Selling Out to State Owned Companies

[tubs]

maybe not perfect but capitalism is still the best system.

[Fransisco]

Harper Derangement Syndrome


http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/12/08/rex-murphy-vilifying-stephen-harper/

Rex Murphy: Vilifying Stephen Harper

There’s something about Stephen. His opponents have many names for him — the majority of which are, alas, neither flattering nor meant to be.

He is a taciturn schemer, a theocrat mole, loose at the top of the Canadian political system, determined to bend Canada to his grim and twisted design, to curb the liberties of Canadians, to push us and our country back into some fevered neocon darkness. Politically, he is Dick Cheney’s illegitimate son. George W. Bush’s half-brother. He’s a lackey of the rich, and enemy of all that is good and Canadian. He’s in the pocket of big oil. He hates baby seals.

My, how the spine chills when some people talk and write about Harper.

Then there are the many “faces” his enemies attribute to him, among them Conspiracy Harper, Vendetta Harper, Christianist-Harper — hope of the hard line, Doomsday-waiting Evangelicals, Secret-Agenda Harper, Tool of Israel Harper, Anti-Democracy Harper, with perhaps a little space for Secret Alberta-Separatist Harper. The caricatures belong more to the old style of detective novel when the villains, projections of untethered fantasy, were eerie amalgams of malice, supernal powers, outlandish ambitions and utterly unbelievable. Harper as Fu Manchu, as it were.

Hating, mistrusting or dismissing Harper is not a transient phenomenon. A poll as recent as this week, seven years after Mr. Harper took office (during which he has not, contra naturum, transformed Canada into a gulag or prison house for the poor, artists, liberals, greens or whomever he sees as his opponents) reveals a majority of Canadians think he still has that famous but, by definition, unseen hidden agenda. Even though he is Prime Minister and has a majority, many still believe he keeps that damn agenda up his sleeve. Query: What’s the point of a hidden agenda that stays hidden? Will it still be hidden when he leaves office? If so, what was or is its point?

I do admit that the poll surprised me. A full 75% of sentient voters from the big parties thought him (I’m paraphrasing) untrustworthy. The fervour to believe ill of the Prime Minister is, however, even stronger amongst the naturists, the Earth-worshipping Greens. A whopping 97 % of them do not trust him, and believe that the “hidden agenda” — perhaps like the lost city of Atlantis, or fabled Shangri-La is “real.” Greens are fundamentalist anti-Harperites. That 97% represents not a trend; it’s a fixation.

It’s not just the “hidden-agenda” cliché, though. It’s the man himself. Go on comment boards, Twitter, read the pundits, listen to conversations on the street and you’ll soon see that the pure bile directed at Mr. Harper, the contempt for the man himself, is shocking and remarkable. They mock his build, his clothes, his relationship with his children (the handshake off to school) his hair, his — well, his very being. How wonderful it is that so many believe they are infinitely his superior — after all, they have the best tables at Twitter Café, and he’s only the prime minister.

In sum, the tenure and even the physical presence of Stephen Harper, for very many otherwise temperate people, is remarkable for the virulence of the opposition and personal antipathy he inspires. It’s not just the politics or the policies. It’s him — the person.

It is not abnormal for politicians to be disliked. Nixon was disliked, and his personality — pinched, reclusive, sullen and curiously self-pitying — fed that dislike. Pierre Trudeau, worshipped by some, conjured savage opposition and distaste from his opponents, but Trudeau the man sometimes earned kudos even for those who despised his policies. Brian Mulroney had the strange knack of inspiring those who didn’t know him to really dislike him, and those who did know him — despite his political errors and that unfortunate bag of cash — to see him as even warm, loyal and charming.

With Stephen Harper the emotions he elicits — especially the extreme ones of contempt and near-hatred, have to be a projection of his enemies, far more than an assessment of Harper’s character or policies.

For, step back a little, make a little space, and you will see that in his personal and domestic conduct, Harper is almost stereotypically Canadian. He’s a mild, unobnoxious, hockey-mad fellow. He doesn’t boast.He shuns the spotlight he could be commanding every day. He keeps his privacy and doesn’t insist, like many public figures, in conducting a soap opera around his position or his family. He’d be the ideal neighbour — he wouldn’t just drop in, too reserved for that (which is great), but I’m sure he’d lend a shovel when needed. Probably even help dig out your car if you were stuck, and take your thanks with a self-conscious smile and reassurance that it was no trouble.

So why is it that people are not content just to disagree with him, to label him simply wrong or misguided but must revile him? Why is there such fervour of suspicion about “the agenda” and so much invective and worse directed at him? I don’t know.

I do know the response is unbalanced and disproportionate, and hurts his enemies more than him.

They make Mr. Harper, in their own white-hot minds, bigger and more scary than he is or could be.

[wilagro]

Francisco: Trust you to post an opinion piece that should be titled "An Ode To A Prime Minister". Rex "Mush-Mouth Murphy" is being his usual self...being contentious is his "thing".

Despite what Rex writes, a good many people are very concerned about what our P.M. is doing and they don't like the direction that he has chosen for Canada domestically and in relationships with other nations.

Yes, we can make fun of his custom-made wigs (most likely made in China) and criticize his amateurish attempts at statesmanship but in the end those are minor compared to the long-term and for the most part SECRET pacts (some lasting for thirty-one years) made with so-called trading partners in Asia. Canadians DON'T LIKE these deals where the dispute settlement processes are totally SECRET. In other words we don't like SNEAKY POLITICIANS.

[ASRG]

Look the fact is Nexen has a gong show going on in the oilsands? Check it out a bit.....really poor technology?
The only suckers who bit were the Chinese....if it was any good everu oil company in the world would be lining up!

Same with the Malaysia gas deal...who in their right mind wants to be in NG right now?

Stephen Harper isn't my favorite politician, but having said that, I think he is doing a "fairly" good job considering what he has to work with?

He has done some good stuff by reducing some of the more blatant parasites out of government(not nearly enough!) and keeping a bit of a lid on the spendthrift/tax stuff?

God help us if we get Muclair or Trudeau in charge of the credit card!

[phoenix64]

remember people! this isin't selling out, this is making peace, they have tons of capital to develope ours and other countries resources, they desperately need food and energy to keep their ball rollin. If harper, obama and the rest of the developed world does not make nice and allow them a piece of the pie they will simply come and get the hard way, no matter to them.

[Burbert]

In the future the color of the world is
gonna be Yellow. Soooooooo, lets sell
out while the selling is good. It
appears that Harper has commie leanings,
cousin he's so in love wit them.
Commies and Conservatives have a lot in
common, theys mean, always crackin down
on people, makin up draconian laws and
gettin tough with. They make ya buy yer
own bullets fer yer own execution. Yup
theys got a lot in common, now fer
instance, Comedia. Heil Harper you
sneacking, low life, scum sucking,
commie butt kissin slimeball......

[grower99]

I wonder what the response would have
been in the West if Paul Martin, when he
was PM,would have signed a deal with
Communist China to develop the oil
sands? Can you hear Baird...?A side note
I was at Question Period several weeks
ago. I watched a lot of MPs not paying
attention and unfortunately several govt
MPs signing Christmas cards!! A very
productive bunch!! And now we are
getting more MPs! WTF!

[countryguy]

Grower off topic but it sounds like the MPs have about the same work ethic as most of the civil servants in this country. Some kind of mental retardation happens when they start receiving that Rona Ambrose signed paycheck.

[sumdumguy]

Seems like the prime minister is doomed no
matter what he does. Just a short time ago we
were sending delegations over to announcs that
we were open for business. Now that we got a
bite, the fish is too big and too strong. What are
we going to do? We can't get him in the boat.
Our boat!

[rhoff]

ASRG If you saw what Natgas sold for in Asia you
would quickly understand why petronas is doing
this. IMO its a deal that both countries need.