Saturday, November 21, 2009

HAVE CANADIANS BECOME NEOCON LEMMINGS? OR ARE THEY JUST PLAYING POSSUM?

DOES THIS REPRESENT THE CANADIAN PEOPLE?



OR DOES THIS?




As I look at recent current polls the increasingly nagging question that keeps reverberating in my brain is, Has Harper already changed Canada in his almost four years of power?

There are many indications that perhaps he has. Canadians appear to have been sucked in by negative swiftboat tactics that destroy the reputations of good people. They have ignored Harper’s history as a far-right tub-thumper while he was head of the National Citizens Coalition, and that he had his nose so far up George W. Bush's ass he could see Tony Blair. Canadians seemed to pay little attention to Harper's fascistic attempted coup to destroy opposition parties by cutting off their funding last December, and they even seemed to fall for the canard that the evil was not the threat to democracy but the threat of a coalition.

Canadians gave Harper a pass during the last federal election when he tried to hoodwink the whole country into believing the big lie that there was little wrong with the economy. They seem to pooh-pooh his spending of gazillions of stimulus largesse only in Conservative ridings.

Neither do Canadians seem to recognize or care about Harper’s foreign policy gaffes and screwups that damage our international reputation and business relationships and put Canadian lives at risk. Canadians do not seem to have given a hoot about the confinement and torture of Islamic Canadian citizens abroad on trumped up charges brought by third world gestapoes, while Harper either does nothing, or worse yet, throws roadblocks in front of the efforts of those confined to extricate themselves.

Canadians seem to be ignoring or paying little heed to lies repeatedly fed to them by their government about Afghanistan – lies such as, that the allies are making headway, or that Karzai is an honest and decent man, or that we are bringing the Afghans the rule of law, or that we are making headway training Afghan police and soldiers. They have shown little concern for the Canadian lives lost and the cost to our national treasury in what most certainly is to become one of the West’s great lost causes.

Despite the Harper spear headed character assassinations, despite his government's dismal record in domestic and foreign policy or in protecting Canadian citizens abroad, and despite his government's lies and obfuscations, Canadians don’t seem to care. What the hell is going on? Has Harper already turned this country into a nation of sheeplike neocons like himself? Have we become a bunch of unthinking conservative lemmings?

Or are Canadians just playing possum? ‘Playing possum’ means to convincingly pretend you are dead so that others leave you alone. In boxing the definition is much more Machiavellian and lethal. It means pretending you were dead or asleep until your opponent gets careless and leaves an opening so you can deliver the knockout punch or move in for the kill. The famed middle-weight champ Jake La Motta (above, bloodied but unbowed) was good at playing possum. He won a lot of important fights that way.

Let us hope the Canadian people are just playing possum. Or perhaps just in the process of giving Harper enough rope as the saying goes for his lynching later on. Otherwise, this country is going to change, and not for the better.

12 comments:

Frankly Canadian said...

I hope Canadians are just waiting for the last straw, however the way this government methodically panders to each and every segment of Canadians who may bring him his elusive MAJORITY!

A Eliz. said...

Harper fools a great many people..look what he did on the environment, made it sound so bad ,the other countries did not want it. He is great liar,. This pre- planned piano "With a little help from my friends" made you think of something else.. that is what you call diversions. He did it overseas in India, but I do know think his ridculous showing at that dance was, for us..it was to appease Indian voters at home.
Never mind if the temple is mad at him over there..he has another diversion, although this can be a bad one. I think, he has an evil . nice sounding tongue as he pulls in the very very gullible, who do not have any idea about him, partly the fault of the media.

ottlib said...

The week before the writ was dropped for the 2004 election a poll was released that gave the Liberals 42% and the Conservatives 26%.

The newspaper that sponsored the poll had the banner headline:

"Liberals Heading for a Majority".

Polls are meaningless. They indicate nothing. They are easily manipulated. They are an excuse for the media not to do any real work.

In short, I would not assume that Canadians are a bunch of Lemmings, or that Mr. Harper has actually fooled anybody.

Darryl Raymaker said...

Thanks for all of that Frankly and Lizt.

And Ottlib, I sincerely hope and believe you are right.

But it is time for some righteous indignation coming from our side.

John Prince said...

Where the hell is Iggy???
Looks like we Liberals made a terrible mistake in dumping Dion (I sure would like to know what that video business was all about?) and on yesterdays news his wife was reported as having come out and said so, including telling the world on her Facebook page, we have made a terrible mistake in coronating Iggy as our leader.

It’s as if we have no leader and no party anymore. Have they gone into hibernation, along with the bears?

If he won't lead then he should step aside and let someone who can.

Iggy's biggest mistake was not forming the coalition. Now maybe that is our only hope? If even possible anymore?

