (for show) during his resignation speech, I was beaten up by my detractors for days after. Not once did I stalk him at home or at the various eateries he was known to frequent, despite the many tips I received. The mere mention of Miller’s family was a travesty to the left.

It shouldn’t be far from the public’s mind that Councillor Ana Bailao was recently charged with a serious drinking and driving offence for which she lost her licence for six months.

That went away far too quickly and quietly — because it involved a leftist councillor.

But because it is Ford, it is all fair game, folks.

“There has been a double standard ... he’s had coverage and scrutiny no mayor has gotten so far,” says Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday. “The fight with the Toronto Star has just gotten out of hand.”

MORE HERE

The Room: The worst movie in the history of movies

2013-05-21T09:43:00.000-04:00

Alex of HollywoodLoser.com let me know about this movie that is so awful, it makes Plan 9 From Outer Space look like 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It's so horrendous, if someone had intentionally tried to make a bad movie, they probably wouldn't be able to make something nearly this dreadful. And of course, The Room now has a cult following.

From Alex:

The "best worst movie" ever made, The Room (2003) plays its monthly date at the Royal Cinema (College west of Bathurst) [in Toronto] this weekend. But this time before the movie will be a 20-minute Q&A period with the film's writer-director-star Tommy Wiseau, and his co-star Greg Sestero, both LIVE in person!

It's a rare opportunity to see this staggeringly incompetent romantic melodrama -- part soap-opera, part sitcom, part softcore -- in the bewildering presence of the International Man of Mystery (or, if you prefer, the "half-drunk Croatian cyborg") who gave the world the immortal words, "You are tearing me apart, Lisa!"

It's $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Here's the info:

http://www.theroyal.to/films/room/

Toronto District School Board presents prostitutes, Marxists and other awfulness

2013-05-20T20:37:00.000-04:00

Background HERE and HERE and HERE

Rob Ford lookalike discovered! Was it a double in the "crack video"?

2013-05-20T17:23:00.002-04:00

A Rob Ford lookalike was discovered vacationing in Cuba recently.

The Toronto Mayor has categorically denied he is the person in a video purported to be of him smoking crack cocaine.

One thing IS certain - Rob Ford is not the only person in the world, or even Toronto, who looks like Rob Ford.

UPDATE!: Someone was trying to hire a Rob Ford lookalike for a video a while back. Gee..I wonder why anyone would want to make a video with someone who looks exactly like the embattled mayor of Toronto..

h/t Blazing Car Fur

Mayor of major city makes outrageous, offensive statement

2013-05-20T17:14:00.001-04:00

And it wasn't Rob Ford!

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto said his lack of sensitivity to America’s perception of prostitution might have caused outrage after his suggestion earlier this week that U.S. troops based in southern Japan should patronize legal adult entertainment establishments to reduce sex crime there.

Hashimoto, co-leader of an emerging nationalist party, also has angered Japan’s neighbours by saying the Japanese military’s wartime practice of forcing Asian women into prostitution was necessary to maintain discipline and provide relaxation for soldiers.

Promoting sex slavery!!?? Gimme good old Rob Ford to this any day of the week!

Chief Blair: Agent Ford successfully infiltrates drug ring

2013-05-20T15:12:00.002-04:00

TORONTO – Calling to an end an elaborate three-year undercover operation, Toronto police chief Bill Blair announced today that special agent Rob Ford has uncovered a major drug ring in the city's west end.

"We set up a phony football charity and gave him the alias 'The Mayor'," said Blair. "At times it seemed that Ford believed the story himself. He is truly among our best operatives."

nyuk, nyuk, nyuk...

Iran's lunatic 9-11 conspiracy theorist in Canada presents...you guessed it! More conspiracy theories!

2013-05-20T00:42:00.003-04:00

WARNING! Joshua Blakeney's crazy leaps off the screen!

CBC Radio-Canada's anti-Israel bias goes beyond incompetence and becomes propaganda

2013-05-19T21:03:00.002-04:00

After 10 rebukes from the CBC's own Ombudsman, they still keep their biased propagandist, Ginnette Lamarche, in place to distort stories from the Middle East.

Honest Reporting Canada has more HERE