Crooked Stephen Harper

In the last week, the government of Emperor Harper has caught nothing but flak, over one -- relatively insignificant -- cabinet minister. Bev Oda, the Minister for International Co-Operation, has admitted (after a lot of cajoling), that she revoked the funding to KAIROS (a progressive Christian humanitarian group). Specifically, she did this by adding the word "NOT" to a document that had already been signed by one of her staff, which actually approved $7 million in federal funding.

Everyone in Ottawa, or following the story, who isn't a die-hard Stephen Harper supporter, is calling for Oda's head. It's not so much because she denied KAIROS funding -- whether one agrees with that or not, that is her prorogative, as the head of that department. The problem is that she not only altered a signed document (effectively forging it), but that she initially claimed that she wasn't the one to have done so.

In other words, not only did she lie to Parliament (which -- on top of being extremely unethical -- is grounds for dismissal), but she apparently committed a crime.

So what does our righteous Conservative Prime Minister do? After all, he has always thumped his chest about bringing an accountable government to Ottawa, and being tough on crime. Well, guess what? He's championing Bev Oda's actions.

For those who have forgotten recent history, Harper took down the Paul Martin Liberals for scandals like this (ie. AdScam). Not only that, but less than a year ago, Harper had fired cabinet minister Helena Guergis and sicked the RCMP on her, for a lot less than this. I guess being honest with Canadians, and obeying serious laws, is yet another thing that Harper only cares about when he can wound lower-case liberals with it.

I sincerely hope that Opposition Leaders Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton, and Gilles Duceppe remember where their testicles are, and overthrow Harper NOW. Forming a coalition is all that it should take, but even if it comes to an election, Harper's going to have a very hard time convincing Canadians he deserves to stay in power, when HE'S ASSISTING A CRIMINAL, WHO LIES TO THE PUBLIC. Of course, we won't even get into how Harper himself is being investigated by the International Criminal Court, for covering-up (and possibly ordering) the torture of Canada's Afghan war prisoners. If ever there was a Prime Minister, who made himself a textbook case for being thrown out of office by force, it's Stephen Harper.

Enough said.

Douchebag of the Decade

Torture

Indecision '09

Worthless Passports

George Galloway vs. Ottawa

Well quel suprise, the Stephen Harper Thought Police are at it again. There's a Scottish politician, George Galloway, who was supposed to speak in Canada this week about war prevention and the Gaza bombardment. However, he has been banned from entering this country by the federal government, because he gave medical supplies, food, and clothing to the Palestinian people, via Hamas. As I'm sure you know, Hamas is the legitimately elected government of Palestine, but it's also an official terrorist group, according to many countries. Because of this, Mr. Galloway has been branded a terrorist sympathizer, despite the fact that he has no criminal record. The problem with this view, is that it bears no resemblance to reality.

First of all, it's completely out of step with the attitudes that the rest of the world is having about Hamas, these days. So many governments around the world are supporting peace talks with Hamas, including certain elements within Israel, and the U.S. Government -- which has previously been Pro-Israel at all costs. Further, Galloway's views are hardly new -- he was thrown out of the British Labour Party because of his opposition to the Iraq invasion -- but even in the most tyrannical days of George W. Bush's rule he was allowed to spread his views in America. In fact, Mr. Galloway's current speaking tour includes the U.S. Presumably they would have arrested him if they thought his humanitarian acts were really sympathizing with terrorists, yet he is still a free man. Gee, I wonder what that means?

The second issue is one of fairness and honesty, in regards to the Gaza Strip. As I've said before, I freely admit that Hamas isn't exactly a group of angels, but realistically they just aren't that much of a threat to Israel. I've never heard of them firing anything larger than a couple of small rockets, whereas during the Gaza skirmish alone Israel bombed them with pretty much anything they could get their hands on -- including illegal chemical weapons. Some of Israel's front line soldiers have recently revealed a chilling willingness on the military's part to shoot unarmed civilians for no reason, and ransack their homes. There are even prominent members of Israel's government who have said that it would be a good idea to fire a nuclear bomb into Palestine -- the majority of which wants peace, I might add. So if Hamas is considered a terrorist body, then why not the government and military of Israel, which is clearly capable of doing much more damage?

Further, an Ontario union leader recently got heat for proposing a boycott on Israeli scientists and academics speaking in our universities, unless they denounce Israel's actions -- this was called Anti-Semitic by many Pro-Israel groups, and thus was dropped. So why isn't blocking Mr. Galloway considered Anti-Palestine? Also, why does the government ostracize Hamas, yet tolerate the Jewish Defense League, a terrorist group operating in Canada, known to stage bombings and assassinations -- and a group that is quite glad to see Galloway silenced, I might add.

Typically, the Conservative government and its supporters deny that this is an attack on free speech, but as you can see I strongly disagree. I'm also not at all surprised, because this has been typical business for Emperor Harper from the beginning: bully, vilify, and ultimately silence anyone who disagrees with you, no matter what. Not only that, but this is yet another example of the Harper cabinet completely ignoring what the rest of the world is doing, and just continuing with policies that have failed several times over. Mr. Harper: there is a big difference between marching to your own drum, and walking off of a cliff that everyone else has the good sense to avoid. That's it for me.

Archived -- Omar Khadr

Originally posted July 16, 2008.