They rallied all over country from St John's to Vancouver, in the sun and in the rain. In a country which is normally so quiet and complacent, they raised their voices once again to let Stephen Harper know what they think of his dangerous Bill C-51. And it was a wonderful sight, that sent my spirits soaring like a bird or a rocket.
I've watched a lot of Stephen Harper speeches over the years, but the farewell speech he gave for Peter MacKay yesterday had to be one of the most bizarre. For not only was Harper strangely agitated, and managing to look both cheerful and horribly lonely at the same time. What was supposed to be MacKay's political obituary ended up sounding like an obituary for his own government. As well it might be. Because yesterday couldn't have been more of a disastrous day.
I'm not big on conspiracy theories, although I do believe that when living in Harperland paranoia can be a higher state of consciousness. But here's one for you: Why did the RCMP choose yesterday to release the unseen video of the crazed gunman who stormed Parliament Hill?
Well I see Peter Dumbo MacKay is going to have a lot more time for fishing, and has announced that he is finally resigning. And since politicians of all parties are falling over themselves to praise him, I thought I should take some time to set the record straight. And remind everyone of his abominable legacy.
As you know the trial of Mike Duffy resumes on Monday, and as you imagine Stephen Harper must be shaking like a leaf, or a coward in a closet. Or tossing and turning in his bed at night, wondering when Nigel Wright might be called to the stand. And asked to explain, among other things, what exactly Boss Harper meant when he told his faithful henchman that the plan to bury a scandal was "good to go." Because as Michael Harris writes, while the trial may be farcical.
Of all the Canadians Stephen Harper has muzzled during his reign of terror nobody was muzzled more than Omar Khadr. For years Harper prevented the media from meeting with him, hearing about his ordeal, or even taking his picture. So he could portray Khadr as a monster. And since I have never defended anyone as long and as strongly as I have that child soldier, you can imagine how I feel to see him ride free at last.
I must admit I'm finding Harperland this week a little strange and rather depressing. Or should I say even stranger and more depressing than usual. For although we could be just two months away from the start of an election campaign, as I pointed out yesterday. You'd never know, it's eerily quiet out there. It's like the so-called phony war, when Britain and Nazi Germany declared war on each other, and nothing happened for months. And in this country, as parliament prepares to take a five-month break, the only thing breaking the silence, or breaking wind, is the horrible sound of the NDP and the Liberals fighting each other.
You might think that Stephen Harper has done enough to hurt poor seniors. By making them wait until they are sixty-seven to receive Old Age Security payments. And treating our veterans like dirt. You might think that his Great Con Debate scam would have satiated his corrupt instincts. But no, now he has ordered his dilapidated stooge Joe Oliver to flog a phony pension scam.
As you know the Con Death Machine, in a desperate attempt to soften Stephen Harper's image, has just released an ad portraying him as a kinder gentler Big Daddy. A man who works late into the night on the nation's business, so we can sleep soundly knowing the economy is in good hands. And that we won't be beheaded in our beds. Which of course couldn't be more fraudulent...
When in fact he's a dangerous maniac who spends all his time on party business trying to buy and steal the next election, is leading the economy to disaster, and would turn us into a police state. And who even as we sleep may be plotting to surprise us with an early election call.
It's been almost two months since a ship spewed oil all over Vancouver's English Bay. And who can forget how slow the federal reaction was, or how the hapless Con beluga James Moore reacted? So now that we know how much an oil spill in nearby Burrard Inlet could cost that city. A major oil spill in Burrard Inlet would devastate Vancouver's marine and shore-based economy resulting in losses amounting to $1.2 billion, according to a University of B.C. study commissioned by the city. I'm really glad that Adbusters has just launched this new ad.
As I've been telling you for a while, Stephen Harper's PMO is not the mighty Death Machine it once was. These days it's looking desperate and disorganized. Its election campaign is veering wildly in all directions. It's making a lot of dumb mistakes. And there couldn't be a better example of that than what happened yesterday. When the fanatics in the PMO launched two new attack ads. Only to have them go horribly wrong.
Whatever Stephen Harper and his grotesque Con regime say about the way they have blown up the political leader debates. Or the stinking fish they are trying to sell us. Nothing can change the fact that a fish is a fish.The process is now a fiasco. It is yet another assault on our electoral process. And yet another attempt by Harper and his thuggish gang to bend or manipulate the rules.
When I saw all those bats flapping around over Parliament Hill the other night, I wondered where they were coming from. And because of the ghastly things they were squeaking, and the foul smell of their droppings, I naturally assumed they must be coming from the Harper PMO. But now the horrifying truth has been revealed. They're coming from 24 Sussex Drive !!!!
As you know I've started portraying Stephen Harper not only as a cowardly puppet, and the most monstrous leader this country has ever known. As well as a hopeless incompetent, and the turkey king of Canada. But also as a leader so long past due, the flesh is falling off him and his rotting government. And as more evidence of that, I have three examples that demonstrate that even some of his own natural born supporters think he's so far gone. That they are giving him one slap in the face after the other.
Now that the referendum in Ireland is over, and the great battle won, I want to tell you about something I learned from that campaign, that I believe can help progressives win the next election. And that is the way the Yes side motivated and mobilized young voters. And how they used social media to maximum effect to get their message out.
It's a great day to be Irish. A great day for human equality, a day when love defeated hate. Ireland became the first country in the world to adopt same-sex marriage by popular vote as 62 per cent of the electorate backed a referendum, official results showed on Saturday. Somewhere the spirit of its gentle poet and playwright Oscar Wilde, who was broken by bigotry, must be smiling. As are so many gay people...
Well now we've heard it from the horse's mouth, or the horse's ass, or the scary puppet Stephen Harper himself. He will NOT take part in the biggest of the political leader debates.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper reiterated Friday he will not take part in a national English debate that would be broadcast by the major TV networks. He will not say why he would boycott a debate that is watched by more Canadians than any other. But he will try to suggest that this democratic demolition derby isn't really his idea.
Last week I said that the way Tom Mulcair's NDP was surging in the polls it wouldn't be long before it passed both the Liberals and the Cons. And sure enough that seems to be what's happened. A new EKOS poll has the NDP on top. And another orange wave is now a real possibility.
Well now it's official. The Con fluffer Kory Teneycke and his chicken leader Stephen Harper really don't want any serious political leader's debates. They want to hold their own mini-debates, and prevent as many Canadians as possible from watching them.
So they won't take part in any organized by the country's major broadcasters. The Conservatives have rebuffed the latest offer from Canada's major broadcasters to host two nationally televised leaders' debates at the height of the federal election campaign. Even though only they can deliver a massive audience, and provide French Canadians with the country-wide coverage they deserve. And the fluffer and failed TV executive Teneycke, couldn't be more brutish. "We're going to pick the five that we think are going to be the best five, and the consortium didn't make the cut, unfortunately for them," he said.
"The prime minister is the prime minister, he's leading in the polls right now, and if the opposition leaders want to debate the prime minister, they know where he is," he said. Or more ABSURD. "If they don't, because they're scared, then they won't." When nobody is more scared to have his ghastly record attacked on TV in front of millions of Canadians, than Chicken Harper himself...
Because he is a Great Chicken Leader, as well as a Great Closet Leader, and this is just the latest example of his ghastly cowardice. It really is beyond belief what those Cons are doing to our country and our democracy. But the good news is this latest outrage will only reinforce the impression left by his not to heroic ordeal in that closet. And he can forget about trying to portray himself as a Great Strong Leader from now on. For nobody will believe him. And we WILL use that against him. We can ridicule him on social media. We can put up posters in our neighbourhoods, or turn up at his rallies dressed as chickens, or make clucking sounds wherever he goes. And if you're up to it, and I am eh? Even greet him all over the country with a little chicken dance...
Yup. Let's make him pay the price for being such a coward. Let's brand him as a chicken. Let's embarrass him beyond recognition. Let's have a little fun, and laugh him out of office...
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It couldn't be a more Orwellian move, or a greater threat to our democracy. Stephen Harper's outrageous decision to protect the RCMP by rewriting history. But this is Harperland, he is drunk with power, he really does believe the truth is what he says it is, and he is out of control. So it seems there is nothing we can do to stop our Big Brother from bending the law to suit his sinister purposes.
As you probably know Stephen Harper's Cons have been in a feverish, grunting frenzy recently. Running wildly all over the country, spewing our tax dollars out of every orifice, in a blatant attempt to bribe voters, and try to buy the next election. But although Canadians have seen this disgusting spectacle before, in the lead-up to an election it looks even worse. And as John Ivison points out, this porky act just might cost Stephen Harper the next election.
In retrospect it could only be called a triumph of bad timing. For there was Jason Kenney at the Canadian Club in Toronto, puffing out his chest like a chicken hawk, and claiming that the Great War in Iraq was going according to plan. Despite the setback in Ramadi. The seizure of Ramadi by ISIS is a regrettable setback, Defence Minister Jason Kenney says, but no indication that coalition forces are losing the battle in Iraq against the militant organization. "Just imagine if we weren't there, how much more territory they would have claimed," Kenney told reporters following a speech to the Canadian Club of Toronto Even as the Syrian city of Palmyra was falling to the ISIS crazies.
In my last post I looked at Stephen Harper's Great War on Canada. And because it's such a vast subject and such a long nightmare, it raised a lot of disturbing questions. Like is he the Axis or the Essence of Evil? Or is he just CRAZY? So I'm really grateful that when it comes to his Great War on Science, it's a lot simpler. It is totally insane.
It's not a question most people who know me would dare ask me. Lest they be forced to listen to a five-minute diatribe, or watch my face turn red, and smoke pour out of my ears. But now somebody has asked the question: Is Stephen Harper the worst prime minister EVER?
And since I'm really too tired to erupt right now, all I can say is thank goodness Bruce Livesey answers his own question.
I don't know if you've noticed, but Stephen Harper has suddenly stopped talking about the Great War on Terror, and the Great Terrorist Menace. These days he wants to project a kinder gentler image as a Great Friend of Children Leader. So now almost every photo-op features a group of bored kids in the background...
But of course, there's a good reason for that. He is desperate. And The Great War on Terror is going badlydisastrously.
It's frustrating to see that even some of my readers think that Stephen Harper's crass attempt to fix the party leader's debates might be good for progressives. And are sending me comments like this one, with lots of periods in it: Anonymous 2:29 AM Let.the.other.Parties.Debate.without.him.and.it.will.be.HarperCons.Downfall...Good.for.Canadians!!!!! So that I might read it slowly, and understand that hopeful belief better. Even though I thought I had made it clear that Harper's plan, as might be expected, is just another grubby Con scam. So. I. guess. I'm. going. to. have. to. be. even. clearer.
In his almost ten years in power Stephen Harper has done so much to diminish our once proud country and shame it in the eyes of the world. And few things are more deeply disturbing and more disgusting than his Great War on Science. For without truth there can be no democracy. Just a broken country stumbling blindly into the future. But now at last I'm glad to report, the scientists are revolting.
Last week I wrote that Stephen Harper's threat to use hate laws against Canadians who peacefully protest the actions of Israel's brutish Netanyahu regime, was the first shadow of a police state. Now Robert Fisk, the distinguished Middle East correspondent, has taken that criticism a step further. By calling Harper's blind support of Israel both crazy AND dangerous.
A wonderful thing may be about to happen in Ireland in just a few days. Millions of people are preparing to take on the power of the Catholic Church, and some of the nastiest bigots you can imagine. And make that country the first in the world to vote to approve same-sex marriage.
A couple of days ago I wrote a post about Stephen Harper's plan to torpedo the party leader debates, or shrink them until he can drown them in a bath tub. And I said how shocked I was to see many in the MSM, and even some progressives, swallow the Con line hook, line and sinker. And proclaim that this move was good for democracy, diversity blah blah blah. When in fact it's a monstrous assault on our democracy, it's not good for diversity, and it's just another grubby Con scam.
He is still campaigning furiously all over the country, sprinkling dollars all over the place, trying to buy the next election. But the spring has gone out Harper's step, he seems listless at times, his cold dead eyes seem deader than usual. He's packing on the pounds. The events of the last two weeks have clearly taken a terrible toll. Every day seems to bring more bad news. And yesterday was no exception.
It couldn't be more ironic. Stephen Harper creates a monster called Bill C-51, to go after his enemies, and scare Canadians into submission. So he can turn this country into a police state. But before he can unleash the monster on the population, the monster slowly turns around, grunts loudly. And starts scaring the living daylights out of Great Leader.
We know him as the rabid right-wing extremist who made it easier for the Cons to steal the next election. We know him as the cruel fanatic who could play a Gestapo agent in a World War Two movie. Or the union hating star of the Bates Motel...
But who knew Pierre Poilievre aka Dickhead, could be so incredibly VAIN?
For almost ten years Stephen Harper has tried to brutalize this country beyond recognition, bludgeon our democracy, and rape our values. But still his bestial lust for destruction isn't satisfied. Because now as you probably know, he's trying to blow up the party leader debates.
For months Tom Mulcair and the NDP have been creeping up in the polls. But this latest EKOS poll is still stunning. For now it's starting to look like an orange surge.
It's the third time the Supreme Court of Canada has been asked to rule on the case of Omar Khadr. Twice before it has ruled in his favour, and today it did so again. And the way it did couldn't have been more of a slap in the face, or a kick in the head, to the Con regime and its depraved leader.
Sometime today Canada's Information Commissioner is expected to recommend that charges be laid against the RCMP, for withholding and destroying gun registry documents, before Parliament had finished debating whether they should be shredded. But if she does it will now be a meaningless gesture. For it too will be shredded. Because it seems that buried deeply in the Harper regime's latest foul omnibus bill, is a bill to protect the RCMP by rewriting history.
Oh boy. I knew it was just a matter of time before Margaret Wente, our Marie Antoinette, would look down from her high throne. Or her high horse in the Con media. And condemn Elizabeth May in the most contemptuous manner possible.
It couldn't be a worse nightmare. David Cameron's Conservatives have a majority and are preparing to carve up what's left of Britain's welfare state. They are planning to make massive cuts to welfare payments for the poor and the disabled, continue their privatization of that country's medicare system, and scrap the human rights act. But while I feel very sorry for those who will suffer from the bestiality of the British Cons, my consolation is that Scotland is now a progressive bastion.
It's sometimes hard to remember, and even harder to believe, that Stephen Harper came to power promising to clean up government. And a new era of accountability. But we all know how that turned out. That was then. This is now...
And now that we know that there is even more evidence that the PMO was involved in trying to whitewash a Senate audit of Mike Duffy. As Lawrence Martin points out, if integrity becomes a ballot issue, him and his Cons are finished.
It's a dirty game, a bestial assault on women, and one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen on TV. One that began just over a year ago with this video in Cincinnati, as a female reporter covered a train derailment.
The video got more than five million views, more than 31,000 thumbs up, and all over North America other depraved men started imitating that hooded pervert. So you can imagine how happy I was to see Toronto TV reporter Shauna Hunt stand up to those bullies the other day.
When I saw this photo during the hearings into Bill C-51 it sent a chill down my spine. Because that posse is a horrible combination of stupidity and brute force, it looks like something out of a police state, or Pinochet's Chile. And I knew those three amigos would lead us to a bad place. And sure enough, now that their totalitarian bill has cleared parliament, they're smiling like cats who just ate a bucket of mice. And threatening those who would peacefully protest against the policies of Benjamin Netanyahu's racist settler regime.
I didn't think I'd have to ride to the defence of Elizabeth May again. I thought one post was enough. But since she has been mercilessly pilloried, and some are actually suggesting she should resign. And you know how I hate bullies. I thought I better write another one, and restate the obvious.
