Reporter Dies, Country Struggles To Carry On

[CBS host Harry Smith to Bob Schieffer] “Bob, are there any words to describe what we’ve lost?”

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[Harry Smith, in a later tribute] “Tim Russert was the sentry at our gates of democracy.”

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[Newsday] “This is a loss for the entire nation,” said Steve Capus, NBC News president.

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[MLB.com, Commissioner Bud Selig] He was one of the great journalists of our generation and a great fan of baseball. His untimely passing leaves a great void for our nation and Major League Baseball.

Irish People To EU: You Don’t Speak For Us

[Int’l Herald Tribune] Europe was thrown into political chaos Friday by Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, a painstakingly negotiated blueprint for consolidating the European Union’s power and streamlining its increasingly unwieldy bureaucracy.

The rest.

Alice In Canada

More bad international press for the Canadian human rights commissions.

[FrontPageMag] The national commission has never found anyone innocent in 31 years. It is set up for classic Alice-in-Wonderland “verdict first, trial later” justice: Canada’s Human Rights Act defines hate speech as speech “likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt.” That language is so capacious and vague that to be accused is tantamount to being found guilty.

The rest.

When The UN Says Jump, Just Ask “How High?”

[Toronto Star, Letter to the Editor] Your readers also need to know that Canada signed the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which specifically states that where there is a school and where there is a child, the child has the basic human right to attend the school regardless of citizenship status. So it’s not just board or Ontario policy; it is Canadian and international policy. It’s not often we see all levels of government agreeing on something – and on education for all children, they do agree.

Children have no choice in where they end up on the face of the Earth, and it’s nice to know that, for once, there is a positive way to adopt a “global” attitude. How nice it is that for once, we are being asked to think globally by supporting the world’s children when they end up on our doorstep, for whatever reason.

The rest.

Sounds Great. Now Be Specific

We don’t mind money going to help others. What we want to know is a) what it’s being spent on, and b) who’s doing the spending.

[Canadian Foreign Minister] “…Canada also provides $500,000 a year [to Somalia] to support local projects in three priority areas: good governance, democratic development and human rights.”

The rest.

Schools? Books? BMWs? Guns?

Kingston Paper: Past Canadians No Different Than Nazis

[Kingston Whig-Standard] With the phrase “white supremacy,” Fontaine correctly linked this blight on Canadian history to such infamous legacies as U. S. black slavery and its aftermath, the extermination of Jews at the hands of the Nazis in Europe and South African apartheid.

It would be trivial and undignified for anyone to deny the connection. The outcomes of the residential school policy may not have been as horrific overall, but all these historical wrongs were driven by the same racism and disregard for fellow human beings.

The rest.

Open Your Eyes, And Your Mouth

[Toronto Life] This is only one of a related constellation of problems that I hope to address in future posts, but suffice it to say that the unwillingness of our institutions to engage in rough and tumble, open-ended public debate is a problem with the broader Canadian experience. After all, why should we trust a judicial system to dictate what we can and cannot say when we can’t even examine the inner workings of the system itself?

The rest.

Another Press Conference With Ms. Prepared

[MaximNews] Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General and UN Webcast TV Video:

Question:  What exactly is Menkerios hoping to achieve in his visiting Zimbabwe?

Spokesperson:  I don’t have the details right now of what he’s planning to discuss and what he’s planning to do.  All we can confirm is that he’s going and that’s all I can say at this point.  But I will let you know, of course, when we get more details on his schedule and who he wants to meet and what he wants to push.

Question:  One of the things being talked about is outside observers for the election.  Is that going to be on his agenda at all?

Spokesperson:  I don’t know at this point.  We will surely find out soon what will be discussed.

Question:  One more question.  What is Menkerios’ citizenship now?

Spokesperson:  I can check that for you.  I think he’s South African.

The rest.