Leonna Aglukkaq describes why we don't need to do as much as China and the US on climate change. "Canada accounts for less than 2 per cent" of global GHG emissions.
Oh Fuck. This isn't going to end well. Two men wore Burkas to rob a Toronto jewelry store. How haven't the Cons banned that shit already? Crime furthering otherworldly religious garb? Please.
The Cons have devised a neat new trick. They haven't actually cut the budget for Veteran's services...they're just not spending all of the money in that budget.
The Cons are telling civil servants to use partisan hashtags in their tweets in support of income tax proposals.
Michael Sona has been sentenced. Everybody seems to think others were involved, yet nothing else seems to be happening. The Cons have decided to cross their fingers and hope that it just goes away. Nobody is commenting.
Joe Oliver's economic update speech last week was a fundraising dinner.
Which is odd. You have to pay the candidate $800 per table to get an
update on the Canadian economy? No wonder they take in so much money in
donations.
A long screed from MacLean's on the ridiculous "anti honour killing" law. And how it could change the definition of "provocation" for
everyone.
A document from the Immigration and Citizenship department suggests that
media inquiries be handled with large, international organizations receiving top priority, then major Canadian organizations, then, maybe, smaller independents. The ministry shoots back that this is just a
"draft". Having worked in government, I know that every single document
is called a draft. There must only be a handful of documents every
year that aren't considered as such.
Stupid Privacy Commissioner. Asking for checks and balances to go with all the new police powers the Cons are dishing up?
Interesting insight into who the lobbyists are and who they represent.
Do you know what the average windfall was for Canada/BC/Alberta last 5
years due to Trans Mountain Pipeline income tax payments? $1.5 Million.
Less than peanuts. I bet that doesn't pay for the costs to regulate
them.
The National Post thinks that Stephen Harper being an asshole to Putin at a diplomatic function ranks up there with other famous asshole Canadian politician moments. In Russia, Canada is the confused guy down the street shouting about things nobody understands.
They've already decided to destroy the homes of the two synagogue attackers in Israel. Same day service. Can you imagine if we dispatched police to knock
over people's homes the same day they've accused of committing a terror
attack? What if they get the address wrong?
I guess the heat is on Trudeau. And furthers the shitstorm. An NDP MP who is a lawyer may have suggested that the offences reached the level of "assault". And that may have prompted Trudeau's response. And this
extra helping of leak is for sure pissing the NDP off further.
The Conservatives are burying changes to refugee social assistance in an Omnibus bill.
Well that's just fucking great. The Cons are going to start studying privatization of certain police tasks.
A Conservative candidate in a by-election has had her expenses in her previous job as mayor questioned. Well that's a smear!
This seems weird to me. Go and fight for the Taliban and you're an "enemy combatant" who should be thrown into Guantanamo without trial. Go fight for the Kurds and... Don't get me wrong, I need to know a whole lot more about the Kurds to effectively comment on this. It just seems like we have a double standard depending on which irregular army you join up with. (seems like the government might be a bit confused about this as well)
A journalist testifies on the police response to the G20 protests. He didn't like what he saw.
Hey. There's a 1% for musicians now. The top 1% of recording artists make 77% of the revenue. For their labels.
Everbody agrees that NHL players are 1 percenters, right? Making way
too much money for too little work? Well, looks like 1 percenters have
it pretty sweet in good old Communist British Columbia. New Canucks are paying far less in taxes than they used to in such Capitalist tax havens as New York.
Showing posts with label Robo-calls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robo-calls. Show all posts
Monday, November 24, 2014
Monday, August 18, 2014
Where the hell did summer go? - Week 172 - Aug 11-18
You know who else hates Steve? Bryan Fucking Adams! That's who.
Beginning or the end of the Robo-calls scandal? Michael Sona is guilty. But the judge notes that he probably wasn't the only person involved.
So we've barely managed to cut, hack and scrape our way to a theoretical "balanced budget" via fancy footwork and elimination of anything that doesn't serve the oil patch. Time to cut taxes!
Toronto Police teamed up with the CBSA and did some "safety spot checks". Amazingly, they discovered a number of illegal immigrants at the same time. Nothing sketchy about that.
Did I post this last week? Canada doesn't want to let injured Gaza children in to the country for treatment. Well. Canada probably does. Steve doesn't.
CETA seeks to ban any "buy local" plans in public procurement. All the way down to the municipal level.
Steve is trying to use our money to hire our doctors to tell us that we're not correct in wanting pot to be legalized.
Steve loses another court battle. The ban on medical pot cookies is ruled unconstitutional.
Maybe this is why so many of Steve's laws are overturned? Not enough lawyers or resources in the Justice Department.
The CBC breaks down Julian Fantino's bullshit with respect to Justin Trudeau's comments on pot legalization.
The chart down at the bottom is probably the most important. Why do something if it's only Liberals and NDPers that support it? Steve will never legalize pot while the cavemen that vote Conservative don't like it.
1 in 6 Canadian soldiers has mental health issues. Post service.
Alberta hires a PR Firm to create Oil Sands class warfare in the US.
Also Alberta...the Alberta Federation of Labour figures Steve and his cronies knew all along what sort of mess they were creating for Canadians with the Temporary Foreign Workers program.
A first hand account from a girl whose family was renditioned from Hong Kong to Libya. British and US Intelligence were both involved.
200 to 42,000 is a pretty big change. How do we trust Stats Can?
Vote pandering anybody? Steve promises to close the Canada/US price gap. Somehow.
I really like this Beverly McLachlan. She takes the high road in talking about our buddy Steve.
You're actually going to require a doctors note if you still want to get your mail delivered to your house.
More damning (no pun intended...honestly) information related to the Mount Polley spill and what the BC Government knew and didn't do.
I like farcical tales. I think extreme examples help illustrate points. And this is a good one. Cop father illegitimate child. Mother seeks incomes assistance. Province demands name of father so they can deduct child support payments from her income assistance. Cop tries to dupe paternity test and is caught. Hilarity ensues. But what good are any of these benefits? We guarantee that people stay in a ridiculous level of poverty to be able to accept any form of assistance? Need help but have a part time job? Well we'll deduct that money then. Need help but have a spouse that contributes a pittance? Give it here.
Beginning or the end of the Robo-calls scandal? Michael Sona is guilty. But the judge notes that he probably wasn't the only person involved.
So we've barely managed to cut, hack and scrape our way to a theoretical "balanced budget" via fancy footwork and elimination of anything that doesn't serve the oil patch. Time to cut taxes!
Toronto Police teamed up with the CBSA and did some "safety spot checks". Amazingly, they discovered a number of illegal immigrants at the same time. Nothing sketchy about that.
Did I post this last week? Canada doesn't want to let injured Gaza children in to the country for treatment. Well. Canada probably does. Steve doesn't.
CETA seeks to ban any "buy local" plans in public procurement. All the way down to the municipal level.
Steve is trying to use our money to hire our doctors to tell us that we're not correct in wanting pot to be legalized.
Steve loses another court battle. The ban on medical pot cookies is ruled unconstitutional.
Maybe this is why so many of Steve's laws are overturned? Not enough lawyers or resources in the Justice Department.
The CBC breaks down Julian Fantino's bullshit with respect to Justin Trudeau's comments on pot legalization.
The chart down at the bottom is probably the most important. Why do something if it's only Liberals and NDPers that support it? Steve will never legalize pot while the cavemen that vote Conservative don't like it.
1 in 6 Canadian soldiers has mental health issues. Post service.
Alberta hires a PR Firm to create Oil Sands class warfare in the US.
Also Alberta...the Alberta Federation of Labour figures Steve and his cronies knew all along what sort of mess they were creating for Canadians with the Temporary Foreign Workers program.
A first hand account from a girl whose family was renditioned from Hong Kong to Libya. British and US Intelligence were both involved.
200 to 42,000 is a pretty big change. How do we trust Stats Can?
Vote pandering anybody? Steve promises to close the Canada/US price gap. Somehow.
I really like this Beverly McLachlan. She takes the high road in talking about our buddy Steve.
You're actually going to require a doctors note if you still want to get your mail delivered to your house.
More damning (no pun intended...honestly) information related to the Mount Polley spill and what the BC Government knew and didn't do.
I like farcical tales. I think extreme examples help illustrate points. And this is a good one. Cop father illegitimate child. Mother seeks incomes assistance. Province demands name of father so they can deduct child support payments from her income assistance. Cop tries to dupe paternity test and is caught. Hilarity ensues. But what good are any of these benefits? We guarantee that people stay in a ridiculous level of poverty to be able to accept any form of assistance? Need help but have a part time job? Well we'll deduct that money then. Need help but have a spouse that contributes a pittance? Give it here.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Killing it softly - Week 163 - June 9-16
I feel like a few months from now, a psychiatrist will be able to look back on this blog and track my slow descent into madness. Or apathy. Slow descent into apathy. As each post gets shorter and posted later. Oh well.
