Uh-Oh.. President Obama looked worried. Now I'm worried

For those who missed President Obama's speech yesterday, you can see it here. The White House posted it on YouTube.




I like Obama. He has done something about health care in the US which I think is progressive [no, not "progressive" meaning "I'm a Marxist but use this as a code word," "progressive" meaning "making progress".] At least he was able to do something where so many others haven't. No President comes into office without difficult situations to deal with, be he really did get handed a lot at once that wasn't his fault.

The world's economy was haywire, Iran is building an A bomb, Israel was blasting Gaza and America was, and is, fighting two wars, one in each of Afghanistan and Iraq, or as I view it, one war on two fronts. He had "enemy combatant ants" in Guantanamo, which he had promised to release or try, but realized, once in office, that that was a lot easier said than done.

All-in-all, a lot to deal with.

He's made good choices about his Cabinet positions and has managed things fairly well so far. He hasn't demonstrated the deft political skills of Bill Clinton, but on the other hand, he's not going to be the indecisive, ineffectual president Jimmy Carter was.

Without commenting on the substance of his speech last night, which dealt mainly with the crisis surrounding the BP oil spill, what struck me was his tone and demeanour.

Obama usually exudes confidence; often almost to the point of seeming smug. But last night, there was something different. He seemed nervous.

That of itself was unnerving to me. How dangerous is this oil spill going to be and when will it be stopped? Obviously no one has that answer yet, but when Obama's scared, I'm not happy.

I just hope it was all just because Michelle told him he has to stop smoking..or else...!

Queers for Davies and "apartheid"

What is the politically correct way of saying "imbecile"?..Well, they're members of the NDP, so that of itself says most of what is needed.

Anyway, a campaign is underway by certain NDP members who support Libby Davies and her implications that the middle-east's only actual democracy is an "apartheid" country. I won't go into how these people of questionable intelligence have redefined the word "apartheid" so that it no longer resembles the system of racial segregation and disenfranchisement that characterized South Africa and have redefined it as "Duh..whatever Israel is doing, duh..that's what apartheid is."

One of the most active is a strong supporter of, surprise..Queers Against Israeli Apartheid. You've heard of that vile little group that had its own recent controversy and was barred from participating in Toronto's Pride Parade. That ban came after the municipality in effect said it would pull all its funds from Pride and virtually all of its major sponsors balked at the idea of sponsoring an event that countenanced the participation of a group of anti-Israel bigots.

(What's really interesting, or pedantic, depending on your point of view, is that this guy has added footnotes to a facebook post. Someone's spent a bit too much time in school trying to pick up a post-grad Sociology degree, perhaps?)


Here is the facebook post text which you can see here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=415100891576&id=58005973&ref=share


Urgent action calls: For Libby Davies & Palestine

Please post to your profile -- and also copy and send the text to like-minded and progressive people!

Originally sent via this Facebook group:
NDP Supporters or Members who Agree that Israel is an Apartheid State
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=325349549818
Join. Invite. Share.

* * * * *

Four quick actions to support Libby and Palestine
15 June 2010

Dear Friends,

For a second day, the Israel/Zionist Lobby[i] continues to attack NDP MP Libby Davies for her accurate statements and educated opinions about Israel/Palestine.[ii,iii] The Conservatives and Liberals have, as usual, shamelessly united and have sided with the Lobby.[iv]

Contrary to the outright lies and distortions, nothing that Libby said was factually incorrect. Nor did Libby misrepresent the NDP's official policies on Israel/Palestine -- as outdated as they are. Libby is a highly principled politician and a supporter of many progressive causes. Now, she needs our support.

Yesterday I urged you (1) to send an e-mail to NDP MPs, (2) to "like" Libby's fan page on Facebook, and (3) to post a message of support on her page.

Tonight and especially tomorrow (Wed Jun 16), I am encouraging you to take the following FOUR very quick actions:

[1]► CONTINUE sending e-mails to the NDP caucus. Repeat e-mails with new thoughts and facts (see notes below) are definitely helpful. You can copy the list of e-mail addresses from: http://tinyurl.com/ybkemmd

[2]► TELEPHONE Libby's Parliament office to express your thanks and support for her and her accurate statements: 613-992-6030. (If you live in the Vancouver area, also call her constituency office: 604-775-5800.)

