Fuck off! The Cons are planning an ad blitz for their delayed budget. This is fucking shameful. Like your deadbeat neighbour hiring a skywriter to announce that he finally mowed his lawn - but he's running for block president and used block party funds to pay for the skywriter.
This TFW thing is getting nasty. We're going to start throwing any out that are here for too long.
The cost of the ISIS mission is classified, because the terrorists will be able to know exactly what we're up to if they find out our budget. So is Kenney going to be on trial for treason? $528 Million is a lot of war to bring.
Every time a total Conservative shithead quits the party, I feel a bit sad. The anti-Evolution MP has quit...so that he can talk more about how much he hates evolution?
More progress on Climate Change. From the US and Mexico. As Canada falls further behind.
This
is amazing. People asked for help from the government due to expensive
and hard to find daycare for young children...Conservatives respond with tax benefit for people with kids up to the age of 17...for, you know...daycare or something.
Michael
Geist outlines the lengths the Government went to in order to call witnesses in support of Bill C-51. All sorts of crazed, right wing Americans.
This link speculates that the National Firearms Association agreed to not oppose Harper on C-51 if he moved forward on C-42. And the members are kind of confused.
Paul Martin doesn't think the Conservatives have done a very good job with the economy for the last 10 years. Which must be like selling your house and watching the crackheads that bought it slowly destroy it.
The
Senate expenses scandal should not be about not eating a free
lunch...Complaining that a Senator bought lunch before a flight feels
like it misses the point. Up to 40 Senators have questionable expenses.
Another story points out the incongruity of Duffy being charged while Wright isn't.
A victory for Civil Liberties? Cops blatantly trample on protesters
rights and several years later, the courts officially recognize that
this is wrong but not even a slap on the wrist is handed out? Okay.
This feels like reverse trolling - An article specifically written to bring
out the worst in commenters. "Restaurant dress codes open to sexual
discrimination complaints"
John
Baird has another good week, potentially making more bank on the CP board of directors. Hey, this will at least give West Side
Vancouverites a target for their scorn.
Supposedly the CIA tried to tell Canada that Maher Arar wasn't guilty.
The Canadian Government won't issue Mohamed Fahmy a new passport.
Roma are treated horribly in Eastern Europe. And then face discrimination when they arrive in Canada as refugees.
The
BC Terror Trial is becoming a bit of a shitshow as details are
released. 240 police officers were involved. The accused are
delusional, most likely mentally ill, drug addicts, hardly capable of
paying the rent, let alone planning a terror plot. It's just...fuck.
Showing posts with label Jason Kenney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jason Kenney. Show all posts
Monday, April 6, 2015
Monday, March 30, 2015
Kenney is an Idiot - Week 204 - March 23-30
Jason Kenney. Kind of an idiot. As chief chicken hawk responsible for taking Canada to war, he's really stepping in it this week. First, he actually brags about how we're going to cut and run in Iraq and Syria once we're done blowing shit up. This is why we are over there in the first place: The USA had no plans in place to deal with a post invasion Iraq. If we really wanted to help, we would do exactly the opposite: Let the US blow shit up and then step in to help rebuild. Leaving a vacuum allowed ISIS to flourish.
After that, he made up some stuff about precision guided munitions. And I think I forgot to link about his tweeting of misleading photos a few weeks ago.
ISIS...probably not the only people we should be worrying about in Syria.
Unfortunately, this seems to be what the Cons are about these days. Poor jokes and a lack of answers to questions on the ISIS mission.
Bill C-51 will see a fresh coat of paint. Well...maybe some pin-striping. This is a huge failure for Trudeau. Huge. Harper can say "We are trying to keep our country safe. Look at how great we are listening to criticism and changing things." Mulcair can say "Our opposition resulted in important changes to this terrible legislation." Trudeau can say "We blindly went along and contributed nothing to the discussion."
The Cons are still trying to shut down safe injection sites.
Here's my study on microbeads: They're fucking terrible and should be banned and we should probably take the manufacturers to court for the clean-up costs. I guess Environment Canada studying them is a step in the right direction. But come on Conservatives, you're known for your over-the-top knee jerk reactions without scientific facts to back you up. Why start now?
A good point. Everybody else seems to have their shit in order...why is Joe Oliver still unable to provide a budget?
The Cons have spent a lot of money so far battling to take away expats voting rights. Kind of sad that they're so afraid of people that have seen the world.
Holy shit! They won a court decision! Quebec can't keep their gun registry info.
It's amazing how the Snowden files keep giving and giving. Canada apparently has a number of offensive hacking tactics and tools. All this information is how old now though?
John Baird is going to advise Barrick Gold. And this details his involvement in the "Victims of Communism" memorial and its renaming.
I was wrong about the Toronto Terror Tunnel...good to know somebody who isn't a suburban white kid can catch a break with police. Very cool story about the guy/kid who built the tunnel. I'm glad it all worked out for him.
After that, he made up some stuff about precision guided munitions. And I think I forgot to link about his tweeting of misleading photos a few weeks ago.
ISIS...probably not the only people we should be worrying about in Syria.
Unfortunately, this seems to be what the Cons are about these days. Poor jokes and a lack of answers to questions on the ISIS mission.
Bill C-51 will see a fresh coat of paint. Well...maybe some pin-striping. This is a huge failure for Trudeau. Huge. Harper can say "We are trying to keep our country safe. Look at how great we are listening to criticism and changing things." Mulcair can say "Our opposition resulted in important changes to this terrible legislation." Trudeau can say "We blindly went along and contributed nothing to the discussion."
The Cons are still trying to shut down safe injection sites.
Here's my study on microbeads: They're fucking terrible and should be banned and we should probably take the manufacturers to court for the clean-up costs. I guess Environment Canada studying them is a step in the right direction. But come on Conservatives, you're known for your over-the-top knee jerk reactions without scientific facts to back you up. Why start now?
A good point. Everybody else seems to have their shit in order...why is Joe Oliver still unable to provide a budget?
The Cons have spent a lot of money so far battling to take away expats voting rights. Kind of sad that they're so afraid of people that have seen the world.
Holy shit! They won a court decision! Quebec can't keep their gun registry info.
It's amazing how the Snowden files keep giving and giving. Canada apparently has a number of offensive hacking tactics and tools. All this information is how old now though?
John Baird is going to advise Barrick Gold. And this details his involvement in the "Victims of Communism" memorial and its renaming.
I was wrong about the Toronto Terror Tunnel...good to know somebody who isn't a suburban white kid can catch a break with police. Very cool story about the guy/kid who built the tunnel. I'm glad it all worked out for him.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Backbenching - Week 178 - Sept 22-29
I begin this week with a pretty awesome article from Raif Mair. Wow...I made about six typing errors coming to grips with that first sentence...Anyhow, Rafe talks about Dianne Watts running for the Conservatives. Which isn't all that interesting. Until he starts talking about how useless the life of a backbench MP are. Makes you understand all the hooting and hollering in the House, doesn't it? Wouldn't we be better off if we all just decided this was a farce? If all MP's are there for is to vote how they're told...shit...must be a better way to do things?
