2012 Best Of - Week 87 - Dec 25-Jan 1

The whole purpose of this blog is for me to be able to track all of the crazy shit that the Conservatives are going to do over their 4 year term.  As I look back over the past year...Gawd...I'm just overwhelmed by how much crazy shit they've done.  It's too much for me.  I think that in order to understand how crazy this year was, we need to look at some of the stories that I had to gloss over as I made my list.  Allowing two major Canadian oil companies to be purchased by foreign state controlled enterprises?  Didn't make it.  Allowing a northern British Columbia mine to ship in all of its employees from China at a discounted rate?  Didn't make it.  Closing down a groundbreaking freshwater research station (perhaps because of some troublesome research into the oil sands)?  Didn't make it.  Stripping a layer of environmental protection from our lakes and rivers?  Didn't make it.  What about their continual re-introduction of anti-abortion laws?  Their no questions asked support of Israel?  Looking back, things are way, way worse than I thought.

Lessons in short-sightedness
After years of a ridiculous pro-asbestos position that was mocked by the rest of the world, the asbestos mine responsible for this ridiculous stance closed down.  And somehow the Conservatives are trying to blame the Parti Quebecois for this reckless swerve towards acceptability.

The War on Terror reaches new levels of awesome
A Muslim man in Quebec sent a text message to some work colleagues encouraging them to "blow away the competition" at a trade show.  He was arrested on suspicion of terrorism.  Reddit agrees that this is awesome.

Government cuts lead to a pretty good idea for a comedy sketch
Did you know that Canada is surrounded on three sides by oceans?  I don't think the Conservatives do.  Coast Guard and other naval safety cuts seem to be a favourite of theirs.  In addition to closing the Coast Guard base in the largest port in Canada, they also seem to be struggling to provide effective services in the places that remain open.  This poor Newfoundland fisherman had his emergency medical call transferred to a non-English speaking doctor in Italy when he phoned in for help.

Model citizens
Have you heard about these Queen's Jubilee medals?  Ya, there's something like 60,000 of them being awarded and it sounds like it is largely at the discretion of individual MP's.  One Saskatchewan MP has decided that a pair of ladies who have continually been arrested for anti-abortion related harassment.  He's praised them as "heroines of humanity".  Surprisingly, he's a Conservative.

Limits to democracy
It's actually hard to keep track on the amount of times that the Conservatives limited debate, jammed through mountains of legislation via Omnibus Bills and just kind of messed with democracy by preventing people from asking question.  These are only three examples of a worrisome trend.

War on Crime

Look at that graph above.  See how there has been a steady decline in the crime rate since the early 90's?  See how we're basically at levels not seen since the 70's?  Ya, me too.  But even with all of that, the Conservatives decided to jam through a whole bunch of "Tough on Crime" laws (like mandatory sentencing) even though a whole bunch of people told them that it's a bad idea...And then, they actually have the balls to take all the credit for the last 20 years of dropping crime rates...even though there was a dramatic spike in homicide rates this year.

Not only that, they've decided to:
- Cut prison inmate reform programs - because what we really need is convicts getting out of prison with no real world skills or training
- Close a few prisons even though before their new mandatory minimum sentences can have an affect there are already overcrowding problems...honestly...double bunking!
- Decided that convicts earning between $10 and $69 every two weeks are living high on the hog and they're going to charge them more in rent money
- Created a law whereby it's illegal to riot in a mask...even though it's already illegal to riot in a mask.  Great prioritization, guys!
- Supported a bill to outlaw gang recruiting...ya...that's really going to put the brakes on gang activity

Enbridge and their Magic Pipeline
I actually can't believe that there is still a chance that this Northern Gateway pipeline might get built.  There is just so much wrong with this whole story, I don't know of any other way to tackle it but point form.
1. The Federal Government has suggested that opponents to the Pipeline are terrorists
2. They've also cut so many research positions over the last few years that there probably aren't enough people remaining to adequately research the effects of this pipeline
3. Enbridge created a promotional video that has a map that conveniently ignores all of the nautical hazards that will be faced by the hundreds of tankers steaming towards Kitimat
4. Their clean-up plan submitted to the government is for crude oil, not bitumen
5. While all this was going on, one of their pipelines in Wisconsin started leaking...and they didn't do a particularly good job in responding to it
6. A report came out that crucified the Enbridge response to a 2010 pipeline leak in Michigan...I don't think governments generally throw around terms like "Keystone Cops" lightly
7. After the above mentioned Michigan oil spill, Enbridge executives gave themselves some hefty bonuses
8. They've created a limited liability partnership that will, you guessed it, limit their liability in the event of an oil spill
9. And while all this was going on...while Alberta was screaming at BC for being selfish about not allowing a pipeline...leak after leak after leak after leak popped up across Alberta.
10. Is it a surprise though, seeing as people connected to big oil have had upwards of 2733 meetings with public officials over the last 4 years?

