They don't even notice the hypocrisy

Predictably, The Calgary Herald has come down on the side of protecting Canadians from the terrifying threat of a lefty British MP peace campaigner by barring George Galloway. In their remarkably pompous editorial today they call Galloway's barring simply the law being applied to someone who has supported terrorists like Hamas.

Section 34(1) of the act specifically forbids people who materially support terrorist activities from coming into the country. Galloway has not only publicly declared his support for Hamas, among other organizations, but he has boasted of providing these terrorists with financial aid. He is perfectly free to speak out on his support for them, but aiding them is in clear contravention of the law.
Galloway was scheduled to give a speech March 30 at a conference whose theme is entitled Resisting War From Gaza to Kandahar, sponsored by the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War.Kenney's spokesperson, Alykhan Velshi, said the ban was being issued under Canada's "security laws," that"special treatment"would not be provided to Galloway due to his financial support of Hamas, which is banned in Canada, and also because Galloway "offers sympathy for Canada's enemies in Afghanistan." Galloway gave several thousand dollars to the Hamas-led Gaza government, along with several dozen vehicles.

This is the formulation preferred by Canada's Conservative government and the Neo-Con press. for purposes of propaganda it is superior to the just as accurate 'Offered support for the people of Gaza suffering a humanitarian crisis in their giant outdoor prison by providing support for food and medicine to their chosen elected representatives.'

Jason Kenney, the government of Stephen Harper and the Can West editorial board appear to believe their distaste for the Palestinian people's elected representatives thereby annuls that democratic choice. If the Western world wants Palestinians to elect moderates - push Israel to show any kind of progress to justify supporting moderates in the minds of the Palestinian people. Hamas, after all was the creation of the government of Israel and it's security services - as pointed out, among other places, in that well known commie rag The Wall Street Journal - in an effort to undercut the power of secular Palestinian movements.

They succeeded and now they and those offering them unstinting support have villains allowing them to tar all Palestinians and all those empathizing with their suffering with the brush of terrorism. The Herald finishes up with this spectacularly clueless display of cognitive dissonance:

No, this is not about free speech. It's about the strength and principle of Canadian law. Kenney is upholding it exactly as it should be upheld.

This is the paper after all, that greeted a visiting George W. Bush as 'a vastly important figure upon whom no comprehensive judgment can be rendered until the history of the next 20 years is known.' described his visit as a 'feather in Calgary's cap' and opined rapturously that Bush was 'welcome to speak' here.

Thereby spitting on Canadian and international law that requires anyone credibly accused of war crimes be arrested and prosecuted no matter who they are.

Call the two editorials the tale of two 'Georges'.

The Calgary Herald's righteous upholding of the purity of the law would leave less of a bitter taste in the reader's mouth if they hadn't made it so abundantly clear that the law should not apply to the rich and powerful known to have violated international law on torture, waged a war of aggression, committed acts of kidnapping and murder and spied on his own citizens, but should be applied vigorously to a leftist gadfly guilty of providing support to the victims of atrocious human rights violations who, more importantly, has said mean things about Stephen Harper and his government.

The Herald's editorial offers a timely reminder that the Latin root of the word Privilege is simply 'private law' - one law for the rich and powerful, another for the rest of us. To the Calgary Herald this formulation is so inherently part of their basic world view that they don't even notice when they are explicitly promoting it.