Steven Harper speaks out on dissent

When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent is frankly when it’s rapidly losing its moral authority to govern. (Stephen Harper, Canadian Press, April 18, 2005)

This quote appears in a letter sent to Agent 3 by Bev Hodgson, the Liberal candidate in the Canadian riding of Niagara Falls. She goes on...

"Shutting down Parliament in the middle of the night is signature Mr. Harper. This is the fourth time in just three years that he has shut down Parliament in order to wiggle his way out of a bind. No Prime Minister in Canadian history has shown as much disrespect for Parliament!

"Shutting down Parliament has of course raised speculation about a spring election.
Canadians have said, loud and clear, that there is no need for an early election, but it seems we are heading for one anyway.

"Turning the snubbing of Parliamentary democracy into a criticism of the Senate is one of Mr. Nicholson’s best spins yet -- this after Mr. Harper has appointed more Senators than any other Prime Minister in Canadian history, and is set to appoint another five.

"We all know that Canadian News doesn’t often reach into the US or the UK, but this extraordinary move by Mr. Harper has raised eyebrows abroad as well as at home. See "Shafting Democracy in Canada", from the Guardian, and "Canadian Leader Shuts Parliament for 2nd Time", from the New York Times.

"As well, Canadian Reporter Kady O’Malley dispels the myths that are being spun by the Conservatives in "Memories of Order Papers Past", on the CBC News website.

"I hope you will join us," Ms Hodgson concludes, "in denouncing this latest tactical move by Mr. Harper."

Eagerness to please is not a security policy

You have to laugh at Canadian Transport Minister John Baird, the Harper government's trained pit bull. When it comes to dealing with the Americans, he's more like a chihuahua bitch! Reminds me of an old Warner Brothers cartoon in which a little lap dog dances circles around a big brutish bulldog, the little dog just about wetting himself in an effort to please the big one.

Today's Toronto Star has a good editorial on the Canadian overreaction to the American overreaction, about which I wrote this morning. Have a look at "Canada's abrupt rush to scanners" to see how Call Me Steve and his toadies are all but tying themselves in knots to suck up to His Obamaness.

The terrorist threat

Walt has been told to "get real". How can you write about funny TV commercials, a follower asks, when we are surrounded by Serious Threats to Our American Way of Life? OK, he didn't put it quite that way, with the caps and all, but that was the gist of it.

Walt says: Can we (Americans) purleeze stop overreacting? More important, would Canadians and other foreigners stop overreacting to the American overreaction? Security is tighter now at Canadian airports than it is at US airports!

If I really wanted to get an explosive onto a US airliner, I'd forget about trying to board the plane at Pearson or Trudeau. I'd drive across the border to, say, Buffalo, with the explosive in my gotchees (wonder if it's itchy) and get on the plane there.

All the restrictions, patdowns, and "naked picture scans" being put in place in Canada and Europe strike me as extreme overkill, like burning down a house to kill a mouse. The effects on air travel to the "land of the free" (what a laugh that is) are already hurting international business and the not-yet-recovered economy.

If I lived in the Netherlands or Canada, let alone Pakistan or Nigeria, I'd just stay home. Come to think of it, maybe that's been the plan all along.

TV commercials Walt actually likes

Having quite justifiably poked fun at whoever made those ridiculous commercials for Fallsview Casino (see post, last month I now take pleasure in presenting two commercials which are more entertaining than some of the programs in which they are inserted.

The first is for Rickard's, brewers of beer which they want us to believe is delicious.

There are two versions of this in English, and one in French. In the English versions the "middle guy" looks vaguely vizmin. In the French version, everyone is pure laine. Coincidence? I think not. Fine commercials though.

While researching this, I stumbled on a spoof commercial made by a fan of Rickard's Red. I'm having trouble getting it to upload, so will invite you to click here to go to YouTube to see proof that non-professionals, like Curtis, can do even better than ad agencies.

Saved the best for the last. Click for Pepsi Max's "I'm Good" commercial. Yeah, I know it's derivative -- America's Funniest Videos -- but it made me laugh so hard tears were running down my legs!

If Moses had been a cartoonist

Spare me the philological argument. Just assume with me, if you will, that Moses actually wrote the first five books of the Bible. He may have been a divinely inspired writer, but, as anyone who's tried to read the Pentateuch knows, he could have used a good illustrator.

Poor William Blake, whose little paintings were, in his day, considered the work of a madman, didn't come along until some 5000 years later. We waited another three-quarters of a century for the advent of Gustav Doré, whose engravings grace many an old family Bible.

