H/t Boycott The Harper Conservatives For those of you who are more text-oriented or want a comprehensive recounting of the depredations of the Harper years, I encourage you to check out and bookmark Rural’s Harper History Series over at Democracy Under Fire. Rural has taken on the unenviable and herculean
Continue readingTag: harper demagoguery
Politics and its Discontents: The Muslim Threat To Stephen Harper
Were I of the Muslim faith, I suspect I would have a deep and abiding contempt for Stephen Harper and his cabal. After all, he is the prime minister who has made Islamophobia a centrepiece of his re-election hopes and, unlike other groups that he has vilified for political gain,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Art Of Misdirection
Some, I guess, are better at it than others. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Breaking News On Omar Khadr
T The Harper vendetta against Omar Khadr has suffered another defeat: The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday that Omar Khadr, the former teenage al-Qaeda member freed on bail last week in Alberta, should be treated as if he were sentenced as a juvenile. The federal government had argued that
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Oh, And Another Thing
Without doubt, some readers will be wearying of my seeming obsession with Omar Khadr. A good part of my interest in him over the past few years stems from the injustice with which he has been treated, given the flouting by both Canada and the U.S. of International human rights
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Sweet Taste Of Freedom
Watching Omar Khadr’s media scrum last night, it became obvious why the Harper regime fought so hard, first, to deny media access to him while he was in prison, and second, why it so vigorously opposed his release on bail: when you control the narrative, you have free rein, as
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Omar Khadr’s Lawyer: "Mr. Harper Is A Bigot. Mr. Harper Does Not Like Muslims."
Denis Edney’s stinging rebuke of Stephen Harper and his regime’s contemptuous treatment of Omar Khadr over the years will resonate with all fair-mined Canadians. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper’s Jihad Part 3
Dear Leader’s jihad against Muslims continues apace. As you probably know, his regime is going to court today to request an “emergency” stay of Omar Khadr’s release on bail, their arguments appearing increasingly desperate. Previous claims that his release would do irreparable harm to Canada’s relationship with the U.S. have
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper’s Jihad – Part Two
As I have written elsewhere on this blog, I am convinced that humans (along with other primates) have an innate sense of fairness, one that is regularly violated in so many ways by the Harper regime. Yesterday I wrote a post about the bald and unsavoury political motivations behind Dear
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Meanwhile, Back At Campaign Central
Hate campaign, that is. True to form, the Harper regime wasted no time in denouncing the decision to release Omar Khadr on bail pending his appeal. And in addition to playing to their rabid base, they took the opportunity to excoriate both Trudeau and Mulcair with some verbal prestidigitation: Meanwhile,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Hither And Thither
For a government whose every policy seems to be concocted with an eye to re-election, it is not surprising that Finance Minister Joe Oliver has not yet firmed up a date for this year’s budget. After all, he and the rest of the cabal need to know how effective their
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Some Inspiration From A Clear-Thinking Citizen
That’s what I derive from Donald Crump’s Star letter. It is a shame more of our fellow citizens are not possessed of such critical faculties: Increasing risk of terror in Canada When a government starts making decisions based primarily on getting re-elected, with little regard for what is best for
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Penetrating The Fog Of War
Today I turn, once again, to Star letter-writers to inspire both sanity and hope in our troubled land: No ‘middle’ in Mideast war debate, March 25 Prime Minister Stephen Harper bet Canada’s future on oil prices remaining abnormally high. Some economist! Now he is about to order our Armed Forces
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Instructional Video
The following has been floating around the Internet for some time, but it warrants renewed circulation, in that it shatters some of the stereotypes about Islam. I would suggest it could edify Prime Minister Harper, but I live in the real world, a world where Canada’s leader, for crass political
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Full Of Sound And Fury, Signifying Nothing But An Unfitness To Govern
Like one of my favourite Shakespearean creations, Macbeth, the story of a corrupted Scottish king, Stephen Harper’s tale unfolds on a landscape that has become increasingly blighted thanks to his diseased leadership. Harper’s demagoguery, his total disregard for the moral, social and ethical well-being of Canada, all powerful attestations to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Fear In The Streets? It’s What He Wants
Those of us who have been following the machinations of our Machiavellian prime minster know that he seems intent on remaking Canada in his own malevolent image – a land where fear, suspicion, and division prevail, a land where only he and his party deserve the people’s electoral trust to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: More About That Gun Thing, Mr. Harper
Despite Stephen Harper’s strong warnings last year about its dangers, two professors of criminology have thrown caution to the wind and ‘committed sociology.’ In today’s Star, Irvin Waller and Michael Kempa use that dark art to question Mr. Harper’s recent professed enthusiasm for the use of guns as personal protection,
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: About That Gun Thing, Mr. Harper
Yesterday, I wrote about Prime Minister Harper hitting upon yet another red-meat issue, this one potentially quite dangerous, over which his base can salivate. He suggested that guns are an important part of personal safety, especially in rural areas. Two letters in today’s Globe suggest not everyone with rural experience
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: There Is No Depth To Which He Won’t Sink
It is well-known that Stephen Harper is in constant election mode, ever in search of issues that will further divide Canadians as he makes almost exclusive appeal to his base. His positions on climate change, Mulsim dress habits, provincial relations or a whole host of other issues serve only an
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Resisting The Fashion Fascists
If his shrill demagoguery is any indication, I suppose Herr Harper and his regime can be considered to be at war with Islam; the latter’s offences range from embracing jihadism to being a culture that, according to our self-appointed fascist fashionista, is ‘anti-women.’ In that war, Zunera Ishaq is what
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