It's amazing how worked up the opposition parties are getting in forming their inconsequential stances on the new terror bill. The NDP is going to vote against it. Probably. And smart people are starting to point out that the criminalization of language is a scary thing. And here.
Venezuela is accusing us of participating in a failed coup attempt. Silly Venezuelans. Don't they realize that if we had actually participated, it would have been successful?
Leona! On fire! Calling Don Cherry out for a joke about seal hunting. The nerve of that man. How dare he turn his machine of offense against something we proud Conservatives believe in. For some reason. I mean we don't give a shit about the aboriginal population otherwise, but fuck you if we're not going to come to their defence if you're going to talk about a commercial seal hunt that way! Oh fuck. They rip her to shreds with replies.
Mohamed Fahmy is not happy with our dear leader Steve and John Baird. He blames them for his long stay in prison. Fuck. That's enough to get you labelled a terrorist. And get your Conservative talking points straight. He's a "whiner" and "Canadian of convenience".
Speaking of which. In Baird's departure, somehow Poilievre gets a promotion.
Interesting take. The spin the Cons have put on Eve Adams (we didn't want her) doesn't really stand up. She was still parliamentary secretary. If she was so awful, why not shuffle her to the outer fringes of the backbench? As well, in the run-up to the last BC Election, Bill Tileman wrote an article about how the BC NDP needed to fight dirty. I wasn't sure if I agreed with him at the time. But he ended up being right. I think Demetri Soudas is an asshole. But he's probably going to help the Liberals. And it looks like Eve Adams is to run against Joe Oliver? Oh man. I like it. Will they turn it into Kerrigan/Harding, only to have an un-hyped 3rd Party steal gold?
The TPP negotiations are moving ahead. Next steps: Expansion of copyright terms and criminalization of file sharing. Seems important for the good of the world.
A Conservative minister embraced science! Rona Ambrose lashes out at anti-vaxxers.
Joe Oliver decided to lecture Greece and Europe on how to fix things. Which is truly amazing.
Lawyers won't have to spy on their clients finances on behalf of the government.
Details of how terrible a veteran has it in dealing with the government.
Damn whippersnappers! Wanting everything for free! I didn't get anything free in my day! After I graduated high school, it took me weeks to find my management job. And it took a full 3 years salary to afford my first house. Damn whippersnappers. Probably want to scale back the CPP and healthcare next. Wanting everything for free!
Fuck you, America! You got nothin' on us now. Sun News shuts down. Blames the government for not forcing it upon us.
Russian Bank faces sanctions. Russian Bank hires John Baird's former chief of staff. Russian Bank no longer faces sanctions. Granted, he was chief of staff for Baird a long time ago...and was hired for the sole purpose of accomplishing this very task...it kind of stinks a bit though, no?
Peter McKay's friends and wedding guests are all going on to extremely successful government sponsored legal careers.
Gun nuts continue their freak out over High River flood temporary gun seizures. So...RCMP taking firearms bad. RCMP and others as secret anti-terror police good?
We paid $180,000 to run an office that didn't do anything.
Some info on how questions get formulated for the Prime Minister at his press conferences.
Showing posts with label John Baird. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Baird. Show all posts
Monday, February 16, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
Myths - Week 195 - Jan 19-26
Can we kill this myth that Conservative governments are good financial managers? They didn't do well in the US. They haven't done well in Alberta. And all of Canada isn't looking so rosy. Cutting taxes to the detriment of society and the economy is not "sound financial management".
We'll expand on that by looking at oil revenue. You know who isn't having a bad time due to a decrease in oil revenue? Norway. Probably largely due to them taking 10 times what we do in royalties from their oil.
And what about Tom Mulcair? Is this not exactly what he warned us about two years ago? They made fucking attack ads about this! Why isn't he singing this from the rooftops?
Joe Oliver is now lecturing us on the semantics of his statements, and lessons on the passing of time. “We said no earlier than April so by definition it could be later.” Can you believe this asshole is our Minister of Finance? And you're doing a bang-up job, Joe.
He also suggested that the budget won't include "massive, costly bureaucratic programs". Does he mean other than income splitting?
The attack on Trudeau for "the budget will balance itself" seems to have gained traction. I can't find the full interview...but the full sentence seems to be "the commitment needs to be a commitment to grow the economy and the budget will balance itself". So he seems to be saying that if we have a great economy, we won't need to worry about balancing the budget because we'll have enough revenue to fund the programs that we enact. Seems unfair to not give it full context.
Veterans are pointing out how fucking stupid Stephen Harper's definition of combat is.
OXFAM suggests that the 1% will soon control half of all the worlds wealth.
Vice details how the RCMP continued to warrantlessly spy on Canadians, even after the Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional.
Once again, our government is inferring that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic.
John Baird feels like a potential investigation of war crime accusations is a "huge mistake"? Oh. I get it. Only certain people are allowed to talk about potential war crimes. And why isn't he going to an important meeting about Syria?
A detailed analysis of what Pot Prohibition costs Canada.
Canada Revenue has targeted another charity with beliefs that counter what Conservatives believe: Dying with Dignity. They've lost their charitable tax status. CRA is basing this on mistakenly giving it to them in the first place in 1982.
When even the wing-nut right wingers don't want you, you know you've made some poor choices in life. The Wild Rose Party doesn't want Rob Anders as their leader. At least that was a good decision.
We're no longer going to pay refugees to leave Canada. Don't worry though. We're going to make up for it by not following the Supreme Court decision that we need to offer them health care.
Kinder Morgan has an awesome, great, really fantastic emergency plan for their pipeline. They just don't have to share it with anybody.
Some history on Saudi Arabia, and how Canadian LAV's could be used to crush dissent.
There's a couple of stories about Target management payouts. The CEO of Target - who you could conceivably blame for billions in losses and 17,000 people to become unemployed - got a $60 Million dollar payout to go away last year. People are just now realizing how ridiculous that is. And managers within Target Canada are getting huge payouts relative to the pittance the working stiffs will receive.
We'll expand on that by looking at oil revenue. You know who isn't having a bad time due to a decrease in oil revenue? Norway. Probably largely due to them taking 10 times what we do in royalties from their oil.
And what about Tom Mulcair? Is this not exactly what he warned us about two years ago? They made fucking attack ads about this! Why isn't he singing this from the rooftops?
Joe Oliver is now lecturing us on the semantics of his statements, and lessons on the passing of time. “We said no earlier than April so by definition it could be later.” Can you believe this asshole is our Minister of Finance? And you're doing a bang-up job, Joe.
He also suggested that the budget won't include "massive, costly bureaucratic programs". Does he mean other than income splitting?
The attack on Trudeau for "the budget will balance itself" seems to have gained traction. I can't find the full interview...but the full sentence seems to be "the commitment needs to be a commitment to grow the economy and the budget will balance itself". So he seems to be saying that if we have a great economy, we won't need to worry about balancing the budget because we'll have enough revenue to fund the programs that we enact. Seems unfair to not give it full context.
Veterans are pointing out how fucking stupid Stephen Harper's definition of combat is.
OXFAM suggests that the 1% will soon control half of all the worlds wealth.
Vice details how the RCMP continued to warrantlessly spy on Canadians, even after the Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional.
Once again, our government is inferring that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic.
John Baird feels like a potential investigation of war crime accusations is a "huge mistake"? Oh. I get it. Only certain people are allowed to talk about potential war crimes. And why isn't he going to an important meeting about Syria?
A detailed analysis of what Pot Prohibition costs Canada.
Canada Revenue has targeted another charity with beliefs that counter what Conservatives believe: Dying with Dignity. They've lost their charitable tax status. CRA is basing this on mistakenly giving it to them in the first place in 1982.
When even the wing-nut right wingers don't want you, you know you've made some poor choices in life. The Wild Rose Party doesn't want Rob Anders as their leader. At least that was a good decision.
We're no longer going to pay refugees to leave Canada. Don't worry though. We're going to make up for it by not following the Supreme Court decision that we need to offer them health care.
Kinder Morgan has an awesome, great, really fantastic emergency plan for their pipeline. They just don't have to share it with anybody.
Some history on Saudi Arabia, and how Canadian LAV's could be used to crush dissent.
There's a couple of stories about Target management payouts. The CEO of Target - who you could conceivably blame for billions in losses and 17,000 people to become unemployed - got a $60 Million dollar payout to go away last year. People are just now realizing how ridiculous that is. And managers within Target Canada are getting huge payouts relative to the pittance the working stiffs will receive.
Monday, January 19, 2015
On to something - Week 194 - Jan 12-19
I'm diggin' these Palestinians! Throwing shoes and eggs at John Baird sounds like a lot of fun! At least he accomplished something there, unlike in Eqypt.
I hope that Thomas Mulcair is sitting somewhere...in a cave maybe...polishing up his "I told you so!" speech. While Stephen Harper works to convince us that he's the only man that can get us out of this mess that he created. The Germans also point out that we're kind of fucked. I don't even know what the fuck Joe Oliver is talking about any longer. He's "on track to achieve a balanced budget". Yet the budget is delayed because they don't have enough information.
I love this. The MP with the worst voting record admits that there isn't really much point in her being in the House of Commons.
This would have been an awesome hoax if the news organizations hadn't beat us to it. Jihadists are making oil money up north before shipping off to the middle east. Well. Before they get laid off, that is.
The driving terrorist, who ran over a Canadian soldier in the fall, was known to police. They even tried to lock him up. More intrusive surveillance will not help. More resources might have. I'm not certain the ability to lock people up for thought crime is the answer.
The new copyright laws have resulted in companies lying to Canadians, threatening to sue them for vast sums of money.
All the scientists are trying to get rich again. Here they are, making things up about it being the warmest year on earth. Again. I distinctly remember a couple of cold days last year...
A story on they myth of defensive gun use statistics degenerates into an argument in the comments about what the term "regulated" means...There's just no satisfying these gun toting yahoos...who all have multiple instances of saving the day with their guns.
I find it really, really weird that we let people with jobs jump the immigration queue.
A Stephen Harper insider...and creator of the "Ethical Oil" campaign...is spearheading the "no to public transit" referendum in BC.
I hope that Thomas Mulcair is sitting somewhere...in a cave maybe...polishing up his "I told you so!" speech. While Stephen Harper works to convince us that he's the only man that can get us out of this mess that he created. The Germans also point out that we're kind of fucked. I don't even know what the fuck Joe Oliver is talking about any longer. He's "on track to achieve a balanced budget". Yet the budget is delayed because they don't have enough information.
I love this. The MP with the worst voting record admits that there isn't really much point in her being in the House of Commons.
This would have been an awesome hoax if the news organizations hadn't beat us to it. Jihadists are making oil money up north before shipping off to the middle east. Well. Before they get laid off, that is.
The driving terrorist, who ran over a Canadian soldier in the fall, was known to police. They even tried to lock him up. More intrusive surveillance will not help. More resources might have. I'm not certain the ability to lock people up for thought crime is the answer.
The new copyright laws have resulted in companies lying to Canadians, threatening to sue them for vast sums of money.
All the scientists are trying to get rich again. Here they are, making things up about it being the warmest year on earth. Again. I distinctly remember a couple of cold days last year...
A story on they myth of defensive gun use statistics degenerates into an argument in the comments about what the term "regulated" means...There's just no satisfying these gun toting yahoos...who all have multiple instances of saving the day with their guns.
I find it really, really weird that we let people with jobs jump the immigration queue.
A Stephen Harper insider...and creator of the "Ethical Oil" campaign...is spearheading the "no to public transit" referendum in BC.
Monday, July 21, 2014
Duffman. Up on Charges. Oh Yeah! - Week 168 - July 14-21
Sorry for the Simpson's reference in the title. Let's have a cheer for Mike Duffy.
31 charges is going to be a tough one to conquer. How did Nigel Wright skate through this?
To me, this is a new low for taxpayer funded mailouts. The Cons are actually using it to collect data on voters. With patriotism!
Some soon-to-be jobless moron in the Finance Dept. initiated a focus group about Steve's policies. Turns out Canadians don't really agree with what he is doing. Probably bad data though, right Steve? Speaking of bad data...The PBO has determined that current sick leave policies for civil servants don't really cost the government much, despite the Cons insistence that it does and it needs to be changed.
Steve finally won a court case! And he'll probably lose this one (on native constitutional claims related to Northern Gateway).
Apparently somebody has proof (proof I tell ya!) that Steve plans on privatizing Canada Post.
Dean Del Mastro is really upset that somebody in the House of Commons keeps changing his Wikipedia page. Which is kind of funny in the "taste of their own medicine" sort of way. As the Conservatives are notorious for bad Wikipedia editing.
This article points out why using EI premiums to balance the budget is an unfair policy. TLDR - rich people don't end up paying very much.
John Baird continues blaming everybody but Israel. I mean, why wouldn't Hamas want to sign on to an agreement that all the other parties negotiated without them? I'll admit that firing rockets at the exact time the agreement was supposed to start was a bit much...But I don't think the very public John Baird Yelling and unconditional support for Israel really helps anything.
The Tyee points out that we've done almost nothing with respect to Syrian refugees.
I had no idea that New Brunswick was such a strange little place. Where you can't get an abortion, apparently. And where one of the guys tasked with investigating the impacts of fracking holds a fracking specific patent...so he's totally unbiased in the outcome.
Boingboing highlights that Ontario police share all sorts of data about individuals with all sorts of people. Employers. Border Services. Etc. It doesn't help people sort things out and it doesn't necessarily even come about due to any sort of "guilt". Similar things might be happening in BC.
The DFO seems to not have great control over BC clam fisheries, and is looking to expand them.
This article is a bit tough to follow, but it makes fun of Joe Oliver so it's all good. It suggests that not providing information and then criticizing people for not having that information is bad form.
British spies are able to manipulate online polls, among other things.
To me, this is a new low for taxpayer funded mailouts. The Cons are actually using it to collect data on voters. With patriotism!
Some soon-to-be jobless moron in the Finance Dept. initiated a focus group about Steve's policies. Turns out Canadians don't really agree with what he is doing. Probably bad data though, right Steve? Speaking of bad data...The PBO has determined that current sick leave policies for civil servants don't really cost the government much, despite the Cons insistence that it does and it needs to be changed.
Steve finally won a court case! And he'll probably lose this one (on native constitutional claims related to Northern Gateway).
Apparently somebody has proof (proof I tell ya!) that Steve plans on privatizing Canada Post.
Dean Del Mastro is really upset that somebody in the House of Commons keeps changing his Wikipedia page. Which is kind of funny in the "taste of their own medicine" sort of way. As the Conservatives are notorious for bad Wikipedia editing.
This article points out why using EI premiums to balance the budget is an unfair policy. TLDR - rich people don't end up paying very much.
John Baird continues blaming everybody but Israel. I mean, why wouldn't Hamas want to sign on to an agreement that all the other parties negotiated without them? I'll admit that firing rockets at the exact time the agreement was supposed to start was a bit much...But I don't think the very public John Baird Yelling and unconditional support for Israel really helps anything.
The Tyee points out that we've done almost nothing with respect to Syrian refugees.
I had no idea that New Brunswick was such a strange little place. Where you can't get an abortion, apparently. And where one of the guys tasked with investigating the impacts of fracking holds a fracking specific patent...so he's totally unbiased in the outcome.
Boingboing highlights that Ontario police share all sorts of data about individuals with all sorts of people. Employers. Border Services. Etc. It doesn't help people sort things out and it doesn't necessarily even come about due to any sort of "guilt". Similar things might be happening in BC.
The DFO seems to not have great control over BC clam fisheries, and is looking to expand them.
This article is a bit tough to follow, but it makes fun of Joe Oliver so it's all good. It suggests that not providing information and then criticizing people for not having that information is bad form.
British spies are able to manipulate online polls, among other things.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Shameless Self Promotion - Week 142 - Jan 13-20
Alright people. I don't ask for much from you. But if you're reading this thing...man...I need some Facebook likes. This is just downright embarrassing. I'll make you a deal. Like me on Facebook and I'll buy you a beer the next time I'm in your town. Promise. God I hate Facebook. It makes me so needy.
And this people...this is Conservative insanity. A Conservative MP is raising money to fight against the totally over-reaching, borderline fascist, big brother (Conservative) law to ban incandescent light bulbs. And funneling the money directly into the Conservative Riding Association. I wonder though...how many people voted Conservative, will vote Conservative and can't wait for the Conservatives to stick it to those arrogant fat cats that keep screwing us over with all these terrible laws?
Didn't we end up in this predicament largely because the Liberals were funneling advertising money to "Liberal" ad companies? Yet nothing when ad money is funneled to a Conservative Senators family?
Hold on a minute. I thought pipelines were safe and Enbridge was a great company? Then how is it possible that one of their pipelines is leaking? This is the point I will continue to make. Even if you really, really, really like pipelines...why would you trust Enbridge to build it for you?
Another "loyalty pledge" from Harper. In this one, any government watchdog or employee of would be subject to disclosure of any previous political activity. This is just staggeringly obtuse. This is some 1930's Germany type shit.
Holy shitballs! Stephen Harper's entourage in Israel is going to be in the neighbourhood of 150-200 people! All paid for by the government! Why would so many people need to go? Is he flying his limos over as well? As well, in the lead up to the trip, they're really laying it on thick these days. Anything less than total support for Israel makes you an anti-Semite in Harperland, it seems. Don't worry though. We just have an insane policy for the Middle East because of Stephen Harper's father. The Conservatives have launched an extra special website to announce Stephen Harper's first official visit to Israel. My question, if Israel is so special...why has it taken so long to get to the "First Official Visit"?
Some more detail on Chuck Strahl as CSIS Watchdog/Enbridge Lobbyist.
One of the (potentially) key players in the Robocall saga has been granted immunity. Will we finally find out what happened?
People seem to be lumping in Justin Trudeau's expense issues with a larger "Expenses Scandal". Because accidentally claiming $600 worth of travel, immediately paying it back and telling everybody about it is pretty much exactly what Mike Duffy did, right?
Shelly Glover, the Heritage Minister, has started shaking down artists for donations. It's all good though...because...well...because she said so.
This seems to be a new Conservative meme. "Just end this excruciating hell and make a decision!" I call it the Del Mastro. Here, John Baird demands that his personal Keystone XL hell be put out of its misery. I like that John Kerry basically told him to fuck off.
Stephen Harper holds ethnic specific media briefings where he:
a) Answers questions.
b) Turns somewhat charming.