Now, some 150 years later, we have a remarkable illustrated version of the Book of Genesis, courtesy of R. Crumb.

That's right. Robert Crumb, comic book artist. Creator of such characters as Fritz the Cat, the Furry Freak Brothers, Flakey Foont and of course Mr. Natural. ("Is dis a system?")

Crumb is someone who almost defies description, let alone pigeon-holing. He is not just a simple cartoonist in the style of, say, Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons. Yet most critics would not have considered him a serious illustrator or artist...until now.

I picked up The Book of Genesis off the library shelf -- it almost jumped into my hands -- expecting it to be a satire or parody. It is not. Crumb "simply" draws a series of pictures, laid out as comic book panels, to illustrate the text assembled from the Robert Alter and King James versions of the Biblical version. There's a short written commentary at the end to précis the Biblical text, kind of like a listener's guide to an opera.

The power and savage beauty of Crumb's work is the drawings. Crumb is no mean draftsman. One 3 x 5 inch drawing of Noah's Ark must contain hundreds of brush-strokes. Perhaps it's a cliché, but Crumb's depiction of the faces makes the people come alive. Cain looks malevolent. Abel looks innocent. Adam looks like a naive superman. Eve looks voluptuous. Parental guidance is definitely advised!

The characters, even God, look not like the heroic classical figures of Doré, but as something within us believes they should look. They look real! Except for the serpent. We think of him as a snake but forget that the text says that as punishment, God took away his four legs. So Crumb draws him as he was, like a large lizard.

The dust jacket says: "Crumb's Book of Genesis, the culmination of five years of painstaking work, is a tapestry of masterly detail and storytelling that celebrates the astonishing diversity of one of our greatest artistic geniuses."

Walt says The Book of Genesis is a work of art. Even if you think the story is just the old Gilgamesh legend retold, you should have a look at it. I promise, you've never seen anything like it.

Footnote: Those interested in the "comix" are recommended to The Life and Times of R. Crumb, edited by Monte Beautchamp, with an introduction by Matt Groening. You can find copies on Amazon for a cent. There's also a DVD called Crumb: Special Edition.

Why Obama wants to destroy the Catholic Church

Thanks to Agent 71 for passing along this commentary by Michael Voris, S.T.B., on President Obama's plan to eliminate, or at least neutralize the Catholic Church in the U.S.A. Why? Because it opposes his plan to socialize America. This is for all Christians! Even if you're not Catholic, please, for the good of the nation, watch this!

Sorry I haven't been able to upload the video clip, but clicking on the link will take you to YouTube. Please pass it on!

This time next year

Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Fall election after all?
Walt's prediction: December 31st will see Harpoon still in office, thanks to the fecklessness of the gutless Grits.

Now, four months later, you can chalk up another bang-on prediction for Walt. Lifetime percentage .994.

After a lot of sabre-rattling in the fall, Ignatieff and his ever-changing team of advisers discovered -- surprise, surprise! -- that the Canadian people really didn't want an election, even if it meant being stuck for the rest of the year with Smarmy Steve Harper and his coterie of toadies.

Through a mix of Liberal weakness, Tory brutishness and sheer luck, Mr. Harpoon seems at the moment to have power grasped firmly in his talons. He has steamrollered the opposition. Run right over them. Harper's coercing the Governor-General into proroguing Parliament -- he didn't even bother to go and see Her Jeanness, just phoned -- is merely the latest bruising bodycheck.

Indeed, Harper looks to be on course to become the most successful Conservative prime minister since Sir John Eh. But wait. As John Diefenbaker said, "It's a long road that has no ashcans." [What does that mean? ed.]

Walt fearlessly predicts that by this time next year, someone else will be Prime Minister of Canada. It may not be Afghanistan that does him in, although it should be. Perhaps the opposition can succeed in pinning the blame for the HST on the federal government. Or it could be the Tories' desire to change leaders before another election, in hopes of finding someone who can lead them to a majority.

But hear me, Harper is neither invulnerable nor invincible. Look for his authoritarian regime to fall by this time next year. Then and only then will I wish Canadians a happy new year!

Footnote 1: Click here to read "Harper's dark democracy creates dangerous legacy" , excellent analysis of the Harper regime by James Travers, national affairs columnist for the Toronto Star.

Footnote 2: Am I the only one who really hates the official portrait of Call Me Steve, embedded above? That cat-that-ate-the-canary smirk makes me want to hit him right on his big long nose.