gerryhatrick

Why don't you get over it? Any conflict or war between countries there will always be civilian casualties. You should thankful it is not worse than it is regarding civilian casualties. What a deep and thoughtful understanding you have of the issue. I am always thankful that there is not more stupidity than there already is, yet that does not stop me from railing against the stupidity that exists.

Oh yeah!! It's SO REFRESHING after watching it for the last SIX YEARS IN THE USA!!

You should read the forum rules against baiting/trolling. No, I do not hate Stephen Harper. Far from it. I dislike his ideological policy positions on things like global warming. He is not a leader worthy of Canada.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories The irrelevent UN is in there identifying where these bombs are to try and save lives. This is in the religion and morality forum because the use of WMD's is immoral. Israel should be ashamed as a nation for this action.

I think dismissing any criticism of Harper is "hating Harper" is the lamest debating tactic on this board. It's on par with labelling criticism of Bush as "anti-Americanism." It is the cornerstone tactic of the entire rightwing. "Hating Bush" remains the most common response to any critisism of Bush. "Hating Harper" is a similar phenomenom in Canada.

The latest on this oil slick Israel caused is that it's sunk to the sea bed, thereby affecting another host of creatures. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5277706.stm

As time marches on it becomes apparent that Harper goofed on this issue. Lebanon has been completely wrecked. It's coastline is smothered with oil and it's population is existing on humanitarian aid. Thousands of homes have been destroyed. This was "measured"??? :angry:

Piss off troll.

There seems to be some confusion about the objections to Harpers handling of the Mid-East crisis. The rightwing pundits are spreading the lie that those opposed to how Harper has handled things want to treat Hezbollah and Israel as moral equals. The truth is that most Canadians wish for something else. They want our government to point out and condemn ALL of the suffering, the Lebanese suffering and the Israeli suffering. They want our government to point out that Israeli bombs have spilled 30,000 tonnes of oil into the Sea, causing an environmental disaster. They want out government to request Israel to not target anymore oil storage facilities on the coastline. They want our government to ask Hezbollah to stop shooting rockets while we also ask Israel to stop air raids and tank shelling. Starting to see it? THAT is being an honest broker. Being willing to critisize both sides harshly in a fair and open manner. It DOESN'T mean that we give credance to Hezbollah or take their side. We're concerned with Lebanese civilians and Israeli civilians. The fact is Israel has most of the power in this war. They have the real fire power and they can choose how much it escalates. Because of this, they need to hear all of the harsh truths about their actions. Instead, Harper has given 100% support to Israel. Anything they do is A-OK with him. That's not being a friend to Israel or a leader of Canada. Israel needs to be reminded that if it destroys a nation of 4 million to wipe out a terrorist organization of a few thousand then they will pay a terrible price down the road. That is a fair statement. An honest evaluation that could be made by an honest broker. Instead we have a man who simply repeats that Israel has a right to defend itself and Hezbollah has caused all of this. Not only is that uneccessary to repeat, but it's not fair and honest. Israel controls it's actions, they can not all be blamed on Hezbollah. They are not free from responsibility for what they choose to do.

Being neutral does not mean not taking a stand, it means not just throwing unconditional support behind Israel. The Harper lovers are of course painting neutral to mean we sit back and say and do nothing. So they create a false argument: do what Harper has done, or do nothing. That's not it. The complaint most Canadians have over this is that Harper has basically given Israel carte blanche to do anything. Therefore, he is 100% behind Israel. That is not being a friend to Israel, because friends need to be able to speak hard truths to you. Harper should be pointing out human suffering in Lebanon and the tragedy of the oil spill. Why does he not? Because he is 100% behind everything Israel has done and will do. We cannot be an "honest broker" now. You ask what is an "honest broker"? It is being perceived as speaking in the interest of truth and fairness. We've lost that. The false argument is this is a choice between Israel and terrorism. Israel and hezbollah. That is the partisan lie, not the truth.

Don't forget no coastline. Not one that isn't soaked with oil due to Israel spilling 15,000 tonnes by bombing a coastal power plant.

The old "T" card. That's all there is in the view-finder of neo-cons in Canada, USA, and Israel. Reality is not quite that simple though. The vast majority of this nation of 4 million that's being destroyed are not terrorists. As well, the amount of terrorism coming out of Hezbollah has been pretty scant for quite a while.

Very true. And if a leaderless party can draw even with this horrid CPC government then it doesn't take much imagination to see what a some leadership will do.

