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You'd be Canadian right now.
This election only has one issue and it's how afraid Stephen Harper was of facing re-election in a year when the economy will be down the crapper, rather than just swirling the drain.
And, despite being a lickspittle of a man, I don't think the electorate is actually going to hold him accountable for his venal, lying ways.
And more's the pity.
Someone wake me up when it's over.
This election only has one issue and it's how afraid Stephen Harper was of facing re-election in a year when the economy will be down the crapper, rather than just swirling the drain.
And, despite being a lickspittle of a man, I don't think the electorate is actually going to hold him accountable for his venal, lying ways.
And more's the pity.
Someone wake me up when it's over.
And this is the party Steven Harper wants us to believe cares about protecting the environment.
Because nothing says green like several dozen high-octane cars racing in a giant circle all an afternoon.
*eyeroll*
Because nothing says green like several dozen high-octane cars racing in a giant circle all an afternoon.
*eyeroll*
Tags:
Here's a question for the masses - why isn't the government telling us how many Afghans Canadian Forces have captured and turned over to Afghan security forces?
Mr. Harper's government tells us that the number is a "state secret" - secret from whom?
The Taliban? The Afghanistanis? Presumably not, since - in theory, anyway - these men are prisoners of the Afghan national government.
Canadian voters?
eta: Andrew Coyne, you are a worthy opponent, sir. Misguided, alas, but brilliant and incisive. However, I think Chantal Herbert could probably take you - especially if you keep up with the false analogies.
Afghanistan is neither World War I nor World War II for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is that our nation has not mobilized to fight in Afghanistan, our resources and our wealth has not been committed to fight in Afghanistan, and our government hasn't even the initimation of a suggestion of an idea of doing so - Mr. Harper is taking a page from Mr. Bush's playbook (who cribbed his notes from Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush Senior's actions in Kosovo and Gulf War I) and waging war on the cheap. Not in terms of dollars but in terms of lives.
I submit that no Canadian politician and certainly no Conservative government will ever make more than a token commitment to Afghanistan or any conflict where Canadian national interests, sovereignty and native citizenry are not directly threatened.
In World War I, one in eight Canadian men enlisted - One. In. Eight. When Canada had a population of less than 10 million. Today, Canada has a population of roughly 33 million and there are roughtly 2,500 Canadian Forces personnel deployed to Afghanistan.
2,500 soldiers tasked to do a job that would require at least a brigade, if not a division, to do properly (two to four times more soldiers than currnently deployed). 2.500 men and women assigned to a mission that has become the centerpiece of Mr. Harper's foreign policy. A mission to which he has personally committed himself - 2,500 from a nation of 33,000,000.
And that is only one of the ways in which Afghanistan in not World War I.
Mr. Harper's government tells us that the number is a "state secret" - secret from whom?
The Taliban? The Afghanistanis? Presumably not, since - in theory, anyway - these men are prisoners of the Afghan national government.
Canadian voters?
eta: Andrew Coyne, you are a worthy opponent, sir. Misguided, alas, but brilliant and incisive. However, I think Chantal Herbert could probably take you - especially if you keep up with the false analogies.
Afghanistan is neither World War I nor World War II for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is that our nation has not mobilized to fight in Afghanistan, our resources and our wealth has not been committed to fight in Afghanistan, and our government hasn't even the initimation of a suggestion of an idea of doing so - Mr. Harper is taking a page from Mr. Bush's playbook (who cribbed his notes from Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush Senior's actions in Kosovo and Gulf War I) and waging war on the cheap. Not in terms of dollars but in terms of lives.
I submit that no Canadian politician and certainly no Conservative government will ever make more than a token commitment to Afghanistan or any conflict where Canadian national interests, sovereignty and native citizenry are not directly threatened.
In World War I, one in eight Canadian men enlisted - One. In. Eight. When Canada had a population of less than 10 million. Today, Canada has a population of roughly 33 million and there are roughtly 2,500 Canadian Forces personnel deployed to Afghanistan.
2,500 soldiers tasked to do a job that would require at least a brigade, if not a division, to do properly (two to four times more soldiers than currnently deployed). 2.500 men and women assigned to a mission that has become the centerpiece of Mr. Harper's foreign policy. A mission to which he has personally committed himself - 2,500 from a nation of 33,000,000.
And that is only one of the ways in which Afghanistan in not World War I.
Tags:
And speaking of Civil Wars, or rather civil wars, I suppose "killing them all and letting God sort it out" would be neither a particularly Christian nor productive way of responding to the ADQ's call to reopen debate on the Constitution but OMFGWTFBBQFTW101010101!!! - The. Temptation.
To reiterate: Stephen Harper is a lying, neoconservative ideogogue who needs to be cracked in the face with a shovel and staked on the parliamentary lawn to be nibbled at by gay Albanian mountain goats - three words: Wait. Times. Guarantee.
