Ann Coulter accuses Canadian univ. provost of"hate crimes"against Conservatives

[CougarKing]

Makes me wonder what would happen if she and Jack Layton were in the same room.
:blotto:

AFP link

OTTAWA (AFP) - Firebrand US conservative Ann Coulter has accused a Canadian university provost of "hate crimes against conservatives" and called for a human rights probe of the matter, a local paper said Tuesday.

The American right-wing pundit and author is in Canada for a trio of speeches.


Ahead of a talk at the University of Ottawa on Tuesday evening, she said she was warned by provost Francois Houle to use "restraint, respect and consideration" when speaking at the school.


Coulter told the Ottawa Citizen newspaper: "Now that the provost has instructed me on the criminal speech laws he apparently believes I have a proclivity (to break), despite knowing nothing about my speech, I see that he is guilty of promoting hatred against an identifiable group: conservatives."


"The provost simply believes and is publicizing his belief that conservatives are more likely to commit hate crimes in their speeches. Not only does this promote hatred against conservatives, but it promotes violence against conservatives," she said.


Coulter's Canadian engagements drew the ire of leftists here who accused her of inflammatory rants such as a post-9/11 suggestion that the United States should invade Muslim countries and convert their people to Christianity.
(...)

 

[Edward Campbell]

Coulter is an ass, but she's a clever, publicity savvy ass.

Francois Houle, provost of Ottawa university is just a silly twit who, dimwit that he is, fell into her trap and made a fool of himself and advanced her agenda, as did the President of the Ottawa U students' association (or whatever it is) who refused to allow posters for the event to be posted in the Students' Union (or junior common room or whatever it is called at Ottawa U).

These silly twits played right into Coulter's hands, giving her bags of free publicity. Who needs posters in the Students' Union when your speech is advertized, wall-to-wall, in the mainstream media? All because some idiot sent you an ill-crafted (he got the hate speech rules wrong), even threatening E-mail.

Fools! All of them ... including Coulter, who is a fool but a media savvy one.

 

[Rifleman62]

The episode was on the local radio station in San Antonio this am. As if this does not happen at U of C Berkeley.

 

[HollywoodHitman]

The sound of this woman's voice to me is as bad as the sharpest nails ever, being grated down the longest chalk board ever. If people stopped listening to this wingnut, and some of the others out there, they'd go away.

 

[Evocatus]

Only in America and increasingly in Canada, can a fool like Ms Coulter earn a dime.

I suspect that the fact that she is 30 lbs underweight, garners her more attention; 60 lbs the other way, and as human nature would have it, she would solicite no attention.

 

[gaspasser]

I viewed the news report last night on this wingnut, and I even thought I think she is on the short list for a fig.11, she's pretty smart...she's got all of us talking about her (free advertising!) and making tons of $$ while doing it.
Personally, her kind are not welcome here!

  Our Colours Don't Run

 

[helpup]

She is a Twitt,  I think her opinions are shades of lunacy.  However as was pointed out she is very media savy to the point that I wonder if she is even espousing her beliefs or are her triades a line of occupation for her.  She plays the part as it gets her fame, money and notoriety.  The more offside her rants can be with eye poking sh#ty sticks, the more attention/ fame and hence money she makes.  Her looks just enhance her ability to make money.....

Anyhow food for thought, on a who cares news item........... ( errr obviously people do care and feed the media machine, also her pocket books. )

 

[Shec]

Coulter is an ***, but she's a clever, publicity savvy ***.

Francois Houle, provost of Ottawa university is just a silly twit who, dimwit that he is, fell into her trap and made a fool of himself and advanced her agenda, as did the President of the Ottawa U students' association (or whatever it is) who refused to allow posters for the event to be posted in the Students' Union (or junior common room or whatever it is called at Ottawa U).

These silly twits played right into Coulter's hands, giving her bags of free publicity. Who needs posters in the Students' Union when your speech is advertized, wall-to-wall, in the mainstream media? All because some idiot sent you an ill-crafted (he got the hate speech rules wrong), even threatening E-mail.

Fools! All of them ... including Coulter, who is a fool but a media savvy one.

