The Homeless Kid and the Harper Majority

A while back I wrote a post about a young homeless guy who lived under the ramp of an expressway not far from where I live.

He's mentally ill and used to talk to himself loudly or sing. From time to time I would drop off a pizza, or some coffee and sandwiches. But I never got to meet him because when he saw me he used to run away.

And now I never will.

When I went by on my bike today I noticed the city had closed off the area.














With two big iron fences.

And for extra measure.

Lots of big rocks so no poor person can sleep there again.
















Although, as is always the case.

All they succeeded in doing was moving their homeless problem.

Further down the street.














Don't you love the little houseplant?

Now I admit I'm an idealist. I get kidded a lot about it. Nobody cares about the homeless. Even my friends. If I didn't have a companion who is even more hopelessly idealistic than I am, I don't know what I'd do.

But I do know that I expect better from Canada my promised land. I expect our rulers to put every dollar they can get their fucking paws on to build cheap housing and treatment clinics for the mentally ill and the drug addicted. Instead of building fences.

So no Canadian has to live and suffer like that in a country as rich as ours.

Am I REALLY asking too much? That's what I thought politics or being a Canadian was all about. But now I wonder. There is after all a fine line between idealism and idiocy. I know because I cross it all the time.

And in a country where people seem prepared to give a heartless neo-con thug a majority.

So he can destroy what's left of our Canadian values and turn our country into a jungle. Just because they think a bully is a strong leader. Or they don't want to pay more for cheap gas.

I suppose ANYTHING is possible.

I'll never give up hoping for something better of course. Or fighting the miserable Cons. Or crossing that line.

But tonight I'm just depressed...

Harper and the Politics of Personal Destruction

Well fan me with a feather. It seems that kinder, gentler, not so nasty, hockey daddy, cuddly wuddly Great Stinky Pig Leader says his opponents are going to attack him personally.

Sob Sob. Isn't that AWFUL? Poor little fat thing. Is that a strong leader or a WIMP?

As if he had any right to complain, after the way his RepubliCon thugs have demonized Stephane Dion.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he expects to be on the receiving end of nasty, personal attacks from opposition parties during the election campaign.

But judging by the pre-election ad war, it’s Harper’s Conservatives who are likely to prove most adept at demonizing their opponents.

For almost two years, the Tories have kept up a barrage of negative radio and television ads against Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, depicting him as weak, indecisive, “not a leader,” and “not worth the risk.”

Most ads have been accompanied by an unflattering photo of Dion shrugging his shoulders — a gesture that makes him look clueless and ineffectual.

Look I admit I'm not a huge fan of Stephane Dion. I'm afraid he's a lousy politician, and a disaster in Quebec. But he's an intelligent, honest, decent man. A much better human being than the weird psycho Stephen Harper will ever be.

And what these Cons did to him is disgusting.

It's the worst case of political bullying I have ever seen. And as everyone knows I HATE bullies of any stripe. I don't know why so many Canadians would think a bully is a strong leader. That's PATHETIC.They should be ashamed of themselves.

I also don't know what makes RepubliCons so foul. What makes their attempts at humour so ugly and so cruel. But it's got to be in their genes.

Check out this old picture of Young Republicans picketing a Democratic Convention at a time when thousands were dying of AIDS.














See what I mean? Are these Cons humans, or freaky MONSTERS?

When I was in high school I used to defend the nerds from the Conservative Club from being attacked by bullies. Now I almost regret it. Now I don't know what to think.

What I do know is that Stephen Harper and his foul RepubliCons brought the politics of personal destruction to Canada. Straight from the fevered mind of the disgusting Bush porker Karl Rove. They have poisoned our country with their piranha politics, and turned our Parliament into a filthy heaving pig sty.

And that when the fate of my beautiful, gentle, tolerant Canada hangs in the balance.

Canadians have had more than 30 months to test-drive Conservatives.....They know, or should, that the party stands four-square with picket-fence families and is making a loose federation even looser. It favours military solutions over diplomacy, beliefs over science and wedge politics over consensus.

The direction is clear, as is the choice facing voters. They can opt for more of the same and Canada will accelerate along the path now leading it away from much of what defined it for most of the last century. Or they can force the pendulum back toward the centre.

