Shoveling bupkus above your weight; the shameless hypocrisy of Stephen Harper

This is Big Steve's Brain; l to r Big John, Big Steve, Big Peter "Pinocchio" MacKay

Truth of the matter is that an awful lot of what looks, sounds, and smells of rank hypocrisy when we follow Mr. Harper's various pronouncements on current events isn't really that at all.

As Canadians, when we foot the bill for Steve's various turns on the world stage, we naturally think he's on the world stage. "Why is that man talking such foolishness on the world stage?" we ask ourselves.

"Does he not know he makes all Canadians look ridiculous?"

For example, one does not need to have a doctorate in history to catch the glaring inconsistencies in the Harperite world view. When this country illegally annexes a neighbour's land, they're our best friend. When that country does the same thing, it's 1938 all over again!

Relax! Harper is not on the world stage; he's on the campaign trail!

Do you ever notice that whenever Harper is on one of these junkets, the only reporters who ever have questions for him are the one's he brought with him from Canada? Nobody, but nobody in the broader world has the slightest interest about where Steven Harper stands on anything.

So when Mr. Harper spends a few days bowing and scraping in Israel, it's not because he has discovered a sudden affinity for the Holy Land; it's because his handlers think there might be a couple of key ridings in the next election where this toadying will be rewarded.

Likewise his fawning over a non-elected cipher in the new non-elected democratic government of Ukraine. Yes, everybody knows that's ridiculous; everybody except those rabidly anti-Russian Ukrainian-Canadians who are likely to shower Harper with votes in that next election.

Which is not to say the Ukrainian-Canadians do not come by their Russophobia honestly. Ukraine suffered terribly under Stalin's forced collectivization of agriculture.

There are no votes to be lost in Canada by shoveling hysterically over-the-top anti-Putin propaganda.

So give Mr. Harper a break. He's not a hypocrite. He's a pragmatist.