Ralph Klein-Plagiarist
Ralph's always said that
he's 'made a career out of
finding a parade and
getting in front of it.'
Well, for once he may
be onto something-
after all,
clowns do lead parades,
don't they?
Nearly as bizarre as his midnight madness at the homeless shelter, was Klein shamelessly lifting a sizable chunk of his term paper on the Pinochet/Allende regimes off of the Net, then proudly waving it around in the Legislature wondering what all the fuss was about when called on to answer for it.
Seems to me Klein has always come off as a laughable buffoon, and the thing that irks me is why more people don't see him that way. His remarks that throughout his life he just finds a parade and puts himself in front of it, immediately brings to mind the image of clowns leading parades (a Freudian slip, perhaps?).
What concerns me more than the plagiarism is the fact that, while he's aware that Pinochet was a brutal dictator, (remember the Chilean death squads?), and Allende was a democratically-elected leader, Klein seems totally unconcerned by this.
Allende promoted 'democratic socialism'-governing by elections and legislation rather than violent change. He redistributed land and nationalized foreign-owned businesses (much to the chagrin of the U.S. government). The CIA worked to destabilize his government, and in the ensuing economic turmoil, eventually succeeded with a coup led by General Augusto Pinochet who ruled Chile with an iron fist for the next 17 years, leaving countless thousands of innocent civilians to suffer at the hands of his infamous 'death squads'.
Klein's take on this seems to be one of both indifference to the fate of the Chillean people, and a total lack of respect for their wishes.
He seems sympathetic to the (mostly) foreign-owned multi-national corporations that were forced to abandon their interests in Chile when Allende took over. This is what he said in the Legislature: "It sounds like (former president Salvador) Allende in Chile, you know, when he took over all the coppermines and said the Americans are out, the government now owns all the coppermines, all the minerals, all the resources, all the mining ..."(this is a bad thing?)
Lookin' good, Ralph!!
"Pinochet came in, Mr. Speaker, and I'm not saying that Pinochet was any better, but because of the only elected communist in Chile, Allende, and the socialist reforms he put in, Pinochet was forced, I would say, to mount a coup."
" . . . My only purpose for making those remarks was to point out that socialism can often lead to unintended repercussions to society. Unfortunately, that's what happened in Chile."
Unfortunately?...Klein's total lack of compassion or concern for the citizens of Chile-deeming American and other foreign interests more important than the wishes and welfare of the people-is totally unacceptable. One could assume that if an NDP government were to be elected in Canada, Ralph would be begging the Americans for a coup to oust the 'Commie bastards' to prevent them taking control of Canada's abundant resources from his (mostly) American big business buddies.
Klein is ethically and morally bankrupt, and the price we pay for his buffoonery is that we have a clown in the Legislature making decisions that are definitely not in the best interests of the majority of Albertans.
It's also interesting to note that while Ralph's plagiarism was roundly condemned by education institutions throughout Alberta, they quickly did a '180' after private meetings with then-Education Minister Lyle Oberg. Following the meetings with Oberg, universities around the province were falling over each other to offer glowing praise of Klein's 'aspiration to higher learning'. Well, gag me with a spoon!!
Incidentally, Ralph, I trust you received your diploma from USC (University of Southern Comfort) personally signed by Sally Struthers, of course. Congrats!!
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