One year ago today, a minority of Canadians elected a Harper majority government.

So, what have I learned?

• I learned that growing pot is a worse crime than being a pedophile.
• That it’s OK to force people to register a car, but an affront to democracy to do so for a gun.
• That the government keeps two sets of books when it comes to reveling the true costs of expensive projects… like fighter jets, for example.
• That OJ is a lot more expensive than I would have thought possible.
• That Harper did NOT major in Canadian history.
• That Vic Toews want to know everything about us!
• That, thanks to omnibus legislation, Parliament has become impotent.
• That conflict of interest rules don’t apply to Cabinet Ministers.
• That planned cuts to seniors’ pensions are not worthy of mentioning during an election campaign.
• Nor are cuts to health-care funding .
• That environmental controls for energy projects aren’t really that important.
• That continuing to spend millions on royal visits is an appropriate use of taxpayers dollars.
• That environmental charities ‘launder’ foreign funds.
• That it’s OK to diss your country, forsake your citizenship, but be welcomed back with open arms.
• That the Grits better do something about selling themselves as a real alternative. And that does NOT mean elected Bob Rae as leader!
• That Jack Layton was a special man.
• Jason Kenney, Tony Clement, Vic Toews, Pierre Polievre, John Baird, Jim Flaherty and Stephen Harper are not.
• And possibly (jury still out) that election fraud is only election fraud if it implicates one of the other parties – and not the CPC.

What did I miss?

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… no particular theme edition…

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A big problem with social media is that it gives idiots, racists, bigots, misogynists, etc., a tool to spew their ignorant venom.

And such was the case the other night after Joel Ward scored in OT to knock the Bruins put of the NHL playoffs.

Assholes.

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A successful Wildrose candidate blamed urban Alberta for the PC win the other day.

Bikman said Tuesday: “I think that these social issues that came up during the last week and the PC’s ability to exploit them, caused some concern in the voters within urban areas, at least, because they didn’t really understand the issues, they didn’t really understand that there was an aspect of free speech.”

Bikman also said rural people “possess more common sense, a least that’s my experience.

“The people who make their living off the land really seem to understand the way nature really works.”

Yup, Myrtle, you country-folk have way more sense than those city-folk with all that learnin’ and stuff!

LOL!

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Lots of email phishing going on these days. Even if you know the sender, think twice about clicking on links if something seems not quite right…

I wonder where that phish has gone.
You did love it so. You looked after it like a son.
And it went wherever I did go.
Is it in the cupboard?
Yes! Yes! No!…
Wouldn’t you like to know? It was a lovely little phish.
And it went wherever I did go.
It’s behind the sofa!
Where can that phish be?
It is a most elusive phish!
And it went wherever I did go.
Ooooh, phishy, phishy, phishy phish!
A-phish, a-phish, a-phish, a-phishy, ooooh.
Ooooh, phishy, phishy, phishy phish!
That went wherever I did go.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

…. have become the signature of the current Conservative government. And this is a sad thing to say.

Brian Stewart penned a good piece today on how the current government is obsessed with a) never admitting when they have done wrong and b) pretending that something didn’t happen that did in fact “happen” when caught red-handed, and c) blaming someone else when they are completely culpable.

Sadly, Canadians don’t seem to care that 30% of them installed a corrupt regime in Ottawa; one for which lies and misdirection is the company line. Right to the top. These are not the PCs of my younger years. Those Conservatives at least respected my democracy and didn’t hide behind a stenching cloak of deceit in every move they made. Mulroney et al may not have been perfect, but they at least recognized that an open and honest (well, as honest as politics can be) democracy is a good thing.

I can only hope that that blindfolds are removed before irreparable damage is done to our already tarnished democracy.

But I doubt it.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Dreams that Stephen Harper has…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

The robocall blame falls at the feet of Elections Canada?

Seriously?

What has this guy been smoking?

“I suspect that at the end of the day, if Elections Canada has the resources to do a proper investigation, they’ll find they’re themselves significantly responsible, that tech issues with marrying EC lists to available, electronic phone lists is part of the problem, and in a few instances there may have been malfeasance by one (political) party or the other,” wrote Vellacott.

Of course, this wacko has spoken without thinking before:

From May 2006:

Vellacott created a firestorm last weekend when he accused McLachlin of saying that when judges “step into [a judicial activist] role, all of a sudden there’s some mystical kind of power that comes over them by which everything they ever decreed is not to be questioned and they actually have these discerning and almost prophetic abilities to be able to come and know the mind of the public and they take on almost godlike powers.”

From 2005:

After Prime Minister Paul Martin announced Tuesday that Stronach was switching parties and joining his cabinet, veteran Ontario Conservative Bob Runciman called her “a dipstick – an attractive one, but still a dipstick.”

Saskatchewan Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott said “people prostitute themselves for different costs or different prices.”

Alberta Conservative Tony Abbott jumped into the debate by saying Stronach had “whored herself out for power.” On Wednesday, Abbott said he regretted his comments.