Honestly.  How are we still talking about this pipeline?

Robo-Calls
What is the worst thing about this Conservative government?  The fact that they might not even be legitimate.  The robo-call scandal continues to roll along.  Even worse is the Conservative response to the whole thing.  They demanded that Liberals release all records of "all calls made on their behalf" during the last election, but refuse to release their own records because, obviously, there's no possible chance they have done anything wrong themselves.  That didn't work, so once the cases finally made it to court, they attempted to shirk responsibility through a series of loopholes, smoke and mirrors.  First, they claim the cases were filed too late.  Then, they suggest the complainants should be ignored as they are made by "professional agitators" and the bills are paid by people with a "political bias".  Last, even though a pollster dug up information suggesting that there was voter suppression (they actually tried to have this evidence thrown out), they claimed that everything is okay because even if there were robo-calls, they didn't actually have an effect.


The next section I'm going to call the 2012 Conservative All-Star Team.  With guys like this, how can they possibly get re-elected?

Vic Toews

Where do you start with Vic Toews?  He's accomplished so much in a one year period, it's difficult to know what to talk about.  First, his fingerprints are all over the "tough on crime" section above.  But I think his crowning achievement for the year really was his internet snooping bill.  First, he suggested that if you didn't support his bill then you were "with the child pornographers."  Then, he freaked the hell out when somebody (well, a Liberal staffer) started posting (completely, 100% true) information about his messy, messy divorce (the babysitter?  really?).  At this point, Anonymous started threatening him and, despite his bluster, he actually admitted that he was powerless to stop them and temporarily threw in the towel on the whole thing.  Until he saw an opportunity to use the horrific Luka Magnotta murders for political gains and then reintroduced an even worse internet surveillance bill.  To heap further awful onto an already giant pile of crap, when a journalist asked a pointed question about a particularly over-the-top portion of the bill he became surprised and confused; It was almost as if he had no actual idea about the contents of the very bill he was championing.  (This is a bit of an aside, but I'd like to point out that while the Conservatives are all about using the forces of Government to eavesdrop on citizens, they don't believe that Canadians deserve any government help or protection from identity theft or other cyber-security matters.  That would be government over-reach)  I know you're thinking.  At this point, an ordinary man would sit back and be happy with his accomplishments.  But not Vic Toews.  He was just getting started.  He was the point man for Canada refusing to bring convicts back home via prison transfers.  He actively worked against bringing Omar Khadr home and then made a series of crazy statements once he finally did make it back to Canada.  And he allowed the RCMP and Canadian Border Agency to use information obtained from torture.  Nice job, Vic!

Jason Kenney

Jason Kenney didn't have enough actual immigrants for his press conference.  So he decided to have some of his staff dress up as as "immigrants" to celebrate their "citizenship reaffirmation".  As well, his department decided that the way to deal with the crazy backlogs of applications was just to ignore all applications made before 2008.

Rob Anders

"Sleepy Time" Rob has been caught sleeping several times on the job.  I know, I know, we've all dozed off for a few minutes at work.  But, I bet your little nappy time didn't come in the middle of a Parliamentary Question Period or during a presentation from a group supporting homeless veterans.  Of course, it all would have been alright if he had apologized.  But no, he doubled down and called the homeless veterans support group a bunch of "NDP hacks."  He did eventually apologize.  And then later in the year, he claimed that Jack Layton's death was Thomas Mulcair's fault.  And yes, that is a screen capture of one of his Parliament naps.

Bev Oda

Every time I see the above photo of Bev Oda, I'm actually a little bit sad that she left politics.  Poor Bev had a problem with her expense account.  It all came to a head when it was found she'd racked up crazy bills living it up in London during a conference on the immunization of children in poor countries.  She moved from one luxury hotel to another, charged thousands to have a car and driver at her beck-and-call and then washed it all down with a $16 glass of Orange Juice.

