Dear Canadian Racists: SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

Seriously. I'm nauseous from the stench of your hypocrisy, selfishness, ignorance, stupidity, whining and lying. Just can it!

From the stooges in charge of our corporate media, to our illegitimate regime of morons, thugs, frauds, religious freaks and self-hating closet-cases, all the way down to huckster preachers like whatsisface of the "Caledonia Wake-up Call" (or whatever) to the grassroots of mouth-breathing, shit-headed scum like KKKate MakkkMillan and her brood at SDA.

The Sixth Estate blog brought this atrocity to my attention. It's from the Globe & Mail. [You know, corporate media going behind a pay-wall is about as important to me as a racist shit-site like Storm-Front going behind a pay-wall. The very idea that I would pay to be insulted, lied to and exposed to the ignorance and stupidity of people like Margaret Wente and Jeffrey Simpson! You people seriously need to get your heads checked!]

Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence should not risk her health with a hunger strike, nor is coercion a reasonable or responsible tool to be used in making a request to meet with the Prime Minister and a representative of the Crown.

...

When he stood in the House of Commons in 2008, and made an historic apology for Canada’s role in the Indian residential schools system, Mr. Harper asked for the forgiveness of the aboriginal peoples of this country for “failing them so profoundly.” His sincere words revealed a respect for aboriginal peoples and, in his words, “their rich and vibrant cultures and traditions.”

At the same time Mr. Harper tried to put the relationship between the federal government and First Nations on a new footing. His government has sought to bring about needed reform and transparency to First Nations governance. The respect and the reform go hand in hand, and they are equally welcome.
...
Ms. Spence wants to discuss a treaty signed in the early 20th century and undertakings that were given regarding money, education and health care, in exchange for land. She says Canada has failed to fulfill its commitments. She speaks vaguely about a desire to create a new relationship between First Nations and the government.

The Chief should give up her hunger strike, and agree to meet with Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan, who has offered such a meeting and is the appropriate ear to hear such complaints. If she does not, Mr. Harper could make a magnanimous gesture. He has already shown he is a friend of aboriginal peoples.

Where to begin with this poisonous tripe?  Spence is being "coercive"??? These imbeciles write as if Spence's people haven't been cruelly denied adequate housing for years and years as a result of deliberate federal policy! They write as if her people's children haven't been denied a school after years and years of pleading. They write as if harper hasn't deliberately lied about the sources of the crisis of Attawapiskat, to whit: he KNEW that it was the federal "partner" that had been dragging its feet in responding to the crisis. (Or, at the very least, he could have discovered this truth within one hour of asking about it.) They write as if harper hasn't deliberately tried to use this crisis to grab power from the First Nations and to cynically blame the victims of federal racism and neglect.

Most importantly, the Globe & Mail writes as if harper isn't the one UNILATERALLY abrogating solemn treaty obligations to the First Nations. Or is that what they mean by their asinine statement: "Ms. Spence wants to discuss a treaty signed in the early 20th century"? What the fuck is the relevance of the detail "signed in the early 20th century"? Is that some clumsy way to dismiss it as old? The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is from the late 20th century. Will it become irrelevant in 2082? When was the freedom of the press first an unspoken right of the British parliamentary system? Perhaps it's quaint and antiquated too? Stalinists and fascists both thought they were modern, forward-thinking political philosophers when they talked about abolishing parliamentary democracy. it was old fashioned. It was unsuited to modern industrial society. It was so-o-o-o 19th century!

Whenever I think of the opinion leaders at the Globe & Mail, I picture a bunch of white-haired men (and a few women like Maggie Wente) dancing around in soiled diapers shouting "Don't listen to us! We're complete idiots!" Ever since they endorsed harper in 2011 I no longer think they have anything relevant to say about any issue of any importance. Endorsing harper shows they have no regard for parliamentary democracy and any criticisms they make of opposition to harper is of absolutely no account. Now, with their dismissal of Canada's treaty promises to the First Nations, they show themselves without merit on this issue as well.

And what nonsense about the sincerity of harper's apology! Talk is cheap Globe & Mail. Talk is very fucking cheap! Empty words. harper, supposedly, by his empty apology has

"shown he is a friend of aboriginal peoples." 

His present attempt to rip apart the treaties notwithstanding. His denial of funds to "Sisters in Spirit" and his giving them instead to the racist, incompetent and sexist RCMP notwithstanding. Words fail me.

The Globe & Mail has the unmitigated gall to speak of the need for transparency and reform in First Nations' governance when they continue to employ Margaret Wente??? Listen Globe & Mail: You're not trying to provide services to isolated communities in the face of federal government intransigence and accusations of misappropriation of funds. All you have to do, in the case of your very important opinions page, is to make sure that your writers aren't liars, plagiarists and idiots. Furthermore, when a reader dutifully informs you that she has done your work for your and discovered that one of your regular columnists is ALL THREE, you fire her. You don't lie about it and then, when the criticisms become too harsh, you enact some unstated form of "discipline" and then let the shit-head get right back to it a short time later.Take the beam out of thine own eye.

The Globe & Mail stupidly advises Chief Spence to go talk to one of harper's powerless lap-dogs, in this case, Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan. And I'm saying they do this stupidly because I'll assume they're being honest and not disgustingly cynical when dispensing this advice. I'm being charitable. Surely the Globe & Mail editors aren't so vile that they would tell a woman who has vowed to fast unto death unless there is a substantive meeting with the only man who has the power to make a decision, to instead seek a meeting with powerless stooge who can do nothing about the sufferings of her people? They wouldn't be so callous and disgusting would they? No, no. In this instance, I will say that their advice is merely self-evidently stupid. So stupid that we again wonder where these cretins get the idea that their opinions should be taken seriously by anyone about anything.

I was infuriated by the comments to that shit-headed editorial. Tons and tons of racist, ignorant dreck, written by the same ugly-minded stupid pukes who turn out in droves to vote for harperscum and who enable this decades-long process of racism and colonialism. It was to both them and the Globe & Mail that this post was to be directed. But there's work in the real world to be done. Perhaps those criticisms will be the subject of my New Year's Day post. 2013 in a racist sewer of ignoramuses.

