This was a week when all of the stories are so big, there's almost no point in posting. Yet...here we are.
Steve re-shuffles the deck in the wake of John Baird's departure. An interesting article on how John Baird was a master of blowing smoke up peoples asses.
Eve Adams is now a Liberal. Man. This seems like bad news for everybody.
The Cons lose another court case. The ban on wearing a niqab during a citizenship ceremony is struck down. Fuck. Can you believe that any of that was necessary.
This wasn't a law created by the Cons...but they certainly aren't happy
about losing this case. Supreme Court to allow limited physician assisted suicide.
The Liberal MP loses his bid to re-instate the long form census. Here's some details, not that it matters.
A disproportionate amount of infrastructure funding for disabled access has gone to Conservative ridings.
A former soldier is asking why the government is giving details about the mission in Iraq. Because details are what could jeopardize soldiers. Not telling people the cost of the mission.
Who is in charge of Parliament Hill security seems to be a big political deal, somehow.
The Libs confirm that they will follow the Cons on anti-terror legislation. And we've totally misunderstood. We shouldn't worry about people
getting swept up in terror accusations if they're just "teens messing
around in the basement". In Steve's world, those fuckers belong in jail!:
asked how to distinguish between teens messing around in their
basements and someone who is radicalized, Harper said it would be a
serious offence "no matter who you are." "It doesn't matter what the
age of the person is, or whether they're in a basement, or whether
they're in a mosque or somewhere else," Harper said Friday in Richmond Hill, Ont.
Because he thinks all this terror shit will get him elected. Worked for George Bush, I guess.
A BC businessman received a huge settlement after having his business
destroyed by a misguided "terror investigation". Over two boxes worth of electronics.
Andrew Weaver wins a defamation suit against the clowns at the National Post.
And Trudeau announces some sort of plan on carbon reduction. It might not be a great plan, or much of a plan yet. But it's more than the Cons have given us.
This is just a nonsense article that is tough to follow. Don't begrudge
the 1% attaining half of all the wealth...people making $40,000 saw an increase of 3.9% over 4 years. That's nearly a percent a year! Fuck,
hope Wal-Mart party supplies are on sale because we're going to
celebrate the shit out of this. With quotes from the Fraser Institute!Just a reminder. The Fraser Institute receives huge amounts of funds from pro-oil billionaires from the US. Foreign Radicals indeed.
Wow. Rich. Harper suggests that Trudeau has it in for the military. I
guess if you think that committing the country to wars where soldiers
can go off and get killed and then cutting support for veterans is "pro
military", than yes, he may be right.
What a fucking mess. The Feds allow some TFW's to stay in Alberta, because they might be on track to stay anyhow, but the rules are so convoluted it probably won't help anybody anyhow.
The NDP is going to have to pay back $2.75 Million in salaries due to the satellite offices controversy. Yikes.
BC raw log exports have increased dramatically under the Liberals. From
200,000 cubic meters in 1997 to 6.5 Million in 2013. Much of that jump
coming from 2009-2013. There's really no justification for this.
Copyright has been for life of author, plus 50 years. That's been
wholly and totally adequate. Except all the pouting entertainment
companies are demanding an extension to cover a handful of their
franchises. So now it's life + 70. Fuck these people. Why do we need
to keep changing laws to support their business model?
Fuck. Alberta. You don't want a sales tax. And corporate taxes are off the table. What are you going to do? I love it though. "If we
charge taxes to all of these oil companies, they'll take their business
elsewhere." Because oil is an incredibly mobile resource. I drink your
milkshake?
These are the stories that get me up in the morning. "MacKay once backed intelligence oversight now rejected by Tories"
I didn't read the full story, but I'm extremely troubled by this. A lady in her mid 30's attacked a pipeline worker in Alberta. But how was
she radicalized? I mean, she's a terrorist, right?
The Port Metro truck driver dispute is a total shitshow. Drivers strike
because they're paid shit and have to wait for hours and hours
(unpaid). Well fuck you then. We'll just create a new licensing system
that puts a whole bunch of you out of business. In the name of
"fairness".
Showing posts with label The 1 Percent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The 1 Percent. Show all posts
Monday, February 9, 2015
Monday, February 2, 2015
All ISIS, all the time - Week 196 - Jan 26-Feb 2
The Cons seem pretty adamant that they won't tell Canadians how much the non-combat mission to kill Iraqi evildoers is costing.
Because ISIS can get key Canadian strategy from a single number
provided by the government to the people of Canada. That would be more
helpful to them then telling them exactly how many soldiers we sent and
crowing about the things they've accomplished.
Teens! Armed Robbery! Terrorism! This is why we should be afraid of all these "you can't be a terrorist" laws. Seriously? A 15 year old kid is going to rob a store and fly oversees to fight for ISIS? And he should be punished extra because of it? Sorry. This is armed robbery, not terrorism. Thankfully, we don't seem to really have a choice. The Libs have decided to join the Cons (maybe) and are supporting the legislation (I think). And it sounds like some of what is contained in the new "ANTI-TERROR!!!" bill sound like Steve wants our spy agencies to be like a meddling parent. Cancel plane reservations? Block financial transactions? Okay. I'm fine with that. But criminalizing language is all kinds of fucked up and extra-criminalizing people for an arbitrary "TERRORISM" target is unnerving. They know it when they see it, I guess.
The PBO suggests we're heading for a "small" deficit. Who to believe...him or Joe Oliver? Income splitting has raised it's head again. One report says families with incomes higher than $233,000 per year are going to receive the largest benefit. Thank god the little guy is finally getting a break! And it's easy to say the "middle class" receives the largest benefit when you arbitrarily pick a large income that qualifies you as middle class. Joe Oliver thinks $120,000 is that number.
Hooray! We're letting rich people cut to the front of the immigration line again.
