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.
Showing posts with label Helena Guergis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Helena Guergis. Show all posts
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Monday, July 18, 2011
Summer Takes a Toll - Week 11 - July 11-18
Strange Stephen Harper Obsessions - The CBC. The Harper Government starts talking about cutting the budget on the CBC. And why not? There's so many other great, fair & balanced news agencies out there.
A rare attaboy for the Conservatives as they consider protection for Woodland Caribou.
Apparently somebody did a survey on the lack of decorum and respect in Parliament. Read, pause, and then weep for democracy.
John Baird goes to China. He doesn't seem to yell at anybody while he's there, either.
I'm not entirely certain, as this whole thing is so murky, but it appears that the entire Helena Guergis affair has boiled down to a slap on the wrist for sending out self-serving documents on official parliamentary letterhead. So much for the hookers and cocaine?
I just read this article on McSweeney's. It's one of a series highlighting "dream jobs you're glad you didn't pursue." "You learned that the reason the senate chambers are so empty most of the time is not because senators are abusing their powers and not doing their jobs, but because that is the only way a senator can keep his job" is just so sadly on point.
A rare attaboy for the Conservatives as they consider protection for Woodland Caribou.
Apparently somebody did a survey on the lack of decorum and respect in Parliament. Read, pause, and then weep for democracy.
John Baird goes to China. He doesn't seem to yell at anybody while he's there, either.
I'm not entirely certain, as this whole thing is so murky, but it appears that the entire Helena Guergis affair has boiled down to a slap on the wrist for sending out self-serving documents on official parliamentary letterhead. So much for the hookers and cocaine?
I just read this article on McSweeney's. It's one of a series highlighting "dream jobs you're glad you didn't pursue." "You learned that the reason the senate chambers are so empty most of the time is not because senators are abusing their powers and not doing their jobs, but because that is the only way a senator can keep his job" is just so sadly on point.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Election Wrap-up - Oh dear...
Honestly, on election day, I did not think it was a possibility that the Conservatives would receive a majority government. I laughed at all the stupid polls. I imagined that somehow a previously ignored lost demographic (young people, either too poor to own a landline or too lazy or smart to answer it at 7PM on a weeknight) flooding polling stations in droves, ousting the Conservatives in the most unexpected election in Canadian History.
That didn't happen.
That didn't happen.
Looking back over the last few years, this seven year run of minority governments seems like the best decision Canadian voters have ever made. Why would anybody want to hand everything over to one party to do whatever they please? It seems crazy. What’s not to love about minorities?
But here we are. We now face four years in which the Conservatives can do whatever they please. We soon will not recognize this country. We’ve taken our first step onto a slippery cliff face. In four years time, after we've tumbled into the abyss, we’re not going to remember what this country looked like and we won’t have perspective on what we lost.
To counter this, I am going to do my very best to create a weekly record of Harper's wonderful progress. In four years time, when your son has to spend the next 10 years in jail for smoking a joint, your daughter has to pay the veterinarian down the street to give her an abortion, and you have to go through an RCMP background check to get connected to the Internet, you’re going to have this wonderful resource to look back on all the awesome things that have happened.
“Expect the best, prepare for the worst” is how the saying goes. Best case, a kindler, gentler Stephen Harper emerges and this website fizzles out in 6 months time. Worst case, after Fox News Canada moves in to the vacated CBC building downtown, after a mutant sub-species of oil resistant Canadian Geese emerge from a hole in Northern Alberta, and after New and Improved Public Health Care (a private company) rejects your claim for knee surgery based on pre-existing conditions (ummm...you checked the box here where it says you used it to walk)…well…worst case we’ll have had four years to get our shit together to not completely screw things up again. Thanks a lot, Ontario.
This is the first posting of what will hopefully be a limited-run website. We’ll have years to talk about crazy policy decisions, so today we’re going to focus on the “best” of the election campaign. Here goes:
Conservative Election Campaign Roundup
Helena Guergis – Look at what this guy does to his friends! At first, this appeared to be a gift from heaven in Conservative embarrassment (Hookers! Cocaine! Nipples!). But then, in a patented Stephen Harper create-your-own-lemons-and-then-deny-that-lemons-exist-and-then-use-the-lemons-for-your-own-political-gain move, it turns out that there weren’t any hookers and/or blow, that somehow, amazingly, the driving force behind the whole sordid affair and leak seemed to be Harper himself, who then he refused to discuss the whole thing or even say the name “Guergis”. And nobody cared. Remarkable.
Chuck Strahl’s Son – In Chilliwack, you could dress a street lamp up as your Conservative Candidate and it would get elected. So, in a less than above-board process, Chuck Strahl gift-wrapped the replacement nomination for his son, handing him a spot in the House of Commons. Even the Conservatives thought something was fishy, which is really saying something. To top it all off, he then ducked an all-candidates meetings and skipped out on a few interviews. Why jeopardize a sure thing by actually talking? Probably knocked a good 2-3 points off the pitiful 57.2% of the vote he received. Way to hold him accountable, Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon.
