Proudly Canadian - Week 214 - May 25 - June 1

Reddit tricked me with an old link.  Oh well, I'm sticking with it because we haven't had a photo in a while.  Hey guys!  I got me a panderin' license!

6,000 aboriginal children may have died under the Residential School system.  That's a shocking, shocking number.

We plunged in to a war against ISIS a year ago with little thought or planning.  And amazingly, we're worse off now than when we started.

The RCMP thinks you might be at terrorist if you're protesting the Big Brother act.

This article is titled "Have the Tories' electoral changes remade our democracy for the better?".  And then goes on to list all the things they've done to make democracy worse.  So I don't really get it.

The PMO feels the need to approve any request for a public meeting.  Any public meeting with Federal Government involvement.  Or at least a Federal Government logo.

I guess when you put out this many promotional videos, some things are liable to slip through the cracks.  Including highlighting an assembly line that will be moved to the US.

 

Lovely.  An educator attempts to educate a group of military cadets about sexual assault.  Is catcalled and harassed.  Reports it.  And is harassed via e-mail for reporting it.

The Victoria terror trial descends further into sideshow.  The Judge declares there was nearly a mistrial due to the absurd closing argument from the prosecution.

Vice explains how the transparency watchdog is being starved and ignored.

I think it is awesome that a First Nation took the time and money to do their own detailed study on the Kinder Morgan expansion.  Surprisingly...they don't exactly agree with what Kinder Morgan or the government have been selling.

U-S-A!  U-S-A!  When there's sports scandals to prosecute, we know who to call!  Lance Armstrong.  Barry Bonds.  Now FIFA.  Don't worry about those guys who almost ruined the world in 2008 though.

Political ploy, yes.  But kind of awesome.  Liberal bill to unmuzzle scientists.

Conservatives don't want it.  The City of Ottawa doesn't want it.  But the Victims of Communism Memorial will probably go ahead anyhow.

Canada blocks a UN plan to ride the world of nukes.  Because Israel needs them.  Won't admit to having them...but needs them.

Joe Oliver wants us to voluntarily put more money into our government run pension plan that he doesn't want to fund.  Ya.  Okay.

Temporary Foreign Workers.  Also unable to do anything when sexually harassed at work.

Omar Khadr finally speaks.

I used to think Peter McKay was one of the good ones.  Long ago.  I no longer think that.  Good riddance.

Laurie Hawn is an Asshole - Week 213 - May 18-25

Question C-51?  Well we're going to question your loyalty to Canada.  What a fucking asshole.  Laurie Hawn gets added to my list.  Of Conservative assholes.

Joe Oliver, who had to resort to financial shenanigans to "balance the budget" this year, is already musing about more tax cuts.

The Alberta Oil Industry is asking for a carbon tax.  A retail carbon tax?  The cynic in me - which is most of me - thinks that there must be a catch.  The Federal Government solution?  Buy international carbon credits.

This guy raises an interesting point.  Fixed election dates turn our campaigns into US style, drawn out affairs.  Which sucks.

Thank goodness for all the new spying powers.  We caught 10 young people trying to fly to join ISIS!  What?  Their parents turned them in?  Oh.

What is going on with the debate debates?  This is a good roundup.  And, of course, the traditional debate will happen, with or without Harper.

Pipelines - Safe for everybody.  Now leaking into the sea in Santa Barbara.

Here, a question is raised, but not answered.  Who were the major donors to Stephen Harper's leadership campaigns?

It is a bit hard to feel sympathy for parents who can't bring their foreign nannies into Canada.  Still, why are all the applications just being quietly denied?

The West Coast gets Coast Guard base closures.  The East Coast gets new ones.

Even Conservatives think the victims of communism memorial is stupid.

This is why the new copyright rules and legislation are so stupid.  GM is suggesting you don't own your new GM vehicle due to their copyright over the computer code contained within.  Which is a bit like telling you that you don't own your own home because the alarm system is proprietary.

Reason enough to not vote for Harper.  Jeb Bush wants him re-elected.

Taking a page from the RCMP, the FBI has decided to investigate opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline as "threats to National Security".

Another withdrawal from the Kinder Morgan NEB hearings.  It's the wife of the first guy...but still.  She had some great points on the radio this morning.

$21 Million to audit the Senate and a shitstorm about to be unleashed.

We're not too worried about what Saudi Arabia is up to on the human rights front.

More ads! - Week 205 - March 30 - April 6

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.

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.

A short one to follow up on a long one - Week 203 - March 16-23

It's funny that when you criticize Harper everybody assumes you are pro Trudeau.  Can't I just be anybody-but-Harper?  I am kind of pro Trudeau, just because he seems like the most likely choice to make anybody-but-Harper happen.  But, it does kind of feel like he's screwing things up.  Please just cooperate with the NDP, put forward some meaningful electoral reform and call it a day.  Please?

The government has been forced to buy $4.3 Million worth of marijuana.  Medical marijuana.  For veterans.  My friend Slippin' Jimmy probably could have sourced it for a few hundred thousand and use of a warehouse.

Not to worry though.  Even though we wasted that money on pot for Veterans, we put $24 Million to good use, advertising on behalf of our Energy Industry in the US of A.

The argument is made that there are potentially Billions to be saved with a National Pharmacare program.  I heard Rex Murphy say something this weekend along the lines of "but can the taxpayers afford it?"  I'm not really sure if he gets it.

Conservative MP Larry Miller figures that immigrants should "stay the hell where you came from".  Which is bad English and a horrible sentiment.  He actually thinks that terrorists can sneak into the country by...I think by impersonating another person and hiding their face during a citizenship ceremony?  I'm not sure how that works, and As it Happens pointed out that he probably doesn't either.  And sorry...I went on a bit of a twitter tirade against some jackass Realtor, agreeing with this garbage while proudly flying his Century 21 employment.  I assumed they might care that their name is being attached to a horrible set of thoughts.  But they didn't.  Unless I made them aware by phone.

Looks like the knee jerk public reaction to Bill C-51 has shifted in the opposite direction.  I mean, if you're going to base things on the opinions of people, many of which have not taken the time to research or understand the issue, I guess this is good news.

Microsoft is opening up a new office in Vancouver...and plans to staff it entirely with foreign workers.  Well.  Not entirely.  20 of the 400 jobs would go to Canadians.

The two Libs accused of...who even knows at this point...will be booted permanently from caucus.

Old news, but more detail on how companies are abusing the new Canadian Copyright rules.  Because corporations never try to push the boundaries on legislation solely created for their benefit and always tell the truth in the process of pushing for their creation.

Tonnes of stuff - Week 201 & 202 - Mar 2-16

Stepping away from a computer for a few weeks is illuminating.  You come back, and the same people are talking about the exact same things.  And the majority of people don't care at all.  I was out at trivia the other night, and a question came up about Bill C-51.  The question being, "A recent anti-terror bill has been announced.  The name of that bill is Bill C *blank*."  Please name the bill.  And people were shocked when I got it!  Like...what the fuck?

Onwards we roll.

Ha ha ha.  Refugees are claiming more Canadian income than millionaire, line jumping, investor immigrants.

Another oil train derailment.  And no, this is no an argument for pipelines.  This is an argument for rail safety.

Brian Williams gets some stories wrong 15 years ago.  Total shitstorm.  Canadian government makes up confrontations in the Black Sea with Russia.  Nothing.  Jason Kenney said the Russian jets "buzzed" the Canadian frigate..  NATO officials say it was 128 kilometers away.  He's also a bit confused about viral images on the Internet though, too.

More TFW awfulness.  Facebook, who are supposedly in Vancouver because of all of our computer talent, ended up hiring a bunch of TFW's to fill Software Engineer positions.  So, it seems like their office here is really just about skirting US labour law.  Ant the Parliamentary Budget Officer suggests that there is no accurate information on TFW's, that the numbers have gone up substantially and we really have no idea what this means for Canadian workers.

And then...fuck...and then...a Conservative MP says it makes no sense to pay "whities" to stay home while giving their jobs to "brown people".  This has somehow not generated a massive controversy.

A Canadian soldier has been killed...but we're somehow still not in a combat mission in Iraq.

For some reason, a bunch of white dudes hell bent on creating race war aren't as scary as Muslim terrorists.  CSIS internally highlights the threat of white supremacists over Muslim terrorism, but that's not what we end up hearing about, is it?  Meanwhile, Conservatives are definitely trying to stoke up fear of Muslims, doing lots of work publicizing threats by terrorists (and perhaps violating their own law in the process?).  And another MP is creating some "with us or against us" type rhetoric in his mailouts.

Michael Geist talks Bill C-51.  Surprisingly, not a fan.

Trudeau admits that they're supporting C-51 so that the Cons won't yell at them.  This is pretty terrible.

Even Christy thinks C-51 might be a bad idea.  But she's more of a "give money to corporations" kind of Conservative than a "control your citizens" kind of Conservative.

Our Privacy Watchdog won't be allowed to speak during the C-51 hearings.  Because it's about terror, not privacy, right?  I guess they already know he's not a fan.

The former Security Information Review Committee chair suggests we're in for a Constitutional mess with C-51.

A Conservative MP ignores the facts during a C-51 hearing, throws out a lot of general Muslim fear mongering and guilt by (perhaps non-existent) association.

Meanwhile, 300 criminal investigations have been sidetracked by terror investigations, according to the RCMP.

We're going to have police guard the soldiers at the National War Memorial.  But who is going to guard them?

We're letting FBI agents testify under pseudonyms in terror trials.

Our good buddy Vic Toews is back in the news.  He's been accused of inappropriately lobbying, and his wife may have received a huge chunk of money from a First Nation in the deal as well.

Another Conservative Minister, Diane Finley, committed a conflict of interest, awarding her own riding $1 Million in funding that she shouldn't have.  Brazeau suggests she's been up to other things too, pulling funding from ridings after NDP wins.

Stephen Harper thinks that guns in the hands of citizens play an important role in keeping people safe in rural communities.  Because....well...just because.

Maclean's looked at the potential impact on greenhouse gas reduction policies on Oil Sands profitability.  Surprisingly...the impact would be fairly low.  Meanwhile, Obama hasn't bought in to the Oil Sands greenwashing.

Several people have pointed out that forcing women to not wear a niqab is hardly a form of liberation.  And then he runs around claiming he has the support of moderate muslims?  Based on?  And he claims the overwhelming majority are with him too.

After years of battling it, the Cons are going to provide a bit more support for disabled veterans, just in time for the eleciton!

Conservative MP thinks he's a member of the tea party.  Argues against the "theory of evolution" with the time worn "It's just a theory" argument.

We're cutting funding to a program to treat sex criminals and prevent them from re-offending.  Because somehow, cutting off your sexual predator to spite your citizens makes sense.

The Mike Duffy trial witness list is pretty juicy.

Pamela Wallin's expenses are going to receive even more scrutiny.