Thanks - Week 180 - Oct 6-14

I love Tom the Dancing Bug.  This is a pretty good one.

Jason Kenney uses his government staff to create anti-Trudea graphics.  But of course, they're doing it on their "spare time".

Oh fuck these clowns.  More pandering to gun owners.  Fuck off.  Nobody cares about your stupid "Swiss Arms rifles".  All announced at a shooting range.

The Europeans are upset about the Stephen Harper Airlines free flight to Europe as well.  Turns out bureaucrats accepting an unnecessary $300,000 flight has ruffled some feathers.  And they've pointed out that the whole thing was unnecessary and the excuses are probably bogus.

Joe Oliver thinks changes to EI premiums will create 25,000 jobs.  The PBO thinks it will cost 9,000 jobs.  Hmmmm...that's a bit of a spread.

Another Harper law will be challenged in court.  A group is suing to overturn the new election laws.  As well, they won't provide information on how much it cost to make changes.

Patrick Brazeau has more problems.  He has been arrested again.

Evidence for Democracy has released a report detailing the muzzling of Canadian scientists.  Basically, it's way, way harder for Canadian government scientists to present their research and speak out than it is for US government scientists.

The Cons new regulations on TFW's have no teeth.  Remember the Victoria area McDonald's caught abusing the program?  They were denied more TFW's twice...then phoned and complained and had the decision reversed and the TFW's fast tracked.  As well, a cafeteria on a reserve that suffers from high unemployment has brought in temporary foreign workers.


Let's just ignore your thoughts on the Harper Government response to global warming.  Not enough regulation?  Weak targets?  Needs to go further?  Irrelevant.  As this story details, the Environmental Commissioner thinks we aren't even on a path to reach our insanely low goals.  And even worse, the actual regulations are a secret!  And the reductions we have made have come primarily due to Provincial programs, not Federal.  Jeffrey Simpson is onto it as well.

An organization involved with treating addiction has come out in favour of legalizing marijuana.

Wow.  American TV networks are suggesting that if their business model isn't propped up by forcing their channels on people that don't want them, they're going to lose money and have to pull out of Canada.  I guess I see their point.  I mean, who wants to be forced to keep customers by offering them something they want for the money they're giving you?  And I would also be upset if people no longer wanted to give me money for something that they didn't want in the first place.

This is really interesting.  The Cons want to be able to freely use copyrighted news in political ads.

Great news.  There's not only a 1 percent for money...there's a 1 percent for booze consumption.  People wonder why macrobreweries still exist.  It's to service those guys.

Two cops responded to a noise complaint, entered a house illegally, beat a bunch of people up and kept their jobs.  The people they beat up won their court case...but the City won't pick up their $66,000 in legal costs.

Well of course we're not going to support the Hong Kong protestors!  That would take balls.

This is sad.  The pot smoking mountie has been found dead.  Just a really sad, tragic story.

I'm going to be super fucking pissed if refusing to support a plan to bomb ISIS with six fucking airplanes results in 4 more years of the Cons.  Super pissed.  Here's my bold prediction: As the Cons receive a boost in support for their bombing the shit out of terrorists, an election is called.

Don't Listen to Anyone - Week 147 - Feb 17-24

A steady theme with this Conservative government is that they refuse to listen to anybody.  Scientists, academics, judges, bureaucrats...these are all people who just don't know what they're talking about.  An internal document prepared by Employment and Social Development Canada has pointed out that the wages and earnings of the middle class in Canada haven't gone anywhere in decades.  Of course, the Conservatives can't abide by this.  The report reflects “the period of time under the previous Liberal government” says a spokesperson for Jason Kenney.  Nothing to worry about.

Then you have reports that Gail Shea re-opened the commercial herring roe fishery despite recommendations from DFO scientists.  What do those guys know?


In a similar vein, a judge in British Columbia has refused to adhere to the Conservatives minimum sentencing rules.  But what on earth would a judge know about what's best for sentencing a criminal?

A doctor says that a young lady is really responding to her medical marijuana treatment and her mother suggests that she won't be able to continue her treatment once she is unable to grow her own when new policies kick in.  Don't they know how dangerous it is to even think about marijuana?