"Idle No More" - the racists strike back

 They've been going at it from Day One actually. I've seen all sorts of trolls on the mainstream media comments sections blathering on about the $90 million that Chief Spence supposedly has stashed in a Cayman Islands bank account. That's been known to be complete bullshit for around a year now and a recent court ruling makes it officially bullshit. Anyone who wants to dredge up such lies at this point is just a shameless, racist hack motivated only by irrational hatreds.

I'd heard of Christie Belchforth's insane, racist screed from some Facebook friends but in this post, Montreal Simon goes to town on Belchforth's and two other non-entities;- rubbish and exposes them for what they are.

I thought that I'd go into the tactical reasons for this tidal wave of racist lies but over here, Kirbycairo does it far more eloquently than I'd be capable of this morning.

My original contribution then? That there's some honest racism going on here. Christie Belchforth is a stupid loon. She let herself be played for a fool by Peter MacKay and the DND and Foreign Affairs, in order to slander Richard Colvin. She's a complete idiot. The same goes for those other two numb-nuts. Morons to a man. There's the roots of grassroots racism: Idiocy. Listening to the slew of unnoticed contradictions that comes spilling out of their mouths whenever someone like Belchforth speaks at length causes sane people's heads to spin. Our corporate masters, for whom we (when we interfere with their selfish campaigns) are just as worthless as the First Nations, don't think that way. We're all less than nothing to them. But emotional, jabbering idiots like Belchforth identify with the common white person (and they give a friendly nod to the non-whites who try to emulate them). It puts a human face (albeit a stupid, moronic one) to what is a very coldly, calculating propaganda exercise.

Finally, let me say that parties to treaties and contracts do not get to unilaterally alter the terms of those treaties or contracts. This whole piece-of-shit omnibus bill will be thrown out because the sections implementing harper's racist desire to plunder the lands of the First Nations violate the Constitution Act 1982.

35. (1) The existing aboriginal and treaty rights of the aboriginal peoples of Canada are hereby recognized and affirmed.

(2) In this Act, "aboriginal peoples of Canada" includes the Indian, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.

(3) For greater certainty, in subsection (1) "treaty rights" includes rights that now exist by way of land claims agreements or may be so acquired.

(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the aboriginal and treaty rights referred to in subsection (1) are guaranteed equally to male and female persons.

I know you don't like the Constitution Act or the Charter of Rights & Freedoms harper and harperscum. But that's too goddamned bad. Sucks to be you.

Parliament

I don't know what to say so I think I'll post Thomas Mulcair's speech in the House of Commons in response to Bill C-45.

Here's a noteworthy excerpt:

 In response to a question, the hon. member for Saint Boniface asked us earlier if we were aware of the global recession. I would remind the member that it was her Minister of Finance who, in the middle of that global crisis in the fall of 2008, denied its existence and refused to take action. Talk about arrogance.

    Their complete lack of priorities means that instead of trimming the fat from government as needed, they are hacking and slashing away with a rusty machete. They have never defined their priorities, quite simply because they are just happy to be in power. They like to be in power, but they do not like to govern. What is the difference? One is the mere fact of occupying the most seats in the House, while the other requires competence in public administration in the interest of Canadians, and not in the interest of their Conservative cronies.

    They do not have any priorities. Their most recent 450-page budget bill affects 64 other bills, including 20 that were not even mentioned in last spring's budget. As we just demonstrated, the Navigable Waters Protection Act, like 19 other acts, is not even mentioned in the budget.

    As I said earlier, it is a question of credibility for the government. Let us look at some of the facts. Let us look at some examples of its public administration and measure them against what should be considered public priorities.

[English]

    What could be more important than protecting the health and, indeed, the lives of Canadians? If we look at the whole pyramid of public administration, it ultimately exists to provide one thing: a service to the public. What service could be more important than public protection?

    What is in the budget bill is a $46.6 million cut to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. That is in here, word for word. The Conservatives talk about things that are not in here, but I am talking about things that are in here, and this is at page 261. It is in there.

    Mr. Brad Butt: Is there a carbon tax in there?

    Hon. Thomas Mulcair: One of the brilliant members of the peanut gallery has just asked a question that I am pleased to respond to. His question was, is there a carbon tax in there? That is interesting, because where we will find a cap and trade system proposed is in the 2008 platform of the Conservative Party.

    An hon. member: Say it isn't so.

    An hon. member: That can't be.

    Mr. Brad Butt: But it's not in that bill.

    Hon. Thomas Mulcair: What is interesting is that in 2008, the Conservative Prime Minister went to the mother of all parliaments and told the parliamentarians there that it was his plan to have a cap and trade system. He even put a price on carbon. He put a $65-a-tonne price on carbon, in front of the parliament.

    Far be it from us to think for a second that in the mother of all parliaments he was telling the mother of all fibs, so let us take him at his word.

    In 2008, it was actually a bit less. However, if we take the figure for 2008 at $65 a tonne, do members know what that equates to in Canada? About $45 billion.

   (1635)  

    If we were in the same business as the brilliant and talented member who just spoke from the netherworld of the backbenches of the Conservatives, we would be able to argue that it was a carbon tax of $45 billion. However, that would not be quite true, because it was a cap and trade system and the only way of dealing with greenhouse gases.

    The member for Saint Boniface quoted a newspaper writer who talked about so-called greenhouse gas emissions. That is quite something, because it betrays a fundamental belief of the troglodytes that somehow greenhouse gases are something that one believes in. They do not really exist. There is no such thing really, as far as the Conservatives are concerned, as global warming. It is just something that is being made up to scare people, or in the unforgettable words of the Conservative Prime Minister when he was describing the Kyoto protocol, he said it was something invented “to suck money out of wealth-producing nations”. There was no such thing as global warming, so no action was needed.

    Some hon. members: Hear, hear!

    Mr. Thomas Mulcair: We can hear them, Mr. Speaker. They are saying “Hear, hear”. There we go. They are excited. I would like to know how much greenhouse gas emissions come from suntan salons, for example. Maybe we could reduce those as well.

    The Conservatives' tactics include 450 pages, 64 separate acts, with 20 that were never in the budget, no study, no accountability, no consultation with the Canadians affected and no respect for Canadians, who deserve better.

