Maybe not Men,
but Males! 

                                      Treason Stephen preparing to apply
the Kiss of Death to Belinda Stronach

My last post was about how the governments both provincial and federal have decided to come down hard on the uppity Catherine Galliford, who was once esteemed enough to be the face of the RCMP during the RCMP f**kups of Air India and the Missing Women investigation, but was all along a hopeless drunken slut, apparently. Then there was the hopeless Linda Keen who was blamed for the fact that some cancer patients couldn't get radio-active isotopes for diagnosis or treatment.....her error, suggesting that the Chalk River reactor be shut down for maintenance before it had to be shut down to repair damages from lack of maintenance. Imagine the sense of synchronicity when I checked my e-mail this morning and found the following piece submitted by Robin Mathews, who has apparently returned from his recent travels.

Robin points out how women in the new country of HarperLand(tm) must carefully watch their P's and Q's, and still they might be found wanting. However convicted felons, like Bruce Carson have a free run of the PMO and the party itself merrily pleads guilty to violation of the Elections Act after years of denial, while stonewalling any investigation of the multiple crimes committed in the theft of their current 20% majority.

So Lisa Raitt, even though you've done as good a job as Benito Mussolini, soooo far, at keeping the trains running on time, don't slip up or else you'll be replaced by some fine example of manhood like Maxime Bernier or any guy other than David Wilkes. Furthermore, Diane Finley, Rona Ambrose, Gail Shea, Diane Ablonczy, and Lynne Yelich, consider yourself warned. Finally Leona Aglukkaq and Alice Wong, be doubly careful - because not only are you not men, like the pasty "white" men who infest Stevie's inner circle jerk, but probably wouldn't be considered to be "caucasian" either, of course!

Rampant Sexism:
The Harper Conservatives At Work

by Robin Mathews

 

Begin with Stephen Harper himself … and go on from there.  The gigantic tangle of Sexism in the Harper structure is actively pro-male and actively political ... and consistently anti-woman.  It seems, as well - to this observer – to favour males for whom the law is a boring impediment existing only in order to be violated.

We (rightly) think of Sexism as the denigration and abuse of women. It is also a Macho, bloated attitude to men and defence of men, however delinquent.

Harper Conservative Sexism, moreover, reaches outside what is normally thought of as the political domain. 

It is present, I allege, (though it hasn’t been shown yet in every case) wherever the Harper forces see their power at work.  I am saying that the tendency to male-politicize everything they do seems to be coming clearer and clearer – through appointments like the top RCMP officer, Supreme Court judge appointees, ombuds and ethics appointments, the Chief Electoral Officer, diplomatic posts, etc.

At one level the appointments seem merely political – to get Harper Conservative supporters into key “non-political” positions so they can make heavily weighted (political) judgements in favour of the Harper Conservatives.  But the appointments appear also to be part of the tangle that has inevitable Sexist overtones. 

What could be more offensive than the diplomatic appointment that went to B.C.’s ex-premier Gordon Campbell who disappeared from the province with an under ten per cent approval rating and demands for a Public Inquiry into allegations of major wrongdoing in the BC Rail Scandal. Campbell was elevated to the position of Canada’s High Commissioner in London and whisked out of the (hot, for him) province by … yes … Stephen Harper.

Take note of the unleashed aggressive belligerence in court directed at former MP (and cabinet member) Helena Guergis suing Stephen Harper and others.  She has filed a $1.3 million lawsuit against him, the Conservative Party, and several government figures. The defence counsel is quoted as speaking of her “bald allegations”, “fiction” and “gibberish”.  As might be expected the defence argument is that appointing and dismissing cabinet ministers is a matter of Crown prerogative and parliamentary privilege.

Ms. Guergis denies none of that.  As her claim has it nothing in the powers of a prime minister permits slander, defamation, “misfeasance in public office, intentional infliction of mental suffering, and negligence”. 

