A Majority to Fear

So we're about two weeks into the election, and for some reason Stephen Harper's Conservatives are not only in the lead, but it's quite possible that they're heading for a majority. Harper himself is certainly capitalizing on that, nowadays. The thing I can't understand is who in their right mind would even want this guy to have virtually unchecked power, especially since another poll says that half of the country think he has a hidden agenda.

Now I can understand people having more confidence in Harper's leadership -- I've said before that I think most of the opposition leaders are pushovers -- but the problem is that Stephen Harper's idea of strong leadership is to run roughshod over anyone who disagrees with him. I've already gone on about how he's filed groundless lawsuits against the opposition in Ottawa, and done everything he could to censor artists who happen to be progressive and left wing, so I'll spare you from a repeat. But we're talking about someone who has shown ever since he became Prime Minister that he doesn't take openness, honesty, accountability to the public, or even obeying the law very seriously. In fact, at recent press conferences he has used the RCMP to remove hecklers and block the media from asking certain questions. Frankly, it's for reasons like this that I don't think politicians should EVER be given "Honourable" as a title. Once you apply it to power-hungry sociopaths who will lie to the public and subvert democracy on a daily basis, the term loses all meaning. This is even more true when some of these people will actually joke about outbreaks that have killed a dozen or so people inside of a month.

For that matter, since we all know that the economy is in shambles right now, trusting Harper to fix it makes no sense at all. His government repeatedly, and openly, sat back and did nothing while factories across the country closed shop -- whether they were losing money or not. His pre-election bribe -- er, I mean, grant -- to auto makers is for them to make large engines for bigger vehicles, when part of the reason they're in so much trouble in the first place is because there's no demand for the damn things! And despite reputation to the contrary, I have to point out that in recent memory it's actually been Conservative governments who've been worse at handling public money, while the Liberals have cleaned up the mess... as much as I hate to admit it.

And another thing, while I have dealt with conservatives who were quite respectful and polite, I really wish more of them would actually respect people's opinions. I can't begin to tell you how many times a right wing pundit has called me an idiot, a brat, a liar, a criminal, or even The Devil himself, just because I happen to disagree with him and have evidence to back up my views. Just because I'm young and have a certain amount of time on my hands, doesn't mean that I'm stupid. I try to give everyone else some leeway and respect, so please return the favour. It's called acting like a grown-up.

But there is some cause for hope -- the other day I saw on the news that two of Harper's news conferences in a row were obstructed by protesters. And while some papers, such as the National Post, have reader responses that sound disturbingly close to endorsements for martial law, pretty much every other paper I've read lately has a ton of complaints about Harper and the Conservatives. I'm not counting on the Tories getting tossed on their asses, like they were after Brian Mulroney had his turn screwing us over, but as long as he's taken down a few notches...

*crosses fingers*

Enough said.

Bullshit 2008 (Elections)

Well, it's official, Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, is going to pull the plug on his own government and force us into a totally unnecessary election. Not only is this technically illegal, as it violates his own fixed-election date law, but it is completely stupid.

Every single poll that has been conducted since Harper threatened to dissolve Parliament has shown that this election will make little to no difference. Harper himself has admitted to that, yet he insists on doing this, basically because the opposition parties are OPPOSING HIM! Imagine that, the leader of a major country picking a $600 million pissing match, because people are doing exactly what they're supposed to do!

Incidentally, for those who don't know, Harper's claims that the other parties are obstructing Parliament and turning it into a partisan circus are total bullshit. His Conservative cronies are notorious for blocking any and all oversight of the government, blocking access by the press, gutting social programs for totally ideological reasons, telling cities to go fuck themselves, suing the opposition for pointing out that Harper tried to bribe a dying MP, and this tyrant has the nerve to blame the people who stand up to him?

Not surprisingly, we're seeing this kind of shit from The States, too. John McCain calls Barack Obama an inexperienced celebrity every chance he can get, but who does he pick as his running mate? Someone with even less experience, and a much bigger knack for attracting attention. Sarah Palin's resume consists of less than two years as Alaska's governor, where she flip-flopped on useless programs, hoarded money, and apparently fired someone she had no valid reason to push around. Prior to that, she spent an even shorter time as the mayor of a town with less people living it in than most colleges have students.

Anyway, when the press called Governor Palin out on this, as well as her morally questionable views on abortion and abstinence-only sex ed, Senator McCain's response was to cancel interviews of his own! Who the fuck does this guy think he is, the Premier of China?

But if it's one thing that I've learned about the political landscape in North America, it's that it's mostly pointless to complain. Regardless of where a so-called leader claims to be on the ethical scale, they'll just do what they want. Not only is Liberal leader Stephane Dion a gutless wimp who needs to be howled at by the public before he can take a hint that he's screwed things up, but based on what we've seen in Ontario, the only difference between a Conservative and so-called Liberal is that the Libs are after money at all costs, while the Conservatives are after power at all costs. Hopefully there's some chance for change in the States, but up in Canada we're in really big trouble. Enough said.

Archived rant (Bill C-10 Part 2) & The Latest Slime from the O.P.P.

This rant was originally uploaded on May 19, 2008.

In other news, it was reported yesterday that the Ontario Provincial Police has been continuing to impersonate reporters, in undercover operations. This is despite the fact that many journalists and their associations have demanded that this cease, due to the added danger it puts real journalists in (especially in hot spots like the locations of the various Indian land occupations).

In addition to that, I have a hard time understanding why, of all the legitimate disguises the police would use, they would pick journalists. We're talking about people whose job is to MAKE FACTS PUBLIC, no matter what they may be -- does the O.P.P. honestly think (or expect us to believe) that criminals would be more open to a frigging video camera than they would be to a cop in uniform??

What bothers me even more, though, is the political/PR damage this does; the OPP doesn't have a great reputation for serving the public trust anyway (eg. letting people get assaulted in Caledonia, illegally wiretapping the homes and phones of anyone they want, threatening to kill a protestor just for blocking a road, racist and authoritarian hiring/discipline polcies, etc.)... and this tactic reminds me of how Quebec's provincial police posed as protestors a year or two ago, solely to incite a riot and make the genuine protestors look bad.

Considering that all of this is sanctioned by our government, we are all in really big trouble. This is the kind of shit you hear about in banana republics, not a supposed democracy -- so why don't we see a coup??