Segacs's World I Know

Posts Tagged ‘svend robinson’

The official results are more or less in: It’s a minority government for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, albeit a shaky one.

The real questions are, what now? Will Harper be able to govern? Will the NDP and the Tories combine for 155, or will they just miss? Will Harper work with Duceppe? How long can this crazy mess possibly last?

The good news:

• The Bloc lost both popular vote and seats in Quebec. They can spin all they want, but this was a big blow to them, and is good news in the leadup to the next provincial election and sovereignty referendum.
• Paul Martin is finished as Liberal leader. The party will now be jolted out of corruption and complacency, and will have to reorganize and revitalize itself in preparation for the future.
• The Tories have a win but not necessarily a mandate. Their small minority will not allow them to do all the scary things that the Liberals accused them of wanting to do (and that they probably didn’t want to do in the first place).
• Svend Robinson was defeated in Vancouver. Whew.

The bad news:

• The Bloc Quebecois lost seats but gained power. They’ll now hold the balance of power in government, and they can exact a steep price to keep Harper’s government alive.
• Minority government or not, Stephen Harper is now the Prime Minister of Canada. He has made a number of promises that I’m extremely uncomfortable with, and I suspect, many Canadians are too. (The silver lining here is that politicians are very good at breaking promises).
• Had the Conservatives lost, Stephen Harper would surely have been forced out and the party might have had a chance to elect a more moderate, centrist leader and move to the left. Instead, Harper will keep his job and the Tories will remain socially conservative. Depending on your take on the situation, this is either good or bad. Regular readers here ought to understand how I feel about that one.
• If you’re gay and planning to get married, you might want to move that date up a bit.

And yes, for posterity’s sake, I’ll say it again: I was wrong in my prediction of no gains for the Tories in Quebec.

The media is reporting that Svend Robinson is expected to plead guilty on Friday to stealing a ring at an estate sale.

So why am I so amused? Is it a simple case of schadenfreude? Maybe. Is it because I can’t stand Svend Robinson and his self-righteous arrogance and I enjoy seeing people like that having to face up to what they’ve done? Perhaps.

No… no, that’s not it.

It’s because his lawyer’s name is Michael Bolton.

Hahahaha.

I can’t help it! It’s too easy! There’s a reason they made a whole gag about it in the movie Office Space:

Samir: No one in this country can ever pronounce my name right. It’s not that hard: Samir Na-gheen-an-a-jar. Nagheenanajar.

Michael Bolton: Yeah, well at least your name isn’t Michael Bolton.

Samir: You know there’s nothing wrong with that name.

Michael Bolton: There was nothing wrong with it… until I was about 12 years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.

Samir: Hmm… well why don’t you just go by Mike instead of Michael?

Michael Bolton: No way. Why should I change? He’s the one who sucks.

Let’s see… horrible musician, character in a movie, and Svend’s lawyer. Sounds like the start of a joke. “Three men named Michael Bolton walk into a bar…”

Okay, I’m easily amused. The secret’s out now.

Svend Robinson has been charged with theft for stealing a ring at an estate sale.

The “incident” caused him to step down as an MP for the NDP, amidst self-serving crocodile tears. But if he thought that his apologies and his life as a public figure would allow him to escape responsibility for his actions, well, think again. He ‘fessed up. Now it’s time to pay up.

I’m trying not to be too jubilant here, but, well, it’s difficult I’ll admit. Robinson has been a first-class ass for a while. Now his political legacy finally reflects that.

Ever the politician, of course, Svend did manage to resign just in time for these charges to be unlikely to stick to the NDP. That’s my only regret in this whole debacle. Svend, I’m sure, has plenty.

A few surprisingly on-point Gazette editorials today:

Here’s Norman Webster on the Khadr family and Canada’s welcoming of terrorists:

In his book, Cold Terror: How Canada Nurtures and Exports Terrorism Around the World, [author Stuart] Bell sums up: “Canada has tried to smother terrorism with kindness. … It is perhaps a typically Canadian approach. But it is wrong, dead wrong.”

And here’s Ian Mulgrew on Svend Robinson:

The 52-year-old New Democrat MP always has had a flair for the dramatic and a penchant for look-at-me stunts. But this televised mea culpa topped them all. In one stroke, Robinson created the impression he was leaving politics because of serious psychiatric issues, while simultaneously wedging the door open for his return.

