From Canada:

What could Mark Steyn’s punishment look like, if he’s convicted by the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal?

It could look like this order, issued just last week by Alberta’s human rights commission, against a Christian pastor named Rev. Stephen Boission.

The kangaroo court judge in this case is a Tory patronage appointee, a divorce lawyer from Lethbridge named Lori Andreachuk, (pictured at left). That’s her expertise: divorce law. Not constitutional law; not freedom of speech or freedom of religion. And it shows.

Last November, she convicted Boissoin. Last week she ordered her “remedy”.

It is the most revolting order I have ever seen in Canada. Ever.

I’ll excerpt a few lines from her ruling:

In this case, there is no specific individual who can be compensated as there is no direct victim who has come forward…

That’s insane already. No-one was hurt. The complainant was an officious intermeddler, a busybody, the town scold, an anti-Christian activist named Darren Lund who had an axe to grind, and Andreachuk gave it to him.

Dr. Lund, although not a direct victim, did expend considerable time and energy and suffered ridicule and harassment as a result of his complaint. The Panel finds therefore that he is entitled to some compensation.

So a busybody with no standing spends time filing complaints — and gets a tax-free reward for doing so. Oh — and for his “suffering”. Not suffering at the hands of Rev. Boission, but “as a result of his complaint”. People in the community ridiculed Lund for filing the complaint — as they should. And so Andreachuk will get the pastor to pay for that. Why the hell not? Who’s going to stop her? Her political patron, Ed Stelmach?

Mr. Boissoin and [his organization] The Concerned Christian Coalition Inc. shall cease publishing in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the Internet, in future, disparaging remarks about gays and homosexuals.

There’s a lot there, starting with a small but telling point. Darren Lund is a not a medical doctor. He’s a professor. But Andreachuk refers to him as Dr. Lund. Stephen Boissoin is a pastor. But Andreachuk calls him “Mr. Boissoin”. No “Rev. Boissoin” for her.

But look at the staggering order there. Boissoin can never — ever — communicate anything “disparaging” about gays. It’s a lifetime ban — and it applies to every conceivable medium, including his private e-mails.

But nothing “disparaging”? That means nothing critical.

She didn’t order him not to communicate anything “illegal” or even anything “hateful”. She ordered him to say nothing disparaging. Ever. For the rest of his life.

A divorce lawyer from Lethbridge with a second-rate patronage job just ordered a Canadian pastor to stop communicating to anyone, ever, about gays. Not to stop “hate speech” — whatever that malleable legal definition is. She just told him to shut up, period.

Its from Canada, but this is precisely what the left wants to bring to the United States – and if we don’t stop them, cold, it is whaat they will do. They don’t want the free play of ideas amongst thinking people, but unthinking acceptance of liberal orthodoxy in all matters. In the United States they are handicapped by the First Amendment and a staunch desire for liberty amongst the American people…but if, say, they ever get a solid, leftist majority on the Supreme Court, you just watch them push this sort of thing through via judicial fiat.

Each election matters; each battle matters and as we’re dealing with people who’s concept of freedom is sexual license coupled with slavery in all other matters, we daren’t compromise. Its fight for freedom, or become the mindless robots of liberalism.

Prior to having to swallow her pride and endorse:

I think that there is a certain phenomenon associated with his candidacy, and I am really struck by that because it is very much about him and his personality and his presentation. And that’s perfectly legitimate in politics, or any other walk of life, but I think it dangerously oversimplifies the complexity of the problems we face, the challenge of navigating our country through some difficult, uncharted waters. We are a nation at war. That seems to be forgotten.

Forgotten, indeed – by Democrats and their MSM cheerleaders. But this is the real world – not liberal-land – and we will have a real campaign where there will be a man, John McCain, who is massively better qualified and, additionally, unafraid to keep calling to mind Obama’s manifest unfitness for the most powerful office in the world.z

The future of “health” care if liberals get their way:

An Oregon woman suffering from lung cancer was notified by the state-run Oregon Health Plan that their policy would not cover her life-extending cancer drug, telling her the health plan would cover doctor-assisted suicide instead.

Barbara Wagener discovered her lung cancer had recurred last month, the Register-Guard said. Her oncologist prescribed a drug called Tarceva, which could slow the cancer growth and extend her life.

The Oregon Health Plan notified Wagner that it would not cover the drug, but it would cover palliative care, which it said included assisted suicide.

