The Ugly Face of Radical Conservatism

UPDATE AUGUST 5
I have been called to task on this post and I have reflected on some of what is said in this post. I do think some of it is potentiall unfair. The Harper affinity to follow George Bush's economic, security, social policy and political tactics is a fact. That said, nothing Harper or Bush does or says should have them implicated in any way with the radical right-wing Conservative violence in Tennessee noted in this post. I think I may have left that erroneous impression with some of the content of this post. It was not my intent. Rather than edit the post, I think this explanation is a more reasonable way to clarify matters. If the Anonymous commenter who made this observation would comment again using his or her real name, and in a civil manner, I would be glad to post the comment.

There is a worrisome group of extreme social conservatives in America who are, all too often, running amok with violence, often causing death, due to their rigid and raging ideology. They used to murder doctors around the abortion issue. Now they seem to have moved on to targeting liberals because they can’t tolerate then because they are different. This radical right-wing anger against difference recently played itself out in a killing spree in a Tennessee Unitarian church.

I often wonder about these people and how they justify their beliefs and behaviours, especially when many of them espouse a fundamentalist religious belief as well. I see the Harper government aggressively aligning itself in word and deed with the political and governing philosophy of the George Bush White House . This is not healthy for so many reasons and at so many levels...and it is especially problematical for any hope Harper has of forming a majority government.

It gets very complicated to see how this value set advances the best principles of American society and for how it influences Canadian society too, especially with Mr. Harper's affinity for such political values. Mr. Harper’s personal relationship with George Bush and his embracing of the deceitful neo-Republican political techniques, coupled with a fear based foreign policy, does not serve Canada well at all. There are some insightful bloggers commenting on this event and its implications too. I particularly like what The Red Tory as to say.

The Canadian orienting value set is very much more classic liberal than the social conservative orientation of some scary people in the States. That Canadian difference is a good thing from my perspective, especially when we see events like what happened in Tennessee recently.

I think it is time the Harper Cons created and articulated a specific Canadian conservative vision. We don’t need a conservative Canada that is just variation on the American Republican social conservative model that we see happening now under Harper.

Otherwise the default decision by Canadian voters will be to see all conservatives as the same – just like the neo-Republicans of America, or worse yet, to presume conservatives are mostly like the radical conservatives who are killing liberals based on intolerance for differences.

As the sign on the wall in the Chapter’s bookstores says; “The World Needs More Canada.” The time has come for Canadian conservatives to start speaking up about what it means to be conservative in Canada, socially, ecologically and economically. If it means the same thing as being a American Republican then who needs the Conservative Party of Canada?

Romantic Comedies - Dubya's Antidote to American Angst

Please tell me this is part spoof and part "truthiness" but the context sure fits our man Steve’s sense of his friend Dubya to a “T” (not Mr. T).

When the third largest US federal department is Homeland Security and that was accomplished in a mere 6 years you have to laugh and cry at this item. What can you say if and when the leader of the free world would see a return to better romantic comdies as a solution to American angst.

Gotta love The Onion!

China Says Au Revoir Canada - Buenos Dias Venezuela

Is China saying they would rather deal with Venezuela who is nationalizing it oil resources, than Stephen Harper? The media today is full of PetroChina’s announcement yesterday speaking of investing in Canada saying “The environment is not comfortable. We tried to come here and we can’t.”

They went further to say “We sincerely wanted to do something and open up a new market for Canadian crude…but Canada doesn’t want to open up is own markets to us.” OUCH!

So we can thank our "business friendly PM for the $4B pullout of Chinese investment in the Gateway pipeline project to the new Prince Rupert Port that was to carry 400,000 barrels per day.

This smells of bad politics. How much have Mr. Harper and his “New” government succumbed to the status quo of Canadian energy export being essentially to only one market…the American market. How is this in the long term best interest of Canada in a new globalized and interdependent world? Is Harper only interest in Canada being dependent on one market source for our energy?

I am all in favour of continental energy supply. It is a key to the Americans getting out of Iraq – which then need to do sooner than later. I wonder of the wisdom of sacrificing investment, market access and geo-political and even environmental relations with the rest of the world – particularly like China and India - as a consequence of a continental energy arrangement. We essentially have continental energy established under NAFTA – if only the Americans would honour the NAFTA accord in areas like beef and softwood.

