Conservative Standards

I can't help but notice, lately, just how low conservatives like to set the bar for themselves -- and their peers. In Canada, the Conservative Party is just fine with having its move to strike hate speech laws, applauded by skinheads. The Republican Party -- with some exceptions -- has been perfectly fine with being taken over by incompetent wingnuts who are so livid with a black man being the President of the United States, that they have flat out stated that their first priority is not fix America's sagging economy, but to get rid of him at all costs.

For that matter, they have little apparent problem with hitching their economic hopes to a presidential team that was respectively near-to-dead-last in job creation, and whose only economic idea is to raise taxes on the middle class while cutting upper-class taxes even more. This goes against any kind of financial sense, never mind the overwhelming view of the people the Republicans are trying to convince to vote for them.

For that matter, Republicans -- by and large -- seem to have no problem with being associated with people who wear their utter hatred of blacks, gays, and women on their sleeves... and yet are so stupid and juvenile that they will still insist they aren't bigots. This is despite campaigning on voter suppression that targets blacks, revoking most gay rights, banning women from military service, and forcing impregnated rape victims to carry the offspring of their attackers (and probably give them visitation rights, as is already the case in many states).

This is the company that conservatives today keep -- either by their direct support, or by their compliance. It's true that not all conservatives are like this... but it begs the question of where they were, when the extremists were given the keys to the car. It also begs the question of why so many of them are still counting themselves among the number of these people who are not just offensive and inept, but borderline terrorists. Was there truly nothing you could do to stop it? Is there nothing you can do now?

If I were a member of any political group that engineered or condoned open bigotry, sabotage of the country for no good reason, election tampering, violence against people who simply want to help others, or even assassination of an elected leader... not only would I be putting as much distance as possible between myself and them, but I would be publicly speaking out about it. It's admirable that there are groups calling themselves "Republicans for Obama" -- but if it were me I wouldn't even want to call myself a Republican.
I would be far too ashamed.

Harper Covered Up Torture

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

Canada's Military Police Complaints Commission came out with a report, this week, that cleared Canadian soldiers of knowing about -- or willingly being involved in -- our Afghan war prisoners being tortured, by local authorities. However, to the surprise of absolutely no one with a brain, the report also found that the Harper Conservative government blocked all attempts to get to the bottom of this war crime.

I know that remembering every political debacle from two and a half years ago, can be tricky, so I'll remind everyone of the highlights. When one of Canada's most respected diplomats, Richard Colvin, first reported on our war prisoners being beaten and mutilated -- something that is AN INTERNATIONAL FELONY -- the Harper government not only claimed to know nothing about it, but they personally attacked anyone who so much as brought it up. Liberal and NDP Members of Parliament, their supporters, or even just conscious members of the press WERE ALL CALLED TRAITORS FOR ASKING ABOUT THIS. The uproar became so massive, that Stephen Harper managed to trick the Governor General into shutting down Parliament, specifically to abort the investigation into what exactly the government really knew.

So not only did our government -- a government under investigation for stuffing the ballot box, by the way -- COVER UP WAR CRIMES, but they went to McCarthyist and fascist extremes, to shut down any discussion of it, so much so that it has done permanent damage to the unity of this country. That's not even getting into our international respect going down the toilet, more and more every day.

True to form, if one just goes to the comment page of the first article I linked this blog to, they will find no shortage of Conservative trolls, claiming that -- for some reason -- this shows that the NDP and Liberals owe our soldiers an apology. Leaving aside that AT NO POINT WERE OUR SOLDIERS BEING ACCUSED OF ANYTHING -- and the sheer ignorance of what the article was saying, makes me think the Darwin Awards missed a few people -- I can't help but notice that the phrasing of all of those remarks is almost exactly the same. So not only are Harper's opponents being proven right about him being a monstrous, criminal, hatemongering douchebag, but this says to me that there may be some truth to the CTV claims of Harper's trolls only being there because they're paid to do it.

So while I suspect I know how this will go... if any Conservatives would wish to apologize for being so blatantly WRONG, I am willing to listen. My recently-shaved hair might be down to my ankles, by the time it comes, but I'm willing to listen.

God Help Our Land -- Once Glorious and Free

City of Toronto vs. Left-wing "whiners"

So an outspoken conservative Toronto councillor has said to the media, that he screens "communists" from his Facebook page. George Mammoliti -- who lost the mayoral race last year, to fellow right-wing blowhard Rob Ford -- says he is sick and tired of left-wing "whining". I wrote a version of the following in to The Toronto Star (which reported his rant) and to Mr. Mammoliti himself.

Councillor Mammoliti,

There are many things wrong with your deranged diatribe against left-wingers and imaginary communists in Toronto. First of all, do you even know what a communist is? I've seen many hardline conservatives think that anyone vaguely compassionate or pro-worker is a communist, so I seriously question your grasp of the word. Second of all, contrary to conservative hate-mongering, many left-wing people are hard-working, informed people, not looking for handouts at all. They just want to help people who can't help themselves, which many would argue is our moral obligation as a society.

Third of all, what is the your definition of "whining"? Does it happen to be, criticizing conservative policies, or reporting on the plight of our unemployed? By that logic, any political participation at all, is whining. Finally, in case you has failed to notice, the majority of Toronto citizens are left-wing; therefore you are basically telling the majority of citizens to shut up and stay home. If one of Toronto's councillors has such distaste for the people he is supposed to represent, then he can leave. As a hard-working moderate, I would be more than happy to do the job for you.