Flanigan: Diminished Expectations

I'm still taking in the Tom Flanagan's comments about assassinating Julian Assange. What amazed me about the comments was how casual and glib they were - as if another man's sub-judicial, illegal killing was academic. The snicker chilled me.

He apologized the next day for his glibness and said the right things about the rule of law, due process and so on, but these things sometimes take on a life of their own, even after apologies.

There are some angry people out there on social media and I believe their anger is justified. It makes me happy to know this isn't going away quietly. But what should the consequences be? There are a number of people who would have the University of Calgary fire Dr. Flanagan. Others propose censure or reprimand. (See Kris Kotarski's Facebook group here, which proposes censure.)

I doubt requests to fire will succeed for a number of reasons. Among them, academic freedom (see screen shot), his tenure, that the comments were not made as part of his academic duties, and that political correctness will likely prevail at the University.



Nonetheless I think the University should hear from its Students and alumni on this issue. Also, the general public. A University's values should reflect the community, which is generally open minded and progressive.

Right wing academics and culture warriors have been peddling the idea for years that universities are just full of corrupt lefties ruining the minds of young people, stifling free discussion, and are a general menace to society.

Yet when University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill published a somewhat inflammatory explanation of the 9-11 attacks, the University accused him of academic misconduct and went to great lengths to have him fired. This kind of thing was quite common in the Bush era.

I wonder how establishment Calgary would handle an academic going on the CBC and glibly suggesting the Pope be assassinated because of his birth control policies in Africa. I think that would set off a nuclear bomb of pious outrage.

The end result of this incident is more diminished expectations about public discourse. And that's something that Preston Manning, the founder of the Reform movement kept warning us about, which is also full of fabulously rich irony.

Update: Dec 2, 2010, 11:50 am MST - change some wording for clarity.

Update: Dec 2, 2010, 15:00 pm MST - grammar edits.

Please recommend this post

Not Really Funny, More Sad

Yesterday in the Calgary Sun:

Calgarians can take some comfort in the fact a known gangster ordered deported from Canada -- four years ago! -- isn't wandering free on the streets.

But that's only because Tran Trong Nghi Nguyen, also known as Jackie Tran and Nghia Trong Nguyen-Tran, hasn't been able to post two $10,000 bonds.

Maybe that's because he can't get hold of a cellphone in the Calgary Remand Centre, where he's been held since Jan. 10.

More likely, it is because money put up for bond must be accompanied by proof it was obtained by legitimate means.

Today according CBC Calgary:

A convicted drug trafficker and known gang member ordered deported four years ago is free in Calgary on $20,000 bond as his appeal process drags on.

Tran Trong Nghi Nguyen, 26, who goes by the name Jackie Tran, has been appealing an order to deport him from Canada since 2004. He was freed from custody on Tuesday.

...

The money must be proven to have come from legitimate means, and paid by a bonds person who meets guidelines set out by the Canada Border Services Agency.

In a way it is kind of funny, but not really given the potential for violence from this individual. A little tip to the Calgary Sun that every hockey coach already knows...if you taunt the other team they'll probably come back at you harder just to make you eat your words...The best thing journalists can do for me is to just tell me the facts of a case. Spare me the self-serving true detective rhetoric. It gives me a headache and probably makes things worse.

Yes, four years is probably an unreasonable amount of time to execute a deportation order. I'm in favor of deportation of bad people if they've been given appropriate opportunity to defend themselves and an appropriate opportunity for appeal.

The broader ironies are worth noting. The law and order Premier of Alberta refused the Mayor of Calgary's request for $25M to strengthen the Calgary Police Gang Unit. The requested amount was less than 1/1000th of the last budget overage.

Read the Sun, vote Tory, live in constant fear. Please recommend this post

CBC Irritates Retard

Tonight at 12:30 am the CBC will be re-broadcasting the last 13 minutes of last nights thrilling football game between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Regina Rough Riders. There was a huge thunderstorm around the third quarter and the game was suspended for about an hour.

The CBC broke off coverage of the game so they could stay on schedule and show their Saturday Night Late Movie. So, to the CBC we present our first annual Dave Hodge Pencil Tosser Award of Excellence. Aside from the prestige of this award, Steve Armitage will get a free dinner for four at the Kelsey's in Sherwood Park, Alberta. (Order a day or two ahead of time if you're hungry.)

Later last night, the natives in Edmonton were not un-restless. One retard phoned 630CHED to complain that the CBC had broken away from the game, and not only that, they were showing soft core porn.

To the retard we award an important award we have not named yet, for not being able to distinguish between soft core porn and a British Indie film that won all kinds of super obscure awards.

I find it odd that someone would be upset about soft core porn after watching a bunch of grown men in tight polyester grabbing each other's packages and slapping one another on the butt. Each to his own.

Anyway, the winner of this award receives a two DVD package featuring Ingmar Bergman's Seventh Seal and a bootlegged copy of Hilda Does Bassano. Until you can offer a plausible explanation as to which one is art and which one is soft core porn you are not allowed to call any radio shows.

According to my sources the last time the Rough Riders were this successful this early in the season it was because Ron Lancaster was their QB. I have a dire warning: If the Rough Riders get anywhere near the Grey Cup a horrible rupture will occur in the Space/Time/Timbit continuum. And also the Leafs will win the Stanley Cup. Please recommend this post