Praise on the National Post continuing

When I read that the National Post is continuing to publish, as a Jewish reader and letter writer, my first thought was “Thank God”. Op-ed writer Tarek Fatah would have said, “Praise Allah”. This dichotomy might seem strange, but although Allah and God are brothers, they don’t get along very well. Michael Coren would have thanked Jesus, as Coren always works through an intermediary, and he knows that Jesus is absolutely, positively, and definitely the one to thank. Most of their “ faithful” readers would say “Thank heaven” or Thank God”. Their secular readers would say “Thank goodness”, and Hitchens would say “Thank me” because he knows that there is absolutely, positively, and definitely no one or nothing else to thank.

Barbara Amiel on Jews in the Nov 2nd Maclean's

Barbara Amiel asks why Jews keep voting against themselves. It is a good question but she fails to distinguish between U.S. Jews and Canadian Jews or properly answer her own question. One major difference between Canadian Jews and U.S. Jews is that Canadian Jews are mostly conservative, which means they stick more to tradition and their saving the world is done in a conservative, one small step at a time, manner, whereas U.S. Jews tend to be more reform, on the left, and seeking Tikkun Olum, improving the world, in a larger context which leads them from properly seeing the excellence of our democratic system, the evil of other systems, and that large changes bring large disruptions. Unfortunately the price of major change is always too high in that the new world is always preceded by destruction of the old, as happened under Hitler, Stalin, Mao and the Sandinistas.

U.S. Jews usually vote for the Democratic Party and around 75% voted for Obama. They voted for change and a brave new world. As stated above, this is not uncommon with both the Jewish and non-Jewish left. They desire a new world where everyone is happy. This intense liberal voting pattern is not being followed by Canadian Jews. This difference can easily be seen in the votes of three of our largest Jewish Greater Toronto Jewish Ridings. York Centre elected a Conservative M.P., and Thornhill and Eglinton-lawrence came very close to electing Conservative M.P.’s. This trend towards the Conservatives is mirrored in many immigrant communities, and for Jews is helped by the fact that the Harper’s Conservative government has been enormously supportive of the state of Israel or at least it aggressive acts in the United Nations against the continual demonization of Israel; whereas the Liberal government, before it, usually abstained from voting with Israel on such matters. In addition Conservative Jews still remember that Liberal policy on Jewish immigration at the beginning of WW2 was “none is too many”.

Barbara Amiel also assumes that Jews vote against their own interests and don’t know their own interests. The truth is that Jewish history is a series of hundreds of years of living in and identifying with various countries, being a small oppressed minority population within them, and then being evicted from them. This is certainly a cause for insecurity and constantly seeking change to provide the impossible complete security.
However with anti-Semitism being a constant reminder, even if it is minimal, Jews constantly remain as somewhat outsiders and thus mentally associate with other outsiders. Jews also have a tradition of supporting the poor. The important feast of Passover, annually encourages Jews to remember that “they were once slaves in Egypt”, and so they do by psychologically and financially supporting and the poor. These factors help explain why Jews have in the past voted for the Liberal and Democratic parties. However as Barbara Amiel states, many Jews, especially those who favour the left, have not realigned themselves with the realities of Canadian politics where the true supporters of the poor and the status quo which is excellent by any standards, are the Conservatives, not the Liberals.

Barbara Amiel is right. Jews, especially liberal Jews, must re-evaluate their situation, and vote for what is both in their interests and the interests of most Canadians.

Letter to National Post re Tarek Fatah

I respect both Nanerjee and Weinstein for their public protests against Islamism and on behalf of Canadian values and system of government.
However as I have participated in some of their protests, I know that there are usually only about 25 people protesting. There are some 100,000 Jews and some 500,000 Indians in Greater Toronto. That means that Tarek is correct. Neither the Muslim, nor the Jewish, nor the Christian communities are seriously and publically protesting Islamism coming to our country. It is true that the Canadian Jewish Congress, an organization that does represent most Canadian Jews, does work quietly against Islamism , but it is done very quietly so that no one knows if they are really doing anything constructive or what they are doing. Tarek also criticizes aspects of his own religion, saying publically that certain customs and practices of Islam are harmful. Certainly Mr. Coren would never do this in speaking about Catholicism and I have seldom seen it done in Judaism. Lastly Tarek is subject to more hate and threats of danger, than non-Muslims might be subject to. I certainly don't agree with everything that Tarek says, but in my book he gets three stars - 1. For publically notifying our community about the realities of Islamism, 2. For criticizing aspects of his own religion that he feels are not beneficial to it or to us, and 3. For having the courage to speak out. Tarek should be honoured for the good work that he does, not denigrated because we don't agree with all his opinions, or because he does not do more.

