Wow, life sure can get busy!
It's been over a year since I've posted anything here. It's about time I got back at it.
The funny thing is that in this country we again find ourselves with a prorogued Parliament...a "coup d'etat" in my humble opinion by the Harper Conservative government.
This time Parliament has been prorogued for even flimsier reasons than last year; namely the Harper government's refusal to answer opposition questions on the torture of Afghan detainees.
Back in 1852 Karl Marx wrote in "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte"
“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”
Harper's second proroguing of Parliament is definitely a farce!
Showing posts with label Harper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harper. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Friday, December 5, 2008
The Progressive Coalition...Canada's "Obama Campaign"
For starters I'm going to strike Governor-General Michaelle Jean off my Christmas card list.
Her Excellency made a rather unexcellent decision. Steven Harper's government has been spared the axe till January. So I'll keep polishing my barbeque fork and leave the champagne on ice.
I'm no constitutional lawyer, but I can read. I'm also reasonably knowledgeable about history. The GG's stay of execution flies in the face of the precedent set in the "King-Byng" affair of 1926.
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's minority Liberal government was about to be defeated after a customs scandal. King went to Governor-General Byng and asked for the dissolution of the house and for another election to be called (there'd been an election in 1925).
Byng refused and called in Conservative leader Arthur Meighan to form a government. True, Meighan's government didn't last long and a few months later Canada was back into another election campaign. But nevertheless, the precedent has been set.
There is a "government in waiting", but Governor General Jean paid no attention to this and let Prime Minister Harper have his way. Our elected representatives have been defacto locked out of Parliament.
But there's a bright spot to all this believe it or not. I have an LP in my collection (yes I still have quite a bit of vinyl lying around) called "Precious Friend". It's a recording of Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie's concert tour back in the 1980's.
In an intro to a little rant about "the neutron bomb", (a big issue at the time), Arlo said that "You can't have a light...without a dark... to stick it in!". In other words he explained "You can't have one thing...without the other thing".
We certainly have a dark...namely the "Chicago Boy" policies of Harper's government...and the extreme vindictive nastiness of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. To use very unparliamentary language, these dudes are a couple of pricks.
Pretty much every other government on earth has at least to some degree abandoned Friedmanite policies in the face of the crisis. But the Harper government simply saw the crisis as an opportunity to starve opposition parties of funds, beat up on public sector workers, and strip equality rights for women workers. The unemployed and the about to be unemployed were hung out to dry.
But we have a light too. A few short weeks ago, who'd have thought that the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois would have been capable of setting aside their differences to build a coalition based on activist government and expansionist economic policies.
When I first heard about it, I was knocking back margaritas with a good friend. I'd been busy and so not paying a whole lot of attention to the news. I was dismissive and didn't believe it at first.
But then I saw the announcement on the TV behind the bar. Holy Shit! It was happening! We had a government in waiting that was willing to take the country in a much more positive direction.
I'm face to face with unemployed manufacturing workers every day of the week. They're scared about what lies ahead. The coalition doesn't offer them miracles, but it at least gives them a little bit of hope. And that, as Martha Stewart would say is a good thing!
The other "light" in this situation is the social and political movement that this coalition has spawned. Within a matter of days, rallies have been organized in just about every major city in Canada.
I've lost count of the number of online campaign sites, petitions, blogs, Facebook groups, Youtube videos etc. that have been created. Everyday there seems to be a new one popping up somewhere.
Barrack Obama's presidential campaign mobilized millions of people who hadn't been mobilized before around the idea of "change" from the corruption, cronyism and warmongering of the Bush II administration.
Our election campaign seemed rather unexciting compared to what happened south of the border.
The campaign to support the "Progressive Coalition" or whatever you want to call it is our very own "Obama Campaign".
This is an historic opportunity to change the face of politics in this country. It's a chance to bring some relief to the victims of the economic crisis. It's also an historic opportunity to do something positive about the growing environmental crisis.
People around the world are increasingly coming around to seeing that these two issues are bound together...everyone except Harper and the neo-cons.
Harper must go!
So we'll see you at the meetings, rallies, on the picket line and if it's cold outside...in cyberspace!
