Stephen Harper

We need to face reality here in Canada, our electoral system is, at its core, quite simply undemocratic, unrepresentative and broken.

It's time to move out of the 19th century and into the 21st. It's time to start modernizing this archaic system of ours. It's time for some true democracy.

I mean, if a party is potentially within reach of a majority government with just 36-40% of public support, as the Conservatives now seem to be, then, clearly, something is fundamentally wrong with our system.

In most of the recent polls leading up to next month's election the Conservatives have had the support of between 36-39% of decided voters and now the pundits are talking about them possibly forming a majority government. It seems Canadians want the Conservatives in power. It seems they want more of what Prime Minister Stephen Harper has to offer. It seems Canadians are leaning to the right.

The only problem with all of that, of course, is that it's bullshit!

This whole situation with Omar Khadr is so repulsive, shameful and depressing. Thinking about how this poor kid from Toronto has been treated makes me, as a Canadian, feel so embarrassed and sad. All his rights have been violated, he's been abused, tortured, held for six years (so far), long periods of which have been in solitary confinement, he faces a sham trial that would make the Soviets proud, and he was just 15 years old when captured, yet Canada has done absolutely nothing to help him. In fact, as we now indisputably know, the Canadian government has been an active participant in this whole tragedy. And so I ask: What sort of nation have we become anyway?

Your old road is
Rapidly aging
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend a hand
For the times they are a-changin'
- Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-Changin'


We know that throughout history conservatives have constantly fought tooth and nail against equality and justice? But the question remains, why? Could it be a sickness?

What's up with conservatives anyway? Time after time they have been shown to have been on the wrong side of history, standing strong, tall and proud against justice, equality and progress. Yet in the present they always seem to stubbornly cling to their bankrupt way of thinking, as they insist on opposing all progressive change, whatever it may be. Of course today's typical conservative wouldn't defend slavery or deny women the vote, but, in the end, it's the same mindset and, without a doubt, today's conservatives, had they been around back in the day, would have supported the status quo then, just as they do today. The conservative mind remains the same, it's just the topics under discussion that change.

Canada's Shame: Generations of Children Kidnapped and Brutalized In The Name of "Civilization" and "Christianity"

Yesterday was truly a great day for Canada. After years and years of waffling and procrastination, the federal government finally did what everyone knew had to be done: The Prime Minister, on the floor of the House of Commons, apologized to the Native People of Canada for the horrific and racist residential school system that this country ran for more than a century, a system that destroyed tens of thousands of lives. It's the single most shameful chapter in this country's recent history and an official apology simply had to be made. So, it's certainly not very often that you'll find me heaping praise on Stephen Harper, but today he most definitely deserves it.

Hey all you fellow Canadians out there, as Bob Dylan once asked, how does it feel? How does it feel to have a government that is such a disgraceful embarrassment on the international stage? I mean, when your country's only real ally on a major issue is George W. Bush's America you've really got to stop and ask yourself just what the hell went wrong? And the answer, obviously, starts with the election of this Stephen Harper-led right-wing Bush-a-like government of ours two years ago. The only question now seems to be, just how far down do these jokers plan to drag us?

The American gulag in Guantanamo Bay has one - just one - remaining Western captive still being held by the U.S. government. His name is Omar Khadr. And he's Canadian. Every other Western government did all it could and eventually won the release of every single one of its citizens held in that Kafkaesque joke of a camp. But not our government. No, the Canadian government has abandoned this guy. And the worst thing is he was already abandoned back when he was just a 15 year old kid. That's how old he was when the American's locked him up and started their mental and physical torture regiment on him. Torturing kids? Yup, that's how fucked up the American government has become. Abandoning Canadian kids in foreign gulags? You bet, that's exactly how fucked up the Canadian government has become.

Vimy Ridge Vimy Ridge Vimy Ridge, all this drama over Vimy Ridge. If you live in Canada then you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, then I should tell you that this weekend has been the 90th anniversary of the Canadian victory over the Germans at Vimy Ridge during World War I. Yes, 3,600 Canadian soldiers died and more than 7,000 were wounded during the four-day assault (while 20,000 German soldiers were killed or injured), but why all the glorifying of a battle in such a meaningless war, I ask?

This rant also appears in the Touching The Untouchables section as Touching The Untouchables #6: Vimy Ridge. It appears here as well for anyone who thinks they might like history but feels afraid, or at least a little nervous, when it comes to touching any sort of untouchables.

Vimy Ridge Vimy Ridge Vimy Ridge, all this drama over Vimy Ridge. If you live in Canada then you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, then I should tell you that this weekend has been the 90th anniversary of the Canadian victory over the Germans at Vimy Ridge during World War I. Yes, 3,600 Canadian soldiers died and more than 7,000 were wounded during the four-day assault (while 20,000 German soldiers were killed or injured), but why all the glorifying of a battle in such a meaningless war, I ask?

Well over 100 civilians killed in Lebanon and the headline on all the mainstream news websites is "8 Israelis killed in Haifa". 15 Lebanese children killed in one strike alone and Bush just keeps going on about Israel's right to defend itself from "terror". And, I repeat, 15 Lebanese children killed and the news that just has to be reported is "8 Israelis killed in Haifa". The entire country of Lebanon living under Israel's reign of terror, mass killings and destruction and the talk is, as always, of Islamic "terrorists"... and "8 Israelis killed in Haifa". Thousands of Arabs kidnapped and taken away to rot in Israeli gulags, after ridiculous show trials, and the emphasis is on 2 kidnapped Israeli soldiers held in Lebanon... and "8 Israelis killed in Haifa". Is there something wrong with this picture or what?