Bloodthirsty Liberal

Finally, a climate villain we can all root against:

Canada is the “Colossal Fossil” in Copenhagen.

Environmental groups bestowed the dubious accolade on Canada Friday at the United Nations climate talks.

The groups say Canada’s target for reducing its greenhouse gases is “among the worst in the industrialized world” and its plan to reach its goal is “so weak that it would put even that target out of reach.”

The mock honour caps a 12-day summit where Canada’s image has taken a serious scuffing.

What image?

Seriously, well done, Great White North. Stay the course.

Bracing temperatures do tend to hone one’s thinking. These are the highs and lows for Edmonton, Alberta for the next few days:

High -3°C -16°C -11°C -14°C -21°C -12°C
Low -14°C -23°C -15°C -30°C -33°C -14°C

For those not living in Commiestan (any place that uses celsius over fahrenheit), next Wednesday will feature a high of six-below and a low of 27-below.

Copen-hoaxin’.

When the UN looks around the world at all the hatred and hostility directed toward minority groups, how did they come to settle on Canada as the worst offender?

Ms. Gay McDougall, the U.N.’s chief monitor of discrimination against minority groups, and a leading defender of the 2001 Durban conference, just wrapped up a 10-day investigation of Canada by accusing it of failures and “significant and persistent problems.” She has never investigated any of the countries listed by Freedom House as the world’s worst abusers: not China, Cuba, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Belarus, Burma, Chinese-ruled Tibet, South Ossetia in Georgia, Chechnya in Russia, or Zimbabwe.

Analysis: While it’s perfectly legitimate to hold free societies accountable, the reality is that immigrants of every color and creed rightly seek out Canada as a haven of tolerance, equality and opportunity. UN Watch launched a protest against this U.N. official’s skewed set of priorities: picking on the most tolerant countries like Canada — possibly as U.N. payback for Ottawa being the first of 10 Western governments to pull out of the world body’s ill-fated Durban II conference — while she consistently turns a blind eye to the world’s worst abusers. Our action sparked more than a dozen news articles, columns, and editorials across Canada that cited UN Watch’s protest — including in the Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, and Calgary Herald.

In a related development, the U.N. human rights office is also investigating the United States as a country of singular concern. The “special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing” has decided to conduct her next investigation in the U.S., particularly in New York City. Writing in the Opinio Juris blog, Professor Julian Ku of Hofstra Law School notes that the U.N. monitor “is going to spend her time on a country which is unlikely to be in the top ten places with lack of adequate housing, and which in any event, is not a party to any of the treaties which form her mandate.” But the anti-Western voting blocs that control the U.N. Human Rights Council — and appoint its experts — will no doubt be very pleased.

It’s been almost a year since we elected a black man as president—in part to show the mutts at the UN how advanced and enlightened we are, But they’re still yappin’.

Ask the president’s Auntie Zeituni how inadequate her subsidized public housing is—in spite of her illegal immigration status.

And then ask his half brother, George about his living conditions in Kenya.

George would sleep on Zeituni’s floor, without a blanket or a pillow, and count himself very lucky indeed.

In her book about writing, Anne Lamott tells the story of when she was a kid and her brother had to write a school report on birds. He had procrastinated far too long, and was moaning at the table about how much work he had to do in such a short period of time. Their father’s advice: just take it bird by bird, son, bird by bird.

In addressing the world’s anti-Semitic nations, Israel has reached the Cs:

“I’m not sure if the Israeli standpoint is that much different than the Canadian standpoint, having had the experience in Afghanistan,” said Canadian Armed Forces Chief of the Defense Staff, General Walter J. Natynczyk, in a Tuesday interview to the IDF journal Bamahane.

The general’s three-day visit to Israel - his first official tour here since he began his tenure as head of Canada’s military in 2008 - concluded on Tuesday.

Much as Israel appreciates the solidarity, General, I’m not sure the Canadian standpoint is all that similar to the Israeli—unless North Dakota has been shelling Manitoba every day for the last five years, smuggling weapons like terrorist gophers, and inciting their children to hate Canadians for generations without my knowing it.

But again, thanks for the sentiments:

“I’ve got to look through the whole report and read it through myself. But I fully understand how when someone is attacked from houses, family houses, and so on, that there is a responsibility to protect oneself and protect civilians,” Natynczyk said. “I have just had a great education in terms of where weapons were fired from and so on. I want to look at the report in terms of how does it describe it… My impression of the Gaza Strip up to now has been through media reports. Now I got to actually see the size, the space, the context… It just puts into perspective many of the reports and also the operations that were conducted before.”

