We're On The Eve of Destruction

DATELINE: IN A FRONT ROW SEAT FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF DEMOCRACY – By May first – in 32 days, for those of you without a calendar – the Fair Elections Act will pass in Canada. Well, ‘pass’ is a rather inaccurate term, as it will be more a case of it being shoved down our throats, not unlike hemlock in ancient Athens. Of course, the title of the bill is akin to referring to laws regarding rape as the Demand for Love Act. You can put lipstick on a pig, but… well, you know how that one goes. Of course, the Harper Conservatives don’t see it this way. Nooo, they see it as the only way possible for them to win another election – by hook or by crook, as they say. They will steal the House of Commons, because there is NOTHING that is more important to Stephen Harper than being Boss.

Never in the history of Canada has one party changed the rules of election without thorough consultation with the other parties and without agreement from the heads of Election Canada. That is because we are a democracy, and the prime tenet of a democracy is the ability to have fair, honest elections. Without that, democracy is a farce, a cheap façade worn by power mongers who give not one single damn about the people who elected them, and who care even less for those who did not. Of course, there is the valid argument to be made that the current government, the one making these changes, is illegitimate anyways, and God knows this is not their first ‘never in the history of Canada’ achievements.

They were the first government in Canada to be found in Contempt of Parliament. That alone should have been signal enough to the electorate, but what did Harper do? He prorogued parliament in order to avoid scrutiny or asking questions (another first). In fact, he prorogues Parliament whenever the kitchen gets a bit too hot for him. His was the first government to set fixed election dates then was the first government to break that rule as well. His was the first (and second) election in Canada’s history to involve voter fraud – fraud that WAS determined to be committed by the Conservatives. In fact, this government’s record for respecting and working within the bounds of democracy is absolutely abysmal, the rules of democracy and elections discussed by them with derision, offering more than enough proof that they cannot and should not be trusted to unilaterally change the way in which they are elected.

My rage about this, however, is not at the Harper government any longer. That rage is pointless. I have written to the Governor General – a textbook definition of ‘waste of time’ since Rideau Hall is so far up Harper’s anal cavity that they have given up polishing those austere marble floors anymore and have just accepted the brown slime on said floors as a byproduct of Harper’s ravenous appetite. It’s understandable. The man gobbles up people and poops out oil – well, dilbit, to be exact, so undoubtedly they believe the floors of the GG’s mansion to instead be christened with black gold. Certainly the perks and benefits received by the government of the day, including the GG, have that rancid stench of oil clearly attached to them.

I have written to every member of the Senate. When the Fathers of Confederation dreamed up this country, they saw a bi-cameral house, where no one side could run amok with the country they so lovingly created. The Senate was to be non-partisan, a home of the wise, the worn, the well-seasoned, who would provide sober second thought and stop any monkey business should the government of the day attempt some. It’s as if they had a premonition of Stephen Harper taking a chainsaw to their glorious architecture, and wanted to have checks and balances in place to stop it before it could happen. Of course, they didn’t see that corporate greed and obsession for power would override absolutely every other principle involving government, or that their beloved Senate would be completely bastardized, turned into nothing more than a house of government whores working for a pimpish PMO.

My rage is wasted on Harper. It will change nothing. He is what he is – another in a long line of megalomaniacal (misogynist) power mongers, who dreams of more authority every night, and works for more money in his bank account every day… and the people of the country (and the country itself) be damned.

So, what can we do? Do we sit back, raise a glass to the Canada we once knew, and thumb through boutique catalogues from new corporations like Surviving Hitler, or Fascism International, hoping to find something we can use to make our ‘new’ lives more tolerable under this new regime? Our middle class has been decimated, our upper-class has been more empowered, and as we all sink to the depths of the impoverished and enslaved, we find out that this very oppression is what will prevent us from having a right to vote. Harper is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that will crown him king of his own country in time. Is my explanation extreme? Perhaps… for now. Give the man some time.

Instead, I now ask ‘What the hell are the other parties doing about this?’ Well, I do see some of them on television, arguing the bill, but so what? What are they going to do? When it comes to stopping it, they are in the minority. As government representatives, they are completely impotent to stop this train wreck, and it shows. Flapping lips; sinking ships. I am astounded and dismayed at their lack of actually ‘doing’ something. I have waited for over a month now for them to figure it out, but it seems they just can’t. Party alliances – partisanism – runs too thick in their blood, and the need to be ‘in charge’ is too all consuming for them to be able to see beyond the trees. Because of that, all of us, and our country, and our country’s amazing stellar reputation hang in the balance.

