Have a good New Year's Eve

And stay safe!

You know it must be a good Bill if REAL Women of Canada oppose it

Sen. Celine Hervieux-Payette, a former Montreal business executive, is behind Bill S-206. The bill would require all publicly traded companies, banks, insurance companies and trust companies to have 50% of their board of directors made up of women.

Hervieux-Payette points to a 2009 study that shows women make up just 14% of corporate board members, an increase from 13% in 2007.

REAL Women of Canada, a lobby group that calls for equality without the use of legislation, told QMI Agency it would never back such a bill.  “We want to be hired because we are qualified, not because we are women,” said Diane Watts of REAL Women.

Sure, don’t we all want that?  But until women are considered as qualified as men, gender bias will continue to favour men since there is still a very real prejudice against women as equally capable leaders, business people, politicians, heads of families, CEOs...

One of the opponents of this Bill has kindly taken the time to comment on the above article, showing us that there is a real need for Payette’s Bill (emphasis mine):

Neil Bird writes:  This is nuts!, you won't like my observations which are real! We need the best persons for the job regardless of gender! Females seem to screw up financially more often, make poor decisions in selecting spouses & friends. they also do not seem to know or care about basic manners so are a greater endangerment to staff and customers than males are. They have a reputation for being poor bosses. Many seem to have a 'gender' chip on their shoulders, justified or not, does not make for a good workplace. If we hand females all they want based on gender and not performance, where is the challenge and reward of achievement, just as one does not give top wages and position to a new grad? I knew you would not like reality!

Uh-huh

Well, Neil, based on what you think women are capable of, what’s the point fore them to even try to do more than breed, serve and obey men (who know so much more about finance, decision making, healthy marriage, choosing friends, and heavens!  Good manners!), and just shut the fuck up and be grateful that the invisible sky monster created the male to keep them in line and to make sure they don’t screw up too much.

It is because attitudes like Neil’s towards women still exist that we need legislation that will allow skilled, intelligent, capable women the same opportunities as men.  More importantly, this type of legislation is necessary so that boards have representatives who understand the needs of  the public they serve  - half of that public being female.

harper gets spanked

The new governor general says he sees nothing wrong or illegitimate with coalition governments — something Prime Minister Stephen Harper has attacked for being “undemocratic.”


“I think that most jurisdictions that have a system of first-past-the-post or proportional representation will from time to time have coalitions or amalgamation of different parties and that’s the way democracy sorts itself out,” he said.

And in this, it is Mr. Johnston who has the authority and power to decide.

Entertainment can be a killer industry

Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan received a surprise Christmas visit on Saturday from one of their fiercest backers — Don Cherry.

“Fiercest backers”?  I don’t think so.  What Cherry backs is that mindlessness of cheering for your favourite team from the safety of the bleachers while the team takes all the risks.  And it doesn’t matter why the team is there, in case of military action, it only matters that they kick ass and look cool doing it.

And if such mindless backers of their favourite team get to mingle with the “stars” they worship, get to have a little of that hallowed sweat drip on them, and even, dare they even hope - don the uniform so linked to testosterone in action, well that’s just prime jacking off material.

"Taliban, here I come,"(Cherry) joked after getting approval to fire the explosive-laden training round.        

Yeah, real funny stuff, that.  War is hilarious.  And you get to handle a huge penis and shoot it off.

Petey sees the humour.  After all, he is defense minister -

"Don, this is a different type of ’He shoots, he scores,’"...MacKay (said).

Sure, ‘cause it’s just a big, entertaining game for boys.  And it’s cool.  So fucking cool with super-cool toys and that’s damn sexy -



But for those who come home maimed, and those who receive the caskets of loved ones so torn apart remains can’t be viewed, there’s reality -





Cherry and MacKay are fucking slave-lords, living off the pain of those they send out to face death and to kill.  Canadians should be outraged at the mockery they make of our troops sacriffices.

Lovely and appropriate

It’s always interesting to see what journalists choose to write about for Christmas day publication.  We get the usual mix of pre-New Year summaries and predictions, a few sugary pieces on the meaning of Christmas and how we should just be nice (as though it takes the holiday season so commercialized that such messages usually come across as a feeble, guilt-ridden obligation), and the lame writings on the meaning of Christmas - what it should be, is it dead, this is a Christian country, blah, blah, blah.

So it was delightful to wake up to Susan Riley’s column entitled Season’s Kudos.

No one wants a catalogue of complaint during the season of peace and good will. No one needs reminding of the dispiriting, aimless state of federal politics. So let's focus, instead, on what was good about the year just ending.

First, Canada has been well-served by brave and selfless public servants and some stubbornly independent watchdogs. Their exploits are rarely as visible, or heroic, as the work performed by our committed troops in Afghanistan, or by firefighters and others who are always first on the scene of a natural disaster. But in the face of the Harper government's abiding mistrust of its bureaucracy, we should celebrate those who risk jobs, or promotion, by simply insisting on science, sound research and past experience over the impractical, or ethically dubious, schemes of their political masters.

Ms. Riley mentions Munir Sheikh, Pat Stogran, Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, Auditor General Sheila Fraser and gives overall praise to the work of public servants.  She briefly acknowledges that not all public servants are good little boys and girls but closes by saying -

...we're not dispensing lumps of coal today. Just gratitude to the honest, hardworking, fair-minded professionals working for us, and the larger good, in an atmosphere considerably less congenial than Santa's workshop. We know you're there.

Season’s kudos to you Ms. Riley.  You serve the public well also through your insightful, fearless writing.

Season's Greetings

stolen from Orwell's Bastard who stole it from Stageleft

My kind of christmas flick -



h/t Orwell's Bastard and Stageleft and balbulican

Bad cliché

"A man's reach should exceed his grasp"

Not always.  Sometimes, it simply emphasizes severe shortcomings.

Title of article  by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation :

Ten positive things the federal government did in 2010

9. Toronto, Canada's largest city with a budget of $10 billion - larger than six of our provinces, saw its tax and spend mayor David Miller leave office. Rob Ford was swept in to office with a giant mandate predicated on 'respect for taxpayers' campaign theme. Ford has already promised to freeze property taxes and moved to undo some of the new taxes put in place over the last seven years. Hopefully he will keep his promises.


Yeah, I'd be hard pressed to find 10 things the harper government did in 2010 as well.

Friday nite Ode to French Christmas songs

Used to sing these in a choir. Gorgeous, like buttah.

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But Mr. Flaherty said he believes Mr. Page goes too far with his opinions and a larger budget won’t change that. 

“I actually don’t think it’s a funding issue at all. It’s a question of creating quality work and improving the credibility of his office,” he said in a year-end interview with the Globe and Mail.

Merry Christmas, ya bunch’a heathens

Harper sent around his Christmas greeting.  When I received it by e-mail, there was a line in bold, but on the PMO website, there's  no bold.

(as appears in the e-mail):

“But for now, this is the season to count our blessings. For Christians, the greatest of these is Christmas itself, the birth of Jesus Christ.

“But for Canadians of all backgrounds, it is our shared ownership of the most fortunate of all lands, our Canada, with its deep traditions of freedom, tolerance and generosity. This Canadian birthright draws to our shores people of all faiths, who in coming, strengthen it all the more.

Generosity...sure, and didn't harper show that generosity today? 

At least 10 Greater Toronto immigrant service agencies have been told by Citizenship and Immigration Canada that their program funding will not be renewed next year, with up to 35 others across Ontario also facing “significant” cuts.

 Those agencies provide a wide range of services, many of them for women and children.  Services include language training, job search, job training, locating housing, adapting to Canadian culture, and important cultural training explaining that christians and secular societies aren't hated-filled baby-eaters.  In other words, they try to break through and educate people who may carry racial hatred from their own cultures.

Hoskins noted the majority of the defunded organizations are ethnocultural agencies serving specific ethnic communities.  “Their specialties can’t be replaced,” Hoskins said. “They are upset at what they called the ‘blunt’ and ‘brutal’ manner the news was delivered to them, in a letter, two weeks before the holiday. None understands the justification and rationale behind it.”

Here is the list of GTA agencies losing federal funding:

Northwood Neighbourhood Services;  Elspeth Heyward Centre for Women; Tropicana Community Serives; Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood Centre; Community Action Resource Centre;  South Asian Women's Centre;     Eritrean Canadian Community Centre of Toronto;     Ethiopian Association in the Greater Toronto Area and Surrounding Regions ;  Afghan Association of Ontario ;  Bloor Information and Life Centre   

Here are a few photos from some of their websites:

Are we seeing a pattern to the cuts?

Kenney, the Minister of Curry-in-a-Hurry was heard on CBC news later explaining that The cuts to GTA are because immigrants just aren't moving to TO anymore, so fairness dictates money should be spent elsewhere in Canada.  Well, that's a lot of horse-shit.  The cuts are all across Canada, not just the GTA, and people running the centres are saying TO is still getting a lot of immigrants not just directly, but from other provinces as well.

Mean, elitist government.

But hell, they need to make those cuts for this (emphasis mine):

Nothing is final, but the new headquarters is envisioned as a veritable puzzle palace for Canadian cryptographers. Part of the inspiration comes from high-tech companies, who have found that good things happen when staff are forced to work together – and when they play as hard as they work.

 But that only applies to real Canadians.  You know, white, male, christian conservatives.  And spies.  "Cause spies are so fucking cool.

Now that's a Senator.