I must admit that I have some strange tendencies. All it takes to bring me on side is a bit of grovelling. I love an underdog. I think that's why I hated Lance Armstrong so much. Now that he's sad and apologetic he's coming around for me. And now Paul Calandra, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for him. I mean, his responses in Parliament were absolutely idiotic. But there's no way he came up with that all on his own. Now...hung out to dry. This is the Conservative Modus Operandi. My question is this: How come they put so many questionable people into positions of authority to begin with? Bev Oda. Paul Calandra. Dean Del Mastro. Mike Duffy. Pamela Wallin. That other guy. On and on it goes. And...we still don't really have answers as to what is happening in Iraq.
Statoil is backing out of an OilSands project. This is interesting for two reasons. First, does this signify a larger problem within the OilSands? Second, how come every other fucking country on this earth is allowed to have a state oil company invested in our OilSands, except for us?
Is there anything worse than somebody who wants to "advise" on an issue and not get involved in any other way? I laughed a bit when our contribution to the ISIS fight was 60 or so military advisors. Now we might send some planes...really fucking old planes.
The Canadian 1% is still a bit sad. $191,000 in yearly salary gains you entry. I mean...must be nice. But you're basically an American shoeshine boy with that money.
Andrew Scheer does not respond kindly towards questioning of his impartiality.
I actually kind of like Jason Kenney's recent responses on Temporary Foreign Workers. We'll see if there's any substance to it. If we're going to sell out the country in the name of jobs, let's at least make sure people can get jobs and salaries go up a bit. Nobody should have sympathy for Alberta companies complaining that they can't hire cheap foreign labour.
It's tough to figure what Steve is thining about the UN these days. I mean, don't show up for the climate conference, but show up for dinner? And then re-announce an announcement that we already announced a few years ago? That basically does nothing but bring us in line with US Regulations? At least we brought some cash...Canada forks out a bit of UN money for Ebola...and some more UN money for a maternal health initiative.
This needs to be read because it's just too weird. A murdered man in France had stolen the identity of Glenn Miller...and was living the life of a washed up Canadian "rockstar".
I'll start by pointing out the obvious. Nobody thinks this is a good thing or should have happened. The question is what we should do about it? The response to the murder of a Surrey teen by a recently released High Risk Offender has been about what you would expect. I'd like to see a happy medium between keep-everybody-in-jail-forever and do-absolutely-nothing-once-high-risk-offenders-are-released-except-deliver-a-warning.
The Cons look to shaft everybody by re-introducing their union finance law, ignoring the recommendations of the Senate, and limiting debate on the whole sordid affair. Nothing to see here, folks.
So, ya, there is an argument for stripping terrorists of their passports. But that comes at a cost. And I don't trust these assholes enough to give them the right to start stripping citizenship, especially with the loose definition of "terrorist" these days.
Some more info on North Korean refugees. The reason we don't accept them? Well, Chris Alexander sucks. And the loophole seems to be that since South Korea will accept North Koreans, they're no longer considered to be refugees in Canada's eyes. Which is some fucking loophole.
I must admit that I have some strange tendencies. All it takes to bring me on side is a bit of grovelling. I love an underdog. I think that's why I hated Lance Armstrong so much. Now that he's sad and apologetic he's coming around for me. And now Paul Calandra, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for him. I mean, his responses in Parliament were absolutely idiotic. But there's no way he came up with that all on his own. Now...hung out to dry. This is the Conservative Modus Operandi. My question is this: How come they put so many questionable people into positions of authority to begin with? Bev Oda. Paul Calandra. Dean Del Mastro. Mike Duffy. Pamela Wallin. That other guy. On and on it goes. And...we still don't really have answers as to what is happening in Iraq.
Statoil is backing out of an OilSands project. This is interesting for two reasons. First, does this signify a larger problem within the OilSands? Second, how come every other fucking country on this earth is allowed to have a state oil company invested in our OilSands, except for us?
Is there anything worse than somebody who wants to "advise" on an issue and not get involved in any other way? I laughed a bit when our contribution to the ISIS fight was 60 or so military advisors. Now we might send some planes...really fucking old planes.
The Canadian 1% is still a bit sad. $191,000 in yearly salary gains you entry. I mean...must be nice. But you're basically an American shoeshine boy with that money.
Andrew Scheer does not respond kindly towards questioning of his impartiality.
I actually kind of like Jason Kenney's recent responses on Temporary Foreign Workers. We'll see if there's any substance to it. If we're going to sell out the country in the name of jobs, let's at least make sure people can get jobs and salaries go up a bit. Nobody should have sympathy for Alberta companies complaining that they can't hire cheap foreign labour.
It's tough to figure what Steve is thining about the UN these days. I mean, don't show up for the climate conference, but show up for dinner? And then re-announce an announcement that we already announced a few years ago? That basically does nothing but bring us in line with US Regulations? At least we brought some cash...Canada forks out a bit of UN money for Ebola...and some more UN money for a maternal health initiative.
This needs to be read because it's just too weird. A murdered man in France had stolen the identity of Glenn Miller...and was living the life of a washed up Canadian "rockstar".
I'll start by pointing out the obvious. Nobody thinks this is a good thing or should have happened. The question is what we should do about it? The response to the murder of a Surrey teen by a recently released High Risk Offender has been about what you would expect. I'd like to see a happy medium between keep-everybody-in-jail-forever and do-absolutely-nothing-once-high-risk-offenders-are-released-except-deliver-a-warning.
The Cons look to shaft everybody by re-introducing their union finance law, ignoring the recommendations of the Senate, and limiting debate on the whole sordid affair. Nothing to see here, folks.
So, ya, there is an argument for stripping terrorists of their passports. But that comes at a cost. And I don't trust these assholes enough to give them the right to start stripping citizenship, especially with the loose definition of "terrorist" these days.
Some more info on North Korean refugees. The reason we don't accept them? Well, Chris Alexander sucks. And the loophole seems to be that since South Korea will accept North Koreans, they're no longer considered to be refugees in Canada's eyes. Which is some fucking loophole.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Thieves in the Night - Week 96 - Feb 25 - Mar 4
Our Week 95.5 post covered a lot of ground. The second half of the week seemed a bit slower.
Like thieves in the night...The Kits Coast Guard base is already being dismantled, to ensure that nobody can ever change the decision made by the Conservatives. Do you know how much planning it would take to organize a Construction crew to take on a job of this magnitude? It certainly wouldn't happen in a matter of days. So, somehow, a closing of a Coast Guard base 3 months from now has turned into an immediate closer with decommissioning starting 3-4 days later. Somebody had a very specific plan a while back. It's pretty disingenuous that they shared one plan while fabricating another.
On a more personal note, Tony Clement is now following my Twitter feed (which followed shortly after two tweets making fun of Vic Toews and Jason Kenney. Perhaps he's a bit disgruntled). I searched for something amazing to engage him with, but he doesn't appear to have been up to much lately.
