What's the dealio on all the outrage following Stephen Harper's remark that "virtually all" the 8 candidates running for the Liberal leadership race are anti-Israel? Oh, right, this is Canada. Canadians love to wax indignant especially when provoked by a Conservative Prime Minister commenting on the leadership choices running for the "natural governing party." Harper's comment came at an awfully convenient time for Michael Ignatieff supporters just as their leader was spastically flipping all over the place over the issue of Israel's attack on the Lebanese town of Qana this past Summer. He's gone from suggesting he lost no sleep over civilian deaths caused by the war in Qana, to suggesting Israel committed war crimes when it attacked the Lebanese town. Harper's comments came at an opportune time for Liberals to loudly wail in protest in order to drown out a major gaffe committed by their Harvard Messiah. It's a nice tactic of distraction, commonly used by 6 year olds.

While it would've been wise for Harper to keep quiet and allow the leadership contenders to pummel Ignatieff by themselves, it shouldn't be lost on observers how serious Ignatieff's flip flop puts to question his decisiveness on international issues.

Perhaps it was tactical for Harper to point out his own resolute stance on the recent mideast conflict which did not waver one bit, but in fact challenged the fence-sitting or non existant traditional stance Canada had played in that region of the world, primarily under Liberal governments. That fact is we saw examples of bias by the Liberal party against the state of Israel this summer. Let's not forget the "fact finding mission" Opposition MP's took to Lebanon this August. As well, calls to remove Hezbollah from the terrorist list.

Harper's not accusing Liberals of being anti-semetic, he's accusing them of being anti-Israel. Maybe it was a stretch for Harper to blanket the entire slate of Liberal contenders as anti-Israel, when in fact backbench elements in the Liberal caucus better fit the bill. It may not exactly be fitting for a Prime Minister to make such a statement, but to those who see Ignatieff's bold statement claiming "war crimes" as refreshing, the same can be said of Harper who isn't afraid of saying what's on his mind as well.

The stereotype of an environmental activist is the vegetarian, sandal wearing, multiple pierced liberal with no tolerance for a conservative government, and especially any type of environmental policy formulated by a conservative. It doesn't matter how environmental a right leaning government could possibly be, it's assumed by environmental groups that conservatives are more interested in the green of money than the green of nature. This, despite the fact that leading environmentalists crowned Brian Mulroney, a (Progressive) conservative, the greenest Prime Minister in Canadian history for his efforts to reduce acid rain, and his establishment of the South Moresby national park. Here is a case where the results of environmental plans are graded for their effectiveness. So while many would conclude Jean Chretien and Paul Martin as green Prime Ministers for advancing Canada's willingnesss to embrace the Kyoto protocol, they fail the grade for a hollow promise whereby meeting targets to reduce greenhouse gases became quite clearly, an impossible undertaking.

Then, on the eve after drawing this cartoon I watched a great program on PBS hosted by Bill Moyers which investigated conservative attitudes towards the environment through evangelical Christians. It challenged the old notions that to be environmental, you have to be liberal. Here's how the program is described:

A new holy war is growing within the conservative evangelical community, with implications for both the global environment and American politics. For years liberal Christians and others have made protection of the environment a moral commitment. Now a number of conservative evangelicals are joining the fight, arguing that man's stewardship of the planet is a biblical imperative and calling for action to stop global warming.

But they are being met head-on by opposition from their traditional evangelical brethren who adamantly support the Bush administration in downplaying the threat of global warming and other environmental perils. The political stakes are high: Three out of every four white evangelical voters chose George W. Bush in 2004. "Is God Green?" explores how a serious split among conservative evangelicals over the environment and global warming could reshape American politics. For more on this documentary...