What could be more delicious?  The CIA has established a WikiLeaks Task Force, widely known as WTF.  Perfect!  Rarely in official circles do functionaries assign titles that so aptly capture their true feelings on whatever subject they're investigating.   This one should win some kind of award … 

Creative Politics 101

harper is fast-tracking Senate reform.  None of that Parliament debate and lengthy passing of a Bill for him!  No!  He's workin' hard!  Gettin' the job done!

And he's going to make at least one of his appointed Senators work hard, having expanded the role of the Senate to include springboarding and funding for federal candidates.

Over a month ago, harper tried to recruit Larry Smith as a candidate for the next federal election in the Lac-Saint-Louis riding.  A month after turning that down, Smith accepts the appointment as Senator, and the very next day announces he will run as a federal candidate after all.

It's pretty obvious what went on in his talks with harper.  Around the time harper approached Smith, he suddenly resigns as president of the Alouettes.  People were puzzled since there had been no hint from Smith that he had been planning to quit, and no hint that he had been pursuing another career.

Can anyone really believe he'd drop a successful career with nothing on the horizon?  Of course not.  But running against Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia will be expensive and Smith needs to develop a political profile there.

harper tried this once already with Mike Fortier, who as we recall, actually opened an office in the riding he planned to run in, using it to promote himself, MP style.

Now Smith gets to do the same:  promote himself politically - on our dollar -  in the riding he will run in.  As his focus is on running in the next election, he will be doing little more as an actual Senator than collecting a nice big paycheck - also our dollar - as he uses his appointment to prep and self-promote so that harper can perhaps win a Quebec seat. 

The seat means a lot to harper, so he wants to use every advantage he can to win it.  He's counting largely on Smith's high profile among sports fans, and riding president Marc Damant announced the CONs intend to spend  the full amount under federal election laws. 

And harper has managed to boost that spending amount considerably by allowing Smith to use his ridiculously short Senate appointment to promote himself as part of his pre-election campaing. 

Using the Senate for such purposes degrades it even further, as difficult as it might be to conceive how harper could have made it a bigger travesty than he already has.

And it is yet another way the CONs can cheat election rules.

Happy Winter solstice

the atheists get it

harper protecting my morals? I don't think so.

Ottawa maintained it had the right to make criminal laws and the purpose of the act was to protect the "health, safety and public morals" of Canadians.


Fortunately, until harper manages to stack the Supreme Court of Canada with holy rollers, at least some of our morals are ours to protect.

The top court ruled on contentious portions of the federal Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which the Quebec government successfully argued infringes on provincial jurisdiction.


Chilling, what Ottawa claimed.  Sort of like what goes on in places like this -

Complete contempt for Canadians

That's what harper keeps showing, over and over.

Two more Senators appointed.  During the holiday break.  Partisan as always.  Unelected.  One was rejected by voters.  Qualified?  At least one isn't.

The good Rev. Don Meredith -

He replaced Mark Warner as candidate for Toronto Centre after the CPC decided that despite Warner winning the nomination, he wasn’t the right stuff for the CONs.

What they wanted was someone like Meredith: social conservative, volunteer Senior Pastor at the Pentecostal Praise Centre, tough on crime, tough on sex for fun, tough on sex without proper legal documents, tough on gays, tough on same sex marriage, and tough on people who have the audacity to have bed bug infestations.  

And he really, really qualifies for harper’s promises of an elected Senate by having lost the 2008 by-election - coming fourth - in Toronto Centre.

Yet wingnuts are cheering in comment sections about how now, finally, we can have Senate reform.

WTF?????????

Now we have another ignorant politician who is so vapid he thinks bedbugs are the result of poor hygiene and that homosexuality is a choice.  Another who believes that laws should be shaped by inspiration we get from mythical beings.

Update: in his own words, h/t Alison

Larry Smith is qualified by CON standards because Larry does sports.  And Larry once toyed with the idea of running for the leadership of the CPC in 2004.  And Larry lives in Quebec.

So Larry, the talk goes, is qualified by harper standards to hold a cabinet post as yet another unelected, unaccountable guy making decisions concerning public funds and legislation.  Like Mike Fortier did.  Badly.

The CONs are not denying it out-right but are using that coyness we all love them for - there are no plans for him to join the Conservative cabinet, a Conservative official says. 

Uh-huh.  And harper will never ever appoint unelected people to the Senate because it’s so undemocratic.

Who is the elitist now?

Scott Reid has the breast best idea yet.

"It offers a crisp cleavage with the government that, properly communicated, can lend the Liberals and their leader some desperately needed definition."

It's often difficult for a party to find that one issue that will resonate clearly with enough Canadians not only to make a difference in an election, but to define the party as well.  Scott Reid may have identified it:

"When Stephen Harper can, Stephen Harper does behave like the most conservative prime minister in our nation's history. So fear not, all you howl-at-the-moon Milton Friedmans. His unwillingness to expand the CPP — which ranks as just about the most successful pension-income security plan in the developed world — is bold confirmation that Ayn Rand still triumphs over common sense, public interest and sound policy in Harper's Ottawa."

Reid suggests three moves the Liberals should make:

(Have Igatieff) personally lead the charge and to persuasively state the problem — preferably in plain, uncomplicated language: Working Canadians are worried their pension income will be so low they won't ever find it possible to retire. Harper suggests new private sector savings options. But one in four Canadians already can't contribute a single dollar to their RRSPs.  The better way is to build on the CPP. It includes all Canadians — not just some.

(H)it on Harper's motivations...Harper and the Conservatives prefer private pension plans sold by banks and insurance companies instead of the CPP. That's because they can afford to pay into private pension plans. Most people can't. Just like most people don't have those large taxpayer-funded pensions that Harper and his cabinet get. Initially, every province but one said yes to helping all Canadians by building on the CPP. Stephen Harper said no. Just like he said no to a law that would have made Nortel pay pensioners and those on disability a fuller portion of what the company owed them.

(T)alk about the role of government: Ottawa has an obligation to act in the public interest, to help deliver opportunity to the middle class and to defend our seniors. In times like these when most people wonder if they'll ever be able to retire we need the national government to show national leadership. Stephen Harper believes the CPP is just another issue where government should step aside. Liberals believe government has an obligation to step up.

Nice.  Turn that whole elitist theme back onto harper and take on an issue that affects most Canadians.  We are all headed toward retirement and the economic landscape is looking more precarious every year.  The first wave of baby-boomers hits 65 this year.

Oh, and keep mentioning cleavage.  Gotta win over those older men.

Once more - why are we there?

What’s been missing from the discussions about our post-2011 role is the reality that not only will Canada be training an army under the command of one of the most corrupt governments on the planet, but also that it is a government ridden with warlords and held together only by military support and money from the West. This is not a government with independent staying power.

In all likelihood, the exit of Western troops in 2014 will precipitate a countrywide civil war that will see the Afghan army fractured into militias controlled by warlords battling for roads, opium fields, mineral resources and cities, while the Taliban attempt to take over the country or disintegrate into violent, squabbling factions.

The United States and NATO have been providing the Afghan army with world-class weaponry: assault rifles, grenade launchers, machine-guns and armoured vehicles. With the weapons, and tactical training to date by Canadians and other NATO troops, the national army is an increasingly formidable force, though plagued by desertion, poor discipline and drug abuse.

Canada’s future training of these well-armed Afghan troops will ratchet up the torque on a war machine that appears destined to blow apart.

If we were actually doing something to help establish a government chosen by the people of Afghanistan for the people of Afghanistan and offering aid which would directly encourage the establishment and maintenance of a society concerned about human rights and a fair system for all, that would justify some Canadian presence there, but training troops to fight under a corrupt government that will fragment into a bunch of corrupt groups further ripping the country apart and killing civilians in their bid for power...what the hell are we doing that for? We can't afford the dollar cost of this war, and the cost in lives is beyond measure, certainly not justified.

This is not a criticism of our troops, but of our own corrupt, dishonest government and its utter disregard for the lives of its own soldiers.

harper  and BFF

just because

Condolences to family and friends

Cpl. Steve Martin

3rd Battalion Royal 22e Regiment

Is this the Canada we want?

The Harper government is planning a Taj Mahal complex for the Defense Department's spies, complete with a hockey rink, basketball and volleyball courts and a bank in a secure facility on Ogilvie Road, says the head of the department's largest union.

While the original Taj Mahal was build as a symbol of eternal love,  Harper’s is more of a big fuck-you to Canadians.

We are subject to the dire warnings of the ever frowning Finance Minister, Deficit Jim, day after day.  You know, the guy who gave Canada the biggest deficit in Canadian history.  As Flaherty warns us faceless Canadians that we need to tighten our belts, it being our duty and all, and as Stockwell (I-pinned-a-Loonie-on-my-lapel-to-show-my-respect-for-taxpayers) Day announces that DND’s budget must be cut by 1 billion, the very same harper government decides to build this monstrous testament to the crazy kill-em-all-let-god-sort-em-out path he wants to take Canada down.

The right calls lefties crazy conspiracy theorists, but here’s their Great Leader elevating spies to that elite level he constantly spits vitriol at and using much needed tax dollars to do it as he cuts, slashes, butchers the rest of the public service and social programs for Canadians.

Fuck human rights, fuck the poor, fuck minorities, women, aboriginals.  And in particular, fuck free speech.  It will just get in the way of the spies work.

As appalling as the utter hypocrisy of spending money on a lavish centre for spies - complete with a sports complex, a hockey rink with a zambone, volley ball courts, walking trails, and of yes, a large fireplace, what such spending indicates is far worse.

Harper cut daycare.  Bashed the hell out of it.  Tried to make it sound anti-democratic by labeling it as a government nanny.  But when it comes to spies, publicly funded daycare is just okey-dokey fine.  And those elitists who ride bikes?  Doesn’t apply to spies.  Lots of bike racks for them planned.

