Harper Government Definitely Has Something To Hide

Ottawa won't release Afghan documents - thestar.com
The Harper government has decided to defy the will of the people (yesterday, the majority of parliament, representing the majority of the people of Canada, voted to have the government release key documents pertaining the Afghan detainee torture issue) and not release the documents, as they have been ordered to do so. It has been made clear that releasing these documents will NOT endanger our troops or the mission in Afghanistan. So, the question is, what reason would they have to not release the documents, even when ordered by parliament to do so? They must be hiding some pretty damning evidence, damning against the Harper government's actions/inactions in the past regarding this issue.

Hopefully, the documents can be accessed before they are shredded or completely obliterated with a big black marker.

Stephen Harper - War Crimes part 2

thwap's schoolyard: Is stephen harper a Snivelling Coward?
excerpt from the above link:
But the Globe and Mail and numerous other organizations have uncovered details about how widespread torture, rape and murder are in Afghanistan at the hands of the security forces we're funding, training and arming. Torture happened, and harper and his crew knew or SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, and the fact that they did nothing about it, means that they are going to go to jail.

There was one problem when senior ministers and officials of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government said they were unaware of reports that prisoners were being tortured in Afghan jails, including prisoners handed over to Afghan authorities by Canadian soldiers.

Both international and Canadian law require officials in a position of "superior responsibility" to know or try to find out what is happening if they are told or suspect that a war crime or crime against humanity is being committed or about to be committed.

Stephen Harper - War Crimes Cover-Up

It seems Stephen Harper knew all along about the war crimes being committed by Canadian Forces (handing over prisoners, knowing that they would be tortured), and not only did nothing to stop it, but began, instead, a propaganda campaign to hide the truth.

Harper Personally Directed Torture Cover-Up - mike watkins dot ca

Harper Complicit In War Crimes?

'Harper Knew About Torture In Afghanistan' - NATO Official

Torturegate North: the "6,000-mile screwdriver"

Liberals not a progressive choice

Daily Kos: State of the Nation
Excerpt (click the link above for the whole post):

On Friday, the Liberal Party of Canada threw down the gauntlet and submitted a vote of no confidence in the minority government led by Conservative PM Stephen Harper.  Many progressives might think "why not?"  Harper is, after all, a wolf in wolf’s clothing, managing to run a neoconservative, neoliberal government with voter support of his party in the mid-30 percent range, and all the rest of Canada to his left.

Unfortunately, Harper’s challenger, Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff, is just as much a wolf, but poses a much greater danger to the Left because he dresses as our shepherd.

• Boulter's diary :: ::
• 
  

Until Friday, Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals had supported the Conservative government in 79 consecutive confidence votes since 2007.  That wouldn’t be so concerning if the Liberals had been winning major concessions for progressives, but no such luck.

At a basic level, Ignatieff has acted in ideological accord with the Conservatives.  Ignatieff is short on details of how he would have behaved any differently than Harper, even when agitating for an election.  If he is a progressive at all, it is in hindsight only: whether in the States or in Parliament, Ignatieff goes along when policy is being made, denies problems as they occur and complains unconvincingly about the consequences.

Conservative admits party is only spending money in Conservative ridings

Politics - Muzzle by overnight courier
A Conservative candidate is accusing his own party ...
Just like the previous Liberal government, now the Conservatives are only spending government money in ridings held by their own party members. No surprise really.

Harper Continues to Not Give a Toss About Climate Change

WTF? Harper ditches Summit on Climate Change! | The Skwib

So let’s be clear about this. A hundred world leaders gather at the UN to discuss climate change, and our PM decides to meet with the mayor of New York instead?

Lest you have any trouble deciphering the hidden message, Harper is saying: “I don’t give a shit about this so-called climate change thing.” He’s not even going through the motions.

...