    The basic job of every person elected to the House is to make sure that public money is being well spent, to make sure legislation is rational and well thought out. That is our job. We have given ourselves institutions to help ourselves do that.

Amazing, isn't it? I've never been a fan of Thomas Mulcair. But that speech does provide a good evisceration of this monstrosity of a bill and that excerpt shows the harperscum as the un-parliamentary imbeciles that they are.

There are a LOT of First Nations People in Canadian Prisons

It's a consequence of our racist justice system. All I'm saying is that in the months before the general amnesty for First Nations prisoners, that it'll be fun to think of how they'll respond to their new fellow prisoners from the Conservative Party of Canada.

Idle No More

 

What harper has to realize is that while he's sitting in his comfortable house on Sussex Drive, enjoying the fruits of his stolen majority government, basking in the adulation of idiots and the tepid applause of his corporate paymasters, is that for other people, the end results of his policies are intolerable. I said this previously:

This is where the irresistible force meets the immovable object. And the tragedy is that the First Nations, as a people, do not like conflict. They do not want to put their bodies on the line against the police. They do not want to be surrounded and starved and sent to prison. But occasionally the blatant cruelty and criminality of Canadian federal or provincial governments forces their hand. harper's attempt to completely destroy their sovereignty is one of the biggest assaults in a long time.

These are desperately poor people. One time, reading one of Owen Gray's posts, the heroism against all odds that the First Nations have displayed from time to time really hit home to me. harper has pushed their backs to the wall but he is going to encounter something he's not used to seeing: principled and determined opposition.

That is what "Idle No More" is. harper has to realize this. These aren't people for whom a war in a foreign country is something they'd rather their government not enter into, so they go to a rally, the rally has no impact, the war is launched and they occasionally criticize it but life goes on. The First Nations have already had it up to the back teeth with our racist abuse and they simply won't stand for shit-head harper increasing the abuse.

This is not a "values" protest. This is about their lives.

It's over harper. It's over harperscum. This is a nation-changing movement. We look at the Black Civil Rights Movement as this historical period that changed the USA forever. Well, this is one of those moments for Canada. Around the time of the Black Civil Rights Movement in fact, Canada and the First Nations were having their own history changing conflict. Pierre Trudeau (ever the liberal philosopher) had his Indian Affairs Minister circulate a "White Paper" on Indian Policy in 1969. It basically called for the "extermination by assimilation" of the First Nations. It provoked a firestorm of protest and produced the First Nations activism that has been sending the racist imbeciles of the right-wing into seething paroxysms of fury of the past four decades.

This protest helped bring about Cree activist Harold Cardinal's book Unjust Society that articulated the way forward for the First Nations from the misery and hopelessness of the past.

Aboriginal people in Canada took hope with the election of Trudeau’s Liberals in 1968. They were outraged when the Paper introduced by Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Jean Chretien a year later amounted to an assimilation program: repeal of the Indian Act, the transfer of Indian affairs to the provinces, the elimination of separate legal status for native people. The Unjust Society, Cree leader Harold Cardinal’s stinging rebuttal, was an immediate best-seller, and it remains one of the most important ever published.

Possessed of a wicked gift for satire, Cardinal summed up the government’s approach as “The only good Indian is a non-Indian.” He coined the term “buckskin curtain” to describe the barriers that indifference, ignorance and bigotry had placed in the way of his people. He insisted on his right to remain “a red tile in the Canadian mosaic. Above all, he called for radical changes in policy on aboriginal rights, education, social programs and economic development.

Again, this is the latest, biggest stage in this struggle. The period when the Unjust Society was written was a time of hope. Since the right-wing counterattack of the 1980s, we have been in a period of decline and confusion. But, the catastrophic failures of capitalism resurgent is producing more determined counter-movements. "Idle No More" is the First Nations' example. And, unlike the Occupy Movement, everything is at stake for all the participants. It's not going to end with a fizzle. If harper and the harperscum think that way and act accordingly, they'll be dealing with an explosion.

The Idle No More movement, which began in response to the Conservative’s omnibus Bill C -45, is evolving into a national phenomena and it’s demanding nothing less than the nation’s full attention to finally find lasting peace with the original nations of this land.

And Spence’s demands are but a first step.

The tone in many of the speeches carried an underlying message that a confrontation loomed if the Harper government continued on its current path in dealing with First Nations.

“Stephen Harper may be angry, Stephen Harper may be smart, but there’s one thing he doesn’t understand. We’re not going to give up ever,” said Clayton Thomas-Muller, of the Indigenous Environmental Network. “We will never stop, not for one second Mr. Harper. You better be ready.”

Together with the righteous fury of the "Idle No More" movement, the "Redeem Canadian Democracy" movement is going to bring down this regime of thieves, fraudsters, thugs and racists.

If harper Kills Chief Spence

Is it possible? Is harper so debased that he'd actually let Chief Spence die rather than agree to a meeting between First Nations leaders, himself and the Crown? Personally, I don't think so (although the overall lack of media attention to this gripping story might try to make it possible for harper to get away with that). I think, while he's tweeting inanities and filling his mind with empty thoughts about Christmas, harper will let Spence starve until she requires hospitalization, perhaps suffers permanent organ damage, and then he'll agree to a meeting where nothing will be discussed and nothing will be decided.

But if harper is so careless and/or psychotic as to let Chief Spence die, he will be almost universally reviled across Canada. Only the racist and ignorant and stupid "small dead animals" crowd will continue to like him. Evidently, thanks to the deliberate failure of the corporate media to describe him the way he should be (a failure similar to their treatment of Dalton McGuinty), the harperscum party of Canada is now leading in the polls. That would change if he lets Chief Spence die. he will be toxic for all time. Settler Canada will suffer a profound shock at the level of depravity that it allowed itself to descend to as a result of a debased political culture, political fraud and anti-democratic apathy.

In the end though, I don't think this will happen. And, besides, harper is going to be defeated soon. his name will be vilified and his place in Canadian history will be as a small shit-stain on the historical record.

The Reason for the Season

Howl-lay-lou-yah!

harper

harper doesn't believe in anything. harper doesn't understand what democracy is. harper is not a capitalist. harper doesn't care about Jewish people or anti-Semitism except in so far as exploiting Israel might lead to votes. harper isn't a Christian (except through inertia). harper doesn't care about human rights. harper doesn't understand science. harper doesn't appreciate the environment. harper doesn't have any friends. harper hates the First Nations. harper hates anyone who stands in his way even though he doesn't have the first idea about why he wants the things he wants.

