When I was a child, I was an avid reader of Superman comics, fascinating to me since that universe contained such an amazing array of heroes and villains. One of my favorite parts of that universe was the Bizzaro world, a planet peopled by beings whose actions and values were the complete opposite of their earthly counterparts. For example, the slowest participant was the winner of the race, clocks moved backwards, beauty was considered ugly, and the highest virtue was not truth, but lies.
Reading Thomas Walkom's column in today's Star entitled, Oda's attempt to mislead is part of Tory strategy, reminded me of that world, discussing, as it does, the Harperite propensity for making up things, i.e. lying, when the truth becomes inconvenient or gets in the way of their ideology. As Mr Walkom reports, the recent disgraceful behaviour of International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda is just one small aspect of a pattern long ago established by the secretive, paranoid, anti-democratic and ideologically-driven Conservative Party of Canada.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
An Insightful Comparison Between Egyptian Forces and G20 Security
Now that we are subscribing to the Toronto Star, I have the luxury of lingering over the paper as I finish my morning coffee. Given the many posts I have written over the months about the abuses of our Charter Rights by both the McGuinty Government and the security forces given the task of protecting the G20 politicians and dignitaries, I always keep an especially watchful eye out for stories pertaining to those abuses.
In today's edition, the Star's lead letter, written by Richard Taylor of Toronto, draws a sharp contrast between the way Egypt dealt with its protesters during the recent uprising and how our police dealt with peaceful protest last summer in Toronto. I highly recommend the letter, effectively reminding us as it does of how serious was the abuse of Canadian citizens exercising their democratic rights. As I have written before, it is one of the main reasons, given its collusion with the security forces, that I cannot support the provincial Liberals in the next election.
In today's edition, the Star's lead letter, written by Richard Taylor of Toronto, draws a sharp contrast between the way Egypt dealt with its protesters during the recent uprising and how our police dealt with peaceful protest last summer in Toronto. I highly recommend the letter, effectively reminding us as it does of how serious was the abuse of Canadian citizens exercising their democratic rights. As I have written before, it is one of the main reasons, given its collusion with the security forces, that I cannot support the provincial Liberals in the next election.
Monday, February 14, 2011
The Tory Propensity for Secrecy
John ibbitson has a thought-provoking column in today's on-line Globe entitled, Harper keeps Canada in dark at own peril.
In it, he discusses how Scott Brison asked House Speaker Peter Miliken on Friday to rule the Haper Government in contempt of Parliament for its refusal to turn over estimates regarding projected corporate income from 2010 to 2015, and the costs of building those new prisons that will house such dangerous offenders as those who grow as few as six marijuana plants.
While it is probably understandable as to why the chronically spiritually-constipated Conservatives would fear an outbreak of mellowness across the country, what isn't understandable by either parliamentary history and custom or basic democracy is how they can withhold from us and our elected representatives the costs involved in their paranoid follies.
I eagerly await the next development in this unfolding saga of repression and suppression.
In it, he discusses how Scott Brison asked House Speaker Peter Miliken on Friday to rule the Haper Government in contempt of Parliament for its refusal to turn over estimates regarding projected corporate income from 2010 to 2015, and the costs of building those new prisons that will house such dangerous offenders as those who grow as few as six marijuana plants.
While it is probably understandable as to why the chronically spiritually-constipated Conservatives would fear an outbreak of mellowness across the country, what isn't understandable by either parliamentary history and custom or basic democracy is how they can withhold from us and our elected representatives the costs involved in their paranoid follies.
I eagerly await the next development in this unfolding saga of repression and suppression.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
More Brutality from the Ottawa Police
Many thanks to the blog Let Freedom Rain for providing this link to The Ottawa Citizen to yet another disturbing story involving brutality on the part of the Ottawa Police force.
Given the pattern of police abuse of our Charter Rights this past summer during the G20, it is becoming increasing evident that much stronger oversight than that provided by the SIU is needed in this country, and no longer can these incidents be dismissed as aberrations by a few 'rogue' cops.
Given the pattern of police abuse of our Charter Rights this past summer during the G20, it is becoming increasing evident that much stronger oversight than that provided by the SIU is needed in this country, and no longer can these incidents be dismissed as aberrations by a few 'rogue' cops.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Conservative Constipation
While most of the world celebrated the triumph of freedom over tyranny, of the will of the people over the despot in Egypt, one part of the political spectrum, at least in Canada, seemed decidedly uncomfortable.
