they have no gonads to keep Al Jazeera from polluting the airwaves of Canada. Shame on the Harper Conservatives for letting in this incendiary network into the country. At times like these, I simply don't give a damn whether the ruling party in Canada happens to be the Conservatives or the socialist NDP. No difference whatsoever that I can see between the two at this point in time. First it was the fiasco with the Unit Trust companies that saw investors lose their holdings by close to 40% and then we have the Nazi-like CHRC harrassing people with the Harper govt looking on admiringly and now they present us with Al Jazeera. Thank You Very Kindly moronic ones. That's it!!! I think my vote has flown away to nowhere land.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has approved a request “to add Al-Jazeera English (AJE) to the list of television satellite services for distribution in Canada. Supporters of the Arab government-funded propaganda channel hope that acceptance in Canada will lead to more cable and satellite carriers in the U.S. picking up the incendiary network.”
A group called “Canadians for Al-Jazeera” organized public pressure on the CRTC to approve the entry of AJE into the Canadian media market. Although the group’s leader, Walied Khogali, is described in news reports as a Canadian, he identifies himself on his Facebook page as a fan of Barack and Michelle Obama, Students for Barack Obama and the Democrat Party. He supports “the Red Movement” that mainly acts to protest Israeli policies and promotes the “I love Allah” T-shirt and the “Bush shoe thrower” from Iraq.
But Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau for Public Affairs, criticized Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the Haiti relief effort at the State Department press briefing on January 26th. “When you’re talking about international reporting,” he said, “we have had – I’ve had direct conversations with our friends at Al-Jazeera, for example. And we have spent some time critiquing what we felt was unfair, unbalanced coverage of operations in Haiti.” He explained that he had “a conversation” with “officials at [the] Al-Jazeera, English channel” about “inflammatory” coverage suggesting that U.S. relief efforts in Haiti constituted a military plan to take over the country.... read further and start wondering about the sort of MPs we have looking after our interests
Friday, February 12, 2010
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By, unit trusts do you mean income trusts? And you have no preferance between the Tories and the NDP. I'm going to have to call B.S on that.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, it could be a LOT worse...
I thought Al Jazeera was approved by the CRTC years ago? I remember a whole blow up because the CRTC was going to license Al Jazeera, but not Fox News. Maybe that was the Arabic language Al-Jazeera channel.
ReplyDeleteTwo quick points, Dodo.
ReplyDelete- The CRTC is not a Department of the Government. It's an arm's length regulatory agency, set up that way deliberately to ensure that Canadian broadcast policy remains consistent between government and takes a long term view.
- I support freedom of speech and expression, and I think people who believe that should lobby to see MORE diversity of coverage and perspective, not try to shut down the voices they disapprove of. I don't like what I perceive to be Fox News' bias, but I support their licensing in Canada. I'm a big boy, I can recognize and discount bias when I see it, and I want to hear a range of views, not just the ones I agree with.
I'm not sure if you've seen a documentary on Al Jazeera called "The Control Room". It's a very good documentary, and raises a lot of interesting questions about journalism, context, culture and objectivity. One of the most telling moments comes when an interviewer asks Samir Khadr, a senior producer, what he hopes to do in the future. "I'd love to work for Fox", he says.
You're right about the gonads.
ReplyDeleteThey are completely opposite to my stand on global warming and that alone is a vote changer for me. Not that I would vote Liberal but I may just not vote at all whenever the next election comes.
The more I hear from Jim Prentice the more disappointed I become.
Throw Al Jazeera into the mix and I'm ready to throw my hands into the air.
Is there any group that the Conservatives will not pander to in order to get votes?
They're pretty close to losing mine.
NeilD - yes, I forgot to mention about the AGW thing. That also is a matter of concern because Harper has yet to come out and be honest about it. That's not at all good in my books. He is pandering to too many groups and I now fear for the Conservative party ... because I feel that there are very good chances that they will lose in the next election.
ReplyDeleteNo "conservative" worth their salt likes a wishy-washy "Conservative".
Most of us who feel disappointed in the Harper govt, will just stay home on election day.
