Julian Assange Upset With Harper Pal Flanagan's Comments

Canada gets another black eye as Stephen Harper's mentor, Tom Flanagan suggested last week that WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, should be assassinated.

Dimitri Soudas is trying to distance his boss from the man, but Tom Flanagan has had a great deal of influence on Harper and has contributed far more to the success of the reform movement than just about anyone else in the party.

... in an online question-and-answer session with the U.K.-based Guardian newspaper Friday, Assange was asked how he felt about Flanagan's remarks that he thought U.S. President Barack Obama should put a contract out on him. "It is correct that Mr. Flanagan and the others seriously making these statements should be charged with incitement to commit murder," Assange replied.

And others at the University of Calgary are demanding that he be reprimanded.

At least 35 alumni of the University of Calgary, where Flanagan teaches political science, signed a letter posted online asking university president Elizabeth Cannon to "condemn Dr. Flanagan in the harshest possible terms" and to censure him for damaging the reputation of the school and its alumni. The letter's author is Kris Kotarski, a 29-year-old writer and editor who pens a biweekly column for the Calgary Herald.

Maybe it's time to dust off that Firewall Letter and remind Canadians just who Stephen Harper really is.