Speaking of Vic Toews! Back with a vengeance! This time, he's suggesting that the opposition parties didn't work hard enough to challenge the government in 2008 when they appointed Arthur Porter as the CSIS watchdog. Amazing! Basically "If you had worked harder to overrule our terrible appointment we wouldn't be in this predicament."
The NP is painting Jason Kenney as some sort of all-seeing, immigration god. They actually congratulate him on "eliminating a backlog of 280,000 would-be immigrants". Ya. I guess if you decide to just cancel the applications, that is one way of eliminating a backlog.
Canada feels that the Keystone pipeline is critical to our oil sands development. I mean, it has to be, right? Why else would everybody be so worked up about it? Yet the State Department claims it won't have an impact on Oil Sands development? Something doesn't add up here.
Oh. This is beautiful. Jonathan Kay over on the National Post has come to the defense of Tom Flanagan. I see his point (that we shouldn't destroy an individual over a few poorly worded sentences in response to a question). But his justification is awesome. He suggests that anybody could make a similar mistake when faced with the prospect of answering questions in front of a group of people without adequate time to prepare. And then he uses himself as an example. "During public speaking events, I myself have several times mistaken “Osama” with the last name of the current U.S. president, and once held forth on the need to 'kill Obama.'"
Quebec Senators don't take the train (for free) either. Their ride is only 2 hours though. So, ya, maybe they should be taking the train.
The Senate is trying to get in front of the scandal and have announced changes to their housing allowance policy.
An interesting take on why Wall Street is fucked. Nothing new here, but it lays out nicely how traders are incentivized to take massive risks.
Like thieves in the night...The Kits Coast Guard base is already being dismantled, to ensure that nobody can ever change the decision made by the Conservatives. Do you know how much planning it would take to organize a Construction crew to take on a job of this magnitude? It certainly wouldn't happen in a matter of days. So, somehow, a closing of a Coast Guard base 3 months from now has turned into an immediate closer with decommissioning starting 3-4 days later. Somebody had a very specific plan a while back. It's pretty disingenuous that they shared one plan while fabricating another.
On a more personal note, Tony Clement is now following my Twitter feed (which followed shortly after two tweets making fun of Vic Toews and Jason Kenney. Perhaps he's a bit disgruntled). I searched for something amazing to engage him with, but he doesn't appear to have been up to much lately.
Speaking of Vic Toews! Back with a vengeance! This time, he's suggesting that the opposition parties didn't work hard enough to challenge the government in 2008 when they appointed Arthur Porter as the CSIS watchdog. Amazing! Basically "If you had worked harder to overrule our terrible appointment we wouldn't be in this predicament."
The NP is painting Jason Kenney as some sort of all-seeing, immigration god. They actually congratulate him on "eliminating a backlog of 280,000 would-be immigrants". Ya. I guess if you decide to just cancel the applications, that is one way of eliminating a backlog.
Canada feels that the Keystone pipeline is critical to our oil sands development. I mean, it has to be, right? Why else would everybody be so worked up about it? Yet the State Department claims it won't have an impact on Oil Sands development? Something doesn't add up here.
Oh. This is beautiful. Jonathan Kay over on the National Post has come to the defense of Tom Flanagan. I see his point (that we shouldn't destroy an individual over a few poorly worded sentences in response to a question). But his justification is awesome. He suggests that anybody could make a similar mistake when faced with the prospect of answering questions in front of a group of people without adequate time to prepare. And then he uses himself as an example. "During public speaking events, I myself have several times mistaken “Osama” with the last name of the current U.S. president, and once held forth on the need to 'kill Obama.'"
Quebec Senators don't take the train (for free) either. Their ride is only 2 hours though. So, ya, maybe they should be taking the train.
The Senate is trying to get in front of the scandal and have announced changes to their housing allowance policy.
An interesting take on why Wall Street is fucked. Nothing new here, but it lays out nicely how traders are incentivized to take massive risks.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Feigning Outrage - Week 95.5 - Feb 25-28
Good lord. What a week. I mean, we've got earthquakes, civil wars, European economies falling apart and massive gun violence all over the place. But it seems like the biggest North American issues right now are a tasteless Oscar host and a bad Onion tweet. And the outrage! Oh, the outrage. As somebody, somewhere pointed out in some comment about one of the many outrage(!) articles, it's like the Liberal Fox & Friends, where everybody trips all over themselves to be the most outraged about the largest perceived slight.
And what's awesome is that people have mis-interpreted a big chunk of the incidents over which they are so outraged. This Tyee article offers an interesting opinion on the whole thing, but one commenter is outraged over the "Boobs" song and points at the actresses victimized by the song and the shamed reactions that they showed when the camera panned over their faces. I'm surprised he didn't pull out the latest buzzword and suggest they were bullied! And I get it, I guess. I mean, I thought their reactions were real for about 15 seconds when I was watching as well.
But then there's people that should know better. Joan Walsh, who seems to be leading the outrage brigade over at Salon points out the horrendous joke made about Jennifer Aniston being a stripper! The outrage! Only problem, it was actually a joke about Channing Tatum being a stripper. Oh well. Still outrageous!
That's not to say I'm completely condoning Seth McFarlane or suggesting that he's not sexist. But I don't think some of this criticism is as simple as it's made out to be. The boobs song was silly and outrageous, but wasn't that the point? Isn't there something kind of amazing about a gigantic meta-joke that all at once makes fun of:
- Ridiculously unnecessary boobs in film
- Oscar hosting
- Frozen faced, smiling reaction shots
- William Shatner
Was it sexist? Most definitely probably. But it was a joke operating on a level that I can't even comprehend. And it probably moved the awareness of sexism in Hollywood a whole hell of a lot further forward than all of the faux outrage. Outrage! On to politics.
Update - One of the key points people seem to be making is that some of the boobs Seth McFarlane talked about were shown in rape scenes and this makes it poor form to joke about. But isn't that a part of the point? We're showing rape in movies, yet we still sexualize it by showing actresses boobs? We're not even allowed to make a joke about a rape scene in a movie? Can we comment on it? Can we comment on it in a humourous fashion?
Some details have come to light about the arrest of "Senator" Brazeau. No biggie. He just spit in a woman's face, pushed her down some stairs and touched her in a sexual way. Over an argument about "aboriginal issues".
Jason Kenney is pushing forward the citizenship stripping bill, and has said that, if it were legal, he would strip the citizenship of any Canadian convicted of terrorism, not just dual citizens. This piece outlines why the whole thing is absurd and this case in Quebec shows how this could be abused. A protester is facing "terrorism" related charges for comments made on social media. So, in Jason Kenney's Canada, somebody making stupid threats on Facebook (and yes, carrying a Molitiv cocktail) would be set adrift on an ice flow as a non-Canadian. Yes this guy is an idiot and yes he is a criminal. But I don't think he should be thrown out of Canada.
Hey look. The Conservatives lowballed another military purchase. This time they're $1.43 Billion off on shipbuilding costs. They said it would cost $2.6 Billion. So only %50 more required. Getting closer guys!
