Idiocy

Earlier this week, Thomas Mulcair more or less called Prime Minister Stephen Harper an idiot. That's an exaggeration to be sure. If we were to be more specific he called the argument idiotic.

Surely, it's not the most idiotic thing to happen in the house this year but it certainly doesn't raise the level of discourse. Truth be told, Aaron Wherry got there first on hitting back at this line of dismissive thinking, so I won't bother going down that road.

Instead let's play a quick game. I'm going to outline a situation, and you playing the role of the NDP, will explain to me where you stand on it?

K?

Let's go:

There's some really bad stuff going down. 

We would like to do something about it. 

The something we're doing may break the law. 

Alright, NDP, are you for or against taking action here? 

...

..

.

I guess I'm going to need to be more specific because if we're talking about a pipeline protest, it's entirely probable you support it. In fact, quite a lot of your opposition to C-51 (the "Totally not a Canadian Patriot act" bill) seems to be concern around civil disobedience being labelled as terrorism. Essentially noting that sometimes doing the right thing requires breaking the law. 

K, let's try this again then:

There's some really bad stuff going down. 

We would like to do something about it. 

The something we're doing may break international law. 

Oh well this is clearly just a bridge too far. A local environmental protest needs pay no attention to laws or rulings. International terrorist organizations that have been kidnapping and murdering on religious grounds? Sorry, kiddo. We gotta respect the law. 

Ultimately, I'm no cheerleader for the military action in Syria and Iraq. While there's no shortage of regional nuance, it's ultimately a moral judgement. Essentially, I keep coming back to these questions and can't get past them: 

"When was the last time the west got involved in the middle east and it made anything better?" 

"What do you do in the 21st century where you can communicate any idea with ease, with a religiously motivated uprising of violence and general douchebaggery?" 

Here's a bonus question if you're like me and you've completely given up on getting a restful sleep:

"Are there dangerous ideas, or only dangerous people and actions?"

That last one relates back to C-51 as well. The government has made it pretty clear there is, in their view, dangerous ideas. I know slippery slope is a fallacy, but a Minority Report future doesn't seem that far off. 

These are questions for debate and discussion. I hope that there will come a day where these debates and discussions are far more civilized than the idiocy we saw in the house this week. 

Really, though. If I told you 4 years ago that the "War on Terror" would become the Canadian topic de jour - you probably could have guessed where the CPC, NDP, and LPC would end up on their policies. So as much as I'd enjoy a thoughtful and nuanced debate around these issues - we voted CPC in with a majority and they can do what they want because of it. Maybe if Canadians were to lose their irrational fear of coalitions, we could try persuasion over bludgeoning again.

One thing I do know about this "war" is that the goals are entirely unrealistic. You can, perhaps, "degrade" a terrorist organization. To suggest that you can "destroy" it is really just idiocy. 

So This Is Christmas

It comes as no surprise to anybody that Christmas is by far my least favorite time of year (the rant about why is at the bottom of this post). This year, I've decided instead of just being loathsome toward the entire season, I will try to capitalize on all the things I like about it. Below, is a short outline of the things I love about Christmas.

Social Gatherings (and therefore) A Built in Excuse To Get Out of Any Social Function

Yes, it is the season! People gather as everyone feels the need to come together for different Christmas gatherings. In fact, we moved the date of our Christmas/housewarming/new kittens party due to other gatherings that Ms.Wonderful thought might take precedence. I like my friends, so partying with them is right up my alley! I enjoy fabricated reasons for everyone to get together. If I was capable, every Saturday of the year would be a party at my place... I have swung this idea by Ms.Wonderful and she politely declined. This time of year brings people to that point though. Granted it's not always the same group that will gather, but good times abound. With that said, bad times are easily avoided! Oh you'd like me to come watch your daughter's Christmas play? Sorry, I have Ms.Wonderful's Christmas party that night! Oh you'd like me to come to a concert for the six homeless people on PEI? Sorry, I have an eggnog competition I've already agreed to judge. Speaking of eggnog...

The Drinking

This appears to be the one time of year that it's okay to get drunk on a Tuesday. Christmas is a time of excess drinking, eating, and consumerism. One of these things turns people into fat slobs, another turns them into psychotic Western world brats. The drinking? A few people have sex with folks they probably shouldn't have. No harm, no foul. "You're too drunk for a Christmas party" is something no one has ever said.

The Goodwill

Ok, so this one is weird. The goodwill is pretty much bullshit as I outline below in my rant BUT I'm willing to believe. Just like I believed in Santa till I was 19, I believe in the goodwill. Much like Santa, it's mostly fake but who cares. I actually have good will and am not just putting on a show for this shitshow of a Christmas season. So while everyone pretends to be jolly, I'll be joyous in my jolliness being less obscene.

Why I Hate Christmas

It's a time of complete hypocrisy as we yearn for peace on earth and goodwill towards men while simultaneously trying to box out the bitch who lives on Queen Street to get the last Tickle Me Elmo. In fact, the entire gift giving experience is an absolute joke. It's a time for people to provide others with things they would like them to have. Where people can enforce their beliefs and values on those who are close to them under the guise of the "Christmas Spirit". I would note that my jadedness in this regard likely has a direct relation to the year my mother asked me what I was into, I told her gaming, and she bought me the board game Risk. This along with a tablecloth when I did not own a kitchen/dining room table. No, she thought gaming was board games, and she thought people should have table cloths - and so I sat there like a fool trying to pretend to be grateful instead of horribly insulted. Which brings me to another shit part about Christmas. The pretending that something you've received which is total shit, is not total shit. "Oh, thanks - I've always wanted a menstrual cup. It's really - really it's great. Thanks!"

This doesn't even begin to mention the claims to be happy to see people you're really not particularly interested in. "It's always nice to see family" is the biggest crock of shit I've ever heard. Unless they live far away, we're able to spend time with family as much as we want. We choose not to usually. In fact, in my early 20's the best part about Christmas was everything after 9pm when those of us that were still capable of staying awake would meet to share the horrors of what just transpired. The shopping is really the crux of it all for me. The stress people put on themselves about trying to find that perfect gift for (whoever) - because it's a delicate line one must walk in trying to find something you can pass off as thinking they would like while still trying to make sure it's something you're willing to stand by.

Let's not even start on the gift explanations that are inevitable once someone has opened it.
"Oh - a sweater... awesome?..."
"Well I know how you like to wear t-shirts, and I was out and saw that they had sweaters on sale and I thought that was really close to a t-shirt and I know how you like sheep since I used to read ba ba black sheep to you when you were six, and it's made of wool so I'm just sure you'll love it!" Anyways - I hate presents, pretending, and preachers. Also - I hate that my birthday is a week later and is an apparent after thought the whole fucking thing.  /rant

Interactions

Interacting With Children

The other day I was talking to my sister on Skype and she brought the laptop into the other room so I could talk to my nephew. After exchanging pleasantries with me, he let me know that the laptop was actually in front of his computer and stopping him from playing a game. I suddenly had flashbacks to being a child, forced to talk to relatives on the phone. In hindsight, I assume this was done because you must teach young ones that relatives are important and warrant time and attention. I remember feeling like there were far more important things to do, and really lacking any attention, I eventually started to rue the three questions:

1. How old are you now?
2. How's school?
3. Do you have a girlfriend?*

I assume this is to show children that we care about them. Truth be told, most adults are not having the conversation with the child thinking there is anything they could learn or grow from. Certainly, children will surprise you at times but to think that there would be a large family gathering and the 45 year old uncle has any legitimate interest in the child is absurd. Yet we all acknowledge that any marginally adult gathering must be tedious and tiresome for a toddler or tween so we try to alleviate it by asking simplistic questions. Although our questions are often thoughtless and trivial the persons being asked have been trained that any pronouncement of the boring nature of conversation is "rude".** I'm especially amused by this aspect of the social exchange where it's rude for the child to express his disinterest because you want to be respectful to those who at least try to hide their disinterest. I even found myself looking at my nephew completely unsure of what to say and asked him, "how old are you now?" I caught myself right away, and would not go down that same road. I tried to ask about his game, compliment his pajamas, try to understand what it was that he was saying (I'm really bad at speaking child). Truth be told, I had no idea what to talk to him about. Having not seen him in more than a year now, I was happy just to see him. Once he had informed me that his video game was waiting, I was happy to let him get back to it.

