“When you say “we will let Omar Khadr back into Canada on one condition. You make room for he and his family in your commune”, tell me who are the “we” that you represent. Certainly not the government of Stephen Harper”

——————————————————————————————————————————————

George, I guess “We” would be the Canadians who think Omar Khadr, and those who think like him are more of a danger to Canada than the Conservative Party. Of course, being a true and good-hearted Liberal, you would have a different view. You see Omar Khadr as just another Liberal voter in waiting.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–
George goes on:

” because I wrote to him and the Minister of Foreign Affairs several e-mails asking them to bring Khadr back to Canada and they certainly didn’t make your offer to me. So, don’t offer something that you can’t deliver. By the way, his family is already in Canada and the Muslim community of Toronto already offered to Harper to take care of him when he is repatriated.”

Sorry about indicating I would allow Omar back into Canada George……I’m afraid I don’t have that power (or the inclination actually). Sorry to disappoint.
As for the Muslim Community of Toronto to “take care” of Khadr….hmmm….I believe it was the Muslim Community in Toronto that helped instill his original beliefs. Do you really think they’ll help?
I think the Muslim Community of Toronto has already shown that they do not all hold Canadian Values……as the 18 arrested for planning terror attacks in Canada can attest. Oh…and so far we’ve had one guilty plea. Maybe he and Omar could be roomies.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–
More classic George:

“As far as your statement, that I would support the premise that “no matter what someone does, no matter how atrocious their behaviour, or how dangerous to our way of life….they must be protected simply because they are CANADIAN”, it is totally ludicrous. What, I say, however, is that every Canadian should have the right to have a fair trial for the actions that he/she committed. Omar Khadr has been interned for seven years without giving him this opportunity. It’s not up to you to judge what he has done or what crime he has committed”

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Oh but you’re wrong George. I can and have judged Mr. Khadr already. I know he’s guilty of engaging in terrorism. You know it….most Liberals know it….and even some NDP’ers know it. I have seen the video, we know the history of his father, and we’ve even heard his family on the CBC proclaiming their support for Jihad and their hatred of everything Canada stands for.
In fact George, I would say more Canadians share may view than yours.
As for your writing to the PM…..I would assume based on your naive views that you are one of the following:
- typical lefty hack who prefers to stand on the soapbox, while ignoring the need to use its contents.
- university professor who’s never had a real job, or had to deal with the real views of most Canadians.
-Lawyer.

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

More George:
“it is up to the proper court of law. You and Harper don’t seem to understand this simple premise.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

And the US has a proper Court of Law. In fact, the US Court system is one of the best in the world. I don’t really lose any sleep of Omar Khadr’s “rights” because as far as I’m concerned, he gave up his right to Charter Protection when he engaged in activities designed to kill the very soldiers who’ve made it possible. The Khadr’s hate everything about our Charter………..until it can be used to their benefit.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Ted wrote:

What the f— are you talking about? Who said “natives do not think of anything besides their own little world“
———————————————————————————————————————————————-

Actually, Ted. You did.

When you wrote:

“it will affect how the Yellow Quill residents think of their community and therefore their world. ”

Those are your words Ted, not mine. You imply that Natives cannot grasp anything outside of the Reservation. Tell me Ted, are you able to see a world outside of your home? Does anything exist other than your little bubble?

If you answered yes, then you have made my point for me.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-

More Ted wisdom:

“Man are you screwed up, bud. This is a tiny community. Have you ever lived outside of a big city? ”

Actually Ted, I spent most of my life in a small town. But, I did realize a world existed outside of my community.

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

More Ted:

“Everyone knows each other, many of these people would have been related to those girls, would have babysat for them, their kids would have played with them, they would know the mother and the dispicable father. ”
——————————————————————————————————————————————

They would know about the despicable father……and yet, none cared enough to call child services to protect the Little girls you think they all loved so much.