The Conservatives have created "targets" for the number of EI frauds that investigators need to discover. They're not quotas though. Merely targets tied to their job performance. When questions in the House of Commons, Stephen Harper did his best to duck and weave. Sad thing is, this whole thing will probably cause him to score points with Canadians. Everybody thinks EI is a waste of money and everybody using it is a fraud. Until they lose their job and make use of it themselves. Even then, many people probably think this is okay but that everybody else using it is still a fraud.
Sick of Senators yet? Four of them are facing further probes (3 Cons, 1 Lib). This article highlights the ridiculous amount of money spend by Senators on travel, and creates an interesting theory that many of them could have saved a lot of money by taking the VIA rail train between Toronto and Ottawa. Which would have been free. But takes 4.5 hours, by the looks of it. So maybe not.
The CBC shows that the forms asking Senators to detail their primary residence isn't all that complicated. Many Conservative Senators seem to think it is. Are they slow? Or deceptive?
So Stephen Harper said "I have looked at the numbers" with respect to Pamela Wallin's expenses. But he didn't say that he had "personally reviewed" them. And now he's backtracking ever-so-slightly in his defense as it has come out that she actually paid back some of the money. No word on how much. But some.
The Supreme Court may strike down laws "limiting free speech" in the name of limiting "hate speech". Readers of the National Post seem pretty excited about this. I find it interesting that all these people hate the "heavy hand of government", even though their cherished "free speech" is a function of government controlled law and order. There's all this talk of "limiting government" but people still want all of the positive effects of said government. Interestingly...
CBC - "Top court strikes down part of Sask. human rights code"
NP - "Supreme court upholds Canada's hate speech laws"
Jesus Christ. This is really weird. A former Stephen Harper adviser (and current CBC contributor) is in a bit of trouble for suggesting that viewing child pornography is not harmful. He also talks about being on the mailing list for the "National Man-Boy Love Association". Talk about special interest groups!
An NDP MP bolted to the Bloc.
An interesting article on how US government regulations are killing certain categories of vehicles and having the opposite effect as intended - decreasing rather than increasing fuel efficiency.
So the guys behind Ipsos Reid are projecting Conservative majorities for years to come? I know, I know, wait for the election. But even with all the Conservative gerrymandering and riding creation, Ekos via 308 has the Conservatives projected at 135 seats. Which is far from a majority. The yahoos potentially stay in power, but perhaps we could get some election reform?
I feel a bit for Helena Guergis. Here's my take on what happened. The Prime Minister insinuated a whole bunch of bad shit, threw her out of the caucus, and then had the RCMP investigate her. The allegations were all proven false. So she sued for having her life ruined and her name dragged through the mud. And now she has to pay over $100,000 in legal fees to the very people that she felt screwed her over? Ouch.
Theresa Spence is asking the UN to step in and fix Canada's aboriginal problems. I think the news here is that the only link to this that I can find is on the Chatham Daily News.
As an Engineer, I am awed by the improvised weaponry of the Syrian rebels. Simply amazing.
Oh man. This is disheartening. A York Police Officer is facing a disciplinary hearing, and perhaps dismissal, for not properly investigating racial slurs. Made against him. I'm not even kidding. We have cops that get caught driving drunk. That shoot people. That do all kinds of shit and keep their jobs. But this guy is perhaps going to get fired because some guy hurled racial slurs against him and he didn't do enough about it. Crazy.
The Real Estate Market is fine! No problems at all! We just don't want to let you know if that house, or any of these houses are in foreclosure. Says CMHC.
I'm sick and tired of all these lazy hippies complaining about the 1%. If they'd only get off their asses and do a bit of work, they could make it into the 1% as well. What? A rather large chunk of wealthy Britons got their money from government handouts when they were forced to give up their slaves? Oh.
The American Copyright Lobby has teamed up with (bullied?) the major US ISP's to create a system for...I don't even know how to describe this? A system for harassing people to stop pirating? Better than suing the shit out of them, I guess. How long before they want this in Canada?
This is just an amazingly awesome story about a kids hockey tournament in Turkmenistan and the politics behind it. And a kid that has 140 saves in one game.
Wow. Not one, but two Oscar related diatribes. I think one of the saddest things about being a Canadian is how excited people get when American pop culture references Canada, and how angry we get at perceived slights from Americans when it comes to Canada. People seem really pissed that Ben Affleck used creative licence with Argo. I actually found a similar sentiment on the NP after I wrote this. It's actually a pretty awesome little piece of writing.
And what's awesome is that people have mis-interpreted a big chunk of the incidents over which they are so outraged. This Tyee article offers an interesting opinion on the whole thing, but one commenter is outraged over the "Boobs" song and points at the actresses victimized by the song and the shamed reactions that they showed when the camera panned over their faces. I'm surprised he didn't pull out the latest buzzword and suggest they were bullied! And I get it, I guess. I mean, I thought their reactions were real for about 15 seconds when I was watching as well.
But then there's people that should know better. Joan Walsh, who seems to be leading the outrage brigade over at Salon points out the horrendous joke made about Jennifer Aniston being a stripper! The outrage! Only problem, it was actually a joke about Channing Tatum being a stripper. Oh well. Still outrageous!
That's not to say I'm completely condoning Seth McFarlane or suggesting that he's not sexist. But I don't think some of this criticism is as simple as it's made out to be. The boobs song was silly and outrageous, but wasn't that the point? Isn't there something kind of amazing about a gigantic meta-joke that all at once makes fun of:
- Ridiculously unnecessary boobs in film
- Oscar hosting
- Frozen faced, smiling reaction shots
- William Shatner
Was it sexist? Most definitely probably. But it was a joke operating on a level that I can't even comprehend. And it probably moved the awareness of sexism in Hollywood a whole hell of a lot further forward than all of the faux outrage. Outrage! On to politics.
Update - One of the key points people seem to be making is that some of the boobs Seth McFarlane talked about were shown in rape scenes and this makes it poor form to joke about. But isn't that a part of the point? We're showing rape in movies, yet we still sexualize it by showing actresses boobs? We're not even allowed to make a joke about a rape scene in a movie? Can we comment on it? Can we comment on it in a humourous fashion?
Some details have come to light about the arrest of "Senator" Brazeau. No biggie. He just spit in a woman's face, pushed her down some stairs and touched her in a sexual way. Over an argument about "aboriginal issues".
Jason Kenney is pushing forward the citizenship stripping bill, and has said that, if it were legal, he would strip the citizenship of any Canadian convicted of terrorism, not just dual citizens. This piece outlines why the whole thing is absurd and this case in Quebec shows how this could be abused. A protester is facing "terrorism" related charges for comments made on social media. So, in Jason Kenney's Canada, somebody making stupid threats on Facebook (and yes, carrying a Molitiv cocktail) would be set adrift on an ice flow as a non-Canadian. Yes this guy is an idiot and yes he is a criminal. But I don't think he should be thrown out of Canada.
Hey look. The Conservatives lowballed another military purchase. This time they're $1.43 Billion off on shipbuilding costs. They said it would cost $2.6 Billion. So only %50 more required. Getting closer guys!