I know enough time has passed where I've become the old uncle who's boring and trying to hard to get along with the kids. When my other nephew declined a Skype chat, I realized he was probably just saving both of us the awkwardness of discussion. Sometimes I wish more people, young and old, would offer that courtesy.  I caught a glimpse of him early though - so I'm satisfied with the exchange.

Interacting With Religion

I don't know much about religion. Those that know me well might assume that I do because I would occasionally stand in for my minister while she vacationed. I think all that proves is that I'm very comfortable getting up in front of large groups.

I heard someone describe the difference between protestant and catholic as catholics believing you need to live a good life or repent for your sins (if you're a douche) to go to heaven. Whereas protestants can be douches but need to believe in Jesus and they get in. I found myself wondering where the faith was where you can't be douche at all. Where's the religion that says, "You killed a dude? Fuck. No. Yeah you're damned. Forever. You don't kill dudes. That's like the highest form of doucebagery." This is where I feel like religion is too often used as a crutch. Instead of finding inner peace with any past malfeasance one may have, they speak to their invisible friend. Thankfully the invisible friend has a visible agent (who you're often giving money to directly or indirectly) who will tell you everything is OK. After all, the idea that this is all part of a preconceived plan is far more comforting than our own choices landing us where we are.*** It's also better to think that a better life is to come with no effort required by you except for blind faith. Just send a couple bucks the church's way (10% of what you earn if I remember correctly) and feel shame for the very natural things that you feel - and a good life will follow. I wish society could just admit what we know in our hearts: Religion is a large-scale morality tale. An overriding theme of many religions is to be good to each other, and not to judge. It doesn't take a person of marginally deep thought to understand how nice a world would be if those two things stayed true. Yet these texts are distorted and redistributed as evidence for moral high ground in hate. I guess I'm just frustrated with that.

Here's a video of a religious man I like. 



Interacting With Myself

So while this post feels unfocused in some ways to me, I feel like it's reflective of where I am in my life. I have a good job and a great partner - and am now left to contemplate what it is to exist in this world with those two desires satisfied. I know I don't want to be a slave to any religious ideology, or to engage in small talk only to not appear rude. It's the more nuanced stuff that complicates my brain. For example, how does one resolve the person they'd like to be, the person they'd like people to see them as, and the person that they are? Personally, I find the third to be an insult to human capabilities. Too many people short change their ability to change. So instead I weigh the person I want to be versus the person I want to be known as. For as much as I may love dancing around in my boxers, I don't want to be known around town as the guy who dances around in his boxers. The idea that you need to lend credence to the sensibilities of others as misplaced as you may see them is something I'm constantly struggling with. I sometimes worry that I'll become like my friends who consider how others view them as the entirety of their character. At the same time I'm so afraid of that possibility that I know I'll never completely give in to the court of public opinion. I believe that if everyone is happy with you, you've done something horribly wrong. There are completely senseless people in this world, after all. The truth is that some would rather be liked than right - but I would rather be right than liked. This paragraph has no concluding sentence but that's because there's no real conclusion to this process. I imagine it goes on forever.



*Once answered with "No" the response of "Of course not, you probably have 3" was far too common.
**People may be offended! As we all know, no one must ever be offended at any time. In fact, it's become common for public apologies to be for the offense instead of the act. This in itself could be another rant entirely but I digress.
***I'm sorry, far left friends, the "system" did not cause all of our social issues. Some people are just assholes.