Without second-guessing the outcome of the case, it might be fair to observe that Stephen Harper acts consistently as if he is mightier than the democracy he serves and can trash any parliamentary convention or law that gets in his way.  When crossed – especially by a woman – attack is the defence. As we will see, no male ever receives the kind of treatment females receive at his hands.

The attack (as “defence”) on Guergis is almost exactly parallel to the mode of attack upon RCMP Corporal Catherine Galliford in B.C. suing the Force for sexual harassment.

Recall that the appointment of Bob Paulson to the top RCMP position was made by Stephen Harper.  Recall that before being disgraced and resigning as top officer, Guiliano Zaccardelli was accused of acting politically in support of the Harper Conservatives in the 2006 election. He was rewarded with an appointment to Interpol in France. Recall that his replacement, appointed by Stephen Harper out of Stockwell Day’s office, was apparently an impossible top officer and was forced out by senior Mountie uprisings. William Elliott was rewarded with a UN-connected appointment.

Recall that Bob Paulson WAS NOT one of the senior Mounties who demanded the dismissal of William Elliott. He has, however, made serious statements about wanting an end to sexual harassment in the RCMP. 

But the defence against Catherine Galliford’s claims is not being conducted by the RCMP.  It is being conducted by the federal government – that is, by people directed by Stephen Harper.  B.C.’s Attorney General has made clear that the government of B.C. is also named as part of the defence – but has had nothing whatever to do with it!! That is another way of saying that the Stephen Harper government doesn’t consult … anybody.  As “defence”, Galliford, too, is … attacked and accused.

In the Stephen Harper structure of power, it seems, a man may be a big, greedy, stupid devourer of your tax dollars – and nothing happens to such a man … ever.  Nothing.  He is, in fact, protected by Stephen Harper.  A man in the Harper circle is important.  A woman?  Well, a woman’s a woman, isn’t she?   Like ….

No one of us can run to the defense of the now not honourable Bev Oda.  (Wait and watch: will she be tucked into a quiet, well-paying job when a little time has passed?)  She did foolish things.  Expensive orange juice. A high-priced limousine in London, England. Etcetera. But notice how her treatment differs from the treatment wayward men in cabinet get ….

There is John Baird and there is Tony Clement for instance, side-lining fifty million dollars for graft and pork-barrelling during the G20 run-up.  $50 million!  Bev Oda probably can’t imagine that much money! 

The one male, Tony Clement (obviously because of his skill with money) was made head of the Treasury Board.  The other male, John Baird (for his skill at wriggling out of absolutely necessary punishment) was made Minister of Foreign Affairs.  Needing gold on his business card, John Baird has helped to squander more money than Bev Oda will earn in a lifetime.  Who cares?  She’s a woman.  He’s a man.

And then there’s the man many think of as just plain stupid.  And Immoral? Many think there is no doubt about that part.  But maybe just plain stupid, as well.  Peter MacKay gave his solemn word and put his signature to a document declaring he would not take the Progressive Conservatives into an alliance with the Harper party.  And then, almost immediately, Peter MacKay broke his bond of honour and went under.  No more needs to be said about Peter MacKay and morality.

He seems to be every bit as reactionary as Stephen Harper.  And so Peter MacKay could only seek a plush place in the Harper Conservative structure. He couldn’t be the tempering Progressive Conservative conscience in the Party because – well, that would imply he has a conscience to work with.

Spread-eagled across the country, Peter Mackay was caught using a search-and-rescue helicopter for transport from a private fishing trip.  Very Expensive. In the House of Commons he appears to have lied about that trip with the tacit approval of Stephen Harper.  After all, both are males ….  Maybe not men, but males.

That brought on examination of Peter MacKay’s travel accommodations and travel frequency.  He makes poor Bev Oda look like someone really small-time, really sandbox, not A-Team, not even B-Team, but … say … “Ladies League”.  He appears to have taken hotel accommodation fit for … well … for a Mafia boss.  And travel.  No one, it is reported, has used government (free, special, elite) aircraft more than Peter MacKay who has flown and flown and flown on your money.

Right here the Harper Conservative Sexist game is most clear.  Bev Oda’s hotel accommodations, her limousines, etc. look like child’s play against the accommodation/travel spendings of Peter MacKay.  Bev Oda has been fired by resigning. Bev Oda has been made an example, to show Canadians the Harper Conservatives will tolerate no waste of tax payers’ money. Peter MacKay is prized in the Harper inner circle.  He is Minister of National Defence. He can waste money like water.  He’s a male.

We know Bev Oda resigned.  We know she gave no reason.  Let us imagine her last conversation with Stephen Harper.  The setting is the prime minister’s office.  Stephen Harper is seated behind a desk.  The door opens and Bev Oda enters.  Stephen Harper doesn’t look up. Bev Oda stands for some seconds.  And then she speaks. 

Oda:  You wanted to see me, Stephen.

Harper:  Call me “prime minister”.

Oda:   Yes.

Harper:  Well?

Oda:  Well … what?

Harper:  Start again.

Oda:  What’s that?

Harper:  Don’t you understand English.  I said start again.

Oda:  Start again?

Harper: (pause)  Start again.  (long pause)

Oda:  You wanted to see me, prime minister.

Harper:  Yes.

Oda:  What about … prime minister?

Harper:  When the fuss was going on in the House of Commons about your limousine in London … and the sixteen dollar glass of orange juice, I said I’d talk to you later.  You will remember I didn’t defend you.

Oda:  You defended Tony Clement and John Baird and Peter MacKay.  You let the organizers of the Election Frauds get away scot free. And Dean del Maestro ….

Harper:  Are you finished?  (pause) I take it you are.  (pause) Your actions in London hurt the reputation of the Party, cast its integrity into doubt, and injured … my reputation.  (Pause)  I am asking you to resign.

Oda:  But I’m doing a good job as a cabinet minister….

Harper:  (Interrupts).  Please.  I can move you from cabinet when I like.  It would be better if you resign. 

Oda:  I see.

Harper:  I want you out of the House of Commons, altogether.  You’re a sitting duck any time the Opposition wants to attack you.

Oda:  But I was voted in by my constituents. 

Harper:  I won’t let you run next time.  I decide that, not your constituents.  I will have the caucus reject you.  The caucus does what I tell it to do.  I’ll make your life hell – and you won’t run next time. 

Oda:  But my constituents….

Harper:  (Breaks in). Your constituents are so many head of cattle.  They go where they’re told.  I tell them where to go. I drive the caucus like a herd of cattle and your constituents aren’t much different ….

Oda:  But the election scandals.  You may need me. 

Harper:  I decide how the elections will go.  I rig the federal elections. 

Oda:  Nevertheless, there may be trouble. 

Harper:  I just appointed a safe, new, cooperative Chief Elections Officer.  He will help elections to come out right in the future … with no bother.  He’s my elections Toy-Boy.  As Bob Paulson is my RCMP Toy-Boy.  As the Governor General is my diplomatic Toy-Boy.  I appoint them.  They do what I say.

Oda:  When do you want me to leave cabinet?

Harper:  Take your time … in the next two weeks.

Oda:  Is that all?

Harper:  You resign your seat in the House.

Oda:  To go where?

Harper:  You can’t be in government….

Oda:  (A long pause).  You don’t want me to say anything … embarrassing ….

Harper:  Like what?

Oda:  (Long Pause).  Many … many … many … many things.

Harper:  You will be taken care of.

Oda:  That’s not enough.

Harper:  I said you’ll be taken care of.

Oda:  I said that’s not enough.

Harper:  You can’t be given a government appointment.  You know that.

Oda:  (Silence.)

Harper:  I have feelers out.  You’ll be appointed … well.  You’ll be appointed by SNC Lavellin, or Caterpillar Corporation, or U.S. Steel – someone like that.  Enbridge might offer ….  They all owe me a lot, so don’t worry.  They’re the corporate arm of my government, though Canadians haven’t figured that out yet….

