This is where your tax dollars ended up.

So it’s only 100K? Right?

100K buys a low income family a decent living arrangement.

100K buys a whole lot of food for a food bank.

100K buys more than a few boxes of textbooks for our kids.

100K could have been spent better.

httpv://trashysworld.ca/2010/08/01/the-tony-clement-gazebo-on-video/

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Tony, Tony, Tony… do your homework, man!

Don’t go saying that the Feds are playing the “heavy” so provincial governments, businesses, universities and Shamwow marketers get an “easy ride” by not having to pay for data themselves.

They already do pay. Most data are already sold on a for-fee basis…

Tsk, tsk, tsk… I think some little 20-something neocon researcher is going to lose his or her job!

At least pay attention to Homer Simpson – he had a better understanding of the subject matter than you will EVER have!

Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that. –Homer Simpson

Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true! –Homer Simpson

Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything, Kent. 14% of people know that. –Homer Simpson

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Montreal Simon has a good take on why the ReformCons are taking a quick veer to the libertarian right… abandoning, at least momentarily, their courting of the centre soccer moms in order to win that elusive majority.

In short, to pander to the centre as well as the Christian right, the Harperites have had to put aside some if the principles espoused by their Libertarian supporters. And not just put aside, but downright demean them, most blatantly in a speech given by Harper in March of 200:

… Over the next twenty minutes or so, we would be treated to one of the most bewildering speeches I’ve ever heard Stephen Harper give.  After launching into a sweeping defence of conservatism he would direct his attention towards classical liberals and libertarians who he acknowledged, some of whom were in the very room he was speaking.

The speech also contained a definition of what conservatism is.  In his words it is made up of the “three Fs: freedom, family and faith”–a definition which might leave some libertarians feeling even more uncomfortable with it’s social conservative undertones.

Harper took the gloves us last night.  He made it clear who’s in his tent.  The message was clear: libertarians need to get on board or get out of the way.

Now, with the decision on the length of the form thingy, and on the questioning of affirmative action in the hiring of public servants, he is paying the piper in an effort to get the Libertarians back under the tent.

Of course, they chose to blow these horns in the summer with the expectation that Canadians wouldn’t hear them over the din of loons and motor boats.

Oops.

In other news…

I dunno if Iggy’s super cross Canada tour will truly have any impact on his popular support (he has yet to take my advice on what to do next), but Justin Trudeau is sure doing his darnedest to get in on every photo-op possible!

A BCer in Toronto has more!

Been a crazy last week before my Holidays… and I am left with one question:

• Why are they called “pairs” of pants or “pairs” of underwear?

There are two legs or leg holes, but that is all of the “pairishness” I can find. Anyone?

What is $700 million? The size of the OCDSB budget.

What weighs over 5 pounds? The information package just sent to me by Board Services… and I’m thankful, but they coulda sent me a CD instead to save paper and postage.

Conrad Black is out on bail! And he might come back to Canada! Woo-hoo!

I am not being completely tongue-in-cheek here.  Despite the fact that I really have never felt warm and fuzzy for the guy, I think he was railroaded somewhat by the American “justice” system… and he, like anyone else, is entitled to due process. And this due process says that he can go free on bail… so no bitchin’ about it…

Obscurantism. (French: obscurantisme, from the Latin obscurans, “darkening”) is the practice of deliberately preventing the facts or the full details of some matter from becoming known. I just love this word.

Glenn Beck - why not his voice?

Sarah Palin- why??

Helena Guergis - The PM should say sorry and buy her some nice flowers… um, sure….

Tony Clement- here’s hoping that folks in my old stomping ground have the sense to turf this moron at the earliest opportunity. But I’m not holding my breath.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

If someone had told me a month ago that the future of the Harpy government would hinge on something that had anything to do with the only government department in the news these days, I would have slowly backed away and not turned my back until very, very far away.

But what now? Will Harper take this to the mat in spite of all that is happening… the opposition by everyone and anyone, the poor optics during the summer months – typically a time when politicos are given a bit of a break by Canucks – all of this must be proving tiresome for the Robot and his Roboteers.

But will he back down? The RLG pointed out to me this morning that until old dead eyes states himself that we ain’t going back, that there still exists the possibility of a reversal. Twittering Tony might get the fall guy label and all would unravel as these things do. But once the emperor himself proclaims the issue dead, it is dead. And no number of fb groups or editorials will change it.

