Friday, June 06, 2014

Stephen Harper: the Scary Madness and the Dangerous Denial



If there was any shadow of a doubt that Stephen Harper has lost sight of the boundary between reason and delusion, or democracy and dictatorship, there can be none now.

For he has made a mockery of our democracy, he has smeared his opponents, he has muzzled scientists, he has politicized the police and the military. He rules through fear and intimidation.

He is ramming his foul so-called cyber bullying bill through Parliament, so he can better identify his enemies. 

And now he is going for TOTAL CONTROL.

The federal government is expanding its surveillance of public activities to include all known demonstrations across the country, a move that collects information even on the most mundane of protests by Canadians.

The email requesting such information was sent out Tuesday by the Government Operations Centre in Ottawa to all federal departments. “The Government Operations Centre is seeking your assistance in compiling a comprehensive listing of all known demonstrations which will occur either in your geographical area or that may touch on your mandate,” noted the email, leaked to the Citizen.


Turning every government department into a spy agency. Even though the GOC doesn't have a legal mandate to issue an order like that one. It clearly came from the PMO, and it's clearly illegal.



Wesley Wark, an intelligence specialist at the University of Ottawa, said such an order is illegal. “The very nature of the blanket request and its unlimited scope I think puts it way over the line in terms of lawful activity,” said Wark. “I think it’s a clear breach of our Charter rights.”

Wark said the only lawful way a Canadian government agency, with the appropriate mandate, would have to monitor a demonstration would be if that agency could establish that the protest would constitute some kind of threat to civil order. “But it has to be specific and it has to be justifiable in law to mount such surveillance,” he added.

But then we know why Harper is doing it. He's about to approve the Northern Gateway pipeline. He's determined that NOBODY will stop him.

And the question I have is will Canadians finally waken from their Big Sleep and recognize where that maniac would take us?



Will they finally recognize that there is something terribly wrong with Stephen Harper?

That if it walks like a dictator, if it quacks like a dictator, it probably is a dictator.

And that as Dr Dawg writes, we are like frogs in his ghastly pot. 

To move from a liberal democracy to a dictatorship isn’t always a matter of a coup d’état. Sometimes dictators rise to power because of a perceived national emergency; or they are installed by one great power or another to act as satraps and compradors; or they are voted in by a weary populace. In Canada, it appears, an incremental approach is at work. We’re froggies in the proverbial pot, and I, for one, am beginning to find it uncomfortably warm.

The big problem here, even for me, is our collective capacity for denial. We can’t bring ourselves to believe what’s been happening before our eyes.


You know, over the many years of fighting the Con regime, I have frequently compared that collective state of denial to the Hans Christian Andersen story The Emperor's New Clothes...



But at least that story ends with a child telling the truth, and both the emperor and the people realizing that indeed he has no clothes. 

"But he hasn't got anything on!" the whole town cried out at last. The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, "This procession has got to go on." So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn't there at all.

And I can only hope that our story ends the same way. 

With Stephen Harper revealed at last as an ugly little man with delusions of grandeur.

And more and more Canadians realizing that their mad emperor is both naked and dangerous...



Because it really is time as Dr Dawg writes, to take the red pill of reality:

With this latest revelation, though, how can any of us maintain our blissful state of denial, lulled by pundits and assured that it can’t happen here? Indeed it can. Indeed it is. Take the red pill, folks. Surely the time has come.

One day, long after we are gone, historians will no doubt struggle to explain why so many were fooled for so long.

But at least we know now what we must do eh?


Unite to defeat that foul Con regime and it's depraved power crazy leader.

And drive him from office as soon as possible.

Before our denial damages us further.

And his madness destroys our country...



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14 comments:

the salamander said...

.. is there anyone.. a real Canadian.. left amidst the ethical wreckage of The Conservative Party. Are they now a mouldy pie crust shell hiding a dangerous reckless Harper hive.. Most times now it seems a dim foul haven for evangilical monarchist corporatists competely at the service of Stephen Harper, failing ministers and the governments corporate resources partners.. including China

Dr.Dawg said...

The denial thing is insidious. Sometimes I check over what I'm writing and a small voice says, "Naw, can't be." And I often do use hyperbole to make a point. But not this time.

Just as the boneheaded climate change denialists would be still singing their sad song as water from the icecaps sloshes around their feet, we can't bring ourselves to believe how deeply Harper has wounded this country of ours. We just don't want to believe what's staring us, even punching us, in the face.

e.a.f. said...

Oh, this ought to be good. Now why would Health Canada or Service Canada be involved in collecting information about demos. Who will be collecting the information? Will clerks be required to do so, or doctors, or shrinks, or supervisors? It isn't in their job descriptions. Will only managers in the federal service be required to spy on their neighbours?

It sounds a lot like the formation of the Stazi in East Germany. Oh, well you voted for him, o.k. not you and me Simon, but a lot of Canadians did. Harper and his herd like to complain about Putin but he does have something in common with Putin. Both were elected in democratic elections and then set out to destroy that democracy. Nice going harper.

mizdarlin said...

