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8/31/2006 Keith Olbermann calls out Rumsfeld on "facism" remarkCrooks and Liars has the video from Wednesday night's Countdown show. After watching this, one has to wonder why Keith Olbermann isn't running for President. And this comes just a couple of months after he called out Bill O'Reilly on the Malmédy massacre.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/30/2006 Briefing notes (2006-08-30)Caledonia Standoff
As the showdown goes into its seventh month, there are a couple of points that indicate this isn't going to be ending any time soon. First, we learn that the province's special advisor, Jane Stewart, is earning $1300 a day for her "consulting work," on an eleven month contract -- which works out to $300,000. Second, the natives who are there are now asking for donations of food and building materials, saying they're planning to stay there the winter and to finish the eleven unfinished homes on the housing development -- with no indication as to when they plan to leave or even if they intend to build the houses to Ontario Building Code standards. Third, Haldimand County Mayor Marie Trainer dropped a bomb on the radio this morning when she said the municipality that includes Caledonia is not even at the negotiating table.
The consultantcy fees described are not entirely out of line for someone in the private sector -- even for a former politician -- but an eleven month contract does seem to be out of line; and the McGuinty government should have told us in advance they thought this was going to take much longer than was conventional wisdom. As for the natives' request -- it's only bound to engender even more ill will. I think most people will say: You want to finish the houses, but do it on your own dime or get a loan from the bank. We may bring you some food, but that's it.
But the last part is the most perplexing. Until the issue is settled as to who has title, one should presume the status quo and say that Douglas Creek is in Caledonia and not Six Nations land; even though both the elected council and the Haudenasonee say it's Iroquois territory. Why on earth, then, would the County of Haldimand be cut off from the process? The province's interests are not necessarily the same as those of the residents of Haldimand County and especially those in Caledonia. When there was a dispute over some lands in Dunnville, well to the east (once its own town but now subsumed into Haldimand as well), the town council there and Six Nations sat down together to sort it out. Why not this time?
Barbara Streisand tickets forged
Set aside the fact that the Hostess with the Mostest is making another comeback after publicly proclaiming she was "retiring" from public performances, then appearing on Oprah just a couple of years later to sing. The idea she would "unretire" after promising no more is disconcerting to say the least.
What's even more bothersome is the news Ticketmaster has cancelled over a thousand tickets on her current tour -- tickets which were bought using stolen credit cards then flowed through reselling agencies. One can understand the need to stop fraud and get at those who stole the cards in the first place. But where does that leave those who bought tickets in good faith only to find out they're worthless?
Gas prices: How low will they go?
One would have thought that as a general rule, spikes in oil prices are immediately reflected at the pump, whilst drops in crude don't flow through to the consumer for anywhere from 60 to 90 days. But oil has taken a tumble the last couple of weeks, this morning going to under $69 a barrel -- and incredibly, consumers are getting the benefits. Some gas stations this morning were selling petrol for under eighty cents a litre. When one considers the price just two weeks ago was around a dollar ten, this is pretty good news. On the other hand, Labour Day weekend is coming up, and I wouldn't be surprised if it goes back over a dollar in due course.
Jeffs given away by carotid artery
Finally, we're learning more about the arrest of FBI 10 Most Wanted, Warren Steed Jeffs, the leader of the polygamist FLDS cult, who was picked up the other night in Las Vegas. For a man wanted on multiple charges of both statutory rape as well as facilitating child molestation, this was a very dumb criminal. A paper license tag on a $55,000 Cadillac? He was eating a salad in his car while being questioned? He contradicted his own brother as to where they were going: He said Colorado, the brother said Utah. Oh, and most criminals give a poker face and never give themselves away -- but this guy's carotid artery was pumping like crazy; as if he knew the gig was up.
Oh, and the contraband that was in the car. Multiple cells phones, walkie talkies, police scanners -- and a lot of cash.