You will notice, if you read their blogs or talk to them, that most all of the people who like him are ignorant fools.

Does stephen harper want Chief Theresa Spence to die???

She is on DAY TEN of a hunger-strike to try to get that racist piece-of-shit to agree to a substantive meeting between Native leaders the Crown's representative and himself.

Does the asshole want to see her suffer permanent organ damage? To die???

I wouldn't be surprised if the turd has some delusions of grandeur, thinking that he's the goddamned prime minister and he won't have his hand forced by some publicity-seeking hunger-striker. This wouldn't surprise me because harper is an idiot who has no genuine idea about what his policies of racist imperialism really mean. The fool has no concept of the importance of treaty obligations. It's all part of his reptilian cunning in the service of a corporate ideology of greed and selfishness that appeals to him on some sort of dull, visceral level.

The turd should be informed that he is personally responsible for what happens to Chief Spence. She is protesting the evisceration of her rights as a people. She is protesting an ongoing campaign of racism and abuse that makes the Liberal Party's record look decent.

harper can grow a brain or he can reap the whirlwind.

Obama Infatuation Syndrome

Yeah, so he signed the NDAA (promising never to use it himself even though he's already done so). So he bails out Wall Street criminals with taxpayers' money while slashing aid to ordinary US Americans. So he kills US citizens and their teenaged children in "targeted assassinations.." So he okays drone strikes on innocent people and then at the funeral-goers of the people he's killed. So he approves of the torture of Bradley Manning.

So he's taken his "political capital" from his winning a second term and used it to make bush II's tax-cuts for the rich permanent while slashing Social Security!

So what about all that stuff say "progressives" who can't fathom thinking beyond the intellectually bankrupt two-party swindle system in the USA. You still have to like him because, ... well, because the fact that he's black is a huge victory for race-relations in that troubled land. And, um, he's handsome and has a pleasant voice. And he's learned to cry once in a while.

Blogsters, know this: When any of you express the slightest bit of praise for that monster, it detracts from whatever respect I have for you.

Give your heads a goddamned shake. 

Human Rights

Went to the Royal Ontario Museum yesterday. Up in the Institute for Contemporary Culture room there's an exhibit documenting the human rights crimes of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

A big part of the exhibit are the ID photos of new arrivals to the S-21 Prison. We read the bios of four of the images, which was possible because they were among the few who could be identified. The Cambodian government is trying to identify all the people in the photographs in an attempt to undo the dehumanization of the Khmer Rouge's victims. A lot of the pictures are of children, which this insane regime somehow decided were "counter-revolutionaries" or ideological enemies of some sort. You can read in their eyes their complete lack of comprehension of their circumstances. You can also see the fear.

Among the quotes of the Khmer Rouge government on display is "Destroying you is no loss. Preserving you is no gain." Ah yes! Some witless fanatic's attempt to be profound. A society of equally worthless nothings.

But the fear, confusion and powerlessness of these tens of thousands of people was a product of the dehumanization of all torturing regimes. It's the growing and growing of disdain for the rights and dignity that should be seen as the birthright of all of us. It's why I get so disgusted and enraged with the fearful (often racist) cretins who cheer and cackle over the torture practiced by the western capitalist governments. It's a monstrous genie, and once it's out of the bottle there's no telling what horrors it will bring.

http://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/observance-and-memorial-photographs

Chief Spence's Hunger Strike

 Chief Spence of Attawapiskat must be on Day Seven of her hunger-strike in the shadow of Parliament Hill.

The AFN is seeking to have Harper meet with regional and tribal council chiefs from across the country. Aside from a meeting between a handful of chiefs and Harper in his Langevin Block office and informal chats during a day of speeches, there was no direct discussions between the prime minister and First Nations leaders during last January’s Crown-First Nations gathering.
Spence, who is living in a teepee on Victoria Island in the shadow of Parliament Hill during her hunger strike, said it’s not enough to just have Harper at the meeting. She wants Queen Elizabeth II either directly involved in the meeting or through her representative in Canada, Governor General David Johnston.
...
Spence said the treaties were signed by the Crown and it’s up to the Crown to ensure they’re upheld.
“The Crown has been covering their eyes on these violations of the treaties,” said Spence. “Johnston needs to tell the prime minister that he has to work with the treaty and the leaders as partners and not go separate ways. The Crown made a promise to First Nations that if anyone violated the treaties they would be punished.”

Things like treaties (which involve legal contracts between peoples) and honour and respect, are entirely alien to stephen harper. Human rights codes are seen by this tub of rancid lard as being irksome obstacles for whatever unimportant goal he wants to pursue. It will be interesting to see how the scumbag responds to this.

Bad Taste Post

It's in bad taste, but my own visceral responses to the mass-shooting of elementary school kids in the USA yesterday have included the following:

That the USA has to have a serious discussion with itself about the nature of a peculiarly US sickness that produces such a disproportionate amount of this stuff.

That the horror, the trauma, the tears, the grief, the vigils, the solidarity, the humanity, is also felt by non-US Americans all over the world, including those emotions felt by non US-Americans in the aftermath of mass slaughters carried out by the US government.

That Barack Obama is a loathsome piece of shit. He has ORDERED the mass slaughter of children. Perhaps he should shed some crocodile tears for them?

This is a tragedy. I'm aware of the human pain and suffering. I'm a parent myself and I won't deny those people their grief. But the USA does this to itself. They're going to have to cure themselves of this problem. In the meantime, as a society they'll fixate on their own suffering while continuing to blithely inflict similar tragedies on other people elsewhere.

Can Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert glean humour from mass shootings? Or would that be in bad taste? Whereas its fine to joke about Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay?

Why We Hate Them ...

 I'm actually pretty damned busy these days but I just had to vent about this. Scum-bag harpercon lawyer, Arthur Hamilton, bloviates about how election results shouldn't be overturned by legal challenges:

"Counting the votes on election night cannot simply mean that just decided who will be the applicant and who will be the respondents, because election night really means something," Hamilton said.

"That's when electors get to see how the exercise of their franchise has turned out."

Oh! But you might ask, what about the harpercon disrespect for the citizenry (especially those who vote the "wrong" way) as demonstrated by their [illegal] telephone shenanigans, including calling people and lying to them that their polling station was moved far away?

Hamilton's got that covered:

Even if there were dirty tricks, such as harassing and misleading phone calls alleged to have been made during the 2011 campaign, those people determined to vote would have found a way to cast their ballots, he said.
"There is a fundamental disrespect right now for the intuitiveness of the Canadian voter," Hamilton said.
"The Canadian electorate is very intuitive and they are very careful. They take their franchise seriously and that is why, happily, some of these ham-fisted attempts at suppression don't work.
"I think we can have ultimate faith in the electorate that those that wish to exercise their franchise will come forward and do so, even those that get frustrated and dissuaded to another part of town."

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Lawyer+Tories+says+must+high+elections+overturned/7694594/story.html#ixzz2F2rU69eB

What a shameless piece of shit! "Get frustrated and dissuaded to another part of town" by your criminal party! If anyone is fundamentally disrespecting the Canadian voter it's you guys! And we're not going to take it anymore.

Peter Van Loan

I sometimes like to post my reflections of yesterday's news. Peter Van Loan made headlines recently for waddling across the floor of the House of Commons Chamber to wag his finger in the face of NDP House Leader Nate Cullen, chastising him for having raised a procedural challenge during voting on one of the harpercons' atrocious omnibus bills. While Van Loan was doing this, Speaker Scheer was looking the other way like a referee in a professional wrestling match instead of the referee in a chamber of democratic debate like he's supposed to be.

A little later, both Van Loan and Scheer made headlines for Scheer's rejection of Van Loan's attempts to limit democratic debate. Van Loan decided that a majority is a majority and just because the harpercons are using their stolen majority to ram through phone book-thick omnibus bills, it is the Opposition that is abusing the process by proposing multiple, no doubt frivolous, amendments. Van Loan wanted the Speaker to bundle up the proposed amendments into more convenient packages to be mindlessly voted down, and to prevent MPs who do not have enough fellow MPs that they sit on Parliamentary Committees to have one chance only to propose substantial amendments. Scheer won plaudits for rejecting this asinine proposal. Sort of the same sort of thing when a man thinks he's a good husband for not beating his wife to a pulp even once during their marriage.

Both of these tools are stephen harper's lap-dogs. (They must love the smell of his crotch or something.) My first instinct was that this whole thing was staged. Van Loan is a whipped cur who wouldn't do anything harper didn't want him to do and the same thing goes for Scheer. Van Loan's proposal and Scheer's ruling are like harper having some Christian-fundamentalist backbencher propose to criminalize abortion while some harpercon cabinet minister is allowed to speechify on the importance of a woman's right to choose. Just by having the debate you chip away at the overall structure.

But now I'm thinking that Van Loan's anger and frustration are genuine. Sitting there in the House of Commons, forced to corral harper's disgruntled nutbar troops and incur their abuse, all in return for the cold disdain of his cruel master, Van Loan was seeking to externalize his anger and direct it elsewhere. He looks across the aisle and sees these other politicians making their futile protests against his own party's undemocratic abuses of democracy and the witless turd decides its they who are the villains. Can't they see this is pointless? Why are they wasting his and everyone else's time? In the "mind" of Peter Van Loan they should just show up to establish quorum, vote straight up or down, and let the magic of majority government do its work. Completely unaware that he's a total fucking idiot, Van Loan explodes in frustration and the rest is history.

What a sickening display he and the regime he serves are.

Unions Should Defy Bullshit Law From Illegitimate Regime

Big deal. The election fraud party passed a hypocritical bill forcing unions to disclose everything about their spending, supposedly because union dues are tax exempt.

It's harassment, pure and simple. It's also the work of a lawless bunch of thugs and thieves.

To hell with 'em.

The labour movement should just tell the harpercons to go fuck themselves.

NOBODY is under any obligation to respect the works of this illegitimate regime.

Democracy ... harpercon style

(The picture is just to give the ladies ... or dudes who're into that sort of thing ... some morning eye-candy.)

So, let's remember how stephen harper thinks a representative parliamentary democracy/constitutional monarchy should function:

1. Elections should be decided by out-right lying to the electorate about what your policies are and how much they should cost. In this, he's joined by the Chretien Liberals with their whole "Re-negotiate NAFTA/Kill the GST/Red Book of Promises" shtick.

2. During election campaigns it's fine for parties to harass voters and insult them while pretending to be from the other parties. Canadians are not adult citizens who should be treated with respect and appealed to with facts and arguments. They're a prize to be won or obstacles to be exploited or misdirected.

3. Call voters who are more likely to vote for your opponents and deliberately lie to them by telling them that the locations of polling stations have changed in the hopes that these fellow citizens will either not show up (you've given them locations that you know are far from where they live) or, if they show up at the false location, they will give up in frustration and go home without voting.

4. At polling stations where supporters of other parties are likely to outnumber your own, it's crucial to disrupt the voting by causing a disturbance, ranting and raving about irregularities, so that voting can be delayed long enough to discourage as many voters as possible. (At the same time, the Supreme Court of Canada says that procedures and safeguards to ensure the integrity of the electoral process are optional, as is the hope that Elections Canada will ensure that all votes will be counted properly.)

5. Responsible Government is no longer the basis of legitimate authority anymore. If the majority of the people's representatives no longer has any confidence in the government, the prime minister may badger and harangue the Crown to grant a prorogation of Parliament to prevent the people's representatives from expressing their will, by threatening mob violence and an attack on the office of the Governor General. (This after having needlessly re-inserted the "Royal" to the Canadian Navy and the Canadian Air Force!)

6. It is a healthy thing for the government to foster delusions and errors in the mind of the public, in order to make them believe that such things as coalition governments are illegitimate, thus making such legitimate sources of authority suspect in the eyes of the gullible and the partisan.

7. It is a healthy thing for the government to foster militarism in the mind of the public and to then condemn any and all criticisms of militarist foreign policies as "hating the troops." (At the same time, it is a good thing to nickle and dime wounded soldiers on their health benefits and to use the medical records of veterans' Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment against them if they try to organize any resistance against this.)

