I always knew he was a political thug. I wouldn't have fought him so hard and so long if I didn't think he was the worst Prime Minister this country has ever known.
But now of course he is even worse.
For as Jeffrey Simpson points out, now he is exploiting personal tragedy and making terror his monstrous mantra.
Terror at home. Terror abroad. Tough on crime. Tough on terror. Fear stalking the land. Threats. Bad guys. It’s a dangerous world out there, folks, and only the Conservatives can protect us. The other parties? Soft on terror. Weak-kneed. They are listening to “elites” nattering about personal privacy at a time of menace. Only we can keep the country safe. For this government, the narrative is heaven-sent.
After spending almost a billion dollars trying to brainwash us into believing he's a Great Economist Leader, now his propaganda machine is trying to make us believe that he's a Great Warrior Leader.
In a country at war...
The taxpayer-funded advertisements on which the government spends millions have changed to suit this new narrative. For years, the ads featured Canada’s Economic Action Plan and job apprenticeships. These have now been replaced by military recruitment ads that show soldiers parachuting or bearing heavy-duty rifles, breaking into dimly lit buildings where terrorists might be found. They are fighting terror, just like the government.
And what makes it even worse, or even more obscene, is now he would have us believe that his values are our values.
A new catch-phrase is spreading through the rhetoric of Stephen Harper and his ministers. It is only four words — they hate our values — but it packs an emotional wallop.
In some ways this epithet is like previous Tory terms: soft on crime, Taliban sympathizer, defender of child pornography. It is simple, spiteful and calculated to whip up strong feelings.
When in fact his values are not our values. And he is acting like a rabid demagogue or a grubby fascist.
It's a horrifying moment in Canadian history, and what depresses me the most is that those who believe in this country have not yet united to meet this new threat. And are still playing their partisan games even as our country burns.
Because let's be very clear, if that monster is not stopped he will rip this country apart.
And the good news? Harper's terror campaign, as Simpson points out, is a sign of weakness and failure.
The government had intended to run on economic management. But suddenly, after the oil price shock, prospects for the Canadian economy were looking cloudy. The dollar tanked. The federal budget got postponed. Economic growth figures were revised downward. New Statistics Canada figures showed meagre job growth in 2014. New jobs in January were largely part-time. Full-time employment fell that month.
He is a failed leader, what we are seeing is just naked desperation. And when the Fear Factor fades, as it always does, he'll be left with nothing to show for all his years in power.
The dominos are falling, but they are falling on him...
The economy will become the main issue in the next election campaign, and the biggest threat we face will be seen to be climate change.
And best of all it will become blindingly obvious that his values are NOT our values. Not after the way he is behaving.
And like this little ice breaker ploughing through the ice on this frozen February morning...
Those values will endure.
And they will destroy him...
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20 comments:
I respect your views, but you are wrong. They are the values of about one third of Canadians. And with our terrible electoral system, one third plus voter suppression, may be all Harper needs to get another "majority".
hi anon...I'd like to challenge that pessimistic view, or at the very least use it to argue that progressives should unite. But while horsing around with the dog last night I slipped and hit my head and spent most of the night in hospital. And my head still hurts. However, while I was there I was attended to by an angelic nurse who was wearing a hijab and couldn't have been nicer or more professional. And it reminded me of the all the victims of Harper's foul bigotry. And when I got home I was just in time to see the fire boat head out. Which in turn made me think that we will not easily give up a country like this one. The snow is so white and beautiful, and the red never looked so magnificent. Am I making sense? No. OK now I'm off to bed and we'll argue this one later... ;)
.. Goodness Gracious, Simon.. !
Last thing we need
is you ConCussed !
Get mending ASAP !
Check out Progressive Bloggers this morning........especially Sir Robert Bond Papers!
Also, Feds are cutting $$$$$$ to Marine Atlantic.......what does this tell you?
CANADA is being pulled apart.....one province at a time!
I am far more afraid of Harper, than I am of Muslims. I am disgusted with Harper's minions who support him. Harper was an abysmal failure in Wales and he was not requested for military help either. Harper forced his way into this war, to try and redeem himself. Harper did this to try to benefit himself politically and he is trying to look the hero. All Harper looks is stupid and an embarrassment to decent Canadian citizens.
Harper is a paranoid control freak and fits the profile of a dictator to a tee.
As Thomas Jefferson said "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." and I feel the tree must be watered even with metaphoric blood.
Or, more in keeping with the reality of the situation, all the "progressives" staying home again and refusing to vote to teach harpie and his crime cabal a lesson just like they did last time and just look how well that strategy worked out for them. he's counting on the sniveling, spineless "progressives" to stay at home this time too! THAT is how he will "win" another majority. Even if he "stole" the last election, when the vote is hugely overwhelming in one direction, all the cheating and recounts in the world can't change the fact that the cowardly little bastard lost. Put down the PS4's, get dressed, show up to the fucking polls this time and vote (first past the post only works when you actually have the numbers to make it work) or stop whining about harper or throw yourself off a cliff in Banff or Algonquin and leave the rest of us alone with your "progressive" bullshit.
"Action speaks louder than words." Wearing little red rags, banging on pots, waving feathers around, holding another useless protest and/or mouthing empty epithets and $1.60 will buy you a cup of coffee and not another fucking thing. Remember "Occupy"? NOTHING CHANGED! NOT A REAL GODDAMN BIT OF GOOD CAME OF IT! Want the disease removed? You have to get rid of it to get rid of it boys and girls. "If you want to change, you have to change." Ernie Larsen
Stephen Harper, in my opinion, is the great jihadist. He creates more terror in this country than anyone. Just check with a Veteran and/or heir family, who isn't being paid or getting treatment. Talk to whose feeling terror, when one of their community has been murdered and harpers says its not on his "radar".
Stevie's annointments to the Senate and other places are pretty terrorizing. . They are duds and were given powerful positions. It clearly demonstrates the p.m. has massive "thinking" problems. Lets see; senate appointees either charged or under investigation, Paul Sona in jail, Del Mastro, convicted; Arthur Porter. When we talk crime and gangs, harper needs to look at his own party.. Can't find too many Hell's Angels with 31 charges against them, but hey the Cons have a member.
Then we have the small problem as reported by Stats Canada, 40 thousand premature deaths in Canada per year because of income inequity. 40 thousand dead each and every year due to income inequity. what does the "great economist" do? He makes things even better for the rich and worse for the poor. So if "the great economist" is helping kill 40 thousand people per year, he is the great terrorist, not some numb nuts sitting in the middle east. They won't be killing 40 thousand of us year in and year out.
In B.C. we had 186 people killed by drunk and distracted drivers last year. Did we have laws violating our democratic rights being proposed to deal with that? No. So if its o.k. to have 186 deaths due to bad driving in one province each and every year, why do we need these laws suddenly. Its not like ISIS has landed. We have the laws necessary to deal with threats to Canadians. Just fund the responsible organizations.
Like what could be more terrifying than child porn? yet we have "the great warrior" taking $10 million out of the RCMP budget to fight that. So again, I'd have to say P.M. Haper wins the award for terrorist of the year in the child porn category.
We simply need to remind people we haven't had any "terror" attacks but we've had a lot of deaths from other sources. Lets deal with those first.
It may be simply that the "great jihadist" dislikes people of the Muslim faith and those of Arab decent.
I have to hold onto my hope that Canadians, despite what the polls might tell us, are increasingly seeing through all of this propaganda and divisiveness. I see voter apathy as the greatest threat in the coming election, but I choose to believe that people are waking up and becoming increasingly engaged in what has been happening to our country. If we all do our bit to open people's eyes and generate dialogue, maybe we can make a difference.
Harper's advisors have determined that he has more to gain by tapping into both active and latent anti-Muslim sentiment in Canada than he might lose in support from members of the public who are offended by his use of this tactic, such as are in any case not likely to be among those who would have supported him in the absence of his latest manipulations.
The CRAP Party ethnopandering endeavour, while targetting a wide variety of cultural and ethnic minorities for support and finding it to be such an advantageous fit, long ago assigned the Muslim minority to fulfil the role of the "other" in this critically important project..
Michael Harris column worth reading again.... check out the reader comments below the article:
http://www.ipolitics.ca/2015/02/22/theres-one-born-every-minute-mr-harper-counts-on-that/
[snip]
It pays to remember that dictators are sometimes elected. Consider the case of Hungary’s right-wing prime minister Viktor Orban, a leader who has been aggressively hollowing out democracy in that country since coming to power in 2010. Orban, like Harper, originally capitalized on morally bankrupt leftists to win at the polls. Since those days, he has been involved in a fundamental remake of his country — just like Harper.
Here’s how people close to Orban have described him: a man who divides and rules, a man for whom “control” is the key issue, “a restless and combative” personality with “leanings towards megalomania.”
[snip]
hi anon...well I disagree that the Occupy Movement didn't change anything, I think it gave people a whole new perspective on the situation. But I do agree that nothing is more important than getting out the progressive vote in the next election. Which is exactly what I am doing, For I don't just blog and make videos to express my opinion. I try to suggest ways progressives can attack the Cons, and I am organizing in my riding to try to get, at the very least, more young voters to cast a ballot. Everybody should be doing that as well as encouraging the progressive parties to be more aggressive. For the Con campaign is in full swing while our side is still stuck in neutral....
hi salamander...that's a good one !!! CON-CUSSED, I love it. But luckily although I sometimes feel like I've been concussed every day for the last ten years, I do have a hard head, or as Seb likes to say a small but well protected brain... ;)
hi Kathleen...the Cons have always treated the Maritime provinces with contempt, which is probably the main reason I love them so much. And seeing how badly the Cons are doing in that region, only makes those feelings warmer....
hi anonymous...Harper is without a doubt a greater terrorist threat than most Muslims in this country, and his attempt to whip up hate against them is absolutely shameful. And as you say an embarrassment to all Canadians...
hi anon...well I don't like any kind of violent imagery, but yes, we must be prepared to fight harder than ever for the peaceful Canadian values we believe in. With the exception of the two World Wars, there has never been a more critical time in Canadian history, and failure is not an option...
hi e.a.f...you make a lot of good points. The man shares a lot of things in common with the Jihadists he claims to be fighting. He is a religious fanatic himself and a bully, who believes the end justifies the means. No leader has ever terrorized this country and its values more than he has, and he is without a doubt the worst Prime Minister in Canadian history...
hi Christine...don't worry, it is easy to become discouraged at a time like this one. But Harper is more vulnerable than many people imagine, and I do think more Canadians are more aware than ever before about what he is doing to this country. And if the progressive parties with our help can motivate people to get out and vote, Harper will be defeated. All of us can play a part, and every bit counts...
hi John...I completely agree that he has made a bigot calculus, but remember it is a product of desperation, and anyone who beats the war drums as feverishly as he does, or uses bigotry as a weapon, usually ends up looking like a maniac. The Parti Quebecois found that out the hard way during the last election, and the same thing could happen to Harper and his Cons....
hi David....yes I read that column, and included it in a recent post. And it was good of Harris to remind us that Orban is now in trouble, and hopefully Harper will follow him down...
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