UPDATED: Reassuring Legislation For Xenophobes and Bigots, A.K.A. The Harper Base

I don't know who composes the names for government bills these days, but they are blatantly selective in their intended audiences. The latest proposed piece of Harper legislation leaves little doubt that its target audience is the red meat supporters of our current regime: the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act (Bill S-7).

Hmmm, interesting title. Cultural - can't be referring to Canadians, since we are reputed by many to have no culture. Barbaric - outside of cultural outliers like Luka Magnotta and Paul Bernard, no barbarism amongst our native-born. And clearly the ex-soldier who attempted to blow up a downtown Calgary skyscraper that houses a Veteran Affairs Canada office was disturbed, not a barbaric ideological warrior/terrorist.

This bill is transparent in design and intent, guaranteed to ensure that our equanimity, so recently roiled by the Parliament hill attack, is not too quickly re-established. In his column today, Thomas Walkom points out that the bill has merit only in three aspects:

One would explicitly outlaw forced marriages. Another would clarify the general provincial practice that sets 16 as the minimum age for marriage. A third would make it illegal to transport a child under 16 abroad for the purpose of marriage.

The rest, however, goes over ground already covered in the Criminal Code:

Polygamy, for instance, is already illegal in Canada. Governments have the power to arrest and charge polygamists. Yet as the long-running, Bountiful, B.C. polygamy saga shows, Canadian government have not been anxious to do so.

But the new federal bill does not address the barbaric practices of established Canadian polygamists in B.C. Instead, it focuses solely on immigrants.

Immigration Minister Chris Alexander claims there are hundreds of immigrant engaged in this foul practice. The bill would allow for their deportation.

And then there is this,

... the section dealing with honour killings that is the most curious. Bill S-7 would rewrite the Criminal Code to preclude a defendant in a murder trial from arguing that an insult to family honour provoked his action.

Such a clause might be necessary if Canada’s courts were routinely soft on honour killers. But they aren’t.

Alexander himself

cited the case of Mohammad Shafia, an Afghan immigrant who, along with his wife and son, killed three of his daughters and the girls’ stepmother.

What the minister didn’t point out is that all three killers received the maximum sentence — life in prison.

So it remains clear that the Harper regime is continuing to do what it does best: sowing fear, suspicion and hatred, emotions sure to appeal to a certain segment of the population that is largely responsible for the debasement of politics that has been ongoing since their election of Dear Leader.

I just thought of a better name for Bill S-7. How about The Shameless Manipulation of the Canadian People By a Corrupt Government Act?

UPDATE: Click here to see Press Progress' definitive ranking of the most ridiculous and misleading Conservative names for bills.

A Pity They Don't Practice Such Restraint Domestically

Those paragons of virtue and restraint, the business elite, have given us direction for successful relations with China.

Guy Nelson, who makes amusement park rides and was tapped as one of the businessmen to accompany Dear Leader to the Orient, is also freelancing as the Harper regime's foreign policy adviser. He has proclaimed that Canada should stay out of Chinese politics:

Nelson sees China as a huge opportunity for his company, noting theme parks planned by Walt Disney Co and Universal Studios in China, but said bumpy relations between the two countries hurt business.

"Canada has to not try to impose our values excessively on this country," he told reporters on the sidelines of the business conference.

"How China chooses to run its country is their business.

One cannot help but wonder where we poor befuddled peons would be without such unsolicited guidance from these Masters of the Universe.

Russell Brand On Homelessness

Oh, how the right wing must hate him. Read this and watch the accompanying video to find out why.



I especially like this from Brand:

“There’s a prevailing idea,” he continued, “that there’s something ethically wrong with being poor, and that America’s run according to Christian values. But when people are practicing genuine Christian values, they themselves are directly prosecuted.”

“Clearly,” Brand said, “what Jesus was really into was having guns, and not having abortions, and not being gay. Those are his main priorities. But after he made sure that everyone had a gun, no one had an abortion, and nobody was gay, he had a little think about the poor people and whether they needed anything.”

“Sharing is one of the most important Christian values. Looking after each other is a Christian value.” But, he added, American businessmen use “Christianity and morality of all kind to protect their own corporate interests.”

'Nuff said.

This Explains A Lot

The above picture helps to illustrate why industrialized nations seem so cavalier about climate change. Click here for details.

Meanwhile, Stephen Harper's climate soul mate, Australia's Tony Abbott, has just extended a giant middle finger to the world's developing countries:

Australia is resisting a last-ditch push by the US, France and other European countries for G20 leaders at next week’s meeting in Brisbane to back contributions to the Green Climate Fund.

