I'm so Disappointed in Peter Kent and His Views on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

When I first learned that Peter Kent had 'quit' his journalistic endeavours and was running for the Conservative Party, I almost saw it as a good sign that the party might be moving to the centre.

I must admit I never watched his show. Can West Global is a little too bias for me. Almost like Fox News in the U.S. ('Republican good ... Democrat bad ... ugh'!)

However, I assumed that Mr. Kent was able to do more than just read copy. I assumed he had a keen mind and an independent spirit. I mean he often locked horns with his bosses because he wanted to write his own broadcasts. I guess I can now see why they didn't let him.

What a disappointment. From his horrible assault on fellow journalist Lesley Hughes, to his unwarranted involvement in the York University student election. The man is tyrant. A tyrant with too much power and too few intelligent thoughts. Maybe he's only capable of reading copy after all.

Canada Complicit with Israeli War Crimes

Canada lives in the unfortunate position of being under the thrall of U.S. media for most its information and cultural relevance. At the same time, its own media, apart from the national broadcast company CBC, is highly centralized under the influence of two media empires (Canwest Global and CTV GlobeMedia) who support the same kind of biased coverage that is provided by the U.S.

In sum, Canadians who wish to receive a balanced view of events in the Middle East, Gaza in particular, have to rely on alternate or external media. Canwest Global (Israel Aspers' media empire) provides nightly updates with little context and "balanced" reporting of showing deaths in Israel from the Qassam rockets as being equally as devastating as the IDF attacks in Gaza.

The current Canadian Conservative government under Stephen Harper is very much a shadow of U.S. conservatism: right wing Christian moralism; a hawkish if small military projection to give the world what it needs (whether it asks for it or not); and an unquestioning support of 'neoliberal' free trade practices. As such it echoes/mimics/supports the all too familiar U.S. perspective that Israel is the victim and Hamas the perpetrator of events in Gaza .... In early January, 2009, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Peter Kent said, "The government of Canada has been very clear since the beginning of this crisis that it believes that the Hamas rocketing was responsible for the initial development of this crisis and for the continuing deepening humanitarian tragedy."

It's unfortunate that we have to go to alternative news sources if we want to learn both sides of this issue. The dimwit Jason Kenney has said: "People in Canada need to exercise freedom of expression responsibly and should be wary of the rise of a new form of anti-Semitism cloaked in debates about Israel's actions in the Middle East.

"Exercise freedom of expression responsibly"? "Should be wary of the rise of a new form of anti-Semitism cloaked in debates about Israel's actions in the Middle East." John Hagee must be so proud of him. Jason has obviously memorized his book, because hot dang if Hagee didn't say the same thing, only using 'People in America'.

IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA?