Recent News 1.0 – 12.20.07

~ SIGN THE PETITION! “A Free Dominion Against the HRCs.” Via. Official petition discussion.

~ Mark Steyn/Maclean’s support buttons for your blog (Collect All Three!) via The Conservative Hipster

~ BUY THE UNSPEAKABLE BOOK that started the uproar! Here’s his “My Sharia Amour gift pack” .. and other stuff by The Steyn.

~ SHAIDLE– Boycott Canada: Hugh Hewitt talks to Mark Steyn. And support the beleaguered Macleans Mag, says Mark, by subscribing now. And “In Canada, when someone hurts your feelings, you can respond, write a letter to the editor, call a talk radio show, start a political campaign. But you don’t go running to the government. Mr. Soharwardy has to realize he is in a free country now.” And: Paging Dr. Elmasry and his five ditzy law students. Other recent links here.

~ SoCon.ca: Their Right to Offend; and Revolt against the Star Chamber. Time for a Freedom of Expression Act? And articles galore

• Shut down the human rights commissions (Rebecca Walberg)
• In Defense of Free Speech — And Mark Steyn (David Warren)
• Mark Steyn Case Wakes Up Canadian Press to Human Rights Tribunals’ Threat to Free Speech (LifeSiteNews)
• Standby Steyn (Robert Spencer)
• Shut down the human rights commissions (Rebecca Walberg)
• Mark Steyn is not alone (Jack Engelhard)
• Free Steyn (National Review Online Editors)
• Self-censorship? Me? Absolutely! (John Robson)
• Censorship in the name of ‘human rights’ (Ezra Levant)
• Their Right to Offend (John Pacheco)
• Canada’s Thought Police (New York Post Editorial)
• Hurtin’ (David Warren)
• Stifling Mark Steyn, continued: Tory minister slams Muslim censors (Michelle Malkin)
• Stifling Mark Steyn, part III: Fight back (Michelle Malkin)
• Confronting the Speech Police (Rebecca Walberg)
• Freedom of the Press Attacked (Rory Leishman)
• The Canadian Islamic Congress has a new partner in its censorship campaign: the state (Andrew Coyne)
• Mark Steyn is not alone (Jack Engelhard)
• Free Steyn (National Review Online Editors)
• Censorship in the name of ‘human rights’ (Ezra Levant)
• Their Right to Offend (John Pacheco)
• Canada’s Thought Police (New York Post Editorial)
• Confronting the Speech Police (Rebecca Walberg)
• Suing for Silence (David Warren)
• Freedom of the Press Attacked (Rory Leishman)
• The Canadian Islamic Congress has a new partner in its censorship campaign: the state (Andrew Coyne)
• Dead Man Writing (The Corner)
• CHRC Attacks former liberal magazine (John Pacheco)

~ MELANIE PHILLIPS: “The blood runs cold– the real threat to civilisation comes not from acts of terror, appalling though these are; it comes from the fact that Islamists are progressively making slaves out of us in our own countries” …. (spectator)

~ HOW WE GOT HERE: “Canada’s Human Rights Commissions were started in the 1970’s…”

~ ONLY IN CANADA, YOU SAY? “There is an old tradition of bold free speech in Canada that just drives the Left *nuts* on both sides of the 49th. Trudeau, for example, despised the Amiels and the Blatchfords of the Press who simply told the painful truth” …. (damianpenny)

~ SHAIDLE: “Forcing editors to publish rambling letters is not a human right in Canada” …. (fivefeetoffury)

~ WILLIAM GAIRDNER– “Canada’s Thought Police ~ Shame On Us!” …. (williamgairdner)

~ DAVID WARREN: “These days in Canada, if you’re feeling down and blue, and you think somebody hates you, you bring your case to a Human Rights Tribunal. And the people you think hate you get that knock on the door, celebrated in the literature of the Soviet Gulag, and wherever else ideology triumphed over humanity in the 20th century’s painful course”; Ezra Levant’s editorial in the National Post on Canada’s idiotic, kangaroo court known as the liberals’ Human Rights Commission …. (davidwarrenonline, nationalpost)