This war on crime is fucking amazing! Crime is the lowest it has been since 1969! All thanks to the Cons and their awesome policies! Woo hoo! So...mandatory life in prison. Many people have pointed out that there are already mechanisms in place to achieve this end - but that's never stopped the Cons from introducing laws to make already illegal things super illegal. This time they're proposing life in prison with no chance of parole.
The government spent $650,000 in court (so far) trying to not pay seven Veterans injury benefits.
Anti-Marijuana ads cost $7 Million. Which is quite a lot considering they only really came about when the Liberals started supporting marijuana legalization.
The damage to our information gathering capacity due to the loss of the mandatory long form census has become more apparent. As well, the government continues to put out bad job data. The actual 2014 numbers have been revised down 35%.
Tax revenues are actually up under the "tax-slashing" Conservatives. That's a pretty neat trick they've pulled off.
Fucking idiots. "Expert says spy agencies 'drowning in data' and unable to follow leads". By "fucking idiots" I mean the "fucking experts", not the professionals within our National spy apparatus. (Hi there!). I mean, who doesn't think monitoring every download on the planet isn't a sound strategy?
Some detail on how Health Canada doesn't seem to hold anybody accountable for not following their drug advertising requirements.
Transport Canada is thinking about letting small boats dump their untreated shit closer to shore. This is a stupidly terrible idea.
Missed this from a few weeks ago. James Moore is threatening exploding trains all over the place if we don't choose the correct false choice that he presents to us
"Yep. You can either have this clean, safe, responsible pipeline...or trains that explode all over the place. The choice is up to you."
"Oh boy. I don't want trains exploding all over the place. What was that other choice again?"
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is wondering why they're putting this bleak bullshit on her doorstep. Another reason to question the silly "Victim's of Communism Memorial".
The Fraser Institute looks at public sector wages and benefits and decides that we should all strive for the lowest common denominator. Thank goodness they're still considered a charity.
Somebody took the time to lay out Thomas Mulcair's various election promises to date.
Elizabeth May points out that the Libs and NDP are probably too delusional to team up and take on the Cons.
With assholes like this running the US, we don't stand a chance. "The hoax is that there are some people who are so arrogant to think that they are so powerful, they can change climate. Man can't change climate." Don't worry though, the Koch brothers are going to make sure they have their way with the next election.
Teens! Armed Robbery! Terrorism! This is why we should be afraid of all these "you can't be a terrorist" laws. Seriously? A 15 year old kid is going to rob a store and fly oversees to fight for ISIS? And he should be punished extra because of it? Sorry. This is armed robbery, not terrorism. Thankfully, we don't seem to really have a choice. The Libs have decided to join the Cons (maybe) and are supporting the legislation (I think). And it sounds like some of what is contained in the new "ANTI-TERROR!!!" bill sound like Steve wants our spy agencies to be like a meddling parent. Cancel plane reservations? Block financial transactions? Okay. I'm fine with that. But criminalizing language is all kinds of fucked up and extra-criminalizing people for an arbitrary "TERRORISM" target is unnerving. They know it when they see it, I guess.
The PBO suggests we're heading for a "small" deficit. Who to believe...him or Joe Oliver? Income splitting has raised it's head again. One report says families with incomes higher than $233,000 per year are going to receive the largest benefit. Thank god the little guy is finally getting a break! And it's easy to say the "middle class" receives the largest benefit when you arbitrarily pick a large income that qualifies you as middle class. Joe Oliver thinks $120,000 is that number.
Hooray! We're letting rich people cut to the front of the immigration line again.
This war on crime is fucking amazing! Crime is the lowest it has been since 1969! All thanks to the Cons and their awesome policies! Woo hoo! So...mandatory life in prison. Many people have pointed out that there are already mechanisms in place to achieve this end - but that's never stopped the Cons from introducing laws to make already illegal things super illegal. This time they're proposing life in prison with no chance of parole.
The government spent $650,000 in court (so far) trying to not pay seven Veterans injury benefits.
Anti-Marijuana ads cost $7 Million. Which is quite a lot considering they only really came about when the Liberals started supporting marijuana legalization.
The damage to our information gathering capacity due to the loss of the mandatory long form census has become more apparent. As well, the government continues to put out bad job data. The actual 2014 numbers have been revised down 35%.
Tax revenues are actually up under the "tax-slashing" Conservatives. That's a pretty neat trick they've pulled off.
Fucking idiots. "Expert says spy agencies 'drowning in data' and unable to follow leads". By "fucking idiots" I mean the "fucking experts", not the professionals within our National spy apparatus. (Hi there!). I mean, who doesn't think monitoring every download on the planet isn't a sound strategy?
Some detail on how Health Canada doesn't seem to hold anybody accountable for not following their drug advertising requirements.
Transport Canada is thinking about letting small boats dump their untreated shit closer to shore. This is a stupidly terrible idea.
Missed this from a few weeks ago. James Moore is threatening exploding trains all over the place if we don't choose the correct false choice that he presents to us
"Yep. You can either have this clean, safe, responsible pipeline...or trains that explode all over the place. The choice is up to you."
"Oh boy. I don't want trains exploding all over the place. What was that other choice again?"
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is wondering why they're putting this bleak bullshit on her doorstep. Another reason to question the silly "Victim's of Communism Memorial".
The Fraser Institute looks at public sector wages and benefits and decides that we should all strive for the lowest common denominator. Thank goodness they're still considered a charity.
Somebody took the time to lay out Thomas Mulcair's various election promises to date.
Elizabeth May points out that the Libs and NDP are probably too delusional to team up and take on the Cons.
With assholes like this running the US, we don't stand a chance. "The hoax is that there are some people who are so arrogant to think that they are so powerful, they can change climate. Man can't change climate." Don't worry though, the Koch brothers are going to make sure they have their way with the next election.
Monday, January 26, 2015
Myths - Week 195 - Jan 19-26
Can we kill this myth that Conservative governments are good financial managers? They didn't do well in the US. They haven't done well in Alberta. And all of Canada isn't looking so rosy. Cutting taxes to the detriment of society and the economy is not "sound financial management".