The Conservatives have created "targets" for the number of EI frauds that investigators need to discover. They're not quotas though. Merely targets tied to their job performance. When questions in the House of Commons, Stephen Harper did his best to duck and weave. Sad thing is, this whole thing will probably cause him to score points with Canadians. Everybody thinks EI is a waste of money and everybody using it is a fraud. Until they lose their job and make use of it themselves. Even then, many people probably think this is okay but that everybody else using it is still a fraud.
Sick of Senators yet? Four of them are facing further probes (3 Cons, 1 Lib). This article highlights the ridiculous amount of money spend by Senators on travel, and creates an interesting theory that many of them could have saved a lot of money by taking the VIA rail train between Toronto and Ottawa. Which would have been free. But takes 4.5 hours, by the looks of it. So maybe not.
The CBC shows that the forms asking Senators to detail their primary residence isn't all that complicated. Many Conservative Senators seem to think it is. Are they slow? Or deceptive?
So Stephen Harper said "I have looked at the numbers" with respect to Pamela Wallin's expenses. But he didn't say that he had "personally reviewed" them. And now he's backtracking ever-so-slightly in his defense as it has come out that she actually paid back some of the money. No word on how much. But some.
The Supreme Court may strike down laws "limiting free speech" in the name of limiting "hate speech". Readers of the National Post seem pretty excited about this. I find it interesting that all these people hate the "heavy hand of government", even though their cherished "free speech" is a function of government controlled law and order. There's all this talk of "limiting government" but people still want all of the positive effects of said government. Interestingly...
CBC - "Top court strikes down part of Sask. human rights code"
NP - "Supreme court upholds Canada's hate speech laws"
Jesus Christ. This is really weird. A former Stephen Harper adviser (and current CBC contributor) is in a bit of trouble for suggesting that viewing child pornography is not harmful. He also talks about being on the mailing list for the "National Man-Boy Love Association". Talk about special interest groups!
An NDP MP bolted to the Bloc.
An interesting article on how US government regulations are killing certain categories of vehicles and having the opposite effect as intended - decreasing rather than increasing fuel efficiency.
So the guys behind Ipsos Reid are projecting Conservative majorities for years to come? I know, I know, wait for the election. But even with all the Conservative gerrymandering and riding creation, Ekos via 308 has the Conservatives projected at 135 seats. Which is far from a majority. The yahoos potentially stay in power, but perhaps we could get some election reform?
I feel a bit for Helena Guergis. Here's my take on what happened. The Prime Minister insinuated a whole bunch of bad shit, threw her out of the caucus, and then had the RCMP investigate her. The allegations were all proven false. So she sued for having her life ruined and her name dragged through the mud. And now she has to pay over $100,000 in legal fees to the very people that she felt screwed her over? Ouch.
Theresa Spence is asking the UN to step in and fix Canada's aboriginal problems. I think the news here is that the only link to this that I can find is on the Chatham Daily News.
As an Engineer, I am awed by the improvised weaponry of the Syrian rebels. Simply amazing.
Oh man. This is disheartening. A York Police Officer is facing a disciplinary hearing, and perhaps dismissal, for not properly investigating racial slurs. Made against him. I'm not even kidding. We have cops that get caught driving drunk. That shoot people. That do all kinds of shit and keep their jobs. But this guy is perhaps going to get fired because some guy hurled racial slurs against him and he didn't do enough about it. Crazy.
The Real Estate Market is fine! No problems at all! We just don't want to let you know if that house, or any of these houses are in foreclosure. Says CMHC.
I'm sick and tired of all these lazy hippies complaining about the 1%. If they'd only get off their asses and do a bit of work, they could make it into the 1% as well. What? A rather large chunk of wealthy Britons got their money from government handouts when they were forced to give up their slaves? Oh.
The American Copyright Lobby has teamed up with (bullied?) the major US ISP's to create a system for...I don't even know how to describe this? A system for harassing people to stop pirating? Better than suing the shit out of them, I guess. How long before they want this in Canada?
This is just an amazingly awesome story about a kids hockey tournament in Turkmenistan and the politics behind it. And a kid that has 140 saves in one game.
Wow. Not one, but two Oscar related diatribes. I think one of the saddest things about being a Canadian is how excited people get when American pop culture references Canada, and how angry we get at perceived slights from Americans when it comes to Canada. People seem really pissed that Ben Affleck used creative licence with Argo. I actually found a similar sentiment on the NP after I wrote this. It's actually a pretty awesome little piece of writing.
Monday, January 14, 2013
The Week of Theresa Spence - Week 89 - Jan 7-14
It really has turned in to the week of Theresa Spence. You can question the timing and the way some things happened, but in my opinion, this woman has lost all of her credibility. I actually having a hard time making sense of what happened. First, she refused to allow any reporters into her camp. Next, she personally phoned up to Attawapiskat and forced the removal of a Global News crew. After that, she refused to attend the meeting with the Prime Minister because the Governor General was not going to also be in attendance. This is roughly the equivalent of cancelling your meeting with the CEO of McDonald's because Ronald McDonald can't make it as well. I don't get it.
In the end, I'm not even sure what happened. Some threatened to boycott the meeting (not sure if they did). The Governor General held his own meeting. John A. McDonald took some punishment. And Theresa Spence is still on her hunger strike. The Prime Minister did promise future meetings, so perhaps it was successful after all?
On a slightly smaller scale, but a Global News story showed Theresa Spence driving away in a giant white Hummer (confirmed here). What the hell? How do you drive away from a hunger strike related to environmental demands in a giant white Hummer? I know that this might sound like a joke, but could you honestly take the opinion, any opinion, of a Hummer driver seriously?
In other native news, I don't fully understand what this means, but it looks like a court decision has expanded the interpretation of "Indians" under the law. Their word, not mine.
So with all of this First Nations stuff going on this week, this is where it starts to get a bit fishy for me. A story comes out that one quarter of all First Nations are under financial investigation. Is this just a news organization digging in to an important and timely story? Or is it a well timed leak to chip away at an opponents credibility? Either way, it chips away at the First Nations position.
Of course, the National Post keeps publishing anti-Idle No More/Attawapiskat stories. All of a sudden, they've become real champions for the public good. They're even complimenting the CBC now. That's the problem with popular movements. With so much going on there is always, always, always somebody involved that is doing something wrong. By harping on one point, critics can take the whole movement down. And the most amazingly awesome thing about the National Post writing a story about a CBC story? All of the commenters talking about how great it is that the National Post has finally spoken the truth, gotten the word out and avoided censorship by the "left wing" media.
On to other stuff. A government funded study came out that was able to isolate the "natural pollution" of the oil sands and proved that lakes and rivers in the vicinity of all of this development are in far worse shape than when development started. 23 times worse, actually. Of course, both the Government and the Oil Sands industry don't feel like this is worth any kind of action.
Hey. France solved the World. Way to go guys. You figured out how to bring Muslims and Catholics together. Hatred of the gays!
Disabled veterans have reached a settlement with the government over reduced pensions. Isn't that awesome? MP's with gilded pensions can decide to claw back the pensions of disabled veterans.
Way to go guys. The Federal Government lost a hard drive with the personal information of a half a million people who obtained student loans.
