Canada's Hamas Flotilla

Called the Tahrir, the Canadian Boat to Gaza, of the Freedom Flotilla II.

Also known as the "Sea Hitler" by another name.

Background from Matt Gurney, at National Post, "The return of the NDP's anti-Israel fringe":

It was just over a year ago that Israeli forces went aboard the Mavi Marmara and six other ships that had set sail from Turkey. The vessels were filled with anti-Israel activists and aimed to deliver supplies to Gaza in defiance of Israel's arms blockade of the Hamas-controlled territory. Those aboard the ships were hoping to provoke an Israeli response and, unfortunately, they succeeded. While most of the ships were boarded peacefully, Israeli troops -armed only with light weapons, as they expected no resistance -were attacked when they boarded the Mavi Marmara. The situation escalated rapidly and, having failed to use the appropriate degree of force at the outset, Israeli troops had to use too much at the end. Nine activists were killed and Israel and its blockade were roundly criticized.

A year later, Canadian anti-Israel activists are hoping lightning strikes twice and are planning to sail a vessel from our shores to the Gaza Strip, despite the continuing Israeli military embargo. By forcing a confrontation with the Israelis, they hope to bring yet more international scorn down upon the Jewish state. They have a long list of supporters, including the usual suspects -but also one name that is a bit surprising: Alex Atamanenko, the freshly re-elected NDP MP for B.C. Southern Interior.

Mr. Atamanenko, first elected in 2006, has been quite public with his support of the Gazan cause before. He was quick to condemn Israel for the original flotilla incident. He also criticized its military operations against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip in 2008 and 2009. His endorsement of the Canadian Boat to Gaza is therefore logically consistent, if nothing else.

More at that link above. The NDP is the New Democratic Party, a national socialist party that is currently the official opposition party in the Canadian House of Commnons.

See also Gurney at FrontPage Magazine, "The Canadian Left Backs Upcoming Gaza Flotilla."

Defund the Orange County Human Relations Commission

I received this e-mail today:

The most important thing that we may do this year is urge the Orange County Board of Supervisors to pull funding for the unconstitutional Human Relations Commission.

Also, please urge every OC taxpayer to write the Board of Supervisors to ask them to defund the Orange County Human Relations Commission. The simple message is that no government sponsored group should criticize or condemn any exercise of free speech. This group is not accountable to voters, has no legal or political power and has no business passing judgment on exercise of constitutional rights. This is crucial since free speech is the key to all of our other freedoms and the only tool we have to challenge groups that want to veto our speech rights. The very fact that this group dares to censor speech based upon their view of what "creates an environment of hate" is shocking. They have become a law unto themselves and their subjective judgments must stop.

Please write the supervisors below and tell them that free speech means exactly that: FREE speech. Our First Amendment does not say that speech is free unless a county commission thinks that it is offensive!!

bill.campbell@ocgov.com
john.moorlach@ocgov.com
shawn.nelson@ocgov.com
patricia.bates@ocgov.com
janet.nguyen@ocgov.com

A sample of the commission's anti-speech campaign: "OC Human Relations Commission Calls for a Return to Civility in Reaction to Muslim Charity Speakers and Protests."

The background, of course, is the manufactured outrage of political correctness that followed the protests by some breakaway activists in Yorba Linda in February, at an Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) fundraiser. The event was ruthlessly exploited by the Muslim Brotherhood's Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its neo-communist allies at George Soros' Center for American Progress. Gary Fouse has the background: "What Happens When Political Correctness Runs Wild."

RELATED: If folks have been reading Blazing Cat Fur, then what's happening in Orange County might sound familiar. Frankly, the O.C. commission sounds like a clone of the Canuckistan version, or vice versa: The Canadian Human Rights Commission. Or, some might remember the case of Mark Steyn: "The Kafkaesque Show Trial of Mark Steyn." (And some of Steyn's offending material, "The future belongs to Islam.")

Complaints were also filed against Ezra Levant for publishing the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons. Blazing Cat Fur has more on that today, "You only have to give "average" head to get a job at the CHRT...":

Geert Wilders Interview with Sun TV's Ezra Levant

Geert Wilders with Ezra Levant:

RELATED: At Blazing Cat Fur, "Five Feet of Fury discusses Geert Wilders with Ezra Levant, and Kathy Shaidle, "Joe Warmington is an idiot, but there’s a lot of that going around."

Canada's Conservative Party Returned to Office

Blazing has a roundup, "No. 1 - Deport all Hippies Starting with Margaret Atwood":

Tell me your dreams for the new conservative majority.

And from Mark Steyn, "Liberal Party of Canada Buried at Sea After Dying in Firefight."