I feel like a few months from now, a psychiatrist will be able to look back on this blog and track my slow descent into madness. Or apathy. Slow descent into apathy. As each post gets shorter and posted later. Oh well.
This story perfectly shows how Steve goes about his business. Quietly make shit difficult for people until they reach a point where they can't compete/complete and laugh as an enemy is quietly defeated. It's no secret that Conservatives hate the CBC. And you can spend a lot of time talking about privatizing the whole thing. Or you can just slowly turn back their funding, until they can't compete for important show contracts and just slowly disappear. Maybe the end of Hockey Night in Canada isn't a big deal? Maybe Don Cherry will finally just disappear into a basement to yell at his TV? But I think this is a turning point. And a montage. I feel Steve must be at lest the tiniest bit torn about this one.
Should I just end it there? One post about hockey and we're done?
Steve and his Australian buddy have decided to double down on their anti climate change agenda. Their distant relatives held a similar press conference years ago about refusing to kill jobs with a response to the nay-sayers and their made up asteroid impact.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association makes a fatal assumption when they say things like "Back to the drawing board" with respect to privacy legislation. That assumption being that the Conservatives give even one fuck about what anybody thinks or whether or not something is legal.
Justin Trudeau is setting a bit of an odd precedent. He suggests that male legislators shouldn't be making decisions on a females right to abortion. Which I kind of agree with. But what other responsibilities is he going to try to shirk off next? Is he just going to sit in an office with a giant stamp that says something like "Sorry, I can't deal with this because I'm white and male"? Shit. If only Steve had a similar attitude.
Click through on this sucker and listen to the full interview. Chris Alexander is a master of not answering questions. And he sounds so hard done by. And then he hangs up the phone. Jason Kenney is also a master at not answering questions (about Temporary Foreign Workers).
The Robo-calls trial has given an insight into how political campaigns act in Canada. Like children. I'm surprised they aren't ordering dozens of pizzas to show up at the opponents campaign office. Actually, that would be a bit of a morale booster, wouldn't it?
I feel like I'm slowly descending into madness with respect to Vancouver real estate. It's easy to feel stupid for not buying a shitty house as values continue to rise into the stratosphere and an entire industry works to convince us that we're incompetent humans for not over-paying for a house already. So, the 2013 breakdown of incomes in Canada is very interesting. If you make more than $191,000 per year, you're in the top 1% of all income earners in Canada. So....if you are just barely in the top 1% of all Canadian income earners, you can barely afford the average Vancouver detached house (at $1,000,000+)? What's considered affordable? 5 times annual earnings, right? Less? It gets way, way worse when you look at median individual income ($27,600) and median family income ($76,000). Of course, you're thinking the median Vancouver income is higher than the median Canadian, right? Sorry.
MacLean's points out that we're really, really terrible at protecting our marine habitat. Like worse than Russia and China bad. Worse than the US, even.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
Australia - Week 162 - June 2-9
Man. I haven't been this excited about something in a while. A comment was left here last week that I just loved. I'll share it with you, so that I don't have to write anything myself this week:
Orstralia calling here. Just wanted to give you the hands up that our recently elected PM is winging his way towards your bonza country on what can only be fact finding mission on the wonders of conservative government in Canada. Now Tony Abbott is the leader of the Liberal party of Australia but don't be confused because that's our version of the conservative party in Oz ( might be because we live in the opposite hemisphere).
Unfortunately for Tonnes his recent budget hasn't gone down to well with the general public. Those lower class types are getting upperty about inequality between the rich and the other ninety percent of the population. Even the septic tanks south of your boarder have made fun of him.
Now if Mr Harper could just show him some of the nuances on how to rule within a conservative framework, just some pointers well....it would be much appreciated. Having said that he does have a handy guide put together by the Institute of public affairs of Australia, a prestigious group of Bankers, Miners, Captains of industry all thought to be under the guiding hand of our very own Rupert Murdoch.
Even though Rupe has gone on to bigger and better things ( now an American citizen by crickey ) I like to think he still reminisces of his early days at the Adelaide Advertiser. Just wondering if your fair country is lucky enough to have any News corp publications or is it just us with wall to wall Murdoch media. Anyhow I better get out of your way now. Oh! If you do run into Tonnes he's the kind laconic bloke who will fell right at home with a cheeky greeting of ' Cheers big ears '.
The second link is a work of magic, and perhaps the work of a sociopath. Who else could spend the first few paragraphs talking about all the wonderful left wing changes of the past and how they've become thoroughly appreciated (Universal Healthcare, free tuition, etc.)...and then prescribe these changes as the way to move Australia forward? Banish the carbon tax, pull out of Kyoto, abolish the Department of Climate Change and the Clean Energy Fund, abandon parental leave, privatise, privatise, privatise. I mean, it's some kind of Koch Brothers wet dream. Anyhow. Thanks TaxiLurker...I really needed that.
On with the real news.
Perhaps this was the plan all along, but it seems like the Robocalls trial is coming to the conclusion that Michael Sona is guilty as hell, but not capable of executing without help. And probably some help on a National level from the party.