Thank heaven this ended peacefully and not with violence. My hope is that Jeff's arrest is the beginning of the end of the FLDS. My worry is that it's only the beginning of a long process of purging, shakeouts -- and deprogramming thousands of people brainwashed to believe polygamy is the will of God.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/29/2006 Tiger Woods passes on Hamilton -- againSo Tiger Woods has decided -- once again -- that puny little Hamilton, Ontario (population 500,000+) is not big enough for his game or his ego, and he'll pass on participating at the Canadian Open when it comes here next week. What, Tiger, you scared of playing on a course that will actually challenge your wits?
Not that it matters much, anyway. I managed to snag free passes to the 2000 tournament when he clobbered the competition at Oakville's Glen Abbey; before collapsing the next year when the Open was in Montréal. I couldn't afford to get tickets even if I wanted to right now, but maybe his absence will open up the competition a lot more, making for a more fun weekend.
And more sales for the pizza place.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here.
8/28/2006 McGuinty realizes election is coming: Part 1Just a couple days after a surprise turnaround in finances allowed Ontario to go from a projected $2.2 billion deficit to a modest 300 million or something surplus for the year ending March 31, 2006 -- McGuinty proves he's already in election mode for the mandatory fixed date set for the first week of October 2007. Remember back in June when the Ombudman smacked the province for its contempt for those who lived almost exclusively on disability support payments? Well now, they've been on a whirlwind the last three months trying to catch up on back payments for the 19,000 or so owed money. They're up to 13,000; and hope to make sure the rest (who for some reason aren't in the computerized database) get what's due them by the end of the year.
At least the provincial Liberals are doing it, even if they were embarrassed into it. But they could and should do more. Disability payments from the CPP / RRQ as well as workers' compensation should also be exempt from the calculation of the disability payments. They can afford to do it, and it's the right thing. And, they should be indexed to inflation just as federal entitlements are.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. Katrina, one year laterIt's been a year now since Hurricane Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast, including taking out a huge part of New Orleans, Lousiana. The rebuilding is going at a snail's pace, about 200 thousand families are still refugees from their homes and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin, continues to shoot himself in the foot by comparing Katrina to 9/11 and how high officials responded in each of those situations. To make matters worse, many engineers -- even within the US Army, who has responsibility for many of the levees -- wonder if NOLA can take another hit from even a Category 2 or 3 storm, let alone a 5 which Katrina was.
I for one can't figure out why there has been a lack of imagination on this one. This was the kind of disaster that called for something along the lines of the Marshall Plan; massive infusions of money going to the right sources at the right time, with deadlines to meet and performance bonuses if contractors had met their deadlines and produced product at or above acceptable standards; not to mention special authorities which had the power to cut through all the red tape and make sure the job got done and fast.
As a matter of comparison, consider the Northridge earthquake in 1994. Not the Big One, but it caused considerable damage in Los Angeles. Several freeways was so heavily destroyed many thought it would take up to five years to rebuild them; and they were major links, causing people to detour on already packed alternate routes. The contractors decided to work outside the mold and got their workers to work overtime and around the clock, rather than nine to five weekdays only. One major route was opened to traffic just two months after the tremblor, with all work completed in only two years rather than the four that was anticipated. Needless to say, the state paid major performance bonuses for being so far ahead.
Why wasn't that done in the Gulf States?
Oh yeah, that's right. They're mostly black down there. Plus, one doesn't exactly have to pay reparations for a so-called "Act of God" rather than a terrorist act like on 9/11. But even the black mayor of NOLA still has a lot to answer for -- including why he didn't evacuate the city even two days before he did, which would have saved hundreds more lives and would have helped make the rebuilding process a lot faster.
One of my dreams has been to ride the City of New Orleans -- the Amtrak train that goes from Chicago to the Big Easy. Not exactly sure I'd want to at this stage, though ... the city's certainly making a courageous comeback; but even from this far away I sense something's missing there. I know we're told to bring hope to where there's despair, but we go to places where hope predominates.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/27/2006 Newsweek: Plame leaker was ArmitageMike Isikoff and David Corn have finished a new book called Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War. It's due out on October 3rd, but an excerpt has been obtained by Newsweek. It now appears that the source of the leaking of the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson -- who was working the Iran nuclear file at the time she was betrayed -- was none other than Richard Armitage, Gen. Colin Powell's number two while Powell was Secretary of State. Moreover, Armitage told at least two reporters: Robert Novak and Bob Woodward. It was, as we all know know, a deliberate attempt by the Bush Administration to discredit Joe Wilson, who wrote his now famous NYT editorial about his ill-fated trip to Niger -- which got the whole Iraq war started in the first place.
