Politics

I saw a story on CNN a while ago about some uproar because a mosque was being build “at Ground Zero”. Ground zero referring to the site of the World Trace Center attacks. Obviously confused, since that land is already owned by somebody, and nothing is being built there at all for some reason, I did some research (I watch the Daily Show and did a Google search on it) and found that the Islamic Cultural Center (which includes a mosque) was instead being build a few blocks away in an old Burlington Coat Factory. Now I’m even more confused. Why is this an issue?

First, let’s look at the First Amendment in the United States Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Now, let’s take a look at the Fourteenth Amendment (which some Republicans want to repeal for idiotic reasons)

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws

Those two quotes make it pretty clear that separation of church and state is absolute, and that it applies to all religions, not just ones that the GOP believes in. This goes beyond a legal question, however, since even most Republicans are admitting that there is nothing illegal about the mosque, they claim, instead, that such a mosque is “unethical” and a “slap in the face to the victims of 9/11″. How? Yes, the terrorists that blew up the World Trade Centers on September 11, 2001 were Muslims; and no, nations in the Middle East would never show us this kind of tolerance, but that doesn’t matter.

Why? Well, for starters, just because those terrorists were Muslim, doesn’t mean that all Muslims are terrorists, and to treat them like they are is ignorant and wrong. It is no different than saying “The Beltway Snipers were black, so all black people are snipers”. I realize the opponents to this mosque will say “we don’t think all Muslims are bad….”, but that’s a damn lie. The fact that they’re opposing this means they think a mosque is a symbol of Islamic extremism. When they see anything remotely Islamic, they immediately think of 9/11. The fact of the matter is, most Muslims are decent, peaceful people. I have met a few Muslims in school, and I can honestly say that they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. While I will never understand hijab they wore, that doesn’t take away from the fact that these are good people. We, as a society, need to stop this mental connection between 9/11 and Islamic extremism.  9/11 wasn’t perpetrated by Muslim terrorists, it was perpetrated by terrorists that happened to have been “Muslim” (much in the same way Scott Roeder is a “Christian”). Beyond the simple fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, keep in mind that there are Muslims that dug through the rubble of the World Trade Centers trying to save people and there are Muslims in active duty in the United States Army. But even if that weren’t true, it doesn’t matter because they have the same rights as anyone else in America.  If you’re an American and you don’t like it, try moving to China. I hear they don’t have freedom of religion there.

I referenced earlier the fact that the Middle Eastern nations would never show us the same liberties, but that doesn’t matter either. True, if you tried building a church in Iran or Saudi Arabia, it probably wouldn’t end well, but that doesn’t matter. We are better than these countries. Yes, I’m aware that I’m Canadian, but for the purpose of the rest of the article,I may refer to “the West” as “we”, since most of countries referred to as “the West” have similar human rights. Anyways, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard than these countries hold themselves to. I absolutely hated George W. Bush and still maintain that he was one of the worst Presidents in U.S. history, but I will admit that we was better than Ahmadinejad or Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. This is the same reason I oppose torture: we are a better society. We don’t stone women for dressing promiscuously, we don’t support torture and we don’t discriminate against people because of race, religion, gender, or (in Canada, at least) sexual orientation. We believe in unalienable human rights, and we stand by them at all times. As Jon Stewart one said, “if you don’t stick to your beliefs when they’re tested, they aren’t values, they’re hobbies.” Freedom of speech refers to all speech, even the most heinous speech and freedom of religion refers to all religions, even those you disagree with. In fact, those are what these laws are for. We don’t need laws to protect popular speech (or religion), we need the laws to protect unpopular speech (and in this case, religion).

I have a question for anyone who opposes this “mosque at Ground Zero”: would you oppose the construction of a church near the site of the Oklahoma City bombing? Chances are the answer is no. Why not? Timothy McVeigh professed that he maintained the “core values” of Roman Catholicism. Wouldn’t building a Catholic church near that sight be a slap in the face to everyone who died in that bombing? For the record, there is a Catholic church right across the street from the Oklahoma City National Memorial (though, in all fairness, it was built before the bombing). The fact of the matter is, Muslims are as responsible for 9/11 as Catholics are for the Oklahoma City Bombing, which is to say not at all.

