Could Someone Possibly Guilty of War Crimes Really Win a Nobel Peace Prize?

Social media has been buzzing recently over the announcement that the B'Nai Brith has put forward Stephen Harper's name as a possible recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

This prestigious award is presented to an individual or group of individuals who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

Above all. The promotion of peace.

It boggles the mind.

I can't think of a single incident or plank in this government's platform that promotes peaceful resolutions to anything. They even turned Toronto into a war zone during the G-20 Summit in 2010, then praised the police for their brutality.

During this horrific abuse of human rights, one police officer told a citizen "This ain't Canada right now". For many of us, it feels like we've not lived in Canada since Harper took control of our country in 2006. And I don't use the term "took control" lightly.

But just as an increasing number of Canadians are being made to feel that they are unwelcome visitors, in what was once their "home and native land", the international community has found a Canada that is no longer a peace broker, but a bully for corporate interests.

When Documentary film maker Michael Moore was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey, she stated that she was shocked to learn from him, the things being done in their country's name.

All Canadians need to read The Ugly Canadian: Stephen Harper's Foreign Policy, by Yves Engler. It becomes very hard to feel like a proud Canadian when you learn what this government is doing in our name. "This ain't Canada right now" indeed.

On Power Play recently, former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (from Canada's first Conservative Party that was disbanded in 2003), stated: “When Canada, for the first time in our history, loses a vote at the United Nations to become a member of the Security Council . . . to Portugal, which was on the verge of bankruptcy at the time, you should look in the mirror and say: ‘Houston, I think we have a problem.’”

Yes we have a very serious problem, and for the B'nai Brith to put forward Stephen Harper's name for a Nobel Peace Prize, not only mocks the integrity of the award, but is a slap in the face to his victims, at home and abroad; who see Harper as the antithesis to peace.

His government is not only supporting the genocide of Palestinians by Israel, but sending out fund raising letters asking for help to make sure that they can continue to condone the slaughter.

The Afghan Detainee issue is yet to be settled satisfactorily, and there is strong evidence that Canada could face a war crimes tribunal with the International Criminal Court, not only because of our handing over of prisoners for violent interrogation, but for the extraordinary lengths that Harper went to to stop the investigation.

In 2012 the UN strongly rebuked Canada, not only for our complicity in torture, but for our horrendous immigration policies and unwillingness to protect Canadian citizens abroad.

We were once a country with a moral conscience, but under Harper, have become a country with no conscience at all.

In 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize went to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change"

Instead of addressing Climate Change, Harper has gone above and beyond to not only deny that it exists, but to make sure that groups like the IPCC cannot operate in this country. He has also poured billions of tax dollars into the Tar Sands, and their weapons of mass destruction.

How could anyone possibly believe that this man is deserving? Maybe we need to look at who put forward his nomination.

Frank Dimant of the B'nai Brith is hardly an unbiased judge. While the Brith is a commendable organization, Dimant has aligned himself with the radical Religious group, Christians United for Israel.

In 2006, Charles McVety, president of Canada Christian College hosted the first event (Israel You're Not Alone) of a newly created coalition called Christians United for Israel (CUFI). CUFI counts amongst its members such extremists as John Hagee, Pat Roberston and the late Jerry Falwell. In fact, Frank Dimant, BB Canada's Executive Vice President, shared the podium with McVety and Hagee, and thanked them both in these terms: "But we (Jews) and Israel are not alone because of you and the tremendous leadership of Dr. McVety and Dr. Hagee") (Jewish Tribune, May 25, 2006.

Former U.S. Presidential nominee John McCain, was forced to distance himself from John Hagee, because of remarks he made suggesting that Hitler was doing God's work when he drove the Jews to Palestine.

And Charles McVety, who once handled Jim Flaherty's Ontario leadership bid, is Canada's Religious Right leader, and the man who brought Karl Rove to Canada to instruct Conservatives in the art of stealing elections. They were apt pupils.

Dimant sees Harper and his government, not as brokers of peace, or advocates of human rights, but as willing accomplices in a Holocaust.

There is a group; Deny the Nomination of PM Stephen Harper for 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, and a petition in support of this denial with almost 30,000 names.

Columnist Heather Martinuk condemns the petition, suggesting that it makes a mockery of the Peace Prize's goal. She claims that it is just partisan attack on the Prime Minister and suggests that we should take pride in the fact that he is being thought of for the prestigious award.

If he was deserving, we would be proud. Instead we continue to bow our heads in shame.

Fortunately, the international community does not share Martinuk's views, and Harper has as much chance of winning this, as he does a singing contest, but if the nomination is upheld, it will be an undeserved honour, imprinted in Canadian history. We can't let that happen.

