National Post Today's Letters: Israel's Friend, Harper or Ignatieff?

Today's National Post letters are in response to David Frum's column  and this column in the National Post the other day on PM Harper's speech vs. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's speech at the Combatting Anti-Semitism conference on Monday. 
The letters clearly are in support of PM Harper and against the Waffle's approach.

What’s a (once) leftie Jewish Canadian supposed to do? Voting for a Tory was the one thing my Zaida told me not to do. That was then and this is now. There are few friends of Israel of this stature with such willingness to shout for all to hear. Thank you Stephen Harper (and sorry, Zaida, but he turned out to be the good guy).
Janis Rosen, Toronto.

 I am not Jewish but my heart stands with the state of Israel as it continues to be maligned by so many people. The hatred of the Jews is not different from the hatred aimed at the Christians in Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Pakistan, Afghanistan and many other areas of the world. We strongly applaud Mr Harper for his poise and balance and his strong sense of truth and justice. In contrast we hear confused statements from the Leader of the Opposition. As usual, the latter was aimlessly trying to gain political points at the expense of Israel. What a tragedy.

 George E. Tabet, Mississauga, Ont.

 After reading about Michael Ignatieff’s convoluted take on the issue of anti-Semitism, I was reminded of the notion that a Liberal is a person who won’t speak in favour of his own argument.

 Ronald Rea, Oakville, Ont.

I hope that Michael Ignatieff will never see the prime minister’s chair. He is playing dirty politics, hoping that his appeal to Muslim Canadians will bring him the leadership. I hope that Canadians show him the door.

Isaac Glick, Thornhill, Ont.  

Until this one from Anita Cruella Neville Liberal MP from Winnipeg:

David Frum’s column on Michael Ignatieff’s speech to the Ottawa Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism misrepresented both the substance and the authenticity of Mr. Ignatieff’s remarks. Mr. Frum’s contention that the Liberal leader was strangely ambivalent about Israel is not consistent with the text. Regarding the hateful comparison of Israel with apartheid South Africa, Mr. Ignatieff forcefully argued that to conflate the two is to delegitimize a democratic state. Regarding the Middle East, Mr. Ignatieff made it clear that a democratic state like Canada cannot be neutral between a democratic state and terrorist organizations. There is no honest broker.

 Readers of the Post deserve the full story. Printing Mr. Frum’s diatribe without the context of an excerpt from Ignatieff’s speech — as was provided for the Prime Minister’s remarks — allows for Mr. Ignatieff’s principled and unambiguous statements to be corrupted and maligned. The Liberal party stands firmly against both the old and new anti-Semitism. That’s the full story.

Anita Neville, MP for Winnipeg South Centre, Ottawa

So she calls her leader's statement principled?  News to me!  He was talking from both sides of his mouth.  The fact is Liberals would sell us out just for a seat on the Security Counsel in the corrupt UN.  PM Harper on the other hand has not sold his soul or his principles just to curry favor with those that those on the left tend to love. It's clear he is a staunch friend of Israel.
 Who would want a  seat on the Security Counsel when Iran and Saudi Arabia are going to be sitting on  a new panel for Women's rights and Libya sits on the UN Human Rights Council?.You gotta be kidding right? Believe it or not but.Liberals would sell Canada out for an organization like that.  The UN is no longer a credible organization and neither is the Liberal party of Canada or it's leader.

Meanwhile, PM Harper is still the most trustworthy federal leader.

Update: A great monologue from Charles Adler on the speeches and who is the real leader.  Listen here. Go Nov.10 @ approx. 2:05pm. He continues then after the news at the bottom of the hour. 

Be Very Proud of Our Prime Minister for Standing Against Evil

I know I am very proud of our Prime Minister,especially after yesterday when he gave a very powerful speech at the Conference for Combating Anti-Semitism.  He is very staunch in his support for Israel whatever the cost. We lost a seat on the UN Security Council for it but I don't care.  For that I applaud him.  Here is an excerpt from his speech.