2009:

In an embarrassing turn, Saskatoon MP Maurice Vellacott publicly apologized Monday for telling New Democrat Peter Stoffer’s constituents their MP supported the long gun registry. He has been an unwavering opponent of the registry. Mr. Vellacott’s disclosure that the material was the party’s responsibility reveals that MPs names merely front party campaigns.

Yup. He’s a nutbar, alright.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… and thinks: hmmmm,… “carousel voting”… hmmm…

Laureen! Get me Vlad on the phone!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

… it will look like this.

Harper’s vision of retirement…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

…or non-issue… depending on where you stand.

I had an extensive back and forth with some conservative friends the other day on FB. I was referring to a piece by WK on how the abortion issue is NOT really off the table for the CPC. I don’t cut and paste these things very often, but it was a good debate.

Names removed to protect the innocent…

What do you think? Just an outlier of an issue or the long CPC long game?

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To my CPC friends: told ya so!

• • What does uber-Liberal Kinsella have to do with anything? Harper has said repeatedly, no opening of this issue! ps – other parties have their share of members with similar views.

    11 hours ago ·
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  • Trashy: I guarantee that this will gain traction over the next 12 months. Take it to the bank. And while the Grits have 2 MPs who want to open the issue (no Dippers that I can think of) there are at least 16 Cons who are evangelicals and would love to see the issue opened up again.

    10 hours ago · Like
  • 

    It’s a back bencher….let’s not get all “I told you so…” The guy’s got the right to an opinion…..it’s nothing…..

    10 hours ago · Like
  • 

    Trashy – Guys – this is the most whipped caucus since Voldemort took over Slitherin.

    10 hours ago · Like · 1
  • 

    Trashy-  NOTHING happens there without the nod of the PMO. Common knowledge here in O Dot.

    10 hours ago · Like
  • 

    Trashy – ‎”Slytherin”

    10 hours ago · Like · 1
  • 

    Never going to happen Trashy and deep down I think you know it. Stop being so desperate to find faults!

    10 hours ago · Like

Trashy – I’m not. Just looking at this logically.

Think about it and put aside your partisan hat for a moment.

Can we agree that caucus discipline is of utmost importance to this government? That all messaging is carefully scripted and approved through the PMO? And that Harper himself, along with Mssrs Baird, Flaherty, Kenney, Clement and Toews, exercise strict control over the PMO?

If we can agree on this – and I really don’t see how it can be disputed – then why is it that a backbencher from Kitchener along with a few other Christian social conservatives, have managed to repeatedly raise the issue of “when does life begin”? They HAD to have the blessing of the PM.

Again, I’m not speaking as a partisan.

Here’s what I think. And don’t dismiss it out of hand. The PM knows that he is going to have about 8 years of a majority government. Yes, 8 years. It pains me to say that, but realistically, I cannot see the Grits (the NDP will decline without Layton) challenging the Harperites in the next election. I do think that the Cons won’t make any significant gains, but they will win another majority unless something unforeseen happens.

So, in the long game, claims and promises can legitimately change. He is telling the truth when he says that this government is not opening up the debate. For now. But IF a “discussion” happens about when life begins and IF the Cons see an opening, they will slowly start to suggest that maybe, just maybe, the laws should be revisited… in light of the “new” evidence that sprang for the “discussions”.
I think we can all agree that Harper is a social conservative and he personally is against abortion, right? So then, why wouldn’t he try to change the policy to fit his own weltanschungg and those of his fellow So-Cons.

Think about it. Point out the flaw in my logic.

• Tuesday at 07:57 · Like
• 

  IF a discussion is opened I (in his shoes) would know my job is about to end. I don’t think he is as stupid as many claim and job security and personal beliefs don’t make good bedfellows in his arena.

  Tuesday at 08:29 · Like
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  Personal freedoms and a “right to choose” will always trump one’s personal beliefs.

  Tuesday at 08:29 · Like
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  ‎…because Harper is a political animal and he saves his capital for that which matters most; he uses the fringe stuff to his own means and he concentrates on those issues that matter…. this “issue” ( and it isn’t one for 80+ percent of the nation) is a time consuming, capital wasting journey into a social quagmire that he just doesn’t need. Harper may be anti abortion at home; but he’s too smart a politician to open this box….. think about it; why would you bring the social agenda into play when you don’t have to; in this case it’s a losing card to play and if you open it; it might just bite you at the polls. The “pro life” camp has tents, the pro choice crew drive honkin big RV’s and sleep at Hiltons….. no way Harper lets this get legs… private members bills are like Christmas cards, they get written; sent; read and thrown out….and waste a lot of resources and time.

  Tuesday at 09:16 · Like
• 

  Trashy

  Oh, I am not suggesting that he is stupid! Rather the opposite. The one and only thing I admire about the guy is his skill as a tactician… brilliant! And this is the weakness in my argument. He is too smart to touch this thing with a ten foot kingfish… but then explain why he is giving so much platitude to some nobody backbenchers? And no XXX, I disagree with your outright dismissal of PMB’s and the MPs who sponsor them… these are the hearts and souls of the CPC!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

…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

… a few Grit and Dipper lips smacking at the prospect of running against Harper on the issue of raising the retirement age to 67.

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.

Not let’s see what the Opposition does with this…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario