At Home in Hespeler

I’m afraid there is no money”

I don’t know what bothers me most, the flippancy of the admission, or the fact the Chief Secretary to the Treasury the latter was left for, David Laws, “… didn’t regard[sic] as a big thing.” Of course Laws is a Lib Democrat – think NDP – who lasted on the job all of 17-days before being forced to resign in an expense scandal.

One wonders if Charles Sousa will leave such a note in his wake? At a guess, I’d say that’s just a bit to honest for these Daltonites.

Economic Fundamentalism, Silly Politicians, spend

Earlier in the week Warren Kinsella penned a piece in Sun Media suggesting it was strange the Big mean Stephen Harper Conservatives have not run a negative ad on new NDP leader Thomas Muclair… yet:

So where, in all of this, is the Conservative attack on their real enemy, Thomas Mulcair?

It’s not like they don’t have a reason to attack. According to the latest national polls, the Conservatives are no longer merely tied with the NDP. For the first time ever, the New Democrats actually are ahead of Stephen Harper’s party.

But still, the Cons do not attack. Apart from a poorly conceived swing at Mulcair’s caucus, only silence emanates from the Harper war room. No one knows why. Here’s one theory: With the Liberals, all of the Conservative attacks were centred on character, not policy. The Tory ads took something that was personal to a succession of Grit leaders, and made it political. But with Thomas Mulcair? Nothing.

It is all very odd. The Cons have nothing to fear from the third-place Libs, yet attack; from the Dippers, there is now much to worry about, but they do nothing. Why the change in strategy? The likeliest explanation is the Tory war room has yet to settle on a character-based attack that will work. Until then, Mulcair should enjoy his holiday from pain. It’s pleasant. But it isn’t going to last.

The attack is coming.

But perhaps the “Tory war room,” has made an other assessment, that once Canadians get a good look at Thomas Muclair, they won’t like what they see. Perhaps they feel it’s better to let Muclair define himself his own image:

What’s more interesting is Mulcair’s response. On Tuesday, he told Postmedia News the premiers of Alberta, B.C. and Saskatchewan (and presumably everybody else, including that notorious Stephen Harper sycophant, Stephane Dion) are merely acting as Harper’s “messengers,” that he (Mulcair) is right, they’re wrong, and he won’t respond to mere premiers since his fight is with Harper.

That prompted Paul Wells of Macleans.ca to humourously observe the idea of premiers Wall, Clark and especially Redford waiting by the “Harperphone” for instructions could only come from Mulcair, who believes anyone who disagrees with him must be part of a conspiracy. (If Mulcair starts twirling ball bearings and musing about who stole his quart of strawberries, run!)

Why get accused of being mean when half the political establishment is accusing your opponent of being out of touch?

NDP, Silly Politicians Lorrie Goldstein, Stephen Harper, Thomas Muclair, Warren Kinsella

Hot Chicks…

What you were expecting Abigail Clancy?

Memo to all politicians, and really, I shouldn’t have to say this:

Never tweet your wiener and never, ever tweet what  your wiener is thinking.

Silly Politicians

to manage the Toronto Blue Jays:

At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life.

“We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam”…

There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.

Back in 1999, Blue Jays manager Tim Johnson was dismissed from the Jays for an markedly similar offense:

The lies Tim Johnson told about his Marine service in Vietnam cost him the trust of his team. Now, it’s cost him his job.

Johnson was fired Wednesday as manager of the Toronto Blue Jays…

Johnson never saw combat, but supposedly made up stories – including one about shooting a young girl – to inspire the club. He taught mortar training to recruits going to Vietnam, yet never served there.

What does it say that Tim Johnson, out of baseball because of his Vietnam stories, could run for the Senate, but not a job with the Minnesota Twins?

Perhaps if Blumenthal loses, he could become a utility infielder with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos.

h/t Kate

Baseball, Politics American Style, Silly Politicians Richard Blumenthal, Tim Johnson, Toronto Blue Jays

sounds more like a patch honest politicians would wear on their Armani jacket. It is, instead, a rule for an MP sending Parliamentary flyers to someone else’s riding.  It’s wrong, and it should end.

When a bureaucrat designs a "ten percenter" patch.

John Mraz goes over the top,  calling it corruption. It’s not, but it is, as he notes, “the diversion of public resources to politicized ends.” I would not call it corruption more because it’s above board, and of such a small scale. Mraz, a former Liberal campaign manager, also throws a blame grenade at the Conservatives, both here and in the US. Note, for example, fringe Republican Obama birthers are the only ones who are nuts, ignoring Democrats who thought GW Bush was a) the dumbest man ever to learn to knot his own tie b) the criminal mastermind behind 911. In other words Mr. Mraz’s biases get in the way of his thesis.

His thesis, however, is spot on. Ten percenters are wrong. Parliamentarians are using the rule that allows them to send informational material to ridings other than their own, up to a total of ten percent of the constituents in their riding. I have complained before about this policy, but still receive quarterlies from Jack Layton. These things are not informational, they are propaganda. Paper wasted bashing the other party, taking biased surveys, that you can send back at parliamentary expense (i.e. taxpayer expense).

To be sure, I receive the same nonsense from my MP, Conservative Gary Goodyear, but he’s at least my MP. Their is a legitimate argument to be made that an MP needs to communicate with constituents, and needs to offer constituents a forum to let their MP know how they feel on issues. If I find the communiques so offensive, I can always vote for someone else. I can’t, however, choose to vote against Jack Layton MP. So why am I receiving his mailers? And why, far more significantly, am I receiving his mailers at parliamentary expense?

Conservatives and Liberals are not innocent in this, and Gary Goodyear has been the subject of a formal complaint to the speaker on this very subject.

They are all doing it. And they are all wrong. On this, I agree with Mr. Mraz. It’s time to stop the practice of ten percenters.

Politicians acting badly, Silly Politicians 911 truthers, Barack Obama, Canadian Parliament, Conservative Party, Democrats, Gary Goodyear, GW Bush, Jack Layton, John Mraz, Liberal Party, National Post, NDP, Obama Birthers, one percenters, Parliament, Republicans, ten percenters

…People who think this is a celebration have no clue what

Wolfe: The Hero of Quebec

they’re talking about….

Twice in three weeks with this dumb little story means these Quebecois babys de cri aren’t going to say, “hey maybe we look stupid here,” anytime soon.

So I’ll keep posting my “hero of Quebec,” picture.

Silly Politicians, Wolfe Kicked Montcalm's Ass

What an apt choice by Governor General Michaelle Jean to prorogue Parliament: It would hard to find a larger gallery of rogues, and, as Brian Mulroney would tell ya, they’re a pack of old pros.

Politicians acting badly, Silly Politicians

The Coalition of the Treasonous is supposedly upset about a lack of fiscal stimulus in the recent federal update. Other countries, they proclaim, are jumping off the Brooklyn bridge providing stimulus, so we have to too. Here’s a suggestion for PM Harper: do what the Brits are doing. Lower the GST a couple of points:

BRITAIN’S contribution to a global effort to add a shot of fiscal adrenaline to ailing industrial economies was delivered by Alistair Darling, the chancellor of the exchequer (finance minister), on Monday November 24th. He produced an emergency winter budget, which had been preceded by a deluge of leaks, to the House of Commons…

The scale of the giveaway certainly sounded impressive. The centrepiece of the fiscal package was a big reduction in the main rate of value-added tax (VAT), which is charged on most goods and services, from 17.5% to 15%.

For those who don’t know, the British VAT is the equivalent to our GST.

Oh wait, did that two years ago. Maybe that’s why Canada’s “GDP rose an annualized 1.3% in the third quarter.” Because the stimulus is in the system.

Since Britain is copying Canada’s success on the lower consumption tax, maybe someone at CTV can send Craig Oliver a memo: Reducing taxes does put money in peoples pockets.

Don’t believe me, ask the British Labour Party.

Coalition of the Treasonous, Economic Fundamentalism, Silly Politicians

Elizabeth May claims to have never smoked pot. Don’t know, don’t care, what’s obvious is she has never tried to grow it

Canada’s Green Party leader Elizabeth May apologized on Wednesday for never having smoked marijuana, as she unveiled her election plank, which touts legalizing and taxing pot…

May told reporters at a campaign stop in Halifax, televised nationally. “I’ve never used marijuana. I apologize.”…

As well, the party would like to see “small, independent growers” thrive, and the government taxing the weed at the same rate as tobacco, generating an estimated one billion dollars Canadian (931 million US) annually.

I always laugh at this argument. George Carlin called it Toledo window box, implying that you can grow it on a window ledge. I have never grown the stuff myself, but I know of people who have grown it in a planter.

Personally, I grow herbs all summer, and do a few indoor winter herbs. If I was inclined to smoke pot, and it was legal, I would plant it. It’s effortless, and you won’t be paying government rates for it. And if you don’t want to grow it, why wouldn’t someone else grow it in their back yard and sell it to people tax-free?

There are some interesting and compelling arguments for legalizing pot, and the war on drugs has certainly been a massive failure. I’m all for re-thinking it, but the argument that it will be profitable for the government to legalize it just doesn’t wash, and anyone budgeting $1B on a marijuana tax better have a plan B.

Elizabeth May, Silly Politicians

I have become a fan of Rondi Adamson the last year. Unfortunately, she is usually turning up at The Star or The Globe and Mail, the two dailies I don’t regularly read. Today however, she turned up at The Sun, which I managed to catch without having to resort to those internets.

A different slant on the various Maxime Bernier “scandals,” noting that what his “spouse” was wearing at his swearing in is minor compared to the fact he is allowed to declare her a “spouse for travelling purposes,” and fly her around at taxpayer expense, after dating her only a few months:

For Bernier to designate Couillard — a woman he had apparently only dated briefly — a “spouse” is setting the limbo bar so low for what constitutes a “spouse” that a wee beastie could dance its little way under it. It is also inconsistent with the outrage at Couillard’s decolletage last summer. Why the priggishness there, but not in her “spouse” status? Surely social conservatives should be offended.

Fiscal conservatives should be troubled, as well…

Prior to running for election in Beauce, Bernier had served as vice-president of Quebec’s leading free market think-tank, the Montreal Economic Institute. In his previous incarnation, he would have been unimpressed with someone’s girlfriend — flat or big-chested — tagging along on the company dime.

I submit that this piece was probably written before Bernier’s resignation (although not before the news of the envelope-gate). However, I would suggest that Adamson makes a good case for his resignation even before the top secret envelope under the pillow routine, and would guess that PM Harper had pencilled Bernier for a shuffle during the summer when nobody was paying attention.

envelope-gate, pimply minions of bureaucracy, Silly Politicians, writers

how I felt all those years:

Clark said that he does not have a political affinity for any of the current federal parties, noting that he was a “political orphan.”

When Joe Clark is running the Conservative party, a conservative guy like me was pretty much an orphan.

Now will the press please stop treating this guy like he has an ounce of credibility?

Jacobian Piece of Impertinence, pimply minions of bureaucracy, Silly Politicians

If Pine Beetles were ruining Ontario’s forests, dooming Canada’s Kyoto efforts and releasing “five times the annual emissions from all the cars, trucks, trains and planes in Canada,” we’d just ban the little buggers.

Problem solved!

Hey, B.C. give Dalton a call, I’m sure he’s got extra copies of the paperwork all ready to go.

Silly Politicians

Ouch. Caledonia Resident Merlyn Kinrade answers Michael Bryant’s amateurish Caledonia videos with a few of his own:

“This video is the result of a Minster of the Ontario Government, Michael Bryant, coming to Caledonia and making light of the critical situation in Caledonia. Mr. Bryant we sincerely asked you last fall to meet with us. Why not accommodate our request to meet rather than producing You Tube videos?”

“Tim’s is a great cup of coffee, you get the pulse of the community by going where the issues are.” That’s the kind of 10 second zinger politicians would kill for.

“There’s a great fishing spot by the dam, but the river is somewhat polluted since the Province hasn’t funded a new sewage treatment plant.”

As I noted before, Kinsella called Bryant’s videos smart use of new technology, but it’s never smart to give your opponents the chance to get in the last word, and that’s exactly what Bryant did. Not just that, but a couple of guys in Caledonia did better, more professional videos than Bryant did, that’s not good.

Score Merlyn Kinrade 1 – Michael Bryant 0.

Caledonia, Silly Politicians

Stephane Dion today opened the door to a coalition government, joining the Liberal party of Canada with the Conservative Party. The plan would see Dion’s Liberals stop threatening to topple the Harper government, and in return Prime Minister Dion would make Stephen Harper the Deputy-Assistant Vice-PM.

When it was suggested Harper may not agree to relinquish the PM role, Dion was unapologetic:

“If you got the assurances of ultimate unity, then it’s a great mistake for other people to try to shut this process down early,” it is assumed Dion said. “If you put those two things together, you’d have an almost unstoppable force. I believe when this is over, if we can unify the Parliament, then we will clearly win because there is so much energy behind what is happening.

“We’d be hard to beat,” Dion added.

When told of the comments, Harper said, with unusual diplomacy, “what an idiot,” to which Dion replied, “hey, it’s good enough for the Clinton’s and the Maple Leafs!”

Desperation Politics, Silly Politicians

If we win, we’ll let you take a point.

Seen talking animately to the refs late in Saturdays game, it was assumed Mats Sundin was arguing a call. It turns out, he was negotiating on behalf of his team. With his team down by a goal and less than a minute to play, Sundin went to desperation:

“Let us take the two points, we’ll give New Jersey one point and everybody is happy. We will all go out tonight and we’ll be an ‘unstoppable force.’ Or better better yet, give us Marty Brodeur, we’ll let them take Andrew Raycroft, and we’ll ‘be hard to beat.'”

Later, Sundin was heard to say:

“When this is over, if we can unify the Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils, then we will clearly win because there is so much energy behind what is happening.”

When it was pointed out to Sundin that his team was losing, so New Jersey wouldn’t likely agree, he shrugged and said, “hey, it’s good enough for the Clinton’s!”

Desperation Politics, Silly Politicians