As IF Times

link Bloc tells Harper to pay up or face voters.

How refreshing in this day and age of euphemisms and mealy mouthed references that we have a politician who is prepared to be absolutely candid.  Most people will agree with the refrain that honesty is what we want to see in people running for political office.  Of course this would go against traditions going back thousands of years encompassing scores of nations.  Expecting honesty in politics would be as realistic as depending on Al Gore for the weather forecast.

Saying one thing to get elected and then doing the opposite when in office doesn’t even register on the meter of  gauging  political honesty.  That’s for amateurs and newbies. Those people are still on their political training wheels.   No, the really brazen ones implement  policy and then describe it as exactly the opposite of what it is even when it’s patently obvious that it’s a big fib.  Just as a random example, we can point to a certain nation that has run up the largest deficit in the history of the world and somehow, it’s portrayed as the most fiscally responsible government ever.  The same administration advertises that they are reducing taxes for the public, while pushing for tax increases and expanding expensive entitlements.   One of the best ones is claiming to push for jobs in the private sector, while actually shovelling money at growing and entrenching the public sector through union payouts and cumbersome and invasive agencies.   As portrayed in a previous post, it is the brazen technique of nailing  a dead parrot to a perch and then claim that it’s sleeping.

So for Gilles Duceppe, the Quebec based leader of the Blockhead Quebecois to brazenly state just what he wants is a refreshing bit of candor.  Gives us money or else.  That is the platform.  How elegantly simple.  For centuries, the argument for money to be wheel-barrowed into Quebec was justified by the rationale of maintaining culture, of recognizing the importance of a founding people.  The distribution of seats in the federal government was long ago designed so that Quebec would have a dominant say in federal affairs.  This of course has led to a string of Prime Ministers with the french connection who have essentially monopolized that office for the past 5 generations.   Now, with one of the few effective leaders ever hailing from the West in Stephen Harper, the mafia like reach of Quebec is exerting their influence once again.

Now, they don’t even veil their demands in the righteous cause of culture preservation, it’s just cash.  It’s ironic that in France, the home of french culture, the institutions and traditions there are being chipped away by immigration, globalization and common sense.  In fact, I was informed by a Quebecois gentleman named Sylvain, that nowadays in France, they don’t call a traditional breakfast fruit, pamplemouse anymore, they call it le grapefruit!    So this has little to do with preserving cultural integrity, but more to do with getting a bigger piece of le tarte, par d’extorsion de fonds if necessary.  But at least he’s honest about it.  I’m reminded of a picture sent to me a while ago in which a hobo is holding up a sign which stated ” need money for beer” and underneath it in smaller type, it read “hey, why lie!”  Plus ca change, plus ca meme.

link FT.com / Middle East & North Africa – Iran’s Greens seek to fire up support.

I’ll bet if you took some DNA strands from the incumbent Iranian Theocracy and also from the liberal/progressive media in the U.S., there would be conclusive evidence that they sprouted from the same potted plant.   The Mullahs in Tehran’s glee from cheering on the ‘people’s revolution’ in Egypt has turned to indignation now that it appears that  the same demand for change is starting again in Iran.  As we know, this is the same double standard of perspective that is used by the predominantly liberal media in the U.S.  It may well be true that the uprising in Egypt was a spontaneous movement of  youth against a despotic ruler and that the entire population had a role.  Anyone who watches the daily broadcast will note that not only is there  a conspicuous absence of women from the protests, but that most protesters are hardly young.  Maybe the women get filled in on the day’s events at home later on.

It will be interesting to watch the attitude of the media when the Iranian authorities move to squash the so called green movement ( no relation to the wackos here) in that country, and they most surely will,  when the crowds try to emulate what has happened in Tunisia and now in Egypt.  The Iranians may be shocked to find out that the Egyptians really DO want to throw off the old dictator, but NOT to be replaced by a theological one sympathetic to Iran’s.  They may not have seen that coming.  Will the west report the brutality of the government when they start putting down the protesters?  Will the U.S. government make public comments about respecting the will of the people in Iran? They didn’t the first time as we recall. 

Most people are nervous that Egypt will fall under the rule of theocratic nutbars, but it may well be that the people don’t want to be under anyone’s arbitrary dictates, especially those with their modern 12th century ideas.   If social media is responsible for allowing the people to rise in the first place, they must also be aware of life outside the prison of most Arab states.  It may occur to them that living life pretty much the way it was just after the invention of the wheel isn’t all that great.  They look at people like Michael Moore in the west and think, ” I can do that!” 

It is also amusing to compare the popular uprising in Egypt and Tunisia with the same kind of of movement in the U.S. just recently, namely the Tea Party movement.  As we know, that movement was labelled by the lefty media as a fringe movement, pushed by conservative wackos and racists with nefarious intents.  In fact, it was and is a populist movement against the creeping take over of all that affects people’s lives by big government.   They’d have had a much better shake of it if only they had younger people and no women.