Pact With the Devil

I've asked this question before in the pages of prairie dog, and I'm pretty sure by now that I know the answer, but I'll ask it again: am I the only person who gets a "that kid from The Omen" vibe when I look at Stephen Harper? Same obsessively neat hairstyle, same vacant stare, same lack of empathy for his fellow human beings, same ruthless lust for power. Stephen Harper is a man so devoid of warmth and character that his handlers resorted to dressing him in a sweater vest during the last election in a desperate effort to humanize him. Not only does he have zero charm, he's also spectacularly inept as a politician. That shouldn't come as a surprise, I suppose, given his dictatorial bent. Parliamentary politics, especially in a minority context, requires consultation and collaboration. Harper, conversely, oozes contempt and arrogance. Even during his address to the nation Dec. 3 he couldn't bring himself even once to admit that he had precipitated the crisis that his government currently faces through reckless political gamesmanship that, regardless of how this affair plays out, will leave Canada in a seriously weakened state at a very dire moment in history when a whole pile of neo-con pigeons that have been flying around unfettered for the last 30 years are coming home to roost.