And back to hockey, on the national anthem booing saga:

Let’s see what happens tonight when the series resumes in Montreal. We hope those Bell Centre louts who have booed the U.S. anthem in the past will take a cue from the class showed in Boston on Thursday, and at the very least stand in respectful silence.

On that last one, let’s hope there’s no booing at the game tonight at all – whether for an anthem, or for the game itself. Go Habs!

The Gazette thinks that Svend Robinson, by admitting his error, was “dignified” and “courageous”.

Here’s what Terry and Ted have to say about that: bullshit. And I agree.

Robinson didn’t own up to the theft because he’s such a great person. He did it because it was most likely caught on security camera. The guy has been a politician for 25 years – you don’t think he knows a thing or two about spin?

His emotional, over-the-top news conference was self-serving claptrap – a way to control the story before it hit the media in a less-than-favourable way.

As for his medical problems, I would never belittle that, and I do hope he gets help working through it. But a lot of people go through worse every day, and by trying to make excuses, Svend is belittling the true courage of many of them. If you want to talk about “dignity” or “courage”, one needn’t travel far to find true examples of it. Michele is acting with enormous amounts dignity and courage. What she’s going through ain’t easy, and I wish her nothing but the best.

But Svend? Desipte what Damian or Burnside thinks, I’m sticking with my opinion: The way he acted wasn’t about dignity, or courage. It was just about knowledge that the shit was about to hit the fan, and that he’d better do something to redirect it.

CP is now reporting that Svend has offered a whole host of excuses for his departure – which seems to have been downgraded to a “leave” – ranging from medical to legal reasons. The “medical” reason seems to be “severe emotional stress”… apparently having something to do with an incident in which he stole an expensive ring at an auction:

Describing his past few months as a time in which he has experienced “severe stress,” the seven-term MP for Burnaby-Douglas said “something just snapped” last Friday when he pocketed a ring during a public sale at an auction house.

“For some time now, I have been suffering from severe stress and emotional pain ,” Mr. Robinson said during prepared comments. “…I have experienced great inner turmoil. The reasons for this are intensely personal and I’m not prepared to discuss them.”

Yeah, I’d say theft is a “legal” problem. His comments really give an insight into how unstable the man is.

In the meantime, NDP Leader Jack Layton seems to think Svend deserves some kind of medal:

“Svend spoke about how he made a mistake and how he’s taking responsibility for it,” Mr. Layton said. “He did the right thing by going to the police. If everybody who made mistakes were willing to take responsibility for it the way Svend Robinson has just done today I think we would be living in a better world.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for taking responsibility. But let’s not pretend that owning up to a mistake erases it.

NDP member and Canadian MP (and general all-around pain in the ass) Svend Robinson is quitting politics:

The reason for the popular MP’s departure from political life was not immediately known. Robinson, an outspoken figure on Parliament Hill, became Canada’s first openly homosexual MP when he publicly declared his sexual orientation in 1988.

His aggressive stands on same-sex marriage, charter protection of gay rights and Palestinian autonomy – among other issues – have made Robinson a lightning rod for critics.

This is indeed big news. All the NDP members bother me, but Robinson is particularly annoying.

For the record, it’s not the “openly gay” or “protection of gay rights” issues that bother me about Robinson. Far from it. On those points, I actually agree with him.

No, it’s more due to things like this:

He was demoted from his international affairs critic’s role two years ago after travelling to the West Bank, staging his own detention at an Israeli checkpoint and then accusing the Israeli military of murder and torture.

“I plead guilty. Yes, I am taking sides,” Robinson said at the time.

“I am taking the side of peace over war. I am taking the side of the oppressed over the oppressor.”

Oh, and let’s not forget the time he nominated the ISM for a Nobel Peace Prize. Hey, I suppose they deserve it just as much as Arafat does…

Don’t let the door hit ya on the way out, Svend.

Parliament has voted to extend hate law protection to gays by a wider margin than yesterday’s vote on gay marriage. But the motion still passed only by 33 votes.

This bill was kind of a rock-or-a-hard-place issue. It’s tempting to lump it together with yesterday’s marriage vote, but in reality, the issues are separate. Sure, both votes involved gays and human rights, but that’s where the similarities end.

