Murrican
Nov 29th, 2008, 04:36 PM
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=7006e0dd-2d84-4578-8dab-10846f9a9f12
A trial that promotes reflections on the limits of freedom of speech. Stupidity, hate, combine to create unpalatable, uninformed opinions. Raises issues of how entitled we are to outrageous opinions in a civil society. Bottom line: there's no room for hatred in an open, pluralist deocracy, no matter the rhetoric of the defenders of so-called 'freedom of speech'. But where and when is the line drawn? Politics is about drawing lines. Who draws this one?
Canadians are not happy about David Ahenakew and his lazy, despicable thought processes. It apparently proves what Hunter Thompson said about the "scum also rising" to the top...
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Hitler 'had his reasons,' former First Nations leader says
Disgraced Ahenakew insists he doesn't support the Nazis' actions during Second World War
BETTY ANN ADAM, Canwest News Service
Disgraced First Nations leader David Ahenakew tried to explain his controversial comments about Nazism and the Jews during his hate crimes trial yesterday, saying Adolf Hitler "had his reasons" for his actions during the Second World War.
"I would say I understand Hitler had his reasons, but I still don't support them," Ahenakew told the court.
Meanwhile, the judge in the case denied Ahenakew's bid to enter into evidence his tearful, televised apology for the comments that have twice landed him in court.
Judge Wilfred Tucker turned down defence lawyer Doug Christie's request to table the apology, saying the apology was written by Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations staff and approved by a lawyer, so it was not spontaneous.
Ahenakew was back on the stand yesterday in his retrial for inciting hatred in connection with a Dec. 13, 2002, interview with then-Star Phoenix reporter James Parker. After telling an FSIN health conference that Jews started the Second World War, he was quoted in an interview with Parker saying Hitler was "trying to clean up the world" when he "fried" six million Jews.
Ahenakew was found guilty in 2005 on a charge of inciting hatred, but the conviction was set aside on appeal and a new trial was ordered.
His comments sparked outrage across the country. In July 2005, his membership in the Order of Canada, originally bestowed in 1978, was revoked on the grounds that "his actions have brought disrepute to the order."
A trial that promotes reflections on the limits of freedom of speech. Stupidity, hate, combine to create unpalatable, uninformed opinions. Raises issues of how entitled we are to outrageous opinions in a civil society. Bottom line: there's no room for hatred in an open, pluralist deocracy, no matter the rhetoric of the defenders of so-called 'freedom of speech'. But where and when is the line drawn? Politics is about drawing lines. Who draws this one?
Canadians are not happy about David Ahenakew and his lazy, despicable thought processes. It apparently proves what Hunter Thompson said about the "scum also rising" to the top...
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Hitler 'had his reasons,' former First Nations leader says
Disgraced Ahenakew insists he doesn't support the Nazis' actions during Second World War
BETTY ANN ADAM, Canwest News Service
Disgraced First Nations leader David Ahenakew tried to explain his controversial comments about Nazism and the Jews during his hate crimes trial yesterday, saying Adolf Hitler "had his reasons" for his actions during the Second World War.
"I would say I understand Hitler had his reasons, but I still don't support them," Ahenakew told the court.
Meanwhile, the judge in the case denied Ahenakew's bid to enter into evidence his tearful, televised apology for the comments that have twice landed him in court.
Judge Wilfred Tucker turned down defence lawyer Doug Christie's request to table the apology, saying the apology was written by Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations staff and approved by a lawyer, so it was not spontaneous.
Ahenakew was back on the stand yesterday in his retrial for inciting hatred in connection with a Dec. 13, 2002, interview with then-Star Phoenix reporter James Parker. After telling an FSIN health conference that Jews started the Second World War, he was quoted in an interview with Parker saying Hitler was "trying to clean up the world" when he "fried" six million Jews.
Ahenakew was found guilty in 2005 on a charge of inciting hatred, but the conviction was set aside on appeal and a new trial was ordered.
His comments sparked outrage across the country. In July 2005, his membership in the Order of Canada, originally bestowed in 1978, was revoked on the grounds that "his actions have brought disrepute to the order."