What a strange world we live in.
Ah, Capitalism...ain't it grand? Spill a bunch of chemicals, poison a town, declare bankruptcy!
I kind of hesitate to link to this...basically...Canada hasn't contributed "much" to global warming. What it doesn't account for:
- per capita contribution
- supplying the worst offenders with the means to offend (i.e. oil sands oil, lumber, etc.)
At least Canadians seem to understand that the Conservatives haven't done anything to help the situation.
Conservative plans to celebrate Canada 150 seem to be out of step with what people want. Their celebration plans tend to focus on war and pre-1950's Canada, while people are more interested in celebrating our multiculturalism and inclusive society.
I think it's pretty funny every time a High School makes a student take off a shirt with a message that they don't appreciate. Especially since "Got Land? Thank an Indian." is relatively innocuous.
We've all heard this story to death. But...Security theater at its best. An 18 year old kid boards a plane in Edmonton for Mexico. Forgets that he'd built a pipe bomb with his buddy and left it in his camera bag. It gets found at the airport, where they try to give it back to him. Then they let him go on vacation to Mexico, and respond in force with a SWAT team and bomb dogs when he arrives back in the country. Amazing. Oh. He got a $100 fine. Now imagine if a non-white-guy had done this? Well, he would have been renditioned somewhere and we'd have never heard the story, I guess.
The Federal Government has agreed to turn over police reports to residential school victims. It took some work.
Some details on how the secret TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) will allow corporations to sue governments if they pass environmental laws that are "bad for business". This seems like a really, really terrible thing.
Jason Kenney has collapsed on his requirement to have Province's match job grant money.
Some more on Norweigan oil revenues and why Canada's oil extraction policies are so insanely stupid. As well, this article points out how much less money is collected on oil revenues, even than in the United States.
I hadn't really been following this Marc Nadon Supreme Court nomination. Seems to be a bit of a cluster. I had no idea that this guy didn't really "qualify" in the traditional sense of the word and that the Conservatives changed the law to accommodate him. This government really loves sticking it to Quebec.
This is kind of funny. Not one, but two stories about improper Conservative business cards. Tony Clement ordered gold leaf on his. And John Baird only has English on his.
Dean Del Mastro's entire family seems to have gotten in on his electoral fraud act. His cousin was raided last year by Elections Canada.
And this people...this is Conservative insanity. A Conservative MP is raising money to fight against the totally over-reaching, borderline fascist, big brother (Conservative) law to ban incandescent light bulbs. And funneling the money directly into the Conservative Riding Association. I wonder though...how many people voted Conservative, will vote Conservative and can't wait for the Conservatives to stick it to those arrogant fat cats that keep screwing us over with all these terrible laws?
Didn't we end up in this predicament largely because the Liberals were funneling advertising money to "Liberal" ad companies? Yet nothing when ad money is funneled to a Conservative Senators family?
Hold on a minute. I thought pipelines were safe and Enbridge was a great company? Then how is it possible that one of their pipelines is leaking? This is the point I will continue to make. Even if you really, really, really like pipelines...why would you trust Enbridge to build it for you?
Another "loyalty pledge" from Harper. In this one, any government watchdog or employee of would be subject to disclosure of any previous political activity. This is just staggeringly obtuse. This is some 1930's Germany type shit.
Holy shitballs! Stephen Harper's entourage in Israel is going to be in the neighbourhood of 150-200 people! All paid for by the government! Why would so many people need to go? Is he flying his limos over as well? As well, in the lead up to the trip, they're really laying it on thick these days. Anything less than total support for Israel makes you an anti-Semite in Harperland, it seems. Don't worry though. We just have an insane policy for the Middle East because of Stephen Harper's father. The Conservatives have launched an extra special website to announce Stephen Harper's first official visit to Israel. My question, if Israel is so special...why has it taken so long to get to the "First Official Visit"?
Some more detail on Chuck Strahl as CSIS Watchdog/Enbridge Lobbyist.
One of the (potentially) key players in the Robocall saga has been granted immunity. Will we finally find out what happened?
People seem to be lumping in Justin Trudeau's expense issues with a larger "Expenses Scandal". Because accidentally claiming $600 worth of travel, immediately paying it back and telling everybody about it is pretty much exactly what Mike Duffy did, right?
Shelly Glover, the Heritage Minister, has started shaking down artists for donations. It's all good though...because...well...because she said so.
This seems to be a new Conservative meme. "Just end this excruciating hell and make a decision!" I call it the Del Mastro. Here, John Baird demands that his personal Keystone XL hell be put out of its misery. I like that John Kerry basically told him to fuck off.
Stephen Harper holds ethnic specific media briefings where he:
a) Answers questions.
b) Turns somewhat charming.
What a strange world we live in.
Ah, Capitalism...ain't it grand? Spill a bunch of chemicals, poison a town, declare bankruptcy!
I kind of hesitate to link to this...basically...Canada hasn't contributed "much" to global warming. What it doesn't account for:
- per capita contribution
- supplying the worst offenders with the means to offend (i.e. oil sands oil, lumber, etc.)
At least Canadians seem to understand that the Conservatives haven't done anything to help the situation.
Conservative plans to celebrate Canada 150 seem to be out of step with what people want. Their celebration plans tend to focus on war and pre-1950's Canada, while people are more interested in celebrating our multiculturalism and inclusive society.
I think it's pretty funny every time a High School makes a student take off a shirt with a message that they don't appreciate. Especially since "Got Land? Thank an Indian." is relatively innocuous.
We've all heard this story to death. But...Security theater at its best. An 18 year old kid boards a plane in Edmonton for Mexico. Forgets that he'd built a pipe bomb with his buddy and left it in his camera bag. It gets found at the airport, where they try to give it back to him. Then they let him go on vacation to Mexico, and respond in force with a SWAT team and bomb dogs when he arrives back in the country. Amazing. Oh. He got a $100 fine. Now imagine if a non-white-guy had done this? Well, he would have been renditioned somewhere and we'd have never heard the story, I guess.
The Federal Government has agreed to turn over police reports to residential school victims. It took some work.
Some details on how the secret TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) will allow corporations to sue governments if they pass environmental laws that are "bad for business". This seems like a really, really terrible thing.
Jason Kenney has collapsed on his requirement to have Province's match job grant money.
Some more on Norweigan oil revenues and why Canada's oil extraction policies are so insanely stupid. As well, this article points out how much less money is collected on oil revenues, even than in the United States.
I hadn't really been following this Marc Nadon Supreme Court nomination. Seems to be a bit of a cluster. I had no idea that this guy didn't really "qualify" in the traditional sense of the word and that the Conservatives changed the law to accommodate him. This government really loves sticking it to Quebec.
This is kind of funny. Not one, but two stories about improper Conservative business cards. Tony Clement ordered gold leaf on his. And John Baird only has English on his.
Dean Del Mastro's entire family seems to have gotten in on his electoral fraud act. His cousin was raided last year by Elections Canada.
Monday, October 7, 2013
We sold our souls for rock and oil - Week 127 - Sept 30 - Oct 7
In a way, I get it. We use Malaysian money to build an LNG plant and then we sell it to Malaysia. But wouldn't we be better off building our own plant and then selling the LNG to whomever pays the most? I thought everybody was begging us for the stuff? Why do we have to let foreign companies own our resources?
So we used one of our spy agencies to spy on the Brazilian Mining Ministry and we got caught.
Oh these fucking assholes...Enbridge seems to think they'll have their pipeline up and running by 2018. What a bunch of fucking cocks! Arrogant cocks. "Let's disregard all these people that fucking hate us and are accusing us of being a shit company that can barely run an office, let alone a pipeline, and just kind of show them that we don't give a fuck what they say because we've already bought and paid for the decision from the government."
Who knows best about prescribing heroin for a clinical studies? The doctors who designed the study, hoping to find some specific results that will in turn help society in general? Or a bunch of ignorant politicians? Doesn't really matter. Politicians get their way. Fuck. She actually lectures them about treating heroin with heroin. Because everybody knows cold turkey is the only way, right?
There's not too many things/people in this world that blindly inspire me to think that the other side of the story is the correct one. Fox News. The NRA. Chris Brown. Anyhow. The Canadian Gun Lobby thinks we should not sign a UN arms treaty. So we probably should. I also love that they think Harper signing this thing might cost him votes. Yep. I can just see that Albera farmer voting Mulcair because Harper caused his ammunition prices to go up a bit. And the fuckin' shitheads caved in and didn't sign.
John Baird continues to tilt at windmills. No shit we shouldn't blindly accept everything that Iran is selling. Is anybody suggesting that? Meanwhile, you're grandstanding at the UN while our fearless leader attempts to marginalize our place there? What's the point? Nobody is listening to us anyway.
Another Conservative MP steps out of bounds with letters to the CRTC on behalf of...I think on behalf of Sun News? And the Province classifies it as "Entertainment".
Don't they know that it's the will of the lord? Christian Paradis announces that Canada won't fund programs to provide abortions to victims of war rape or forced childhood marriage.
So we've decided to take a human rights stand against Sri Lanka. I'm guessing they don't sell us much stuff or want any of our oil, lumber or natural gas.
And Harper might be trying to blacklist a journalist that asked him a question.