Novak conceded a few weeks ago he had a couple of sources on the story but refused to name them, saying that like other reporters he never named sources unless they agreed to be named; and he stuck to that this morning on Meet the Press. But at the end of the show, he did state matter-of-fact that it was way past time for the source to come forward and identify himself.
For once, Novak has gotten it right. The fact is, he should have kept his mouth shut and never mentioned Plame in the first place. But if it hadn't been him, it would have been Woodward, Tim Russert or the NYT's Judith Miller who would have had every reason to reveal Plame's name at the drop of a hat.
Dubya said nearly three years ago that if someone inside his Administration blew the cover of a secret agent, he or she should be dealt with. Given Armitage has no love lost for most of the hawks inside the White House as well as most of the spy agencies, he would do well to turn himself in now given he's sat on this for nearly three years without any repercussions. On the other hand, I fully expect 43 to give Armitage an unconditional pardon; just as 41 did for most of the conspirators in Iran-contra. After all, his role in the affair was to promote Big Oil's interests -- by shooting America in the foot by ruining the job of the one person in America who knew more about Iran than anyone else.
It just makes me shudder to think how stupid this was. Iran could have been brought to its needs by now, had Plame's identity remained a secret. Instead, the country formerly known as Persia probably already has the bomb. And besides, who would want to be a spy now after what happened to her?
UPDATE: David Corn offers his explanation about how he and Isikoff got the Armitage angle at Huffington Post. What he doesn't explain is how making Armitage the villain winds up insulating who most of us progressives still think is the mastermind behind it all: Karl Rove.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. Fox News journalists freed from captivitySome genuinely good news to start the morning, as two journalists from the controversial Fox News network, Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, were released from nearly two weeks of captivity after -- apparently -- the intervention of Hamas. Regardless of the rivalry that has pitted Fox and its affiliates against the rest of the world, the Fourth Estate is a fraternity and an attack on one is an attack on all; so I'm heartened to see the captors came to their senses.
If the militants in the region will only do what else is right and release the three soldiers from the IDF still currently being held in Gaxa and southern Lebanon, which is what started the current crisis in the Middle East in the first place, then there might be a way to move forward. Unfortunately, for now, two things are certain: Rather than just merely create a barely viable democratic Iraq, the US has emboldened Iran; and Israel has once again found Lebanon to be its Achilles heel -- and the two are indisputably linked.
I'd be surprised if Ehud Olmert survives the year in office. I won't be if Iran confirms it already has the nuclear bomb as many of us suspect they do.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/26/2006 Briefing notes (2006-08-26)A few items in the news the last couple days have been on my mind. They're in no particular order, but I wanted to get this off my chest.
Status of Women Canada
There's no doubt that while major progress has been made in women's rights, there is a long way to go. Personally, I empathize with the feminist movement, or at the very least those women who work for change in the mainstream. This includes restoring the principle of pay equity which most provinces abolished during the 1990s -- that is, bring back the idea of equal pay for work of equal value, even if two comparable jobs are totally different in nature (e.g. police officer and public health nurse). It's completely unacceptable women continue to earn only 70 cents for every dollar a man earns for a smiliar or comparable job -- and I say that, as a man.
It is my view, however, that the federal agency that deals with women's issues, Status of Women Canada, as well as the National Action Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), represent a fringe element of feminist thought -- the radical "men are pigs and must die" camp. It's not that I have anything personal against Laura Sabia et sequens, but their almost socialist views simply don't fly with the middle ground, as far as I can tell -- in fact, they never even bothered to reach out to seek common ground, unlike other social groups like Campaign 2000 or the Caledon Institute. It was their way, or the highway.
The last few days, the main anti-feminist women's group in Canada, REAL Women, as well as a number of conservative bloggers, have demanded the government dismantle Status of Women, saying it's discriminatory that one group with a left wing slant gets the lion's share of federal money on women's issues.