Good thing we won't have to worry about scientists any more.  This post suggests that we will lose 5,064 Federal Government "science" jobs in the next few years.  Don't worry though.  I'm sure the private sector will step in and start completing all this research on behalf of Canadians.  After all, if it's important, there must be a profit somewhere.  And the greatness will trickle down.

Experts have been telling Stephen Harper for years that oil shipments by rail are going to rise dramatically.  I'm not saying it's his fault that trains are blowing up across the country...but you'd think that you might have pumped some money into rail safety, no?

A study has confirmed that Oil Sands tailings are leaching into groundwater and rivers.  Don't these scientists know that there are jobs at stake?

In similar news, an energy company in northern Alberta chased a family from their ranch with toxic gas clouds.  They'll only help them financially if they sign a non-disclosure agreement.

Rex Murphy is in a bit of trouble for accepting money from Oil Sands companies while belittling Neil Young for having an opinion, and otherwise serving as an Oil Sands mouthpiece.

Land set aside as grazing areas for Arctic Reindeer has been offered up for Oil and Gas exploration.  Reindeer don't need jobs.  And they certainly don't need subsidies like all these big oil companies do.

Federal Ministers keep visiting Kitimat, but don't meet with councillors or local government.  What's going on?

I love it.  The punishment for exceeding donation laws by over 4 times?  The campaign has to refund him his own money!  So, let's see:
1) Need a quick cash infusion for the election.
2) Throw down some fat stacks from your personal account.
3) Wait 3 years for Elections Canada to figure it out.
4) Get a full refund on the money you kicked in.
Where's the downside?

The Conservatives are angry that a Liberal former general received the (managed by a third party) moving (and legal) expenses to which he was entitled.  Note that the Auditor General reported that this was a crazy program back in 2006.  The Cons didn't seem all that concerned until this week.

It's been pointed out that the "average family" used in the Conservatives sales job for income splitting are far from average.  Huge wage gains in the last few years and a household income $50,000 more than the median in Canada?  Sounds pretty average to me.  Oh.  Wait.  Maybe they're talking about "real" Canadians.  You know?  Albertans.

Another Conservative job well done.  Prisons.  Where prisoners die due to poor health care and lack of review and follow-up.  Maybe that's part of the tough-on-crime agenda?

The Oil Sands workers laid off in favour of Temporary Foreign Workers have not been hired back yet.  They hired some different ones instead.  Maybe?

It's interesting that the ruling that a Canadian ISP has to give up user data in a copyright lawsuit is being reported as a big win for entertainment companies.  While the ISP does have to give up user data, the judge is making it fairly difficult for US style copyright trolling to take place.

"Justin Trudeau kicks off Liberal convention with partisan speech" says the headline.  Really?  I would have thought a political party convention was a perfect place to cozy up to the Conservatives.

Interesting.  The government has opened up "public consultation" on prostitution laws.

Tim Hudak essentially wants to privatize all government services?  Well that sounds like a dandy idea.  What could possibly go wrong with that?

Did the ruling party in the Ukraine pay Conservative bloggers in the US to spread their message?  Maybe.

I haven't read The Signal and the Noise (or whatever Nate Silver's book is called).  But apparently he takes global warming to task.  As did the Freakanomics guys.  This is why they got it wrong...basically...your models that apply to other things don't necessarily work with climate change.

New York State is mulling a ban on microbeads in soaps and shampoos.  Which is great.  But how are we not mulling other options?  Such as suing the shit out of companies that created an environmental disaster via a ridiculous product?

Patrick Brazeau lands job at strip club.  Sounds about right.

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.

PIPELINE!!!!! - Week 118 - July 29 - August 6

Did everybody disappear to some magical, secret, pipeline conference last week?  Goodness.

Obama calls bullshit on Keystone XL projected jobs numbers.

Stephen Harper counters with his own full court press on Keystone.

More pipelines, as the East-West pipeline becomes somewhat more official.  At least we would be refining this stuff in Canada...

In a related note...

Strange this story isn't really showing up in Canadian newspapers all that much.  CBC covered it a bit.  But Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. seems unable to control a tar sands oil leak.

Huh.  A pretty interesting Tyee article on our inherent hang-ups and prejudices that help fuel the climate change debate.

The train company that blew up Lac Megantic still hasn't paid any money to victims.  Further stressing why we need so many pipelines, right Steve?