Oh boy. Our new Supreme Court appointee is a 64 Year Old White Man, who argued strongly against repatriating Omar Khadr. And then lied about getting drafted by the Detroit Red Wings? This is roughly the Canadian equivalent of claiming you walked on the moon. What an idiot.
An 89-year-old lady is going to court after refusing to fill out the census. Kind of an interesting story, actually.
Awesome! Pirate Joe's won his legal fight!
Rob Ford continues to be Toronto's main carnival attraction.
Patrick Brazeau still exists, is taken to hospital. May have done something stupid beforehand. Maybe not.
Another Conservative Senator is in the shit. This one accused of illegal fundraising in Quebec. Kickbacks from Construction companies, really.
The London School of Economics has determined that piracy isn't hurting the entertainment industry.
Alex Pareene has an interesting take on his appearance on CNBC. He seems to have generated a bunch of positive news though, contrary to his own opinion that he botched it.
Should Canadian public archives be stored behind a paywall? Probably not.
So we used one of our spy agencies to spy on the Brazilian Mining Ministry and we got caught.
Oh these fucking assholes...Enbridge seems to think they'll have their pipeline up and running by 2018. What a bunch of fucking cocks! Arrogant cocks. "Let's disregard all these people that fucking hate us and are accusing us of being a shit company that can barely run an office, let alone a pipeline, and just kind of show them that we don't give a fuck what they say because we've already bought and paid for the decision from the government."
Who knows best about prescribing heroin for a clinical studies? The doctors who designed the study, hoping to find some specific results that will in turn help society in general? Or a bunch of ignorant politicians? Doesn't really matter. Politicians get their way. Fuck. She actually lectures them about treating heroin with heroin. Because everybody knows cold turkey is the only way, right?
There's not too many things/people in this world that blindly inspire me to think that the other side of the story is the correct one. Fox News. The NRA. Chris Brown. Anyhow. The Canadian Gun Lobby thinks we should not sign a UN arms treaty. So we probably should. I also love that they think Harper signing this thing might cost him votes. Yep. I can just see that Albera farmer voting Mulcair because Harper caused his ammunition prices to go up a bit. And the fuckin' shitheads caved in and didn't sign.
John Baird continues to tilt at windmills. No shit we shouldn't blindly accept everything that Iran is selling. Is anybody suggesting that? Meanwhile, you're grandstanding at the UN while our fearless leader attempts to marginalize our place there? What's the point? Nobody is listening to us anyway.
Another Conservative MP steps out of bounds with letters to the CRTC on behalf of...I think on behalf of Sun News? And the Province classifies it as "Entertainment".
Don't they know that it's the will of the lord? Christian Paradis announces that Canada won't fund programs to provide abortions to victims of war rape or forced childhood marriage.
So we've decided to take a human rights stand against Sri Lanka. I'm guessing they don't sell us much stuff or want any of our oil, lumber or natural gas.
And Harper might be trying to blacklist a journalist that asked him a question.
Oh boy. Our new Supreme Court appointee is a 64 Year Old White Man, who argued strongly against repatriating Omar Khadr. And then lied about getting drafted by the Detroit Red Wings? This is roughly the Canadian equivalent of claiming you walked on the moon. What an idiot.
An 89-year-old lady is going to court after refusing to fill out the census. Kind of an interesting story, actually.
Awesome! Pirate Joe's won his legal fight!
Rob Ford continues to be Toronto's main carnival attraction.
Patrick Brazeau still exists, is taken to hospital. May have done something stupid beforehand. Maybe not.
Another Conservative Senator is in the shit. This one accused of illegal fundraising in Quebec. Kickbacks from Construction companies, really.
The London School of Economics has determined that piracy isn't hurting the entertainment industry.
Alex Pareene has an interesting take on his appearance on CNBC. He seems to have generated a bunch of positive news though, contrary to his own opinion that he botched it.
Should Canadian public archives be stored behind a paywall? Probably not.
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Existential Crisis - Week 122 - Aug 26 - Sept 3
Oh man. I just can't get interested. Sorry people. I have a few stories for you this week, but something needs to get me more engaged.
There appears to be some evidence that senior Conservative Senators are full of shit and knew all about the Duffy/Wright affair.
Some more information on Robo-Calls, including a detailed timeline. To me, it sounds nearly impossible that this was the actions of one lowly guy, acting alone.
From my cold, dead hands...Love this story. First, the police talk about how dangerous all of these weapons are and how they could have found their way into the hands of criminals. And then at the bottom it mentions that almost all of the weapons are legal in Canada, it's just illegal to re-sell them on the "black market". Sensationalist garbage designed to stir up fear.
The Fraser Institute thinks we should only allow immigrants into the country that have been hand-picked by businesses and industry. Which also seems to be the policy of our Conservative overlords. Yah...nothing could go wrong with that.
People love to complain. Complain about police not having tasers. Then complain about the cost of the tasers when the police announce that they're going to issue tasers.
John Baird talks tough to Syria. Which, to me, seems a bit like a Vancouver High School President talking tough to a Toronto street thug.
The Sun compares pro-Palestine ads with homophobic or sexist material. And won't actually tell us what the ads say. Perhaps buses aren't the place for politically charged advertisements, but this isn't the way to argue it. This story shows the actual ads...Huh...But oh man. The comments sections of these things are really disintegrating.
A lady was stopped on Skytrain for a fare check and is now being deported, even though it sounds like she was following the rules.
More wasted military procurement dollars.
I've been meaning to post and read this for a while. The CBC does a bit of a breakdown on our lowered crime rates. There are no real revelations, other than "Don't credit recent Conservative legislation."
Mac Harb has decided to retire from the Senate and repay all the money that he owes. Good for him, I guess.
An opinion poll has shown that 2/3rds of Quebeckers think that a ban on religious garments is a good thing.
This sounds vaguely Tea Partyesque...The Canadian movement of "Freemen". Oh boy do they ever come out of the woodwork in the comments. "Chemtrails" conspiracy theories...everything.
Dave Chappelle walked off stage last week. Not many of the details were talked about. This story is an interesting take on what happened and suggests that the crowd was a bunch of drunk, white frat boys that wouldn't stop yelling. So he left. And of course the comments degenerate into "Why Canada isn't or is racist."
There appears to be some evidence that senior Conservative Senators are full of shit and knew all about the Duffy/Wright affair.
Some more information on Robo-Calls, including a detailed timeline. To me, it sounds nearly impossible that this was the actions of one lowly guy, acting alone.
From my cold, dead hands...Love this story. First, the police talk about how dangerous all of these weapons are and how they could have found their way into the hands of criminals. And then at the bottom it mentions that almost all of the weapons are legal in Canada, it's just illegal to re-sell them on the "black market". Sensationalist garbage designed to stir up fear.
The Fraser Institute thinks we should only allow immigrants into the country that have been hand-picked by businesses and industry. Which also seems to be the policy of our Conservative overlords. Yah...nothing could go wrong with that.
People love to complain. Complain about police not having tasers. Then complain about the cost of the tasers when the police announce that they're going to issue tasers.
John Baird talks tough to Syria. Which, to me, seems a bit like a Vancouver High School President talking tough to a Toronto street thug.
The Sun compares pro-Palestine ads with homophobic or sexist material. And won't actually tell us what the ads say. Perhaps buses aren't the place for politically charged advertisements, but this isn't the way to argue it. This story shows the actual ads...Huh...But oh man. The comments sections of these things are really disintegrating.
A lady was stopped on Skytrain for a fare check and is now being deported, even though it sounds like she was following the rules.
More wasted military procurement dollars.
I've been meaning to post and read this for a while. The CBC does a bit of a breakdown on our lowered crime rates. There are no real revelations, other than "Don't credit recent Conservative legislation."
Mac Harb has decided to retire from the Senate and repay all the money that he owes. Good for him, I guess.
An opinion poll has shown that 2/3rds of Quebeckers think that a ban on religious garments is a good thing.
This sounds vaguely Tea Partyesque...The Canadian movement of "Freemen". Oh boy do they ever come out of the woodwork in the comments. "Chemtrails" conspiracy theories...everything.
Dave Chappelle walked off stage last week. Not many of the details were talked about. This story is an interesting take on what happened and suggests that the crowd was a bunch of drunk, white frat boys that wouldn't stop yelling. So he left. And of course the comments degenerate into "Why Canada isn't or is racist."
Monday, August 12, 2013
Back at it - Week 119 - Aug 6-12
Well I've been away the last week. Has the coverage suffered at all? I think not, dear readers. Okay, on with the show.
Canada has decided that Russia warrants criticism for harbouring Edward Snowden.
More "John Baird pissed off at Russia" news...John Baird is angry about Russia's anti-gay laws.
A Conservative women's group is angry at John Baird for his anti-Russian, pro-gay stance. I'm sure they would all be treated very well over in Russia. The women, that is.
I'm expecting the Pamela Wallin reveal to be a calamitous shitshow. Should be awesome!
Canada has decided that Russia warrants criticism for harbouring Edward Snowden.
More "John Baird pissed off at Russia" news...John Baird is angry about Russia's anti-gay laws.
A Conservative women's group is angry at John Baird for his anti-Russian, pro-gay stance. I'm sure they would all be treated very well over in Russia. The women, that is.
John Baird basically tells them to fuck off.
Mac Harb. Oy. Mac Harb. Last I saw, the "loan" was up to $230k. Gotta pay back those expenses somehow, I guess.
Mac Harb. Oy. Mac Harb. Last I saw, the "loan" was up to $230k. Gotta pay back those expenses somehow, I guess.
Capitalism in action! The rail company that caused the Lac Megantic disaster has filed for bankruptcy. Caused a giant explosion that killed dozens of people and levelled a small town? Don't worry about it! We got all kinds of legal protection to make sure you don't have to pay.
An interesting story on Stephen Harper's refusal to vacate 24 Sussex Drive to complete renovations.
An interesting story on Stephen Harper's refusal to vacate 24 Sussex Drive to complete renovations.
Elections Canada has found quite a few instances of illegal corporate donations during the last election.
The Pirate Party is coming to Canada!
Okay. It suffered a bit. Sorry.
The Pirate Party is coming to Canada!
Okay. It suffered a bit. Sorry.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Off to a Roaring Start - Week 102.16 - April 8-15
Okay. So I missed Week 102. I apologize. Did anything exciting happen? There seems to be a lot that went on today. Even ignoring the obvious in Boston.
And here it is...The Conservative attack ad on Justin Trudeau. I don't think this is going to be all that effective. Everybody already knows that Trudeau is young and has done some dumb things. That's kind of half of the appeal, isn't it?
John Baird pisses off Palestine again by taking a meeting with an Israeli official in disputed territory. They launched some protests. Not to worry though. He quickly apologized for his lack of tact and foresight. What? He didn't? He made a joke about it and laughed it off?
Holy shit. Read this Russell Brand "eulogy" of Margaret Thatcher. He precisely sums up modern Conservatism: "diminishing the resources of those who had least for the advancement of those who had most."
Businesses are screaming about labour shortages, and want to bring in low cost foreign workers. This article points out that if there were truly labour shortages, wages would go up. And they're not.
The morons at the Financial Post mix up sales with prices. It will probably fixed by the time you get to it, but the original headline states that "Canada's housing prices drop more than 15% from last year". The body of the story refers to a drop in sales.
Another way the 1% screw us over. Buying insider knowledge on yet-to-be-announced regulatory changes from politicians and bureaucrats.
Surprisingly, Albertans have less of a belief in global warming, are big on pipelines and don't think Provinces should share revenue, when you compare their opinions to the rest of Canada. Thank God they aren't running the country. A lot of damage could be done with an Alberta focused, archaic Conservative agenda.
A more in depth look at the flight restrictions placed over the Arkansas oil spill. Seems to be having an effect, as we don't hear shit about this spill any longer.
So, there is a new requirement to comment at the "public" hearings on the Northern Gateway Pipeline. You have to provide a CV and fill out a 10 page questionnaire.
More from the Tyee on Oil Sands myths. Money on the table, double discounts, etc. As well, a great point is made: The interests of giant oil companies aren't necessarily the interests of Canada. This almost seems to be a weekly column for the Tyee.
The Conservatives don't like tracking weapons. But they like charging for them. A license fee is brought back on long guns.
Stories about really, really rich people in London and New York buying insanely expensive property, not living in it and the problems this causes. One commenter points out that this is happening in Vancouver too, but I don't agree. In London and New York, obscene amounts of money seem to get you a nice property. In Vancouver it's a teardown.
An executive at HBO seems to be embracing piracy.
And here it is...The Conservative attack ad on Justin Trudeau. I don't think this is going to be all that effective. Everybody already knows that Trudeau is young and has done some dumb things. That's kind of half of the appeal, isn't it?
John Baird pisses off Palestine again by taking a meeting with an Israeli official in disputed territory. They launched some protests. Not to worry though. He quickly apologized for his lack of tact and foresight. What? He didn't? He made a joke about it and laughed it off?
Holy shit. Read this Russell Brand "eulogy" of Margaret Thatcher. He precisely sums up modern Conservatism: "diminishing the resources of those who had least for the advancement of those who had most."
Businesses are screaming about labour shortages, and want to bring in low cost foreign workers. This article points out that if there were truly labour shortages, wages would go up. And they're not.
The morons at the Financial Post mix up sales with prices. It will probably fixed by the time you get to it, but the original headline states that "Canada's housing prices drop more than 15% from last year". The body of the story refers to a drop in sales.
Another way the 1% screw us over. Buying insider knowledge on yet-to-be-announced regulatory changes from politicians and bureaucrats.
Surprisingly, Albertans have less of a belief in global warming, are big on pipelines and don't think Provinces should share revenue, when you compare their opinions to the rest of Canada. Thank God they aren't running the country. A lot of damage could be done with an Alberta focused, archaic Conservative agenda.
A more in depth look at the flight restrictions placed over the Arkansas oil spill. Seems to be having an effect, as we don't hear shit about this spill any longer.
So, there is a new requirement to comment at the "public" hearings on the Northern Gateway Pipeline. You have to provide a CV and fill out a 10 page questionnaire.
More from the Tyee on Oil Sands myths. Money on the table, double discounts, etc. As well, a great point is made: The interests of giant oil companies aren't necessarily the interests of Canada. This almost seems to be a weekly column for the Tyee.
The Conservatives don't like tracking weapons. But they like charging for them. A license fee is brought back on long guns.
Stories about really, really rich people in London and New York buying insanely expensive property, not living in it and the problems this causes. One commenter points out that this is happening in Vancouver too, but I don't agree. In London and New York, obscene amounts of money seem to get you a nice property. In Vancouver it's a teardown.
An executive at HBO seems to be embracing piracy.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Angry John Baird Returns - Week 96.5 - Mar 4-6
What an awesome Angry John Baird picture, as he continues his "All
Israel, All the time" policy with an announcement that nobody should
dare question anything that they've ever done, as he threatens Palestine
for daring to approach the International Criminal Court with complaints
about Israel.
More on Israel. I follow Stephen Harper on Twitter. I just saw this tweet: "Our gov't
stands against the reckless and overheated rhetoric associated with
anti-Israel activities. http://ow.ly/ip58B" That link goes to a Facebook photo. Digging a bit further is this link http://ow.ly/ilyc3
to a comment from Jason Kenney. I don't know much about Israel
Apartheid Week. I find it really odd that so many official statements
would be released about a University protest event. It does look like
there is a lot of official Israeli and Jewish lobby pressure to stop
this. Is criticism of the Government of Israel anti-Semitic? I
criticize the Canadian government all the time and that doesn't mean I'm
anti-Canadian. Well. It probably does in Harper's eyes.
The NDP has put forward a motion to disband the Senate. But this is not good enough for the Conservatives. Apparently, even though they put forward a motion, they don't really mean it, and this is all just a ploy to win the next election and start appointing their own Senators. I guess that when everything that you do as a government has nefarious undertones, it's difficult to not speculate that the actions of others have nefarious undertones.
Oh good god. What is wrong with these people? Another Conservative Senator in trouble. This time, for "dating" a member of his staff.
Joe Oliver - "We definitely don't need this pipeline that we're lobbying our asses off to get approved." Not an actual quote.
Peter McKay is suggesting that the F-35 purchase may be delayed by Sequestration. But I thought they were revisiting this whole purchase? So how is he certain that Sequestration will cause a delay if he isn't certain we are buying the F-35?
Two former finance dept. workers are taking Stephen Harper and the Conservatives to task for excessive secrecy, amongst other things.
This response from Jason Kenney about Christy Clark's troubles is very insightful. Every single question and comment made by the Conservatives seems to have some sort of political undertones. Can they not answer a question without explaining how great they are and how terrible all the other parties are?
Even the National Post has a story about the potential backdooring of ACTA. After all this bullshit about "fair and balanced copyright", these guys (music companies, film companies, etc) just keep their hands out and demand more, more, more. It's crazy. This shit has to stop.
The National Taxpayers Federation awards the "Teddy" award for government waste to a Saskatchewan Chief. It does sound like this guy is pretty over the top. He governs a tiny band, takes home a huge salary and doesn't seem to care what his people think. I think that unfortunately a (potentially) corrupt chief is really going to paint things bad for an entire group here.
The loss of the Kits Coast Guard Base was put to the test. It worked out okay this time, as everybody lived. But, it took 23 minutes for the Coast Guard to respond from Richmond. Is this an acceptable amount of time? I'm not sure. Kits base would have been closer. Seeing as this is one of, if not the busiest port in Canada, more incidents are going to happen. Add 10 minutes to the response time of each of these incidents and you are asking for trouble.
The Conservatives are tackling another issue critical to the welfare of the country: Contraband tobacco.
I'm a little bit sad that we won't have a politician in office whose nickname is "Shithead".
I read a lot of stupid things in the National Post. In their defense, most of the really stupid comes in the form of readers comments. But this opinion piece suggesting that Canadians need to be getting in debt now while the debting is good is just the most insane thing I've ever read. Perhaps an argument could be made for taking out a loan right now to invest in bonds or the stock market, but the average investor would get smoked with that strategy. And an argument could be made about locking in a low rate mortgage. But this article doesn't really do that. It just blindly suggests that debt is low, so we should load up. New jetski? Sure! Hey, let's all buy cars! Or, how about some Real Estate! Bubble, schmubble.
Another stupid article from the National Post. This one suggesting that once the Canadian Dollar hits 94 cents US, it will be a "great time to buy". Ummm...So...a 94 cent dollar will be a great time for Canadians to buy Canadian Dollars with their Canadian Dollars?
The NDP has put forward a motion to disband the Senate. But this is not good enough for the Conservatives. Apparently, even though they put forward a motion, they don't really mean it, and this is all just a ploy to win the next election and start appointing their own Senators. I guess that when everything that you do as a government has nefarious undertones, it's difficult to not speculate that the actions of others have nefarious undertones.
Oh good god. What is wrong with these people? Another Conservative Senator in trouble. This time, for "dating" a member of his staff.
Joe Oliver - "We definitely don't need this pipeline that we're lobbying our asses off to get approved." Not an actual quote.
Peter McKay is suggesting that the F-35 purchase may be delayed by Sequestration. But I thought they were revisiting this whole purchase? So how is he certain that Sequestration will cause a delay if he isn't certain we are buying the F-35?
Two former finance dept. workers are taking Stephen Harper and the Conservatives to task for excessive secrecy, amongst other things.
This response from Jason Kenney about Christy Clark's troubles is very insightful. Every single question and comment made by the Conservatives seems to have some sort of political undertones. Can they not answer a question without explaining how great they are and how terrible all the other parties are?
Even the National Post has a story about the potential backdooring of ACTA. After all this bullshit about "fair and balanced copyright", these guys (music companies, film companies, etc) just keep their hands out and demand more, more, more. It's crazy. This shit has to stop.
The National Taxpayers Federation awards the "Teddy" award for government waste to a Saskatchewan Chief. It does sound like this guy is pretty over the top. He governs a tiny band, takes home a huge salary and doesn't seem to care what his people think. I think that unfortunately a (potentially) corrupt chief is really going to paint things bad for an entire group here.
The loss of the Kits Coast Guard Base was put to the test. It worked out okay this time, as everybody lived. But, it took 23 minutes for the Coast Guard to respond from Richmond. Is this an acceptable amount of time? I'm not sure. Kits base would have been closer. Seeing as this is one of, if not the busiest port in Canada, more incidents are going to happen. Add 10 minutes to the response time of each of these incidents and you are asking for trouble.
The Conservatives are tackling another issue critical to the welfare of the country: Contraband tobacco.
I'm a little bit sad that we won't have a politician in office whose nickname is "Shithead".
I read a lot of stupid things in the National Post. In their defense, most of the really stupid comes in the form of readers comments. But this opinion piece suggesting that Canadians need to be getting in debt now while the debting is good is just the most insane thing I've ever read. Perhaps an argument could be made for taking out a loan right now to invest in bonds or the stock market, but the average investor would get smoked with that strategy. And an argument could be made about locking in a low rate mortgage. But this article doesn't really do that. It just blindly suggests that debt is low, so we should load up. New jetski? Sure! Hey, let's all buy cars! Or, how about some Real Estate! Bubble, schmubble.
Another stupid article from the National Post. This one suggesting that once the Canadian Dollar hits 94 cents US, it will be a "great time to buy". Ummm...So...a 94 cent dollar will be a great time for Canadians to buy Canadian Dollars with their Canadian Dollars?
Monday, October 29, 2012
On Vacation - Weeks 77-78 - Oct 16-29
I've been away. You get no re-cap. Just some stuff that I saw over the last two days.
Well. One thing, really. Angry John Baird continues his crusade against the UN. Because a UN Envoy suggested that companies that worked on illegal Jewish settlements and such should be held accountable. ANTI-SEMITE!
Well. One thing, really. Angry John Baird continues his crusade against the UN. Because a UN Envoy suggested that companies that worked on illegal Jewish settlements and such should be held accountable. ANTI-SEMITE!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Dealing with Absolutes - Week 42 - Feb 13-20
It's a busy week. Angry John Baird gets our photo of the week. I've been waiting a while to see this guy again.
One thing I've learned in life is a healthy respect for absolutes. Right or wrong. Black or white. Ham or cheese. There are no middle grounds in anything and anybody that thinks so is delusional. It's a digital world, people need to accept that. That's why I think this new statement about either being for child pornography is great. I mean, what bad things could come from the government having complete visibility of everything that we do on our computers? I mean...this certainly couldn't have anything to do with all of these new copyright laws. That's child pornographer talk.
Righteous indignation is awesome when somebody else has done something and you have no proof. Kind of overshadows your own dirty tricks...push polling ridings to make them think their recently voted in MP is going to quit comes to mind. I kind of hope the NDP is behind Vikileaks. I would respect their nefariousnous.
And, apparently, the police and government have been working pretty hard to fabricate justification for this law, as none appears to be readily apparent. And...and...apparently they want to not just give access to police, but to government appointed inspectors as well.
Oh, it gets better. Apparently Vic Toews was surprised when the CBC asked him about the provision that "any" police officer could ask for data from an ISP. "This is the first time that I'm hearing this somehow extends ordinary police emergency powers." So, who exactly drafted this bill?
Now, as I trolled through comments on a variety of stories on the above, I came across the oddest rumour...It's just so strange...but appears to be all over the place.
Some specifics around the environmental/animal rights groups targeted as "extremists" by the Harper Government. The list includes Greenpeace and PETA.
More bad news on fighter jets. It seems pretty silly to stick with this program. It's like when you pre-order your Benz 4 years ahead of time and they keep jacking up the price and deleting options. I hate it when that happens.
A study just came out claiming the oil sands aren't as bad as coal. I've got a problem with this study. They took the total reserves of different types of fuel and projected what the effect would be if they were burned in their entirety. In essence, if we burn all of our coal, we're in big trouble. If we burn all of our tar sands sourced oil, it's not a big deal. But there's got to be a lot more coal throughout the world than tar sands, no? This study doesn't help us understand the difference between heating out house (for example) with one over the other. It just seems a bit confusing to me and I see this as Stephen Harper's get out of jail free card on the oil sands.
You know what I'm really sick of? All these well educated foreign doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. that come to Canada and take all of our cab driving jobs. And security guard jobs. Somebody needs to put a stop to that sort of thing. Some of them even claim that somebody is trying to kill them back home, which most likely is nonsense.
A study just came out claiming the oil sands aren't as bad as coal. I've got a scientific problem with this study. They took the total reserves of different types of fuel and projected what the effect would be if they were burned in their entirety. In essence, if we burn all of our coal, we're in big trouble. If we burn all of our tar sands sourced oil, it's not a big deal. But there's got to be a lot more coal throughout the world than tar sands, no? This study doesn't help us understand the difference between heating out house (for example) with one over the other. It just seems a bit confusing to me and I see this as Stephen Harper's get out of jail free card on the oil sands.
Oh. Ya. Another study about downloading. Bittorrent? Not so bad.
Way to stir up trouble with a headline, Globe and Mail. A Catholic couple sued the Province for teaching a mandatory course that taught students about the multitude of religions out there...as this somehow infringed on their religious right to believe that their beliefs are the only ones out there. Somehow "Mandatory religion course doesn't infringe on freedoms" sounds a bit more scandalous.
Gun Registry legislation is done.
A member of the Harper Government wants to change the way Parliament is filmed on Friday's because there are lots of people missing and it looks bad. There's no comment necessary for this one.
Apparently, you can bring your baby to work if you're an MP.
One thing I've learned in life is a healthy respect for absolutes. Right or wrong. Black or white. Ham or cheese. There are no middle grounds in anything and anybody that thinks so is delusional. It's a digital world, people need to accept that. That's why I think this new statement about either being for child pornography is great. I mean, what bad things could come from the government having complete visibility of everything that we do on our computers? I mean...this certainly couldn't have anything to do with all of these new copyright laws. That's child pornographer talk.
Righteous indignation is awesome when somebody else has done something and you have no proof. Kind of overshadows your own dirty tricks...push polling ridings to make them think their recently voted in MP is going to quit comes to mind. I kind of hope the NDP is behind Vikileaks. I would respect their nefariousnous.
And, apparently, the police and government have been working pretty hard to fabricate justification for this law, as none appears to be readily apparent. And...and...apparently they want to not just give access to police, but to government appointed inspectors as well.
Oh, it gets better. Apparently Vic Toews was surprised when the CBC asked him about the provision that "any" police officer could ask for data from an ISP. "This is the first time that I'm hearing this somehow extends ordinary police emergency powers." So, who exactly drafted this bill?
Now, as I trolled through comments on a variety of stories on the above, I came across the oddest rumour...It's just so strange...but appears to be all over the place.
Some specifics around the environmental/animal rights groups targeted as "extremists" by the Harper Government. The list includes Greenpeace and PETA.
More bad news on fighter jets. It seems pretty silly to stick with this program. It's like when you pre-order your Benz 4 years ahead of time and they keep jacking up the price and deleting options. I hate it when that happens.
A study just came out claiming the oil sands aren't as bad as coal. I've got a problem with this study. They took the total reserves of different types of fuel and projected what the effect would be if they were burned in their entirety. In essence, if we burn all of our coal, we're in big trouble. If we burn all of our tar sands sourced oil, it's not a big deal. But there's got to be a lot more coal throughout the world than tar sands, no? This study doesn't help us understand the difference between heating out house (for example) with one over the other. It just seems a bit confusing to me and I see this as Stephen Harper's get out of jail free card on the oil sands.
