Paul Martin - The Black Knight

Oh, oh, I see, running away then. You yellow
bastards! Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite
your legs off! - BLACK KNIGHT to King Arthur - Scene 4 - In Search of the Holy Grail


In yet another stark example of life imitating art, our Prime Minister today stood before the nation, announced that he now would send $170 million of aid to Darfur, and assured us that his government is in control and functioning as it ought.

I could not help but be taken back to the Black Knight scene in Monty Python's "In Search of the Holy Grail". (Here is the link to the scene's script for those of you unfamiliar with it -http://www.rit.edu/~smo4215/monty.htm#Scene%204)

King Arthur comes upon the Black Knight who appears to be a worthy knight. He invites him to join the crusade, but the knight repudiates the King and challenges him to a fight. Arthur systematically whacks away the knight's extremeties one at a time, at each juncture offering him the chance to yield with grace. The graceless, stubborn knight refuses and becomes more aggressive with the loss of each limb. The scene ends with the armless and legless torso of the Black Knight spitting invective at King Arthur.

There is much that is Pythonesque about what is happening in Ottawa and Mr. Martin as the Black Knight is the most pathetic figure of all. Feckless and desperately hoping that enough Canadians will be gormless enough to swallow the Liberal propaganda that will paint them as victim of a power hungry Conservative/Bloc alliance, Mr. Martin clings to power and offers tax payer money as bribes to the NDP, to Ontarians and to the push-me-pull-me member from Edmonton Mr. Kilgour.

Is there an ounce of self-respect left in Mr. Martin and the Liberal party or are they so utterly soaked in the slime of sycophancy and malfeasance that has emerged from the Gomery inquiry, that there is no hope of lighting even the faintest flicker of a flame of conscience amongst them?

But then conscience appears to be a word bereft of any real meaning in the lexicon of politicians who have not been humbled by electoral defeat. George Cardinal Pell says, "We think well when we understand moral principles and apply them in clear and reasonable ways; we think badly when we ignore or reinvent moral principles, or apply them in ambiguous and unreasonable ways. 'Good conscience' in this way of understanding, means a grasp and good application of moral truth - for it is the truth that remains primary, the truth that is grapsed and applied by the practical mind."

Should Paul Martin and the Liberals be re-elected when the election comes as it inevitably must, it will mean that conscience for a sufficient number of Canadians has come to mean nothing more than a personal freedom to judge by our own resources and to act as we each think best for ourselves. The corruption, mendacity, avarice for power and generally dissolute nature of the Liberal party and the core of its leadership will have been ignored. The opportunity for the many decent, honest, thoughtful Liberals to clean house, regroup and emerge in 4 or 5 years out from under the rotten carcass that now covers them, will have been lost.

The re-election of the federal Liberals will mean Canada will have lost even more of its lustre as a nation. The little stump of a man and the ragtag band of moral cripples whom he protects will indeed have won another battle. He will have bitten off the legs of the latest crusader for truth and justice and accountability and all Canadians will be tarnished by his victory.