Instead of sending out emails every fecking day of the week asking for more campaign money because ‘we have to collect more than the other guy’, how about doing something to educate the people across this country? How about doing something to organize them? Media pundits say that the public is lazy and indifferent. No, assholes, they are not! They do, however, need some guidance to get organized, and the word has to reach people who don’t have computers in their homes (yes, there still are some, and they are the ones who will be disenfranchised the most from these changes). Why are the local arms of the political parties not getting out there and talking about this to everyone? Why are they not in front of the media locally? Why are they not holding town halls, sending out fliers, AND talking it up on the social media and every other place possible? Why are the provincial arms of the political parties doing nothing like this to inform and organize? Why are the federal offices doing nothing? This is not a time to JUST sit in front of Robert Fife, Rosie Barton or Evan Solomon to pitch the same party lines and listen to the same BS spewed by Conservative members who have no intention of answering a question or providing an explanation. Is it up to just the likes of Katy O'Malley and Andrew Coyne to try to explain what is at stake here? Why are the parties doing more? Well, because they can’t go into those election coffers to spend money prematurely on THIS because then what will they campaign with next year.

This is no longer a situation where political dichotomy can rule the day. WHY ARE THE PARTIES NOT JOINING TOGETHER IN THIS FIGHT? That’s where my anger is. Get the Liberals, the NDP and the Greens together, because the stakes are pretty fecking extreme. Show the people of Canada that you can work together, that you DO care about Canada. Forget raising money for the next election, because if this bill passes, the next election is moot. It’s like saving money for a child’s college fund, then watching that child die because you didn’t want to spend the money saved for college on the medicine he needs now. Canada needs the medicine now! 

There was a time when Canadians were proud of what we did. We were the peace brokers, the calming influence. If there were elections to be held in other countries, where democracy wasn’t as entrenched in their psyches as it was here, WE went to help, to oversee, to teach them about the beauty of casting a ballot, knowing that it was done on a fair, level playing field. Canada, like Rome, wasn’t built in a day, but like Pompei, the Canada we know can be wiped out in one fell blow. For us, it will be Mount Harper that will be our demise, and I have no doubt that he’s up to the task. I only wish our opposition parties were as well.

Canada is under attack… from within. 

Harper’s Bizarre: The Litany Continues

DATELINE: TAKING OUT MY PEN AND WRITING A LETTER: I recently posted a list of Prime Minister Harper’s Scandals. It’s hard to imagine that it could have grown at all in such a short time, but each day we hear more about his abuse of power, his unaccountability of our money, his complete disregard for laws. Just when you think it can’t get worse, that he has to have sunk to his lowest level, he surprises you. There is apparently nothing he will not stoop to in order to maintain his hold on the big seat.

Case in point... it recently has been revealed that he has been ‘rewriting’ history, changing or deleting what he doesn’t like or what doesn’t suit his purpose. In a way, I was glad to hear this, because I was sure I was losing my mind when I accused him of this three years ago. I had been researching information regarding the Vietnam war for a book I was writing. The Vietnam War, you say? Well, yes, because while we were not officially involved, there were tens of thousands of men, Canadian men, young men, who went down to the United States to enlist, because they thought they were doing the right thing. They were labelled as mercenaries up here (seriously, considering what the military here and in the US are paid, this is either laughable or pathetic... I’m not sure which) but they had the power of their convictions and the desire to help others, so they joined up. There were more Canadians who went down to help in Vietnam than there were Americans who came up here to avoid the draft. Chew on that fact for awhile.

These men, if they were hurt or killed in action, were disavowed by BOTH governments, and they still are to this day. There are no health benefits, no assistance plans. Neither the US government nor the Canadian government recognizes their sacrifices. Those Canadians who perished in Vietnam were denied any proper burial, because they were pariahs. Finally, though, there was some headway being made to help these men. I know. I read about them in the Canadian government archives on the internet, on the official Canadian Government website. There was information about the numbers of men who went to the US to enlist, and what happened to them. There was information about the money that was made by Canadian entities who, while not supporting the war and remaining completely neutral, lined their pockets with the blood of other men.