…

The general stated that the Canadian military has “really come to understand and appreciate what the Israeli forces have had to counter for quite some time,” adding that he now saw in a new light “the techniques, the way and the procedures that the Israeli military has adopted and evolved over the past few decades.”

Natynczyk related the similarities between what is required of Israel and what is required of his country as part of its battle against terror.

“We’re learning what can we adopt from Israeli forces that will enable us to reduce risks to our people,” he concluded.

Hope you can mention that to your UN ambassador and your left-wing citizens, General.

Okay, that’s C-a taken care of, what’s next?

Beijing will oppose discussing the Goldstone Commission’s report at the UN Security Council and allowing the document to serve as a basis for law suits against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Chinese members of parliament told a visiting delegation of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in Beijing on Wednesday.

The Goldstone report, which states that Israel committed war crimes and possible crimes against humanity during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, called on the UN Security Council to refer the matter to the ICC, which could prosecute individual Israelis.

The Chinese statement came after MK Tzahi Hanegbi (Kadima), who chairs the committee, slammed China for voting in favor of a resolution endorsing the Goldstone report at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session on Friday.

Now, I know for a fact China isn’t ditching the Goldstone report out of any belief that it’s the right thing to do. China’s relations with Tibet, Iran, Sudan—their own people—should make it very clear that they do nothing that isn’t in their narrowly defined best interest.

But I can’t figure out what their angle is. Maybe they actually feel bad about taking Iran’s side; but, again, I don’t see feelings entering into any of their decisions. Still, when it comes to Israel and friends among the world’s nations, beggars can’t be choosers.

Okay, on to the Congo and the Czech Republic!

You can put a Human Rights label on a pig—but it’s still a pig.

The UN Human Rights Commission is, in the words of Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction: “l we’d have to be talkin’ about one charming mother[bleepin’] pig. I mean he’d have to be ten times more charmin’ than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I’m sayin’?

We sure do.

If you have the time and the stomach, I can’t recommend highly enough an hour spent with Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant in discussion of Canada’s Human Rights Commission.

Plenty of play-by-play analysis at SteynOnline.

To summarize, Libya and Sudan (or whoever) good; Steyn and Levant bad. Just so we’re clear on the new world order.

We all need to watch this before we decide how we feel about health care.

PS - I’m issuing reporter John Stossel an emergency Ya’ Think™ Award for this excellent report.

- Aggie

Woman with leukemia denied life-prolonging treatment

Just because your doctor prescribes it doesn’t mean you’ll receive it.

Back in 2007, doctors told Shirley Wakeling she had just a year to live.

She was diagnosed with an acute form of leukemia. But with the help of her doctors, husband Ron and twice-weekly platelet treatment, she’s hanging in.

Despite Shirley’s diagnosis, the couple maintains as normal a life as possible — shopping, gardening and so on — although Shirley needs to rest now and then.

Another key to her survival, says Ron, is a drug called Neupogen, prescribed to help boost white blood cell counts and fight infection.

Problem is, it’s expensive — more than $2,500 a month to meet Shirley’s needs.

So no problem, you’d think. We have the Ontario Drug Benefit Plan that pays for drugs for seniors.

Indeed, I thought “universal health care” meant just that. Silly me.

Neupogen was originally used for chemotherapy patients and that’s the only use ODBP funds.

The Wakelings, who live in Astorville, near North Bay, have so far forked out over $4,000 for the drug.

When Shirley was first treated at Laurentian Hospital in Sudbury, the drug was free. Doctors also gave her a batch on compassionate grounds. But now, she’s on her own.

The medical bills for this couple, who have only government pensions to fall back on, are piling up. Ron doesn’t begrudge one cent he spends on his wife’s medication, but he’s already cashed some RRSPs to foot the bills.

What gets him fired up is the false notion of the “universality” of Canadian health care. He believes they’d be better off in the U.S., where at least they’d be able to buy private insurance to pay for the medication.

“If I was an American, I would be better off today than I am a Canadian,” he said in a telephone interview.

“Here I was led to believe all my life, universality was the name of the game, and we were all treated equally. You can call it what you want. I wish I’d known years ago and I would have bought private health care,” he said.

After all, if a doctor prescribes medication and if it works, shouldn’t the ODBP pick up the cost?

“Health care is not universal when one person has to pay and another person doesn’t,” he says. “Why do we pay 100% for a lot of drugs and 0% for others?” Good question.

Health ministry spokesman Andrew Morrison said Neupogen is generally associated with chemotherapy regimens for breast cancer and lymphoma. The ministry is working with Cancer Care Ontario to review a recent submission by the manufacturer requesting funding for the drug for use treating another condition — but not the kind of leukemia Shirley has.

