Time has been flying by this month, so much to comment on and so little time! Earthquakes, tsunamis, radiation and scandal, and that's just Charlie Sheen! I've been closely following events in Wisconsin and the dictator-governor Scott Walker in his quest to destroy collective bargaining rights for Unions, it still ain't over and it looks like Walker will be doing the opposite of "winning" in the long term.
I also went on a business trip for a few days recently so have been out of the loop, combine this with the week of warm weather we had and I have been remiss in this blog!
We're having some (more) political scandal in Canada this week, Contempt of Parliament charges against "The Harper Government" as well as a growing prostitute/lobbying scandal so I had to spend some time reading up on Canadian stories this morning. I haven't read the Calgary SUN in many months but I see my prediction that they will become FOX News North is rapidly coming true! I wonder how long people will read this rag because all it is, is Republican talking points written by Canadians, and nothing to do with local stories. I rolled my eyes at the anti-union article, please, I know all the Republican talking points from the Wisconsin fight! Nice try though. What made me gasp, even more, was the pro Peter King article concerning the hearings in Washington recently. In case you were too busy watching Charlie Sheen these were the McCarthy-esque charges against all Muslim people in the US that Republican Peter King thought he would bring up, instead of creating all those jobs they campaigned on. The basis of this right-wing theory is that Muslims caused 9/11, therefore, all Muslims are terrorists and there need to be lengthy hearings to prove this, all the while Peter King himself supported the IRA (Irish Republican Army) publicly, his reasoning? No American were killed, the subtext, white terrorists are OK. Anyway, most of us see this as racist religious bias which is also unconstitutional in both our countries (freedom of religion) and a total waste of time, as well as making the US, and now Canada-thank you SUN, a target for even more terrorist attacks in the future, you know, so the Taliban can go around saying, see the West hates us. Yeah, so I didn't finish reading this piece of crap article, I've heard it all before from the American right-wing talking heads, like, 3 weeks ago!!! Good luck Calgary SUN, I honestly don't believe Canadians are on the same page here, in the City that just elected North America's first Muslim Mayor? I just don't see the kind of racist/religious divisions in Canada that exist in the States. Why not try attacking Unions and the working poor like FOX News has done during the Wisconsin protests? Lets see how that flies with your illiterate reading base, it's why the SUN contains at least 2 spelling/grammar errors in each issue.
I digress. This pro Peter King piece in today's SUN comes after yet another Nazi/White Pride march in Calgary this weekend. Fortunately the 16 neo-Nazis were kept far apart from the 200 anti-racist protesters by the police, the Nazis didn't get near City Hall and gave up, taking a City bus out of the downtown, and probably back to their parents houses where they were made to eat creamed corn which probably made them even angrier! I kid, but only slightly. I've been doing a lot of homework on our local Nazi's, there are many sites that follow all their chat sites and facebook chatter. They are mostly a bunch of young hooligans who came from Kitchener, Ontario, during the boom here, they are highly unorganized and have more dramatic sub plots than Glee! They are a real threat however, most of them are in jail currently for assault charges, hence the low turnout this year. There will always be young hooligans, most of them will hopefully wind up in jail or wind up dead from having more testosterone than brains. What I find more disturbing is the gang of so-called journalists who think it is OK to publish the theories of the raving hate machine that is the Republican Party these days in their propaganda that is shaped like a newspaper. I'm sorry I thought we lived in Canada? We don't judge people by religion or race, gender or sexuality. It's a little funny that in all my reading of the Nazi posts they all complain about being underemployed, hate non-whites (obviously), gays, women, and MSNBC. When I follow what the (New and Improved) Republican Party say, they hate, or constantly complain about the economy, non-whites-especially Mexicans, gays, women-most of them and especially their reproductive rights and MSNBC. I don't know about you but I can see who the institutionalized Nazis are here! I know, I agree with Jon Stewart who says we can't go around calling people Nazi's we don't agree with politically, the right-wing is different, they don't want to kill people just take away their rights and make it really hard for them to live, it's different see!
All that aside, many will scream "freedom of expression" in cases such as Nazi marches. I do not agree, if I can get all Constitutional on your ass, the intent of freedom of expression which applies to the press, and the right to peaceable assembly are for protesting the government not other groups of people you don't like. The intent of those lines in many of our Constitutions around the world guarantees our right to criticize our governments, not to spread rumour and fear about Muslims or gays or Unionized labour or whoever is the political victim of the time.
I will also add, what a luxury it is for you people to mar the reputation of my City, take up valuable police resources, complain about everything in this society and then take a tax payer funded Bus to safety. There are people in this world who have lived under total oppressive regimes, lived with decades of War, had their countries devastated by earthquakes and radioactive clouds, what are you complaining about? Neo-Nazis and SUN columnists alike?
* If people are so scared about Muslim terrorists please remember Timothy McVeigh the Oklahoma City bomber, the UniBomber, abortion clinic bombings and the murder of abortion provider Dr. Tiller as well as the recent failed MLK Day Parade bombing in Spokane by a self described neo Nazi. On a more local level, four of the neo Nazi "Blood and Honour Canada" goons who were planning this march in Calgary were arrested in Edmonton earlier this month after assaulting several people on Whyte Ave. and in surrounding businesses.
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