Somebody stole some pride parade flags in Fort McMurray and lit them on fire.

Something just seems really seedy and sordid about this.  You've already been elected Premiere and you make some very specific promises to your own riding if they elect you?  It doesn't sound like a whole lot of money, but it just kind of feels wrong.  Not to mention the recently elected MLA resigning just so you can run in an expensive by election because you weren't able to get yourself elected in your home City.  Thanks Kelowna.

Do you think they hold meetings to figure this shit out beforehand?  "Okay, you make a proclamation about marijuana legalization so that we can hit up our donors, and in return we'll make something up about abortion so you have something for your guys."

As Canadian jobless numbers have gone up, so have the number of "Temporary Foreign Workers".  I'm guessing corporate profits have gone up as well.

A long Macleans article on Stephen Harpers official bastardization of Canadian History.  I should add "depressing" into the description as well.

Patrick Brazeau...bad things...worse than we had before suspected...don't need to know anything else about this.  Wish this guy would just go away.

Another video of the Toronto police shooting has emerged.  The kid was most definitely on that tram alone.

Late addition - Okay.  What a bunch of fucking assholes!  Holy shit, this is some crazy spin.  Crazy!  Let's pick this apart a bit.
"Hottest Month of the Year so Far" - I'm guessing July is generally the "hottest of the year so far" every single year - More homes sell in the summer.  31 days compared to June's 30.  August hasn't happened yet...Fuck off.
"Busiest since July 2009" - Sooooo...what does that actually mean?  That was a whole 4 years ago!

Benchmark price is actually down.  And this is a completely made up number by the Real Estate industry in the first place!  Fuck these guys can spin.  Fuck I hate the real estate industry.

Dominoes - Week 107 - May 13-21

What a crazy week.  Has it only been a week?  Gosh.

First up.  Mike Duffy.  Should I remind everybody that up until very recently (last week), Mike Duffy was a Conservative star.  And they seemed to think it would be worth $90,000 to bail him out of his expense problem.  Now he's in trouble for inproper influence during the Sun News bidding process.  As well as double billing both the Conservative Party and taxpayers for partisan campaigning on Senate time.  Which has caused him to resign from the Conservative caucus.  Isn't it crazy that it seemed fine when he was just campaigning at the expense of the public, and he was forced to leave once the party figured out he had stolen their money?  Taxpayer money, no problem...but Conservative money is another story.

Imagine how shitty this is for Nigel Wright?  First up, he has to pony up $90,000 to "save the party".  Then, the guy he bails out is forced to leave the party.  And then he has to resign as well?  Even after Stephen Harper pledged his full support. Man. That's some bus.

Pamela Wallin is out, too.


Senator Bozo is going to fight his expense repayment finding as well.  May as well go out in a blaze of glory.  What do you bet we get left with his legal bill as well?

The Harper Government is going to spend over $16 Million on advertising trying to convince America that we're not a band of knuckle-dragging oil burners.  Are the Conservatives invested in some sort of advertising agency ETF that I don't know about?

Peter Penashue is sent Packing.  Of course, the Conservatives are claiming victory.  Because the Liberals didn't win by as much as they should have?  Even with vote splitting.

Remember when the Conservatives promised that the new Copyright legislation wouldn't be about prosecuting average citizens for downloading a movie here and there?  Ya.  That was bullshit.

A Boingboing follow up to our link last week on Industry dictating the course of science in Canada.

I didn't read this article but the headline is awesome: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Bolts From Meeting to Put Fridge Magnets on Cars

Another great Rob Ford Headline: Ford denies crack video

Congratulations Toronto!  Your mayor has gone from local sideshow, to national disgrace, on to international punchline.

Flaherty thinks the housing market is just fine.

You remembered wrong.  House prices weren't supposed to level off and grow more slowly.  This 3% drop in house prices is exactly what we expected.  It's a good thing.

Bob Rennie suggests that it doesn't matter if young people are too poor to buy housing.  Their rich parents will just buy it for them.  So, logically, there's no threat to housing prices and you should buy, buy, buy!

Stickin' it to the Senate - Week 106 - May 6-13

Brazeau and Mac Harb have to pay back large chunks of their expense budgets.  They're still working on Pam Wallin.  Wait.  Mac Harb disputes the article suggesting he owes fat bank.  Nope.  He's wrong.  They do have to pay it back.