“Peace demands the most heroic labor and the most difficult sacrifice. It demands greater heroism than war. It demands greater fidelity to the truth and a much more perfect purity of conscience.” Catholic Monk and Social Activist Thomas Merton

Harper's Attack on Canadian Veterans is Now Down and Dirty

Stephen Harper held a press conference today. And he held it at the same time as Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran.

Stephen Harper is truly an evil little man.

Canada's outgoing ombudsman for veterans expressed his fury Tuesday over the federal government's treatment of servicemen and women and the thwarting of his work by an obstructive bureaucracy. Pat Stogran said at a news conference in Ottawa that he was not going to comment on the Conservative government's decision not to appoint him to a second term.

Stogran said that as ombudsman, he was "impeded by a bureacracy that was deliberately obstructive and deceptive," and that information given to bureaucrats isn't reaching the minister of veterans affairs. Stogran said he was speaking out in order to highlight how badly many veterans are treated and to ask Canadians to stand up for their "sons and daughters." He vowed to use his remaining three months as ombudsman to continue trying to get Canadians to take notice.

Harper is having new yellow ribbons made. "Support the troops. Disown the Veterans"

And the wonderful Kady O'Malley is on top of things as usual.

As previewed in Orders of the Day, soon to be former Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran makes what could be his farewell appearance at the National Press Theatre today -- and his pre-press conference tweets suggest that it could be well worth tuning in to hear his parting thoughts. Check back at 2pm for full liveblogging coverage of Stogran, and stick around for reaction from NDP defence critic Jack Harris.

Jack Harris is great. Such a caring and intelligent man.

And the Liberals are demanding that Stogran be re-instated.

The federal Liberals are demanding the government extend Stogran's term. Both the Liberals and Stogran have been critics of the New Veterans Charter, saying it needs to be re-worked. Still, Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn said that Stogran's anger may lay in the fact that his contract is not being renewed.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper also hinted as much while taking questions from reporters in Tuesday in Mississauga, Ont. "There are no positions for life," Harper said. "That's the way we do things."

What a smart-ass. He really just doesn't care.

We need to be mad about this. Write those letters to the editor. Our veterans deserve better than this.

Harper's Agenda No Longer Hidden But is it Too Late?

I've noticed columns of late becoming almost frenetic, matching Stephen Harper's new game plan. He's no longer working incrementally, as he once suggested might spook the electorate.

He is now in overdrive and as some in the MSM are waking up to it, it's almost too late.

The census issue is the latest item to hit the news, and while some believe it's just a knee jerk pandering to the Libertarians, they are missing the real story.

Frances Russel Murdoch gets it: Harper's Latest Step in Building 'Tea Party North': His census stance is meant to fan populist anger while killing a key tool for social advocacy.

Industry Minister Tony Clement's tweets aside, Stephen Harper's Conservatives know that changing the 2011 long form census from compulsory to voluntary makes it useless for public and private Canadian decision-makers. In fact, that's exactly why they're doing it.

.... "I don't believe any tax is a good tax," Harper has said. His compatriots on the conservative right have chimed in with similar aphorisms. "There is no such thing as society. There are only individual men and women," former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher opined. "If anybody redistributes my income, it had better be me," former Manitoba Conservative premier Sterling Lyon pronounced.

University of Ottawa political scientist Paul Saurette says the Harper decision defines Canadian post-modern populist conservatism. It hopes to hit two home runs. Killing the long form compulsory census simultaneously rallies the Conservatives' "Tea Party North" libertarian base and propels dismantling "the octopus-like configuration of arms-length organizations" created by previous Liberal administrations that "mine" Statistics Canada data to demand social programs.

Unlike British Red Toryism, which accepts a role for government in reducing structural inequality, Canadian post-modern populist conservatism considers inequality as natural, the outcome of individual free choice. Individuals, not governments, must "bootstrap their way up," Saurette continues.

This is what the decision on the census was about, not infringing on our rights. Good Heavens. Their new crime bills, pretty much strip us of our rights.

In going after these small-time players, police and prosecutors have been given new powers in respect to wiretaps, bail regimes, parole rules and the like.

The police have been given more power to wiretap us. If you're not extremely pissed about this, who are you?

We've seen the same in the attitude of the police now. At the G-20, peaceful protesters, even those in the designated protest zones, were beaten and arrested. There is another message here. It's us against them, and the them has all the fire power.

And we saw this at the protests over the closure of the prison farms in Kingston. The police presence was at times 2 to 1, to the civilians. And there was no negotiating or any attempt at playing fair. It was just a "whack 'em and stack 'em" mentality and an overt abuse of power. And that is now becoming the norm.

At one time the job of the police force was to protect the citizens. It's clearly now about protecting the government from any dissent of the citizens.