Emperor Steve doesn't even have to compile his hit lists..most of us will gladly volunteer to be at the head of the group...I'm definitely a 'threat' to a dictatorship, a reign of terror few of us can even fantasize about because the concept is so foreign to our smug little mindset..but it's real, it's frightening, and frankly, I'd rather go down fighting than meekly say 'aahh' for the poison pill..
Being born in the States makes me less prone to Canadian dithering and meekness, I suppose, but I know there are enough of us here to fight back, and hopefully, we will..before it really is too late.

Anonymous said...

Harper is a Neo-Nazi Fascist Dictator, from way back. Harper was Policy Chief for his, Northern Foundation of 1989. We know just who, donated to Harper's Alliance in 2002.

We went to war so we wouldn't have, a fascist dictatorship government. Harper is not worth our young Canadian boys lives. I am totally amazed, Harper had the gall to participate in the D-Day Services. Harper is so loathed by our Veterans? I hoped they would turn their backs on Harper. Of course Harper has to stick his big face into our, Remembrance Day Services and ruins the day for everyone. Just as he has ruined this day for our Veterans.

Harper is no different than the other Dictators. Harper has no honor, decency, ethics nor morals, what-so-ever.

Most of us were brought up in, the good and decent democratic Canada. Canadians must change their mind sets. We must not expect the best from Harper. We must expect the worst. Because, worst is all we will have from the likes of, that fascist dictator Harper.

Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini were all, paranoid dictators and control freaks. All of them had very similar sociopath characteristics. Harper has those same characteristics as well.

Steve said...

Simon I think of myself as a strong willed person impervious to propaganda. Not true anymore. We are living on the edge of tomorrow.

Simon said...

hi salamander...once upon a time you could find some decent Canadians in the ranks of the Progressive Conservative party, but if there are any now they are well hidden, or cowered. Lord Harper has his fanatical gang of cadres installed everywhere so nobody dares step out of line. More than eight years of living in the shadow of the PMO has turned MPs into a flock of sheep. Today they may feel that the end justifies the means, but eventually some of them at least will be sorry. They will stand accused of collaborating with a sinister and depraved leader, and the verdict of history will be harsh...

Simon said...

hi Dr Dawg...as I said on your blog nothing bothers me more than that state of denial. Harper's many crimes against our democracy and our country have stunned me to a point where I am practically numb.But that I can understand. He is a clinical psychopath with a severe personality disorder, so giving him absolute power has only exposed his ghastly nature. But what drives me absolutely bananas is that so many people, including those in the MSM, accept that behaviour as being somehow NORMAL. Or for that matter Canadian. When he's debasing himself, and shaming our country in the eyes of the world. All I can hope is that any Con supporter who read your excellent post suffered a short but painful spasm of guilt. And of course keep my head down, and charge at them like a bull... ;)

Simon said...

hi e.a.f...as far as I can see it's just Harper's latest effort to try to exert total control over a world he has always seen as out of control, while staring at himself in a mirror. And of course, with the Northern Gateway pipeline about to be announced it's also a way to try to intimidate this opponents. The GOC was already monitoring aboriginal protesters, so this is aimed at those who would dare support them. In this complacent country a lot of people shrug their shoulders and can't see how what he is doing could affect them. But that's in "normal" times. Imagine what he might be like if some crisis should erupt? The sooner Harpo and his depraved regime are removed from power, the safer we'll all be...

Simon said...

hi mizdarlin...I can forgive Canadians for taking a while to recognize the true nature of our mad emperor and his depraved regime. They had after all never seen anything like it. But in year nine of Lord Harper's twisted rule I firmly believe that anybody who still can't see where he is leading us is either a member of the Con cult, a religious fanatic, a grubby member of our useless business class, or people so dumb they must be watered rather than fed.
So I've lost all respect for them, I never had any for the Harper Cons, and I although I would much rather be doing other things, I intend to work even harder to defeat them, and they can put me on any list they want because I'm not scared of any of them. The way I see it, no decent person in this country can be anything but disgusted by their actions, and we owe it to ourselves and the future do do what we must to remove that filthy un-Canadian regime from power as soon as possible. And don't doubt it for a moment, we WILL defeat them...

Simon said...

hi Steve....we are on the edge of tomorrow, or on the edge of the future. What we do now will have great consequences for our country and the planet. Focus everything you do on getting out the message: We deserve better and the Cons must GO....

sassy said...

Well if they have a quota, collecting all the names of this folks should about do it. Then they can darn well do back to the holes they crawl out of and leave the rest of us alone.

Hugh said...

What constitutes a "demonstration"? Does there have to be signs?

e.a.f. said...

Hugh, I'm afraid what will constitute a "demonstration" will be any objectionss to what Harper and his herd want. Remember what Chile and Argentina looked like a couple of decades ago? Well welcome to that world. It will be brought to us by Harper and his herd.