And I don’t even believe in the absolutes of good and evil. My complete lack of belief in things spiritual prevents such thoughts.
But I cannot explain the following without thinking that evil may really and truly exist.
And it resides in Ottawa.
Out for a drive on the Rockcliffe Parkway yesterday with C and 2 of the subunits. We get to the roundabout outside Rideau Hall (if you’re from O-Town, you’ll know where I mean). And I was going a little quickly as I pulled up to a stop to allow a black Chevy Tahoe to go through. The SUV came to an almost complete stop and the two guys in the front gave us a really good look over… like our little Malibu was gonna ram them or something.
The back windows were blacked out and the two big guys in the front wore ear pieces and dark sunglasses. They carried on, and then I felt it.
A tingle up the spine. A feeling of foreboding… like I was in the presence of real evil… kind of how I would imagine Harry Potter feeling when running up against he-who-shall-not-be named. The truly weird thing is that at this moment, C turns to me and ask “did you just get a tingle up your spine? I bet that was Harper.”
On this day… Canadian football and American football parted ways…
1912 – In the U.S., professional football set some new rules. The field was shortened to 100 yards, touchdowns were to be worth six points instead of five, four downs would be allowed instead of three, and the kickoff was moved from midfield to the 40-yard line.
But then, so were Jason Kenney, Pierre Polievre, Vic Toews, Tony Clement and John Baird… Gee, I don’t feel so smart any more…
But then, as someone pointed out to me on Facebook:
Think of it this way. They were the fastest in ‘their own races’. In their case its like saying you were the fastest and won Monty Python’s silly olympics or upper class twit of the year… there are degrees in victory..
1. That only Catholics pay for Catholic schools (as is deceivingly implied by our property tax forms)
2. That it is “political suicide” for any politician to even speak of the matter
3. That no money would be saved by reducing the number of overlapping Boards
Re: #1, All tax dollars go into a common pot and are doled out to the various Boards on a per-student basis. Tax dollars are not tagged as “Catholic” or “Hindu” and then steered accordingly. Too many Ontarians still don’t realize this, making this the single biggest obstacle to righting this wrong.
Re: #2, We can be sure this is not the case. No political party has EVER dared to say that public monies should be used only for public schools, so how can we say that the electorate would reject such a proposal? In fact, the most conservative estimates of public opinion indicate that well over half (and as much as 80%) of Ontarians support one unified public school system, free of religious discrimination.
Re: #3, Modest estimates put the savings in duplication costs at something over 1 billion dollars PER YEAR. How many new hospitals is that? EVERY YEAR. That’s One thousand million dollars a year spent on building a wall to separate Catholic kids from non-Catholic kids.
I blogged earlier about Sun “News”, Jason Keeney and the moronic idea of having some staffers stand in for new Canadians at a fake citizenship ceremony.
Six federal bureaucrats were drafted to pose as new Canadians for a citizenship reaffirmation ceremony broadcast on the Sun News network, an event requested by Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s office.
The bureaucrats smiled and held Canadian flags as the TV hosts referred to a group of 10 people as “new Canadians” that had “finally” received their citizenship.
Documents released under Access to Information legislation show that just a few weeks before Canada’s Citizenship Week last October, Mr. Kenney’s staff directed departmental officials to add a last-minute citizenship ceremony at the network to their list of scheduled events.
Bureaucrats scrambled to work out the logistics, suggesting to the minister’s office that Sun News could cover one of the 13 scheduled ceremonies in Ontario – four of them in Toronto, including one at the Air Canada Centre.
One senior bureaucrat at the registrar of Canadian citizenship expressed concern to Mr. Kenney’s office that Sun News seemed to want to feature “only” the oath, which might short-change new Canadians from the full ceremony experience.
“We have to keep in mind that the ceremony should first and foremost be a special (sic) for the new citizen, most of whom will want family and friends (sic) attend this very special day in their lives,” the bureaucrat wrote.
When a bureaucrat sent Sun News a list of possible citizenship ceremonies to cover in Ontario, a network employee suggested another scenario.
“Let’s do it. We can fake the Oath,” reads an email from a sunmedia.ca email address, the name blacked out of the document.
A Facebook friend puts it nicely:
Absolutely incredible… the disrespect and disdain for the meaning of Canadian citizenship, credible journalism, the independence of the bureaucracy and seperation of media from state control… this one is really too much and really shows the CPC hasn’t formed a government, its formed a propaganda machine with a majority of seats.