This was evident in Saskatchewan during Harper's second abusive prorogation, when the Saskatchewan police were praised for saving the PM from embarrassment.

In a letter to the Saskatoon police, two RCMP officers praised local police for ensuring Harper did not suffer any embarrassment because of the protesters.

As one of the protesters stated: "The role of police is to provide security, not to be part of a propaganda campaign." Unfortunately someone forgot to tell that to the police.

Another disturbing pattern that the media seems to be missing, is how Stephen Harper has turned his back on Canadians, not just those in need, but those who might have any hope of "bootstrap[ping] their way up."

The majority of government contracts, when not given to friends or members of his caucus, are being given to Americans or multinational corporations. Even our Olympic pavilion - the Canadian Olympic pavilion - was built by a Chicago firm.

The contract to provide dairy products to the prisons, who once produced their own - an American firm.

A 453 million dollar contract to provide extra policing for the RCMP at the G-20 - an American firm (with a Canadian subsidiary linked to the oil industry).

Our water profits - multinationals. Water that is not supposed to be for profit but he sold under our nose, I might add.



Shrimp farms - multinationals.

Salmon fishing - multinationals.

Canada (in) Action Plan signs - made in the USA



"Just Visiting" attack ads - American PR Firm

Harper's career - American Republican strategist

His new 24 hour "news" program - American Fox News

Additional communications - Americans

Additional security in Afghanistan - multinationals

16 Billion dollar contract for fighter Jets - American Lockheed-Martin

Planned private prisons - Americans

Oil Refining - Piped to the Gulf of Mexico

Even our Religious Right was imported from the Americans.

I suspect they'll soon be a fire sale of 'Made in Canada' labels, because nothing will be made here.

There was a letter to the editor of the Kingston Whig Standard a couple of weeks ago, by an RMC professor, relating to the closing of the prison farms. His last paragraph is very telling.

Perhaps it comes down to the type of Canada you want to live in. If you're already afraid of the current government -- what will they do to us if we actually put democracy into practice rather than merely paying lip service to it? -- and if you're already despairing over ever-improving things, then maybe it's time to consider joining ranks with those who have chosen to accept the responsibility of exercising our democratic rights, before -- as Atwood and others caution -- it's too late.

"If you're already afraid of the current government ..." Canadians throughout history have been critical of their government, but I don't remember a time when we were actually "afraid'.

The only comparisons to what is happening in this country is Communist Russia and Nazi Germany, where citizens were silenced and governments were the instrument of fear.

I want to close with a critique of the media, and sadly one of my favourite columnists, Haroon Siddiqui. In his latest he falls back on the tired notion that we have no opposition:

Stockwell Day and Tony Clement have done more in a month than Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition has in years, especially under the hapless Michael Ignatieff. The two have exposed the long-suspected ideological underpinnings of the Conservative government, and lifted the veil on the inner workings of the court in the kingdom of Stephen Harper.

So long as the media is going to continue with this nonsense, that, yes, Stephen Harper is a ruthless dictator bent on destroying this country, but he is the only option out there, Canadians do not stand a chance.

Look what happened when Michael Ignatieff said that he was no longer going to support Stephen Harper. The media went nuts and he dropped 10 points in the poll.

If this pattern of journalism continues, the media will go down in history as accomplices to our demise.

Something to think about.

The Writing Was on the Wall - Or Should I Say the Photos

One thing I really like about Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament, is the vast amount of information that has been brought forward.

I thought I had a pretty good idea of just who Stephen Harper is, but I must admit, that he is far worse than even I could have imagined.

One story posted a couple of weeks ago, came from Elizabeth May's blog, where she is revealing a disturbing practice of the prime minister to replace all historic portraits with snapshots of himself.

And while Harper supporters may have thought that she was just making this up, another article that was shared yesterday, confirms that our prime minister may be insane. And I mean that in a good way, because at least he may now be able to get professional help.

Harper gallery leaves MPs speechless

Citizens who really want a national portrait gallery in Ottawa can rest easy. The government already has one. All you need to get in is a Commons security pass, a Conservative party membership and a keen desire to view exclusive pictures of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, exclusively ....

So how can we get rid of the "Big Brother" before he destroys the entire Canadian family? There are several things:

1. Check out the sidebar under What am I doing for my democracy today, and you'll find a few tips.

2. Join Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament if you haven't already. With 25,000 links to stories that will make your hair stand up on end, you'll become motivated, I promise.

3. Make a solemn promise to Steve that you will vote and encourage others to do so.

4. Join Can this onion ring get more fans than Stephen Harper. It's kind of a fun tongue in cheek Facebook group, that has drawn in a lot of young people, who didn't realize that politics could be so much fun.

