UPDATE: Did you see the video of the testimony of Canadian free speech activists Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn against Section 13.1 of the censorship act in Canada? I linked to it here.
Welcome visitors from Blue Like You! Thanks for the link Joanne!
ToryNinja notified me about this video of Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper singing and playing the piano in a comment, but it deserves a post. The song is “With a Little Help from my Friends” by the Beatles. He plays the piano very well while singing!
Everyone from the mainstream media to the blogs are talking about it. He is getting a lot of accolades from some traditionally nasty places. The Canadians are just thrilled with their conservative prime minister. He’s an economist, so he knows how to run the country. I wish he was my President! When you look at the jobs lost during the current recession, it’s quite clear that we are doomed.
And then there’s this video, also from the Western Experience, featuring Ann Coulter taking on one of the foul harpies on “The View”.
You go, Ann! I remember the first time I discovered Ann Coulter columns when I was working in Chicago. Without having any idea what she looked like, I had the urge to send her roses. Smitten as I was, I went so far as to contact a friend of mine who was connected with Human Events, where she was working, to ask how to do it. She said that lots of people sent Ann flowers, so then I decided not to do it. But yes, I had butterflies for several days, especially after I saw her photo.
But let’s continue with more Friday night funny!
Now, I hope everyone got a chance to listen to Canadian free speech activists Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant on the Milt Rosenberg show! Recently, Ezra was in Ottawa, (the capital of Canada), and he ran into the Inquisitor-in-Chief herself: JENNIFER LYNCH. Yes, I know that’s a very ironic name for the head fascist of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Here’s a clip of what transpired at their meeting:
I took in a bit of Question Period when I was in Ottawa yesterday. I was in the Centre Block waiting for the elevator, and a kindly old lady gave me a huge smile, and said hello. I said hello back — perhaps it was a fan.Not quite. She introduced herself to me: she was Jennifer Lynch, the Chief Commissar of the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
Jennifer likes wasting taxpayer money by traveling around the world to left-wing meetings.
I wasn’t particularly surprised to bump into Lynch. It’s Ottawa after all, and she’s furiously lobbying MPs to keep the censorship provision in the Canadian Human Rights Act — and to keep her job. I was just surprised to bump into her in Canada. Other than the foreign affairs minister and the international trade minister, I doubt there’s many people in Ottawa who rack up bigger travel expenses on the public dime than Lynch does. I mean, just to pick one of her countless junkets at random, here is the expense report from one of her jaunts to Vienna — she stuck taxpayers with an $8,200 tab to go to a 15th anniversary party, commemorating… another junket.
Ezra goes on to needle her some more, and then ends with this:
Lynch was quiet now. But I was warming to my theme: “I think I’m going to file a hate speech complaint against myself,” I told her. “Who do you think would win that one?”
UPDATE: I was reading Denyse O’Leary’s free speech round-up #2 of 3 here, and she linked to Debra Gyapong’s photos of Ezra’s events in Ottawa where all of the “hate speech” was going on. Wow, there’s pictures of Mark Steyn and my one of my favorite MPs Jason Kenney. On this page, Debra asks whether Ezra Levant could be the next Governor General of Canada. I hope so!
The GG is the Queen’s official representative in Canada and has to sign all legislation that the Parliament passes. Ezra should be a good GG and I don’t see why Prime Minister Stephen Harper doesn’t just appoint him straight away. You really need to go over to Debra’s site and check out these photographs and quotations. Canada is really turning against the PC-censorship of the left.
And here is cute cartoon from Malcolm Mayes that my friend Andrew sent me :
The truth about Canada's HRCs
More Ezra Levant videos from the Michael Coren TV show, here.
And for some really great details on the latest on free speech north AND south of the border, check out Denyse’s O’Leary’s 3 posts on the state of free speech here, here and here. Denyse is a thousand times more witty and charming than even Ann!
UPDATE: Welcome Post-Darwinist readers! Thanks for the link Denyse! For more on the failures of educrats to focus on teaching young people instead of building up their self-esteem, please see Denyse’s post on the subject.
UPDATE: Welcome visitors from Blazing Cat Fur! One of my favorite Canadian blogs! Please take a look around, as I cover a number of issues of importance to Canadians, including health care, education, free trade, tax policy and of course FREE SPEECH! The Wintery Knight is a HUGE fan of PM Stephen Harper, MP Maurice Vellacott, MP Jason Kenney, Ezra Levant, Mark Steyn and MPP Lisa MacLeod.
My friend Richard sent me this:
Apparently, it has come to the point where students may not be given a zero grade for handing in assignments late, or a zero for not showing up the remake test/assignment. Below is a link to a petition a HS teacher in Ottawa has set up to reassess this policy. Please sign it. The last thing we need is to raise a generation of kids that have no concept of deadlines and consequences. That would be the end of our workforce.
According to the Ontario Ministry of Education policies, if a student misses a test (whether they skip class or are sick) or if they cheat then the evaluation is not valid and they must not be given a zero. The student must have an opportunity to be re-evaluated on the material. Assignments can have a due date but if the student does not hand it in on the due date a zero cannot be assigned. The student must be allowed to hand in the assignment late without being penalized.
In the past teachers would go out of their way to make sure they evaluated students, but when given an opportunity to be re-evaluated, the student had to turn up. Now you can offer the student a chance to be re-evaluated, and if they don’t turn up they still cannot get a zero. Assignments can be handed in at any time during the year. If the whole class is doing the same assignment, the teacher can receive the finished assignments any time between the due date and the end of the year. If the teacher marks the assignments as he/she gets them and returns them as they are marked, then anyone who has not handed in an assignment can, if they are so inclined, copy an assignment that has been marked and turn it in as their own work. The only way around this is not returning the assignments until all of the students have submitted their work, but this delays essential feedback to the students. Teachers have to be able to indicate to students that a zero may given on missed evaluations and give penalty marks for work not done on time.
We cannot succeed in a global economy when those in charge of educating our children fail to teach them the kinds of skills they will need to take on the demanding jobs of the future. This is just another area of life where things have gotten so politically correct that we have forgotten the purpose of school: to gain knowledge! I urge you to consider signing the petition.
WINTERY KNIGHT 