This story perfectly shows how Steve goes about his business. Quietly make shit difficult for people until they reach a point where they can't compete/complete and laugh as an enemy is quietly defeated. It's no secret that Conservatives hate the CBC. And you can spend a lot of time talking about privatizing the whole thing. Or you can just slowly turn back their funding, until they can't compete for important show contracts and just slowly disappear. Maybe the end of Hockey Night in Canada isn't a big deal? Maybe Don Cherry will finally just disappear into a basement to yell at his TV? But I think this is a turning point. And a montage. I feel Steve must be at lest the tiniest bit torn about this one.
Should I just end it there? One post about hockey and we're done?
Steve and his Australian buddy have decided to double down on their anti climate change agenda. Their distant relatives held a similar press conference years ago about refusing to kill jobs with a response to the nay-sayers and their made up asteroid impact.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association makes a fatal assumption when they say things like "Back to the drawing board" with respect to privacy legislation. That assumption being that the Conservatives give even one fuck about what anybody thinks or whether or not something is legal.
Justin Trudeau is setting a bit of an odd precedent. He suggests that male legislators shouldn't be making decisions on a females right to abortion. Which I kind of agree with. But what other responsibilities is he going to try to shirk off next? Is he just going to sit in an office with a giant stamp that says something like "Sorry, I can't deal with this because I'm white and male"? Shit. If only Steve had a similar attitude.
Click through on this sucker and listen to the full interview. Chris Alexander is a master of not answering questions. And he sounds so hard done by. And then he hangs up the phone. Jason Kenney is also a master at not answering questions (about Temporary Foreign Workers).
The Robo-calls trial has given an insight into how political campaigns act in Canada. Like children. I'm surprised they aren't ordering dozens of pizzas to show up at the opponents campaign office. Actually, that would be a bit of a morale booster, wouldn't it?
I feel like I'm slowly descending into madness with respect to Vancouver real estate. It's easy to feel stupid for not buying a shitty house as values continue to rise into the stratosphere and an entire industry works to convince us that we're incompetent humans for not over-paying for a house already. So, the 2013 breakdown of incomes in Canada is very interesting. If you make more than $191,000 per year, you're in the top 1% of all income earners in Canada. So....if you are just barely in the top 1% of all Canadian income earners, you can barely afford the average Vancouver detached house (at $1,000,000+)? What's considered affordable? 5 times annual earnings, right? Less? It gets way, way worse when you look at median individual income ($27,600) and median family income ($76,000). Of course, you're thinking the median Vancouver income is higher than the median Canadian, right? Sorry.
MacLean's points out that we're really, really terrible at protecting our marine habitat. Like worse than Russia and China bad. Worse than the US, even.
This story perfectly shows how Steve goes about his business. Quietly make shit difficult for people until they reach a point where they can't compete/complete and laugh as an enemy is quietly defeated. It's no secret that Conservatives hate the CBC. And you can spend a lot of time talking about privatizing the whole thing. Or you can just slowly turn back their funding, until they can't compete for important show contracts and just slowly disappear. Maybe the end of Hockey Night in Canada isn't a big deal? Maybe Don Cherry will finally just disappear into a basement to yell at his TV? But I think this is a turning point. And a montage. I feel Steve must be at lest the tiniest bit torn about this one.
Should I just end it there? One post about hockey and we're done?
Steve and his Australian buddy have decided to double down on their anti climate change agenda. Their distant relatives held a similar press conference years ago about refusing to kill jobs with a response to the nay-sayers and their made up asteroid impact.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association makes a fatal assumption when they say things like "Back to the drawing board" with respect to privacy legislation. That assumption being that the Conservatives give even one fuck about what anybody thinks or whether or not something is legal.
Justin Trudeau is setting a bit of an odd precedent. He suggests that male legislators shouldn't be making decisions on a females right to abortion. Which I kind of agree with. But what other responsibilities is he going to try to shirk off next? Is he just going to sit in an office with a giant stamp that says something like "Sorry, I can't deal with this because I'm white and male"? Shit. If only Steve had a similar attitude.
Click through on this sucker and listen to the full interview. Chris Alexander is a master of not answering questions. And he sounds so hard done by. And then he hangs up the phone. Jason Kenney is also a master at not answering questions (about Temporary Foreign Workers).
The Robo-calls trial has given an insight into how political campaigns act in Canada. Like children. I'm surprised they aren't ordering dozens of pizzas to show up at the opponents campaign office. Actually, that would be a bit of a morale booster, wouldn't it?
I feel like I'm slowly descending into madness with respect to Vancouver real estate. It's easy to feel stupid for not buying a shitty house as values continue to rise into the stratosphere and an entire industry works to convince us that we're incompetent humans for not over-paying for a house already. So, the 2013 breakdown of incomes in Canada is very interesting. If you make more than $191,000 per year, you're in the top 1% of all income earners in Canada. So....if you are just barely in the top 1% of all Canadian income earners, you can barely afford the average Vancouver detached house (at $1,000,000+)? What's considered affordable? 5 times annual earnings, right? Less? It gets way, way worse when you look at median individual income ($27,600) and median family income ($76,000). Of course, you're thinking the median Vancouver income is higher than the median Canadian, right? Sorry.
MacLean's points out that we're really, really terrible at protecting our marine habitat. Like worse than Russia and China bad. Worse than the US, even.
Monday, June 9, 2014
Australia - Week 162 - June 2-9
Man. I haven't been this excited about something in a while. A comment was left here last week that I just loved. I'll share it with you, so that I don't have to write anything myself this week:
Orstralia calling here. Just wanted to give you the hands up that our recently elected PM is winging his way towards your bonza country on what can only be fact finding mission on the wonders of conservative government in Canada. Now Tony Abbott is the leader of the Liberal party of Australia but don't be confused because that's our version of the conservative party in Oz ( might be because we live in the opposite hemisphere).
Unfortunately for Tonnes his recent budget hasn't gone down to well with the general public. Those lower class types are getting upperty about inequality between the rich and the other ninety percent of the population. Even the septic tanks south of your boarder have made fun of him.
Now if Mr Harper could just show him some of the nuances on how to rule within a conservative framework, just some pointers well....it would be much appreciated. Having said that he does have a handy guide put together by the Institute of public affairs of Australia, a prestigious group of Bankers, Miners, Captains of industry all thought to be under the guiding hand of our very own Rupert Murdoch.
Even though Rupe has gone on to bigger and better things ( now an American citizen by crickey ) I like to think he still reminisces of his early days at the Adelaide Advertiser. Just wondering if your fair country is lucky enough to have any News corp publications or is it just us with wall to wall Murdoch media. Anyhow I better get out of your way now. Oh! If you do run into Tonnes he's the kind laconic bloke who will fell right at home with a cheeky greeting of ' Cheers big ears '.
The second link is a work of magic, and perhaps the work of a sociopath. Who else could spend the first few paragraphs talking about all the wonderful left wing changes of the past and how they've become thoroughly appreciated (Universal Healthcare, free tuition, etc.)...and then prescribe these changes as the way to move Australia forward? Banish the carbon tax, pull out of Kyoto, abolish the Department of Climate Change and the Clean Energy Fund, abandon parental leave, privatise, privatise, privatise. I mean, it's some kind of Koch Brothers wet dream. Anyhow. Thanks TaxiLurker...I really needed that.
On with the real news.
Perhaps this was the plan all along, but it seems like the Robocalls trial is coming to the conclusion that Michael Sona is guilty as hell, but not capable of executing without help. And probably some help on a National level from the party.
Ha ha. I almost just pasted this link in. And I'm going to share it anyhow. Because who doesn't want to read about the trainwreck of the Kimye wedding? A lesson in the excesses of the 1%.
Damned scientists. Getting in the way of progress again. Here pointing out that the science used to justify the Northern Gateway project is "flawed". The logic too. And again with the Scientists....Great news on Fracking in Canada. A University of Waterloo report finds that wells are poorly capped, barely monitored, and leaking all over the place. Thank god our decisions aren't peer reviewed, says Steve.
Jesus. This is a bit troubling. The "Government" is imploring its departments to track every protest across Canada. The Optimist would assume they want to keep their fingers on the pulse of Canadian opinion...
So the Cons have unveiled their prostitution bill. The "Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act". Man. What's their budget for thinking up over-the-top bill names? Anyhow. I'm not sure people are going to buy into this one. It seems to make everybody angry. I guess I have some Libertarian in me. It seems like making things that people really want illegal is kind of stupid. Doesn't it make sense, as New Zealand has done with prostitution, to accept that things will happen and bring it out in the open? This Nordic model sounds like a step in the right direction, but seems to add an unnecessary shroud over things. How can you ensure things are safe when people are still forced to do it in secrecy?