Mike Duffy appears to have been tipped off that he was under investigation over his expenses.  I listened to an interview from the Liberal Senate Leader and he seems really, really pissed about the whole thing.

Tom Mulcair is asking the Conservatives if the money is in the banana stand.

Let's talk about Unions.  This NP article uses the Queen of the North ferry accident as an argument against unions.  And I do agree here.  Unions should have no place in protecting people from criminal liability.  I'm still not really understanding how the union is even involved here.  I can understand if it was an internal BC Ferries investigation that the union might be able to prevent certain things.  But can a union really prevent an RCMP or Transport Canada investigation?  If so, then yes, that needs to change.  But to extrapolate this and suggest that unions have no place?  Full disclosure.  I'm not in a union and have never been.  I have worked entirely in organizations that are union and have worked with many, many union employees.  And yes, at times it is incredibly ludicrous.  I've seen some really, really bad employees keep their jobs.  I've seen laziness.  I've seen union leaders defying sense and logic.  The traditional union/management mentality no longer works.  But there is two sides to that story.  This relationship generally is created through years and years and years of mistrust.  I've seen examples of younger facilities with progressive unions work quite well.  So...like I said...two sides.  But what if that union completely goes away?  "Non-competitive" is just another word for "too expensive".  And that's the management trap.  Managers aren't evil.  They just get fired if they don't cut and cut and cut and make shit cheaper.  It's very easy for companies to see that they could make so much more money if employees would only work for less.  And only work when they were told to.  And on and on and on.  Is this really what we want?  We want everybody to work for cheaper?  We want worse jobs and less recourse if things don't go our way?  Yes, unions can be a pain in the ass.  For years I wondered why the high school educated floor worker was making more than I was (as a professional engineer).  But that's a different question.  I think we should worry more about elevating non-union jobs to union standards than about getting rid of the unions.

Well.  I think it makes more sense to just have a well funded Revenue Canada, rather than create a "special team" to go after tax cheats.  But I'll take it.  I guess is sounds better to say you have a "special team" than to admit that people haven't been caught because the base organization doesn't have the resources.

"The Harper Government" is spreading.  The phrase has been used on 522 government news releases...since December.  Generally when talking about funding initiatives, tax breaks and projects.



Canada is tripping over itself to assure everybody that the 3rd Via Rail terror suspect did not enter the US from Canada.

Stats Can is putting disclaimers on its data due to non-mandatory long form participation.

Oh shit.  The Conservatives might start re-writing the Canadian history curriculum.

This story about the Liberals improving fortunes goes out of the way to belittle what Trudeau was wearing during the announcement.  This is news?  And they have an editorial that goes even crazier.

The Conservatives hate big government and science!  Except when they can re-purpose national science institutes to do science for businesses and industry.  Science for businesses, not for people.  Correction.  Science for giant corporations, not for anybody else.  Science for business suggests that entrepreneurs might benefit.

Companies are hiring temporary foreign workers for jobs in areas where there are unemployed people with similar sets of skills.

The National Post asks why Canadians still are interested in Al Gore...while writing an article about him every two days.

The potato farmer who was thrown in jail in Beirut is suing the Canadian Government.

Details are coming out about Health Ministry employees fired by the BC Liberals in 2012.  Turns out they were working on studies that may have proved harmful to pharmaceutical companies that are also BC Liberal donors.

This is just a stupid article about Real Estate.  The gist...If you bought a home 10 years ago (you know, right before the largest jump in real estate prices ever) you'll be fine even if there is a crash.  Ummm...let's see.  Haven't most people bought since then?  Isn't that what drove up prices?  Aren't there a whole lot of people out there right now without 50% equity in their homes?  This is a stupid article.

Similar to my comment on another Salon article last week...here's another article about Time magazine articles about Millenials.  I think the comments are more enlightening than the actual article.

Steady Hand on the Tiller - Week 101 - April 1-8

Yes.  Things are a bit early this week.  I'll be away and I wanted to get something out.  There might not be a post next week, but I'll try to get something out.

Wasn't Stephen Harper's biggest promise that he was a "steady hand on the tiller" and a "prudent fiscal manager"?  Well, our prudent fiscal managers really have things humming along!  The TSX hits some lows and real estate is not looking very good.  A terrible jobs report too.  Way to go guys!

In other "prudent fiscal management" news, here are some details on the billions of dollars that Canada will have to pay out as government employees are let go.  The debt continues to skyrocket and they spend boatloads of money on their pet projects (throwing people in jail, buying the best shit to blow other shit up with, etc). We'll probably end up re-hiring many of these positions in a few years time.

The Liberals are starting to poll well.  I can only imagine the reaction this will bring.  They've already developed some anti-Trudeau attack ads.

Thankfully, they've found the "mastermind" behind the whole robo-calls scandal, and charged him.  Amazingly, a junior employee on a local campaign with no authority or access to any information was behind the whole thing!  His lawyer points out that this doesn't make much sense.  From the Tyee we have this gem of a cartoon:

Actually.  It's not a very good cartoon.  But I still like it.

Update: So.  Internet voting is supposed to raise voter turnout, right?  Somehow, I don't think the Conservatives are interested in getting more people out to vote.  And magically, Elections Canada sees their budget hit and they have to scrap internet voting.

The Federal Information Commissioner is investigating why Stephen Harper is muzzling scientists.

Parliament voted to give themselves (and the Senate) a pay raise.

As well, they seem to think it is okay to accept huge amounts of, I'm going to say it, bribes in the form of "travel expenses" from businesses, foreign trade organizations, etc.  MP's should either travel on official business that the government pays for, or they shouldn't travel at all (vacations excepted).  Why are they allowed on junkets?  How can they remain impartial on something after accepting a free trip and bringing along their wife/husband?

People wonder why BC citizens aren't too pumped on a new pipeline.  Another one ruptures in Arkansas.  I'm sure there will be lots of people explaining why this one ruptured but why a BC pipeline never will.

And here it is (somewhat).  The National Post is up in arms over the slander committed by journalists pointing out that it was Canadian oil spilled in Arkansas.  "But it was an American pipeline!" they scream.  Correct.  It doesn't matter where the oil came from.  But it also doesn't really matter where the pipeline was or who operated it.  It was a pipeline.  It leaked.  It causes problems.  This (and the countless other pipeline leaks) kills the arguments that pipelines are 100% safe and we shouldn't be afraid of environmental catastrophe.

Exxon has been given authority over a no fly zone above the spill.  Which seems really, really odd.

You know, if I, say, own a restaurant in, say, Northern Alberta.  It would be pretty silly if I expanded my restaurant capacity far beyond what was locally necessary and then complained that I couldn't get decent prices for my restaurant food and pointed out that restaurant food cost a lot more money in New York City, so you had better approve my proposal to build a dumbwaiter from Northern Alberta to New York City because I was losing too much money selling my food at a loss in Northern Alberta.  It just wouldn't make business sense to keep building up my capacity if I was unable to sell my product for a decent price.  So, why is it okay to just build and build and build in Northern Alberta, yank out a non-renewable resource as fast as possible, sell it at a loss, and then complain that people aren't doing enough to help you make as much money as possible?  This is insane.  As well, this Tyee article points out (again) that this whole oil price difference thing is a bit of a myth.

Okay.  So maybe trains aren't the answer over pipelines.

A mine clean-up in the Northwest Territories has ballooned to almost a billion dollars.  Which is a quarter of the entire budget set aside to clean-up over 6,700 toxic sites.  So, there might be a budget shortfall for the program, I'm thinking.  Why is the owner not responsible for the clean-up?  To Wikipedia!  Hmmm...that doesn't really clear things up.  Anyhow, this suggests that we should collect money for clean-up ahead of the fact.  Before the mine is sold and the owners skip town.  Seems like it is not just mines that are an issue either.  Pipelines are in the same boat.

The two Canadians involved in the attack on the gas plant in Algeria have been outed and seem to have inspired a new round of anti-Islamiscism in Canada.  Even though one of them was a suburban white kid with a Greek Orthodox upbringing.  Too foreign!

John Baird thinks Iraq is ripe for some commerce!

Patrick Brazeau announces his resignation.  On April Fool's Day.  In the evening.  Which is just about the stupidest April Fool's Day prank ever.  This guy is a gigantic idiot.  Others think so too.

