Its been a strange week with so much
going on that it has left this old fellow wondering which particular
shiny object to focus his attention on. Should it be the defeat of
the extreme right in favor of the slightly less extreme right in
Alberta, the last minute reprieve from yet another election in
Ontario, the
visit of Li Changchun
the Communist Party of China
party’s propaganda chief with Stephen Harper closely followed by
the news that our scientists are being 'shadowed'
by "media liason staffers"at the
International Polar Year Conference in Montreal. Its getting harder
and harder to keep up. What with Parliamentary committees wasting
time on the Vickieleaks affair whist at the same time trying to block
examination of key players in the F35
fiasco, the ongoing
attacks on any one who opposes the Harper
agenda, the
gutting of environmental regulations, the
legislation to limit the ability of citizen groups to raise funds to
fight government policy, its all simply too much. That the very
process that we use to elect these 'representatives' has
been compromised leaves me not knowing where to
turn next.
Its all leaving this old fellow rather
confused, I simply know that the direction that things seem to be
going in this Canada of ours is not one that gives me much optimism
for the future, were I younger I would perhaps do more than just
write about these things but the more I read of these political
machinations the tireder I get. I begin to despair for my kids.
As The
Mound of Sound said in a comment regarding his
post 'Look, I'm Only Trying to Start a Revolution' “Look, to
everyone reading this - the future of your grandkids is being written
today - in indelible ink. Deal with that - or not.”
In said post he says “I want you
to rise up in revolt against Stephen Harper's malignant regime.
I want you to stand up - in public - and tell everyone around you
that he's crossed the line. I want you to proclaim that
Canada won't be governed - or perverted - by Stephen Harper.”
and goes on to suggest that “All I want you to do is wear an
armband, a band of black cloth with an
embossed red maple leaf. I want you to wear
that, leaf turned upside down in the international symbol of
distress.”
Not a bad plan, I for one am very
'distressed' with our current federal regime, as one commenter
pointed out I am not so sure about the connotations that black
armbands may have but I wonder if wearing a simple Canadian lapel pin
upside down or otherwise displaying the maple leaf symbol in
'distress' mode would suffice. Is this disrespect to our country? I
don’t know, what I do know that far too many of those who purport
to represent us both federally and provincially show much disrespect
to both the electorate and to our democratic rules and traditions. It
must stop, it must gain more public attention, our very democracy is
Under Fire by the very people that are entrusted with its care.
So if you see an upside down Maple Leaf
logo on this or any other site do not assume it is disdain for our
country but more disdain for those who are running it!
No comments:
Post a Comment