HARPER'S FOUR HORSEMEN

HARPER’S FOUR HORSEMEN
The Bible says many things. Among them, Jesus said there would always be poor people (the inference is that we mustn’t get too excited about them). The Bible also says that servants must obey their masters. And that wives must obey their husbands. Sweet. Rich Christian fundamentalists, who literally believe this, get to be kings on earth before they even get to the Rapture part, the point in the final Biblical blood baths (Book of Revelations) where they rise up into the sky with Jesus. Having finally escaped this convoluted thinking that saturated my early life in the US, (my father was an fundamentalist preacher) I now find myself living under the guidance of a Canadian prime minister who also is a member of this fundamentalist Christian club, one who believes literally in the Bible, particularly the Book of Revelation that gave us the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Revelations: 6:1-8).

These Four Horsemen have always made my head ache. The horsemen each ride different colored horses; white, red, black and ashen. And it is Jesus himself who sends these horsemen out to wreck terrible havoc upon the world, especially the ashen horsemen who has death written over him and is given authority to kill (by Jesus) with sword and pestilence and famine and wild beast. Fancy that. Whatever happened to the notion of “gentle savior?” Isn’t this a tad contradictory?

Nevertheless, the story of the Four Horsemen in the Book of Revelations is what fundamentalists believe literally, including Prime Minister Harper. And to buttress up Harper’s belief in these futurist horsemen, he has his own literal four horsemen waiting in the wings. These are the four judges of the Supreme Court of Canada he will appoint in the next four years to replace four retiring judges.

These new judges may be in many respects seem much like any other appointed judges except they will share one mind set because Stephen Harper will only appoint judges who believe as he does. They will perhaps belong to different churches, but will essentially hold very similar beliefs. They will believe abortion to be wrong and will rule against it. They will believe same sex marriage to be wrong and will rule against that too, along with most other rulings on Charter Rights. These are the four horsemen we must fear, not Biblical ones. Stephen Harper’s judicial four horsemen must not be allowed to ride. We must send out our own horsemen of hope and change, and not be dismayed by Harper’s Four Horsemen of death and destruction. And it is our vote on Monday that will halt Harper’s ride. Please let’s do this. Anybody but Harper.

OF RATTLESNAKES AND THE FEDERAL ELECTION

Stephen Harper reminds me of the Cholla cactus in the Arizona desert. Cholla needles are fiendish. They seem to literally jump into one’s flesh. The needles have little barbs at their points containing tiny hinges. Once embedded in one’s flesh the tiny hinges open out. This prevents an easy removal and causes much pain. But desert creatures can also hide behind Cholla, potentially more dangerous things. Once when walking I stumbled upon a nest of rattlesnakes, half a dozen or more, behind a large patch of Cholla. The Cholla was readily visible, I could easily walk around. But when you are surprised by a partially hidden nest of rattlesnakes, and even if only one is coiled, you daren’t walk around. Or walk at all. If you are lucky and keep your calm you can slowly, very slowly, back away without harm. Which I managed to do in spite of fear and trembling and lived to tell about the adventure.

Only we (especially women) don’t have time now to slowly back away from a potential nest of rattlesnakes we may be facing, and soon. We must brave the Cholla and swiftly take the rattlesnake nest by surprise. I’m talking about the federal election, of course. But what’s so different about this federal election? Because if Stephen Harper gets a majority, and maybe even just re-elected, we can kiss good bye many of the most important gains women (and men) have made in the last twenty year in human rights. How so? Because Stephen Harper has access to a nest of his own private rattlesnakes. When he says he will not open the abortion debate, or allow a private member’s bill to even come forward it’s because he doesn’t have to do these things in order to knock down women’s right to safe abortion. In fact, he hardly has to do anything to re-criminalize abortion.

How? Only by carefully and selectively appointing four new judges to the Supreme Court of Canada. It was a group of thoughtful and fair minded Supreme Court of Canada judges that knocked down the criminalization of abortion in the first place. But there could be a huge shake up in the next few years in the make-up of this court. Four Supreme Court Judges must retire within the next four years because of age requirements. And who will appoint the new Supreme Court judges of Canada? The Prime Minister. And if reelected, that will be Stephen Harper.

If Stephen Harper gets re-elected, especially with a majority, we can expect him to appoint new judges who are ideologically and/or religiously opposed to abortion just as he is. By achieving his objective this way, he can say he didn’t personally bring in the legislation to make abortion illegal again, that it was done by the Supreme Court of Canada. I believe most judges try to be. impartial. However, judges are people like everybody else and bring to their work their own belief systems just as everybody else does. I have experienced many times how the belief systems of too many judges in BC (most are former corporate lawyers) enables them to rule to the right (in favor of the logging corporations) in their judgments on environmental issues because that’s where their beliefs are. And Stephen Harper will certainly seek out the judges who share his views on abortion and homosexuality.