Addition to Mark Steyn's article in Macleans - Oct 5th

Mark Steyn’s rant in the Oct.5th issue of MacLean’s left out how a normal, not-paranoid, 3rd generation Canadian would react if he were excluded from an inn because of allergies
or other health problems. I am unfortunately such a very average Canadian and I too have had problems with inns and my allergies to cats. Usually I ask the innkeeper whether he has cats. If the answer is yes, then after considering suing the innkeeper because my Constitutional rights to stay at that particular inn has been breached, and throwing a tantrum about racial, religion, or social prejudices, I just book at the next inn on my list. I figure that his loss of income is probably enough punishment for owning cats. In fact owning cats is probably enough punishment for owning cats. In any case, I probably have better things to do with my time than becoming a radical activist on behalf of the Constitutional rights of people with cat allergies, making one innkeeper’s life miserable by dragging him through the HRC system, and adding rather needlessly to the Ontario deficit.

The innkeeper didn’t own cats at the last bed and breakfast that I stayed at so I guess she didn’t intend to deprive me of my constitutional rights. She did however usually have
bacon for breakfast. I could have waited till she served it and then thrown up and sued her for damages or taken her before the HRC, but instead I asked her not to serve it to me. She agreed. However she served it to the person sitting beside me. What an insult! Surely she should understand that not only should she not serve bacon to me, but she shouldn’t serve it to anyone nearby, in the inn or on her street. Again I thought about my right not to have bacon in my vicinity, and that it would be an insult to my religion, and offend me personally, but decided not to peruse the matter. One of the reasons I decided against my almost uncontrollable call for revenge for this alleged offence was that the inconsiderate person sitting next to me eating bacon was my brother with whom I get along very well. Although it annoys me to see him eating bacon, I also know that I annoy
him with my chauvinistic eating habits. So, it is not worth even mentioning and our late mother would hate to see me sue him. So there you have it. I, an average Canadian, just don’t seem to be able to bring anyone before the HRC over such serious curtailments of my Constitutional rights.

Islamic extremists and female bodies -Somalia

It seems to me that if Islamic extremists prohit the use of women's bras to ensure that their breasts jiggle naturally, they should likewise prohibit men's underwear to ensure that their private parts also jiggle naturally. Jiggling of male private parts should be compulsory and any male found to have an erection in public should be subject to the severest penalties and cut off from the rest of society.

The headline on page A16 of the National Post is, "Muslim killed out of "pure hatred". To balance this headline, perhaps we should have more headlines which say "Muslims' kill out of pure hatred." There would be many more headlines expressing that reality, than that Muslims are killed by pure hatred, except of course in the many, many instances when Muslims are killed by other Muslims out of pure hatred.

Coren's defence in the National Post

Also in the National Post Michael Coren defends his view of the Catholic Church. His defence belongs with the defence of Stalinism, Mao, and the Sandanistas, not that Catholicism is like them, but because it is, like the above, a defence of an ideology with the defence lacking any substance, reason, logic or understanding.

Hitchens on page A21 of the National Post

Mr. Hitchens, and I use the term "Mr." loosely, describes Israel and perhaps the West Bank as a mad attempt by messianic Jews to steal the land of other people. Here he is stealing the ideas of death-worshipping, hate-filled Palestinians and their ideological cousins the Islamists. Hitchens should keep his discussions to religion where he can't yet be proven to be wrong.

Obama and Fox News

Criticizing Fox News is Obama's first step in his desire to rid America of free speech and to rid himself of critics. This is the Russian, Chinese and Saudi outlook which Obama has been praising. Obama is not only appeasing world dictatorships, he is following them.