8. "National Security" is to be abused as blatantly as possible. Obtaining records of our treatment of prisoners taken in combat or otherwise is to be said to threaten the security of the nation. There is to be no oversight of the use of our military in war zones. (At the same time, top-secret military files that can't even be shared with Parliamentarians with security clearances can be leaked at will to hacks and dupes in the media or academia.)

9. Government ministers can alter official public documents to make them say whatever they want them to say, lie to Parliament repeatedly about this and escape without penalties.

10. The government can spend $1 billion to police political conferences, ostensibly to prevent rioters from rioting and breaking windows. In the process (and with the collusion of provincial premiers and municipal police chiefs) civil, legal and basic human rights can be temporarily suspended. When the rioting occurs anyway and the windows are smashed regardless of the $1 billion [ONE FUCKING BILLION DOLLARS!!!] that was spent, there are to be no penalties. When over 1,000 people are arrested illegally and kept under inhuman conditions, there are to be no penalties.

11. Parliament cannot know even the most basic facts about proposed government policies, including official estimates of their costs. These are to be withheld on the grounds of "cabinet secrecy." Parliament (the people's representatives) are to be content with oral assurances of the estimated costs (which can, and should be, gigantic lies).

12. If, through the successful application of electoral fraud, across-the-board corporate media endorsement and effective lying, you are fortunate enough to win majority government status, impose a shit-licking lap-dog as Speaker of the House of Commons and ram-through 500 page omnibus bills that radically transform the state's regulatory framework in favour of anti-human oil, mining and financial interests.

There's more to harper's Canada, but that's enough for today's reminder. This is the Canada we're supposed to tolerate until 2015? This is the "democracy" that harpercon trolls are defending. Imagine the shrieking were we to do this to them! But we won't do this to them when we bring them down. We will subject their leaders to criminal prosecution where appropriate and impose the maximum penalties the law allows, and this will be enough to destroy these dangerous, anti-democratic hypocrites and loons as a political force for a generation at least.

Bad Faith

Kirby Cairo describes the impossibility of honest disagreement with dishonest political hacks:

The problem is, however, that not all disagreements are rooted in honest differences of opinion. This is where the rightwing ideology of a man like Harper comes in. If Harper honestly believed that his political approach would bring about a better and more prosperous society, then our differences of opinion would be just that - differences of opinion. The problem is that all the evidence (both contemporary and historical) suggest that this is just not the case. In other words that are other, unstated, goals behind contemporary rightwing rhetoric that make honest discourse impossible, to say nothing of unfruitful.
...
The problem is, of course, obvious. We cannot have honest disagreements with people who are not being honest. Even under the best of conditions, disagreements can be problematic. Some people have better access to information, a larger platform for making their opinions known, or are simply better equipped to debate a particular issue. This is one of the many reasons that people on the left seek greater equality of opportunity, to remove as much as possible the relations of power that continually haunt our differences. But when those opposing you are not only richer and more powerful, but are simply not being honest about their actual goals, then the very notion of discourse becomes meaningless.

Right. "Bad Faith." This was described elsewhere in a book about how Canada's Parliament was built to accommodate good faith debating. Where some minimal standards of decency and etiquette were taken as a given. A place not designed for deliberate liars and anti-parliamentarian despots like harper.

Canada's time-honoured system of responsible government is failing us. This principle, by which the executive must be accountable to the people's elected representatives, was fought for and won over 160 years ago, but we now see that achievement slipping away. Our constitution and its unwritten conventions no longer provide effective constraints on a prime minister's power. The result: a dysfunctional system, in which the Canadian constitution has degenerated into whatever the prime minister decides it is, and a Parliament that is effectively controlled by the prime minister, instead of the other way around.

Obviously, stephen harper isn't the first Canadian politician who lied and "conservatives" don't have a monopoly on deceit. I will say though, that no prime minister has been so obviously full of shit stephen harper and no group of Canadians has been so blatantly dishonest as present-day "conservatives." The way to understand the paranoid levels of secrecy of the harpercons is that, as stupid and vile as they are, these clowns are aware that when they speak their inner thoughts out loud, they sound ridiculous.

That Whole F-35 Thing

Okay, help me out here people. What's going on? It looks like the KPMG audit is forcing the harpercon regime to "rethink" its commitment to the F-35 fighter. Seems, just like everybody said, that this was really a $40 billion (plus) expenditure and not the $15 billion it was first touted as.

So what? So what if it's $40 billion? Why is that supposed to matter to the harpercons? (This is where I need your help in explaining things to me.) If bloggers and the Parliamentary Budget Officer and others, knew this, presumably the government and its advisers knew this. Right? And, aren't there supposed to be spin-off benefits for Canada? Aren't we (as purchasers) supposed to get construction and maintenance jobs out of it?

You would think that after the harpercons blatantly lied to Parliament, slandered the critics of the program as hating the troops, and said over and over again that it was this plane or no plane, that they wouldn't then retreat because another audit of the project said it was as expensive as a lot of other people were saying it was going to be.

I mean, what did the harpercons think when the PBO was saying the project would cost over $30 billion? Did they honestly think he was wrong and that he was just being a big, mean poopy-head who was trying to rain on their parade? Especially since they themselves knew he was right???

That's the thing that I don't get. THEY KNEW ALL ALONG! Why else hide the true costs from Parliament? They themselves said that not getting this plane would set us back by years and years and a delay like that would be irresponsible. Then, when it's no longer possible to deny the project's true costs (which they must have known about) they themselves decide to start all over again.

I can think of a few possibilities; None of them say anything good about this regime:

• They really believed that if you have the plane for a different number of years from what other people are talking about, that the price genuinely changes.
• They really believed that fuel, maintenance, spare parts and everything else that ever went into the pricing of other fighter jet purchases were "extras" from the ticket price and not worth worrying about. (Even though they amounted to something like $20 billion.) [!]
• They really thought that if they closed their eyes and thought about other things, that the whole thing would blow over.
• They really believed that nobody would ever find out about the actual price tag.
• Peter MacKay and stephen harper like to run-off at the mouth and they're fucking idiots.

