Harper on Obama on NAFTA

Mr. Harper you should not be interfering in another countries political process. We all know you wanna fight for the Republicans as members of Republicans International.

Besides, its just pre-election talk. Obama is using NAFTA to score points like you used accountability and cleaning up government and we all know you didn't mean that. The difference is Obama hasn't run a nation-wide Presidential campaign on lies yet.

You, Mr. Harper, apparently did. Recommend this Post

What the New Tax Free Savings Account achieves

The new tax free savings account must have conservatives drooling. It allows for the rich to sock away money at the expense of those who live month to month. Other types of savings such as RRSP's, RESP's etc. allow you to save for a specific reason. This one doesn't, in fact there are no strings. Put away cash and use it whenever you want and avoid paying taxes.

The only thing this new savings account will achieve is to undermine our progressive income tax system where those making the most pay more taxes.

Now the the rich can hide excess cash interest free in the ideologically driven idea of a tax free savings account. They may have finally hit the holy grail of conservatism and that is to allow the rich to pay less tax. Recommend this Post

1912

This year is very significant. Besides the Titannic disaster something truly monumental happened, the Conservative Government of Canada, headed by Sir Robert Borden posted a surplus.

Now posting a surplus is nothing new, if you are a Liberal but for a conservative its quite the task. How much of a task you ask? Well 1912 was the last time a Conservative Government posted a surplus. You can argue that Harper has also but he inherited the great financial situation we Liberals put this country in and rumour has it that the current Conservative one may have a deficit on the way, which is why we saw Mr. Prentice out and about yesterday debating facts. When one has to debate facts in order to make their budget next week look somewhat okay its not the sign of a good budget.

It is also interesting to note that Flim Flam Flaherty wasn't the one discussing deficits and surpluses. Great idea as he wouldn't know what a surplus was even if it flew up his ass judging by his time as Finance Minister in Ontario. Also smart not to have Flaherty criticize Rae's budgets because Flaherty was way way worse and actually was a finance Minister. Recommend this Post

Memorial honouring Gay Holocaust Victims to be built.

This has been a long time coming. Homosexuals, originally, were not considered victims of the holocaust and Between 5000 and 15,000 were held in concentration camps as members of an anti-social group. 60% of these people died while in camps. Many Nazi soldiers would use the pink triangle tattoo forced on them as identifiers as a target to shoot at.

Unfortunately it didn't stop there. After WWII, Gay men were not recognized as victims of the Holocaust and were re-imprisoned by the authorities because of their sexuality and were denied the reparations and state pensions available to other groups.. In 2002, the German government pardoned the gay men who were imprisoned by Nazis.

The design of the Memorial to homosexuals will be similar to the one picture above for the Jewish victims.

Many on the right (wingnuts) frequently reference the Holocaust as the reasoning for supporting the Jewish people and Israel, yet cannot afford the same respect to other victims of the holocaust. Bigots such as SDA come to mind but no one expects much better of such people. In one post she pays respect to the Victims of the holocaust and the next she is making jokes out of the tattoos that were forced on the victims of the Holocaust. See how that works? Its an attempt at inoculation. I have also read a couple posts at the Blogging Tories about a so-called "brown threat" and insinuating all Muslims have a secret agenda. Thats how the Nazi's turned its population against Jews. Spreading falsehoods about a minority group of people and because the average person doesn't know much about said group they are more likely to believe what others tell them.

Governments on the other hand shouldn't be ignored when acting similarly. The current government has taken to trying to rescind same sex marriage rights or play little games with age of consent. Treating gays and Straights differently when both are equal citizens of this country. They seem to have found more votes in their bigoted core voter base than they could ever get treating people equally but then again fascism does come from the right side of the political spectrum and the current one does employ some similar techniques when it comes to dividing a population and turning it on itself for political gain. I'm not saying that our current government are fascists but they seem to have no qualms about where they get their techniques (blaming a group for everything they fail at or are unable to do) in their continually failing attempt to secure a majority government. We have division in this country now that is the worst I have ever seen for Canada and its not over an important issue facing the nation like free trade or GST. Its more McCarthyish with Communist replaced by Liberal. Recommend this Post

Yes We Can

All I can say is wow. What a powerful speaker and a powerful song.



This is the change that America needs and hopefully a little will rub off on our population because we also need change from what we currently have taking up useful space at 24 Sussex. Oh and in this video, an Ontarian named Esthero (a self described liberal and Humanist) makes a contribution to the vocals.

Why Change?

The change these people are singing about is not necessarily a new face. Change refers to the end of divisive politics. You know those tactics adopted by the Republicans and the Conservative Party of Canada. The tendency to speak in black and white, never admitting blame, preferring instead to blame a perceived enemy (liberals) for everything. If you don't agree with conservatism its because the liberals have ruined the country and everyone is tainted instead of admitting their policies stink. Basically how we've been governed these past 2 years.

The question is do we prevent it from getting worse or do we let it go on until we are begging for it?

I prefer to be proactive. Harper gotta go. Recommend this Post

Stick by your plan Mr. Dion

Do not sit on your hands and abstain from voting against the governments confidence motion. The neo-tories do not have the default preferred stance on the Afghan Mission. Neither does the NDP. The population will not support an open ended war nor would they support sheer cowardice. The people of Canada wants a realistic mission that works and accomplishes the goal. Your stance Mr. Dion seems to fit what the population wants. Stick with it even if it brings the government down. The election will not focus only on the mission. There are many other issues such as the economy, the environment, and the unending list of Harpers broken promises and surprise social conservative ones. Not too mention he's made government more unaccountable and even less transparent in direct opposition to what he promised and campaigned on.

Let the writ drop and lets win the next election. We want a Canada thats richer, cleaner and fairer not the broken mess and division we see today, nor the lies on climate change repeated by this government and its cohorts, or the attacks on seniors incomes and tax cuts for the rich.

Mr Harper thinks leadership is being an asshole but we can show him its bringing great policies, consensus building and co-operation that makes a leader. All things he has failed on, especially with the lost opportunity to bridge partisan divides and work together to hammer out a future for the Afghanistan Mission. Instead he builds his firewall, keeps with his unwanted open ended war and then makes it a confidence vote. All this for a view that barely 1/3 of Canadians feel is appropriate. He's like a child sulking in the corner. Some leader.

Please do take your ball and go home. Recommend this Post