Simply Amazing

A theory gains more credibility as you amass evidence to support the thesis. The idea that Stephen Harper is the "ideological twin" of George Bush, who is determined to mirror the American approach, is often dismissed as simple partisan fearmongering. However, now that Harper is in power and we see the emerging Canadian/United States government symmetry unfold, all the fears of Harper taking his cues from the Bush approach seem warranted.

The latest example for the "parrot" file revolves around global warming. People will remember the high-profile global warming dispute between the Bush administration and a prominent NASA scientist:

James Hansen, NASA’s leading researcher on global warming, spoke out on 60 Minutes last night. His claim is that the Bush administration is “Rewriting The Science.” Hansen told 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley that “the Bush administration is restricting who he can talk to and editing what he can say.

Concidence or part of a disturbing pattern:

Publisher Elizabeth Margaris said that Mark Tushingham, whose day job is as an Environment Canada scientist, was ordered not to appear at the National Press Club to give a speech discussing his science fiction story about global warming in the not-too-distant future.

"He got a directive from the department, cautioning him not to come to this meeting today," said Margaris of DreamCatcher Publishers.

"So I guess we're being stifled. This is incredible, I've never heard of such a thing," she said.

Let's not forget, that Harper adopted the American position on Kyoto with his "made in Canada" language. This attempt to stifle a scientist's novel is consistent with the message control of the Harper government. The directive is also eeriely familar to the Bush attempt to write the global warming story, sort of like the "cut and run" line.

It is common practice for the Bush administration to do a "news dump" late in the day, at the end of the week, to manipulate the newscycle so certain unpleasant measures are largely forgotten. For example, a few weeks ago the Pentagon officials were called to Congress to speak on the progress in Iraq. Both Rumsfeld and Pace(I think it was a Tuesday) spoke to the increased effectiveness of Iraqi forces in fighting the insurgency. Then, late on Friday the Pentagon released a short memo, stating that the only Iraqi battalion capable of independent operations had been downgraded, so that they were now unable to operate without American assistance. An embarrassing admission for the Pentagon, it was released at a time where it would get the least exposure.

Another coincidence:

Thursday at the same time the Conservative government was quietly axing a number of Kyoto programs.

The bizarre sequence of events on the eve of the Easter long weekend provided...on the eve of a long weekend when governments traditionally dump bad news for the least possible public exposure, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn issued a news release saying 15 programs were being eliminated.

It is simple logic that if you are serious about global warming, you don't commit an immediate slash and burn on environmental programs. If the Conservatives had replacements ready, they could make the argument that they are re-focusing their efforts. Instead, they lurk in the shadows and come out with a press release while they hope Canadians aren't listening. For anyone who believes the Americanization theory, as well as the "big oil" alliance, be afraid, be very afraid.