No reason to trust the Liberals with the economy after they allowed the Conservatives to screw our economy

Accidental Deliberations: Worse than nothing
Accidental Deliberations makes a very good point here - In sum, Ignatieff's decision to leave Harper at the controls when there was actually an immediate alternative resulted in a far worse outcome than a mere zero. And it shouldn't be forgotten that the party which now claims it can do better is the party which chose not to. (read full post via the link)

A responsible and effective party will put the people of the country first, not the party. By putting the party first, Ignatieff and the Liberals let the Conservatives screw us into the ground in a time of economic urgency.

NDP is supporting the bill, not the government

JanfromtheBruce: Why I'm voting with Stephen Harper ~ Layton
Unlike the Liberal Party, who have voted to support, or abstained from voting on many bills that they did not like, thus propping up the Harper government, the NDP are going to support a bill that they think is in the right direction so that people in need can get much-needed support.

Conservative priorities

TheStar.com | Canada | Tories spend 5 times more on ads than H1N1 prevention
Most of us already know/knew that the Conservatives don't care about Canadians' lives and health. Here we see yet more evidence of where their priorities lie.

Help people or do nothing

PP 2.0 - Dispatches by Northwestern Lad: 1 Billion vs. Nothing
"Would you rather spend a third of a billion dollars on an election or almost a billion dollars to help people? That's the choice facing us in the next couple of days."

The Conservatives and Liberals are choosing to do nothing, while the NDP is trying to get more money for the growing unemployed in Canada.

Harper spends $20.7 million of our money on himself while trying to cut $20 million from party funding.

Accidental Deliberations: On transfers
...
That said, let's put the Cons' insincerity in even more stark relief: if Harper had managed to get his way in cutting off political party funding, he'd simply have redirected the roughly $20 million which currently goes to the opposition parties toward expanding his own office rather than saving citizens a cent. And that point should be placed front and centre by all of the opposition parties when Harper tries to grandstand about ending party funding whenever the next election campaign begins.

"Liberals won't prop up Tories: Ignatieff" - Hard to believe with their record

TheStar.com | Canada | Liberals won't prop up Tories: Ignatieff
With their record of continually propping up the Conservatives - abstaining, being absent, etc on many bills they didn't like (on the past 79 confidence votes) - basically giving the Harper government a majority government - I find it hard to believe that the Liberals will follow through on this new intent to not prop up the Tories. I'm not going to hold my breath.

Harper an embarassment to Canada - still

TheStar.com | Opinion | Harper consistently embarrasses Canada abroad
Excerpts from the article in the Star by Haroon Siddiqui:
"Harper shows no interest in Canadians in trouble overseas unless he is embarrassed into action by the media or the courts."

"The latter had said he couldn't deny women in niqabs the right to vote because the law did not let him. The Prime Minister accused Mayrand of subverting the will of Parliament, when, in fact, Mayrand was upholding it."

"At the G-8 summit in Italy, he blasts Michael Ignatieff for saying Canada was losing clout globally. In turned out that the latter hadn't said so and Harper apologized, rightly. But he wouldn't have magnified his problem had he refrained, in the first place, from domestic mudslinging abroad."

"Grilled in Guadalajara about his decision to impose visas on visitors from Mexico, Harper blames our refugee system.

That is seen by Tories as a Liberal legacy, when, in fact, it was Brian Mulroney who set up the independent Immigration and Refugee Board and the rules governing it."

Toronto Mayor David Miller Did An Excellent Job Handling The Strike

The Toronto Star, The Globe & Mail and the National Post have gone all out to attack Toronto Mayor David Miller's handling of the strike and of the deal he reached with the unions. They claim that he caved in and gave the unions what they wanted from the beginning. If not directly saying that he failed, they put a negative spin on his name and his achievements regarding the strike.

However, he was very successful in his handling of the strike and of the deal finally reached.
He set up temporary dump sites all over the city right away.
He got injunctions against strikers right away if they caused undue delays (so they couldn't keep on delaying people at those sites).
He organized existing management staff to work on keeping the streets and parks as clean as possible.
And, regarding the deal, he managed to get it so the banking of sick days will be phased out - this will save the city millions of dollars.

