The Moderation of Stephen Harper Meets the Ideological Unsoundness of Jonathan Kay

Response to a Jonathan Kay Article in the National Post: Embittering paranoia is stubborn vice Harper can’t seem to shake: I think that 'embittered and paranoid’ as the ideologically unsound JK terms it, is the condition of being a conservative not only in Canada but the U.S. as well. To say that conservatives and conservative values are under attack north of the Rio Grande is to be the master of the understatement. Whether it is the fiscal conservative posturing of a candidate Romney during the 2012 campaign to his unapologetic capitalism with which he governed his laudable career, both fiscal and entrepreneurial conservatism were derided to the point of the absurd by Obama and his Marxist goons. Equally rational social conservatism as expressed as a resistance to unfettered late term abortion and a condemnation of the genocidal Planned Parenthood organization, or government funded contraception, or the resistance of Roman Catholic organizations to the forced funding of contraception in their health care plans in contradiction of their beliefs, was termed by the Democrats as a 'War against Women'. Indeed President Obama, by the most balanced accounts a far Left radical, has engaged in a non-ending war against capitalism and conservatism since assuming power in 2008, the list of details being far too long to go into here. Equally, Prime Minister Harper since forming his first of two minority governments and now his majority government has long been accused of having 'a radical conservative ( read fascist) agenda' which to date has never materialized and could not be further from the truth based on the actions of this fundamentally moderate and cautious man. Like most successful Canadian politicians Stephen Harper expressed strong ideological criticism against the government when he was out of power but has successfully and dutifully governed from the centre after assuming power. In short, conservatives have a right to be embittered even paranoid. Embittered because they know they are right and that they embody the economic and social vision which made the U.S. and Canada two of the richest and freest of nations and yet they are constantly confronted with the opaque, godless, unwashed extremist hordes of the Left who yearn to live in a totalitarian anti-capitalist world based on the collectivist values of the ultimate nanny state. Paranoid because the conspiracies against sound conservative principles are multiplying like fungi in the shade growing on an ever-growing mound of bull dung. http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/07/19/embittering-paranoia-is-stubborn-vice-harper-cant-seem-to-shake/

John Stuart Nuttall and Amanda Marie Korody, the would be pressure cookers bombers of the B.C. Parliament were recent Muslim converts, not merely Al Qaeda inspired.

People do not 'self-radicalize' in a vacuum but always have an ideological underpinning and in recent years the ideological underpinnings of the lion's share of terrorist attacks or attempted terrorist attacks have invariably been tied to Islam. The RCMP may have been 'sexing up the story' by making Al Qaeda references, I acknowledge that, but equally, the ‘perps’, John Stewart Nuttall, 38, and his partner Amanda Marie Korody, 30 were recent converts to Islam and yet the RCMP and Christy Clark studiously avoided mentioning that damning fact as well. It took Nuttall’s lawyer, Tom Morino, to admit that “his client had converted to Islam and embraced the Muslim faith" but Mr. Morino added the caveat that, "the alleged offences are “absolutely unrelated” to any mosque group or any other established organization. ‘I am not aware of any mosque with which he is affiliated’.” It appears that Islamophilia, which is now rampant in Britain, most of continental Europe and now in the U.S., since the gross incompetency which is the Obama administration, has now come to Canada and resides with the official statements of the R.C.M.P.. Islamophilia means in essence that Islam and its adherents are above reproach and all the terror as well as honour killings, female genital mutilation, and rape and groom gangs aimed at young non-Muslim girls that some Muslims perpetrate, is in recent times progressively more often given a generic source. God help us. http://www.timescolonist.com/police-thwart-plot-to-bomb-canada-day-crowd-at-b-c-legislature-two-arrested-1.340077 http://www.timescolonist.com/surrey-couple-charged-in-legislature-bomb-plot-lived-simple-life-landlady-says-1.340597

Reflections on the Cartoon of an Exploding Jihadi posted by Tarek Fatah in Facebook

The more I reflect upon this ostensibly simple cartoon the more it affects me. On one level of course it is just a simple sight gag and for anyone with even a cursory understanding of the confused motivations of political Islam it is both immediately amusing but equally sublime. The cartoon works well because it clearly sums up a profound truism. At a deeper level however, upon reflection, this cartoon takes on for me the nature of a Japanese Zen Buddhist koan or riddle. Why is the exploding Jihadi the enemy of Islam? Well the more you think about it the more reasons you discover. For the sake of arguement we will operate on the assumption that Islam, despite its deeply problematic political component, is a genuine faith. 1. According to most religions and spiritual philosophies doing violence to other human beings to the point of death is murder and the commandment 'Thou shalt not kill (murder)'. It is integral to both divine and humanistic conscience. When one murders, even allegedly by divine commandment, one is acting against God. 2. At the level of the sacred however murder takes on an even deeper significance. When you murder you both destroy your relationship with God and you eliminate another person or persons relationship with God. Such an act has ramifications throughout eternity. 3. When a Jihadi murders in the name of Islam he most importantly takes away a persons freedom of choice and that really goes to the heart of the problem of political Islam. It is a central tenet of most faiths that God gave man the freedom of choice. One either chooses to have a relationship with God with the moral and eternal implications of that choice or one chooses to deny God and thus His morality and His offer of eternity. During the life of the prophet Muhammad and for several centuries after his death, Islam was spread by invading armies. Conquered peoples were given a choice of whether to accept Islam or to be put to the sword. Not much of a choice. Those who were permitted to live without submitting were subjected either to Dhimmitude (second-class citizenship status and obligated to pay a special tax) or they were enslaved. Again, not much of a choice. Compare the spread of Islam to the spread of early Christianity. For the first three centuries after the death of Christ, Christianity was spread by wandering disciples telling of the 'good news' of Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection for the Salvation of Mankind. The early converts to Christianity were appealed to through their reason and their spiritual need for meaning. Many others rejected the message of Christianity and without consequence at the temporal level because that again was their choice. No armies were ever associated with Christianity until after Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire. Since the Reformation, Christianity which is a messianic faith, continues to proselytize but never under duress because that is contrary to the freedom of choice on matters of conscience that God has given man. Consider also Judaism, which is strictly speaking a messianic religion in that it holds to a (yet to come) Messiah but in the broader sense of the word it does not have the messianic impulse in that it does not proselytize its faith nor its Messiah. One can choose to become a Jew but it is purely a matter of choice and the process can be complicated. Or Hinduism which is a faith of many Gods and Goddesses and feels no need to proselytize because its generally tolerant pantheism acknowledges that there are perhaps infinite paths to the Godhead. A similar condition of tolerance and non-proselytizing exists for the spiritual philosophies of Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. Indeed, of all the major faiths and spiritual philosophies, it is only Islamic adherents who believe and claim that according to the Quran they are obligated spread the word of Islam by force if necessary and to destroy those who ridicule or reject Islam; thus, removing their freedom of choice. This is particularly the case with the 'Jihadi' proponents of supremacist political Islam. If Allah, is truly God, then clearly something went wrong with the development of Islam even during the life of the prophet Muhammad. In the course of its development Islam went from claiming in Verse 256 of Al-Baqara in the Quran, "there is no compulsion in religion", which was a 'Revelation' that Muhammad received while still living in Mecca and was still non-violent to this passage based on a further 'Revelation' which Muhammed had in Medina after he started leading armies to attack his enemies, to wit: Quran (2:191-193) "And slay them wherever ye find them, and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution [of Muslims] is worse than slaughter [of non-believers]... but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful. And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is for Allah." Furthermore, "The historical context of this passage is not defensive warfare, since Muhammad and his Muslims had just relocated to Medina and were not under attack by their Meccan adversaries. In fact, the verses urge offensive warfare, in that Muslims are to drive Meccans out of their own city (which they later did)." From that point onwards in Islam's development as a religion it ceased to adhere to the eternal commandment of God that man had the freedom to accept or reject God and that no man had the right to exact revenge against another man because of that choice. Islam has been on the wrong side of God and the wrong side of history ever since. Getting back to our little exploding 'Jihadi' in the cartoon above, well he set himself up. He asked God to go against His own commandment that there be no compulsion in religion or in other words that a man should always have freedom of choice, when he asked God 'to blow up all of Islam's enemies". Bad mistake as he set himself up in opposition to God. https://www.facebook.com/?sk=nf

