You have it wrong, Marilyn

Marilyn Baker writes today in the Winnipeg Free Press that the mainstream (and I have no idea how to define that) press is biased against President Steve because of their coverage of prorogation in 2009/10 is massively more than when Chretien did it in 2003.

Well, duh...

Let's compare the two events, shall we?

In 2009/10 Steve prorogued parliament for a month when the opposition demanded documentation about who knew what and when did they know it with respect to the Afghan detainee issue.  Forget this spin about the upcoming budgets and such.  Only brain dead Con loyalists fall for those lines.

In 2003, a retiring Chretien prorogued parliament for a month thus allowing Paul Martin to take over as PM and establish his new cabinet.  Now that sounds like a correct use or prorogation.

Apples and oranges, Marilyn.  Maybe a little research is in order.

But let's not lose sight of the real problem here - semantics aside.  Harper floated into Ottawa with a mantra of accountability and transparency.   His use of prorogation, thus stopping the work of a Commons committee,  subverted accountability in the same way his refusal to turn over documents to the committee and the Commons subverted transparency.

So NOW the Cons think that prorogue is a bad word?

Harper can prorogue Parliament in the middle of night on Christmas eve to escape Commons scrutiny and  to stack the Senate and Cons think that the sun continues to shine?  But let McGuinty give a weeks notice to prorogue for a whole week and the crap hits the rotating device!

And who is leading the vitriolic charge?  None other than the MPP from Nepean Carleton, the often misunderstood but never missed in a crowd, L MacLeod.

By the way, has anyone even seen Lisa's federal buddy, the Perfect PP?  For a guy who lives in the riding, we sure don't see him very often.    I wonder if he still has place on the Market?

Palin oils up her guns

In her recent address to the Tea Party, a group of right-wing mad-hatters, Sarah Palin, the flash in the pan-handle of Alaska, said something the press seems to be ignoring but is the most important thing to remember as time moves forward to 2012 - and it is equally important to Canadians as it is to Americans.

Palin offered some political advice to President Obama. She told him that in the midst of this economic crisis and  budget deficit; while engaged in two wars; and with looming deadlock in Congress and the Senate - if Obama wants to raise his popularity he should declare war on Iran.

If that doesn't qualify for the bone-head comment of the decade, I would hate to know what will.

"Steamroller" MacLeod strikes again

In case you missed it, there is going to be a by-election for the provincial seat vacated by Jim Watson.  The Liberal candidate is none other than Bob Chiarelli, the former mayor and former Ottawa West MPP.

The Cons have been in a tough fight to nominate someone to come in third place and after much in fighting, gnashing of political teeth and back room maneuvering, they decided, by a whopping 3 vote margin, to serve up Beth Graham.

Graham's crowd out-finessed the crowd that was pushing Mike Patton.  Patton was formerly a Larry O'Brien stalwart and presumably Larry and his minions were backing Mike.  So who was the juggernaut that backed Graham?

Enter the ego that knows no bounds, Lisa MacLeod, MPP for Nepean Carleton, which is right next door to Ottawa West-Nepean.  Lisa has been reading her own press and has determined that she is in line for a cabinet seat when (or if) the Cons ever regain power in Ontario.  With her overblown view of herself (and one should note that her hubby, Joe Varner-MacLeod, is a very tested Con back-stabber), Lisa is pushing her weight around like it's a sale day at Baskins. But why Graham?

Well for one she ran the constituency office for MacLeod.  Second, she is penis-deprived, which fits Lisa's goal of emasculating Queen's Park.  Thirdly, Lisa thinks that she will be easier to control that Patton would ever have been.

But Lisa may have backed the wrong horse.  Beth's resume is not as light as Lisa might think.  In addition to being an EA to Federal Minister Leona A-glue-gun, she was also the president of the Leslie Park Community Association and the Nepean Federation of Community Associations. She has also chaired Nepean's environmental advisory committee, and served on committees of the Ontario Trillium Association and the Ottawa Special Olympic.  While all of these are back room appointed positions, it means that Beth has more friends than Lisa.

Makes for fun television, don't it?

Tories are anti-Quebec?

The spinmiesters of the Tory party are digging themselves a hole so deep that they might find more votes in China than in Canada.

The collected Tory geniuses have declared that, since a former Finance DM gave some advice to Iggy, then everything that the former DM says or thinks must be Liberal policy.  If you are confused, just Google for former DM Scott Clark.

I guess that means that anything a member of the Tory team says, whether it be an adviser like "Dimwit" Powers or maybe like a Cabinet Minister, is automatically Tory policy.