Ha ha. I almost just pasted this link in. And I'm going to share it anyhow. Because who doesn't want to read about the trainwreck of the Kimye wedding? A lesson in the excesses of the 1%.
Damned scientists. Getting in the way of progress again. Here pointing out that the science used to justify the Northern Gateway project is "flawed". The logic too. And again with the Scientists....Great news on Fracking in Canada. A University of Waterloo report finds that wells are poorly capped, barely monitored, and leaking all over the place. Thank god our decisions aren't peer reviewed, says Steve.
Jesus. This is a bit troubling. The "Government" is imploring its departments to track every protest across Canada. The Optimist would assume they want to keep their fingers on the pulse of Canadian opinion...
So the Cons have unveiled their prostitution bill. The "Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act". Man. What's their budget for thinking up over-the-top bill names? Anyhow. I'm not sure people are going to buy into this one. It seems to make everybody angry. I guess I have some Libertarian in me. It seems like making things that people really want illegal is kind of stupid. Doesn't it make sense, as New Zealand has done with prostitution, to accept that things will happen and bring it out in the open? This Nordic model sounds like a step in the right direction, but seems to add an unnecessary shroud over things. How can you ensure things are safe when people are still forced to do it in secrecy?
More veterans more angry with the Conservatives.
Don't worry. Nigel Wright is going to be okay. Mike Duffy probably won't be.
Harper found an actual Quebec judge to appoint to the Supreme Court.
Elections Canada hasn't made up their mind about NDP guilt with respect to mailouts.
People give Garth a tonne of shit. But this post is really beautiful. He lays out quite clearly how our Real Estate costs can have an impact on where businesses set up. And that we shouldn't be excited when a factory closes down and we build over-priced condos on the land. "In Canada, this is progress. Who needs useless, noisy, downscale factories full of people with rough cuticles and bad tats when all we need is to sell real estate to each other at ever-higher prices with ever-larger mortgages? Then everyone benefits. Obviously we’ve found a new economic reality. It’s so good to be different. And smart."
I really don't understand what Steve is going to accomplish with his Russian saber rattling. Send more troops to Europe? To do what? With what? It's a bit of a symbolic sham of a gesture. Especially when we still seem happy to take the money of Russians when we really need it.
A study has shown that states that primarily vote Republican have a far higher dependency on Federal funding than do states that vote primarily Democrat. Damned Liberal freeloaders, keep wanting to give money to real 'Merican 'publicans.
Orstralia calling here. Just wanted to give you the hands up that our recently elected PM is winging his way towards your bonza country on what can only be fact finding mission on the wonders of conservative government in Canada. Now Tony Abbott is the leader of the Liberal party of Australia but don't be confused because that's our version of the conservative party in Oz ( might be because we live in the opposite hemisphere).
Unfortunately for Tonnes his recent budget hasn't gone down to well with the general public. Those lower class types are getting upperty about inequality between the rich and the other ninety percent of the population. Even the septic tanks south of your boarder have made fun of him.
Now if Mr Harper could just show him some of the nuances on how to rule within a conservative framework, just some pointers well....it would be much appreciated. Having said that he does have a handy guide put together by the Institute of public affairs of Australia, a prestigious group of Bankers, Miners, Captains of industry all thought to be under the guiding hand of our very own Rupert Murdoch.
Even though Rupe has gone on to bigger and better things ( now an American citizen by crickey ) I like to think he still reminisces of his early days at the Adelaide Advertiser. Just wondering if your fair country is lucky enough to have any News corp publications or is it just us with wall to wall Murdoch media. Anyhow I better get out of your way now. Oh! If you do run into Tonnes he's the kind laconic bloke who will fell right at home with a cheeky greeting of ' Cheers big ears '.
The second link is a work of magic, and perhaps the work of a sociopath. Who else could spend the first few paragraphs talking about all the wonderful left wing changes of the past and how they've become thoroughly appreciated (Universal Healthcare, free tuition, etc.)...and then prescribe these changes as the way to move Australia forward? Banish the carbon tax, pull out of Kyoto, abolish the Department of Climate Change and the Clean Energy Fund, abandon parental leave, privatise, privatise, privatise. I mean, it's some kind of Koch Brothers wet dream. Anyhow. Thanks TaxiLurker...I really needed that.
On with the real news.
Perhaps this was the plan all along, but it seems like the Robocalls trial is coming to the conclusion that Michael Sona is guilty as hell, but not capable of executing without help. And probably some help on a National level from the party.
Ha ha. I almost just pasted this link in. And I'm going to share it anyhow. Because who doesn't want to read about the trainwreck of the Kimye wedding? A lesson in the excesses of the 1%.
Damned scientists. Getting in the way of progress again. Here pointing out that the science used to justify the Northern Gateway project is "flawed". The logic too. And again with the Scientists....Great news on Fracking in Canada. A University of Waterloo report finds that wells are poorly capped, barely monitored, and leaking all over the place. Thank god our decisions aren't peer reviewed, says Steve.
Jesus. This is a bit troubling. The "Government" is imploring its departments to track every protest across Canada. The Optimist would assume they want to keep their fingers on the pulse of Canadian opinion...
So the Cons have unveiled their prostitution bill. The "Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act". Man. What's their budget for thinking up over-the-top bill names? Anyhow. I'm not sure people are going to buy into this one. It seems to make everybody angry. I guess I have some Libertarian in me. It seems like making things that people really want illegal is kind of stupid. Doesn't it make sense, as New Zealand has done with prostitution, to accept that things will happen and bring it out in the open? This Nordic model sounds like a step in the right direction, but seems to add an unnecessary shroud over things. How can you ensure things are safe when people are still forced to do it in secrecy?
More veterans more angry with the Conservatives.
Don't worry. Nigel Wright is going to be okay. Mike Duffy probably won't be.
Vice chimes in on our "You're not a citizen any more" legislation. Pointing out that it sucks.
There's just so many links about why we shouldn't buy the F-35, I don't even know where to start. But apparently, we're going to. Okay. One link. Basically, this airplane is so complicated and compromised because of the vertical takeoff/landing requirements. Which Canada doesn't need. So in summary. We're spending insane amounts of money on an airplane because some variants require something that we don't, and the whole design is kind of compromised because of it. Well done.
Somebody from Peter McKay's office is most likely behind the "bozo eruption" recording. More Peter McKay (christ, what an asshole). The Conservatives still seem intent on making the Marc Nadon fiasco about anything but them. Peter McKay suggests documents were leaked? How does that in any way impact what happened?
Harper found an actual Quebec judge to appoint to the Supreme Court.
Elections Canada hasn't made up their mind about NDP guilt with respect to mailouts.
People give Garth a tonne of shit. But this post is really beautiful. He lays out quite clearly how our Real Estate costs can have an impact on where businesses set up. And that we shouldn't be excited when a factory closes down and we build over-priced condos on the land. "In Canada, this is progress. Who needs useless, noisy, downscale factories full of people with rough cuticles and bad tats when all we need is to sell real estate to each other at ever-higher prices with ever-larger mortgages? Then everyone benefits. Obviously we’ve found a new economic reality. It’s so good to be different. And smart."
I really don't understand what Steve is going to accomplish with his Russian saber rattling. Send more troops to Europe? To do what? With what? It's a bit of a symbolic sham of a gesture. Especially when we still seem happy to take the money of Russians when we really need it.
A study has shown that states that primarily vote Republican have a far higher dependency on Federal funding than do states that vote primarily Democrat. Damned Liberal freeloaders, keep wanting to give money to real 'Merican 'publicans.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Fat - Week 161 - May 26-June 2
Canada. Getting fatter.
The NDP points out that the new Privacy Watchdog is supposed to be protecting Canadians from the very laws that he created...which might be a bit of a conflict.
Fuck these guys. "We have worker shortages because we don't pay very well and we treat people badly so we need to bring people in from outside of the country to flip burgers." And we need a special meeting with the PM to talk about it.
A report suggests the obvious - with terrible data on jobs and employment, the Government has no idea whether or not there are labour shortages and Temporary Foreign Workers are required. Also, bringing in people at minimum wage deflates wage growth. Coincidentally, this article tracks the decline of StatsCan.
I agree that political parties should not be sending partisan mailouts using government resources. But it seems like the Conservatives do this all the time. Maybe what the NDP did is worse, and that's why they have to pay this back (maybe)? But it seems like a bit of a double standard witch hunt.
Russia has a paid army of internet commenters, ensuring a pro-Putin comment isn't too far away in Western news articles about the Ukraine.
The US (finally) appears to be making some stabs at reducing this whole "Climate Change" thing we've been hearing about lately. Canada, of course, isn't impressed. And doesn't feel the need to do anything similar.
This seems too crazy to be true. Former Liberal MP Sheila Copps found a Nato briefing binder in an airport lounge that was left behind by a Conservative MP. And then she spilled all the gory details in her column for the Hill Times. Of course, the Conservatives don't respond to the allegations...they question the messenger.
This is kind of interesting...but knowing a bit about procurement, a company can't just enter midstream and say "We can do this way cheaper" and expect the government to respond to this. Did they put a bid in during the required time period? If not, they need to just go away.
A Canadian Muslim group is suing the PM for libel.
A Tyee article on the impact of the Russia/China Natural Gas deal on BC's plans. The short story: not good. I'm sure Christy will figure out a way to make us "get to Yes!" though. Notice how official pipeline dudes are saying the same phrase now?
The NDP points out that the new Privacy Watchdog is supposed to be protecting Canadians from the very laws that he created...which might be a bit of a conflict.
Fuck these guys. "We have worker shortages because we don't pay very well and we treat people badly so we need to bring people in from outside of the country to flip burgers." And we need a special meeting with the PM to talk about it.
