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

March's Morons of the Month

Good God, so many to choose from... Let's start with someone who I didn't write about already, this month.

• The National Hockey League, its players, and its coaches, for refusing to take the epidemic of headshots and concussions seriously (take it from someone who's had two head injuries in my family, this is NOT something to be fucked around with). Case in point...


• Columbia soccer player Luis Moreno, for brutally kicking a wounded owl to death -- as it made eye contact with him! -- in the middle of a match... BECAUSE ITS INJURY INTERRUPTED THE GAME!


• Various members of the Republican Party for starting a full-blown witch-hunt on Muslim Americans, attempting to block young Americans from voting (because they tend to vote Democrat), and actually calling for troublemakers to start riots, disguised as striking workers.

And of course...

• Deposed Canadian Emperor Stephen Harper and The Conservative Party of Canada, for being the only government in Canadian history to be found in contempt of Parliament (which led to their defeat in a non-confidence motion, similar to being impeached), and viewing such a disgraceful milestone as "a distraction". Not only that, but during the federal election we are currently having, Harper has spent much of that time fear-mongering over a non-existent coalition of Liberals, NDPs, and Bloc Qubecois... despite the fact that such a coalition is not only valid under Canadian law, but that Harper himself tried to form a coalition with the NDP and Bloc, when he was the leader of the opposition.

Keep it up, Harpo -- put your head in the noose, please.

Harper's Stupidity

Fall of the Harper Conservatives

Fallout of Stephen Harper's Contempt Ruling

As we all know by now -- or at least, those of us who follow Canadian news -- Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been found in contempt of Parliament, by a committee (this won't be made formal until sometime tomorrow). Specifically, he's been cited for tolerating Bev Oda's forgery and lying, and for hiding the costs of the Conservative "tough on crime" agenda for ages.

But -- of course -- Harper's colleagues and supporters are defiant about it. Rather than do the ethical thing and own up to rather obvious blunders, they're attacking the opposition (see the comments in the linked articles), vilifying the committee (because it was made up mostly by opposition members), saying that Harper is STILL better than the alternatives, and -- wait for it -- attacking Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's family for "not being real immigrants" and supposedly bringing about the Iron Curtain.

*sighs* Let's get this over with...

1. Harper has been RATHER OBVIOUSLY lying to the public, been a total control freak, disrupted Parliament, and even broken the law. To look at all he's done and try to claim otherwise, is like trying to tell me -- with a straight face -- that The Queen isn't an old woman.
2. I know that neo-cons aren't big on things like FACTS AND LOGIC, but the Liberal party is CENTRE-RIGHT (as any look at their policies makes very clear). As for the belly-aching about coalitions (are you fucking kidding me?), not only are they legal and effective in parliamentary democracies (and EXPECTED in minority governments), but Harper himself formed a coalition with those same "socialists and traitors" that his drones put on the same level as terrorists.
3. So the committee was made up mostly by the opposition -- the opposition makes up the majority in Parliament (another thing that the far-right can't accept). OF COURSE they would take up a lot of committee space. That's how our democracy works.
4. Furthermore, this begs the question: do Conservatives really think that they should be allowed to investigate themselves? These guys claim to be tough on crime, but from the way they're acting right now, you'd think they'd be fine with Paul Bernardo being the judge in his own murder trial.
5. I don't pretend to have confidence in Michael Ignatieff or NDP Leader Jack Layton, but when Harper is THE ONLY PRIME MINISTER IN CANADIAN HISTORY TO BE CHARGED WITH CONTEMPT, it's pretty hard to imagine anyone being WORSE than him -- especially when you add his ridiculous financial incompetence to the equation (like the billion dollars wasted on G20 -- more than any world leader has spent on it -- the corporate tax cuts that NEVER stimulate the economy, the billions of dollars spent on the useless CF-35s, spending millions to scrap a census that even most conservatives say we need, etc.).
6. Do I REALLY need to say something about how stupid and disgusting -- and possibly defamatory -- it is to attack the family of your main opponent? Especially with something as idiotic as saying they're not "real immigrants"? What in the holy mother of fuck does that even MEAN?
7. And incidentally -- making racist and threatening remarks (eg. wanting to bomb all Liberals and NDPers), is EXACTLY WHY HARPER WILL NEVER WIN A MAJORITY. It's also why people think that you're, well, a bunch of fascist, bigoted, psychopaths.

THANKS FOR COMING OUT.

Stephen Harper vs. Canada