It's Thanksgiving Day in Canada. The day when you realize that summer isn't coming back. And a day when I feel particularly close to our U.S. neighbours. For although they don't celebrate Thanksgiving until November, we both share the Pilgrim turkey, on this most North American of holidays. As well as the happy legacy of having lived side by side in peace for so long. So I thought it was particularly unfortunate that the New York Times should choose this weekend to write about the Con regime's obsession with the War of 1812.
He's always been a nerdly chickenhawk. Posing as a Great Warrior Leader, inflating and deflating like a blimp, depending on the prevailing political winds.
He's never seen a war he didn't like, from the one in 1812 to the one in Libya, and now Stephen Harper is frantically flapping his stubby wings again, trying to pump up a war against Iran.
Which is particularly alarming, since tensions in the region are escalating, and the more political leaders talk about war the more likely it becomes.
One of the things that worries me the most about Stephen Harper is the way he loves to play soldier, or Great Warrior Leader. One day he's Stalin, the next day he's Harpo of Kandahar, and the next moment he's Napoleon.
“And history will record this: that it was the good work of Canada’s Armed Services – your work – working with our allies, that enabled the Libyan people to remove Gaddafi from power.
“Last week a NATO official told the world's press that Canada had indeed, and I quote, ‘punched above its weight’
“That’s what others say.
“This is what I say:
“Soldier for soldier, sailor for sailor, airman for airman, the Canadian Armed Forces are the best in the world.
“Congratulations, and on behalf of all of us, thank you and God bless all of you. God bless Canada.”
Jesus. Jesus. Gimme a break. I'm glad the degenerate tyrant was ousted, although that wasn't our mandate. And yes, I was cheering on the rebels all the way, because they're wildest bunch of freedom fighters I have ever seen.
But please.....raining bombs and missiles down on Gaddafi's forces was as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. So why is Harper puffing himself up like a blow fish, or a blimp? Trying to sound like Winston Churchill David Cameron. And making us look RIDICULOUS.
Gawd. Even tiny DENMARK beat us? We're right up down there with ITALY? And he's making it sound like WE won the war?
Yes, yes, I know it's a well known fact that those who were nerds when they were young, like Harper was, often have warrior fantasies. Who among us doesn't know at least one little Napoleon?
But who can explain why he is quoting the hunchback Lichtenberg?????
"A handful of soldiers is always better than a mouthful of arguments."
Whom was Lichtenberg describing when he wrote, “Whenever he composes a critical review, I have been told he gets an enormous erection”? And of whom, you find yourself wondering, could it be true today? Hmm?
Because I can't help feeling that something horribly similar is at work here. If you know what I mean eh? Judging by his triumphalist speech, and his obvious state of arousal, I can only conclude that Nerd Harper likes playing soldier because it...um.... excites him. Praise the Lord and pass the Viagra !!!!
And to make matters worse, if that's possible, we're ALL going to pay for it.
I mean does anybody think that having our little Napoleon wander around the world making belligerent statements, and threatening to go it alone, and attack any country he feels like... with our tiny army... is going to make our country safer or make us more enemies?
And how many BILLIONS is he planning to spend on this twisted fantasy? Even as our economy is contracting, and he's preparing to slash social services.
Oompah. Oompah. Oompah. Was there ever a Canadian Prime Minister so ridiculous and so DANGEROUS?
Well it wasn't Nuremberg. It was Ottawa. But the message from Great Deranged Leader to his adoring followers was the same. Now that we have conquered Germany Canada, we must conquer the WORLD !!!!!!
Harper painted a dark picture of the world around Canada near the end of his mostly upbeat speech, and said there are forces rising that Canada must resist.
Canada's purpose "is no longer to please every dictator with a vote at the United Nations," Harper said, adding he never understood why others felt that was in Canada's national interest.
"Our party’s great purpose is nothing less than to prepare our nation to shoulder a bigger load, in a world that will require it of us," he said.
Great eh? Canada Uber Alles. From pariah nation to rogue nation. We're still spending billions in Afghanistan. The bill for the war in over Libya is clicking like a taxi meter.
And now he's planning to spend billions projecting our military power all over the globe?
Oh. Mein. Gott. Of all Harper's multiple personalities, I knew the one where he thinks he is a great military leader would be the end of us. Or the end of the medicare system when the Con war machine bankrupts the country. Which of course is his secret plan.
And which dictator will he attack next I wonder? The one in Iran, who by threatening Israel is threatening the return of the Christian Messiah?
And then launch an all-out assault on North Korea...or Haiti....or Hong Kong.
Oh wait. Too late.
There he goes now...
You know that little charred ball is probably what the planet will look like after Great Maniac Leader is finished with it. Because if he can hasten The Rapture you KNOW he will.
Yikes. Thank goodness for Brigette and the real majority.
"It's people coming together to say that we're going to resist the Harper agenda, to make sure that the Conservatives know that we won't back down..."
