JOHN CHUCKMAN

POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY LAWRENCE MARTIN IN TORONTO’S GLOBE AND MAIL

My perception is that Harper’s government has precisely one competent and respectable senior minister, Jim Flaherty, and even he has his shortcomings.

He remains the only one in international exposure that is not an embarrassment to the country.

Harper’s list of clowns and weasels is long and may well serve as further evidence for the demonstrated principle that extremely conservative views are associated with lower intelligence.

Peter Kent, Bev Oda, Peter MacKay, Leona Aglukkaq, Vic Toews, and, in the past, Helena Guergis, Maxime Bernier resemble a skit from Monty Python on government. We’ve never been so low in public esteem.

I’ll add John Baird who, although intelligent, has the manner of a savage ultra-orthodox Israeli settler shooting at Palestinian children and bulldozing olive groves.

How do you “sweep” with toxic material like that?
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“Amazing – after 4 elections the Harper party is still talentless.”

Yes, pretty well talent-less so far as ministers.

But you cannot call Harper talent-less.

His set of redoubtable skills is a dark one, truly Machiavellian . Canada has not seen anything quite like him in my lifetime.

He has a thick hide, little or no respect for opponents and even disappointing associates, and, while mouthing slogans, his whole direction shows virtually no respect for democratic values or genuine human rights.

He displays many qualities that might fairly be described along the lines of an intelligent, manipulative, sociopathic personality.

 

 

 

JOHN CHUCKMAN

POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN TORONTO’S GLOBE AND MAIL

A READER WRITES:

“We are a secular Nation, church and state must always be separate. Ban the veil. A citizenship ceremony is a State function…”

That’s actually quite inaccurate.

The writer thinks he lives in the United States apparently.

This province spends countless millions each year on Catholic education, an unthinkable arrangement in the United States.

Until quite recently, the Lord’s Prayer was a regular part of public schools and many formal gatherings.

Being a secular humanist, I do not favor such practices, but I also recognize the past political compromises they represent in a country which does not have founding documents so uncompromising as America’s.

I ask whether Sikhs must remove their turbans and other symbols for this ceremony?

And Jews their yarmulke, or in the case of ultra-orthodox, their huge hats and beards which effectively cover faces and even lips?

Are nuns required not to wear habits if they belong to an order still using one?

Are Protestants required to remove the cross on a chain often worn around their necks? Helena Guergis used to march around with a rather large one. I don’t recall any objections.

The writer simply does not know what he is talking about.

But then neither does the minister, Jason Kenney.

The proudest garb any of us can wear is tolerance, but it seems to be in short supply these days.

 

 

 

JOHN CHUCKMAN

POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY MARGARET WENTE IN TORONTO’S GLOBE AND MAIL

Yes, it was Theatre of the Absurd.

Peter Kent blubbering about things he doesn’t even understand, embarrassing himself and our country before the world.

And all those tell-tale photos of Peter, red-faced and strained.

I’m sure he was seriously getting into the sauce each night, alone in his hotel room, re-living in his mind how he embarrassed himself that day.

The only dignified act possible for this shabby little man is to resign.

But we all know that’s not on, don’t we? Incompetents in big jobs always hang on to every rank and privilege to which their undeserved office entitles them.

Helena Guergis had to be thrown out the door, didn’t she?

Oh, and let’s not forget that this absurd little man, when Junior Minister of Nothing, almost declared war for Israel on behalf of 34 million Canadians.

That lunatic outburst would have got him fired in any normal government as completely out of order and a potential danger to the country.

Instead in Harperland, it got him promoted to enjoy full ministerial privileges and all the expense-account booze he can possibly drink.

JOHN CHUCKMAN

POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN TORONTO’S GLOBE AND MAIL

I am sure, as Ms Guergis charges, the ruthless Stephen Harper has treated her badly.

After all, that is what Harper does to people. Witness his behavior towards Belinda Stronach or our former nuclear regulator.

Brutal treatment of those with whom he disagrees is one of his defining characteristics. His entire approach towards his political opponents in the past has had the tone of brutal frat boy who enjoys practical jokes which hurt people.

And yet it is truly difficult to find any sympathy for Ms Guergis. Her past behaviors, as the example of the airport meltdown, have been truly appalling.

Her behaviors suggest either drug use or mental instability, yet here she is still pushing herself into the limelight, as though she were qualified for high office, which she most certainly is not.

Her husband is nothing less than a disgrace: he beat just charges of drunk driving and possessing significant amounts of hard drugs on a technicality. He belongs in prison.

And just hearing her voice on the radio is annoying as they play snippets of her statements.

The woman sounds like a Midwestern small-town homecoming queen speaking in her eeny-teeny voice. Her voice as well as her words are just plain insipid.

So while Harper may have treated her badly, she was always someone just setting themselves up for bad treatment – that is the nature of both mental illness and drug addiction.

Go away with some quiet grace, Ms Guergis, but I waste my breath.

JOHN CHUCKMAN

 

POSTED RESPONSE TO AN EDITORIAL IN THE TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL

“…because her name and career are being destroyed by a taint of criminality, without proof….”Wrong, on at least two counts.One, her career as a politician already is destroyed. Who would ever put her in a position of responsibility again?

Two, while we do not have proof of criminality, we have overwhelming proof of Guergis’s venality and unsuitability for office.

Her known behaviors and those of her husband – whom she knowingly assisted by lending him public assets and writing inappropriate letters – are enough, surely, for those who expect ethical ministers.

I believe it is likely Ms Guergis has some form of mental instability, else how do you explain her sincere efforts to portray herself a victim when we know the things we know? The Globe has been bamboozled into writing this editorial on the basis of her performance on television.

To maintain high ethical standards in government, we do not need to prove out-and-out, police-investigated criminal behavior.

Ms. Guergis long ago exceeded what should be the allowance for a public servant of venality and stupid behavior.

It truly is a waste of resources to spend more on her.

At her best, too, she was a mediocre minister, and her demotion represents no loss to anyone.

JOHN CHUCKMAN

 

POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN IN TORONTO’S GLOBE AND MAILReading of Helena Guergis’s airport melt-down, I may have new sympathy for the unpleasant Rahim Jaffer, her husband.

Maybe there’s actually a good reason Rahim Jaffer (of drunk-driving, cocaine-possession, and getting-off-with-a-slap-on-the-wrist fame) does the desperate things he does?

He appears to be married to a lunatic.

And, yes, indeed, where were the RCMP tasers on this one, as someone above asked?

I guess they save that treatment for poor foreigners who can’t speak English and who are not junior cabinet ministers.

And even then, they need four officers against one person to “deploy” the taser.

The photo with the story only shows two RCMP officers with the ghastly Guergis.

God, the new Conservatives have pathetic ministerial material. Peter “we’ll fight for Israel” Kent, Helena “I’m God” Guergis, Peter “my ex is a dog” MacKay, Lisa “leave my documents behind” Raitt, Maxime “leave my secret papers at my biker gang girlfriend’s” Bernier, and so on.

Our election system is a terrible mess if its result is keeping a bunch of second- and third-raters like this running the country with about a third of the country’s support. We really do need serious election reform.