Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Terrorism's so last week
Another dig at the Zionists
Being a Marxist and pro-Palestinian is pretty much synonymous. But outside of our little circles, it's a tougher argument. Which is why I was ecstatic to hear that CUPE (the Canadian Union of Public Employees) has passed a resolution condemning the Israeli state, joining the boycott campaign and, most crucially, educating its 200,000 members about Israel's status as a colonial bully.
The Zionists haven't taken it lightly. A Palestinian rights activist helped sponsor the resolution. Although she certainly wasn't the only one, she has since received hate mail and numerous death threats. Note to the Zionists: subduing the natives works better inside the Gaza Strip.
The last formal colonial outpost in the world is finally coming under scrutiny in the west. Israel = apartheid. Too bad it's taken 50 years, but those words will be synonymous as well, soon.
Off with his head!
I'm following the 'home grown terrorist' saga in Toronto like I read US Weekly in the supermarket line-up: it's flashy and amusing, but I'd never buy it.
First the suspects were said to have planned a car bomb. Next it was a terrorist training camp. Now it's beheading Stephen Harper.
"Well Mr. Harper?"
"It's only a flesh wound!"
I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest there's no basis to the charges.
Not because it's so obviously a transparent fabrication - an 'over there' terrorism tale transplanted whole back home.
And not because, under my crusty Marxist exterior, I'm really a liberal - I mean, 'innocent until proven guilty' doesn't really wash in today's world. And besides, I agree with the far right that 'today's world' is all the fault of liberals anyway. Never mind CIA toadies Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden - who's to blame for Bono? Liberals, hang your heads in shame.
And it's certainly not because I'm 'soft on terror' - that's too weak a term. I'm positively spineless on terror. Cutting off Harper's head? Why stop there? Why not draw and quarter him, make jellied sausage out of his limbs? Or at least put the cabinet's heads on pikes. They wanted to blow up the CN Tower, which I'm all for ever since it started charging $25 per visit. Besides, it's taking up valuable space that, like the rest of Toronto, should be luxury condominiums. They're all such obvious targets, and there's nothing I hate more than an unimaginative terrorist.
"I told you we should've targeted the Home Show!"
"Hey, don't look at me! I wanted the Film Festival!"
No, I think it's a 'big lie' because the CSIS operatives who dreamt it up after a long night playing "America's Army" haven't done their homework:
1) the men purchased 3 tonnes of fertilizer - from the cops. The technical name for this is a sting; the legal name is entrapment; I call it a set-up. Were they planning to buy fertilizer before the cops offered it? To ensure our safety, the government will now make it harder to buy fertilizer - which is good, because I don't trust cops with large amounts of explosives.
2) The defendants 'trained in a field', in full camouflage gear. Apparently they washed off their make-up in a local doughnut shop. I would think, if you're planning to blow up a building in downtown Toronto, field training wouldn't be much use, and camouflage paint might make you stand out. Though perhaps not on casual Fridays.
"Whaddya mean, I'm conspicuous?"
3) The defendants' lawyer hasn't been informed of the charges yet (today is the deadline). He had to learn it from the media, to whom the police leaked tiny details. This is hardly due process - but the Soviets used to call it a show trial, and it hardly hurt them.
4) I've heard the government released a security review last week, though I can't find the press release. Certainly their last budget dramatically boosts funding for law and order. And these things have a way of justifying themselves. Once you start looking for terror, you find it.
This is what happened with Project Thread in 2003. The government rounded up an 'Al Qaeda' sleeper cell, which turned out to be Pakistani computer science students. All charges were dropped after a trial, but many were deported. The charges against them?
Either the government keeps cooking up terrorist plots to justify its own hysterical, racist, law and order agenda, that criminalizes Muslims and justifies military interventions.
Or the terrorists just hate the CN Tower. Which, as I've suggested, is getting stale. Get back to me when you want to blow up the Humane Society.