More from the Senate.  The husband of a Liberal Senator has used his offshore bank account to avoid taxation during a dispute with Revenue Canada.

I'm going to need a separate Senate section soon.  Pamela Wallin steps down from some Senate Committees she is involved with.  But remains a Senator.  So...stops doing work, keeps cashing massive paycheque.  And don't forget that travel!

I was having a bad day and thought I'd totally ruin it by reading an NP article (and comments) about a homosexual couple in small town Manitoba forced to close their restaurant due to the discrimination they faced.  Unfortunately...comments closed.  The story is depressing enough.  Said another local restaurant owner, "A lot of people don’t like it, You don’t know what they’re doing in the kitchen." Hooray for Canada.

For the past few years I've been wondering why nobody in BC remembers "Music 91".  It makes me very happy that this Tyee article compares "Music 91" to the Times of India Film Awards.  Very happy.  But there's still no reference anywhere on the Internet to Music 91.  I would love to see a full listing of who played where.

Budget Time - Week 99 - March 19-25

Conservatives like to compare governmental matters to personal matters.  "You don't spend more money than you make at home, why should we do it with government?"  Let's extend their analogy out to this decision to link foreign aid with the trade and security interests of Canada.  Perhaps we would only allow the food bank to give food to people who might come over and mow our lawn?  Or help out heroin addicts if they only promise to stay out of our neighbourhood.  Aid and charity aren't really aid or charity if you ask something in return, no?  And check out that awesome John Baird photo.

I'm going to call this a Freudian slip, as a government agency puts out a press release with "Harper Canada" instead of "Harper Government"  (which is ridiculous enough).  Thanks for reminding us.

Surprise, surprise.  Steve-O and his band of merry idiots are trying to push through copyright treaties.  Again.  With no discussion.  It doesn't seem to matter what Canadians say.  They keep trying to push this stuff through.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer officially pointed out the ridiculousness of Stephen Harper's spending on his tough-on-crime agenda as crime rates continue to drop.  As well, the costs of Stephen Harper's War-on-crime are landing on the Provinces.  Nice to create things that you don't have to pay for, no?

Jim Flaherty stepped in when Manulife offered a mortgage rate that was too low.  And other Conservative MP's don't like it.

Ouch.  NP Headline "Questionable fiscal credibility and health leave Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s political future in doubt".

Jason Kenney says that Turkey won't allow Syrian refugees to leave Turkey.  Turkey says Jason Kenney is full of shit.  And really needs Canada to accept some Syrian refugees.

Elizabeth May is not going to run a Green Party candidate in Labrador, and is calling on the NDP to do the same.  They refuse.  Sounds like they're acting a bit high and mighty about it too.

The Conservatives drop tariffs on hockey (and other sports) gear.  But then will jack tariffs up on just about everything else.

SNC-Lavalin made some questionable donations to Conservative candidates during the last election.  There are some suggestions that employees were compensated for donations in the form of enhanced bonuses, skirting corporate donation laws.

Patrick Brazeau insists that he is innocent.  This guy needs to go away.

The National Post suggests that the Federal Government is taking a "divide and conquer" approach to the Northern Gateway pipeline by appointing a special First Nations envoy.  Why is it the job of the government to spend boatloads of money lobbying for this pipeline?

We talked a week or so ago about how oil industry connected groups were behind creating the State Department Keystone XL report.  Well, looks like that wasn't just an oversight.  Looks like they actively worked to cover this fact up.

I feel like Obama worked a nice balance in to his Israel trip.  Not-quite-unwavering support while recognizing Palestinian rights and encouraging Israel to not do dumb things.  This seems a lot better than the Harper ostrich strategy.

I'm starting to feel lately like it's really just a question of what is going to kill us first.  Rising sea levels?  Drought?  Earthquake/Tsunami?  Rogue Asteroid?  Or maybe just all the bees dieing out.  More with the bees dieing.  It seems like they have a pretty good idea of what the problem is now though.  Aren't doing anything to stop it, but they know what it is.

Feigning Outrage - Week 95.5 - Feb 25-28

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.

