Who is the Real Terrorist?

 I thought I'd point out a reader comment left on an older post, because not many of us follow older threads and this one is definitely worth viewing;

"My father's uncle is Wilfred Vincent O'Neil who was killed by the FLQ! It's too bad what happen back then as our family still misses him yet today! "

Posted by Crystal O'Neil (Gaspesie,QC)  Jan.05/11     The War Measures Act- 40 Years Later

It's been forty years since the deadly FLQ attacks took place, but for the families of those murdered, time doesn't erase the pain of having lost a loved one. For those who suffered through injuries and amputations, the reality of those barbaric acts linger. The FLQ perpetrated over 170 acts of violence which resulted in eight deaths and a multitude of injured.

Sgt. Wilfred V. O'Neil, was the first fatal casualty of the FLQ reign of terror. A night watchman at the Canadian Army Recruiting Centre in Montreal, he was killed in January 1963, when he tried to remove 10 sticks of dynamite from a container.
"In February 1969 - the FLQ set off a powerful bomb that ripped through the Montreal Stock Exchange causing massive destruction and seriously injuring twenty-seven people." Link 

"The FLQ sent a bomb to a Quebec shoe manufacturer, to show their solidarity with the union. Therese Morin, 64, the secretary to the general manager was killed when it exploded in the office May 5, 1965. She had just returned from lunch .....
.....On April 19, 1964, some of the FLQ raided a gun shop in Montreal for weapons. They murdered store manager Leslie MacWilliams, 56.
....Sgt. Major Walter Leja, 42, had both hands blown off as he was trying to defuse the last of three FLQ bombs in a mailbox in the Westmount region of Montreal. The bombers were just warming up." LINK

Today these deaths are largely forgotten and even Quebec schools make sure to gloss over the FLQ.
It's little wonder, as the author of the actual book used to teach history has characterized the death of Pierre Laporte at the hands of the terrorists 'accidental' and that the other deaths were 'collateral damage.' LINK
In Quebec, especially among  young francophones, the FLQ is nothing more than folklore, it's barbaric image successfully rehabilitated by sympathetic journalists who have contributed to a historical makeover par excellence.

A review of the French press will reveal that the word 'terrorist' is never used to describe the members of the FLQ, with the sanitized term of 'Felkist,' (FLQer) much preferred.

The political revisionism is reminiscent of Stalinist apologists who created the myth for decades that 'Uncle Joe' was a swell guy.
The success of the campaign to rehabilitate the reputation of the FLQ is underlined by the welcoming arms that accepted the terrorists  back into mainstream Quebec society, where many of the terrorists have worked  for unions, government and as esteemed journalists, their terrorist past, never much of an issue.

Many will say that it is fit and proper that those who commit crimes be re-integrated back into society once the offender has paid his debt.
But the fact remains that the FLQ terrorists were treated rather lightly, with some receiving nothing more than a slap on the wrist or a couple of years in the pen. The largest sentence served was but eleven years, and the majority of the terrorists never apologized to the families of the victims, nor expressed any remorse whatsoever.

Many went back to a life of activism and in the case of Rhéal Mathieu, a return to terrorism itself, when he was convicted of involvement in the firebombing of a Second Cup coffee shop in 2001. LINK

Mr. Mathieu remains a prolific and honoured contributor to vigile.net as well as convicted FLQ terrorist Pierre Schneider who also writes for the militant website and who signs his articles with this beauty (proud member of the 1st FLQ-1963)

Click to see article

Mr. Schneider, according to Wikipedia remains a member of the Réseau de résistance du Québécois.


So it was with utter disgust that I witnessed the forces of order move at light speed in reaction to a complaint  by the Parti Quebecois against Colonel James Angus Brown over 'terrorist threats' over his blog posts at Parkavenuegazette.com.

Read my post my Anglo Website Triggers Charges of Racism

Had the blog posts called for the death of, say, Jewish Imperialists or Anglo Imperialists or Christians of any sort, we'd be looking at a three year wait for the police to even consider any action.

Think I'm joking?
Read an account here of the pursuit of an Internet hate-monger from Toronto that has taken years to prosecute. LINK

So the poor colonel is a threat to society.... Hmmmm

In a recent post on vigile.net, convicted terrorist Rhéal Mathieu reprinted a hate letter which was sent to homes in Westmount threatening all sorts of hell in the case of partition, including the burning of Westmount Square. LINK

Did the police pick up Mathieu or force him to remove the offending article?
When a twice convicted terrorist makes a threat, shouldn't the police take it seriously?

Colonel James Angus Brown a terrorist?  Hardly....

Only in Quebec can real terrorists be labelled harmless and the bombastic as terrorists.

It's  a question of what language the threatener speaks.

Even Separatists Agree. Montreal is English!

After yesterday's post, which seemed to push a particularly angry button among readers, let's do something a little on the humorous side today.

But before I continue,  I want to congratulate those readers who enriched the debate with a plethora of thoughtful comments yesterday. I do believe it was the best batch of comments ever written on this blog and no, it had nothing to do with the fact that 'ALLCAPS' was silent!!

Unfortunately I deleted an important comment from 'Appartchick' by accident. Too bad, it was excellent. How about a re-post?

Onward!
I read with amusement a post by Quebec City blowhard Rejean Labrie on vigile.net who wrote a pathetic lament about what he perceives as the sad reality of English in Montreal. He reluctantly admits that Montreal is what it always was, a bilingual city, something he abhors.
Read;

"Come and  settle in Montreal where you can live exclusively in English"

"Venez vous établir à Montréal, où l’on peut vivre exclusivement en anglais"

Perhaps the language militants are finally accepting reality.

He makes the point that immigrants can easily assimilate into the English cultural community without any difficulty and that they can successfully function without French.
While it isn't easy for anyone to function without French in Quebec, his point about many immigrants adopting the English culture is quite valid and while for him it represents a sad reality, I'm reminded of the old adage- 'One man's meat is another man's poison.'

"...you can never count on these people to join the nationalist cause that drives us, this is a very unfortunate fact, but a fact. And it's not because we haven't reached out to them generously. No, they have no intention of joining the majority culture of Quebec, it's just that there's no incentive for them to do so. In one word or a thousand, they couldn't care less about preserving our culture."

As for our English community, which has lost 300,000 members through emigration over the last forty years, survival is based in renewal. It's a fact that immigrants have rallied to help save the English community. As a grateful anglophone, I welcome them to our ranks!

As for Mr. Labrie, I'm sure he was rubbing his hands in glee, all those years, watching the anglos leave his beloved Quebec, purifying the population as they left.  

The pain that he manifests so clearly in his post, over those cursed immigrants that ruined his separatist plans, can only bring a smile to my face and perhaps to yours.....

But enough of that, I said humorous!.....

Mr. Labrie added a photo collage of store signs showing an arrogant use of English to the exclusion of French.
Yup, never mind bilingual, these signs showed an utter contempt for Bill 101 in that nary a word of French was to be found.

But there's something wrong!

The longer I looked at the pictures, the more I believe them to be fraudulent.

Can you play detective and spot the giveaways?

Here's some 'think music' to help you concentrate, click on the arrow and study the pictures. Then scroll down to compare thoughts!

spoiler alert.....scroll down..
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• The bottom right hand photo is what got me started. It has a date of 2004, indicating that these photos are seven years old! Who uses seven year old pictures to prove a point about today?

• It also seems that all the photos seven years old, too. Why? Because two of the signs have a 473-XXXX telephone number, indicating that they were both taken in the same neighbourhood. Then there is no area code in front of the telephone number. Today we use 10 digit dialling in Quebec, so these pictures are were probably snapped at the same time and place as the photo with the 2004 date.

• The "473=XXXX numbers would put the business' in the francophone dominated town of St. Eustache, Quebec, where trust me, no business would dare post in English exclusively.

