The Conservative Mantra: Statistics? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Statistics

The title of this post, meant to evoke the misquote of the Mexican bandits as they prepare to eliminate Fred Dobbs, the miscreant protagonist of The Treasure of the Seirra Madre played by Humphrey Bogart, seemed appropriate in light of the Harper government's contempt for the authoritative substance of statistics.

As reported in today's Star,

A new report shows that Canadian police services are using the firearms registry more than ever, relying on it more than 14,000 times a day rather than viewing it as an obsolete and unreliable database as the Conservative government claims.

Don't, of course, expect this striking data to fork any lightning with the right-wing set who, moved by reactionary ideology rather than logic, is still intent on destroying all of the information gleaned over the many years of the registry's existence.

As with the government's prohibition of government scientists speaking out without Harper's permission, as with the elimination of the mandatory long-form census, and as with the imposition of mandatory minimum jail terms and the building of expensive super-prisons at a time of declining crime, all indicators of a regime drunk on power and intent on absolute control, one can only bear witness to this dark period in Canadian history and hope that the slumber of the electorate ends soon.