“But, the terrorists attacked us on 9/11 because we’re not Muslim”, some of you will exclaim. That’s, frankly, a childish and false examination of the events. While the attacks were by no means justified, they were more political than religious. Motives for 9/11 included U.S. sanctions against Iraq, American presence in Saudi Arabia and American support of Isreal (which is political as well as religious).

Despite what the “critics” have said, this has nothing to do with location. It doesn’t matter where this mosque was being built, people would be complaining. People are protesting mosques being built in Brooklyn, California, and Florida. You can’t get much farther away from Ground Zero and still be in the United States than Florida. This has nothing to do with location and everything to do with racism, plain and simple.

Last night, Meghan McCain, daughter of Senator John McCain (R-AZ), made a posted on her Twitter account a picture of her sitting around in a tank-top holding a book (“Andy Warhol” by Arthur C. Danto ). Being the daughter of a prominent Republican (as well as a self-described Republican herself), it’s no surprise that most of her followers are also Republicans. What is, however, surprising, is the backlash that the picture gathered. While she did appear to be going for sex appeal or something when she took this picture, it’s still tame compared to what we see every day on television, celebrity gossip sites, or your local newspaper. So, that begs the question: why the fuss?
Twitter user LDG1981 posted:

Is @McCainBlogette vying to be the prostitute in the next undercover ACORN video? What is she thinking? Hope her kids never see that.

Really? You’re comparing Meghan McCain sitting at home in a tank-top, showing some cleavage to prostitution (SFW)? Note that the woman the camera is focused on for most of the video is not the one pretending to be a hooker. Also, you really think her future children (keep in mind Meghan currently does not have any children) will be traumatized if they saw this picture? She’s showing off a book to her Twitter followers, not parading around on stage in a swim suit (maybe not the best example, considering Bristol). (more…)

The Grant MacEwan College Board of Governors announced a while ago that the facility would maximize the tution increase for next year. Being a student at Grant MacEwan, this obviously resonates with me very strongly. Seeing as MacEwan is going to provide the Bachelor of Science degree and needs money for that, and the majority of the increase will go towards staff wages, I do not hold any ill will towards the college for the increase. Who I do blame for the massive increase, however, is the provincial government. The amount of funding that Alberta provides for post-secondary institutions is so miniscule that it is embarassing. There is no excuse for it.

Obviously, some will argue that with the economic recession starting to hit Alberta, we cannot afford to increase spending. Quite frankly, this is wrong. In a recession, we must have manageable deficits to minimize the effect of a recession, and pay it off when the economy picks up again. What should have happened was when we were in a boom, the government should have put the surplus into a savings account, so we could retroactively pay off the deficits that we would be forced to go into during the inevitable recession. Instead, our idiot former Premier Ralph Klein and his moronic successor Ed Stelmach decided to do nothing and let the province run on “autopilot*”. Only an eighth-grade dropout could come up with an idea so mind numbingly stupid. The second he came up with the idea of a government that does nothing, he should have forfeited his salary. He was never elected to do nothing. Where I work, if you do nothing, you get fired. In the next election, did we fire Klein? No, we re-elected him. This is a man who once insulted handicapped recipients of Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped (AISH), claiming that “…they didn’t look severely handicapped to me…”. No, Ralph, they didn’t. You know why? Because we don’t give M.D.’s to people who can’t even finish grade 9, never mind grade 12 or university.

When Ralph Klein finally retired, many thought that the era of doing nothing (other than slash-and-burn spending) was finally over. Oh how wrong we were. Instead, we got more inaction (if you don’t count giving himself and his cabinet a massive pay raise). To put that raise into perspective: the increase alone is almost as much as my mom makes in a year. It is over double what I make in a year. Stelmach justified this increase by saying that it would attract brighter people to politics. Ignoring the obvious jokes about him implying that his own cabinet (including himself) are not adequate for this province (they’re not), keep in mind what they get. $184,000/year for cabinet ministers and $213,450/year for the Premier. Think about that. Chances are very good that you did not make anywhere close to that. How can this man claim to represent you, and have any idea on the economic challenges that you face when he makes four times what you make? His bright idea for dealing with the recession is to have Ralph Klein era budget cuts. This begs the question: what is there left to cut? Rather than cut anything you can see, Stelmach, why not give yourself a pay cut? If the economy is so dire, give yourself a 50% pay cut. You’ll still make more than double what the rest of us make.

