Choice Harper Quotes

Mason and Nicholas over at Life Without borders have brought to my attention a list (originally compiled by In Their Own Words) of choice Harper quotes from over the years.

The establishment came down with a constitutional package which they put to a national referendum. The package included distinct society status for Quebec and some other changes, including some that would just horrify you, putting universal Medicare in our constitution, and feminist rights, and a whole bunch of other things.

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

For taxpayers, however, it’s a rip-off. And it has nothing to do with gender. Both men and women taxpayers will pay additional money to both men and women in the civil service. That’s why the federal government should scrap its ridiculous pay equity law.

- Stephen Harper on pay equity, NCC Overview, Fall 1998.

Then there is the Progressive Conservative party, the PC party, which won only 20 seats. Now, the term Progressive Conservative will immediately raise suspicions in all of your minds. It should... They were in favour of gay rights officially, officially for abortion on demand. Officially -- what else can I say about them? Officially for the entrenchment of our universal, collectivized, health-care system and multicultural policies in the constitution of the country

.

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

Withdraw from the Canada Pension Plan... Collect our own revenue from personal income tax... Resume provincial responsibility for health-care policy. If Ottawa objects to provincial policy, fight in the courts... [E]ach province should raise its own revenue for health... It is imperative to take the initiative, to build firewalls around Alberta...

- Stephen Harper in an "Open letter to Ralph Klein," January 24th 2001.

The NDP could be described as basically a party of liberal Democrats, but it's actually worse than that, I have to say. And forgive me jesting again, but the NDP is kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the affairs of men.

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

It was probably not an appropriate term, but we support the war effort and believe we should be supporting our troops and our allies and be there with them doing everything necessary to win.

- Stephen Harper supporting the US-lead war on Iraq, Montreal Gazette, April 2nd 2003. Harper also called then-Defence Minister John McCallum an "idiot."

If you've read any of the official propagandas, you've come over the border and entered a bilingual country. In this particular city, Montreal, you may well get that impression. But this city is extremely atypical of this country... So it's basically an English-speaking country, just as English-speaking as, I would guess, the northern part of the United States.

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

It will come as no surprise to anybody to know that I support the traditional definition of marriage as a union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others, as expressed in our traditional common law.

- Stephen Harper, Hansard, Address in the House of Commons on Bill C-38, February 16, 2005.

In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance.

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

A culture of defeat...

- Stephen Harper, describing the Atlantic provinces, May 2001.

[Y]our country [the USA], and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world.

- Conservative leader Stephen Harper, then vice-president of the National Citizens Coalition, in a June 1997 Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, a right-wing American think tank.

What is the point of the Green Party anyway?

The NDP and Liberals have prioritised green issues within their own policy platforms already, so I fail to see what a Green Party brings to a national election, aside from syphoning off votes from the NDP and Liberals.

What is it that these twisted freaks want? A Harper majority? The mind boggles. The NDP might suck in certain ways, but I think they do a good job of representing environmental concerns.

Rather that ranting on incoherently, I will quote from a posting by Dipper Chick, titled "Elizabeth May is no martyr":

Worse than just a single-issue party, the Green Party is nothing more than a brand name. Kind of like Nike. You want to believe that if you buy brand name running shoes that you will be more fit and look cooler, and that some how they are better than other shoes. But rip off the swoosh and you have an inferior product made by a company with questionable ethics. Branding the Green Party as 'fresh' and 'new' while it is identified, through its name, as an advocate for one of the most topical issues of our time is a marketing ploy. The Liberals have been using their brand name to trick progressive Canadians out of their votes for decades. This tactic is neither 'fresh' nor 'new.'
[snip]
David Suzuki was quoted today saying:

“I can't wait until there is no Green Party,” Dr. Suzuki was quoted as telling the Toronto Star.

“As long as there's a Green party, the implication is that the Greens somehow have a stranglehold on this issue; they're the ones that worry about the environment so the other parties can worry about other things. I don't think it's a ghetto subject.”

If the Green Party should be allowed into the Leadership Debates because an independent MP joined the Greens, I guess we should all be thankful he didn't decide to join the Christian Heritage Party, the Communist Party of Canada (CPC!), or the Work Less Party.

Although, upon reflection, any of these would be more interesting than the Green Party in a debate.

Plus, are we going to be treated to the spectacle of Elizabeth May insisting on being included in french language debates? Ed Broadbent's french was bad enough, so I guess Elizabeth's attempts would at least provide some entertainment to our frenchie brothers and sisters.

Slagging David Beckham

In the past, I have slagged David Beckham. I called him a 'useless tit', and worse, maybe. Since that horrible experience that was the World Cup 2006, however, I couldn't help but notice repeated quotes in the press from non-suckups that David Beckham is, in fact, one of the nicest people you could ever engage in conversation.

I noted these comments, but never really thought about it until last night's England vs. Croatia game.

Beckham didn't come on until late, and when he did he replaced Theo Walcott.

Theo Walcott had scored 3 goals in the 4-1 eventual win over Croatia. A young hat-trick wizard had put England on top for the first time since I gained high-speed internet!

Take a good look at that photo of him congratulating Walcott as Walcott exits the pitch. Real joy in Walcott's achievement.

It seems David Beckham is a guy with some class, not the preening, poncing prat that I had imagined him.

There was an article about this in the Guardian last night entitled Beckham bows to the wonder of Walcott.

Afterthought: Still, one must take into consideration his sarong phase...

Polar Bear 0, Husky 1

Here is photographic evidence of a polar bear, supposed the most implacable land-based carnivore in existence, playing with a tethered Husky.

Is it photoshopped? Because I can't accept that the behaviour of the bear is possible. Unless this particular bear was raised in the company of dogs, then released into the wild when he or she got too unruly?

Accepted wisdom on "the street", at least around here, is that bears *hate* dogs and that walking in the bush with a bunch of yapping pooches will provoke, rather than disperse, any bears around.

I guess I will have to wait for the Globe and Mail (or the City of Toronto) to publish an article instructing me how to behave when bears go bad.

From the text at the bottom of the posting:

The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his huskies when the polar bear materialized out of the blue, as it were: But something else happened. The Polar Bear returned every night that week to play with the dogs...