The Green Climate Fund aims to help poorer countries cut their emissions and prepare for the impact of climate change, and is seen as critical to securing developing-nation support for a successful deal on reducing emissions at the United Nations meeting in Paris next year.

Such stellar leadership. Such monumental selfishness. Such compelling reasons to despair.

Beware The 'Great Men' In Our Midst

Were he perceived throughout the country as the legendary Canadian he is in his own mind, I'm sure that former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna would be lauded far and wide for his insights and advice. Yet the current Deputy Chairman of The Toronto Dominion Bank, board member of Canadian Natural and shill spokesman for the oil industry does the interests of neither Canada nor the larger world any benefit when he extolls the virtues of the Energy East pipeline, as he does in his platform of choice, The Globe and Mail.

Entitled Energy East is truly in the national interest, his piece enthuses over the impending evolution of our country's economy, thanks to the Energy East pipeline, which will transport untold barrels of Alberta tarsands crude to the east coast for refining:

At its core, Energy East intends to transport up to 1.1 million barrels of Western Canadian crude to Eastern Canada per day. It means the conversion of 3,000 kilometres of underutilized natural gas pipe and the construction of 1,600 kilometres of new oil pipeline, primarily in Quebec and New Brunswick.

But wait! There's also untold prosperity accompanying tarsands bitumen down that pipeline:

In fact, according to a report by Deloitte, it’s estimated that the oil sands will create $2.1-trillion in economic benefits across Canada in the next 25 years, including more than $780-billion in taxes paid to the federal and provincial governments.

Had Globe subscribers not yet had the opportunity to don their Depends, I hope they took a few moments to compose themselves before continuing on:

In fact, Energy East changes the game for the entire oil-and-gas sector in Canada. It’s good for Alberta, opening up access to domestic and world markets. It helps Eastern Canada rid itself of its dependency on foreign supplies of oil that often come from countries with considerable instability and values that are not ours. In addition, there are significant benefits for all provinces in terms of job creation and badly needed tax revenues.

The one thing missing from this ad for unbridled development, of course, is any acknowledgement of the catastrophic consequences that any further exploitation of fossil fuels will bring, as outlined in the latest UN Climate report.

Perhaps this Globe online commentator best puts things into their proper prospecitve:

It is truly shameful that the Globe and Mail in running this op-ed did not disclose that Frank McKenna is a member of the Board of Directors of (and presumably receives compensation from) one of Canada's largest tar sands companies.

And as for his thesis. Sure, the tar sands may bring $2.1 trillion in benefit to some Canadians. But as long as the destination for the carbon in those 175 billion barrels of tar is the global atmosphere, the costs to the world (of which Canada is still part) will be immeasurably greater. How our so-called leaders in the corporate sector and media can be incredibly selfish and besotted with short-term wealth defies belief.

Or to put it even more succinctly: When you cut through all his rhetoric, former New Brunswick Premier Frank McKenna winds up being nothing more than a shill for Alberta tarsands and one gravely inimical to the world's prospects for long-term survival. Hardly a Canadian icon, no matter what he may think.

Some Days, It Is Very Hard To Resist The Demon Of Despair

Gordon Klingenschmitt, a.k.a. Dr. Chaps, as unhinged a 'reverend' as you are ever likely to encounter, has been elected to the Colorado House of Representatives. A man who brags of having once tried to rid of woman of the "foul spirit of lesbianism" through an exorcism, you can click here to read about a few of his more 'colourful' observations.

Or perhaps you might like to watch this video in which he offers a novel interpretation of Martin Luther King's famous speech:



Or maybe this will be more to your liking:



I suppose there are many in Colorado very thankful for the fact that they can now legally purchase and use marijuana. Everyone deserves respite from the madness that now engulfs them.

There Wasn't A Moist Eye In The House

With the exception of that maudlin master of emotion, the disgraced Dean Del Mastro, Members of Parliament seemed strangely unmoved by the self-proclaimed victim of injustice as he announced his resignation yesterday.

For a full display of 'Mr. Peterborough's' emotive and rhetorical range and a recounting of his 'legendary' achievements for his home riding, you can watch this 15-minute performance from C-Pac. (Check out the 2:40 mark when he tearfully apologizes to his mom and makes reference to his deceased father.)

For a truncated version that proves how cheap talk can be, you can watch the video below.

For a frank assessment of their erstwhile wayward representative, Del Mastro's Peterborough constituents offer these observations: