Gee, I haven’t heard any of brave and oh-so-strident “free speech” warriors over at “The Blogging Tories” speaking out about this. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t heard a thing about it until watching it discussed on the aptly-named Real News.
So how do they feel about their favourite newspaper chain and reliable purveyor of Conservative propaganda trying to muzzle what was clearly a parody of The Vancouver Sun because of its presumed pro-Israel bias? After all, there are many other ways of unreasonably silencing critics and suppressing free speech other than Human Rights Commissions, you know.
Red Tory v.3.0.3 
How did you find this?
Well Red Tory;
Just to set the record straight….CanWest is owned bt the Asper family….well known long time Liberal…
Again, those darn old Facts always get in the way don’t they…
“Also in 1970, [Izzy] Asper was elected leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party (defeating university professor John Nesbitt). Asper represented a right-libertarian strain within the party”
Wikipedia
Cliff — Well, first of all Izzy is dead and David Asper publicly supports the Conservative Party. So there’s a couple of “darn old Facts” that get in the way of you setting the record straight.
But in any case, way to miss the point by a mile.
Scott — I subscribe to the Real News. They feature a lot of interesting stories on different topics. Definitely worth signing up to (and contributing if possible — they’re trying to launch an actual TV network).
well known long time Liberal…
Izzy’s dead. And Conrad Black’s in jail.
Moving on…
After all, there are many other ways of unreasonably silencing critics and suppressing free speech other than Human Rights Commissions, you know.
Indeed. In the USA, the free speech bastion, it’s done exclusively through commerce…sometimes by removing the livelihood of the target (such as denying academics tenure, or firing people for violations of non-disclosure agreements or for pretty much any reason they want), but mostly by paying people (quite often with taxpayers money) to “drown out” dissent, which is what I believe the the Free Speech Warriors in Canada were hoping for….a whole demographic of mediocrities jockeying for a position at the wingnut welfare trough, with only the non-commercial, non-wealth dependent civil laws that touch on expression standing in their way.
The Americans also traffic a lot in smear-campaigns, vilification and embarrassment with public disclosure of private information (which in Canada is against the law) threats of violence (including rape and death) to silence dissent And if that doesn’t work, well, there’s always assassination and torture. That one is even legal now.
Sure. Get rid of the Human Rights Tribunals and bring on the Free Speech Absolutism. I can hardly wait. The new order will be so much more “robust” and “vibrant.”
Where is Ezra? Free speech is under attack again!!!
…..crickets. As for The Aspers, Izzy was a life long Liberal, his sons are conservatives. Probably the reason they are running his company into the ground.
This isn’t really a partisan issue. Economic elites don’t care about that….they’ll switch alliances at the drop of a hat. When the economic power looked like it was switching irrevocably towards the West and the oil and the munee, munee, munee, a lot of “Liberals” became “Conservatives.” Heather Reisman was another, I believe.
“As for The Aspers, Izzy was a life long Liberal, his sons are conservatives.”
What this DOES prove is the fact the CPC is really just a liberal party that calls itself conservative.
As a tory, I see little in the CPC that qualifies as “conservative.”
Ti-Guy Said:
well known long time Liberal…
Izzy’s dead. And Conrad Black’s in jail.
Well I never said Izzy…I indicated the Asper family…and the Asper family is still in charge…again don’t you just hate those darn old facts..
This is a substantially different paper since Conrad owned it…and like many of the other papers in this country…yes it is in Financial trouble…maybe a sign that they no longer reflect the views of the majority of Canadians. Too much of the mainstream media has simply become a voice of the left…and of course there is still the CBC…over one billion dollars of Canadian taxpayer money promoting the angry left….
Oooo…. The “angry left”… What a putz you are, Cliff. Could you spew some more hackneyed right-wing talking points?
Well I never said Izzy…I indicated the Asper family…and the Asper family is still in charge…again don’t you just hate those darn old facts..
Why are you attempting to claim that the rest of us don’t know these things or don ‘t have “the facts.”
You’re the one who got it wrong about the Aspers. As if anyone doesn’t know that the Aspers aren’t in charge.
Anyway, fun fact: Thomas Friedman’s wife’s family fortune is in dire straits From 3.6 billion to less than 25 million. Ouch! Thank God the Aspers’ empire, once valued at more than 3 billion or so, is still worth 85 million.
Stuff this delicious just has to be fattening.
Well Red Tory;
All one has to do is check this Liblog website once in a while…this party has moved far from the mainstream of Canadians…post after post is simply the angry left’s talking points or misinformation and scare tactics about the scary right.
Of course when the facts show these leanings to be untrue, you and your liblog friends simply revert to name calling…again further proof of the angry left…
As I often say…the Facts are the Facts…
Ti Guy said;
“Why are you attempting to claim that the rest of us don’t know these things or don ‘t have “the facts.”
I have never said that the rest of you don’t know these facts…clearly you do. You just choose to misuse this information as the angry left often does.
We all know that Canwest is owned by the Asper family….and we all know that the Aspers are long time Liberals…so why pretend otherwise. This is not a Conservative paper, so don’t pretend that they are promoting Conservative principles….
This is not a Conservative paper, so don’t pretend that they are promoting Conservative principles….
*What* is not a Conservative paper?
The Canwest chain….
The CanWest chain is not a Conservative paper?
Maybe you should think about these things a bit more and figure out a way to better articulate what your trying to express.
