tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18185723.post512202681807371245..comments2023-10-03T06:46:55.073-07:00Comments on THE GROUSE'S PERCH: The Georgia Strait's Big DicksN. Grouse Dalehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16924166468582608138noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18185723.post-8497489911718867452011-04-04T07:35:40.527-07:002011-04-04T07:35:40.527-07:00I wonder if Mike Cowie and jack O'Neill are go...I wonder if Mike Cowie and jack O'Neill are going to give a close reading to the retraction that Justice Goldstone is now making, based on admitting that he basically found Israel guilty of crimes for which there was no evidence. Remarkably for a man of his legal stature Goldstone now apologizes explaining that "allegations of intentionality by Israel were based on the deaths of and injuries to civilians in situations where our fact-finding mission had no evidence on which to draw any other reasonable conclusion." In other words, since he had nothing to go on he figured that condemning Israel would play well amongst the Commission he reported to - you know the one that has Qaddafi's Libya as an active leading reviewer of human rights issues.N. Grouse Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16924166468582608138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18185723.post-27007925296961448362010-01-21T09:30:40.923-08:002010-01-21T09:30:40.923-08:00I have belatedly responded to the Mr. O'Neill ...I have belatedly responded to the Mr. O'Neill back at Mike's site - the response awaits approval there. I will only repeat here what I said that even a more balanced and profound rebuttal than Mr. O'Neill's would never scare me off responding and that not doing so previously was due to not seeing his bons mots rather than, as he suggested, "embarrassment" -- an emotion I do not often suffer from!N. Grouse Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16924166468582608138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18185723.post-3483535988864732122010-01-20T14:34:55.011-08:002010-01-20T14:34:55.011-08:00On the 13-1-10 I posted a comment to the Georgia S...On the 13-1-10 I posted a comment to the Georgia Strait website in response to a comment posted by a Mr. Norman Dale, who in turn was responding to a piece written by Mr. Mike Cowie. My comment never received a reply. The comment can be found here:<br /><br /> <br /><br />http://www.straight.com/article-279675/vancouver/look-back-biggest-dicks-decade<br /><br /> <br /><br />I wrote:<br /><br /> <br /><br />Norman Dale writes: 'Hamas which encouraged the prolonged and provocative missile attacks which gave the Israelis justification for invasion'<br /><br /> <br /><br />The Israeli spokesman Mark Regev admitted that it was not Hamas who broke the ceasefire by the firing of rockets but other Palestinian factions. Hence, the Israeli position is being misrepresented by Mr. Dale. The admission by Mr. Regev can be found here:<br /><br /> <br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SILJxPTqjAM<br /><br /> <br /><br />Also: 'Egypt seems quite as interested as Israel is in containing the Gaza Palestinians'. This occurs because they are paid by America to do as they are told.<br /><br /> <br /><br />And: 'there are far fewer restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank' The regime there has been described as worse than apartheid in South Africa by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Mr. Dales commentary is akin to saying that because a man merely beats his wife to the extent that she no longer needs hospitalisation then it is acceptable. Maybe the blacks in South Africa should also have been grateful for their bantustans.<br /><br /> <br /><br />This is a very uninformed commentary. There is not a mention of the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians in 1948, Israels 'original sin', which is at the heart of this conflict. Not a single historical reference, simply start the clock at the point of each retaliatory attack by Palestinians and then present Israels behaviour as a 'response'.<br /><br /> <br /><br />End of comment<br /><br /> <br /><br />It can be excruciatingly embarrassing when our position is undermined by the very people that we support. This is the only reason that I can think of for the lack of response by Mr. Dale, and moving instead to a safe haven to continue the lie that official Israel itself has discredited is highly suspect. In addition, if anyone wrote about Israeli Jews in the same rabid manner as Mr. Dale writes about the Palestinians they would be called anti-Semitic, and that would be fairly accurate.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Jack O'NeillAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18185723.post-35165131449695058102010-01-18T14:08:50.912-08:002010-01-18T14:08:50.912-08:00Thanks much for reading and responding. I am going...Thanks much for reading and responding. I am going to be my courteous self and leave you the last word on Israel, 'cause I always find it so amusing when someone begins, as you do, "I'm not going to get into a back and forth about Israel" but then tries to get the last word in....several times! Oh well, I was young and impetuous once too! But you are right that we sure as heck are not going to converge on this point although I suspect we may on many others. <br /><br />This said, be assured that I will ponder your points and, if you come back here (and I hope you do), much more will be said in future blogs about asymmetric perspectives on Israel as on inconsistent perpsectives about colonizers and their paradisaical gratifications.<br />Meanwhile you have inspired me to add a new category of links for fellow carpers. I do like your blog.N. Grouse Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16924166468582608138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18185723.post-83680816804561202972010-01-18T12:09:26.842-08:002010-01-18T12:09:26.842-08:00Hey Norman
Mike Cowie here. I'm not going to g...Hey Norman<br />Mike Cowie here. I'm not going to get into a back and forth about Israel with you because it'll never go anywhere. I just want to say that I always find it amazing that people like yourself who stand up for justice and against oppression in every spot around the globe can somehow turn a blind eye to Israel's brutal decades-old oppression of the Palestinian people.<br /><br />The Tibetans, the blacks of South Africa under apartheid, the Natives of Canada (and of all the Americas), the people of Darfur, etc. etc. - all these people deserve justice, but not the Palestinians.<br /><br />Oh and by the way, Israel is not "the only democracy in the Middle East" as Turkey is, of course, a democracy and is part of the Middle East.<br /><br />And in regards to your final point: "So much more comfy to point fingers across the sea than to come to terms with the extent to which Cowie like most Lotuslanders, sings praise for living in a 'paradise' invaded and then stolen from the original inhabitants." Let me just say that I fully understand the horrific legacy of this country's treatment of its Native inhabitants. In fact, I placed it at #2 on my list of The Top 10 Things To Hate About Canada:<br /><br />http://mikesanddislikes.com/politics_canada_top_ten_things_to_love_and_hate<br /><br />I also wrote about it, in part, here:<br /><br />"Finally An Apology: The Canadian Native Residential Schools Rant"<br /><br />http://mikesanddislikes.com/politics_canada_finally_an_apology_the_canadian_native_residential_schools_rant<br /><br />Cheers<br /> MikeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com