5. Join Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper. Our mission statement is to push for an election sooner rather than later. We may take out a full page ad in a major newspaper, possibly the Globe and Mail, promoting WE WANT AN ELECTION NOW!!!

We will take this country back one vote at a time.

Tony Clement Gets Speech Lessons From Jason Kenney. Now They Both Sound Like Idiots

Conrad Black, the former newspaper magnate and engineer of the Reform/Neoconservative movement in Canada, had a way with words.

Or should I say he had his way with words.

To mask his buffoonery, he became a wordsmith, and no matter what the question, his answer always included a bit of palaver that would have the questioner running to his dictionary for a definition, and then wonder what the possible context could be.

Well our little Jason Kenney fancies himself to be a wordsmith too, and like Black, his words of the day, rarely have a bloody thing to do with the topic being discussed. But that doesn't stop our little Jas from trying, poor thing.

I was reading an article recently discussing criticisms that Harper was getting from his own party. Quoting an MP who asked not to be identified, the statement was so convoluted, but with that magical medieval word, I knew right away who it was. She should have just said an MP who asked not to be identified, but his name rhymes with Mason Benney.

So has Jason Kenney been tutoring Tony Clement on how to sound like a fool?

After referring to educated Canadians as the 'chattering class' and the press gallery as the 'Ottawa media elite'; Clement had to find a way to put himself above the vast number of adults (and a large percentage of children) in this country, who are smarter than he.

So when defending his party's removal of the public and those pesky elected officials, he stated yesterday:

“We’ve used the intercession quite strategically to make sure that we are connected to Canadians’ concerns, their hopes, their aspirations.”

Intercession? Strange choice of word. By definition an intercession is:

1. An act or instance of interceding - but we never asked them to intercede on our behalf. In fact we protested strongly against it.

2. An interposing or pleading on behalf of another person - again no mandate from us.

3. From Roman history. the interposing of a veto, as by a tribune - This certainly fits since they vetoed all public debate.

4. A prayer to God on behalf of another - Bingo. When Stockwell Day was named to head up the treasury, it was a clear message to those of us who have followed the neoconservative movement, that the destruction of Canada was about to commence. And when the Christian extremist Darrel Reid, was named Harper's Chief of Staff; we knew that our constitution would be replaced with the old Testament.

I don't know whether to feel sad, angry or frightened. These guys still have a month of unbridled power. Look what they've already accomplished without debate:

- They've gutted our human rights agencies.

- They've cut funding to the Canadian Council on Learning and publicly announced that education was not a priority.

- They've put our public health care on the chopping block by making it part of NAFTA. Now that the Americans can get their hands on our Medicare it will no longer be sustainable.

- They've made a deal to privatize our civil service and are giving the contract to the Europeans. Heaven forbid a Canadian should benefit from anything. This is horrible because these good union jobs provide much needed revenue in the form of income tax. They also create consumers who again contribute through the GST. This move will further reduce government revenue, making it almost impossible to take care of our citizens.

- They've cut funding and threatened to further cut funding, to any NGO who dares to challenge Israeli aggression, while they build their damn boats.

- They've turned Haiti into a militarized zone.

- They've put out tenders under NAFTA to provide dairy products to our prisons that were once provided by an excellent rehabilitation project; the prison farms.

- They've cut 99% of the funding to Planned Parenthood, an agency that promoted women's health issues, suggesting they were abortion brokers.

- They've cancelled plans to build an HIV Vaccine plant, for fear that people receiving the vaccine might be gay.

At a time like this we need a real Governor General. Someone we could go to and ask her to stop this nonsense. But instead we've got little more than a Barbie doll, who loves the glitz and glamour, but has no idea what this country means to us.

Obviously this is what Tony Clement meant when he stated "... We’ve used the intercession quite strategically..." He has been pretty cocky, strutting around telling us to 'vote them out'.

We will and we'll take our country back, but will there by anything left by then? It's not looking good.

Stephen Harper's Cowardice Has Reached New Heights

We knew it was coming. We knew that Stephen Harper would cut and run and leave the troops to bear the shame of the Afghan Detainee issue. We knew he would NEVER EVER stand up for them, when he prefers to hide behind them.

But his cowardice has reached new heights, when he once again will use OUR money for HIS campaign; this time to attack our men and women in uniform.

Boy when he suggested he hated Canada, who knew it was this much?

The Conservatives are planning a full frontal attack on the troops by implying that the opposition members are accusing them of all sorts.

However, every single person in this country and abroad, with any sense at all, knows that the only ones who could be complicit in torture and potentially charged with war crimes; are Stephen Harper, Lawrence Cannon, Peter MacKay, Rick Hillier and Gordon O'Connor.

I find their latest ten per center to be unconscionable, and may be even more vile than their antisemitic profiling of Jewish Canadians.