Balbulican - I care two hoots that the CRTC is an arm's length body. If the Harper govt does not have a finger on the pulse of their voting base, then they are goners.
ReplyDeleteThis is a low blow to people who do not want to give terrorists a chance to explain and justify why they blow up innocent people.... because mark my words... this vile TV station will bring something like that to the screen very soon.
You might like listening to the kind of rubbish that spurts forth from islamists and you might also like to keep your ear to the keyholes of raving murderers at lunatic asylums, however, the majority of Canadians are against giving a podium to such people.
It is not a matter of free speech, it is a matter of allowing disinformation on our airwaves and into our homes and into the ears of the young and gullible.
If you want to be stupidly unaware of such things as usual... go ahead... be my guest.
A true fiscal conservative and free market capitalist would not try to prevent a business from operating but instead let the market place decide. I have no problem with Al Jazeera setting up shop. I will not watch.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that you seem to believe that the government of the day should have the power to ban broadcasters it doesn't like. I assume that would apply to journalists as well?
ReplyDeleteWell, at least that's something you have in common with the Taliban. That's exactly what they believe. As does the Communist party of China. Interesting that you, a conservative, believe in the same kind of limited media perspective they do.
Balbulican - it is interesting that you insist on twisting my stance on this matter.
ReplyDeleteMy view says that the govt should have the security of the people foremost in their minds.
By permitting a disinformation channel like Al Jazeera to find a foothold in Canada (it does not matter whether it was the CRTC or a directive, directly from the Harper govt that made it possible) the govt of Canada has now undermined the security and welfare of all its citizens.
Disinformation of the type that Al Jazeera is well known for, will henceforth pollute the minds and hearts of the young muslim Canadians and that is not what people with futuristic perception would want to happen.
It's all very well to say that being Conservative means having a free market and being a rooter for free speech. The reality of the matter is that, that certain aspects of this same theory can spell untold disruption to normalcy and can be a huge disaster in the hands of those who wish nothing but malice and harm unto others.
Knowing the hatred and malice that comes from Palestinians and from the muslims in the arab world for Jews and the West, I can foresee even without Nostradamus's uncanny ability, what the future holds for young muslim minds in Canada. It is not good. Instead of assimilating with Canadians these young people will be molded to think the way arabs 1000s of miles away will want them to think.
Just look at what has happen to you... listening to those lefty professors in your young days has made Balbulican into a raving lefty. Imagine if you had Conservative professors who molded your thinking... then we would have had StageRight instead of StageLeft, eh? And that would have been a good thing.
I'm not twisting your stance at all, Dodo.
ReplyDeleteYou stated explicitly that you feel the Harper Government should ban a broadcaster because you disagree with their editorial position. You also indicated that you don't care that broadcast licensing in Canada is at arms length from the government of the day: you feel that Harper should override the CRTC and refuse to license.
Is that not an accurate summary of your position?
I'm simply saying that your views put you in agreement with totalitarian states like Communist governments and the Taliban, who believe that dissenting views must never be permitted on air.
There are a lot fo folks who share your view, I'm afraid. However, folks like me who believe in democracy don't agree, that's all.
No Balbulican - I did not "stated explicitly" that the Harper govt should ban a broadcaster because you disagree with their editorial position.
ReplyDeleteI said:
Shame on the Harper Conservatives for letting in this incendiary network into the country.
That is a lot different from the words you are trying to put in my mouth. If the network was already here and operating than what you say I have said could/would have been somewhat okay to state. However, they have been given a foothold now in Canada which could have been easily avoided as we do not want a DISINFORMATION channel in Canada. It is the role of the govt to make bodies like CRTC see sense. Such disinformation channels will be welcomed into the homes of new immigrants with young people within them who will be constantly reminded of their culture, religion, old traditions and the way of life that they should have given up if they have migrated to Canada to start a new life.
My contention is that, that the Harper govt should have seen the drawbacks and the pitfalls of the licensing of this station by the CRTC and their failure to gauge the impending propaganda that will ensue with the setup of this station is a BIG failure.