You know what I'm really sick of? All these well educated foreign doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. that come to Canada and take all of our cab driving jobs. And security guard jobs. Somebody needs to put a stop to that sort of thing. Some of them even claim that somebody is trying to kill them back home, which most likely is nonsense.
A study just came out claiming the oil sands aren't as bad as coal. I've got a scientific problem with this study. They took the total reserves of different types of fuel and projected what the effect would be if they were burned in their entirety. In essence, if we burn all of our coal, we're in big trouble. If we burn all of our tar sands sourced oil, it's not a big deal. But there's got to be a lot more coal throughout the world than tar sands, no? This study doesn't help us understand the difference between heating out house (for example) with one over the other. It just seems a bit confusing to me and I see this as Stephen Harper's get out of jail free card on the oil sands.
Oh. Ya. Another study about downloading. Bittorrent? Not so bad.
Way to stir up trouble with a headline, Globe and Mail. A Catholic couple sued the Province for teaching a mandatory course that taught students about the multitude of religions out there...as this somehow infringed on their religious right to believe that their beliefs are the only ones out there. Somehow "Mandatory religion course doesn't infringe on freedoms" sounds a bit more scandalous.
Gun Registry legislation is done.
A member of the Harper Government wants to change the way Parliament is filmed on Friday's because there are lots of people missing and it looks bad. There's no comment necessary for this one.
Apparently, you can bring your baby to work if you're an MP.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Online Arguments - Week 40 - Jan 30-Feb 6
I'm sure everybody heard about this, but Jason Kenney's office decided to send some staff members to pose as recent immigrants when they couldn't find enough real immigrants to go along with their Sun News photo op/story. The surprising thing? They actually apologized. I dig their disguises as well, with three of them wearing the same T-shirt.
Sticking with the Ministers doing weird and stupid things theme, last week I think it was, somebody at the Globe and Mail wrote an article that our good buddy John Baird didn't like. I would imagine this probably happens quite frequently. And I can only think that it's good government policy to not respond to every story that angers you. But our good buddy John Baird decided to write a column in response. Which seems kind of crazy. If the guy is as out to lunch as John Baird claims, then why respond? It seems crazy. Like if Obama suddenly decided to cave in and provide everybody with even more proof of his birth certificate. You're just feeding the lunacy. What? He did? Oh, and then John Baird invokes Godwin's Law and brings Hitler in to the argument.
Nunavut has decided that Tough On Crime is kind of a dumb thing that will cost a lot of money. When a place that experiences 24-hour darkness and that uses frozen rivers as major highways thinks that something is a bad idea, you should probably listen.
Stupid experts. What do these "economists" know about the economy anyhow? Now is the perfect time to cut funding to everything and anything. There's no election to win.
After that, Boingboing points to an article that shows that the entertainment industry has experienced some pretty okay years recently. Even growing while the rest of the economy was in recession. Could constantly asking for more and more and more finally prove to be a poor strategy as even the mouth breather catch on to the fact that some of this stuff is crazy? Wait, now, these same companies are pushing for SOPA style additions to Canada's copyright legislation...because it worked out so well in the US.
More Copyright. Tom the Dancing Bug uses God Man to take on Copyright. Pretty good stuff.
The F-35 has a few more problems. It doesn't sound like anything serious, but it's feeling a bit Unsafe at Any Speed.
Stephen Harper has shown his hand for how he plans on dealing with the Senate. Appoint idiots until everybody agrees that the Senate is a bad idea. This guy suggests that we encourage convicted murderers to hang themselves. Not surprisingly, a shocking number of people agree with him. Which, of course, justifies the point of view. Everybody knows that a 600 person mob legitimizes any behaviour.
And finally...How dare you point out the fact that we're threatening to do something that people won't like. This is all your fault, Liberals and NDP. Not ours for threatening to change pensions.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Tom Haverford is the 1% - Week 27 - Oct 31 - Nov 7
Tom Haverford said the greatest thing the other day. I'm not exactly sure how it relates to the current financial climate, but it feels about right. "They say you gotta spend money to make money. I don't know what went wrong. We spent all our money."
First up, Steve-O's privacy justification for destroying everything and anything to do with the gun registry is shot down. It's amazing when people use things that they absolutely hate as an excuse for doing something, itsn't it? Just wait until he decides to ban freedom because of "the environment". And once again those crazy "experts" are contradicting the Conservatives.
The Iraqi Information Minister (John Baird) sez "There's no problem with the 54,000 jobs lost last month. Everything is fine."
Quebec tells the federal government to pound sand on costs associated with the new crime bill. Which is right up there with Poutine on the list of awesome things that Quebec has done.
So, Canada has decided that it will punish UNESCO for recognizing Palestine by not providing them with any additional funding. This is kind of why the UN is a bit of a joke. There's just too many political statements. Too many vetoes. Too much deciding to just go along with the stuff that you agree with.
Wow. It sounds like John Baird is actually taking responsibility for the G8 slush fund. I'm not exactly sure what that means though. Maybe he just wants to collect the air miles or something?
Tough on Crime splits the Provinces. BC, Alberta and New Brunswick on board. Ontario and Quebec opposed. Wonder how they'll vote in the next election?
The Conservatives have decided to ban loans to political parties. On the surface, this seems like a good thing. More news on how much the Conservatives are ahead with fundraising as well.
And getting down to the serious business of governing, a Conservative MP decides to single out a Justin Trudeau speaking engagement at a Catholic High School (the big leagues) with taunts and name-calling. I think "Bad Catholic" would be a great name for a hair metal band. Wow...there's actually a "big beat/techno/christian" duo based on Vancouver called "To Bad Catholics". My hair metal project will need a new name.
Lots more copyright stuff. The Conservatives have admitted that their legislation probably isn't in the best interest of the average Canadian, but re-assure sceptics that most of the rules are unenforcable, so they shouldn't worry too much about it. Oh, and all that doom-and-gloom about piracy destroying the entertainment industry? Ya, not so much.
The Conservatives are going their own way with a non-french speaking auditor general, even though bilingualism is a prerequisite of the job. He promises to learn french over the next year. Why don't they wait until he does until they give him a job? In other job appointment news, the next supreme court nominee promises to apply for law school once his post is confirmed.
It's a moratorium! The Conservatives announce a 2-year moratorium on family reunification immigration applications as they attempt to clear the backlog. At least they have a contingency plan (10 year visas for those affected). Other moratoriums announced today:
- A two year moratorium on cancer treatments - The contingency pack includes a container of sunblock and a large hat.
- A two year moratorium on drivers licenses - The contingency pack includes a bus pass and a new pair of shoes.
First up, Steve-O's privacy justification for destroying everything and anything to do with the gun registry is shot down. It's amazing when people use things that they absolutely hate as an excuse for doing something, itsn't it? Just wait until he decides to ban freedom because of "the environment". And once again those crazy "experts" are contradicting the Conservatives.
The Iraqi Information Minister (John Baird) sez "There's no problem with the 54,000 jobs lost last month. Everything is fine."
Quebec tells the federal government to pound sand on costs associated with the new crime bill. Which is right up there with Poutine on the list of awesome things that Quebec has done.
So, Canada has decided that it will punish UNESCO for recognizing Palestine by not providing them with any additional funding. This is kind of why the UN is a bit of a joke. There's just too many political statements. Too many vetoes. Too much deciding to just go along with the stuff that you agree with.
Wow. It sounds like John Baird is actually taking responsibility for the G8 slush fund. I'm not exactly sure what that means though. Maybe he just wants to collect the air miles or something?
Tough on Crime splits the Provinces. BC, Alberta and New Brunswick on board. Ontario and Quebec opposed. Wonder how they'll vote in the next election?
The Conservatives have decided to ban loans to political parties. On the surface, this seems like a good thing. More news on how much the Conservatives are ahead with fundraising as well.
And getting down to the serious business of governing, a Conservative MP decides to single out a Justin Trudeau speaking engagement at a Catholic High School (the big leagues) with taunts and name-calling. I think "Bad Catholic" would be a great name for a hair metal band. Wow...there's actually a "big beat/techno/christian" duo based on Vancouver called "To Bad Catholics". My hair metal project will need a new name.
Lots more copyright stuff. The Conservatives have admitted that their legislation probably isn't in the best interest of the average Canadian, but re-assure sceptics that most of the rules are unenforcable, so they shouldn't worry too much about it. Oh, and all that doom-and-gloom about piracy destroying the entertainment industry? Ya, not so much.
The Conservatives are going their own way with a non-french speaking auditor general, even though bilingualism is a prerequisite of the job. He promises to learn french over the next year. Why don't they wait until he does until they give him a job? In other job appointment news, the next supreme court nominee promises to apply for law school once his post is confirmed.
It's a moratorium! The Conservatives announce a 2-year moratorium on family reunification immigration applications as they attempt to clear the backlog. At least they have a contingency plan (10 year visas for those affected). Other moratoriums announced today:
- A two year moratorium on cancer treatments - The contingency pack includes a container of sunblock and a large hat.
- A two year moratorium on drivers licenses - The contingency pack includes a bus pass and a new pair of shoes.
Monday, October 17, 2011
The 1 % - Week 24 - Oct 12-17
Okay. Enough with the link roundups. This start this week with something fresh. There's been a lot of talk of income inequality in the US. The Top 1% has 40% of the wealth, etc. How does Canada fare.
