Free Republic

The leftist bias and activist drumbeating of today’s major media is as self-evident as it is plentiful. A look at how major media acts in North America’s most liberal cities gives us an indication of the true dangers that media bias poses here. The examples below should serve as a vital wake up call to conservatives to relentlessly point out the biases of the media at every turn so as to prevent our voices from being wiped out of the public debate. Certainly, the lengths that the dominant media of left leaning cities goes to in trumpeting their point of...

McQuaig does not once make mention of the 80 rockets that Hamas lobbed into populated areas of Israel. The fact that Israel and Hamas signed a six month truce, which Hamas refused to resign is also ignored. In fact, McQuaig quotes Richard Falk, a man she refers to as a “Jewish-American professor,” as saying that the situation was Israel’s fault for having entered into Gaza a month ago on a military incursion. The truth is that intermittent attacks coming from Gaza were commonplace even after the ceasefire was signed. Hamas continually broke the terms and conditions throughout its six month...

In PM's world, girls will be herded back to the kitchen, and gays back to the closet, says Linda McQuaig Oct. 15, 2006. 01:00 AM LINDA MCQUAIG When it comes to equality for women, Stephen Harper is all for it — as long as the women are in Afghanistan. Last May, the Prime Minister told Parliament that ensuring equality rights for women was one of the key reasons Canada is waging war in Afghanistan. Certainly Harper's claims of championing the rights of burqa-clad women have helped him sell that unpopular war to Canadians. But when there's no war to peddle,...

Using religion to spread hate is repugnant, says Linda McQuaig Oct. 8, 2006. 01:00 AM LINDA MCQUAIG A black man and a white woman stand before a justice of the peace, eager to exchange their wedding vows. But as they look lovingly into each other's eyes, the justice of the peace refuses to proceed — because he disapproves of interracial marriage. This sort of discrimination would be repugnant to most Canadians. It's also not allowed in Canada. So if the JP, whose salary is paid by taxpayers, refused to do his job and marry the interracial couple, he would be...

Our governments have usually tried to be fair, says Linda McQuaig Aug. 6, 2006. 01:00 AM It's unlikely anyone would ever confuse Stephen Harper with the late Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Still, it's interesting to note the very different ways the two Canadian prime ministers responded to Israeli invasions of Lebanon. When Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982, Trudeau was one of the first Western leaders to condemn the assault and call for Israel's withdrawal. Harper, however, has been supportive of the current Israeli invasion, which has killed hundreds of Lebanese civilians, about one-third of them children. Even as Israel's devastating...

Wildly disproportionate attack on Lebanon seems like pretext to confront Iran, says Linda McQuaig Jul. 16, 2006. 01:00 AM As Israeli firepower rained down on Lebanon last week, pundits here in the West wasted no time pinning the blame on — Iran. "Iran and its radical allies are pushing toward war," wrote Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. Washington defence commentator Edward Luttwak weighed in: "Iran's leaders have apparently decided to reject the Western offer to peacefully settle the dispute over its weapons-grade uranium-enrichment program." In fact, Iran's leaders haven't rejected the "Western offer;" they've said publicly they will respond to...

The PM is copying George Bush's tactics with his allegation of `liberal media bias,' says Linda McQuaig May 28, 2006. 01:00 AM LINDA MCQUAIG Despite being the longest-serving member of the White House press corps, Helen Thomas almost never gets to ask George Bush a question. That's because Bush controls who asks the questions and he doesn't like the kind of tough, doubting questions that she asks. Given a rare chance recently, she pointedly asked him: If the Iraq war wasn't about oil, what was it about? If Bush hadn't had such tight control over the media, his plan to...

He's aping Bush and seems too fond of secrecy, says Linda McQuaig Apr. 2, 2006. 01:00 AM In his election campaign, Stephen Harper played down his radical views, presenting himself as a moderate mostly interested in restoring honest government. Still, Canadians were aware when they elected Harper — giving him a weak mandate — that he favours tougher crime laws, less generous social policy and more tax cuts. What they didn't know is that he's also secretive and arrogant. Another thing Canadians might not have known because it didn't come up much in the campaign, is that the Prime Minister...

Our reputation for promoting peace, is at risk, says Linda McQuaig Mar. 19, 2006. 01:00 AM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There's a campaign afoot to convince Canadians we aren't loved in the world. As prominent military commentator Jack Granatstein recently put it: "Canadians are targets, no matter how we try to convince ourselves that the world loves us. It doesn't." Similarly, Gen. Rick Hillier, reportedly told The Globe and Mail's editorial board that "it's folly to think terrorists will pass us by because we're nice." Convincing Canadians we're just as hated as Americans has a purpose: It helps make the case that we...

Linda McQuaig argues that proposed $7 billion in tax cuts would be better spent on 250,000 homeless LINDA MCQUAIG An amazing thing happened last spring. Fearing it was about to be toppled, the minority Liberal government of Paul Martin gave in to NDP leader Jack Layton's demand that almost $5 billion in corporate tax cuts be cancelled and the money spent instead on things Canadians desperately want — including housing, public transit and the environment. And the country didn't collapse. Economist Mike McCracken notes that the $5 billion in corporate tax cuts would have mainly ended up in the coffers...

Linda McQuaig says right may have met its match in hurricane crisis When terrorists struck the World Trade Center, George W. Bush and his handlers quickly adopted a muscular approach to the crisis. Not so with Katrina. While 9/11 prompted the administration to unleash the full resources of America in response, the deadly Katrina crisis had trouble catching Bush's attention. But then 9/11 was quickly spotted as the perfect justification for what Republicans wanted to do anyway: mobilize the U.S. for war and enhance the power of the military-industrial complex. The Katrina disaster offers no such opportunities. On the contrary,...

Linda McQuaig says we've been tricked into working too hard "Anybody who has lived in Europe knows how delicious European life can be." So wrote New York Times columnist David Brooks last week. He got that part right. Not only do the Europeans have great food, wine, clothes and architecture, but they've managed to avoid the slavish obedience to the marketplace that has left North Americans chained to their work stations, feeling obliged to work ever harder in order to consume ever more trinkets. The corporate world has certainly been successful in indoctrinating North Americans in the mentality of full-blown...

A common complaint is that revelations from the Gomery inquiry have brought the operation of the federal government effectively to a halt. One front that Ottawa seems to keep doggedly moving ahead on — regrettably — is our military integration with the U.S. Indeed, while the Gomery issue built to a crescendo last week, hardly any attention was paid to the release of a defence policy review that signalled Ottawa's intention to make the Canadian military more part of the U.S. war machine — a change that would likely offend most Canadians if they were aware of it. Of course,...