NetRoots

They decided to trust in the Harper/Harpies’ comedy routine.

Once again, triangulation wins and Canadians lose.

Nothing new here …

If only the NDP would give itself a leader with a clear and precise vision for our country.

Because the LPC is definitely not it. And this applies a hundred fold where Iggy is concerned.

Are we having fun, yet?

(Cross-posted from APOV)

“We are evolving every year, every decade. That’s a fact, whether it is to the intensity of the sun, whether it is to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it is running shoes or high heels, of course we are evolving to our environment.

Intensity of the sun? Walking on cement? High-heeled shoes? Evolving to our environment? Every year? Every decade?

Such utter ignorance-based, clueless nonsensical claptrap is highly reminiscent of … another pretentious ignoramus.

But wait – here’s more sheer inanity on the matter, this time from the side of the LPC:

Liberal science critic Marc Garneau said that believing in evolution is not a job requirement for the science minister.

“It is a personal matter. It is a matter of faith.… I don’t think it prevents someone from being a good minister.”

Are. You. Frakking. Kidding. Me ?!? I am at a loss for words here in face of such intellectual sloth-driven (non)reasoning – so read what 1 Anxious Liberal wrote (and don’t forget that creationists/IDists never check their parochial beiliefs at the door, especially their adversarial attitudes towards scientists)

Then, we have this little bit of news:

RCMP investigator in Arar case promoted

The RCMP officer who led the national security unit that provided false information about Maher Arar to U.S. authorities has been promoted to the rank of assistant commissioner. Michel Cabana was the inspector in charge of Project A-O Canada, a unit created in 2001 to investigate the alleged links of Abdullah Almalki to al-Qaeda. According to a report by Justice Dennis O’Connor, who oversaw a public inquiry into the matter, the RCMP team supplied information to U.S. Customs officials describing Mr. Arar as an “Islamic extremist” with links to al-Qaeda. Judge O’Connor concluded that the information likely led the United States to deport Mr. Arar, pictured, to Syria, where he was tortured.

We also have the following insanity:

Attempt At A ‘Citizen’s Arrest’ Of Bush Gets Protester Arrested

Police arrested a protester today who attempted to make a ‘citizens arrest’ of former US President George Bush who was speaking to a group in Calgary, Alberta. The man was arrested for obstructing police officers in the course of their duty.

Let this sink in for a minute or two.

Not only did the Customs and RCMP agents acted in gross dereliction of their duties to uphold our laws by a) allowing Bush to enter Canada and b) not arresting him, here we have a citizen seeking to uphold our laws being … arrested for doing so! By the same RCPM agents caught in flagrant, criminal dereliction of duty.

And that same citizen was charged with … obstructing police officers in the course of their duty!

Other protesters, who likewise did nothing more than remind us all (including the RCMP and those fatuous flakes who paid to hear Bush talk) that we welcomed onto our soil a man shadowed by serious and substantial allegations of torture and other war crimes (just one more recent revelation here) without arresting/charging him – as demanded by our laws and those treaties we have pledged to uphold – were instead the ones who ended up being arrested/charged/ticketed!

Do you get such indecent, hypocritical double standard now, folks?

Do you understand that we are currently living in a nation that is not under the rule of the laws of the land, but under the rule of whim (or convenience)? That incompetence as a cabinet minister is now excusable by some nebulous requirement to respect religious beliefs of said minister?

Do you understand that we live in a nation that has reneged its adherence to international conventions and treaties already signed/ratified (Here’s a short list: the Kyoto Accords; the U.N. International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict; the Geneva Conventions)?

Doubt this? Very well then:

- we let Kyoto expire through procrastination, timid implementation and, in the end, willful opposition against it;

- CSIS/RCMP agents allowed/enabled/encouraged renditions of people to countries with the knowledge that they would be tortured, and taking torture-obtained testimonies for their own uses – all described offences by the aforementioned convention against torture (and our laws);

- CSIS agents were directly complicit in some instance of torture – again, all described offences by the aforementioned convention against torture (and our laws);

- as already mentioned above, Customs and RCMP agents not only a) allowed Bush to enter Canada, but also b) did not arrest him – in direct contravention of our legal binding to do so according to the conventions on torture and our very own laws, thus making them complicit after the fact through aiding and abetting by such willful ignorance of said legal obligations to do so;

- we and our government stood by and said essentially nothing (and continue to do so) about Omar Khadr, a demonstrated child soldier at the time of his “capture”, despite our signature and adherence to the conventions to this effect, thus making us complicit after the fact through aiding and abetting in his maintained captivity and torture;

- we have participated, and continue to participate, in combat operations in Afghanistan despite the U.S. continuing to target civilians (in Pakistan as well) – all of which stand against the Geneva conventions, and therefore making us all complicit after the fact though aiding and abetting by failing to even protest such war crimes, at the very least;

(and I could go on and on with this)

And now, not only do we stand as deaf-blind-mute and dumb witnesses to fellow citizens being arrested for trying to uphold our laws, but demonstrated criminal security agents remain either uninvestigated and uncharged, or even worse, get promoted.

So to sum it all up for you, folks: we have not the rule of law, but the rule of whim (or convenience), and we keep reneging on our honor and our word to uphold those treaties and conventions that we have signed.

And let us not forget our apparently unstoppable drive to become a security state above and beyond everything else, where abuse of power rules the day.

And let’s not forget as well that ignorance + incompetence + abuse of power = authoritarianism.

There is a term for a nation which consistently refuses to adhere to international laws, treaties and conventions: rogue nation.

There is also a term to describe a rule of law that is strenuous (at best), yet casually set aside by whim or convenience – except of course when regular citizens are implicated: selective lawlessness.

And, lastly, there is a term to describe a rogue nation bent on becoming/being an authoritarian security state while excusing incompetence to occupy governing positions and being characterized by selective lawlessness: banana republic.

That is what our country is today, folks.

No two ways about it.

The question is (and always has been): what are you going to do about this?

Unless you approve/condone it all?

Or worse – are we now in truth nothing but deluded, hypocritical, pretentious flakes?

(Cross-posted from APOV)