For the record, it was NOT the opposition who raised the alarm over detainee abuse. It was groups like Amnesty International, B.C. Civil Liberties, the Red Cross, OXFAM, NATO, the U.S. State Department, our military police, the Afghan Human Rights Commission; to name just a few.

This man is unbelievable. I hope it backfires and Canadians finally see him for what he is. A spineless, gutless bully, who huffs and puffs and then hides at the first sign of trouble.

Tories fight back over Afghan detainee controversy
By KATHLEEN HARRIS,
Parliamentary Bureau Chief
February 2, 2010

Conservatives are fighting back over the Afghan detainee controversy, accusing Liberals of questioning the actions of Canadian troops in a flyer that will arrive in mailboxes this week. The householder — known as a 10-per-center — highlights quotes from Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and other Grit MPs — including one that suggests soldiers might have committed war crimes.

“The men and women of the Canadian Forces serve our country proudly each and every day. From Afghanistan to Haiti, our troops lead the way in helping to rebuild shattered societies and provide security. Sadly, Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party have questioned their actions in Afghanistan,” the flyer reads.

Harper's Reign of Fear Has Turned Advocacy Group Inside Out

We have been hearing a lot about our own advocacy group; Rights and Democracy and how the Conservatives, or I should say Stephen Harper; has created such controversy that one man may have died as a result.

After planting a party faithful, Aurel Braun, to head up the agency, a culture of fear replaced caring and sound judgement. Everyone was under investigation and under attack.

Remy Beauregard was harassed so vigorously, that he suffered a heart attack and died.

According to Haroon Siddiqui; Four of Beauregard's predecessors – including Ed Broadbent and Warren Allmand – called on Harper to hold an inquiry. And 45 of 47 staff at the agency demanded the resignation of Braun, as well as vice-chair Jacques Gauthier and director Elliot Tepper.

But we all know that calling on Harper to do anything when it comes to human rights or common decency is absolutely futile.

And this all boils down to Israel, and any perceived criticism of the nation that must be left alone to do it's job, according to John Hagee, and two of the most dangerous members of his flock: Jason Kenney and Charles McVety.

I wish we had a legitimate media in this country and I wish even more that we had a real Governor General. Someone like Ed Broadbent should be able to go to her and request that she step in. But she won't.

This country is in serious trouble and someone needs to take charge. When Harper made the controversial Darrel Reid his chief of staff, we knew his agenda would be accelerated. We are no longer governed by our constitution but the Old Testament.

Reid once stated: "I think every Christian is under an obligation to change laws to reflect biblical values...Only God can make Canada a truly Christian country... We are called to speak biblical truth to seek justice – and that obviously has implications for our political life."

I don't know if I'm frightened, sickened or disgusted. Perhaps all three. I just know that this could end badly. How did we let this happen?

Staff suspended shortly before open letter published in media
February 1, 2010
Jennifer Ditchburn,
THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA - Three senior managers at a government-funded rights agency rocked by allegations of Conservative meddling have been suspended, including one of its longest-serving employees.

A well-placed source with the organization told The Canadian Press that Marie-France Cloutier, Razmik Panossian and Charles Vallerand were suspended with pay from Rights and Democracy late Friday, and told that they were the subjects of an internal investigation.

IS THIS REALLY YOUR CANADA?

Stockwell Day's Dreams Are Becoming Our Nightmares

When Stephen Harper named Stockwell Day to the Treasury, there was a clear message. Look out.

Every progressive organization founded within the last 50 years would be targeted. He never believed in sex education or planned parenthood, so to learn that that organization just lost 99% of it's funding, should come as no surprise. This must be the backroom deal Dean Del Mastro was talking about, to end abortion.

The forces of evil now residing on Parliament Hill; headed up by the devil incarnate and his lap dog, are unleashing their wrath; so you'd better run for cover. These guys are not only nuts, but represent the worst of religious fundamentalism.

If it isn't in the old testament, it ain't happening. Welcome to social conservatism 101 and hang onto your hats, because it's going to a bumpy ride.

Ottawa cuts funding for CFSH
January 30, 2010
Paul Tuns Editor

The federation, formerly the Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada and still the Canadian member of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, has charitable status, according to the Canada Revenue Agency.

The CFSH says on its website that it “promote(s) sexual and reproductive health and rights in Canada and abroad.” It also admits being a “pro-choice organization.” Its member affiliates, which operate in all 10 provinces, provide sex information, contraception and abortion referrals; according to REAL Women of Canada, it is the leading abortion referral service in Canada ....

Harper Misread the Canadian Public. We're Nice But Don't Get us Mad!

Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament now has more than 205,000 (205,983) members and rallies are planned across the country.

Even Canadians living abroad are organizing protests in their adopted countries.

