Is This to be Believed?
A member of Ontario's legislature, a duly elected member of parliament in the Liberal provincial government has been quoted in one of the daily newspapers that we receive as calling Israel a "rogue" state. What?! Wot!?Ottawa-Orleans MPP Phil McNeely has stated that the federal government of Canada should apologize to Canadians for its support of the Jewish state's "collective punishment" of the people in Gaza and Lebanon. It's printed right there in the newspaper, I've read it, attempted to digest it, but it's incredibly indigestible. I am, to say the least incredulous, mouth agape. Don't look at me: not a pretty picture.
The poor man. I don't know whether I should contact him to offer my sincere condolences on his sorry flight into delerious lunacy, having obviously suffered the loss of cerebral function. This man whose precinct is provincial governance, has offered criticism of, now let's see: former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, U.S. President George W. Bush (pssst! so've I!) and Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Hey, he's called PM Harper a puppet of Dubya! He said he (McNeely) feels so strongly about what is happening in the Middle East he could no longer remain silent. Pity.
His statement:
"I believe the Harper government, which receives its foreign policy from David Frum direct from George Bush, should apologize to the Canadian people for their support of the collective punishment of people first in Gaza and now in Lebanon. As an elected member of Parliament (!!) I cannot believe that the democratically elected members of Hamas have been captured and imprisoned by this rogue state."Wow, I mean wow! That's telling us, Phil. It needed to be said, and you said it. And guess what? There's more, a whole lot more of truly interesting interpretations of world events loosed upon us by this parliamentarian. Read it for yourself. In today's Ottawa Citizen. In another declaration McNeely even corrected himself, stating that Harper is now leading Bush - and he felt, as a Canadian, Ontarian, that he had to speak out. Yes, he did.
None other than Bader Siddiqi, president of the Ottawa Muslim Association, defended Mr. McNeely's right to speak; some of the things he said are true, avows Mr. Siddiqi. The prime minister demonstrated a "lack of experience in foreign policy" by quickly aligning himself with Israel, says Mr. Siddiqi. Now, finally, we have the whole story. Aren't we stupid, not to have realized it. Bad boy, Stephen, back to Diplomacy 101!
Oops! What's this? Someone's crazy impression of commitment to ideals? MPP McNeely is now saying what? Why I've hardly had time to digest the other statements and absorb them adequately into my arsenal of knowledge about the Middle East and its thorny problems! Why further muddy the waters of understanding? But yes, here it is, a mea culpa:
"Recently I have made comments with respect to the current situation in the Middle East, which were inappropriate. I apologize for the language of my comments and sincerely regret the hurt they have caused. I recognize that the challenges faced in the Middle East are complex and longstanding. During this time of tension, it is even more important for everyone to remain respectful of each other, which I failed to do."Urp. Kind of indigestible. Craven expedience? Hey, McNeely, we've got your number!
posted by Pieface @ Thursday, July 20, 2006
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