Patrick Brazeau

Doesn't that guy look like a Senator?  As well, he has an atrocious record of attending Senate sittings (you know...his job).  He's absent about 25% of the time.  And when somebody pointed it out and asked some questions, he called her a bitch.  He also may be fraudulently claiming a living allowance.  I will give him credit for his charity boxing match with Justin Trudeau...and his excessive pre-match bragging made it even funnier when he lost.

Iran and I Cried - Week 72 - Sept 10-17

Let's start with a graph:

Yep.  Sure looks like the Conservatives are in "cruise control".  Just like real estate values are "holding steady".

Wow.  The Harper Government has finally "agreed" to stop supporting asbestos mining.  The awesome thing is that they are actually "blaming" the PQ Government for this decision, as they (the PQ) took the lead on made up their own minds.  I can't even come up with an equivalent to illustrate how insanely ludicrous this is.  Here goes though.  Say you have a big family.  You're the father.  And one of your 10 children is a crack addict.  For years and years you support your crack addicted son.  You give him money for crack.  You threaten to beat anybody up that complains about his crack use.  You yell at the police when they show up to bust him and claim that "crack isn't harmful" and all that stuff.  You get angry at all of your neighbours and other children when they try to help your son to stop smoking crack.  You're the ultimate crack enabler.  And then, your son finally comes to his senses, checks in to re-hab and decides that he'll never smoke crack again.  And you begrudgingly write your neighbours, children and local police an e-mail telling them that you've finally caved in to their ludicrous no-crack policies.  But it's all your sons fault.  You'd happily roll along buying him crack if he would just stop being so selfish.

Jason Kenney announces the stripping of citizenship of thousands of people.  Which sounds impressive.  It must have been the Liberals fault that they made it in the first place.

You read Matt Taibbi and it's just like "What's the point?"  He digs out stories that you couldn't even imagine being real and he writes about them in a through and captivating way.  And they're all just so depressing...Anyhow.  Here's another one about banks manipulation of bonds, interest rates, etc.  Depressing.  Straight up bid rigging.

Stephen Harper wins something!  World Statesman of the Year.  Gawsh.  That's fancy!

Grrr....Stupid experts getting in the way of reasonable policy!  Here, some schmuck claims to know more than our beloved leader about what is going on in Iran.  So what if this guy used to be our "Ambassador" to Iran.  What does that even mean?  He should just stick to...whatever it is he does while he's "Ambassadoring".  Not lecturing our beloved leader on how to deal with Iran.  And another one.

I love how all of the political science majors posting in the comments section of this story (Ahmadinajad blames the west for destroying rain clouds) use this as justification for yanking diplomats from Iran.  And the suggestion that if you think the diplomats should stay, obviously you support Iran.  Oh.  Wait.  Here's a Globe and Mail columnist making the same argument.

Experts again!  Who is this guy?  President of some polling company?  Well of course he has a vested interest in...something and should be banned from providing evidence in the robo-calls case.

Speaking of voter suppression.  There was a study done during the last Presidential election.  A Facebook Banner and reward widgets was enough to make a significant bump in polling numbers.  Which is kind of awesome.  And incredibly sad.

Vic Toews sez (not a real quotation): "It's not my fault that Omar Khadr hasn't come back to Canada.  It's the US."  Because nothing is ever his fault.  Doesn't this guy have another job or something?

Is it me, or does it seem kind of crazy that the Vancouver Canucks and the Toronto Maple Leafs have the most expensive ticket prices OF ANY PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAM IN ALL OF NORTH AMERICA!  Not just hockey.  Every sport!  How's it feel to pay for failing hockey franchises in the Southern States, everybody?

Another fantastic story on the moral superiority of Americans.  We have Waste Management actively lobbying against composting laws.  Awesome.

And Intelligent too!  47 Percent of Ohio Republicans are "not sure" if Mitt Romney is more responsible for the death of Osama Bin Laden than Obama.  I for one am glad this country runs the world.

I don't even know.  Some House of Commons clerks don't want to release F-35 documents.

Bye Bye Bev - Week 62 - July 2-6

Holy Crap!  Bev Oda is leaving politics.  Which begs any number of questions.  First and foremost, how does somebody like that get elected multiple times?  How do they get appointed to Cabinet and remain there?  And how can they justify quitting a little more than 1 year after getting elected?  But then again, I guess Bev Oda was never terribly concerned with appearances, propriety or saving taxpayers money.  I'm actually going to miss her.  She was a really nice argument against this government.  "Oh yah.  If you're so smart, tell me one thing that Stephen Harper has done that has been bad for Canada?"

