Thursday, April 08, 2004
A dictatorship of the spineless
Well, Lex got voted off, but I'm not going to talk about that. I'm not going to dwell on that. I'm not going to become so fixated on it that I don't bathe for weeks on end, and that I communicate with my fellow homo sapiens only in abrupt and irritable snaps. No, I'm going to get on with my life and start cheering for Rupert.
What I am going to dwell on, from now until his retirement, is how our Prime Minister is what theologians call "a gutless puke." This isn't new news, of course, but I figure that with Paul Wells taking the month of April off of Martin-bashing, somebody has to pick up the slack, and I'm pretty sure that Wells had me in mind when he announced his break. The latest example? Martin leaning against meeting the Dalai Lama for fear of pissing off whatever gang of oppressive murderers is in charge over in Beijing this week.
Let's be clear: this isn't just pissing me off because I'm some kind of crazed human rights-obsessed leftist who returns Mike Hudema's phone calls and lacks any understanding realpolitik (I am, but that's not why it's pissing me off). No, no less an ideological bedfellow of mine than Conservative MP Rob Anders is also up in arms about this. A goodly portion of Mr. Martin's own Liberal caucus also signed a petition urging him to meet with this fellow. There is no reason for this to be a controversial move - politicians of all ideologies are urging it. After all, this isn't one of them violent-revolutionaries-turned-peaceful-dignitary like Nelson Mandela (on whom, by the way, Paul Martin voted in favour of bestowing honorary Canadian citizenship). It's the Dalai freakin' Lama! He was profiled in Reader's Digest - not exactly a hotbed of revolution.
And what's China going to do if Martin meets with him, huh? Make some noise? Lodge a formal protest? Stop buying nuclear generators from us, perhaps? Let's examine some kind of parallel: what does the Canadian government do when governments in countries like the United States and France meet with separatist Québec politicians? I'll tell you what it does: a whole lot of fuck all. Scads of fuck all, in fact. Politicians in these countries don't even think twice about the effect on Canadian relations of meeting with Gilles Duceppe. Nor should they. But here we are worried about our relationship with a bunch of hypersensitive thugs if we meet with one of the most respected peace advocates in the world.
I guess he's too busy repairing the democratic deficit at home, by undertaking such revolutionary measures as deigning to survey Liberal backbenchers on changes they'd like to see made. Note to Liberal backbenchers: you know all those votes that keep happening in the House of Commons? I'm going to let you in on a secret: you decide how you vote on those issues. Paul Martin doesn't. Hell, if you decide to vote against his wishes on the right motions, you can even decide the fate of his government. That's right, you - the disenfranchised backbenchers - can kick him, the Prime Minister, out of government if you want. Really. The worst he can do is kick you out of caucus, which only makes you all the freer to vote as you'd like, which is what you've professed to want to do all along. Oh, and I suppose there's always the danger that he won't appoint you to a cabinet position, but that just leaves you more time to legislate, which, as you'll recall from your MP Orientation Session, is your damned job. Seriously, you dumb bastards, you really have nobody to blame but yourselves for the eunichization of you and your ilk.
I'll be voting NDP, of course, even though they want to implement proportional representation, which disenfranchises Canadians from being able to elect their own representatives, instead allowing the voters only to vote for the faceless party that they want to name their representatives. And I don't believe for a moment that Jack Layton would be much less spineless, lazy, or useless than Paul Martin if he'd been in government for as long as Paul has, but at least he hasn't. Politicians are like tires: you need to rotate them every once in a while. And they're full of air. And you don't want to see them stripped. And it's good to kick 'em a few times before you make a final decision.
* * *
Okay, I feel better now (except for about Lex being voted off). You'll notice that I've added a new link, Blorg.org, which belongs to a couple of Gatewayers by the names of Gerald Ford and Smorgasboard. Hey, they linked to me first.
Live long. Prosper. Throw the bums out.
|
Well, Lex got voted off, but I'm not going to talk about that. I'm not going to dwell on that. I'm not going to become so fixated on it that I don't bathe for weeks on end, and that I communicate with my fellow homo sapiens only in abrupt and irritable snaps. No, I'm going to get on with my life and start cheering for Rupert.
What I am going to dwell on, from now until his retirement, is how our Prime Minister is what theologians call "a gutless puke." This isn't new news, of course, but I figure that with Paul Wells taking the month of April off of Martin-bashing, somebody has to pick up the slack, and I'm pretty sure that Wells had me in mind when he announced his break. The latest example? Martin leaning against meeting the Dalai Lama for fear of pissing off whatever gang of oppressive murderers is in charge over in Beijing this week.
Let's be clear: this isn't just pissing me off because I'm some kind of crazed human rights-obsessed leftist who returns Mike Hudema's phone calls and lacks any understanding realpolitik (I am, but that's not why it's pissing me off). No, no less an ideological bedfellow of mine than Conservative MP Rob Anders is also up in arms about this. A goodly portion of Mr. Martin's own Liberal caucus also signed a petition urging him to meet with this fellow. There is no reason for this to be a controversial move - politicians of all ideologies are urging it. After all, this isn't one of them violent-revolutionaries-turned-peaceful-dignitary like Nelson Mandela (on whom, by the way, Paul Martin voted in favour of bestowing honorary Canadian citizenship). It's the Dalai freakin' Lama! He was profiled in Reader's Digest - not exactly a hotbed of revolution.
And what's China going to do if Martin meets with him, huh? Make some noise? Lodge a formal protest? Stop buying nuclear generators from us, perhaps? Let's examine some kind of parallel: what does the Canadian government do when governments in countries like the United States and France meet with separatist Québec politicians? I'll tell you what it does: a whole lot of fuck all. Scads of fuck all, in fact. Politicians in these countries don't even think twice about the effect on Canadian relations of meeting with Gilles Duceppe. Nor should they. But here we are worried about our relationship with a bunch of hypersensitive thugs if we meet with one of the most respected peace advocates in the world.
I guess he's too busy repairing the democratic deficit at home, by undertaking such revolutionary measures as deigning to survey Liberal backbenchers on changes they'd like to see made. Note to Liberal backbenchers: you know all those votes that keep happening in the House of Commons? I'm going to let you in on a secret: you decide how you vote on those issues. Paul Martin doesn't. Hell, if you decide to vote against his wishes on the right motions, you can even decide the fate of his government. That's right, you - the disenfranchised backbenchers - can kick him, the Prime Minister, out of government if you want. Really. The worst he can do is kick you out of caucus, which only makes you all the freer to vote as you'd like, which is what you've professed to want to do all along. Oh, and I suppose there's always the danger that he won't appoint you to a cabinet position, but that just leaves you more time to legislate, which, as you'll recall from your MP Orientation Session, is your damned job. Seriously, you dumb bastards, you really have nobody to blame but yourselves for the eunichization of you and your ilk.
I'll be voting NDP, of course, even though they want to implement proportional representation, which disenfranchises Canadians from being able to elect their own representatives, instead allowing the voters only to vote for the faceless party that they want to name their representatives. And I don't believe for a moment that Jack Layton would be much less spineless, lazy, or useless than Paul Martin if he'd been in government for as long as Paul has, but at least he hasn't. Politicians are like tires: you need to rotate them every once in a while. And they're full of air. And you don't want to see them stripped. And it's good to kick 'em a few times before you make a final decision.
* * *
Okay, I feel better now (except for about Lex being voted off). You'll notice that I've added a new link, Blorg.org, which belongs to a couple of Gatewayers by the names of Gerald Ford and Smorgasboard. Hey, they linked to me first.
Live long. Prosper. Throw the bums out.
