…or at least extreme nastiness…

No. It was evil.

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.”

I’m not making this up.

Sure enough, the Chev turns into 24 Sussex.

Spooky.

I think I’ll tell this tale next Hallowe’en…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

.. how many of you have seen the cheesy ad (oops… NOT an ad… just a video, according to the NCC) made by that reactionary of all reactionary groups in Canada – the so-called National Citizen’s Coalition. I don’t think it is getting a lot of air time. And it IS really cheesy. And the NCC has disabled comments on the vid. Chickenshits…

And no, I’m not posting it on my blog. The stench would sully my else-wise nice and tidy venting space that I call Trashy’s World.

It’s about Grit interim (in name only) leader, Bob Rae. The vid goes on about how Rae ruined Ontario when he was Premier, spent like a madman, ate babies… that sort of thing. This is an ad for the Cons without the blue and white logo, pure and simple. And it’s an attack ad. The CPC really, really likes these ads because it suits their bumper sticker politics of fear: keep the message simple and portray the other guy as the baby-eating, spend-happy demon who will jack taxes up by 10,000%

And, as we saw in the last election, these ads work. And while the CPC themselves are not putting these ads out at the moment, their minions at the National Conservative Cabal are more than happy to oblige.

Now, there are two things I have to say about this.

1. The vid is inaccurate about the timing of Rae’s ascension to the Premiership. It claims that the NDP pulled Ontario into a recession. This is factually wrong. The recession was already well under way when Rae took office. Look it up.
2. Some Grits are whining about this video not being “fair” and that rules around third-party advertising should be tightened. And they are probably right. But instead of crying about how mean the Cons and the Nut-bar Convention of Cucumberheads are being, they need to strike back. And fast! They have some momentum coming out of the Ottawa Convention and they need to maintain it.I do hate negative ads and how they lower the level of political debate into the sewers. But they do serve to package the candidate in a negative light before the candidate has the opportunity to do so themselves. The CPC did it to Dion and masterfully to Iggy. And this must be stopped in the tracks. ASAP.

So, my fellow progressives and Liberals, quit whining about the rules and fight fire with fire. It pains me to write that, but it must be done.

Now.

Go.

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Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

And will be happy when this:

looks more like this:

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… That the Harperites have created is humming right along… Just read the comments posted by some readers whenever a story about the ongoing and looking cuts to the Public Service. Most are laughable, inaccurate and downright mean… especially those found in stories published by the Sun chain. Which speaks volumes about Sun readers, methinks.

Workers in the PS are easy targets, after all. An anti PS government is ever so eager to portray them as overpaid and underworked layabouts who are counting the days till their gold plate pensioned retirements!

And of course the right wing media and SM pundits grab on to this like a Staffordshire Terrier on a ham hock. No one outside the NCR gives a shit anyhow! Win-win for the Harperites and their friends.

Yet, the reality is that we are talking about human beings here. Fellow Canadians with kids in hockey, mortgages, car payments, etc. People who pay bills, shop in restaurants and support local economies across the country. But to the CPC and many of their supporters, they are but needless drains on the Treasury.

Sure, you say, but aren’t reviews and cuts like these healthy for the PS? “Deadwood” is culled. Younger employees get new opportunities. Programs are looked at in detail to assess needs and relevance. Renewal good. And yes, I agree with this.

But what most Canadians outside the Ottawa Valley do not realise is that these reviews are not new. Nor are cuts to program’s and people. Indeed, there have been 2 major cuts over the past 5 years or so PLUS an “in effect” cut that mandated that individual departments absorb the added costs of salary costs arising from collective agreement salary increases. The central agencies (Finance) used to foot that bill.

So I really don’t know how much deadwood is still out there. Not much, I reckon. The last few years have burned it out. Maybe bit on the edges – but not much.

And if it’s not deadwood, then it will be the healthy meat of the tree that is hacked away at next.