Choices

Facebook

I made the choice recently to get off Facebook. I vowed back in March that if they were going to force "Timeline" onto me, that I would stop using the service. I vowed to go to Google+ as it seemed to still exist in a format I enjoyed. Granted I'd be (at best) the seventh person on Google+ but I was probably the seventh person on Facebook too. Between March and the notification I got a week ago that Timeline would be forced on me, Google+ appears to have switched its format to include cover photos and basically become a carbon copy of Facebook. I'm not particularly surprised, and also not particularly interested in using the service anymore. Alas, I'll probably post outrageous things to Twitter instead and restrict/parse down that list to ensure it doesn't become something carried in media outlets.

The thing I'm quickly realizing is that we're redefining "necessities" as a western culture. This is a fad because surely at some point there were people that felt like Crocs were a necessity. So as Facebook sees this, they changed from a company that was trying to woo potential users, to dictating terms of use. For example, for a long time I could keep my profile picture hidden to those who were not my friend. That is no longer the case. On one occasion I had to go in and change my publicly listed email address because Facebook had decided to change it to the email they were now providing. Then Facebook told me they were changing the layout again and making "Timeline". That was enough. There is no NEED to use this service and the fact is the service is barely a shadow of what I signed up for 5+ years ago and offers very little of what I found attractive anymore. It's not simple, or clean, or easy to control my information. So I made the choice to leave.

With all that said, I understand a good portion of my traffic here came from posting the blogs to Facebook, so this is going to become an even lesser known blog. I'm entirely ok with that.

Another Election

Americans are faced with a pretty distinctive choice on November 6, 2012. The choice is fairly stark. Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney have exceptionally different backgrounds. Mr. Obama, of a middle-class grandmother who worked in middle management in her adult life. Mr. Romney, with the proverbial silver spoon. His father ran for President, was Governor of his state,  and ran a major auto manufacturing company. From the perspective of a relatively centered outsider, I'm flabbergasted to see national polls at a dead heat.

If I lived in the US, I'd be one of the people you call an independent. Fiscally conservative, and socially liberal. So the question becomes of the man (and eventually, woman). This is not an even remotely close decision. Mr.Romney has changed his mind on abortion, Iraq, Afghanistan, the auto industry, and almost any other subject of any consequence. Mr. Romney isn't a principled man looking to lead the nation to the promise land. Mr. Romney is a man willing to do whatever it takes to outdo his father and become the most powerful man on earth.

I strongly disagree with the way Mr. Obama has dealt with some of the economic issues his nation faces. Fixing a massive debt problem by borrowing more money isn't close to an effective strategy. However, for the most part the man seems true to his word. There have been a few occasions where he hasn't pushed congress hard enough (see: Guantanamo Bay) but for the most part what's been holding back his agenda is not a lack of political will, but another branch of government. This is a no-brainer for anyone with a brain. There is no reason what-so-ever to consider Mitt Romney to be a trust-worthy individual.

 The Weak Blue Jays

What follows is a rant. It's entirely possible it will contain many curse words.


Toward the end of the year the Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar painted on his eye black (the spanish version of) "you are a faggot". Toronto is one of the most gay-friendly cities in the entire world, and the Jays responded to this act of intolerance with a 3 game suspension. We all know that the Jays are not dictators in a situation like this and they would need to be mindful of any possible labor actions by the players association. With that said, there was nothing to stop the organization from paying him, and sending him home. Toronto fans should not have needed to see him on the field again, but they did. The Jays took the easy way out, and provided a slap on the wrist.

For the last two months of the season there was rampant speculation that the Boston Red Sox had interest in hiring the Jays manager, John Farrell. The speculation no doubt came from the organization directly, as they can't have direct contact with Farrell. The media gets some inside info from an owner, and next thing you know they're asking questions of the manager. None of this is extraordinary. The Jays had one year left on their deal with Farrell and if they were going to let him go, it would make sense to have your name out there. The Jays weren't planning on letting him go though. So they negotiated a trade, so Farrell could go there. Great! We got a useful player, right? No... actually not. We got Mike-fucking-Aviles. The man who tied for last in qualifying palyers for OBP in the AL, second last in MLB. By the way, want to guess who was 9th worst? Colby Rasmus.