——————————————————————————————————————————————–
More Tedism:

“Why do you think they should not care about these girls? Why do you think they should just callously say “not my fault, I don’t feel guilty”, and walk away from it? ”

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

See above comment about Child Services

_________—————————————————————————————————————————-

Ted goes on:

“It used to be that conservatives cared about community, but now it’s each man or woman for him or herself.”

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

We still do Ted, but we also believe in personal responsibility.

——————————————————————————————————————————————-

Tedism:
“Thank goodness we are not a conservative nation. This story of tragedy is part of what makes up Canada: we may not like it, we shouldn’t feel guilty about it, but it is Canada, warts and all. If you don’t like natives being part of Canada, that’s your baggage, man.”

———————————————————————————————————————————————

Actually Ted, I have Native family members. They don’t drink, they work hard, and they feel exactly the same way about this episode as any other Canadian. So you see Ted, I think it’s wonderful that we have Native Communities in Canada, their love for the land, their respect for nature.
What I don’t like, are drunken natives who kill their own kids and then expect to get away with it because of the “I can’t help it I’m a native” mentality.
A mentality, that is clearly shared by Michael Igantieff.

And you.

“…. this may be the most morally contemptible statement by a Canadian party leader since Confederation. (I’d be interested in alternative bids for that title, if you know of any. ….)”

Remove that statement and you are quite right; there is absolutely no connection between Steyn’s column and the IT tax issue. However, he did make the statement, and I found it just as offensive as Steyn claims to find Ignatieff’s. Iggy’s statement is a single paragraph of no particular prominence out of a book, and it’s impact will be somewhere between zero and trivial. Harper’s statement was a significant commitment made repeatedly and emphatically, subsequently shown to have been made without any real commitment, and he knew (or ought to have known) that his failure to follow through on that commitment would cause substantial economic damage to many people, as in fact it did. Iggy’s statement is a pimple, Harper’s was a tumor.

As for Chretien and his GST promise, I would make a couple of distinctions. Chretien promised to do something and didn’t do it whereas Harper promised not to do something and then did it. And personally I never believed Chretien would scrap the GST, while I did believe (to my cost) that Harper would keep his word. But these are quibbles. I agree that Chretien can also be judged as making a morally contemptible statement, and one far worse than Iggy’s.

But nowhere near as bad as Harper’s.

As far as your statement, that I would support the premise that “no matter what someone does, no matter how atrocious their behaviour, or how dangerous to our way of life….they must be protected simply because they are CANADIAN”, it is totally ludicrous. What, I say, however, is that every Canadian should have the right to have a fair trial for the actions that he/she committed. Omar Khadr has been interned for seven years without giving him this opportunity. It’s not up to you to judge what he has done or what crime he has committed, it is up to the proper court of law. You and Harper don’t seem to understand this simple premise.

The moral is that none of us should make our investments based on politicians’ promises. By the way I myself have shares of Bell Aliant Income Fund and up till now they are continuing to pay the same amount of dividend on monthly basis. This whole thing about income funds has simply no relevance to Steyn’s article.

It used to be that conservatives cared about community, but now it’s each man or woman for him or herself.

Thank goodness we are not a conservative nation. This story of tragedy is part of what makes up Canada: we may not like it, we shouldn’t feel guilty about it, but it is Canada, warts and all. If you don’t like natives being part of Canada, that’s your baggage, man.

“He is simply documenting that this event has occurred and the point is that it will affect how the Yellow Quill residents think of their community and therefore their world. He is not asking anyone to be more caring or compassionate; in fact, partly the opposite.”

——————————————————————————————————————————————–
To which I respond:

That’s right Ted, because as all Liberals know…..natives do not think of anything besides their own little world. Their community is their world….because, as all good Liberals know, the native mind is not built to comprehend complex machinations beyond the borders of the reserve.

Ted…please go back and re-read my earlier comment with regards to the “Racism of Low expectations” that seem to predominate the Liberal mindset.

“Obviously, for you and your ilk (the right wing fanatics) there are two classes of Canadians. Those that have the same ideology as you have, and the second class that can go to hell. That is exactly what makes our nation weak.”

Actually, I voted for Chretien…..once. The behaviour of the Liberal Party afterwards pretty much guaranteed I won’t be voting for them again for quite some time.
As for what makes our nation weak……it doesn’t start with me. It starts with naive folks who buy into the garbage that no matter what someone does, no matter how atrocious their behaviour, or how dangerous to our way of life….they must be protected simply because they are CANADIAN. Sorry. That doesn’t wash. Clifford Olson and Paul Bernardo are both Canadian……..how do you feel about them?

George goes on:

“Prominent Canadians like general Dallaire have been fighting for years to have Omar Khadr return to his native country.”

You mean SENATOR (appointed by a Liberal of course) Dellaire? The former General who let thousands die because he didn’t receive the orders to stop it from the UN? That General Dallaire?
Try this on. Imagine that it WAS NOT Dallaire when the genocide was going on, but instead, some “right – wing” fanatic as you described, in the form of General Lewis MacKenzie. Do you think MacKenzie would stand by waiting for orders from the totally useless UN, or do you think he would say “screw the UN” and just open fire on those machete weilding marauders hacking up women and kids?
Sorry George, but when it comes to security, and knowing right from wrong….I’ll take Lew MacKenzie over Dallarie any day.
Dallaire wants Khadr back…….whereas most Canadians are wishing the US had finished him off when they had the chance. Too bad we can’t sent the rest of the Khadr’s back to Pakistan. I’d like to see them all “interrogated”

George goes on:

” All political parties except Harper’s have supported this position.”

Yes George…because Harper is the only Party Leader with any common sense. I think the average Canadian takes Harper’s stance over Iggy’s or Jack Layton’s any day. As for Gille Duceppe….I’m sure he would love to have Khadr back home……as long as he doesn’t move from Toronto to Quebec.

more George Blather:

“I know personally a number of Conservatives in Quebec who clearly support this, but can’t go against the wishes of the Reform party chief Harper. All newspapers in Quebec have come out for repatriating Khadr, particularly after the Federal Court judgment. Harper doesn’t seem to realize, that because of this stubborn decision, he will lose Quebec in the next election.”

I don’t think Harper’s too concerned about Quebec. I think he’s tested the winds and realized a long time ago that Quebecers are only going to vote for someone who falls for their blackmail. Besides, enough poeple outside of Quebec are sick of the whining and complaining from that Province which demands blood-money from the rest of the country. I say let them go. Of course, their borders will change dramatically, and New Quebec will only cover about 15% of their current property lines. After all, they came into confederation considerably smaller than they are now. Remeber, the top two-thirds of Quebec….belong to the natives.

Tell you what George…….we will let Omar Khadr back into Canada on one condition. You make room for he and his family in your commune. Fair enough?

Think of it as a learning experience. You could learn all about Jihad and how to make roadside bombs, and the Khadr’s could learn how to be morally superior without really believing it themselves.

Good deal for everyone.

Some logic.

Meanwhile your premise that Canadians don;t care is false. If Canadians didnt care as you maintain, then why is the income trust issue the number 2 issue on the Liberal’s website under “Ask the PM a Question”, at onProbation.ca?

Here: http://voice.liberal.ca/pages/on_probation/suggestions/152616-review-the-tax-fairness-plan-and-the-tax-on-income-trusts

Showing passion on the matter of two young children on the Yellow Quill reservation in Saskatchewan is hardly contemptible, although no doubt Mark Steyn seeks to make it so, in his convoluted way.

What is truly contemptible is the actions and words of Stephen Harper, during the 2006 election where he proclaimed far and wide that: ““You know where the Liberals stand on raiding senior nest eggs, whether it is death taxes or taxing income trusts, a new Conservative government will never let this happen.”

