Time Immortal

With the acquittal of Mark Steyn by the BCHRT, the “Free Mark Steyn” logo became, for the moment, somewhat moot. I’ve removed it, and transferred its link to Binks’ “Steynian” site to the “Freespeecher” logo instead. (I also got rid of the “NOlympia” banner, given that the Olympic Games are now long over.)

But now there’s a reason to add a new logo in its place! Because it really does seem to be the case that it is in the best interests of the Conservative Party — and in the best interests of Canada, although I do not presume that those two categories overlap to any great extent — that Stephane Dion attempt to cling stubbornly to the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. This thing must transpire, the better to fracture and further drain the resources of the federal Liberals.

As I predicted, the kangaroo court blinked.

Mark Steyn writes:

Their Marsupial Majesties at the British Columbia “Human Rights” Tribunal have dismissed El-Mo’s complaint against Maclean’s and voted unanimously to acquit the hatemongers:

The panel has concluded that the complaints are not justified because the complainants have not established that the Article is likely to expose them to hatred or contempt on the basis of their religion. Therefore, pursuant to s. 37(1) the complaints are dismissed.

We’ll post the full ruling as soon as we can (the piece of wet string holding together New Hampshire’s Third World Internet service fell down down during the night so we have a few technical problems). I’ll be discussing the verdict later today after 6.30pm Mountain Time with Rob Breakenridge on 770 CHQR Calgary.

So the BCHRT opted to bury their dismissal of the “charges” against Maclean’s magazine — the central facet of which was Steyn’s article about the growth and spread of Islam in the world — in the hopes that the Thanksgiving weekend and the coming federal election would help keep the acquittal under the radar. And to be sure, most media outlets probably won’t carry the story, or will carry it only as an afterthought.

But that’s why we have blogs, isn’t it?

If thus can be publicized to a sufficient degree, it will make for a victory for human rights in Canada because of how it shames the BCHRT. If the story gets buried, it’s a victory for the other side; they’ll have gotten away with it.

Update: Welcome, Steynians!

Breaking news!

In a lame attempt to piggyback off The Tyranny Of Nice book launch, the British Columbia “human rights” Tribunal will announce its decision in the Maclean’s case at 12 noon Pacific Kangaroo Time tomorrow.

Which, of course, has Tyranny of Nice author Kathy Shaidle planning some mischief with which to mark the occasion.

She’s quite right, I think; the BCHRT is trying to slip this one in before the Thanksgiving weekend, hoping that nobody will notice. Certainly, with an election coming up next Tuesday, the media will mostly turn a blind eye to it.

Which probably means it’s going to be a “not guilty,” methinks. Still, either way good Reader, please take the time to spread the word about this a bit. And stay tuned to Mark Steyn’s website for updates on or about noon, Pacific Time.

Well, sorta.

I think the $700 billion “bailout” is just a bad idea: soft socialism, almost certainly doomed to failure, and a waste of money. I think it’s an inexcusable act of paying even more money to the banking bigwigs who steered the U.S. economy into the mud into the first place, a reward for their dismal performance and greedy behaviour. And I think it’s a distraction, a whitewashing of the complicity of the Democrats in the whole affair, from as far back as the 90s.

Rehmat thinks it’s a conspiracy by the Jooooooooooooos.

But hey, at least we agree that the United States government shouldn’t have done it!

Update: David Warren cites one economist’s humourous remarks on the “usefulness” of the bailout:

Here is how John Cochrane, Myron S. Scholes Professor of Finance in the University of Chicago, characterized the bailout, in an interview with Fox News: “The legislation is like this: some boats are sinking, so rather than bailing those boats out, you blow up the dam and drain the whole lake.”

What a disaster this will be. In my own limited considerations of the implications of the bailout, and in weighing its potential positive outcomes against its probable negative outcomes, I’m reminded of Mark Steyn’s incomparable turn of phrase: “if you take a quart of ice cream and a quart of dog feces and mix them together, the result will taste considerably more like the latter than the former.”

Update: Welcome, Steynians!

Jay Currie writes in with a comment about this article.

My born again virginity will come as a bit of a surprise to my three boys…

These guys can’t even be funny without being cliched.

Jay

That’s one other thing that I didn’t bother to mention in my article, but which is worth commenting on, because the comments of Scott Reid and Andrew Potter demonstrate that they — and much of the media, of which they are representative — are rather alarmingly out of touch with the concept of blogging, its fast pace, and its methods.