The hypocritical Con goons better not complain about getting a taste of their own bitter medicine. Because they deserve to drink it by the GALLON. Chug. Chug. Chug.

The young people of this country want their country and their future back.

The progressive side may be a little battered these days, but we're on the right side of history, and in the end we will prevail.

So cheer up everyone.

No matter how long it takes, Canada WILL be Canada again.

And the bullies WILL be beaten....

Stephen Harper and the Palin Factor

As I watched Stephen Harper and his porkers march off to the Governor General's house to declare an election.

And heard Great Pig Leader squeal that he expects it will just lead to another minority government.

"We believe it is going to be a tough election. We believe it will be a tight election. And, yes, we believe in all likelihood it will be a minority."

I really had to laugh. Why do you have such big teeth Granny? Why do RepubliCons always think people are fools? Why does this lying double talk sound so familiar?

And then I saw this disgusting quote:

"As you all know once you become a dad, that's pretty central to your character and your life. So, obviously, that's part of what we want to communicate to people."

Asked if he thought Mr. Dion — who has an adopted daughter — was a family man too, Mr. Harper said he would "presume he's a family man as well."

And it suddenly became so CLEAR.

Stephen Harper may be George Bush's foul little stooge...for polishing the Chimp's ass with his tongue...and disgracing his country abroad. But the person he reminds me of these days is Sarah "The Barracuda" Palin.

The Barracuda believes that being a hockey mum makes her a better leader. And so does Stephen "hockey dad" Harper. Vomit. Palin is a climate change denier and a whore for Big Oil. And so is Great Pig Leader. That's why he hates the carbon tax. That's why he killed Kyoto.

The redneck from Alaska claims to be for good economic governance. But she ran her little rube town into the ground with her reckless spending. Just like Staphen Harper has done to Canada with his vote-buying spree.

The Barracuda puts on a smiley face but treats her opponents like deadly enemies, and tries to destroy them. Just like Great Crazy Leader does. He hates culture. She tried to fire the town librarian...and her brother-in-law. He wants to destroy the Liberal Party.

And then of course there's the small matter that the Barracuda lies about everything. And so does Great Big Liar.

But the most disturbing point of similarity between Palin and Harper is that they both belong to fundamentalist churches that believe the world is about to end...and that's a GOOD thing. Believe too that gays are an abomination, a woman's place is in the home, and abortion is murder.

"I suspect many Canadians would be upset to learn about the conservative beliefs of the Christian and Missionary Alliance," Noll said. "They certainly are far less tolerant than, say, the United Church of Canada..."

I bet they would.

Remember this Canadian campaign is going to take place as the one in the U.S. enters it's last desperate weeks. And Sarah Palin is going to have to explain her extremist religious beliefs, and what kind of country she would turn America into if she ever became President. It's going to be the BIG STORY.

Great Pig Leader's government is crawling with SoCons. Dozens and dozens of his MPs are in favour of criminalizing abortion through the backdoor. His Director of Policy and Research is Darrel Reid, the former president of Focus on the Family.

So doesn't it make sense with so much at stake, to ask Stephen Harper some hard questions also?

Or pair him up with Sarah....




















Or the power of the Hidden Agenda?

I don't know ....but Praise the Lord !!!!

Stevie and Sarah.

What MORE can we ask for?

How to Avoid a Harper Majority

By the time you read this I will have moved into my new bunker in a secret location somewhere in Canada.

You see it suddenly hit me like a taser. We're only about 38 days from a possible Stephen Harper majority and I can't be TOO prepared. In the past I've been known to call Great Pig Leader a MONSTER....and I always will. Oink. Oink. So I can only imagine what might happen to me if the RepubliCons seize Total Power.

I can see myself locked up at some sinister Homosexuality Disorder and Discipline Centre run by Stockwell Day. Right next to the Mother Theresa "Rehabilitation" Camp for women who have had an abortion ....and their supporters. And the Jesus Hates You Camp for atheists.

Where between bouts of electric shock treatment to my private parts, I'll be forced to pretend I'm straight, memorize Great Pappy Porker's boring speeches, take Jason Kenney or John Baird to the Purity Ball, and of course, PRAY a lot.