One has to wonder, how does this party keep getting elected? How is it possible that a party full of nothing but imbeciles and dunces can hold onto power for 38 years? Is this province really so collectively stupid that they are incapable of having any thought process other than “I’ve always voted conservative, so I’ll keep voting conservative”?  In 2011, when we go to the polls again, I urge everyone to remember this history of mental retardation when it comes to governing and strategically vote A.B.C. (Anything But Conservative). If we ever want to have a government that understands the people, we need to get involved and put this current on on the street. Until the next election, write both your current MLA and Ed Stelmach, and let them know about your displeasure with the current path of the government.

*It should be noted that, despite our common last name, I am not related to Dr. Lois Harder

38: the percentage of the popular vote the Conservative Party of Canada recieved in the last election.

47: the percentage of seats won by the Conservative Party of Canada.

54: the percentage of the popular vote the members of the Progressive Coalition: the Liberal Party of Canada, the New Democratic Party of Canada and the Bloc Quebecois recieved.

53: the percentage of seats won by members of the Progressive Coalition.

Do you see anything wrong here?

59: the percentage of eligible voters who voted.

49: the percentage of Canadians who know that the Prime Minister is not directly elected.

24: the percentage of Canadians who know that the Queen if our Head of State.

41: the percentage of Canadians who know that our political system is a “Constitutional Monarchy”

Now do you see a problem?

These numbers come from the official Elections Canada website and the Dominion Institute, which conducted an Ipsos Reid poll on our understanding of our own political system.

The results are downright embarassing. How is it possible that 3/4 Canadians don’t even know who our Head of State is? How is it possible that a majority of Canadians don’t even realize what the hell they’re doing when they go to the voting station? Three months ago, we went to the polls and yet we’ve somehow already forgotten that Stephen Harper’s name wasn’t on the ballot? (Unless you lived in Calgary-Southwest, but even then, the lack of Stephane Dion and Jack Layton should’ve tipped you off). I used to think that this was evidence that something, somewhere has gone terribly wrong, but I now realize that it means the exact opposite. Our ignorance is pure gold to politicians. Stephen Harper has learned that he can minipulate us with lies, and we’ll fall for it time and time again. We have become a nation of sheep, falling for whatever we’re told. We blindly trust whatever our polticians tell us, instead of researching things for ourselves.

If we are to ever get a government worth having, we need to start thinking for ourselves and doing our own research, since we can’t trust our politicans.

Earlier today, Stephen Harper went to Rideau Hall asking Governer General Michaëlle Jean to progue, or suspend, parliment. To my suprise, she actually did. This is the first time in Canadian history where a sitting Prime Minister has suspended Parliament in order to avoid a non-confidence vote. By doing so, Stephen Harper has ignored the will of the majority of the democratically elected Parliament. And his media blitz has gone too far. He’s undoing all the good will he gathered from Quebec in his past few years by attempting to turn Canadians against the Bloc Quebecois, refusing to admit that the Frencophobia that he is pushing is nothing more than pure racism. On top of that, he’s also trying to revert Canada back to the 60s with Red Scare tactics such as refering the the NDP as socialists, as though it were a negative thing, calling this a “seperatist” coalition (refering to the Bloc) and so on to scare Canadians is simply unacceptable. I found out while writing this that pro-coalition protesters got attacked at the rally at Churchill Square. Good job, Mr. Harper, you managed to turn the citizens of this nation against each other. In any other country that would be called terrorism. I thought we were in Afghanistan to remove terrorists from power, not to install one in our own Parliment. Harper has shown that he is not fit to run the local McDonalds, nevermind this country. Stephen Harper, if you truly love Canada and democracy as much as you claim, do what’s right, nay, what’s nessecary to save this country: resign. Resign before you can do anymore damage, turn any more Canadians against eachother and scare more Canadians into blindly hating Quebec and anything left of centre. Resign because we do not let terrorists run Canada.