My local television station had comments from a number of 'experts,' and while there was general satisfaction over the ouster of Mubarak one man, representing a think tank called the MacKenzie Institute, rather peevishly carped that the revolution was going to do nothing to bring down food prices in Egypt, something he seemed to feel was the impetus for what occurred. Typical of the right wing, he was looking at human motivation through the narrow lens of 'homo economicus' (economic man) which sees all human action as being prompted only by self-interest.
Similarly, Stephen Harper, in what can only be described as a bout of verbal constipation, (it seemed very hard indeed for him to get the words out), offered a very grudging and qualified endorsement of the Egyptian liberation, reminding them of the importance of adhering to their peace treaties. This, of course, was his way of reminding everyone of his unqualified, unwavering and completely uncritical support of Israel.
It has long been obvious to me that while the right wing likes to talk about the importance of human rights and democracy for the world, its support tends to be confined only to those people who make the correct choices at election time, the right choice being, of course, voting for those candidates who may not necessarily be best for the people, but rather friendly and deferential to first-world democratic interests, which are all too often synonymous with the goals of the corporate world.
My local television station had comments from a number of 'experts,' and while there was general satisfaction over the ouster of Mubarak one man, representing a think tank called the MacKenzie Institute, rather peevishly carped that the revolution was going to do nothing to bring down food prices in Egypt, something he seemed to feel was the impetus for what occurred. Typical of the right wing, he was looking at human motivation through the narrow lens of 'homo economicus' (economic man) which sees all human action as being prompted only by self-interest.
Similarly, Stephen Harper, in what can only be described as a bout of verbal constipation, (it seemed very hard indeed for him to get the words out), offered a very grudging and qualified endorsement of the Egyptian liberation, reminding them of the importance of adhering to their peace treaties. This, of course, was his way of reminding everyone of his unqualified, unwavering and completely uncritical support of Israel.
It has long been obvious to me that while the right wing likes to talk about the importance of human rights and democracy for the world, its support tends to be confined only to those people who make the correct choices at election time, the right choice being, of course, voting for those candidates who may not necessarily be best for the people, but rather friendly and deferential to first-world democratic interests, which are all too often synonymous with the goals of the corporate world.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Rick Salutin is Back!
One of the reasons I cancelled my over two-decade subscription to The Globe and Mail was the decision it made to drop columnist Rick Salutin, a man who always seems to have an unusual view of events and people, no doubt attributable to his formidable intellect. I'm happy to report that today marks the beginning of his weekly column in the Toronto Star. Guess we'll have to start subscribing.
The Conservatives Strike Again
A disturbing but not really surprising story appears in today's Star detailing how two well-known academic critics of the Conservative Party of Canada are being targeted, apparently for their outspokenness.
The two University of Ottawa professors, "Errol Mendes and Amir Attaran, frequently castigated as Liberal sympathizers by the Conservatives, were notified in recent weeks of two unusually massive freedom-of-information requests at the University of Ottawa, demanding details of the professors’ employment, expenses and teaching records."
While the names of requesters under Freedom of Information rules are kept anonymous, a logical inference is that it is Conservative operatives who are behind the request, given their leader's well-known propensity for targeting those who have the temerity to disagree with his stances and edicts. Even in the highly unlikely event that the Harperites have nothing to do with this intimidation tactic, Harper and his crew have only themselves to blame for being the prime suspects, having so poisoned the political landscape by their divisive and obnoxious rhetoric that rational and reasoned dialogue has become almost impossible in Canada.
I can only hope that the University of Ottawa delays the release of the information requested for as long as the Harper Government has been known to, which in many cases has been several years.
The two University of Ottawa professors, "Errol Mendes and Amir Attaran, frequently castigated as Liberal sympathizers by the Conservatives, were notified in recent weeks of two unusually massive freedom-of-information requests at the University of Ottawa, demanding details of the professors’ employment, expenses and teaching records."
While the names of requesters under Freedom of Information rules are kept anonymous, a logical inference is that it is Conservative operatives who are behind the request, given their leader's well-known propensity for targeting those who have the temerity to disagree with his stances and edicts. Even in the highly unlikely event that the Harperites have nothing to do with this intimidation tactic, Harper and his crew have only themselves to blame for being the prime suspects, having so poisoned the political landscape by their divisive and obnoxious rhetoric that rational and reasoned dialogue has become almost impossible in Canada.
I can only hope that the University of Ottawa delays the release of the information requested for as long as the Harper Government has been known to, which in many cases has been several years.
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