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.”
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.
… would be most excellent BFFs if the former pulls off the near impossible and wins the GOP nomination AND defeats Obama.
I can just picture them walking in the rose garden together, complaining about lefty radicals, the evils of abortion and the scourge of free expression… then kneeling to pray to their god that all that be wiped off the map…
But naw, Romney is still going to go up against Obama. And lose to Obama.
I hope. Americans aren’t that dumb, are they? I know that Newt thinks Alberta is located in central Canada (I can hear the collective gnashing of teeth coming from the west…), but they wouldn’t actually ELECT this yahoo? Would they? I know a lot of smart Yanks! And they would never, ever… uh, what’s that? Oh. Oh yeah…
And with the full and eager participation of the Harper government, of course! After all, we’re wrapping things up in Afghanistan , Libya is a done deal, and the Belgians have done anything radical lately… and we, of course, HAVE to keep that war drum pounding!
Prepared for PM Harper and immediate staff attending APEC meeting in Hawaii
Re: November 13 meeting with President Obama.
1. Drawing on experience gained at first bilateral, the PM is reminded that the President does not appreciate being called “gangsta”.
2. Related to 1. above, the symbolic colours of the main political parties are the opposite to those in Canada. It is therefore advised that the PM wear a blue tie. But do not refer to it as “my gangsta colours” like the last time.
3. If Vic Toews is travelling with the PM, tell him that referring to The First Lady as “that hottie” when speaking to Ms. Clinton is not acceptable.
4. Please do not allow Mr. Polievre to speak to Ms. Clinton. At all. Our bilateral relations are still recovering from the last time.
5. Plead with the PM to not go on about the missed call by Kerry Fraser during the 1993 Leafs / Kings series. He won’t understand.
6. Pretend to understand basketball. It’s that sport played by very tall people who bounce an orange ball.
7. Don’t bring up Keystone. Really. He has heard enough.
8. Stay inside the beltway. Your security detail has been informed.
9. The President is not Martin Sheen. Never has been. Don’t listen to Baird.
Seriously. Have you ever heard of such idiocy? Wait! Yes, I have! Those who think that vaccines cause autism! THEY are just as moronic!
Wait again…. think you that the pox pop mouth breathers and the anti vacciners are one and the same… hmmm.
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Hey! Occupy peeps! No, I don’t think you’re stooopid… your beefs are legit and your means have eventually gotten the long overdue attention of the MSM, but…. winter is coming, and if you don’t pack up your tents soon, you will regret it. And I will at that point label you too as stooopid.
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Our PM is taking his stooopid pills again, I see… likely borrowed some from Monsieur Stooopid Extraordinaire Polievre… by trying to bully the non ReformCon govs in Ontario and Quebec into paying for his stooopid and wasteful crime bill!
Don’t back down, Dalton and Jean!!
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Apologies to all the Greeks and Italians out there, but Greece and now Italy are looking stooopider by the day! Have they turned on a stooopidfier ray gun in the Region?
Papandreou and his on again off again referendum and now Berlusconi losing his majority!! These guys had better get their respective acts in gear before their ineptitude begins to affect the rest of us!