•  In Quebec, even in English the word is spelled "CENTRE" when referring to a place (Shopping centre) and "CENTER" when referring to the middle of something (like a target.) The use of "Center" to denote a place is used in the USA and in the Maritime provinces in Canada.

• The signage is just too amateurish or corny to come from Montreal. 

In fact none of these pictures were taken in Montreal!

At little research shows that most or all the photos were all taken in Grand Falls, New Brunswick.

The giveaway was the phone number and business name, "473-4644 +Speedy Auto Glass" which is easily be traced back to Grand Falls via a simple Google search. Some of the businesses seem to be closed, but at least two others also trace back to Grand Falls!

Mr. Labrie you are so BUSTED!!!

$2,000 Fine for Speaking English?

There's a certain amount of anglo-bashing that one can expect when perusing fringe website sites such as vigile.net where every crackpot, racist, separatist, terrorist and language extremist can have his or her say.
It's part of the package that freedom of expression provides and something we've all learned to accept.

That being said, the mainstream press is supposed to be responsible. Editors monitor content to make sure that racism, sexism, hate material and all the other bad 'isms' stay where they belong.
Like porn, hate literature remains available if one wants it, but common convention and good sense keeps it out of the mainstream press.

So the fact that English and anglos get bashed rather cruelly in some web sites is of no never mind, but when it crosses over to regular television or the mainstream press, it's time to denounce these racist attacks in no uncertain terms.

I nearly fell out of my chair, watching an episode of conservative Mario Dumont's television show, where he interviewed fellow journalist Martin Pelletier, who decried the fact that there are too many anglos in Laval, a Montreal suburb and second largest city in Quebec.
Too many anglos in Laval. Oh my!

Mr Pelletier presented some statistics showing that the anglo population is growing at an 'alarming' rate and that soon it will 'threaten' the francophone majority.

Between 1996 and 2006, the city saw a 35% increase in anglophones, which he blamed largely on the anglicized Greek and Italian communities who have created 'ethnic' neighbourhoods, in the hitherto linguistically pure Laval.

As the interview progressed, his rage grew to a boil, as he recounted the story that in Carrefour Laval, a mega shopping center, English was being spoken quite openly and that merchants had the audacity to greet customers in English. Horrors!!!!

Disparaging the mall by calling it "Crossroads Laval,'  Mr. Pelletier was outraged that such a terrible catastrophe could happen. He then actually proposed that English be banned in the mall, as well as other retail establishments! 

You heard me, I'm not making this up, I couldn't, even if I tried.

Martin Pelletier called for a $2,000 fine for merchants who greet customers in English.

 Even Mario Dupont, conservative in every aspect, every aspect except language, that is, didn't think it appropriate or necessary to call him out. Shame!

I wonder if Mr. Pelletier was caught up in the moment or actually believes that in this country of Canada, of which as I last checked, Quebec remains a part of, one should be fined for speaking English!

I'm sure if you ask Mr. Pelletier if he is a racist, he will be insulted.
I'm sure he'll tell you that he has nothing against the English and is merely defending the French language and culture.
But racism is racism, no matter the motivation.

And so, the hysteria vis-a-vis English and Anglos has transcended the lunatic websites into mainstream television and media.

The above video is by no means an isolated event, it is the current vogue in anglo-bashing.

Discussing Anglos as if they are some sort of a problem, is too reminiscent of other historical racist attacks on minorities.

Think I'm exaggerating?

What if the word 'anglophone' would be interchanged with 'Black," "Jew" or "Native." Imagine a television graphic showing that the Black, Jewish or Native population had grown by 35% in a town or city.
Imagine a commentator sounding the alarm that too many Jews/Blacks/Natives is affecting the social 'balance!'

The sad part of it all, is that Quebeckers still perceive Western Canadians as rednecks.

Could you imagine a Saskatchewan television commentator, decrying the fact that too many natives are moving into Regina? Could you imagine a television producer allowing a graphic to appear on the screen denoting this rise in the numbers of this native community? ...I don't think so.