“Treatment of advanced cancer that is meant to prolong life, or change the course of this disease, is not a covered benefit of the Oregon Health Plan,” said the letter Wagner received from LIPA, the Eugene company that administers the Oregon Health Plan in Lane County.

“I think it’s messed up,” Wagner said. She said she was particularly upset because the letter said doctor-assisted suicide would be covered.

“To say to someone, we’ll pay for you to die, but not pay for you to live, it’s cruel,” she said. “I get angry. Who do they think they are?”

A doctor appealed to Genentech, the company that markets Tarceva in the U.S., to cover Wagner’s medication. On Monday Wagner was told the company would cover the drug treatment for a year, after which she could re-apply for the drug.

“I am just so thrilled,” Wagner said. “I am so relieved and so happy.”

This is the inevitible outcome of government-run health care. You can talk all you want about greedy insurance companies, but the greediest and most Scrooge-like in existence is still afraid of a lawsuit…the government isn’t; and when it comes to budget-time, the need to provide care for the ill is balanced against the need to provide pay raises and perks for the people who run the government health care system. Guess which will come out on top?

There is no perfect solution, ever, in human affairs – given the fallen nature of mankind, there will always be laziness, sloppiness, greed and all the normal human vices. Mixed in, of course, with human greatness…but to think that you can fix a problem for good and all is stupd. And, finally, the larger a human enterprise is – the more it tries to do, that is – the more likely it is to fail. Trying to figure out what everyone from newborn to elderly needs for health care is beyond the capability of any human being, or even any group of human beings.

Obama and his Democrats propose to fix the problem. McCain and his Republicans propose to work out systems which will allow people to fix themselves up with health care. Obama’s program, however crafted not only will not work but it cannot work. McCain’s will work as well as can be achieved in human affairs. We have our choice this November – I choose to work with humanity as it is, not as liberals wish it were.

And Obama just gave us a big dose of it:

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama dropped in on the Chicago 2016 Olympics rally on Friday and declared he is confident that he will be winding up his second term in the White House when Chicago hosts the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.

Such bravado about his own future is not typical of Obama, even in private. And, in the highly scripted world of modern politics, today’s last-minute appearance was unusual. Obama had told CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery on Thursday night that he had intended to ”chill out” at home for a few days.

“It’s a good time to be in Chicago,” Barack Obama said to the cheering crowd. “The White Sox are winning. The Cubs are winning. And Chicago’s going to win the 2016 Olympics.”

“In 2016, I’ll be wrapping up my second term as president, so I can’t think of a better way than to be marching into Washington Park alongside Mayor Daley, alongside Rahm Emanuel, alongside Dick Durbin, alongside Valerie Jarrett as President of the United States, and annoucing to the world, ‘Let the games begin!'”

Perhaps you will, Senator – but only the most arrogant cretin would be that certain about it. We’ll see you in November.

From G K Chesterton’s Orthodoxy:

Now here comes in the whole collapse and huge blunder of our age. We have mixed up two different things, two opposite things. Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to suit the vision. Progress does mean (just now) that we are always changing the vision. It should mean that we are slow but sure in bringing justice and mercy among men: it does mean that we are very swift in doubting the desirability of justice and mercy: a wild page from any Prussian sophist makes men doubt it. Progress should mean that we are always walking towards the New Jerusalem. It does mean that the New Jerusalem is always walking away from us. We are not altering the real to suit the ideal. We are altering the ideal: it is easier.

Thus our liberals – who started with an ideal of liberty and equality, and are now on an ideal of sexual license and socialism. Its easier, you see?

Discuss.

The day the Allies came ashore in Normandy for the liberation of Europe.

Don’t forget those men, and what they did.

The gallows in my garden, people say,

Is new and neat and adequately tall;

I tie the noose on in a knowing way

As one that knots his necktie for a ball;

But just as all the neighbours–on the wall–

Are drawing a long breath to shout “Hurray!”

The strangest whim has seized me. . . . After all

I think I will not hang myself to-day.

To-morrow is the time I get my pay–

My uncle’s sword is hanging in the hall–

I see a little cloud all pink and grey–

Perhaps the rector’s mother will not call– I fancy that I

heard from Mr. Gall

That mushrooms could be cooked another way–

I never read the works of Juvenal–

I think I will not hang myself to-day.

