Flit

I'M FEELING CONTRARY Okay, I'm

I'M FEELING CONTRARY

Okay, I'm going to play devil's advocate for awhile. Arguing solely from the position of rational, national self-interest, I'd like anyone to give me one reason why, in today's world, with the recent American policy statement that they will never allow another nation to become militarily competitive with them ever again, Canadians NEED to spend one more dollar on defence. Need to. No altruistic, or "for the good of the world" arguments allowed. Flitters is open.

HMM, MIGHT NEED ANOTHER PUPPET

HMM, MIGHT NEED ANOTHER PUPPET

Prince Hassan of Jordan, the man people are thinking of as the Iraqi Zahir Shah when they speak of a "Hashemite Restoration" as the best way the U.S. could reconstruct a post-war Iraq, may want to read Hassan's own thoughts on U.S. intervention:

Mr. Bush referred to the menace of "outlaw groups and regimes that accept no law of morality and have no limit to their violent ambitions," but we must not find a mirror image of such lawlessness in the actions of responsible states that uphold the great legacies of civilizations past and present. We must not allow ourselves to degenerate to the level of automatons waving this flag or that flag merely for the sake of it or, indeed, to the levels of the animals that wrought such death and destruction on Sept. 11, and who promoted hatred and suspicion of the very faith to which they claimed to adhere. There must to be a response to evil but that response must come from within a matrix that pays due regard to the imperative of consultation, a considered and human response that does not tolerate potential human victims as mere collateral damage.

The settlement of the Iraqi issue through dialogue, instead of the threat of force, an end to the suffering of the people of Iraq, and respect for Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity are of paramount importance...

Nice speech. If he means it though, he may not be the obsequious figurehead the U.S. is looking for... oh, well... anyone know if Hamid Karzai's doing anything next February? He'd do nicely... he always looks so snappy...

Interestingly, I didn't realize until now Hassan is the current president of the Club of Rome. I knew the alien conspiracy was behind this whole thing somehow...

LOOKS LIKE WE'VE CROSSED OVER

LOOKS LIKE WE'VE CROSSED OVER TO THE DARK SIDE, HERE

There seems to be more of a pattern developing with Canada Customs and anti-Semitism, unfortunately. I'm extremely disappointed to hear today of the removal of charity status in Canada from Magen David Adom ("Red Star of David"), the Israeli Red Cross equivalent, by the Federal Court of Appeal. Citing the lack of recognition given the MDA by the International Red Cross (IFRC), a canard if ever there was one, and because they operated in conjunction with Israeli government emergency services, sometimes in the Occupied Territories... one would have thought providing first aid in the West Bank was a GOOD thing, but apparently our government disagrees... the MDA, unlike HAMAS, can no longer easily raise charitable funds in Canada. Okay, well it seems our government has decided once-and-for-all to side with the terrorists over Israel. Canadians of conscience should consider acting accordingly.

The court victory for Customs comes a week after they held up a box of relatively innocuous pamphlets arguing for Israel's right to exist, although they turned them over as soon as it made front page news. I'm especially disturbed because of my controversial non-defence of Canada Customs on another weblog, obviously before I knew of this case. For the record, I condemn both Canada's continuing tolerance of Hamas- and Hezbollah-associated charities, and this new persecution of Israeli emergency workers and their supporters. We're so far in the wrong on this one, it's hard to even see the right anymore.