The unions wanted to completely keep on banking sick days. The city wanted to get rid of the banking of sick days. A compromise was reached to phase the banking of sick days out. This is about as fair a deal as could be reached. And, that's what you end up getting when you negotiate - a bit of give and take - a compromise.

The MSM seem to think that he should have been able to get rid of the banking of sick days all at once. This would have been very unfair to the workers, and impossible to get through the negotiations during the strike. And, it would have been impossible to get if the mayor had got the Province to legislate the workers back to work. If this had happened, the negotiations would have gone to binding arbitration. And with this, the unions always get a better deal - they most likely would have kept the banking of sick days completely.

So, what would you have preferred - a harder approach by the mayor, resulting in either the strike going on for months (and getting no better of a deal than we got), or back to work legislation sending the workers back to work and binding arbitration with no change in the banking of sick days,
OR
The deal we got with the phasing out of banking of sick days?

All in all I would say Well Done David Miller!

Banked Sick Days Frozen, Toronto To Save $Millions (MSM Misleads Public In Toronto On Issue of Banked Sick Days)

TheStar.com | GTA | Banked sick days in city offer
The title, todays poll on the Star's site, and the article seems to stress the point that workers will continue to bank sick days. This is very misleading.
In the article, you can see that new workers will not be able to bank sick days and that current workers will have their banking of sick days frozen to what they have already. This means that they will no longer be able to bank any more sick days from here on. The Star reported on the freeze of sick days yesterday as well

Here is the quote from the article:
New employees will not have the option of banking unused sick days. Current employees can cash out their banked days at a discount and move into a new short-term disability plan, or may have their sick bank frozen to draw on for days that may not be covered by the new plan.

And the Globe and Mail completely leaves out this point and claims that they can continue to accrue credits

The MSM has been attacking the unions stance and the mayor David Miller's handling of the issue from day one. They don't like the mayor and they would like to see a more conservative person in the mayor position. So, they are doing all they can to smear the current mayor. But, he has done a good job in handling the strike. The city has been far cleaner than during the last summer garbage workers strike (which went on for a shorter period). And, the city has managed to stop the workers from continuing to bank new sick days - which is what the city wanted all along. This will save Toronto millions of dollars.
The headline, more realistically should have been Banked Sick Days Frozen, Toronto To Save $Millions

UPDATE
Okay, so the details are finally released.

Current employees can either continue to collect and bank sick days (the collecting is not frozen at this point for these people, contrary to what was reported in the Toronto Star over the past 2 days)
Or
They can cash what they have in now and switch to the new short-term plan (which does not include banking sick days)

New employees will be enrolled in the short-term sick leave plan and will not be able to bank sick days.

Here is a link to the agreement.

Still, this phases out the banking of sick days and it seems like a number of current employees will opt for cashing out and joining the short-term plan.

Prior to the strike, the unions did not offer this, nor, would they agree. If the strike had gone to binding arbitration (like, if the workers were legislated back to work by the province - which probably would have happened with a more conservative mayor), the city would not have gained this phasing out of sick day banking, but would have been stuck with it for all employees, current and new.

So, hats off to Miller and his team for accomplishing this phase out for the city.

Disgraceful Tories Contine To Hold Back The Money

TheStar.com | Canada | 'Virtually nothing coming' from Tory stimulus fund
...

"There's virtually nothing coming," NDP Leader Jack Layton said.

"There are billions of dollars of stimulus that should have been flowing already," he said. "Some of the people being laid off across the country could have moved into those construction jobs."

In fact, the funds are flowing even slower than forecast in the 2007 budget, before the financial crisis hit. According to that timetable, programs under the Building Canada Plan should have pumped more than $5 billion into projects by this fiscal year. Yet the amount spent so far is $1.3 billion less than forecast, calling into question whether pledges to boost spending are sincere, Layton said in an interview.

