Green Party to me : “Shame on you”

Woe is me.  The Green Party has shamed me.

Here is the situation.  If you read this site or any blogs actually, you might know that I came across pictures of Elizabeth May at an anti-Israel protest.  It was in front of the Israeli consulate and the crowd and speakers were insulting Israel and Jewish groups like the JNF.  You can watch the video, look at the pics.  There’s not a lot of ambiguity when you’re chanting the Hezbollah battle hymn in front of the Israeli consulate.

That battle hymn?

Give me my weapon oh mother, and load the machine gun!

Oh mother pray for me in your night so that I can become a tough Mujahid standing against Israel!

God-willing I will be granted martyrdom in this battlefield so that my path and blood will remain a light!

Standing in front of the Israeli consulate while men chant THAT and wave a flag with a machine gun (!) on it – this is not something Ms. May thinks deserves a cross word or two.  Go figure.

So right, the situation.

I post these pictures, it bounces around the internet, and Warren Kinsella reacts.  He demands that Elizabeth May make a strong statement condemning Hezbollah.  She doesn’t.  She condemns their missiles - but the group and the racists standing 10 feet in front of her, not at all.

So I try to meet her.  That doesn’t work out (my fault entirely) and I decide instead to poll the Green Party to get their views.  Those views range from ‘Zionists = Hezbollah’ to ‘Hezbollah are terrorists’ – though none think it is their duty to fight racism here at home.

This gets the attention of the Green Party media office and the Jewish Tribune – the B’nai Brith’s newspaper.  They contact me to ask a few questions and during that interview, they tell me that the Green Party rep called this blog a “right wing white supremacist” site – and by extension, they called me a “white supremacist”.

An illustration before I continue.  This is my family.  I’m the kid on the other kid’s (my cousin) head.  Everyone there is a blood relative.

We’re a very traditional native family.

I’m a confrontational person.  So with the accusation reported to have been made by a political party soon to appear in the press – I got angry.  Which is when I lawyered up & thank you to Kathy Shaidle for the recommendation.

Lawyers are expensive.  I’ve never paid for my own.  Wow.

Right, the lawyering up begins, and the retainer fee is announced.  So I decide to confront the Green Party one last time to see if the credible threat of a lawsuit is enough to get them to recant.  Their media office contacts me and I tell them to explain themselves:

Mr. Andrews and Ms. May,

… I am currently in consultation with my lawyer in preparation of a libel notice to your party which (I am told) referred to me as a “white supremacist” in an interview with the B’nai Brith’s newspaper, ‘the Jewish Tribune’.  Seeing as I am aboriginal, have a Jewish partner, and have recently worked closely with the national native leadership to pressure the Liberals to drop a racist candidate -  I find the accusation from your office to be both absurd and offensive.

I need to pay my lawyer the retainer fee before Monday morning – which most likely means by 6 pm today.  If you want to clarify what you said to the paper and pre-emptively retract the accusation then I will drop the issue.  I don’t need an apology at this moment, I just need you to say that whoever called me a “white supremacist” was speaking out of turn, and that you retract the accusation.

It is currently 3:30pm where I am.

Robert Jago

After moving around through a couple spelling-challenged people I get to John Bennett.  Do you know John Bennett?  He’s the sub-literate fool who was forced to apologize for his uninformed and ridiculous threats against a blogger named Buckdog.  Bennett is pictured below.

Here’s what he had to say to me:

from    John Bennett <aajb@rogers.com>
to    rjjago@gmail.com
cc    “gpc-candidates-googlegroups.com” <gpc-candidates@googlegroups.com>
date    Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 7:58 PM
subject    Re Legal Action
signed-by    rogers.com

hide details Sep 26 (3 days ago)

Mr. Jago

I spoke to the Tribune so I assume you are referring to me.

I did not say you were a white supremacist.

I said, “I had been told that the deliberate smear campaign against a women who has devoted her life to peace and protecting the environment was posted on a white supremacist site.” The reporter asked me to verify it so I investigated and later called her back and told her I had been misinformed and that it was posted on your site and the Western Standard.

I demonstrated more due diligence and journalistic professionalism than you. I note you made no effort to contact Ms. May to enable her to respond to your specious allegations before rushing to judgement. A decent journalist or campaigner or whatever you think of yourself as has a sense of fair play and hopefully some professionalism.

Your reaction to what you believed I said indicates you have some sensitivity to being falsely accused. How do you imagine Ms. May feels about the things you have published about her? Did she immediately threaten legal action?

Appointing yourself judge, jury and executioner makes it very difficult for you to now claim injury.

Shame on you.

jb

I can’t vouch for the veracity of Mr. Bennett’s statement.  It is slightly different from what the Tribune told me – though that can easily be human error.

I’m not going to defend myself against that hack – I don’t feel I need to.  He has retracted / partially denied his statements so good enough for the moment.

To get a feel for these people – take a look at this forced apology from Mr. Bennett below and then read his response to me again – it sure does seem that that angry man has a habit of shooting his mouth off without thinking:

Dear Mr. Buckdog,
I apologize for my hasty email yesterday. My actions came out of a concern to ensure that internet content is an honest and real representation of facts and I look forward to future positive dialogue with you and other bloggers.
In the TVO clip, Elizabeth May clearly says “they” think Canadians are stupid, referring to the opinions of some politicians. She then turns to the questioner and agrees with HIS assessment that a carbon tax is essential. No spin can change that.
I have included a video clip and quote from Elizabeth May that indicate her clear respect for the intelligence of Canadians.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIWFDsmmfz4
“It needs to be explained, but I think Canadians are smart enough to understand the idea that we need to ensure that we reduce our use of fossil fuels, that the climate crisis is upon us, and this is not the only thing we need to do, but it is the foundation for a successful climate policy,” Elizabeth May said. CTV’s Question Period on Sunday, May 25, 2008.
Sincerely,
John Bennett

That party – it’s shocking the amateurishness of it. What do they think they’re doing in this election?  Hopefully after they merge with Igantieff’s Liberals, things will be a bit more professional.

One last thing – Notice the picture above of John Bennett.  He was also the head of a “non-partisan” group called Climate for Change. Steve Janke has info on them.  As does the M.A.D. blog.  That’s some interesting due diligence right there.

Shame on me?  Ha.

Filed under: Politics , Canada, election, Green Party, Politics