A Lot Happens When You're on Vacation - Week 93 - Feb 4-12

Go away for a few days and the world goes crazy.  The pope quits?  Brazeau is facing charges?  Stephen Harper's stupid hockey book is coming out?  Okay.  I guess those are the only major things, but still, it seems a bit shocking.  Incidentally, where does the Prime Minister of the country find time to write a book?  Imagine if Obama released a book on basketball in the next few months?

It's interesting about Brazeau.  The Conservatives seem to have no problem when he is accused of fraud (ya, I'm calling cheating on your Senate housing expenses fraud) or does a major sexist freak-out on a journalist.  But they're tripping all over themselves to kick him out of their party when he is accused of assault?  This Tyee article nicely puts what I've been thinking in to words:  Harper really knows how to cut and run.

There are some interesting nuggets contained in this story about Brazeau getting suspended from the Senate.  The other Senators seem pretty pissed that they have to deal with him.

The Conservatives have edited out criticism by the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the Auditor General in a report on the F-35 fiasco.


Remember the Saskatchewan Robo-Calls thing last week.  Turns out it is in no way the fault of the Conservatives.  It was done by their employee.  Who they hired.  And who reports to them.  But it's her fault.  Not theirs.

I tried to post a link about how the Conservatives are funneling funding to aid organizations with religious ties, but I couldn't find a link.  Well, they finally got caught funding a really terrible one with horrendous anti-gay beliefs.  And somehow claim that it doesn't matter.

Amazing how opinion polls are a Conservatives best friend when they align with their specific plans.  But is Mali really "another Afghanistan"?  I guess it could be, in the sense that it could drag on for years and people could get killed.  But the reasons for going into Afghanistan vs. the reasons for going in to Mali seem worlds apart.

The Federal Government claims that they have killed their internet snooping bill and promise that they won't bring it back.  Didn't they already kill this thing once?  Why should we now believe their promises?

What bothers me about the Conservative "tough-on-crime" agenda is that it's just tremendously easy politics with no real benefit.  It is tough to argue against the stance that criminally insane killers spend more time in custody.  But there are two things wrong with this.  Number one, we're talking about an incredibly small handful of cases here.  Why do we spend so much time worrying about this shit?  (answer - easy politics)  Number two, if we would perhaps spend some time worrying about support systems for the mentally ill, perhaps we wouldn't have to worry so much about this stuff as the crimes wouldn't happen in the first place.

Rona Ambrose suggests that Canadian Companies should get more involved with defense procurement/manufacturing.  Okay.  After witnessing British Columbia attempt to create a fast ferry manufacturing industry I'm going to suggest that this is perhaps a bad idea.

HD Mining reached out to the Union to end the foreign workers dispute.  To me, it reads like "give us everything that we want and then we can start negotiating".  I just can't agree more with the union.  Canadian Resources should be used (well, they say to create Canadian Jobs) for the good of the country.  If the country isn't benefiting to the maximum possible extent, then what the fuck are we digging this stuff up for in the first place?  Why is it a race to dig shit out of the ground?  It's not going anywhere.

Did you know that there is a native polar bear hunt and that they're allowed to sell the hides on the international market?  Man.  That seems a bit fucked up.  We're also apparently responsible for dwindling wolverine numbers in the USA.

So not just the Conservatives are making questionable decisions on Queen's Jubilee medals.  The NDP awarded one to a guy facing firearms charges.  And they're standing by it.

(Since I wrote this, the Cons clarified that they only want to banish people with multiple citizenships.  But I think this still stands.  It's still war on brown people.) So, we're going to strip the citizenship of Canadians who commit "acts of war against Canadians" or "terrorism".  On the surface, I guess this sounds fine.  This would justify the Canadian government doing nothing in cases like Omar Khadr.  But here's my thought.  Once you're a Canadian, you're a Canadian.  Good or bad, you're a Canadian.  There's lots of Canadians that do really stupid shit.  They remain Canadian.  So, we're going to strip the citizenship of somebody who, what?  Donates money to the wrong people?  Does something that the US doesn't agree with?  What about somebody who blows up a Canadian pipeline?  Are they a "terrorist"?  Are they no longer Canadian?  Oh.  Wait.  They're probably white so no problem.

And now CSIS is talking about "domestic terrorism".  Is it just a coincidence that the Cons are talking about revoking the citizenship of "terrorists"?

