Corporal Brian Pinksen
2nd Battalion, The Royal Newfoundland Regiment
serving in Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment Battle Group
Monday, August 30, 2010
If you gots nothin’ ta hide, why ya worried?
Right, wingnuts?
Or how about: If’n ya didn’t do nuthin’, what’d ya sweatin’ over?
Or how about Steve’s and Johnnie’s own words:
“We promised to stand up for accountability and to change the way government works,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “Canadians elected this government to deliver on that commitment and today the Federal Accountability Act has received Royal Assent. From this day on, accountability in government is the law and we can all be proud of that fact.”
John Baird: “The Federal Accountability Act is a significant and substantive step by Canada’s New Government to help restore Canadians’ trust in government and the democratic process.”
Sure, but that was when Canadians were lead to believe that legislation applied to all Canadians. Stevie has informed us that such is not reality.
That might explain why Baird thumbed his nose at his and his master’s promise of transparency and accountability by refusing the legitimate demand of the Information, Privacy and Ethics committee for the electronic correspondence of a political aide who – can anyone make this shit up? - blocked the release of an Access to Information request.
Mr. Baird defended the decision, saying cabinet ministers, and not their staff, are responsible to Parliament (and that) parliamentary and constitution convention dictates that the political communications related to decisions and actions of cabinet ministers are never disclosed.
What a fucking troll.
Let’s look at that statement in the context of this issue. The political staffer Sébastien Togneri “unreleased” documents requested by a Globe and Mail reporter when Mr. Paradis headed the Public Works department.
Togneri apparently wrote a series of e-mails relating to this. Since Paradis as Minister is responsible to Parliament, any e-mails Togneri sent to him as Minister should be available for scrutiny.
As for e-mails to public servants within the department, Stevie and Johnnie passed through that nifty accountability act in December, 2006 giving us clear direction on that.
The accounting officer system was put into place in Canada after considerable debate about whether the traditional model of ministerial and public service accountability was satisfactory. The adoption of the accounting officer system could clarify accountability and improve the dialogue between Parliament and the professional public service by specifying that deputy ministers are indeed accountable for a few select areas, such as ensuring that an effective system of internal control is in place and signing the accounts of their organization. It may make deputy ministers devote more attention to their management responsibilities, and may provide deputy ministers with an incentive to say no to inappropriate political interference in departmental administration. It could do this by making them aware that their actions could potentially be the subject of parliamentary inquiry.
And public servants are accountable to their supervisors, so through the deputy minister, are responsible to Parliament as well.
So any e-mails Togneri sent to public servants within the department should be available to the committee as well.
Basic common sense tells us as well that parliamentary staff are responsible to their superior, and ultimately, the elected member they work for. Because of that, their e-mails sent in course of their job are no longer their own property, but belong to the transaction or issue which is managed by the elected member. The staffer doesn’t own the e-mails. So, Baird can dance around all he wants trying to please his portly master, but if he keeps to that line, it isn’t Togneri who is in contempt by refusing, it is Paradis.
By Baird’s account, Togneri is not really responsible for whatever action was taken. He was simply the post man, and the post man doesn’t own the mail he delivers nor can he grant that mail some vague diplomatic-type immunity.
So Baird, Harper, quit trying to interfere with the legitimate demand of the legitimate Information, Privacy and Ethics committee. Because - ‘Such interference would be unprecedented and abusive!’
(But hardly unprecedented coming from the Hamper party of Canada)
Or how about: If’n ya didn’t do nuthin’, what’d ya sweatin’ over?
Or how about Steve’s and Johnnie’s own words:
“We promised to stand up for accountability and to change the way government works,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “Canadians elected this government to deliver on that commitment and today the Federal Accountability Act has received Royal Assent. From this day on, accountability in government is the law and we can all be proud of that fact.”
John Baird: “The Federal Accountability Act is a significant and substantive step by Canada’s New Government to help restore Canadians’ trust in government and the democratic process.”
Sure, but that was when Canadians were lead to believe that legislation applied to all Canadians. Stevie has informed us that such is not reality.
That might explain why Baird thumbed his nose at his and his master’s promise of transparency and accountability by refusing the legitimate demand of the Information, Privacy and Ethics committee for the electronic correspondence of a political aide who – can anyone make this shit up? - blocked the release of an Access to Information request.
Mr. Baird defended the decision, saying cabinet ministers, and not their staff, are responsible to Parliament (and that) parliamentary and constitution convention dictates that the political communications related to decisions and actions of cabinet ministers are never disclosed.
What a fucking troll.
Togneri apparently wrote a series of e-mails relating to this. Since Paradis as Minister is responsible to Parliament, any e-mails Togneri sent to him as Minister should be available for scrutiny.
As for e-mails to public servants within the department, Stevie and Johnnie passed through that nifty accountability act in December, 2006 giving us clear direction on that.
The accounting officer system was put into place in Canada after considerable debate about whether the traditional model of ministerial and public service accountability was satisfactory. The adoption of the accounting officer system could clarify accountability and improve the dialogue between Parliament and the professional public service by specifying that deputy ministers are indeed accountable for a few select areas, such as ensuring that an effective system of internal control is in place and signing the accounts of their organization. It may make deputy ministers devote more attention to their management responsibilities, and may provide deputy ministers with an incentive to say no to inappropriate political interference in departmental administration. It could do this by making them aware that their actions could potentially be the subject of parliamentary inquiry.
And public servants are accountable to their supervisors, so through the deputy minister, are responsible to Parliament as well.
So any e-mails Togneri sent to public servants within the department should be available to the committee as well.
Basic common sense tells us as well that parliamentary staff are responsible to their superior, and ultimately, the elected member they work for. Because of that, their e-mails sent in course of their job are no longer their own property, but belong to the transaction or issue which is managed by the elected member. The staffer doesn’t own the e-mails. So, Baird can dance around all he wants trying to please his portly master, but if he keeps to that line, it isn’t Togneri who is in contempt by refusing, it is Paradis.
By Baird’s account, Togneri is not really responsible for whatever action was taken. He was simply the post man, and the post man doesn’t own the mail he delivers nor can he grant that mail some vague diplomatic-type immunity.
So Baird, Harper, quit trying to interfere with the legitimate demand of the legitimate Information, Privacy and Ethics committee. Because - ‘Such interference would be unprecedented and abusive!’
(But hardly unprecedented coming from the Hamper party of Canada)
Just don’t wait too long, Michael
Seriously, Ignatieff. Do you really think some pivotal event will turn this around for the Liberals, offering them a better time to call an election?
Hey, ignore me if you want to, I’m just a voter. What do I know? I’m sure you and your advisers know what I want better than I do, right?
Just consider a few things, though:
While the Liberals have been waiting and seeing, they propped up Harper & Co. so many times that more and more people have lost hope that the party stands for anything concrete.
While the Liberals have been waiting and seeing, Harper has been using taxpayer money to fund a 4 ½ year election campaign.
While the Liberals have been waiting and seeing, Harper has been replacing key personnel in those very agencies meant to hold the elected government accountable so that he is more able to hide the truth of the damage he has been doing to this country.
While the Liberals have been waiting and seeing, Harper has been undermining the non-partisan nature of the public service so that more and more it is becoming an extension of his power which he can use to help him win the next election.
While the Liberals have been waiting and seeing, Harper has been closing access to information, making it more difficult to fight him with the truth next election.
While the Liberals have been waiting and seeing, Harper has been using his lap dogs to set up a media agency that will serve up his propaganda during the next election.
And while the Liberals wait and see, Harper will make sure that his pet media people get whatever they need to fund and push Steve’s propaganda onto the nation.
I’ve said it before: these actions by the CONs aren’t political activities, they are attacks on our democracy in order to bludgeon it into compliancy. To all opposition parties: quit giving Harper’s undemocratic actions legitimacy by waiting for that perfect time and reason to toss his destructive, selfish, sorry ass into political limbo forever.