~ CANUCKISTAN– Suing for Silence: In view of the human rights case now launched against Mark Steyn, did he have a right to express his opinions and beliefs in his bestselling book, America Alone? Mark Steyn is losing …. (davidwarrenonline, nro)

~ MORE ON CANADA’S HUMAN RIGHTS PROBLEM: “It’s odd: Mohamed Elmasry, an apologist for Islamo-fascism, using the same tools as an ‘anti-racist’ leftist like Richard Warman. At first glance, they may seem like opposites, but they’re actually identical: Both are illiberal censors who have found a quirk in our legal system, and are using it to undermine our Western traditions of freedom.” …. (instapundit)

~ TOTALITARIAN CANADIAN LEFTISTS: Criminalizing Thought. FRANKLY STUPID. Next up, freedom of speech freedom of thought freedom of the press freedom of association freedom of religion freedom. A Free Dominion Against the HRCs. Here’s the unspeakable article itself …. (Various)

~ HOW TO SUPPORT MARK STEYN vs. the Canadian censors. PTBC and National Review are all over the insane “Human Rights” complaint against Steyn. Richard Warman’s reputation goes international; “You know you’ve lost your freedom when you cannot call a censor a censor.” …. (Various)

~ FECKWITS AMONGST US– Tell the Human Rights Commission to stop harrassing fellow Canadians. Petition to protest the Human Rights Commission. Best comment: “Leftists think they can use their head for a colonoscopy and then crab-walk across the blogosphere expecting all the world to think their new hats make them look smart.” …. (fivefeetoffury)

~ THE CIC VS. STEYN– “Mark Steyn responds to the human-rights complaints regarding his writing. David Warren: “My hope is that this case against Mark Steyn and Maclean’s will be fruitful. It will be, if it inspires enough people — especially journalists, of all political persuasions — to express outrage at what has been done; and inspires Canada’s free citizens into the necessary political action to put an end to the human rights commissions themselves. The worst possible result, is if the case fails to produce this response” …. (damianpenny, davidwarrenonline)

~ ROBERT SPENCER: “There is no indication that the CHRC has done a thing to investigate the possibility that some Muslims in Canada might hold the views of Mullah Krekar, Qaddafi, Boumédienne, Qaradhawi and Sheikh Muhammad. When the CIC’s President Mohamed Elmasry said in 2004 that all Israelis over age eighteen were legitimate targets, the CHRC took no action. But Elmasry, you see, is part of a protected victim class.“

~ Mark Steyn is Not Alone, by Jack Engelhard. “Not a war of words – a war against words”

~ CANADA: none dare call it fascism. Their Right to Offend. Steyn the thoughtcriminal in his own words. StatsGuy: “I support Mark Steyn, Maclean’s, and free speech“. Why not defy the loonies, and subscribe to Macleans? … (Various)

WORD FROM EL-MO– Mohammed Elmasry in 2004 on Israel… All teenagers are legitimate targets for terrorism. More of the same via WikiPedia. Just FYI, type thing. Transcript Of Dr. Mohamed Elmasry’s Remarks On Michel Coren Show

~ The Origins: MACLEANS MAGAZINE: A CASE STUDY OF MEDIA-PROPAGATED ISLAMOPHOBIA. Prepared by: Khurrum Awan, Muneeza Skeikh, Naseem Mithoowani LLB (Osgoode Hall Law School – 2007). Ali Ahmed LLB Candidate (Osgoode Hall Law School – 2008). Daniel Simard LLB Candidate (Osgoode Hall Law School – 2009). Via

~ RELATED: YOUR BETTERS: “Since their founding, Canada’s human-rights commissions have done less to protect the rights of minorities than to undermine the liberties of everyone. To get an idea of what they’re like, consider the recent case of Stephen Boissoin.. a Baptist minister”. That was in 2005. Right now in Canuckistan, Catholic Insight under ‘human rights’ attack …. (nationalreview)

~ RELATED: NO, REALLY– “A lifetime ban on public criticism of homosexuality was upheld against a Catholic activist in Canada by his province’s superior court.” ThoughtCrime! Apparently the man is part of a cultish group that widely disseminates such views. These homophobical people also appear to be critical of same-sex behaviour.The Steamroll continues …. (Various)