My ire has returned, it came back nearly as fast as I could profess its dissipation. All it took was a by-line in the newspaper. The next few sentences that proceeded the by-line dumped gallons of kerosene on the fire.
Why is it that every time the Prime Minister opens his fool mouth, I get a headache?
That right wing “Baby Bush” wannabe in a cheaper suit, (That’s right Bitches… it’s your Daddy’s Boulevard club! You know… From Sears!) Stephen Harper has arrogantly intimated that we should prepare for a general election. His platform would be based on the erroneous belief that we should stay the course in Afghanistan. (God Damn, I really wish someone would smack the grin off of that man’s cocksure face. And while they’re at it, how about a whack or two at Rona Ambrose… Someone’s got to tell her that she’s nothing more than the new “less interesting” Belinda Stronach. It would be an act of compassion. A kindness I wouldn’t normally offer a conservative, but one I think she deserves.)
But I digress, I’m floored by the sheer audacity of Harper to try and make political hay over the war. It’s a cheap, grubby attempt to gather a majority in the House of Commons. More importantly, it further proves that he devaluates the lives of Canadian soldiers. All this says is “You are all dispensable, and the only importance you have is to fulfill my agenda.” This is shabby sir. You’ve become the fat cat you rallied against. Instead of abusing public funds, you differ only in that you abuse the public.
To Mr. Harper I say this, “prove me wrong!” How many of our soldiers have perished on your watch? How many more will die? What gives you the right to use them for your agenda? (Especially since you are a minority PM. Kinda ballsy, but kinda stupid too.)
Mr. Harper, you remind me of a stern and shrewish old nurse, holding out a spoon laden with cod liver oil, demanding that we take it for our own good. (Except the medicine is tainted in this case.)
What happened to the mission to help reconstruct Afghanistan’s infrastructure? Wasn’t that what we were supposed to be doing? Weren’t we supposed to be helping the Afghanis to learn to defend themselves from the Taliban? How did we wind up being an occupation force?
Didn’t we used to be peacekeepers? On behalf of this glorious nation, I would like to thank you for following America’s path. Thanks for chewing up the goodwill we had, and for replacing it with frustration and contempt. I agree that the Taliban needs to be excised from the face of the earth, but just plain ole killing them doesn’t seem to be working. Wouldn’t it reflect better on everyone involved if we were to say “HELP THESE FUCKING PEOPLE DIG OUT OF ABJECT POVERTY,”
Remember the parable about giving a man a fish vs. teaching a man to fish? Oddly it seems to work.
11 comments:
OK, I rarely agree with you and we all know that but I have never disagreed more.
Are you kidding with this? ”I’m floored by the sheer audacity of Harper to try and make political hay over the war.” Harper is not the one who started this line of political wrangling let alone made it the sole issue in the next election. Jack Layton and his NDP started this entire mess the second they suggested that we should immediately pull our troops from Afghanistan because too many were coming home in body bags. Beyond that I would argue that the indecisiveness and confusion of the Canadian public (and Stephane Dione) have made this the political hot potato. First we think we should be there, then someone dies and suddenly we think we should get them the hell out of there. Such a strong back bone we have here in Canada!!!
As for this: “Wouldn’t it reflect better on everyone involved if we were to say ‘HELP THESE FUCKING PEOPLE DIG OUT OF ABJECT POVERTY,’” Seriously, did you not educate yourself first? Canadians have been building roads and schools, supplying medical care to Afghanis, retraining police and army troops, demining the fields and roads as well as many other things since they arrived. Did you know the Canadian government is even providing microloans those trying to start businesses to support themselves? Most of those microloans have so far gone to women. We have done a lot towards ‘teaching them how to fish’ but the fact remains that in order to do this work you have to chase out the bad guys first and Canadians have been doing this too, with great success. Yes this country has lost too many good men and women there but at some point you need to recognize the accomplishments these men and women made before they died and the fact that they weren’t just there because they had to be.
You continually accuse me of listening to too much Conservative propoganda and not educating myself and today I accuse you of listening to too much Jack Layton. Take a road trip to Edmonton and talk to some troops about what they have been doing in Afghanistan before you continue this diatribe of bullshit.
1) Firstly I didn't say once that We weren't doing anything in Afghanistan besides fighting. The point I was trying to make is that, that is the only thing we should be doing.