Today that page no longer exists on the government website. It’s not convenient. It might mean that perhaps a crack could have been closed, some help could have been arranged for those men and their families, that some recognition and assistance might be forthcoming, but god forbid that happen in Stephen Harper’s Canada. Today it is the story of our boys who fought in Vietnam; tomorrow will they erase the history of my uncle who fought in Dieppe? Where does he stop? How much of our history will be destroyed, how many lives complete disregarded and disrespected, in his efforts to pave the way to political supremacy? We are waiting, sure that the trickle-down dregs of the 1% will boost the rest of us. Beyond that, and his attempts (however illegal or immoral) to maintain power, nothing else matters. The world revolves around the Harper Government and his ability to keep a stranglehold on it. That is much easier to accomplish with a poor, underfed, undereducated and uninformed population. He is taking great strides to ensure that. To this end, I present the updated (at least as of this morning... God only knows what else has happened today, but if it involves this government, it can’t be good) litany of Harper’s scandals. When you have read it, perhaps you will join me in writing to the Governor General, requesting that he do what he is mandated to do -- dissolving this Parliament and calling a new election, before Harper is so out of control, there is no turning back. Each day we wait, more of our history, and our future, is being systematically and systemically destroyed.

Archives ‘cleansing’ – The Harper government is working through the Canadian Archives, destroying things that don’t quite agree with their position, effectively politically rewriting our history.
Consultation -- $2.4Billion spent on unspecified, undescribed, unaccounted for ‘consultation’.
Lost money -- $3.1Billion ‘lost’ dollars designated for National Security.
Illegal contributions – this time from those receiving patronage appointments (ie IE directors) who are legally forbidden from making political contributions, but who made $37,000 of them anyway.
Duffy-Dipping Affair – It was first revealed that Pamela Wallin and Mike Duffy, Senators appointed by Harper, were filing false claims for expenses, stemming from being ‘unsure’ about the definition of ‘primary’ residence. Then it was revealed that Duffy had claimed $90,000 in expenses as both Senate costs, billed to the Canadian Taxpayer, AND Conservative Party campaigning costs, double dipping for twice the pay. Then it was revealed that the Prime Ministers Chief of Staff cut a cheque for the full amount, effectively paying back Duffy’s owings, thereby preventing another audit AND attempting to stop a criminal investigation into the matter. Then it was revealed that the deal regarding the payment of the money was fine-tuned by special counsel to the Prime Minister, constituting yet ANOTHER conflict of interest.
CBC Control – The Harper government announced that they will be taking over the appointing of staff to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, effectively taking control over the news and the way it is presented to the public, providing them with more political spin at public expense.
Temporary Foreign Workers Scandal with Royal Bank and other large corporations for the importing of foreign workers to replace Canadian workers.
Bail-In Provision snuck through to allow government access to personal savings accounts to settle government debts (2013)
Long Gun Registry – stopped then reinstated (April 2013) with increased registration fees for restricted weapons and the yearly renewing of licence for long guns
Robocalls (2012) – issuing fake, misleading calls to actively interfere with voting public
Canada Action Plan ad campaign Part 1 -- $26M taxpayer dollars over 3 months for programs already ended in order to promote conservative party
Canada Action Plan ad campaign Part 2 – while unemployment, particularly student unemployment, rises steadily, Harper continues his Canada Action Plan ads at high-cost events, for no purpose other than pre-campaigning.
ETS Scandal – An IT contract was unfairly awarded to CGI, a known association of Michael Fortier, the then PWGSC Minister in a clear conflict of interest. No fairness monitor was appointed to oversee the process, reported scores by evaluators did not coincide with what they had issued, the evaluation team was advised to destroy all records relating to the evaluation, the government refused to debrief companies that had lost the award, the Canadian International Trade Tribunal ruled against the government, and the government’s response was angry denial and to appoint a new federal crown prosecutor (a former Conservative candidate) to charge the unsuccessful companies involved in the bid process with big-rigging – a charge still unproven but the case continues four years after the fact.
CFIA (2012) – food inspection services cut, listeriosis outbreak, Minister Gerry Ritz’s tasteless jokes about deaths from outbreak.
