On strange bedfellows…

If this has an ounce of truth to it, we are in deep, deep doodoo in Iran. The quick precis is as follows:

• The Pentagon is trying to raise rebellion within Iran by supporting the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), a right-wing terrorist (or inusurgent – your pick) organization
• According to the Council of Foreign Relations, these guys have killed many civilians, but the US view them as a friend because the enemy of your enemy is always your friend. Right?
• In order to make sure they would stay nice and loyal to the US, not like those Afghan mujahedeen turncoats that jumped into bed with the Taleban and al Qaeda, the US has made them swear an oath to democracy. I shit you not – read that sentance again; it’s one of those word tangles that a monkey might randomly generate with a typewriter and enough bananas, but not one that a sentient human should ever have to type.

This can’t possibly go bad, can it?

More flappin’ flags

Of all the arguments being used in the half-staff flag debate, this is the one that I understand the least (emphasis mine):

My biggest concern with lowering the flag for soldiers killed in Afstan is that it creates a perception of inequality among soldiers killed in this mission and soldiers killed in other missions. Aside from special cases, it is unfair to the memories of our fallen heroes and their families to distinguish the deaths in this way.

Unfair? Really? This is all about conistency and fairness? This is such a bogus argument that I don’t know where to start.

We lower the flags for a Member of Parliament or an appointed (!) Senator, but not for someone who volunteers to put his or her life on the line and then pays the price, because we didn’t do it in the past every time?

How far back does one measure this “consistency” to form a useful measure? Let’s apply the same argument to healthcare – the federal government used to contribute 25% of the healthcare costs to the provinces – is Harper going to pony up that amount of cash now for historical consistency? Or, since for much of the history of Canada we didn’t actually have socialized health care, so maybe we should just scrap the whole damned thing? (Okay, this one might be on the table.)

There is a story from these here parts that Edward Cornwallis used to pay 50 pounds for the scalps of the local native populations. Isn’t it historically inconsistent to no longer continue this “tradition” with the Mi’kmaq?

Of course, the same person that posted this messy rationalization revealed their partisan stripes in this little unjustified snipe:

Today, in Sinai, Egypt, Canadian soldiers (multinational soldiers, infact) came underattack by two suicide bombers. *IF* this attack had killed a Canadian soldier and IF* the Liberals had won the past election, I guarantee you they would not have lowered the flag to half mast to honour the death.

*IF* this argument wasn’t specious and *IF* its author not blinded by partisan politics I guarantee that I would have saved fifteen minutes by not having to write this.

Can we at least talk sensibly about this issue? Please?

Give it up, already…

What do you call a person that protests Canadian or American political policies? Anti-Canadian? Anti-American? Anti-Caucasian?

No, because protesting a policy is simply protesting a policy, whatever the form it might take. Whether it is burning a flag, writing a political cartoon, or my mode of choice – whining on the internet.

Can we finally therefore, once and for all stop calling protests against Israeli policy anti-Semitism?

WTF?

Why on earth is the Canadian government providing subsidies to oil companies? Jack Layton yesterday demanded that these, which he estimates to be about $1.5 billion, be removed from the budget. Surely, if there is one industry that can get pulled from the government teat it is oil and gas! Harper, for his part, said that they weren’t planning any more subsidies for oil companies. I should think not.

Let’s put that money either back in my pocket, into a useful program like childcare or health, or into the debt so we can get rid of those interest payments. I’ prefer the programs, but anything is better than pissing it away into the pockets of the oil industry in times of record profits.

Anything, just make it useful, please!