A report suggests the obvious - with terrible data on jobs and employment, the Government has no idea whether or not there are labour shortages and Temporary Foreign Workers are required. Also, bringing in people at minimum wage deflates wage growth. Coincidentally, this article tracks the decline of StatsCan.
I agree that political parties should not be sending partisan mailouts using government resources. But it seems like the Conservatives do this all the time. Maybe what the NDP did is worse, and that's why they have to pay this back (maybe)? But it seems like a bit of a double standard witch hunt.
Russia has a paid army of internet commenters, ensuring a pro-Putin comment isn't too far away in Western news articles about the Ukraine.
The US (finally) appears to be making some stabs at reducing this whole "Climate Change" thing we've been hearing about lately. Canada, of course, isn't impressed. And doesn't feel the need to do anything similar.
This seems too crazy to be true. Former Liberal MP Sheila Copps found a Nato briefing binder in an airport lounge that was left behind by a Conservative MP. And then she spilled all the gory details in her column for the Hill Times. Of course, the Conservatives don't respond to the allegations...they question the messenger.
This is kind of interesting...but knowing a bit about procurement, a company can't just enter midstream and say "We can do this way cheaper" and expect the government to respond to this. Did they put a bid in during the required time period? If not, they need to just go away.
A Canadian Muslim group is suing the PM for libel.
A Tyee article on the impact of the Russia/China Natural Gas deal on BC's plans. The short story: not good. I'm sure Christy will figure out a way to make us "get to Yes!" though. Notice how official pipeline dudes are saying the same phrase now?
Monday, May 26, 2014
Regicide - Week 160 - May 19-26
Huh. Regicide obviously wasn't the term I was looking for...we'll leave it though. Make you think it's some sort of cryptic commentary on something. I was certain Regicide was correct...
It seems like the Conservatives can't even play by the rules with their own elections. The Eve Adams nomination battle gets nastier, and the nomination election is called off. It's okay though. Demetri Soudas did it all for love, so it's fine.
We often play second fiddle to the US military, but we've now proven we can be contenders with the best of them...Sexual assault within the Canadian military is out of control, just like in the US.
Some current Conservative MP's have been busy developing an app for the next election. To help the Conservatives get re-elected. Not helping society or anything.
With world leaders like this, I think everything is going to turn out great...The US House Science Committee has banned the US Military from studying climate change.
The Harper Government has definitively proven through a self funded study that the Canada/Columbia free trade deal has had no negative impacts on human rights abuses.
The Straight explains why the Conservatives new citizenship rules might not be all that great. Beware dual citizens who commit crimes. Or are accused of committing crimes by shady people.
Lots of Canadians have just given up on looking for work. Which is odd as the number of Temporary Foreign Workers has tripled in certain areas. These people need to run as Conservative candidates or something...This former (failed) candidate received several government contracts, both before and after she ran.
I feel like I'm missing something here. The wife of the soldier that Omar Khadr killed is suing him for $50 Million. I mean...say what you will about the craziness of soldiers families suing people over deaths and what that might mean for society. But do Guantanamo inmates make a lot more money than I think they do?
To expand on last weeks link about oil spill clean-up costs...A 1 Billion limit to liability...an expected 10 Billion cost for clean-up. Insane. Also sited in this story, recent trade deals promised the EU and India that they could import as many temporary foreign workers as they wanted if they establish business in Canada. This is a problem. With that, we have an interesting behind-the-scenes on a farce of an Oil Sands Spill clean-up project.
Garth shows a diagram from the Georgia Straight that shows non-resident ownership in Vancouver is quite low. But doesn't link to the article. Which is pretty lame.
Interesting research on global morality...things such as drinking, premarital sex, contraceptive use and abortion. Diving in to abortion...only 26% of Canadians think abortion is immoral (and is roughly the same amount of people that think gambling is immoral). And I'm betting the Venn diagram of Conservative Voters/Immoral Abortion Judgers is two nearly concentric circles. So maybe Trudeau will be alright? Because the Catholics hate him.
This is a bit rich. Maxime Bernier speculates that the Liberals coming to power could cause Quebec to separate. Because the Conservatives have done so much to make Quebec feel welcome.
It seems like the Conservatives can't even play by the rules with their own elections. The Eve Adams nomination battle gets nastier, and the nomination election is called off. It's okay though. Demetri Soudas did it all for love, so it's fine.
We often play second fiddle to the US military, but we've now proven we can be contenders with the best of them...Sexual assault within the Canadian military is out of control, just like in the US.
Some current Conservative MP's have been busy developing an app for the next election. To help the Conservatives get re-elected. Not helping society or anything.
With world leaders like this, I think everything is going to turn out great...The US House Science Committee has banned the US Military from studying climate change.
The Harper Government has definitively proven through a self funded study that the Canada/Columbia free trade deal has had no negative impacts on human rights abuses.
The Straight explains why the Conservatives new citizenship rules might not be all that great. Beware dual citizens who commit crimes. Or are accused of committing crimes by shady people.