“They may also be considered for coverage through the Exceptional Access Program for ODBP eligible recipients in certain chemotherapy regimens,” he said.

THE CATCH

That’s the catch. Shirley’s not getting chemotherapy. She’s using Neupogen to boost her immune system. When the couple applied for help through a so-called “drug advocate,” they came up empty.

Come September, this couple will have been married 59 years. They’re from a generation that doesn’t “bleat,” as Ron calls it.

Well, if they’ve been married 59 years, it means they’re fairly old. So… maybe they need a death with dignity counselor. That would be cheaper than paying $2500/month for medication, wouldn’t it?

- Aggie

If academia truly believed in diversity of thought, they’d hire a bow-tied conservative nibbish like Ben Stein or George Will to teach our children, instead of another Jew-hating Arab terrorist:

Following harsh condemnations by Jewish organizations, Canada’s Carleton University dropped plans on Tuesday to rehire a professor accused of killing four people in the 1980 bombing of a Paris synagogue.

Hassan Diab, 55, had been given a contract to teach a sociology class two days a week until mid August. Diab’s lawyer told a court Monday that his client had expected to resume teaching this week.

But the university said that a full-time faculty member “will immediately replace” him, explaining the move was meant to provide students “with a stable, productive academic environment that is conducive to learning,” according to a statement. The release also said there would be no further comment on the matter.

Diab, a Lebanese native who became a Canadian citizen in 1993, has been under virtual house arrest since he was arrested late last year. He has been granted bail but under strict conditions, while he’s fighting efforts by French authorities to extradite him.

The Canada office of the influential organization B’nai Brith said that the university had done “the right thing” by not letting Diab teach. Before the university statement on Diab, the organization released a statement saying it was “deeply disturbed” by the news that the alleged bomber of the deadly Rue Copernic synagogue will be teaching.

It was easier to replace him with a like-minded associate—dime a dozen, especially in Canada—than to trot out the tired defense of academic freedom.

Still, they lost a uniquely talented individual:

The Lebanese-born Canadian is accused of parking a bomb-laden motorcycle outside the synagogue on Paris’ Rue Copernic, killing three Frenchmen and an Israeli woman.

Mr. Diab has denied the allegations through his lawyer, who says he wasn’t even in France at the time. Colleagues have expressed disbelief.

Until yesterday, the French case against Mr. Diab was in a file sealed from public view, but yesterday the file was opened by order of a Canadian judge.

The case has four main points:

- Mr. Diab resembles police sketches of the bomber;

- His handwriting matches that of the bomber;

- He is identified by intelligence sources and former friends as having been a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine;

- His passport was used to get into France around the time of the 1980 bombing, in suspicious circumstances.

A misunderstanding, I’m sure.

From facts from a system that is both cost effective and fair

I just can’t wait!

President Obama says government will make health care cheaper and better. But there’s no free lunch.

In England, health care is “free” — as long as you don’t mind waiting. People wait so long for dentist appointments that some pull their own teeth. At any one time, half a million people are waiting to get into a British hospital. A British paper reports that one hospital tried to save money by not changing bedsheets. Instead of washing sheets, the staff was encouraged to just turn them over.

Obama insists he is not “trying to bring about government-run healthcare”.

“But government management does the same thing,” says Sally Pipes of the Pacific Research Institute. “To reduce costs they’ll have to ration — deny — care.”

“People line up for care, some of them die. That’s what happens,” says Canadian doctor David Gratzer, author of “The Cure”. He liked Canada’s government health care until he started treating patients.

“The more time I spent in the Canadian system, the more I came across people waiting for radiation therapy, waiting for the knee replacement so they could finally walk up to the second floor of their house.” “You want to see your neurologist because of your stress headache? No problem! Just wait six months. You want an MRI? No problem! Free as the air! Just wait six months.”

Polls show most Canadians like their free health care, but most people aren’t sick when the poll-taker calls. Canadian doctors told us the system is cracking. One complained that he can’t get heart-attack victims into the ICU.

In America, people wait in emergency rooms, too, but it’s much worse in Canada. If you’re sick enough to be admitted, the average wait is 23 hours.

“We can’t send these patients to other hospitals. Dr. Eric Letovsky told us. “Every other emergency department in the country is just as packed as we are.”

More than a million and a half Canadians say they can’t find a family doctor. Some towns hold lotteries to determine who gets a doctor. In Norwood, Ontario, “20/20″ videotaped a town clerk pulling the names of the lucky winners out of a lottery box. The losers must wait to see a doctor.