In Con Canada that'll be COMPULSORY. Three times a day....or else.

Which is why I am praying right now that Dana's excellent plan succeeds.

We really do have only one chance to eliminate Harper from the playing board.

We can find a way to take that chance now or we can find a way to take it after the big damage is done.

Big damage or temporary, strategic coalition.

Exactly. Just like they do in other civilized countries. But for some reason our rabidly partisan friends never even talk about.

And if we can't get the left to unite, or form a coalition, can't we at least agree to share riding polling numbers a few days before the election? So we can vote strategically and at least deny the Cons a majority. Please? Isn't Canada worth it ? WTF ?

Anyway, I gotta signoff. I'm running low on power. Sébastien has been pedalling the generator for fifteen minutes and he's chuffed.

But before I go I just want to say I'm kidding around tonight, because I need to cheer myself up. But a Harper majority would NOT be a joke. It would be like a knife through the heart of our beautiful country. And we CAN'T let it happen.

So if our side ever stops fighting itself.

And needs an attack dog.

To bite the foul Cons in the ass.

Or help BOUNCE them from power.

I'm ready...



Have a great weekend everyone!!

Isn't freedom WONDERFUL?

Enjoy it while you can...

Stephen Harper and the Scary Monster

Well now we know why Stephen Harper REALLY wants an election so badly.

Just the faint smell of that majority must be making the monster slobber.

I don't know what's happening in Ontario or BC. But I suspect it's got something to do with the carbon tax. We love our cars more than we love the environment or our country.

But in Quebec it's even worse. From just north of Montreal all the way along the St Lawrence to the Saguenay, soft nationalists are abandoning the Bloc and taking their chances with Stephen Harper's nation/autonomy promise. The one Stéphane Dion can never deliver...in a province where only the old and the Anglos support him.

And already some Liberals in Quebec are waving the white flag.

According to several influential Liberals the Liberal Party is heading straight for the slaughterhouse in Quebec just days before the start of a federal election. Without money, or an organization worthy of that name, and incapable of recruiting strong candidates.

"Outside of our Montreal bastions it's a desert for us....As far as preparation goes, on a scale of one to ten I give us barely a three.....In Quebec it's simple...it's a disaster."

About the only thing the Liberals can do now is launch a series of attack ads to try to shake things up and change the dynamic.

I see Liberal supporters are debating whether to go down that road.

But I don't think they have a choice. Stéphane Dion's reasonable approach has clearly been a miserable failure. The wonky professor thought he could persuade the rabble, when you need to keep the narrative really simple ....or hit a lot of them on the head... until they get the message.

Stephen Harper's attack ads were successful in portraying Dion as a weak leader. To portray him as a sinister bully would only be giving him a taste of his own medicine.

The problem is Harper is now portraying himself as Big Daddy... the Father of the Nation.


Or Great Nice Leader.

So if you attack him too hard, you could hurt yourself. Like paper trumps stone in the rock-paper-scissor game.

One way to go? Contrast the Harper in the ad with the other Harper. The mean nasty one. And then ask Canadians can you really trust a man who one day is Big Daddy, and the next day Scary Monster?

A man who if he ever got a majority would destroy the power of government. And turn Canada into a RepubliCon jungle.

I don't know if it will work. Or how we ever got to this awful place so divided and so weak

But I'm afraid history will be harsh. Because we put partisan politics ....and our cars.... before our country. And were too precious to attack these evil Cons like they attack us.

The Canada we know and love.

Could be dead in forty days ...

Are We Drifting into a Global War?

As the Great War on Terror grinds on with no end in sight. And three more young soldiers die.

And the conflict threatens to turn into the Pakistan-Afghanistan War.

While the crisis in Georgia simmers, and Dick Cheney gets involved.

Simon Jenkins wonders whether we are tilting at windmills, as world war looms.

The question is critical. Has the West misjudged the fault line of an impending conflict? Its global strategy under George Bush, Tony Blair and a ham-fisted Nato has declared the threat to world peace as coming from nonstate organisations, specifically Al-Qaeda, and the nations that give them either bases or tacit support. Western generals and securocrats have elevated these anarchist fanatics to the status of nuclear powers. Policing crime has become “waging war”, so as to justify soaring budgets and influence over policy, much as did America’s military-industrial complex during the cold war.