Lots of Canadians have just given up on looking for work. Which is odd as the number of Temporary Foreign Workers has tripled in certain areas. These people need to run as Conservative candidates or something...This former (failed) candidate received several government contracts, both before and after she ran.
I feel like I'm missing something here. The wife of the soldier that Omar Khadr killed is suing him for $50 Million. I mean...say what you will about the craziness of soldiers families suing people over deaths and what that might mean for society. But do Guantanamo inmates make a lot more money than I think they do?
To expand on last weeks link about oil spill clean-up costs...A 1 Billion limit to liability...an expected 10 Billion cost for clean-up. Insane. Also sited in this story, recent trade deals promised the EU and India that they could import as many temporary foreign workers as they wanted if they establish business in Canada. This is a problem. With that, we have an interesting behind-the-scenes on a farce of an Oil Sands Spill clean-up project.
Garth shows a diagram from the Georgia Straight that shows non-resident ownership in Vancouver is quite low. But doesn't link to the article. Which is pretty lame.
Interesting research on global morality...things such as drinking, premarital sex, contraceptive use and abortion. Diving in to abortion...only 26% of Canadians think abortion is immoral (and is roughly the same amount of people that think gambling is immoral). And I'm betting the Venn diagram of Conservative Voters/Immoral Abortion Judgers is two nearly concentric circles. So maybe Trudeau will be alright? Because the Catholics hate him.
This is a bit rich. Maxime Bernier speculates that the Liberals coming to power could cause Quebec to separate. Because the Conservatives have done so much to make Quebec feel welcome.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Up to here - Week 159 - May 12-19
Well. It doesn't really matter now, does it? After all, the Antarctic ice collapse has started and probably can't be stopped. Think of the business opportunities! Glad I don't own Real Estate in Richmond.
Hooray! The next election is going to be so fair!
Canada broke ranks with the US and refused to sanction a couple of Russian bigwigs. Of course it has nothing to do with their significant investments in Canada. Wouldn't those actually be two of the best guys to sanction if you were actually trying to prove a point?
This guy figures Trudeau has lost the Catholic vote with his abortion proclamation. Probably had already lost them on gay marriage, anyhow.
The new pipeline rules and regulations are far from "world class". And why a 1 billion cap on liability? 1,000 people out to an anti Enbridge rally is nothing to sneeze at.
Canada may be subsidizing energy companies to the tune of $34 Billion. Per year.
This is pretty much straight from the Stephen Harper playbook. Find a crime that happened once or twice. Ensure that it is something nobody can argue on behalf of. And put resources into creating a law against it. Voila. Tough on crime. Who doesn't love police dogs?
There's something kind of funny about an old dude like Julian Fantino defending spending $100,000 to promote a twitter account. I wonder if he knows what it is?
Garth lays out the sad state of employment affairs in Canada. Yikes.
Rafe Mair raises a good (and familiar) point. How is it a "jobs plan" to just dig shit out of the ground and put it on a boat?
Dean Del Mastro doesn't give up. Wants the RCMP to investigate Elections Canada. Charles Manson makes similar demands of the people that investigated him as well.
The NDP sent out lots of mailings using government resources. The Conservatives do this all the time as well...but Elections Canada is investigating. As well, the Thomas Mulcair grilling over NDP satellite offices has devolved into a bit of a sideshow.
A full swat team came to arrest the engineer on the train that exploded in Lac Megantic. I mean, when your crime is perhaps being negligent in operating a train, of course you should be considered armed and dangerous and have your entire family hauled out onto the front lawn at gunpoint after you offered to just come in on your own volition. Meanwhile, the owner declares bankruptcy and walks away.
This story reveals how silly government secrecy rules are. David Cameron's name has been redacted from documents about his official visit to Canada. The photo is pretty great.
Jason Kenney to the rescue! Somehow, we're going to tie the number of temporary foreign workers to the unemployment rate. Even though our ability to collect stats is bad. Another company swindled temporary foreign workers out of money.
Hold on a second. We have a "Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime"?
A nice long read on the history of the Experimental Lakes Area and the impact of bad government management.
This article lays out the case for a London housing bubble...and sounds oddly familiar.
This story highlights all the changes to other countries laws the USA wants. Canada and Japan need to get rid of privacy laws. Mexico can't put taxes on junk food. Canada needs longer pharmaceutical patents.
Hooray! The next election is going to be so fair!
Canada broke ranks with the US and refused to sanction a couple of Russian bigwigs. Of course it has nothing to do with their significant investments in Canada. Wouldn't those actually be two of the best guys to sanction if you were actually trying to prove a point?
This guy figures Trudeau has lost the Catholic vote with his abortion proclamation. Probably had already lost them on gay marriage, anyhow.
The new pipeline rules and regulations are far from "world class". And why a 1 billion cap on liability? 1,000 people out to an anti Enbridge rally is nothing to sneeze at.
Canada may be subsidizing energy companies to the tune of $34 Billion. Per year.
