reed writes

Another Reason Why We Need More Independent Candidates in Parliament

When a Canadian peacekeeping officer was killed in Lebanon, as a result of Israel shelling and bombing of his unarmed observation post, there was no one in the Canadian Parliament to speak out in protest.

When the Canadian Military Board of Inquiry was snubbed by the United Nations there was no one in the Canadian Parliament to speak out in protest.

When the Israeli government thumbed its nose at our Military Board of Inquiry, there was no one in the Canadian Parliament to speak out in protest.

When our Board of Inquiry found that the Israeli Defence Forces were responsible for the death of our Canadian officer, there was no one in our Parliament to speak out and demand justice.

When it became clear that Canadian Major Paeta Hess von Kreudener had been murdered by a 500kg precision-guided bomb made in America and dropped from an Israeli plane directly on the centre of his post, there was no one in our government who cared enough or felt courageous enough to speak out.

That is why we need more independent voices in our Parliament.

We need voices that will demand to be heard.

We need voices that are not subject to political party cowardice and intimidation.

We’ve already met Bill Casey of Nova Scotia…now meet Andre Arthur of Quebec. He’s the independent member of parliament for Port Neuf-Jacques Cartier.

Andre ran a low-budget campaignin 2008 and emphasized the downside of being a member of a political party.

He says that Parliament exists mainly to serve the political parties and not to serve the voters of Canada.

The Canadian political party system is deeply flawed and Canadians know it. 

That’s why we are refusing to elect majority governments. We’ve lost faith in the traditional party system. Far too many elected M.P.’s sit on their hands, keep their mouths shut and shuffle along with the crowd. Their blind obedience to the dictates of party leaders is a sad commentary of our democracy, our tradition of free speech, our Charter of Rights and Freedoms and respect for the electorate.

When M.P.’s are not being blindly obedient, they are often invisible. Take the re-incarnated Liberal Party for example.

In this last session of Parliament, Liberal MPs have missed three times as many votes in the House of Commons so far this year as Conservative members. The Liberal Party under Ignatieff posted the worst record of all parties for casting votes in the House.

When they did bother to show up, Liberal M.P.’s voted the same way as the Conservatives on almost every occasion. They made few if any important speeches and raised little if anything of even the slightest interest.

In fact, the majority of members of parliament (not all), are bench-warmers with few original ideas of their own.

Among the exceptions is William Casey of Nova Scotia. (more…)

Change Can Will Come

Since even before he declared himself as a candidate for the U.S. presidency, I’ve been following Barack Obama with great interest. Some things in particular about him stood out in my mind.

*His political independence.

*His intelligence.

*His apparent intuitive as well as intellectual understanding of history.

*His interest in and willingness to – engage directly with those who are perceived as America’s enemies.

*His genuine sense of patriotism, which was at odds with those advocated war instead of peace and which eventually led to an economic crisis.

These are all the essential qualities of the genuine leader. 

In addition, Obama has the ability to for say a lot in just a few words.

E.G. – at the current summit in Trinidad, he said, in reference to America’s old enemy, Cuba -:

“I didn’t come here to debate the past. I came here to think about the future.”

 ”I know there is a longer journey that must be traveled in overcoming decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day.”

This U.S. President presents himself as a man who wants to reach out. To communicate. To understand. To be a genuine representative of the people. 

Is he being honest and genuine? 

I believe he is.

Now Here Is The Canadian Rub

Obama must be puzzling to certain Canadians…like Stephen Harper for instance. Harper had burrowed so deeply into George W. Bush’s back pocket that he practically fainted every time Bush passed wind. Now Bush has been replaced by his polar opposite and Harper is scrambling as he O.D’s on fresh air. (more…)

Our heartfelt thanks to Divinities of Choice for the    safe delivery of Captain Phillips and crew of the Maersk Alabama.

I’m surely not the first to nickname it the Maersk Obama, since this drama has been played out extremely well by his newly-minted executive staff, Hillary Clinton in particular. (more…)