Sun News? Get out of the business! You are a shame to all honest media outlets! You are the Canadian version of Pravda! Cons complain about CBC bias but Sun Media is nothing but a propaganda machine – pure and simple.
Kenney? He should apologise! But we all know that the CPC folks NEVER apologise for anything… ever.
…earlier retirements? To some, this was the future as seen through the lenses of the mid 1990′s.
With the Robot Master and his minions raising the possibility of changing the age at which one qualifies for OAS from 65 to 67, I cannot help but think of a course that I took while completing my M.Sc at U of G on “Leisure Management Planning”. It was based on the assumption that we were destined for EARLIER retirements and MORE leisure time.
From his Twitter account @Larry_OBrien1, O’Brien tweeted “#cnndebate The spics are getting way to much airtime!”
At a ceremony Monday evening in which his portrait was being unveiled at Ottawa City Hall, O’Brien admitted the tweet, which he later deleted, had come from him.
“That was obviously a tweet that was ill thought through and I did the mea culpa and certainly I regret it,” said O’Brien. “There is no excuses.”
“…is no exuses”? I hope that’s a typo!
And I’m serious about the Tweeting (or Facebooking or blogging) while impaired. Never, ever do it. But I can’t help but think that this is a possible explanation for the former Mayor’s behaviour. He should most definitely know better… he’s a pretty sharp guy.
I can picture the setting. Mayor Larry is sitting in his La-Z-Boy, watching the GOP debate on his 72 inch 3D LED TV, cradling his third tumbler of 30 yr old single malt on the table beside him. When, through that old single malt fog, he hears something in the debate that spurs him to pull out his Blackberry (I don’t see him as an iPhone kinda guy) and hurriedly pounds out his Tweet before he forgets the moment.
Can’t you picture it too?From the holy-crap-it-must-be-a-slow-news-day file…
On this very same CBC page is a story that we, as responsible and thinking citizens of the world should be on thew edges of our seats over!
Economic crisis in Europe? Petty issue!
Upcoming American election? Who cares?
Climate change? Meh.
The question that Canadians and others on this wee, blue planet are REALLY so fricking anxious to know the answer to is….
While some of Harper’s holy pronouncements in Davos are basically no-brainers (e.g., reforming the immigration system), bringing up the spectre of changing retirement rules mid-game is NOT going to be a winner for the Cons… nor do I think it is a necessary can of worms to unscrew.
Generations – mine included – of currently living and working Canadians have made life decisions with the assumption that, at the age of 65, there would be a government allotment waiting for them that would make it possible to leave work and enjoy what was left of their years.
And Harper wants to change this.
I’m not going to super-overanalyze the whys or why-nots in this post…need to research the issue some more. But I will confidently say that opening up the retirement age question may be The Robot’s ONE BIG MISTAKE. Has he not looked at a current population pyramid.
So Harper is acting all smug and tough in Davos, isn’t he?
Although short on details, Mr. Harper’s speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday made clear the sweep of his ambition. He will change how Canadians finance their retirement. He will overhaul the immigration system. He will make oil and gas exports to Asia a “national priority” and aggressively pursue free trade in India and Europe.
Sigh. I agree with most of that but too bad no one in Davos is calling him on the G8 slush fund, the In and Out scandal, abandoning the environment to oil companies, corporate welfare enhancements, etc., etc.
Message to the Cons – the pendulum will swing back one day – and it will smack you right in the forehead!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ It’s All Star weekend in Ottawa! So why aren’t I smitten? I dunno, but I guess I’m getting more cynical as I get older and see these things more as money-making circuses and less like celebrations of the game.
Good to see that the OC Trashpo head, Alain Mercier has backed down from his “you’ll get GPS data when I say you can” stance -,albeit under enormous political pressure from both some Transit Commissioners (thank you Councillor Tierney!) and the public at large.
Hens in the backyard? Why not, as long as there are strict controls in place and enforced. I grew up on a hobby farm where we had fresh eggs every day. Nothing like them.
There is a movement building in O Town to convince Council into changing the City Bylaw that prohibits the keeping of backyard hens. Keeping hens in an urban setting is not exactly an unusual practice and provides food for a household and education for the little ones. If done properly, there is little noise and no smell.
Why work?
Look what those good ol' boyz are up to in Alberta!
Winter...
