There is nothing like sitting down with a friend you have known for years. Ron and I have lived roughly the same history, seen the same movies, loaned each other books. We're of a similar mind, even if we don't always see eye to eye. Ron boated over yesterday on the windiest day we've had in a bit, then headed home just before dark under a sky thick with dark, thunderous clouds. I was relieved when he gave me a shout on the two-way radio: arrived in one piece.
To give you an idea of the how it is with us, I'd like to share with you the gist of our talk last night: the subject being my earlier posts about Harper and the show of police force at Toronto's G20 Summit.
Honest to God, Dell, I'm dancing in the dark on this one. I can see what you're getting at, but I can't put it together.
1986 with Martha Henry or 1995 with Victoria Principal? I'm hurt...you've already forgotten my post on missing pieces?
As in Dancing in The Dark, 1995. Raped: as in seriously screwed. I've got all the pieces, Dell, it's the context I'm missing.
Be specific, Ron.
All right, let's talk specifics...is this a give the mouse a cookie situation?
Air Force One, and you've got part of it. Harper is the mouse. He's already got the cookie if no one opposes his abuse of civil liberties. Worse, Harper has used Canada's own police forces to enforce his abuse of power. Canadians should be concerned that if this mouse gets this cookie he's going to be able to demand, not ask, for his glass of milk. He'll point to the cookie and say, "Hey, you were okay with the cookie." Suppose Harper wants to screen The Deer Hunter instead of Coming Home, as he has promised Canadians?
Deer Hunter beat Coming Home at the Oscars after a timed film release for Oscar consideration. It wasn't screened in public theaters until after it had already received the Oscar nod. A risky move on the part of Universal..but the gambit worked. Does it make a difference if he's screening Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps?
Art imitating life. Nope. Doesn't matter. You were screwed when you gave the mouse the cookie.
Has Harper used "a sledgehammer to crack a peanut"? and if he has, where's the peanut?
Tommy Douglas, criticizing Trudeau's invoking the War Measures Act, perfect quote for an analogy. Harper has swung an unauthorized sledgehammer against a fake peanut labelled G20. Trudeau only pulled out the sledgehammer when there was an actual peanut.
And if Harper gets away with using his sledgehammer against the fake G20 peanut...
... we will have given Harper the power to swing that same sledgehammer against any future real peanuts of public dissent.
We're talking peanut butter. Do you think Canadians will screen The Trotsky?
More like Network.
Howard Beale, 1976, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."
Maybe it'll be the first known instance of a Prime Minister ousted for lousy ratings.
Would you quit already! I gotta take a piss.
Wild at Heart, 1990.
I'm serious, Dell, I gotta take a leak.
All right, Ron. You go water the maple. I'll grab us a couple more cold ones.
Showing posts with label Trudeau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trudeau. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Dell on The Truth Behind Toronto's 2010 Summit Costs
For those of you following my posts on concerns surrounding the criminalization of Canadian citizens, you may want to check out the archived news for June 27th : CBC's The National with Peter Manbridge, reports from Rex Murphy and Susan Ormiston [the latter in Toronto for the G-20 Summit]. Susan Ormiston's reports included her describing a "visceral response" to the imagery before her in Toronto: "two or three lines" of riot police, two rows deep, sometimes reinforced by police on horses, and she found herself asking, "What country am I living in?" Susan Ormiston went on to describe how one woman had wept to see the city of her childhood filled with the enormous police presence.
Do you suppose this visual image of a huge police force in Canada was the real reason behind the spending of almost a billion tax dollars?
Rex Murphy suggests that the violence of a small group of 200 or so "losers" he also refers to as "The Black Bloc" [a misnomer because there is no group; it's just a catch-phrase for those who wear black and protest violently] will be a "partial cover" of PM Harper's spending almost one billion to host the two Summits. Has Rex Murphy already forgotten President Sarkozy's remarks of the day before?
When French President Sarkozy was asked about the price tag for the G-8 and G20 Summits in Canada, he side-stepped the question, instead saying he hadn't seen anything "opulent or luxurious". Interesting then, that Sarkozy should make a second statement which appeared to be a criticism of Canada, the host nation, saying that when France hosts the Summits, the cost will be one-tenth what Canada has spent. Why would Sarkozy make those two particular statements?