Cluck. Cluck. Isn't war egg-citing? Just a few days after getting her journalistic feathers blown off, Crusty the Chickenhawk is back with another sucking chest wound of a column. Not a word of apology for smearing Richard Colvin. And getting redacted retracted corrected. Not a word to explain how she got the e-mails Colvin and members of the Canadian Parliament are not allowed to see. Not a word about getting publicly spanked by her own newspaper. Just this bitter nonsense. I am not one of those smart Ottawa reporters who, having suffered through too many Question Periods, know what constitutes torture better than anyone else. Nor am I a mandarin, politician or aide, all of whom have endured the same, plus the practice of jackal journalism, which is what the modern game has become. More drivel about her egg-citing tour of Kandahar, and all that manly manly musk. The experience was one of the most significant of my life (if not on a par with the drama of being, say, in a budget lockup) and I treasure every minute of it. I made some lifelong friends, and I love some of these men. This wild statement: The first is that the hysteria of this week to the contrary, there is still no evidence that any prisoners taken by Canadian soldiers and handed over to Afghan authorities were tortured.
And this dumb observation, to pretend she knows what she's talking about. Secondly, the MP didn't photograph the man purely to show he was in good condition when he got into the ANP truck. Canadians were routinely photographing every prisoner they detained, in part because most Afghans don't carry identification and sometimes have only one given name... When she clearly does NOT. We then photographed the individual prior to handing him over, to ensure that if the ANP did assault him, as has happened in the past, we would have a visual record of his condition. Because the soldier was pretty specific. About the MAIN reason he photographed the prisoner. And about what had happened to OTHER prisoners. Gawd. Look I don't really care if Blatchford prefers to be a chickenhawk cheerleader, the toast of the Canadian Legion, and General Hilliard's little pet....rather than a journalist. But she should be under no illusion that she is supporting the troops more than most Canadians do. Because she isn't. If she and some other journalists had done a better job of REPORTING on the war, we might not be in the mess we're in. And a lot of brave soldiers might still be alive. I mean doesn't this chickenhawk even know that old military motto? The truth will SAVE us. So please Crusty, spare us any more of your egg-citing adventures in Assghanistan. Or more of that sweaty Con propaganda masquerading as journalism.
Because the truth will come out whether you like it or not. At a public inquiry.
And in the meantime please try to remember that a journalist is a journalist eh?
When Christie Blatchford's smear job on Richard Colvin first reared its ugly head, I noticed something strange. Although getting some leaked e-mails should have been a big scoop, no other Globe reporter was touching the absurd chickenhawk's story. But as Paul Wells notes, they've more than made up for it since. In 20 years in journalism I have never seen anything resembling the systematic and sustained repudiation to which Christie Blatchford, the Globe and Mail’s marquee columnist, is being subjected by her own newspaper. There is room in any good paper for disagreements among colleagues, and frankly there should, for a long time now, have been room for more of that at the Globe. But this goes further. This is breathtakingly methodical. And I believe it was needed. I don’t think hanging Blatchford out to dry has been the Globe’s goal here. But because she wrote what she did, and Globe reporters keep finding what they do, hanging her out to dry has become necessary to the larger task. Oh boy have they ever. Christie. Crusty. Canadians want journalism out of Assghanistan, not Con propaganda. Or all that jingo nonsense and all that manly musk. Never have I witnessed such a journalistic spanking.And never was one more DESERVED.
When you don't do anything unless Obama does it first. Or you try to hide behind him, just like you try to hide behind our soldiers to conceal your actions on the Con Torture and Rape Scandal.
Our colleague Susan Bonner in Washington is reporting that although Obama is speaking personally with leaders from Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Denmark, China, India, Russia, Afghanistan and Pakistan... he will not be making a personal call to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Vice-President Joe Biden will be phoning Canada's prime minister.
OMG. Not Biden? Not Italy before Canada? So much for Great Warrior Leader. So much for his "special relationship" with Obama. So much for punching above our weight.
Now will somebody please explain that to the absurd chickenhawk Rosie DiManno?
Who after detailing a million horrifying reasons Canadian troops shouldn't have handed any prisoners over to the Afghan torturers, attacks Richard Colvin for raising the alarm.
I am dubious, however, of a diplomat relying on journalists and embassy compound chatter for information and using that, in part, as a basis for copy-all email memos. Nor does there appear to be, in any of that voluminous correspondence, an eyes-on grasp of the chaos on the ground in Kandahar in 2006 and 2007, when Taliban units engaged in traditional combat – standing and fighting, as they did during Operation Medusa – with Canadian troops taking into custody an unexpectedly huge number of prisoners.
What were they to do with them?
Golly that's a tough one. How about building our own prison compound? Oh we thought of that but decided we couldn't afford it. So what were we doing there in the first place? Or should I ask Rosie's fellow chickenhawk Christie Blatchford that question instead? Because she's now accusing Colvin of being a Richard Johnny come lately. By his own records, he was seized with the Afghan-detainee issue only after a series on alleged prisoner abuse appeared in The Globe and Mail in the spring of 2007. When even she admits that the e-mails, so outrageously leaked to her by the Cons...the e-mails that Richard Colvin and members of the Canadian Parliament can't see but she can...show this: The sixth (June 2), at five pages the lengthiest, revisited what he saw at the prison in May, and devoted all of four paragraphs, mostly un-redacted, in which Mr. Colvin's source described detainees being held in "unsavoury" or "unsatisfactory" conditions, though his description of what the e-mail actually said was considerably more florid in the précis in his affidavit, where he told the MPCC it dealt with "the risk of torture and/or actual torture of Afghan detainees." Almost a year before the Globe story. And never asks herself the question why SHE didn't break the story first. Or explain why she spent all her time in Afghanistan writing about our glorious mission, and all those hunky young men, and all that manly manly musk. And not a word about TORTURE. Oh boy. So much for our Warrior Nation. Oh what a lovely war...