I'm really jealous of the idea that this blog came up with. She picks one ridiculously overpriced Vancouver property and then compares it to the lavish mansions that could be purchased for the same price elsewhere. The best of lists her favourites for the year (make sure you click through on each one). I think this one is mine.
This article points out something that seems really obvious - We're leaving a tonne of money on the table by not processing our own crude. And as we continue to ramp up production we make things worse by increasing supply and driving the cost down. If we're going to ruin the planet, why not slow things down a bit, build our own refineries and pave the path to environmental destruction with fat stacks of cash? I do not buy the argument that we don't have the money required to build our own refineries. These companies can come up with billions and billions to pull the stuff out of the ground but they're too poor to refine it?
Some documents showed up that suggested Jason Kenney either didn't know what he was talking about or was outright dishonest when he talked about refugee health care cuts. Not sure which is the better option.
I don't pretend to know much about Haiti. Or what would be best for them. But this is a pretty depressing take on what is going on there. And when Don Cherry comes out against something, man, you'd better hope you're on the other side of that argument. I wonder what would happen if Don Cherry and Donald Trump got together? Man, I'm going to tweet that.
I was excited when I saw this article on McLean's titled "99 stupid things the government did with your money" (part I here). But it's kind of a stupid article. Cherry-picking ridiculous sounding expenses with no context doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. They really lost me at #4. Honestly, your #4 waste of taxpayer money is paying Roberto Luongo $160,000 for an endorsement deal?
This Salon article points out that "conflict free" diamonds might be a bit of a myth.
This is a pretty great snippet of what is going on in the US right now. In response to the ever-present "I run a small business and I balance my books. American needs to balance its books" argument:
But let us try to take Walden’s small business analogy seriously. Suppose the problem is that we’re a business whose expenses are outstripping our income. We propose some measures to correct it — say, cutting expenses when possible and also working some longer hours. But we have a business partner who listens to a lot of Rush Limbaugh and has some different ideas. He says increasing revenue by working longer hours — even a single longer minute when we have customers waiting in line at closing time — is totally off the table. He says the answer is to cut our employees’ pay and ban them from taking bathroom breaks. And he also informs us that, unless we approve the savings ideas he wants, with none of the savings ideas we want, he’ll refuse to pay vendors who have already delivered things to us, thereby ruining our credit rating forever.
Speaking of the US, everybody seems to be all about comparing Obama to Hitler right now as Obama talks about gun control. This article pretty thoroughly debunks the notion that Hitler limited access to guns as he seized power. I'm sure this will immediately put an end to that silly argument.
I'm sick of all of this gateway drug bullshit. Yes, I would imagine that a really large number of cocaine/heroine/meth addicts got their start on pot. But I'd also imagine that before they smoked pot, they drank alcohol. As well, I'd imagine that a huge percentage of pot smokers don't go on to become cocaine/heroine/meth addicts. So fuck off with your gateway drug theory.
Apparently many American weatherpeople don't believe in global warming.
I thought this train of thought would take me further. It didn't. But I put a lot of work into it so I'm going to include it here at the bottom of my post. We have a long history of putting people in power with small amounts of support. I honestly believe that until we get a system where we have a better representation of how we actually voted, there is going to be problems. So, I started looking around to see how many MP's narrowly skated to victory. The first thing I learned is that it's difficult to find a nicely summarized presentation of the information. Wikipedia had a bit, but it was incomplete. Elections Canada was very difficult to navigate. Finally, I found this guy that did some analysis of the Elections Canada data (Unfortunately, he charges to download his information so I wasn't able to really analyze it). I started by looking at percentages. There's a very large number of MP's that were elected with less than 40% of the vote. In a multi party system, that's not all that surprising. So I started looking more closely at MP's with less than 33.3% of the vote. To me, anybody in power with the support of less than 1/3 of their constituents is a bit suspect. I was hoping that somebody had gotten elected with less than 30% of the vote, but it wasn't to be. But I found a winner. Daniel Petit, a Conservative MP from Quebec was elected with only 30.3% of the vote in his riding. Hooray for vote splitting. Then, I looked at vote totals. In some of the ridings with large populations, there are MP's with votes in the 30-40,000 range. I ignored some of the weird outliers (Territories, Labrador) with population difficulties and I found that there are two MP's in office with fewer than 10,000 votes. Both were Liberals. Kevin Lamoureaux from Manitoba had only 9,097 votes and Sean Casey from New Brunswick had only 7,292 votes.
In the end, I'm not even sure what happened. Some threatened to boycott the meeting (not sure if they did). The Governor General held his own meeting. John A. McDonald took some punishment. And Theresa Spence is still on her hunger strike. The Prime Minister did promise future meetings, so perhaps it was successful after all?
On a slightly smaller scale, but a Global News story showed Theresa Spence driving away in a giant white Hummer (confirmed here). What the hell? How do you drive away from a hunger strike related to environmental demands in a giant white Hummer? I know that this might sound like a joke, but could you honestly take the opinion, any opinion, of a Hummer driver seriously?
In other native news, I don't fully understand what this means, but it looks like a court decision has expanded the interpretation of "Indians" under the law. Their word, not mine.
So with all of this First Nations stuff going on this week, this is where it starts to get a bit fishy for me. A story comes out that one quarter of all First Nations are under financial investigation. Is this just a news organization digging in to an important and timely story? Or is it a well timed leak to chip away at an opponents credibility? Either way, it chips away at the First Nations position.
Of course, the National Post keeps publishing anti-Idle No More/Attawapiskat stories. All of a sudden, they've become real champions for the public good. They're even complimenting the CBC now. That's the problem with popular movements. With so much going on there is always, always, always somebody involved that is doing something wrong. By harping on one point, critics can take the whole movement down. And the most amazingly awesome thing about the National Post writing a story about a CBC story? All of the commenters talking about how great it is that the National Post has finally spoken the truth, gotten the word out and avoided censorship by the "left wing" media.
On to other stuff. A government funded study came out that was able to isolate the "natural pollution" of the oil sands and proved that lakes and rivers in the vicinity of all of this development are in far worse shape than when development started. 23 times worse, actually. Of course, both the Government and the Oil Sands industry don't feel like this is worth any kind of action.
Hey. France solved the World. Way to go guys. You figured out how to bring Muslims and Catholics together. Hatred of the gays!
Disabled veterans have reached a settlement with the government over reduced pensions. Isn't that awesome? MP's with gilded pensions can decide to claw back the pensions of disabled veterans.
Way to go guys. The Federal Government lost a hard drive with the personal information of a half a million people who obtained student loans.
I'm really jealous of the idea that this blog came up with. She picks one ridiculously overpriced Vancouver property and then compares it to the lavish mansions that could be purchased for the same price elsewhere. The best of lists her favourites for the year (make sure you click through on each one). I think this one is mine.