It would appear President Sarkozy found a nice way of drawing attention to what Harper was actually doing: using the G20 as a staged scene with a message for the Canadian populace.
The film imagery of these last days in Toronto is stunning. The last time I recall such effective propaganda imagery, the director was Leni Riefenstahl, and I imagine that classic piece of film was expensive, too. Riefenstahl's 1935, Triumph of the Will, was made at the request of her leader with a message for the populace. It was wildly successful.
If the spending of one billion on the two Summits wasn't about security [Fadden] and wasn't about luxury for the guest nations [Sarkozy], then it had to be something else. What might that be?
With already 600 protesters arrested and that number expected to rise overnight, Susan Ormiston additionally reported that the previous Quebec and Seattle Summits, where the black-garbed violent protesters also showed up, resulted in fewer arrests than in Toronto 2010. Ormiston also stated the FLQ October Crisis of 1970, [following the kidnapping of James Cross and Pierre Laporte, the latter murdered by his kidnappers], resulted in fewer arrests; in fact, 497 were arrested, but only 62 were charged and held.
Does Rex Murphy actually believe his talk of "heavy penalties" and "banned for life" treatment of protesters is going to have any meaning in the face of what Prime Minister Harper has actually done here? Harper has played fast and loose with our civil liberties and tax dollars, in order to orchestrate a show of the police power at his disposal. And why would he do that?
We're supposed to be pulling out of a war. If we don't, there are going to be protests. I predict Harper is gearing up the propaganda machine in advance of his release of that very news and perhaps news of a financial collapse to boot. Would PM Harper dare to use this country's police force against its own citizens? Harper hasn't said it, but I'm hearing the words, "Just watch me."
Do you suppose this visual image of a huge police force in Canada was the real reason behind the spending of almost a billion tax dollars?
Rex Murphy suggests that the violence of a small group of 200 or so "losers" he also refers to as "The Black Bloc" [a misnomer because there is no group; it's just a catch-phrase for those who wear black and protest violently] will be a "partial cover" of PM Harper's spending almost one billion to host the two Summits. Has Rex Murphy already forgotten President Sarkozy's remarks of the day before?
When French President Sarkozy was asked about the price tag for the G-8 and G20 Summits in Canada, he side-stepped the question, instead saying he hadn't seen anything "opulent or luxurious". Interesting then, that Sarkozy should make a second statement which appeared to be a criticism of Canada, the host nation, saying that when France hosts the Summits, the cost will be one-tenth what Canada has spent. Why would Sarkozy make those two particular statements?
It would appear President Sarkozy found a nice way of drawing attention to what Harper was actually doing: using the G20 as a staged scene with a message for the Canadian populace.
The film imagery of these last days in Toronto is stunning. The last time I recall such effective propaganda imagery, the director was Leni Riefenstahl, and I imagine that classic piece of film was expensive, too. Riefenstahl's 1935, Triumph of the Will, was made at the request of her leader with a message for the populace. It was wildly successful.
If the spending of one billion on the two Summits wasn't about security [Fadden] and wasn't about luxury for the guest nations [Sarkozy], then it had to be something else. What might that be?
With already 600 protesters arrested and that number expected to rise overnight, Susan Ormiston additionally reported that the previous Quebec and Seattle Summits, where the black-garbed violent protesters also showed up, resulted in fewer arrests than in Toronto 2010. Ormiston also stated the FLQ October Crisis of 1970, [following the kidnapping of James Cross and Pierre Laporte, the latter murdered by his kidnappers], resulted in fewer arrests; in fact, 497 were arrested, but only 62 were charged and held.
Does Rex Murphy actually believe his talk of "heavy penalties" and "banned for life" treatment of protesters is going to have any meaning in the face of what Prime Minister Harper has actually done here? Harper has played fast and loose with our civil liberties and tax dollars, in order to orchestrate a show of the police power at his disposal. And why would he do that?
We're supposed to be pulling out of a war. If we don't, there are going to be protests. I predict Harper is gearing up the propaganda machine in advance of his release of that very news and perhaps news of a financial collapse to boot. Would PM Harper dare to use this country's police force against its own citizens? Harper hasn't said it, but I'm hearing the words, "Just watch me."
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