Her Excellency made a rather unexcellent decision. Steven Harper's government has been spared the axe till January. So I'll keep polishing my barbeque fork and leave the champagne on ice.
I'm no constitutional lawyer, but I can read. I'm also reasonably knowledgeable about history. The GG's stay of execution flies in the face of the precedent set in the "King-Byng" affair of 1926.
Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's minority Liberal government was about to be defeated after a customs scandal. King went to Governor-General Byng and asked for the dissolution of the house and for another election to be called (there'd been an election in 1925).
Byng refused and called in Conservative leader Arthur Meighan to form a government. True, Meighan's government didn't last long and a few months later Canada was back into another election campaign. But nevertheless, the precedent has been set.
There is a "government in waiting", but Governor General Jean paid no attention to this and let Prime Minister Harper have his way. Our elected representatives have been defacto locked out of Parliament.
But there's a bright spot to all this believe it or not. I have an LP in my collection (yes I still have quite a bit of vinyl lying around) called "Precious Friend". It's a recording of Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie's concert tour back in the 1980's.
In an intro to a little rant about "the neutron bomb", (a big issue at the time), Arlo said that "You can't have a light...without a dark... to stick it in!". In other words he explained "You can't have one thing...without the other thing".
We certainly have a dark...namely the "Chicago Boy" policies of Harper's government...and the extreme vindictive nastiness of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. To use very unparliamentary language, these dudes are a couple of pricks.
Pretty much every other government on earth has at least to some degree abandoned Friedmanite policies in the face of the crisis. But the Harper government simply saw the crisis as an opportunity to starve opposition parties of funds, beat up on public sector workers, and strip equality rights for women workers. The unemployed and the about to be unemployed were hung out to dry.
But we have a light too. A few short weeks ago, who'd have thought that the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois would have been capable of setting aside their differences to build a coalition based on activist government and expansionist economic policies.
When I first heard about it, I was knocking back margaritas with a good friend. I'd been busy and so not paying a whole lot of attention to the news. I was dismissive and didn't believe it at first.
But then I saw the announcement on the TV behind the bar. Holy Shit! It was happening! We had a government in waiting that was willing to take the country in a much more positive direction.
I'm face to face with unemployed manufacturing workers every day of the week. They're scared about what lies ahead. The coalition doesn't offer them miracles, but it at least gives them a little bit of hope. And that, as Martha Stewart would say is a good thing!
The other "light" in this situation is the social and political movement that this coalition has spawned. Within a matter of days, rallies have been organized in just about every major city in Canada.
I've lost count of the number of online campaign sites, petitions, blogs, Facebook groups, Youtube videos etc. that have been created. Everyday there seems to be a new one popping up somewhere.
Barrack Obama's presidential campaign mobilized millions of people who hadn't been mobilized before around the idea of "change" from the corruption, cronyism and warmongering of the Bush II administration.
Our election campaign seemed rather unexciting compared to what happened south of the border.
The campaign to support the "Progressive Coalition" or whatever you want to call it is our very own "Obama Campaign".
This is an historic opportunity to change the face of politics in this country. It's a chance to bring some relief to the victims of the economic crisis. It's also an historic opportunity to do something positive about the growing environmental crisis.
People around the world are increasingly coming around to seeing that these two issues are bound together...everyone except Harper and the neo-cons.
Harper must go!
So we'll see you at the meetings, rallies, on the picket line and if it's cold outside...in cyberspace!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Stick a fork in them. They're done!
This weekend, watch for Harper & Co. to unleash a barrage of propaganda ads in a last ditch effort to cling to power. Gotta do something with that leftover campaign cash!
He'll try to get the GG to prorogue Parliament till January or else plunge the country into another election. Lotsa luck Stevie!
His minions have also developed a new hobby... eavesdropping on their opponents parliamentary caucus conference calls. Who else had that hobby? Wasn't it that guy who was nicknamed "Tricky Dick"?
The right-wing talk radio dudes will be in full foaming at the mouth mode...if they're not there already.
They may even try to organize a few rallies. Honestly, who'd be crazy enough to freeze their ass off on a cold Canadian December day to stand up for...Harper!
Mind you I think that lots of folks will turn out to Steve's retirement party.