Perhaps, as with most manifestations of right-wing stupidity, it's best not to try to understand. To paraphrase Pee-Wee Herman: "There's things about right-wingers you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand."

A Smoking Gun in harper's hands?

 
Commenter "The Salamander" has passed along some links about a story wherein the harpercons are deliberately suppressing scientists studying diseases in salmon farms. This is all out of my balliwick, but as I understand it, the story is as follows:

1. Canada is legally obligated to inform the relevant international authority about the appearance of a new disease among Canadian fisheries as well as to inform that same international authority as to the spread of a disease from another part of the world to Canadian fisheries.

2. In the short-term, reports of diseases among the fish in Canadian fisheries (especially fish farms) will have a negative economic impact. For that reason, harper likes to suppress such findings, presumably until it's impossible to hide the truth anymore and the whole thing explodes in a mess of diseased fish and sick humans and lawsuits and harper firing the female cabinet minister who is closest to the debacle.

The first link is from Northern Insight and there's a chilling account of the appearance of a government scientist at a public commission:

When the Cohen Commission was holding hearings in Vancouver, I attended. It was not a happy or satisfying experience. The most unsettling single observation was of government scientist — a person known for opinions that challenge Ottawa's papal view — being closely escorted by security personnel.

They  made certain there was no engagement with non-approved audience members. That highly educated and very well respected person was held on a tight leash because the entire event was not about science or fact-finding. It was about reinforcing positions that served objectives of bureaucrats who've never soiled their shoes with sea water.

A forum aimed at extracting truth from controversy should not have been a place where witnesses were intimidated by squadrons of lawyers and security personnel and legions of industry executives and flacks.

The next is a letter from Dr. Alexandra Morton about suppression of scientists by the harpercon regime:

I think it is important to recognize what scientists who report on novel farm salmon disease outbreaks endure unpleasant consequence.
Consider Dr. Kristi Miller who runs a federal DFO government lab with a staff of 22. She is well published including in the journal of SCIENCE on the 18-year decline of the Fraser sockeye. Miller is adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia, on the editorial board of Immunogenetics, a scientific reviewer, and sought after to give seminars internationally. Miller, dedicated to sharing her work on immune function and disease in fish, has co-published in over 65 scientific papers. A BC salmon farming company went to her with unexplained mortality in jaundiced farmed chinook salmon. But when she detected ISA virus in these fish (Cohen Exhibit 2053), her work did not elicit government response to confirm and contain. These farm salmon were in several floating netpen farms in the region of a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The Biosphere status was partly due to its wild chinook runs, runs that are inexplicably crashing. DFO should be concerned to find ISA virus in farmed chinook salmon among a declining wild chinook population. But the only visible government response was to muzzle this scientist. 

That ends with this link where you can read:

 A fisheries biologist has not only been muzzled by the federal government, but her lab could be in trouble as well, Postmedia News has learned.
...
The lab’s current “funding model,” which has been paying many technical staff, has been found to be “non-compliant with DFO policy,” Ruth Withler, a senior scientist in the lab wrote in a Jan. 13 message to staff in the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
The document, released under access to information laws, says the decision to change the funding model could be “jeopardizing future involvement of DFO science staff” in the type of “innovative research” done in Miller’s lab.
Miller is head of the Molecular Genetics Laboratory, based in Nanaimo, and Withler helped pioneer the genetic tests used there.
Miller and Withler were not allowed to give interviews to discuss the funding problem, and DFO’s media office responded to questions with a terse written statement.
The office said a Treasury Board directive from late 2009 indicates that outside funds, or “special purpose money,” must not be used to pay the salaries of government employees.
About half the lab’s 19 highly technical staff have been paid for years using external funds. DFO’s media office says between $600,000 to $800,000 a year of outside money has been used to pay the salaries of eight to 11 of the lab’s staff, depending on the year.
Several federal labs across Canada are said to be affected by the Treasury Board directive, but Miller’s lab is one of the hardest hit because it has been so successful at attracting money and clients. While Withler’s message says the directive could threaten future research, the media office said the department will continue to pay the salaries. The lab, which has been described as a “CSI for fish,” plays a key role in managing the troubled Fraser River fishery. It tests fish for hatcheries, private companies and first nations groups, but its biggest client is the Pacific Salmon Commission, an agency financed by the Canadian and U.S. governments that helps run the Fraser fishery.

 So, personally, I think that while this is no doubt illegal under international law, I have a hard time believing that harper will fall based on suppression of information about diseased fish if he's already broken Kyoto Accord obligations and violated international human rights laws as well. It is though, more of the same needless stupidity that brought us the F-35 idiocy and which makes harper and his gang of idiots unfit for public office.

The Storm is Brewing ...

It's taken far too long. But more and more, you'll notice that the harpercon trolls are starting to mutter rather than bray like jackasses. More and more, people are saying: "How long are we supposed to endure this?" More and more, Canadians (the sane, intelligent ones) are getting fed up with the ridiculous nonsense of the harper regime.

As a people, we will NOT tolerate the blatant theft of the electoral process. Canadians are an apathetic lot. And when they're not apathetic, they're patient. Canadians have been waiting for some sort of official response to the disputed May 2011 election. They have been withholding judgment waiting for Elections Canada to report back to the people as to what really happened. But more and more of them are starting to realize that Elections Canada isn't going to do its job. Elections Canada is a sad, sick farce. Elections in Canada can no longer be guaranteed to be free and fair.

stephen harper and his gang of idiots are counting on the deference to authority that is inculcated in us through the education system and other forms of propaganda to allow them their theft and their subsequent abuse of their majority government powers. Some, psychotic and stupid, like John Baird, have this thrilling sense that they're being repulsively evil, but they have no sensitivity or greatness in their souls so they can't grasp how truly disgusting they are. They brazen their way through the opposition only dimly aware of how thoroughly they are despised and hated.

But there is going to be a reckoning. I thought it would start last summer. I underestimated how difficult it is to get a hearing and I underestimated how few other groups there were that perceived the gravity of the crisis. But I'm starting to hear it now. On the streets. In restaurants. On buses. More people are prepared to be heard listening to me and responding positively to my remarks about the illegitimacy of the present state of affairs. The comments sections at mainstream newssites about the election fraud of the harpercons always elicit a tsunami of condemnation and even vituperation against the harpercons and the merest sad trickle of harpercon trolls and hacks, prepared to defend election fraud and 500 page omnibus bills and multi-billion dollar lies about fighter jets and prisons.

