When slanted news reporting becomes too slanted:
Two weeks ago, two producers working for Fox News in Amman, Jordan resigned in protest of the network's coverage. In their resignation letter, Serene Sabbagh and Jomana Karadsheh wrote "We can no longer work with a news organization that claims to be fair and balanced when you are so far from that." We go to Amman to speak with producer Serene Sabbagh.
Wainberg said he believes Harper was afraid of being booed over his opposition to same-sex marriage by the gay-friendly AIDS research and activist community. "Mr. Harper, for better or for worse, is perceived as being a right-wing fellow who is not a mainstream politician," [Wainberg, head of the McGill University Centre for AIDS and the conference co-chair] said.Activists decry Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper's refusal to attend the opening ceremonies of the Sixteenth International AIDS Conference during a rally in support of women's and children's rights as part of the global battle against HIV/AIDS in Toronto August 14, 2006.
WHOLE STORY
[..]
Many are wondering why PM Stephen Harper will not appear at the International Aids Conference in Toronto. Some say he's afraid of being booed, others complain about Harper's ignorance when it comes to Aids (read the whole article: Harper chooses Arctic over AIDS).
"I think part of the problem is that he's ignorant about the issue," said Laurie Edmiston, executive director of the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange. "I wanted him to have a presence here so he could listen and learn."
Lewis has been trying to find a better explanation for why Harper won't show, calling contacts on Parliament Hill. But the New Democrat, who was Canada's ambassador to the UN in the '80s, said he hasn't received a satisfactory explanation.
"I've asked time and again why he isn't coming, and the answer I keep getting is that he doesn't want to be booed," he said.
So much for transparancy by Canada's Conservatives.
The Harper government has quietly pushed through pay increases for senior government officials, sparking criticisms that it is failing to live up to its pledge for disclosure and accountability.
Senior executives, which include deputy ministers, have been given a 2.5 per cent raise on their base salary, while heads of Crown corporations will receive increases of 3 per cent.
The government executives will also get a boost of 1.1 per cent to their bonus packages -- money known as "at-risk" pay that is due to them should they meet a series of goals and objectives.
Stephen Harper is in the news again. This time it's about his decision not to attend the event himself.
"But even the mayor couldn't help Public Works Minister Michael Fortier, Harper's Quebec lieutenant and stand-in for the event. Fortier's remarks were swallowed up in a rising tide of boos, which then grew more deafening as much of the crowd began slamming their folding seats up and down. Harper has promised to revisit the issue of same-sex marriage in Parliament.
'Shame! Shame! Shame!' spectators cried, wagging their upraised fingers in unison."
Polls shows Harper is loosing ground.
"Despite a post-election surge in popularity for the Conservatives, a Decima poll of 1,009 people released Thursday showed Tory support has fallen to 36 per cent, compared to 30 per cent for the Liberals and 17 per cent for the New Democrats."
Phyllis Bennis, a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, specializing in Middle East and United Nations issues, explains;
"The four UNIFIL observers were killed after somewhere between six and eight hours of consistent shelling, during which there were ten separate phone calls made by UN officials to the Israeli military, who agreed they knew it was underway and each time told them it would stop. It didn't stop. Instead, it culminated in a so-called precision-guided missile that led to the death of the four that you mentioned."
Australia, all talk but the wrong actions;
CANBERRA, July 27 (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he would support a major multinational force for Lebanon to disarm Hizbollah, but his foreign minister said that without a ceasefire it would be a "suicide mission".
"If the world community is serious, it will put together a force of tens of thousands. That force will act as an effective buffer, and it will have the power and the will to disarm Hizbollah," Howard told Australian radio on Thursday.
"US-based Human Rights Watch says Israel has used cluster bombs in civilian areas during its assault on Lebanon."
See Wikipedia why cluster bombs are a threat to civilians
WHOLE STORY BBC:
"UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said on Tuesday that Israel used 'disproportionate' force in its offensive in the Gaza Strip.
'This is very clear, a disproportionate use (of force),' Egeland told reporters while touring the Gaza power plant, which was destroyed in Israeli airstrikes last month."
WHOLE STORY
* Number of Lebanese people killed in the two-week conflict: 422, of whom 375 were civilians.
* A further 27 Hizbollah guerrillas have been killed and 20 Lebanese soldiers.
* Number of Israeli dead since the conflict began: 42, of whom 18 were civilians and 24 soldiers.
* Number of Palestinians killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip since the capture of Cpl Gilad Shalit: 121.
* Number of Israeli air strikes on Lebanon yesterday: 100.
* Hizbollah rockets fired yesterday: 80.
* The Israel Defence Force claimed yesterday to have hit 10 Hizbollah buildings.
* That adds up to an estimated $1bn ($600m) in damage to infrastructure.
