A Churchill We Could All Live Without

A Churchill We Could All Live Without

By: Rachel Marsden

A high-profile U.S. professor recently gave his take on the 9/11 terrorist attacks to about 400 people at the University of Toronto: "Globalization ... really finds its sinner in the general area where there were those symbolic twin towers. Someone who got a little irritated with the nature of the project ... made a response, sending a message."

Kind of like those Muslims who recently pulled a tantrum and set fire to Western embassies because they were "a little irritated" by cartoons suggesting they weren't peaceful, I suppose. Perspective, people!

In response to a question about recent eco-terrorist bombings, Professor Ward Churchill said: "I would have picked different targets."

His take on attacking homes of the rich and powerful?

"If they're not that concerned with (their security), then why would you be? (That's) my symmetry on taking out their houses. It'd make a nice blaze. You could bring weenies and marshmallows and have a party."

So who is Churchill? He vaulted to prominence last year with an essay comparing the office workers who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11 to Nazis. Hired by the University of Colorado to increase faculty diversity as a Native Indian in the Ethnic Studies department, he has yet to convince a lot of folks that he really is one. But he does like to work the look -- as he did on Saturday, with his zigzag pattern vest, long hair and dark boots. He even posed with a native woman for a photo before his speech -- which in my view, is like Milli Vanilli getting a picture taken with Mick Jagger.

Although he leans so far left that he's horizontal, his writings are required reading for many university courses. I'm all for free speech, but with conservatives being effectively blacklisted from academia, it's not as though there's anything to challenge his drivel. Personally, I'm jealous -- this clown is far more hip-hop than me. I can barely speak out against terrorism and offer constructive solutions to curtail it without being censored. This guy virtually advocates for it.

In what seemed to be a Madonna-like reinvention attempt, Chief Crazy Bull**** informed the crowd that he now also speaks "in behalf" of the "Republican Party of Colorado," of which he is now a "duly registered member." Sure, why not.

Here are a few more Churchill moments from the weekend:

* On U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice: "You can be black and utterly white. If you don't believe me, ask Condoleezza Rice." He later made another shout-out to Condi: "After all that, you still ain't white to the people in charge." (Only a lefty could come up with something as stunningly hypocritical as racist 'anti-racism.')

* On the "L" word: "I grew up with liberals being absolutely the most reviled political point on the spectrum ... I grew up much readier -- preferring in fact -- to deal with Klansmen. Where I grew up, there were Klansmen, lots of them. The real Klansmen, not the polyester, puffball, punk Klansmen that they've got running around now." (Does anyone want to be seen as a liberal anymore?)

* On moderate former Republican Presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater: "Neo-Nazi, right-wing thug."

* On noise from the nearby subway: "Sounds like it's going right over my head and it's a cruise missile launch. Symbolism is a little eerie sometimes."

And the other guy who was supposed to be speaking at this student conference? He couldn't get a visa. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the Terrorism Knowledge Base describes his group as "a terrorist organization currently operating in Venezuela?"

As for Churchill, he'll be back at the U of T for an encore performance on Feb. 17.

So much for "higher education."

PUBLISHED: TORONTO SUN (February 8/06)