Lack of Condolence

The Toronto Star is taking Stockwill Day to task over an internal memo written by Day and sent to party colleagues outlining why he did not send condolences or sympathies to the Palestinian Authority on the death of Arafat (registration required):

Stockwell Day is pointing to a report that Yasser Arafat may have had AIDS in explaining why he didn't send condolences on the death of the Palestinian leader.

"Some of you have asked why I have not released a statement of condolence or sympathy," the Conservative party's foreign affairs critic wrote in a Nov. 16 e-mail to party colleagues.

"As you know, there are two sides to the Arafat story. You pick."
The e-mail then provides an article by conservative commentator David Frum in FrontPage Magazine which highlights Arafat's terrorist past and the possibility he had AIDS.

Now the Toronto Star wants to suggest that Stockwell Day did not send condolences to the Palestinian Authority because Arafat might have had Aids based on Day’s pointing to a David Frum article. The Frum column focuses on Arafat’s failure as a leader and highlights his career as a terrorist; and the sum total of speculation on the cause of Arafat’s deteriorating health is limited to six sentences. But maybe, just maybe, it is because he was a serial murderer/terrorist with the blood of many on his hands, and hence, Stockwell Day felt that the world was better off with the old bastard buried and encased in concrete. I concur.

Obviously, this view of the former Palestinian leader is foreign to the folks at the Toronto Star hence it is easier for the Toronto Star to describe the opinions of Arafat’s detractors as evidence of homophobia. Memo to the Toronto Star: it is not evidence of homophobia if you do not mourn the passing of terrorist thugs and heterosexuals get Aids too.