Prorogation – Part 1 (to avoid contempt of parliament fallout)
Prorogation – Part 2 (to avoid NDP/Liberal coalition government)
Shoe Store Project (2007) – plans for a $2M gov’t controlled media center, run by the PMO to replace the National Press Gallery, run by the national press.
Julie Couillard Scandal (2007) – Maxime Bernier leaves sensitive NATO documents at ex-girlfriend’s house, a woman with known ties to the Hells Angels
In and Out (2007) – Circumnavigation of election finance rules in 2006 election. $230,000 in fines issued for violating spending laws
Plagiarizing – Part 1 (2007) plagiarizes Australia’s John Howard’s speech about Iraq
Plagiarizing – Part 2 (2008) from Ontario Mike Harris’speech
Repatriation scandal – issues orders that military personnel killed in combat would not receive repatriation attention or coverage and no flags would be at half-mast
Scrums – all media scrums forbidden. Press statements will be issued when the government feels they are necessary
Chuck Cadman scandal – bribe for the vote in parliament, then lied under oath about it and the tape evidence of the bribe
Senior Federal Scientists Gagged – not allowed to speak to media without government permission... still in effect in 2012
Long-form Census stopped, cutting access to valuable statistics
Suspended Federal civil servants’ right to strike
Limiting access of press to PM during election – misusing RCMP to restrict access at private events
Created a program to monitor and respond to online communications on internet bulletin boards, chatrooms and blog posts
Omnibus bill to pass non-financial bills with budget, making it impossible to reject pieces of the overall bill, thereby circumventing parliamentary process in the passing on individual bills.
Stopping debate on bills in legislature
Removed from UN Security Council seat for first time.
Afghan Detainees Scandal
Withheld financial information from parliament and parliamentary committees about costs of military planes
Neglected the bid process in awarding of a contract on fighter plane procurement.
Whistleblower scandal – Christiane Ouimet, integrity commissioner, turned down investigations into 227 whistleblower allegations. She was quietly dismissed with a $500,000 exit payment and gag order.
Rebranding Canadian Government as Harper Government on communications documents
Interference in the 2008 US Presidential election
$54,000 taxpayer money spent on 2-day oil lobby retreat in UK (2011)
Withdrawal from Kyoto
G8/G20 Fake Lake Scandal
Ordering striking unions back to work: Canada Post, Air Canada,
Broke his own new set election date law
Over 1700 patronage appointments
Pulls Canada out of UN anti-drought initiative
Contempt of Parliament – refused to turn over documents on Afghan detainee affair and later refused to submit to a parliamentary request regarding costing of his programs
Issued a 200-page handbook to committee heads advising them on how to disrupt their committees.
Reneged on promise to allow parliamentary committees to select their own chairs.
Dictated an order that staffers to cabinet ministers do not have to testify before committees
Ordered all government communications to be vetted by his office or the Privy Council Office
Impeded access to information systems, including the elimination of data base CAIRS, delaying responses to requests, imposing prohibitive fees on requests, putting pressure on bureaucrats to keep sensitive information hidden.
Redacted/blacked out excessive amounts of information.
Putting Conservative party logos on stimulus funding cheques that were paid out of the public purse.
Had party affiliates write on-line posts, using false names, to attack journalists.
In Charlottetown in 2007, he had the police remove reporters from a hotel lobby where a party caucus meeting was being held
Attempted to tar the reputation of diplomat Richard Colvin for contradicting their position on the afghan detainees situation.
Defence Minister Gordon O’Connor mislead the House regarding the afghan detainees situation, had to apologize and later resigned
Terminated Peter Tinsley, the Military Police Complaints Commissioner, when he started to investigate the afghan detainee situation.
He tried to withhold documents requested by Parliament regarding the afghan detainee situation
Before his leadership, personal attack ads were used, relatively sparingly, only during election season instead of every day regardless of election cycle.
Fossil of the Day awards (x3) were awards to John Baird, as minister of the environment, at the UN Cancun climate conference (Dec 2010) awarded by more than 400 leading organizations, to the countries that do the most to disrupt or undermine UN climate talks, citing that Baird and the Canadian government were ‘working against progressive legislation to address climate change” by “cancelling support for clean energy and for failing to have any plan to meet its very weak target for reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions.”