He has given Canada and Canadians more than enough reason as he has lied to us; withheld vital information from us; sent our troops to die so that he could feed off their glory only to cast them into the gutter when they return in pain; repeatedly snubbed Parliament as he prorogued; ignored committees and deadlines; seriously damaged the public service through his relentless attacks on public servants; enabled torture; struck several blows against women’s rights; undermined minorities' advances; set back aboriginals and homosexuals; stepped up the level of intolerance in Canada; fostered fear in Canadians; was fiscally irresponsible and off the mark repeatedly; changed our international reputation from one of compassion to one which is tight fisted, mean, backwards; clearly set a line between law enforcement personnel and the Canadians they are sworn to protect by the attitude that we are all really no more than potential criminals who need to be kept in our designated place; removed tools necessary for social and economic equality...
There are just a few reasons Canadians should go to the polls again. Some of us already know this. Now, Ignatieff, convince the rest.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Hear that? That’s the sound of democracy at work.
Chantal Hébert brought a smile to my face this morning, confirming what I said back here. Stevie has greatly misjudged Canadians thinking we are a submissive lot who will endlessly bow down to his bullying. I am very happy to see more and more of them prove him wrong.
One result is that there is increasingly open talk of government witch hunts taking place deep into normally apolitical public service territory…These days, more and more former senior civil servants are uncharacteristically speaking out in public against the actions of the Harper government.
Not surprisingly, the public opinion ripples are widening with every purge. Last winter’s prorogation backlash was unexpectedly strong. Over the summer, the level of engagement of Canada’s civil society on the census issue has been unprecedented, with otherwise Conservative-friendly constituencies among the vocal critics of the decision to abolish the long form.
This week, the circle widened again to include more otherwise natural allies of the Conservatives like the veterans and the country’s police associations.
It isn’t only the upper ranks who are rumbling.
Harper said the new centre would provide 550 jobs in the region. But he said that would be fewer payroll jobs in total than there are presently across the country.He said the system would be more automated and that a wave of retirements are expected over the next few years."We will employ less people going forward than we're currently doing," he said. "But we will also create a workforce here ... that we anticipate will be a lot more stable than we have in some other parts of the country."
PSAC's President, John Gordon points out that as the Miramichi jobs are created, others will be cut throughout the country, with 30-35% in Ottawa alone. So Harper will be taking jobs away from densely populated areas and making the job situation in Miramich more "stable" than other parts of the country.
Okaaaaaaayyyyy...
Impolitical points out another Harper oddity (amazing anyone can even focus on one anymore), a little detail that has not been lost on public servants:
Harper went to New Brunswick today in a fit of premature termination politics, already making plans for a post-gun registry world: "Payroll jobs for long-gun registry workers." A little presumptuous of the boss, don't you think? That gun registry vote comes at the end of September and it's not at all assured that Mr. Harper's bill to destroy the registry will pass.
That's right. Harpsie can't pass up a chance at a good photo op and magnanamous gesture as rumours of a fall election grow, so why wait until the vote takes place that would actually put the folks in Miramichi out of work? Arrogant on his part to act as though shutting down the registry is a done deal.
John Baird can make all the we love us them thar public servants statements all he wants, but the brazen politics of such moves as the Miramichi one and cutting jobs all across Canada to boost votes in a single riding does not engender trust among the public servants.
But then, Harper is not only arrogant, but really, really out of touch with people. Really, Steve, you're not getting out of the car?
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Appeasing the political masters: the public service of the future?
I have been saying for years that one of the biggest dangers our democracy faces is the undermining of the independence of our public service. Don Martin wrote a very good column showing why this is true. If you read nothing else today read that, all the way through. The last bit is chilling:
But this appears to be an arms-length move done independently to appease the political masters. If so, it will send a shiver deep into departments or agencies orbiting the government’s axis of direct or indirect influence.
If nothing else, Supt. Cheliak could become a polar-opposite example of how the Harper government treats its appointees. Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran is one extreme. He became an angry thorn for a government that promptly denied him a contract extension after one term.
William Elliott may prove to be the other extreme. For doing the government this very big personnel transfer favour, the troubled civilian police commissioner is now officially bulletproof from premature contract termination and may be a very safe bet for an extension.
More and more I hear (from anonymous sources - I always wanted to say that!) that the very language in high level meetings in some departments is changing. Rather than driving a point home on the delicate nature of a project by saying how it will affect the public they are paid to serve, some - and certainly not all - execs talk about how this will help or hinder the Harper government. They speak as though this is their mandate.
We can’t fluff this off thinking it’s just a few bad lackeys and the integrity of the PS will hold because the bulk of public servants know why they are there. While the seasoned public servants are getting fed up (and I believe starting to push back), Babyboomers are set to retire and we’ll have a whole fresh bunch of eager beavers stepping in not knowing any better and thinking their job is to serve the elected government, and that includes making the political masters look good.
Unethical PMs like Harper won’t have to work so hard at twisting things. The new public service will do it for them. As Martin pointed out with Elliot, so it will be with most appointees until we no longer have a non-partisan service.
This is one of the most - if not the most - serious issue we face with Harper. Everything else - human rights, environmental protection, housing, wages, how our troops are dealt with depend on a public service that can impartially advise and provide services to the public. If we cannot count on impartial studies and reports, on truth in reporting, on the welfare of the public before all, we are at the mercy of whatever the leader of the day decides Canada should be. We could get lucky and have an altruistic type who really cares about all of us equally, but the odds go the other way. People who enjoy using power tend to be the ones who seek powerful positions.
But this appears to be an arms-length move done independently to appease the political masters. If so, it will send a shiver deep into departments or agencies orbiting the government’s axis of direct or indirect influence.
If nothing else, Supt. Cheliak could become a polar-opposite example of how the Harper government treats its appointees. Veterans Ombudsman Pat Stogran is one extreme. He became an angry thorn for a government that promptly denied him a contract extension after one term.
William Elliott may prove to be the other extreme. For doing the government this very big personnel transfer favour, the troubled civilian police commissioner is now officially bulletproof from premature contract termination and may be a very safe bet for an extension.
More and more I hear (from anonymous sources - I always wanted to say that!) that the very language in high level meetings in some departments is changing. Rather than driving a point home on the delicate nature of a project by saying how it will affect the public they are paid to serve, some - and certainly not all - execs talk about how this will help or hinder the Harper government. They speak as though this is their mandate.
We can’t fluff this off thinking it’s just a few bad lackeys and the integrity of the PS will hold because the bulk of public servants know why they are there. While the seasoned public servants are getting fed up (and I believe starting to push back), Babyboomers are set to retire and we’ll have a whole fresh bunch of eager beavers stepping in not knowing any better and thinking their job is to serve the elected government, and that includes making the political masters look good.
Unethical PMs like Harper won’t have to work so hard at twisting things. The new public service will do it for them. As Martin pointed out with Elliot, so it will be with most appointees until we no longer have a non-partisan service.
This is one of the most - if not the most - serious issue we face with Harper. Everything else - human rights, environmental protection, housing, wages, how our troops are dealt with depend on a public service that can impartially advise and provide services to the public. If we cannot count on impartial studies and reports, on truth in reporting, on the welfare of the public before all, we are at the mercy of whatever the leader of the day decides Canada should be. We could get lucky and have an altruistic type who really cares about all of us equally, but the odds go the other way. People who enjoy using power tend to be the ones who seek powerful positions.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
A few good men and women
Kelly Egan wonders why we rarely see public servants giving interviews.
POGGE notices that the turnover rate in the public service is rather high.
I'd agree.
Fired or dismissed:
Luc Pomerleau, biologist, Food Inspection Agency for whistleblowing.
Douglas Tipple, consultant, PWGSC, set up then fired for his advice on real estate.
Arthur Carty, National Science Advisor, phased out.
Alan Leadbeater, Canadian Information Commission, dismissed.
Paul Kennedy, chair, Complaints Commission for the RCMP, term not renewed, mid-report
Adrian Measner, Canadian Wheat Board, fired for disagreeing with Harper plans
Johanne Gelinas, Environment Commissioner, dismissed for a scathing report
Linda Keen, CNsc, fired for doing her job
RCMP Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak, dismissed, apparently for speaking in favour of the long gun registry
Pat Stogran, ombudsman for veterans, dismissed for doing his job
Others who were probably forced out or encouraged to leave:
Robert Marleau, Information Commissioner, stonewalled, resigned
Jean-Guy Fleury, chair, Immigration & Refugee Board, resigned out of frustration
Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Elections Canada, stonewalled, resigned while investigating the CONs
Smeared, muzzled, or set up:
Richard Colvin, diplomat, attacked viciously for telling the truth as part of his job
Rémi Beauregard, Rights & Democracy, died, heart attack after cruel attacks from Harper appointees
Louise Arbour, UN High Com. for Human Rights, was refused support on 2nd term, publicly rebuffed
Kevin Page, publicly rebuffed repeatedly, budget cut back
Munir Sheikh, resigned because he refused to lie for the Harper government
This list does not include those anonymous public servants who may have been fired or forced out for refusing to violate their non-partisan mandates but never made the news.