Compliments once again ER for isolating the real issue and cutting to the chase.  Fool or not her post event characterization of  U of O as "bush league" is bang-on with respect to the
handling of this silliness and she will be the one laughing all the way to the bank.  One can only hope that as an  institute of higher learning, U of O and its students, will learn something about the art of issues management from this affair. 

 

[Yrys]

Right-winger Ann Coulter silenced by angry protesters at University of Ottawa

...
oulter expressed her outrage at the unfolding of events in Ottawa
in interviews with the U.S. media. "This has never happened before,"
she told The Washington Times Tuesday night. "I go to the best schools,
Harvard, the Ivy League and those kids are too intellectually proud to
threaten speakers."

Calling the University of Ottawa a "bush league" institution, Coulter said
"their IQ points-to-teeth ratio must be about 1-to-1."

...
When answering questions from students, Coulter told a 17-year-old
Muslim student to "take a camel" instead of a the flying carpet she has
previously suggested Muslims use for transportation.

And earlier on Tuesday, she protested, with a bemused smile, that she
was the real victim. "I've been a victim of a hate crime," she said in a
CTV interview of Houle's letter. "I think he's accusing me of criminal
proclivities."
...
Her "camel" comment on Monday was obviously a joke, she said on CTV.
She has said worse things, including "not all Muslims may be terrorists,
but all terrorists are Muslims," and that Canadians ought to be grateful
the U.S. didn't roll over them. That was after former prime minister Jean
Chretien refused to follow George W. Bush into the war in Iraq.

Coulter told CTV she made the remark when "the French-speaking influence
was a little bit more dominant in Canada." Asked to comment on the Harper
Conservatives, Coulter said she didn't pay much attention to Canadian politics,
but judged they were not her cup of tea.

"If they support same-sex marriage and socialized medicine, no they are not
conservative enough," she said.
...

 

[40below]

Coulter is crazy as a s**thouse rat and has curiously large hands and a pronounced Adam's apple for what that's worth, but as I was flipping through the channels devoting time to this story last night, I was thinking that I can't imagine any Canadian university issuing a pre-emptive letter like this if it were a left-wing crazoid coming to campus to speak.

 

[gcclarke]

I think what the provost did was a fair thing to do. I mean, frankly, she's gone on record in the past stating things that could very well be construed as either advocating genocide or wilful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group, both of which are indictable offences liable to imprisonment of up to 5 and 2 years respectively, under sections 318 and 319 of the Criminal Code of Canada.

She may be media savvy, but that's due to the fact that the media can be idiots at times. It's one thing to report her claim that this is indicative of "hatred against conservatives". It's another thing entirely to not point out that this was only done because she herself has done things that might break this law in the past.

What she's doing is like accusing someone of hatred when they point out to a couple who are well known for engaging in public displays of affection that they might want to take it easy during their upcoming trip to Dubai.

Anyways, I look forward to living in a world where people like Nazi Barbie aren't given a platform to spew their vitriol beyond a soapbox on a street corner. The protests were, in my not so humble opinion, a decent alternative.

 

[ModlrMike]

Whether she's an idiot or not, whether she's an ass or not are immaterial in this instance. We in Canada do not limit speech through threats of violence. I'm reasonably certain that Ms Coulter is smart enough to know what lines she can cross where, and that her speech in Calgary, while controversial, won't qualify as hate speech. What the UofO Provost and student body did diminishes all of Canada.

One question that has not been answered though, is does the Provost send warning letters to equally provocative left wing speakers?

 

[ModlrMike]

Makes me wonder what would happen if she and Jack Layton were in the same room.
:blotto:

I'm not given to political theatre, but I'd pay money to see that!

 

[observor 69]

One question that has not been answered though, is does the Provost send warning letters to equally provocative left wing speakers?

Looks like this one never even got a chance to receive a warning letter:

"If publicity was the goal of Coulter's Canadian tour, the trip has already been a smashing success.

She even got a mention in the House of Commons, with New Democrat MP Olivia Chow accusing the government of hypocrisy in allowing her into the country, after having given the boot to an ideological opposite.

Chow said the decision last year to bar British MP George Galloway, who has expressed pro-Palestinian views, shows the Tories have a double-standard on freedom of speech.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney defended keeping Galloway out by noting his financial help to a terrorist group, Hamas.