But don't count Stephen Harper out. The depths of this man's evil have never been seen in this country before, and he's capable of anything.

He just unleashed the horrible Stockwell Day on our treasury, so look out.

Rick Mercer is turning into quite the little activist with his rants. I love Rick Mercer. Don't forget to check out the latest photo challenge. I've downloaded it already and hope to put something up soon. This is too easy.

Polls Suggest Somebody Did Something Stupid
January 19, 2010

So how about those polls hey?

For the first time in a very long time the Liberals and the Tories are essentially tied, well at least they're within the margin of error. Now polls never tell the full story but this much is certain: whenever the party in power drops 15 points in 15 days, you can be assured of one thing -- someone in charge just did something really stupid.

In this case the Prime Minister figured he could suspend Parliament for three months and get away with it, because in his words Canadians just don't care. Boy was he wrong. Wow. He should get out more. Maybe go to a Tim Horton's. Get a feel for the place.

See this is what I love about Canada. Yes, we are apathetic. But the minute anyone tries to use our apathy against us suddenly we start to care big time. It's funny the Prime Minister doesn't get this. Instead he just keeps saying, "Oh, don't worry. Yes, I've suspended Parliament, but don't worry, I'm hard at work."

You know what? Big deal, of course he's at work, he's the prime minister. I'm sure Raul Castro's gonna put in a full day tomorrow running Cuba, we just like to think that the bar is set a little bit higher up here.

Bottom line is Canadians got together, we elected 308 Members of Parliament to go to Ottawa and represent us and one Member of Parliament – Stephen Harper – sent them packing.

Prime Minister, with all due respect, I know it's your job to run the country, I'm glad you're hard at it. But it's the voters who get to send MPs home. And with poll numbers like this, you might want to keep that in mind.

Lookout Everyone. Stockwell Day Has an Axe and He Knows How to Use IT!

Jason Kenney might be the most dangerous man in Harper's arsenal, but if you're looking for the most sadistic SOB to ever roam free, that prize would go to Stockwell Day.

A man with a high school education and a mean streak, rivalled only by Stephen Harper's, has just been named head of the treasury. Now stand back and watch the victims as this man is let loose. Just don't get in his way.

If you think what happened to KAIROS and the Canadian Council for Learning was horrendous, that's just the tip of the iceberg. And he won't blink!

Stockwell Day may be criminally insane.
When he was teaching at Bentley Bible Schools, in one reading lesson, junior high students were asked: "The Jewish leaders were children of their father, the devil - true or false?" There is no right answer because the question itself says it all.

In his social studies classes he warned students that democratic governments "represent the ultimate deification of man, which is the very essence of humanism and totally alien to God's word." Science lessons were pure creationism, and he claimed that all evolutionists were guilty of "depravity and sinfulness."

In 2000 author and journalist Gordon Laird, interviewed the pastor who took over when Stockwell Day left Bently:

The current pastor at Day's church, doesn't spare much sympathy for the former Alberta treasurer. Gregory Rathjen says that when Day left in 1985 to pursue a political career, the assistant pastor left behind a community that was deeply divided. Rathjen arrived in 1986 to a disaster: a demoralized congregation had shrunk almost by half, allegations of fraud were afoot, and the church owed $12,000 to creditors. Factions were warring.

It was a dark time in Bentley. "The church leaders had risen to unquestioned authority," explains Rathjen. "They had moved away from the congregational government with the assumption "You're here to serve and not ask questions." Rathjen reports that, before its collapse, the former Bentley Christian Centre was a renegade Pentecostal church that instituted a divine mandate to replace grassroots congregational representation.

Throughout this period, Stockwell Day was assistant pastor and school administrator. "They changed their by-laws so that the people would have no say - leaders to be appointed by other leader, as determined by scripture," explains Rathjen. "It was a haughty, arrogant, pride-filled success story that led to disaster."

Fuelled by American-style revivalism, the church emphasized radical gospel practices - such as speaking-in-tongues - that whipped worshippers into a frenzy. "They have emotional experiences and then try to build a doctrine around it," explains Rathjen. The intensity of the church and constant stream of visiting American pastors gave Bentley an international profile within fundamentalist circles. But the church eventually succumbed to its own extremes. "I would say that it was as close to a cult as you can get," says pastor Rathjen. "They were still holding on to the Christian teaching - but with manipulation and control.

Very few people knew. It's not acceptable," says the pastor who outright rejected Stockwell Day's old ACE curriculum after a trip down to ACE's Texas headquarters. And Stockwell Day? "Stock wrote me a letter saying he had nothing to do with it but he lived off of it and enjoyed it," says Rathjen, frankly.

"That's what this church was - a bully. They bullied people and won."