And, while our fights are not necessarily their fights (indeed, our apathy and ignorance and the widespread racism of Canadian society have all conspired to make their lives more difficult) the First Nations may once again be vital allies in the defence of Canada. Some of them fought (for their own reasons) under Tecumseh, against the US Americans, and helped to keep this country British and, therefore, eventually Canadian. Now, it appears that forced into a corner by the racist harpercons (advised by the senile, racist Tom Flanagan), they are vowing direct action against this unelected regime.

The First Nations have generally kept their treaty obligations to us, despite of all our provocations. One reason, a small but important reason, is that they have been so relatively weak, for so long. They were quickly overwhelmed by the flood of numbers of Europeans who poured into their lands, and they succumbed to the diseases that we brought. They were not allowed to develop their own lands for their own benefit and their material poverty made them dependent upon the "benevolence" of succeeding settler society governments. But the outrageous behaviour of the racist stephen harper is forcing their hand.

I believe that we must be their allies in their war against this illegitimate government. And this time, when the smoke has cleared and the enemy is lying defeated on the ground, that is to say, when the anti-democratic harpercon cabal has been ousted from power and are preparing their defenses against the several criminal charges they will all be facing, let us turn to the allies who helped in the victory, the First Nations, and tell them and show them that from that day forward, the treaty rights which for centuries they have been waiting, will be respected.

Finally, indulge me in this. There is a hall of portraits of Canadian prime ministers. Jack Layton would have become the Prime Minister of a coalition government if harper hadn't stolen his majority. Let's put Jack Layton's portrait up there. And let's replace whatever portrait of harper there is there with a smaller one, and we'll hang it between Paul Martin and Jack Layton, only it will be beneath theirs and turned towards the wall.

Respect the Traditions of Parliament

Call me a deluded, reactionary fool, oh ye anarchists! But I believe that our parliamentary traditions are the best chance we've got for achieving peaceful change. They should be engaged with, worked with, to bring genuine democracy nearer. It would be the height of foolishness to allow them to be trashed.

Playing the same old game isn't going to do it. Don't get me wrong. I'm not talking like some fucking "liberal progressive" or "moderate social democrat" who believes that mitigating the "excesses" of capitalism is the best that can ever be humanly hoped for. Not that sort of "art of the possible."

But standing outside of Parliament, out in the cold holding a sign pleading or making empty threats, that's not the answer.

Nor is the pointless vandalism of a dozen or so anarchists.

Let's take advantage of our nominal right to govern ourselves shall we? Let's take advantage of our nominal right to be free from state brutality.

Revolution is the only solution

Here's an article about global tax avoidance through tax havens:

The scale of the theft is staggering. Somewhere between $21 and $32 trillion is hidden behind the vast walls of tax haven secrecy. That’s the equivalent of one third of all global annual income. Somewhere between 60 and 70% of all international trade flows through them so that profits can be siphoned off untaxed.

The scale alone means tax havens have a material impact on levels of global inequality and poverty. But more insidious is what they actively facilitate. Tax havens are in the background of practically every instance of large-scale corruption and economic crime of the last thirty years. Every corrupt leader, every major arms dealer and drug cartel, as well as most multinational corporations rely on their ‘discretion’ to do business. It’s a morality-blind service industry for the ultra-rich. Forget the 1% - this industry exists largely for the pleasure and benefit of the 0.02%; the 10 million people who ‘own’ the bulk of the $21trillion hidden.

Imperialist wars. International inequality. Global warming. Dying planet. We keep wasting our time pleading with our scum-bag leaders to do the right thing. They'll never do the right thing. The system has to change. Revolution is the only solution. How to do it though? Who is thinking about this?

Canadians less happy with their Democracy

All I could think of was "what democracy"?

Stupid People

I defy you to read this article by the Toronto Star's Royson James and to still have the slightest sympathy for disgraced soon-to-be-ex-Mayor Rob Ford over his conflict-of-interest loss.

On Aug. 25, 2010, council approved Leiper’s recommendations that Ford must reimburse the lobbyists’ $3,150.
In opposing the move, Ford made a critical error.
When Speaker Sandra Bussin called for the vote she specifically reminded Ford he had a conflict of interest in that the matter involved a financial benefit to him. Ford ignored her and voted.
“Having ignored my warning, there was nothing more I could do,” Bussin said in an affidavit filed in the conflict of interest case.
...
While Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, Ford’s attack dog, publicly excoriated the report, some councillors were working behind the scenes to resolve the matter. (Ironically, Mammoliti was the first ally to jump ship and resign from Ford’s executive committee Monday, the day the court ordered Ford removed from office.)
Councillor Anthony Perruzza, a left-winger not on Ford’s team, says he approached Ford’s staff on the night of the council vote last February with a face-saving motion. Perruzza would move that Ford be forgiven the repayment if he conceded he’d done wrong and not debate the issue.
Meanwhile, Councillor Michael Thompson, a Ford ally, was in the mayor’s ear.
“I told him, ‘Don’t speak on the matter,’” Thompson recalled Wednesday. “And just before the vote, I said, ‘Just step outside for a minute, don’t vote.’”
But Ford did speak, influencing his colleagues. Before the Perruzza motion was crafted the debate was cut short, and Ford voted with the majority in a 22-12 decision to rescind the previous council decision and free him from repaying the $3,150.
“People now say, ‘Why didn’t you guys warn him?’ Well, we did,” said Thompson.

It occurs to me that the old elites who used to self-identify as "Conservative" used to appeal to traditions and hierarchies to make the ordinary people whose votes they relied on to govern. As the strength of those traditions eroded, these elites have resorted to indulging the pretensions and stupidities of the sort of people who would continue to believe in discredited ideals. Rob Ford quite naturally inserted himself into this process, as did Mike Harris, as do John Baird, Tony Clement, Vic Toews, etc., etc., (Hudak).

As with the "Tea Party" movement in the USA, this whole policy of pandering to the Archie Bunkers of the world isn't going so well. These are the last gasps of a social order that is increasingly anachronistic.