Playing the Fear Card

You had to know that in the wake of this past weekend's "terrorist arrests" in Canada that the fear card would be getting played on the political stage.

The opening gambits in this game are being played out on both sides of the Canada - US border:

First, we have Stockwell Day tying auto theft to car bombings. {Reality check: 5 guys exporting cars to Nigeria hardly constitutes much more than organized crime - most car thefts are for purposes other than terrorism}

Then, on CBC this morning, I hear about how "Islamic conferences" are radicalizing youth. Of course, there's no mention of how Christian Fundamentalism is radicalizing our youth, and promoting some pretty nasty bigotry.

Just to play out the marching in step with BushCo routine a bit further, we find Harper resurrecting one of the dafter ideas to come out of any government by reviving a variation on the "wiretap bill" that was before the last parliament. I wasn't impressed with that bill then, and I suspect I'll be even less impressed with it's new incarnation.

Then, we start to see the signs of the Conservatives and Republicans working in concert with each other:

a) Rumsfeld signalling a 'softer stance' towards China
b) Canada wants to "recruit" China in the fight on terrorism

Uh-huh. This is just coincidence, right?

Well perhaps not - we find yet another US lawmaker whining about "Toronto as a hotbed of Islamic extremism". (Which I can guarantee will be played along with a few other bits in the coming weeks to justify a "closed border policy", followed by an immigration system that will be downright hostile to new immigrants.

The argument that Canada has been in "denial" over terrorism is a complete crock. Think about it for a moment - if we were in denial, would these arrests have happened? Canada is not in denial, nor is it necessary to turn this place into a police state over the actions of a few inept clods who thought they were going to "strike a blow for Islam" (or whatever their motives were) with a couple of fertilizer bombs.

[Update: 09/06/06 15:24]: As if it's not enough to try dragging China into the farce that is George W. Bush's "War on Terror, we now find the US warning of "unconfirmed" threats originating in China.

Why do I think this is 80% bullfeathers?
[/Update]