The other day I wrote a post about the Harper regime’s ongoing efforts and measures designed to thwart government transparency; the Prime Minister’s abuse of power is most flagrant in his suppression of the voice of science, thereby effectively denying information vital if citizens are to have any hope of
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Politics and its Discontents: The Quasi-Police State In Our Midst
He who controls the media controls the minds of the public. – Noam Chomsky In some ways, it is very much reminiscent of what occurred during the time of the Soviet Union, when athletic or cultural figures would visit the West, always accompanied by ‘escorts’ whose ostensible purpose was to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Manning Doctrine: I Won’t Let My People Go
By now, those who follow such things will be aware that the Manning Networking Conference was held last weekend in Ottawa, during which the main message seemed to have been, if I may use the old cliche, “Loose lips sink ships.” Conservatives, apparently not content to censor the flow of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Gated Democracy in Calgary
Last June, I wrote a series of posts about the lack of constituency representation I and many others were receiving from our local Conservative M.P. David Sweet, the catalyst being his obsequious though not unexpected uncritical acceptance of the budget Omnibus Bill C-38. As a consequence, we conducted demonstrations at
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Brief Reflection On Irony
Given the rather limited scope of the conservative mind, few, I have observed, seem in possession of anything remotely resembling a sense of the ironic. Sparked by Stephen Harper’s recent insensitive ‘condolences’ to the people of Venezuela on the passing of Hugo Chavez, I was pleased to see a letter
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Strange Economics of Stephan Harper
Even though he only has a Master’s degree in economics, our Prime Minister likes to present himself as an economist. And, like the myriad other untruths propagated by his regime, perhaps the biggest lie is that resource extraction, especially tarsands oil, is the most prudent activity around which the Canadian
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Tale of Two Moralities
A message from your Harper Government to all E.I. claimants: A message from your Harper Government to all Canadians regarding allegations of fraud in the Senate: Fortunately, the NDP didn’t get the memo. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Ongoing Outrage
The host of letters appearing in today’s Star attests to the ongoing public outrage over the Senate porkbarrellers. Although in many ways a mere sideshow to the endemic and systemic problems that face our governance, it nonetheless illustrates that Canadian anger, when it can be aroused, can be formidable. I
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: They Still Walk Among Us
I have always felt a deep, abiding respect and affection for people of integrity. During my career as an English teacher, I took special delight in teaching plays like Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and Robert Bolt’s Man For All Seasons, which told sories of real-life people who made the ultimate
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: This One Isn’t Much of a Challenge
But apparently our Prime Minister heartily disagrees, constitutional requirements notwithstanding (BNA Act 23:5). Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Does Mike Duffy Have ‘Pump Head’?
Well, in the tried and true tradition of governments announcing embarrassing news on Fridays, ‘P.E.I. Senator’ Mike Duffy kinda sorta admitted to maybe an error, thanks to ‘confusing senate forms’ asking for his primary residence. Not that he did anything wrong, of course, but after 80 days of what Tim
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: An Insane Country, Or An Insane Government?
Albert Einstein famously defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. By that standard, we can perhaps infer that Canada is insane. As we are reminded in a very interesting column by Thomas Walkom in this morning’s Star, Canada has a long history
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Scourge of the Undead
While there was much talk in the House of Commons yesterday about how to prevent a ‘zombie apocalypse,’ in Canada, Bob Hepburn has his own solution on how to deal with the scourge of the undead: hold a referendum on abolishing the Senate. Noting that it costs well over $100
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: "…a bombastic partisan apologist for the prime minister "
The above is one of the descriptions offered of the much beleaguered ‘PEI’ Senator Mike Duffy in a trenchant assessment written by the Star’s Tim Harper in today’s edition. Harper reminds us of the ease with which the Puffster abandoned whatever journalistic integrity he might have once possessed as soon
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Why Is This Man Smiling?
Could it have anything to do with the fact that he has made a successful career out of masquerades? First, of course, Mike Duffy donned the mask of a political reporter, pretending to be an objective seeker of the truth, initially for CBC and then later for CTV, all the
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Medical Marijuana – Part 2
The other day I wrote a post suggesting that policy formulation in the Harper government is conducted not in the measured and studied way most governments employ, but rather more than anything else from a knee-jerk ideological orientation. This is apparent most recently in Health Canada’s decision to license private
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper and Medical Marijuana
As my policy-analyst son has made abundantly clear to me, government policy formulation does not take place in a vacuum. Much time and deliberation goes into the devising of new policies or the revising of old ones. Like the butterfly effect, every change or innovation brings with it both anticipated
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Harper Subversion of the Civil Service
That the Harper regime uses a myriad of tactics to exploit, manipulate and deceive the Canadian public through its propaganda, demagoguery, and demonization of those with contrary policy views has been well-chronicled in the media. Epithets like ‘Taliban Jack’ and the denigration of Thomas Mulcair and the NDP for “their
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: To Read, Perchance To Think
Shakespeare purists will perhaps forgive my titular, out-of-context paraphrasing of a famous line from Hamlet, but it occurred to me yesterday and today as I read two fine essays published in The Toronto Star. The first, by former Globe writer Michael Valpy (strange how that ‘newspaper of record’ has either
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: But We’re A Peace-Loving Country
My, my, my, the sins that are committed in our name. Recommend this Post
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