So let me get this straight. The Jays hated rival, Boston Red Sox, want something they have, the Sox value him highly... and you give him away for NOTHING!? The Red Sox are a mess, and you're HELPING!? Who the fuck is in charge at Jays headquarters because right now it looks like it might be my nephew who, if you ask nice enough, will let you do just about anything. Show some fucking backbone for crying out loud. They want him, you have him. The answer you're looking for is "no." Even a variation of "no" would be good. How about, "Middlebrooks, or no" or something like "Oh, you seem to be rolling around on the floor bleeding profusely, let me open my bucket of salt and pour it over you, because you're my rival and I fucking hate you. Hell, even if I don't hate you, I know my fan base does - so fuck you. You make us a deal that we win, clearly - or go fuck yourself." I'm sick and fucking tired of this god damn team just rolling over. Make some fucking hard choices instead of the easy ones.

/rant


Thanks for reading.

When you gotta go...

I had to go.

Sure, I tried to hold it as long as I could, but I had to. 

I'd received the corporate communication not only about the appropriate times to go, but also the appropriate ways to go. At one point, it even specified to keep the two out of the one hole. How crazy is that? Sadly, not all that crazy. I've worked in places like that before, and there's always at least one person who is beyond clueless. The one that makes you ask questions that you never thought you'd ask before. "Is there any education requirement for this job?" or "Can you really expect a person to keep their elementary school graduation documentation" or "IS there elementary school graduation documentation?" ... Regardless of all of this, I had to go. 

I walked through the door and turned to the left.  I was allowed to use these because it was a one and not a two. Thank god for that email refresher. There were only two there. Why on gods green earth would any man build this room and only leave two of these here? There's no way a man built this room. Not one chance. Any man would build one, three, or five. In stadium situations it'd be much larger surely, but in those situations all bets are off. If you put 50,000 people into the Dome for a game, and 30,000 of us are men, and 25,000 of us men are drinking, the rooms are massive and no one cares where anyone else stands. There's no room. There's no time. As we stand in the room there's some act of incredible drama connected to sport and we're in such a rush to get back to it that it's a damn good thing we're all standing in this room. Except for Jim. He's sitting down in that little box with a bad case of the twos. You never get the Nachos at the Dome. But I digress. 

The room I'm in now only has two to choose from, I could go into the box but that'd be strange... right? If someone else was to come in and I'm just standing in the box and there's no one outside of it, then it looks like I'm either rolling a joint or doing coke. Seeing as how I don't do either of those things, I can't have rumours flying around the office saying otherwise. I can't use the box. I have to stand here and pick one of the two then hope and wish that no other man joins me in here. 

Everything is going perfectly. I'm practising my cursive, and then it happens. I hear the door open. This is one of those times where I wish performance anxiety could kick in halfway. If I walked into the room and there were only two and the box was full, I'd be terrified. Who wants to be the second guy? This makes me realize that this probably won't turn out too badly, it's not this guy I need to worry about it's the NEXT guy. That's what I thought at least... 

Nope. It's this guy. See this guy has some kind social defect where he wasn't raised to respect another mans space in this room. We all know the rules. You provide space! If there's only two standing spots and there's two or more available boxes, you go to the box and give the man space! I can't be seen to be freaking out though. It's fine. Everything is going to be fine. Maybe he was just raised differently. This isn't worth panicking about. I'll just finish what I was doing, maybe without the cursive, and get the hell out of here. Eyes forward...

The fact that this dude has now half turned his body in my direction can be taken as nothing other than a complete affront on all things we've agreed upon as a civilized people. Who turns toward the other guy? This is feeling like some kind of dream. If this person is ever in any kind of adoption process, either dog or person, I want some say in the matter. Clearly this man isn't right. I'm going to send a follow up email adding additional rules about the box and the turn. This might be the most uncomfortable moment of my life, but I'll carry on. Eyes forward... 