This article points out something that seems really obvious - We're leaving a tonne of money on the table by not processing our own crude. And as we continue to ramp up production we make things worse by increasing supply and driving the cost down. If we're going to ruin the planet, why not slow things down a bit, build our own refineries and pave the path to environmental destruction with fat stacks of cash? I do not buy the argument that we don't have the money required to build our own refineries. These companies can come up with billions and billions to pull the stuff out of the ground but they're too poor to refine it?
Some documents showed up that suggested Jason Kenney either didn't know what he was talking about or was outright dishonest when he talked about refugee health care cuts. Not sure which is the better option.
I don't pretend to know much about Haiti. Or what would be best for them. But this is a pretty depressing take on what is going on there. And when Don Cherry comes out against something, man, you'd better hope you're on the other side of that argument. I wonder what would happen if Don Cherry and Donald Trump got together? Man, I'm going to tweet that.
I was excited when I saw this article on McLean's titled "99 stupid things the government did with your money" (part I here). But it's kind of a stupid article. Cherry-picking ridiculous sounding expenses with no context doesn't necessarily tell the whole story. They really lost me at #4. Honestly, your #4 waste of taxpayer money is paying Roberto Luongo $160,000 for an endorsement deal?
This Salon article points out that "conflict free" diamonds might be a bit of a myth.
This is a pretty great snippet of what is going on in the US right now. In response to the ever-present "I run a small business and I balance my books. American needs to balance its books" argument:
But let us try to take Walden’s small business analogy seriously. Suppose the problem is that we’re a business whose expenses are outstripping our income. We propose some measures to correct it — say, cutting expenses when possible and also working some longer hours. But we have a business partner who listens to a lot of Rush Limbaugh and has some different ideas. He says increasing revenue by working longer hours — even a single longer minute when we have customers waiting in line at closing time — is totally off the table. He says the answer is to cut our employees’ pay and ban them from taking bathroom breaks. And he also informs us that, unless we approve the savings ideas he wants, with none of the savings ideas we want, he’ll refuse to pay vendors who have already delivered things to us, thereby ruining our credit rating forever.
Speaking of the US, everybody seems to be all about comparing Obama to Hitler right now as Obama talks about gun control. This article pretty thoroughly debunks the notion that Hitler limited access to guns as he seized power. I'm sure this will immediately put an end to that silly argument.
I'm sick of all of this gateway drug bullshit. Yes, I would imagine that a really large number of cocaine/heroine/meth addicts got their start on pot. But I'd also imagine that before they smoked pot, they drank alcohol. As well, I'd imagine that a huge percentage of pot smokers don't go on to become cocaine/heroine/meth addicts. So fuck off with your gateway drug theory.
Apparently many American weatherpeople don't believe in global warming.
I thought this train of thought would take me further. It didn't. But I put a lot of work into it so I'm going to include it here at the bottom of my post. We have a long history of putting people in power with small amounts of support. I honestly believe that until we get a system where we have a better representation of how we actually voted, there is going to be problems. So, I started looking around to see how many MP's narrowly skated to victory. The first thing I learned is that it's difficult to find a nicely summarized presentation of the information. Wikipedia had a bit, but it was incomplete. Elections Canada was very difficult to navigate. Finally, I found this guy that did some analysis of the Elections Canada data (Unfortunately, he charges to download his information so I wasn't able to really analyze it). I started by looking at percentages. There's a very large number of MP's that were elected with less than 40% of the vote. In a multi party system, that's not all that surprising. So I started looking more closely at MP's with less than 33.3% of the vote. To me, anybody in power with the support of less than 1/3 of their constituents is a bit suspect. I was hoping that somebody had gotten elected with less than 30% of the vote, but it wasn't to be. But I found a winner. Daniel Petit, a Conservative MP from Quebec was elected with only 30.3% of the vote in his riding. Hooray for vote splitting. Then, I looked at vote totals. In some of the ridings with large populations, there are MP's with votes in the 30-40,000 range. I ignored some of the weird outliers (Territories, Labrador) with population difficulties and I found that there are two MP's in office with fewer than 10,000 votes. Both were Liberals. Kevin Lamoureaux from Manitoba had only 9,097 votes and Sean Casey from New Brunswick had only 7,292 votes.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
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.
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
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
Jason Kenney
Rob Anders
Bev Oda
Patrick Brazeau
Monday, September 17, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Long live cats - Week 13 - July 25-Aug 2
Is it possible that the record industry might actually start exhibiting logic and reason? Probably not, but this ex-EMI boss is apparently aware that pirates are "our best customers" and that "piracy" and sharing can in fact be good for business. My personal feeling is that if the record industry hadn't raped consumers for years with 20 dollar CD's there is no way that they'd be in the position where they are now. As well, the French copyright authority has conducted a study and determined that pirates are also the best customers.
I'm not trying to turn this into a Copyright blog, but there's an interesting Slate article outlining the history of the "Happy Birthday Song", questioning Warner Music's claim to the copyright. I think it is a nice expose of all that is wrong with our modern copyright system, especially in this day and age of completely derivative music.
Jack Layton has cancer. "Can the NDP survive Jack Layton's health crisis?" the headline says. Unfortunately, if there was an election in the next month or two, I would think not. I can actually see Stephen Harper up late at night trying to figure out a way to blame the minority opposition for triggering another election. Wait...we might have it...apparently, the "temporary replacement" for Jack Layton was a member of the Bloc Quebecois before becoming an NDP MP. That should be enough right there for old Steve to call a fresh election.
Back to British Columbia. I believe HST is the right thing to do. I also believe that Christy Clark and the Liberals think that we're incredibly stupid. This whole process is flawed and borderline crooked. But, as our plant controller pointed out to me, "there is no way that BC will be able to pay back the money provided by the national government if we move away from the HST." I agree with this statement. There would be worlds of trouble if we give up on the HST. But I think it would be worth it just to see Christy Clark attempt to spin referendum defeat as a positive.
Apparently Jason Kenney failed high school geography. He thought that when the Tamil refugees said that they wanted to go to New Zealand that it was a part of Canada. His reasoning? Human smugglers don't "guarantee the destination." So basically "There's a chance that they could have come here, even though they didn't want to." In other Jason Kenney news: Toronto considered for starting stage of 2014 Tour de France. Barack Obama considers move to Canada once his time is up at the White House. Prince William considers permanent relocation to Canada once his military service is complete. Hey, there's a chance, right? No guarantees.
John Baird caught the royal fever too and ordered a couple of paintings in the Department of Foreign Affairs lobby to be taken down and a portrait of the queen installed in their place. I love the description of the "faint outlines of the works still visible on the brown stone wall." Huffington Post has a picture.
This article is a depressingly optimistic take on Canadian politics. The premise is that we're incredibly lucky to have Stephen Harper, compared to the political farce overtaking the US and Britain. Sadly, I do agree with what he is saying. But it's sad to admit to being happy in such a "lesser of all evils" kind of way.
Another Canadian Citizen is held in a foreign jail under suspect circumstances and the Harper Government does nothing. Over potatoes!
The tech world is busy mocking us over our Prime Minister's fascination with posting cat photos on the internet. I'm most curious about where he developed his photography skills.
