So, the mysterious video that Rob Ford claimed “didn’t exist” has resurfaced. Frankly, the fact that Rob Ford appears to have smoked some crack, and by his own admission a considerable amount of pot, really doesn’t bother me. At least not the deeds themselves. Quite frankly, the whole idea of
Continue readingTag: corruption
Accidental Deliberations: New column day
Here, on the combination of institutional and personal flaws that’s combined to create the Stephen Harper Senate scandal. For further reading…– CBC reproduces the documents tabled by Mike Duffy in the Senate here. – The Senate debates featuring the defences of Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau can be found
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Duffy’s Testimony Before Canada’s Senate
Full Text Read it. It’s a bombshell that very clearly ties Harper into this whole scheme. It doesn’t make any of the parties involved look good – in fact in many respects it makes Duffy look pretty low too – which is part of the reason I suspect that he
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: More On Duffy and Conservative Corruption
I must admit that while I really don’t much like Mike Duffy and the seemingly endless stream of evidence of corruption with him at the root of it is fatiguing to read about all the time, it is still an important issue. I am not going to argue about Senate
Continue readingLeDaro: Russia: Sochi Olympics 2014 and corruption
Last evening I watched a program on CBC on Sochi Olympics 2014. The corruption in Russia is incredible. Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, listens to Jean-Claude Killy, Chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission for Sochi 2014, during a February summit. (Alexei Druzhinin/RIA-Novosti/Associated Press ) Russian officials and businessmen have stolen
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading. – Jordon Cooper writes about the need to understand poverty in order to discuss and address it as a matter of public policy. – John Greenwood reports on Cameco’s tax evasion which is being rightly challenged by the CRA – though it’s worth
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On consistent rules
Bill Curry reports that many Canadian municipalities are wondering why Rob Ford has access to funding streams not available to anybody else: Ottawa’s $660-million gift to Toronto for a subway extension will come from a program that does not yet exist, leaving Canada’s other cities confused as to how they
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: Del Mastro Charged … and … Your Point Is?
All over the news yesterday was headlines about Dean Del Mastro being charged by Elections Canada for misdeeds in the 2008 election. You’d think I’d be cheering. I’m not. Yes, I’m glad that Del Mastro will, at last, have to answer for questionable campaign practices in the 2008 election. But,
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Tim Harper writes that Stephen Harper’s “lone gunman” argument – already implausible in light of the number of Senators and staffers required to cover up the Clusterduff – is falling apart at the seams. But Gloria Galloway notes that the Senators can bail
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On patterns of behaviour
Sure, it’s tempting to treat Pamela Wallin’s role as a director of a failed oil sands firm as a personal commentary on the Cons and their Senate appointees. But the story is far more closely connected to another theme that’s popping up in news stories on a daily basis. There’s
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: The Rot Starts At The Top
Regular readers of this space will know that I am no fan of Prime Minister Harper. Yesterday’s revelation that a “boot camp” for new Conservative Senators explicitly told the new Senators that partisan travel was a legitimate expense makes me downright furious. Three former Conservative senators at the heart of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Joseph Stiglitz comments on the wider lessons we should take from Detroit’s bankruptcy: Detroit’s travails arise in part from a distinctive aspect of America’s divided economy and society. As the sociologists Sean F. Reardon and Kendra Bischoff have pointed out, our country is
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Accountability for thee, not for we
Marjory Lebreton makes clear that as far as she’s concerned, accountability begins where partisan Con affiliation ends: Senator Wallin is no longer a member of the Caucus and must be held accountable for her actions. And needless to say the converse is also true as far as Lebreton and the
Continue readingThe Cracked Crystal Ball II: On The Ongoing Senate Scandal
As the summer wears on, more keeps dribbling out about the misdeeds of various Senators. Whether we are talking about Wallin, Duffy or Brazeau the outrage that we direct towards these senators for their individual misdeeds should be directed in equal measure towards the man currently residing at 24 Sussex Dr.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Dean Beeby reports on the utter uselessness of the latest set of publicly-funded Con propaganda. But more importantly, John Ibbitson notes that most of the provinces have little use for the lone new announcement – meaning that it’s for the best if Canadians
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Official trailer for the Wikileaks movie “The Fifth Estate”
A dramatic thriller based on real events, The Fifth Estate reveals the quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions of power that turned WikiLeaks into the 21st century’s most fiercely debated organization. The post Official trailer for the Wikileaks movie “The Fifth Estate” appeared first on The Canadian Progressive.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Plenty more commentators are weighing in on the Harper Cons’ enemy list, including the Star, the Globe and Mail, and Lawrence Martin. But Robyn Benson makes the most important comment about the Harper with-us-or-against-us mentality that’s being applied to the federal government
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Afternoon Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Joseph Stiglitz makes the case for free trade talks to be based on the public interest rather than the further entrenchment of corporate power and siphoning of wealth to the top. But there’s little reason to expect a meeting of corporate and government
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: The death of plausibility
“It doesn’t have to be true. It just has to be plausible.” Tom Flanagan’s unusually candid statement about the Harper Cons’ view of politics received plenty of attention. And rightly so, given how it signals a party and government with absolutely no interest in anything approaching honest discussion or debate.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: What the Media is…
This excerpt is from an article on Counterpunch titled “Treason”. It is on the rhetorical side and my eyes did roll when I saw that the author’s upcoming book to be released was called ‘Zen Economics’. But I liked this paragraph enough in his essay to share it with
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