March 12 Bits and Bites Part III: Kathy Shaidle Update

We were one of a number of progressive blogs to complain about Kathy Shaidle's participation on a TVO program considering the miriad of documented racist statements she has made on her blog (more on that in a moment). Soon after we and other blogs covered this story someone decided that they needed to amend Ms. Shaidle's Wikipedia page to remove the section that detailed these comments. One of the justifications given for the removal was that a claim that Ms. Shaidle is "controversial" must first be stated in the mainstream press. On that note we need to thank Randy Richmond for his article in the London Free Press:

Controversial right-wing blogger invited to speak at London event

Some members of the city's Jewish community have brought in speakers critical of anti-hate laws
Wed, March 11, 2009

By RANDY RICHMOND

She has called Muslims "pathetic, whiny losers" who practise "a sick, sick religion."

She has accused Asians of spreading disease in Toronto, disparaged natives and blacks, and suggested the poor "are no more real than Bigfoot."

Now, controversial right-wing blogger Kathy Shaidle may be coming to London to speak about human rights.

The invitation to Shaidle by some members of the city's Jewish community has alarmed anti-racism activists and provided fresh ammunition to the country's heavyweight politicos over freedom of speech.

"She is a purveyor of some of the most offensive racial stereotypes I have ever read," Bernie Farber, head of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said yesterday.

"Any group that associates with or defends her is diminished by her," charged Warren Kinsella, Liberal insider and author of Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network.

"They shouldn't have anything to do with her. They will just hurt themselves."

The controversy has the organizer of the event promising to look further into Shaidle's comments.

"If they are true, I will have nothing to do with her," said Alan Perlmutter, a Jewish activist in London.

But, he added, "I am not going to cancel her until we can cut through all the smoke and see what is being said."

Shaidle vows to show up at the April 13 event at a location still to be determined.

"I will not be intimidated. I am not going to apologize about anything I have written," she told The Free Press yesterday. "This is a goofy smear campaign by name-calling leftists."

Shaidle and fellow conservatives Ezra Levant and London's Salim Mansur have been invited to talk about the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

The three are critical of the commission and Canada's anti-hate laws, saying the laws stifle freedom of expression.

Shaidle recently co-authored The Tyranny of Nice, How Canada Crushes Freedom in the name of Human Rights and comments regularly on her blog, Five Feet of Fury.

Her appearance last month on the taxpayer-funded TVO led to an online battle between political enthusiasts and ordinary viewers.

Her scheduled appearance in London has started a similar battle in the blogosphere. Many of the blogs state the event is organized by the London Jewish Federation.

The federation's executive director, Esther Marcus, said yesterday she was asked by organizers of the event to book the Jewish Community Centre.

That was the extent of her involvement and, in any case, the organizers are now looking at another location, Marcus said. The federation is not a sponsor of the event, she said.

Thanks to BigCityLib for the heads up. Actually BigCityLib also soon discovered that Ms. Shaidle has started the process of redacting her old entries and removing the most offensive of her racist writing (for example, her claims that Sikhs were, "backward foreigners [who] shit on hand that feeds them...Unable to invent their own iconic product due to too much time spent worshipping monkeys and cows, setting women on fire and obsessing over imperceptible differences in each other's skin colour..." has been removed from her blog, as have similar statements from her old blog). Thankfully most of these have been documented and saved as screen shots by progressive bloggers so she won't be able to completely erase her past controversial statements, but it is interesting that someone who celebrates her bigotry actually felt compelled to toss some of her rhetoric down the memory hole.

UPDATE: Well look what we have here. Looks like Ms. Shaidle has a fan:

So who is Tomasz Winnicki (pictured in the centre with members of the Northern Alliance and behind the "Holohoax" sign) besides a prolific poster on VNN, a particularly vile hate website, as well as London, Ontario's self-described biggest hater? Well, you could read his wikipedia article or his Rogue Gallery Profile on the One Peoples' Project. We would suggest reading the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision against Winnicki for posting all sorts of very nasty hate messages towards Jews, minorities and women. Oh, and he was found guilty of contempt of court when he continued posting these messages and sentenced to 9 months in prison (he was out in 3).

So we wonder if those MPs currently going out of their ways to defend Shaidle while maligning Warren Kinsella would like to see who else shares their appreciation for her and her views?

Blue jeans, t-shirt and blazer. That is SO 1987.