And that lazy, over-paid public service really shouldn’t have low rate parking.  Hell no, they should pay full price!  Unless you’re a spy in training, that is, then it’s free.

So what is harper telling us here.  He’s saying that there are two types of Canadians - the ones he decides deserve extra special treatment, and the rest of us who just need to tighten our belts, shut the fuck up, pay our taxes, and never, ever criticize his rule or question how our tax dollars are spent.

That harper decides to pamper this particular group with our tax dollars at a time when all departments are being hit with major cuts tells us what he thinks is important.  Not creating jobs, not fighting poverty, not education, not the arts which are the lifeblood of a nation, not aid, not women, not children...

No, what’s important to him is investing more money into paranoia.  Investing into information gathering, population control, and mostly, spreading fear so that we taxpayers are more easy to control and bleed for every last dollar.

Also, MacKay has noted that the government would move forward with the project through a public-private partnership but MacLennan said it is unclear what role private firms will play.  Plenary did not respond to a request for comment. MacKay's office referred questions to CSE, which did not respond...MacLennan questioned the wisdom of employees of a private corporation having access to CSE buildings.

Yeah, I question that wisdom as well, and not being able to get CSE to respond to questions makes me more than a little twitchy.  Are we going to rent out spy services to private companies now?

This obscenity of harper’s has to be stopped, and we, those faceless Canadians he has such contempt for are the only ones who can do it.

We need to become far, far more vocal in pointing out where he’s taking Canada, and we need to put a hell of a lot more pressure on all other parties to take this son-of-a-bitch down before he makes Canada a target for hatred and terrorism by his policies, before he guts our laws and rights and social programs so badly that it will take decades to recover, and before he gets such a strangle-hold on our right to protest that we who protest will be the ones filling his new prisons.

The man is insane.  His idea of reality is so out there, so cold-war 50s that it’s difficult for normal people to grasp how dangerous he is. 

If you need anything more to convince you: he’s building this huge spy centre on Ogilvie Road???!!

Friday night Ode to friends

Not if Cthulhu eats it first

Today someone said to me - again - in reference to global warming: "the planet will burn when god wants it to burn."

Well, if we're talking mythical beings, here, my money is on The Great Cthulhu.

Really.  Who would win in a face-to-face?

OK, I'll even throw in the dad god and the ghost bird.

 

Sure, Cthulhu may be sleeping...for now.  But he can wake up any time.  Any time.  And when he does, he won't be hanging out in some cloud city only showing up to burn a bush or carve commandments in stone every couple of thousand years.  Not The Great One.  He'll be on the move, getting the job done, showing himself to humans and they won't have to ever doubt his existence for the rest of their short lives.

Sure god has angels.  One of them might even have killed a dragon, once.  But Cthulhu has minions.  Lots and lots of minions with big teeth and claws.

That should win over some of the male vote

“The cleavages are becoming sharper and more and more clear,” said Mr. Ignatieff.

Ignatieff may finally be listening to Liberal supporters who have been threatening to pull their support.   -

Liberal Party will oppose the Conservative government’s budget, Michael Ignatieff says, greatly increasing the likelihood of an election call in February or March.

The Liberal party also spoke with a lot more conviction yesterday in the House.  Maybe they are finally realizing that propping up the harperites to stall off an election because they are down in the polls is part of what is keeping them down in the polls.  That, and one other thing -

“I have low expectations that there will be anything in the budget” that his party can support, the Liberal Leader declared on Thursday in a year-end interview with The Globe and Mail, “because I think the differences in political philosophy are very clear.”

A lot of us have not been seeing clear differences, which has also caused many of us to turn away.  Words are fine, Ignatieff, and you have been telling us about some of the policies you would implement, but it's your actions we will watch.

This sudden energy just before Christmas may work well for the Liberals.  Canadians seem tired of the same-old.  Year end articles emphasizing harper's do nothing party and did-nothing rule feed that itch for change as well.

It will take a lot more than words to get past supporters to trust the Libs, me included.  I'd rather see a coalition NDP/Lib to get harper out and to keep the Libs focused on social policies, human rights, fair treatment for all Canadians.  A Lib minority would likely give us another dysfunctional House unless they and the NDP come to an informal agreement to put policy before politics and actually get something done.

Hearing Goodale in the House talk about stopping tax cuts for corporations was encouraging.  The overall focus yesterday the Libs placed on social issue was good.

Hard to see how they can back down from those clear policies and prop harper up this spring.  It has happened before, though, but the Liberals will lose whatever goodwill they gained this week if they do that.

Just vote the bastarcons out.  Then be ready to work on behalf of all of us - whether it's a coalition or Lib minority - because we'll be very vocal.

Justice isn't just blind, she's protean as well.

Others, notably Joe Lieberman in the Senate and Peter King in the House of Representatives have pushed for new legislation to facilitate the prosecution of Mr Assange in the event that existing law proves insufficient. "Assange and his associates... have not only damaged US national security... but also placed at risk countless lives, including those of our intelligence sources," said Mr King.

Sure.  Just make a new law so you can nab this fellow who is exposing your crimes.  Brilliant!  Then change it again for the next case, and the next, and the next.  Justice for all, right?  Tailored justice, that is.

"Apparently wikileaks is malware. Or it is porn."

David Eaves of eaves.ca  has a good post here comparing the Pentagon Papers to Wikileaks.  I unapologetically post most of it here:

While doing this yesterday, something came over my desk that showed me how completely backwards parts of the US government has become around dealing with wikileaks. Turns out that the US Airforce has banned access to the New York Times and the Guardian because of wikileaks. Of course discussions about the leaked documents and their contents are not limited to these websites... one presumes that banning access to the Internet is what comes next?  The Air Force "routinely blocks Air Force network access to websites hosting inappropriate materials or malware (malicious software) and this includes any website that hosts classified materials and those that are released by WikiLeaks," she said.

Apparently wikileaks is malware. Or it is porn.

More importantly, the government is telling its employees to blind themselves. That they should pretend like the information about wikleaks, the leaked documents and how the world is reacting to it - the type of information an organization whose mission it is to engage with allies and a public that care about this a great deal - doesn't exist. If some information is bad... more information must be worse!

The attempt at thought control is all kind of Orwellian. It's also doomed to fail. In the 21st century, information and knowledge is power. Cut yourself off from it and you cut yourself off from your capacity to think and react effectively. In other words the US Airforce has been played. They are doing pretty much what I think wikileaks was trying to accomplish.

Kids know that "do as I say, not as I do" is a poor teaching method

This was inevitable, considering our government's contracting practices are scandal-ridden here in Canada -

Western governments that call Afghanistan a hotbed of corruption ought to mind the old maxim about glass houses and throwing stones, the mayor of Kandahar city suggests in a stern letter to Ottawa that accuses Canadian officials of playing fast and loose with taxpayer dollars.  In a letter to Canada's ambassador earlier this month, Ghulam Hayder Hamidi complained that Ottawa's contracting practices are contributing to the culture of malfeasance in Afghanistan. He also expressed similar concerns about the United States and Britain.

   "Your prime minister, (U.S.) President (Barack) Obama and the prime minister of England are complaining that we didn't clean the corruption in Afghanistan (and) they will stop helping," Hamidi said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.  "Who is doing the corruption? You are doing the corruption."

I expect they feel the same way when we lecture them on torture, cheating during elections, and the use of child soldiers.

“The leading cause of death in Afghanistan is not bombs; it is not bullets—it is pregnancy,”

quote by John Rafferty, NDP critic for international cooperation and CIDA

“It is important to make contraception available, whereas our government’s policy is not to include reproductive health in any kind of maternal-health program,” Banerjee (who led CIDA’s mission in Afghanistan from 2003 to 2006) said. “That I consider to be a major drawback.”

Remember those brutal quotes back in March when opposition was pushing harper & co. to include family planning in their big G8 boast about focusing on maternal and child health internationally?

Bev Oda pointedly left birth control off the list of aid projects the government intended to support, saying that “saving lives” was more important than family planning.

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon made clear that the maternal-health priority “does not deal in any way, shape or form with family planning.”

And today we find out that harper  has been named co-chair of a UN commission that will track pledges and resources for maternal and children's health in developing countries.

Right. 

That explains his no vote on C-510 (h/t to  Dammit Janet!)

Unbelievable that the UN selected him.  I suspect it's because of the amount of mooney he promised to the cause.  Too bad.  I doubt it'll end up where it should.

Isn't coercion already a crime?

Seriously, just crawl up inside your mother's vagina, Rod. Your obsession with women's wombs is disturbing. Sickening.

Glad this obscenity was voted down.

And if you insist on making coercing abortion a separate coercion law, then hell, how about laws against coercing women to bear children; coercing women to be stay-at-home moms; coercing women to put up with domestic violence because breaking up a family unit is baaaaad; coercing women to comply with their husband's sexual demands; coercing women to shut the fuck up; coercing women to place their own careers second to that of their spouses; coercing women to serve their spouse as though it's a natural law; coercing women to dress sexy; coercing women not to dress sexy...

Exaggerating, 900?       

Hardly (emphasis mine) -

Bill C-510, sponsored by anti-abortion Winnipeg Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge, would have criminalized forcing a woman into an abortion through threats of violence, withdrawal of financial resources or a place to live.  The proposed law would have had no impact on abortion providers.