Led by noted anglo-basher Louis Prefontaine, whose moronic and self-serving anglo-bashing statistics are now quoted as a legitimate source of data in the mainstream media, the attack on Anglos continues unashamedly. LINK

The real question is where all this is going... I wonder.

The fear of an English Laval has spawned groups like the Mouvement Laval français, whose stated goal is to check and reverse the creeping English influence in city.

Groups like these always claim that they are not anti-English, just pro-French. They claim that they are defending a heritage in danger of being lost to Mongol hordes,  outside influences.

We've all heard these ethnic 'purity' arguments before, be it in Germany, Bosnia or Afghanistan.  I shall let readers draw their own analogies.

My question is this. How exactly are militants going to defend French? How is this modern Barbarian Invasion to be confronted?

Mr. Pelttier's answer to fine people for speaking English in public may be a start, but it won't do anything to keep the Greeks and the Italians out of Laval.

Perhaps a letter should go out to all property developers reminding them that it's their responsibility not to sell new homes to these  'undesirables'.

Perhaps Laval should change its welcoming road sign to read;

"Population 400,000 Quebecois,  60,000 Anglaises/Ethnies"

Presque tout les monde Bienvenu!

Perhaps the Mouvement Laval français  should advise real estate agents and those wishing to sell their homes of the Francophone 'first' policy.
Perhaps Catholic priests should be encouraged to advise their congregations against fraternization and above all, horrors of horrors, inter-marriage.
Perhaps the cable companies should be forced to remove English and ethnic channels from their grid and perhaps English newspapers and magazines should be banned.

Of course English schools would be banned, that's a no-brainer.

Perhaps those persons who show up to an emergency room describing their injury in English should be refused admission or fined $2,000.

Perhaps Mr. Pelltier or Mr. Prefontaine would suggest Laval, in order to maintain its francophone purity, open German style concentration camps for recalcitrant anglos or send those with
some hope of rehabilitation to Ho-Chi-Minh style re-education camps.

Perhaps Laval can set-up a Soviet-style Gulag for English refusniks on the grounds of the defunct  St-Vincent-de- Paul Penitentiary, where dangerous multi-cultural politicos can be safely ensconced so as not to infect the purity of the francophone majority.

Perhaps a clandestine group of francophone radicals can don white-hooded costumes and burn crosses in front of Laval synagogues and mosques, hoping to drive the impure back across the river to the heathen land of Montreal. 

Ridiculous?..damn right.

Almost every major city in North America has had to deal with the reality of immigration and the changing face of citizens.

Only in Quebec do people believe they can arrest reality and wind back the clock to a time of ethnic purity.

As for English in Carrefour Laval, too effing bad!

Quebec Summer Festival Stands Firm - English Stays

You've got to give credit to the head honchos of the Quebec Summer Festival, Daniel Gélinas and his PDG Dominique Goulet, who are shrugging off as insignificant complaints that the festival is a betrayal of French music and artists.

As you may have read in a previous post, the summer festival is a monstrous success, which follows a Woodstock like formula, where a pass allows you to see all the performances, held outdoors on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City during the summer. Quebec Music Festival Hits the Right Note

The two week festival has been growing each year, bursting out from a 'local' affair, to become a national and international event that attracts tourists from across Canada and the United States.

The formula used by the festival is to bring world class talent, such as the Black-Eyed Peas, Santana Ramstein, Iron Maiden, etc, etc. which drives attendance, subsidizing the less popular shows, mostly local francophone acts.

Last years event played before 1.5 million concert-goers, 75% more than in 2006, a remarkable achievement for a city of 400,000 people.

French nationalists have been squealing for years that the event should restrict itself to Quebec talent only, in order to promote culture and offer support financially to local artists.
The case has been made, that since the festival receives a government subsidy, French language restrictions should apply.

Festival directors deflected these arguments by pointing out that without the international English artists, the deficit would skyrocket. The jam packed audiences for name acts, contrasts sharply with the more restrained crowds that greet Francophone headliners.

