Thursday, June 25, 2015

Del Mastro - Poster Boy of Harper Corruption. . .

Before today I think that my very favourite moment in the ten years of the Harper disaster was the moment that Dean Del Mastro commented on his conviction for electoral fraud. As we all remember, Del Mastro didn't just reassert his innocence as so many convicted criminals do. Rather, Del Mastro did something I have never actually seen before, he claimed that his guilt was simply a matter of the judge's "opinion." You have to give the HarperCons high marks for pure gall! This remark by Del Mastro is deeply symbolic because it sums up the Harper regime's attitude toward judges, the courts, and the law in general. Many convicted criminals proclaim their innocence, but they usually do so by speaking about incorrect or unreported evidence, police malfeasance or incompetence, or a poor defence. However, by choosing to refer to his conviction as simply a matter of the judge's opinion, Del Mastro did something different; he was symbolically suggesting that he, in a very important sense, above the law, that the law (even in a case such as his where attorneys commonly suggested that his was a blatant and clear violation) is really just whim of individual judges.

Here's the thing - I am as skeptical and cautious as anyone out there concerning the justice system. I understand that it is designed in such a way that prejudice and bias are systemically unavoidable. The working-class, racialized people, women, the poor; all of these groups are at an inherent disadvantage when it comes to the courts. Not only do laws themselves favour the rich and powerful, but the process (which is infused with money) makes it difficult for the vulnerable to get a fair hearing. However, Del Mastro had won the lottery of life before he ever stepped inside a courtroom. He's a prosperous, white, male with significant political ties to the most powerful people in the nation. He came to the justice system with every possible advantage. Thus, when the hammer of the justice system comes down on a man like Del Mastro, I am as sure as I can be as a skeptic that he is guilty.

But Del Mastro says it is a matter of "opinion" for the simple reason that for Harper and his barking seals, the law isn't something to be respected and judges are not there to adjudicate it. Rather, the entire legal system is just another pawn of their political goals, that is to say convenient when it can be used to thwart and pervert democracy or victimize the vulnerable, but a simple impediment when it gets in the way of their political agenda. The Harper regime is the most perverse and sinister kind of political body - one that cares nothing for law, for due process, for separation of powers, for respect of difference, or even basic human rights. They are pure criminality, a group of megalomaniacs who, in a different historical context would joyfully send their opponents to death-camps, and routinely "disappear" activists, all the while proclaiming righteousness and honesty, just like a tin-pot dictator of the Cold-War era.

My new favourite moment of the Harper era is the one we saw today - Dean Del Mastro, once a mindless harping bulldog of Harper himself, being lead off to jail in hand-cuffs and leg-irons. A man who rudely and ruthlessly attempted to dishonour and discredit anyone who disagreed with the Harperites and stood up in Parliament day after day proclaiming the lily-white purity of the Harper regime, being lead to jail like the petty criminal that he is for consciously attempting to undermine democracy itself. What more appropriate symbol could we have of the entire Harper Era of government?? Only, I suppose, one of Harper himself being taken to prison in much the same way.

6 comments:

The Mound of Sound said...

Kirby, judges are human and, struggle as they do to expunge bias, if you screw with them sometimes they'll screw you right back. Is it possible his outrageous and inflammatory remarks had some influence on his sentence? We'll never know and it's best that way. What I do know is that remorse is a legitimate factor in sentencing and he would not have scored many points by shooting off his mouth. Author of his own misfortune...

Zoombats Hong Kong said...

We can only hope!

the salamander said...

.. render down Harper, PMO, Base, Caucus, Enablers, Pundits, Senate, Robo & Data Wanks, Spies, Spinners, Pollsters.. Laureen, the Lawyers & Intellectuals.. and retiring family orienteds. Mackay Moore Glover et al.. and yes, you have it nailed.. Dean Del Mastro is a reasonably representative & toxic sample of all things Harper. He'll have his night in jail.. be off for a big breakfast soon enough.. bailed out.. appealing.

The real story now, becomes the stony vacant script of his 'successors'.. spokeswanks.. all following PM Harper or Ray Novak's dictates.. 'the member left the caucus two years ago.. blah blah woof woof..' Its actually the way Stephen Harper sees voters & citizens. We're all there to help run his bus.. or be under it .. in the grand unfolding of his beautiful smartest psycho prick in the country schtick..

Harper has an entire political corporation of Del Mastro's... plus enough dutifil dupes to vote for such stagnant losers...

We have a long road ahead.. to clean this country up..
but job one is ensure Canadians understand who Harper is
and the drecks that prop him up

Owen Gray said...

And they say they believe in punishment for criminals -- unless, of course, they are the criminals.

Askingtherightquestions said...

There is no doubt that Harper and crew have an unusual and flawed approach to the law -considering they are the government of the day and charged with shepherding new legislation through Parliament. This may best be illustrated by their repeated attempts to pass legislation that is unconstitutional, and when confronted with the obvious, choose to denigrate those appointed to judge the merits. So, a finding of contempt of Parliament becomes simply "a procedural disagreement". The findings and judgement of a sitting lower court judge become an "opinion" (DelMastro famously declared “I know what the truth is. That’s her opinion. My opinion is quite different.” after being found guilty). How Mr. DelMastro believes he can be taken seriously after such a comment (and yes Mound, I would not be surprised if the judge was influenced in her sentencing by his comments and lack of remorse!)

They seem to have a similar attitude to Canadian law as they due to science. Ignore facts, precedents and expert opinion and do what is politically expedient, regardless of the feedback. For this reason alone, they are unfit to govern.

There have been occasional creeps among ALL parties in the past yet we have never seen such a caucus of miscreants as the Harper 2011 majority. What a disgrace this government has been!

Scotian said...

Again, well written piece Kirby, again agree completely. When I watch this government I am reminded of two governments, one fictional, one not. The not was the old USSR when everything was subordinated to the political within that structure of government, the Harper machine approaches this to a degree I would have flatly once said impossible to have happen in Canada, but I am older, sadder and wiser on that score sorry to say. The comparison is about how all the institutions of government are subordinated to the needs to the political, in this case Harper himself even more than the CPC. When I no longer trust the independence of not just the RCMP but Revenue Canada (which in some ways I find even more disturbing for reasons too long for me to take the time at this moment) and see actions which make it clear they are taking political direction to go after partisan opponents of the current PM while ignoring his supporters for the exact same bahaviour, well then I know we have real problems indeed, and that we are on a path far too much like the USSR of old in this respect.

The fictional government is one created in the series of Babylon 5, a Science Fiction TV series in the 90s that clearly used Orwell (Ministries of Peace, Truth, etc) and similar examples to create the government of Earth Alliance President Clarke, and to be honest I have literally had dreams/nightmares where I wake up after seeing Harper wearing a Keeper (a control organism from the series of our main antagonists) on his neck or worse taking his instructions from the Shadows (aforementioned antagonists) themselves as a willing buyer of their ideology of growth through conflict. I never ever thought I'd see a Canadian government at any level, let alone the federal that would give me these comparisons, even in my dreams/nightmares.