“The Political Issue”
The old man in the hat
Recently, in Saint John, our premier uttered the following comments, regarding the PROPOSED “Energy East” pipe dreams project.
“It will change the direction of our province. It will change the direction of our economy. It will change the fate of many of our families and citizens and will help make a stronger and more prosperous future for all of us.”
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen to the opening of the 2014 election campaign. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Dave, stripping away the rhetoric (aka, bull—-), Western Canada wants to pump unprocessed toxic sludge diluted with toxic chemicals through a metal tube into a ship owned by a foreign country to be processed and sold in a foreign market. Period. Dave, if this is your idea of salvation, time to pick a different church to preach at.
To show you that I don’t play favourites, let’s talk about Frank. Yes, Fabulous Frank. Frank McKenna was in the region the other day gushing (pardon the oil pun) about the pipeline. What a good idea it was. I saw a woman interviewed on TV and she was gushing what a great man the great man was and how he cared so much and how the pipeline was such a great thing because the great man said how great it was. Great. Perhaps she did not know F.F. that well. Perhaps she did not know that Frank was a corporate director of Canadian Natural Resources. Perhaps she did not know that CNR runs the Horizon Oil Sands Project. Perhaps she did not think a great statesman would shill for himself. But we did.
Not to be out done by our regional politicians, let us turn to our neighbours and briefly contemplate the proposed “Charter of Quebec Values”. Values. You know, the kinds of things we hope we teach our kids. Share. Be polite. Live and let live. Be respectful of others- in all ways. I guess I missed the part where Mom and Dad said respect everyone, unless they are not like you.
One would hope that having reached the 21st century, without killing ourselves, that such nonsense as the “Charter” would be a relic of 20th century genocide.
What makes this even more sad is the stark contrast to the recent celebration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In this speech Rev. King articulated his vision for his nation.
“When we allow freedom to ring-when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all God’s children, black men and white men, Jew and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands
and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at lest, Free at last, Great God a- mighty, We are free at last.”
If only we could expect our neighbours to have such a vision. Oh yeah, I forgot. The point of the “Charter” is to get rid of God.
Comments: theoldmaninthehat@sissonridge.ca
Further Reading/Listening:
Aug 2nd -https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/spin-reduxit-from-cbc-radio/id338581006
http://www.cnrl.com/about-cnq/board-of-directors.html
http://www.cnrl.com/operations/north-america/horizon-oil-sands.html
http://www.archives.gov/press/exhibits/dream-speech.pdf
http://archive.org/details/MLKDream