I'm finished now and having concluded the appropriate amount of shaking it out, I need to wash my hands. I feel dirty. What kind of man turns!? I've finished washing my hands and as I turn the little wheel that's needed when paper towel isn't already hanging out, I think about how many people with fully germed hands have touched this wheel. I feel more dirty. I feel violated. 

I slowly walk back to my desk. Dignity shaken, but I hold my head high. I imagine that once I left the room this man was taking a two in the one hole. Nevertheless, what he's done to me sticks with me. These people carry on with their lives like nothing's happened. They clearly have no idea what horrors await in the bathroom. 

The G20 Reports and a Quick Note For The Left

Nearly two years ago world leaders met in Toronto for the G20 summit. Anytime that 20 of the most powerful people on earth (and their staff) are all in one place there is a necessity for a large scale security operation. Citizens of Toronto were aware of this before the summit started as entire sections of the city were being fenced in prior to the dignitaries arrival. Joe Blow Toronto couldn't have expected what was to follow. Anyone who pays attention to world events knew exactly what to expect.

In both Pittsburgh and London there were massive protests and massive arrests. In London in particular, one protester died during a confrontation with police.

On queue, massive protests descended on Toronto, including a small portion of the Black Bloc. Police responded by arresting more than 1,100 people. Immediately following the summit there were calls for the resignation of Police Chief Bill Blair, and allegations of assault, wrongful arrest, and various breaches of Charter Rights.

This past week The RCMP Commission for Public Complaints  and The Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) released reports in review of the incidents during G20 week. In addition Byron Sonne was cleared on all charges in his case where he nearly spent a year in prison without bail. In that time he also got the gift of a divorce via letter.

After having read the majority of the two reports, it became clear that there was no shortage of Charter Rights violations two years ago. The command and control structure of our police forces played a large part in this. The officers on the front line knew what they were doing was wrong, and in some cases unlawful. They had objections, but carried their orders.

The RCMP report was released on Tuesday, and the OIRPD report was released on Thursday.

The RCMP Report

The RCMP report revealed that two plain clothed Toronto Police officers were arrested as part of the five total arrests that the RCMP completed. This was not made known to the investigator. From page 38 of the report:

During the interview, as in the arresting officers’ notes, the POU Commander did not indicate that two of those arrested were plain-clothes officers, later stating that he did not believe it to be significant. 

It was only through an inadvertent comment that the Commission was made aware of the incident. 

This wasn't the only occurrence of the investigation being mislead by officers. In reference to the incident at Queen and Spadina the investigation notes. From page 39 of the report: 

A similar response was received from the RCMP Liaison Officer in the MICC who indicated that although he was aware that there was an RCMP tactical troop at Queen Street and Spadina Avenue, he was preoccupied with the movement of resources from Ottawa to Toronto. However, an entry on the sitboard at 6:21 p.m. on June 27, 2010, states: “On June 27, 2010,  at 1818 hrs,  RCMP Supt. . . .  (MICC) updated the crowd is still at Queen and Spadina where POU units, and [Toronto Police Service] Mounted Units are monitoring.” A second entry eleven minutes later goes on to note: “On June 27, 2010, at 1829 hrs, RCMP Supt. . . . advises that the crowd is contained, ongoing extraction and arrests.” This suggests that the senior RCMP officer in the MICC was aware of the situation at the time. (...) There is an apparent disconnect between the RCMP POU Commander on the ground, who had concerns with the ordered tactic, and senior RCMP commanders, including the Liaison Officer in the MICC, who either were not aware of the ongoing situation, or were aware but did not have or did not express concern.

The RCMP investigation was limited in scope. For example, it was not within the scope of the investigation to determine what intelligence gathering methods were legal. However, it appears as though the report hinted that it might look at this anyways since there was a lack of judicial oversight in this regard. From page 30 of the report: 

Given that the resolution did not include any judicial scrutiny of whether the operations were carried out in an appropriate manner, the Commission is considering whether further review of these operations is required. 

The RCMP report revealed that RCMP officers aren't exactly forthright when being investigated.