This is so contemptible I don’t know where to start.

Contemptible for the use of the words “seniors nest eggs” in order to be as evocative as possible.

Contemptible for the use of the words “death taxes”, since no such move by the Liberals had ever been contemplated, thereby Harper engaged in false invocation.

Contemptible for the fact that Harper implied he was more virtuous than the Liberals

Contemptible for the fact that Harper implies that the Liberals were even intending to tax income trusts, rather than simply having engaged in a public consultation to better understand the issue and engage those potentially affected.

Contemptible for the fact that Harper reversed this solemn promise a mere nine months later.

Contemptible for the fact that unlike the Liberals who Harper had berated, he did not consult with the public before breaking his promise.

Contemptible for the fact that many people had voted for Harper for the sole reason of this policy position, which was key in securing him a minority victory.

Contemptible for the fact that many people only decided it was safe to enter the income trust market and/or add to their exposure because of Harper’s solemn promise.

Contemptible for that fact that Harper succumbed to the lobbying of corporate executives to kill the income trust market as described by the Globe on November 2, 2006:

High-profile directors and CEOs, meanwhile, had approached Mr. Flaherty personally to express their concerns: Many felt they were being pressed into trusts because of their duty to maximize shareholder value, despite their misgivings about the structure. Paul Desmarais Jr., the well-connected chairman of Power Corp. of Canada, even railed against trusts in a conversation with Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a trip to Mexico, and told him he should act quickly to stop the raft of conversions, according to sources.

Contemptible for the fact that Harper never consulted the public before breaking this solemn promise, but had lots of time to be lobbied by only those who stood to benefit from such a policy reversal betrayal

Contemptible for the fact that Harper was unwilling to confront the pension plans, so he gave them a special carve out whereby they could own income trusts and not pay the 31.5% tax

Contemptible for the fact that Harper also introduced Pension Income Splitting for Seniors and another means to buy off the pensions, and carve out a benefits that only benefits 14% of seniors

Contemptible for the fact that these measure represent the introduction of a two tiered pension system in Canada.

Contemptible for the fact that many people, myself included, warned from the very outset that this tax would lead to a rash of foreign dominated takeovers of devalued trusts by way of leveraged buyouts that would cause the loss of major tax revenue to Ottawa and introduce a large amount of unhealthy debt into our economy.

Contemptible for the fact that when that very outcome occurred , the contemptible Jim Flaherty said “Its not my fault”.

Contemptible for the fact that all five of the five provisions of the Ways and Means motion are totally false and actually resort to the false invocation of the most vulnerable members of our society by way of the false claim that it would “strengthen Canada’s social security system for pensioners and seniors”, when no strengthening was even remotely possible and meanwhile these are the very people who lost $35 billion of their life savings

Contemptible for the fact that Harper completely abused Canada’s democratic process by introducing and passing a bill that was based on the COMPLETE fraud argument that income trusts cause tax leakage, a result that only arises by the CONTEMPTIBLE act of manufacturing tax leakage by leaving out the taxes paid on the 38% of trusts held in RRSPs

Contemptible for the fact that such an analysis has zero theoretical or practical rational associated with it, given that the Budget is performed on a basis that included these deferred taxes.

Contemptible for the fact that this income trust lie by Harper had caused damage to EVERY taxpaying Canadianm as the $100 billion in takeovers caused by this polciy means that Ottawa has lost over $1 billion in annual tax revenue, a number that will increase to $7.5 billion a year, unless Harper admits his contemtible error, the equivalent of a 1.5% GST increase.

Contemptible for the very fact that the broken promise of never raiding seniors nest eggs was based on a false and fraudulent premise.

Contemptible for the fact that Harper is incapable of admitting error. Harper is contemptible and without any redeeming qualities, that aren’t themselves deserving of Canadians’ utter contempt for Harper as a person and for Harper as a policy maker/enforcer.

Contemptible for the fact that Canada’s main stream media is too lame and incompetent and too closely held to the bosom of their corporate masters to ever report on these acts of Harper’s total contempt for democracy and the private property of Canadians, after years of working and contributing to Canada, in a way that Harper never has or ever will.

Prominent Canadians like general Dallaire have been fighting for years to have Omar Khadr return to his native country. All political parties except Harper’s have supported this position. I know personally a number of Conservatives in Quebec who clearly support this, but can’t go against the wishes of the Reform party chief Harper. All newspapers in Quebec have come out for repatriating Khadr, particularly after the Federal Court judgment. Harper doesn’t seem to realize, that because of this stubborn decision, he will lose Quebec in the next election.

“Omar Khadr is first and foremost a Canadian born kid, who has been imprisoned and tortured in the Guantanamo gulag for seven years without any charges being laid against him.”

Actually George, Omar Khadr is first and foremost a terrorist who happened to have the luck to be born in Canada. Before he was imprisoned and “tortured” in Gitmo…..he was building roadside bombs and learning how to kill infidels. (infidels by the way….is just another word Islamic nuts use for “people like Canadians”). Secondly, before he went to Gitmo…his life was saved by Americans who immediately applied first aid to a man who just murdered one of their friends.

George continues:

“A Canadian federal judge found that his human rights have been infringed and he deserves to be brought back to his native country.”

No doubt, a Liberal Appointed judge who is of the variety who cares more about the criminals’ upbringing, than his current behaviour.

“All other western nations whose citizens have been imprisoned at Guantanamo were repatriated to their countries except for Canada.”

that’s right….and many of those folks have already been re-arrested for engaging in terrorist activities. You forgot to mention that part.

George goes on…:

“It’s a clear shame on our government and our Prime Minister. Just for this I will never vote for the Conservatives so long as Harper leads them. ”

No one here believes you EVER voted Conservative before in your life. As for the shame…..I feel no shame whatsoever that we don’t want the little creep back in Canada. In fact, I’m a big advocate of sending the rest of his family back to Pakistan.

The blather continues:

“A far as being caught on video, if it were foolproof evidence, he would have been charged and convicted long ago. Today anyone can make a video of anything, which doesn’t mean anything until it can withstand evidentiary examination in a court of law.”

I’ve seen the video, and the evidence was pretty clear. Omar Khadr squatting in a room with another boy and several men. They were building roadside bombs using russian anti-tank mines stacked one atop the other. The exact kind of mine that has killed about 80 Canadian soldiers so far.
The video was made by the terrorists themselves, so I’m sure it was not meant to be used to convict terrorists, as much as recruit them. As for the Court of Law…….no one really has much faith in them any more except Liberals and Lawyers. Besides, the law has nothing to do with what is right or wrong any more….it’s all about feelings.

George….get your head out of your A-S.

fool.

Really, the progessives(meanig liberals) are the most racist bunch. It happens everywhere the nanny state takes over. What a sad sad story of the indian children(can I still call them that?) The father is only a victim in that the liberal, white government made him a ward of the state and he lived on government welfare. Any freebie from the gov’t is welfare and the libs have ruined a once great people for generations. Throwing money at it does not and will never solve the problem. Having to make one’s own way in the world is what sharpen’s the character and develops pride in one self. The only solution
is self-determination and/ assimilation. Each of us should keep our own culture /heritage alive, while living in the present realities.

Lisa

Tolerance without limits as nihilism. The alternatives to assimilation as apartheid. Nice.

We are responsible for our actions. By we, I mean I.

Yes Ted. It was such a Tragedy that it drove Pauchey to drink so much he again became so drunk he had to be “escorted” elsewhere by the police.
It affected the community of Yellow Quill so much….that they decided to have a drink with him. Get your head out of your A_s dimwit. If you actually believe that crap, then I’m sure you found Iggy’s book an enthralling read.