EXAMPLE of what to say (leave a voicemail if necessary):
"Hello. My name is _____ and I am an NDP member/supporter from _____. I am calling to express my total support for Libby and her recent statements about Palestine. Everything she has said is entirely accurate and perfectly legitimate, and she is to be commended for her courageous and principled stand. Please ensure that Libby receives my message. Thank you."

[3]► TELEPHONE Jack Layton's Parliament office (613-947-0867) to say that you support Libby, endorse her comments about Palestine, and that you are very disappointed in his criticism of Libby. It is shameful that Jack is siding with the Israel Lobby; we thought he was different from the Liberals and Conservatives. (If you live in Toronto, please also call his constituency office: 416-405-8914).

[4]► TELEPHONE NDP MP Thomas Mulcair's Parliament office (613-995-7691) to say that you are extremely disappointed and disgusted by his attack on Libby -- his colleague -- and by his decision to side with the Israel Lobby, the Liberals, and the Conservatives. His actions are absolutely shameful and an embarrassment to New Democrats. (If you live in the Montreal area, please also call his constituency office: 514-736-2727).

THANK YOU, FRIENDS. As a final step, please copy and forward this message to all like-minded and progressive people in your networks. The NDP is presently following the lead of the Israel Lobby; we need to remind the Party that it should instead follow the lead of its supporting grassroots activists and its own founding principles.

In peace and solidarity,
Rick Telfer

PS. Remember to "like" and/or post a(nother) supportive message on Libby's Facebook fan page at: http://tinyurl.com/34rn63z

NOTES:

i. Israel Lobby: http://tinyurl.com/2uzb3qa
ii. 1948 occupation of Palestine: http://tinyurl.com/y2fxw67
iii. BDS campaign: http://tinyurl.com/7jkhe3
iv. Right-wing pro-Zionism news story: http://tinyurl.com/32ubowe

Jack Layton interviewed on Power Play by Tom Clark

UPDATE: June 21 INTERVIEW NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE for embedding CTV has now made it available through this link: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20100615/libby-davies-ndp-israel-100615/

“Slimy” Jack Layton, Looney Libby Davies and the apology that wasn’t an apology

In an interview on CTV’s Power Play with Tom Clark, Jack Layton, bobs, weaves, and weasels out of some straight answers about Libby Davies.


UPDATE: June 21/ new link to interview here:  http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20100615/libby-davies-ndp-israel-100615/


Layton repeats a number of times that Davies apologized for her comments in the video this blog reported on last Sunday and the national media picked up yesterday.

The foremost question that came to my mind after watching Layton is:

WHERE IS THIS APOLOGY FROM DAVIES??

She may well have apologized to Layton personally for being an embarrassment to her own party, but where is the apology for the statements she made??

I’ve looked and looked and the closest thing I’ve been able to find to a public apology from her is a reprint of the letter she sent to The Ottawa Citizen about the editorial they wrote condemning her. It’s on Libby Davies’ website and is titled:

“Libby's response to inflamatory editorial “

Hardly an auspicious beginning for a “sincere” apology.

A link to it is here: http://www.libbydavies.ca/news/update/2010/06/11/libbys-response-inflamatory-editorial

In the text of the “apology”, Davies indeed wrote:


“My reference to the year 1948 as the beginning of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory was a serious and completely inadvertent error; I apologize for this and regret any confusion it has caused. I have always supported a two-state solution to the on-going Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have never questioned Israel's right to exist and the Palestinian’s right to a viable state.”

Okay, that’s a start.

But in the video, in addition to her one-sided condemnations of Israel, she talks about how she supports a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against the middle-east’s only real democracy.

Where is her apology for that!?

Forget about the apology for a moment, where has she publicly repudiated and retracted her support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. If anyone can find it out there, let me know, because I haven’t seen it.

Davies' apology strikes me as not only forced and insincere, but it is FAR FROM COMPLETE.

We’ve had clarification from Layton and the NDP co-Deputy Leader who IS a responsible, intelligent parliamentarian, Thomas Mulcair, who said, as quoted by the National Post:

“No member of our caucus, whatever other title they have, is allowed to invent their own policy. We take decisions together, parties formulate policies together, and to say that you’re personally in favour of boycott, divestment and sanctions for the only democracy in the Middle East is, as far as I’m concerned, grossly unacceptable.”