The people have spoken.

Recently windbag Louis Plamondon has called for the firing of Dominique Goulet for her unwavering support of excellence over language. For Prefontaine, ramming francophone artists down the throat of an unwilling public is more about a language crusade, than entertainment.

Ms. Goulet shocked language sensibilities by making some provocative statements which disparaged Quebec talent, sending militants into  a letter-writing frenzy.
She had stated in the past that there is not one Francophone artist who could fill the massive outside venue at the Plains of Abraham. She further shocked the francophone artistic world by opining that modern groups, regardless of their native tongue need to sing in English if they want to achieve international success.
Quebec's hottest artist is Bobby Bazini, a francophone who sings exclusively in English and who is building an international reputation and is typical of this phenomenon. Barzini was excluded from running for an industry prize for best Quebec artist because he sings in English.
So groups like Arcade Fire are also banned, leaving the floor to mediocre groups like Loco Locass

That's what militants want. French at any cost. Too bad for them the public is of another mind.

The latest flap comes from the over-the-hill and decidedly passé, singer MARJO who demanded that festival organizers give her a firm commitment and date for next summer's show. When the festival demurred, claiming it was too early in the game, her agent hit the roof and accused the organizers of firming up the English talent before they would make commitments to the francophones.

Very likely true.....

Nathalie Petrowski, writing La Presse, tells the story of how she dragged her offspring to see Marjo perform at the Bell Centre, in order to expose her son to a little Quebec culture. In a venue where he had seen Lady Gaga and Madonna, it was no contest. He left at intermission.....

Now before everyone jumps on me, telling me I'm a racist, let me say that there's some very good talent coming out of Quebec.

Trouble is,  there's not enough to fill a first class festival. It's just a question of numbers. Quebec's eight million in population cannot hope to compete against the world, but fans who shell out hard-earned money aren't expecting, nor will they pay for second class acts. They can get that for free at any St.Jean Baptiste concert!

Many Quebec artists enjoy more success than they deserve and it's based solely on language.

If you need convincing try watching this dreadful rap song by Loco Locass celebrating the Montreal Canadiens. It's a hit! No way can you finish watching it to the end, it really sucks! YouTube

Compare that to this bunch of Anglo amateur nobodies. Link.

The stink put up by the Montreal artistic community is strange, given that the Montreal Jazz festival is not targeted in the same way. Many are calling it a Montreal/Quebec thing, but it just comes down to money, not language.
Quebec artists have had their hands out for years, blackmailing authorities to pay up in order to protect Quebec culture. They don't want to, nor can they compete on a talent level with the world, so they  play the culture card.
This time it didn't work.

Quebeckers have voted with their wallets, so bring on the Black-Eyed Peas!!

Amir Khadir Has Jumped the Shark!

"It's a moment. A defining moment when you know that your favourite television program has reached its peak. That instant that you know from now on...it's all downhill. Some call it the climax. We call it 'Jumping the Shark." -Jon Hein

Click to watch the Fonz "Jump the Shark"

Ever since the 'Fonz' jumped over a shark on water skis, in a television episode of 'Happy Days', the term has come to describe a moment when something or someone that was once great has reached a point where it stops getting better and starts getting worse.

And so Quebec's most popular politician, Amir Khadir, has found his very own shark in the the name of a shoe store called 'Le Marcheur.' Read Story

A week after a survey declared him the most popular politician in Quebec, his boycott actions on one cold December afternoon has set all of that good will asunder.

He should have known better than to participate in a boycott of a honest, hard-working Quebecois, but obviously, he couldn't resist.

You see, protest is in Amir's blood.
Ever since he was a boy, his communist/activist father dragged him from one demonstration to another. While most families went to Church  or to visit grandma on Sunday, Amir was off to protest. Flogging Israel, America, Canada, capitalists and the bourgeoisies was a family tradition. Old habits are hard to change and so it seems that while you can take the boy out of the communist party, apparently you can't take the communist party out of the boy.
....TO THE BARRICADES!

