As the Oil Lobby (aka The Conservatives) ramp up pipeline ads on TV, the oil spill in Alberta gets worse and worse. 160-480,000 barrels of oil. As one commenter posted "If they can clean up the Gulf, they can clean this up." Yes indeed. If. Thank god we're streamlining those troublesome environmental approvals. And, this provides a bit more insight as to why Mr. Harper is "streamlining", as some documents from a few years ago show that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans thinks that Enbridge is taking the cheap route and underestimating risks. Obviously, we don't want to hear from those yahoos.
I'm not going to talk about the 1%. But I am going to point you to a fantastic article that talks about the fallacies of a "merit society". It's really great. It's pretty easy to remain at the top when the playing field isn't level. And you can buy an excavator to ensure that the playing field at no point ever approaches level. And then you just run over everybody else's shit with that excavator.
And, in the spirit of not listening to scientists, the feeling is that the freshwater research facility being shutdown by the Conservatives is on the block because of their troublesome research into the oil sands.
On the topic of meddlesome losers, how about that Auditor General? Well, he's at it again, pointing out that a number of contracts issued by Parliament and the Senate were, well, bad.
And, within a day or two of suggesting that we may be heading for a recession...again...Stephen Harper lectures the World on following the Canadian model for their economy. This is the man that is the "steady hand on the tiller". This is the man that somehow manages to spend like a drunken sailor while cutting actual programs. Yes. Follow our lead.
And where I think the problem is, well, I just think Conservatives don't know what math is. There's Peter McKay, no link necessary. And now, Dean Del Mastro. He claims he spent $1575. Receipts suggest he spent $21,000. That's a bit of a difference.
Maybe they're catching on though? Maybe they've recognized that they just need a bit more time to crunch some numbers and figure it out? They've decided to delay handing out key figures on the Fighter Jet purchase. Who needs to know that stuff in a timely fashion?
Okay. Get this. Chuck Strahl. Retires from Parliament with a full pension. Does so in a way that gives his son a massive leg up on getting nominated as the Conservative candidate. And now he's being named as the CSIS watchdog? Does he have law enforcement experience? Intelligence experience?
And then what should be a big story, restricting debate on Parliamentary debate on major laws, just doesn't even matter any longer as the Conservatives do it so often. Yes, the Conservatives are limiting the debate on the budget. The excessively overblown budget that's massive and unwieldy. I guess the Filibuster didn't work, but it has resulted in a marathon 24 hour vote. And...there is actually some feeling from actual Conservatives that this may not have been worth it.
I've kind of lumped Copyright and Internet Surveillance together. They are kind of similar. Here Slate comments on Vic Toews using Luca Magnotti for political gains (i.e. pushing his Internet Surveillance bill through). And the Copyright lobby pushes for more and more and more (and more) because they won't stop until we're strapped to couches with our eyelids pried open and they can just automatically siphon money out of bank accounts. And similar things are happening in the UK.
Lets talk about drugs a bit. I'm going to argue that the big problem with drugs isn't the actual drugs. The big problem with drugs is that people kill people because they can make money. Or kids buy shit laced with rat poison because some sketchy dude is selling it to them out of the back of his van. Or people's lives are ruined because they're caught with an "illegal substance". Or we spend millions and millions keeping people in jail. Or property crime goes way up because people need to steal to pay for artificially elevated costs due to illegality and smuggling. Or people don't get treated over the stigma and, once again, illegality. So, I like that the BC Health Officer is pointing out that ecstasy isn't so bad, if you actually get ecstasy. Not rat poison.
You know how people get riled up when Don Cherry says stuff? Turns out he's just a crazy old man. And that the metric system is "commie stuff".
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