"I've always suspected that when Stephen Harper announces big sums of money to be spent, he so fundamentally doesn't believe in it ... the money is very unlikely to flow at all," Layton said.

...

Also see here

Mayors say Conservative government is all talk and no money

TheStar.com | Canada | Mayors decry delay in stimulus cash from Ottawa

Money for the stimulus projects was announced in January, but Ottawa is not releasing the money.

See also: Conservative government actually tightened the purse strings in this time of a need for increased spending

Why vote Liberal when it means you actually support the Conservatives?

Ignatieff failing the middle class: Liberals offer no alternative or opposition to Conservatives | NDP

Michael Ignatieff and the Liberals can’t have it both ways. They
can’t say they are opposed to Harper’s agenda and do nothing to stop
it. Instead the Ignatieff’s Liberals are giving Harper a de facto
majority by voting confidence in him, time and time again, while
offering no alternative program of their own.

With the support of Ignatieff’s Liberals, Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have:

(Read on...)

UN demands compensation for war crimes in Gaza

globeandmail.com: UN demands compensation for Israeli strikes in Gaza

This is a good first step. But, unfortunately, with the US supporting Israel's genocide of Palestine, the UN will always be toothless against Israel.

NAFTA continues to hurt/kill people

HealthZone.ca - News & Features - Blame NAFTA for swine flu, experts say , Lax farming rules under free trade deal create breeding ground for virus, environmentalists argue

One of the things the proponents of NAFTA kept buried was how it would affect health and environmental rules. Basically it hurt these very much. And now one of the results is coming back to haunt us - with this recent swine flu outbreak.

NAFTA should be scrapped and renegotiated with stronger support for good environmental rules and the power put back into the hands of the people and their government. As it stands, the power is mainly in the hands of the multinational corporations.

Stephen Harper offends a principle of fundamental justice

TheStar.com | SpecialSections | Harper must press U.S. to free Khadr from Gitmo, court rules

...Federal Court Justice James O'Reilly ruled toay that Ottawa must request that the "United States return Mr. Khadr to Canada as soon as practicable."

O'Reilly wrote that Canada's "ongoing refusal" to request that Khadr be sent home "offends a principle of fundamental justice" and violates his constitutional rights....

Conservative vacactioned while people lost their jobs.

Impolitical: Prorogation politics while unemployment and bankruptcies soared

What's becoming even more clear in hindsight, the fact that the Conservative government, facing a political challenge of its own making, went on a prorogation vacation for two months at what is now proving to have been an epically bad moment.

Two thirds of the electorate wanted parliament to immediately deal with the economic issues of the day, but, instead, the Conservatives prorogued parliament and went on vacation for 2 months. Now we are seeing the results of putting off immediate action. Sure there would have been some losses regardless, but shutting down parliament when the country needed it most was a very irresponsible thing to do.

Wine Cask Hotel Rooms

Sleep it Off Inside a Wine Cask | greenUPGRADER

Why won't the Canadian government help out government-funded CBC, but will help out private broadcasters - WTF?

A BCer in Toronto: Will Steve Harper bail-out the National Post?

Mike Harris is back

TheStar.com | Ontario | Mike Harris is back as Tory kingmaker
This should ensure that Tim Hudak is never elected Premier.

Former premier Mike Harris is aggressively building support for MPP Tim Hudak in the race to succeed John Tory as Progressive Conservative leader, the Star has learned.

Why is our Science Minister a Creationist?

globeandmail.com: Minister won't confirm belief in evolution

You would think that he would be the Creationist Minister and that we would have someone who actually believes fully in Science would be a Science Minister.
Ain't the Conservatives got no sense?!

Conservatives aim for more pollution

globeandmail.com: Layton warns of 'brown and polluted' economic recovery

A leaked document that shows Ottawa doesn't want to do as many environmental impact reviews doesn't bode well for the protection of Canada's land, air and water, Mr. Layton said Saturday.

