Ayaan Hirsi Ali vs The CBC

A few reactions I had after watching this clip:

1) Avi Lewis is a tool
2) My tax dollars paid for this?
3) I'm sure the CBC will provide a fair and balanced counter-point to Lewis's position -- oh wait, the three letters at the beginning of that sentence rules that out
4) A serious tool
5) My respect for Ms. Ali has grown even more

Mr. Kay has commented on this as well, using the deadly combination of facts and reasoning that seem to be too often absent by the likes of Mr. Lewis:

"But what sticks in my mind about the exchange -- even months later -- isn't Ali's eloquent reply, but Lewis' casual tossing off of this ludicrous equivalence into the face of a guest who has tragic firsthand knowledge of what real religious fanaticism looks like. Sure many primitive Islamic societies turn a blind eye to honour killings, treat women like chattel and marry off their adolescent girls to polygamous old men. But Americans shoot abortion doctors.

Except they don't -- not for almost a decade. Not since the reign of that notorious social conservative, Bill Clinton. In all of U.S. history, exactly seven abortion doctors have been killed as a result of their professional identity -- an arithmetic nullity compared to the daily slaughter committed across the Middle East and Central Asia in the name of Islam."

The Hitch has advocated for the US to extend protection to Ms. Ali, an endorsement that any rational thinking person must endorse.

"If she was the CEO of Heineken or the president of Royal Dutch Shell, and was subject to death threats while on U.S. soil, I have the distinct feeling that the forces of law and order would require no prompting to consider her safety a high priority."

If the US denies her, than I suggest Canada step in and offer protection, though that assumes she would have to move to Canada. To sweeten the deal, CTV should offer Ms. Ali a talk show, one that runs the same time as Mr. Lewis's show and the ratings decide.