There's no numbers here, but this graph shows we're not quite as bad as the US. That's not quite what I'm looking for (The Gini coefficient does seem to be the standard for how these things are judged), but I guess it makes sense that we're somewhere in the middle, well behind Denmark but ahead of the US. It does suggest that we're getting worse.
That Stat doesn't really cover things. There's no nice comparable to the top 1% headline grabber in the US. Digging deeper, here is the motherload. Let's got to page 73, table 8-1. Assume 25 million people in Canada and that each household is 5 people. That might not sound quite right, but the assumptions should balance out in the end. So, 5 million households and each quintile is approximately 1 million. Average household wage is $61,000. Multiply that out, and we have $305 Billion in wages earned by Canadians. Of that, the bottom 20% earns an average of $7,100 per year. Which isn't much. The top 20% earns an average of $156,300. Let's multiply that out:
Bottom 20% - $7.1 Billion total earnings - 2.3% of total income
Top 20% - 156.3 Billion total earnings - 51% of total income
So the top 20% of Canadians earns 51% of the money in Canada. Not sure about the top 1%. And not sure about total "wealth". This isn't quite as tidy as I'd hoped to make this, but the Globe and Mail doesn't seem to be able to put a nice little bow on this story either. Update - According to this link, the top 20% of Americans earn 60% of the income. Our bottom 20% is actually worse off than the US, who earn 3.5% of total income.
Guess who thinks the old Liberal Government did a great job of running Canada's finances? Tony Clement! It's funny what these guys will say when they don't think Canada is listnening. Maybe Paul Martin will run for Liberal leader again?
I'm not really a union backer. But I kind of agree that Canada Post workers got royally screwed and I think a lawsuit is a good idea.
John Baird...When you want to give the impression that you're in it for the little people, don't fly in to a country that you've just "liberated" with executives from oil & gas, pipeline and engineering firms. It suggests that your motives may have been suspect.
There's no numbers here, but this graph shows we're not quite as bad as the US. That's not quite what I'm looking for (The Gini coefficient does seem to be the standard for how these things are judged), but I guess it makes sense that we're somewhere in the middle, well behind Denmark but ahead of the US. It does suggest that we're getting worse.
That Stat doesn't really cover things. There's no nice comparable to the top 1% headline grabber in the US. Digging deeper, here is the motherload. Let's got to page 73, table 8-1. Assume 25 million people in Canada and that each household is 5 people. That might not sound quite right, but the assumptions should balance out in the end. So, 5 million households and each quintile is approximately 1 million. Average household wage is $61,000. Multiply that out, and we have $305 Billion in wages earned by Canadians. Of that, the bottom 20% earns an average of $7,100 per year. Which isn't much. The top 20% earns an average of $156,300. Let's multiply that out:
Bottom 20% - $7.1 Billion total earnings - 2.3% of total income
Top 20% - 156.3 Billion total earnings - 51% of total income
So the top 20% of Canadians earns 51% of the money in Canada. Not sure about the top 1%. And not sure about total "wealth". This isn't quite as tidy as I'd hoped to make this, but the Globe and Mail doesn't seem to be able to put a nice little bow on this story either. Update - According to this link, the top 20% of Americans earn 60% of the income. Our bottom 20% is actually worse off than the US, who earn 3.5% of total income.
Guess who thinks the old Liberal Government did a great job of running Canada's finances? Tony Clement! It's funny what these guys will say when they don't think Canada is listnening. Maybe Paul Martin will run for Liberal leader again?
I'm not really a union backer. But I kind of agree that Canada Post workers got royally screwed and I think a lawsuit is a good idea.
John Baird...When you want to give the impression that you're in it for the little people, don't fly in to a country that you've just "liberated" with executives from oil & gas, pipeline and engineering firms. It suggests that your motives may have been suspect.
Monday, September 19, 2011
The Final Quiet Week - Week 20 - Sept 12-19
It's kind of sad that it has taken this long for the Conservatives to "get down to business". Week 21 will probably be a busy one.
Why is it always the Conservative politicians involved in sex scandals? (well, not always) And haven't they learned...never lie. You'll just get found out. Oh well. Harper, Baird and their buddy deserve what they get. It's kind of ironic that one of Harper's only redeeming qualities (unflinching loyalty) could prove to cause him the most trouble. China seems to be reading from the Stephen Harper playbook as well: Get angry at everybody else and deny that you've done anything wrong. And then take your ball (person) home with you.
This is fairly direct evidence that "tough on crime" isn't that great of an idea. And all you people upset that we haven't followed the UK's lead and immediately imprisoned all riot participants? All those new prisoners has overwhelmed prisons and are leading to increased gang violence. "Who cares if a bunch of prisoners beat up on each other?" Well, they do have to leave prison at some point. Your petty riot criminal is now a gang member with a taste for blood. Like the seal on Arrested Development.
Just after September 11th is the perfect time to renew big brotheresque "anti-terror" laws and announce that, this time, they won't be going away. There will be no sunset clauses in our next batch of police state laws.
It seems like the short form census participation was good. But no word on the long form yet. The short form is still mandatory, right?
Why is it always the Conservative politicians involved in sex scandals? (well, not always) And haven't they learned...never lie. You'll just get found out. Oh well. Harper, Baird and their buddy deserve what they get. It's kind of ironic that one of Harper's only redeeming qualities (unflinching loyalty) could prove to cause him the most trouble. China seems to be reading from the Stephen Harper playbook as well: Get angry at everybody else and deny that you've done anything wrong. And then take your ball (person) home with you.
This is fairly direct evidence that "tough on crime" isn't that great of an idea. And all you people upset that we haven't followed the UK's lead and immediately imprisoned all riot participants? All those new prisoners has overwhelmed prisons and are leading to increased gang violence. "Who cares if a bunch of prisoners beat up on each other?" Well, they do have to leave prison at some point. Your petty riot criminal is now a gang member with a taste for blood. Like the seal on Arrested Development.
Just after September 11th is the perfect time to renew big brotheresque "anti-terror" laws and announce that, this time, they won't be going away. There will be no sunset clauses in our next batch of police state laws.
It seems like the short form census participation was good. But no word on the long form yet. The short form is still mandatory, right?
Monday, September 12, 2011
Islamicism - Comin' to get us all - Week 19 - Sept 6-12
Oh Stephen. "The major threat to Canada is still islamicism"? Is that even a word? According to this, I have a 1 in 650,000 chance of being killed by a terrorist attack (while travelling...which must dramatically increase the odds). I have a 1 in 56,000 chance of being struck by lightning. Doesn't that make lightning the major threat to Canada? Add in forest fires caused by lighting...geez...this lighting stuff sounds pretty bad.
Sticking with the terror theme, September 11th has cost Canada approximately $92 Billion (the US is at $1.1 Trillion). And counting. Which is a crazy amount of money. As a Slate article said (or something along these lines) "there's no question that we aren't safer...but at what cost?" I guess it's easier to slam the barn door shut and tell everybody they're going to die if they don't nail a few boards up on the outside as well. Wouldn't we be better off if we spent even a portion of this money on other things?
Since I wrote the above, Slate has taken it a step further. There's tonnes of questions raised by this article, but the basic point is that the cost/benefit ratio of terrorism security spending is a joke. And we'd save far more lives if we spent that money someplace else. As the headline says, "How many terrorism plots would we have to foil to jusity our current spending on homeland security? 1,667 Time Square-Style Attacks Every Year." It actually goes on to suggest that blindly spending this money is immoral.
And what better time than on the 10 year anniversary of a terrorist attack that didn't happen in this country to announce that you're planning on introducing legislation that will allow you to imprison people without a warrant and imprison people if they don't testify in your secret trial?
The Harper Government rears it's ugly head again. This article claims to cite a directive issued by the Privy Council Office to start using the label "The Harper Government". Unfortunately, it's no smoking gun, but a reference to an unseen "directive". Hopefully some direct proof comes out at some point.
Apparently we're re-hanging portraits of the Queen in our embassies. Which is just bizarre. We're going to hang Charles goofy mug all over the place when he takes over? And their justification for doing so (other nations hang a portrait of their "Head of State")...this is a pretty awesome takedown, showing that other Commonwealth nations do no such thing.
And here we go. The first vow to re-introduce Copyright Legislation...exactly as it was worded before (and couldn't get passed). This will make it an offense to remove digital locks on devices and media that you "own". Want to transfer all of your kindle books to another device?Well, you'd have to break the Amazon DRM and that would be illegal. iTunes albums? If it's one of the small number that aren't DRM'd, you're fine. Otherwise...illegal. Oh, you want to jailbreak your iPhone that you paid hundreds and hundreds of dollars for because you don't like the way Apple forces you to run things? No sir. That would be super illegal. But why attempt to work with people and hear their opinions when you don't really have to?
And more copyright, more Wikileaks. Wikileaks cables indicate what we suspected all along, Canada is in the pocket of the US when it comes to copyright legislation and cares a lot more about what the US Government thinks than about what Canadians think. Tony Clement urges the US to add us to a piracy watch list, and then the piracy watch list is ussed to justify copyright reform? That's just scandalous.
Lastly, the Conservatives get to work dismissing concerns as "Ridiculous". The problem? One of their MP's used his official parliamentary e-mail address to tell an employee of the official Chinese State Media that she "looks so cute" with her "cheeks puffed." John Baird thinks you're an idiot if you have a problem with this.
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