He also hung out with some of the most notorious neo-Nazis of the day, including Doug Christie (a close personal friend of his father's) and James Keegstra.

His views were pretty narrow:

From early on, Stockwell Day had big aspirations. "As a Christian, I acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ over the whole universe," explained Day in 1998, in response to a gaffe made against single-parent families. "I believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God and every word in it, cover to cover, is true." With this literalist belief in the Bible comes some unusual ideas that rarely gather press.

As one educator made notes in an informal presentation Day made in Red Deer during 1997, the Treasurer claimed the following things to be true: 1) The earth is 6,000 years old; 2) Adam and Eve were real people; 3) Humans and dinosaurs co-existed; and 4) There's as much evidence for creation as evolution. The educator declines to be named because he believes Day to be vengeful and worries that a public comment could affect local school funding.

Murray Dobbin is also sounding the alarms, as we can expect science funding to completely disappear, and funding to any religious groups who don't conform to his radical fundamentalism will be history. Also, science, humanitarian organizations, social programs will all be victims of his wrath.

I'm so damned angry with people who didn't vote last election. They did this. Unleashed an absolute horror on this country.

Dinosaur man gets his hands on the money
January 19, 2010
by Murray Dobbin

Someone could have made a bundle five years ago betting that Stockwell Day, alias “Doris”, and a man who believes that humans and dinosaurs cavorted together way back when, would be where he is today.

Harper’s cabinet shuffle has elevated Day to the position of President of the Treasury Board. While the Finance Minister is the more prominent economic minister, the head of Treasury Board is the guy that actually wields the knife when it comes to serious budget slashing. And as I warned last week, Harper is set to start hacking away at the country’s core nature in the March budget. Of course, Harper will make all the major decisions but this move is a clear message to his core Christian fundamentalist constituency. Harper’s going to let one of their own heroes symbolically wield the knife ....

Stephen Harper's Comedy Act Takes a Sinister Turn as he Accuses Canadians of Being Evil

Our gutless dictator would not even show enough respect for Parliament to visit the Governor General to prorogue Parliament (aka: avoid answering questions on possible war crimes and where in the hell our money went). Instead he phoned her.

And he did not show enough respect for Canadians to announce his spineless decision himself, but instead sent the despicable little PP to spread the news (What, Dimmy Witty was too busy boiling up toads?)

Well, he really went all out in his latest stand up routine, suggesting that Canadians are far too self involved to care about the horrible torture of Afghan Detainees; despite the fact that many were innocent, but simply removed from their families, never to be heard from again.

For his sake, he'd better be right; for our sake, he'd better be wrong. Either he has really miscalculated the Canadian people, or his four years in power really has turned us into an evil lot.

So after days in hiding, the monster came out to growl and snarl at democracy, and lie about how he's worrying over the economy. But he promises some lovely photos.

I think Ari Fleischer may have written this drivel. At least I hope he's doing something to earn the $ 25,000.00 a month we're paying him.

People don't care about Afghan detainee issue: Harper
Les Whittington Ottawa Bureau
January 5, 2010

OTTAWA–Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canadians aren't really concerned about allegations that the government engaged in a cover-up over the abuse of Afghan detainees. "I think polls have been pretty clear that that's not on the top of the radar of most Canadians," Harper said in an interview with CBC-TV correspondent Peter Mansbridge.

The government had been on the defensive late last year over allegations that it tried to cover up information that Afghan authorities were abusing Afghan detainees after they were handed over by Canadian soldiers. And opposition MPs say Harper decided to suspend Parliament until March to shut down a House of Commons committee probing the detainee controversy ....

Harper is Reckless, Petty, Arrogant, Incompetent, Paranoid, Sinister....

... and those are his good points.

No, I did not say those things about Harper, but they are the words of Professor Lorne Sossin of the faculty of law at the University of Toronto, and every word is true and then some.

I came across this opinion piece in the Toronto Star from around election time in October, and sadly nothing has changed. In fact he may actually be worse.

Feared but not much loved
PM effectively muzzled bureaucrats, diplomats members of his caucus and cabinet ministers
October 12, 2008
Haroon Siddiqui

Stephen Harper is clearly not the right-wing ideologue he once was. Whether he has abandoned his views, especially on domestic issues, or is merely holding them back, only he would know.

He has certainly grown in the job and does exude a prime ministerial presence, albeit in scripted settings. He is disciplined and hard-working.

Yet a significant percentage of Canadians do not trust him. In fact, they fear him. The concern is not confined to partisan Liberals or New Democrats. It permeates large swaths of the electorate.

The explanation surely is more than that he looks so smug or that he failed to shed a crocodile tear on TV in empathy for the growing economic fears of Canadians.