No big surprise here.

Ontario NDP Leadership Race - I'm supporting Michael Prue

Straight Goods - Why I'm supporting Michael Prue for leader of the ONDP - Although all the candidates are attractive, Prue is the only one who has actually led a government (as Mayor of East York).

This article pretty much sums up my own reasons.

Conservative cover-up of their fault in the lysteriosis deaths coming back to haunt them

HealthZone.ca - News & Features - Opposition slams Tories over listeriosis secrecy

"What has the prime minister got to hide?"

Civilian deaths on the rise in Afghanistan

globeandmail.com: Afghan civilian deaths up 40 per cent: UN

KABUL — The number of Afghan civilians killed in armed conflict rose 40 per cent last year to a record 2,118 people as the Afghan war turned increasingly bloody, the United Nations said in a new report Tuesday.

The report said insurgents were responsible for 55 per cent of the deaths, but that United States, NATO and Afghan forces killed 829 civilians, or 39 per cent. Of those, 552 deaths were blamed on air strikes.

Support the troops - either bring them home, or set them up keeping the peace. Lets stop killing civilians and be peacekeepers again.

Conservatives don't care about your health safety

HealthZone.ca - Diet & Fitness - Vets target meat inspection plan

During the Conservatives' last term, they began cutting back on inspectors. As a result, we had the lysteriosis outbreak(s). Now, they want to further dismantle the inspection system.
How many people do they have to kill with their negligent policies before they and the public catch on?

Amnesty International asks Harper to bring Khadr home

TheStar.com | Canada | Amnesty asks Harper to bring Khadr home < read full story

OTTAWA — Amnesty International has written an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling for the repatriation of Canadian Omar Khadr from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

"While the responsibility for closing Guantanamo Bay in a manner consistent with international human rights requirements rests with the U.S. administration, other countries should assist and cooperate in that effort," the letter states.

The human rights organization plans to deliver a petition signed by 50,000 Canadians to Harper today, asking the Conservative government to bring Khadr home.

The letter urges Harper to make three Guantanamo-related concerns a topic of discussion with U.S. President Barack Obama when he visits Ottawa Feb. 19 and to tell him that Canada is ready to participate in solving the problems.

"We urge that you immediately make a request to U.S. government officials for the repatriation of Omar Khadr to Canada, where his case will be dealt with under Canadian law in a manner that recognizes his status as a child soldier," the letter says.

Khadr was 15 years old when he was charged in the death of U.S. Sgt. Christopher Speer during a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan. He has been held at Guantanamo ever since.

Israeli soldiers shoot children in the head at point-blank range

as we were saying: Demographic problem? Shoot children<read full post and follow links

Bullets in the brain
The Telegraph [UK]: Doctors at a hospital near Gaza are almost overwhelmed by the number of Palestinian children needing treatment for bullet wounds to their heads. Dr. Yahia, a professor of neurosurgery who has worked in both the United States and Britain, believes that the bullet was shot from close range... 'I can't precisely decide whether these children are being shot at as a target, but in some cases the bullet comes from the front of the head and goes toward the back, so I think the gun has been directly pointed at the child'... 'We've had one child with two bullets in the head and nowhere else,' he said. 'We think that this shows something.'

NDP is all that's Left

The Militant Dipper: Falling for Jack. <read full post.

Any one who stands opposed to Stephen Harper has only one choice. Smilin Jack Layton period. The Liberal, Conservative coalition government can only be opposed by New Democrats.
Left leaning Liberals I implore you, stop taking abuse from your own
party, stop apologizing for Gaza and for Afghanistan and join me at my
new party. It's great to have a leader who you can agree with once in
awhile. The blood is already coming off my hands too.

York U - Bargaining in Bad Faith

Ontario NDP Accuse YorkU of Bargaining in Bad Faith | The Dominion <read full story!