Oda:  I thought ….

Harper:  You thought what?

Oda:  I thought only the Queen could speak of “my government”. 

Harper:  You’ve got a lot to learn.  Maybe it’s best for all that you’re going.

[End of imagined conversation.] 

Was Bev Oda really stupid?  She had to be if she thought a woman (even in a minor way) could play the graft game, the breach of trust game, the ego-tripping game the way Harper Conservative men do, get caught, and get away scot free.  She should have known that in the Harper structure only men can to those things … and last, and be promoted. 

Poor, dumb Bev Oda.  Poor … woman.

The Mounties on
dat River in Africa

It's all your fault bitch.....NOT!

Well, now the truth is out, in spite of the suggestions by the new head mountie that the obviously rotten culture within the once celebrated and now scorned from coast to coast RCMP was going to be changed, things are just more of the same and the Mounties have booked a cruise on the good ship Bullshit as it cruises up da Nile River. And yet again as a taxpaying citizen, I must helplessly watch as yet another government uses my tax dollars to defend the indefensible in my name.

The BC Government's treatment of various employees, like teachers and hospital workers is found to be WRONG, no problem, they are entitled to appeal it to the skies on our dime. Harper doesn't like a decision regarding prostitution laws, or the right to assisted suicide, hell, we are here with our wallets open to fund your defense of the indefensible. Does Stevie Slime want to bomb some brown people somewhere, anywhere, well here Steve, let me and my friends buy the effing bombs, after all, it is the least that we can do as good Germans, I mean citizens.

Now that Catherine Galliford has bravely stepped forward to challenge the boys club that seems to be the Mountie way, both the government of Christy Clueless (undoubtedly under the guidance of former pig Rich Coleman) and Harper's biblicaly guided morons have come out swinging, using the usual tactic of blaming the victim. According to filings by both levels of government, Ms. Galliford was just an out of control drunk who was responsible for her own troubles, because she wouldn't quit drinking like her bosses wanted. Now if Catherine had been a man with a 'problem' of drinking at the office and showing his dick to women subordinates, maybe she would have just received a transfer to a nicer posting (like from cold snowy Edmonton to Vancouver), but no, poor Catherine had the misfortune of being born without a dick.

Don't feel like this is déjà vu all over again if it sounds like the old story of rape victims being blamed for their own rape, because you know they had a couple drinks and they were wearing those really hot clothes, you know. I wonder what would happen if Ken Bossenkool was accused of sexually harassing his subordinate, Christy Clark? Nah, nobody could really get it up for her, could they? Hamish is the result of immaculate conception, isn't he?

Of course one thing I find pretty amazing in this attack by BC and Ottawa on Ms. Galliford. If she was such a drunk (and slut), why did the Holy Horsemen of Justice choose her to be the face of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as spokesperson, seen almost daily at times, on TeeVee to keep the public up to date on such potentially embarrassing issues (to the RCMP) as the Air India Bombing (and the way the RCMP handled the case was the biggest bomb) and the Missing Women situation, which should perhaps be better labeled the Missing Law Enforcement Situation that cost the lives of so many women!

Yep next time be born with a dick Catherine then the Mounties will defend you to the death, like they have Montgomery Robinson, the dude who killed Ian Bush and the weirdo in Kelowna who likes to kick prostrate people in the head! By the way, is Monty still pulling down a cool $70,000 - $80,000 for not coming to work after two murders and going on how many years now?

Friendly,Peaceful
CANADA?(Updated)

Canadians sometimes have to grimace at spectacles such as an arena in say, Portland, full of homer fans cheering on a team of young Canadian hockey players, maybe the Portland Winterhawks, as they battle another team of mostly young Canadians, say the Brandon Wheat Kings, chanting endlessly, USA,USA,USA. Of course maybe they just have to keep reminding themselves where they live, in order to get home after the game. But no more must we Canucks feel like pencil neck geeks, carefully avoiding the bullies of the world - actually we are the meanest bastards on the block - well on a per capita basis.