Might it be that a raging seven-year obsession with Osama Bin Laden and his tiny Al-Qaeda organisation has blinded strategists to the old verities?

Wars are rarely “clashes of civilisation”, but rather clashes of interest.

They are usually the result of careless policy, of misread signals and of mission creep closing options for peace.

Terrorists, wherever located and trained, can certainly capture headlines and cause overnight mayhem, but they cannot project power. They cannot conquer countries or peoples, only manipulate democratic regimes into espousing illiberal policies, as in America and Britain. By grossly overstating the significance of terrorism, western leaders have distracted foreign policy from what should be its prime concern: securing world peace by holding a balance of interest - and pride - among the great powers.

Did the Great War on Terror blind us as well as drive us crazy?

Blind us to the real threat to our survival. The impending clash of nuclear powers over the world's shrinking oil resources.

Was our memory so short we could forget this horror?



And if so what will our epitaph be?

How about they thought they were so smart?

But too stupid to see it coming.

And too crazy to survive...

Sarah Palin: When the Barracuda is a Pitbull

Holy snowmobile! I've just watched Sarah Palin's speech. And all I can say is this: Who says you can't put lipstick on a barracuda...or a pitbull?

"I love those hockey mums," Palin said in acknowledgement of the crowd. "You know what they say is the difference between hockey mums and a pit bull? Lipstick."

You know I hesitate to call her a bitch like the Republicans are always calling Hillary. But if she's a hockey mum, she must be the kind that swear, spit, and throw beer bottles at the referees. Or try to run over them in the parking lot.

I thought her speech was ugly, cheap, divisive, full of blatant lies, and crude attempts to turn ignorance into a virtue. And was delivered in such a grating voice that my head still hurts.

And I REALLY hated the way she carried that poor little baby around like a prop way after its bedtime. Or made the redneck who knocked up her daughter act like her fiance.

But what really shocked me was how the ugly fat white mob at the convention booed the media. And how that old Republikan strategy seems to be working.

Because if Wolf Blitzer and his CNN gang had bent any further backwards to praise Palin's rotten, demagogic, factually challenged speech, their heads would have been up their asses.

"Wolf, Wolf, it's Larry. Whattya see up there?"

Oh boy. I hope the American people weren't fooled by that ignorant, religious fanatic's speech. Because if they were and Poppy becomes President, I would like to be the first to offer up one of my kidneys.....as part of his Dick Cheney Total Organ Replacement Plan (TORP)....to keep him alive at all cost. As the lesser of two evils.

Because the thought of that phone ringing in the White House at 3 am, and President Palin picking it up, is too horrible to even contemplate.The Hallelujah Armageddon redneck with her finger on the button.

The good news?

After this nobody will feel sorry for her anymore. Or believe her I'm just a hockey mum act. Or cut her any slack for running her little village into the ground, abusing her powers as governor, or turning her home into a cat house....while belonging to extremist Christianist organizations that would turn America into a theocracy.

The future of America and the world is at stake.

The Republicans have just shown their real face.

The Barracuda is a pit bull. The piggies are the piggies.

And the Culture Wars are back....

The Battle for Canada and the Divided Left

(click to enlarge)

I took this picture the other day at the CNE Airshow.

It's a Spitfire. The little fighter that helped hold off the Nazi hordes during the dark days of the Battle of Britain.

When I saw it, and heard the sound of its engine, it gave me goosebumps.











I ran to the end of the runway and jumped up and down and waved at the pilot as he came in to land at the island airport.

But then that sinking feeling returned. I couldn't help thinking about the Battle for Canada that is about to begin.

About our dark days. And how desperate is our situation.

You know speaking about planes...one of the things I love about our big, tough but gentle, young country is that we build really good bombers that put out fires.















Instead of ones that kill people. I'm proud of that. It symbolizes in a small way the kind of Canadian values I believe in, and I think most Canadians do as well.

But if Stephen Harper ever gets a majority that kind of Canada will be just a memory. He wants to destroy the power of the central government, so he can turn this gentle tolerant country into a right-wing jungle..... or another Amerika.