This is pretty much straight from the Stephen Harper playbook. Find a crime that happened once or twice. Ensure that it is something nobody can argue on behalf of. And put resources into creating a law against it. Voila. Tough on crime. Who doesn't love police dogs?
There's something kind of funny about an old dude like Julian Fantino defending spending $100,000 to promote a twitter account. I wonder if he knows what it is?
Garth lays out the sad state of employment affairs in Canada. Yikes.
Rafe Mair raises a good (and familiar) point. How is it a "jobs plan" to just dig shit out of the ground and put it on a boat?
Dean Del Mastro doesn't give up. Wants the RCMP to investigate Elections Canada. Charles Manson makes similar demands of the people that investigated him as well.
The NDP sent out lots of mailings using government resources. The Conservatives do this all the time as well...but Elections Canada is investigating. As well, the Thomas Mulcair grilling over NDP satellite offices has devolved into a bit of a sideshow.
A full swat team came to arrest the engineer on the train that exploded in Lac Megantic. I mean, when your crime is perhaps being negligent in operating a train, of course you should be considered armed and dangerous and have your entire family hauled out onto the front lawn at gunpoint after you offered to just come in on your own volition. Meanwhile, the owner declares bankruptcy and walks away.
This story reveals how silly government secrecy rules are. David Cameron's name has been redacted from documents about his official visit to Canada. The photo is pretty great.
Jason Kenney to the rescue! Somehow, we're going to tie the number of temporary foreign workers to the unemployment rate. Even though our ability to collect stats is bad. Another company swindled temporary foreign workers out of money.
Hold on a second. We have a "Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime"?
A nice long read on the history of the Experimental Lakes Area and the impact of bad government management.
This article lays out the case for a London housing bubble...and sounds oddly familiar.
This story highlights all the changes to other countries laws the USA wants. Canada and Japan need to get rid of privacy laws. Mexico can't put taxes on junk food. Canada needs longer pharmaceutical patents.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Almost there - Week 158 - May 5-12
I don't get this. The Conservatives look poised to use the Ukraine
crisis as an excuse to hike military spending. I'm sorry, but if we are
to look at this situation and think "Huh. If only we had the firepower
we really could have showed those Russians who is boss", we're crazy. I
don't think our military is within an order of magnitude of challenging
Russia for anything. So what are they talking about? Even if we
doubled military spending we'd still have nothing.
A website has started mapping locations of temporary foreign workers in Canada. The largest chunk are working in food service in large urban areas. Another company has been sanctioned over Temporary Foreign Workers. Temporary Foreign pilots now? With the full knowledge of Jason Kenney. And, lastly (I think), a Temporary Foreign Worker in Nanaimo was threatened with death if he reported his unfair working conditions. Oh. Wait. One more link...what this looks like from the workers side. Jeez...okay. This is it. Apparently telling temporary foreign workers that if they don't do exactly what you say, you'll send them home...isn't a threat.
Kinder Morgan thought it would be a good idea to talk about how an oil spill could potentially provide a kickstart to the economy.
The CBC summarizes all the things Stephen Harper has done with respect to the Supreme Court. Mostly temper tantrums and embarrassments .It now looks like the Conservatives knew the Nadon appointment was going to be a problem, and they attempted to skirt the issue with some (should we say...some more?) legal shenanigans, but Nadon wouldn't go along with it. And a bunch of legal experts are telling Steve that he's wrong with his comments about the Chief Justice.
A lawyer involved with the Robocalls investigation calls it "fatally flawed". Basically, they only considered people who made formal complaints, and not the 1000+ other calls that were made.
The opposition is proposing 145 ammendments to the "Fair Elections" act.
The Tyee dives into Piketty. I like this graph that they came up with...inflation adjusted incomes in BC, the top 1% vs. the bottom 90%. Not sure what year they adjust to.
The head of the Canadian Border Services Agency thinks it's a bad idea to continue with the tv show "Border Security". But the Conservative government disagrees, and is going to move forward with it anyway. Because what does the head of an agency know about anything?
Garth breaks down the Real Estate stats. Not all is as the Real Estate boards tell us. They very consistently overstate the number of sales, then adjust downwards, then overstate again the next year, comparing to the downward adjusted number.
Government employees that need to use data to make decisions are not very happy about the mandatory long form census going away. On a similar note, the Auditor General points out that Stats Can cannot provide accurate job data in certain areas of the country.
Steady hand on the tiller! Canada loses 29,000 jobs in April.
Is the government snooping on Facebook against the law? Maybe.
A study is showing that methane leakage from fracked areas is far higher than expected.
A Conservative Senator has degrees from imaginary Universities.
Only an idiot would look at SNC Lavalin and think "You know...I really want the guy running the board of directors of that company for the last few years to come and run things for me." Christy Clark, everybody!
The Conservative ad campaign about wireless fees has made people a bit angry. Because exactly the opposite of what was promised has happened. Competition down. Prices up.
A Canadian mining company supposedly used slave labour to construct a mine in Africa. The government responded with non answers and cliches.
