News

Good news for the right to free speech in Canada!

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Life Site News has the best post I’ve seen so far.

Excerpt:

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled today that section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act, Canada’s human rights legislation against hate messages, unreasonably limits the Charter right to freedom of expression.

[…]Popular conservative pundit and human rights commission critic Mark Steyn today said that the end of the hate speech legislation is near, calling today’s decision a “landmark decision.”  “This is the beginning of the end for Section 13 and its provincial equivalents, and a major defeat for Canada’s thought police,” he said. “It’s not just a personal triumph for Marc Lemire, but a critical victory in the campaign by Ezra Levant, Maclean’s, yours truly and others to rid the Canadian state of this hideous affront to justice.”

[…]The hate message section of the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) has been the subject of growing criticism, having been accused of placing limits on the Charter right to freedom of expression.  High profile cases have been brought against conservative publisher Ezra Levant and columnist Mark Steyn, as well as numerous cases against Christians who have expressed their convictions against the homosexualist agenda.

The CHRC has admitted to using unethical methods within their investigations.  Notably, in a hearing during Lemire’s case, CHRC employee Dean Steacy testified that he and a number of colleagues regularly used an alias to post racist messages…  The CHRC was also investigated by the RCMP regarding allegations that they had hacked into a private citizen’s internet connection, though that case was dropped when it led the police to the American jurisdiction.

Until today, no respondent had won a human rights case brought to the Tribunal under section 13.  Further, about half of the section 13 cases have been brought by Richard Warman, and almost all of them in recent years.

Blazing Cat Fur has a huge round-up of blog reactions from the best Canadian blogs.

Here are some of the blogs from his round-up:

I took a look at the comments on BCF, and they are still pretty cautious, but excited.

This news was big enough to get picked up over at Hot Air by Ed Morrissey, who explains:

When government tells you what you can and cannot say in the political context, then free speech is essentially dead.  Section 13 created an enormously intimidating device for anyone who wants to argue their beliefs in the public square in Canada.  Even in just a “remedial” mode, it creates an atmosphere where people have to worry whether their speech will create a necessity to seek government approval, and the costs of defending speech become so onerous as to silence people.

The conservatives need to make this an issue in the next election, which is coming soon since the Liberals have announced that they are no longer going to back the Conservatives. Now is the time for bold action, Stephen Harper.

Further study

News

One million NHS patients receive brutally inadequate health care

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Story from the UK Telegraph. (H/T Andrew)

Excerpt:

In the last six years, the Patients Association claims hundreds of thousands have suffered from poor standards of nursing, often with ‘neglectful, demeaning, painful and sometimes downright cruel’ treatment.

The charity has disclosed a horrifying catalogue of elderly people left in pain, in soiled bed clothes, denied adequate food and drink, and suffering from repeatedly cancelled operations, missed diagnoses and dismissive staff.

The Patients Association said the dossier proves that while the scale of the scandal at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust – where up to 1,200 people died through failings in urgent care – was a one off, there are repeated examples they have uncovered of the same appalling standards throughout the NHS.
While the criticisms cover all aspects of hospital care, the treatment and attitude of nurses stands out as a repeated theme across almost all of the cases.

I don’t think the sharp decline of religion in the UK has helped the character of the medical staff very much. Although some atheists are pretty good, I have argued elsewhere that it is pretty hard to rationally justify acts of self-sacrifice on atheism. It just isn’t rational to do good when it goes against your self-interest.

And here’s another terrifying one from the Telegraph. (H/T Secondhand Smoke via ECM)

Excerpt:

Thousands of women and older people who suffer heart attacks are dying unnecessarily because they are not being prescribed the gold standard treatment which could prevent another attack. One in five people who have had a heart attack in Britain do not receive all four drugs recommended to prevent a second, a study of 60,000 people have found.

[…]Lead author Prof Iain Squire, professor of cardiovascular medicine at University of Leicester and consultant at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, calculated that 2,000 out of the 5,000 deaths over the two year study period had been undertreated and ‘could potentially have been avoided’. He said: “The patients who are most likely to get undertreated are the elderly and females but they get incremental benefit for each drug they take so we should not be withholding these therapies based on age and gender alone.” People aged 65 to 74 were 20 per cent less likely to get all four drugs compared with those under 55; while people aged over 85 were three times less likely to get all four medicines.

Let’s be clear. The left believes in myths like overpopulation, global warming, survival of the fittest, etc. Their denial of God makes them terribly afraid of the future. So they begin to dream up ways to stop the unwashed masses from using too many resources or from wrecking the planet. Naturally, the first thing they want to do is to prevent people from having children, or living too long. Hence, abortion and eugenics.

Previous NHS horror story posts are here.

Videos

MUST-SEE: Bill Whittle explains American exceptionalism to the left

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ECM sends us the next great video from Bill Whittle.

(Note: there is a vulgar reference at the beginning when he quoted Bill Maher)

This is compelling. I mean, this really floored me. This is an engaging video you will remember.

He analyzes four areas where America dominates:

  • Military
  • Economic
  • Scientific
  • Cultural

America is indeed exceptionally great. Without a doubt the greatest country in the history of the universe. I encourage all of international visitors, to watch this video and learn about why America is an exceptional country.

Hope you didn’t miss Bill’s last video on media bias at MSNBC.

College Republicans preparing list of leftist professors

Andrew sent me this article from Fox News.

Excerpt:

The University of Toledo’s College Republicans are compiling a list of liberal professors who they claimed have a bias against conservative students.

The list will include professors who students say have let their political views interfere with the way they interact with students in the classroom.

UT College Republicans President Matt Rubin, a junior majoring in political science and public administration, said the list is not an attempt to bash professors who have liberal ideas, but instead, it is an attempt to speak out for students who may have been victims of the bias, which was then reflected in their grade.

This is controversial, but I am in favor of it. Suppression of conservatives and Christians on campus is one of my major concerns. In the meantime, I encourage parents to home-school their children using an old-earth curriculum heavily slanted towards the classics and mathematics. If the children go on to university, they should study mathematics, computer science, chemistry or physics.