Erik, you had asked the question earlier.  Well, if Typealizer is telling the truth, we fall under the “Duty Fulfillers” category, whatever that means.

 

The responsible and hardworking type. They are especially attuned to the details of life and are careful about getting the facts right. Conservative by nature they are often reluctant to take any risks whatsoever.

The Duty Fulfillers are happy to be let alone and to be able to work int heir own pace. They know what they have to do and how to do it.

You decide.

I thought this was quite interesting:

” Well, first of all, on the - on the case in Afghanistan, this is obviously a case that is of some considerable concern to us. It has been raised with the government of Afghanistan at the highest levels. You do have to remember though that part of what is at issue here is that this is a process in a court system that does, in Afghanistan as in Canada, does operate independently of political decision-makers. So you know, we will continue to express our concerns and obviously there remain further levels of appeal in this particular case. So we hope that it will - that some of these decisions will be changed, but you know, the political actors in Afghanistan don’t necessarily have any more control over that than I would in our country. In terms of the free speech issues and some of the activities of human rights commissions, I think that everyone has had some concerns about this. This is a complicated area of law, balancing what most people understand to mean by free speech with obvious desire to not have speech that would be intended to incite hatred towards particular groups or individuals. I think some of the most egregious cases, if you actually look at this, are in provincial human rights commission and obviously, you know I can’t control or comment on that. I think there has been some - I think the Canadian human rights commission has been moderating some of what - some of its practices a little bit recently to respond to some of these concerns and I hope that will continue.”

Here’s the soundclip.

H/t to Kathy Shaidle.

Sounds like Harper isn’t exactly a firebrand over the issue, but it doesn’t sound like reform is out of the realm of possibility either. Perhaps we’ll be playing the waiting game for a while longer yet. Oh goody, more to write about, I suppose.

Crossposted to Heartless and Brainless.

Man, it’s good to have Chris on the right end of the spectrum.

…perhaps. Taking Hard New Look at a Greenspan Legacy…

The complaint against Macleans magazine by Mohamed Elmasry and Dr. Nayir Habib, before the BC Human Rights Tribunal, and which was taken to show trial several months ago, was ruled upon today by the “judges” at the BC Human Rights Tribunal.  Macleans magazine and columnist Mark Steyn, are off the hook.  They have been acquitted. 

Now, whether this is a victory or not remains to be determined.  I personally feel that it is not. 

Our speech is our own, and should not be hampered by our government.  The Macleans complaint, and that the Macleans complaint was seen by the BCHRT, was incredible to behold, especially in a country which considers itself even remotely democratic. 

As such, the investigation, and the show trial, were hotly contested. A ruckus was risen.  And what became of it?

This verdict, I’m sure.  The HRC’s in Canada want to go back to what it is that they’re good at, which is persecuting those who can’t fight back; white supremacists on obscure web forums, lone pastors, and the like.  People without resources enough to fight back successfully, and who are ground easily enough to powder under the HRC bureaucratic grind. 

When the BCHRT took on the Macleans case, they bit off more than they could chew.  They got a response which endangered their continued existence, and so they ruled to acquit so that they could continue in their previous, relatively unknown, tradition.

And quite frankly, it’s probably going to work, to an extent.  They released the verdict on the eve of Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, on the eve of an American election, a Canadian federal election, and a local municipal election.  A very convenient time to release their verdict.

This is no victory.  Just a continuance of our uphill battle against increasingly socialistic and authoritarian thinking.  It sounds cold to say, but I do wish that Mark and Macleans had been ruled against, if only so that the anger could have been stirred up again.

But now, if the impetus is to be maintained and increased, then it will be that much more upon our shoulders to do so. 

I guess in a way that’s kind of nice.  Hell, it gives me something to do, right?

You know those little Google ads on the right hand side down there?  Well, did you see the one which said Right Wing Extremist?  It goes to the London Metropolitan Police website which has lots of useful info about identifying terrorists…  “Your call is important to us.”  No doubt it is.  Can’t help wondering, though… am I allowed to report Left Wing Extremists too?  Like for example the ones who support or “understand” terrorism?

Anyway, the next ad down said “Political Left Wing” and it led to a nice magazine website in England where you can read about nice left wing politics.  All very civilised I’m sure.

Now, let’s make sure we’ve properly absorbed the subliminal messages here:

Right wing politics = terrorism.

Left wing politics = civilised debate.