If you believe that pap, then you should get a job stuffing envelopes for the Liberal Party. (not that they lack in that department). As for this tragedy affecting my life…nope. The only effect it has is pissing me off that this type of behaviour is excused because the guy who did the killing, intentional or not, is native. Sorry. Not good enough for me.

It does however remind me of an incident here in Victoria with some “YOUNG LIBERALS” who feel the same about natives as Mr. Ignatieff. It may be off topic, but the ideology is the same. Apparently, the Liberals’ motives behind the “National Daycare Program” has very little to do with working mothers. Instead, the benefits of the program were outlined to me as follows:

National Daycare would:
1. Allow children of Native Canadians to escape the drunkeness, sexual predation, and physical assault that is commonplace in the native community, even if for only a few hours a day.
2. Allow the children of immigrants, particularly “Jamaicans in Toronto” to escape the cycle of poverty, ignorance, and drug abuse rampant in some sections of Toronto. It would also expose these Jamaican kids to people who speak properly. (how’s that for enlightened Ted?)

So you see Ted, National Daycare is also not “a story about us” any more than the kid-cicles in Yellow Quill are. Instead, National Daycare is about getting little indian kids and Jamaican kids away from their Indian parents and Jamaican parents, who, according to Liberal ideology are incapable of performing the functions of parenting on their own.

I think we tried something like this before. It was called “residential school” and you know how that turned out. Face it Ted….Liberals feel they are superior, which is why they believe that they alone are entitled to dictate to the rest of society, how society should be.

If the Liberal idea of Canada is excusing barbaric behaviour because “some” people can’t help themselves, then sorry…..you’ll have to do better than that to convince me.

There is another kind of Racism Ted. It’s the racism of low expectations, I have found that Liberals, especially the white ones from Toronto suffer from it, completely unaware that they are afflicted.

And that is why they can read Iggy’s latest book and not see it for the garbage it is.

Yes Ted. It was such a Tragedy that it drove Pauchey to drink so much he again became so drunk he had to be “escorted” elsewhere by the police.
It affected the community of Yellow Quill so much….that they decided to have a drink with him. Get your head out of your A_s dimwit. If you actually believe that crap, then I’m sure you found Iggy’s book an enthralling read.

If you believe that pap, then you should get a job stuffing envelopes for the Liberal Party. (not that they lack in that department). As for this tragedy affecting my life…nope. The only effect it has is pissing me off that this type of behaviour is excused because the guy who did the killing, intentional or not, is native. Sorry. Not good enough for me.

It does however remind me of an incident here in Victoria with some “YOUNG LIBERALS” who feel the same about natives as Mr. Ignatieff. It may be off topic, but the ideology is the same. Apparently, the Liberals’ motives behind the “National Daycare Program” has very little to do with working mothers. Instead, the benefits of the program were outlined to me as follows:

National Daycare would:
1. Allow children of Native Canadians to escape the drunkeness, sexual predation, and physical assault that is commonplace in the native community, even if for only a few hours a day.
2. Allow the children of immigrants, particularly “Jamaicans in Toronto” to escape the cycle of poverty, ignorance, and drug abuse rampant in some sections of Toronto. It would also expose these Jamaican kids to people who speak properly. (how’s that for enlightened Ted?)

So you see Ted, National Daycare is also not “a story about us” any more than the kid-cicles in Yellow Quill are. Instead, National Daycare is about getting little indian kids and Jamaican kids away from their Indian parents and Jamaican parents, who, according to Liberal ideology are incapable of performing the functions of parenting on their own.

I think we tried something like this before. It was called “residential school” and you know how that turned out. Face it Ted….Liberals feel they are superior, which is why they believe that they alone are entitled to dictate to the rest of society, how society should be.

If the Liberal idea of Canada is excusing barbaric behaviour because “some” people can’t help themselves, then sorry…..you’ll have to do better than that to convince me.