Those stupid Enbridge assholes...They have the gall to complain about a 3.7 Million Dollar Fine by pointing out that they spent over $700 Million on the clean-up.  Ya.  Poor you.  You had to spend $700 Million kind of cleaning up a giant shitstorm of awful that you created through sloppiness, error and poor judgement.  How does this not automatically disqualify them from building a pipeline across British Columbia?

Oh man.  Jean Charest.  Don't follow the lead of Stephen Harper.  Asbestos is not the future of Canada.  How are there two jackasses in such positions of power in one country?

Dean Del Mastro.  First, he complains that the election fraud allegations are "hurting the family name".  Okay.  Not first.  Maybe only.  Anyhow.  The opposition seems like they're willing to give him his chance to clear his name.  And he's meeting with Elections Canada.

Hey immigrants!  Welcome to Canada!  Now fuck off!  No.  Wait.  After considering how terrible this looked a few weeks ago, a few of you can have some healthcare.  But the rest of you can fuck off.  You didn't think you were going to be equals or citizens or anything like that, did you?

This National Post article suggests that NDP support is "slipping".  As one commenter points out, they're quoting surveys done by two different companies, they haven't published what questions were asked and this is easily in the realm of statistical error.  So.  Great story!

Gotta love the even playing field we're on with Hollywood and the record industry.  Remember the Megaupload takedown?  The case is completely falling apart...probably because the raid was conducted at the request of Joe Biden.

Stephen Harper hosted a BBQ at the Stampede.  He talked a lot about how Canada is going to continue with economic dominance.  Who cares about that though.  I'm more interested in Tony Clement, Jason Kenney, Peter McKay and Vic Toews wearing "western duds".  Because I bet they're all kind of authentic.

And, speaking of all those guys...Steve-O has his team and he's sticking with it.  No cabinet shake-up for at least another year.

Here's a few links to end the week.  The Economist suggests Stephen Harper is a bully.  Here is a guest editorial in the Globe about how badly the Conservatives are screwing up Fisheries.   I have to stop linking to these polls!  Canadians come out in support of abortion and gay marriage.

Best of the new Harper Government - 2011 Edition

What a frighteningly awful year it has been in Canadian politics.  If you had told me at the start of this year that we'd end the year with a Conservative majority...well, I would have gotten very angry.  However, that turn of events did inspire me to create this blog - my attempt to document our slide down the slippery slope. 

Here are my top political moments/events/happenings in our new Conservative Canada, where nothing is ever the Government's fault and no question is worth answering or acknowledging and...screw that...you're an idiot for even asking.

Broke their campaign promise to balance the budget by 2014-15 - Actually, we're not going to balance the budget and create a surplus in 2014-15 but we might get around to it in 2015-16 or 2016-17.  And, actually, we're pretty awesome for showing such remarkable budget flexibility.  Hey, it's been 28 weeks since the election when we made that promise.  A lot has changed.  And it's not like this was an important part of the platform or anything.  Heck.  It's way down there at number 3 (of 5) on the list of "key priorities".  The most awesome thing.  It took them only about a week to break the promise.

Introduced copyright legislation that nobody in Canada really wants, except for a bunch of media conglomerates (and the US Government) that aren't really suffering all that much due to piracy - But don't worry, it's not really practical for us to enforce some of this stuff, so you shouldn't really worry about it too much.

Brushed aside a scandal whereby one of their MP's may or may not have had an affair with a woman who may or may not have been a Chinese spy (looks like she probably was) - But you're the idiot for asking about it.

Ignored youth advocates and statistics and lawyers and some of the Provinces (maybe even judges too?) and decided that the key to a better country is a really expensive batch of "tough on crime" laws - What do those "experts" know about anything?

Announced that if British Columbia (and Newfoundland and PEI) didn't immediately sign their RCMP contract as is, then they'd withdraw RCMP services - Just because we call it a "negotiation", it doesn't mean you get to have any input.

Made a series of increasingly baffling announcements and law proposals to stir up Canadian nationalism and remind us of our links to the monarchy - From a crazy law that would forbid you from preventing somebody else from flying a flag, to creating special laws about mischief around war memorials, to re-introducing the "Royal" into our military, to ensuring that the Queen's picture is hanging in our embassies, to War of 1812 re-education...I'm sure I missed one somewhere.