Indigenous Canadian Douglas Jack, also known as Ou-ee-ii-jay-ii has compiled a list that demonstrates that Canada is number one in most of the important areas necessary to be a successful "belligerent aggressor," and qualified to hold their heads up high among the other tough guys in the world. This Mr. Hyde side of Canada, though not new, is undoubtably being accelerated under the extra macho manly leadership of our man Steve! The full list with more details can be found at Friendly Peaceful Canada....., but a quick listing follows here.

• A. # 1 Mine developer and mineral extractor around the world per capita
  
  
• B. # 1 Forestry exploiter around the world per capita
  
  
• C. # 1 Energy developer, infrastructure supplier and consumer per capita,
  
  
• D. # 1 Consumer worldwide per capita for all major non-renewable materials. Canadians identify themselves & lifestyles as consumers,
  
  
• E. # 1 Source of Depleted Uranium per capita.
  
  
• F. # 1 Source of Refined-Uranium for Nuclear Power per capita
  
  
• G. # 3 Arms Producer and Sales per capita (after Israel, USA) - Canada is # 1 supplier of major arms components / capita to the US arms system, but #1 and #2 in this category are better at turning a profit
  
  

Now I've always felt that Canada should be cut some slack for being such a heavy user of energy, after all it is a VAST country and the distance between folks is not like getting to London from Paris or even Milan. Then it is really cold at least part of the year in most of the country, dem damn Hawaiians don't have near the fuel bills and are even air-conditioned for free by the marine breezes and daily showers to windward. Besides even if dem billions of Chinamen, original Indians from the Sub-Continent and all them Islamofacists only each hog a fraction of the earth's bounty as one Canadian, there are so damn many of 'em it is no use for a few Canadians to try to conserve, even if just to inspire by example. And of course all them billions of "others" can honestly say, you'all in the West got yours, now we want ours, and we are gonna put thousands of new cars on the roads every day until nobody anywhere can breath - you guys been driving around for decades, our turn!

The amazing thing is how Canada has managed to be regarded by so much of the world as our tough and mean Southern Uncle Sam's really nice neice/nephew. It may have been because, in spite of our sometimes unavoidable (unless we chose to stay home in the dark and freeze) appetites, we still tried to make the world a better place. Lester Pearson kept the ME from the boiling point a little longer, and our soldiers mostly tried to keep the peace or provide aid after natural, or un-natural disasters anywhere on earth.

But the days of being America's wimpy next door neighbor are over and Our Dere Leder Steve is doing everything possible to make sure everybody knows that Canada Rules and sorry Unca Sammy, you are now Number TWO at best!

Updated - 7:30am - July 14
Energy Hogs!

In the Business section of the Winnipeg Free Press, we learn that Canadian excess makes us energy hogs. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy issued score cards for 12 leading developed countries/economies and Canada managed to avoid being the biggest loser, thanks to an even worse rating garnered by Russia - another big and often cold country, though the ACEEE doesn't put much stock in the big and cold excuse.

Before we even begin to look at Canada's abysmal showing, we should set aside two common excuses for this country's high energy consumption: cold winters and a thinly spread population.

Australia also has a thin population spread over a large area, but its performance is far better than that of Canada or the U.S., ranking it a middle-of-the-pack sixth overall.

And Germany, where winters are nearly as cold as Canada's, was an outstanding performer, ranking second.

The 12 economies that are ranked here represent more than 78 percent of global gross domestic product, 63 percent of global energy consumption, and 62 percent of the global carbon-dioxide equivalent emissions. The ACEEE rankings follow below, for more information about the scoring system, the full report or a combination map-scorecard visit ACEEE.org.

( 1) United Kingdom

( 2) Germany

( 3) Italy

( 4) Japan

( 5) France

(6-7-8 |three way tie)

     European Union
     Australia
     China

( 9)United States

(10) Brazil

(11) Canada

(12) Russia.

The ACEEE has also ranked the fifty U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, using similar protocols. How come I'm not surprised to see that Dick Cheney's home stomping grounds, Wyoming, managed to nail down second worst only to North Dakota in the 2011 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard

Stupid
Math Tricks

Since I, thankfully, still seem to have no problems with high blood pressure, I can safely visit a blog which I will refer to as Sewage without Respite and not have my heart or head explode. The proprietor of said corner of the bloggosphere, who admittedly has a way with words, but regrettably a lack of respect for facts, could perhaps win a Pulitzer or even a Nobel for fiction, but insists on calling his writing opinion at best or even gospel at worst.

In a recent post he presented "his friend" Peter Brown's recent letter to the cantankerous Cummins led BC Conservative party, pleading with these new challengers to the BC LIEberals for the "free enterprise" vote to line up behind Clueless Christy to save the province from the socialist hordes led by "Comrade Dix." He shortly found himself (Greatest Blogger Guy in Moderator mode) fending off an attack on the banksters, fraudsters and outright modern day Robber Barons by resorting to the classic class warfare meme, or the even more credible argument that said critics of capitalism gone wild were (take your pick) delusional, late for their meds, on some kind of illegal drugs, just more of the stupid Occupytards or just didn't have enough brain cells to understand how business really works.

When it was pointed out by one of the eminently reasonable commenters that his buddy Pete had been found wanting in the ethical department to the tune of being fined $3.5 million, by the usually willing to turn a blind eye to even egregious rip-offs by con artists disguised as investment advisers or stock brokers,British Columbia Securities Commission (the saviour of Bennett the Lesser and Doman, oh so many years ago). To that and the fact old Petey was found guilty of at least three other infractions by the notoriously lax BCSC, our hero replied that that is just how he and his friends in business roll, get used to it. Anybody who expressed concerns about our current state of socialism for the rich and social Darwinism for the rest, just didn't have the gumption to get up off their asses and steal their own fortune from the poor and leave the poor downtrodden rich and their ill gotten gains alone.

But the comment by one of the fawning sycophants of the Greatest Blogger on this planet and any other really got even my usually cool blood almost to the boiling point, even on a planet the size of Jupiter (BP would of course be higher on the largest planet and I realize this FACT because I fortunately got to go to school before Herr Harper the not so Great banned science from the land). This apparently rich dude, who shall remain nameless to protect the stupid, claimed that during the dark dismal nineties when BC suffered under the heel of a brutal commie regime called the NDP, the provincial share of his income tax had gone up $2000, not just one year, but another $2000 the next and then again the next.

Now since I am too far to the low end of the bottom 99%, I can neither afford, nor need, to hire experts to help me prepare my taxes and hide my income in super secret bank accounts and sliced and diced financial instruments. Therefore I have to utilize my math skills to calculate how much to either remit to Ottawa or hopefully expect CRA to send to me as a Happy Summer gift.

Now in some jurisdictions the provincial tax is calculated as a percentage of the federal taxes owing, and in others it is a percentage of taxable income as determined after all deductions are taken both federal and provincial. Now I just used a random recent tax return of my own as a reference so my figures may not be accurate by 2012 rates, but then again our whining Mr. Dumpkoff is speaking of the evil dark nineties and I've thrown all those out by now anyway. The bullet point to take away though is that this percentage is generally quite small, and the year I referred to once one reached a taxable income slightly north of $28,000, the provincial share kicked in and ranged from 3.5% to 14.7% for the one percenter club types(this rate kicked in for those whose accountants couldn't reduce their taxable income below $97,000 .