Letter to National Post - Oxt 26th - Soupcoff

Playing favourites or playing stupid

Marni Soupcoff is playing the equivalency game this morning. The usual game says that Israel must use an equivalent amount of force in defending itself from the rockets of Hamas or Hesbullah. For some reason this theory has not been applied to other nations except in restricting the use of nuclear weapons on an enemy. Now Marni has brought this false concept to our streets and law courts. Why shouldn’t a shopkeeper like Mr. Chen be able to defend himself, not only within his business premises, but outside them as well? Why shouldn't he be able to protect himself and nearby shopkeepers from repeated thefts? This is the action of a man taking a responsible and courageous action on behalf of himself and his community. What message are we sending when we say he should be punished for acting as a concerned citizen? Marni is correct in that what he did was against the letter of the law. However the law also says that the police should protect our citizens – but in this case they have not done so. The law is also supposed to be exercised with intelligence and discretion, so as not to look foolish and out of touch with reality - but in this case they have not done so. People continually speak of other rights, but isn't the right to protect oneself a fundamental right? Surely there is a right to reasonably defend yourself and your neighbours when the police can do nothing.

Burke said that evil exists when good men do nothing. Chen acted to defeat evil. Marni’s adherence to the letter of the law would have evil be triumphant.

Glazov's United in Hate. The Left's ...

I've just begun reading Jamie Glazov's United in Hate, the Left's Romance with Tyranny and Terror. So far it's awesome. He asks, why did and does the Left ally itself with totalitarian and death -worshipping forces. It's a good question. He suggests that the left supports tyranny as they don't feel part of the current society, and thus need a whole new society in which they can be integrated. He makes a far better case for it then I do in his first 20 pages. Michelle and Barak Obama seem to me to be perfect examples. Although both were very successful, both saw the United States in a negative light and want to redo it so they fit in.

Letter to National Post internet edition - Oct 19th

The World Pride Parade - Oh goodie. We beat out Stockholm to host a bunch of sexual exhibitionists intent on parading their private parts and depravity in public. With that will come a human-rights conference - which is UN and Durban speak for an opportunity to bash Israel in public spaces.
I have nothing against support for Gays, but the Parade has become an exhibit of sexual, moral and political corruption. It is no longer Gay Pride but just Pride. It is pride in ignorance and excessiveness. The City, Province and Federal governments should not support this moral decay.

Letter to internet edition of the National Post - Oct 19th

I certainly hope that the Pakistani army has used proportionate force against the Taliban. It seems they have displaced 135,000 civilians whereas the Taliban have killed less than 100 Pakistanis - an insignificant number, just pinpricks, and these were by error to oppose the influence of America's colonialism. In addition if the Pakistani army has killed any civilians it should be investigated by Judge Goldstone and any wrongdoing brought before the international court of the Hague.

Letter to the National Post - internet edition Oct 17th re bras

Re: Islamists in Somalia whip women for wearing bras - page A25

If it weren't so perverse, it would make a good joke - perhaps a movie by Woody Allen. It indicates a systemic problem with Islam that cannot be erased by separating moderate Islam from hardline Islam or by repeating that Islam is a religion of peace and happiness. Sharia law, a law that in its extreme form permits the cutting off of arms and legs and the whipping of women for wearing bras is something that we definitely do not want in Canada, and anyone supporting the imposition of sharia law in Canada should be considered to be a danger to the rights and values that are the essence of Canadian society. To connect the dots, that is one reason to oppose the wearing of the burqa in Canada, as it indicates support of Sharia law.

Letter to National Post -internet edition - UN HRC

Let's see. The UN Human rights Council is made up mostly of human rights abusers. They appoint Judge Gladstone who is known to be anti-Israel to be the chief investigator into the Gaza war. Instead of a fact finding mission, he draws conclusions against Israel and a limited amount against Gaza. His conclusions are based on unverified evidence given by Palestinians who have previously lied in relation to incidents in Jenin and Lebanon, and in the Al Dura case. The UN Human Rights Council ignores the accusations against Gaza and accuses Israel of war crimes. Does this sound fair or am I being paranoid?

