Sid Ryan, president of CUPE Ontario, and Janice Folk-Dawson, chair of the university workers committee, are demanding that Israeli professors be expelled from Ontario university campuses in light of the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

I'd like to say that this echoes a similar proposal to ban Palestinian scholars until Hamas stopped firing rockets and mortars into Israel, but try as I might, I've not been able to find such a resolution reported.

But then the two things aren't the same.  See, the difference is that Hamas is right and Jews are wrong and bad and need to have their heads examined.

Hey, that's not my opinion.  That's what Sid Ryan and Janice Folk-Dawson are saying.

On December 10, Stephane Dion was shown the door as Liberal Party leader.  Indeed, such was the rush to be rid of the man, the Liberals simply installed Michael Ignatieff as the new leader, forgoing a leadership campaign, and planning to simply confirm his appointment next May (when a leadership convention was supposed to have occurred). 

I'm surprised, therefore, that the Liberal Party still authorizing a website in which Stephane Dion speaks as the leader of the party on a wide range of issues, including promoting the Green Shift carbon tax that has been soundly rejected by Michael Ignatieff.

I know the Jack Layton and the NDP are supposed to be committed to the idea of a coalition with the Liberals.  After failing to dislodge the Liberals in the last election, despite the advantage of going up against Stephane Dion for the hearts and minds of Canada's left-of-centre vote, Jack Layton threw everything into the coalition plan.

But it's curious that last week's New Year's Greeting from Jack Layton made no mention of the coalition.  I wonder if that's significant.  It might be.

Critics of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper are often marked by their penchant for hyperbole.  Harper is often compared to a dictator (either generically or to specific historic figures - I don't think I need to name them).   Harper is excoriated for his support of Israel, for his environmental policies, or for the economic direction he is following.

The criticisms are defensible (there are always two sides), and if these people could learn to stop throwing in references to Attila the Hun (or much worse) in their comments, more people might listen.

But my friendly advice would be useless for one person.  The commentary on this blog, if not some sort of strange and humourless joke, is disturbing, and if you removed the weird stuff, there'd be nothing left.

Seriously, this one rings an alarm bell for me.  That's actually a bit of a joke on my part, since as you will see, alarms figure prominently in this story.

When Mike Duffy was appointed to the Senate, it became quickly clear that he was a special guy.  On two counts.

First, a lifetime of broadcasting excellence shaping Canadian news was being recognized.

Second, the effort to spoil his appointment goes above and beyond the sort of thing we've seen in the past.

On March 17, 2007, Green Party leader Elizabeth May announced her intention to run in the riding of Central Nova in Nova Scotia.  Of course, there was no election then, and Liberal leader Stephane Dion would lead the Liberals in abstention after abstention in order to avoid an election, until Stephen Harper finally got fed up and forced an election this past fall.

But while we waited for Stephane Dion to find some backbone, the question of Elizabeth May going up against Defence Minister Peter MacKay gave political observers something to chew on throughout 2007. 

I just went through some old data, and it's interesting how Elizabeth May turned Central Nova into a proxy fight between groups of people who couldn't find Central Nova on a map.