And what really upsets me is that Harper and his foul Cons should even have a chance to do that. If the centre-left was united instead of divided, the Cons would be CRUSHED.

So I feel like Dana.

So many on the progressive side seem unable to understand that times have changed. In a more polarized country....where the Liberals have lost their grip on Quebec.... a united right will always have an advantage over a divided left.

While we squabble, and play partisan games, and fragment the message, and divide the vote, they laugh all the way to power.

I think the left should have seen this coming long ago.

But now it's probably too late.

Anyway....when we got back from the beach Sébastien said he liked this picture the most.















The moment when the air cadets headed out for their part in the show, the little propeller plane towing the glider. And a flock of Canada geese rose up to join them.

He said that was REALLY Canadian. And good sign too. Like the geese had decided to throw in their lot with the kids because they were the future of Canada.

But then he would. That's why I love him I guess. I wish I could be optimistic like that.

But if we're talking symbols...

What I see is my beautiful country hanging by a thread.

And I blame EVERYONE....

Sarah Palin and the Bun of Joy

I can't tell you how happy and grateful I was today to see Sarah "The Barracuda" Palin do what I thought was impossible. Interrupt CNN's ghastly wind machine coverage of the hurricane that DIDN'T devastate New Orleans.

If only for a merciful moment.

By announcing to the world that her unmarried teenage daughter Bristol, had a bun in the oven.

WAAAAAAAHHHH !!!!!

Now I feel sorry for the kid. And I don't have anything against preaching abstinence to teenagers. In fact I'm all for it. As long as they are also educated about sex and birth control. Just in case, when you're young, horny, and drunk, abstinence doesn't work.

But Palin, as a Christian Dominionist, doesn't believe in that. So as far as I'm concerned she's a rotten parent and role model so she should get what she deserves.

And stop blaming the media.

Or letting Cindy McCain defend her lack of foreign policy experience....



Hmmmm....

You know..... I think CNN, and the best political/hurricane wind machine team on television, are going to be VERY happy.

Gustav was clearly a disappointment.

But with its churning hurricane of hypocrisy and idiocy, AND the bouncing bun of joy.

The Republican convention should be a REAL disaster.

WAAAAAAAAHHHH !!!!!!!

HA HA HA HA HA .......

By Their Words You Shall Know Them

Kory Teneycke, Stephen Harper's Minister of Propaganda and Disinformation, on why the next election will probably result in another minority government:

"Conservatives should be marked by realism and the knowledge the Liberal party is one of the most successful parties ever – more successful than the Communist parties in Russia and China and more enduring than Fidel Castro."

So we should all relax and not worry.

Even though EVERYONE knows that Stephen Harper is going after a majority so he can change Canada beyond recognition. Even though Harper's mentor Tom Flanagan says an election is part of Harper's plan to DESTROY the Liberal Party.

Political economist Tom Flanagan, a University of Calgary political scientist, Harper mentor and former Conservative campaign manager, compares Harper's goal in destroying the natural governing party with the Punic Wars, in which the Romans defeated Carthage. In an analysis in the Globe and Mail this week, Flanagan writes Harper is trying to push the once mighty Liberals, now cash-strapped, into "a financial pit they can never climb out of."

Now ask yourself what kind of people would compare the Liberal Party of Canada to the Communist parties of Russia, China and Cuba? What kind of people would seek the total DESTRUCTION of a Canadian political party?

What kind of totalitarian right-wing sewer....or petri dish .... did these freaky monsters spring from? And are they really just sleazy Canadian Cons ......or reptilian RepubliCons?

You know it's bad enough wondering whether you're going to die from some bug on a ham sandwich that you ate a month ago.












But having this foul alien strain of RepubliCon bacteria infecting our body politic, and poisoning our democratic discourse, really is the limit.

What's a bad ham sandwich compared to Kory Teneycke's baloney? Or Stephen Harper and Tom Flanagan's sinister Con jungle?

The stench of diarrhoea ... or fascism.... is overwhelming.

If Canada is going to be Canada again.

It's time for a total RECALL...

Aislin

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P.S. Red Tory demolishes some of Teneycke's other absurd arguments