Letter to National Post - Online -Oct 16th

Wkipedia defines war crimes as follows
War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war"; including "murder, the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied territory to slave labor camps", "the murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war", the killing of hostages, "the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and any devastation not justified by military, or civilian necessity"
Nurenberg principle – planing, preparing, initiating or aging a war of aggression.
It also refers to the definitions in the Geneva and Hague Conventions There are obviously many definitions. Israel does not fit into any of them except perhaps the ill-treatment of civilians but the definition doesn't deal with the case of a war where civilians are being used as shields and participants by their own combatants.
However under the Nurenberg prnciples the leaders of Hamas, Fatah, and people like Ahmadinejad are clearly guilty of war crimes for "preparing and planning" war. These are the important war crimes criminals. They are the ones that should be tried at the Hague.
Lastly there must be a distinction between those that are defending themselves from a war started by others and those that commenced the war. The bar on what is a war crime should be much lower for the defender of a nation than for the aggressive attacking nation.

National Post - Oct 14th - response to Coren

Yes, my opinion is that Catholicism is flawed. That doesn't mean, as Coren suggests, that I am anti-Catholic. It means that I believe that one of its rituals is harmful to its priests, parishoners and untimately therefore to society. Furthermore there is nothing wrong with honest criticism of a religion by outsiders - as Coren does to Protestanism in his defence of Catholicism. Political correctness has gone too far. If a religion is valuable it should be able to withstand honest criticism of its practices and procedures as well as its doctrines. At least in the western world, criticism leads to improvements, and not to hatred and violence.

Letter to Globe - Oct 13th - re editorial

Pretty Michaelle Jean

Let's not criticize pretty Michaelle Jean. Her position is mostly ceremonial. She was appointed because she belongs to a racial minority, and is charming and clever and liberal. She never professed to know political procedures, nor apparently was it a job requirement when she was hired. Constitutional errors will occur when the GG is hired on the basis of excellence in charm and her ability to promote a certain image of Canada. Live with it.

National Post - Oct 12th - two brief comments

Today's editorial states that the French Cultural Minister says that if the cultural world does not support Polanski there would be no French culture. He confuses culture and immorality. Unfortunatley it seems that French values have so disintegrated that they are the same. Immorality is not a Canadian value.
On another value note there is now a coalition (A8) objecting to insurance companies refusing life and long term disability insurance without medical testing to someone who has Huntington's disease in the family. More moral confusion. The insurance companies are there to make money, not to provide a health service. Insuring those with certain diseases at regular rates will raise costs for the rest of us and potentially bankrupt the insurance company.Although I am sorry for people with hereditary diseases, the options are to save more or change government policy - not try to make insurance companies look after their unfortunate but extraordinary needs. Refusing coverage at standard rates is not discrimination as claimed, but only reasonable business practice.

Letter to National Post - Oct 11/09 - Conrad Black

Jew or Christian

From a Jewish viewpoint, I don’t think that Conrad Black is correct when he says that a person can be a Jew and a Christian at the same time. A Christian believes that Jesus was physically as well as spiritually the son of God. This is impossible for a Jew to do. For a Jew, Jesus or Christ could be an extremely spiritual person, or a prophet, or the son of God, the way all of us are the children of God, or currently be a ghost or an angel, but not literally the son of God. Jesus therefore would have been Jewish if he did not believe he was the son of God, but Christian if he believed he was the son of God. Specific differences between the two religions in culture, moral values and rituals are insignificant. They say that when the Messiah comes, we will either be all Jews or all Christians depending on whether his opening remarks are “It’s good to see you” or “It’s good to see you again.”. Until that final time, we should tolerate each other’s guesses.

Peace Prize

I think Harper should get the peace prize for objecting to Durban 2, refusing to listen to Ahmadinejad in the UN , refusing to pass unfair resolutions against Israel, objecting to China's human rights violations, protecting our northern borders by negotiations and reasonable actions, having troops in Afghanistan, and quietly acting against terrorism in Canada

Comment - Oct 9th, 09

Read - Prisoner of Tehran, a Memoir, by Marina Nemat. It is excellent and tells us what awaits us if Islamism comes to Canada.

Obama's peace prize is for being the best appeaser. Arafat's peace prize was for the best at talking peace while training for war. Ahmadinejad should get a peace prize for trying to obtain peace by taking over the whole world, and of course... Norway should get a peace prize for best boycotter of Israeli goods and foremost hypocrite about peace.

Our immigration policy's point system -
One point for being a refugee and avoiding normal immigration policy
One point for not being white.
One point for being anti-establishment
One point for being gay.
One point for believing that Canadians are all immigrants
and that they have no political, cultural, or social history
One point for believing that Canadians have no political, cultural
or social or religious values

National Post - Oct 8th

Congratulations to the Muslim Canadian Congress for suggesting that the burka should be banned. They have no place in Canada and should have no place anywhere else. Congratulations also to Salim Mansur who again speaks our against Islamism within the Islamic faith. We need Muslims and non-Muslims to speak our against religious practices which are harmful to those that practice them and to their societies.

National Pot - Oct 8th - Patterns in religions and Politcal Appointments

This morning’s National Post shows patterns of thought and patterns of behavior. We appointed a lovely left wing G.G. who apparently neither knows nor particularly cares that she is not the head of state, but is the Queen’s representative in Canada. By appointing Michaelle Jean, we have used the position of Governor-General to demonstrate that we are left-wing, multicultural, modern, clever, and sophisticated. . Michaelle Jean represents Canada well socially, but not in her required political functions. Similarly but much worse is the appointment of Dionne Brand as Toronto’s official poet laureate. She too proves that we are multicultural, modern, clever and sophisticated. Unfortunately she also comes with the baggage of being bigoted against whites, our society, and of course, being politically correct, against Israel. Brand doesn’t represent the majority of Canadians at all. It is time for representatives who truly understand and will or can perform all their functions. It is not enough to have representatives who just “look good”.

Different patterns emerge with religion. Father De Souza defends the status quo on celibate priests, although the problem is obviously systemic and needs to be changed to avoid further priestly perversions. It is not good enough to claim anguish and to blame the problem on the weakness of man and a few wayward leaders. As the politically correct people say, we must get to the root of the problem, and change it. Similarly Salim Mansur regrets all the violence and bigotry in Islam and says there are two Islams and
Muslims must take the less violent one. However although he recognizes that violent
Islam has dominated Islam during all of his existence, he doesn’t recognize that this is a systemic problem with Islam and that violence will continue unless the system itself is radically changed so that by Islam’s nature, violence will no longer arise.

Dysfunctional patterns call for radical changes, not quilt work changes with apologies and guilt. Political appointments must be made with serious regard to the functions that are to be performed. Religions, which are supposed to improve mankind, must change themselves when their adherents realize that something in them is leading to evil, instead of benefits to mankind. Patterns must be changed. Band-aid solutions do not suffice.

The Globe - Oct 7th p.A14

This morning's Globe has an article showing Israel soldiers in Jerusalem and saying they make Palestinians nervous. Imagine the gall of Israel to have Israeli soldiers patrolling their country! Of course it makes Arabs nervous as many are traitors and support either Fatah in the West Bank or Hamas in Gaza, both of which want to destroy Israel. The Arabs also claim they fear for the safety of the Al-Aqsa mosque. Israel has not destroyed Muslim relics. The fear comes from the actions of the Arabs themselves who have in the past and continue to destroy Jewish relics and religious sites at every opportunity. Shame on the Globe for wasting a full half page on these propagandizing nervous nellies.

Liberal and Conservative stands on immigration

According to today's National Post, Liberals, Bob Rae, Joe Volpe and Dan McTeague wish the government to apologize to Suaad Mohamud and give her $2.6 million for trying to fiddle the government with her passport, while Kenney is trying to amend our immigration laws. Hmmm. I wonder which party I should support.

Does this make sense?

The good -

(1) according to Protestanism - success plus a minor for service (2) according to Judaism - intelligence plus a minor for personal integrity, (3) according to Islam - Jihad (defence of or aggression for Islam) plus a minor for personal jihad (personal struggle)

Does it explain the different focuses of the various religions?

Gilad exchange for video

If Israel will exchange 20 prisoners for a mere video, Hamas must be asking themselves how many prisoners they can get for a dead body. Are Israeli politicians that stupid to exchange prisoners for a useless video? Even if Gilad is alive today there is no guarantee that he will be alive tomorrow. The exchange should be Gilad for prisoners or Gilad for the targetted killing of a Hamas official. Gilad for a video is just a measure of the gullibilty of the Israelis.