In a variety of punitive ways, Harper moved against NGOs, independent agencies, watchdog groups, and tribunals who showed signs of differing with his intent. In some cases he fired their directors or stacked their boards with partisans. In others, he sued them or cut their funding. The targets of such tactics included the Rights and Democracy group, Elections Canada, Veterans’ Ombudsman Pat Stogran, Budget Officer Kevin Page and many more. His party’s smear tactics included labelling the Liberal party anti-Israel, calling Dalton McGuinty the small man of Confederation, trying to link Liberal MP Navdeep Bains to terrorism, and calling for reprisals against academics such as the University Ottawa’s Michael Behiels for questioning their policies.
Ministers, MPs, Staff
Bev Oda – misleading Parliament, mishandled CIDA requests for KAIROS group, overspending (has paid back $4,025.26 to taxpayers)
Maxime Bernier – 2 ethics investigations for conflict of interest
Peter Penashue – election overspending, ineligible donations
John Duncan – improperly lobbied a tax judge
Bruce Carson – violating lobbying regulations/influence peddling
Dimitri Soudas – Communications Director for PM questioned over kickback scandal involving Montreal Port Authority
Jim Flaherty – Finance Minister improperly interfered with CRTC regarding the issuing of a broadcast licence
Dean Del Mastro – Elections Canada investigation of overspending, etc.
Arthur Porter – Harper appointee as Canada spy agency watchdog wanted for $1.3B fraud
Lisa Raitt – left sensitive documents in public AND made the‘cancer is sexy’ comment
Jason Kenney – used MP stationery for party fundraising
Rahim Jaffer and Helene Guergis – aids writing letters to papers pretending to be citizens, influence peddling (him), letting her husband use her office, mortgage transgressions, and the Charlottetown Airport meltdown
Peter MacKay – using military transportation for personal use
Vic Towes – abusive language and ‘you’re either with us or against us with child pornography’ statement
Sebastien Togneri, Agop Evereklian, Giulio Maturi, Dale Saip and Kasra Nejatian all involved in ethics transgressions
Rona Ambrose – told a parliamentary committee that Canada had paid its debt under the Kyoto Protocol but it was later pointed out that it was still unpaid. She refused to add spotted owls, of which there were only 17, needed no special protection. As Minister responsible for the Status of Women, voted for a motion to revisit the Canadian Criminal Code regarding abortion.
John Baird – Used his cabinet post to interfere with the 2006 Ottawa city mayoral election and the light rail transit system in that city.

Senators
Mike Duffy – improperly collecting housing allowances
Patrick Brazeau – improperly collecting housing allowances and facing assault and sexual assault charges
Pamela Wallin – travel and other expenses being audited for irregularities
58 senate appointments, 100% from the conservative party

PUTTING MY MONEY WHERE MY MOUTH IS

DATELINE: PUTTING ON MY POINTY SHOES – I did it. I said ‘enough’ today. I am not going to sit noisily on the sidelines, yelling and preaching from my armchair while letting others do the work. It’s time.

In the last few weeks, I have thought about my father, his brothers, his uncles, all of whom were prepared to, and did, put their lives on the line to allow me the right to vote in determining the direction my country takes. It was at huge expense for some of them, and their friends, brothers in arms, colleagues, but democracy and the right to make a little X on a piece of paper was absolutely important enough for them to want to give their all. It’s not really about love of country; it’s love of family and hope for a future. That’s what a soldier is – our vessel of hope. They deserve our respect and gratitude at the very least, so I can no longer sit idly back and listen to the reports and investigations into voter fraud committed by our current government in not one, but two, elections and again watch as they then impede the investigation progress more.

In the past few weeks, I have thought about journalists and news reporting, watching stories from North Korea and Syria, Iran and China, and yes, those from the United States. We see the two extremes in both, one where the only news is what the government allows to be news, spun to their advantage, the other where the only news is corporate driven, allowing the same partisan diatribes that are based on commercial spin, one where the only news is what the corporations want you to know because it progresses their agenda. We have seen what happens in the fallout. Canada has never fallen into that quagmire. The standards of the press should be sacred, not bought and paid for. Without freedom of the press – free from both corporate AND political influence – democracy dies. Stephen Harper made early steps to muzzle the press. Now he is taking steps to control it, spin it, use it to his own purposes, and in fact has created a bully pulpit unlike any ever seen in this country before. At this point, news is no longer news, and he is no longer the leader of a democratic country; he has now taken another huge step towards dictatorship, and the people of Canada be damned.

Our parliamentary system is long-rooted in tradition... for a reason. It is meant to provide balance in judgment, consideration for all sides of a position, an opportunity to provide informed guidance and principles for our country. That is achieved through debate and dialogue – not the creation of pork-barrel bills filled with a multitude of little laws that have nothing to do with a budget but that cannot be debated or discussed. In true American style, this is done to pass bills that even the Prime Minister knows should not be passed because of their detriment to the public and the nation, but they cater to the needs of the 1%. Stephen Harper doesn’t need, or want, debate or discussion though. As so eloquently by from one of his puppets, ‘you’re either with us or against us’ and they make sure you know that. There is no balance in Parliament. There is, however, Contempt of Parliament, a historical first, and one that he again was able to sweep under the carpet through the abuse of procedure and authority.