You're not a terrorist until you kill these
Being a Marxist and pro-Palestinian is pretty much synonymous. But outside of our little circles, it's a tougher argument. Which is why I was ecstatic to hear that CUPE (the Canadian Union of Public Employees) has passed a resolution condemning the Israeli state, joining the boycott campaign and, most crucially, educating its 200,000 members about Israel's status as a colonial bully.
The Zionists haven't taken it lightly. A Palestinian rights activist helped sponsor the resolution. Although she certainly wasn't the only one, she has since received hate mail and numerous death threats. Note to the Zionists: subduing the natives works better inside the Gaza Strip.
The last formal colonial outpost in the world is finally coming under scrutiny in the west. Israel = apartheid. Too bad it's taken 50 years, but those words will be synonymous as well, soon.
Off with his head!
I'm following the 'home grown terrorist' saga in Toronto like I read US Weekly in the supermarket line-up: it's flashy and amusing, but I'd never buy it.
First the suspects were said to have planned a car bomb. Next it was a terrorist training camp. Now it's beheading Stephen Harper.
"Well Mr. Harper?"
"It's only a flesh wound!"
I'm going to go out on a limb here, and suggest there's no basis to the charges.
Not because it's so obviously a transparent fabrication - an 'over there' terrorism tale transplanted whole back home.
And not because, under my crusty Marxist exterior, I'm really a liberal - I mean, 'innocent until proven guilty' doesn't really wash in today's world. And besides, I agree with the far right that 'today's world' is all the fault of liberals anyway. Never mind CIA toadies Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden - who's to blame for Bono? Liberals, hang your heads in shame.
And it's certainly not because I'm 'soft on terror' - that's too weak a term. I'm positively spineless on terror. Cutting off Harper's head? Why stop there? Why not draw and quarter him, make jellied sausage out of his limbs? Or at least put the cabinet's heads on pikes. They wanted to blow up the CN Tower, which I'm all for ever since it started charging $25 per visit. Besides, it's taking up valuable space that, like the rest of Toronto, should be luxury condominiums. They're all such obvious targets, and there's nothing I hate more than an unimaginative terrorist.
"I told you we should've targeted the Home Show!"
"Hey, don't look at me! I wanted the Film Festival!"
No, I think it's a 'big lie' because the CSIS operatives who dreamt it up after a long night playing "America's Army" haven't done their homework:
1) the men purchased 3 tonnes of fertilizer - from the cops. The technical name for this is a sting; the legal name is entrapment; I call it a set-up. Were they planning to buy fertilizer before the cops offered it? To ensure our safety, the government will now make it harder to buy fertilizer - which is good, because I don't trust cops with large amounts of explosives.
2) The defendants 'trained in a field', in full camouflage gear. Apparently they washed off their make-up in a local doughnut shop. I would think, if you're planning to blow up a building in downtown Toronto, field training wouldn't be much use, and camouflage paint might make you stand out. Though perhaps not on casual Fridays.
"Whaddya mean, I'm conspicuous?"
3) The defendants' lawyer hasn't been informed of the charges yet (today is the deadline). He had to learn it from the media, to whom the police leaked tiny details. This is hardly due process - but the Soviets used to call it a show trial, and it hardly hurt them.
4) I've heard the government released a security review last week, though I can't find the press release. Certainly their last budget dramatically boosts funding for law and order. And these things have a way of justifying themselves. Once you start looking for terror, you find it.
This is what happened with Project Thread in 2003. The government rounded up an 'Al Qaeda' sleeper cell, which turned out to be Pakistani computer science students. All charges were dropped after a trial, but many were deported. The charges against them?
"They were accused of plotting to bomb the Pickering nuclear power plant and also of attempting to topple the CN Tower."That makes two bomb plots to destroy the CN Tower. Which points to one of two things.
Either the government keeps cooking up terrorist plots to justify its own hysterical, racist, law and order agenda, that criminalizes Muslims and justifies military interventions.
Or the terrorists just hate the CN Tower. Which, as I've suggested, is getting stale. Get back to me when you want to blow up the Humane Society.
You're not a terrorist until you kill these