PROTESTOR ARRESTED IN TORONTO FOR MOCKING ISLAM

Protesters were arrested in Toronto today for simply mocking Islam. It is okay to protest against Israel or the U.S. or the Canadian government including the breaking of store windows and the burning of police cars without being arrested. Protest against Islam however and you will soon be arrested. In this particular incident even after the arrest the police sustain a double standard. They take away the Caucasian Eric Brazeau in a police van but they release the equally involved other organizer, Ron Banerjee, who is a Hindu of East Indian origin. Apparently even among protesters there are degrees of culpability depending on your race and/or religion. This police action should be roundly condemned. http://www.blogwrath.com/canada-islam/protestor-arrested-in-toronto-for-mocking-islam/4025/

Martha Hall Findlay still has not grasped Politics 101

I will be forthcoming and admit that I am a conservative and as such my interest in the career of Martha Hall Findlay is largely academic but sincere nonetheless. I have been following her career for some years now having acquired some interest in her vis a vis her sessions as a not infrequent interviewee and panelist on the old Michael Coren Show which use to run on the CTS network. I always found her to be sincere and articulate and well versed enough in the issues of the Canadian political scene to credibly defend her positions and likewise critique the positions of others. It is true she has had a rather sketchy political career being out of office much more than being in but I have always felt that she was on a learning curve as well as a credibility curve and that eventually her time would come. Now I am not too sure. In this latest attempt at pandering (indirectly) to the Muslim community by taking a shot at PM Stephen Harper for his consistent support of Israel, Ms. Findlay is falling into the age old trap of trying to be everything to everybody. If Ms. Findlay had read her Aesop's Fable when she was a child, about the boy, the old man and the donkey and who should ride that donkey, she would have understood that when you try to please everybody you end up pleasing nobody. A mature politician would have understood that between Israel and the Palestinians there is no moderate middle ground. You will eventually end up being forced to side with one or the other. because the players involved will have it no other way. The mature and wise politician therefore will come out in support of the most credible side of any given issue, in this case the right of Israel to exist without constant harassment from the Palestinians, the Muslim world in general and of course the Western Left. If after all these years in politics Martha Hall Findlay has not acquired enough political savvy to understand even this then I give her little hope of fulfilling her leaderships ambitions or even winning a seat. Too bad because she showed promise at one time. http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/01/17/hall-findlay-blasts-harpers-absolute-blind-unilateral-support-of-israel-at-all-costs/

Police Pansification From Police 'Forces' to Police 'Services'

Do not blame our current OPP Commissioner as Julian Fantino was just as incompetent and impotent in his handling of the Caledonia occupation by Mohawk thugs when he headed the OPP. The pansification of the police in Ontario started some time ago during the Bob Rae/NDP government in Ontario when the politically correct Leftist denizens of the Nanny State decided to convert our Police 'Forces' into Police 'Services'. Policing has been in decline ever since. The best they are capable of now is a limp-wristed form of crowd control and note taking as if they were $12.00 an hour security guards instead of 'allegedly' highly trained professionals making often over $100,000.00 per year with a little overtime. What are we paying for as tax payers? http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/01/16/matt-gurney-opp-commissioner-can-ask-for-help-if-he-finds-policing-blockades-too-difficult/

Idle No More is merely a marionette of The Rising Tide organization

I agree that the Indian Act must be revisited and furthermore that our native people should be treated precisely like everyone else, no better and no worse. That being said it must also be stated that the "Idle No More" and its clandestine backers are largely smoke and mirrors. The "Idle No More' movement is (which should be called ‘Idle Once Again' movement) is only the latest manifestation operating under an international Marxist umbrella group entitled ‘The Rising Tide’. Former variations of the ‘Idle No More’ movement were the far Left ‘Anti-Poverty Coalition' and later the 'Occupy' movement. These so-called ‘independent’ grass roots movements are neither more independent nor grass roots than any well funded labour union local operating under such labour giants as the CAW or the AAW. Well intended Canadians must come to terms with the fact that there is a sub-class in our culture, populated by communists; anarchists and the entitlement obsessed chronically unemployed and backed by big labour; radical environmentalists advancing international Marxism; promoters of internationalism out of the UN; and Iranian and Saudi money, who collectively and singularly are sworn to the destabilization of Canada's economy and ultimately the undermining of Canada's sovereignty. Do not be fooled by a few feathers, peace pipes and smoke lodges which are only window dressing, the people behind this movement are the far Left internationalists and they must be exposed and thoroughly discredited at all costs. http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/01/15/ditch-the-indian-act-and-give-first-nations-more-control-over-their-land-taxpayers-federation/