Meanwhile Mario Dumont is an opportunistic, populist bottomfeeder from a province that already has far too many of all three in politics. And someone needs to tell Stephane Dion that this is not, in fact, an episode of The West Wing and no one is going to miraculously realize that you are the smartest, most honest and honourable man in the room just in the nick of time. SACK UP FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, MAN - you're fighting the political undead, grab a freaking machete and start chopping off some heads already. Lord!
eta: According to my tags list, I have not mocked Stephen Harper for almost a year - The. Shame.
To reiterate: Stephen Harper is a lying, neoconservative ideogogue who needs to be cracked in the face with a shovel and staked on the parliamentary lawn to be nibbled at by gay Albanian mountain goats - three words: Wait. Times. Guarantee.
Meanwhile Mario Dumont is an opportunistic, populist bottomfeeder from a province that already has far too many of all three in politics. And someone needs to tell Stephane Dion that this is not, in fact, an episode of The West Wing and no one is going to miraculously realize that you are the smartest, most honest and honourable man in the room just in the nick of time. SACK UP FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, MAN - you're fighting the political undead, grab a freaking machete and start chopping off some heads already. Lord!
eta: According to my tags list, I have not mocked Stephen Harper for almost a year - The. Shame.
Tags:
I waited a little too long to turn on the rads - it's so cold in my living room that my nose is running - it's negative 12 Celcius out, with a windchill of negative 24. I can hear the wind howling around the corner of my building - it's all very Gothic: I expect Heathcliffe to come stamping across the threshold any moment.
Today, apart from kicking much ass at the office - take that, motherfrakkin' paperwork - I rediscovered my love of the library. Not that I ever stopped loving the library, as a concept, anyway. Today, though, today I went to the library to see if the copy of Mistral's Kiss was still in the seven-day loan section and walked out with not only Laurell K. Hamilton's lastest offence against the corpus of English Literature and good taste (seriously, 80 pages in and all the characters have done is fuck - and the sad part is that it's not even good porn), but 12 Sharp, Janet Evanovitch, Sleeping with the Fishes, Mary Janice Davidson, Rust and Bone, Craig Davidson and The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini - Hosseini, Evanovitch and Hamilton need to be back in seven days but, as I'm already halfway done Mistral's Kiss, I don't expect this to be a problem.
As an aside - I see the Dion-bashing ad one more time... gah. The Prime Minister is an asshole. I hope he gets trampled to death by a roving herd of syphilitic mutant mountain goats, who have been given strange and awesome powers by the GIANT FUCKING CLOUD of AIR POLLUTION ABOUT TO EAT BEJING!!!!!!!! Fucker. Lying, hypocritical fucker. I want to take his green plan and shove it where the oil sands don't gasify....
Anyway, books; many, many lovely books for me to read while I sit here freezing in my apartment. *brrrr*
Today, apart from kicking much ass at the office - take that, motherfrakkin' paperwork - I rediscovered my love of the library. Not that I ever stopped loving the library, as a concept, anyway. Today, though, today I went to the library to see if the copy of Mistral's Kiss was still in the seven-day loan section and walked out with not only Laurell K. Hamilton's lastest offence against the corpus of English Literature and good taste (seriously, 80 pages in and all the characters have done is fuck - and the sad part is that it's not even good porn), but 12 Sharp, Janet Evanovitch, Sleeping with the Fishes, Mary Janice Davidson, Rust and Bone, Craig Davidson and The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini - Hosseini, Evanovitch and Hamilton need to be back in seven days but, as I'm already halfway done Mistral's Kiss, I don't expect this to be a problem.
As an aside - I see the Dion-bashing ad one more time... gah. The Prime Minister is an asshole. I hope he gets trampled to death by a roving herd of syphilitic mutant mountain goats, who have been given strange and awesome powers by the GIANT FUCKING CLOUD of AIR POLLUTION ABOUT TO EAT BEJING!!!!!!!! Fucker. Lying, hypocritical fucker. I want to take his green plan and shove it where the oil sands don't gasify....
Anyway, books; many, many lovely books for me to read while I sit here freezing in my apartment. *brrrr*
A poll in today's commuter paper said that 4 to 1 (64% to 17%) Canadians don't trust the Regressive Conservative Party of Canada's new "Green" agenda and believe that the Prime Minister's emphasis on the environment is about getting re-elected not improving Canada's environment.
Gee, I wonder why?
From 2002:
Fucking hypocrite. You know, at least the shrub is consistent.
Gee, I wonder why?
From 2002:
We're gearing up now for the biggest struggle our party has faced since you entrusted me with the leadership. I'm talking about the 'battle of Kyoto' — our campaign to block the job-killing, economy-destroying Kyoto accord...."Passed with the help of the socialists in the NDP and the separatists in the BQ", hmmm? Not unlike your budget (s), eh?
[Kyoto's] based on tentative and contradictory scientific evidence about climate trends....
Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations....
We will do everything we can to stop [Chretien] there, but he might get [Kyoto] passed with the help of the socialists in the NDP and the separatists in the BQ [Bloc Québécois].
Yours truly,
[signed]
Stephen Harper, M.P.
Leader of the Opposition
Fucking hypocrite. You know, at least the shrub is consistent.