Zap goes the politico (FR, Free Dominion Mentioned)

Globe and Mail ^ | 1/6/06 | IVOR TOSSELL

[conservative in nyc]

Watching political types learn to use the Web is a lot like sitting on the cottage porch in summer -- if you'll recall -- underneath the electric bug-zapping lantern. On a warm evening, you can watch nature run its course around you, punctuated only by the occasional loud pop as one of the Earth's lesser creations hits the lantern and explodes on contact. And the universe keeps turning.

--Snip--

The Liberals got themselves a day of negative headlines after the boorish blog of Mike Klander, a party vice-president, was uncovered. This was the one that posted a picture of Olivia Chow and a chow chow dog under the title "Separated at Birth?"; just one among many aggressively unfunny entries.

--Snip--

Later in the same week, one Gordon Stamp, the campaign manager of Albertan Conservative MP Peter Goldring, got caught prolifically posting anti-Canadian, pro-Western separatist messages on an arch-conservative Web forum called Free Dominion (freedominion.ca). Free Dominion, for what it's worth, is the Canadian sibling of Free Republic (freerepublic.com), one of the most xenophobic and reactionary American sites out there. Stamp was writing his missives under the pseudonym "Psycho," which did not improve the optics at all. The Tories wasted no time in securing his resignation. An entertaining coda gained less publicity. Goldring apparently tried distancing himself from Free Dominion, calling the forum's views "extreme." His disassociation from his employee's Web forum might have been believable, until bloggers ferreted out the fact that Goldring himself had given a gushing speech to a Free Dominion banquet in 2002. The transcript was right on Goldring's own Web site. Worst of all, the speech was awful. It made allegories about the dinner menu: "The perogies represent the Canadian Alliance members, the real people. . ." For the unexpurgated version, see http://bouquetsofgray.blogspot.com.

--Snip--

[Darksheare]

Previously the pressies were saying we were a fierce war-like tribe.
They can't make up their minds.

[SouthTexas]

xenophobic and reactionary Did the glitter wear off of "redneck" or what?

[bubman]

...Web forum called Free Dominion (freedominion.ca). Free Dominion, for what it's worth, is the Canadian sibling of Free Republic (freerepublic.com), one of the most xenophobic and reactionary American sites out there...

Coming from a Liberal rag like the Grope & Wail, it's a compliment.

[proud_yank]

Great post! I have a smile now. I guess in their eyes, xenophobic must mean 'anti-socialist'.

[proud_yank]

Aww come on, you never read the Mope & Wail? Not even for a laugh? Too much tends to give a headache though.

[DogBarkTree]

F%*# Canada!

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/columnists/story.html?id=ecc2dec5-520f-49e0-9683-e3833bd16792

Canadian fans take cheap shots at U.S.A.
It was near the end of the United States' semi-final game at the World Junior Hockey Championships when a group of foreign relations experts in the stands began chanting:

"U.S. Sucks!"

Small detail here:

A Canadian team was not on the ice at the time.


If one were, that would have gone some way toward explaining the Yankee animus oozing out of the stands: file it under home-ice over-exuberance. It would have been forgivable. Barely.

But the Americans were playing the Russians at the time.
And the Canadian crowd wasn't just rooting for the Russians, it was rooting against the Americans. And the chanters weren't so much interested in a hockey game as scoring points against America the country, not the team.

(Take away the beer bellies and the baseball caps, and you could have had yourself an anti-World Trade Organization demonstration. When the hockey louts start chanting the same slogans as the local Trotskyist cell, you know you have an ugly trend.)

This wasn't a one-game phenomenon, either. There is a theory that a cheap shot precipitated the anti-American booing, when, in the closing seconds of Canada's round robin win Saturday, and to the shocked disgust of fans who surely had never seen anything like it before, U.S. defenceman Jack Johnson attempted to introduce his elbow into the person of Canadian Steve Downie.

(Two ironies about Johnson's attempted mugging of Downie: Downie walked away unscathed, and -- Hello! This is Vancouver! Home of Todd Bertuzzi!)

But a news service reporter who has covered all the American games told Sun sports columnist Cam Cole, who told me, that the U.S. team has been booed all through the tournament. This wasn't a one-dirty-shot deal. The Canadian crowd's antipathy toward the American team has been a constant.

The Americans have noticed. In the American's 2-1 quarter-final win over the Czechs, U.S. goalie Cory Schneider said he had to concentrate to block out the boos raining down from the stands. (Another delicious irony: Schneider was a Canucks first-round draft pick in 2004.)

With admirable restraint, Schneider, commenting about the upcoming U.S.-Russia game, said:

"I'll be interested to see who they cheer for tomorrow."

So was U.S. head coach Walt Kyle, who, delusionally, it turns out, said:

"It'll be nice to have the home crowd tomorrow -- finally. If they cheer for the Russians tomorrow, I'll be very disappointed. I'll have trouble crossing the border again, if that's the case."

Kyle was under the mistaken impression -- one still shared by many Americans, the poor, trusting boobs -- that because our two great countries are neighbours and have co-existed peacefully for over 150 years and have vast economic and cultural ties, that he could consider Canada a home-ice-away-from-home and Vancouverites would naturally cheer for the American team rather than for a team from a country which, not 20 years ago, was chiefly known for its vicious soul-crushing despotism, and whose hockey teams were reviled by Canadian fans as products of a drab socialist machine that saw sport as nothing more than an arm of state propaganda.

[okie01]

xenophobic and reactionary

Did the glitter wear off of "redneck" or what?

Perfect.

[Dead Dog]

Anytime someone uses the term "reactionary", they are saying that they are Communists, and the "reactionary" party are actively resisting them.

[kanawa]

Who is Ivor Tossell anyway?

Committee member of...

Journalists for Human Rights (JHR)

School Chapters are based in universities and colleges across Canada. Our Chapters (or groups) consist of dynamic young individuals who recognize the power of media and journalism to effect positive change.

Their task, simply put, is to build knowledge about human rights in their communities.

By joining a JHR Chapter, youth have the opportunity to gain valuable experience by working collaboratively to coordinate domestic and international projects that build capacity for human rights reporting.

JHR sees Canadian youth as a vibrant, active and capable force for change. Our Members are passionate about social justice and committed to JHR's mandate.

[Right Wing Professor]

Free Republic (freerepublic.com), one of the most xenophobic and reactionary American sites out there

!@#$% liberal Canuck moron!

:-)

[GermanBusiness]

[Anytime someone uses the term "reactionary", they are saying that they are Communists, and the "reactionary" party are actively resisting them]

Yes. Interestingly, use of that word not only means that you are far-left...it means that you consider your kind of people to still be in power. So you could be admitting, for instance, that the "Grope and Wail" still has a major influence in keeping Canada liberal.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Hey, I think they're warming to us. Last time, we were called reactionary, xenophobic, AND racist and sexist !

[Windcatcher]

When a Commie calls me "reactionary" I consider it a badge of honor.

[Right Wing Professor]

Hey, I think they're warming to us. Last time, we were called reactionary, xenophobic, AND racist and sexist !

And they left out speciesist and homophobic? We have to work harder!

[KarlInOhio]

xenophobic: adj. Expressing insufficient xenophillic zeal.

[Candor7]

"Free Dominion, for what it's worth, is the Canadian sibling of Free Republic (freerepublic.com), one of the most xenophobic and reactionary American sites out there"

Patriotic = Reactionary

All Canadians are supposed to be concerned about, according to Wing Nut Canadian Liberals is: Where can I screw my next 14 year old, where can a queer get married, where can I buy legalized grass,where can I take cover on Younge Street if the lead starts flying from the socially disadvantaged, and where can I turn in my gun without being prosecuted for having one.

Now this Liberal shyte is the basis for labeling a person who disagrees with all of it, "REACTIONARY?"

Get thee behind me liberal sodomites, and tangle your defeat in the roots of the Canadian Sheild..... Six feet under, you Liberals are going to lose, big time, and you caused it yourselves! BUaaaahahahahahah!

Liberals are the Reactionaries!

IVOR TOSSELL is just upset because the Canadian electorate, long asleep, is beginning to wake up, and IVOR....the earth WILL shake. Count on it.Ivor can't stand a little heated debate instead of the usual " lets all make the same noise " communal croaking of the Eastern Liberals. Thats a big "RIBBET!" to you Ivor!

Hop Along Now Ivor, you will soon get with the program of a politically awakened Canada!And Ivor! Quit being so reactionary to awakened political debate!

Sorry, Ivor the Liberals must be running out of advertising money:

[kitkat]

In other words, he's a commie. OOOOOOPS! There I go "reacting" again.

[nosofar]

Don't like liberals, eh? Good enough for me no matter where you are from.

I'd thought that in Europe (and Australia) a 'liberal' is a little different that what a 'liberal' is in the U.S. Same with 'conservative'. Don't know about Canada.

[backhoe]

"For the unexpurgated version, see http://bouquetsofgray.blogspot.com."

---

Well, for what it's worth, Free Dominion is called our Sister Site in Canada, and they have a little different slant on this affair, including that bouquet site, which is viewed with suspicion:

The "Psycho" beginning:
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=51097

Followup:
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=51847&sid=4f0cce546a0557bc1254231d76444090

Be aware FD uses a "page" format- near top & bottom is "Goto Page 1, 2," etc., so if the post is more than a page long, be sure to follow it to get all the comments.

---

In my opinion, the above article is heavily biased- but read FD's account, and especially the replies, and draw your own conclusions.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...

I think we were more referring to the general definition of a liberal. Good point you made though.