As far as I’m concerned, anything these days that approaches dumb, angry, ignorant, reactionary, censorious, dishonest and unpopular (ie, doesn’t appeal to the majority) is “Conservative.” Make of that what you will.
Well Ti Guy….that really sounds like the angry left again…
I’ll just mention Adscam, the Gun registry, HRDC boondoggle, Shawinigate…there are many more and of couse these were all from your “honest” Liberals, but I’m sure you get the jest of it…again those darn old facts….
I’ll just mention Adscam, the Gun registry, HRDC boondoggle, Shawinigate…there are many more…
No, there aren’t many, many more. That’s about it….maybe add David Dingwall expensing his chewing gum. And how convenient to forget securing the banking system, getting rid of the deficit and paying down that debt while preserving, even though sometimes begrudgingly, the important public structures (public education, public health, public media, worker rights and a minimal social safety net) that make Canada one of the most developed societies in the history of humanity.
Given that the World is faced with a planetary environmental emergency, a catastrophic financial and real economic meltdown, a re-alignment of geo-political power structures and a consumer culture that has turned vast swathes of the population into imbeciles, I find it revealing that this is *all* Conservatives ever talk about.
Sweetie, we know Conservatives are the bestest, most kindest, most awesomest people on God’s Green Earth. But you’re all just not that bright.
Well Ti Guy;
I might be a bit older then you…but, wasn’t this the party that won elections by promising child care, the abolishement of the GST, the abolishement of free trade, no to wage and price control…we can go on and on…the many Red Books…always promises, but no results. And yes better Health care, but what did the Chretien / Martin Liberals do…they cut health transfers to the provinces…and wasn’t this the party that allowed private health facilities at the same time that they were falsly accusing the Tories of privatizing the Health care system….and you say is that all….
And where is the missing money from Adscam…nobody knows…and you say “that about it”…well Ty…I would suggest that “that’s way to much” and Canada’s party of the Corporate Elite should not be in government for a long time.
And before you argue that point, I would suggest that you carefully look at your fund raising numbers…your donations are dwon substantially since the corporate money was disallowed.
Again those DARN OLD FACTS….
And finally Ty…
The deficit was balanced because of Free Trade and the GST…both measures your party was against…you know that darn old red book again.
…we can go on and on…
Yes, I’m sure you can.
Gee, I haven’t heard any of brave and oh-so-strident “free speech” warriors over at “The Blogging Tories” speaking out about this.
It’s only a matter of free speech if it’s brought in front of the Human Rights Commission. 😉
Yikes, though.
I have never said that the rest of you don’t know these facts…clearly you do. You just choose to misuse this information as the angry left often does.We all know that Canwest is owned by the Asper family….and we all know that the Aspers are long time Liberals…so why pretend otherwise.
Long time Liberals who used a helicopter to ferry Harper around during the 2004 election and publically endorsed Harper in 2006… whose employees openly campaign and fundraise for the Conservatives.
Hmm… sounds more like a Conservative.
(I’m not a part of the angry left as much as I’m a member of the amused left.)
“there are many more”
“No, there aren’t many, many more. That’s about it”
“‘that about it’…well Ty…I would suggest that ‘that’s way to much'”
everyone gets how this particular troll works, right?
KEvron
Cliff — You’re not telling me or anyone else here anything we didn’t know already. And KEv is quite correct… you are a TROLL and have employed classic troll techniques in effectively hijacking this thread to do nothing but bash the Liberals and level your feeble grievances about the so-called “angry left” (as if the “Blogging Tories” and other right-wing bloggers aren’t perpetually filled with outrage, indignation and, yes, anger at just about everything under the sun!)
The actual “point” of this post and what should presumably have been the gist of discussion was in regards to how selective our “Conservative” friends when it comes to the issue of “free speech” and how this issue shouldn’t necessarily be simply confined, as it so frequently is by the BTs, to the supposed outrages of the HRCs.
I do find it kind of amusing that the “villain” of this piece is CanWest, an organization that, although its executives may well have had connections to the LPC at one time, have always leaned ideologically to the right, and in more recent years have openly supported the Conservative Party and, generally speaking, express a right-wing POV — not only in most of their editorial content, but also in their news reporting. And furthermore, it should be added, have been vocal critics of the HRCs as well as facilitators for providing supposed crusaders for “free speech” a platform to propound their complaints and outrage.
So, at the end of the day… once again… it’s a matter of hypocrisy and, in the case, of CanWest some pretty laughable irony that they’d be applying their corporate boot to the neck of some critics who openly (and rather crudely, it has to be said) mocked the chain and one of its leading papers, the Vancouver Sun for its alleged “Zionist” and blatantly one-sided “pro-Israel” stance.
“I’ll just mention Adscam, the Gun registry, HRDC boondoggle, Shawinigate…there are many more…”
Mulroney was worse.
I think I can remember writing about this a long time ago. I guess I assumed that the storm had passed, but apparently not…
This is an interesting issue. It’s kind of scummy, it’s unnecessary, and it’s not professionally commendable, but nobody’s saying that this pro-palestinian newspaper can’t continue to produce its’ content.
But on the other hand, censorship depends opon ones’ ability to do so. CanWest can certainly do a lot of damage, so they can potentially censor this magazine. More of a censorship of someone much larger dealing with someone much smaller.
Hmm….
You know, to be honest, I’m not too concerned about this as a free-speech issue, unless it sets a precedent, and CanWest just goes crazy with lawsuits, but it’s still not a laudable act at all. Much like the Don Imus thing.