Over two years ago - May 2008, we were warned of this purge:
Information Commissioner Robert Marleau told The Hill Times recently that the Harper government has been quietly drafting about 25 government policies that impact on the rights of officers of Parliament, and that it has been happening without their knowledge or input.
So, fellow Canadians, are you ready to oust this Harper government, or are you going to wait until the public service becomes just another tool of Harper's to violate your rights, lie to you, deny you the right to know what they and the elected government are up to?
It's not a bunch of hungry, tired Tamil refugees you should be afraid of.
Update: a few more, thanks to the Vancouver Sun
Steve Sullivan, victims of crime ombudsman, term was not renewed, publicly took issue with the Harper government's tough-on-crime agenda.
Sheridan Scott, Competition Bureau head, ran afoul environment minister, quit after being told her appointment would not be renewed.
Bernard Shapiro, ethics commissioner, clashed repeatedly with Harper and quit suddenly.
Another thanks to Cathie :
More from Beijing York:
Deanna Allen , VP Canadian Wheat Board, fired by Harper appointee Arason following Measner's firing.
Andrew Okulitch, scientist with the Geological Survey (although he was eventually re-instated... back in the day that Harper was pretending to be moderate), for lampooning an order to call Stephen Harper's Tory government "Canada's new government'' is back on the job.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
CON-cave and CON-vex
When an issue comes up- whether initiated by them or not - Harper & Co decide how to handle it based on two motivators: covering their ass, and how they can use the situation to forward the goals of their party.
Several recent events demonstrate this well: the Tamil refugee claimants; the Employment Equity complaint made by one person; the announcement to build more prisons.
Here Stevie does CON-cave politics: extremely shallow, superficial response very weak on research, long-term planning or projections, and devoid of any truth as to why he is taking that particular action. The EE complaint was one of hundreds of similar complaints made every year and routinely addressed by whichever department is involved, but the CONs decide to cash in on this one by having not one, but two high profile Ministers show up within a couple of days to give interviews. They take the relatively minor incident, make sure it develops into a bigger one, then use it to appeal to their base and to set up changes to policies they had already decided to change in any event. Time to review employment equity!!!! they boldly shout. Guess what? It’s constantly being reviewed as are most federal programs. But the CONs grab this one minor complaint, wave it around, massage the message, and charge in with heroic words and swords well sharpened to hack and slash according to their narrow ideology.
Similarly, the CONs are creating havoc with the Tamil refugee claimants, taking this incident, pulling out the tough talk to make sure they don’t take flack from their base, and stirring things up to use this occurrence to push their tough on crime and war or terror agendas publicly. Look at who they send out: Not Kenney, Minister of Immigration, but Toews, Minister of Public Safety. Why? Because they want to forward their never ending get tough policies by creating a crisis which they can then claim to be quelling. Toews is out there ridiculously trying to label the claimants as victims of human trafficking, terrorists, and members of organized crime all at once while adding in the storm-crow words of prophetic doom: the latest boatload of asylum seekers is but a "test boat" that will be followed by others.
Yet nothing is being done to actually deal logically with not only this situation, but lay out good legislation and policies for the future as we anticipate many more political and climate refugees. Instead, the result will be more hasty decisions and haphazard policies tossed together on the fly as the CONs’ priorities remain massaging the message.
Sometimes the CONs manage to tie a couple of issues together superficially in order to pursue their true agenda. The plan to build more prisons and the resulting fall-out is a good example. Day couldn’t sell the plan on unreported criminals, but watch it, Canada! There’s still plenty of crime out there! Nicholson sets the stage by expanding the definition of serious crimes claiming these lesser offenses are related to that big, scary beast – organized crime. Guess what? Hang-‘em high Toews frowns like all the storms of the century in one and warns us of…organized crime coming at us from the high seas!!!!! Oh my! Crime here, crime there, now crime coming in by the boatloads!!!! Now were getting’ ascairt!!!! All that crime and terrorists as well!!!!!
Lots of noise, folks, but very little action. At least no reasonable action that will address these issues through sound planning.
But there’s the CON-vex at work behind the scenes. Here’s where Canadians will get more than they ever expected or voted for. That’s where the real Harper plans hide out.
While we have been subject to the stupid that is named Clement, Day, and Toews these past few weeks as they contradict themselves day after day, offer up vague, nonsensical comments, and make ridiculous, unsubstantiated claims, the CONs are hard at work figuring out how to use these issues and how to create others that will justify the changes they plan to make in order to reach their real goals.
In order to figure out what those real goals are, Canadians need to look behind the diversions and superficial reactions of the CONs and see what major changes they have made while using non-credible arguments to do so. The list is long, but ties into only a few things: secure the ability to work in almost complete secrecy, reduce the public’s access to information to practically nothing, situate themselves so that public servants and public departments serve the CON party and not the public. There are other goals as well, but those three would give them almost total control of the country.
They could push through what they want without Canadians knowing until too late; hide the details of how and why changes were made; invent whatever reality they wanted to message the public; shut off avenues for us to find the truth ourselves; effectively muzzle public servants; have the entire public service and all of their resources working for them. The opposition can scream all it wants, but without facts obtained through ATIP, it's little more than noise.
That’s why, my equally screwed fellow Canadians, Harper cancelled the long form census, has been systematically replacing key personnel in the public service, has been testing the waters by seeing what he can get away with in using federal departmental sites to post his propaganda, why he has been investing our money into greater security and prisons, why he has been expanding the power of law enforcement, why he canceled the long form... The on-going fear factors? Those justify violating our privacy and due process rights and have the added advantage of keeping us distracted by playing on our emotions.
Conservative supporters as well as left of right should oppose this Harper government. I doubt very much that any but a few rabid fanatics really agree with a government having so much power as well as the desire and means to deny us our right to know what they are up to and why.
Several recent events demonstrate this well: the Tamil refugee claimants; the Employment Equity complaint made by one person; the announcement to build more prisons.
Similarly, the CONs are creating havoc with the Tamil refugee claimants, taking this incident, pulling out the tough talk to make sure they don’t take flack from their base, and stirring things up to use this occurrence to push their tough on crime and war or terror agendas publicly. Look at who they send out: Not Kenney, Minister of Immigration, but Toews, Minister of Public Safety. Why? Because they want to forward their never ending get tough policies by creating a crisis which they can then claim to be quelling. Toews is out there ridiculously trying to label the claimants as victims of human trafficking, terrorists, and members of organized crime all at once while adding in the storm-crow words of prophetic doom: the latest boatload of asylum seekers is but a "test boat" that will be followed by others.
Yet nothing is being done to actually deal logically with not only this situation, but lay out good legislation and policies for the future as we anticipate many more political and climate refugees. Instead, the result will be more hasty decisions and haphazard policies tossed together on the fly as the CONs’ priorities remain massaging the message.
Sometimes the CONs manage to tie a couple of issues together superficially in order to pursue their true agenda. The plan to build more prisons and the resulting fall-out is a good example. Day couldn’t sell the plan on unreported criminals, but watch it, Canada! There’s still plenty of crime out there! Nicholson sets the stage by expanding the definition of serious crimes claiming these lesser offenses are related to that big, scary beast – organized crime. Guess what? Hang-‘em high Toews frowns like all the storms of the century in one and warns us of…organized crime coming at us from the high seas!!!!! Oh my! Crime here, crime there, now crime coming in by the boatloads!!!! Now were getting’ ascairt!!!! All that crime and terrorists as well!!!!!
Lots of noise, folks, but very little action. At least no reasonable action that will address these issues through sound planning.
While we have been subject to the stupid that is named Clement, Day, and Toews these past few weeks as they contradict themselves day after day, offer up vague, nonsensical comments, and make ridiculous, unsubstantiated claims, the CONs are hard at work figuring out how to use these issues and how to create others that will justify the changes they plan to make in order to reach their real goals.
In order to figure out what those real goals are, Canadians need to look behind the diversions and superficial reactions of the CONs and see what major changes they have made while using non-credible arguments to do so. The list is long, but ties into only a few things: secure the ability to work in almost complete secrecy, reduce the public’s access to information to practically nothing, situate themselves so that public servants and public departments serve the CON party and not the public. There are other goals as well, but those three would give them almost total control of the country.
They could push through what they want without Canadians knowing until too late; hide the details of how and why changes were made; invent whatever reality they wanted to message the public; shut off avenues for us to find the truth ourselves; effectively muzzle public servants; have the entire public service and all of their resources working for them. The opposition can scream all it wants, but without facts obtained through ATIP, it's little more than noise.
That’s why, my equally screwed fellow Canadians, Harper cancelled the long form census, has been systematically replacing key personnel in the public service, has been testing the waters by seeing what he can get away with in using federal departmental sites to post his propaganda, why he has been investing our money into greater security and prisons, why he has been expanding the power of law enforcement, why he canceled the long form... The on-going fear factors? Those justify violating our privacy and due process rights and have the added advantage of keeping us distracted by playing on our emotions.
Conservative supporters as well as left of right should oppose this Harper government. I doubt very much that any but a few rabid fanatics really agree with a government having so much power as well as the desire and means to deny us our right to know what they are up to and why.
How about we set up a nuclear waste facility in your living room, Ezra?
You can entertain with racist jokes as people work.
What a pompous, monumentally stupid racist asshole.
(Ezra) Levant says Canada should set up a refugee-processing centre on the Haida Gwaii and handle Tamils as Australia does.
That idea exposes so, so many really vile things about Levant. Haida Gwaii is an absolutely gorgeous archipelago made up of over 50 islands and the idea of setting up what Levant most likely envisions as acres and acres of wire cages for the Tamils and buildings for the white folks to work in shows pasty-face has no concept of, or appreciation for natural beauty. Nor does he give a damn about a history far older than that of those real (?) Canadians he seems to prefer – you know, the ones who invaded a few hundred years ago and committed several acts of genocide in an attempt to eradicate the Original People.
The Haida Gwaii is the homeland of the Haida First Nation. It isn’t an abandoned wasteland that no one gives a damn about. They would probably have something to say about Ezra’s idea.
Then there’s the idea that for some reason, the Tamil are so dangerous they should be shuttered away on what Levant, in his ignorance, considers a remote, useless island.
Sure. Then in 70 or so years, we can give them all an empty apology...maybe. If we don't keep re-electing these pricks who feed the hatred.
What a pompous, monumentally stupid racist asshole.
(Ezra) Levant says Canada should set up a refugee-processing centre on the Haida Gwaii and handle Tamils as Australia does.
That idea exposes so, so many really vile things about Levant. Haida Gwaii is an absolutely gorgeous archipelago made up of over 50 islands and the idea of setting up what Levant most likely envisions as acres and acres of wire cages for the Tamils and buildings for the white folks to work in shows pasty-face has no concept of, or appreciation for natural beauty. Nor does he give a damn about a history far older than that of those real (?) Canadians he seems to prefer – you know, the ones who invaded a few hundred years ago and committed several acts of genocide in an attempt to eradicate the Original People.
Then there’s the idea that for some reason, the Tamil are so dangerous they should be shuttered away on what Levant, in his ignorance, considers a remote, useless island.
Sure. Then in 70 or so years, we can give them all an empty apology...maybe. If we don't keep re-electing these pricks who feed the hatred.
Monday, August 16, 2010
900 says Toews' adult prison for tender little boys is a "test run."
"Other sadistic pedophiles may be waiting to see what Blackburn’s reaction is to it," 900 said.
900 said it’s expected other sexual sadist-pedophiles will follow.
It clearly wasn’t a last-ditch, "last-minute" attempt to incarcerate tender little boys where big hairy men would pay big bucks to play with them, 900 said.
"It’s clear the smooth skinned little boys were meant to be incarcerated here in an adult prison specially outfitted to allow private visits by Toews himself," 900 said. "The cells themselves are well-equipped to maximize sadistic play by Toews and paying adult visitors."
The government can’t just turn such boys over to safe homes for sexually sadistic reasons, said Toews in his defence.
The government has to consider the past unscrupulousness of parents and foster homes, Toews said. There is a possibility that such bleeding heart lefties may protect the children from sexual sadist-pedophiles and he’d have to resort to buggering his own dog, he said.
900 also said the prison cells had been retrofitted to breed young, unwed girls to assure a steady supply of sweet boys.
"The sexual sadistic decor and accommodations in those cells was far in excess of what adult male lifers usually outfit them with," 900 told reporters. "They were clearly designed to maximize the number of young boys each cell could hold and therefore maximize the amount of sexual sadism pedophilia that Toews, running the prison would achieve."
900 also said it’s believed the sexually sadistic pedophile prison service is linked to the Vatican, but declined to provide further details.
But 900 added most of the 492 sexual sadist-pedophiles paid between $40,000 to $50,000 each for a night with the child convicts, thus securing funding for yet more sexual sadism pedophile services in the guise of prisons.
"It’s certainly indicative of the fact that this was a very profitable undertaking even if the sexual sadism-pedophile ring is eventually stopped," 900 said. "This could afford Toews with a lot of money to keep buggering little boys. Whether or not individuals who use Toews’ sexual sadism-pedophile services are actually part of his criminal organization, certainly the amount of money paid goes to finance Toews’ sexual sadism-pedophile criminal organization."
Hey...if family values Vic can make shit up, so can I. What a sack of shit he is. I suppose the Tamils ate his baby as well. But he has not offered any evidence yet. He’ll get some hapless public servant to do that while he holds that public servant’s family hostage in his sexual sadism-pedophile playroom in his basement.
Just making crap up to create fear in Canadians so the CONs can do a pretend rescue securing the country from pretend terrosists, pretend criminals, and pretend all around godlessness. Hey, they're just a bunch of brown people, so if we break up their families while they are being investigated, it's no like they actually feel things, right, Vic? If your lies engender more hatred, fear, and racism against brown people, that's just fine 'cause you don't want them here anyway, is that it, Vic? And what does it matter that legitimate refugies will be turned away more and more as you stoke this created fear in Canadians as long as it brings you and Harps a few more rabid votes...that's the plan, right?
Oh yeah, fuck you, Vic, and the Steve whose ass you have your nose jammed up.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Critics say the Prime Minister is in an ideological time warp, but the time slot isn’t all that bad. The 1950s were one of the better decades. - Lawrence Martin, August 12, 2010
Well sure. If you were white, Christian, male, and right of center.
That was the era of the Cold War where anyone considered non-conformist was suspected of communist ties:
A Macleans magazine columnist described the paranoid atmosphere of the time: "If a housewife in Ottawa hears a knock on her door, it can be one of only two people. The milkman or the RCMP".
Racism was still ingrained into our laws and customs :
A Black carpenter and veteran of WWII was ostracized and his business boycotted until he was eventually forced to leave Dresden, Ontario because of his leadership to desegregate local restaurants and barbershops. His and other black families had been residents of Dresden since the 1850's. Until 1951, Windsor bars had separate sections called "jungle rooms" for Black patrons. In the 1950's, Joe Drummond, a Black resident of Saint John, New Brunswick, could not get a haircut anywhere in his own city. In 1954, the Prime Minister of Barbados, Grantly Adams, was denied a room in a Montreal hotel due to "regulations". First Nations children were routinely taken from their families and put into residential schools to "unlearn" their culture and language.
Women were generally viewed as appendages to their husbands:
The following guidelines (for a 1950’s housewife) appeared in a 1955 edition of Good House Keeping Magazine (follow the link for the full set, but make sure you have no sharp objects nearby):
(…)
• Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
• (…) After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
• Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
• Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.
• Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.
• Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
• A good wife always knows her place.
Homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder, deviant behavior, and a threat to national security:
"Fruit machine" is a jocular term for a device developed in Canada that was supposed to be able to identify homosexual people, or "fruits"…The fruit machine was employed in Canada in the 1950s and 1960s during a campaign to eliminate all homosexuals from the civil service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and the military. A substantial number of workers did lose their jobs.