Howard Hampton: "This isn't deadlock. This is a university that decided, "We'll lock out
the students. We'll put them in the street. We'll go through the
motions of making it look like we're interested in bargaining and we'll
just string it out, string it out, and then we'll go to the McGuinty
government and ask them to end it."

Harper & Ignatieff together in a state of denial

TheStar.com | Insight | Harper and Ignatieff have heads in the sand

If
the budget demonstrated anything it's this: The government and
opposition are united in a state of denial about the economic crisis
...

First, the depression promises to be worse than most analysts have
been predicting. It hasn't yet hit Canada full-bore. It will. The fact
that the U.S. appears to be re-embracing trade protection only
underscores the point.

Second, neither the governing
Conservatives nor the opposition Liberals seem to understand the
seriousness of this crisis. Rhetoric notwithstanding, both parties
appear to think they are dealing with a problem that will go away in
two years and allow the world to return to business as usual.

...

Yet the government remains grudging. Much of the $12 billion in planned infrastructure spending is contingent upon dollar-for-dollar matching by provinces and municipalities. If they can't come up with their deemed share, it's not clear whether the federal money will be spent.

The unemployed got enough in the budget to win Harper Liberal support, but not enough to help the 58 per cent of jobless Canadians who don't qualify for employment insurance.
...

Yet for Ignatieff's party, the fixation on deficits is driven less
by ideological commitment than desperation. During their last 13 years
in government, the Liberals shredded most of the social safety net they
had once helped to construct.

Their only significant achievements
over this time were their decision not to go to war against Iraq and
the elimination of the federal deficit.

In fact, even the
latter may be an exaggeration. It's arguable that the deficit problem
was solved less by good government than by the worldwide reduction in
interest rates and a renewed global appetite for Canadian raw materials.

Majority of Canadians still see through Harper. Budget fails to impress.

globeandmail.com: Budget fails to quell criticisms of Prime Minister, poll suggests

Although this poll shows that a majority of Canadians support the budget, Harper and his Conservatives are on shakier ground.
Some points to note: 

... voters are now less likely to support the government because of the budget.
... 69 per cent say they still blame Mr. Harper for causing an unnecessary
political crisis late last year when he should have been focusing on
the economy.
...When asked to name the top three beneficiaries of the budget, large
corporations showed up most often. Poor Canadians and older/retired
Canadians were seen as those benefiting the least.

If only the leaders of other countries had the guts that the Turkish leader has to call a lie when he sees one

TheStar.com | World | Turkish-Israeli clash stuns Davos economic forum

DAVOS, Switzerland–Turkey's prime minister stalked off the stage at the
World Economic Forum red-faced Thursday after reproaching Israel's
president over the Gaza offensive by saying ``You kill people."
...
Ergodan brushed past reporters outside the hall. His wife appeared
upset. "All Peres said was a lie. It was unacceptable," she said, eyes
glistening.


Shimon Peres stood up at the World Economic Forum and lied about the
situation in Gaza, and Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Yayyip Erdogan
called him on it.

Conservatives and Liberals vote to turn back the clock on pay equity for women in Canada

Pay equity: U.S. moves forward, Canada falls behind | NDP

“What comes as a shock is that the Liberals, who were so critical of
those cuts, would now support a budget that entrenches these regressive
policies.”

After they see that Iggy is just Dion in wolf's clothing, will the Liberals toss him out and elect Bob Rae?

CBC.ca News - Political Bytes - Obit: the coalition

With Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal party accepting the latest Harper budget, asking little in concessions, we see that things are back to exactly the way they were before the election. The Conservatives putting forth bad policies, and the Liberals, although saying the policies are bad, backing them. Nothing has changed. The majority of Canadians are still shafted.

Maybe the Liberals will see their error in choosing Iggy and turf him out in favour of Bob Rae. It remains to be seen.

