Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has pledged his country's "steadfast support, encouragement and friendship" to Israel in a speech to B'nai Brith Canada.
"Israel, as a fellow democracy that prefers peace, as true democracies always do, can count on Canada's steadfast friendship, support and encouragement," the Conservative party leader said last week in Ottawa.
Canada's foreign policy under the conservative party government would be guided by values of "freedom, democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and the uncompromising opposition to terrorism," he said. This philosophical stance compelled Canada to stand behind Israel, as "this government cannot and will not be neutral." Israel's enemies were not motivated by irredentist territorial claims, but sought "the destruction of Israel and the destruction of the Jewish people," he said.
"Those who seek to destroy the Jews will, for the same reason, ultimately seek to destroy us all," the prime minister said, explaining "why we defended Israel's right to vigorous and effective self-defense against Hizbullah."
Harper told the dinner that in his October 7 telephone conversation with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, he came away convinced that Israel sought a "genuine peace" for the region. Canada backed a two-state solution with a viable Palestinian state, ...   more »

New release has critics
By John Chadwich
(Hackensack, N.J.) Record
HACKENSACK, N.J. - The story takes place in a time of violent upheaval, with humanity divided into three groups: Christians, the forces of Satan and everyone else.
The Christians' mission is simple: defeat the bad guys and convert as many people as possible to Christianity. This apocalyptic story line, some Christians believe, is prophesied in the Bible. Now they're bringing it to a toy store near you.
Next month, a California company will release Left Behind: Eternal Forces a computer video game aimed at teenagers. In it, Christians battle the forces of the Antichrist on the streets of a smoldering, war-ravaged New York City.
Based on the successful Left Behind book series, the game enlists players in a virtual version of the battle between good and evil. Players can fight on the side of the Christian ``Tribulation Force'' or join the Antichrist's ``Global Community Peacekeepers'' -- a thinly veiled reference to the United Nations, critics say.
To win, the Christian side must recruit converts, set up bases and train combat units. As in other real-time strategy games, players use violence -- including modern military weapons -- to vanquish enemies.
The ...   more »

Michael Freund, THE JERUSALEM POST  Oct. 18, 2006

The warning signs are everywhere, yet no one wishes to see them. Israel's foes are gearing up for war, and it's time that we opened our eyes to the danger that confronts us.
The conflict may be just weeks or even months away, or perhaps a bit longer. How it will start is anyone's guess, but make no mistake, a major outbreak of hostilities is almost certainly around the corner.
If this sounds like scare-mongering or even an advanced case of paranoia to you, just take a glance at the newspapers from the past few weeks. If you read them with a discerning eye, you will see exactly what I mean.
For whichever direction one chooses to look, be it north, south or east of us, trouble - major trouble - is brewing.
In Lebanon, Hizbullah is busy rebuilding its expansive terrorist infrastructure after this summer's fighting with Israel. Under the protective shield of UN troops, the group has been welcoming large shipments of weapons from Iran and Syria, and fortifying its bunkers in advance of the next round of conflict.
In a speech delivered last month in Beirut, on September 22, ...   more »

David Limbaugh
Friday, Oct. 20, 2006
Democrats, with the unsolicited aid of some Republicans, have put on a full court press for "values voters" in their bid to regain control of Congress.
Through various tactics, like tarring the entire GOP with the Foley scandal, and capitalizing on defections by some Christians from the GOP, they hope to suppress the Christian conservative voter turnout. At the same time, they are courting the votes of those they can't discourage enough to stay home.
Democrats have been agonizing since Election Day 2004 over how to repackage their message to deceive values voters into believing they truly represent their interests. Never mind their promotion of same-sex marriage, abortion on demand and partial birth abortion. Never mind their ridiculing of Christian conservatives, their comparisons of Christian "fundamentalists" to Islamic fundamentalists or their institutional sneering at Boy Scouts.
Then, serendipitously, as if by divine intervention, Foley fell into their laps. Next, with the pre-election timing that conspiracy theorists couldn't possibly countenance as coincidence, a number of Republican "insiders" released books recommending a downscaling of influence by Christian conservatives on the Republican Party.
Former Sen. John Danforth's book laments the Christian right's apparent hold on the GOP. ...   more »

By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
With affordable AIDS drugs arriving in many poor countries, experts say a startling and worrisome side effect has emerged: in some patients, the treatment uncovers a hidden leprosy infection.
No one knows how widespread the problem is. Only about a dozen cases have been described in medical literature since the first one was found, in London in 2003. But AIDS specialists in Brazil, India, Africa, the Caribbean and elsewhere are reporting that some patients on life-saving antiretroviral drugs are developing painful facial ulcers or losing feeling in their fingers and toes.
And in the third world, where 300,000 new cases of leprosy were discovered last year and where 38 million are infected with the AIDS virus, the problem will inevitably get worse, experts say.
“This is just the peak of the iceberg,” said Dr. William Levis, who treats leprosy patients at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. “It’s early in the game. Most physicians don’t even think about leprosy, so there’s probably much more around than we know.”
Dr. Gilla Kaplan, a professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and one of the first to study connections between AIDS and leprosy, ...   more »