I've been away. You get no re-cap. Just some stuff that I saw over the last two days.
Well. One thing, really. Angry John Baird continues his crusade against the UN. Because a UN Envoy suggested that companies that worked on illegal Jewish settlements and such should be held accountable. ANTI-SEMITE!
Monday, October 29, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Get your fix - Week 76 - Oct 8-15
Whoah...I just clued in to the rhyme in my title.
Well. I'll be away for a couple of weeks. So there will be a bit of a break after this post. Maybe a summary of all that has gone wrong once I get back? Who knows.
I think that most people can agree that spending millions of dollars of other peoples money to tell the world how great you are is bad form. Especially when you're a government. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars telling people that you're saving their money and making things better in these tough economic times.
The Enbridge hearings are digging in to Enbridges past ability to detect and stop leaks. Short version of the story: They can't and they haven't. How this doesn't disqualify them immediately from building more pipelines is beyond me. But apparently detecting and stopping leaks isn't a big part of the job of running a pipeline. Imagine if we were contracting out our prison services and the company had past experience with inmates escaping, not catching them and not being able to detect that they had escaped. Would they still be in the running for that contract?
A Conservative take on "The Tragedy of the Commons". This idiot summarizes "the tragedy of the commons" as "the Tragedy of the Commons problem, where lack of private ownership causes a resource to be overused." Oh...so if all of our parks and lakes and everything were privately owned, we'd all be okay.
An internal quirk of the CMHC valuation process may have led to an increase in the run-up of our housing prices?
Conservatives for science! A new study announces that the oil sands aren't a problem for the environment. Unfortunately several scientists have pointed out that the methodology is flawed (too far away for samples to be meaningful). As well...it just happens that the study was funded by Suncor.
Here's another report showing that baby boomers haven't really "earned" all of their entitlements...as we'll be paying the bill for years.
I like this headline (which will probably get changed several times in the next few hours as that's what the Globe does)"NDP Attacks Conservatives for How They're Attacking NDP"
Check out this graph on drug enforcement spending in the US of A. Ya, that seems to be working pretty well. There seems to be far less drugs and violence these days.
Well. I'll be away for a couple of weeks. So there will be a bit of a break after this post. Maybe a summary of all that has gone wrong once I get back? Who knows.
I think that most people can agree that spending millions of dollars of other peoples money to tell the world how great you are is bad form. Especially when you're a government. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars telling people that you're saving their money and making things better in these tough economic times.
The Enbridge hearings are digging in to Enbridges past ability to detect and stop leaks. Short version of the story: They can't and they haven't. How this doesn't disqualify them immediately from building more pipelines is beyond me. But apparently detecting and stopping leaks isn't a big part of the job of running a pipeline. Imagine if we were contracting out our prison services and the company had past experience with inmates escaping, not catching them and not being able to detect that they had escaped. Would they still be in the running for that contract?
A Conservative take on "The Tragedy of the Commons". This idiot summarizes "the tragedy of the commons" as "the Tragedy of the Commons problem, where lack of private ownership causes a resource to be overused." Oh...so if all of our parks and lakes and everything were privately owned, we'd all be okay.
An internal quirk of the CMHC valuation process may have led to an increase in the run-up of our housing prices?
Conservatives for science! A new study announces that the oil sands aren't a problem for the environment. Unfortunately several scientists have pointed out that the methodology is flawed (too far away for samples to be meaningful). As well...it just happens that the study was funded by Suncor.
Here's another report showing that baby boomers haven't really "earned" all of their entitlements...as we'll be paying the bill for years.