There is another kind of Racism Ted. It’s the racism of low expectations, I have found that Liberals, especially the white ones from Toronto suffer from it, completely unaware that they are afflicted.

And that is why they can read Iggy’s latest book and not see it for the garbage it is.

Ignatieff broke no promises because he hasn’t made any yet. However, judging his statements in “True Patriot Love” and some other books, such as Blood and Belonging, and The Russian Album, I simply don’t trust the guy. Today he writes “we” in his Patriot Love book, meaning presumably “Canadians”, but just a few short years ago when he was teaching at Harvard, he was writing “we should support the war with Iraq” in which “we” stood for Americans. So in which “we” does he include himself. To me, his statement about Pauchay is morally reprehensible because it constitutes political pandering and nothing more. Don’t tell me that a guy who was supporting the killing of close to a million Iraqis is truly concerned about our poor Aboriginals.

Is honesty not a moral issue? Is it not dishonest to repeatedly and emphatically make a commitment that you are not prepared to keep? And is that dishonesty not all the more egregious when the party making the commitment knows or ought to know that if they do not follow through there will be significant injurious consequences to those who act on the assumption it will be honoured?

Harper’s words were presented as a serious commitment, one that he failed absolutely to act on. And to let him off the hook because of changed circumstances is ludicrous; the significant change was that Harper made the promise and then got elected, so people started acting accordingly. Ultimately that particular defense is that he had to break his promise because he made it in the first place!

Yes there are some similarities with Chretien and his promise to abolish the GST. I fail to see why that offers any defense to Harper. They were both dishonest and both are contenders for Mr. Steyn’s award. Harper still wins it, if only because the consequences were so much worse. Iggy is a very distant 3rd, or …

Do let me know when they show up.

The reason to engage in honest debate is to exchange ideas and allow people to evaluate those ideas based upon thier merits. Your position seems to be, “my ideas are the only ones with merit, so I fail to see the need to debate anything.”

If reading something that you disagree with fails to at least make you think, then you have lost your ability to think critically, which means you have lost the capacity to truly evaluate the ideas you agree with as well as the ideas you disagree with. Since you demonstrably lack the capacity to think critically and evaluate ideas from two or more sides of an issue, your contribution is equally as vapid as those that blindly agree with Steyn. You simply blindly disagree rather than blindly agreeing.

Try actually engaging your own brain, and thereby engaging the brains of others as well rather than, “I am right, Steyn is wrong, if you believe Steyn is right and I am wrong you are a fool.” That doesn’t earn you any brownie points with the people that actually attempt to think for themselves and form their own opinions.

To say that Steyn is a dilettante is not enough – he manages to mix in enough toxic ingredients into his writings that he crosses the line from amusing sideshow into a seriously morally repugnant toad. What’s even more depressing than reading him, however, is being made aware of what a favourable reception he gets from some corners of society.

In fact, the father is mentioned in passing, just as this whole passage is, as but one example of several others that Ignatieff mentions of people like the residents of Yellow Quill who not in the mainstream but are still part of the Canadian story.

Why do you conservatives think that Native Canadians don’t matter and are not a part of the Canadian story?

On the other hand, Iggy’s statement goes to the heart of “morality”. To take an example of a father that committed a criminal negligence resulting in the death of his two children, and make him a kind of a victim for his political purposes, is clearly morally reprehensible.

Canada is really an idea, a figment of a few well fed, out of harms way, small “l” liberal imaginations. Pious judges, cheerleaders with clean hands, historical extortionists-history seems to have begun with Pearson and tolerant -Tamils hijacked the Gardner, brought their children with them-human shields-and rendered mayor numb-nuts to the sidelines where at best she played pocket pool while watching. And because the idea is so afraid of offending anyone, so afraid of being judged in the negative, that the Idea is as steadfast as a cloud being pillared by any which way the wind blows.