By Bill McIntyre —— Bio and Archives March 26, 2010
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"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. THEN THEY CAME for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. THEN THEY CAME for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. THEN THEY CAME for me and by that time no one was left to speak up."It seems to me the parallels are uncanny. I mentioned I the past that if this anti-democratic and clearly illegal situation is allowed to continue both the McGunity government and the OPP will be responsible for any ensuing violence, property damage, injuries or deaths that occur. When I was growing up in Ontario in the 1950s and 1960s, the OPP were regarded as one of the finest police forces in Canada and possibly the world, next to the RCMP. They were noted for their training, their professionalism and their sense of fair play. What has happened? In Caledonia these principles appear to have been abandoned. Where are the men and women in the ranks who have the courage to stand up to the goons and not tarnish this once proud police organization? Where is the integrity and the desire to uphold the rule of law for everyone? It has obviously been bred out of the current coterie of members. Through their complicity, I believe that they have sullied and disrespected every member of that force who has died in the line of duty. This is sad commentary given the recent funeral of murdered Police Constable Vu Pham who, by all accounts, was a very proud and dedicated family man, a contributor to his community and was deservedly well respected. It makes one wonder if any of the members in Caledonia are the least bit ashamed of their role in all of this. Still it all comes down to the silence of the media, the choice of other Ontario communities to remain silent and the entrenchment of racist policies in the standard operating procedures of the force and among the McGuinty Liberals. Perhaps too many people fear the consequences of speaking out. If they are, they should take time to read The Hangman by Maurice Ogden. You can easily find it on Google. In any event it is the story of a hangman who comes to town and starts his work by hanging an alien (foreign) resident. No one spoke up in an attempt to stop him. Progressing from that point, he eventually hung everyone in the town. The second last quatrain of the poem is chilling in its simplicity yet carries the solution to stopping the events in Caledonia and, indeed, anywhere else where the cancer spreads. It reads: "Dead!" I answered, and amiably "Murdered," the Hangman corrected me. "First the alien ... then the Jew. I did no more than you let me do." Sound familiar?
Bill now devotes his time to his media/communications consulting firm while fighting for time to pursue freelance writing assignments, promote television projects and create the odd movie script.