Rallies are being organized in St. John's, Halifax, Charlottetown, Moncton, Regina, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Ottawa on Thursday, December 4th.
There will be rallies at noon on Saturday, December 6th in both Montreal and Toronto.
If you're in this part of the world, hope to see you at Nathan Phillips Square.
You'll find full details on the "coalition rallies" here.
If you're city isn't listed, maybe you can organize your own!
By the way, Green Party leader Elizabeth Maye has also come out in favour of the coalition.
The Greens didn't win any seats last October, but if they had, they would have joined in the fun. You can read her comments on rabble.ca here.
Welcome aboard Liz!
He'll try to get the GG to prorogue Parliament till January or else plunge the country into another election. Lotsa luck Stevie!
His minions have also developed a new hobby... eavesdropping on their opponents parliamentary caucus conference calls. Who else had that hobby? Wasn't it that guy who was nicknamed "Tricky Dick"?
The right-wing talk radio dudes will be in full foaming at the mouth mode...if they're not there already.
They may even try to organize a few rallies. Honestly, who'd be crazy enough to freeze their ass off on a cold Canadian December day to stand up for...Harper!
Mind you I think that lots of folks will turn out to Steve's retirement party.
Rallies are being organized in St. John's, Halifax, Charlottetown, Moncton, Regina, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Ottawa on Thursday, December 4th.
There will be rallies at noon on Saturday, December 6th in both Montreal and Toronto.
If you're in this part of the world, hope to see you at Nathan Phillips Square.
You'll find full details on the "coalition rallies" here.
If you're city isn't listed, maybe you can organize your own!
By the way, Green Party leader Elizabeth Maye has also come out in favour of the coalition.
The Greens didn't win any seats last October, but if they had, they would have joined in the fun. You can read her comments on rabble.ca here.
Welcome aboard Liz!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Don't give in to anti-Bloc paranoia!
Was listening to Rex Murphy today on the CBC's "Cross Country Checkup" and on more than one occasion he made reference to a Liberal/NDP coalition requiring the support from a party that "plans to breakup the country". He seemed to actively encourage that kind of talk from callers.
Frankly I'm sick of hearing about the separatist bogeyman.
Hello! I've got news for everyone!
Canada is not the only country in the world with a "separatist" party in its parliament.
I just so happened to be in Barcelona, Spain last March during their election campaign.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government was re-elected. It's a minority government and guess who's support they rely on? THE SEPARATISTS!
Only thing is Spain doesn't just have one separatist party in the Cortes (Parliament), they have a whole bunch of separatist parties. They have Catalan separatists, Basque separatists, Galician separatists and even Canary Island separatists.
And the separatists themselves don't have just one party. The main Catalan separatist party "Convergencia i Union" (CiU) is itself a coalition of two Catalan separatist parties. (The party banners you see in this street scene photo of Barcelona are from the CiU) Then of course there's the "ERC"...the "Republican Left of Catalonia".
On top of that there are a whole bunch of separatist and regional parties that didn't manage to get anyone elected.
Yet, Spain hasn't fallen apart.
Even in the UK there are separatist and regional parties...like the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru (Welsh Nationalists), and from Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionists, Ulster Unionists, Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic & Labour Party.
Life goes on! Governments implement their policies.
Even if the Parti Quebecois wins every seat in the upcoming provincial election, holds a referendum and gets a 99.9% vote in favour of sovereignty-association, Quebec is still going to be on the other side of the Ottawa River.
Hell, the federal government does so little these days that quite frankly, there isn't much to "separate from".
The reformatories are also playing the "western alienation" card.
In two of the four western provinces, the majority of folks didn't vote for Harper's party. Less than half of British Columbians voted reformatory (44.5%). Only 48.8% of Manitobans voted reformatory.
In Alberta, the 35% of the electorate who didn't vote reformatory are represented by a single NDP MP. In Saskatchewan, the 46% of the electorate who didn't vote reformatory are represented by a single Liberal MP.
So not all western Canadians are reformatories! They're simply being drowned out in the mainstream media by right-wingers.
So who's trying to "break up the country"? Harper and his minions as they desperately cling to power. But it looks like it ain't gonna work this time. Bye bye Stevie!