When the negative reaction to his boycott support became overwhelming, Khadir was confident that he could charm his way out of the situation, after all, he's a master bullshitter.

Had he sized up the situation accurately, he would have realized that a quick apology for his actions was the politic thing to do. It probably would have been forgiven.

Instead, he tried to weasel his way out by the tried and true political strategy of lying and spinnng.

When he told reporters that what happened was just a simple misunderstanding and that he never  called for a boycott of the store, just the the Israeli products, he was contradicted rather publicly by the store owner who said in no uncertain terms that Khadir had been encouraging shoppers not to go into the store.

Frustrated that he was losing the argument, he then foolishly asserted his right as a private citizen to demonstrate as he sees fit.
That is when, as we say in politics, 'he lost the room.'

And that bell, cannot be unrung.

No amount of spinning, would help Khadir change the public perception that he was terrorizing an innocent 'Quebecois.' Had the merchant involved, been an Anglo or Ethnic, perhaps the story would never have achieved the media attention it did, but the David and Goliath tussle pushed a decidedly hot button and the story resonated throughout the province.

Not even his friends in the 'Clique du Plateau,' could save Khadir from the thrashing he took in the media. While most on the left, sensing the  mood of the public, wisely kept quiet, a notable exception was Radio Canada's Michel Labrecque whose interview of Khadir was more like a socialist conclave. During the interview Labreque offered this gentle rebuttal to Khadir's boycott "It's not the principle, but the method" arrgggh.......
When Khadir compared the shoe salesman to a merchant of land mines, the host remained respectfully silent.   
VIVE LA CLIQUE DU PLATEAU!     Listen to the interview

It was quite a different story when Khadir tried to defend himself in front of conservatives like Mario Dumont. His charm was lost on the hard-nosed conservative, who wouldn't allow Khadir to skate.
Khadir begged the audience to believe him that it was all a misunderstanding and it would be all put right after Khadir talked to the merchant, to convince him of the error of his ways.
Dumont was having none of it and attacked Khadir viciously by asking about his and his father's communist connection, to which Khadir, off guard,  answered rather clumsily, telling the whopper that his father, only joined the communist party because of pressure from the right.

The bashing continued when Khadir tried to defend himself on Benoît Dutrizac's radio show.
If you understand French, listen to the interview and hear Dutrizac, like Dumont, sneer  at Khadir, condescendingly, advising him to lay off a simple merchant and then asking why he can't criticize any  country, other than Israel. 
Khadir repeated the lie that he never meant to chase customers from the shoe store, a fact repudiated by those on the scene. He then repeated his shop-worn mantra that the boycott was justified because Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter are supporters. LISTEN HERE

What is most interesting is the tone of the interviews.
Both Dumont and Dutrizac made no bones about their distaste of Khadir. They sneered and mocked him rather rudely.
This is a game-changer. Journalists on the right sense a vulnerability that wasn't there before and are determined to press ahead with the attacks.

Up until now, Khadir was the Teflon man. As long as he attacked the old guard of Quebec politics and the rich, his radical socialist agenda was ignored.

No more.

Khadir himself has done what Eric Duhaime and Jeff Fillion could not, that is, to get the public to confront his deep communist radicalism and his hidden socialist agenda.

As Khadir tries to put this episode behind him, his communist friends will make sure that it remains squarely in the public limelight.

Unfortunately for Khadir, PAJU is likely to continue their boycott of 'Le Marcheur,' despite the ongoing fiasco. Those involved are lifelong masochists who embrace failure. Being a communist today, appeals only to those who adore punishment.

And so, for opponents of Khadir, the boycott is the gift that keeps giving.

How will all this affect Khadir politically?

There's little chance that his re-election is in jeopardy.
The socialist, granolas, separatists and eco-warriors of the Clique du Plateau will re-elect him, no matter what.

But the party is over for Khadir and Quebec solidaire in the rest of Quebec. They have been exposed for what they are....finally.

They both have jumped the shark