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Say a prayer for Robert Martin. His writing may be Canada's only hope
Western Standard (Alberta, Canada) ^ | Friday, 12 March 2004 | Ted Byfield

Posted on 04/21/2004 5:19:34 PM PDT by Murtyo

Confined to a bed in a nursing home at London, Ontario, these past two months is one Robert Ivan Martin, age 64, victim of a stroke four years ago and a hipbreaking fall last December. He is in pain, often in despair for his country, and most of the time alone. Not too many would recognize him as the man who has written the book that I think will help set off a conservative revolution in Canada.

Martin is professor of law at the University of Western Ontario and a highly respected academic. His background as a conservative might seem, to put it minimally, unusual. A former agnostic, socialist, Third World liberationist, and ex-patriot of the old far-left Mel Watkins "waffle" movement, he ran twice federally for the NDP and, of course, lost. But to Martin his conservatism is no mystery. He is, he explains, a George Grant conservative and, like the great McMaster philosopher Grant himself, abandoned the socialist movement when he discovered the movement was abandoning most of its founding principles.

Martin's book, The Most Dangerous Branch, published last year by McGill-Queens University Press, has taken on a life of its own. In Alberta, people scour the bookstores for a copy of it, can’t find one, then scrounge illegal photocopies of this or that chapter and fax them to one another. It suggests what used to be called "salacious literature." And, as Martin himself would concede, in a way it is. For to Martin, the great change in late 20th Century Canada was not essentially political, or economic, or social, or constitutional. It was religious. Unbeknownst to nearly all Canadians and certainly unsought by them, Canada was gratuitously endowed with a "secular state religion." He does not advance this as a sarcasm or a joke, but as a literal fact. "It is a set of ideological beliefs, largely taken on faith, which appears to underlie and motivate the actions of the Canadian state," he writes. "It is enforced and imposed by the state. It is secular because it aggressively denies the existence of a god."

He refers, of course, to what is vaguely called the Politically Correct. But it is no longer vague, nor merely correct. It is now The Law of the Land, and woe betide the offender. It has been branded upon marital law, criminal law, family law, laws controlling public expression, medical law, tax law, and legal procedure. It has been imposed upon Parliament and the legislatures.

And it is pre-eminently a religion, presided over by the nine high cardinals of the Sacred College, a.k.a. the Supreme Court of Canada, who are appointed through a mystical process that we, the peasantry, could never understand. It runs feminist seminaries called law schools to train the hierarchy for tomorrow and indoctrination centres for the judges of today to make sure that the dogma is strictly observed in everything they decide. It issues daily encyclicals with names such as The Globe and Mail and The Toronto Star who harshly punish the deviant, should any be so blasphemous as to question the infallibility of the Sacred College.

Now I've said all this before, and so have numerous other purveyors of the salacious, but not like Martin says it. In 11 horrifying chapters, he shows us how all our worst fears have been realized. He describes, he details, he identifies and he documents beyond all doubt how our Supreme Court has destroyed our national heritage, our constitution and our democracy. Never has any Canadian conservative produced such an incisive catalogue of calamity.

But the game is not over yet. Governments can change, and courts can change and, as we saw not long ago in eastern Europe, "state religions" can also change. But we can’t change them until we know what we're up against and, thanks to Martin, now we know.

I might add that he became late in life a practising Christian, a believer. So perhaps other believers might pray for his recovery. We need him back on the job.

Copyright © 2004 Western Standard


TOPICS: Canada; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: agnostic; robertmartin; secularism; socialist; statereligions
never heard of the guy, he sounds very interesting, kind of like an old David Horowitz??
1 posted on 04/21/2004 5:19:36 PM PDT by Murtyo
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To: Murtyo
prayer bump for Canada.
2 posted on 04/21/2004 5:33:37 PM PDT by Tribune7 (Vote Toomey -- appeasement doesn't work)
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To: Clive
Ping
3 posted on 04/21/2004 5:38:59 PM PDT by mitchbert (Facts are Stubborn Things (Go Leafs Go!))
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To: Tribune7
I wish there were more hosers with some backbone,like Robert Ivan Martin in Kanuckstan.


while I agree with the subject,his supporters need to post good reviews on amazon.com,as now there is only a bad review !!