And then maybe other Canadians will notice.

But I doubt it.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

…it says so here…

This came home with my son the other day – part of his pre-school “portfolio”.

Good to see that the boy has been paying attention for the past couple of years!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Or Steve…This article on the MotherCorp site is all about Ukraine’s imprisonment of the main Opposition Party leader… and how the PM is a tad worried about it.

But this is the line that had me rolling on the floor laughing:

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Tuesday Canada was troubled by the prison sentence.

“The apparent political bias and arbitrary prosecution in this and other cases hamper Ukraine’s democratic development,” he said in a release. “A legitimate and active opposition is a vital part of a vibrant and effective democracy.”

Seriously, Johnny? After all you and your narrow-minded party have done to portray the opposition parties as baby-eating, lying, thieving, Canada-hating Communists? You are actually recognising that opposition CAN be legitimate and SHOULD be active???

Wow! You were either drunk when you said this or you have had a moral awakening!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

….as PEI can welcome another Grit government for 4 more years!

Congrats!

And, as a sidebar, the Cons kept true to form in using personal attacks during the campaign to try to gain political advantage.

The premier used most of his victory speech to condemn the personal attacks he says he suffered at the hands of Progressive Conservative Leader Olive Crane.

“To my family — my mother, my in-laws — you didn’t sign onto this. I apologize that you had to go through some difficult times,” he said.

“But, remember this, Islanders sent a clear message that the Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island is the honest and forthright party and thank you to Islanders for delivering a clear message.”

Crane and others accused Ghiz’s friends and family of benefiting from the controversial Provincial Nominee Program.

Midway through the campaign three former provincial government workers came forward with accusations of government officials accepting bribes from potential immigrants.

They passed the allegations on to federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who referred them to the RCMP and Canadian Border Services.

Ghiz’s mom, Rose Ellen, has been in politics her whole life, and she says she’s never seen anything like it.

“This was probably the dirtiest campaign. I have no problem attacking someone on policy. It doesn’t both me one bit,” she said. “But when you get personal and, when the personals are lies, that is what really is upsetting.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

One about an ex-Harris henchman who now toils for a guy who pulls levers behind the curtain at 24 Sussex…

And the other about a guy that is so blasted partisan that we will cut the reference to his own country and one of the greatest PM’s who ever lived – because he was from a different political party…

On the first, c’mon, how surprised can we be? Really. Flaherty endorsed the Timmy and Randy gong show. C’mon.

But on the other story, I find this a bit more serious. Go ahead and say that it was just a business card. I have one too and it carries that nice little “Canada” wordmark. I like it. It’s nicely understated… like most Canadians tend to be.

This dude’s ego knows no bounds. This is a petty side to Mr. Baird in the removal of Lester Pearson’s name. And taking out Canada from the card is simply disrespectful to the country and Canadians. He should remember that he works for Canada and not his narrow egotistic self-interests.

I am disgusted.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Scores of Canadians are going to speak and write eloquently about Mr. Layton, and what – if any – legacy he will leave, and they will opine on this truly amazing week which culminated in the funeral this afternoon.

So I will not attempt to sum all of “this” up. I could not do it justice.

Yet I cannot help but express one single thought: I do truly hope with all of my being that if Mr. Layton did leave us with a lesson, it is that politics need not be mean, cynical and vindictive. I am not smugly and naïvely claiming that Mr. Layton was completely and always above that fray at all times… tough to pull that off when surrounded by it… but he did eschew the negativity of contemporary western politics whenever possible. He tried to rise above it. And most of the time, well, he did so.

In this blog, I have often written with dismay about the politics of cynicism and negativism and how this has supplanted reasoned debate as language of modern political and social discourse. These are politics that have polarised this country in so many sad ways and I fear will take decades to bring us closer together.

I can only wish that some of our leaders have been paying attention.

Thanks again, Mr. Layton.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Meet your equals.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario