An infinite number of monkeys using an infinite number of typewriters will eventually produce the Kirby report on health care reform. This is not a sound argument for spending hundreds of millions of public dollars on monkeys with typewriters.
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Accidental Deliberations: On corrupted institutions
Plenty of others have had loads to say about the scandal surrounding Stephen Harper, Nigel Wright, Mike Duffy and the Senate generally – with Wright’s resignation today serving as just the latest chapter of a story with plenty left to be told. But I’ll add a couple of notes to
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading. – Not surprisingly, plenty of commentators have weighed in on the latest set of Senate scandals engulfing Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, Nigel Wright and Stephen Harper among others. Diane Francis takes the opportunity to point out that the Senate is an institutional anachronism (a
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Paul Krugman draws a much-needed connection between austerity politics and Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine: What Smith didn’t note, somewhat surprisingly, is that his argument is very close to Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine, with its argument that elites systematically exploit disasters to push through
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Beleaguered Harper-appointed Sen. Mike Duffy Quits Conservative Caucus
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: Scandal-plagued Sen. Mike Duffy quit the Conservative caucus Thursday after his fraudulent Senate expense claims threatened to engulf the Harper government. Duffy, appointed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in 2009, now sits as an independent. “It is clear the public controversy surrounding me and the repayment of my
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Harper’s chief of staff paid off Mike Duffy’s Senate expenses
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s chief of staff Nigel Wright wrote a personal cheque worth more than $90,000 to pay back Senator Mike Duffy‘s living expenses, Harper’s office confirmed Wednesday. “Mr. Duffy agreed to repay the expenses because it was the right thing to do,” Harper’s spokesman Andrew MacDougall said
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – Duncan Cameron is the latest to weigh in on the Cons’ distorted sense of priorities in directing public research money toward private profits: Publicly available research is important. Since no one knows where discoveries or advances in knowledge will lead, the entire
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Sen. Patrick Brazeau defies Senate order to return housing allowance
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: Our Senatorial soap opera entered a new chapter on Tuesday. Independent Sen. Patrick Brazeau informed the media that he’ll defy the Senate’s order to repay the $48,744 in living and travel expenses he fraudulently claimed from Canadian taxpayers. “Senator Brazeau has fulfilled his obligations in forwarding all relevant
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your Monday reading. – Michael Harris tears into the Cons for their latest set of Senate abuses: It is time once more to throw up on your shoes over the Senate. We all did that when Liberal Senator Andrew Thompson went missing in action for a decade
Continue readingThe Scott Ross: The Undemocratic Elected Senate & The Democratic Appointed One
90% of Americans support universal background checks for guns yet on Wednesday the American Senate struck down that legislation. That’s not very democratic, is it? Those in Canada who fervently cling to the idea that voting will make our Senate democratic almost completely ignore the problems that come with it,
Continue readingLeftist Jab: Senator Mike Duffy Feels He’s Entitled to His Entitlements
Unelected? Check. Unaccountable? Check. Unethical? Check. Senator Mike Duffy announced today that he hasn’t paid back the federal government any of the housing allowance he collected for his Ottawa home since it was revealed in February 2013 that he was pilfering from the public purse. In fact, Mike Duffy now
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis: Isabelle Lapointe Dumped Conservative Sen. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu Already?
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive: Apparently, Isabelle Lapointe no longer works for her lover, Harper-appointed Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu. Man, that was lightning fast. Brutal too, I suppose. Exactly eight days since various media reported the office romance around March 5. OK, I blogged about it but then forgot to keep an eye on it.
Continue readingLeDaro: CBC interviews Senator Mike Duffy!
Mike Duffy is quite eloquent. 😉 Watch the video below. What a jackass! Taxpayers pay him $134000.00 in annual salary and another $403,392 for expenses. “During his first three months in the red chamber, Conservative Senator Mike Duffy racked up more than $100,848 in travel and office expenses, more
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive | News & Analysis: 10 KXL Amendment Co-Sponsors Took $8 Million from Fossil Fuel Industry
Average KXL Amendment Co-Sponsor has Taken 2.5 Times More Money from Industry Than Non-Sponsors, New Research Shows By: Oil Change International | Press Release: WASHINGTON – New research from Oil Change International today (March 22) found that the 10 Senators co-sponsoring the pro- Keystone XL Pipeline Amendment (Hoeven Amendment 494) in the Senate
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Friday reading. – Jennifer Ditchburn reports that the Harper Cons are making ample progress in their goal of removing Canada from any list of socially-developed welfare states, as Canada has dropped from being the world’s leader in the UN’s Human Development Index to a position outside
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Juxtaposition
Bert Brown today, trying to justify the public footing a nine-figure annual bill for a cesspool of patronage and corruption: “It’s one of the five major institutions of the Canadian government and if you were to take that away, you’d just be creating a dictatorship,” Brown said in an interview
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Public Interest Alberta takes a closer look at that province’s rhetoric about taxes, and finds that in fact most Albertans pay more income tax than they would under the more fair and progressive systems applied in other province: “Albertans who believe the myth
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu under scrutiny over relationship with employee
Conservative Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu in spotlight over reports he is in romantic relationship with one of his employees on Parliament Hill. By: Joanna Smith | Published by Toronto Star on Tue Mar 05 2013: OTTAWA – A Quebec senator is in the spotlight over reports that he is in a romantic relationship
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: NDP: Abolish the “unelected and unaccountable Senate of Canada”
By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive, Mar 4, 2013: The New Democrats today repeated their call for the abolition of Canada’s scandal-ridden “useless, expensive, undemocratic appendage of government”, the Senate. The Official Opposition’s MP for Toronto-Danforth, Craig Scott, issued the following statement earlier today: In order to address the irresponsible conduct of the unelected Senate, NDP Democratic and
Continue readingLeDaro: Mike Duffy Celebrating
Thanks to Harper’s Pork Barrel program Mike Duffy can drink all the beer he can and eat as much pork chops and bacon he desires.
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