2) Blaming the Canadian Public for indecisivness and confusion is bullshit. Firstly because Harper is supposed to be a SERVANT of the Canadian people, and secondly because without ANY public debate, he and his cacus changed the scope and nature of the mission in Afghanistan. Further to this, any claim that a minority government has on representing the "will" of the people is utter horse shit.
Let's not forget that this government is not the most forthcoming with it's agendas. For "The New Canadian Government" to claim that it's transparent, is much like saying (to quote Lewis Black...) "I'm a magician, but when I pull the rabbit out of the hat, I just wind up ripping it's fur off."
Next...
3) Anytime a Canadian (military or otherwise) representing this country meets an untimely end, it should be a "hot potato" Not debating the merits of war is always a tragedy in waiting.
4) For the record, I have and will always support the troops. I believe in them. I may not agree with their mission, but I respect what they do.
5)Jack Layton and Stephane Dion are voices of sober second thought. Without them, would we really be any better than America?
Please explain to me how it is that you expect our troops to enter Afghanistan and create all this goodwill with out first getting rid of the bad guys. To suggest that they would be able to successfully attempt this is simply unrealistic. Not to mention that in the process we would be likely to lose more troops than we already have. I’m sure that you’re smart enough to understand how the Taliban work and to realize that they wouldn’t care if we simply stood on a street corner handing out money, they would still kill us. To suggest as you did that we are following America’s path is to show as much ignorance to what our soldiers do as the Taliban do.
Blaming the Canadian public for indecisiveness and confusion is not bullshit. It’s not like this is the only issue or first time that Canadians have demonstrated this reaction. We are legendary for our inability to make a decision. For the most part Canadians are push-overs who won’t make a tough decision unless someone purposefully educates us and then tells us what decision to make (if you can call that making a decision). I would be ok with the people of Canada standing up and in a united voice denouncing our actions in Afghanistan and pulling out. (NOT happy, but ok.) But the sad truth is that this will never happen. Because of this it would be hard for any government, including Harper’s, to represent the majority of Canadians when we can’t make a choice to begin with.
I never meant to belittle the death of a soldier and if I came across that way then I apologize. Debating war is a great thing I agree, with out it just imagine where the Vietnam War would be now. We need to talk about these things and educate ourselves so that we can make the right decision but when we have done all that and the right decision is not the easy one we can’t shy away from it no matter what the cost. Men and women don’t join the army to sit in Canadian home bases watching the world go by and being happy they’re not in harms way. We will lose more soldiers in Afghanistan but that’s the price you pay to save lives. The idealistic world where you get peace with out paying a price simply does not exist
Calling Jack Layton ‘the voice of sober second thought’ is a scary proposition. I actually read an article today where he’s starting to go back on his ‘pull the troops’ mantra and is slowly moving towards the Conservative line. As far as I’m concerned the man is as two faced as a politician can get. As for Dion, I can’t say that I dislike the man. So far he has not had a big enough mis-step to notice. Unfortunately, even with his dream team I don’t think he’s strong enough to pull anything spectacular in the next election.
PS – We’ll always be better than America, if only because our main goal in Afghanistan is to rebuild the nation by making friendships not blowing people up.
1) careful... underestimating the Canadian public didn't serve the Liberals well... I suspect that it will work less so for the Conservatives.
2) Let's not forget a fairly crucial detail here. This is America and Great Britian's fight. They got into the muck, they are the ones who should be routing out the Taliban. Helping is one thing, but picking up someone elses garbage shouldn't be our chore.
Thankfully I’m not a politician so I can say things like” Canadians are push-overs” and mean it and not get into too much trouble. I will continue to believe this until Canadians prove me wrong…I don’t see this happening anytime soon.
To say that this is America and Great Britain’s fight is a cop-out. Although Canada hasn’t been ‘attacked’ yet, sitting here and waiting for it to happen or hoping it doesn’t is idiotic. (I, would argue that we were attacked by virtue of Canadians being killed on September 11th too.) That’s like saying you can win a hockey game by playing perfect defense and yet never scoring a goal. The Taliban hate all non-Muslims (and even some Muslims) saying that we’ll leave it to the Americans and the Brits because they’re the ones who took the brunt and then fought back is irresponsible. We need to be in Afghanistan and we need to be fighting this fight. In case you forgot, we have terrorists in Canada (as evidenced by the arrests earlier this year), and continually pushing the fight off to someone else will only hurt us when they do ‘attack’. If we were to wait until the Canadian version of 9/11 happened the first thing out of your mouth would likely be “why didn’t the Conservatives do something to stop this before it happened?” Or, “why didn’t we know this was going to happen?” We can not afford to wait until that day, it is better to help fight that battle where it starts and the best way to do this is by rebuilding Afghanistan into a sustainable nation. And again we return to my main point, in order to rebuild any nation you must get rid of or rehabilitate the people who are destroying it.
1) with the perfect defence, you can always play for the tie. Sometimes that's enough.
2) Who says that we should be responsible for routing out the Taliban? Who says that this strategy is going to work? I seem to recall the Soviet war machine getting pushed out of Afghanistan. If they couldn't get the job done with conventional tactics, How on earth can we even rationalize the concept.
3) You're right, I would have blamed the conservatives if we had been attacked. I would also have blamed the liberals or the New democrats, or the Greens or whomever. I expect that my government, who was elected to serve and protect my interests and rights as a citizen, is on the job.
This offensive (and offensive) effort on the part of the conservative government to be part of the war on terror is a slippery slope.
Harper's desperation to show Uncle Sam that he's different than the previous administration has led us down this path.
Consider this. America considers Canada's military to be a paper army. WHy would they want us to be involved in the first place. The only logical conclusion is for the sake of credibilty. We, because of our usual stance as a peacekeeper (as opposed to peacemaker) lend credibility to the war on terror. (Sort of a hundred smiles, makes a frown mean more kinda way...)
It is dangerous thinking to mistake vigilence with this war in Afghanistan. They couldn't be further apart on the spectrum.
Doesn't it make more sense for us to do the things that we are accomplished at. Let America and Britian fight the taliban. Both of those nations have a long and storied history of conflict in the modern era. We do not.
We have used our military effectively to keep the peace in unstable regions. Our service personelle are some of the finest in the world, and they deserve the utmost in respect.
The best we can do for them is to use them properly.
The best way to beat the Taliban is to "win the hearts and minds" of the Afghanis.
Don't you get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar?
1.) That logic makes me cringe every time someone uses it. Play for the tie??? That’s the same as ignoring Saddam Hussein because he wasn’t killing Canadians so he can’t be that bad. Or hey, let’s ignore the fact that thousands of African’s die each day because it’s not our continent. Oh wait, the best yet, let’s ignore the fact that Calgary doesn’t have enough affordable housing because I haven’t seen a homeless person in the last 24 hours! Yes Marcus, let’s play for the tie, it’s enough in my books too!
2.) Remember that it’s not just Canada that took on Afghanistan. NATO took it on and we happen to be a big part of that group. None of us can say for certain that NATO will succeed but if we look at their track record I think we could agree that they have a fairly good chance.
3.) OK, so you and I disagree, I think it’s right to hunt down and kill the little bastards and you don’t. I think it’s the best protection and you don’t. Only time will tell who wins this battle. When we’re old and grey sitting at a family dinner if you look over and I’m wearing a burqa…it means you’ve won and the conservatives were wrong and the Taliban kicked all our asses.
a. In the mean time, remember that though we are great peace keepers we haven’t done that with out violence. Canadian peace keepers have had to fight before to keep the peace. Sometimes bombs and bullets are the best peace keepers.
I can only hope that you'll being wearing a burqa, if only for my own sense of irony.
1) I suggested playing for a tie as a flippant response. You'd think the subtext might have been obvious.
2)The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan was actually larger than the current Nato contingent.
If anyone really wanted to win this war, wouldn't it make more sense to finish it before America decieded to open a second front in Iraq? Haven't we been taught our whole lives to finish one job before starting another?
You wanna convince Afghanistan you mean business, then get Osama. Parade his head on a stake to all the cheiftans and warlords.
Stop the warlords cold in their tracks instead of working with them. Once you eliminate the poppy trade, you excise their power.
I didn't say that We shouldn't hunt down and kill the bastards, I just said we should let the professionals handle it.
As for violence in peace keeping, well duh, of course there is going to be violence. There is however a diffence between imposing will and keeping the peace.
Marcus, you're the only man I'll ever wear a burqa for!
While I agree with you mostly about all that Harper crap I totally disagree about Ambrose.... she is smokin man, open yo eyes.
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