The litany of offences... criminal, moral and ethical... is growing daily. I have other blogs that include detailed lists of years of criminal mismanagement by this current government. How does one ‘misplace’ $3.1Billion dollars so well that the Auditor General can’t find it? I suppose there are explanations that are plausible. The problem is that Stephen Harper and his band of thugs and bullies have lied so many times, always for the sole purpose of maintaining power, that whatever explanation he offers, if he deigns to offer any at all, will not be credible. Usually, his tact is to deride anyone for questioning him, refusing to give an account. As long as it helps corporate Canada, he feels justified, and presents it as him ‘curing’ our economy. (Actually, Mr. Harper, had it not been for Paul Martin and his financial foresight, we would have been destroyed in the last recession. You don’t get to take ANY credit for the shape of our financial structure, and we’re all pretty well intelligent enough to know that.) Apparently Mr. Harper’s definition of his repeatedly promised transparency and honesty in leadership doesn’t come from the same dictionary the rest of us use.

Fascism, however, is defined as ‘a system of extreme right-wing and/or authoritarian views’ in the Oxford Dictionary. Wikipedia further describes it as being ‘hostile to liberal democracy, socialism, and communism, fascist movements share certain common features, including the veneration of the state, a devotion to a strong leader, and an emphasis on ultranationalism, ethnocentrism, and militarism.’ It was this that my father, uncles and their uncles fought. It was to keep this sort of government off our shores that 45,000 Canadian men sacrificed their lives in Dieppe, Normandy, Arezzo and many more battles of World War II. It was to stop fascism from spreading that another 54,000 men were wounded. These men were prepared to walk through the gates of hell on earth to protect the principles of democracy in Canada. Perhaps the question we should be asking is ‘why, then, are we prepared to sit back and watch it eat us up from within?’

Today I am going to put on the pointiest shoes I can find. I am not doing it because of ‘patriotism,’ but out of respect for the sacrifices of my family before me, and for the future of my children. I am doing because I am a daughter, a niece, a mother... a member of many communities, all of home have suffered and will suffer more under this current regime. I will not be an army of one. I don’t need to be. In the meltdown of the government of the day over the last few weeks (yes, it was a Harper meltdown of Chernobyl proportions), hope has emerged. I am not putting on pompoms, intending to crown a king, or claim that Justin Trudeau is the savior of us all, but he is an option, a viable, hopeful option that the ideals we were raised with, that the Canada we knew as a humble, loving, supporting, thoughtful, democratic bastion to the world might still be in our grasp, and you’re damned right I can get on that train. Why are you NOT putting on some pointy shoes and joining me?

Daily News March 8th, 2012

DATELINE: NOT LEAVING ON A JET PLANE – Republican/Conservative: When the hell did that come to mean that, at the cost of everything else, the right of a business owner to make money and the need for me to shove my moral and religious values on you, trump everything else? How did it go from being for less government involvement and more opportunity for everyone to have that great dream of a better life, to let’s fuck over the workers, the unions, and while we are at it, the women as well? When did it become about everyone having to pray to one god, that god being the almighty dollar, under the guise of one christian Deity?

Imagine a world with no labor unions. Seriously, try to think back to when a man could own a flourishing company, rake in money, pay slave wages, offer no benefits and keep getting richer by the day while the people who kept him where he was, those who provided the sweat, who went hungry, who were horribly abused, got nothing. Remember those days when the guys who owned the companies did their damnedest to also own the government, so that the laws could always go in their favor, knowing that politicians are more than willing to take money for their campaign funds, their household funds, or their fun funds. What a great world! The politicians are happy and rich. The big business guy is happy and rich… oh, wait! You don’t need to imagine! Lucky enough there are plenty of third-world models for this delightful lifestyle. Soon enough, we will be fully entrenched in this lifestyle again, if we aren’t already.

Those with the money are continuing to rake it in while those who are working their asses off are finding less in their envelope, fewer benefits, and absolutely no loyalty or respect. Is it really so hard to at least respect the people who work every god damned day for you, doing a long honest day’s work? On the good side, what do they need holidays for anyways? It’s not like they can go anywhere or do anything any more. Those businesses that are not unionized have been taking great advantage of the economic climate, seeing it as an opportunity to totally fuck their staff, resorting gladly to that ‘if you don’t like it, go get a job somewhere else’ line of thought. Those that are unionized are learning, with the government firmly in their employers pocket, their right to collective bargain no longer exists.

