The NDP should listen to me more

For those of you watching Canadian politics (an even smaller audience than those who care about my environmental dooms-day-ism) Thomas Mulcair finally made the national news. How? By doing what I told him to do. Specifically, by attacking new finance minister Joe Oliver for his record on the environment. Mulcair said Oliver is, "an embarrassment and that he should be named minster of finance for Canada is a real shame." Then Mulcair called Oliver a racist.

While Oliver was minister of oil he attacked climate science with the vitriol and dishonesty that characterizes the best of Canadian politics (American style). In his zeal to sell bitumen to whoever was buying he attacked Al Gore, whose claims he described as "wildly exaggerated", and James Hansen, whose predictions re environmental costs of the Keystone Pipeline he called "frankly nonsense".

So, Mr. Mulcair, if you read this you have to be prepared for the overblown, contemptuous, histrionic reaction of the Harper government. They will say you are unstatesmanlike. They will say you should be ashamed. They have already called on you to apologize. Take a lesson from the Right. When they say contemptible and idiotic things and are called upon to retract them, they never do. They double down. What you said was nothing more than the simple truth. Oliver was paternalistic and racist as a minister of the federal government. His shilling for the petrochemical industry is disgraceful. Many many people wonder if he even believes in anthropogenic climate change. Don't back down, double down. Attack him again. And again. And again.

When you hit him, you hit Harper. So keep swinging. Hit everywhere and every way you can. That this attack was launched against a minister who has publicly announced the Harper government's position on the environment makes it so much sweeter.