Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Emperor Harper and the Fatal Blindness of the Media



In more than eight years of blogging against the atrocities of the Con regime, nothing has bothered me more than the way the MSM has heaped slavish praise on its deranged leader.

For while I have always seen Stephen Harper as a monster, who has broken every rule of decency in his bid to change this country beyond recognition.

The MSM has so often called that bizarre behaviour the work of a political genius.

So am glad to see that even Andrew Coyne has finally recognized that there is no there there. 

We are so heavily invested, we media types, in the notion of Harper as master strategist, able to see around corners and think seven moves ahead and what not, that we tend not to notice how many times he has been screwing up of late. 

The sudden and more or less complete rewriting, on the same day as the Supreme Court decision, of the colossally misjudged Fair Elections Act, after weeks of waving off any and all criticism as self-interested or partisan or both? Merely a prudent bid to cut their losses. The unusual public goading of Barack Obama (“a no brainer … won’t take no for an answer … etc.”) into making a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline project, six years after it was first proposed?

Either a play to the base or a wink to the Republicans or a deliberate raising of the diplomatic stakes, anything but what it looks like: a catastrophic fumbling of a key file.

For there is simply no excuse for that blindness when the insanity has been so glaring, and the pattern so OBVIOUS...



The pattern that emerges from these and other bungles — the Marc Nadon appointment to the Supreme Court, Northern Gateway — is a consistent one. Step one: Fail to gather consensus or anticipate opposition. Step two: Make no effort to disarm or co-opt critics, but antagonize them at every turn. Step three: Attempt to bluster or bully them into submission. Step four: Ignore warnings of imminent collision with reality. Step five: crash and burn.

As is the crazed and reckless INCOMPETENCE.

It is telling that among the prime minister’s most trenchant critics these days is Tom Flanagan, once one of his closest advisers, an academic-cum-political strategist who is at once both deeply conservative and shrewdly pragmatic. 

This government is neither. It is reckless, not in the style of governments that overread their mandate, but in an aimless, scattershot way. It is partisan, but for no purpose other than stubbornness and tribalism. It will take every fight to the limit, pick fights if none present themselves, with no thought to the consequences of either victory or defeat but seemingly out of sheer blood lust. Like the proverbial dog chasing the car, it has no idea what it will do when it catches it.

And by failing to call a maniac a maniac, the MSM has helped him to remain in power for so many years, and take this country to the verge of destruction...



So you might expect that now that some are finally realizing that the mad Emperor has no clothes, they might see fit to warn us about the method behind this madness. 

A parliamentary committee has been given three days to debate and vote on nearly 300 amendments to a controversial overhaul of Canada's elections law — a tight time frame the Opposition NDP is calling a "farce." The Conservative majority has set 5 p.m. Thursday as the deadline for clause-by-clause debate of the 242-page bill, which now includes almost 300 pages of proposed amendments.

For not only is this unseemly rush a way to bulldoze our democracy, and have the Unfair Elections Act in place for the scheduled election in October of 2015.

The only thing that can explain this mad rush is that Stephen Harper wants to have the option of calling a much earlier election, as soon as next Spring.

And the MSM should be pointing that out, for if we are not ready he will walk all over us.

Or crawl all over us...



Oh well, fortunately you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't all of them all of the time, and he could NEVER fool me.

I knew he was rotten to the core from the moment he came to power. So I'm ready for an election TOMORROW.

I've already formed a group in my neighbourhood aimed at getting out the vote, especially the vote of young Canadians. We are working on posters, and making videos.

And as soon as the writ is dropped we will be out of the gate like a pack of wild horses, or hungry wolves.

And I will be passing on what we learn as we go along, so you can do the same.

We will be ready.

The mad Emperor will be exposed, and be shown to be wearing no clothes.

And with or without the help of the useless MSM.

We WILL end this nightmare...



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11 comments:

Steve said...

His failures are to numerous to mention, but Afghanistan and the F35 are the biggest most deadly tickets he failed to punch.

Anonymous said...

He has never fooled me either. The first time I saw him on TV the hairs raised at the back of my neck.

mizdarlin said...

I wish (hope?) that getting out the vote , and yes, particularly the youth vote, happens this time..with the exception of three ridings here on Vancouver Island (and two of those are Green!) we all vote NDP, all the time..it does us little good..apparently only the big city votes matter, so Simon, wish you luck...we have to rid ourselves of this plague..

Anonymous said...

How strange. Harper repulsed me too, the minute I saw his face. It was, I do not like thee Dr. Fell, why I don't I cannot tell. But, it didn't take long for me to see through Harper either. I recall Harper's Alliance in 2002. Some very shady characters, donated to Harper's Alliance. Harper is a fascist dictator, from way back.

Harper is the worst, most corrupt PM, in the recorded history of this Nation. Harper is the one and only Canadian PM ever, to be held in contempt of Parliament.

Harper and his henchmen are so low, they can walk under the belly of a snake, wearing high hats.

Simon said...

hi Steve....I have a list of harper's crimes against Canada that is so long it would take about half an hour just to read it aloud. I refer to it now and then, but I'm saving for his trial.... ;)

Simon said...

hi anon...I'm glad to hear that. I knew he was rotten when the first thing he did when he came to power was order that bureaucrats delete all mention of "women's equality* from Status of Women documents. As soon as I heard that I knew that Canada was dealing with a bunch of rabid right-wing ideologues, and the rest is history...

Simon said...

hi mizdarlin...It can't just happen we have to make it happen. Polls show that the Cons are now in third place when it comes to the number of Canadians thinking of voting for them. But they have an advantage because their supporters are more likely to vote. So we have to turn our numbers into votes by launching a huge PR campaign. I know we have the talent, goodness knows we have the desire, so let's make it happen....

Simon said...

hi anon...I have only had the occasion to stare into his ciild dead eyes once, and that was enough. Before that I thought he was going to be a oust Prime Minister. After that I was convinced he is dangerous...

Simon said...

hi anon...thanks for the links. But surely my contempt for our miserable MSM shows through in my post? I am an idealist even though goodness knows that's not easy eh? So I do hold up the ideal of what the media's role in a democracy should be. But I have been grievously disappointed for all the reasons you point out. And I believe they must shoulder a large part of the blame for bringing the Harper nightmare down on our heads...

kerijan2003@gmail.com said...

It was his tiny pursed lips that repulsed me. Can't trust tiny lips like that.

David said...

This was a part of Apathy Is Boring's aboriginal outreach for the Quebec election:

https://www.facebook.com/Voteautochtoneqc


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=500345866737303&set=pb.495224123916144.-2207520000.1398213451.&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=500345750070648&set=pb.495224123916144.-2207520000.1398213500.&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=500345533404003&set=pb.495224123916144.-2207520000.1398213500.&type=3&theater


Their website:

www.apathyisboring.com / www.lapathiecestplate.com

Imagine a similar card with a QR code for all Canadians in time for the 2015 federal election--especially as an outreach to Canada's youth (18 to 25 age group) who use social media a lot.

Can you imagine what the election results would be if even 50% of Canada's youth voted? 8-)