Well I'm sure Stephen Harper must have had a tortured weekend, huddled with the monsters in the PMO, and arguing with the screaming voices in his head.
Trying to figure out how to scare Canadians with his Great Jihadi Menace, even more than he already has. So he can herd them into voting for him, and win another bloody majority.
But of course Harper himself is the greatest threat this country faces. His behaviour since his harrowing ordeal in that closet must make many question his sanity.
And as Michael Harris writes, he is leading us into the darkness of disaster democracy.
Golly. What a difference a day makes. On Wednesday Stephen Harper was loudly taunting the opposition.
And all but inviting the terrorists to attack us.
But yesterday he was suddenly more subdued, as if realizing what might happen if they did attack us. And Canadians blamed him.
So he was barely whispering as he met with security officials, and prepared to turn Canada into a police state.
It's been five years since the young American soldier now known as Chelsea Manning began downloading hundreds of thousands of Pentagon files.
And in the process not only revealed the horror, the brutality, and the hypocrisy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the diplomatic world. But also the U.S. intelligence machine's most closely guarded secret.
That in order to spy on their enemies, they would now spy on us ALL.
I knew Stephen Harper wouldn't waste any time exploiting the senseless tragedy on Parliament Hill.
I knew he'd strike when many people were still in shock, emotions were still raw, the MSM in Ottawa was still making it sound like it was Canada's 911.
And he could still scare some Canadians into believing that our country, and its values, were under attack.
And that only he can save us...
We know he loves total control. We know he rules by fear. We know he likes to muzzle his opponents.
But did you know that Stephen Harper has turned his entire government into a massive Spy Machine?
Ottawa has kept tabs on hundreds of demonstrations across Canada and around the world over the last eight years, from peaceful protests to public university lectures to riots.
Newly released documents show about 800 public demonstrations and events were observed and reported on by government departments and law enforcement agencies since 2006.
And when you look at the list of those on his surveillance list it couldn't be more outrageous:
Well it's a very strange coincidence. But wouldn't you know it, on the day the Supreme Court gave the Cons another slap in the face.
By upholding the privacy of internet users.
Rejecting government fears of a “crime-friendly Internet,” the Supreme Court of Canada said anonymity is vital to personal privacy in the digital era. It told police they need a judge’s permission before asking Internet providers for basic information that would identify their customers.
Stephen Harper's former flak Andrew MacDougall should call for the end to internet anonymity.
In two weeks time Parliament is expected to adjourn for the summer. But before it does it will have made this ghastly Harperland an even more sinister place.
For never has this country seen such a collection of reactionary bills.
And as Andrew Coyne points out, never has there been such an abuse of power.
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.
He seeks total control. His dark world is full of enemies and he must know them ALL.
His slogan is "Knowledge is Power, Ignorance is Strength. Where he knows everything about us, but we don't know anything about him.
He's building a massive security apparatus, he's been trying to violate our privacy for YEARS.
And threatening us if we don't surrender...
So I suppose we shouldn't be surprised to discover him with his pants down creeping out our social media.
We know he seeks total control. We know he would be our very own Big Brother.
We know he's out of his mind, but would make us pay to make him look good.
But who knew he would make us pay to violate our own privacy?
I'm glad that The Guardian and the Washington Post have been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting on the out of control activities of the National Security Agency.
And that Edward Snowden has been vindicated in his own country.
It has been nearly a year since a thin, pale computer whiz kid named Edward Snowden dramatically burst into our consciousness and became the most important whistleblower of modern times. As a result of his actions, we now live in a very different world and it is one — I would argue — that is better than before. At least now, we know.
Because thanks to him we do know so much more about the world we really live in.
And so much more about the surveillance state that Stephen Harper is building...
It looks as if the ghastly partnership of Stephen Harper and Jimbo Flaherty is heading for a messy breakup.
For after first appearing to agree with Flaherty that his income splitting plan was fatally flawed, he has now changed his mind.
The Conservative caucus appears to have put some woolly socks on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cold feet on income splitting, convincing him to stick with a key campaign promise despite his finance minister's public reservations.
Leaving himself looking like a flip flopper, and poor little Jimbo gasping for air...
I'd like to believe Canada's spy masters when they tell me they're not spying on Canadians. I'd like to believe I'm still living in a democracy and not a budding police state.
I'd like to think that I'm not being tracked like a criminal or a terrorist, for having used the free Wi-Fi at an airport.
But I must admit I find all of this extremely unconvincing.
You've just got back to Canada. You have some time to kill before your connecting flight.
You whip out your mobile phone to check out the web, using the airport's free Wi-Fi.
Only to have Big Brother start following you around.
Welcome to Harperland.
It's been more than two days since we found out that Chuck Strahl, Canada's spy watchdog, is moonlighting as a lobbyist for Enbridge.
And by so doing has erased the boundaries between the petro state and the surveillance state.
Now to make matters even worse, we find out that Strahl is also a lobbyist for a First Nations' energy company with links to China.
Strahl, who was Aboriginal Affairs minister from 2007 to 2010, registered with Alberta’s lobbyist registry on Dec. 3, 2013, to lobby for Frog Lake Energy Resources Corp. The energy firm has partnered with Chinese-financed Windtalker Energy Corp to drill for oil on Frog Lake’s territory.
Which makes this question even more important: Why hasn't he resigned or been fired?
It's a chilling story, a dark tale of spooks and Cons, with a little bit of Big Brother, and more than a hint of treason.
And I hesitate to write about it eh? Lest my phone start clicking and hissing like Stephen Harper himself.
But all patriotic Canadians should now ask themselves this question: is Great Spooky Leader working for us or the Americans?
He invited world leaders to his G20 summit, and then allowed the Americans to spy on them. He had his CSEC agents spy on the Brazilians.
He has just unveiled a Trojan horse cyber-bullying bill that would allow police easy access to our so-called metadata, the records that internet service providers and phone companies keep on our every call and email.
And now I see Stephen Harper is taking his Big Brother tendencies to a whole new level, with a plan to monitor our social media.
Normally the sight of the moon rising over Mount Royal on a beautiful cloudless night would make me whoop with joy at the thought that I had finally escaped from Harperland.
If only for a few precious moments.
Or smile at the sight of the Muslim crescent and the Christian cross sharing the mountain, after the way the hideously flawed PQ Charter of Values has divided the province.
But somehow last night I found myself shivering in the cool night air, staring up at the inky darkness, and wondering again where Stephen Harper is taking this country.
Because this rings hollow.
We know he wants total control. We know that he believes that the end justifies the means.
We know that Canadian mining companies are some of the most ruthless and rapacious companies on earth.
But did Stephen Harper really authorize the spooks at CSEC to spy on the Brazilians?
He is the man most responsible for taking the surveillance state into a new and even more sinister Orwellian age.
The General who while working in Iraq decided that instead of just monitoring terrorists and suspects he should monitor EVERYONE. And as the head of the National Security Agency is now doing the same to us.
But who knew that Keith Alexander had turned his Information Dominance Center into a Star Trek fantasy?