I'm not keen on the same old coalition - Conservatives & Liberals - with the Conservatives making the policy, and the Liberals either abstaining or going along with things even though they don't like it (instead of standing up for what they believe is right).

The Liberals have thrown away a large voice for Canadians in Parliament. The people who voted Liberal no longer have a Liberal voice in parliament - they have Conservative supporters instead (that's not what/who they voted for). The only federal opposition voice left is the NDP. And in Quebec, I can see the Liberals losing more seats to the Bloc next election for this.

"Ignatieff says he is prepared to swallow"

globeandmail.com: Tories put on probation; coalition declared dead

Is Ignatieff the same or worse than Dion here?
Not only is he accepting a bad budget, the Liberals are going to vote for it (instead of abstain from it, like the Dion Liberals), and demand pretty lame concessions.

Bad news from the Liberals

globeandmail.com: Ignatieff to call for changes to budget

It seems that the Liberals are going to roll over and accept this lame budget:

The MP said there would be some Liberal positioning on the issue, but that more individuals were leaning toward letting the government live than pushing to defeat it.

More Israeli war crimes

Israel accused of war crimes over 12-hour assault on Gaza village | World news | The Observer

In testimony collected from residents of the village of Khuza'a by
the Observer, it is claimed that Israeli soldiers entering the village:

• attempted to bulldoze houses with civilians inside;

• killed civilians trying to escape under the protection of white flags;

• opened fire on an ambulance attempting to reach the wounded;

• used indiscriminate force in a civilian area and fired white phosphorus shells.

If the allegations are upheld, all the incidents would constitute breaches of the Geneva conventions.

The
denunciations over what happened in Khuza'a follow repeated claims of
possible human rights violations from the Red Cross, the UN and human
rights organisations.

Israel continues to murder Palestinians after the ceasefire

First Palestinian shot dead after Israel's unilateral ceasefire_English_Xinhua

A Palestinian farmer
was shot dead on Sunday morning by an Israeli soldier in Khan Younis in
southern Gaza Strip, becoming the first fatality since Israeli declared an
unilateral ceasefire, local witnesses said.

    The witnesses said the farmer was killed while checking his farm.

White-Phosphorus and its use in Gaza

Special: White Phosphorus and its use in Gaza - International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC < read me.

Reports of usage in Gaza: The Los Angeles Times reported January 12 that 20 homes burnt, one women killed and several injured from the use of WP in Gaza writing:“One landed in my kitchen and caused a fire,' said Zohair Mohammed abu Rejila, 35. 'I went to put it out, but another one landed on Mayar, my baby daughter. It was like a block of fire, a piece of plastic on fire. When I knocked it off her, it exploded and out came this heavy white smoke with a very bad smell.' http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg...story

Al-Jazeera TV reported on its use for several days between December 29-January 9 and aired footage of several civilian victims of white phosphorus bombs showing characteristic burns. One teenage girl, Jamila Al-Habash, had both of her legs amputated and an interview with Dr. Raed Al-'Areeny from Al-Shaifa Hospital explained the need for amutation because of the WP adherence to and reaction with soft tissues penetrating even to the bones.

Footage released also show the characteristic images of shelling in neighborhoods with WP http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVY4NUKowzg http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/20....html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq-b_40IKfs On January 12, 2009, Human Rights Watch issued a report demanding Israel stop using WP (http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/10/israel-stop-unlaw...-gaza)

Death toll continues as Israel continues its assault on Gaza using White-Phosphorus

18th day under attack: Gaza death toll reaches 940 with 4200 injured - International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC < read me.

Dr. Hassanen told IMEMC over the phone that doctors are witnessing burns and disfigured bodies of victims, adding that the injured are arriving with a powder on their skin. On Saturday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the Israeli Army to stop using White Phosphorus in its artillery shells against the Gaza Strip. Researchers of HRW said that they observed white-phosphorus use on January 9th and January 10th near Gaza City and Jabalia,.

