Worthington: The Implications Are Simple

This was originally published by the Sun earlier in the week, but we think it’s cool to see that the small town papers are re-running stories on the issue.

[Welland Tribune] The tragedy of the B. C. Human Rights Tribunal’s case against Mark Steyn and Maclean’s magazine over alleged “hate” mongering because of Steyn’s views on Islam, is that most people don’t give a damn.

Oh, many sympathize with Steyn because the issue seems so silly, but most don’t see the destructive effect of hate legislation, or how it threatens our freedom.

Of all the benefits embodied in our county, free speech is -or should be -among the most precious. Without the freedom to express opinions on any matter, we cease being a free society. The implications are as simple as that.

The rest.

Worthington: Dallaire A Poster Boy For PTSD

Dallaire has become a poster boy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This has resulted in modest wealth and status — promotions and medals before he retired, a UN post as adviser, a Liberal senator, and a sought-after speaker and authority on human rights in Darfur, China and elsewhere.

By morally equating the U.S. and Canada’s treatment of Khadr, now 21, with al-Qaida or international terrorism, Dallaire crosses the line and makes a fool of himself as well as the entourage who thinks he’s wonderful.

Dallaire is not wonderful. He’s decent, has a conscience, wants to do good and right wrongs. But he is cursed with having been a failure in the most significant job of his life when he didn’t have the experience to cope with UN bureaucracy that let Rwanda happen — and he did nothing.

The rest.