Two weeks ago I visited Ukraine for the first time. At the killing grounds of Babyn Yar, I knew I was standing in a place where evil – evil at its most cruel, obscene, and grotesque – had been unleashed. But while evil of this magnitude may be unfathomable, it is nonetheless a fact.
It is a fact of history. And it is a fact of our nature – that humans can choose to be inhuman. This is the paradox of freedom. That awesome power, that grave responsibility – to choose between good and evil.
Let us not forget that even in the darkest hours of the Holocaust, men were free to choose good. And some did. That is the eternal witness of the Righteous Among the Nations.
And let us not forget that even now, there are those who would choose evil, and would launch another Holocaust, if left unchecked. That is the challenge before us today.
In response to this resurgence of moral ambivalence on these issues, we must speak clearly.
Remembering the Holocaust is not merely an act of historical recognition. It must also be an understanding and an undertaking. An understanding that the same threats exist today. And an undertaking of a solemn responsibility to fight those threats.
Jews today in many parts of the world and many different settings are increasingly subjected to vandalism, threats, slurs, and just plain, old-fashioned lies.
Let me draw your attention to some particularly disturbing trends.
Anti-Semitism has gained a place at our universities, where at times it is not the mob who are removed, but the Jewish students under attack. And, under the shadow of a hateful ideology with global ambitions, one which targets the Jewish homeland as a scapegoat, Jews are savagely attacked around the world – such as, most appallingly, in Mumbai in 2008.
We have seen all this before. And we have no excuse to be complacent. In fact we have a duty to take action. And for all of us, that starts at home.
In Canada, we have taken a number of steps to assess and combat anti-Semitism in our own country. But of course we must also combat anti-Semitism beyond our borders, – an evolving, global phenomenon. And we must recognize, that while its substance is as crude as ever, its method is now more sophisticated.
Harnessing disparate anti-Semitic, anti-American and anti-Western ideologies, it targets the Jewish people by targeting the Jewish homeland, Israel, as the source of injustice and conflict in the world, and uses, perversely, the language of human rights to do so.
We must be relentless in exposing this new anti-Semitism for what it is. Of course, like any country, Israel may be subjected to fair criticism. And like any free country, Israel subjects itself to such criticism – healthy, necessary, democratic debate. But when Israel, the only country in the world whose very existence is under attack – Is consistently and conspicuously singled out for condemnation, I believe we are morally obligated to take a stand. Demonization, double standards, delegitimization, the 3 D’s, it is a responsibility, to stand up to them.
And I know, by the way, because I have the bruises to show for it, that whether it is at the United Nations, or any other international forum, the easy thing to do is simply to just get along and go along with this anti-Israeli rhetoric, to pretend it is just being even-handed, and to excuse oneself with the label of “honest broker.” There are, after all, a lot more votes, a lot more, in being anti-Israeli than in taking a stand. But, as long as I am Prime Minister, whether it is at the UN or the Francophonie or anywhere else, Canada will take that stand, whatever the cost. Not just because it is the right thing to do, but because history shows us, and the ideology of the anti-Israeli mob tells us all too well, that those who threaten the existence of the Jewish people are, in the longer term, a threat to all of us.
Earlier I noted the paradox of freedom. It is freedom that makes us human. Whether it leads to heroism or depravity depends on how we use it.
We are free citizens, but also the elected representatives of free peoples. We have a solemn duty to defend the vulnerable, to challenge the aggressor, to protect and promote human dignity, at home and abroad. None of us knows whether we would choose to do good, in the extreme circumstances of the Righteous. But we do know there are those today who would choose to do evil, if they are so permitted. Thus, we must use our freedom now, and them and their anti-Semitism at every turn.
Our work together is a sign of hope, just as the existence and persistence of the Jewish homeland is a sign of hope. And it is here that history serves not to warn but to inspire.
As I said on the 60th anniversary of its founding, the State of Israel appeared as a light, in a world emerging from deep darkness. Against all odds, that light has not been extinguished. It burns bright, upheld by the universal principles of all civilized nations – freedom, democracy, justice.
By working together more closely in the family of civilized nations, we affirm and strengthen those principles. And we declare our faith in humanity’s future, in the power of good over evil.

He doesn't cower to the corrupt UN for the sake of a seat on the security counsel.   On the other hand you have the leader of the Liberal party, Michael Ignatieff's speech that David Frum so aptly  points out  as confused and pointless.  Iffy would be disastrous as PM on the world scene and well the domestic scene as well. He really stands for nothing.
PM Harper is decisive, strong, and bold when it comes to his support for Israel, it makes me proud.
You can watch the whole speech here.  It's well worth it.  It's different watching it than reading it. I thank God for putting Stephen Harper in such a position for such a time like this.

God Bless PM Harper! God Bless Canada!

Keith Martin Going Rogue

Oh,oh, Liberal MP Dr. Keith Martin going against his party on health care again?  Well good for him!  Obviously this hasn't gone down well with in his own party especially with Ujjal Dosanjh.

Dr. Keith Martin, the Liberal MP, is continuing his campaign to encourage a realistic debate over health care reform (as opposed to just talking about it, which is the preferred option in Ottawa and 10 out of 10 provinces).
His suggestion last month that Canadians should have the right to pay for health care outside the system if they wished had his own party doing backflips to separate themselves from his dangerous ideas. “That is absolutely not a solution to any of the problems that we’re facing today,” said Ujjal Dosanjh, a charter member of the Status Quo club. Liberal policy is to acknowledge that something really needs to be done, while refusing to address any serious alternatives.
But Martin isn’t backing down. Today he expanded his view with a list of criteria for repairing the system:

 Health Care Reform Do’s and Don’ts 
by Keith Martin, M.P., M.D.

 Don’t:
•    Allow people to pay to jump ahead of the queue in the public system
•    Allow people to divert taxes to private services. Everyone will pay taxes and ALL will have access to the public system. This is akin to our education system that has private and public schools. People who pay tuition for their children to attend private schools still pay taxes that pay for public schools.

Do:
•    Look at 17 of the 20 top health care systems that are all in Europe. All provide for better access to quality care when people fall ill at a lower cost (Canada ranks 22nd in the world, the US is 26th).
•    Allow people to pay for health care services in completely separate private clinics. ONLY private monies would pay for these clinics and services.
•    Enforce common standards for public and private health services.
•    Develop a medical manpower strategy.
•    Allow physicians to provide essential services in the private sector if they spend a minimum of 50% of their time working for the public system.
•    Allow hospitals to be paid on the basis of patient services rendered as opposed to receiving block funding alone.
•    Implement a National Head Start Program for Children. This is a powerful preventative program.
•    Implement E-technologies to improve the flow of medical information e.g. E-Health records.

Most of the reforms I agree with. It's a start.  I say kudos to him for  going against the status quo although it could get him into a heap of trouble with the party but oh, well. Remember, it's taboo for any politician anywhere in this  country to talk about health care reform. At least he's taking the initiative for to start talking about something that needs to be talked about. Reforming our  increasingly failing unsustainable health care system.  As the National Post states:

 That ought to really bug the Liberal leadership. Here’s a guy who won’t just shut up and let them ignore the health care issue. Better drag out Ujjal again.

Yup, better fetch Ujjal!  Can't have one of your members going rogue now. I hope he doesn't shut up. I hope he keeps it up!  At least, it just might get an adult conversation started  which is well overdue.
To Keith Martin, don't allow your party to muzzle you, you keep speaking out!

Related: Here is a very sensible column in the Globe and Mail by Andre Picard on health care reform. It's well worth the read.

First and foremost, we need to throw off the shackles of the Canada Health Act, a well-meaning law that has become an impediment to reform.    Amen!

Justin Trudeau To Stump for Vaughn Liberal Candidate

Pretty boy, Justin Trudeau will be stumping for Tony Genco, Liberal candidate for the riding of Vaughn   before a by-election that is to be held on Nov.29

Just a few weeks after lending a hand to failed Toronto mayoral candidate George Smitherman, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau is hoping to raise his party’s fortunes — this time in Vaughan — when he joins that riding’s local candidate Tony Genco on a promotional tour Thursday in advance of the federal by-election later this month.
Mr. Genco is headed into a fierce fight against Conservative Party candidate and former Ontario Provincial Police Chief Julian Fantino for a seat that has been a Liberal stronghold for 14 years.
The Tories are hoping to break the Liberal domination in the November 29 by-election with the high-profile Mr. Fantino, a well known figure in the Italian Canadian community.
According to Liberal Party ads, Mr. Trudeau, MP for the Quebec riding of Papineau and the son of late former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, along with the “rest of the Liberal team,” will stop by Vaughan’s DiManno Bakery for lunch, followed by a visit to the West Woodbridge Seniors Club.
It’s not clear why the Liberals feel they need Mr. Trudeau’s help to win a riding in a province in which the young MP does not live.
Maurizio Bevilacqua, the former Liberal MP who has held the seat since it was created in 1996, was recently elected as Mayor of Vaughan, leaving a hole the Conservatives hope to fill this time around.

Justin stumped for George Smitherman a few weeks ago in the city of Toronto mayoral race and we all how that turned out.   If that election was any indication of the affect that Trudeau has, I think CPC candidate Julian Fantino's chances have just increased.

Why Haven't the Police Been Called In?

It's extremely rare I agree with anything from NDP MP Pat Martin but I do believe he's right on this one. That, the cops should be called to investigate Rentgate. for fraud.

OTTAWA — The House of Commons should explain why there hasn’t been a police investigation into two MPs who paid back tens of thousands of dollars in tax dollars they improperly received for rental expenses, says New Democrat Pat Martin.
The Chronicle Herald reported Saturday that Toronto-area Liberal MPs Judy Sgro and John Cannis were both ordered to reimburse taxpayers for years of rent expenses they received in violation of the rules — more than $60,000 for Sgro and more than $80,000 for Cannis.
Both MPs had transferred their Ottawa condominiums to the names of family members, which allowed them to claim rental expenses that are higher than the amounts MPs can claim for condo fees. Earlier this summer, an investigation by The Chronicle Herald and Ottawa Citizen uncovered the arrangements through searches of property records.

   Even a fraud investigator agrees that the police should be called in.

Steve Harrar, a fraud investigator with Nexia Friedman, a Montreal financial services firm, said that if MPs have been filing false expense claims, the police should be called in.
"The police should be called at that point, to at least make a report of the situation," he said. "They might want to interrogate the person."
Harrar said the fact that the MPs transferred ownership to a relative suggests they knew what they were doing.

Why the cops haven't been called, I don't know why but they should be.  Is it up the Board of Internal Economy to make the call?  Probably.  There should be an investigation toot sweet.  No doubt if this were CPC MPs, the cops would have been called long ago. 

Another thing why is this not front and center in the 24hr. news cycle?  Again if it were CPC MPs, it would be a non stop, leading story for days if not weeks.  The media again covering Liberal butts?  Yeah I think so.