What the Harper government has in common with the Taliban and Islamic State

Quick quiz; on what policy initiatives does the Harper gang rip a page out of the Taliban playbook?

Oddly enough, the fundamentalist Christian sensibilities that drive Harper are not that far removed from the fundamentalist sensibilities of our biggest, baddest, worstest enemies in the Taliban and ISIS.

It's a fact not given much attention these days, but the Taliban had come close to eliminating the poppy trade before the Nations of Virtue invaded in 2001. Thereafter, poppy production increased year after year, with 2014 now being proclaimed the best year ever.

Big Steve shares with the Talibs the absolutist approach to drug prohibition. The Islamic State crew is even more extreme; they don't even permit tobacco use!

That's a policy that would have some resonance with Big Steve's fundamentalist Christian base; ban tobacco, ban drugs, ban alcohol... I think Mr. Harper would feel right at home in the Islamic State!

There's other stuff of course... like the deficits in democracy, the questionable commitment to woman's rights etc... but on the big issues, like the War on Drugs, it looks like Big Steve and his Islamic adversaries are on the same page in the hymnal.