I can appreciate the difficult position Layton is in. He has to balance competing elements in his own party while trying not to alienate either. On one side are the sane, basically reasonable people interested in the rights of labour and the working class, represented by Mulcair, and on the other side is the Davies faction, many of whom are hardcore Marxists. Many of these people actually buy in to Naomi Klein’s crackpot conspiracy theories, want the state to nationalize industry, want to abolish most of our immigration policies, and actually do support a campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel and want the NDP to publicly come out in favour of it.

While Layton must know that Davies is a serious embarrassment and he would seem like a fool if he didn’t repudiate her positions on Israel, he also understands that the hardcore Marxists are very active in the NDP and Layton doesn’t want to alienate them by punishing Davies.

That may be fine for Layton and the NDP, but it’s not good enough for Canada.

Davies has to be made to come clean.

Does she reject or accept Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel?

She is entitled to any opinion she likes, but Layton and Davies and the NDP must not get a free pass on this. They have a responsibility to Canadian voters to let her constituents and the public know what her ACTUAL position is on this important foreign policy matter.

As Tom Clark pointed out in the interview, if the show were on the other foot and a Tory cabinet minister had made inflammatory comments on par with those of Davies, the NDP wouldn't say "oh, it's all right, he or she apologized" the NDP, as Clark correctly observed, "would be calling for their head" and hammering away at it incessantly.

But now the shoe is on the other foot, Layton wants us all to forget about it.

But the outstanding problem is, we still don't know what Davies' real position on a boycott and sanctions against Israel is and she's not telling!

Until Davies gives an honest answer to this, from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, Layton does not deserve to have this matter put aside for him since it reflects on his leadership and judgement, or lack thereof.

And for some gossip of the sort I wasn't expecting..Al Gore & Laurie David??

The Huffington Post reports that Laurie David is denying rumours of an affair with Al Gore.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/15/laurie-david-al-gore-affa_n_613211.html

Where did these rumours come from?

They have a shared interest in Global Warming. Does that mean he wanted to warm her globes, melt her polar ice caps..? Feel free to contribute your own sophomoric pun in the comments section, I'm sure it won't be any worse than mine.

I hope it's not true, for their sakes..it might mean that Larry David will find some wacky scheme to break them up, causing disaster for them and hilarity for the rest of us.

The folks at Rabble.ca want to start a Letter Writing Campaign. Now might be a good time to buy shares in Crayola

Just kidding.


Even if they spent all of their welfare checks on crayons, the two dozen or so people that take that Marxist-leaning site seriously aren't capable of making a dent in anything.

Rabble likes to bill iitself as "independent" media. A look at the bottom of its homepage or at its annual report shows that the majority of its operating budget is paid for by unions, such as CUPE, OPSEU and NDP-affiliated organizations like The Council of Canadians and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Rabble evidently has its own definition of "independent."

How would you like it if you were a hard working union worker, with dues being deducted every week that you reasonably assumed were going to helping support you in the workplace, when in reality, a big dose of it was going to support a Marxist propaganda organ that is the pet of your union's leadership.

That would piss me off.

But back to the current bug up rabble's behind..

It seems they are very upset that Bob Rae has called for the resignation of Libby Davies because of her caught-on-tape anti-Israel tirade . These are people who don't vote for Bob Rae anyway. Most of them would have trouble spelling his name.

http://rabble.ca/babble/canadian-politics/bob-rae-comments-ndp-deputy-leader-libby-davies-state-israel

They have become so unhinged by all this that one of them has issued what could easily be considered a threat against the person who caught Davies on tape.

http://rabble.ca/comment/1151941/Thanks-Ripple-posting


Meanwhile, Davies has cancelled an unrelated public appearence.

It should be interesting seeing how someone that "noticable" goes into hiding.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Prime+minister+Liberals+demand+Davies+resignation/3157529/story.html

Now if she wants to really do something good for the country, she should stay in hiding..or at least away from Parliament.

UPDATE:

Linda McQuaig equates self-defense to terrorists murdering a wheelchair-bound civillian

Linda McQuaig has just compared the Israeli action in enforcing the blockade to prevent weapons being smuggled into Gaza to the Palestinian terrorists' 1985 seizing of the Achille Lauro and their murder of a wheelchair-bound American in this article published in The Toronto Star


http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/823487--mcquaig-partner-in-flotilla-farce

I think it would, under the best of circumstances, require a moral imbecile to make that comparison.

Achille lauro hijacking

McQuaig backs herself up with an eyewitness acount from none other than Kevin Neish who, in McQuaig's words: "also on-board, report[ed] that the attack began with Israeli commandos firing live ammunition onto the darkened ship from helicopters above"

As you can see from yesterday's post, she might want to find a more credible eyewitness.

http://eyecrazy.blogspot.com/2010/06/is-canadian-floatilla-activist-kevin.html

Why does anything involving Israel cause the far-left crazies to go off the deep end?

Eye on a Crazy Planet Scoop - The Dishonesty of Canadian Floatilla "activist" Kevin Neish exposed!

A middle-aged British Columbia-based “activist” named Kevin Neish has been getting a lot of attention for himself recently.


Sorry.. the picture’s not of BC-based activist, Neish.

It’s Russian-based former activist V.I. Lenin. Whether the striking resemblance is anything other than coincidental is something you would have to ask Mr. Neish.


Mr. Neish’s recent notoriety comes from having been onboard the ship Mavi Marmara, the largest vessel in the floatilla attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. Alternately referred to as “the Floatilla of Hope”, “The Jihadtilla”, “The Free Gaza Floatilla”, “The Floatilla of Fools” etc, depending on your opinions about who is more in the right in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

As anyone who follows the news recently is aware, the floatilla was stopped by Israeli military vessels, boarded and violence ensued resulting in the death of 9 of the activists on board. The Israelis have offered extensive video proof that the activists engaged in violence towards them, including attacking the boarding soldiers with metal pipes, chains, and knives.

On the other side, the activists claim the Israelis started the violence.
So, as those who have an understanding of legal processes would know, a lot of the resolution of this matter rests on credibility.

There is evidence, as Mr. Neish himself admitted in an audio interview with rabble.ca, the first that he gave after his release by Israel, that the activists were planning for violence by preparing weapons prior to the Israelis boarding the ship.

http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/rabble-radio/2010/06/108-attack-mavi-marvara-exclusive-interview-free-gaza-flotilla-a

But Mr. Neish has consistently maintained that the violence was the fault of the Israelis.

There is video evidence of the “activists” stabbing Israeli soldiers. Not something one normally associates with what Mr. Neish has frequently referred to as “humanitarian aid workers.”

The second interview Mr. Neish did was with Carol MacNeil of the CBC. In this televised interview, Ms. MacNeil asked Neish to clarify some inconsistencies in his story and asked him what he could see with his own eyes. Mr. Neish seemed to take offense that Ms. MacNeil would question his version of events that he had not actually witnessed and accused her of “taking the Israeli position.”

The Israeli position being the truth about what actually happened, Mr. Neish?

Here is a link to the CBC interview of Neish by MacNeil.


(UPDATE: JUNE 17/10 - New link to the CBC/MacNeil interview of Neish:
http://video.ca.msn.com/watch/video/kevin-neish-interview/16adtl0be )

What may shed some light on Mr. Neish’s credibility is statement to Ms. MacNeil at the 4:10 point of the interview. He says that he "didn't see any wounds" on the Israeli soldiers. At the 4:27 point of the interview with MacNeil, Neish says, "these two weren't hurt." At the 7:52 point of the MacNeil interview, he says they " were released unharmed from what I understand".

A few days after the CBC interview, a video that had been smuggled off the Mavi Marmara appeared online, and who would be the special guest star, but our old friend Kevin Neish.


Israeli Attack on the Mavi Marmara, May 31st 2010 // 15 min. from Cultures of Resistance on Vimeo.



Look at the 5:57 mark of the video above. You’ll see and hear Neish saying, “"they hauled two soldiers down here bleeding and wounded".

But hang on! That couldn’t be right! Neish had told Carol MacNeil some three days or so after the video on board the ship was filmed that "these two weren't hurt".

What could be going on??