Now my math skills may be more honed from use in trigonometry and calculus, due to my line of work before retirement rather than the more pedestrian arithmetic used in counting money. But I think they are still not so rusty that I can't figure out that some asshole whose PROVINCIAL income taxes increased by $6,000 over three years under the communist heel of Mike Harcourt and Glen Clark was doing quite well, thank you. Of course for people like this dude, things got even better when Gordo the Magnificent Crook took office and virtually eliminated pesky taxes for corporations and rich folks and then tried to unload what little they still had to pay onto the rest of us by imposing the HST, yet another form of INCOME REDISTRIBUTION upward. Funny thing though, guys like the Great Blogger and Mr. Dumb Dude never seem to have a problem with that form of income redistribution, after all as Stompin' Tom might have said

- "The job creators they call us,
we trinkle down to you.
We know our golden showers
will float the poor's canoe!

Midweek
Musings

Title to be sung to Jimi's Crosstown Traffic

Defending the Bully!

In this early part of the twenty-first century, when the issue of bullying, especially in our schools is so fashionable that even that Clueless pretend Premier of B.C. Ms. Photo-op claims to get it and promotes anti-bullying campaigns (while being perhaps the biggest bully in the province, herself), it is refreshing to come across an article by Andy Radia standing up for the biggest bully of them all in what used to be Canada (now known as Harperland(TM)).

In Does it really matter if Stephen Harper is a bully?, Our handy dandy enabler Andy recites a partial list of Slimeball Steve's more egregious attacks on Canada and Canadians, like:

"The government is intolerant of criticism and dissent. Civil libertarians who oppose giving police easier access to internet users' browsing histories were branded by Conservatives as supporters of child pornographers. They condemned greens worried about the development of Alberta's tar sands as radicals laundering foreign money; the government is investigating the charitable status of some green groups. It killed off an advisory body of businessmen, scientists and officials because it supported a carbon tax. The electoral authority is investigating claims that Conservatives used automated phone calling in 2011 to mislead voters in opposition areas about where to vote."

But then in a stunning display of adherence to the ends justify the means Andy eventually gets around to his main point, which is:

By most accounts, Harper is right.

For more of the exact drivel issuing from the Kool-aid swilling Andy the Enabler you will have to go to the source, linked to above. However I would like to point out that other than removing the odious long gun registry, everything else that is still good in what was once Canada is either the legacy of former governments, and their policies or the good fortune of finding goodies that Stevie's God buried in the ground in Northern Alberta, the Canadian Shield or allowed to grow above our fruited plain. Policies that Our Sleaze Steve protested in earnest while in opposition, like not deregulating banks, declining to engage in the clusterfuck that was the invasion of Iraq in search of imaginary WMD and many others too numerous to list, saved our collective bacon, so that Stevie could come along and claim all the credit for shit he fought against tooth and nail as Oppo Leader or wing-nut welfare stink tank spokesperson. Nuff said about these idjits, now on to one of Sleazy Steve's aid and abetting moral cretins.

Speaking of Odious

If it wasn't enough that our former Minister of Entitlement and Forgery, and soon to be front critter of her own Roy Orbison tribute band likes to drink orange juice squeezed from oranges from the original Garden of Eden by naked virgin woodland nymphs, we now find that horror of horrors, she SMOKED NASTY CIGGIES in her office while altering documents by candlelight. In typical HarperCon fashion, the first response to questions about Ms. Odious' nasty habit was to paddle upstream in that river in Africa, Da Nile. Once that proved ineffective they played the thrift card by pointing out that she used a cheap air purifier purchased at Wallymart to save the taxpayers some bucks (prolly for more special orange juice).

The allegation that Oda had been smoking in her office came out Monday, when Sun News ran a story citing sources who claimed Oda smoked regularly in her officer during her time as Minister of International Cooperation. The story cited a "highly placed source in the government" who said that the staff were frustrated and couldn't do anything to stop it.

Broekema, who worked for Oda from 2009 to her resignation last week, denied these allegations to the media. The Toronto Sun reports Broekema saying Oda never smoked in her office, nor was there an air purifier or complaints about a smell of smoke.

However Broekema's story changed today, who confirmed in statements to Sun News and The Toronto Star that Oda had been smoking on the job, and had an air purifier in the office.

"Since that story I learned that a $50 Walmart air purifier was purchased for the office and that the former minister smoked in her office," Broekema told The Star in an email.

The original Sun News story says that the air purifier was ordered at taxpayers' expense. Oda herself has not confirmed these allegations.

Perhaps there is a ray of sunshine in this story though, for the nearly tapped out taxpayers who have been sponsoring Ms. Super Entitlement all this time and will continue to do so in her retarded retired state. There is a good chance that we won't be on the hook for her $52,183 annual pension, vested and secured after a whole eight years on the job running up astronomical expense accounts. Unless all those former tobacco is bad for your health deniers, most of whom have moved on to the more lucrative job of Climate Change denial are correct - we won't have to ante up that fifty grand plus for many years, thanks to dem dirty old coffin nails sneaked, snuck, snucken in her smelly office for oh that eight long years.

Just Say No
or maybe Nancy had a point!

According to the Mound of Sound

It was close - 77 to 71 - but it was enough for the Dutch parliament to cancel their planned purchase of 80 F-35 stealth light attack bombers.

So if the folks wearing wooden shoes with their fingers in the dike can do it!

Canada, Just say No to the effing stooopid, useless overpriced and unnecessary manned one way ballistic missile otherwise known as the JSF-effing-35

A Final Word for the Day!

I've been mostly away from the intertoobz lately and after a refreshing dip into the inspirational musings of the Powell River Persuader and his post from yesterday, I mistakenly, in my desire to catch up took a trip to the somewhat stupid and brain challenged side. I still haven't even broached the childish petulant waters of the BC Blue example of stubborn denial (where comments not 1000% in line are disappeared immediately, just like at Ezra "the non-Savant" Levant's excuse for a blog), but I will already have to take a shower after touring the gathering place for the King of Sewage without Respite and his fawning sycophants. Fortunately, I don't have any blood pressure issues so will survive. But, I would like to address all the Frantic Chicken Littles who think the sky will fall if BC doesn't elect some form of a "free enterprise" co-alition rather than dem commie socialishtic Dip Shits under Adrian "memo + transit pass + and prolly Jesus crucifying" Dix(head).

Most of you that continuously bleat about the wonders of free enterprise wouldn't recognize it if it bit you on the ass. Take out your dictionary (buy one if necessary) and look up CRONYISM. Take note cronyism is not a synonym for free enterprise, and I'm afraid free enterprise is an exercise that hasn't been really tried very much anywhere, especially in the Banana Republic of British Columbia. BTW, it is pretty well dead and buried down in the failing nation to the south, as well.

The Sky Intertoobz
Is Falling!

Here at the start of what it appears will be a very nice week in our corner of the sticks.....(continued below image)

.....or the Eve of what could be anything from the end of the world as we know it, or a hoax perpetrated by the FBI so they can (fill in nefarious aim here) or much too much ado about nothing (like Y2K wasn't, but appeared to be thanks to the work of geeks everywhere once they realized the mistake of not using 4 integers to represent the year back when both data space and processor cycles were in limited supply). This depends on which new sources you use and how much you know about computers and how the Internet works. The truth is, it is a nice day today with, we hope, more to follow, AND there is a very real "threat" facing an estimated 7,000 Canadians and perhaps a half million worldwide.

No Alice, thousands of computers are unlikely to start exploding at midnight, midnight in a specific time zone or a midnight that rolls west around the globe - like a midsummer's nightmare version of New Year. You can diagnose and fix today in seconds, or maybe minutes if you test positive for the "infection." Tomorrow, if the symptom present and the Internet is out of reach, you can skip the diagnosis and go straight to the fix, which now will involve resorting to the almost deprecated data transfer protocol "sneakernet," simply carrying disks, thumb drives or even floppy disks (ever more deprecated as I type) or POTS )Plain Old Telephone System), which can involve endless hours on hold to a call centre, especially on a day when many users are experiencing the same problem as you.

You probably will find that you didn't need to have bothered, but a quick little visit to the DNS Changed Working Group or DCWG, just might save you a lot of time and headaches tomorrow.