You mean the polls before Harper exposed his US neo-con style of foreign policy over this Mid-East crisis? Yep, those are the "previous polls" allright. Polls are a lagging indicator. Harper has taken a significant slide, and on the questions of the Mid-East Canadians are unhappy with him. I expect he will sink further. There's been plenty of news, btw. In opening his mouth in such a foolish fashion Harper has created his own bad news.

I said the Conservative want Graham. They are unlikely to get him if there is a snap election. You said: "He might try to force an election. I think they prefer to face Graham as interim leader. I wonder what sort of confidence vote he might try." This pretty clearly means that you think the Conservatives think if they can force an election they'll get what they prefer - facing Graham.

The industry was never supporting it. The reason the CPC don't want to make that into a confidence vote is because they know now they have no chance of a majority at this time and might actually lose. Drawing even to a leaderless party is not a good sign. And remember that the Liberals have a plan to elect a leader on short notice anyway. You miss the mark with the assumption that they would face Graham.

You have a poor grasp of politics. The current polls show heavy CPC losses in BC, Quebec, and Ontario. Nationaly they have drawn even with the Liberals. There is no way in H they want to go to the polls this year....and in fact Emerson has already this last week said the softwood deal won't go for a vote if industry isn't on board (quite a change of tune from "industry has no veto", don't you think?) They are backpeddlin' as fast as their little legs can move.

If you can't remember the details then why would you use it as a basis for your sweeping accusation (and don't tell me "I'm just asking a question" because obviously you think the answer is yes) If you want to smear a group of people and have no "details" to back you up, it's best to do so in the form of a question. Here. Will this suffice? "In September 2002, Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech was cancelled due to a riot outside the Hall Building. A window was broken, students were intimidated and a point of view was silenced. The university community was appalled by the violence and largely assumed this was an unfortunate onetime event. Sadly, last year’s cancellation of Ehud Barak’s speech at Concordia suggests that this optimistic assumption was mistaken. Whether Ehud Barak ultimately makes it to the university is immaterial. The larger question is one of free speech." http://magazine.concordia.ca/2005/march/endpiece/ That's the one. Hardly support for your supposition that Canadians are "anti-Semitic" though. Those were students protesting a very controversial person. Was it an anti-Semitic protest? No. And you failed to answer to my points about the media. All of your extrapolations are nonsense.

I can understand why Harper supporters would wish to keep talking about something that happened years ago rather than what the present government is doing. Makes perfect sense.

If you can't remember the details then why would you use it as a basis for your sweeping accusation (and don't tell me "I'm just asking a question" because obviously you think the answer is yes) I think you're imagining things. I certainly see equal treatment for attacks against Jews and Muslims. I see the concerns of Jewish groups over anti-Semitism in the media just as much as I see concern from Muslim groups. This is absolute nonsense. We see more about the destruction and death in Lebanon simply because there is much more of it. I have seen many pictures of grieving Israelis and funerals, have you not? I also hear a running count of the "thousands" of rockets being fired at Israel every day, do you notice that? It really sounds amazing. No information on how many missiles and shells Israel is dropping on Lebanon, for some reason. How so? It's been repeated and said over and over by the editorial boards in both my local papers that Hezbollah is to blame and started this with it's kidnappings and killings. I really think you're not paying attention. And your supposition that Canadians are anti-Semite is baseless. I have a question for you: I believe Israel has grossly over-reacted. They have experienced some kind of national brain-cramp and are ensuring a future of even more violence by their actions in Lebanon right now. Am I an anti-Semite?

That's just more cheap partisan rhetoric. He's not taking a position on reasoning and logic at all, and if you don't think he does his own polling you're living in dreamland. He might have jumped his polling based on some Rovian advice about gaining the Jewish vote. Unfortunately for him Jews don't make up the majority of Canadians.

Calling out the admin on a forum is juvenile. You're IP needs to be refused so you can't return with these snarky self-righteous posts. Nobody owes you an explanation. This dramaqueen routine is a waste of time.

From the Gomeray report: Let's see you back up your comments. You can't. And of course, as per the advice of Frank Luntz, the Conservative party is engaged in Liberal bashing over this issue for another year. Perhaps instead they should concentrate on governing and responding intelligently to circumstances. Perhaps then they wouldn't be sinking like a rock in the polls. In case you missed it, cybercoma.

From the Gomeray report: Let's see you back up your comments. You can't. And of course, as per the advice of Frank Luntz, the Conservative party is engaged in Liberal bashing over this issue for another year. Perhaps instead they should concentrate on governing and responding intelligently to circumstances. Perhaps then they wouldn't be sinking like a rock in the polls.

Things are looking pretty good though. Harpers domestic issues are far from being winners. If anything, that would drive him further down.