Thoroughly embarrassed Canada by joining up with pillars of the international community (Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Vietnam) to ensure that asbestos didn't make it on to a UN list of controlled substances...so that they could support a mine in Quebec that may or may not have enough asbestos to stay open past 2012. - Hey, small town Quebec votes are more important than an international reputation.  Or a bunch of poor people dieing.

Made a gigantic, huge big deal out of the fact that the temporary head of the NDP had past ties to the Bloc Quebecois...which is fine, except when you ignore the fact that members of your own cabinet have past ties to the Bloc Quebecois.

Created a new form of governing whereby anything that suits your list of priorities that you happened to mention during your campaign warrants no debate whatsoever.  Things that you didn't mention during your campaign don't get much discussion either.  And things that you promised during your campaign but that you can't deliver on, get ignored.  See item #1.

So.  That's it.  All that stuff happened.  4 more years.

Inadvertant Assistance - Week 29 - Nov 14-21

This didn't get much play, but I think that this is a perfect little representation of this Government.  The Conservatives are upset because Quebec is benefitting from a bill that BC, Alberta and Ontario are supposed to benefit from.  Are they going to yell at Stephen Harper for bringing Quebec along on the trip to Dairy Queen as well?  Don't worry though, Cons.  There's a provision to take the ice cream away if their population doesn't keep up.

A memo has circulated within government suggesting that scrapping the gun registry could lead to an increase in illegal weapons crossing the border.  Of course, the Conservatives disagree.  Stupid "experts" getting in the way of positive change.  Who cares about assault rifles coming over the border anyhow.  I mean...if we try to put a lid on that I'm going to have to fill out a form and pay a one-time fee of $60.  What?  The fee is waived if I'm a hunter?  And I don't have to pay it when I renew?

Noted progressive activists (South Africa) are taking Canada to task for not supporting extending the Kyoto protocol.  Damn pinko bastards, making it hard for an honest country to make a living.

Hey.  Why not?  It worked in Guantanamo.  Part of the Omnibus crime legislation would eliminate visitation rights to inmates in segregation.  That, right there is going to cut back on serious amounts of crime.  Just last week, I was getting ready to steal some mangoes.  I stopped and I thought about it for a minute.  But then I was all like "I'll still get visitors if I end up in segregation."  So I pocketed those mangoes, shot the storekeeper and made a nice mango pudding for dessert.

An NDP MP says what we're all thinking.  Why is the story about an NDP MLA swearing?  Why isn't it about the Conservatives cutting off discussion on the budget?  I actually just took the trouble to log in to Twitter and follow him.  That brings my total for number of people that I follow to 7.  And my lone tweet is for an ICBC drivesmart contest to win a Fiat 500.  I'm so modern.  Further analysis from the Globe and Mail seems to get it right.

The Conservatives are planning to use a Wheat Board contingency fund, essentially money that belongs to the members of the wheat board, to pay for the dismantling of the Wheat Board.  Sorry.  Pay for the "shift to a free market".  That's sort of like the Indian charter company holding its passengers hostage in a foreign country for fuel money.  Actually.  No.  It's worse than that.

Even some of Steve-O's little buddies are starting to think that this support for asbestos mining doesn't make much sense.  Although, if abstaining from a vote counts as backbone these days, it's kind of sad.

Not about Canada...but a terrific Salon piece about Americaland and how the root of many of its problems can be traced back to a "blame the victim" mentality.  It is truly stunning. 

As well, the story links to a great page highlighting the actual numbers paid in taxes by the various classes in the US.  I'm actually most shocked that a $100,000 per year income puts you in the top 20% of American earners.  $140,000 in the top 10%.  The top 20% earn 60% of all American income.  This compares to 51% (by my calculations) for Canada.

Fighter Jets!  Now even the US is not 100% sure of their decision to purchase F-35's.  The key line in this article?  "Ottawa estimates its jets will cost between $70-million and $80-million each, even while acknowledging the current unit cost is well over $100-million (U.S.)."  Are they expecting a dramatic rise in the Canadian dollar?  I know everybody will find this to be an incredible surprise...but the Conservatives dismiss this criticism and assure us that everything is fine.

Next up for free trade?  Jordan and Panama!