Mr. Neish was aware that the Israelis confiscated all the pictures and video they could find from the Mavi Marmara activists. Did he think the video he was on would never see the light of day? Perhaps in all the excitement, he just got confused and forgot things? It couldn’t be that in his retelling of events, he wanted to portray his side in as favourable a light as possible while vilifying the Israelis, could it?

I can’t speak for Mr. Neish. I don’t know what goes on in his mind. But all this certainly suggests to me that he is not someone whose word can be accepted at face value.

Another interesting tidbit from the Mavi Marmara footage is Neish brandishing for the camera, with what seems to me as being near ghoulish pride, some documents that either he or someone else who gave it to him had pilfered from one of the wounded Israelis. This happens at the 5:11 point of the video.

Mr. Neish has complained about his treatment by the Israelis; Mr. Neish had no visible wounds that I observed. This stands in contrast to the pictures released of the Israeli soldiers taken below deck that he witnessed.

Mr. Neish could tell us if the Israelis who detained him found those documents on him later; I don’t know.

But is it possible that if the Israelis found documents on someone that were taken from their comrades who had been beaten and wounded by the “activists’, they might not be particularly well disposed towards that person?

One other media matter about all this. Kim Elliott, the publisher of the Marxist-leaning site rabble.ca, appears to be interested in orchestrating a campaign to complain about “Pro-Israel bias” at the CBC because of Ms. MacNeil’s interview with Neish.

http://rabble.ca/babble/media/cbc-coverage-gaza-flotilla


Kim Elliott, from what I understand, is the spouse of Libby Davies.

Yes, you got it right, the same Libby Davies who is the NDP Member of Parliament who said Israel’s “occupation” began in 1948, the year of its birth. The same Libby Davies who introduced a petition to Parliament saying 9-11 was an inside job.

Small world.

Ms. Elliott may think it is biased for a journalist to challenge someone who has obvious inconsistencies in their story. Maybe rabble’s idea of how journalists should act is to uncritically accept what interviewees say. Particularly when the interviewee is telling them exactly what they want to hear. I don’t know.

What I do know is that when people get offended by your asking questions, there's a good chance it's because they don't want you to know the answers.


UPDATE June 15/10: The National Post's writer Michael Ross used this info for his piece published here

Will the Liberals sink to merging with THIS out of power-lust?

Should the Liberals merge with a party whose Deputy Leader thinks 9-11 was an "inside job'??

People following the Canadian political scene know that there have been rumours and talks between the Liberal Party and the NDP about merging the two parties.

Years of frustration at being excluded from the nation's helm rankles the Liberal heart. The Liberal party, since the time of Pierre Trudeau, has had one overriding philosophy: Be In Power.

It never mattered much if it required lying to the public to get there, be it about Wage & Price Controls, excise taxes on gasoline, eliminating the Goods and Services tax, whatever.. tell the public what they want to hear at election time and assume they'll forget what you lied about come next election.

That strategy actually worked pretty well for the Liberals over the years, in no small measure due to their having good leadership that allowed Canadians to gloss over the foibles.

Say what you will about Trudeau and Chretien, but they were intelligent, possessed charisma and leadership skills and gave Canadians a semblance of confidence in their government.

John Turner never had the Royal Jelly and from the looks of things, Michael Ignatieff doesn't seem to either; maybe he'll show us different eventually.

But it is a sorry state of affairs when the Liberals are considering merging with the NDP, a party whose Deputy Leader is Libby Davies.

Davies, for those unfamiliar with her, is the MP who last week declared in a YouTube video, that Israel's "occupation" began in 1948, and not 1967. 1948, is of course the year that Israel came into existence, so the implication of that statement is that Israel is illegitimate.





Davies' Israel comments inspired condemnation from the Ottawa Citizen in an editorial

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Haters+test/3139300/story.html

What slipped by with relatively little attention a couple of years ago, is that Davies introduced a petition into Parliament that says, "We further believe that elements within the US government were complicit in the murder of thousands of people on 9/11/2001."

I kid you not... and here is the proof:






Some might say she's just introducing a petition, but be realistic. When has an MP ever introduced a petition to parliament when they disagreed with its premise?


So the question Canadians need to ask themselves is:

Do we want to risk this kind of craziness having a bigger say in running our country?

It's a question Michael Ignatieff, or any Liberal considering a merger with the NDP needs to answer.