Unwed mothers were ostracized. Abortions were illegal so unwed, pregnant women and girls faced the choice between an illegal, potentially fatal procedure (if they could even find anyone to perform it), or being stigmatized and ostracized for the rest of their life. The children were still referred to as bastards and stigmatized as well.
Beginning in the 1940s and 1950s, illegitimacy began to be defined in terms of psychological deficits on the part of the mother.[6] …The dominant psychological and social work view was that the large majority of unmarried mothers were better off being separated by adoption from their newborn babies. According to Mandell (2007), "In most cases, adoption was presented to the mothers as the only option and little or no effort was made to help the mothers keep and raise the children."
...Unwed mothers were defined by psychological theory as not-mothers... As long as these females had no control over their reproductive lives, they were subject to the will and the ideology of those who watched over them. And the will, veiled though it often was, called for unwed mothers to acknowledge their shame and guilt, repent, and rededicate themselves."
Ahhhh…the 50s…sexually repressed, paranoid, mysoginistic, racist, god-fearin’, homophobic…yeah, that’s Stevie’s ideal time period for sure. Lawrence Martin gets that part right –
Do we have the makings of a new puritanism here? A Calvinistic comeback? The Justice Department has become the Conservatives’ priority department. There’s all that perfidy out there, so much that even the evangelical colleges have been getting economic stimulus grants. Onward Christian soldiers!
Harper: bringing Canada back…6 decades back. Because Father Knows Best.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Condolences to family and friends - Mario Laguë
“While we will miss Mario’s extensive talents, we will miss most of all his warmth, his humour, and his passion for Canada that inspired us all,” Mr. Ignatieff said.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Boo-hoo-fucking-hoo.
Gee, that’s too bad. You’re religious though, aren’t you Tony? So take heart, this is probably all part of your god’s plan, everything happens for a reason and all that.
This is probably your god’s way of saying “Tony done a bad, bad, thing.”
Lying, setting innocent, well meaning people up for a fall, mis-using your position for personal and party gain...I believe your god does not approve of those things.
Maybe he’s also trying to teach you about the harm you do to others by letting you see what it feels like to be under constant attack.
But you’ll never quite get it, because those you helped set up and destroy were telling the truth, simply trying to do their jobs with dedication. Unlike you and the other Harperites who lie and destroy others for personal gain, for your party, for your mortal master, and for your narrow ideology.
Have your angels abandoned you as well? When I went to Catholic school, the virgin penguins told me the angels are very sad when people lie and turn their backs on us.
The penguins were also very fond of saying “you shall reap what you sow.”
So try to get the message. It’s part of your god’s plan: what you’re going through now is what you had planned for Munir Sheikh and the folks at Stats Can. But Sheikh wouldn’t take on your lie. You own it. Wear it.
Oh yeah. Last bit of advice. Don’t try to ride your camel through the eye of a needle unless you turn both cheeks. Just thought I should point that out.
An aside - if someone chooses to flaunt their religious beliefs in public for political gain, then those beliefs are fair game in the public domain.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Has the big beast had enough?
Why do these lines of Yeats come to me now?
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
When John Baird made an announcement that really should have been made by the President of the Treasury Board, Stock Day, and when that announcement is such a blatant lie contradicting what Day has been saying, you need to ask why, and why now.
“We won’t see the massive cuts to the public service that happened under the last Liberal government,” said Baird. “I don’t envisage anything like that.”...As an example (of how important public servants are), he cited the 300 public servants who work at his former ministry, Infrastructure Canada. “We could not have done the economic action plan without them. They delivered it.”
Sure. Baird valued public servants so much when he was head of Infrastructure that he short staffed them while drastically increasing the workload. They were then blamed for the slow process of loosening up stimulus funds.
The government body that oversees $38 billion in federal infrastructure spending has had its knuckles rapped for being poorly staffed and hiring unqualified employees. Infrastructure Canada has had either no human resource plan or insufficient plans in the three years audited since the Conservatives came to power, said the report. "The department has faced and continues to face a significant shortfall of staff," said the audit.
"My understanding of last year is they didn't add a single staff, net," said Kennedy. "That is a recipe for bad performance. It's also a recipe for political interference. Shortcuts are taken when people aren't there and when people aren't trained."
Baird now claims there will be no cuts to departmental budgets, and spending will increase for defence, airport security, and law and order. This certainly hasn’t been the case so far under Harper.
Although Demers (PIPS) says politically-driven public service cuts have been going on for many years, the process has accelerated under the Harper Conservatives. The 2007 federal budget mandated across-the-board savings of five percent in every government department.
Nor has the guy who actually is supposed to decide what to cut in the public service sent the same message.
Just days into his new job, Day cut 245 positions from government boards and agencies, principally related to the arts. On the day he was appointed, he boasted of being the new Dr. No and warned of cuts to come. The words of CON liars aside, logic tells us the public service has been, and will continue to be under attack.
Since the government has already promised that funding transfers to the provinces are safe and ruled out tax hikes, that leaves government programs as the obvious target to curb spending.
...Day earned a reputation as a zealous cost-cutter when as Alberta labour minister he was caught in a furor over hospital staffing when then-premier Ralph Klein's government attempted to chop public-sector wages. As a candidate for Canadian Alliance leader, he advocated cutting funding for departments like Health Canada.
So why send Baird out to lie on behalf of Day? Day’s bragging of cuts is too recent for him to do a flip-flop, and he has reduced his feeble credibility to the negative zone over his non-existent criminal comments.
That still leaves us to wonder why Baird was sent by the master to make any comment on this at all.
The rough beast, perhaps, has been vexed to nightmare and is waking up. Public servants are generally passive, grumbling from time to time about the little things, putting up with the partisan nature of their Ministers, adjusting after each election. But push them too hard, from too many directions, and they will kick up more than a fuss.
In the past year, Flaherty has openly stated that their pensions and benefits are very generous and considering the context, there is little doubt these will be under attack. Public servants are being forced to violate their own commitment to non-partisan service through pressure and instruments such as MEPs. They are being muzzled. They are being used as scapegoats while the political bosses who forced them despite their best advice walk away unscathed. The list of public servants served up as fodder simply because they were doing their job and doing it well is lengthy.
Then, Colvin came along. The moment I saw him on video, I knew he would be a catalyst for change. Linda Keen was admirable, but so wonderfully tough she was viewed by some as abrasive. Not so with Colvin. He clearly didn’t want to be in front of cameras, he was obviously pained by the whole process, and he came across as very sincere. His actions cost him. Seeing Colvin take a beating day after day without quitting on his role as a public servant was not only inspiring to public servants, it also tweaked a little guilt each time their political bosses asked them to cross a line.
Then, along come Munir Sheikh. Well, well, well. Resign a gem of a job on principle. A principle held dear by any decent public servant.
Public servants have to be wondering who is next, and what will be asked of them by this government. They have to be waking up to the reality that they are nothing but a resource to be kicked around by this government, then tossed aside for political reasons.
Bad enough if your pay, pension, and benefits are threatened. But when you are asked to toss aside your integrity by someone who doesn’t even give a damn about you, when you are used as the kicking boy, then you cannot go home each night feeling good about that eight or so hours of your life, day after day.
I’m guessing there are rumbling coming from the beast that is the public service, and Harper is realizing that this particular beast need only roll over to crush him. Public servants have learned under this government the importance of saving e-mails and memos.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Presumed guilty, each and every one of us
More changes proposed to appeal to that base law and order morality pack. They have been incredibly useful tools (yep, that was intentional) for Harper's plans to silence dissenters.
The most effective way to reduce crime is to prevent it in the first place, and in order to do that, we need to stop people from choosing a life of crime to begin with. Not all crime will be eliminated, but a hell of a lot of it will. Instead, the ass-backwards Harper government works on the presumption that we are all potential criminals. Look at what happened at the G20, and look at the CONs messed up push to spend billions or more prisons despite crime rates dropping.
And now, Nicholson wants to make us safe by coming down hard on prostitutes and gamblers. I won't include drug dealers in this right now, but as I am very sure stricter laws on users are coming, I'll cover it then.
Stricter laws aren't going to make certain crime oriented types suddenly switch careers. Addressing social issues that do little to encourage good social behaviour will.