Elizabeth May is railing about Wi-Fi, Smart Meters and the disappearance of bees. This is the kind of stuff that is going to cause Canada to tune you out. But I will give her points for creativity. Who knew Smart Meters were bad because I'd get cancer and no longer be able to enjoy flowering crops?
Here is a Tyee article about the Canadian Government actively making life difficult for a climate change focussed artist attempting to put a show on in Europe. How very odd. In the comments section of that article there was a link to an article about the Harper Government preventing a Department of Fisheries scientist from talking about her work (related to salmon die-off) in public. Crazy stuff.
Lastly, apparently the City of Vancouver is proposing a "Clean Crack Pipe" program. I thought this was an Onion article. I like it though. It's going to send the Conservatives absolutely over the top. Update - Actually, Vancouver is behind the times. Calgary and Winnepeg are already doing this...and being questioned on it.
I'm not trying to turn this into a Copyright blog, but there's an interesting Slate article outlining the history of the "Happy Birthday Song", questioning Warner Music's claim to the copyright. I think it is a nice expose of all that is wrong with our modern copyright system, especially in this day and age of completely derivative music.
Jack Layton has cancer. "Can the NDP survive Jack Layton's health crisis?" the headline says. Unfortunately, if there was an election in the next month or two, I would think not. I can actually see Stephen Harper up late at night trying to figure out a way to blame the minority opposition for triggering another election. Wait...we might have it...apparently, the "temporary replacement" for Jack Layton was a member of the Bloc Quebecois before becoming an NDP MP. That should be enough right there for old Steve to call a fresh election.
Back to British Columbia. I believe HST is the right thing to do. I also believe that Christy Clark and the Liberals think that we're incredibly stupid. This whole process is flawed and borderline crooked. But, as our plant controller pointed out to me, "there is no way that BC will be able to pay back the money provided by the national government if we move away from the HST." I agree with this statement. There would be worlds of trouble if we give up on the HST. But I think it would be worth it just to see Christy Clark attempt to spin referendum defeat as a positive.
Apparently Jason Kenney failed high school geography. He thought that when the Tamil refugees said that they wanted to go to New Zealand that it was a part of Canada. His reasoning? Human smugglers don't "guarantee the destination." So basically "There's a chance that they could have come here, even though they didn't want to." In other Jason Kenney news: Toronto considered for starting stage of 2014 Tour de France. Barack Obama considers move to Canada once his time is up at the White House. Prince William considers permanent relocation to Canada once his military service is complete. Hey, there's a chance, right? No guarantees.
John Baird caught the royal fever too and ordered a couple of paintings in the Department of Foreign Affairs lobby to be taken down and a portrait of the queen installed in their place. I love the description of the "faint outlines of the works still visible on the brown stone wall." Huffington Post has a picture.
This article is a depressingly optimistic take on Canadian politics. The premise is that we're incredibly lucky to have Stephen Harper, compared to the political farce overtaking the US and Britain. Sadly, I do agree with what he is saying. But it's sad to admit to being happy in such a "lesser of all evils" kind of way.
Another Canadian Citizen is held in a foreign jail under suspect circumstances and the Harper Government does nothing. Over potatoes!
The tech world is busy mocking us over our Prime Minister's fascination with posting cat photos on the internet. I'm most curious about where he developed his photography skills.
Elizabeth May is railing about Wi-Fi, Smart Meters and the disappearance of bees. This is the kind of stuff that is going to cause Canada to tune you out. But I will give her points for creativity. Who knew Smart Meters were bad because I'd get cancer and no longer be able to enjoy flowering crops?
Here is a Tyee article about the Canadian Government actively making life difficult for a climate change focussed artist attempting to put a show on in Europe. How very odd. In the comments section of that article there was a link to an article about the Harper Government preventing a Department of Fisheries scientist from talking about her work (related to salmon die-off) in public. Crazy stuff.
Lastly, apparently the City of Vancouver is proposing a "Clean Crack Pipe" program. I thought this was an Onion article. I like it though. It's going to send the Conservatives absolutely over the top. Update - Actually, Vancouver is behind the times. Calgary and Winnepeg are already doing this...and being questioned on it.
Monday, May 30, 2011
International Futility - Week 4 - May 25-30
It's easy to look at US failures to respond to natural disasters and cast all sorts of judgement. They just always seem to get it wrong. Perhaps our sparse population makes it somewhat easier to respond to disasters? When's the last time a major Canadian city was hit by a disaster? We also don't seem to have the giant areas jammed full of the poor and disenfranchised. But I read this story about the initial reluctance to send in extra help to aid in Quebec floods (via boingboing) and I worry. This doesn't sound very Canadian. And just to put this in to perspective, an interesting take on what might happen when the big one hits (hint - we're kind of screwed).
Speaking of not sounding Canadian...when did we become the rightest of the Israel supporting hawks? Aren't we supposed to be the source of reason and sanity in the worlds conflicts? Apparently Stephen Harper is...actually, I'm not even going to suggest that he's holding things up, because the rest of the G8 probably isn't listening to him... Stephen Harper is crafting his own policy on Israel and the Middle East. As an added bonus, here is a Salon article about the image that Israel has crafted. Oh...wait...he is actually holding things up now.
And speaking of right wing posturing...A "Russian Diplomat" speaks out about Canada' overly paranoid hang-up on Russian expansion into the arctic. Key quote - "It could come out of a lack of knowledge of reality". Indeed, my Russian friend, indeed.
And lastly, this final story represents the complete lack of accountability in the Conservative government. Long story short - Jason Kenney's office sends out fundraising information on House of Commons Letterhead. Jason Kenney says it's an honest mistake, but scapegoats member of staff. Jason Kenney rehires said member of staff, several months later. So not only are they accepting no responsibility for the mistake, but they're not even holding their scapegoat accountible. The shocking thing is that they don't seem to care and that it doesn't seem to matter. At least hire him in a different ministry. It's insulting that they can't even get a tiny bit creative about this.
Speaking of not sounding Canadian...when did we become the rightest of the Israel supporting hawks? Aren't we supposed to be the source of reason and sanity in the worlds conflicts? Apparently Stephen Harper is...actually, I'm not even going to suggest that he's holding things up, because the rest of the G8 probably isn't listening to him... Stephen Harper is crafting his own policy on Israel and the Middle East. As an added bonus, here is a Salon article about the image that Israel has crafted. Oh...wait...he is actually holding things up now.
And speaking of right wing posturing...A "Russian Diplomat" speaks out about Canada' overly paranoid hang-up on Russian expansion into the arctic. Key quote - "It could come out of a lack of knowledge of reality". Indeed, my Russian friend, indeed.
And lastly, this final story represents the complete lack of accountability in the Conservative government. Long story short - Jason Kenney's office sends out fundraising information on House of Commons Letterhead. Jason Kenney says it's an honest mistake, but scapegoats member of staff. Jason Kenney rehires said member of staff, several months later. So not only are they accepting no responsibility for the mistake, but they're not even holding their scapegoat accountible. The shocking thing is that they don't seem to care and that it doesn't seem to matter. At least hire him in a different ministry. It's insulting that they can't even get a tiny bit creative about this.
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