Firstly, today’s vote was proposed by idiotarian Svend Robinson (and for the record, it’s his politics, not his sexual orientation, that I object to).  Remember Svend? The guy who nominated the ISM for a Nobel Peace Prize? And made the announcement on IndyMedia? Yeah, forgive me for being a bit skeptical of him.

In this case, though, I find myself agreeing with Svend . . . because the alternative is people like this:

Opponents of the bill had complained that the legislation would stifle free speech, particularly among religious groups.

Some worried that passages in the Bible condemning homosexuality could be declared hate literature.

“We’ve seen through the courts that when religious freedom comes up against gay rights, that in fact religious freedom intends to be more often than not the loser in those particular cases,” said Derek Rogusky, of the group Focus on the Family.

Actually, the main difference is that the issue here is not marriage – where, granting the right to gays to marry doesn’t infringe on the rights of straight people to do so. The issue is much more controversial than that. A debate has been raging about hate laws right here on this blog, and I can’t say that there’s any black and white clear answer on the notion.

However, it seems clear to me that, considering the fact that these hate laws already exist, and that it’s already illegal to incite hatred against people based on colour, race, ethnicity, or religion, then it seems logical to me that sexual orientation be included as well.

In other words, either the law should be for everyone or no-one. Either extend it to gays or scrap it altogether. Anything else is just plain hypocritical.

Good ol’ Svend Robinson is at it again. The NDP MP has nominated the International Solidarity Movement for the Nobel Peace Prize:

The nomination, published on the ISM website, was confirmed to the Jerusalem Post on Friday night by Jake Wilson, an aide to Mr. Robinson.

In his letter of nomination to the Nobel committee, Robinson, who is the MP for Burnaby-Douglas and the international human rights advocate for the New Democratic Party(a Canadian opposition party), said that the ISM’s contribution to advancing the cause of peace in the Middle East was “without parallel”.

“This organization’s selfless efforts to promote peace and protect the lives of innocent civilians in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict clearly merit international recognition,” wrote Robinson.

Hahahahahahahaha.

Nobody takes Svend Robinson seriously anymore. But this goes beyond the pale. The ISM has been caught sheltering terrorists and has been supporting the intifada through political action for years. I mean, the Nobel Peace Prize? Might as well give it to a murdering terrorist like Yasser Arafat . . . oh, wait, they already did.

Alexa McDonough jumps on the NDP bandwagon by making a speech at Concordia as part of a panel speaking to a group organized by the Canadian Muslim Forum.

This is just weeks after NDP MPs Svend Robinson and Libby Davies spoke outside Concordia – after an injunction prevented them from speaking on campus – in support of the CSU and against the temporary moratorium on mideast events. I guess Alexa McDonough just wanted to make it really really clear, for anyone who was confused, that the NDP supports the alliance between the Palestinian movement and the Left.

NDP leader Alexa McDonough spoke out yesterday in heartfelt support of Canadian Muslims. Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, she said, “they have been on the receiving end of hateful sentiments.”

McDonough received a standing ovation from the crowd of about 100 people at Concordia University. She appeared on a panel, Citizens Under Siege, organized by the Canadian Muslim Forum and Alternative Perspective Media.

Of course, speaking out against racism is never wrong. But McDonough was making a political statement by holding her speech at Concordia, and by specifically only referring to anti-Muslim racism and supporting the “Palestinian cause” at a site where anti-Jewish racism has been especially rampant.

The NDP leader noted that her party had been Ottawa sponsors of the UN-sanctioned International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People – though “some irresponsible members of the media will portray that in a dishonest way. Thank God for the alternate media.”

McDonough urged Palestinian activists not only to speak out, but to reach out to build coalitions with other people. But she admitted, “It’s not always easy to get beyond the dire circumstances at the centre of your cause.”

In true NDP fashion, a bit of America-bashing and Bush-bashing was thrown in for good measure.

The NDP leader deplored the “message of hatred” set in motion by U.S. President George W. Bush, when he told the world: “Either you’re with us or you’re against us.” McDonough dryly commented, “Most of us see much better choices.”

Yeah, most of us do see better choices . . . certainly we see better choices than you, Ms. McDonough.