Got that everybody?

Okay, just checking.  Thank you for your time.

…about Israel, Shmuel Rosner insists.  It’s not helping.

We have three new columnists at NeoConstant, and one returned writer:

Richard Cardigan (UK) is back from a long hiatus.

Paul Dennett and Scoop (UK) both join us with more commentary from across the Pond…

…and Walker Morrow becomes our first Canadian writer (and youngest).

Welcome all!  This publication is growing increasingly international, which is wonderful, and exactly its stated goal.

I absolutely love Philip K. Dick.  Anybody who could come up with A Scanner Darkly is a genius in my books.

And so here’s his definition of science fiction:

By Philip K. Dick

I will define science fiction, first, by saying what sf (science fiction), is not. It cannot be defined as “a story (or novel or play) set in the future,” since there exists such a thing as space adventure, which is set in the future but is not sf: it is just that: adventures, fights and wars in the future in space involving super-advanced technology. Why, then, is it not science fiction? It would seem to be, and Doris Lessing (e.g.) supposes that it is. However, space adventure lacks the distinct new idea that is the essential ingredient. Also, there can be science fiction set in the present: the alternate world story or novel. So if we separate sf from the future and also from ultra-advanced technology, what then do we have that can be called sf?

We have a fictitious world; that is the first step: it is a society that does not in fact exist, but is predicated on our known society; that is, our known society acts as a jumping-off point for it; the society advances out of our own in some way, perhaps orthogonally, as with the alternate world story or novel. It is our world dislocated by some kind of mental effort on the part of the author, our world transformed into that which it is not or not yet. This world must differ from the given in at least one way, and this one way must be sufficient to give rise to events that could not occur in our society — or in any known society present or past. There must be a coherent idea involved in this dislocation; that is, the dislocation must be a conceptual one, not merely a trivial or bizarre one — this is the essence of science fiction, the conceptual dislocation within the society so that as a result a new society is generated in the author’s mind, transferred to paper, and from paper it occurs as a convulsive shock in the reader’s mind, the shock of dysrecognition. He knows that it is not his actual world that he is reading about.

Now, to separate science fiction from fantasy. This is impossible to do, and a moment’s thought will show why. Take psionics; take mutants such as we find in Ted Sturgeon’s wonderful MORE THAN HUMAN. If the reader believes that such mutants could exist, then he will view Sturgeon’s novel as science fiction. If, however, he believes that such mutants are, like wizards and dragons, not possible, nor will ever be possible, then he is reading a fantasy novel. Fantasy involves that which general opinion regards as impos­sible; science fiction involves that which general opinion regards as possible under the right circumstances. This is in essence a judgment-call, since what is possible and what is not possible is not objectively known but is, rather, a subjective belief on the part of the author and of the reader.

Now to define good science fiction. The conceptual dislocation — the new idea, in other words — must be truly new (or a new variation on an old one) and it must be intellectually stimulating to the reader; it must invade his mind and wake it up to the possibility of something he had not up to then thought of. Thus “good science fiction” is a value term, not an objective thing, and yet, I think, there really is such a thing, objectively, as good science fiction.

I think Dr. Willis McNelly at the California State University at Fullerton put it best when he said that the true protagonist of a sf story or novel is an idea and not a person. If it is good sf the idea is new, it is stimulating, and, probably most important of all, it sets off a chain-reaction of ramification-ideas in the mind of the reader; it so-to-speak unlocks the reader’s mind so that that mind, like the author’s, begins to create. Thus sf is creative and it inspires creativity, which mainstream fiction by-and-large does not do. We who read sf (I am speaking as a reader now, not a writer) read it because we love to experience this chain-reaction of ideas being set off in our minds by something we read, something with a new idea in it; hence the very best science fiction ultimately winds up being a collaboration between author and reader, in which both create — and enjoy doing it: joy is the essential and final ingredient of science fiction, the joy of discovery of newness.

(in a letter) May 14,1981

I don’t think there’s a whole lot I can or should add to that.  It stands on its own pretty well, I’d say.  You don’t even have to agree with him to appreciate the thought behind his words.

Added The Contentious Centrist to the roll.  (I meant to ages ago–thought I had even–guess not!)

Also read CC’s recap of UK moonbat Lauren Booth’s recent “escape from Gaza!”

I have some of my poems posted at Newsvine…feedback is always welcome.

Daled Amos has the speech Palin would have given at the anti-Ahmadenijad rally.

Ahmadinejad may choose his words carefully, but underneath all of the rhetoric is an agenda that threatens all who seek a safer and freer world. We gather here today to highlight the Iranian dictator’s intentions and to call for action to thwart him.

He must be stopped.

It’s a good speech.  I wish the Obama camp would come out with something as strong.

Okay, I spent gads of time re-vamping the theme, again, making it more “journal” like.

I’d very much appreciate feedback.  Leave comments on this thread.  Thanks!
Erik

….LeftHawk to the roll. Ah, there’s another liberal hawk.  They do exist…

…a “cast” of characters you should want in the White House, or buzzing in McCain’s ears, if you value American national security…

Read Reut Cohen’s report on the MSA at Radarsite. Scary stuff.

Read this exchange of letters between Martin Shaw and David Hirsh regarding the academic boycott of Israel.

...it’s okay to bailout AIG. I agree, though I have a small personal bone to pick with the company my uncle used to be VP for….

Creationists in Turkey win a stinging victory against science and reason.

….to haunt Al Franken. See, it’s good for something!

Read my condemnation of the Gawker slime machine at Newsvine. They should never have published Sarah Palin’s hacked emails.  This goes too far.

Added The New Humanist to the roll…

Michael J. Totten re-brands….

….among the Paultards….

…gathered by Neocon Express.

…but have the best “dream recall” after sex. Interesting….

“Are we not drawn onward to new era?”

(read it backwards)

Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism

LOST….read about it.

Upgrade your Wordpress installation if you value your life!

The vandals strike!

Obama wants to jack up your taxes.  Thanks to Monkey in the Middle for the scary comparison.

Hat tip Daled Amos.

(more…)

Added The New Progressive to the roll.

(more…)

Added Booker Rising to the blogroll…

I agree with Michelle Malkin sometimes.  Not this time. Afterall, it’s McCain on the ticket, too, Michelle.  Remember?   I’m more of an LGF guy myself, though…

…Community Organizers Fight Back (against Palin….)  Heh.

Added A Progressive Viewpoint to the roll….

Actually, McCain’s camp did vet Palin very thoroughly. The notion they didn’t is a myth.

was absolutely brilliant.  She pulled no punches.

Lots of pictures of the next VP of the USA, and hopefully first Female Prez someday!

….to describe people like Modonna.

But they’re not nice words.

I guess, Katrina would have been enough of a reminder to me to not live here anymore.

Could it be?

All American Blogger on the Obama health care plan…

Harry’s place has this to say:

Harry’s Place may be removed (or rather have it’s DNS disabled) after a ‘complaint’ to the company that our domain name is registered with.

We assume after threats were made on the weekend that this ‘complaint’ originates from Jenna Delich or her supporters. Though we have not yet seen the complaint submitted, we assume it runs along the lines that pointing out that Ms Delich linked to the website of a known neo-Nazi figure and former Ku Klux Klan leader is defamatory.

This is extraordinary since Ms Delich has not denied that she circulated links to David Dukes website. There would be no point since the evidence is in the public domain. Nevertheless, a malicious complaint has been made to the company hosting our DNS. We would like to assure readers of Harry’s Place that we are doing everything we can to prevent a disruption, but that - of course - we will not concede any ground. We have posted nothing defamatory, and we stand by the information we have supplied. ISPs often run scared of UK libel law and malicious complaints are thus common. Sadly, it is a well known - and usually successful - way of censoring websites which publish truths that they’d rather not be generally known. We ask our readers and supporters in the meantime to publish this information as widely as possible. The disgraceful tactic of dishonest and malicious complaining should not be allowed to succeed. Those on the UCU list, please also make this know there. Please spread the word. If we go down, email us at harryblog at gee mail dot com for updates. UPDATE: For those who can still see us - we’ve put up an archive of the Delich-related material here, which we will use to post updates on this saga: http://jennadelich.blogspot.com/

Spread the word!

More Resources:

JPost on the UCU

In support of Harry’s Place, with Blog Button: Blog Legal Threats

To join the blogburst CLICK HERE and get the script.  Then, copy and past it into a blog post at your blog, and use the CONTACT FORM at NeoConstant to let us know you’re joining up!  Be sure to include your name and URL…thanks!

“I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals.”

~Matt Stone, (South Park creator)

Seriously.  Click to see.