Balbulican - think about it. The young muslim children who have come here with their immigrant parents are supposed to assimilate with Canadians and enjoy the freedom and security of living in a free land. Instead, because their parents are so used to TV stations like Al Jazeera, this station will be constantly on in their homes and just like secondary smoke inhalation, the programmes run by Al Jazeera will infiltrate the gullible young and turn them into hate machines.
If that is a all OKAY with the leftie world... so be it.
I am disappointed because I thought this would be a big NO NO in the Conservative world and a Conservative govt would be smart enough to see the pitfalls of letting such media inside the country.
Sorry Dodo, you are extinct on this one.
ReplyDelete1) freedom of speech
2) Al Jazeera english is pretty moderate.
3) This would be a PR disaster for the CPC.
4) This is not a CPC/Harper/government issue. It's the CRTC.
Pick another hill to battle on.
"My contention is that the Harper Govt should have seen the drawbacks and pitfalls of licensing this station by the CRTC."
ReplyDeleteAnd then done what, exactly?
Hold the stampede. Al Jazeera Canada will look nothing like Al Jazeera Middle East, with our regulations and restrictions you are not going to have some Emir calling Jewish people "dogs"! They will most certainly go on about the great Jewish conspiracy which will entertain the Arians and Extreme Muslims. These two groups are not the demographic that advertisers want to be connected to, so the free market will kindly pressure Al Jazeera Canada to moderate its programming.
ReplyDeleteIncome Trust - what a boondoggle! Firstly, if a senoir has more than 25% of their holdings into an area that was under such scrutiny then they were greedy and foolish. They should hold their broker accountable. Investors have lots of dividend bearing options to invest in. The losses are ficticious unlike the very real tax losses that would have resulted from some of our bigger industries from covering their profits through converting to Income Trusts.
Global Warming - 13 years of neglect by the Liberals put us behind an 8 ball. Though it would be nice to have a plan it is foolish to think that we can just ignore the US and somehow hamstring our competitiveness. Even the highly politically biased IPCC states that Canada is responsible for only 2% of global emissions. We need to do something, not because of some alarm bells but because it is responsible. Look at California if you want to see what happens to a nanny-state taken over by environmentalists or look at recent political move in Switzerland.
I question some of the moves made by this government, but I don't see any direction from the other parties either.
Darren - you really think Al Jazeera will care about advertising revenue? How naive of you to think that! This station will be a pure propaganda machine coupled with disinformation of the worst sort and will get truckloads of money from Qatar and Saudi Arabia and will answer to none but their masters in the arab world.
ReplyDeleteI am not paranoid. This is the way the Arab money flows into the West bringing with it their hateful way of thinking which they want to impose on everybody else especially on muslims who have migrated here. If there is one thing in plenty with those emirs and sheikhs, it is MONEY and they use it at everything and everybody within their reach.
Let's wait and see who has a better handle on the type of fare Al Jazeera will provide .... One year from now you will realize my paranoia was intelligent perception.
Would it be correct to assume you have never actually seen Al Jazeera?
ReplyDeleteBalbulican - assume nothing of the sort. I have watched the arabic version as well as the English one while residing as an ex-pat for over a decade in various muslim countries .... I know what I am talking about you naive, white foolish Westerner.
ReplyDeleteMariaS-let us assume that you are correct about financing. There is still the issue of Canadian regulations - If Al Jazeera was to copy their Middle Eastern correspondence charges for hate would be almost immediate and the prov. and fed. Human Rights Commission would finally do something good. That aside complaints would have the CRTC investigate the offending program and quite quickly shut it down. There is no upside for Al Jazeera to do so. A previous comment had stated that western Al Jazeera programming is quite moderate. But another issue is national security - obvious hate and inciting of hate and violence would be flagged by the government and soon those people providing comments would find the RCMP picking through their garbage. Freedom of speech with certain conditions are still the best rule.
ReplyDeleteRespectfully yours MariaS
Foolish? Mariah, my dear, I'm not the one who thinks the Prime Minister has the power to revoke a broadcast license.
ReplyDelete