We'll expand on that by looking at oil revenue. You know who isn't having a bad time due to a decrease in oil revenue? Norway. Probably largely due to them taking 10 times what we do in royalties from their oil.
And what about Tom Mulcair? Is this not exactly what he warned us about two years ago? They made fucking attack ads about this! Why isn't he singing this from the rooftops?
Joe Oliver is now lecturing us on the semantics of his statements, and lessons on the passing of time. “We said no earlier than April so by definition it could be later.” Can you believe this asshole is our Minister of Finance? And you're doing a bang-up job, Joe.
He also suggested that the budget won't include "massive, costly bureaucratic programs". Does he mean other than income splitting?
The attack on Trudeau for "the budget will balance itself" seems to have gained traction. I can't find the full interview...but the full sentence seems to be "the commitment needs to be a commitment to grow the economy and the budget will balance itself". So he seems to be saying that if we have a great economy, we won't need to worry about balancing the budget because we'll have enough revenue to fund the programs that we enact. Seems unfair to not give it full context.
Veterans are pointing out how fucking stupid Stephen Harper's definition of combat is.
OXFAM suggests that the 1% will soon control half of all the worlds wealth.
Vice details how the RCMP continued to warrantlessly spy on Canadians, even after the Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional.
Once again, our government is inferring that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic.
John Baird feels like a potential investigation of war crime accusations is a "huge mistake"? Oh. I get it. Only certain people are allowed to talk about potential war crimes. And why isn't he going to an important meeting about Syria?
A detailed analysis of what Pot Prohibition costs Canada.
Canada Revenue has targeted another charity with beliefs that counter what Conservatives believe: Dying with Dignity. They've lost their charitable tax status. CRA is basing this on mistakenly giving it to them in the first place in 1982.
When even the wing-nut right wingers don't want you, you know you've made some poor choices in life. The Wild Rose Party doesn't want Rob Anders as their leader. At least that was a good decision.
We're no longer going to pay refugees to leave Canada. Don't worry though. We're going to make up for it by not following the Supreme Court decision that we need to offer them health care.
Kinder Morgan has an awesome, great, really fantastic emergency plan for their pipeline. They just don't have to share it with anybody.
Some history on Saudi Arabia, and how Canadian LAV's could be used to crush dissent.
There's a couple of stories about Target management payouts. The CEO of Target - who you could conceivably blame for billions in losses and 17,000 people to become unemployed - got a $60 Million dollar payout to go away last year. People are just now realizing how ridiculous that is. And managers within Target Canada are getting huge payouts relative to the pittance the working stiffs will receive.
We'll expand on that by looking at oil revenue. You know who isn't having a bad time due to a decrease in oil revenue? Norway. Probably largely due to them taking 10 times what we do in royalties from their oil.
And what about Tom Mulcair? Is this not exactly what he warned us about two years ago? They made fucking attack ads about this! Why isn't he singing this from the rooftops?
Joe Oliver is now lecturing us on the semantics of his statements, and lessons on the passing of time. “We said no earlier than April so by definition it could be later.” Can you believe this asshole is our Minister of Finance? And you're doing a bang-up job, Joe.
He also suggested that the budget won't include "massive, costly bureaucratic programs". Does he mean other than income splitting?
The attack on Trudeau for "the budget will balance itself" seems to have gained traction. I can't find the full interview...but the full sentence seems to be "the commitment needs to be a commitment to grow the economy and the budget will balance itself". So he seems to be saying that if we have a great economy, we won't need to worry about balancing the budget because we'll have enough revenue to fund the programs that we enact. Seems unfair to not give it full context.
Veterans are pointing out how fucking stupid Stephen Harper's definition of combat is.
OXFAM suggests that the 1% will soon control half of all the worlds wealth.
Vice details how the RCMP continued to warrantlessly spy on Canadians, even after the Supreme Court deemed it unconstitutional.
Once again, our government is inferring that criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic.
John Baird feels like a potential investigation of war crime accusations is a "huge mistake"? Oh. I get it. Only certain people are allowed to talk about potential war crimes. And why isn't he going to an important meeting about Syria?
A detailed analysis of what Pot Prohibition costs Canada.
Canada Revenue has targeted another charity with beliefs that counter what Conservatives believe: Dying with Dignity. They've lost their charitable tax status. CRA is basing this on mistakenly giving it to them in the first place in 1982.
When even the wing-nut right wingers don't want you, you know you've made some poor choices in life. The Wild Rose Party doesn't want Rob Anders as their leader. At least that was a good decision.
We're no longer going to pay refugees to leave Canada. Don't worry though. We're going to make up for it by not following the Supreme Court decision that we need to offer them health care.
Kinder Morgan has an awesome, great, really fantastic emergency plan for their pipeline. They just don't have to share it with anybody.
Some history on Saudi Arabia, and how Canadian LAV's could be used to crush dissent.
There's a couple of stories about Target management payouts. The CEO of Target - who you could conceivably blame for billions in losses and 17,000 people to become unemployed - got a $60 Million dollar payout to go away last year. People are just now realizing how ridiculous that is. And managers within Target Canada are getting huge payouts relative to the pittance the working stiffs will receive.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
It's almost over - Week 190 & 191 - Dec 15-30
The end of the year. Time for the annual "The average CEO makes your yearly salary by wiping his ass" stories.
This is why income tax is progressive. The bottom 50% of wage earners have only 5% of the wealth in Canada.
Two MP's who developed the Conservative voting app may have committed a conflict of interest in voting to allow scrutineers to use their app.
Here is a telling sentence - "Public Safety Minister Peter MacKay’s Bill C-13 lumped together measures designed to combat cyberbullying with a series of new warrants to enhance police investigative powers"
Sweet headline - Feds leave $321-million unspent for green programs, overspend on oil and gas research, ads
Man. This might be a monkey wrench in Trans Mountains expansion plans. 10% chance of a major spill? Yikes.