First off, that’s bull-shit.  The actual Bill says:  (inserted italics mine)

“coercion”, in respect of an abortion, means conduct that, directly or indirectly, causes a female person to consent to an abortion that she would otherwise have refused. A person coerces an abortion if he or she knows of or suspects the pregnancy of a female person and engages, or conspires with another to engage in, conduct that is intentionally and purposely aimed at directing the female person who has not chosen to have an abortion ( note it does not say who has chosen not to have one) to have an abortion, including but not limited to the following conduct:
1. (a) committing, attempting to commit, or threatening to commit physical harm to the female person, the child or another person;
(b) committing, attempting to commit or threatening to commit any act prohibited by any provincial or federal law;
(c) denying or removing, or making a threat to deny or remove, financial support or housing from a person who is financially dependent on the person engaging in the conduct; and
(d) attempting to compel by pressure or intimidation including argumentative and rancorous badgering or importunity;

“threat”, for the purposes of paragraph © of the definition “coercion”, means one or more statements, or a course of conduct, by an individual that would cause a reasonable person to believe that the individual is likely to act in accordance with the statements or as implied by the course of conduct (Depository Services, Public Works and Government Services Canada)

Note the vague definitions as well as the huge fucking net created purposefully to snare as much by-catch as possible: including but not limited to

It would have no impact on abortion providers nor would it put legal limits on abortion.

Yeah right. Abortion providers would have to prove - every damn time - that they are not coercing a woman. You can just heard the womb-obssessed Rod: the center by its very nature is coercive; the staff encourage abortion and that is coercive especially because the poor, fragile female is even more fragile due to her hormones being all fucked up;...any damn lie the foetus fetishists can come up with along those lines will be held up by people like Rod as truth and proof.

And caring family would be targets as well: they were kind of upset at finding out their 14 year old was pregnant - maybe the result of rape, and negative reactions are interpreted as threats by poor, vulnerable, feeble-minded walking wombs...

And the big, big circus net, the catch-all: a pregnant woman considering an abortion is fragile, not right in the head, so anyone helping her obtain an abortion is exercising coercion, and now that we've established that coercion is baaaaad, let's charge the whole lot. And charge them with violence against pregnant women as well, because every woman who has ever had an abortion regretted it and suffered physically and/or psychologically, and if they didn't it's only because they are so traumatized by the abortion (which was coerced) that they don't know they are traumatized.

This pathological obsession with women's wombs has no place in Parliament. What a woman does with her womb - and that includes whatever may be in her womb while it's in her womb is her business as far as the law is concerned, so deal with it, all of you Tools Rods out there.

And if you fuckers are so damned concerned about poor, fragile, trod-upon women, try looking at all women, and woman as a whole being. How about protecting First Nations women who are still vanishing? How about making sure women who are beat on by violent spouses have a safe place to go until the bastards learns he can't keep beating on them? How about re-funding Sisters in Spirit? How about giving back Status of Women it's old mandate that included advocacy? How about promoting pay equity in the private sector instead of gutting it in the public service? How about promoting employment equity in the private sector? How about giving smart, capable women decent positions on politics instead of back-benching anyone with a brain?
How about you stay out of women's bodies and rights, you pompous, moronic, back-woodsy, atavistic, pasty, wimpy, soft-dick, mama's-boy, dart board model...eunuch?

Gotta wonder about men like that who are so, so fixated on dominating women through attempting to control their reproductive freedom. Sort of makes me wonder what the fuck is wrong with their plumbing that they obsess over the other gender's?

I...am going to get to the truth

**link repaired
“It’s like we’re on CSI or an investigative forensic thing — who’s put the 'not' in,” (bev Oda) said.

That's what it must be then, Bev. Desppite the fact that you repeatedly defended the cuts displaying full knowledge of them, and despite the fact that you acknowledge that you sign all such ministerial correspondence.



Maybe your team can round up all the video phones in the area. Check footage. look for birds sitting near the window where the illicit document alteration happened. Zoom in on the birds' eyeballs...then...enhance, enhance, enhance.

You know how to do that, right? Enhance? Fill in between the pixels? You'll fake-up some kind of evidence.

Saturday morning

Because that first cup of coffee didn't do it -

One of my house-mates got a beagle pup a few weeks back (not the one in video) and he's been at this all morning.

Great. Now the other two canines have added their own weekend cheer.

Beautiful day. Time for a walk and see what the melt last night left us.

Friday night Ode to Anonymous

"cause The Boss said we should

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

The reincarnation has not yet been given a name, but genetic traits show it to be a clone of this.

Yes, our old pal SPP.

It's Friday night and I'm knackered, so just a few words for now.  Alison has a good write-upp on it as does Mentarch, and if I recall correctly, the archives of Good Doctors Pale and Prole, Mentarch, Dr. Dawg, and jj have a fair bit on the SPP.

I can't remember where I read it, but just before the SPP got quiet, someone in the know said they were going quiet for awhile and would come back under a different name because the original one has too many negative connotations.

In other words, the SPP never went away nor disbanded.  It has been quietly working away and planning it's big unveiling.  Well, partial unveiling, it seems since the agreement has to be sold to Canadians which is scum-bag politico-speak for bull-shit their way into our compliance.

