Why I don't support a "Palestinian" state

Led by Obama, there’s been a recent assertion by Western leaders that one should support the creation of 2 more Palestinian states at the cost of the Jewish people’s security, ability to visit their holy sites and ability to live in their heartland of their historic homeland.

In response, I ask, why oppose another radical Muslim state at the expense of a people with more than 3,300 year old ties to the very land and holy sites claimed? Let me count the ways.

I don’t support

· further rending of the 22% of the land allocated for the Jewish National Home that has not already been given over to Arab rule. Britain created Transjordan (now the Hashemite "Kingdom" of Jordan) in 1923 as a sop to Abdullah bin al-Hussein  on 78% of the land allocated for the Jewish National Home under its League of Nations mandate. (Abdullah bin al-Hussein family’s had been usurped by ibn Saud’s clans in lands that became Saudi Arabia). In the remaining 22% of the Mandate lands, when Jews were struggling to leave the Europe that would become their death bed, the British admitted more than 5 Arabs for every Jew in the 1920s and 30s. Emir Abdullah of Transjordan (as he now was) complained that he was fast becoming a king without subjects as vast numbers of Arabs were drawn to Jewish-created health and prosperity across the river, not only from Transjordan but also from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and even from as far away as Italian conquered Libya.

· ethnic cleansing of Christians such that their population has diminished from 80% to 20% at Jesus’ birthplace since the Oslo Accords gave control of Bethlehemi to arafat and his terrorist gangs in 1993.

· a force that demands any land it rules be ethnically cleansed of Jews.

· rewarding Arafat and his corrupt gangs for launching a terror war after taking land given for peace under the Oslo Accords, but failing to give peace in return.

· the surrender of Gaza to Hamas, a violent jihadi terrorist group supplied with arms by Iran and that daily fires missiles at Israeli kindergartens, school buses and other civilian targets.

· a state created to salve Arab officials who have, since the PLO’s birth in 1964, repeatedly admitted that the creation of a spurious history and a Palestinian Arab people( as noted above, largely drawn from those Arabs of Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt and even Libya) was but for a single purpose; to use as a tool to eradicate Israel.

· The creation of another theocratic state for an Arab grouping that is linguistically, historically, culturally, socially and ethnically identical to other Arabs living in the other 24 vast Arab countries.

· Anti-Semitism

The appeasers are back shilling for Iran

No democratically minded person wished for war with Hitler, Stalin or Mussolini in 1939, and yet the Second World War came. No democratically minded person wishes for war with Iran and its sponsored terror groups in 2012, and yet it will come. Iran is already waging war against other countries via support for terrorist activities in Iraq, Lebanon (it has effectively taken over that country via Hezbollah) and Gaza versus Israel.

Sitting here in the democratic Western World a la Chamberlain claiming that Iran has done nothing to us, and like the forsken Czechoslovakia of 1938, that Iran’s is “a far-away country” and that the quarrel is “between people of whom we know nothing” simply will not stop Hitler’s ambitious successors in both thought and deed. Iran’s leadership have told us what they intend to do, Hitler did too. War is coming and the choice is not ours whether we will not escape it in the West. The question is whether it will be with a nuclear armed Iran or not.

Toronto council abandoning the city's quality of life by resurrecting streetcars (called early trams in the 1900's)

It is reported that Toronto City Council have reversed their decision to place trams underground and not clogging the streets of Toronto. In addition, it is reported that the Council wish to limit certain publicly paid for roads to buses. Before you ask, or dismiss this message as a car junkie rant, you ought to be aware that I walk, bike and use the TTC every day to get to work.

The fiasco of placing streetcars above ground was to be done away following the termination of the Miller administration, but it is reported that the current Council appear to have revived this debacle on the basis of short term thinking and possibly political gain. If so, their actions do their elected office a disservice.

Let me first tell you that I have seen the devastation to a city’s quality of life that streetcars/trams and bus lanes bring. I lived through the horror of it in Manchester, England and if people think the St. Clair monstrosity was bad, they have no idea what is coming due to the councillors’ dereliction of duty, supposedly to make Toronto a wonderful place to live.

Manchester resurrected trams in the 1990’s for many of the same reasons that Toronto Council now seem to want to. They wanted to create gridlock to force people onto public transport and were short of the will to fund real forward thinking infrastructure. Like Toronto, Manchester also had limited funds due to huge labour costs of the city’s workforce, even as real services were cut (not the same peripheral entitlements that are being fought over by a small number of vocal beneficiaries in Toronto).

Manchester is a poorer city than Toronto, with significantly more amounts of street crime, which also meant taking public transport was often dangerous. Nevertheless, the driven council of Manchester pushed forward and were given a huge boost when the IRA blew up the city centre in 1996. They had a clean slate to make the city in their mind’s image. Therefore they removed road lanes for vehicles, putting in trams and bus lanes. It has been a total disaster for the whole quality of life in the city because movement has ground to a virtual halt. Street crime has always been high, but has increased due to slow moving pedestrians being exposed to the vagaries of a limited inefficient public transport system also caught up in the gridlock. Manchester has approximately 1 million people and yet this is what trams did to a smaller city.

Trams are a technology from the early 1900’s when private vehicular travel was a luxury and few roads were needed. Trams/streetcars create gridlock, are slow, old fashioned, and are limited to specific routes with no flexibility. Major cities rightfully moved away from them as soon as possible. Trams are for cities that cannot afford proper infrastructure, that have a political anti-car agenda and that have no substantial private vehicle ownership. Trams are not an option for a first world city looking to better life for its inhabitants in the medium to long term future. If density in Toronto is what is desired, then underground public transport is the only alternative for a first class city. Putting trams above ground and reducing roads by offering lanes to buses only, is a backward step for this city.

Part of the last municipal election in Toronto was about getting away from the idiocy of streetcars above ground, and to get away from the imposition of downtown councillor militant anti-car agendas on those living North of St. Clair. The apparent abandonment of the wishes of most non-radical citizens by dint of backroom shenanigans is a disgrace to the councillors’office. Due to hidden political manoeuvring to which we have no transparent visibility, it is almost certain that these idiot councillors will not reverse course and come back to sanity for the benefit of Toronto.

Nonetheless, I wanted to register my outrage at their contribution to the destruction of quality of life in this city. It could have been great, but if the reports are accurate, then Toronto will now degrade into a second class mediocre humdrum workaday city because of the councillors’ petty thinking for short term political gain.

The best place for trams is to be buried underground and that they should never see the light of day again.

Absolutely disgusted by Toronto council’s reported short sighted behaviour.