"What a Buffoon"

So concludes Licia Corbella of the Calgary Sun at the end of her September 3, 2006 column Taliban would laugh at Jack, in which she succinctly reviews the ridiculous notion put forward by Jack Layton that an Afghani peace can simply be negotiated with the Taliban like one makes menu choices for dinner. Either Jack is incredibly naive, incredibly stupid, or incredibly crass, or, all of these. But then, its easy when you will never have to stand on the courage of your convictions, or indeed, any courage at all, to pontificate about how and what the world, and Canadians in particular, should do to find peace in rough places.

Today is Labour Day in Canada and the US. A day to celebrate and honour the toil and sacrifice that ordinary people make for the betterment of their societies and their families. This weekend, today, halfway around the world, extra-ordinary Canadians have died or been injured "in the workplace" toiling and sacrificing so that families and societies may be better off then they are. Jack the buffoon and the NDP don't feel their sacrifice is worth it. Jack thinks that they should come home. Jack thinks that the only Canadians worth supporting are those who are comfortably marching in parades today, safe in the arms of their families, happy to trade anecdotes about lousy employers, football games, happy to prep their kids for the first day of school tomorrow. Jack doesn't think our extra-ordinary Canadians halfway around the world should be there, making a better world for families and societies, that can only dream about prepping their kids for school, ball games, and safety in the arms of their families. Jack doesn't think.

At some point, Canadians need to ask, "of what good is the New Democratic Party?" Millions are spent in support of Jack Layton, his wife, the legions of sycophants responsible for NDP's "Foreign Policy" document (courtesy Stephen Taylor), and you have to ask: "Why?" To provide a standard for rational people to compare to? To remind us that we could do worse than Stephen Harper, or even, the Liberals? Once upon a time, the New Democratic Party stood for the rights of workers in the labour movement, stood for honest brokerage of a fair exchange between labour and management for the spoils of progress and trade. Once upon a time the NDP would stand for human rights wherever they were threatened.

Jack thinks Canada should abandon the Afghanis to support his new friends in Southern Lebanon. His new friends in Southern Lebanon have a much more important need for Canada's extra-ordinary sons and daughters than the Afghanis. Jack knows this, because his new friends have told him so. Jack even sent someone to confirm this, and his new friends were glad to show him what they needed him to know.

And of course, since the NDP believes in a safe workplace, taking Canadians from the obviously unsafe society that is the lot of Afghanis makes sense. Much better they stand around in Lebanon, then work at risk in Afghanistan. Besides, the unsafe conditions in Afghanistan are the "employer's" problem, the government's, not the workers. We'll come back when the Afghani "employer" has fixed the unsafe working conditions. In the meantime, since Lebanon's new employer, the U.N., has said its safe to work in Lebanon, maybe that's where we should go. Fixing the lot of the Lebanese means mostly bulldozers, not too much risk there of Canadians getting killed fighting in defence of the Canadian values of freedom, justice, and Labour Day parades.

Corbella is right: what a buffoon.

To my friends working this Labour Day in Afghanistan, peace, stay safe. To paraphrase George Orwell - rough men stand at guard at night so the meek may sleep. Even Jack Layton.