"Hogwash," responded Chow.

"George Galloway has no criminal record. He can travel the United States, all over the world. What the minister is doing ... people he agrees with, fine come; people he doesn't agree with, you can't come."

LINK

 

[Greymatters]

I was thinking that I can't imagine any Canadian university issuing a pre-emptive letter like this if it were a left-wing crazoid coming to campus to speak.

For extreme viewpoints from right-wing US wackos - preemptive warning letter prior to arrival
For university students who post suggestions to kill non-muslim Canadians and make anti-Jew remarks - three year tolerance window and then a slaponthewrist suspension...

 

[RangerRay]

The reason why Galloway didn't come to Canada:

<a href="http://transmontanus.blogspot.com/2010/03/olivia-chow-in-cheap-headline-rush-my.html">Olivia Chow's Cheap Stunt: 'My Favorite Fascist Was Barred; How Come Coulter Gets In?' </a>

And Galloway was not banned from Canada.  He dodged a speaking engagement in Canada last year knowing full well that if he attempted to enter Canada he might have found himself detained for violating Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act. That's because Galloway had just come from Gaza, where he'd made a great public show of delivering bags of loot to Hamas boss Ismael Haniya, whose gangsters murdered their way into power in Gaza and have since busied themselves with "arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, maimings by shooting, and extrajudicial executions" of suspected anti-Hamas Palestinians.

He decided to stay home because he figured he'd end up in one of our Club Feds for breaking our laws...no one banned him.

As for Ms. Coulter, a rep from the BC Civil Liberties Union was on the radio today, and I agree with what he says: as long as she isn't yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded room, or urging people to commit a crime, she should have the right to make an @$$ of herself.  He also felt the UofO played right into her hands with that silly letter, which I also agree.

I somehow doubt that Michael Moore and Al Franken would get a letter asking them to be respectful, etc., etc.

 

[GAP]

Here's the links to the 2 part interview with Coulter on PowerPlay .

Power Play: Ann Coulter, commentator, part on

Power Play: Ann Coulter, commentator, part two

 

[Dennis Ruhl]

Ann Coulter is not an ass.  She's an entertainer.  By the reaction she's receiving, she's a good one. 

 

[a_majoor]

As for Ms. Coulter, a rep from the BC Civil Liberties Union was on the radio today, and I agree with what he says: as long as she isn't yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded room, or urging people to commit a crime, she should have the right to make an @$$ of herself.  He also felt the UofO played right into her hands with that silly letter, which I also agree.

Actually you have the right and moral duty to yell "FIRE" in a crowded room if you know or believe there is a fire present.

Ann Coulter, Ezra Levant, Mark Styen, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Kathy Shaidle and all the others are shouting a warning that our liberties are being eroded (and in Ms Coulter's case, a crowd of Brownshirts shows up to prove her point), and it's time "we" rose up and did something to take back our rights and freedoms.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Ann Coulter is not an ***.  She's an entertainer.  By the reaction she's receiving, she's a good one. 

Couldn't agree with you more. When I think of people like Ann Coulter and their antics it reminds me of this story I heard years ago about this young 19 year old boxer down in the States who was just starting out.

Apparently, prior to one fight he was interviewed by a local radio station. Also being interviewed was a professional wrestler. The boxer was interviewed first and he made a few bland comments and such. The wrestler on the other hand started off by making comments about how he was "he was the greatest wrestler ever," etc.

So off to their separate fights they go.

During his fight this young boxer noticed his lack of audience. The reason he soon found out was because everyone was over watching the wrestler! The light came on and from then on prior to his fights he would make these outrageous statements about how he was going to defeat his opponent and it worked and his career took off.  Being one damn good boxer also helped.

Of course this young, unknown boxer was some guy named Cassius Clay, AKA Muhammad Ali.

Coulter is using the same tactic: make a bunch of outrageous statements and people will flock to see her and/or read her books. The kerfuffle in Ottawa is a perfect example, her next appearance in Calgary (tonight) had to be changed because of increased ticket sales. One smart cookie who is laughing all the way to the bank.