This is a funny story.  Some Conservatives were late to a committee, a vote was held, the Conservatives lost.  Later on they re-voted and won.  And one of the late Conservatives may or may not be dating Dimitri Soudas.  I'm not sure why that matters.  But this story is funny.

And...never as simple as it sounds, but spending is up 22% since the Conservatives came to power.

Goodbye Jack - Week 16 - Aug 15-22

Wow. Jack Layton is dead. I don't think that I ever voted for the man myself (Vancouver Quadra is about as strategic as it comes...every vote has to count to keep the Conservatives out of this riding). But I always enjoyed his crazy optimism and passionate pursuit of what he believed in. I always thought that if he could have just shifted things a few degrees he would have been an unstoppable force. It's kind of nice that he was able to experience a pretty dramatic election "victory" before passing on. The strangest thing...I swear to god we saw Joy Macpheil standing outside the Darby's Cold Beer and Wine Store last night...like some sort of harbinger of doom.

The Conservatives start the week by taking on one of the real challenges facing this country: Lack of royal identity within the military. Yes, Peter Mackay has caught the royal fever and added the "Royal" back in to our military titles. Now, I don't want you to think that I'm one of these people that says things like "how can you worry about X when there's starving children in Africa!" I believe that human beings are capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time, so taking on more than one problem should be alright. But this is just such a tremendous waste of time. I really don't get it. It offends me that this is a story.

Speaking of offensive...Harper makes gains in best Prime Minster rankings? Good lord. I thought...I thought...Oh man.

It's only taken a few months of killings and Obama to jump on board, but Stephen Harper thinks that the Syrian President should resign.

It's been a good couple of weeks for professional associations in Canada. Last week, lawyers told Stephen Harper his tough-on-crime agenda was stupid. This week, a group of doctors are encouraging a Conservative MP to respect her Hippocratic Oath and help change Conservative policy on asbestos. I think that's pretty awesome.

I heard about this story a few months ago. A North Vancouver man was arrested in Mexico and held without charge for 3 years (or so). They were rallying to try to get somebody from the Federal Government to help them out. They weren't having much luck. It seems like the Harper Government policy is that if you're accused of a crime in another country, you're on your own. Well, good news. The man was released. So if a Mexican judge can look at the evidence and decide that he's not guilty, you'd think that there would be enough doubt that the Canadian Government would deem him worthy of some sort of assistance?

Some BC Politics...I'm not a huge fan of politicizing the courts and criminal complaints. I happen to agree with Jim Chu that it might take some time to adequately sort out all of the charges related to the Stanley Cup Riot and that we will be better served by this in the end. I happen to think that the UK convicting and throwing people in jail within days of the riot is a bit scary and something I'd expect in Syria, not England. And I happen to think that Christy Clark should shut up and let the justice system do it's job without making political statements that will make it tougher for everybody to do their jobs. Because this (dramatic spikes in prison population, excessively harsh sentencing) doesn't sound like the way to do things.

More Asbestos! More Asbestos! - Week 12 - July 18-25

I start this week with the most shockingly ludicrous thing I have encountered in an incredibly long time. How this is not bigger news puzzles me. Apparently the last Asbestos mine in Quebec (you know, the one that the Conservatives are selling out the rest of Canada for?) might be RUNNING OUT OF ASBESTOS. Yes sir. Apparently good leadership involves making your country a laughingstock over a mine that will probably have to close in a short period of time.

Youth advocates are worried that the "tough on crime" bill is going to have a negative impact on susceptible youth. Isn't it awesome that we have a government that completely dismisses the opinion of Criminologists? Why would the people that study this stuff for a living know what they're talking about. They must have a hidden agenda.

Adding to that, we have new statistics out showing that the crime rate is the lowest it has been since 1973. The Conservative response? "Unlike the Opposition, we do not use statistics as an excuse not to get tough on criminals." Wow. This is like a Trifecta of Conservative response awesomeness. Make the question asker feel stupid. Throw in a jab at the Opposition. Ignore and diminish all that silly sciency type stuff.

In this week's 2nd installment of Strange Stephen Harper Obsessions, we once again have the Arctic. Nothing new here, just more talk about Mr. Harper's blustering and an observation that what it lacks in substance is made up for in politicking.

