Friday, March 06, 2015

The Parliament Hill Gunman, and the Madness of the Con Regime



More than four months after Michael Zehaf-Bibeau stormed Parliament Hill, the RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson has finally released the video the gunman made shortly before he was killed.

Or at least most of the video...



Minus the eighteen seconds the RCMP removed, but will not explain why.

And what is only too clear is that while Zehaf-Bibeau was obviously a terrorist, or a murderer with a cause, this was no terrorist conspiracy. 

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau said in a video he was seeking vengeance for Canada's military deployment in Muslim countries before killing a soldier at the War Memorial in Ottawa and storming through Parliament with a rifle.

No matter what the Commissioner says:

“The RCMP believes on the evidence that Zehaf-Bibeau was a terrorist. Anyone who aided him, abetted him, counselled him, facilitated his crimes or conspired with him is also in our view a terrorist and where the evidence exists we will charge them with terrorist offences,” Commissioner Paulson said.

For the crude selfie video made in his car, and the suicidal nature of his charge, shows only a religious fanatic in the grip of some feverish delusion.

It does not back up Stephen Harper's claims that some massive Jihadi conspiracy is at war with this country.



And as Chantale Hebert points out, it does not justify Harper's plans to turn this country into a police state.  

Exhibit A in Stephen Harper’s case for the most comprehensive national security overhaul since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 is a recording so short that it is almost a misnomer to call it a video.

At only a bit more than a minute in length in its entirety, the message Michael Zehaf-Bibeau recorded on his cellphone before he killed a soldier at the National War Memorial on the way to a shooting rampage inside the main parliament building last October does little more than clear up the issue of personal motive.


For Zehaf-Bibeau may not have been drunk, or on crack, or psychotic when he carried out the attack. But it does not prove that he was anything more than a deeply disturbed lone wolf.



What the video shows is that Zehaf-Bibeau was calm when he recorded his message. Based on the autopsy report he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. It is also clear that he believed he was invested with a religious mission. But it is not because Zehaf-Bibeau latched on Islamist extremism to justify unjustifiable acts to protest Canada’s foreign policy that he was thinking rationally.

Four months after the attack the RCMP has still not produced any evidence that he was not acting alone.

And what all of the above makes even more clear, is that the way Harper and his Con regime have reacted to the attack is more about politics than terror.



Notwithstanding the Conservative embrace of the video as the ultimate proof that legislation along the lines of their Bill C-51 is urgently needed, the recording provides more political cover than it does policy rationale for the government’s anti-terror agenda.

And the fact that the video was released just days before a committee is to begin studying Bill C-51, speaks volumes about their motives.

And is as Thomas Walkom points out, just another attempt to make terrorism THE issue of the next election instead of the failing economy.

Two issues dominate Canadian politics. One is talked about. The other is not. The one talked about is terrorism. It is the topic of the day.

The issue that is not much talked about any more — at least by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government — is the economy.


Harper's terrorist fixation is just a grotesque attempt to distract us from the real issues facing this country.

This picture, of Canadians doomed to live in a world of precarious work, is deeply depressing. It is also a picture that affects far more people than terrorism ever would. Terrorists killed two people in this country last year. As others have pointed out, lightning routinely kills more — between nine and 10 annually. Yet terror is what we talk about.

Terrorism is important. That’s one reason why Harper and his ministers talk about it. But it is not as important as they make it out to be. It is not the defining issue of our time.


And it leaves us in the same position we were in before that video was released. 

In the  grip of a deranged leader who would do ANYTHING to win the next election...



And is trying to scare Canadians with a vision of a vast terrorist conspiracy, and turn a deranged gunman into a Jihadi army, for crass political purposes. 

Which isn't just evil, it's madness.

But that only makes our mission even clearer and more urgent. For now there can be no doubt.

Or we remove Harper and his foul regime from power in the next election.

Or he will use fear, and the demons in his own head.

To turn this country into a police state...

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10 comments:

  1. If this bill goes through -- Real Canadians ( not harper's scum ) can say we fought WW11 for nothing... fight back people -- fight back or it's hell to pay coming up!!

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    1. hi jolly roger...I like that spirit, and you're right, failure is not an option. And the main goal of this little blog is to encourage people to stand up and be counted. I know things are pretty gloomy out there, but I'm still confident we will defeat the Con swine...

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  2. e.a.f.4:33 AM

    he of the Christian and Missionary Alliance church, along with his 60 caucus members, who also belong are a bunch of wack o doohs. they believe the bible is "inerrant" and the second coming is "imminent". Both this bunch and the shooter appear to be religious fanatics. both brought their religions to Parliament Hill and both are doing harm.

    We have the video, minus some critical time. We have only the Con's appointee's word for the shooter's blood work. We have harper willing to dismantle our democracy because of this shooter and another who ran over a solider in Quebec.

    So what else do we have in Canada? Over 1,200 murdered/missing First Nation's Women. What is Harper's response? Its not on his radar. What is the response of his caucus? Nothing. What have they done about it? Nothing.

    So what is the difference here? Two deaths and the Cons want to change the laws of this country. 1,200 dead women? Not an inquiry into what is going on. Not an extra nickel to find out who murdered these women.

    The cons are all exercised about 2 crazy men but don't care about most likely 300 to 600 people, most likely men who murdered 1,200 women. These murderers are still walking around this country, free as birds and the P.M. says its not on his radar. What is wrong with this man.

    200 Nigerian school girls are kidnapped and he's all over it.
    Journalists in France are murdered, he wants to 'reach out" to French politicians.
    Australians gunned down in a coffee shop. There is all sorts of responses.

    1,200 DEAD MURDERED CANADIAN WOMEN AND THE P.M. and his caucus don't even seem interested in finding out who killed them.

    What is wrong with this picture?

    More armed forces members killed themselves after serving in the middle east than were killed in the war there. What does the P.M. and his caucus do? Cut the services and claw back monies, so they can balance the budget.

    Child porn is a horrible crime. What does the P.M. and his caucus do? Cut $10 Million from the RCMP budget to fight this crime so they can balance the budget.

    The only real terrorist in this country is Stephen Harper. He has terrorised a lot of people by his actions and in actions. He has passed 81 crime bills and his party members have made the Cons look like a Hell's Angels Chapter.

    Stevie and his crew want to "ensure" murderers never get out of jail, but he doesn't care much about putting them in jail to begin with.

    That is the real election issue. Not what Stevie wants the agenda to be, but all the dead people in this country that stevie and his caucus don't care about, because if they did, something would have been done about it.

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    1. hi e.a.f..good comment. What is wrong with that picture indeed? His fear campaign couldn't be more disgusting, he is the real terrorist. And if we allow two violent losers, and a depraved leader to scare us our beautiful big country will look small and grubby. And we should be ashamed ourselves. But the good news as you pint out, is that we have all the ammunition we need to destroy him and his filthy Cons...

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  3. .. it does not really seem to me, that Harper is trying to win the next election..
    Having nothing to offer the country and Canadians other than failure
    it seems more likely Harper is desperate to not lose the next election..
    The difference ?
    Losing means the illusion of legacy is shattered.. the shame certain to follow
    of all the deceits, the obstruction, the sellout.. the toxic infestation of Canada's government
    Winning the next election just ensures his successors can also hide their complicity
    Losing means they are revealed just as he will be... and their mealy facade shredded

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    1. hi salamander...I have no idea where Stephen harper's head is these days, the signals I'm getting are murky indeed. Bit I think he has seen an opening, and it has inflamed him into believing that he might have a chance of winning another majority. I personally don't think that's possible, because his polls are stagnating, and the best he can get out of the way they are trending is a minority. Which in his case would give him only a few more months in power, since the pressure on the progressive parties to topple him would be overwhelming and hard to resist. But he is desperate, wee live in dangerous times, and he is capable of anything...

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  4. "You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right." ___ Rosa Parks

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    1. hi Kathleen...a very good quote from a very inspiring woman. And all I can say is that Harper and his filthy Con regime will never ever scare me one bit...

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  5. Anonymous8:57 AM

    Seems to me his message was quite clear although the media seemed to ignore it. He was doing it because western nations had invaded and bombed countries in the Middle East. The invasion of Iraq was illegal. We all know that. That country has been literally reduced to rubble. They showed fighting in Tikrit last night on TV. Does anyone think there is a woman or child alive there. Should we be there adding to the carnage with our bombs.

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    1. hi anon...you're right, he did mention our role in Afghanistan, and people have a very short memory. They seem to think that we can bomb people in other countries, and escape scot free. It doesn't work like that, and there is always a price to pay. Our mission in Afghanistan was almost totally useless, and the assault on Iraq was as stupid as it was criminal...

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