Notice how Harper & co. attack those issues that offend the atavistic, religious sensibilities of the moral nuts. Sex and gambling. Does anyone seriously think those are the most important aspects of organized crime that should be addressed? What about infiltrating government? Coercing construction contracts? Threatening unions?
Ah, but those don't hit that self-righteous, holier-than-though, fear of their own vices group. Sex and gambling do.
Nor do I believe the news delivered by Nicholson has only to do with locking up organized crime bosses. Look at what the cops will be able to do with their new powers:
(P)olice will be able to more easily obtain wiretaps and orders such as peace bonds, block bail or parole eligibility, seize assets and seek stiffer sentences. The criminal code defines as “organized” crime gangs those cases involving three or more people acting together in a criminal venture.
Three or more people acting together...the hooker, her pimp, and the guy who rents out the room...three fellas gambling...and anyone else who happens to be in the vicinity, because you know, they could be involved...like at the G20.
The CONs don't like any dissent, any opposition, any transparency because they can't fool the public as easily, so they change our systems to shut us down, then make up some bull-shit justification for it afterward. Like unreported crimes.
So now they have not only the plans to make more room to lock people up, they are moving on changes that will enable them to spy on citizens without having to justify their actions, and reasons to scoop up a whole lot of folks at once. Then, take their sweet-ass time sifting through the detainees at their leisure, charging some, releasing others, but reinforcing that message that we are all suspect, we have no real rights, and we had better not cross the elected government.
A few measures put through by a government can be coincidental, but when the ridiculous is used to justify such sweeping changes that threaten our rights and freedoms, we had better take notice.
The most effective way to reduce crime is to prevent it in the first place, and in order to do that, we need to stop people from choosing a life of crime to begin with. Not all crime will be eliminated, but a hell of a lot of it will. Instead, the ass-backwards Harper government works on the presumption that we are all potential criminals. Look at what happened at the G20, and look at the CONs messed up push to spend billions or more prisons despite crime rates dropping.
And now, Nicholson wants to make us safe by coming down hard on prostitutes and gamblers. I won't include drug dealers in this right now, but as I am very sure stricter laws on users are coming, I'll cover it then.
Stricter laws aren't going to make certain crime oriented types suddenly switch careers. Addressing social issues that do little to encourage good social behaviour will.
Notice how Harper & co. attack those issues that offend the atavistic, religious sensibilities of the moral nuts. Sex and gambling. Does anyone seriously think those are the most important aspects of organized crime that should be addressed? What about infiltrating government? Coercing construction contracts? Threatening unions?
Ah, but those don't hit that self-righteous, holier-than-though, fear of their own vices group. Sex and gambling do.
Nor do I believe the news delivered by Nicholson has only to do with locking up organized crime bosses. Look at what the cops will be able to do with their new powers:
(P)olice will be able to more easily obtain wiretaps and orders such as peace bonds, block bail or parole eligibility, seize assets and seek stiffer sentences. The criminal code defines as “organized” crime gangs those cases involving three or more people acting together in a criminal venture.
Three or more people acting together...the hooker, her pimp, and the guy who rents out the room...three fellas gambling...and anyone else who happens to be in the vicinity, because you know, they could be involved...like at the G20.
The CONs don't like any dissent, any opposition, any transparency because they can't fool the public as easily, so they change our systems to shut us down, then make up some bull-shit justification for it afterward. Like unreported crimes.
So now they have not only the plans to make more room to lock people up, they are moving on changes that will enable them to spy on citizens without having to justify their actions, and reasons to scoop up a whole lot of folks at once. Then, take their sweet-ass time sifting through the detainees at their leisure, charging some, releasing others, but reinforcing that message that we are all suspect, we have no real rights, and we had better not cross the elected government.
A few measures put through by a government can be coincidental, but when the ridiculous is used to justify such sweeping changes that threaten our rights and freedoms, we had better take notice.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Harper’s Face of Diplomacy
Okaaaaayyyy....
The House Leader’s role is to attempt to secure Opposition’s support for the government’s legislative agenda. That requires negotiating skills and the ability to compromise.
I never thought Stevie was all that smart, more cunning, without the hampering nature of a conscience to get in his way, but this appointment seems beyond stupid. Unless, of course, it’s that lack of conscience and respect for Parliament kicking in:
However, by putting such a divisive politician into the job, the Prime Minister may be signalling he wants to push full-steam ahead on his agenda this sitting.
Goodale, who will have to work with him since he’s Opposition Leader is keeping an open mind. He says it depends what persona Baird brings to the table.
That, I think, will be chosen by Harper, not Baird. My guess is we are in for more CON bullying.
The House Leader’s role is to attempt to secure Opposition’s support for the government’s legislative agenda. That requires negotiating skills and the ability to compromise.
I never thought Stevie was all that smart, more cunning, without the hampering nature of a conscience to get in his way, but this appointment seems beyond stupid. Unless, of course, it’s that lack of conscience and respect for Parliament kicking in:
However, by putting such a divisive politician into the job, the Prime Minister may be signalling he wants to push full-steam ahead on his agenda this sitting.
Goodale, who will have to work with him since he’s Opposition Leader is keeping an open mind. He says it depends what persona Baird brings to the table.
That, I think, will be chosen by Harper, not Baird. My guess is we are in for more CON bullying.
Harper can’t get rid of all public servants
He needs a few to kick around and blame shit on.
I’m not a big believer in coincidence when it comes to who is writing about what and when where politics are concerned. Today, the Ottawa Citizen printed and article by print media’s very own Lowell Green, Kelly Egan.
Egan valiantly takes it upon himself to inform us that “(we) have no idea how bad it is”… “(d)ealing with the federal government in this town (Ottawa).” It is so bad, he says, that “(s)ome days, honestly, you just want to scream.” He supports this claim with plenty of useful and reliable evidence in the form of anecdotes.
One of the most vital functions for any government department is to be the organized gatekeeper for the flow of information. In this town, there are literally hundreds of people who do nothing but this one thing all day. Why must it be such a battle?
Why? Well, Egan, you dishonest Harper bag boy, left me tell you why.
An investigation by The Canadian Press revealed in June that MEPs are being used across the federal government to literally script words uttered by cabinet ministers and lowly backbenchers as well as screen media requests for interviews with public servants who have expert knowledge of government policy.
The tools — aimed at yielding a desired headline or soundbite from a public event — allow Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Office, through its bureaucratic arm at the Privy Council Office, to stay on message while controlling access to politicians and public servants. They've been used to plan the details of everything from answers for a journalism student seeking information about aid programming to a conference on helping save the polar bear.
Critics say MEPs undermine democracy and transparency because they allow the government to micromanage its message while blurring the time-honoured separation of non-partisan public servants and their political masters.
But you already knew this, didn’t you, Kelly? This is not news, nor is it speculation. MEPs control all public messages, and Ministers, as we have seen recently, can and do override departmental policies on information release.
For Pete's sake, the way they treat you, as though guarding information is Job One, not releasing it. What are they so afraid of? Where is their commitment to public discourse?
The commitment is there, Egan, but unfortunately harper has duct-taped it into silence.
What is evident -- and most dangerous -- is the brick wall that has been erected between the public service and the public via the media conduit. Can you think of one prominent federal public servant who is regularly quoted in the nation's newspapers? We have 140,000 PS workers in this town and one sealed lip. Amazing.
Egan does what dishonest, partisan neander-hacks do: he blends some truth with blatant omissions, producing an overall lie.
Yes, there is a brick wall, and yes, it is very, very dangerous, and yes, the media isn’t getting the message from the public service. What Egan doesn’t bother saying, and what I maintain he deliberately misguides readers on, is that the brick wall has been erected by various elected governments, and the bulk of that wall was built by harper who introduced MEPs and is widely known by anyone who isn’t a complete moron as a message control freak of galactic proportions.
So why does Egan pick today to whine about public servants and how they just want to make him scream when it comes to obtaining information from them? Well, Egan manages to use an anecdote about Stats Can as useful and reliable evidence of how badly public servants suck at communicating info to the public. Yeah, Stats Can of the long form census. That very same entity of misinformation gathered through threats and intimidation at 10 pm at night, on your very doorstep. Bastards!