Certain Copyright focussed Organizations are lobbying for the ability to install monitoring software on your computer to track their interests.  That's right.  Not only do you not really want you to own the stuff that they sell you (by holding on to a piece of it with their crazy, crazy requirements), they want to be able to tap in to the computer that you (thought you) own(ed) to make sure you aren't doing anything that upsets them.  Fuck these guys.  Honestly.  The companies associated with these associations need to be punished.  I'm sick and tired of companies making obscene demands that will impact my life.

This doesn't really compute with me.  We're drastically cutting our military budget.  We're forcing senior officers out (that can't be cheap).  And we're spending tonnes and tonnes of money purchasing new equipment.  This doesn't add up.

So apparently the LAPD is just shooting random people on their manhunt for a cop killer.  You don't hear about that much in the news.

Vic Toews Returns - Week 90 - Jan 16-25

Well.  We changed things up a bit and had a mid-week post.  Which is good.  Because the rest of the week was pretty busy.

Are you fucking kidding me?  Mr. Fucking Law-and-order, Vic Fucking Toews, is suggesting that policing costs are too high?  And he is actually talking about the drop in crime rate?  Holy shit.  I mean, just when you think this guy is the most gigantic fucking idiot in the entire fucking world he comes out and says something like this.  I'm actually imagining the fantasy world that Vic fucking Toews lives in right now - More things are against the law.  Criminals get put in jail for longer.  And there are no police to do any of this.  CBC points out how much of  a dipshit he is.

I live in British Columbia.  Our Provincial Liberals treat the Government like it's their own party publicist/campaign arm.  So, to me, Julian Fantino posting some letters on a Government website that are critical of the opposition doesn't seem like a huge deal.

This article is interesting for two reaons.  First, it points out that this certainly isn't the first minister to pull a Flaherty and use their ministerial role inapropriately.  Next, if you scroll through the comments, it seems to illuminate the official Conservative talking point for this: That if a minister doesn't break this rule, we're actually punishing the businesses in ridings that happen to have a minister for an MP.  Sooooo...how old is Canada?  I didn't realize that for over a hundred years we've been punishing businesses in the ridings of Ministers.  I mean, there's never been a case where a minister has unfairly handed out boatloads of cash within his own riding, has there?  We really need to address this grave injustice.  Jim Flaherty is a hero, really.  And what the fuck?  Is it honestly the job of an MP to write recommendations for businesses in his riding?  Is there some sort of daily line-up outside of MP's offices where local business owners stand, cap in hand, waiting for the good word of their MP?

Wow.  The National Post is on it today.  First, an opinion piece taking Jim Flaherty to task for not simply admitting that he made a mistake.  Next, they question the Prime Minister for his attack on a journalist who exposed sketchy election spending by the Conservative party.  Well done National Post.

And...There is an opinion piece written by Patrick Brazeau.  And I really, really hate to say this, but I think I might actually agree with him on this.  Whether you think First Nations receive too much support or not enough support, it's impossible to make any sort of determination without a better idea of where the current batch of money is going.  I realize that Idle No More is about more than money, and opponents are trying to make it all about the money.  But...well...he raises some valid points.

I'm not sure if I talked about this guy before.  Was this before the last election?  Anyhow, an Edmonton MP was pulled over by the cops one night and refused to provide a breathalyzer sample.  And was a total dick.  Guess which party he's with?  I don't think the article actually states this.  Perhaps in Alberta "MP" and "Conservative" are synonyms?

A Salon book discussion raises horrifying thoughts on the war in Vietnam.  It's a pretty long read.  It's very depressing.  But it warrants your attention.

The headline of this article states "GOP memo brags party kept the house by gerrymandering".  I didn't take this at face value.  I expected some subtle interpretation whereby the author read some innocuous phrase as an endorsement of gerrymandering.  But no.  It really is a memo bragging about redistricting to best support election of GOP congressmen even wihthout a majority of the vote.

Another Liberal leadership candidate has come out in support for some sort of election reform.  This time a ranked ballot.

Looks like there may be some identity theft related to lost student loan data.

You heard about the maple leaf on the new bills?  Me too.  Does it really matter?  Stupid botanists.  I actually heard one of them talking on the CBC about how we would never put a baboon or a palm tree on our bills, so why would we put the wrong maple leaf.