If Iggy really is down for the count then we need to do something, and the sooner the better.

Hey! What if we brought back Dion, got him to mend fences, etc. and have a real working coalition of people coming together to take our country back, and forward again, while sending Harper and his conservatives to the back of the bus, where they belong? I advocated this once before and I advocate it now again, because I think just like when Trudeau came back after retiring because he was the man for the hour, so be it with Dion. This would be a most prudent course of action, under our present day circumstances. Don’t you think?

Failing that, then I'm for anything, even ‘revolution’, if that’s what it takes to get rid of Harper and his Gestapo goons. Down with tyranny and despotism, I say! Or, as a famous cousin to the south of us once said,

"The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive." - Thomas Jefferson.

Gerald McEachern said...

ABH "anything but Harper" won't work. Canadians are sitting tight, and that seems to be the national sentiment.

Face it, there is no charismatic leader on the Lib bench. Dion is hardly that. And Iggy is an academic. Everything is carefully nuanced to the point that ordinary Canadians just don't get it. Politics is not a game for the intellectually safe.

We could use another Trudeau. Perhaps one who has learned from Trudeau's mistakes. One of the great Liberal traditions is the idea of the tolerance of a plurality of values and a philosophy of levelling of the playing field for those who haven't started out with silver spoons in their mouths; in other words a fair meritocracy, and more.

But when it all comes down to "where's the money?", especially in the West, level playing field be damned.

On another note, ran across your blog, Darryl, when researching Mark Milke and the Frontier gang. Wrote my column on it last week. Go to...

http://geraldmceachern.blogspot.com/2009/11/invasion-of-right-wing-think-tanks.html

Good like with the liberal crusade out there. Cheers, -G.

John Prince said...

Gerald,
... there is no charismatic leader on the Lib bench.

It would be nice to have charisma in a leader but failing that a man of principle having a vision and a plan as Dion has, is more than what Iggy has so far brought to the table, and certainly far more than what Harper and the conservatives have.

Trudeau too was an academic, but one who had fire in the belly and who was not scared to call a spade a spade, while coming out with policies and positions (Just Society) that resonated with the people. This is what is sadly lacking in our leadership at present.

Dion had policies and positions, but unfortunately at the time was not able to communicate them to the people effectively, due in large part to the misinformation and propaganda war launched against him by the conservatives, and because of possible intrigues and sabotage from within his own party. But he too was developing fire in the belly whose only real mistake was thinking he had to conduct himself by Marquess of Queensberry rules, while the other side fought to win; no holds barred, using every dirty trick in the book.

I suggest Dion has learned a thing or two since and would not make the same mistake twice, if given the chance.

Darryl Raymaker said...

John - the reason we are in this shit is because Grits did not support our leader in 2003.

We have to support the leader! And we have to remain united! End of story! United we stand, divided we fall. Hell, that is as true today as when Aesop first wrote about it. That's why we have governed most of the time! And that's why we will govern again!

John Prince said...

Darryl,
I agree, but it is also due in large part to the fact "Dion was ousted via a whispering campaign, hustled out the door with ill-disguised haste and replaced by a man who hadn’t even undergone a leadership vote."

In my mind, Dion was duly elected, whereas Iggy is a usurper, put in by a small band of big city boys in Toronto.

But Hell, even with all the above, I still would, have and will support Iggy, but he has got to stand up and fight. I'll support any leader we have, if only he will stand up and fight! What the hell is he waiting for???

Darryl Raymaker said...

The damage to Dion was done by the Party's failure to respond in kind to the personal attack ads. AS far as the succession was concerned, the party had little choice. Given Harper's penchant for mischief and his lack of respect for democracy, he probably would have precipitated an event during the leadership campaign which would have been difficult to deal with. Besides, we could ill-afford an election let alone another leadership campaign.

I also believe that Iggy must stand up and fight. There is not a moment to lose.

John Prince said...

Darryl,
Your points are well taken, not that I necessarily agree with all of them, but heck, the ethics and morality, the right and wrong of the whole sordid and disgraceful mess must be put behind us. We must move forward!

Iggy has got to stop worrying about all the skeletons in his closet because of his books, and get on with it. Take chances and deal with what comes at you, as it comes. Stop worrying about the bogeyman and BECOME THE BOGEYMAN! There are millions of us just dying to cheer you on, who will steadfastly back you all the way!! NEVER GIVE AN INCH, AND DAMN THE TORPEDOES, I say!!!!!

Take the moral highroad and tell the truth, and it will take you far. But bring a bat too, to beat over their heads, in case they won’t listen. :-)

trung said...

reading...
EscortsLeather Lingerie
I'm sick of the tension, sick of the hunger
Sick of you acting like I owe you this
Find another place to feed your greed
While I find a place to rest