The dismissal of bloggers as basement-dwelling, laptop-wielding, mouth-breathing virgins is just a charicature, and then not a very accurate one. One recalls how Andrew Coyne live-blogged the Mark Steyn/Maclean’s “trial” in front of the BCHRT — at times from his BlackBerry (I also submit that Coyne is probably not a “mouth breather,” likely not a “basement dweller,” and almost assuredly not a “virgin”). My own blog, in like manner to Twitter, is set up to receive blog posts from my cell phone, just in case I’m on the road and have something to post. As yet, that hasn’t happened…but hey, I was a Scout: Be Prepared! (Shut up, Scar from The Lion King…)

Yes, many bloggers use their laptops, but not all of them do. As mentioned, I do about 90% of my blogging from a desktop PC (and then one that is not situated in a basement). Realistically, I do almost all of my blogging from whatever computer my USB key full of portable applications is plugged into, be that a laptop or a desktop.

Other bloggers I know use email to post messages to their sites (I do that at times as well), and it’s even possible to blog from one’s iPod these days, what with the advent of the Web-capable iPod Touch (the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not The iPhone“). If one has a cell phone, one can blog, from anywhere one gets reception…and many people do just that. Hence mo-blogging plugins for e.g. Wordpress. Hence Twitter.

Speaking of iPods:

And then we get into the business side of things. Some bloggers can almost live off of the money they bring in due to advertising on their blogs (sadly, I do not fit into this category either), and many have at least turned their site into a source of supplemental revenue. That takes at least a measure of business savvy. Companies like Amazon.com add to a blogger’s ability to generate revenue, by offering “affiliate”-type programs which award revenue-generating links with a percentage commission of resultant sales.

In short, blogging is not the realm of pimply-faced basement dwellers; the most successful bloggers are, in many respects, the exact inverse of that sort of person. And more generally, bloggers are “everymen” (and “everywomen”). They are married…or single. They live alone…or with someone. That someone might be their parents, but is more likely a roommate, or a spouse. They might use a laptop…or they might use any other piece of Web-enabled technology. They might be funny…or serious. They might have kids…or not. They might be virgins…but most probably aren’t. They might be religious…or they might not be. If they met each other on the street, they’d probably strike each other as…normal people, going about their respective lives. They might hit it off and have a beer, or they might not ever notice each other at all.

I think it’s these last points that really terrify the media, that scare the likes of Reid and Potter. In their day, these men would have been the voices of national opinion, and would have been the people to whom others looked when attempting to form their own opinions. When all there was to spread the news was the print media, radio, and television (all fields which it is not easy to get into), such men as Potter and Reid would have been near-kings, and powerful to a certain extent.

Now?

Well…not so much. Now anybody who wants to can articulate his or her opinion and have that opinion read by people as far as half a world away. (Time Immortal’s top five visiting countries are, in order, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, and Sweden.) And other people, who agree or disagree with that opinion, can respond, sharing their agreement or disagreement with the writer through the use of comments forms or contact pages. Massive, sweeping dialogues can occur, opinions can be formed, shared, dissected, and re-shaped, and real-world changes can occur…without anyone having to do anything so old-fashioned as picking up a newspaper, reading an article therein, and firing off a letter to the editor.

And that, I think, must just burn Andrew Potter’s ass.

But he doesn’t understand this “new media.” And when he tries to insult it, he comes off sounding…well…every bit as lame and as old-fashioned as many bloggers tend to think that the print media actually is.

From the Steyn

BREAKING NEWS: There’s a rumor going around that the three pretend judges of the British Columbia “human rights” Tribunal will announce their verdict today at 12 noon Pacific

I’ll be following this.

Update: Buzzkill. All indicators now point to “no verdict being handed down today.”

…and the reality of the internet, it seems, is beginning to sink in to the skull of Athansios Hadjis, the big cheese over at the Canadian Human Rights Commission:

The Human Rights Act provision permits anyone who objects to even a borderline case of alleged hate speech to expose the author to a costly, cumbersome human rights adjudication process, said Athansios Hadjis - who is presiding over a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal against Internet webmaster Marc Lemire.

Citing a recent case in which Maclean’s magazine columnist Mark Steyn defended himself against a complaint from a Muslim group, Mr. Hadjis said it may be all too easy for an individual to be “dragged through the process.”

Mr. Hadjis said that the controversial provision created to combat hate messages left on telephone machines operated by member of the far right — made sense in the past. However, he said that its usefulness may be in the past.

…

Hate messages on telephone message machines tended to be overt, he said, whereas the ocean of opinions on the Internet include many that are borderline cases of hate.

“Maybe the scale is tipping the other way,” Mr. Hadjis interjected during closing submissions at the Lemire hearing. “There is so much grey zone here that it may tip the scale back the other way.”

“Suddenly, the chilling effect catches not only individuals who set up telephone messages…but just about everyone who posts anything on the Internet,” Mr. Hadjis said. “What we have is the reality of the Internet — open to all; everyone participates…” he said.

Common sense at the CHRC? I’m not sure I’m ready for that.

Update: Welcome, Steynians!