Shirley Healy, like many sick Canadians, came to America for surgery. Her doctor in British Columbia told her she had only a few weeks to live because a blocked artery kept her from digesting food. Yet Canadian officials called her surgery “elective.”

“The only thing elective about this surgery was I elected to live,” she said.

It’s true that America’s partly profit-driven, partly bureaucratic system is expensive, and sometimes wasteful, but the pursuit of profit reduces waste and costs and gives the world the improvements in medicine that ease pain and save lives.

“[America] is the country of medical innovation. This is where people come when they need treatment,” Dr. Gratzer says.

“Literally we’re surrounded by medical miracles. Death by cardiovascular disease has dropped by two-thirds in the last 50 years. You’ve got to pay a price for that type of advancement.”

Canada and England don’t pay the price because they freeload off American innovation. If America adopted their systems, we could worry less about paying for health care, but we’d get 2009-level care — forever.
Government monopolies don’t innovate. Profit seekers do.

We saw this in Canada, where we did find one area of medicine that offers easy access to cutting-edge technology — CT scan, endoscopy, thoracoscopy, laparoscopy, etc. It was open 24/7. Patients didn’t have to wait.

But you have to bark or meow to get that kind of treatment. Animal care is the one area of medicine that hasn’t been taken over by the government. Dogs can get a CT scan in one day. For people, the waiting list is a month.

Well, let’s all smile and say: Elections Have Consequences.

- Aggie

From the institute of higher learning that brought us a “virtual pogrom” last month, a conference on Zionism:

A controversial conference on peace in the Middle East is set to start Monday at Toronto’s York University, despite sharp criticism from local and international Jewish groups, who have called the partly government-sponsored event a “blatant exercise in anti-Zionist propaganda.”

Entitled “Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace,” the three-day meet features presentations by dozens of speakers, including Palestinian and Israeli scholars.

“The conference seeks to systematically measure models based on two states or a single binational state, federal and con-federal approaches, and other models in between and beyond,” according to the organizers. “The framework of the conference invites robust academic critique of the deficiencies, promise, and perils of the range of prospective models of statehood.”

…

“This sham of a conference, which questions the Jewish state’s very right to exist, promises to be a veritable ‘who’s who’ of anti-Israel propagandists,” Frank Dimant, the vice president of B’nai Brith Canada, said in statement. “This is not an issue of academic freedom, despite the great lengths the university is going to, to try to paint it in that light. It is purely and simply about delegitimizing the Jewish state and its supporters here at home - an exercise that runs far afield of so-called legitimate academic discourse.”

…

“The speakers range from the extreme left - those who say Israel should be wiped off the map - to Israelis who are quite hesitant about going,” Gerald Steinberg, the executive director of the Israeli watchdog NGO Monitor, told Haaretz. “Some of them said they realized that it’ll be a mini Durban,” he added, referring to the controversial UN-sponsored conference on racism.

I linked to the earlier story above, but here’s a reminder:

York University has reprimanded two students who took part in a mob that barricaded Jewish students in a Hillel lounge while yelling anti-Jewish and anti-Israel slurs.

In findings not made public, the university named Krisna Saravanamuttu, the incoming president of the York Federation of Students, and Jesse Zimmerman as having violated the York Student code of conduct for their participation in last February’s mob, which contributed to Jewish students “feeling intimidated, frightened, tense and nervous.”

The report found that Saravanamuttu and Zimmerman promoted an atmosphere of “hostility, incivility and intimidation.”

O, Canada, our home and nativist land…

Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by these sons-a-bitches of York:

York University has reprimanded two students who took part in a mob that barricaded Jewish students in a Hillel lounge while yelling anti-Jewish and anti-Israel slurs.

In findings not made public, the university named Krisna Saravanamuttu, the incoming president of the York Federation of Students, and Jesse Zimmerman as having violated the York Student code of conduct for their participation in last February’s mob, which contributed to Jewish students “feeling intimidated, frightened, tense and nervous.”

The report found that Saravanamuttu and Zimmerman promoted an atmosphere of “hostility, incivility and intimidation.”

…

Also last week, York said it would not interfere with an upcoming conference organized by faculty members and academics from other institutions, entitled “Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace.”

B’nai Brith Canada called the conference a “blatant exercise in anti-Zionist propaganda…which questions the Jewish state’s very right to exist.”

A silver lining:

However, Jewish students commended Shoukri for another statement in which the York president turned aside a proposed boycott of Israeli academics.

An academic boycott “is antithetical to the very purpose of a university,” Shoukri stated, adding that York “has consistently opposed the call to boycott Israeli universities.”