I like this headline (which will probably get changed several times in the next few hours as that's what the Globe does)"NDP Attacks Conservatives for How They're Attacking NDP"
Check out this graph on drug enforcement spending in the US of A. Ya, that seems to be working pretty well. There seems to be far less drugs and violence these days.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Giving Thanks - Week 75 - Oct 1-8
This seemed like an incredibly slow week in Canadian politics. Perhaps
everybody was just excited about the US Presidential Debate? Speaking
of which, what a horror show. Every time Obama spoke I was thinking
"Okay...here it comes...coherent words..." but they never came. Romney
seemed absolutely certain of what he was speaking, even if it had no
bearing on reality. The worst moment for me was right after Romney
launched into a passionate attack on Obamacare and I thought "Man...here
it is. A perfect chance to sell this program. Talk about the millions
of people that can't qualify for insurance and the bankruptcies and the
fact that the US Government already spends more per capita on health
care then other nations with fully nationalized health care and that
it's insurance companies that are driving up the costs and all that."
But no. A ramblingly incoherent spiel about...who even remembers? Gosh that was terrible. Anyhow, I
think Obama needs to just Sara Palin the shit out of the next debate.
Memorize a series of 2 minute speeches on his key talking points and
just ignore all the questions and talk about what he wants.
Somehow I don't think that this was big news. The Canadian Government accidentally ran some ads on the Pirate Bay. Which is sort of awesome.
Seems like the Conservatives have learned something from the Copyright Lobby. If your immediate proposal isn't approved, tweak it a bit and keep trying. Heck, even if you get exactly what you want, tweak it a bit and keep trying, but we haven't gotten there yet. Anyhow, there's a new backbench motion to outlaw "sex selection abortion". Don't worry. They have reams of data to back up the need for this. What? They don't have any data? They've only mentioned one study?
I know I promised to try to elevate the tone of political discourse by refraining from name-calling and such. But "Sleepy Time" Rob Anders is throwing me off my game here by suggesting that Thomas Mulcair contributed to Jack Layton's death. Who votes for these people?
Keeping going, it's like a rogue's gallery of Conservative incompetence. Vic Toews makes comments about Omar Khadr that a government minister probably shouldn't. Maybe he thinks he's a talk show host and not a government minister? The comment of the story: pointing out that a decade in prison had "radicalized" him. Soooooo....because we kept this kid in prison for so long without charge or trial, we can't possibly let him out because he hates us too much for what we did to him.
Somehow I don't think that this was big news. The Canadian Government accidentally ran some ads on the Pirate Bay. Which is sort of awesome.
Seems like the Conservatives have learned something from the Copyright Lobby. If your immediate proposal isn't approved, tweak it a bit and keep trying. Heck, even if you get exactly what you want, tweak it a bit and keep trying, but we haven't gotten there yet. Anyhow, there's a new backbench motion to outlaw "sex selection abortion". Don't worry. They have reams of data to back up the need for this. What? They don't have any data? They've only mentioned one study?
I know I promised to try to elevate the tone of political discourse by refraining from name-calling and such. But "Sleepy Time" Rob Anders is throwing me off my game here by suggesting that Thomas Mulcair contributed to Jack Layton's death. Who votes for these people?
Keeping going, it's like a rogue's gallery of Conservative incompetence. Vic Toews makes comments about Omar Khadr that a government minister probably shouldn't. Maybe he thinks he's a talk show host and not a government minister? The comment of the story: pointing out that a decade in prison had "radicalized" him. Soooooo....because we kept this kid in prison for so long without charge or trial, we can't possibly let him out because he hates us too much for what we did to him.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Entitlement - Week 74 - Sept 24-Oct 1
There was an awesome comment on the National Post today
about "Boomer Entitlement". Somebody replied "I'm a boomer and the only
thing I feel entitled to is what I've spent my life paying for." Or
something like that. It made me wonder...
First up, please follow this link to a CBC article with an interactive chart on the Deficit. Seems to me that we've run a deficit (more-or-less) from the early 60's to the late 90's. So...that seems to me do be 30 years of not paying for what you've earned. Thinks perk up for a few years. Check out this graph. You can see how the Liberals almost immediately cut the deficit, resulting in a surplus in their 5th year. Steve-O inherits a nice surplus which he holds for...oh...10 minutes or so. Really. Startling, striking figures. Trudeau does seem to be the worst offender though.
And on that note, we're soon going to have to really start defining which Trudeau we are talking about, as Justin confirms that maybe, well, he might just be running for Liberal leader. Wait. He didn't actually confirm it yet? The National Post already called him out as the next Prime Minister.
In the political move of the year, Thomas Mulcair announces support for a pipeline from Alberta to the East. His reasoning is that this can be built in a way that it won't be environmentally destructive (perhaps I projected that in there myself) and it will help to refine a raw product and generate value within Canada. In one reasoned argument he's shown:
1) He's not opposed to all oil sands.
2) His opposition to Northern Gateway really is about the environment.
3) He's serious about creating value from our oil in Canada.
Really. Well done. I kind of hope I'd be saying the same thing if Steve-O had made this proclmation.
I love this farcical hard line on Iran. First, the whole embassy/ambassador thing. Because we only have embassies and ambassadors with countries that we like. Now, the Canadian delegation storms out of Ahmadinejads speech at the UN (again...I'm pretty sure this has happened before). Honestly, did they just go there so that they could storm out? Did they sit there with an open mind for a few minutes and then decide that this whole thing wasn't really up their alley?
Omar made it back home.
Oh abortion. How exciting you made this week. First up, I think we should thank the good lord for this weeks vote on "exploring the definition of a human being". What better way to flush out all the social Conservatives! As well, read the comment boards on some of these stories. All of a sudden it's all CONSERVATIVES FOR SCIENCE! "We don't want to change anything, we just want to explore the science of it all!" Unless you're using science for crazy things like exploring climate change or evolution, they're all for it. Man. I'm using too many exclamation marks lately.
And then there is Rona Ambrose. Rona Ambrose, the "Status of Women" Minister. The woman who is supposed to be out there, crusading for womens rights. Voted for this crazy motion. People pointed out that she's entitled to her opinion and how dare these crazy feminazis try to stifle her right to have these opinions! Do they know she's not the "Status of this particular woman" Minister and the minister (supposedly) for all women?
This is why I am a proud pirate and will never give these scumbags any of my money if I can in any way help it. We just passed Copyright reform. True, isn't wasn't the all encompassing police state that the various entertainment industries wanted, but it gave them a lot of stuff. But no. Not good enough. They couldn't get their law through so they'll try another way to ram this shit through. Internet disconnection may be a part of an international trade agreement. Ohhhh...THIS is why all those people hate globalization.
The Globe and Mail continues their continually weird "Expat Dispatches" series. They've put a lot of effort into tracking down Canadians that have bad things to say about Obama. Honestly, you'd think that every single Canadian living in the US is some crazed right winger from reading this series.
Stephen Harper plans on a big "Buy Canadian" push for military procurement. Too bad we have no military equipment manufacturing industry to speak of. And then there's that whole pesky NAFTA thing.
Hey, did you know that there's a crazily disproportionate number of aboriginal women in Canadian prisons? And it's feared that the tough-on-crime agenda will only make this worse? Ya, I don't think the government did either.
How does this ground beef recall have you feeling about food safety in Canada?
Another big story this week was Margaret Wente and her plagiarism. God. I don't care if she shoplifted a chocolate bar. If this gets rid of her, I'm all for it. This Tyee article points out that it's probably not bigger news because journalists feel it is bad form to kick a competitor when they're down at risk of seeming petty...This isn't a problem at the National Post.
Here's another great Rolling Stone article talking about the US FBI entrapment machine: creating terrorist plots just so that they can knock them down. This one on the 5 Occupy kids caught trying to blow up a bridge.
This article is very interesting. I actually had to punch this in to a calculator to make sure I didn't have it wrong (the number is just so staggering)...but apparently 5.5% of all teenage girls in Mississipi get pregnant! Which is crazy. It seems even crazier, but the bastion of progressive knowledge example held up as the "right way to do things" (New York) is at 2.26%. Yes. Half the number. But still very high.
First up, please follow this link to a CBC article with an interactive chart on the Deficit. Seems to me that we've run a deficit (more-or-less) from the early 60's to the late 90's. So...that seems to me do be 30 years of not paying for what you've earned. Thinks perk up for a few years. Check out this graph. You can see how the Liberals almost immediately cut the deficit, resulting in a surplus in their 5th year. Steve-O inherits a nice surplus which he holds for...oh...10 minutes or so. Really. Startling, striking figures. Trudeau does seem to be the worst offender though.
And on that note, we're soon going to have to really start defining which Trudeau we are talking about, as Justin confirms that maybe, well, he might just be running for Liberal leader. Wait. He didn't actually confirm it yet? The National Post already called him out as the next Prime Minister.
In the political move of the year, Thomas Mulcair announces support for a pipeline from Alberta to the East. His reasoning is that this can be built in a way that it won't be environmentally destructive (perhaps I projected that in there myself) and it will help to refine a raw product and generate value within Canada. In one reasoned argument he's shown:
1) He's not opposed to all oil sands.
2) His opposition to Northern Gateway really is about the environment.
3) He's serious about creating value from our oil in Canada.
Really. Well done. I kind of hope I'd be saying the same thing if Steve-O had made this proclmation.
I love this farcical hard line on Iran. First, the whole embassy/ambassador thing. Because we only have embassies and ambassadors with countries that we like. Now, the Canadian delegation storms out of Ahmadinejads speech at the UN (again...I'm pretty sure this has happened before). Honestly, did they just go there so that they could storm out? Did they sit there with an open mind for a few minutes and then decide that this whole thing wasn't really up their alley?
Omar made it back home.
Oh abortion. How exciting you made this week. First up, I think we should thank the good lord for this weeks vote on "exploring the definition of a human being". What better way to flush out all the social Conservatives! As well, read the comment boards on some of these stories. All of a sudden it's all CONSERVATIVES FOR SCIENCE! "We don't want to change anything, we just want to explore the science of it all!" Unless you're using science for crazy things like exploring climate change or evolution, they're all for it. Man. I'm using too many exclamation marks lately.
And then there is Rona Ambrose. Rona Ambrose, the "Status of Women" Minister. The woman who is supposed to be out there, crusading for womens rights. Voted for this crazy motion. People pointed out that she's entitled to her opinion and how dare these crazy feminazis try to stifle her right to have these opinions! Do they know she's not the "Status of this particular woman" Minister and the minister (supposedly) for all women?
This is why I am a proud pirate and will never give these scumbags any of my money if I can in any way help it. We just passed Copyright reform. True, isn't wasn't the all encompassing police state that the various entertainment industries wanted, but it gave them a lot of stuff. But no. Not good enough. They couldn't get their law through so they'll try another way to ram this shit through. Internet disconnection may be a part of an international trade agreement. Ohhhh...THIS is why all those people hate globalization.
The Globe and Mail continues their continually weird "Expat Dispatches" series. They've put a lot of effort into tracking down Canadians that have bad things to say about Obama. Honestly, you'd think that every single Canadian living in the US is some crazed right winger from reading this series.
Stephen Harper plans on a big "Buy Canadian" push for military procurement. Too bad we have no military equipment manufacturing industry to speak of. And then there's that whole pesky NAFTA thing.
Hey, did you know that there's a crazily disproportionate number of aboriginal women in Canadian prisons? And it's feared that the tough-on-crime agenda will only make this worse? Ya, I don't think the government did either.
How does this ground beef recall have you feeling about food safety in Canada?
Another big story this week was Margaret Wente and her plagiarism. God. I don't care if she shoplifted a chocolate bar. If this gets rid of her, I'm all for it. This Tyee article points out that it's probably not bigger news because journalists feel it is bad form to kick a competitor when they're down at risk of seeming petty...This isn't a problem at the National Post.
Here's another great Rolling Stone article talking about the US FBI entrapment machine: creating terrorist plots just so that they can knock them down. This one on the 5 Occupy kids caught trying to blow up a bridge.
This article is very interesting. I actually had to punch this in to a calculator to make sure I didn't have it wrong (the number is just so staggering)...but apparently 5.5% of all teenage girls in Mississipi get pregnant! Which is crazy. It seems even crazier, but the bastion of progressive knowledge example held up as the "right way to do things" (New York) is at 2.26%. Yes. Half the number. But still very high.
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