A lawyer is trying to force Steve to appoint people to the Senate.
Steve might slowly be changing his mind on carbon pricing?
These NFA kooks are a hoot!
We're seeking rich immigrants again.
Parents are listening to the scientifically dubious IQ claims of the latest Reefer Madness ads.
Not much info on the changes to the Indian Act.
We're not doing much to protect Caribou.
Canada Revenue just did a blanket destruction of all employees text messages, and won't save them in the future.
I don't know what this means. More people seem to think Steve is doing a good job on the environment, but it's still a minority. And the change is most likely within the margin of error.
Once again, we screw up a military purchase and pay twice the going rate for some cargo planes.
This is why income tax is progressive. The bottom 50% of wage earners have only 5% of the wealth in Canada.
Two MP's who developed the Conservative voting app may have committed a conflict of interest in voting to allow scrutineers to use their app.
Here is a telling sentence - "Public Safety Minister Peter MacKay’s Bill C-13 lumped together measures designed to combat cyberbullying with a series of new warrants to enhance police investigative powers"
Sweet headline - Feds leave $321-million unspent for green programs, overspend on oil and gas research, ads
Man. This might be a monkey wrench in Trans Mountains expansion plans. 10% chance of a major spill? Yikes.
A lawyer is trying to force Steve to appoint people to the Senate.
Steve might slowly be changing his mind on carbon pricing?
These NFA kooks are a hoot!
Parents are listening to the scientifically dubious IQ claims of the latest Reefer Madness ads.
Not much info on the changes to the Indian Act.
We're not doing much to protect Caribou.
Canada Revenue just did a blanket destruction of all employees text messages, and won't save them in the future.
I don't know what this means. More people seem to think Steve is doing a good job on the environment, but it's still a minority. And the change is most likely within the margin of error.
Once again, we screw up a military purchase and pay twice the going rate for some cargo planes.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Backbenching - Week 178 - Sept 22-29
I begin this week with a pretty awesome article from Raif Mair. Wow...I made about six typing errors coming to grips with that first sentence...Anyhow, Rafe talks about Dianne Watts running for the Conservatives. Which isn't all that interesting. Until he starts talking about how useless the life of a backbench MP are. Makes you understand all the hooting and hollering in the House, doesn't it? Wouldn't we be better off if we all just decided this was a farce? If all MP's are there for is to vote how they're told...shit...must be a better way to do things?
I must admit that I have some strange tendencies. All it takes to bring me on side is a bit of grovelling. I love an underdog. I think that's why I hated Lance Armstrong so much. Now that he's sad and apologetic he's coming around for me. And now Paul Calandra, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for him. I mean, his responses in Parliament were absolutely idiotic. But there's no way he came up with that all on his own. Now...hung out to dry. This is the Conservative Modus Operandi. My question is this: How come they put so many questionable people into positions of authority to begin with? Bev Oda. Paul Calandra. Dean Del Mastro. Mike Duffy. Pamela Wallin. That other guy. On and on it goes. And...we still don't really have answers as to what is happening in Iraq.
Statoil is backing out of an OilSands project. This is interesting for two reasons. First, does this signify a larger problem within the OilSands? Second, how come every other fucking country on this earth is allowed to have a state oil company invested in our OilSands, except for us?
Is there anything worse than somebody who wants to "advise" on an issue and not get involved in any other way? I laughed a bit when our contribution to the ISIS fight was 60 or so military advisors. Now we might send some planes...really fucking old planes.
The Canadian 1% is still a bit sad. $191,000 in yearly salary gains you entry. I mean...must be nice. But you're basically an American shoeshine boy with that money.
Andrew Scheer does not respond kindly towards questioning of his impartiality.
I actually kind of like Jason Kenney's recent responses on Temporary Foreign Workers. We'll see if there's any substance to it. If we're going to sell out the country in the name of jobs, let's at least make sure people can get jobs and salaries go up a bit. Nobody should have sympathy for Alberta companies complaining that they can't hire cheap foreign labour.
It's tough to figure what Steve is thining about the UN these days. I mean, don't show up for the climate conference, but show up for dinner? And then re-announce an announcement that we already announced a few years ago? That basically does nothing but bring us in line with US Regulations? At least we brought some cash...Canada forks out a bit of UN money for Ebola...and some more UN money for a maternal health initiative.
This needs to be read because it's just too weird. A murdered man in France had stolen the identity of Glenn Miller...and was living the life of a washed up Canadian "rockstar".
I'll start by pointing out the obvious. Nobody thinks this is a good thing or should have happened. The question is what we should do about it? The response to the murder of a Surrey teen by a recently released High Risk Offender has been about what you would expect. I'd like to see a happy medium between keep-everybody-in-jail-forever and do-absolutely-nothing-once-high-risk-offenders-are-released-except-deliver-a-warning.
The Cons look to shaft everybody by re-introducing their union finance law, ignoring the recommendations of the Senate, and limiting debate on the whole sordid affair. Nothing to see here, folks.
So, ya, there is an argument for stripping terrorists of their passports. But that comes at a cost. And I don't trust these assholes enough to give them the right to start stripping citizenship, especially with the loose definition of "terrorist" these days.
Some more info on North Korean refugees. The reason we don't accept them? Well, Chris Alexander sucks. And the loophole seems to be that since South Korea will accept North Koreans, they're no longer considered to be refugees in Canada's eyes. Which is some fucking loophole.
I must admit that I have some strange tendencies. All it takes to bring me on side is a bit of grovelling. I love an underdog. I think that's why I hated Lance Armstrong so much. Now that he's sad and apologetic he's coming around for me. And now Paul Calandra, I can't help but feel a bit sorry for him. I mean, his responses in Parliament were absolutely idiotic. But there's no way he came up with that all on his own. Now...hung out to dry. This is the Conservative Modus Operandi. My question is this: How come they put so many questionable people into positions of authority to begin with? Bev Oda. Paul Calandra. Dean Del Mastro. Mike Duffy. Pamela Wallin. That other guy. On and on it goes. And...we still don't really have answers as to what is happening in Iraq.