There are more substantial reasons: the Prime Minister's track record on policy, his public pronouncements and his personality traits that do impact on his job.

That he has been a clone of George W. Bush on Kyoto, Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay, Israel, Hamas and Lebanon does matter to a whole lot of Canadians.

There's a debate over whether he feels that Ottawa must always stand with Washington to protect our trade, or because he's ideologically committed to the Bush doctrine.

This much is certain: Harper did knowingly join Bush's sinking ship. That was either an act of great courage or stunningly bad judgment.

Harper shares several traits with Bush. He can be excessively partisan: you're either with him or against him. If you don't back his disastrous and costly Afghan policy, you are unpatriotic, unfaithful to Canadian troops and an apologist for the Taliban.

He is secretive and authoritarian. He does not tolerate dissent.

As is well-known, he muzzled his caucus, including ministers, and the federal bureaucrats, including our diplomats. Never before in my 40 years of travelling abroad have I run into so many envoys at our embassies so fearful of giving even off-the-record briefings on the countries they are posted in. The John Manley commission on Afghanistan found this appalling, saying it has prevented our diplomats from representing our interests.

We also know what Harper did to the heads of three independent commissions who challenged him.

Linda Keen was fired as head of the Nuclear Safety Commission, hours before she was to appear before a parliamentary committee, over disagreements on the shutdown of the Chalk River reactor.

Chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand was berated and taken to court for prosecuting the Tories for accounting tricks to get around the Elections Act limits on spending.

Peter Tinsley, chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission, has been blocked at every turn from probing allegations of possible Canadian complicity in the torture of Afghan detainees.

"In each of these dust-ups," wrote professor Lorne Sossin of the faculty of law at the U of T, the Harper government looked "reckless, petty, arrogant, incompetent, paranoid, sinister and/or just plain vindictive."

Harper and his close associates are known to settle scores. Last year, he shocked the legal community by bypassing Dennis O'Connor for the job of Ontario chief justice.

The Court of Appeal judge had been number two to then retiring chief justice Roy McMurtry, who endorsed his candidacy, as did all the other judges on that bench.

It was speculated that perhaps the Prime Minister was unhappy with O'Connor's conclusions as chair of two commissions, one probing the Maher Arar tragedy and the other the Walkerton disaster, in which seven died after drinking contaminated water.

It was said that Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, in particular, had been miffed over the Walkerton report. It turns out that he was and did have something to do with turning Harper against O'Connor, two senior Tories have told me.

In separate interviews, both said that in his private conversations Flaherty made no secret of his displeasure with O'Connor.

Flaherty had been a key minister under Mike Harris and he blamed the judge for the Tories losing the 2003 election under Harris's successor, Ernie Eves. Now that Flaherty was the senior Harper minister from Ontario, O'Connor wasn't going to get the top job.

Harper has also been accused of saying one thing and doing another. Almost all politicians are a bundle of contradictions but he seems more so than most.

He says he is a private man. But he goes on TV to proclaim his love for his son. He invites the cameras to record him escorting his daughter to school. He drags his mother into a discussion of how the market meltdown might affect her.

He is a law-and-order man who broke his own fixed election date law to call a snap election.

He promised to re-establish the primacy of Parliament but repeatedly shut down committees and derailed witnesses.

All politicians cater, first, to their respective constituencies. Some pursue, as Mike Harris did, a divide-and-conquer strategy.

Harris pitted Toronto against rural Ontario. Harper pits Ontario against the rest of Canada (and now Quebec). Harris pitted teachers against parents. Harper pits "subsidized, gala-going" artists against "ordinary working people."

Harper told the Star's Tonda MacCharles that he governs in the interest of all Canada and won't offer "a different program in every province or every region." Yet he just promised Quebec it would be exempt from his proposal that 14-year-old criminals be jailed for life.

Finally, on the economy, Harper's shrill warnings that a Liberal government would spell doom for Canada ring hollow, given that he and Flaherty have blown a $12 billion surplus left by Paul Martin.

Harper and most conservative leaders talk of fiscal responsibility but end up emptying the treasury through massive tax cuts, mostly to corporations while resisting increases in minimum wages, and through high defence spending.

Brian Mulroney left a $42 billion deficit; Harris-Eves a $5 billion deficit and a record $111 billion debt; Ronald Reagan left a massive deficit and debt, while Bush turned a $230 billion surplus into a deficit of about $500 billion, and accumulated a debt of $10 trillion.

As Stéphane Dion said Wednesday: "History shows us that in tough economic times, it is progressive governments that put economies back on track. Clinton after Reagan and Bush. Blair after Thatcher and Major. Chrétien and Martin after Mulroney. And, of course, McGuinty after Harris."

I want my country back and the only way that will happen is with a Liberal majority, to clean up another Conservative mess.