I should probably talk about the recent arrests made here in Toronto.

Essentially, I agree with Thomas Walkom of the Toronto Star who urges his readers not to jump to conclusions: "Suppose, just suppose, that one or more of the 17 charged yesterday with terrorism is innocent." he writes. In Canada, presumption of innocence is an important pillar of our society and I will not be part of a mob. I am however, greatfull to our RCMP for their hard work and when the truth is finally arrived at I hope that our reaction will be civil, proportional and distinctly Canadian.

What really disturbed me was our own Prime Minister:

We are a target because of who we are and how we live, our society, our diversity and our values - values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law. The values that make Canada great, values that Canadians cherish.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

As Dru at the Dominion asked: "sound familiar?"

While I'm quite confident that those who would seek to commit terrorist acts against Canadian targets no doubt hate us, I very much doubt that it is because they "hate our freedom". A much better reason would be our role in the creation of Israel and our support for it over the past 50 years, or our alliance with the United States ranging from development of chemical weapons or support (in one form or another) of their imperialistic wars over the same time span. We can't afford to be so gullible as to believe that the terrorists hate our "values" when so many other far more plausible reasons exist.

If you must oppress a people for decades, don't lie to yourself and blame their retaliation on a smokescreen of buzzwords. Our hands are not clean... but they should be, and that's something to think about as a citizenry.