checks-and-balances: statement of the obvious

If you cannot find a leader that inspires faith that you will succeed, you have to settle for a manager that can inspire confidence that you will at least not fail.

No wonder we have multicameral governments and heavy bureaucracies!

objective science vs guided religion

Faith picks up where confidence leaves off; the fight between atheists and theists is where to draw the line.

abuse of power

I was almost digging this release, until I got to the last sentence.
Harper's abusive arrogance has no limits; who the hell does he think he is? Why should we accept such clear partisan shots from Canada's PM when its not even campaign season? What an ass.

-----Original Message-----
PRIME MINISTER HARPER PRESENTS NEW MINISTRY
August 14, 2007
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today presented a new Ministry which will continue to lead Canada's New Government through the next phase of its mandate.

"We did what we said we were going to do and now it's time to keep moving forward," said the Prime Minister. "To seize the opportunities that lie before us; and rise to the challenges that confront us."

In particular, Prime Minister Harper pointed to continued strong leadership on the economy, and defence and foreign affairs.

The Prime Minister said the new Ministry would continue to provide the same strong and decisive leadership that Canadians have come to expect from Canada's New Government.

"As our record over the past eighteen months demonstrates, we have a proven capacity to get things done for all of Canada's families."

Prime Minister Harper said the new Ministry would continue to:

Assert and defend Canada's sovereignty;

Keep the economy strong and taxes low;

Vigorously tackle crime;

Preserve and protect the environment; and

Strengthen the Federation at home and abroad.

"This new Ministry presents Canadians with a clear choice; a choice between strong leadership that is moving Canada forward or a weak opposition that would set families and taxpayers back," concluded Prime Minister Harper.

The Prime Minister's Office - Communications

different gears for different fears

say what, "prima facie" evidence?
this obviously wasn't written by the usual propaganda-writers.
Still, they never miss a chance to take a vindictive stab. Even if factually not incorrect, such statements are inappropriately partial for the PM's office.

I also wonder just how "independent" this third party is going to be. The USA political system has that going for it, at least: the Senate must scrutinize and can veto each presidential appointee! Maybe Harper is worried that a properly reformed Canadian Senate will diminish his dictatorship reign quest for absolute rule?

-----Original Message-----

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER

November 13, 2007
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today issued the following statement on asking the third party to advise the Government on terms of reference for a public inquiry:

"On Friday I announced that I would be appointing an independent and impartial third party to review what course of actions may be appropriate given Mr. Schreiber's new sworn allegations. These allegations remain unproven and untested in a court of law and arose in a private lawsuit. There are however now issues that go beyond the private interests of the parties in the lawsuit.

Many have called for a public inquiry, including most recently Mr. Mulroney.

Given the conflicting information and allegations (including what appears to be some conflicting information under oath) and the extended time period over which the events referred to in various documents and allegations surrounding this matter have occurred, I have decided to ask the third party to advise the government on appropriate terms of reference for a public inquiry.

If in reviewing material, the independent party finds any prima facie evidence of criminal action he or she will identify this and advise how this should be handled and what impact, if any, it should have on the nature and timing of the inquiry.

A public inquiry is a major step and one that should only be taken when it addresses Canadians' interest, not those of the various parties, whether Mr. Schreiber, Mr. Mulroney or political parties. That is why it is important that we engage the necessary independent expertise and take the time to ensure that the terms of reference meet that test."

The Prime Minister's Office - Communications
[Note: You are receiving this e-mail for information only, and because you have subscribed to our distribution list.

ECO 92 RJ - Severn Suzuki

unprecedented

Wow, this is the first time that I ever notice the PM announcing his availability for questions since I subscribed to this service (shortly after the election). at the press theatre, and taking questions even? what's going on?

-----Original Message-----

Public event for Prime Minister Stephen Harper for today, November 9th is:

4:00 p.m. - Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be available to take questions from the media.

Press Theatre
National Press Building
150 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario

*Open to media*

The Prime Minister's Office - Communications

Rememberance Day Thanks

Joint missive from the Ministries of Truth and Peace:

> -----Original Message-----
>
> REMEMBRANCE DAY MESSAGE
>
> As Minister of National Defence, I have had the privilege of meeting with many of you. I find myself humbled by the bravery and the professionalism of the fine men and women who work for Canadian Forces.
>
> In Afghanistan, you are continuing the noble role that Canada has always played in the world. You are giving hope to millions of people in need of assistance. You are acting as a cause for good in an unstable world. This is also true of Canadian Forces members who are deployed under Operation ALTAIR and Operation SEXTANT; our sailors, soldiers, airmen and airwomen who are stationed around the world; and the personnel who are protecting North America.
>
> Like generations before you, many of you have left your homes in Canada to confront an extremist ideology on foreign soil. Many of you have risked your lives to defend Canada and Canadian values. Without doubt, your sacrifices are building a better world.
>
> Now, more than ever, I appreciate Canada> '> s very proud tradition of military accomplishments. As communities across Canada think and pray of the sacrifices that brave men and women have made on their behalf this weekend, they will also pause to think and pray for you.
>
> Canada will forever remember those Canadians who fought in past conflicts and those Canadians who served the cause of peace.
>
> To all soldiers, past and present, thank you.
>
> Lest we forget.
>
> Peter G. MacKay
> Minister of National Defence

I emailed this earlier today:

Mr. Sterling,

Before I start, I'd like to congratulate you on your recent re-election. The overall election results were rather surprising, though in hindsight, not entirely unexpected. I also want to thank you for the pressure you are keeping on the Carp Dump situation.

I recently brought a small crate of unwanted electronics to a local "Take It Back" program participant for proper disposal. I was prepared to pay the "small handling fee" they had verbally quoted at $35.

I was stunned, however, when they gave me a receipt for $30, plus GST and PST. Shocked. Why have the federal and provincial governments not tax-exempted waste diversion/recuperation services? I could have easily sent them to landfill with the rest of my garbage for free (well, through municipal taxes), but, mindful of future generations, I chose to dispose of them properly at my personal time and expense. Had I known about the upcoming amnesty day for electronic components, I would have waited a few more weeks and at least saved my money.

The Ontario government already has several excellent incentive programs, aimed at what consumers bring into their homes (PST-exempt EnergyStar qualified appliances and a cost sharing program for packaging materials, for example). When will the government extend their attention to address what goes OUT of consumer's homes, by shouldering more waste diversion program costs, or, at the very least, exempting compost bins, rain barrels, electronic recuperation programs, and the like from the PST as well? Certainly this would make diverting toxic trash from the Carp dump more palatable, even more accessible, and help secure a clean environment for our children to grow into the strong and vibrant workforce of tomorrow.

Bottom line is, we should not be taxed for our greenwill.

abuse of communications

have you seen the PM's website lately?
His name in big letters, underlined with "strong leadership, a better Canada."
Seems to me this website belonged to the OFFICE of the Prime Minister. I'm quite ok with it trumpeting priorities and achievements of the government, but I have a big problem with his personal use of it as a campaigning device.

putting errors behind us... with new ones

I'm all for protecting the way of life of aboriginals who choose that path, and affording those who choose to strike off on their own a comfortable place in our society. However, I am concerned these campaign-style promises will result in a culture of fence-sitters that want their cake and eat it too. Either separate and preserve, or integrate and merge. Can't have it both ways.

PRIME MINISTER HARPER OUTLINES THE GOVERNMENT'S ACHIEVEMENTS FOR ABORIGINAL CANADIANS
Halifax, November 2, 2007

In an address to the annual general assembly of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper outlined the Government's actions for Canadians of native ancestry. The Prime Minister noted that Canada?s rapidly growing Aboriginal population increasingly lives off-reserve in urban communities.

"The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, in many ways, represents the future of our country," said Prime Minister Harper. "Your membership constitutes the fastest growing segment of Canadian society. The "Forgotten People," as you call your members, cannot be forgotten or ignored any longer. On the contrary, I believe you will play a pivotal role in the prosperous future that beckons for all Canadians."

Prime Minister Harper also discussed the numerous initiatives undertaken by the Government to create equality of opportunity and improve the lives of on-reserve and off-reserve Aboriginals. These include:

Implementation of the Indian Residential Schools Agreement.

Legislation to repeal section 67 of the Canadian Human Rights Act to ensure Aboriginal people on-reserve have the same human rights protections as other Canadians.

Extensive national consultations to establish matrimonial real property laws on-reserve to protect the rights of Aboriginal women.

A plan to expedite the Specific Claims resolution process, including the creation of a new independent tribunal.

A plan to improve drinking water quality standards and training on-reserve.

A $105-million investment in the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Partnership.

A strengthened focus on the Urban Aboriginal Strategy.

Providing $300 million for Aboriginal off-reserve housing.

"Our Government, in conjunction with able organizations like yours, is working very hard with aboriginal communities on- and off-reserve to address the problems that need to be fixed. In our first 21 months, I think you?ll agree we've made a very good start," said the Prime Minister.

What we are

Dance monkey Dance!

justice system: time to revisit the social contract?

Interesting concept of justice described to me a few days ago in the carpool:
In small simple agglomerations (e.g., tribes or villages), peace and order was maintainable through personal relations (peer pressure and/or threats of emotional and/or physical harm, e.g., lynching). Organized religion is a natural outgrowth of that phenomenon as agglomerations grew in size and complexity.
Today's "western" society is too highly complex, anonymous yet interdependent, and educated for religion (through promises of heaven and hell) to work effectively. The responsibility for maintaining social harmony is transfered to the state in what is called a "social contract."
If we feel (fear?) that violent crimes are getting out of hand today, it may be time to review the terms of the social contract we have with the justice system (incl law enforcement and correctional services).

mgmt hypocrisy

I'm a contrator/consultant/temp/etc. The (client) department I work for is under strong pressure to keep headcount down so they hire contractors/consultants/temps/etc like me, then impose restrictions on our job conditions to avoid appearance of employer/employee (ER/EE) relationships, which could put them on the hook for benefits/pensionable time etc. Avoidance of ER/EE rel'ps is also advantageous to independent contractors who pay taxes at corporate (as opposed to personal) rates. I'm not independent so that doesn't apply to me.

A few weeks ago the directorate sent an email asking all EEs to submit their personal contact info for emergencies. I ignored it believing that it wouldn't apply to contractors, and if I complied, it would counter efforts to avoid ER/EE relationship appearance. I thought it was in the managers' best interest and left it at that.

Yesterday my boss' boss blasted an email at three of us contractors (cc: our bosses) accusing us (inappropriately strongly) of not being team players and inconsiderate because if we're in an airplane that crashes they will phone the body shop and hit a machine after hours so they won't be able to inform our families.

WTF? Besides the fact that scenario is stupid for a number of reasons, my boss, all my colleagues and the boss' boss' secretary all have my personal coordinates.

And today I find out that in 5months time it won't matter anyway because rather than contracting with one or two body shops to provide a team of professionals, they will prequalify a number of body shops and award each individual position to the lowest bidder.

So they give us shit for playing by their own friggin rules, with a patronizing note stating we've caused "very deep disappointment" because we're "not team players." Meanwhile, they've been secretely crafting a new structure for a follow-on professional services contract that will make it very difficult to get re-hired as a team.

Double WTF.

centsless

I don't get folks who are attached to the penny. "prices will go up because businesses will round up." balderdash. obviously these people underestimate competitive forces (either that or they are too lazy to change their buying habits).

I mean, i can understand why we needed a penny when it was worth say 1/50th of minimum wage. but now that the NDP is talking about raising minimum wage to $10, what the hell do we need a 1/1000th coin for? I mean, it takes more than four hundred of these stupid things just to buy a medium popcorn at AMC. C'mon people, let it go once and for all so i don't have to wait in line behind you while the cashier counts up her 1/400th-of-a-grande-latte coins!

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/10/10/penny.html

first greenwashing, now pinkwashing

whatever happened to marketing ethics?

Pinkwasher: (pink'-wah-sher) noun. A person or company that purports to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon campaign, but manufactures products that are linked to the disease.

http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/

monarchy by any other name

"The Americans, with their penchant for firsts, are attempting the political equivalent of Olympic synchronized swimming, a sort of political double helix manoeuvre - father-to-son (the Bushes), interwoven with husband-to-wife (the Clintons), and all this seamlessly, in just 20 years."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/murray/20071004.html

obey democracy - support our troops!