More veterans more angry with the Conservatives.
Don't worry. Nigel Wright is going to be okay. Mike Duffy probably won't be.
Harper found an actual Quebec judge to appoint to the Supreme Court.
Elections Canada hasn't made up their mind about NDP guilt with respect to mailouts.
People give Garth a tonne of shit. But this post is really beautiful. He lays out quite clearly how our Real Estate costs can have an impact on where businesses set up. And that we shouldn't be excited when a factory closes down and we build over-priced condos on the land. "In Canada, this is progress. Who needs useless, noisy, downscale factories full of people with rough cuticles and bad tats when all we need is to sell real estate to each other at ever-higher prices with ever-larger mortgages? Then everyone benefits. Obviously we’ve found a new economic reality. It’s so good to be different. And smart."
I really don't understand what Steve is going to accomplish with his Russian saber rattling. Send more troops to Europe? To do what? With what? It's a bit of a symbolic sham of a gesture. Especially when we still seem happy to take the money of Russians when we really need it.
A study has shown that states that primarily vote Republican have a far higher dependency on Federal funding than do states that vote primarily Democrat. Damned Liberal freeloaders, keep wanting to give money to real 'Merican 'publicans.
Orstralia calling here. Just wanted to give you the hands up that our recently elected PM is winging his way towards your bonza country on what can only be fact finding mission on the wonders of conservative government in Canada. Now Tony Abbott is the leader of the Liberal party of Australia but don't be confused because that's our version of the conservative party in Oz ( might be because we live in the opposite hemisphere).
Unfortunately for Tonnes his recent budget hasn't gone down to well with the general public. Those lower class types are getting upperty about inequality between the rich and the other ninety percent of the population. Even the septic tanks south of your boarder have made fun of him.
Now if Mr Harper could just show him some of the nuances on how to rule within a conservative framework, just some pointers well....it would be much appreciated. Having said that he does have a handy guide put together by the Institute of public affairs of Australia, a prestigious group of Bankers, Miners, Captains of industry all thought to be under the guiding hand of our very own Rupert Murdoch.
Even though Rupe has gone on to bigger and better things ( now an American citizen by crickey ) I like to think he still reminisces of his early days at the Adelaide Advertiser. Just wondering if your fair country is lucky enough to have any News corp publications or is it just us with wall to wall Murdoch media. Anyhow I better get out of your way now. Oh! If you do run into Tonnes he's the kind laconic bloke who will fell right at home with a cheeky greeting of ' Cheers big ears '.
The second link is a work of magic, and perhaps the work of a sociopath. Who else could spend the first few paragraphs talking about all the wonderful left wing changes of the past and how they've become thoroughly appreciated (Universal Healthcare, free tuition, etc.)...and then prescribe these changes as the way to move Australia forward? Banish the carbon tax, pull out of Kyoto, abolish the Department of Climate Change and the Clean Energy Fund, abandon parental leave, privatise, privatise, privatise. I mean, it's some kind of Koch Brothers wet dream. Anyhow. Thanks TaxiLurker...I really needed that.
On with the real news.
Perhaps this was the plan all along, but it seems like the Robocalls trial is coming to the conclusion that Michael Sona is guilty as hell, but not capable of executing without help. And probably some help on a National level from the party.
Ha ha. I almost just pasted this link in. And I'm going to share it anyhow. Because who doesn't want to read about the trainwreck of the Kimye wedding? A lesson in the excesses of the 1%.
Damned scientists. Getting in the way of progress again. Here pointing out that the science used to justify the Northern Gateway project is "flawed". The logic too. And again with the Scientists....Great news on Fracking in Canada. A University of Waterloo report finds that wells are poorly capped, barely monitored, and leaking all over the place. Thank god our decisions aren't peer reviewed, says Steve.
Jesus. This is a bit troubling. The "Government" is imploring its departments to track every protest across Canada. The Optimist would assume they want to keep their fingers on the pulse of Canadian opinion...
So the Cons have unveiled their prostitution bill. The "Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act". Man. What's their budget for thinking up over-the-top bill names? Anyhow. I'm not sure people are going to buy into this one. It seems to make everybody angry. I guess I have some Libertarian in me. It seems like making things that people really want illegal is kind of stupid. Doesn't it make sense, as New Zealand has done with prostitution, to accept that things will happen and bring it out in the open? This Nordic model sounds like a step in the right direction, but seems to add an unnecessary shroud over things. How can you ensure things are safe when people are still forced to do it in secrecy?
More veterans more angry with the Conservatives.
Don't worry. Nigel Wright is going to be okay. Mike Duffy probably won't be.
Vice chimes in on our "You're not a citizen any more" legislation. Pointing out that it sucks.
There's just so many links about why we shouldn't buy the F-35, I don't even know where to start. But apparently, we're going to. Okay. One link. Basically, this airplane is so complicated and compromised because of the vertical takeoff/landing requirements. Which Canada doesn't need. So in summary. We're spending insane amounts of money on an airplane because some variants require something that we don't, and the whole design is kind of compromised because of it. Well done.
Somebody from Peter McKay's office is most likely behind the "bozo eruption" recording. More Peter McKay (christ, what an asshole). The Conservatives still seem intent on making the Marc Nadon fiasco about anything but them. Peter McKay suggests documents were leaked? How does that in any way impact what happened?
Harper found an actual Quebec judge to appoint to the Supreme Court.
Elections Canada hasn't made up their mind about NDP guilt with respect to mailouts.
People give Garth a tonne of shit. But this post is really beautiful. He lays out quite clearly how our Real Estate costs can have an impact on where businesses set up. And that we shouldn't be excited when a factory closes down and we build over-priced condos on the land. "In Canada, this is progress. Who needs useless, noisy, downscale factories full of people with rough cuticles and bad tats when all we need is to sell real estate to each other at ever-higher prices with ever-larger mortgages? Then everyone benefits. Obviously we’ve found a new economic reality. It’s so good to be different. And smart."
I really don't understand what Steve is going to accomplish with his Russian saber rattling. Send more troops to Europe? To do what? With what? It's a bit of a symbolic sham of a gesture. Especially when we still seem happy to take the money of Russians when we really need it.
A study has shown that states that primarily vote Republican have a far higher dependency on Federal funding than do states that vote primarily Democrat. Damned Liberal freeloaders, keep wanting to give money to real 'Merican 'publicans.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Almost there - Week 158 - May 5-12
I don't get this. The Conservatives look poised to use the Ukraine
crisis as an excuse to hike military spending. I'm sorry, but if we are
to look at this situation and think "Huh. If only we had the firepower
we really could have showed those Russians who is boss", we're crazy. I
don't think our military is within an order of magnitude of challenging
Russia for anything. So what are they talking about? Even if we
doubled military spending we'd still have nothing.
A website has started mapping locations of temporary foreign workers in Canada. The largest chunk are working in food service in large urban areas. Another company has been sanctioned over Temporary Foreign Workers. Temporary Foreign pilots now? With the full knowledge of Jason Kenney. And, lastly (I think), a Temporary Foreign Worker in Nanaimo was threatened with death if he reported his unfair working conditions. Oh. Wait. One more link...what this looks like from the workers side. Jeez...okay. This is it. Apparently telling temporary foreign workers that if they don't do exactly what you say, you'll send them home...isn't a threat.
Kinder Morgan thought it would be a good idea to talk about how an oil spill could potentially provide a kickstart to the economy.
The CBC summarizes all the things Stephen Harper has done with respect to the Supreme Court. Mostly temper tantrums and embarrassments .It now looks like the Conservatives knew the Nadon appointment was going to be a problem, and they attempted to skirt the issue with some (should we say...some more?) legal shenanigans, but Nadon wouldn't go along with it. And a bunch of legal experts are telling Steve that he's wrong with his comments about the Chief Justice.
A lawyer involved with the Robocalls investigation calls it "fatally flawed". Basically, they only considered people who made formal complaints, and not the 1000+ other calls that were made.
The opposition is proposing 145 ammendments to the "Fair Elections" act.
The Tyee dives into Piketty. I like this graph that they came up with...inflation adjusted incomes in BC, the top 1% vs. the bottom 90%. Not sure what year they adjust to.
The head of the Canadian Border Services Agency thinks it's a bad idea to continue with the tv show "Border Security". But the Conservative government disagrees, and is going to move forward with it anyway. Because what does the head of an agency know about anything?
