For those of you who have been lining under a rock for the last seven years or so, you may only know Ezra Levant for his kerfuffle with Canada’s “human rights” apparatus, after his now-defunct magazine the Western Standard printed the cartoons of Mohamed. His struggle - and the struggles of others in Canada whose speech and “tone” have been deemed offensive - has been outlined in Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights. I had reviewed this book back in March and called it “bone-chilling”. Mike and I also had Ezra on Brass Balls Radio.

But there’s more to Ezra Levant than just being gang-raped by a band of quasi-judicial thugs. Did you know he has two other books?

Fight Kyoto, published in 2002, discusses the negative effect the enviro-hooey Kyoto Accord would have on Canadian industry and the public at large.

And The War on Fun details how health lobbies (modern-day prohibitionists) are cracking down on vices that the public enjoys. Drinking. Smoking. Eating. It’s timely, considering the current discussion in the U.S. about sugary drinks and the evil Cheerios. That’s right. We have Big Oil, Big Tobacco, and now Big Breakfast. I think (but am not sure) that The War On Fun is out of print, but the link above will take you to Amazon where you can buy it used (and dirt cheap). Now might be a good time for Americans to read this, while drinking a contraband Coke and eating Chinese take-out.

Speaking of out-of-print, I just snagged myself a copy of Kathy Shaidle’s earlier book, A Catholic Alphabet. She has made this available in e-book form via Lulu. The collected articles are a lot like Kathy: Short, quirky, full of pop-culture trivia, and with hidden depths.

Many thanks to the zillions of great people who came out of the woodwork last week when I asked for a ride to London. I’m really looking forward to tonight’s event.

Hitting the open road shortly on this lovely, sunny spring day. Expect a recap either late tonight or (very late) tomorrow.

PS - Toronto folk, don’t forget Ezra is doing a book signing downtown tomorrow. Another day I’ll be forced to rise before noon, but alas, it’s worth it.

Update: While I’m on the road, be sure to check out my latest at Examiner, regarding the upcoming Tea Parties across the USA. Remember, you click, I get paid. Thanks!

I’m stealing this entire thing from Kathy. I’m sure she won’t mind.

1. If you believe that general intelligence exists, is heritable and at all testable for, you’re a racist.
2. If you point out that liberal philosophies and programs intended to have a good impact have had a disproportionately bad impact on the ethnicities targeted by liberals, you’re a racist.
3. If you notice that other cultures have some problems, you’re a racist.
4. If you notice your own culture has had some successes, you’re a racist.
5. If you try to identify subcultural problems, you’re a racist. If the problems existed or got worse under liberalism, see item 2, above.
6. If you’re mainstream American culture, and don’t hate that culture, you’re a racist.
7. If you’re capable of noting unpleasant facts about subcultures and discussing them without your brain fogging, you’re a racist.
8. If you won’t kowtow and grovel as soon as someone accuses you of racism for one of the reasons above, you’re a hopeless racist.
9. If you do not believe that mankind is a tabula rasa for liberals to make whatever they think would be good to make of man, this week, you’re a racist.
10. If you don’t take personal responsibility for all the evils of slavery, you’re a racist. This is true even if you only arrived from Poland last week.
11. If you’re white, you’re a racist.
12. If you’re white and just arrived from Poland last week and don’t accept that you’re a racist, you’re a racist.
13. If you try to interject logical thought into a discussion of culture, you’re a racist.
14. If you refuse to admit culture is a racial matter, and a liberal wants to conflate the two, you’re a racist.
15. If you believe that race and culture are indistinguishable and a liberal decides that you shouldn’t conflate the two, you’re a racist.
16. If you believe that black or hispanic girls who are paid by liberal inspired programs from the age of 13 to have babies will have babies, you’re a racist.
17. If you believe that _any_ girls of whatever color who are paid to have babies will then have babies but then, insensitively, observe that a smaller percentage of white girls do, most likely because the liberals haven’t targeted them for quite so much attention, you’re a racist.
18. If it doesn’t bother you that the truth offends liberals, you’re a racist.
19. If you read The Bell Curve, you’re a racist. On the other hand, if you didn’t read it but wrote a scathing review on Amazon anyway you might not be a racist provided you take personal responsibility for 300 years of slavery even if you just arrived from Poland last week.

In other “Kathy’s a Racist” news, Steve Paikin reminds us that Warren Kinsella can sometimes act like a spoiled, whiny child with a toothache. He also lets us know that he (Paikin) will not bow to threats of censorship:

Later that same day, I received another email from Warren informing me that he was emailing the Minister of Education to ask her to pressure us to “unbook” Kathy Shaidle, and that if we didn’t, there would be significant consequences for TVO and The Agenda. He did, indeed, email the Minister.

Well, now we’ve got a different story, right? Now, it’s no longer a story about the appropriateness of our choosing Kathy to appear on the program. Now it’s a story about a well known Liberal Party operative threatening us (with what? We didn’t know) unless we did what he said.

That’s a very different story and as a result, we naturally refused to “unbook” Kathy. We do not take our marching orders on whom to put on or take off our television program from anyone, but most assuredly, not from partisan political operatives with personal grudges (Warren’s tangle with Kathy, I’ve learned, goes back awhile).

I wonder how Warren would feel if he was “unbooked” for an appearance somewhere based on the fact that he believes Canada’s large Chinese community eat and serve catmeat.

This week our guest is Kathy Shaidle of Five Feet of Fury, discussing her new book about Canada’s Human Rights Commissions: The Tyranny of Nice. This is a subject important not only to Canadians, but to our American listeners, too. This book is required reading before you cast your vote in November!

*** Please Note: This week we’ve expanded the download options for our show. We’re making an enhanced version that we hope you’ll find to be just chock full of goodness! ***

Download the Enhanced Version here.

Download the Standard MP3 Version here.

** The difference between the two versions is size (painfully obvious) but the enhanced version contains links, graphics, and chapter markers and is designed to play well with iTunes. The standard MP3 is the same version of the show that iTunes usually provides.

Links to Kathy Shaidle’s websites…

1. Five Feet of Fury
2. Tyranny of Nice

We taped a great interview with Kathy Shaidle today, regarding her upcoming book, The Tyranny of Nice.

Tyranny can be pre-ordered here. Catch the show on Monday!

While I was out today, the story of the RCMP investigation into the Human Rights Commission’s illegal use of a citizen’s wireless IP address broke. I was over at Kathy’s when the word came out about it being on CTV news, and she read her emails about it out loud to me.

This is a huge step forward in our fight to show the rest of Canada just how illegally the HRC’s operate. They have no codes of conduct, no oversight, and a seemingly limitless supply of arrogance that they are doing the right thing (by way of Trudeau’s work). Their policing of thought to build a utopia is social engineering that even Margaret Sanger would be appalled by. And their blatant disregard of this country’s other laws - real laws - are a worldwide embarrassment.

The victim of the CHRC’s illegal hacking, Nelly Hechme, told reporters that she was “completely shocked” by the CHRC’s conduct. Canada’s Privacy Commissioner, who has jurisdiction over the CHRC, is now investigating the matter.

But not even the CHRC’s most passionate critics could have imagined that the Mounties would be investigating the CHRC.

According to this letter written two weeks ago by the Ottawa Police Service, a criminal complaint filed against the CHRC by Marc Lemire has now been referred to the RCMP’s Integrated Technological Crime Unit. Here is the key excerpt from that letter:

After a full consideration of all aspects of the matter, it is our opinion that this matter falls within the jurisdiction of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. We have discussed this matter with the RCMP and the matter has been assigned to Cpl Stephane Turgeon.

I expect that the RCMP will be in touch with you…

This investigation will blow the lid off the criminality at the CHRC, expose Richard Warman as a con artist who has made his living playing the “hurt feelings” lottery system and off the Commission’s payouts; and it most likely expose the infamous Ann Cools post that led the the lawsuit against Ezra, Kate, Kathy, Jonathan Kay and the Fourniers.

It has taken the work of bloggers, and of course Mark Steyn and his publisher Ken Whyte of Maclean’s Magazine, as well as the tireless Ezra Levant to push the HRC’s out of the shadows and into the light.

We sat silent when the HRC went after neo-Nazis and Holocaust-deniers who lived in relative obscurity, even though their hateful speech should have stood for itself, exposing those people as the idiots they are. But we will not sit silent while the supposed “Human Rights” Commissions threaten to shut down press freedom - including the freedom formerly allotted to bloggers such as myself - in our democratic nation.

So I get this email from Kathy the other day:

Sorry sweetie, but you really have to get up early this Wednesday. Show starts at 5:30.

Uh, Kathy, I’m unemployed right now. Early to me is anything before noon. But 5:30 am is actually late Tuesday night.

And speaking of unemployed, notice I have popped a “Top Spots” into my sidebar. Feel free to promote your blog or business site for a full week by getting into my top spots. It’s cheap and works hard - like moi.

Kisses and thanks in advance…

Kathy and I have often said we need our own radio show. After all, everyone is entitled to our opinion! But since we’re both too lazy to actually set one up, it was our pleasure to be invited to Political Vindication for tonight’s show.

I love the innuendo-laden graphic they have for the show, which will center around the free-speech issues here in Canada, and the Canuck-6.

Readers can tune in to the show at 9pm EST, and callers can reach the show at (646) 652 - 4598.

Here’s the link to listen in!

Richard “The Boy Named Sue” Warman has finally filed his statement of claim.

Canada’s busiest litigant, serial “human rights” complainant and — the guy Mark Steyn has called “Canada’s most sensitive man” — Richard Warman is now suing his most vocal critics — including me.

The suit names:

• Ezra Levant (famous for his stirring YouTube video of his confrontation with the Canadian Human Rights tribunal after he published the “Mohammed Cartoons”)
• FreeDominion.ca (Canada’s answer to FreeRepublic.com)
• Kate McMillan of SmallDeadAnimals.com
• Jonathan Kay of the National Post daily newspaper and its in-house blog
• and me, Kathy Shaidle of FiveFeetOfFury.com

Ezra posts further information here:

Today I was sued by Richard Warman, Canada’s most prolific – and profitable – user of section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act. As readers of this site know, Warman isn’t just a happy customer of section 13 and its 100% conviction rate, he’s a former CHRC employee, an investigator of section 13 thought crimes himself. In fact, he was often both a customer and an investigator at the same time.

Being sued by Warman is like being sued by the CHRC

This is going to be costly to my friends and colleagues in the blogosphere, but it will be fought with everything they - we - have got. I stand with each and every one of these people, and I will help them any way I can. Please visit their sites and see how you, too, can help.

UPDATE: Malkin and The Nose On Your Face have rallied.

Kathy’s on a tear…

Liberals. Nothing ever is what it is. Iraq (and every other war) is “Vietnam”. America is “Nazi Germany”, Muslims are the new “Jews”, trannies in the ladies room are the new “Rosa Parks”…

Everything is “the same” as everything else — unless you make a legitimate analogy, in which case, “Oh, but that’s different!” It’s like how gay theorists see “gayness” everywhere (All About Eve, Johnny Guitar) except where it actually is (gay priests molesting teenage boys).

The political isn’t even personal anymore, it’s shot straight into the ethereal realm of the metaphorical. Analogy is everything.

Liberals never used to “think” this way. I blame the bad liberal arts education they all got in college, with its Jungian archetypal hoo-ha.

With bonus lingerie pinup!

National Post frees itself from the dead weight of Warren Kinsella, and within days, my good buddy Kathy is writing for them.

Works for me.

I mean, you probably weren’t, but just in case I have a curious stalker or something…

I was reading this: Acoustic Ladyland: Kathy Shaidle Unplugged

Kathy has put together some of her best pieces into an e-book. Short and sweet and easy to read. My favorite is Being an American trapped in a Canadian’s body. Obviously!

…still has mighty sharp thorns. None so sharp as those of Kathy Shaidle, even though she has retired Relapsed Catholic for something more descriptive of her physicality.

Five Feet of Fury

I never know what to get for Kathy. I can’t buy her books - she has thousands of them and I just know I’d buy one she recently bought for herself. Same with DVDs. Frilly girly stuff is out, cause that’s just not her style (though I often think I’d could find the perfect Kathy item in a vintage thrift shop).

And now, I finally know exactly what she wants for her blogaversary, and I have no idea how to set about getting it for her. So if some camel-fellating bearded despot has any idea, please see what you can do, ok?

Thanks.

The Charter is merely a list of then-current Received Liberal Pieties and should have as much bearing on the average Canadian’s life as a six-year-old Chinese takeout menu. If written today it would include a clause making the separation of paper and glass mandatory for all householders, every other Wednesday. I do my best to ignore the Charter and so should any thoughtful person.