“The only ones who have anything to fear, are those who are cheating the system.“

Right.  Nice, pat argument, unless, of course, you own a gun.

We’ll concede that the idea of government employees knocking on EI recipients’ doors may seem a little intrusive, but if it helps ensure the efficient payment of unemployment benefits, then it’s an initiative worth supporting.

OK, let’s apply this editorial’s arguments for invading privacy rights to the long gun registry.  Sections in red are my substitutions.  Emphasis is mine, on original piece.

We’ll concede that the idea of government forcing gun owners to register their weapons may seem a little intrusive, but if it helps ensure the safety of Canadians, then it’s an initiative worth supporting.

Opposition politicians and advocates for gun owners have condemned the registry, but Prime Minister Stephen Harper defends it, insisting it helps protect the safety of Canadians.
“Every year, unfortunately, in our country, hundreds of deaths and injuries occur due to gun violence and accidents,” Harper said last week. “One of the jobs of our government is to ensure that gun laws are there for the safety of all people.” 

The gun registry involves lawful gun owners. And while some critics have tried to paint the program as an attack on responsible, law abiding hunters and farmers, who have a lot of legal uses for guns, the registry is being conducted across the country. Those who must register guns are simply asked, at no cost, to register their long guns, so the initiative cannot be characterized as an unreasonable burden on those receiving benefits. What the register accomplishes, however, is verification that the guns are actually in the hands of the lawful owner living at the address they’ve provided to the government and that they’re not lost, stolen, or transferred illegally.

“It’s abusive,” said Elmer Fudd.

 It's abusive! Elmer Fudd told the Calgary Herald.

“They’re abusing us like crazy. We all feel targeted by this law ... You know it’s gone too far when you’re being checked upon at home. We have telephones, you know. And post offices.”

In many respects, what the registry is doing is akin to the Canada Revenue Agency checking a sample of tax filings: it is ensuring the system is working as it should and encouraging respect for the rules. The only ones who have anything to fear, are those who are cheating the system.

The Harper government deserves credit for taking on the necessary job of improving the gun registry. In the past, it was an safety program in name only, allowing irresponsible gun owners to continue irresponsible gun handling and transfers year after year with little inducement to secure their weapons.

As we have previously observed, we have a nation today where gun ownership in rural Canada is very high, while people in the West lament there are not enough gun laws. The luxury of owning a gun and then not even registering it is so ingrained that some Canadians must bring in foreign safety measures while so-called responsible, law abiding gun owners who are Canadian keep loaded weapons at home.

Stipulating that those who have made frequently claims that guns don’t kill people must be a little less choosy about the positions they seek is common sense — and so is ensuring they actually have their guns in their possession and have a legal right to own them.

************

So seriously, how is assuming all EI clients (who have paid their premiums for insurance) are potential fraudsters to the point where invading their privacy, intimidating them, attempting to shame them good for Canada and just fine, but asking people who own something that is made specifically to kill to register that weapon an insult, an invasion not to be tolerated?

What if a person who is a "responsible, law-abiding gun owner" is also on EI?  Are they still responsible?  Should inspectors really be showing up at their doors to test that question?

Hey, CONs, follow the money!

If you want to know what harper and his CONs care about, look at how they plan to spend our tax dollars - 

Detailed program budgets show Transport Canada is planning cuts to several programs focused on aviation, marine and rail safety and security. The reports also show reduced spending on food safety at Agriculture Canada.

This week’s estimates show a 32-per-cent cut at Agriculture Canada for a program called “Food Safety and Biosecurity Risk Management.” A government website says the program focuses on the various checks that occur throughout Canada’s food safety system and pays for the government’s ability to trace food products in the event of a crisis.

So food and transportation for average Canadians isn’t important to this government.

What is?

Opposition MPs contrasted the various spending cuts with the government’s stated plans to boost spending on advertising by more than $10-million.

You know, these really important ads that matter so much to the welfare of Canadians:

Turning Canadians against each other

We should be pooling our forces to oust this vile government and the CONs know that, so turning Canadians against each other is always a bonus for them when it is a consequence of some obscene policy they put in place.

