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Hey, God bless Canada, too!

>by Rick Salutin
January 20, 2006

Hidden agendas? Hell, I'm worried about the open ones. Like what? A sage seven-year-old recently said, after watching Oliver! the musical, “I'm glad they don't put kids in jail any more.” I didn't have the heart to tell him the Harper agenda includes sentencing 14-year-olds as adults, with stiffer terms, but no plan to attack conditions like unemployment that breed youth crime and violence.

The problem isn't that this lacks compassion or is ineffective. The problem is it's counterproductive. As evidence, I cite: the United States. Research and common sense indicate that you simply incubate more grim behaviour by increasing desperation and alienation while reducing alternatives. The same effect occurs internationally. The Bush war on terror has expanded the amount and range of terror it claims to be fighting, for the same reason: It refuses to deal with incubating causes and, in the process, becomes a cause itself....

The rest: http://www.rabble.ca/columnists_full.shtml?x=45948