It's funny that there is still a discussion about whether or not additional immigration will cause a drain in society. Most of the immigrants that I work with scare me, not because I fear I might have to pay for their health care. They work so damn hard and I fear that it makes me and my entitled ways look bad. So, ya, I don't think an extra 30,000 immigrants a year is going to ruin Canada.

This boingboing post explains precisely why we should not pursue a US style copyright system. Shortened version - Man creates song, posts it to the Internet. Major label likes song, wants Eminem to license it and use it as his own. Major label submits DMCA takedown notice to Youtube claiming it owns the rights to the song and that the youtube video is committing copyright infringement. Label initiates negotiations with the artist to take ownership of the song. Criminal. This is why music companies should not be allowed to arbitrarily decide what is and what isn't allowed on the Internet. This is what they are pushing for in Canada.

And to follow up on that, apparently there was a report commissioned to follow up on the purchasing habits of users of a raided and shut down file sharing site. The findings? Well, the average "internet pirate" on the site actually spent far more on legitimate entertainment expenses (movie theaters, media, etc.) than the average person. Which kind of reinforces the argument that piracy can help sell copyrighted items...but the company that commissioned the report didn't like the outcome so it was never released.

Lastly, apparently files are not always handed over from one MP to another in the event of a Parliamentary defeat. This does not seem like the best way for a government to transition, does it?

Celebrating the Crap out of Canada Day - Week 9 - June 27-July 4

This started out as a really boring week, before it picked up some steam over the long weekend. Can you believe that Parliament only sat from June 2nd-June 23rd? I mean, thank god. Who knows what kind of crazy crap they'd come up with if they actually stayed in session for any period of time. But 21 days? That's crazy. They're not back until September 19th.

Anyhow, I started the week grasping at straws, so we'll start with my panic post.

In honour of Canada Day, let's look back on some history. Did you know that Income Tax in Canada originated during the First World War? Indeed, it was meant as a temporary measure to help pay for wartime spending.

So, doing a bit more research...the Prime Minister at that time? Sir Robert Borden. Who happened to be a Conservative. Yes. The Conservatives brought in a "temporary income tax"...94 years ago. That's probably one of their oldest broken campaign promises.

Moving along to actual items...

This Globe and Mail opinion piece nicely sums up my exasperation with the political landscape of today.

Another Globe and Mail article talks about the Senate and it's handling of the Canada Post back to work legislation, pointing out that their reading of it added a "real, ongoing contribution to public discourse and public policy." Which is a fair point. In the past, Liberal senators have made some remarkable points about drug law, amongst other things. But honestly...we have an entire branch of government in place to add to public discourse and public policy? That seems a bit indirect and frivolous, no? Especially when nobody, especially the Prime Minister, is required to listen to them.

To further honour Canada Day, the "Harper Government" decided to show it's appreciation for the arts. So they've decided to micromanage arts funding because Canada does not want to "fund plays that glorify terrorism." They have cut off the funding to an entire festival because they didn't agree with one of the plays that happened LAST YEAR. Because anything that talks about terrorism is obviously glorifying it.

Slate takes Canada to task for it's stance on Asbestos. They point out that as we're busy exporting the stuff we're making sure we remove every last molecule of it from the Parliament buildings. Another Globe and Mail article on asbestos as well.

Tony Clement steps in it by tweeting a candid shot of the visiting Royals. Once again, I don't think it's the photo or the tweeting that bothers me, it's the complete lack of acceptance that he may have done something wrong. Only a Harper Cabinet Member could be oblivious to the questionable optics of using your government post to put yourself in a position to take a photo of the backs of two of the most privacy-crazed individuals on earth and then tweet about it. And then...standard Conservative response..."We did nothing wrong. You're stupid for even raising this as an issue. The whole thing might even be your fault." Perhaps the last bit might be a bit of a stretch, but not much.

Moving along to even more concern about the G8 Summit. This time, the RCMP has pointed out that if somebody had decided to shoot one of the 8 leaders, Muskoka probably would have worked out pretty well for them. The same report also points out that several planners had little relevant experience, information and file sharing (amongst security groups, I assume) was poor and that six undercover teams were quietly monitoring all protest groups. Because obviously that's going to be your source of assasination attempts and other "criminal activity".

And finally, in our Strange Stephen Harper Obsessions posting for the week, a "show of force" in the High Arctic is planned for the near future. I'm not sure if I'm more troubled by us wasting money running around in the arctic thinking that people are impressed or by us considering 1,000 troops to be a "show of force".

Actually...more finally...let's end the week off with a running list of Strange Stephen Harper Obsessions:

The Arctic
Asbestos
The Long Gun Registry
Per Vote Subsidies

I feel like I'm missing a couple. But honestly...he just can't let some of that stuff go.

Government Mandated Truth - Week 8 - June 20-27

I'm sure nothing will come of it, but it's been announced that the RCMP is looking in to complaints on G8 spending. Which probably means that somebody at the RCMP read something about it on the Internet. What bothers me the most is John Baird's outright dismissal here, calling it a "public relations stunt". I'm sick and tired of these yabbos blaming everything on the person asking the question. That's actually the opposite of accountibility.

Next, the Conservatives target climate scientists at Environment Canada with job cuts. Well. Climate Change doesn't exist. Why would you waste money studying it?

Canada continues to embarrass itself by officially denying a UN declaration of asbestos as hazardous. And since the declaration has to be unanimous, there will therefore be no declaration of Asbestos as hazardous by the UN. And we complain when China or Russia step in and derail things with their Security Council vote. Even India, Vietnam, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan came around to changing their stance on this item. Actually, this probably opens up some Harper spin. "Canada Valiantly Opposes Baltic/Near East Asbestos Denial Axis at UN Summit". (In the end, the axis joined up with Canada. But I'm not writing a whole new paragraph just for that.) Add this to the lengthening list of "Strange Stephen Harper Obsessions."


And another case of "this is the truth because I say so." The Conservatives call the investigation of detainee abuse in Afghanistan closed because nothing in their redacted documents indicates that anything happened. Missing from the records...anything deemed legal advice or related to cabinet confidence. It would seem to me that any important discussion would probably be related to one of these two things.

Oh man. This is like...our two favourite things combined into one topic of awesomeness. Christy Clark...encourages Senate reform...and the addition of 10 Senate seats for British Columbia. Actually...she encourages abolition of the Senate, but if that doesn't work, then she wants to make it bigger. Ya...that doesn't make any sense at all.

And then...What the hell? Gordon Campbell is going to be the Canadian Ambassador to England? Sorry. "High Commissioner". Ya. We should probably reward criminally convicted premieres run out of office on a rail.

After an NDP filibuster (I didn't even know that was possible in Canada), the Conservatives passed back to work legislation for Canada Post employees. This article points out that this is the sort of thing that's supposed to happen in Parliament. I think the Conservatives were probably upset that they might once again miss a chance to stick it to striking workers.

And finally, John Baird begins his new role as International Courier with a quick trip to Libya.

Left Below - Week 3 - May 17-24

This is the headline of the year. "Believers confused as Judgement Day doesn't come." I can actually see a whole bunch of Stephen Harper's cabinet getting together late Saturday evening, speculating on where it all went wrong and trying to decide on what the new plan is.

On to Senate appointments. I never thought that I would envy the US democratic system. However, here we are. The US has it's crazy system with a Senate, House of Representatives and President (let me just check Wikipedia to make sure I have that right...yep...). They require a hyper-majority to get anything done, they give way too much power to lightly populated states and the President can more-or-less veto anything at any point and time. But look at us. One Parliament. An appointed Senate. Our national leader selected with 24% of the vote. It's practically a dictatorship.

So, I'm almost on board with Stephen Harper's ideas for Senate reform. Why not have a secondary branch of government as a check and/or balance to Parliament? It makes sense. And that makes the appointment of recently defeated candidates to the Senate all the more baffling. Is it an elaborate ploy to enlighten us on the perils of the current system? Or a giant middle finger to those who might question his power? Lucky for us, they aren't actually responsible for doing anything.

As well, the cabinet was named this week. I don't have anything to say about this, other than I hope that John Baird is more civil in his dealings with other countries than he is in his dealings with other political parties.

Oh boy, does this ever sound ominous. Tony Clement promises deep cuts in government programs. Funny, I don't remember them campaigning on that.

And speaking of things not campaigned on, the Globe and Mail talks about the "Solid Americas Strategy" but doesn't really explain what it is. It does, however, point out that "the missing substance to the plans has been a liability."

And finally, some scathing commentary on Canadian foreign policy, specifically relating to John Stewart and Asbestos mining.

Lastly...in AmericaLand. How awesome would an Obama "Made in the USA" T-shirt be? I don't think we're allowed to donate as Canadians. I need to figure out how to get one of those shirts.