Flit

FREE SPEECH? AT CONCORDIA? Montreal's

FREE SPEECH? AT CONCORDIA?

Montreal's Concordia University submitted to mob rule today, cancelling a speech by Bibi Netanyahu due to threats of violence and vandalism.

"He's a violent man, [said a pro-Palestinian protester] This man is a war criminal."

Now, personally I think Netanyahu's a thug and a bit of a charlatan, but he had a clear legal right to speak his piece. This is an atrocity. Canada's commitment to tolerance and free speech -- on a university campus no less -- apparently stops when the hooligans start throwing chairs. In Canada, the old proverb might best be rephrased as, "my right to speak my piece ends when YOUR fist hits MY nose."

UPDATE: Anyone from the Toronto area who's interested should know that the same pro-Palestinian group is also planning to shut down his speech in that city tomorrow (Sept. 10) 6:30 p.m. at 5040 Yonge Street (at Sheppard). Just in case you felt like dropping by...

UPDATE #2: Here's the triumphant newspiece from the pro-Palestinian side, written by my former colleague and anti-American activist Jaggi Singh:

Several individuals tried to push through the riot police. Police responded with shield and baton blows. Pro-Israeli protesters urged the police to react, cheering whenever the police hit pro-Palestinian protesters. At one point, the force of people banging windows outdoors smashed the glass. At least two demonstrators, both Palestinian activists, had to be carried back up the escalators due to injuries from baton blows. Various demonstrators, who were outraged, continued to push and throw projectiles at the police. The police used tear gas and pepper spray, which dispersed the crowd up the escalator, while outside, another large window broke. As demonstrators retreated, several threw chairs and other large items at the police in the lobby below.

UM, MORE DECAF? Bill Quick

UM, MORE DECAF?

Bill Quick loses his mind over yet another studiously fair piece of reporting from the Christian Science Monitor, for no obvious reason. The CSM was probably the best source for knowing what was really going on in Afghanistan last year... and there's nothing in today's piece that hasn't been confirmed elsewhere and established for years. But Quick cites it as his sole evidence that the CSM has been "driven insane" by Bush-hatred and is now a "leftist propaganda rag" whose existence threatens American safety. This is what we in the blogging profession call "going batshit."

MATTHEW FISHER: EXACTLY RIGHT This

MATTHEW FISHER: EXACTLY RIGHT

This story is as keen an assessment of Canada's ability to contribute to any Iraq venture as it is possible to write. If anyone from the Canadian government or elsewhere says anything different, they're lying to you.

IRONY ALERT: STEVEN HATFILL The

IRONY ALERT: STEVEN HATFILL

The man suspected by the government (for little obvious reason) of being behind the anthrax attacks grew up in Mattoon, Illinois. Mattoon, interestingly enough, is best known as the locus for one of the better-documented proven attacks of mass hysteria, when in 1944 dozens of citizens, alarmed by stories of German plans to use chemical weapons on the U.S., became convinced Mattoon had been gassed by a local saboteur. See this month's Skeptical Inquirer (not online), where the case history is written up as "The 'Mad Gasser' of Mattoon." How's that for a coincidence, huh?