But you know, I can’t see Harper letting this go on much longer. His advisers must be counselling an abandonment of the issue. Pushing it further will only lose them votes and it wouldn’t be wise going into a fall election with such a prosaic cloud hanging over the ReformCon camp. How would they fight such a fight? The Libertarians and Albertans and the small town/minded are already solidly behind them, so what could they gain?

Let’s switch sides and consider the options that the Opposition have before them. On the one hand, it might be a good idea for Iggy to hitch his wagon to this and prepare to make this the election issue. It’s not such a bad idea as it would allow the Grits to, for the first time in a long time, spell out the policy agenda.

The other choice is for Iggy to continue his bus tour, shake the babies and kiss the hands (or is it the other way around?), smell the cheese and update his fb status now and then.  In other words, don’t take a position. Jack would normally be leading this charge, but I suspect that he is dealing with his prostate cancer and trying to let his body and mind heal for the summer… can’t blame him for that.

And Gilles? Well, what does he care? This is a Canadian issue!

So, Mr.  Ignatieff, it is up to you. Call a press conference today and announce that it is the Liberals’ intention to, immediately after the House reconvenes, introduce a Bill that would effectively reduce the government’s decision.  Undoubtedly, Harper would see this as a matter of confidence and the writ would be dropped. This would be an election that would show the schisms that exist between the educated and uneducated, the Starbucks crown and the Timmies gang, those of us who understand the importance of information and those who wonder what all of the fuss is about.

So my advice to Iggy, Jack and Gilles – make a big deal outta this! It’s a win-win for you guys!

And my advice to Stevo – though I am loathe to give it – tell Tony to make a statement that in light of all of the concerns raised about the government’s decision, we will go ahead as originally planned and will set up Task Force /Working Group / Collection of Experts Who Think Like Us to examine the issue in more detail.

That is their only way out of this mess. It isn’t just going to disappear.

Stephen Harper's "ideal" re: information management

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

In the news….

More titter-titter about le gaspillage in and around Parry Sound / Muskoka wrt the Gee-Ate pork-a-thon!

Local residents, unaccustomed to such attention, are expecting a massive tourism boom…local entrepreneurs arranging guided tours of the childhood home of Bobby Orr, the Magnetawan haunted bridge, the Rosseau General Store, and, of course, the now famous Orrville gazebo…

A Request for Proposals for the construction of a gilded statue of MP Big Tony Clement is being prepared by local staff…

In the States…

Obama sends BP oil mandarin to his room for a time out…GOP Congressman apologises for apologizing to BP for the “shakedown” by the President.

GOP execs send said Congressman to his room for time out.

In soccer…

Noisy bee sound making plastic things are turning off fans and players alike. Claims by South Africans that these vuvuzelas are a part of their culture is nullified by the fact that plastic horns –  made in China – have no place in the African archaeological record.

Upsets, upsets… Spain attack nullified by strong play by the Swiss in the neutral zone… get it? Neutral zone?

France loses to Mexico and immediately appeals to FIFA for a replay of the match due to an undisclosed injury to Thierry Henry’s hand… which hampered 100% of the the French goal scoring ability…

England must win today to be assured of moving on. South African police on guard for hooligans armed with valazuzas… ear plugs on standby.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebpt4bvgV2k

Right now, Trashy is thinking about…

• whether he should take the leap and attend a certain information session tomorrow.. tough call.
• why, oh why is the forecast for every single Saturday filled with rain? Ain’t right, I tell ya!
• how much dynamite will it take to open the fault line close to the building where I work? Workers are blasting rock at a construction site and seem to be trying to find out.

CPC drop continues… and so does the Grit inability to capitalise…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

Just when I think that I have seen the most ridiculous thing ever to come from our neighbours to the south, along comes a new doosy-winner.

According to Metro, a candidate for South Carolina’s adjutant general – the dude in charge of the state’s national guard corps (whatever that is) – invited the public to join him for a round of shootin’… and a chance to win a brand new AK-47!!!  Yup, $25 gets ya  a BBQ, a clip of bullets for target practice and a chance to win the gun!

And 500 folks came out to join him!