This bit of news made papers today as well:
Nationwide focus groups assembled by a federal pollster expressed "frustration" over the Harper government's lack of communication, leaving them in the dark about the Tory agenda.
Other articles (presumably not written by dishonest Harper bag boys) actually explain why the flow of info has stalled, linking much of it to Harper’s MEPs. Even Doris admits to his party’s use of duct tape as a promotional tool:
Treasury Board President Stockwell Day said he'd consider removing the veritable gag on federal public servants that's been in place since the Conservatives introduced a potent messaging tool called the Message Event Proposal four years ago.
Dan Garner writes an entertaining piece with a serious message illustrating the absolute lack of respect the Harper government has for conveying truth.
A slim majority of Conservative party members believe homosexuals should be arrested and imprisoned in federal dinner theatres, where they would perform The Sound of Music and other wholesome entertainment for children and seniors. Twenty per cent of the Conservative caucus dropped acid with the Grateful Dead. At least three cabinet ministers have outstanding arrest warrants in Nepal; one is a former member of the Manson family.
In the past, I would not have presented these claims as facts because they're not "true," in the narrow sense of an assertion supported by logic and evidence. That stuff mattered to me. I was a "member of the reality-based community," as a Bush administration official famously said about people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality."
But no more. "When we act," that official said, "we create our own reality." That's where I am now. Stephen Harper, the Conservative government, and me. Creating our own reality. And dropping acid with the Dead.
While Gardner’s article is primarily about the distortion of truth as Harper massages the message, it is yet another study of how real information is kept from the public while providing the illusion that valuable communication is occurring.
The astonishing rhetorical genius Doris affirms this (unintentionally, of course):
"When I say that our tax plan is regarded as the most competitive in the G7 countries and I ask people that, hardly any of them are aware," Day said. "Those are called talking points and we believe they’re important…We send that stuff out all the time whether it’s talking points, speeches, whatever, we’re communicating it daily.”
No amount of letter writing to MPs will change harper’s demolition of information channels, because when the ideology that you are trying to force on an entire nation is so narrow that it only appeals only to a small percentage of the population (the 30% does not apply here because I am talking about the real, hardcore narrow ideology that would send most conservative supporters running en masse for protest sings), then truth and reality are not animals you want roaming free. Gotta club those babies. Lobotomize them. Do some corrective surgery.
… Facts, evidence, logic. Irony. We're moved beyond that. I might even say we've evolved, but some of the guys in the purple van might not like that. So let's just say we've opened the doors of perception. We make reality, man.
And hacks like Egan are more than happy to type up Stevie’s latest versions. So if we can’t get harper & co. to tell the truth because the truth is their enemy, and if we can’t get brown nosers like Egan to print the truth, we are left with one thing: vote the mother-fuckers out of office. Now. Hammer away at the opposition parties, insist they grow a decent set of balls, vote the CONs out next possible chance, hold a damn election, and vote strategically. (go see ACR)
I’m not a big believer in coincidence when it comes to who is writing about what and when where politics are concerned. Today, the Ottawa Citizen printed and article by print media’s very own Lowell Green, Kelly Egan.
Egan valiantly takes it upon himself to inform us that “(we) have no idea how bad it is”… “(d)ealing with the federal government in this town (Ottawa).” It is so bad, he says, that “(s)ome days, honestly, you just want to scream.” He supports this claim with plenty of useful and reliable evidence in the form of anecdotes.
One of the most vital functions for any government department is to be the organized gatekeeper for the flow of information. In this town, there are literally hundreds of people who do nothing but this one thing all day. Why must it be such a battle?
Why? Well, Egan, you dishonest Harper bag boy, left me tell you why.
An investigation by The Canadian Press revealed in June that MEPs are being used across the federal government to literally script words uttered by cabinet ministers and lowly backbenchers as well as screen media requests for interviews with public servants who have expert knowledge of government policy.
The tools — aimed at yielding a desired headline or soundbite from a public event — allow Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Office, through its bureaucratic arm at the Privy Council Office, to stay on message while controlling access to politicians and public servants. They've been used to plan the details of everything from answers for a journalism student seeking information about aid programming to a conference on helping save the polar bear.
Critics say MEPs undermine democracy and transparency because they allow the government to micromanage its message while blurring the time-honoured separation of non-partisan public servants and their political masters.
But you already knew this, didn’t you, Kelly? This is not news, nor is it speculation. MEPs control all public messages, and Ministers, as we have seen recently, can and do override departmental policies on information release.
For Pete's sake, the way they treat you, as though guarding information is Job One, not releasing it. What are they so afraid of? Where is their commitment to public discourse?
The commitment is there, Egan, but unfortunately harper has duct-taped it into silence.
What is evident -- and most dangerous -- is the brick wall that has been erected between the public service and the public via the media conduit. Can you think of one prominent federal public servant who is regularly quoted in the nation's newspapers? We have 140,000 PS workers in this town and one sealed lip. Amazing.
Egan does what dishonest, partisan neander-hacks do: he blends some truth with blatant omissions, producing an overall lie.
Yes, there is a brick wall, and yes, it is very, very dangerous, and yes, the media isn’t getting the message from the public service. What Egan doesn’t bother saying, and what I maintain he deliberately misguides readers on, is that the brick wall has been erected by various elected governments, and the bulk of that wall was built by harper who introduced MEPs and is widely known by anyone who isn’t a complete moron as a message control freak of galactic proportions.
So why does Egan pick today to whine about public servants and how they just want to make him scream when it comes to obtaining information from them? Well, Egan manages to use an anecdote about Stats Can as useful and reliable evidence of how badly public servants suck at communicating info to the public. Yeah, Stats Can of the long form census. That very same entity of misinformation gathered through threats and intimidation at 10 pm at night, on your very doorstep. Bastards!
This bit of news made papers today as well:
Nationwide focus groups assembled by a federal pollster expressed "frustration" over the Harper government's lack of communication, leaving them in the dark about the Tory agenda.
Other articles (presumably not written by dishonest Harper bag boys) actually explain why the flow of info has stalled, linking much of it to Harper’s MEPs. Even Doris admits to his party’s use of duct tape as a promotional tool:
Treasury Board President Stockwell Day said he'd consider removing the veritable gag on federal public servants that's been in place since the Conservatives introduced a potent messaging tool called the Message Event Proposal four years ago.
Dan Garner writes an entertaining piece with a serious message illustrating the absolute lack of respect the Harper government has for conveying truth.
A slim majority of Conservative party members believe homosexuals should be arrested and imprisoned in federal dinner theatres, where they would perform The Sound of Music and other wholesome entertainment for children and seniors. Twenty per cent of the Conservative caucus dropped acid with the Grateful Dead. At least three cabinet ministers have outstanding arrest warrants in Nepal; one is a former member of the Manson family.
In the past, I would not have presented these claims as facts because they're not "true," in the narrow sense of an assertion supported by logic and evidence. That stuff mattered to me. I was a "member of the reality-based community," as a Bush administration official famously said about people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality."
But no more. "When we act," that official said, "we create our own reality." That's where I am now. Stephen Harper, the Conservative government, and me. Creating our own reality. And dropping acid with the Dead.
While Gardner’s article is primarily about the distortion of truth as Harper massages the message, it is yet another study of how real information is kept from the public while providing the illusion that valuable communication is occurring.
The astonishing rhetorical genius Doris affirms this (unintentionally, of course):
"When I say that our tax plan is regarded as the most competitive in the G7 countries and I ask people that, hardly any of them are aware," Day said. "Those are called talking points and we believe they’re important…We send that stuff out all the time whether it’s talking points, speeches, whatever, we’re communicating it daily.”
No amount of letter writing to MPs will change harper’s demolition of information channels, because when the ideology that you are trying to force on an entire nation is so narrow that it only appeals only to a small percentage of the population (the 30% does not apply here because I am talking about the real, hardcore narrow ideology that would send most conservative supporters running en masse for protest sings), then truth and reality are not animals you want roaming free. Gotta club those babies. Lobotomize them. Do some corrective surgery.
… Facts, evidence, logic. Irony. We're moved beyond that. I might even say we've evolved, but some of the guys in the purple van might not like that. So let's just say we've opened the doors of perception. We make reality, man.
And hacks like Egan are more than happy to type up Stevie’s latest versions. So if we can’t get harper & co. to tell the truth because the truth is their enemy, and if we can’t get brown nosers like Egan to print the truth, we are left with one thing: vote the mother-fuckers out of office. Now. Hammer away at the opposition parties, insist they grow a decent set of balls, vote the CONs out next possible chance, hold a damn election, and vote strategically. (go see ACR)
Entropy : a function of a system's tendency towards spontaneous change
So that’s what harper’s ideology is based on.
Entropy and the census:
Back in mid-July the long form sucked because it generated bad data :
PMO spokesman Dimitri Soudas suggested the census generated bad data, noting in a widely circulated e-mail that “21,000 Canadians registered Jedi knight as a religion in the 2001 census.”
July 13, 2010, the long form sucked because it was intrusive and applied heavy-handed tactics:
"I think that government forcing people, threatening to put people in jail if they don't tell the government how many bathrooms they have is a bit heavy-handed, and a bit ridiculous frankly," (Baird) said in Ottawa.
Yesterday, August 5, 2010, the long form didn’t suck anymore, in fact was quite good:
“Yeah, there are groups that are upset. … Hey, listen, they had a good deal going,” Mr. Clement said Thursday following a meeting with fellow MPs in Ottawa. “They got good, quality data and the government of Canada was the heavy.
August 5, 2010, the long form is still great, but once more uses heavy-handed tactics which Harperites want no part of:
Mr. Clement, however, said Ottawa no longer wants to act as data collection enforcer for statistics users. “It worked for them. Doesn't mean it worked for other Canadians.”
August 5, 2010, who the hell needs it anyway?:
“All these provincial governments and these social institutions and private businesses – we’ll get them some data that will be useful and reliable,” (Clement) said.
Great! Useful and reliable. From the HarperCONs. Like this useful and reliable data upon which the decision has been made to spend 9.1 billion taxpayer dollars on unreported criminals:
“If you ask, is there unreported crime in Canada, there’s unreported crime, there’s no question about it,” Nicholson (said)…“I get anecdotal evidence and there are certainly some studies on that.”
Wow! Anecdotal evidence! Think of the cost savings!
Finley can go hang out in the Market in Ottawa, and for the price of a pack of cigarettes and a little pocket change, she can gather reams of anecdotal evidence on the need for adult literacy programs, job training, transitional programs for people who lives have suddenly been shot to hell.
Leona Aglukkaq can join her (just need one Parl. Assistant handing out cigarettes that way) to get plenty of anecdotal evidence on the need for rehab centres, safe injection sites, half-way houses, temporary shelter.
Prentice can borrow a fishing rod from Scott Reid and go hang out with the natives on the Wabigoon River system catching fish no one can eat while they swap anecdotes.
Oh, this could add up after all. A better solution to collecting useful and reliable evidence at low cost with little to no intrusive methods would be to send a few MPs with their Parliamentary aids to hang out where the real Canadians go. The place where common sense is found. Tim Horton’s.
Wait…still to expensive. All those Parliamentary photographers…
Got it! Create a new Ministry, the Ministry of Truth. Put Max Bernier in charge. Hell, if he can get useful and reliable info on the long form by receiving over 1,000 e-mails without even asking for input, just think – think what he can do if he’s on a mission! And if anyone is worried about their personal anecdotal information getting into the hands of a hot biker chick with ties to the Mafia and Hell’s Angels, don’t worry. Maxie doesn’t print out the e-mails. He doesn’t even save them. But he remembers each and every one.
Then Maxie can call whatever Minister may be interested, pass on the useful and reliable info, and the said Minister can make changes that affect all our lives. Over the summer, of course. When the House isn’t sitting. Cheaper that way, and really, average Canadians just aren’t that interested in how their tax dollars are spent, or how their lives will be affected by sweeping changes.
If any of you need any further convincing, just think of the savings: we could get rid of all researchers, planners, strategists, policy makers, and legal teams from all departments. That would mean far less support/admin. Staff, and barely a handful of HR staff. Communication staff? Why pay those assholes! Since PCO has to vet every piece of communication they produce for the public as it stands now, just get PCO to make the products from the start. In fact, we could get rid of PCO altogether and have the lot done by the PMO!!!!
This is very exciting. I can’t wait to stop at Timmie’s on the way in tomorrow and gather useful and reliable information so I can put together a portfolio and apply for a job with the PMO.
Care to help a fellow blogger with a few anecdotes?
Entropy and the census:
Back in mid-July the long form sucked because it generated bad data :
PMO spokesman Dimitri Soudas suggested the census generated bad data, noting in a widely circulated e-mail that “21,000 Canadians registered Jedi knight as a religion in the 2001 census.”
July 13, 2010, the long form sucked because it was intrusive and applied heavy-handed tactics:
"I think that government forcing people, threatening to put people in jail if they don't tell the government how many bathrooms they have is a bit heavy-handed, and a bit ridiculous frankly," (Baird) said in Ottawa.
Yesterday, August 5, 2010, the long form didn’t suck anymore, in fact was quite good:
“Yeah, there are groups that are upset. … Hey, listen, they had a good deal going,” Mr. Clement said Thursday following a meeting with fellow MPs in Ottawa. “They got good, quality data and the government of Canada was the heavy.
August 5, 2010, the long form is still great, but once more uses heavy-handed tactics which Harperites want no part of:
Mr. Clement, however, said Ottawa no longer wants to act as data collection enforcer for statistics users. “It worked for them. Doesn't mean it worked for other Canadians.”
August 5, 2010, who the hell needs it anyway?:
“All these provincial governments and these social institutions and private businesses – we’ll get them some data that will be useful and reliable,” (Clement) said.
Great! Useful and reliable. From the HarperCONs. Like this useful and reliable data upon which the decision has been made to spend 9.1 billion taxpayer dollars on unreported criminals:
“If you ask, is there unreported crime in Canada, there’s unreported crime, there’s no question about it,” Nicholson (said)…“I get anecdotal evidence and there are certainly some studies on that.”
Wow! Anecdotal evidence! Think of the cost savings!
Finley can go hang out in the Market in Ottawa, and for the price of a pack of cigarettes and a little pocket change, she can gather reams of anecdotal evidence on the need for adult literacy programs, job training, transitional programs for people who lives have suddenly been shot to hell.
Leona Aglukkaq can join her (just need one Parl. Assistant handing out cigarettes that way) to get plenty of anecdotal evidence on the need for rehab centres, safe injection sites, half-way houses, temporary shelter.
Prentice can borrow a fishing rod from Scott Reid and go hang out with the natives on the Wabigoon River system catching fish no one can eat while they swap anecdotes.
Oh, this could add up after all. A better solution to collecting useful and reliable evidence at low cost with little to no intrusive methods would be to send a few MPs with their Parliamentary aids to hang out where the real Canadians go. The place where common sense is found. Tim Horton’s.
Wait…still to expensive. All those Parliamentary photographers…
Got it! Create a new Ministry, the Ministry of Truth. Put Max Bernier in charge. Hell, if he can get useful and reliable info on the long form by receiving over 1,000 e-mails without even asking for input, just think – think what he can do if he’s on a mission! And if anyone is worried about their personal anecdotal information getting into the hands of a hot biker chick with ties to the Mafia and Hell’s Angels, don’t worry. Maxie doesn’t print out the e-mails. He doesn’t even save them. But he remembers each and every one.
Then Maxie can call whatever Minister may be interested, pass on the useful and reliable info, and the said Minister can make changes that affect all our lives. Over the summer, of course. When the House isn’t sitting. Cheaper that way, and really, average Canadians just aren’t that interested in how their tax dollars are spent, or how their lives will be affected by sweeping changes.
If any of you need any further convincing, just think of the savings: we could get rid of all researchers, planners, strategists, policy makers, and legal teams from all departments. That would mean far less support/admin. Staff, and barely a handful of HR staff. Communication staff? Why pay those assholes! Since PCO has to vet every piece of communication they produce for the public as it stands now, just get PCO to make the products from the start. In fact, we could get rid of PCO altogether and have the lot done by the PMO!!!!
This is very exciting. I can’t wait to stop at Timmie’s on the way in tomorrow and gather useful and reliable information so I can put together a portfolio and apply for a job with the PMO.
Care to help a fellow blogger with a few anecdotes?
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