I am not, and I have never been, a great advocate for labor unrest. I hate that a group of people can take the entire public hostage while they feather their own nests, demand absolutely disgusting increases and benefits, retirement packages and job security that will mean they can’t get fired no matter what they do or don’t do. In part, the unions have earned a bit of the shit smell they wear, because many times, with the threat of labor disruption, they held their employers over a barrel while demanding, and eventually receiving, what in essence were perverse contracts that certainly did their share to fuck up the balance of the economy as well. It would be a wonderful world if we didn’t need the unions, if employers would treat their staff fairly, with respect, and consideration. It’s totally fucking nuts that they don’t, but the lure of that shiny gold coin has our resident business moguls unable to see the forest for the trees. No, they should not have to accept or pay for a consistently poor performance by an employee. They should, however, realize that there is very little they can produce that is not intended, at some point along the way, for public consumption. Therefore, it should behove them to know they will sell more of whatever they create if there are people making money enough to buy it.

Yes, it pisses me off to see some people in some unions, especially in the public sector, going year after year, daily fucking the dog at my expense… and yes, it happens, all too often. It pisses me off that because of a possible labor dispute that does not involve me, my life is still fucked up and I am out of pocket for something that is now denied to me because of labor disruption. No, the unions should not hold us hostage, but more to the point, the fucking employers should not be so fucking dickheaded as to cause that to happen. No, I don’t think that, in this economy, it is a good idea to demand double-digit wage increases, when the rest of the non-unionized sector is getting fucked in the ear with roll-backs, fewer benefits and the need to pray every fucking night that they will still have a job in the morning, even though they work their asses off every day on that job. I think its insulting. Even more reprehensible is that companies who are still making profits, (or would be if they weren’t so fucking mismanaged while still offering those mismanagers their obscene fucking bonuses for not doing a god damned thing) are taking advantage yet again of the economy and their employees, and fucking them in the ear where pay is concerned. Too many of them are sitting on their cash, hoarding it for themselves, and not realizing that by doing so, they are at the same time fucking themselves.

At one time, to be Republican or Conservative, meant that you embraced a fair work environment that offered the chance for ALL to prosper without the government having to interfere. Government had no business in the business of business. There would be no need for social programs (sic handouts) if everyone was working and earning their way. Now that isn’t possible, and it won’t be until big business pulls their heads out of their asses. Now, to be Republican or Conservative, means that even paying a fair wage is looked on as a handout, and they don’t do handouts. They find ways to minimalize the public, the worker, the regular guy. He is but a means to an end for them, the end being a well-lined pocket at any expense. The big businesses can and do have the ability to turn the economy around, but with the help of a political faction that HATES the worker, and political rhetoric that does nothing to support the needs of the worker or the plight of the worker, what is to be expected. We will just take those massive strides back to the days of Dickens, and hope for a new Norma Rae to come along and save our sorry asses. Maybe it is time for the unions to do what has to be done, for the sake of everyone who has to earn a paycheque out there. It’s obvious the Republicans/Conservatives won’t. They are too busy allowing the business to fuck their staff, while they tell us who, how and why the rest of us will be allowed to fuck at all.

FROM THE DRIVER'S SEAT -- June 10th, 2011

DATELINE: LOOKING AT MY WATCH AND THINKING THAT DIDN’T TAKE VERY LONG: They have had a majority government for one month, and already the evidence again of the assholed arrogance of the Harper Government is smashed into our faces. These paragons of virtue who campaigned again on transparency, openness, honesty, integrity have very quickly shown their true colors again. Of course, that anyone believed that bullshit the last time around is astounding. We shook our heads when our neighbours to the south elected George Dubya for a second term. ‘Can they not see that he is so totally focused on one thing that he is letting everything else go to hell in a handbag?’ we asked. ‘The man has the brains of a cumquat and the diplomacy of a fungus gnat’ we raged. ‘What about foreign policy? Do they not see the trouble they are walking into with no foreign policy even on the table? He led them into a war that even the people paying the bills don’t understand.’ Yes, we knew it all... about the United States and how they should vote. Aren’t we the erudite assholes of the world.