Using this type of artillery, in this manner is banned by international humanitarian law, the group added. The shells are capable of burning human flesh right down to the bone and are capable of setting structures, fields and other civilian facilities on fire. The group added that using these kind of shells against one of the most densely populated areas in the world causes magnified harm, and called on Israel to stop using these shells.

Remember that school that Israel targeted a few days ago ...

UN: IDF officers admitted there was no gunfire from Gaza school which was shelled - Haaretz - Israel News

"In briefings senior [Israel Defense Forces] officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school," Gunness said. "The IDF admitted in that briefing that the attack on the UN site was unintentional."

He noted that all the footage released by the IDF of militants firing from inside the school was from 2007 and not from the incident itself.

Israel continues to target civilians in Gaza as the UN demands a halt to the aggression.

In spite of UN Resolution (1860); army continues offensive killing 29 Palestinians on Friday - International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC

On the ground, in Gaza, hospital, medics, civilian areas and homes, school, universities and mosques are including in the Israeli shelling and in the so-called self defense.

Descendents of the Holocaust now committing the same crime.

Bil'in demonstrators remind the world of the Holocaust - International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC

This angry message was to remind the world of the Nazi Holocaust and of the promise made by the international community to never allow another Holocaust to happen, while this promise is being broken by the same people whose ancestors were victims of the Holocaust.

Interviews with US congressmen regarding Gaza

kucinich.us - Al Jazeera interviews Congressman Kucinich on Gaza

Point - US arms are supplied to Israel for defence purposes only - not for invasions. Israel is breaking contract rules with the USA regarding its use of the supplied arms

Point - Israel broke the ceasefire agreement by bombing Gaza on Nov. 4th. Hamas only starting firing rockets in retaliation AFTER Israel broke the ceasefire.

Point - the majority of US congress put the onus on Hamas to stop firing rockets and to recognize Israel's right to exist as a nation, and see Israel as doing nothing wrong in it's bombing and killing of hundreds of innocent civilians (which is a war crime - targeting civilians) and do not ask Israel to recognize Palestine as a nation (or to stop invading and besieging Palestine).

Harper about faces again on Senate reform

globeandmail.com: Harper pushes to gain control of Senate

Seeing that his is up against a stronger opposition this time, Harper has decided to scrap his ideas of Senate reform and continue to appoint senators until the Conservatives have a majority in the Senate. Is this fair and ethical? No. Is it allowed in the rules? Yes.

He is running scared.

Time to take the government away from the minority Conservatives and put it in the hands of the majority - the opposition parties > The Coalition.

But bombing innocent trapped civilians is okay...

TheStar.com | Ontario | Jewish leaders blast CUPE

Please tell me how the current siege and invasion of Gaza is okay and not an abuse of civil, moral and ethical rights.

I think Canada should boycott Israel until Israel plays nice. And I think we should stop selling oil to the USA until the USA stops sending military aid to Israel to help kill civilians in Palestine. Until the USA demands that Israel stop the siege of Palestine, we should cut them off too.

Oh, poor Israel

TheStar.com | Columnist | Israel must fight its battles alone

Oh, they are not allowed to join in fights and kill other people in other countries. Oh, they are limited to only genocide against Palestinians.
Oh, no one understands them - that they have to bomb the crap out of innocent trapped civilians they have had under siege for decades.

Oh, they have to over-react against people who have very little in ways to fight back and who do little relative harm to Israelis.

Maybe, just maybe, if Israeli stopped besieging the Palestinians and allowed them to be a free nation, and stopped the illegal settlements stealing the Palestinian land, THEN the Palestinians would stop throwing rocks at them and stop firing inneffectual homemade bombs at them and the world would show Israel some respect.

Oh Rosie, you are sooooo out to lunch with your analysis.

And then they will bomb them again

TheStar.com | World | Israel to halt Gaza operations for 3 hours

And then they will seal off Gaza again and bomb the people, again, who have just received aid.