Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Stephen Harper demonstrates poor judgment. Lacks ethics.


There were far too many in the press who were willing to grant to Stephen Harper some grand stature as a great political strategist.

These journalists have been proven utterly wrong by virtue of their own wishful thinking and by subsequent events, which are getting more difficult by the day to ignore.

The cumulative impact of Stephen Harper’s poor judgment is making it increasingly embarrassing for all Canadians. Take four recent events:

Not long ago. Stephen Harper in his great wisdom thought he would change Canada’s long standing policy of seeking clemency for Canadians facing death sentences abroad. In September 2008, Stephen Harper failed to seek clemency for Ronald Smith who is awaiting execution by lethal injection in a US jail. By failing to maintain Canada’s long standing tradition of seeking clemency in such situations, Harper has handed a virtual death sentence to a young Canadian man sentenced to death this week in Saudi Arabia. That death will be by beheading.

This episode alone, shows profoundly poor judgment on Stephen Harper’s part and no regard for the consequences of his dogmatic and ideologically-blinded decision making

Another recent example is Harper’s meddling in the US elections and his attempts to discredit Barack Obama in the eyes of US voters over the matter of Obama’s concerns with NAFTA. Again this shows incredibly poor judgment and disregard for the unintended consequences. Canada meddling in a US election? Meanwhile Harper’s utter disregard for due process, means that he is only willing to investigate one of the two leaks that cause this diplomatic disaster show. I wonder why?

Which leads us to Stephen Harper’s ethics, or lack thereof, and the Cadman Scandal, How much doubt is left in Canadians’ minds with the following interchange:

"The insurance policy for a million dollars, do you know anything about that?" Zytaruk asks.

"I don't know the details. I know that there were discussions," Harper replies on the tape. "This is not for publication?"


As such, my thesis becomes the following: Stephen Harper is a person of low ethical standing and unscrupulous means. Furthermore he has little regard for the consequences of his actions. This was abundantly obvious to anyone who was around on October 31, 2006 when Stephen Harper broke his solemn election promise to “never raid seniors nest eggs” by taxing income trusts. He did exactly that nine months later. Even worse than his lie-proper, was his false justification for doing so. Meanwhile this issue still dogs him to this very day. The reason? People work hard for their money. Stephen Harper is a fraud.

Prove the case or drop the tax.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

So much for that open and accountable promise Harper made.

The only consequence Harper cares about seems to be the impacts on himself and his coveted majority.

Harper is not a leader, just a pathetic Bully.

Anonymous said...

I am continually amazed at the fact that most Canadians do not see this guy for what he really is.

He told us that we would not recognize this country once he was done with it--unfortunately , he has only scratched the surface of his plan for these changes & already things look very different from anything we could have imagined.

Now we have a large group of investors , many of whom were seniors , that find themselves poorer by a bunch since the poorly thought-out Tax Fairness Plan was implemented.

An agreement has been signed unknown to most Canadians that will allow US troops to operate on our soil if they see fit.

New tax laws will soon take affect that will allow right winged religious "nutjobs " like Charles McVety to control what movies we see.

A return to the death penalty may not be far off---maybe we can even have some beheadings in Nathan Philip`s Square on a nice saturday afternoon.

The Canadian Wheat board will almost certainly be a thing of the past setting farmers back decades but allowing profits in certain corporations to advance unimpeded.

Maybe to top it all off , we can let Mr Flaherty single-handedly destroy the manufacturing center of Canada.

Who are these clowns , where did the come from , & why are we letting them continue on this way.

I don`t know , I am not sure , & I hope there is an end to it soon before we do not recognize this country as our own


mike.

Anonymous said...

Well, Mike.

I think part of the problem may very well be that you just laid the argument better than ANY other party seems to be able to manage.

Someone needs to learn to start speaking that language.

Case in point on the arts credit issue. I defy you or anyone to find a single, clear, unambiguous response by any of the other parties indicating 1) that it is wrong and 2) they intend to do something to fix it.

What you will find is some hemming and hawing, even a bit of "gee, we didn't know this was happening" (like that's a strong argument that you should run anything), and general, "we're concerned."

HELLO! Wake up! Say something. Shake things up.

I tend to be more optimistic normally . . . but when faced with a good argument such as yours, I have to admit I wonder exactly where the other parties are at, or when they'll start actually convincing us they are tempering this government, if not all out opposing them.

I actually think they are and I thank goodness Harper doesn't have his majority. But the word on the street appears to be that their actions now "are like a de facto majority." If no one recognizes it could be much, much worse - or even makes that case - that is a very bad trend indeed.

Anonymous said...

New Discounted Price For Stevie Harper's "Prayer Cloth" And "Holy Oil"

Only $0.99 per square kilometer or $1.99 per kilolitre.

Cures all diseases and brings everyone fame and fortune.

Also up for bids is a slightly charred Grilled Cheese Sandwich with the "undeniable" image of Jesus.

Bidding starts at an even $25,000.

Anonymous said...

Joseph

It seems like people are not willing to invest the time to take a "full-on" look at issues anymore--I am not sure if it just because we have gotten lazy or we are just too consumed with getting by day to day.

Either way , we are allowing ourselves to be led down the path of least resistance , which may produce less ripples , but produces by far inferior results.

We have become a nation of what I like to call "settlers" --we will settle for something because it was just easier --why change, things are "OK".

Problem is , there is usually something a whole lot better if we are willing to open our eyeballs & check-out the options.

With Harper , people are just settling for what they have.

It is easier than change--after all the guy is decisive--wowee!!..

He may have mashed hundreds of thousands of trust investors , but , hey , didn`t bother me at all .

Without effective opposition , his brand of rot will be allowed to continue.

I , for one , do not plan to let that continue.

mike.

Anonymous said...

Robert

I would like to put a bid in for the cheese sandwich.

Is it fresh??

Mike.

Anonymous said...

Mike:

Please forward all inquiries to Stevie's Minister Of Cheese, Stockwell (McVety Loves Ya) Day.

But don't wait more than 6,000 years.

Anonymous said...

I do want to point out that in the case I offered up, the Liberals did - to their credit - today announce they intend to ensure that hearings are held to make sure that a little clause in a tax provision doesn't become a license to censorship.

Good on them for that. Love to see more of that and see it promoted.