I tried compiling a list of the ‘issues’ regarding the Harper government while it had a minority government for five years... at two pages I stopped because it was depressing as hell. These were not little slip ups, human errors that can happen. No, they may have started at that, but then were compounded exponentially by the lies, the deceit, the in-your-face bullying when asked to account for them. Maxine Bernier committed a HUGE fucking breach of security, leaving secret government documents at his boinkette’s house when they broke up... the boinkette who had a history of being involved with criminal members of biker gangs. Ooops. In any other world, his ass would have been canned for such a breach of protocol but where is he today? Why, he is a cabinet member.

Bev Ota changed the words on a signed government document, totally reversing the meaning and intent of the piece of paper. It was not an issue of her right to refuse funding... no one argued that she had that right in her cabinet position, but it was the fact that the paper, a paper signed and attested to by other people, was changed without their knowledge of consent. That could have been a slip-up, but no, then she lied about it, saying she had no idea about it or who did it, then she admitted she did do it, but only when she was finally confronted with being accused of contempt.

Harper himself has the issue of proroguing parliament twice to save his fat sorry ass from being booted out of office – anything to maintain power. He promised to not stack the senate, but he did it anyways. He wanted set election dates, then called an election. He promised open honest government, then put gags on all his party members, forbidding them to talk because he couldn’t take the chance of them not adhering one hundred percent to the party line. He sent troops to war, then demanded that when one of them comes home in a coffin, that their repatriation ceremony must not be shown and flags must not be lowered.

He said senate reform could not take place because there was no agreement among the parties of how to do that. So, what the fuck did he actually propose? He didn’t bother because why do that? It’s just so much more his style to steamroll whatever the hell he wants through, masked in whatever guise, as long as it serves one purpose and one purpose only... to keep him where he is.

So am I surprised at the results of the Auditor General’s report today? Hell no. None of us should be. Was I sickened at their arrogant offhanded reaction to it as a government? Hell yes. We all should be. That they do not in any way feel the need to be held accountable for what they did and how they did it is reprehensible, but predictable. After five fucking years in office they cannot argue that they did not know how to create a paper-trail regarding the selection and financing of the many projects undertaken for the G8 and G20 summits... They knew, but it was not convenient to do it properly, accountably, honestly, because they don’t have to; they are the Harper Government. There was no protocol followed for this, and their response to one of the most scathing reports issued by the Auditor General? It was the public service’s fault and besides, we didn’t use all the money we had set aside for it. Well, whoop-de-fucking-do, pin a medal on you, John Baird. For starters, in issues of spending money, it is NOT ever the public service’s fault. You are the ones elected to deal with it; that’s why you get the big bucks, and to blame it on anyone else is just fucking childish. That you didn’t spend all the money budgeted is nice; that you can’t account for how you selected the projects you did spend money on borders on criminal, but again, rather than answering for your actions, you redirect, throw out a totally irrelevant reply and carry on because, well, you can because you are the Harper Government. You are the government that wants to deport a boy back to Korea after his family has been here for years, making a very valuable contribution to their community and our country, but because the boy is autistic, you want to kick him out. The Maeng family has more than enough to deal with; they did not need federal goverment thugs telling them they had to leave because their son's medical expenses cost the government too much money (here's the fun part; the boy's medical expenses for the last four years have cost the government $1000, far below the $5935/year benchmark the government set before the person's situation is reviewed for possible deportation, and he is home schooled so there is no financial burden placed on the education system either), so let's send him back to Korea and to hell being being humaine in any way, shape or form. There are fucking Canadian values for you... quintessential Harper; if it ain’t big corporation, either fuck it or remove it (that’s also his plan for the middle class here too, just so you know).

So begins the next five years of watching our country being brought to its knees, our values being eroded, democracy snubbed until it is snuffed out. Did Harper really want senate reform? Hell no, he wants them gone because they are one more thing that might interfere with his plans for absolute power. If he wanted to maintain the Senate, something that could and should happen, he would have done it by now. Killing our ‘chamber of sober second thought’ and the bicameral process that makes the Canadian Parliamentary system accountable is not even on the table. It’s diseased, yes, but rather than cure it, we shall kill it.

(The cure, by the way, is very simple. To balance out the fact that the commons is population-based, as it should be, the senate should be regionally based, with ten senators from each province and territory. They are elected, with absolutely NO party connections or funding. The province votes on their senators every five years from a roster of up to twenty names of people who want to apply for the job, and the ten with the most votes throughout the province go to the red chamber, do their job, account for themselves and stand for re-election and approval in four years time. It’s pretty fucking easy to make a senate that is elected, accountable, responsible and effective... but of no value to the current government. God forbid they have another entity in Ottawa that is not totally under their control.)