Facebookgate – I know that everybody knows all about this, but in four years time nobody is going to believe that this was possible and we're all going to chalk it up to a fault in our collective memories. Or this is just the first step in government mandated Facebook updates and the creation of the new Facebook Monitoring Ministry. Either way, we're going to want some sort of un-tainted memory. To re-cap, a girl was thrown out of a Stephen Harper rally for posting a picture of herself with Michael Ignatieff. I can’t even keep pace with my friend’s steady stream of baby photos but Stephen Harper has a team large enough to sort through the Facebook sites of all the people attending his rallies?
Wai Young/Ujjal Dosanjh – At first, I thought this whole thing might just be stirring the pot for the sake of pot stirring. But the more I think about it, the more awesome it seems. First up, you should have things together enough such that you don’t have suspected terrorists attending your campaign events. Hello! Bill Ayers, people! Has America taught us nothing? But if you do have suspected terrorists attending your events, at least have the decency to put some sort of consistency in to your explanation/question dodging. But why bother coming up with a coherent or fact based answer when the whole thing is going to result in a backlash against your opponent and an election victory?! Amazing.
But here we are. We now face four years in which the Conservatives can do whatever they please. We soon will not recognize this country. We’ve taken our first step onto a slippery cliff face. In four years time, after we've tumbled into the abyss, we’re not going to remember what this country looked like and we won’t have perspective on what we lost.
To counter this, I am going to do my very best to create a weekly record of Harper's wonderful progress. In four years time, when your son has to spend the next 10 years in jail for smoking a joint, your daughter has to pay the veterinarian down the street to give her an abortion, and you have to go through an RCMP background check to get connected to the Internet, you’re going to have this wonderful resource to look back on all the awesome things that have happened.
“Expect the best, prepare for the worst” is how the saying goes. Best case, a kindler, gentler Stephen Harper emerges and this website fizzles out in 6 months time. Worst case, after Fox News Canada moves in to the vacated CBC building downtown, after a mutant sub-species of oil resistant Canadian Geese emerge from a hole in Northern Alberta, and after New and Improved Public Health Care (a private company) rejects your claim for knee surgery based on pre-existing conditions (ummm...you checked the box here where it says you used it to walk)…well…worst case we’ll have had four years to get our shit together to not completely screw things up again. Thanks a lot, Ontario.
This is the first posting of what will hopefully be a limited-run website. We’ll have years to talk about crazy policy decisions, so today we’re going to focus on the “best” of the election campaign. Here goes:
Conservative Election Campaign Roundup
Helena Guergis – Look at what this guy does to his friends! At first, this appeared to be a gift from heaven in Conservative embarrassment (Hookers! Cocaine! Nipples!). But then, in a patented Stephen Harper create-your-own-lemons-and-then-deny-that-lemons-exist-and-then-use-the-lemons-for-your-own-political-gain move, it turns out that there weren’t any hookers and/or blow, that somehow, amazingly, the driving force behind the whole sordid affair and leak seemed to be Harper himself, who then he refused to discuss the whole thing or even say the name “Guergis”. And nobody cared. Remarkable.
Chuck Strahl’s Son – In Chilliwack, you could dress a street lamp up as your Conservative Candidate and it would get elected. So, in a less than above-board process, Chuck Strahl gift-wrapped the replacement nomination for his son, handing him a spot in the House of Commons. Even the Conservatives thought something was fishy, which is really saying something. To top it all off, he then ducked an all-candidates meetings and skipped out on a few interviews. Why jeopardize a sure thing by actually talking? Probably knocked a good 2-3 points off the pitiful 57.2% of the vote he received. Way to hold him accountable, Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon.
Facebookgate – I know that everybody knows all about this, but in four years time nobody is going to believe that this was possible and we're all going to chalk it up to a fault in our collective memories. Or this is just the first step in government mandated Facebook updates and the creation of the new Facebook Monitoring Ministry. Either way, we're going to want some sort of un-tainted memory. To re-cap, a girl was thrown out of a Stephen Harper rally for posting a picture of herself with Michael Ignatieff. I can’t even keep pace with my friend’s steady stream of baby photos but Stephen Harper has a team large enough to sort through the Facebook sites of all the people attending his rallies?
Wai Young/Ujjal Dosanjh – At first, I thought this whole thing might just be stirring the pot for the sake of pot stirring. But the more I think about it, the more awesome it seems. First up, you should have things together enough such that you don’t have suspected terrorists attending your campaign events. Hello! Bill Ayers, people! Has America taught us nothing? But if you do have suspected terrorists attending your events, at least have the decency to put some sort of consistency in to your explanation/question dodging. But why bother coming up with a coherent or fact based answer when the whole thing is going to result in a backlash against your opponent and an election victory?! Amazing.
But in a turn of awesomeness, Ujjal is being sued by said accused terrorist and is happily going to take the whole thing to court in an effort to get some sort of truth into the public record. Ya, sounds like exactly the sort of courageous and principled action we want to avoid in Parliament, right South Vancouver?
Harper Question Dodging – And really, the whole thing in a nutshell…Stephen Harper refuses to take questions from the media. Sorry. Refuses to take more than five questions. But come to think of it, five questions is a lot in one day. For somebody that wants to be Prime Minister.
Harper Question Dodging – And really, the whole thing in a nutshell…Stephen Harper refuses to take questions from the media. Sorry. Refuses to take more than five questions. But come to think of it, five questions is a lot in one day. For somebody that wants to be Prime Minister.
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