First of all, let me say that as an Apple shareholder (I know...I held on for too long)...this outrages me. $68 Million in stock for a senior level manager? What the hell? This is just...shit...the 1% issue in a nutshell.
A website has started mapping locations of temporary foreign workers in Canada. The largest chunk are working in food service in large urban areas. Another company has been sanctioned over Temporary Foreign Workers. Temporary Foreign pilots now? With the full knowledge of Jason Kenney. And, lastly (I think), a Temporary Foreign Worker in Nanaimo was threatened with death if he reported his unfair working conditions. Oh. Wait. One more link...what this looks like from the workers side. Jeez...okay. This is it. Apparently telling temporary foreign workers that if they don't do exactly what you say, you'll send them home...isn't a threat.
Kinder Morgan thought it would be a good idea to talk about how an oil spill could potentially provide a kickstart to the economy.
The CBC summarizes all the things Stephen Harper has done with respect to the Supreme Court. Mostly temper tantrums and embarrassments .It now looks like the Conservatives knew the Nadon appointment was going to be a problem, and they attempted to skirt the issue with some (should we say...some more?) legal shenanigans, but Nadon wouldn't go along with it. And a bunch of legal experts are telling Steve that he's wrong with his comments about the Chief Justice.
A lawyer involved with the Robocalls investigation calls it "fatally flawed". Basically, they only considered people who made formal complaints, and not the 1000+ other calls that were made.
The opposition is proposing 145 ammendments to the "Fair Elections" act.
The Tyee dives into Piketty. I like this graph that they came up with...inflation adjusted incomes in BC, the top 1% vs. the bottom 90%. Not sure what year they adjust to.
The head of the Canadian Border Services Agency thinks it's a bad idea to continue with the tv show "Border Security". But the Conservative government disagrees, and is going to move forward with it anyway. Because what does the head of an agency know about anything?
Garth breaks down the Real Estate stats. Not all is as the Real Estate boards tell us. They very consistently overstate the number of sales, then adjust downwards, then overstate again the next year, comparing to the downward adjusted number.
Government employees that need to use data to make decisions are not very happy about the mandatory long form census going away. On a similar note, the Auditor General points out that Stats Can cannot provide accurate job data in certain areas of the country.
Steady hand on the tiller! Canada loses 29,000 jobs in April.
Is the government snooping on Facebook against the law? Maybe.
A study is showing that methane leakage from fracked areas is far higher than expected.
A Conservative Senator has degrees from imaginary Universities.
Only an idiot would look at SNC Lavalin and think "You know...I really want the guy running the board of directors of that company for the last few years to come and run things for me." Christy Clark, everybody!
The Conservative ad campaign about wireless fees has made people a bit angry. Because exactly the opposite of what was promised has happened. Competition down. Prices up.
A Canadian mining company supposedly used slave labour to construct a mine in Africa. The government responded with non answers and cliches.
First of all, let me say that as an Apple shareholder (I know...I held on for too long)...this outrages me. $68 Million in stock for a senior level manager? What the hell? This is just...shit...the 1% issue in a nutshell.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Supremely Odd - Week 157 - April 28-May 5
My favourite headline of the week: Arrested woman throws poop at officers
Steve-O is starting to play dirty with the Supreme Court. Out of nowhere, he brings up an "inappropriate phone call" from the Chief Justice. Never mind that a distinguished law professor has pointed out that there wouldn't be a problem with this call. Never mind that the Chief Justice denies that this ever happened. The base is happy that they have an explanation now.
The RCMP is indicated that there may be as many as 1,000 murdered aboriginal women across the country? The Conservatives refuse a public inquiry. Not only that, they scrubbed the recommendations for a public inquiry from a Parliament report.
Government consultation has suggested that Canadians want the Economic Action Plan Ads to stop.
Stephen Harper blames those rascally voters. Some of them have no intention of producing ID at the polls. I guess if you're an untrustworthy bastard, you assume everybody else is too.
Data leaks by telcos to government agencies reach insane levels. Millions of (mostly warrantless) requests for data each year. Take note...government spying in the US just resulted in Brazil taking their fighter plane money elsewhere.
The RCMP didn't even bother to consult with a public prosecutor over the Nigel Wright case. They did talk to provincial prosecutors.
The Conservatives have set it up so that corporate sponsors are paying for part of the upcoming "Day of Honour" for soldiers?
A nice rundown of bureaucrats that have spoken out against the Harper Government. Summary: It seldom ends well for their life as a government employee.
It's a story that Elections Canada had to pay a former judge to review their investigation into the robocalls scandal? Somebody should have done it for free?
What the fuck? The feds announce that job ready immigrants will be given preference. Now BC is re-tooling it's school system to create worker drones for the upcoming job shortage revolution? On the surface, yes, it makes sense to prepare kids for the future, and the future usually requires working for the man in some way, shape or form. But this borders on insane. This borders on the government being nothing more than the enabler for companies to make huge amounts of money. But we have to have workers to execute the fracking plan that Environment Canada warns is moving way, way too fast, right?
