There are two stories that have emerged the last few
days. They are totally unrelated but it
does raise questions about a certain world leader, PMS.
The
events of the last twenty four hours or so in Gaza and southwestern Israel have
raised the stakes much further and higher than one might have imagined just a
few days ago. Not too surprisingly,
PMS has said once again that his government absolutely supports the
assassination of a Hamas leader and anything else Israel does.
Now of course we all should support the State of Israel and
its right to exist. Only a moron would
not. And anytime a terrorist is taken
out, it`s a good thing. It is not a
good thing, however, when innocent civilians are killed. A proactive move such as this one, no matter
how necessary, also requires minimizing civilian casualties. It may very well be true that Hamas may be
using human shields, but that doesn`t allow the other side from abdicating its
responsibilities. Yet for some reason, Mr.
Harper has not said a single word about the Palestinians caught in the
crossfire.
Could it be that he supports the concept of collective
guilt? Remember that this was the stain
that wrongly smeared Jews from the time of the Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth
until the Nazi death camps were liberated.
Almost 2000 years. And it’s
worth considering that the mostly peaceable Muslims were admired – however
grudgingly – until the end of the same war.
Now the tables have been turned.
The opinions of a very vocal but tiny minority taint the rest. Because of that, it’s quite okay to pick on
Muslims – if not in the mindset of PMS himself, certainly among a large section
of his base; again not the majority but the minority who contributes the most
to the Conservative Party coffers.
That leads to the second story … the
news that the Cons are using public funds to monitor the print, audio-visual
and streaming media of ethnic groups.
Why? To see how those groups are
reacting to the government’s immigration policies.
I am not really surprised, but this smacks of when the RCMP
spied on Québec separatist factions and feminist activists in the 1970s which
directly led to the creation of a specialist spy agency although the Mounties have
acknowledged that they still engage in espionage activities.
Does Harper not realize that if you antagonize “enemies”
even worse than before, sooner or later the very policies you have tried to
push will end up not only repealed but rolled back to the benefit of those you
have tried to crush? The only thing
that can stop him is the secret ballot … which must be held eventually no
matter how many times he prorogues Parliament – and while Canada is technically
at war (the so-called one on “terrorism”) he needs a 2/3 majority beyond the
maximum 5 year term to keep things running for 12 month intervals at a time
which he obviously will not have.
These two shows to me even more than before how much of a
control freak Harper is. And how so
determined he is to control the agenda that he will resort to besmirching those
who express concern for the vast majority of a people who want no part of any
international argument whatsoever other than justice and recognition for their
cause, or to monitor any communications in languages other than English or
French.
It’s no wonder why some media groups in the major cities
here have their radio transmitters in the United States, not only to get around
CANCON rules but so they can promote their message without fear of reprisal –
the rules for political commentary are way more lax in the States, after all,
than they are in Canada. Or why they
have just gone to live streaming.
Will the government continue on this track of
having an enemies’ list? Sure. They’re going to go on no matter what anyone
says on it. But whether it’s promoting
tax policies or its total lack of environmental protection policies or raping
the forests to extract the tar sands or shale gas – or spying on ethnic enemies – they should do so with Conservative
party coffers, not the taxpayer’s public funds. Not unless there truly is probable cause
that illegal activities have happen or might, in which case it’s a matter for
the police, not the PMO. Last time I checked, we still have habeas
corpus.
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