Statoil is backing out of an OilSands project. This is interesting for two reasons. First, does this signify a larger problem within the OilSands? Second, how come every other fucking country on this earth is allowed to have a state oil company invested in our OilSands, except for us?
Is there anything worse than somebody who wants to "advise" on an issue and not get involved in any other way? I laughed a bit when our contribution to the ISIS fight was 60 or so military advisors. Now we might send some planes...really fucking old planes.
The Canadian 1% is still a bit sad. $191,000 in yearly salary gains you entry. I mean...must be nice. But you're basically an American shoeshine boy with that money.
Andrew Scheer does not respond kindly towards questioning of his impartiality.
I actually kind of like Jason Kenney's recent responses on Temporary Foreign Workers. We'll see if there's any substance to it. If we're going to sell out the country in the name of jobs, let's at least make sure people can get jobs and salaries go up a bit. Nobody should have sympathy for Alberta companies complaining that they can't hire cheap foreign labour.
It's tough to figure what Steve is thining about the UN these days. I mean, don't show up for the climate conference, but show up for dinner? And then re-announce an announcement that we already announced a few years ago? That basically does nothing but bring us in line with US Regulations? At least we brought some cash...Canada forks out a bit of UN money for Ebola...and some more UN money for a maternal health initiative.
This needs to be read because it's just too weird. A murdered man in France had stolen the identity of Glenn Miller...and was living the life of a washed up Canadian "rockstar".
I'll start by pointing out the obvious. Nobody thinks this is a good thing or should have happened. The question is what we should do about it? The response to the murder of a Surrey teen by a recently released High Risk Offender has been about what you would expect. I'd like to see a happy medium between keep-everybody-in-jail-forever and do-absolutely-nothing-once-high-risk-offenders-are-released-except-deliver-a-warning.
The Cons look to shaft everybody by re-introducing their union finance law, ignoring the recommendations of the Senate, and limiting debate on the whole sordid affair. Nothing to see here, folks.
So, ya, there is an argument for stripping terrorists of their passports. But that comes at a cost. And I don't trust these assholes enough to give them the right to start stripping citizenship, especially with the loose definition of "terrorist" these days.
Some more info on North Korean refugees. The reason we don't accept them? Well, Chris Alexander sucks. And the loophole seems to be that since South Korea will accept North Koreans, they're no longer considered to be refugees in Canada's eyes. Which is some fucking loophole.
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, March 3, 2014
Astro-Turf - Week 148 - Feb 24-March 3
Why the War on Drugs isn't a great idea.
I'm sure this is just correlation without causation, right? Vicente Fox has a good point to make. The US War on Drugs is really a war on mexicans. He wants all drugs legalized.
Did you know the Fair Elections Act will give incumbent MP's the power to appoint key election workers? What a terrible idea. On a similar note, Preston Manning has even suggested that taking away Elections Canada's "get out the vote" abilities is dumb. And another voice suggesting that bad things will happen if Elections Canada can't investigate.
Brad Butt, the MP who said he saw voter fraud taking place in the form of campaign employees pulling voter ID cards from the trash and then using them to fraudulently vote, now says that he saw no such thing. Is this not troubling? Is this a statement you can just back away from by saying you "misspoke". Were new laws not drafted to prevent this from happening?
Oh. This is fresh. It's not enough to claim that it's American money funding the anti-pipeline coalition in BC. It used to be the evil American hippies with no skin in the game that want to see the pipeline fail. But now...now somehow it's worse. It's American big oil tricking Canadians into scrapping their own pipeline because they want the oil for themselves. The same American companies that control the majority of the Oils Sands, right? So...they don't want this pipeline so they can sell the oil in the US rather than they sell the oil in China? Interesting. Note that the author of this article is pretty much a BC Liberal Government shill who seems to be the driving force behind the astro-turf "British Columbians for Prosperity". Where do you get your money, assholes? Looks like somebody has followed their money...straight to the long term Oil Industry folks who started this organization.
Similarly, a nice little Tyee story that highlights some of the ties between big oil, US right-wing think tanks, "grassroots" oil supporters and Canadian politicians. Weird, scary stuff. It also asks the question - why is the 100% political "charity" The Fraser Institute not held to the same standard as other charitable organizations participating in political work? And points out that all these outside organizations currently "own" 70% of Canada's oil and gas production and siphon off the majority of the profits.
I love behind the scenes views of talking points for Conservative politicians. Here we have a look at what they were all told to say with respect to Justin Trudeau and the Senate.
Not only Rex Murphy, but Peter Mansbridge has been caught taking money from the Oil Sands.
The IMF, that crazy bunch of liberals, has a report showing that increased taxes on the rich has no impact on economic growth.
I know that nobody ever said anything positive about child sex offenders and made it out alive. But, especially since we seem more than eager to make kids that forward pictures of classmates "child sex offenders", I worry what this legislation might mean. I just don't think that making it impossible for a certain breed of criminal to re-integrate into society might not be to the benefit of anybody.
Garth Turner shows why Justin Trudeau is correct - The StatsCan report on middle class wealth increasing is solely based on real estate values. Yes, some people are sitting on fat (on paper) Real Estate values. This hardly defines the return of the middle class.
The Conservatives shutting the opposition out of the trip to the Ukraine is just one of many ways the Conservatives are using foreign policy to take advantage of their position. Poor Irwin.
Is Jim Prentice making a move to be the next Conservative PM? He's coming out in favour of more environmental protection.
If you complain about everything, people will stop listening. This story points out that taxpayers have paid for $130,000 in meals for Conservative staffers since 2010. Who cares? What kind of deadbeat employer doesn't pick up the tab for employee meals at specific work events? $7000 for pizza for 330 people during a professional development event? So...$21 per person? Who cares. This is not the sort of thing we should be worried about. More Conservative lunch expenses, this set directly linked to the Prime Minister.
Their analysis makes almost no sense...and they were kind of dicks when I asked for clarification...But Ross Kay Consultants lays out how the MLS double counts home sales and how badly it distorts sales numbers. Over 10% of "sales" disappear.
There seems to be some agreement between the Feds and the Provinces about the Canada Job Grant plan. Nobody seems too sure what it is though.
I've been thinking a similar train of thought to this story over the last few days. It comes from the question "Will NHL owners allow NHL players to compete in the next Olympics?" It just seems absurd. I understand that NHL owners are paying NHL players obscene amounts of money to play hockey for their team. But the statement seems to imply some kind of ownership over the very being of the person/athlete. It's strange to me. Further to that, this Grantland article points out the near impossibility of athletes to protest much of anything due to their meager earnings and subservience to corporate sponsors.
An interesting Snowden/Greenwald article outlines how western intelligence agencies (the British GCHQ in this case) use dirty tricks to discredit political activists and protesters. As somebody says somewhere, it's pretty scary that the full might of the government can arbitrarily decide that you're a bad apple and your life should be ruined. Okay. That's my paraphrase.
I'm sure this is just correlation without causation, right? Vicente Fox has a good point to make. The US War on Drugs is really a war on mexicans. He wants all drugs legalized.
Did you know the Fair Elections Act will give incumbent MP's the power to appoint key election workers? What a terrible idea. On a similar note, Preston Manning has even suggested that taking away Elections Canada's "get out the vote" abilities is dumb. And another voice suggesting that bad things will happen if Elections Canada can't investigate.
Brad Butt, the MP who said he saw voter fraud taking place in the form of campaign employees pulling voter ID cards from the trash and then using them to fraudulently vote, now says that he saw no such thing. Is this not troubling? Is this a statement you can just back away from by saying you "misspoke". Were new laws not drafted to prevent this from happening?
Oh. This is fresh. It's not enough to claim that it's American money funding the anti-pipeline coalition in BC. It used to be the evil American hippies with no skin in the game that want to see the pipeline fail. But now...now somehow it's worse. It's American big oil tricking Canadians into scrapping their own pipeline because they want the oil for themselves. The same American companies that control the majority of the Oils Sands, right? So...they don't want this pipeline so they can sell the oil in the US rather than they sell the oil in China? Interesting. Note that the author of this article is pretty much a BC Liberal Government shill who seems to be the driving force behind the astro-turf "British Columbians for Prosperity". Where do you get your money, assholes? Looks like somebody has followed their money...straight to the long term Oil Industry folks who started this organization.
Similarly, a nice little Tyee story that highlights some of the ties between big oil, US right-wing think tanks, "grassroots" oil supporters and Canadian politicians. Weird, scary stuff. It also asks the question - why is the 100% political "charity" The Fraser Institute not held to the same standard as other charitable organizations participating in political work? And points out that all these outside organizations currently "own" 70% of Canada's oil and gas production and siphon off the majority of the profits.
I love behind the scenes views of talking points for Conservative politicians. Here we have a look at what they were all told to say with respect to Justin Trudeau and the Senate.
Not only Rex Murphy, but Peter Mansbridge has been caught taking money from the Oil Sands.
The IMF, that crazy bunch of liberals, has a report showing that increased taxes on the rich has no impact on economic growth.
I know that nobody ever said anything positive about child sex offenders and made it out alive. But, especially since we seem more than eager to make kids that forward pictures of classmates "child sex offenders", I worry what this legislation might mean. I just don't think that making it impossible for a certain breed of criminal to re-integrate into society might not be to the benefit of anybody.
Garth Turner shows why Justin Trudeau is correct - The StatsCan report on middle class wealth increasing is solely based on real estate values. Yes, some people are sitting on fat (on paper) Real Estate values. This hardly defines the return of the middle class.
The Conservatives shutting the opposition out of the trip to the Ukraine is just one of many ways the Conservatives are using foreign policy to take advantage of their position. Poor Irwin.
Is Jim Prentice making a move to be the next Conservative PM? He's coming out in favour of more environmental protection.
If you complain about everything, people will stop listening. This story points out that taxpayers have paid for $130,000 in meals for Conservative staffers since 2010. Who cares? What kind of deadbeat employer doesn't pick up the tab for employee meals at specific work events? $7000 for pizza for 330 people during a professional development event? So...$21 per person? Who cares. This is not the sort of thing we should be worried about. More Conservative lunch expenses, this set directly linked to the Prime Minister.
Their analysis makes almost no sense...and they were kind of dicks when I asked for clarification...But Ross Kay Consultants lays out how the MLS double counts home sales and how badly it distorts sales numbers. Over 10% of "sales" disappear.
There seems to be some agreement between the Feds and the Provinces about the Canada Job Grant plan. Nobody seems too sure what it is though.
I've been thinking a similar train of thought to this story over the last few days. It comes from the question "Will NHL owners allow NHL players to compete in the next Olympics?" It just seems absurd. I understand that NHL owners are paying NHL players obscene amounts of money to play hockey for their team. But the statement seems to imply some kind of ownership over the very being of the person/athlete. It's strange to me. Further to that, this Grantland article points out the near impossibility of athletes to protest much of anything due to their meager earnings and subservience to corporate sponsors.
An interesting Snowden/Greenwald article outlines how western intelligence agencies (the British GCHQ in this case) use dirty tricks to discredit political activists and protesters. As somebody says somewhere, it's pretty scary that the full might of the government can arbitrarily decide that you're a bad apple and your life should be ruined. Okay. That's my paraphrase.
Monday, February 24, 2014
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.
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.
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.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Off to a Roaring Start - Week 102.16 - April 8-15
Okay. So I missed Week 102. I apologize. Did anything exciting happen? There seems to be a lot that went on today. Even ignoring the obvious in Boston.