* Number of Lebanese bridges destroyed: 105
* The number of Israeli bridges destroyed: 0.
* Number of Lebanese ports bombed: 3.
* Estimate of the number of Lebanese people displaced in the fighting: 750,000.
* Lebanon has 2,000 UN troops who have been in the south since 1978.
* Israel's military spending: $9.45bn (in 1995); Lebanon: $540"
WHOLE STORY
Independent Online Edition > Middle East: "Why is there not a murmur of protest from Washington?'
By Kim Sengupta in Nicosia
Published: 21 July 2006
Outside the cavernous US government-run holding centre in Nicosia, Mohammed Shami shook his head. 'I feel embarrassed to be an American. They have given Israel the green light to destroy Lebanon. What they are doing is wrong; it is immoral.'
Mr Shami, who is of Lebanese-American descent, arrived here with 1,000 fellow Americans early yesterday, part of the exodus to Cyprus expected to reach more than 80,000 people fleeing the ferocity of the conflict in Lebanon.
BBC NEWS | Middle East | In quotes: Annan on Mid-East crisis: "Israel states that it has no quarrel with the government or people of Lebanon, and that it is taking extreme precautions to avoid harm to them. Yet a number of its actions have hurt and killed Lebanese civilians and military personnel and caused great damage to infrastructure. While Hezbollah's actions are deplorable, and as I've said, Israel has a right to defend itself, the excessive use of force is to be condemned."
Canada wants Israel and Lebanon to guarantee they will not attack seven ships scheduled to pick up Canadians stranded in the strife-torn country, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said Tuesday.
The first of seven chartered passenger ships are expected to arrive at the port of Beirut on Wednesday. They will be able to transport an estimated 2,000 Canadians a day.
"We want assurances that those ships will be protected and afforded the utmost safety," MacKay said on CBC Newsworld.
Israel uses kidnapped soldiers as pretext:
The Blog | Russell Shaw: The REAL Reason Israel Is Going Full-Frontal on Hezbollah - NOW | The Huffington Post
GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike set the Palestinian Ministry of Economy building in the Gaza Strip ablaze early on Saturday, but there were no reports of casualties.
Witnesses said the building was badly damaged and still on fire after the strike.
The army confirmed the attack in Gaza City.
The worsening situation in the Middle East has captured the world's attention, including the European Union's, which has accused Israel of "disproportionate use of force" in Lebanon. Violence continued into Friday.
Neil A. Lewis, John O'Neil - The New York Times:
"In a sweeping change of policy, the Pentagon has decided that it will treat all detainees in compliance with the minimum standards spelled out in the Geneva conventions, a senior defense official said today.
The new policy comes on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling last month invalidating a system of military tribunals the Pentagon had created to try suspected terrorists, and just before Congress takes up the question of a replacement system in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today.
As part of its decision, the court found that a key provision of the Geneva conventions, known as Common Article 3, did apply to terror suspects, contradicting the position taken by the Bush administration." WHOLE STORY
The latest idea from the Times Colonist staff: the government should [..] consider increasing its subsidy to B.C. Ferries to help hold rates down on tourism-critical routes.
First of all, it goes against one of the core points of British Columbia Ferry Commission mandate: (f) the designated ferry routes are to move towards a greater reliance on a user pay system so as to reduce, over time, the service fee contributions by the government.
And, personally, I don't see the "extraordinary circumstances" in rising fuel prices; they are a reality for all travelers, across B.C.
The funny thing is, the article does bring up this argument, but uses it as an excuse; a strange way of using rising fuel costs to subsidize a privately held company. Who do we support next, 
Air Canada, Horizon Air, WestJet, or maybe the Clipper and the Coho? And what about the taxi companies? They loose business too. And why not give HeliJet some extra support?
And what do we do when oil reaches $120 a barrel, do we double our support to BC Ferries?
It's a slippery slope with no end in sight.
Here's the kind of conclusion that straightforward thinking would produce:
Rising fuel costs are a global issue, which indeed can (and probably will) have an impact on travelers. But to financially support one (privatized) company over an other, under the show of loss of tourism, is an unfair solution and therefore the wrong way to go.
Why then not support restaurants too? If it's more affordable to dine out, then there's more money left to spend on travel; Victoria, the dining Mekka of Canada! And maybe hotels too? Great idea! Let's give everybody $25 dollars if they spend a night in Victoria!
More government support for BC Ferries is a stupid idea.
House Republican War Crimes
By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
Thursday 15 June 2006
There is going to be a debate today on the floor of the House of Representatives regarding Iraq. Is it within the realm of possibility to categorize a debate on the floor of the House as a war crime? Is that too much of a stretch? Leveling a war crime accusation is deadly serious business after all, and not to be bandied about like some meager political football. Given what is expected to take place today in Washington, unfortunately, such a categorization is worth considering.
This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.
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