A Closer Look At The Truth

All over the country, Liberals are crying foul over the recent ten percenter mailed out to constituents featuring what appears to be the Liberal consensus on Israel's treatment of it's neighbors. Let's look closely at what the pamphlet really says.

On the top Left of the insert, we see the Conservative claim that the Government of Canada has led the world in refusing participation in Durban 2 hate fest against Israel. Upon reviewing our recent history, this appears to be true. We define proof as "evidence sufficient to convince". The evidence here seems to indicate that the first statement is true.

On the top Right of the insert, we see the claim that Liberals willingly participated in the overtly anti-Semitic Durban 1 Conference. According to Wikepedia, after four days of deadlocked negotiations, the United States and Israeli delegations withdrew from the conference. "The draft documents had stated "deep concern" at the "increase of racist practices of Zionism and anti-Semitism" and talked of the emergence of "movements based on racism and discriminatory ideas, in particular the Zionist movement, which is based on racial superiority". Alternative proposals, which the U.S. had supported, from Norway, acting as a mediator, and Canada were rejected by Israel. Apparently, Israel wasn't happy with our government. Our Liberal government, of which Jean Chretien held a majority. Is there any truth here? You decide.

On the Left middle of the insert, the Conservative claim that the Government of Canada led the defunding of the Hamas led Palestinian Authority. According to CBC, Peter MacKay said: "Not a red cent to Hamas," MacKay said on CBC's Inside Politics. "This is a terrorist organization." If the CBC printed it, you know it must be true.

On the Right middle of the insert, the Conservative claim that Liberals were against the defunding of Hamas and asked that Hezbollah be delisted as a terrorist organization. Well, there are two sides to this story. First, there's no doubt in my mind that Liberal Irwin Cotler does not support Hamas. He's rather sane. Then there's Michael Ingatieff. Here's how one person analyzed Michael's claim that Israel committed war crimes. I don't actually believe that Mr. Ignatieff hates Jews, but his own words didn't help him here. As for supporting Hezbollah, line up in the parade. The Conservative claim of Liberal support for Hezbollah is true, if you can believe the Canadian media. If you can't read, there's plenty of video footage.

On the bottom Left, the Conservative claim that they strongly backed Israel's right to self-defense against Hezbollah during the 2006 war: Guilty as charged.

On the bottom Right, the Conservative claim that Michael Ignatieff accused Israel of committing war crimes: In his own words, Michael admitted it. Why would anyone make this up?

Now, would someone ask Joe Volpe where in these two pages it say that any Liberal is an anti-Semite? Pizza lovers, yes. Anti-Semites, no. Perhaps it's just guilty feelings.

UPDATE: Ariela Cotler explains the truth from her point of view. You may not like it, but it's only fitting that I post this in defence of her husband, Irwin Cotler. As I said above, his feelings toward Israel were never up for interpretation to me. Of particular interest in the opinion piece is the following line: "If the Conservative mailer is asking me who is a true leader, my answer is an ethical and moral leader who can apologize when they err, and not a leader who distorts the truth and cynically divides Canadians for partisan gain."

I asked myself that question before casting my ballot the last few times, and it was my decision along with many others that resulted in the Conservative Party of Canada forming government.

Thanks for bringing it up, Ariela.

It's Enough To Make You Sick...

There has been so much discussion about the Government of Canada's response to the H1N1 virus that one could be led to believe that we are living on a different planet, or perhaps under seige by Visitors of unknown origins. ( Sorry, but I had to plug the new ABC tv series, it's a great distraction from all the good things we have to appreciate about living in Canada.) According to Flucount, Canada is suffering approximately 3 deaths per million infections. According to MADD, it is significantly less than the fatalities from Alcohol related accidents in Canada. Here's a simple truth: we could argue extensively about whatever cause we believe in until the cows come home without ever changing enyone elses opinion. For example, the anti-American's in our government will use the death of Canadian soldiers to promote their hatred and misunderstanding of our southern neighbors. They will point to statistics, just like I did in the first paragraph. They will not tell you how many farming accidents resulted in death in Canada during the same period, nor will they call for a ban on farming. Here's another truth: Until we have a majority government, under any political banner, you will enjoy more of the same governance. A government constantly at war with itself is in the difficult position of having to defend everything while accomplishing little. If you are unhappy with the current government you will have the opportunity to vote them out. If you are unhappy with the opposition MP's send them a message. They and their advisers can do much better than calling people liars, especially when they've held the opinion that doing less and doing it later more than met their expectations. People need healing, not hypocrisy.