And here it is...The Conservative attack ad on Justin Trudeau. I don't think this is going to be all that effective. Everybody already knows that Trudeau is young and has done some dumb things. That's kind of half of the appeal, isn't it?
John Baird pisses off Palestine again by taking a meeting with an Israeli official in disputed territory. They launched some protests. Not to worry though. He quickly apologized for his lack of tact and foresight. What? He didn't? He made a joke about it and laughed it off?
Holy shit. Read this Russell Brand "eulogy" of Margaret Thatcher. He precisely sums up modern Conservatism: "diminishing the resources of those who had least for the advancement of those who had most."
Businesses are screaming about labour shortages, and want to bring in low cost foreign workers. This article points out that if there were truly labour shortages, wages would go up. And they're not.
The morons at the Financial Post mix up sales with prices. It will probably fixed by the time you get to it, but the original headline states that "Canada's housing prices drop more than 15% from last year". The body of the story refers to a drop in sales.
Another way the 1% screw us over. Buying insider knowledge on yet-to-be-announced regulatory changes from politicians and bureaucrats.
Surprisingly, Albertans have less of a belief in global warming, are big on pipelines and don't think Provinces should share revenue, when you compare their opinions to the rest of Canada. Thank God they aren't running the country. A lot of damage could be done with an Alberta focused, archaic Conservative agenda.
A more in depth look at the flight restrictions placed over the Arkansas oil spill. Seems to be having an effect, as we don't hear shit about this spill any longer.
So, there is a new requirement to comment at the "public" hearings on the Northern Gateway Pipeline. You have to provide a CV and fill out a 10 page questionnaire.
More from the Tyee on Oil Sands myths. Money on the table, double discounts, etc. As well, a great point is made: The interests of giant oil companies aren't necessarily the interests of Canada. This almost seems to be a weekly column for the Tyee.
The Conservatives don't like tracking weapons. But they like charging for them. A license fee is brought back on long guns.
Stories about really, really rich people in London and New York buying insanely expensive property, not living in it and the problems this causes. One commenter points out that this is happening in Vancouver too, but I don't agree. In London and New York, obscene amounts of money seem to get you a nice property. In Vancouver it's a teardown.
An executive at HBO seems to be embracing piracy.
And here it is...The Conservative attack ad on Justin Trudeau. I don't think this is going to be all that effective. Everybody already knows that Trudeau is young and has done some dumb things. That's kind of half of the appeal, isn't it?
John Baird pisses off Palestine again by taking a meeting with an Israeli official in disputed territory. They launched some protests. Not to worry though. He quickly apologized for his lack of tact and foresight. What? He didn't? He made a joke about it and laughed it off?
Holy shit. Read this Russell Brand "eulogy" of Margaret Thatcher. He precisely sums up modern Conservatism: "diminishing the resources of those who had least for the advancement of those who had most."
Businesses are screaming about labour shortages, and want to bring in low cost foreign workers. This article points out that if there were truly labour shortages, wages would go up. And they're not.
The morons at the Financial Post mix up sales with prices. It will probably fixed by the time you get to it, but the original headline states that "Canada's housing prices drop more than 15% from last year". The body of the story refers to a drop in sales.
Another way the 1% screw us over. Buying insider knowledge on yet-to-be-announced regulatory changes from politicians and bureaucrats.
Surprisingly, Albertans have less of a belief in global warming, are big on pipelines and don't think Provinces should share revenue, when you compare their opinions to the rest of Canada. Thank God they aren't running the country. A lot of damage could be done with an Alberta focused, archaic Conservative agenda.
A more in depth look at the flight restrictions placed over the Arkansas oil spill. Seems to be having an effect, as we don't hear shit about this spill any longer.
So, there is a new requirement to comment at the "public" hearings on the Northern Gateway Pipeline. You have to provide a CV and fill out a 10 page questionnaire.
More from the Tyee on Oil Sands myths. Money on the table, double discounts, etc. As well, a great point is made: The interests of giant oil companies aren't necessarily the interests of Canada. This almost seems to be a weekly column for the Tyee.
The Conservatives don't like tracking weapons. But they like charging for them. A license fee is brought back on long guns.
Stories about really, really rich people in London and New York buying insanely expensive property, not living in it and the problems this causes. One commenter points out that this is happening in Vancouver too, but I don't agree. In London and New York, obscene amounts of money seem to get you a nice property. In Vancouver it's a teardown.
An executive at HBO seems to be embracing piracy.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Take Some Responsibility - Week 98 - March 11-19
Sorry for the delay, folks. I was away for a long weekend and lost touch a bit.
Starting off…This article from the Financial Post about the amount of tax money created by the 1% was forwarded to me by a friend. It also prompted a lengthy discussion about income tax, entitlements, racism and on and on and on. I have two points that I took away from this:
1) I tracked down where the Financial Post got their numbers. I don't think any analysis of this was done. I think it is ridiculous to publish a story like this without citation or links to the data. It's easy to pull scandalous numbers from something like this without really understanding what it means. I hope to follow up with a more thorough analysis of this later this week, because I think it is very important.
2) I think that what politics is really lacking right now is well-reasoned explanations on the impacts and reasoning behind government expenses and government programs. My friend suggested that things would be "more fair" with a flat tax. But what would be the impact of that? What would that mean to society? Nobody bothers to dig in or explain the impacts of policy proposals. We're left to make up our minds using emotion rather than logic.
On a similar note, this NP article questions the payback of corporate income tax cuts. Based on my preliminary analysis (mentioned above) I think they are on to something here.
Stephen Harper is expressing support for Peter Penashue. “Best MP ever”. Once again, it's all somebody else's fault. "It was an inexperienced agent that did it! Not me!" Well why did you have an inexperienced agent running this portion of your campaign?
One would tend to look at the chart in this article and think that something is wrong. The rate of temperature was relatively stable for thousands of years and then, bang-o, starts going crazy. I can see the climate denialists figuring out some reason this isn’t valid.
Harper wants all government associated librarians to sign a loyalty pact, where they will promise not to criticize the government.
A strip mall owner is trying to prevent protests in front of Stephen Harper's constituency office.
Some more details on the HD Mining debacle. Whose mine is this? Canada’s or China’s? Why are we allowing a company to hire miners...in Canada...using the chief requirement being that they speak Mandarin?
Remember the report from the US State Department suggesting that Keystone XL is A-OK? Yes, much of the research was conducted by firms attached to the oil and gas industry. Well, I guess if you're looking for expertise on pipelines, there's only a few places to go. But still. Maybe this is an argument for a government having it's own un-biased scientists.
Alison Redford accuses Thomas Mulcair of "trying to push his own agenda". Nice. Apparently it's okay to fly down to the US and state a position as long as it agrees with your own.
Great information on Bitumen here.
Investment required to create 1 Million Barrels of oil in the Middle East - $8 Billion
Investment required to create 1 Million Barrels of tar sands oil - $45 Billion. + Refining costs
Barrels of oil used to create 1 barrel of oil in the Middle East - 0.05
Barrels of oil used to create 1 barrel of oil in the Tar Sands - 0.2
This Salon piece is incredible, and explains how Lockheed Martin forces the US Military to buy planes that it doesn't really want. Could this explain why Harper and his buddies are so gung-ho on the F-35?
Peter McKay is expressing frustration at the inability of Government to purchase new fixed wing search and rescue aircraft. Not his fault though. Somebody else’s.
This Tyee article paints a very rosy picture of where Real Estate is heading and why. I've been a doomsayer on Vancouver Real Estate the whole way through this boom cycle. Every time I run numbers and compare renting vs. buying, it makes no sense to me. People call me crazy (or worse), but it's coming. Oh man, it's coming.
Speaking of doomsayers, Garth Turner used to be a Conservative MP. He doesn't feel very good about things either.
A great visual on Canadian Housing Prices. Boom times everywhere!
A soccer team in Israel signed a pair of muslim players. Bad things happened. An interesting insight into Israel via sports reporting. No matter how often the Harper Government says it, this is not a simple and one sided issue.
Tackling yet another serious issue, the Conservatives are re-inserting the word "armed" into "Canadian Armed Forces".
Starting off…This article from the Financial Post about the amount of tax money created by the 1% was forwarded to me by a friend. It also prompted a lengthy discussion about income tax, entitlements, racism and on and on and on. I have two points that I took away from this:
1) I tracked down where the Financial Post got their numbers. I don't think any analysis of this was done. I think it is ridiculous to publish a story like this without citation or links to the data. It's easy to pull scandalous numbers from something like this without really understanding what it means. I hope to follow up with a more thorough analysis of this later this week, because I think it is very important.
2) I think that what politics is really lacking right now is well-reasoned explanations on the impacts and reasoning behind government expenses and government programs. My friend suggested that things would be "more fair" with a flat tax. But what would be the impact of that? What would that mean to society? Nobody bothers to dig in or explain the impacts of policy proposals. We're left to make up our minds using emotion rather than logic.
On a similar note, this NP article questions the payback of corporate income tax cuts. Based on my preliminary analysis (mentioned above) I think they are on to something here.
Stephen Harper is expressing support for Peter Penashue. “Best MP ever”. Once again, it's all somebody else's fault. "It was an inexperienced agent that did it! Not me!" Well why did you have an inexperienced agent running this portion of your campaign?
One would tend to look at the chart in this article and think that something is wrong. The rate of temperature was relatively stable for thousands of years and then, bang-o, starts going crazy. I can see the climate denialists figuring out some reason this isn’t valid.
Harper wants all government associated librarians to sign a loyalty pact, where they will promise not to criticize the government.
A strip mall owner is trying to prevent protests in front of Stephen Harper's constituency office.
Some more details on the HD Mining debacle. Whose mine is this? Canada’s or China’s? Why are we allowing a company to hire miners...in Canada...using the chief requirement being that they speak Mandarin?
Remember the report from the US State Department suggesting that Keystone XL is A-OK? Yes, much of the research was conducted by firms attached to the oil and gas industry. Well, I guess if you're looking for expertise on pipelines, there's only a few places to go. But still. Maybe this is an argument for a government having it's own un-biased scientists.
Alison Redford accuses Thomas Mulcair of "trying to push his own agenda". Nice. Apparently it's okay to fly down to the US and state a position as long as it agrees with your own.
Great information on Bitumen here.
Investment required to create 1 Million Barrels of oil in the Middle East - $8 Billion
Investment required to create 1 Million Barrels of tar sands oil - $45 Billion. + Refining costs
Barrels of oil used to create 1 barrel of oil in the Middle East - 0.05
Barrels of oil used to create 1 barrel of oil in the Tar Sands - 0.2
This Salon piece is incredible, and explains how Lockheed Martin forces the US Military to buy planes that it doesn't really want. Could this explain why Harper and his buddies are so gung-ho on the F-35?
Peter McKay is expressing frustration at the inability of Government to purchase new fixed wing search and rescue aircraft. Not his fault though. Somebody else’s.
This Tyee article paints a very rosy picture of where Real Estate is heading and why. I've been a doomsayer on Vancouver Real Estate the whole way through this boom cycle. Every time I run numbers and compare renting vs. buying, it makes no sense to me. People call me crazy (or worse), but it's coming. Oh man, it's coming.
Speaking of doomsayers, Garth Turner used to be a Conservative MP. He doesn't feel very good about things either.
A great visual on Canadian Housing Prices. Boom times everywhere!
A soccer team in Israel signed a pair of muslim players. Bad things happened. An interesting insight into Israel via sports reporting. No matter how often the Harper Government says it, this is not a simple and one sided issue.
Tackling yet another serious issue, the Conservatives are re-inserting the word "armed" into "Canadian Armed Forces".
Thursday, February 28, 2013
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.
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.
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