America is Canada’s friend and neighbour. In a globalized world as an exporting nation we need many more friends and neighbours. Looks like Alberta better get be ready to go it alone with attracting foreign investment. We need the capital and the markets to optimize the opportunities before us. Mr. Harper is more interested in his relationship with the deceptive and duplicitous Bush administration than the best positioning of Canada. I am no Alberta separatist or even a Firewall supporter but boy oh boy does Harper ever given those perceptions a leg up in this province.

Stephen Harper has once again undermined Alberta, his home province, because he can take it for granted - and he does...regularly. He has not done the rest of Canada any favours with this attitude towards China either. It looks more like we will have Harper in power until November 2009 - a whole year longer than George Bush will be President. We all are astonished over how much more harm Bush has done and still can do to the States (and the planet) in the time he has left. Harper is a small player but with up to 16 months more, he can be a disaster akin to Bush if only on a Canadian scale.

Will the RCMP Investigate Their Boss, the Honourable Stockwell Day?

With new evidence around the 2000 by-election circumstances surrounding the then newly minted leader of the Reform/Alliance Party, Stockwell Day we can only wait to see how Prime Minister Harper, handles the situation. Stockwell Day is,after all, his Minister of Public Safety and the Minister responsible for the RCMP. How Orwellian!

How comfortable are you as a citizen with the RCMP considering an investigation about criminal charges around political events of the Minister to whom they must ultimately report to? Are the RCMP going to decline to revisit the Stockwell Day by-election events of 2000 for criminal wrong-doing given that it directly involves the Minister to whom they report? What if an investigation were launched and criminal charges laid over the by-election of Stockwell Day and Harper had exercised his new political influence and control over the appointment of the Judge who was to hear the case? How comfortable are you with that? It could happen!

You have to marvel at the irony that the documents the Liberals are relying on were found in the files of the Leader of the Opposition Offices and were left behind by the former Conservative Leader of the Opposition, one Honourable Stockwell Day. The irony is even sweeter when you consider how hard Harper's people dug into the old files of the Martin Liberal government. They were looking for other potential Adscams they could use for political and purging purposes, but alas, to no avail.

How reassured are you that Harper and Day are skating and obfuscating around the Cabinet resignation issue under these circumstances? Do you believe the Honourable Stockwell Day, Minister of Public Safety of all things, should step down from Cabinet until this is resolved? Former Cabinet Minister Michael Chong resigned Harper's Cabinet over less critical, and less potentially damaging matters, but just as significant as to matters of principle. Michael Chong has proven himself to be a man of principle and character.

The RCMP were quick to jump into an investigation on supposed Liberal government political malfeasance around Income Trust leaks. That investigation was based on innuendo and hints but they announced it publicly just prior to the last election, only having to admit, many months later, there was no evidence of any wrong political doing. They ended up laying only one charge against an individual - a Finance Department bureaucrat who allegedly used insider Income Trust information for personal gain.

We are not yet in an election and only have mere media musings, hints and allegations that one is even remotely pending. So the RCMP do not need to worry about influencing an election outcome, this time any more than they did last time. It is not their concern as to timing of investigations and politics should not be a deciding factor. Speaking of the politics of the last investigation, it was strange the RCMP broke their usual silence about criminal investigations and let it be known publicly they were investigating the former Liberal government. Will they revert to traditional silence about these matters this time or will they boldly go again into the public political fray - if they even start to investigate their boss!

They might be able to get to the bottom of this Stockwell Day by-election matter well before an next election is even called. Perhaps Parliament is mature enough to actually forestall an election while this investigation is going on…presuming the RCMP actually decides to undertake it in the first place.

Where is the sharp wit and sound wisdom of former RCMP Commissioner Zaccardelli now that Canada, and Public Safety Minister the Honourable Stockwell Day, could really use him?

Now for something completely related.
What if I am right about the “republicanization” of the pro tem Prime Minister Stephen Harper and that his is eerily modeling and mimicking George W. Bush. I have been watching the “republicanization” of Stephen Harper as a variation on a theme for his style and substance of government all year. While I don’t think Harper is in the “Bush-league.” Let’s face it, when it comes to being “bush-league” Dubya is in a league of his own. You have to wonder if we can we expect what Stephen Colbert is showing us in this clip about the current Bush leadership reality to be somewhere in our Canadian equivalent?