I wonder if our politicos are paying any attention to this. But being that big guns that can literally cut a moose into two are frowned upon north of the 49th, they’d have to think of another grand prize…

• Like a free ticket to one of Stevo’s anger management classes. Valid only for those 18+ or 12+ if from Alberta.

Grrr... I'm angry... grrrrrrrrrr....

• A lecture by Minister James Moore on why the Calgary Stampede is more culturally enriching than the now buried National Portrait Gallery. Anyone named Paul Dewar will be stopped at the door.
• An inside look at the speech therapy classes being attended by Pierre Polievre… he’s been struggling to say anything not scripted by the PMO since ‘05.
• A free workshop hosted by Tony Clement on “Using the “wet-look” to your advantage”. Cost of Bryl-cream not included.

Pretty damn tempting. Might even buy a ticket to one of these for the fun factor!

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

I take a particular interest in the political goings-ons in Parry Sound Muskoka. After all, I grew up there, all of my family (save moi) still call it home and I ran as a candidate there in the ’93 General Election. So I do retain an emotional attachment to the place.

A place that is now represented by Tony Clement at the Federal level… a ReformCon from a time when the party wasn’t even yet birthed.  A key part of Mike “The Monster” Harris’ Common Nonsense Revolution, Big Tony moved over to the Harperite bunch a while back and has had a few plum cabinet appointments.

Seems like Big Tony has become Uncle Tony to many of the riding’s folks as he is handing out big bags of moolah to almost everyone who asks! And all in the name of the G8 Summit due to take place outside of Huntsville, Ontario next year... Huntsville is one of the larger centres in the riding.

Funny thing is that much of the largesse (as noted in the article) is not really targeted toward the Summit at all. The Summit is being used as a convenient excuse to practice some good ol’ pork barrel politics.

Now, you may say, so what? Don’t they all do it?

Well, no. Not to this degree.

Big Tony unseated Grit Andy Mitchell a couple of elections back and before him was the legendary Tory,  Stan Darling. Both were very, very good constituency MPs. Looked after their folks well and found money when needed and warranted. But never was present this flagrant and cynical misuse of the public purse in order to buy votes! Yeah – Parry Sound gets some new infrastructure and street work.  Baysville gets some new washrooms. And many other small communities in the riding will get some cash infusions.

And none of these places will have anything to do with next year’s Summit.

Are the ReformCons worried about their prospects here in the next election?  Probably not – it’s just another example of the Politics of Cynicism.

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario

There has been a lot of back and forth on whether the proposed sale of Nortel’s wireless business should be blocked by the Feds. The non-interventionists say that blocking the move would cast a pallor on future foreign direct investment in Canada. And they have a point. If I were a foreign investor looking for some assets to pick up, I would be very hesitant to look to Canada if there was a strong possibility of a deal being scuttled at the 11th hour.

On the other hand, much of the R&D carried out by Nortel was in part funded by the Canadian taxpayer through grants, tax credits and the like. Plus, it is important to keep higher paying, skilled  jobs in Canada wherever we can. And, from the sounds of the guy speaking for Ericsson, this is by no means for certain.

10% of the 25,000 jobs retained? Gee, thanks.

Industry Minister, Tony Clement, was his usual eloquent self

“I’m not ruling out intervening, and I’m not ruling out not intervening,” Clement told reporters today in Gatineau, Quebec. “In order to not pre-judge the issue, I have to keep my options open.”

Thanks for clarifying that Tony!

So will the Harperites move on this or not? I leave it to the TorStar writer James Travers to sum it up:

Run a moist finger down the list of Conservative priorities and find Conservative demographics. Twice trimming the GST, positioning punishment at the centre of criminal justice and spending big on the military are as popular with the party base as an aggressive green plan, a balanced foreign policy or best-and-brightest education and industrial strategies are not.

That’s understandable, familiar and fair enough. As Brian Mulroney memorably observed, “Ya gotta dance with those that brung ya.”

So it’s really no surprise the Prime Minister is rushing public billions to the rescue of the multinational auto giants while making it easy for foreigners to buy what’s left of Canadian icon Nortel.

Not just the dominant industry in Ontario, the province that decides federal elections, the auto sector also employs many thousands of those ordinary, hard-working, tax-paying folks Harper talks about so often.

On the other hand, Nortel’s payroll is largely offshore and those who do work here are not stereotypical Conservative voters.

Bye-bye Nortel…

Trashy,
Ottawa, Ontario