Following the Tory logic, then, it seems that Minister Prentice has decided that Quebec's new automobile emissions standards are "folly".    My dictionary defines folly are foolishness.  Therefore the Tories define Quebecers as fools!

Dig, Dig. Dig.

OC Transpo is out of Council's control

Somebody on city council better wake up pretty soon to the fact that OC Transpo is out - way out - of control.

The cost of bus service is going up and the service is crashing down. 

Just when we are trying to struggle to understand why a new bus barn goes 100% over budget, comes the news that Transpo may buy double decker buses that do not even fit into the $100 million new structure.

Who is running this mess?  It certainly does not appear to be city council.

It is a matter of degree?

If I am a member of PETA and hit you with a tofu pie, according to PETA, that's just peaceful discourse - not assault. 

If I am a member of PETA and hit you with a stone.  Is that assault? 

What if I am a member of PETA and hit you with a tofu pie that has a peach pit in it.  Is that assault?

What if the tofu pie filling got into your eye and blinded you?  Is that assault?

If I hit you with a feather or a pie or a dump truck in an attempt to intimidate you - that's assault!

Expect a contract to be put out on Kevin Page

President Steve has got to be cursing the day he made Kevin Page the Parliamentary Budget Officer. After all, Steve is in charge and what he says is the Word of God. That a mere mortal, such as Page, should contradict the Word of God is good reason to strike with a bolt of lightning.

The current misunderstanding between God and Page is over the chance of Canada entering a period of structural deficit. In a recent report (Page ignored the edict from above to vacate the Hill during prorogation), Page opined that there was going to be a structural deficit going forward if the government did not make the right (according to him) moves.

"Unfortunately, you've got to start dealing with the structural fiscal problem that's going to get bigger and bigger and bigger," Page said in an interview, "We're saying right now the government has no targets. That's not a good place to be. We don't know how much of this debt is going to be passed on to future generations."

Not so, insists Harper. "If we do what we've said we'll do, which is end stimulus spending when the recession is over. . . and if we discipline spending growth in the future, I don't think that should be a serious problem. If you look at Canada's deficit compared to other countries, it is much lower, and more importantly our debt levels are much, much lower. So the possibility of getting into a debt-interest-payment trap is, in my judgment, not high."

Well who can you believe? Page, who calls a spade a freaking shovel? Or Harper, who refused to see an economic tsunami coming and had to be pushed into acting?

I know who I believe.

“When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent is frankly when it’s rapidly losing its moral authority to govern.”

Sounds like a very enlightened comment.  Surely worthy of being quoted now that Stevey Harper has decided that Parliament is a thorn in his side and that democracy is not good for Canadians.

I wonder who it was who said that?  Let me look that up in my quote encyclopedia.

No!  It can't be.  The sage advice is a quote from Steven Harper in a Canadian Press interview on April 18, 2005.

Hypocrit!

Is this any way to run a country?

The shear arrogance of Harper is clear in this work!

For a PM who ran on a platform of transparency and accountability, his arrogance and true nature shines through like a beacon in the fog.  Beware the beacon!

Competent city staff?

I am all for letting professional managers run the city.  That would free up councillors to develop a vision and policies to move us forward.  But what happens if you have an obviously incompetent manager - such as Alain Mercier.  Mercier is responsible for OC Transpo and OC Transpo is any but efficient.

You can blame the unions if you want and you can blame councillors for making it tough on managers - but in the end the responsibility falls on Mercier.

His job is simple in scope.  Keep the buses moving on schedule and within budget.

Is he up to the task?

Civic political parties? Boo, Hiss!

If we want to make civic politics more relevant to Ottawans then we need good and bright people to step forward for office.  We need ideas... not stuffed shirts.

The idea of political parties at city hall is one of the dumbest ideas possible.  It is floated out as a panacea to dislodge the deadwood lifer politicians that clog up city hall in great numbers.  But would it work?

Let's look at those levels of government where parties do exist.  Both the provincial and federal governments are liberally strewn with lifers.  They are kept in power BECAUSE of their party affiliations.  Both the federal and provincial systems are subject to the perversion of parachuting "desired" candidates into ridings even if the local party members don't want them.

Party members meet as a caucus and generally vote as a block.  What happens to local rights if the decision of the caucus is contrary to a riding decision?

The party system is anathema to democracy.  This has been shown time and time again.  When an ego the size of S. Harper can overrule the conscience of all Canadians, such as with the Afgan detainees controversy misunderstanding, it makes one long for a RETURN to independent MPs.

Two thumbs and eight fingers down for municipal political parties.