The world will have another washing-day;

The decadents decay; the pedants pall;

And H.G. Wells has found that children play,

And Bernard Shaw discovered that they squall,

Rationalists are growing rational–

And through thick woods one finds a stream astray

So secret that the very sky seems small–

I think I will not hang myself to-day.

ENVOI

Prince, I can hear the trumpet of Germinal,

The tumbrils toiling up the terrible way;

Even to-day your royal head may fall,

I think I will not hang myself to-day.

– G.K. Chesterton

This is for two purposes:

1. To let you all know that I’ll be off and on posting over the next few days as the Mrs and I attend the grand-daughter’s 3rd birthday out of town.

2. Its an excellent poem for we GOPers – we’re supposed to be down and sure we’re losers…but, after all, I don’t think I shall hang myself today, because tomorrow we may beat Obama.

In this case, on the war:

You will hear from my opponent’s campaign in every speech, every interview, every press release that I’m running for President Bush’s third term. You will hear every policy of the President described as the Bush-McCain policy. Why does Senator Obama believe it’s so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it’s very difficult to get Americans to believe something they know is false. So he tries to drum it into your minds by constantly repeating it rather than debate honestly the very different directions he and I would take the country. But the American people didn’t get to know me yesterday, as they are just getting to know Senator Obama. They know I have a long record of bipartisan problem solving. They’ve seen me put our country before any President — before any party — before any special interest — before my own interest. They might think me an imperfect servant of our country, which I surely am. But I am her servant first, last and always.

I have worked with the President to keep our nation safe. But he and I have not seen eye to eye on many issues. We’ve disagreed over the conduct of the war in Iraq and the treatment of detainees; over out of control government spending and budget gimmicks; over energy policy and climate change; over defense spending that favored defense contractors over the public good.

I disagreed strongly with the Bush administration’s mismanagement of the war in Iraq. I called for the change in strategy that is now, at last, succeeding where the previous strategy had failed miserably. I was criticized for doing so by Republicans. I was criticized by Democrats. I was criticized by the press. But I don’t answer to them. I answer to you. And I would be ashamed to admit I knew what had to be done in Iraq to spare us from a defeat that would endanger us for years, but I kept quiet because it was too politically hard for me to do. No ambition is more important to me than the security of the country I have defended all my adult life.

Senator Obama opposed the new strategy, and, after promising not to, voted to deny funds to the soldiers who have done a brilliant and brave job of carrying it out. Yet in the last year we have seen the success of that plan as violence has fallen to a four year low; Sunni insurgents have joined us in the fight against al Qaeda; the Iraqi Army has taken the lead in places once lost to Sunni and Shia extremists; and the Iraqi Government has begun to make progress toward political reconciliation.

None of this progress would have happened had we not changed course over a year ago. And all of this progress would be lost if Senator Obama had his way and began to withdraw our forces from Iraq without concern for conditions on the ground and the advice of commanders in the field. Americans ought to be concerned about the judgment of a presidential candidate who says he’s ready to talk, in person and without conditions, with tyrants from Havana to Pyongyang, but hasn’t traveled to Iraq to meet with General Petraeus, and see for himself the progress he threatens to reverse.

I know Americans are tired of this war. I don’t oppose a reckless withdrawal from Iraq because I’m indifferent to the suffering war inflicts on too many American families. I hate war. And I know very personally how terrible its costs are. But I know, too, that the course Senator Obama advocates could draw us into a wider war with even greater sacrifices; put peace further out of reach, and Americans back in harm’s way.

The argument made here by Senator McCain is unanswerable – so, expect the Democrats to not answer it and seek, instead, to change the subject as swiftly as possible. But McCain – and we who support him – must not let the subject be changed. This is the vital issue of our times, and it is also the prime reason to oppose Obama: he’s not fit to be President because he has no understanding of war, military policy, foreign policy or America’s place in the world. Obama’s views seem straight out of sophomore’s notebook from a government class…the sort of pie-in-the-sky talk we get from ivory-tower academics who don’t allow reality to interfere with grand theory.

The world is a hard place, at times, and Obama is a babe in the woods – it might be that he’d be a quick study and swiftly learn to discard what he thinks he knows, but we can’t gamble America – and the lives of Americans – on a hope that Obama will change fast enough from fool to sage. McCain, on the other hand, knows from hard experience (some of it excruciatingly personal) just how rough the world can be, and how cruel our enemies are – especially when they think they have us down. In the choice this November, nothing is more stark than this difference between Obama and McCain.