Frankly I'm sick of hearing about the separatist bogeyman.
Hello! I've got news for everyone!
Canada is not the only country in the world with a "separatist" party in its parliament.
I just so happened to be in Barcelona, Spain last March during their election campaign.
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) government was re-elected. It's a minority government and guess who's support they rely on? THE SEPARATISTS!
Only thing is Spain doesn't just have one separatist party in the Cortes (Parliament), they have a whole bunch of separatist parties. They have Catalan separatists, Basque separatists, Galician separatists and even Canary Island separatists.
And the separatists themselves don't have just one party. The main Catalan separatist party "Convergencia i Union" (CiU) is itself a coalition of two Catalan separatist parties. (The party banners you see in this street scene photo of Barcelona are from the CiU) Then of course there's the "ERC"...the "Republican Left of Catalonia".On top of that there are a whole bunch of separatist and regional parties that didn't manage to get anyone elected.
Yet, Spain hasn't fallen apart.
Even in the UK there are separatist and regional parties...like the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru (Welsh Nationalists), and from Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionists, Ulster Unionists, Sinn Fein and the Social Democratic & Labour Party.
Life goes on! Governments implement their policies.
Even if the Parti Quebecois wins every seat in the upcoming provincial election, holds a referendum and gets a 99.9% vote in favour of sovereignty-association, Quebec is still going to be on the other side of the Ottawa River.
Hell, the federal government does so little these days that quite frankly, there isn't much to "separate from".
The reformatories are also playing the "western alienation" card.
In two of the four western provinces, the majority of folks didn't vote for Harper's party. Less than half of British Columbians voted reformatory (44.5%). Only 48.8% of Manitobans voted reformatory.
In Alberta, the 35% of the electorate who didn't vote reformatory are represented by a single NDP MP. In Saskatchewan, the 46% of the electorate who didn't vote reformatory are represented by a single Liberal MP.
So not all western Canadians are reformatories! They're simply being drowned out in the mainstream media by right-wingers.
So who's trying to "break up the country"? Harper and his minions as they desperately cling to power. But it looks like it ain't gonna work this time. Bye bye Stevie!
Harper...going...going...almost gone!
Even though the Harper government has backed down on most of the provisions in their "Economic Statement", the opposition parties are sticking to their guns...the Liberals have developed a spine...or at least a temporary one.
A new organization has emerged online called "Canadians for a Progressive Coalition". Sounds like a good idea to me!
Here's their "Youtube" video:
A new organization has emerged online called "Canadians for a Progressive Coalition". Sounds like a good idea to me!
Here's their "Youtube" video:
Friday, November 28, 2008
A Holiday Gift from the Opposition MP's?
Well, it looks like Canadian politics is about to get interesting.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is using his latest "economic statement" in the midst of what's looking like the biggest economic meltdown since the 1930's depression to push through some very right-wing policies.
According to the latest from the CBC, negotiations are underway between former Prime Minister Jean Chretien and former NDP leader Ed Broadbent around the possibility of defeating the government and forming a Liberal/NDP coalition with the tacit support of the Bloc Quebecois.
It's very clear that in order to avoid a major economic disaster, we need a government that's willing to bring in some expansionist "New Deal" type economic policies.
Harper and Flaherty have made it clear that a "New Deal" isn't on.
Putting Harper and Flaherty out of business would be the best gift the opposition parties could give Canadians this holiday season! Afterall, in the last election 62% of Canadians didn't vote for these folks.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is using his latest "economic statement" in the midst of what's looking like the biggest economic meltdown since the 1930's depression to push through some very right-wing policies.
According to the latest from the CBC, negotiations are underway between former Prime Minister Jean Chretien and former NDP leader Ed Broadbent around the possibility of defeating the government and forming a Liberal/NDP coalition with the tacit support of the Bloc Quebecois.
It's very clear that in order to avoid a major economic disaster, we need a government that's willing to bring in some expansionist "New Deal" type economic policies.
Harper and Flaherty have made it clear that a "New Deal" isn't on.
Putting Harper and Flaherty out of business would be the best gift the opposition parties could give Canadians this holiday season! Afterall, in the last election 62% of Canadians didn't vote for these folks.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