Ottawa City Hall bowed to pressure (from exactly where I can only guess) to alloworder Support Our Troops decals to be applied on city police cruisers.
This strikes me as being wrong, in a way very similar to the way the PATRIOT act was passed - the unspoken message being "this may be a bad law, but if you don't support it (we'll make sure that) you'll be perceived as unpatriotic/against our troops."
Why do I think this is a bad idea? well, for practical reasons really:
1. cost - of ordering, applying, and eventually removing/replacing faded decals. you ever try to remove an old bumper sticker?
2. divisiveness - those who aren't displaying decals MUST be AGAINST our troops!(???)
3. forcefulness - city hall ordered ottawa police to apply decals to all vehicles - what are our troops fighting for again, freedom?
4. partiality (opposite of neutrality?) - if a city is to function smoothly, it has to make everybody feel welcome. Branding city assets with decals for various non-charity-event causes that highlight one particular segment of the population, no matter how legitimate, undermines the faith in the institution that is necessary for other segments of the population to feel like their ideas will be welcome; worst case, they'll shrink away from the table and spiral their frustration into a tight little explosive Waco-style knot that nobody will have seen coming. what's that other thing our government sent our troops out to Afghanistan for - democracy? Can't have democracy without dialog, and you sure can't have dialog without trust.

PS. I realized that the title was a little off-point and misleading so I changed it. Just to be clear: I do support our troops. I think its very important for our troops to know we (the general public) care about them, and that we aren't tearing them away from their families willy-nilly. I also think that *forcing* displays of affection robs them of their emotional impact.

Battle of the (Youth) Bulge

wow - shocking, politically unsavoury, but surprisingly sympathetic and logical:

We have two million jobs that we cannot fill - and a welfare-dependent population of six million, and the two do not meet. The welfare group grows each year because of new babies, but the vacant job slots are not filled.
...
Some American strategists are beginning to question whether the USA, with its one-son families, ought send out troops to fight populations with many sons. That is the mistake we have committed in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you have to go in because you have been attacked, then you must do it, but as soon as the danger has been defeated, it is necessary to withdraw. It is up to the Iraqis and the Afghans themselves to ensure that there is a balance between the size of the population and the number of positions society can offer. And as far back in history we look, we can see that this balance has been maintained by young men killing each other. We have done it in Europe, and it has happened elsewhere. We cannot allow them to send their young men over the borders to kill others.

German sociologist Gunnar Heinsohn, who believes that the game is over for Europe. See full interview at
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2007/06/continent-of-losers.html

wtf - a green tax?

I've had been holding back on throwing out various junk electronics until I had a bin worthy of a trip to the local "Take It Back" program participant. I was prepared to pay a "small fee" as posted, which ended up amounting to $30. I dutifully consented, thinking the only alternatives were to keep them in the garage until a museum came begging me for them, or tossing them to landfill so the PCBs and heavy metals could leech back into my drinking water.
Then I looked at the bill.
I was dumbstruck.
So much so that it wasn't until the next day that the disbelief turned to resentment and insult.
At cause were two simple lines:
GST 2.10
PST 2.56

How can any self-respecting government CHARGE TAX on DIVERTING TRASH from public landfills???
I'll chalk this one up against Ivory Tower Ignorance and write a letter to the newspapers and politicians. If it turns out waste-diversion handling fees are already exempt from sales taxes, then you can be sure I'll get that participant educated (by having them dumped from the free advertising TIB brochure).

git yer head back on, Tory

What's with all the fuss over politicians and their "promises" these days?
Sure it's election time, but when I go to the polls I vote for who I think has the best leadership, long-term vision and management ability to improve our collective lot. I don't want them to make promises, I want them to tell me what they stand for and how they intend to achieve it! Later I will judge them on their ability to monitor the situation as it evolves and implement the most appropriate course of action toward the long-term goal.
If the ruckus is merely because roasting public figures has become a media sport, well, lets just designate a family as useless incompetents, dress them up in silly uniforms and robes with swords and crowns and an orb, and chain them (and their descendants) to government forever so people can get their jollies. Meanwhile, the members of the other branches of government could get on with their jobs of actually governing this country responsibly and with dignity.