As McCain points out, Obama and his Democrats will use the Big Lie to try and win – not by out arguing McCain, but by making people feel worse about McCain than they do about Obama and his Democrats. This is the tried and true Democratic tactic – they’ve used it with success in the past, and they hope to do so in 2008. Winning is the only thing Democrats care about – and Obama is a blindingly ambitious man who has proven himself capable of getting right down into the political swamp in order to win. Counter-acting this Big Lie campaign will be difficult – especially as the MSM will largely serve as Obama’s megaphone for the next 6 months, but counter it we must. America is too valuable to the whole world – not just to Americans – for it to be placed at risk to gratify the ambition and greed of leftwingers slavering at the prospect of having the levers of power in their hands.

Over at Battle Born Politics

From John McCain:

Tonight, we can say with confidence the primary season is over, and the general election campaign has begun.

Each American faces a decision this election and the choice between my candidacy and Senator Obama’s could not be more clear. This is a change election. But the choice is between the right change and the wrong change; between going forward and going backward.

The right change recognizes that many of the policies and institutions of our government have failed. The right kind of change will initiate widespread and innovative reforms in almost every area of government policy from energy to taxes to government spending and the military.

The right change will stop impeding Americans from doing what they have always done, overcome obstacles and turn challenges into opportunities.Today, I humbly ask you to join my campaign for the right change, as we move forward together as a nation.

The wrong change looks not to the future, but to the past for solutions that have failed us before and will surely fail us again. Like others before him, my opponent seems to think government is the answer to every problem. That’s not change we can believe in.

My friends, we’re not a country that would rather go back than forward. We’re the world’s leader, and leaders don’t hide from history. They make history. If we’re going to lead, we must reform a government that has lost its ability to help us do so.

I don’t seek the presidency on the presumption I’m blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need. I seek the office with the humility of a man who cannot forget my country saved me. I assure you that if I’m elected president, the era of reform and problem solving will begin. From my first day in office, I’ll work tirelessly to make America safe, prosperous and proud. And that, my friends, is the kind of change we need.

Indeed, and John McCain asks for support – here’s the place you can go offer it.

I’d like to take a slight time out here and ask all Americans to pat themselves on the back a little bit – for all the left’s claims that we’re a bunch of racist morons, we have – after all is said and done – nominated a black man to be the standard-bearer of one of America’s two major political parties. This is rock solid proof that race is no bar to success in America – though, of course, the left will continue to make this claim, and if Obama loses, the left will blame racism for the defeat (in the left’s view, radical leftism can never be the cause of defeat).

While Hillary, at this moment, hasn’t actually conceded, there is no way she will wind up as the Democratic nominee, so the national campaign does, indeed, begin tonight (though, Hillary, if I may put a bee in your bonnet, there’s no shame in running as a third party candidate…especially after you carry your fight to the convention and make it a nasty political free for all). And the choice is clear – victory or defeat in war; strength or appeasement in foreign policy; freedom or socialism in our economy; life or death for our unborn, and for those who are ill, and won’t find an actual place in Obama’s magical health care reforms. Obama is Jimmy Carter on leftist steriods – four years of Carter nearly wrecked our nation, four years of Obama will wreck it.

John McCain proposes tough government reforms, and while many of us have many exceptions to take with him (most notably in campaign finance reform), we can rely upon is that John McCain will tell us the truth, and he will challenge the entrenched special interests which own the Democratic party body and soul. The “change” Obama brings is just a change from having a government which seeks the greater good to having a government which seeks to divvy up the pie (and that pie, dear readers, is you and I) amongst competing, corrupt interests who paid a high price to get their man into office – or do you think the lawyers ($387 million to Democrats since 2000), unions ($228 million to Democrats since 2000) and entertainment industry ($85 million to Democrats since 2000) are donating out of altruism? When you spend that much money, you are expecting something in return – in the case of these three major donors, it will be no curbs on business-destroying lawsuits, revocation of voting rights for non-union workers and no attempts to reign in an entertainment industry which becomes more depraved in its product every year. That is what Obama brings as “change”. You want it?

For our troops, for our Iraqi and Afghan allies, for our long suffering friends in Israel, for our small businessmen, for the culture of life…for all of this, we must elect McCain President of the United States of America. The choice is clear, the challenge is strong – but with faith in God and a conviction that right makes might, lets jump right into this campaign and do the right thing, always.