The CBC lays out the history and issues of the Temporary Foreign Worker program. And Jason Kenney explodes on twitter after Bob Rae insults him. He also thinks that the Liberals or NDP can't criticize the program because they've helped some of their constituents use the program (we've heard this before). All of a sudden, Stephen Harper is a champion for the Canadian worker, warning employers abusing the Temporary Foreign Worker program that he won't stand for the abuse that he allowed any longer.
There's a really weird story here: A Polish newspaper donated a free ad to Eve Adams and suggested she is already the MP for the riding she is contesting. Of course, it's not her fault.
Shawn Atleo resigns. I have not idea what this means.
50 troops off to fight the Russians. 6 airplanes (that may not be armed). 1 boat. 50 troops.
Embarrass the RCMP, face charges for assaulting an RCMP officer.
A Canadian aid group has been branded a terrorist organization and had it's offices raided over support for Hamas. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Hamas now a part of the legitimate government in Palestine? So couldn't any organization working in Palestine be levelled with similar charges? Regardless, the group denies any support of Hamas.
The government doesn't seem to be taking the job of filling vacant scientists positions seriously. Why bother hiring good scientists if you're only going to muzzle them, I guess.
The NHL has a noticeable impact on the overall Canadian economy.
This is beyond awesome. A group of Satanists have commissioned a statue for the front of the Oklahoma Statehouse. Their response to threats against the monument? Their insurance may allow them to build two if this one is damaged. It's like a video game villain or something. Kill one, two come back in its place.
Let's end on a depressing note. The Cons seemed to be bouncing back in the polls.
Steve-O is starting to play dirty with the Supreme Court. Out of nowhere, he brings up an "inappropriate phone call" from the Chief Justice. Never mind that a distinguished law professor has pointed out that there wouldn't be a problem with this call. Never mind that the Chief Justice denies that this ever happened. The base is happy that they have an explanation now.
The RCMP is indicated that there may be as many as 1,000 murdered aboriginal women across the country? The Conservatives refuse a public inquiry. Not only that, they scrubbed the recommendations for a public inquiry from a Parliament report.
Government consultation has suggested that Canadians want the Economic Action Plan Ads to stop.
Stephen Harper blames those rascally voters. Some of them have no intention of producing ID at the polls. I guess if you're an untrustworthy bastard, you assume everybody else is too.
Data leaks by telcos to government agencies reach insane levels. Millions of (mostly warrantless) requests for data each year. Take note...government spying in the US just resulted in Brazil taking their fighter plane money elsewhere.
The RCMP didn't even bother to consult with a public prosecutor over the Nigel Wright case. They did talk to provincial prosecutors.
The Conservatives have set it up so that corporate sponsors are paying for part of the upcoming "Day of Honour" for soldiers?
A nice rundown of bureaucrats that have spoken out against the Harper Government. Summary: It seldom ends well for their life as a government employee.
It's a story that Elections Canada had to pay a former judge to review their investigation into the robocalls scandal? Somebody should have done it for free?
What the fuck? The feds announce that job ready immigrants will be given preference. Now BC is re-tooling it's school system to create worker drones for the upcoming job shortage revolution? On the surface, yes, it makes sense to prepare kids for the future, and the future usually requires working for the man in some way, shape or form. But this borders on insane. This borders on the government being nothing more than the enabler for companies to make huge amounts of money. But we have to have workers to execute the fracking plan that Environment Canada warns is moving way, way too fast, right?
The CBC lays out the history and issues of the Temporary Foreign Worker program. And Jason Kenney explodes on twitter after Bob Rae insults him. He also thinks that the Liberals or NDP can't criticize the program because they've helped some of their constituents use the program (we've heard this before). All of a sudden, Stephen Harper is a champion for the Canadian worker, warning employers abusing the Temporary Foreign Worker program that he won't stand for the abuse that he allowed any longer.
There's a really weird story here: A Polish newspaper donated a free ad to Eve Adams and suggested she is already the MP for the riding she is contesting. Of course, it's not her fault.
Shawn Atleo resigns. I have not idea what this means.
50 troops off to fight the Russians. 6 airplanes (that may not be armed). 1 boat. 50 troops.
Embarrass the RCMP, face charges for assaulting an RCMP officer.
A Canadian aid group has been branded a terrorist organization and had it's offices raided over support for Hamas. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Hamas now a part of the legitimate government in Palestine? So couldn't any organization working in Palestine be levelled with similar charges? Regardless, the group denies any support of Hamas.
The government doesn't seem to be taking the job of filling vacant scientists positions seriously. Why bother hiring good scientists if you're only going to muzzle them, I guess.
The NHL has a noticeable impact on the overall Canadian economy.
This is beyond awesome. A group of Satanists have commissioned a statue for the front of the Oklahoma Statehouse. Their response to threats against the monument? Their insurance may allow them to build two if this one is damaged. It's like a video game villain or something. Kill one, two come back in its place.
Let's end on a depressing note. The Cons seemed to be bouncing back in the polls.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)