“For the first time inspectors are going out to talk to Canadians with respect to Employment Insurance, whether or not they have any reason to believe that there has been any instance of fraud or of misleading in the case of the person they are interviewing,” ... Bob Rae said... “Can the Prime Minister confirm that in fact managers will be receiving bonuses depending on the performance of those agents?”

In response, Harper said it is the government’s legal responsibility to take “all necessary steps” to ensure those who are entitled to get them the money receive it.  “When people who are not entitled to get the money get the money, the only losers are the unemployed and the workers who paid in and we are determined to protect them,” he said.

No denial, just dodge-dodge.  Performance will be determined by how much money so called inspectors (what is their training?) save by turning down claims.  Clients will resent this, rightfully so, and federal HRDC staff are to treat all clients as potential fraudsters.

What a mean, vicious government.  Who are public servants going to be forced to turn on next?  They've already been forced to look up dirt on people for the Minister of Defence.  They've been told to spy on aboriginal activists.  They've been muzzled through policies and scare tactics into suppressing information that is meant for the public.  They've been pressured into silence when other public servants are being mistreated.

Public servants?  It's becoming just a label because harper acts as though all 300,000 plus are there to serve him.

Please read this post by a social workers, and pass it around.

This is heartbreaking, and so very, very wrong -

As first responders, her expectations as a victim of sexual assault were different than what transpired. The Officer/s ran her name, found she had an old warrant and arrested her.
According to the girl, the only acknowledgement by the police about being raped, was once released she could attend any police station and fill out a statement.

This has to change.

h/t Dawg's Blog for staying on top of this.

Conservatives can’t separate church and state, even in their personal, basic, socio-political beliefs.

It’s a mindset.  A cruel, mean, destructive mindset based on the Judeo-Christian foundations of reward and punishment, heavy on the punishment.

 (photo)

It carries the belief that people are born sinners, born flawed, and left to their own devices, will steal, lie, kill, rape, and…well…just tear society apart.

This leads to terrible laws and legislation that are counter-productive, causing a great deal of harm and division.

Let’s look at a few of the harper policies and proposed changes.

Tough on crime:  this involved severely punishing people after the fact and leaves little room for consideration of special circumstances.  A crime is a crime is a crime (unless the privileged few commit it, then it’s a mistake).  Little focus is placed on preventing crime through education, through research that helps us understand why people commit crimes, on rehabilitation, on community programs to stave off crime by giving young people hope, alternatives, ties and investments with their fellow citizens.  Tough on crime, for the far right, is punishment, period.  You break god’s laws, you go to hell.  

Social services:  the conservatives preach caring for the disadvantaged, but since people are assumed to be sinners, who will invariably engage in corruption and laziness unless they are threatened with punishment.  So harper’s bunch treats citizens (except his favoured few) as such – scum that need to be watched every minute, and shackled by laws that not only limit their chances at receiving assistance, but labels them, in the eyes of the public, as lazy fraudsters.  There is little doubt that this is the thinking behind the changes to EI and the home invasions that are now part of their audit system.

Military image and spending:  crush your enemy.  Show him how strong you are.  Always do it in the name of your god, because your god validates your actions.  So harper spouts values as he justifies acts of aggression on other countries; he re-positions the military as the arm of international justice; he promotes the image of our military as a powerful force that must never be questioned on it’s missions or actions (because they are all so moral); he builds that image with slogans, cool photos, and binds himself to the military like a high priest does to god and church.

These examples, of course, play on the far-right belief that punishment is deserved, and compassion is weak.  The CONs derive many benefits from this as this approach allows them to crush resistance, silence questions before they are uttered, cuts spending on social programs, gives great opportunity to corporations as they build prisons, military equipment, gut labour laws, abuse workers for their own profit, and hamper and starve citizens so much they have little strength or will left to fight back.

And this all helps the CONs, god’s chosen, to keep a hold on power as they retain support of the wealthy and take away citizens’ basic rights to demand fair treatment.