The OIPRD Report 

If I was to include all of the relevant quotes from this report, I'd break 30,000 words in this blog. Instead, I'll point you to my Reddit post for all the quotes and page numbers to substantiate the following bullet points:

• 186 People were strip searched with no paperwork to justify it. 
• Young Offenders were placed in adult cells 
• The Prisoner Processing Centre (PPC) had obvious flaws brought up previous to the summit, that were ignored/dismissed. 
• The planing documents for the PPC said it could hold 500+ prisoners, but had no logistical reason for that. The roof partially caved in, and there was a flood of six inches of water. 
• The mass arrests at UofT were unlawful. 
• During the unlawful mass arrests at Queen and Spandina (including two Toronto Police Officers) Bill Blair was busy shaking hands with the President of the United States. 
• The mass arrests at Novotel were unlawful. 
• Officers either didn't understand, or disregarded the limits of their stop and search authority. 

This was essentially a slightly watered down version of martial law. The right to protest was trampled on, and the abuse of police powers was far reaching.

For trampling on the rights of the citizens, these officers will clearly face severe legal consequences. Actually... that's not the case. In fact, according to CBC News the worst that could happen is they lose their job:

The charges, which are not criminal, would be laid under the Police Services Act. Officers found guilty could face penalties ranging from having their pay docked to losing their jobs.  

I doubt this will satisfy the 180 people who were strip searched without any justification.

A Quick Note For The Left

Can we celebrate for a second? If we're going to get on our high horse and profess the need to have programs in place for the less fortunate/downtrodden, shouldn't we also demand that those who abuse these same systems have some kind of accountability? 

I understand why the NDP and Liberals need to scream "bloody murder" over the changes to EI. Politics was never about truth, rather perception. Mr. Flarhety's comments about needing seniors and aboriginals to work are especially easy fodder for this. Likewise, the left-leaning sheeple (yes they do exist) will follow along this same line of thinking. 

The rest of us need to get on board with the conservative government for taking steps to ensure that serial users of EI are weened off the system. Better yet, have them shocked off they system. EI is an insurance. If I was to crash my car every 8 months, I'd be paying so much in insurance that I couldn't drive, or I wouldn't be able to get insurance anymore. Our safety nets should be used by people who occasionally need them, not by people who consider them a way of life.  

Ten Link Thursdays (5/17/2012)

I was going to merge this with a big post on the G20 (which will still  be written) but there was just too much information released this week for me to finish it all on time. Instead, here's 10 links on a Friday. As always, no particular order of importance.

1. Conservatives funneling money to their buddies? Isn't that what we got rid of the Liberals for? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-overrule-officials-to-fund-project-of-bairds-dear-friend/article2429391/ 


2. BC Primier rejects Dutch Disease exists - calls NDP leader names since she can't argue the facts http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/05/12/christy-clark-tom-mulcair-the-house.html

3. Undercover Toronto Police Officers were breaking the law arrested. We learned later in the week that being arrested made it oddly unlikely you were breaking the law: 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/mounties-objected-to-kettling-g20-protesters-watchdog-finds/article2431805/

4. A man who took an Axe to the head in Afghanistan, clearly outlines why our Government is distinctly uncanadian. http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/1177442--trevor-greene-from-one-battlefield-to-another

5. Baird was honest, honestly dumb: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/Baird+slip+truth/6619807/story.html

6. Offbeat: This news still won't change my view on needles: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/needles-hurt-less-when-you-look-away-new-study-shows/article2433086/

7. The Conservative Government may have sold out our national security: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/05/15/pol-weston-huawei-china-telecom-security-canada.html?cmp=rss

8. This is not going to go away: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/conservative-mp-calls-for-law-to-protect-unborn-from-bullying-151924215.html 

9. This can't be right, it makes far too much sense to involve the legal system: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2012/05/17/g20-police-charges.html

10. This happens every 10 years or so - and we realize it's stupid every 10 years or so:  http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/05/16/reverse-sexism-at-simon-fraser/