And part of that sales pitch is to make us so afraid of terrorists and attacks from hostile countries that we will come to believe we need this "perimeter security" around all of North America.

But setting that perimeter around the US, Mexico, and Canada will make us bigger targets since we will be taking on US security issues.

Then there's the loss of privacy and civil rights.

And let's not forget the lowest common denominator in quality of goods and in product safety.

Oh, and wages taking a huge dive as barriers are softened allowing cheap, temp labour to cross borders.

And "shared" resources such as water...

More tomorrow.  Or less for Canadians, I should say.

Well, it's Friday evening and those pricks won't be doing much tonight, so have a good weekend!

I have a life, dammit!

There's so much going on in the news it's hard to keep up the bitching reading and writing and still find time to remember my dog's name, let alone play with him.

Could narrow my focus, maybe just blog about Gladys Marie Smith.  And only post on Her First Biscuits.

Maybe not.

But that line of thought brings me to say thank you, all of you terrific bloggers out there who blog day after day through all the ups and downs.  Should also say thanks to the families and friends of bloggers as well because I know how much mine put up with.

"Everything is a cabinet confidence because they say it's a cabinet confidence. It's become that silly."

- Liberal MP John McKay

The Government Operations and Estimates Committee is supposed to oversee spending and provide transparency and accountability in reference to government spending - in particular estimates on future spending.

Well, it's pretty damn hard to review future spending if even basic information is witheld.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/todays-paper/Secrecy+over+federal+cuts+under+fire/3956482/story.html

Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page says departments can't manage the Harper government's three-year freeze on their operating budgets without cutting services to Canadians. But what those cuts are and how jobs or services will be affected remain cabinet secrets. Page, dispatched by MPs on the government operations committee in October to help them get a handle on the impact of the operating freeze, came back empty-handed. The government won't tell him details and has refused his requests for any information citing cabinet secrecy.

Page...argues the blocking of information is getting so out of hand that someone should be monitoring what's being refused to ensure they really are cabinet confidences.

The committee began its study on the freeze last April and made similar requests for basic information, such as how savings would be made, the risks of such reductions and whether they were one-time or ongoing cuts. The committee finally received a reply last week and was refused all information.

As John McKay points out, voting against the estimates could trigger an election, but with the cabinet secrecy trick, how can they know what they are supporting or voting down?

No kidding.  And how can Canadians know what they are supporting in an election as well if they aren't told what their tax dollars will be spent on, and what services, ones they have come to rely on, will cease to exist?

All Canadians need to put pressure on the opposition parties so that they don't give into this political blackmail.  If it leads to an election, fine.  Make it clear that it was brought on by the CON's denial of Canadians' right to know the basics of spending and cuts to programs and services.

Dalton, I like your brother, but you're a real asshole

Premier Dalton McGuinty’s officials plotted to keep the G20 law secret weeks before the Star revealed that Toronto police believed they had the power to arrest anyone near the summit site.

This is not something that should be kept secret. 

And you, Vic Vicious , you get liar added to asshole for trying to play Lady Macbeth.  We know who really was the force behind the act.

The feds co-ordinated security and funded it.

"I certainly wasn't aware of the concerns that were being raised with the bill." - Vic Vicious

"You're talking about the regulation that the McGuinty government passed? It was sometime after the G8/G20 event," Toews told reporters Wednesday when asked about when he learned of Ontario's passing changes to the Public Works Protection Act. That statement contradicts at least one of the findings of Marin, whose report suggests the RCMP and Toews's department did know about the Toronto police request to have the controversial regulation passed.

Hell, Vicious, we ordinary, Tim drinkin' and Starbuck sipping Canadians knew about it before the event.  Would you like me to get you a subscription to the Citizen?  Recommend a few blogs?

And there's this bit of damning evidence:

Email response to CBC from RCMP Sgt. Julie Gagnon:

Q: When was the RCMP made aware of the PWPA?

A: A few months before the actual event, the RCMP was made aware that TPS [Toronto Police Service] was considering using the PWPA however; the RCMP was not consulted on if TPS would use the PWPA during the Summits.



But hey - you fuckers needed that dry run for the reincarnated SPP, right?

And what good name is that, Chuck?

Rev. McVety said he was told Thursday by CTS that his show, Word TV, would be temporarily pulled from the air. "My good name has been impugned by this report."

You get to keep your fish-cult name,  the one you proudly wear  for your "malevolent, insidious and conspiratorial purpose" to the activities of homosexuals.

This announcement brings a lot of joy to many.  And that's what your cult is all aout, right?

About that Stevie Wanker performance

...and his HUGE EGO. I have only one thing to say about this.




There’s something creepy as hell about seeing those flat dead eyes as he engages in an activity that is emotion rich for most people.  Creepy as hell.