The Most Dangerous Branch: How the Supreme Court of Canada Has Undermined Our Law and Our Democracy
by Robert Ivan Martin
# Hardcover: 320 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.99 x 9.16 x 5.98
# Publisher: McGill-Queens University Press; (January 2004)
# ISBN: 0773526145
4 posted on 04/21/2004 5:49:41 PM PDT by wiseone
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To: Murtyo
Thanks, Murtyo. I went to Amazon to see if readily available. Apparently it is; and they even have the 'customer rating' up: from Amazon:

"The Most Dangerous Branch: How the Supreme Court of Canada Has Undermined Our Law and Our Democracy by Robert Ivan Martin (Hardcover - January 2004) Avg. Customer Rating: *- - - -(that would be one star!)

Review: Not a very scholarly book., March 1, 2004

Reviewer: A reader from Salem, OR USA

: This book seems to have been derived from a predetermined agenda. It is full of simplistic generalizations and has a rather malignant tone, especially regarding the impact of feminism on the Supreme Court of Canada. Unless you already agree with the author's point of view, and are inclined to encourage one who "preaches to the choir," you will gain very few objective insights into the subject. I suggest you turn to other sources for unbiased information

Well, looks like Amazon needs some fresh input; seems a Lib has already made a 'hatchet job' of their enemy.

5 posted on 04/21/2004 6:00:20 PM PDT by cricket (Terrorists are weapons of mass destruction. . .)
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To: Murtyo
"So perhaps other believers might pray for his recovery. We need him back on the job."

I am wondering, just what kind of 'care' he might be receiving at the hands of those who may . . .disagree. Not to mention level of socialized care; the same we are promised, from our Lib leaders. .ie 'Kerrycare';'Kennedycare'; 'Hillarycare'. . ..

That said, I am so sad for Canada; and sad that more American's cannot see the 'writing on the wall' as to what we have lost; and what we may lose; especially since the warnings are written, on our neighbors walls, right next door.

God Bless, Robert Ivan Martin.

6 posted on 04/21/2004 6:20:01 PM PDT by cricket (Terrorists are weapons of mass destruction. . .)
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To: Murtyo
Good for this man. Rampant cultural secularism will kill a country in short order.
7 posted on 04/21/2004 7:04:22 PM PDT by Zack Nguyen
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To: Murtyo
this thread needs a bump. . .
8 posted on 04/22/2004 7:01:56 AM PDT by cricket (Terrorists are weapons of mass destruction. . .)
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To: cricket
I've been on Free Republic for a long time and this is a silly question, but what does "Bump" mean?
9 posted on 04/22/2004 8:45:19 AM PDT by Murtyo
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To: Murtyo
Well,it is just that. . .a bump up the thread and a 'flag' of sorts to call attention to the post. Sometimes people do not have time to respond but feel it important enough to offer a kind of 'I'll second that' or just want to boost post visibility and so the bump.

Also helps if you want to personally flag post as well, so that it is in your comments file and easier to retrieve when you do have more time.


10 posted on 04/22/2004 10:02:07 AM PDT by cricket (Terrorists are weapons of mass destruction. . .)
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To: cricket
gracias
11 posted on 04/22/2004 10:10:38 AM PDT by Murtyo
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To: wiseone

“hosers” ? Is that what you call Canadians?

How’s this for backbone:

main site: http://www.habeascorpuscanada.com/
backup: http://www.freewebs.com/habeascorpuscanada/index.html

VIDEOS:

Crazy for Canada
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=37558716

Model Parliament for North American in Montreal:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=37557602

Bright Pathway: Selected Poems for Kids (artistic activism to reach wider audience with NAU news):
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=37557602

I have a new video that I am TRYING to upload, WHISPER (Part I), dramatizing diplomatic notes revealing that Pierre Elliott Trudeau was part of a Secret Committee of Power Corporation, which strategized the CREATION of a separatist party, just a few months before his first election as Prime Minister. Basically, Trudeau and his “team” are behind the creation of the separatist PARTI QUEBECOIS, which Trudeau then urged to hold the referendums to break up Canada.

I have an ELECTIONS 2008 CANADA BULLETIN online with more information on this subject. Check into myspace in the next few days, hopefully, will have the WHISPER uploaded by then:

http://www.freewebs.com/habeascorpuscanada/documents/Vol1No1October2008.pdf
http://www.freewebs.com/habeascorpuscanada/documents/Vol1No1October2008.doc

I also have a spot at Youtube, but the videos lose quality very sharply when uploaded there, I don’t know if I will be able to upload WHISPER to Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/crazyforcanada


12 posted on 10/07/2008 1:58:39 PM PDT by habeascorpuscanada (canada, elections, separatism, quebec, north american union, nau, spp, security and prosperity)
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