Stephen Harper belongs to a fundamentalist church (Christian and Missionary Alliance Church) that strongly opposes abortion (note: Harper wouldn’t allow abortion to be part of the overseas maternal health program). This church also strongly opposes divorce, condemns homosexuality, opposes universal day care centres, won’t ordain women and believes that Jesus Christ’s return to earth is immanent and that those who aren’t “born again” will be lost in a lake of fire. I think it fairly safe to assume that Stephen Harper will seek to appoint judges that reflect his own personal and/or religious beliefs especially if he is reelected.
But there are enough women in this country to stop Stephen Harper cold at the voting booth. Let’s do it. Just think of four new judges on the Supreme Court of Canada bench with Stephen Harper’s religious/ ideological mind set and how they will rule on issues concerning abortion and same sex marriage. Sort of like a nest of rattlesnakes all coiled to strike? Metaphorically speaking? Isn’t that enough to stoke up your much maligned latent (or overtly) feminist heart, men and women alike? And make us all decisive in the voting booth.

St

Courting the Ethnic Vote

It’s disgusting. And truly frightening the way our politicians, particularly the Conservatives, are courting the ethnic vote. Listening to the spinners on CBC on the Michael Enright talk show this morning (April 17) about how politicians must get close to, and sympathize with, the value systems of ethnic communities gave me painful pause. Especially when Michael and his guests started talking about how politicians should be courting the Sikh community. And then I remembered, oh, yes, the Vaisaki parade in Vancouver on Saturday.

Everybody was there, including Prime Minister Harper. Mr. Harper even shouted the Sikh religious slogan “Wahegurujji Ka Khalsa, Waheguruji Fateh” amid applause (IANS). And also in attendance was our provincial premier Christy Clark and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson and even Ujjal Dosanjh. Ujjal Dosanjh, what were you doing there? I wondered. Some Sikhs are threatening to kill you because you oppose their separatist ways. However, this Vaisakhi parade was in Vancouver. The real parade, the one our politicians wish would drop off the face of the earth, will take place on April 23 in Surrey.

And who or what do the separatists Sikhs want to separate from? Canada? Yes, but first, they have to separate from India. Their hearts are still back in the Punjab State of India. This is what they are fighting for, a country of their own in India. And our politicians who in previous years have been troubled by the Vaisaki parades because they raise banners and photos of their fallen heroes in their separatist cause, including the assassins of Indira Gandhi (she was shot by her Sikh bodyguards), and the Air India Bombers, have recently turned to jelly.

Even though Canadian courts have established that a Sikh (Talwinder Parmar) was the worst mass murderer in Canadian history, as he was the master mind of the bombing of Air India, our politicians haven’t had a lot to say about it. Parmar’s organization (Babbar Khalsa) is officially condemned as a terrorist organization by the European Union, India, the US and Canada. Which raises the question:. how can a mass murderer, condemned by Canadian courts, be openly honoured as a hero in this country in a public parade (see picture, Parmar is featured third from right) without our political leaders, both provincially and federally, including the Attorney Generals, making any serious complaint? And seeking to forbid such a thing, along with threat of prison? Any other group, if publicly celebrating mass murder and political assassination, would promptly be treated to the inside of a courtroom and then prison cells.

The Sikhs are gaining power. They now number around four hundred thousand in Canada and half of them live in BC, mostly Surrey. They are the fifth largest religion in the world and fastest growing religious group in Canada. And they are perceived by politicians, to be a single voting bloc, extremist and all. Which may be why our politicians are fluttering like the sweetest butterflies around these Sikh leaders who applaud violence and who seem to care mostly for gaining enough power on these shores to convince India they should have their own state. And is this the reason why Mr. Harper was shouting Sikh religious slogans at Saturday’s parade (IANS April 16) when he should be pressing for investigations into the extremist religious community leaders who are willing to kill our own politicians who oppose them? Well, in my opinion Harper would do just about anything for that block of Sikh votes…sing, walk on his hands, bark like a dog. He may even be willing to ape Gregor Robertson and don a Canuck jersey. Although I’m not sure what that Canuck jersey had to do with the Sikh religious parade and celebration but it did suggest that the Vancouver Vaisakhi parade was probably a white bread version of the real thing.

So this was probably safe enough for the politicians, far from the troublesome banners and placards that will be raised in the real parade on April 23 in Surrey. And how will our law and order prime minister (tough on small crime, soft on the big stuff) and survivalist Christy Clark (BC Rail? No, thank you, reporter, we won’t be having a public investigation into BC Rail) both will simply ignore the whole other parade and pretend those banners and placards on the 23rd that celebrate assassins, mass murderers, and criminal threats (the very definition of terrorism) just aren’t happening. But the show will go on. It may eventually come back to haunt these same politicians. And when it does I think both of the Vaisakhi parades may have some mighty sharp teeth.

- Betty K