Goodnight and good luck

I decided that I’ll comment on the cover of the November 2, 2008 edition of the Edmonton Sun. The editorial section has always been notoriously right-wing. That’s ok, it’s expected for an editorial section to have a bias one way or another. In fact, that’s why I focus on getting letters published there, rather than elsewhere. I want to give the readers of the Edmonton Sun comments page a liberal persepctive. That being said, on November 2, the Edmonton Sun went too far and showed that it did not value what little journalistic integrity it had. The front page had a picture of the news confrence with Dion, Layton and Duceppe, with the words “NO, NO, NO” superimposed on it. How can you claim to be a news organization when you blatently interject your personal opinions and biases into a news story? This is absolutely shameful and I urge anyone who currently has a subscription to the Edmonton Sun to cancel their subscription. News organizations have a duty, especially during a time of political tumoil to present the facts in an unbiased manner, presenting all points of view, while passing judgement on none of them. If the editor has an opinion they want to share, they can do so in an editorial or start a blog. This shameless, partisan, reminicint of Fox News bias is unacceptable and we must send a clear message to the Edmonton Sun: we will not accept anything other than balanced stories and real headlines, rather than the sensationalist drivel we’re being fed. Cancel your subscriptions and boycott the paper and send them your letters to the editor letting them know that you’re sick of this garbage and that they will no longer get your money.

This is a letter to the editor I sent in to a couple of news papers. You can see an abridged version in the print and online November 4 editions of the Edmonton Sun and the full version on the Edmonton Journal website.

I fully support this Liberal-NDP coalition. It is important to remember a few things that Albertans seem to be forgetting. Stephen Harper was appointed Prime Minster, not elected. He only became Prime Minister based on the number of seats his party got and the majority of Canadians still voted for someone other than Harper. On top of that, we need to quit throwing around the Bloc as a reason to fear the coalition. The Bloc is not a member and has no cabinet seats. It will be no different than any other minority government where the Bloc holds the balance of power. On top of that, by referring to them only as separatists, we risk reigniting mostly extinguished calls for Quebec separatism and alienating an entire province. Stephen Harper brought this upon himself by acting as though he had a majority. This pompous, sad excuse for a leader needs to be removed before he can destroy our country.

I do find it interesting that the portions that got trimmed from the Edmonton Sun version were the section that deals with the Bloc and the second adjective describing Harper.

The Liberals and NDP have announced that they are planning on forming a coalition government with the support of the Bloc Quebecois. If their motion passes on December 8, Dion will become the next Prime Minister of Canada. Reading some of the comments in the Edmonton Sun today, as well as the editorial, it astounds me how little Canadians know about our political system.

In Canada, we do not elect the Prime Minister, we instead elect representatives who hold seats in Parliament. Most of these representatives are members of political parties. Whichever political party holds the most seats has their leader become the Prime Minister. Even though all the major parties have somewhat democratic elections to pick their leaders (I don’t consider requiring delegates, etc. to be really democratic), they don’t have to. If a party wanted to, they could randomly pick whoever they want to be the leader. It is important to keep this in mind, so that we realize that we did not, in fact, elect Stephen Harper to be out Prime Minister. Calgary elected him to be their representative, but he was appointed Prime Minister because he was leader of the party with the most seats (it’s also important to remember that they still do not have a majority).

With the new budget that was announced, Stephen Harper showed that he was not willing to act as the leader of a minority government, and will do whatever it takes to get a majority, even if it means forcing a new election only months after out last one. Thanks to this tyrant, we have had two elections in the span of two years. How anyone can think he has the interests of anyone other than himself is beyond me.

The opposition is right to attempt to remove Stephen Harper from power. He will ultimately destroy this nation if he is allowed to stay in power. To all those who say that we’re removing an elected leader, it is important to remember that the majority of Canadians did not vote for Harper. In fact, considering the political ideologies of the parties, it is likely that if Canada were a two party system, the Liberal Party would have formed the government. The majority of Canadians do not want Stephen Harper in power, he was only given his position with the mandate of working with the other parties. Like a school yard bully, he has shown that he is not willing to work with others and that he wants everything to be done his way. It’s time to kick him out and put in someone who can work with the other parties.