[MannoFr]

http://www.cis.org.au/Policy/spring_..._spring08.html
In March this year, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution drafted by the OIC urging states to ban the dissemination of ‘racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion or its followers that constitute incitement to racial and religious hatred’ by providing legal protection against ‘acts of hatred, discrimination, intimidation and coercion resulting from the defamation of any religion.’ Interestingly, the resolution also claimed that the ‘respect of religions and their protection from contempt’ is an ‘essential element’ in defending the right of freedom of expression.(15) Yet despite demanding that religions in the plural should be respected and protected, the only religion mentioned by name in the entire document was Islam.

This came on the back of similarly-worded resolutions in the UN General Assembly, particularly Resolution 62/154, passed in December 2007, which also called for the prohibition of religious defamation and hatred and demanded that all states ‘promote tolerance and respect for religions and beliefs.’(16) This is certainly something of an escalation from article 20 of the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that any ‘advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.’ In February 2006, in the aftermath of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoon controversy, a joint statement was published by representatives of the UN, the OIC, and the European Union, proclaiming that ‘freedom of the press entails responsibility and discretion, and should respect the beliefs and tenets of all religions’ (emphasis added).(17) Canada has pulled out of the 2009 conference.
http://www.cjpac.ca/news/read/50

“Canada has a long and proud history of fighting racism, discrimination and intolerance in all its forms,” said Minister Bernier. “It was for this reason, and its promise of concerted global action against racism, that we participated in the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa. Unfortunately, that conference degenerated into open and divisive expressions of intolerance and anti-Semitism that undermined the principles of the United Nations and the very goals the conference sought to achieve.”

“Secretary of State Kenney and I had hoped that the preparatory process for the 2009 Durban Review Conference would remedy the mistakes of the past,” said Minister Bernier. “We have concluded that, despite our efforts, it will not. Canada will therefore not participate in the 2009 conference.”

“Canada will continue to focus its efforts on genuine anti-racism initiatives that make a difference,” said Secretary of State Kenney. “Our government’s decision to seek full membership on the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research demonstrates that we remain committed to the fight against racism and to the promotion of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law at home and around the world.” Should the USA also pull out?

Has anyone put this question to the two candidates?

[Lt_Apple]

To McCain: How's you're first wife these days, and how is your philandering with a crippled wife at home any better and more honest than John Edward's affair? What does leaving your crippled wife for a younger beauty say about your relation to women????

To Obama: Tell us the truth about your tax plan. I don't want to hear what McCain says about it. As someone who makes less than $250,000 per year, I'm interested in whether I will be paying more taxes or less.

That's a bit of cheap shot. McCain may have left his wife for any number of reasons. Really that's DailyKos territory you're walking in there.