In an earlier postI asked my military and ex-military friends to tell me what they thought of the non-operational use of government and military (guess they’re the same really) aircraft by military officials… Stuff like being flown to Caribbean holiday spots and hockey games, for example. I didn’t get much feedback. But one chap whose opinion I respect (don’t always agree with, but that’s different) opined that its use – within certain parameters – is perfectly appropriate. He defends this saying that senior government and military officials need to be able to respond at all times in all places and that there could be circumstances that call for the immediate return of an official to HQ… in the event of a military or humanitarian crisis, for instance. Now, I can see his argument, but only to a point. If we accept the premise that senior military – or other government officials – need the travel flexibility to be able to get home in a hurry, then does this in effect give blanket approval to use these publicly paid-for jets at their discretion? Show me that there are checks and balances here and I’ll go along. Sure, there are approvals required by those higher up the food chain, but still, isn’t this a bit too much latitude? I think so. Besides, say a General goes to a hockey game on an armed forces night and he needs to get back to Ottawa in a hurry. OK, don’t we have airbases around the country that could scramble a jet pretty quickly in the event of something like this? ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Those other Jets: congrats on your return! I still hate your sweaters, but Winnipegers deserve this and judging by the noise in the arena on opening night (of the exhibition sked), the Jets are gonna have a man-advantage at home this season! ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. My neighbourhood rox, and I like to brag about it! We have an engaged and active Community Association that provides recreation and athletic programs to kids and adults in the Alta Vista area of Ottawa. And, except for the instructors, it is run by completely by a volunteer Board (of which I am now proudly a member). Follow us on Twitter at @ccaaltavista. AND, there is also our equally engaged and active Parent Council at Pleasant Park PS (on which I also now serve). Our newest project is to raise funds to build a new play area for the junior students and to basically re-vamp the rest of the playground if we have the funding. Yes, I will be hitting readers up for $$$ in the future… just don’t know how yet. Yup. Nothing like an active community. I and my family am lucky. —————————————————————————————————————————————————– New Facebook set-up? Yeah, I don’t like it either. But don’t forget that this is a free service offered by a private company whose motive is ROI. They are not in biz to keep the teenager whine factor to a minimum. ÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇÇ Washington DC: gotta spend a whole week there sometime before I die. Way to much to see in only a day or two. One thing that did stick in my mind about the place was the extreme poverty of the city’s homeless. On the surface, it looked like that city and Ottawa were pretty close in terms of numbers, but those in DC seemed poorer- if that is possible. No shoes or socks, torn clothes… they just seemed much worse off. Less access to social services, maybe? ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: The Harperite crime bill. I don’t get the need to bundle up all of these crime bills into one big omnibus bill. They have their freakin’ majority, so what’s the point? They can split them up and slice and dice all they want and the bills will still be passed!
Producing six to 200 pot plants nets an automatic six-month sentence, with an extra three months if it’s done in a rental or is deemed a public-safety hazard. Growing 201 to 500 plants brings a one-year sentence, or 1½ years if it’s in a rental or poses a safety risk. The omnibus legislation imposes one-year mandatory minimums for sexually assaulting a child, luring a child via the Internet or involving a child in bestiality. All three of these offences carry lighter automatic sentences than those for people running medium-sized grow-ops in rental property or on someone else’s land. A pedophile who gets a child to watch pornography with him, or a pervert exposing himself to kids at a playground, would receive a minimum 90-day sentence, half the term of a man convicted of growing six pot plants in his own home.
Of course, from the CPC’s perspective, this will provide new residents for their new prisons, right? What a crock. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Question for you tekkies out there: can anyone advise me on the do’s and don’ts, lessons learned, reference material, etc. for someone who is setting up an online registration and payment system. The CCA (see above) is looking to go online with registration next year and any advice would be appreciated. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++And how about this little ditty? The Cons have hired Deloitte – at 90K per diem – to come up with some ways to trim that non-existent“fat” from the PS. I can help.And here is my recommendation:
I really don’t get this one. Where’s the upside? They will piss off DND and the Coast Guard – which are two constituencies that the Harperites like to cow-tow to. They would be dismantling a Canadian institution – we are known globally to be one of the best at search and rescue. And they would be putting the safety of the public at risk, which would be odd given their focus on public safety through getting tough on unreported and imaginary crimes.
Oh wait! I.D.E.O.L.O.G.Y.
Why should the government pay to rescue some family whose boat broke down off the coast of The Rock? It’s their own damned fault! And they’re probably Liberals anyhow!
Thank you for calling Sam’s Search and Rescue – a Division of Walmart. I’m sorry that your boat is taking on water and that you and your family will surely die, but rescuing you at this time doesn’t represent a good ROI. If you would like to reach an operator, please push #.
New Canadian Ambassador grilled by empty chairs!