I'm going to go on a limb here, and say that no group at all should get any federal money to lobby the government in return to oppose the current government's policies. Not NAC, not the Assembly of First Nations, not the Centre for Policy Alternatives. No one. Lobby groups can raise the money on their own, from their memberships. If they can't, they should resort to old fashioned letter writing and e-mails. As far as the federal agency itself, it needs a major policy rethink and ought to be more reflective of women's needs today, not in the 1970s where NAC and their kindred are stuck. If it can't do that, its operations should be rolled into a government department more appropriate for the purpose -- such as Human Resources and Social Development.
Yes, this is an actual website, and it links to Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ontario. I heard about this on the radio earlier tonight, and a number of print media outlets also talked about it today, including the Toronto Star. While regular readers would know I really don't care for the policies of George W Bush, I think this is going just a bit too far.
For heaven's sake, attack the man's policies, not the school to which he went. After all, John Kerry also went to Yale, and he too was a member of Skull and Bones -- excuse me, I mean the Illuminati.
Elizabeth May elected Green Party leader
Back in January, I voted for the Green Party on principle and not out of any particular loyalty to its platform or anything else. I am now a card-carrying Liberal, so I'll measure my words here. I wish May the best of luck in her new position, and wish her luck at gaining seats -- at the expense of the Conservatives, Bloc and the NDP. It's way past time for Canada to have proportional representation, and had we had such a system, the Green Party would be holding enough seats from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Québec to hold the balance of power in Parliament right now. Greens have been a source for sane social policy in Western Europe, and I can't see any reason why they wouldn't do the same here. It might even be nice to have to have a Red-Green coalition government. Red Green -- get it?
Kidding aside, I do agree with her that NAFTA has to be renegotiated. The best place to start would be Chapter 11, which is actually unpopular with the population in all three countries -- but not it seems the governments who ratified and continue to stick by them.
Pluto demoted from "planet" status
This is not the end of the discussion. Not by any means. Pluto is still a real planet to me, and if any scientists try to tell me otherwise, they can go fuck themselves.
Cameras may be coming to Ontario courtrooms
The proposal to have them at the appeals level and at non-witness trials is a good thing. I'd go one step further, and allow them during closing arguments at trials where witnesses have testified. The Supreme Court of Canada and Federal Court of Appeal has no problem with cameras, and neither should the provincial courts.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. Celtic player gets yellow card for doing sign of the crossWell, maybe not on the field, but Scottish authorities did give Glasgow Celtic goalie Artur Boruc an official warning after he crossed himself before a match last February against their crosstown rivals, Rangers. Prosecutors in Scotland insist the booking was for a series of events during the match, including some lewd gestures before the crowd -- but the main focus was on the sign of the cross.
I am well aware the Presbyterian Church is the national church in Scotland, and the Old Firm battle between Glasgow's Catholic and Protestant teams goes back decades. But isn't this going just a tad too far?
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/25/2006 Since when is TNT a keepsake?Is it just me, or has the age of terrorism made people a whole lot stupider? Take today, for instance. No fewer than six separate airline incidents that could have turned for the worse. The biggest one happened on a flight from Buenos Aires to Newark, diverted to Houston because of some suspicious activity. Turns out the passenger had detonating devices in his carry-on and dynamite in his checked luggage. Why? Because he's a student who went went on a tour of a mine in Argentina and was taking home the contraband as a "souvenir."
A souvenir? I guess that makes those coins allegedly minted from silver left behind at the WTC vault (i.e. stolen) souvenirs, too.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here.
9/11 was staged, says -- a RepublicanConspiracy theories abound about the events of September 11, 2001. Many people simply don't believe that the twin towers of the World Trade Centre as well as WTC 7 could have just collapsed like a house of cards without an internal detonation -- although the fact remains they were built using what could politely be called the Patty Stacker construction method. I have wondered, however, whether it was more than just a coincidence that NORAD was supposed to run a military exercise simulating attacks on skyscrapers -- and it just so happened it was on 9/11.
Or the fact that former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was prepared to shoot down a plane that might have been threatening a major Canadian city -- did the South Korean plane really emit an "unfriendly" ping from its transponder because of "pilot error"? Was the little guy feeling just a little trigger happy that day for some reason?
One would think the "inside job" camp was exclusively something on the far extreme fringes of the left. They would not expect a Republican, of all people, would say 9/11 was a hoax. Yet that's what's happened. A challenger to the GOP incumbent for a congressional seat in New Hampshire, Mary Maxwell, says the Bush Administration had a role in 9/11 to deliberately make Americans hate Muslims. In Maxwell's words, the Sept. 11 attacks were meant “to soften us up . . . to make us more willing to have more stringent laws here, which are totally against the Bill of Rights . . . to make us particularly focus on Arabs and Muslims . . . and those strange persons who spend all their time creating little bombs,” giving Americans a reason “to hate them and fear them and, therefore, bomb them in Iraq for other reasons.” (Source: Nashua (NH) Telegraph) She cites the bombing of the Lusitania in 1915 and evidence that it was the British, not the Germans, who killed Americans to get the US to join World War I.
Frankly, most of the conspiracies are just pathetic if not outright laughable. There is no doubt, however, that civil liberties in the United States and other countries in NATO are in peril after the events of 9/11 and that the heads of government see themselves as having unlimited powers -- as opposed to being first among equals. And it's worth thinking about the fact that during his first eight months of office, George W Bush was so adrift that he was losing all moral authority to lead; and just days before 9/11 he was -- according to contemporary reports at the time -- seriously thinking about purging Donald Rumsfeld and John Ashcroft from his cabinet. So did they get to him, and if so how? For the record, I very seriously doubt there was any collusion between the White House and al-Qaeda re 9/11. I do think, however, it was an opportunity lost. Rather than use the momentum to unite Americans, Bush chose to divide them. Rather than fortify America's defences and create American jobs which would pay taxes back to the US Treasury, he chose instead to go into a war that's already cost the US $300 billion that must be repayed to undemocratic thugs in Saudi Arabia, Mainland China and Singapore. Rather than putting pressure to bear on the President of Pakistan to actually hunt and kill Osama Bin Laden, Bush just took Pervez Musharraf's word for it and OBL is roaming around with impunity and presumably in a different house every night -- just like Yasser Arafat during all the time he was in exile. And signnificantly, the time honoured tradition of habeas corpus -- the violation of which was one of the reasons why the Patriots revolted against the British over 200 years ago -- no longer seems to matter. Bush, unlike his father, seems to think Star Chamber is a more appropriate model for these times. One doesn't back down from civil liberties when times are tough. They are the times when they must be fortified, to tell those who would attack our way of life that though they might change the world they are not going to change us. Professor Maxwell might be off-base in attacking Dubya about complicity in the events of 9/11, but her assessment of his civil rights violations post 9/11 are spot on. To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/24/2006 Pot calls the kettle black: Jason Kenney editionJason Kenney can't have it both ways. He spoke to a group -- the National Council of Resistance in Iran -- who happens to be the political wing of an Iranian terrorist group Mujahedin-e-Khalq, April 6th last.
If Hezbollah are like the Nazis, according to him, so is the Mujahedin. For a guy who scored points over some Liberals suggesting Hezbollah be delisted from the terror list, it's pretty high handed of Kenney to do what he did -- knowingly or not. He has no choice but to resign as "Steve" Harper's Parliamentary secretary.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. Catholic women's shelter gets Clinton, Catholic Church objectsThere's an old saying among some people, which goes something like: "You only have the right to think, if you agree with me." Kenneth Copeland, a heretic for his belief in positive confession (which asserts, among other things, Jesus died spiritually on his execution), dismissed the whole idea of discerning the truth, saying: "Believers are not to be led by logic. We are not even to be led by good sense."
Little wonder, then, why some people are up in arms over the upcoming visit to Canada by Bill Clinton. Common sense has, with all due respect, completely left them. This isn't the first time. A few years back, Slick Willy came to Hamilton's St. Joseph's Hospital for a fundraiser for the Firestone Clinic, which specializes in respiratory illnesses and allergies. They've always managed to snag A-list speakers, from the elder George Bush to Mario Cuomo; but for some reason Clinton's visit drew a nerve. One local priest, who led the city's Francophone congregation, said that Clinton was welcome if -- and only if -- he apologized both for his repugnant conduct with Monica Lewinsky as well as for his strong pro-choice stance. (St. Joe's is a pro-life hospital, but the Firestone Clinic has little if anything to do with that position.)
I ended up writing a letter to the editor of the Hamilton Spectator (which was published), saying Clinton shouldn't be allowed to participate in a fundraiser for a pro-life hospital because of his wayward middle leg, was akin to telling companies like Bayer AG and Volkswagen they should forbidden from making contributions to anti-defamation causes because of their collusion with Hitler during World War II. I also said his views on reproductive choice were irrelevant to the issue at hand, and that his presence would only help raise more money. (Which it did, it broke a record for the time it took to completely sell out the dinner.) I ended my letter rather sarcastically, saying, "People have a hard enough time making up their minds on the issue of abortion, without adding the Bill and Monica show to the fire."
My sense from it all, when it was over, was that a city with a large Catholic population simply didn't care anymore. Clinton had apologized, at least for his reckless behaviour, and at least he was trying to do the right thing (maybe as part of an ongoing process of rehabilitation). I would have thought, that's the end of that story.
Wrong.
Now Clinton is coming to Kitchener -- which is part of the territory of the Diocese of Hamilton -- on November 8th, to speak at a fundraiser for a Catholic counselling centre there. This is an entirely secular agency, serving people of all denominations; and the money is going to expand a shelter for victims of domestic violence. In the wake of this announcement one of the auxiliary (assistant) Bishops of the Diocese, Gerard Bergie, has been fielding a series of complaints from people across the country, (not just locally) and he's urging Catholics not to go to the event, as Clinton among other things now supports the widespread use of condoms to help fight the AIDS crisis in Africa.
Two points. First of all, as far as the problem of AIDS goes, I support the ABC approach (abstinence, being faithful, contraception), which makes abstinence first the priority. Contraception may be a necessary evil, but it's way better than what South Africa's government promotes as a "cure": Lemon juice. Uganda has had huge success with its ABC program in stemming the tide, and it's a model for other countries. So, Clinton's merely saying use what works. I agree.
Second, as was the case with St. Joseph's a few years ago, his views should be completely irrelevant to the issue at hand, which is helping victims of domestic violence. No, I'm still no big fan of Clinton and I think his conduct during the 1990s was completely revolting. What's done is done, however, and it can't be taken back. To continue to punish someone for something he did or for what he believes is, well, non-sensical. I'm convinced people aren't using their common sense on this one; and that in the end they are making a much bigger deal out of this than it really is.
Some will say, "What if it was someone like Mel Gibson?" Well, after his anti-Semitic tirade a few weeks back, he would hardly be the ideal speaker, because he causes divisions. Bill Clinton, despite his faults, tried to build bridges, and for that he's still demonized even though he left office more than five years ago.
People have the right to decide whether or not they want to buy tickets. They also have the right not to be bullied by church officials, even if it amounts to nothing more than a "suggestion." Using red herrings (a common tactic of the religious right) will only repulse people who elect to use their common sense, and actually want to get tickets or otherwise help the non-profit agency here. They couldn't buy this kind of publicity, and personally I wish them the best of luck. If they could get someone like Clinton to help out, all the power to them.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/23/2006 Liberal MP resigns over pro-Hezbollah commentsIt's not really surprising that Liberal MP Boris Wrzesnewskyj was going to have to resign as the party's point person on foreign affairs, after suggesting that Canada ought to drop Hezbollah from the list of organizations sponsoring terrorism. No doubt this is going to give Stephen Harper reason to gloat and make fun of Les Deputés Rouges. The fact remains though that it should not have even been thought of in the first place as a serious talking point.
It took Canada ages to ban the Tamil Tigers. We also struggled for a long time trying to get around the proposition that Sinn Fein and the IRA were really one and the same. So why would anyone seriously believe that Hezbollah has a "good" side, doing community service work? That's how they get their recruits in the first place, as does any terrorist organization.