Garth breaks down the Real Estate stats. Not all is as the Real Estate boards tell us. They very consistently overstate the number of sales, then adjust downwards, then overstate again the next year, comparing to the downward adjusted number.
Government employees that need to use data to make decisions are not very happy about the mandatory long form census going away. On a similar note, the Auditor General points out that Stats Can cannot provide accurate job data in certain areas of the country.
Steady hand on the tiller! Canada loses 29,000 jobs in April.
Is the government snooping on Facebook against the law? Maybe.
A study is showing that methane leakage from fracked areas is far higher than expected.
A Conservative Senator has degrees from imaginary Universities.
Only an idiot would look at SNC Lavalin and think "You know...I really want the guy running the board of directors of that company for the last few years to come and run things for me." Christy Clark, everybody!
The Conservative ad campaign about wireless fees has made people a bit angry. Because exactly the opposite of what was promised has happened. Competition down. Prices up.
A Canadian mining company supposedly used slave labour to construct a mine in Africa. The government responded with non answers and cliches.
First of all, let me say that as an Apple shareholder (I know...I held on for too long)...this outrages me. $68 Million in stock for a senior level manager? What the hell? This is just...shit...the 1% issue in a nutshell.
A website has started mapping locations of temporary foreign workers in Canada. The largest chunk are working in food service in large urban areas. Another company has been sanctioned over Temporary Foreign Workers. Temporary Foreign pilots now? With the full knowledge of Jason Kenney. And, lastly (I think), a Temporary Foreign Worker in Nanaimo was threatened with death if he reported his unfair working conditions. Oh. Wait. One more link...what this looks like from the workers side. Jeez...okay. This is it. Apparently telling temporary foreign workers that if they don't do exactly what you say, you'll send them home...isn't a threat.
Kinder Morgan thought it would be a good idea to talk about how an oil spill could potentially provide a kickstart to the economy.
The CBC summarizes all the things Stephen Harper has done with respect to the Supreme Court. Mostly temper tantrums and embarrassments .It now looks like the Conservatives knew the Nadon appointment was going to be a problem, and they attempted to skirt the issue with some (should we say...some more?) legal shenanigans, but Nadon wouldn't go along with it. And a bunch of legal experts are telling Steve that he's wrong with his comments about the Chief Justice.
A lawyer involved with the Robocalls investigation calls it "fatally flawed". Basically, they only considered people who made formal complaints, and not the 1000+ other calls that were made.
The opposition is proposing 145 ammendments to the "Fair Elections" act.
The Tyee dives into Piketty. I like this graph that they came up with...inflation adjusted incomes in BC, the top 1% vs. the bottom 90%. Not sure what year they adjust to.
The head of the Canadian Border Services Agency thinks it's a bad idea to continue with the tv show "Border Security". But the Conservative government disagrees, and is going to move forward with it anyway. Because what does the head of an agency know about anything?
Garth breaks down the Real Estate stats. Not all is as the Real Estate boards tell us. They very consistently overstate the number of sales, then adjust downwards, then overstate again the next year, comparing to the downward adjusted number.
Government employees that need to use data to make decisions are not very happy about the mandatory long form census going away. On a similar note, the Auditor General points out that Stats Can cannot provide accurate job data in certain areas of the country.
Steady hand on the tiller! Canada loses 29,000 jobs in April.
Is the government snooping on Facebook against the law? Maybe.
A study is showing that methane leakage from fracked areas is far higher than expected.
A Conservative Senator has degrees from imaginary Universities.
Only an idiot would look at SNC Lavalin and think "You know...I really want the guy running the board of directors of that company for the last few years to come and run things for me." Christy Clark, everybody!
The Conservative ad campaign about wireless fees has made people a bit angry. Because exactly the opposite of what was promised has happened. Competition down. Prices up.
A Canadian mining company supposedly used slave labour to construct a mine in Africa. The government responded with non answers and cliches.
First of all, let me say that as an Apple shareholder (I know...I held on for too long)...this outrages me. $68 Million in stock for a senior level manager? What the hell? This is just...shit...the 1% issue in a nutshell.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Sandbaggin' - Week 153 - Mar 31-April 7
Leona Aglukkaq points out that the Conservatives are doing really well with cutting CO2 when you compare the real world numbers to imaginary ones that they made up.
Beautiful. I love this article. Why would we sell our oil resources so cheaply? Other countries have proven that oil companies will pay to get at this non renewable resource.
Don't you love it when bad things happen to bad people? I had no idea that Dimitri Soudas' fiance was Eve Adams. They seem like the kind of couple that brings out the worst in each other through reinforcement of shared bad qualities. This article reminded me that this definitely isn't the first weird Conservative relationship fiasco. Eve Adams seems like a bad person. So does Dimitri.
Sheila Fraser comes out against the "Fair Elections" Act. Calls it...well...calls it lots of bad things. Conservatives are up in arms because She has taken $2500 in payment from Elections Canada. So of course she is biased in wanting them to continue as an organization. Of how about this..."Of course we can't trust her...another arm of government gave her some money!"
I remember reading somewhere about...I think it was Team America...where they added a few scenes that were just so over the top so they could focus the censors on a couple of things that they were willing to cut and just slide through the rest of the things they wanted. I feel like vouching is just that for the Conservatives. "Let's add some really stupid ideas, fight hard for them for a month or so, then cave in on one of them so we can force the rest of our stupid ideas through."
Some more Michael Sona/Robocalls info is coming out. Seems like it most likely wasn't just Michael Sona.
I was a toddler when the USSR got its ass handed to it by Afghanistan. How many thousands of movies have been made about not fucking with Afghanistan? Yet Peter MacKay says things like "I don't think the ferocity of the mission perhaps dawned on even military leaders, let alone political leaders of two different governments," What an idiot. Delusional idiot.
The fake Rob Ford election signs have inspired me. Come the next election, I'd like to create some election signs for Pre-PM Stephen Harper running against current Stephen Harper. These comments about election reform are perfect.
Justin Trudeau swore at a boxing match.
The Conservatives are freaking out about some things Justin Trudeau said about Israel and Iran. Unfortunately, he didn't say them.
This guy thinks that Stephen Harper is trying to criminalize criticism of Israel.
A nice little summary piece of how terrible Stephen Harper is.
Nobody seems to be able to make sense of Poor Irwin Cotler getting poisoned in Russia.
No surprise. Canada's richest now have a lot more money.
A pretty great comment on GM recalls and how this calls bullshit on the need for high paid CEO's. When the CEO of GM has no idea what is going on and shirks all responsibility, why do we pay her millions?
This article, sort of, lays out how Private Equity works and why it is bad. Simple, yet difficult to follow.
An article pointing out the science deniers on the US House Science Committee. Yikes.
Beautiful. I love this article. Why would we sell our oil resources so cheaply? Other countries have proven that oil companies will pay to get at this non renewable resource.
Don't you love it when bad things happen to bad people? I had no idea that Dimitri Soudas' fiance was Eve Adams. They seem like the kind of couple that brings out the worst in each other through reinforcement of shared bad qualities. This article reminded me that this definitely isn't the first weird Conservative relationship fiasco. Eve Adams seems like a bad person. So does Dimitri.
Sheila Fraser comes out against the "Fair Elections" Act. Calls it...well...calls it lots of bad things. Conservatives are up in arms because She has taken $2500 in payment from Elections Canada. So of course she is biased in wanting them to continue as an organization. Of how about this..."Of course we can't trust her...another arm of government gave her some money!"
I remember reading somewhere about...I think it was Team America...where they added a few scenes that were just so over the top so they could focus the censors on a couple of things that they were willing to cut and just slide through the rest of the things they wanted. I feel like vouching is just that for the Conservatives. "Let's add some really stupid ideas, fight hard for them for a month or so, then cave in on one of them so we can force the rest of our stupid ideas through."
Some more Michael Sona/Robocalls info is coming out. Seems like it most likely wasn't just Michael Sona.
I was a toddler when the USSR got its ass handed to it by Afghanistan. How many thousands of movies have been made about not fucking with Afghanistan? Yet Peter MacKay says things like "I don't think the ferocity of the mission perhaps dawned on even military leaders, let alone political leaders of two different governments," What an idiot. Delusional idiot.
The fake Rob Ford election signs have inspired me. Come the next election, I'd like to create some election signs for Pre-PM Stephen Harper running against current Stephen Harper. These comments about election reform are perfect.
Justin Trudeau swore at a boxing match.
The Conservatives are freaking out about some things Justin Trudeau said about Israel and Iran. Unfortunately, he didn't say them.
This guy thinks that Stephen Harper is trying to criminalize criticism of Israel.
A nice little summary piece of how terrible Stephen Harper is.
Nobody seems to be able to make sense of Poor Irwin Cotler getting poisoned in Russia.
No surprise. Canada's richest now have a lot more money.
A pretty great comment on GM recalls and how this calls bullshit on the need for high paid CEO's. When the CEO of GM has no idea what is going on and shirks all responsibility, why do we pay her millions?
This article, sort of, lays out how Private Equity works and why it is bad. Simple, yet difficult to follow.
An article pointing out the science deniers on the US House Science Committee. Yikes.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
"Election Reform" - Week 144.5 - Feb 3-4
You know what? Fuck these guys. This is some real 1984 bullshit. "Let's take something that we do all the time and people hate (cheat at elections), change the rules in our favour and trumpet it as a really great thing." Fuck these guys.
I actually wrote this morning that the bill seemed positive, but the details needed to be understood before judgement could be passed. Well, like 8 hours later I think we can determine that this bill sucks.
1) More money pumped into elections - The Conservatives would be able to spend all sorts of money on "fundraising" and it wouldn't count towards campaign expenses. Bullshit.
2) Even more money pumped into elections - Not a huge deal, but the personal contribution will be raised by $300. Corporate and Union contributions still need to be hidden as multiple donations from wealthy industrialists relatives.
3) Elections Canada can no longer advertise in order to "Get out the vote" - What the fuck? Can you be more transparent about your intentions to suppress the vote?
4) Voter ID requirements - This is a huge deal in the US as poor people of ethnic persuasion (i.e. Democrats) tend to have less in the way of ID. There is never, ever, ever voter fraud in Canada in the form of people voting when they shouldn't or pretending to be somebody else, so why bother?
5) Elections Canada powers are weakened - Investigations in to voter fraud are removed from Elections Canada and placed with a department that reports to the PMO. Hmmm...Nothing sketchy about that.
And...the imbeciles talked about how they consulted with Elections Canada before making all of these decisions...only to be directly contradicted by Elections Canada. Maybe they were talking about the Israeli Chief Electoral Officer?
This is a big bag of shit. And it's only Tuesday.
In other terrible news.
Hey assholes! Make up your minds! "We didn't spy on Canadians wifi. But if we did it wasn't an operation and we didn't use the information. And if we did use the information, it wasn't in the way you thought we did."
Garth Turner points out that TD Bank just released a report where, under the most positive conditions, Canadian real estate is only 10% over-valued. Worst case? Well, maybe 20%. Or 30% Or 60%. That's not a news story though. CBC uses the best case numbers and I'm sure Global is still pumping "great time to buy" stories.
A study has linked birth defects to natural gas extraction. I'm sure somebody in the Christy Clark government is upset that nobody mentioned all of the great jobs those babies will have when they grow up!
An awesome little article on how the Conservatives are crushing the spirit of twitter, one sanitized tweet at a time.
I love this. In essence, "When we provide a clear cut choice for people, with one of those choices not accurately capturing what our opponent actually said, they overwhelmingly choose our view on the matter." These guys are so out of touch on marijuana.
Corrections Canada just doesn't even bother responding to recommendations made by it's watchdog.
Haven't heard a whole lot about the F-35 lately. This is a pretty in depth article from Vanity Fair. What I take away from it is that you'd have to be a total imbecile to buy into the project at this point and time.
A Conservative Senator has quit the Senate. Fed up of the doings of other Senators? Or afraid of what's potentially coming?
Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau are going to be formally charged. Interesting to hear the Conservatives talk about Brazeau/Duffy/Wallin. They deny any responsibility and stick to their "former-Conservative Senator" rhetoric. Won't these people take accountability for appointing these assholes in the first place? Yep.
20 Years later, the notes from Chretien's first cabinet meeting outline cuts to cabinet excess, more than anything else.
Hard to read this story and not wonder how we've created such a diabolically awful set of circumstances whereby:
1) Canadians don't get jobs.
2) Foreigners get paid less (if they're lucky) for the same work.
3) Some foreigners get swindled out of their savings by companies preying on their dreams.
As if the Canadian government can't do anything about this. As if.
Mexico. No fan of Canada.
"Why can't they contribute their fair share?" According to Salon, the poorest 50% of America possesses 1.1% of the countries wealth (who's the 1% now). What's most shocking, is that the poorest Americans own less, percentage wise, than the poorest in just about any other location on the planet. The poorest in China have 9.6%!? How is that possible? But make the bums pay their "fair share". Because chipping away 20-30% of 1.1% of the wealth is going to have a huuuuuuuuge impact, no?
A commentary on Real Estate bubbles? The 1%? Who knows. But some of London's most expensive Real Estate sits rotting and empty.
A Slate article on the strange practice of Conservative politicians raffling off AR-15's in the USofA. Maybe a "Free Healthcare for life" raffle to counter this? The scariest thing is the in depth, crazed analysis of technical gun features and semantics that these stories always dredge up.
I actually wrote this morning that the bill seemed positive, but the details needed to be understood before judgement could be passed. Well, like 8 hours later I think we can determine that this bill sucks.
1) More money pumped into elections - The Conservatives would be able to spend all sorts of money on "fundraising" and it wouldn't count towards campaign expenses. Bullshit.
2) Even more money pumped into elections - Not a huge deal, but the personal contribution will be raised by $300. Corporate and Union contributions still need to be hidden as multiple donations from wealthy industrialists relatives.
3) Elections Canada can no longer advertise in order to "Get out the vote" - What the fuck? Can you be more transparent about your intentions to suppress the vote?
4) Voter ID requirements - This is a huge deal in the US as poor people of ethnic persuasion (i.e. Democrats) tend to have less in the way of ID. There is never, ever, ever voter fraud in Canada in the form of people voting when they shouldn't or pretending to be somebody else, so why bother?
5) Elections Canada powers are weakened - Investigations in to voter fraud are removed from Elections Canada and placed with a department that reports to the PMO. Hmmm...Nothing sketchy about that.
And...the imbeciles talked about how they consulted with Elections Canada before making all of these decisions...only to be directly contradicted by Elections Canada. Maybe they were talking about the Israeli Chief Electoral Officer?
This is a big bag of shit. And it's only Tuesday.
In other terrible news.
Hey assholes! Make up your minds! "We didn't spy on Canadians wifi. But if we did it wasn't an operation and we didn't use the information. And if we did use the information, it wasn't in the way you thought we did."
Garth Turner points out that TD Bank just released a report where, under the most positive conditions, Canadian real estate is only 10% over-valued. Worst case? Well, maybe 20%. Or 30% Or 60%. That's not a news story though. CBC uses the best case numbers and I'm sure Global is still pumping "great time to buy" stories.
A study has linked birth defects to natural gas extraction. I'm sure somebody in the Christy Clark government is upset that nobody mentioned all of the great jobs those babies will have when they grow up!
An awesome little article on how the Conservatives are crushing the spirit of twitter, one sanitized tweet at a time.
I love this. In essence, "When we provide a clear cut choice for people, with one of those choices not accurately capturing what our opponent actually said, they overwhelmingly choose our view on the matter." These guys are so out of touch on marijuana.
Corrections Canada just doesn't even bother responding to recommendations made by it's watchdog.
Haven't heard a whole lot about the F-35 lately. This is a pretty in depth article from Vanity Fair. What I take away from it is that you'd have to be a total imbecile to buy into the project at this point and time.
A Conservative Senator has quit the Senate. Fed up of the doings of other Senators? Or afraid of what's potentially coming?
Mac Harb and Patrick Brazeau are going to be formally charged. Interesting to hear the Conservatives talk about Brazeau/Duffy/Wallin. They deny any responsibility and stick to their "former-Conservative Senator" rhetoric. Won't these people take accountability for appointing these assholes in the first place? Yep.
20 Years later, the notes from Chretien's first cabinet meeting outline cuts to cabinet excess, more than anything else.
Hard to read this story and not wonder how we've created such a diabolically awful set of circumstances whereby:
1) Canadians don't get jobs.
2) Foreigners get paid less (if they're lucky) for the same work.
3) Some foreigners get swindled out of their savings by companies preying on their dreams.
As if the Canadian government can't do anything about this. As if.
Mexico. No fan of Canada.
"Why can't they contribute their fair share?" According to Salon, the poorest 50% of America possesses 1.1% of the countries wealth (who's the 1% now). What's most shocking, is that the poorest Americans own less, percentage wise, than the poorest in just about any other location on the planet. The poorest in China have 9.6%!? How is that possible? But make the bums pay their "fair share". Because chipping away 20-30% of 1.1% of the wealth is going to have a huuuuuuuuge impact, no?
A commentary on Real Estate bubbles? The 1%? Who knows. But some of London's most expensive Real Estate sits rotting and empty.
A Slate article on the strange practice of Conservative politicians raffling off AR-15's in the USofA. Maybe a "Free Healthcare for life" raffle to counter this? The scariest thing is the in depth, crazed analysis of technical gun features and semantics that these stories always dredge up.
Monday, November 18, 2013
Givin' it up for Sweden - Week 133 - Nov 12-18
I'm sick of talking about Canada. Sweden is awesome. Expensive. But awesome. And apparently they have so few criminals, they are shutting down prisons (key point - rehabilitation works). And a higher concentration of billionaires than the US (key point - social safety nets work).
Sometimes it might be a little tough to put the larger picture in perspective. It's easy to look at something like Fracking and wonder what the deal is. We were just in Laguna Beach, where there is a (privately funded) seal and sea lion rescue facility. Supposedly this is their worst year ever. Higher water temperatures and a lack of fish are causing hundreds and hundreds of dramatically underfed orphaned cubs. Which kind of shows you why our freshwater lakes, rivers and streams are so important. But Christy Clark just wants to "get to yes". As well, was listening to a professor on the CBC yesterday, who pretty much tore Christy Clarks "the world needs our clean LNG" argument to shreds. Number one, our LNG isn't that clean. Number two, we'd be a lot better off if we used all the electricity that we're going to generate to create LNG for other purposes. She's a crazed LNG lunatic.
Justin Trudeau was at an event for teens and answered a question about Marijuana. Peter McKay freaked out about "Justin Trudeau talking about legalizing marijuana in front of elementary school kids."
This is the worst thing a government can do: Sign treaties that allow for no future changes. The Trans Pacific Partnership effectively halts any efforts at copyright reform. Because governments always get things right the first time around.
More Michael Sona. According to Conservative party staffers and lawyers he's a criminal genius. And they in no way provided a voter list. The Liberals did.
So 10 teenage boys between the ages of 13-15 have been accused of "child pornography". No details are given. I'm betting they did something really horrible, but if the victims are close to their same age, are we really going to brand this children as "child pornographers" for the rest of their lives? Do we need to sensationalize this as a massive "child pornography" bust?
I kind of like this. Rob "gravy train" Ford is offering $5,000 raises to his employees if they stay on. And is hiring taxpayer funded lawyers to sue people for taking his power away. And makes $170,000 per year.
I haven't posted about Stephen Harper's strange obsession with the North in a while. Here we go! It looks like the government or the Conservatives or somebody paid CBC to cover a ship salvaging expedition in the North. And then lied about it.
The Conservatives are trying to fast track "anti-counterfeiting measures". Border laptop seizures for all!
JPMorgan took to twitter for a Q&A session. And shut it down when the results became more than embarrassing.
Sometimes it might be a little tough to put the larger picture in perspective. It's easy to look at something like Fracking and wonder what the deal is. We were just in Laguna Beach, where there is a (privately funded) seal and sea lion rescue facility. Supposedly this is their worst year ever. Higher water temperatures and a lack of fish are causing hundreds and hundreds of dramatically underfed orphaned cubs. Which kind of shows you why our freshwater lakes, rivers and streams are so important. But Christy Clark just wants to "get to yes". As well, was listening to a professor on the CBC yesterday, who pretty much tore Christy Clarks "the world needs our clean LNG" argument to shreds. Number one, our LNG isn't that clean. Number two, we'd be a lot better off if we used all the electricity that we're going to generate to create LNG for other purposes. She's a crazed LNG lunatic.
Justin Trudeau was at an event for teens and answered a question about Marijuana. Peter McKay freaked out about "Justin Trudeau talking about legalizing marijuana in front of elementary school kids."
This is the worst thing a government can do: Sign treaties that allow for no future changes. The Trans Pacific Partnership effectively halts any efforts at copyright reform. Because governments always get things right the first time around.
More Michael Sona. According to Conservative party staffers and lawyers he's a criminal genius. And they in no way provided a voter list. The Liberals did.
So 10 teenage boys between the ages of 13-15 have been accused of "child pornography". No details are given. I'm betting they did something really horrible, but if the victims are close to their same age, are we really going to brand this children as "child pornographers" for the rest of their lives? Do we need to sensationalize this as a massive "child pornography" bust?
I kind of like this. Rob "gravy train" Ford is offering $5,000 raises to his employees if they stay on. And is hiring taxpayer funded lawyers to sue people for taking his power away. And makes $170,000 per year.
I haven't posted about Stephen Harper's strange obsession with the North in a while. Here we go! It looks like the government or the Conservatives or somebody paid CBC to cover a ship salvaging expedition in the North. And then lied about it.
The Conservatives are trying to fast track "anti-counterfeiting measures". Border laptop seizures for all!
JPMorgan took to twitter for a Q&A session. And shut it down when the results became more than embarrassing.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Stickin' it to Democracy - Week 131 - Oct 28 - Nov 4
I think this pamphlet from the Conservative Convention says all that we really need to know about our current electoral system/government.
I've been thinking about Duffy and Wallin a bit today.
And I think there is danger in lumping these two in together. I think
what one did was much more terrible on a personal level, and what the
other did was much worse with respect to what it says about the party.
Duffy essentially spent Senate money as a cheerleader for the
Conservative Party of Canada (and claiming a living allowance when he
shouldn't have). Wallin used her travel allowance to go about her own private business. I think Wallin probably belongs in jail. I think
Duffy is a victim of the Conservative Parties arrogance and deceipt. He
did what dozens and dozens of people told him to do, and what dozens
and dozens of people told him would be okay. Now they're hanging him
out to dry and of course he's confused. I think that says worse things
about the party than it does about Duffy. But at the rate this is
going, I don't even know if this opinion will stand for another day
before new evidence changes it. Doesn't look good for Harper though. At all. In the meantime...Duffy lays down the hammer! PM didn't know? Fuck you!
Here's a cheque from a Conservative Party lawyer for all the legal fees
related to this nonsense. And Jim Flaherty is dismissive of the Senate scandal because it's getting in the way of all of his precious work.
Here's the fucked up logic that Rob Ford is working on. Release the Crack video because it won't prove that I smoked crack. Ergo, I should remain mayor because there's nothing at all wrong with any of this. But the fine folks of Toronto seem to think this is all great. I feel like this bozo could murder somebody on his radio program and it would be deemed to be a media witchhunt by his supporters.
Interesting that the Federal Environmental Review of the "New Prosperity" Mine (hot name guys!) is so scathing. Will they build it anyway? Is it just "environment be damned" on projects that help the Oil Sands?
Fucking hell. Face scrub micro beads are polluting the Great Lakes in serious numbers. See...teenagers are awful.
Friends of Michael sona are intimidating witnesses? How does this guy have friends?
Rafe Mair speculates that the fix is in on the Northern Gateway pipeline (obviously) and that it should go to a referendum (not likely). Probably a good time to pick up some Enbridge shares.
Bloody activist bureaucrats! Always pointing out the shortcomings of government! Don't they know that if they point out that Revenue Canada has terrible data security, the terrorists win?
These guys aren't stupid. There's a proposal to build a bike path along the length of the Keystone XL pipeline. Now the oil industry can say things like "You're voting against the longest bike path in world history."
Japans hunting of whales and dolphins is messed up.
More on the European Trade Deal - mostly why we didn't get a good deal.
So some drone strike survivors from Pakistan were invited to speak to Congress. And 5 Congressmen showed up.
Just waiting for the "More guns would have stopped this shooting" argument in the LAX shooting. Obviously, this shooting only happened because airports are a gun free zone, right?
Looks like the US gets shafted by Free Trade as well. This time Lobster fishermen in Maine. I smell a lawsuit.
So this doesn't have anything to do with politics, but I have to talk about it. Whenever I say to people "Do you remember in the 80's when there were all those plastic costumes that had a picture on it of the thing you were trying to be?" people have no recollection. Well. Slate does.
Here's the fucked up logic that Rob Ford is working on. Release the Crack video because it won't prove that I smoked crack. Ergo, I should remain mayor because there's nothing at all wrong with any of this. But the fine folks of Toronto seem to think this is all great. I feel like this bozo could murder somebody on his radio program and it would be deemed to be a media witchhunt by his supporters.
Interesting that the Federal Environmental Review of the "New Prosperity" Mine (hot name guys!) is so scathing. Will they build it anyway? Is it just "environment be damned" on projects that help the Oil Sands?
Fucking hell. Face scrub micro beads are polluting the Great Lakes in serious numbers. See...teenagers are awful.
Friends of Michael sona are intimidating witnesses? How does this guy have friends?
Rafe Mair speculates that the fix is in on the Northern Gateway pipeline (obviously) and that it should go to a referendum (not likely). Probably a good time to pick up some Enbridge shares.
Bloody activist bureaucrats! Always pointing out the shortcomings of government! Don't they know that if they point out that Revenue Canada has terrible data security, the terrorists win?
These guys aren't stupid. There's a proposal to build a bike path along the length of the Keystone XL pipeline. Now the oil industry can say things like "You're voting against the longest bike path in world history."
Japans hunting of whales and dolphins is messed up.
More on the European Trade Deal - mostly why we didn't get a good deal.
So some drone strike survivors from Pakistan were invited to speak to Congress. And 5 Congressmen showed up.
Just waiting for the "More guns would have stopped this shooting" argument in the LAX shooting. Obviously, this shooting only happened because airports are a gun free zone, right?
Looks like the US gets shafted by Free Trade as well. This time Lobster fishermen in Maine. I smell a lawsuit.
So this doesn't have anything to do with politics, but I have to talk about it. Whenever I say to people "Do you remember in the 80's when there were all those plastic costumes that had a picture on it of the thing you were trying to be?" people have no recollection. Well. Slate does.
Monday, September 16, 2013
Not Happy with the Media - Week 124 - Sept 9-16
The Tyee has determined that the Robocalls saga stinks. Which is a pretty undramatic revelation. This Michael Sona thing is getting complicated. Lucky for us, the Conservatives have dug up witnesses that are able to blame the entire thing on Michael Sona! Good thing they don't have a vested interest in making him a scapegoat or anything. Heck, he may have made the whole thing up! He is prone to exaggeration.
Stephen Harper hired a new spokesperson. Man. Who would want that job?
I think Joe Oliver is taking over for Largest Conservative Dipshit now that Vic Toews is gone. "Hey guys. All these things we announced we will do just happen to be similar to what the US asked of us. They're not concessions though. We just didn't plan on doing them before we were asked to. By them. In exchange for things."
What a loony country we live in. Quebec continues to discuss their "Charter of Values" that limits peoples freedoms...and the Conservatives are going to be the voice of reason behind stopping it. And then the BQ expels an MP for criticizing it.
This Sun News guy thinks Trudeau is incapable of governing because his stats on Pot arrests don't add up. Well none of Stephen Harper's stats on crime add up. What does that suggest?
Pretty staggering information on income distribution in Canada. Staggering in how little (relatively speaking) it takes to bust into the top 1%. Staggering at what "average" is.
I know that this is a train disaster, but this is precisely why we need to be careful with who we let build pipelines and where we put them. As we learn more about Lac Megantic, we learn that this company really cut corners, broke rules and didn't have the public's interest at heart. Then, before they could be held accountable, they threatened bankruptcy. I realize that there is a lot of red tape in this country for starting a business, but at some point businesses have got to be held accountable. This country seems to be all about just letting companies do whatever they want, claiming a pittance in taxes and then yelling at anybody that complains that they're going to cost jobs. We need a system that:
a) Makes it easier to start a small business.
b) Requires more out of large business (insurance, procedures, trusts, etc.)
Oh. What am I talking about? The Lac Megantic train was carrying crude that was far more explosive than labelled. It should have been classified in a more stringent category.
So many stories about rape chants, so little information. I commented last week, alluding to stupid things said by University students. But after seeing some of what was chanted, this whole thing seems even more puzzling. I never really liked the whole organized frosh/school spirit bullshit that happened when I was in University. It all seemed a bit too forced. This whole thing seems so, so odd. How can similar chants pop up on opposite sides of the country? What kind of idiot would be putting together a large group event and think that this was a good idea? We said stupid things, but not quite this stupid. Not as a group. Not as a chant. I do remember somebody leading a busload of students on a pub crawl with a song about beastiality...but that seems a lot more harmless than this. I don't think anybody went out and raped a goat though, afterwards.
Oh boy. This article is just kind of sickening, talking about the insane practice of re-adopting kids by people that can't deal with them. And I totally, totally realize that I'm doing something I hate hear, assigning some sort of master blame to an issue. But honestly, if there was ever an argument for what government does, why we need governmental organizations and what taxes should be used for, this is it. No. I know. The free market will figure it out.
Why you shouldn't believe everything that you read. I personally know Mike Zupan and the insinuations of this article are ridiculous. Can't believe that I'm even linking to this story.
Here is different than there. Harrison Ford is nearly deported from Indonesia for speaking too directly to a government minister about illegal logging that he witnessed.
I stumbled upon this article when the author was complaining in another story about death threats he had received after writing it. I read the original piece and all I can think is "This is why people hate 'Liberals'." I understand what he is saying - Blindly aping the "Support Our Troops" mindset does us no favours. But come on. His stance is just such over-the-top, academic, hoity-toity, look-at-me-I'm-a-professer garbage. You can just see this guy going to every single party, letting a conversation carry on for 10 minutes, and then interrupting with an ill-timed "Well...actually" that just kills the participants will-to-live. Okay fuckface. We get it. War isn't good. Soldiers are the instruments of war. Etc. But you do realize that the average soldier really has no control over these decisions, right? You realize many of these guys end up in the Army through less than ideal circumstances? You realize that some of us recognize that these guys are doing a hard job and facing death due to the machinations of corrupt politicians and that perhaps it's not a bad thing to express a degree of support, no matter how hollow, towards that idea? So fuck off with your pedantic lectures. Even though that's your job, I guess.
Stephen Harper hired a new spokesperson. Man. Who would want that job?
I think Joe Oliver is taking over for Largest Conservative Dipshit now that Vic Toews is gone. "Hey guys. All these things we announced we will do just happen to be similar to what the US asked of us. They're not concessions though. We just didn't plan on doing them before we were asked to. By them. In exchange for things."
What a loony country we live in. Quebec continues to discuss their "Charter of Values" that limits peoples freedoms...and the Conservatives are going to be the voice of reason behind stopping it. And then the BQ expels an MP for criticizing it.
This Sun News guy thinks Trudeau is incapable of governing because his stats on Pot arrests don't add up. Well none of Stephen Harper's stats on crime add up. What does that suggest?
Pretty staggering information on income distribution in Canada. Staggering in how little (relatively speaking) it takes to bust into the top 1%. Staggering at what "average" is.
I know that this is a train disaster, but this is precisely why we need to be careful with who we let build pipelines and where we put them. As we learn more about Lac Megantic, we learn that this company really cut corners, broke rules and didn't have the public's interest at heart. Then, before they could be held accountable, they threatened bankruptcy. I realize that there is a lot of red tape in this country for starting a business, but at some point businesses have got to be held accountable. This country seems to be all about just letting companies do whatever they want, claiming a pittance in taxes and then yelling at anybody that complains that they're going to cost jobs. We need a system that:
a) Makes it easier to start a small business.
b) Requires more out of large business (insurance, procedures, trusts, etc.)
Oh. What am I talking about? The Lac Megantic train was carrying crude that was far more explosive than labelled. It should have been classified in a more stringent category.
So many stories about rape chants, so little information. I commented last week, alluding to stupid things said by University students. But after seeing some of what was chanted, this whole thing seems even more puzzling. I never really liked the whole organized frosh/school spirit bullshit that happened when I was in University. It all seemed a bit too forced. This whole thing seems so, so odd. How can similar chants pop up on opposite sides of the country? What kind of idiot would be putting together a large group event and think that this was a good idea? We said stupid things, but not quite this stupid. Not as a group. Not as a chant. I do remember somebody leading a busload of students on a pub crawl with a song about beastiality...but that seems a lot more harmless than this. I don't think anybody went out and raped a goat though, afterwards.
Oh boy. This article is just kind of sickening, talking about the insane practice of re-adopting kids by people that can't deal with them. And I totally, totally realize that I'm doing something I hate hear, assigning some sort of master blame to an issue. But honestly, if there was ever an argument for what government does, why we need governmental organizations and what taxes should be used for, this is it. No. I know. The free market will figure it out.
Why you shouldn't believe everything that you read. I personally know Mike Zupan and the insinuations of this article are ridiculous. Can't believe that I'm even linking to this story.
Here is different than there. Harrison Ford is nearly deported from Indonesia for speaking too directly to a government minister about illegal logging that he witnessed.
I stumbled upon this article when the author was complaining in another story about death threats he had received after writing it. I read the original piece and all I can think is "This is why people hate 'Liberals'." I understand what he is saying - Blindly aping the "Support Our Troops" mindset does us no favours. But come on. His stance is just such over-the-top, academic, hoity-toity, look-at-me-I'm-a-professer garbage. You can just see this guy going to every single party, letting a conversation carry on for 10 minutes, and then interrupting with an ill-timed "Well...actually" that just kills the participants will-to-live. Okay fuckface. We get it. War isn't good. Soldiers are the instruments of war. Etc. But you do realize that the average soldier really has no control over these decisions, right? You realize many of these guys end up in the Army through less than ideal circumstances? You realize that some of us recognize that these guys are doing a hard job and facing death due to the machinations of corrupt politicians and that perhaps it's not a bad thing to express a degree of support, no matter how hollow, towards that idea? So fuck off with your pedantic lectures. Even though that's your job, I guess.
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, June 10, 2013
Things fall apart - Week 110 - June 3-10
So. How does one refuse to give a breathalyzer sample, and then get found not guilty of refusing to give a breathalyzer sample? Peter Goldring must have had some good lawyers. Stephen Harper is "happy to welcome him back."
A Conservative backbencher has quit the caucus and will sit as an independent. Why? Well, they gutted his civil servant salary transparency bill. I love that his idea of an "open and transparent" government rests on knowing salaries of senior civil servants. His team didn't follow with him.
Two other Conservative MP's are in trouble for improperly filing their election expenses. Elections Canada says they over spent (Obviously, they think it's Elections Canada's fault). And the speaker seems to be making it up as he goes along.
There is something delightfully odd about Conservatives picketing a Justin Trudeau announcement on Parliamentary expenses. Anyhow...Justin Trudeau promises that Liberal Parliamentarians will post their expenses online for everybody to see. And the "Young" Conservatives picketed the announcement and suggested he "loves the status quo".
This is what happens when you draw attention to yourself. Not only was Mike Duffy stealing taxpayer money...he was doing a terrible job at the same time. Missing half of his Senate Committee meetings.
The Conservatives insist that the Mike Duffy payment didn't come from a Nigel Wright controlled slush fund. Here's my wild-ass guess - Nigel Wright paid Mike Duffy with his own money...and then the slush fund paid him back. In fact, they are claiming that there is no secret account to pay for expenses. Well...there is an account...it's just not secret.
What the fuck? Pamela Wallin continues to pull fat bank while sitting on the Board of Directors for many, many companies? Oh well. Her corporate filings reveal that she is not a resident of Saskatchewan and shouldn't be a Senator. And she resigned from one of her Board of Directors gigs.
A Liberal MP is pushing a bill that would mandate party leaders endorse attack ads that they create. I think this is a tremendous idea.
Psh. Real Estate is fine. Buy, buy, buy. Don't listen to the OECD when they say Real Estate in Canada is over-valued by 30-60% based on income and rents. Those guys are biased! Unlike our banks and real estate boards. And Federal Government.
The Conservatives are going to make it more difficult to open up safe injection sites. Seeing as it's been near impossible to open one up in the last few years, I wouldn't expect a rush on getting these opened in the next few years. Hey! Shut up, hippie! Government regulation is only bad when it does things I don't like.
65+ countries signed a UN treaty in an attempt to limit the flow of cross-border arms sales. Canada did not.
Once again, the Conservatives are not cooperating with the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Thank-you Quebec Soccer Federation for making Canada seem like a bunch of bigoted imbeciles. Oh, turbans and other headgear are not allowed due to "safety"? Yes, fabric on heads has been known to cause serious injury. This is not going to help people like you, Quebec. Special rules for you, no consideration for the needs of others.
This Tyee article comes to a similar conclusion to the one I made a few weeks ago: Alberta doesn't charge much money in tax on Oil Sands producers.
A Conservative backbencher has quit the caucus and will sit as an independent. Why? Well, they gutted his civil servant salary transparency bill. I love that his idea of an "open and transparent" government rests on knowing salaries of senior civil servants. His team didn't follow with him.
Two other Conservative MP's are in trouble for improperly filing their election expenses. Elections Canada says they over spent (Obviously, they think it's Elections Canada's fault). And the speaker seems to be making it up as he goes along.
There is something delightfully odd about Conservatives picketing a Justin Trudeau announcement on Parliamentary expenses. Anyhow...Justin Trudeau promises that Liberal Parliamentarians will post their expenses online for everybody to see. And the "Young" Conservatives picketed the announcement and suggested he "loves the status quo".
This is what happens when you draw attention to yourself. Not only was Mike Duffy stealing taxpayer money...he was doing a terrible job at the same time. Missing half of his Senate Committee meetings.
The Conservatives insist that the Mike Duffy payment didn't come from a Nigel Wright controlled slush fund. Here's my wild-ass guess - Nigel Wright paid Mike Duffy with his own money...and then the slush fund paid him back. In fact, they are claiming that there is no secret account to pay for expenses. Well...there is an account...it's just not secret.
What the fuck? Pamela Wallin continues to pull fat bank while sitting on the Board of Directors for many, many companies? Oh well. Her corporate filings reveal that she is not a resident of Saskatchewan and shouldn't be a Senator. And she resigned from one of her Board of Directors gigs.
A Liberal MP is pushing a bill that would mandate party leaders endorse attack ads that they create. I think this is a tremendous idea.
Psh. Real Estate is fine. Buy, buy, buy. Don't listen to the OECD when they say Real Estate in Canada is over-valued by 30-60% based on income and rents. Those guys are biased! Unlike our banks and real estate boards. And Federal Government.
The Conservatives are going to make it more difficult to open up safe injection sites. Seeing as it's been near impossible to open one up in the last few years, I wouldn't expect a rush on getting these opened in the next few years. Hey! Shut up, hippie! Government regulation is only bad when it does things I don't like.
65+ countries signed a UN treaty in an attempt to limit the flow of cross-border arms sales. Canada did not.
Once again, the Conservatives are not cooperating with the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Thank-you Quebec Soccer Federation for making Canada seem like a bunch of bigoted imbeciles. Oh, turbans and other headgear are not allowed due to "safety"? Yes, fabric on heads has been known to cause serious injury. This is not going to help people like you, Quebec. Special rules for you, no consideration for the needs of others.
This Tyee article comes to a similar conclusion to the one I made a few weeks ago: Alberta doesn't charge much money in tax on Oil Sands producers.
Monday, June 3, 2013
Has it been a good week? - Week 109 - May 27-June 3
Hey, another Conservative is full of shit. Julian Fantino claimed he knew nothing about partisan letters posted to government websites. Which is true. You know. Other than his direct employees being entirely responsible for the whole thing. But of course we know that Conservatives are in no way responsible for their direct reports that they hired.
Harper is trying to strongarm Newfoundland into dropping legislation that supports local fish processing in order to facilitate a European Free Trade agreement. Really? Europe cares this much that fish is being processed in Newfoundland?
Some leaked e-mails outline Mike Duffy's quest for compensation beginning quite early in his tenure. He wanted to become a member of cabinet so that he could have taxpayer funded employees to help with his fundraising. And Stephen Harper's insistence that he "knew nothing" is slowly getting picked apart.
The Bank of Canada has forced the removal of a Canadian parody bill/political cartoon, due to "counterfeiting". Because somebody could print off their $90,000 Mike Duffy bill and commit a crime? And would they have made this demand if it was a Liberal on the bill?
Edmonton now has one more person not happy to be living there. Omar Khadr.
The Conservatives decrying their "delayed justice" in getting answers on the Robocalls scandal. The Chief Electoral Officer points out that they are the primary source of delays. In the meantime, some fines have been handed out.
There are some questions about our new Ambassador to Jordan's management style. Sounds like a bit of a dick.
The former head of the organization that oversees CSIS has been arrested in Panama on fraud charges in Canada.
Wow. Christy. I'm impressed. BC formally rejects the Northern Gateway. Proving that perhaps the election trail isn't the best place to make major environmental announcements.
Awww fuck. This Slate article outlines the declines in sea ice. And these Slate comments outline the new climate change denial. Climate change embracement! You stupid climate change fearmongers just can't embrace change! How dare you infringe on my right to earn a profit and air condition my house with your petty right to not drown or starve. And animals don't have a say in this. They don't even shop.
Oh man. Toronto. What is wrong with you? Rob Ford's crack scandal...hasn't changed his polling numbers! I finally understand why we have Stephen Harper.
In other Rob Ford news, apparently one of the people in his crack video was killed recently. Over the crack video! Probably. And as one guy in the comments points out, "sure looks fake to me!" Okay. So you figure the video, that nobody has seen, looks fake to you? Fuck. Do people have no critical thinking skills? I mean...I'm not saying he smoked crack. I'm just saying I'm going to hold off on judging whether or not the video is fake for now.
I got really excited when this story suggested Jean Chretien went Kitesurfing. But it was really just wakeboarding. Any buffoon can stand on a wakeboard.
An incredibly interesting letter written by the CIA officer who blew the whistle on the American Torture Program. Who is now in jail for blowing the whistle on the American Torture Program...or for something like that.
Nate Silver has an interesting breakdown on NHL Stats. He asks the question "Why has no Canadian team won the Stanley Cup in 20 years"...but doesn't really answer it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)