On a related note, I'm kind of getting weary of the line that a lack of support for Israel's policies automatically indicates anti-Semitism. The more accurate statement is that people who oppose Israel's right to exist as a country are the real anti-Semites. (Count Mel Gibson's father as just one of them, not to mention the President of Iran.) The lack of satisfaction within Israel itself about how the recent war went should be indicative. It's a majority Jewish state, so does asking questions about the war within the country make the Israelis themselves anti-Semitic? One can support a country while criticizing its foreign policy or its human rights record.
Using that line is like saying because one is opposed to televangelists, who control and dictate White House policy for the most part, he or she must be anti-American -- or if one lives in America, unpatriotic. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In these times, one must be really, willing and prepared to take unpopular stances; even those that oppose the status quo. At the same time, we don't need people like a certain MP making stupid remarks like the ones he made. Little wonder why Gerry Swartz and Heather Reisman gave up on the Liberals. I'm going to have to check which leadership candidate Wrzesnewskyj endorsed -- may make me think twice about voting for him or her.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. Reforming Canada's tax system: Payroll taxes, and familiesAfter last talking about seniors, I'm going to end this series by talking about two other issues necessary to reforming our messed up tax system.
Payroll Taxes
These are not just the taxes we pay for compulsory programs such as EI and CPP or RRQ. They are also the taxes corporations pay -- which also include workers' compensation and health taxes. Generally speaking, they are fairly competitive with other countries; but they could still be restructured. Here's what I would do:
Families and children I've written numerous posts on this, so I won't write an encyclopaedia. Bottom line: Restore the Young Child Supplement, and make the Harperbucks fully tax free and geared to income, not universal. This would mean a full child tax credit for families with net incomes under $112,000, and a partial credit from that level to $172,000. This would cover 98% of families. Harper's plan actually raised taxes on families, it did not cut them -- and when they realize the money is taxable, they're going to flip. (Yes, some stay at home parents will think it's tax free, but their spouses' deduction will drop by an equivalent amount -- not to mention that the tax free portion of the credit and the GST rebate will be clawed back big time as well.) As for parents themselves, eliminate the marriage penalty. Completely. Two income families should have no more rights than sole breadwinners or single parents. I'd raise the spousal deduction so it's the same as the personal exemption. To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/22/2006 Do people not care we even have a national anthem in Canada?One of the highlights of this year's Stanley Cup, even more than two months later, still has to be the crowd in Edmonton belting out both the American and Canadian national anthems. So powerful, even the broadcast team at NBC (which was showing the game in the States) was moved to tears.
Maybe it's an East-West thing, or more precisely East Coast and West vs central Canada, but I'm beginning to wonder if people in this neck of the woods care if we even have a national anthem. Case in point: Back on Sunday, the 20th, the local standardbred track -- Flamboro Downs -- held the annual Confederation Cup. Nowhere near as big in prestige as Charlottetown's Gold Cup and Saucer on the same weekend, but in terms of money it's probably ahead. (And unlike the Gold Cup, it is simulcast at off track facilities across North America -- hint, Pat Binns: You might want to tell the people at the Charlottetown track they made a big mistake not allowing out of province betting -- your government lost a TON of money on it by not doing so, and the replay we saw showed it was one of the best races this year.)
In addition to the Confed Cup, there were three Ontario Sires Stakes finals -- basically, provincial championships -- and several other undercard races. Pretty good turnout, maybe 13,000. One of the biggest sports events in Hamilton each year, if not THE biggest; and moving it to the afternoon this year instead of having it in the evening as it traditionally has been certainly brought the kids out, which is a good thing. (For the record: No, I didn't make any money, but I didn't lose a lot either.)
Here's my point, though: At the start of the event, they played O Canada. This was clearly announced on the loudspeakers throughout the grandstand, clubhouse and the betting area. Some people heard this and stood up, including me. Then they started playing it. Maybe fifteen seconds in, other people started realizing it was playing and stood at attention, some even taking off their hats. But two weird things. People in the betting area and the food court were still chattering like they didn't care. Moreover, the drivers on the track for the first race along with their horses couldn't be bothered to hold still, just for a minute, to stand at attention.
Is it just me, or were other people who were there on Sunday who saw the same thing I did? And have any of you been somewhere, where no one cared about our patriotic hymn? And why is it that movie theatres, although the law requires them to, doesn't play the national anthem anymore before they start rolling the trailers?
Maybe we should do what Michael (Let's Get Ready to Rumble) Buffer suggested: Forgo the national anthem all together. People don't care about it anyway, except during the Stanley Cup and the Olympics, so why bother?
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/21/2006 Muslim council proposes using calendar -- not weather -- for start of RamadanBack in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII decided to cancel eleven days from the calendar because of the drift from celestial time that had happened from the days of the early church to the Renaissance. It was met with some resistance, but over time (i.e. centuries) it was eventually adopted by pretty much the entire world. Even non-Christian countries use the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, although instead of using A.D. (Anno Domini) they use C.E. (The "Common Era.")
It's been useful if for no other reason than that Good Friday and Easter Sunday (which are official holidays in most Western states, although as primarily secular observances) can be determined years in advance, nifty for calendar makers. It's not so simple, however, in Islam, which insists upon a clear sighting of the new or full moon for the start of some religious festivals, such as Ramadan. This has often led to a situation where the Asia Pacific region starts Ramadan a few days either before or after Africa, while Europe and North America have yet another day.
It's even led to what some might see as silly -- a "hotline" where people call in a sighting of a moon's phase, then "experts" determining whether it's credible or not. Some mosques have had to book banquet halls on consecutive days just to hedge their bets -- then lose one of their deposits.
So in an attempt to settle the issue, a number of US and Canadian imams are proposing to do what Turkey has done for years -- just go by the civil calendar and when it (based on astronomy) says the new moon is.
No doubt that will make hardliners like OBL upset. But who gives a shit what he thinks anymore? Besides, if I were to offer a gift to a Muslim colleague in honour of the occasion, shouldn't I have the right to know when it is rather than just hope the skies stay clear for a month? Hopefully, it won't take as long to settle this one as the Roman Catholic Church, which took until 1992 to finally admit Gallileo was right about the earth revolving around the sun.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/20/2006 $3 million (US) for proof Elvis is still aliveProof this is a slow news day.
Odds The Pelvis is still alive: 1000-1.
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. 8/19/2006 Finally, a Canadian film to unite us all (and why we need CanCon for films)I got the chance today to see the film Bon Cop, Bad Cop. It's way too funny to describe it here. Just imagine what might happen if a dead body is found right on the Ontario-Québec border and two officers are assigned to it -- one English, one French. The tagline "Shoot first, translate later" is pretty -- well, à propos.
Québec has long had a very successful homegrown industry with huge audiences from both the francophone and anglophone communities, but the films are rarely shown in the rest of Canada, outside of Ottawa, except in art houses. They're successful because they tell stories people can relate to. Think of the Les Boys series (about an oversexed men's minor hockey team), or the satirical La Florida (about a Montréal bus driver who gives it all up and buys a hotel in the Sunshine State), or Revoir Julie (two female friends -- one French, one English -- reunite after fifteen years and after arguing non stop for nearly two hours suddenly click and rekindle their lesbian relationship -- oh yeah!).
By contrast, most English films in Canada are so esoteric, so out there in terms of plot, that few people even bother to see them, yet they seem to be the films that get the most nominations at the Genies. And thanks to very bizarre rules, any foreign funding automatically disqualifies a film from consideration at the Genies -- take, for example, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a quintessentially Canadian story written by a Canadian but backed in part by Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson (Americans). OUT If there is any justice, the French films have taken a huge lead at the Canadian Oscars the last few years, which should send a message to those who practice the craft in TROC.
Unlike so many other Canadian movies, the producers of Bon Cop Bad Cop made a point of making the plot bilingual (with subtitles) and the stereotypes that play out are done just perfectly. Pretty graphic violence and some scenes of nudity, but overall a fun time. I hope this film gets a US release. I also hope this is the start of a trend where homegrown stories that appeal to everyone get made, with wider releases and wider audiences. The Australians and British have succeeded for decades and there's no reason we can't do the same.
The only way to do this is to seed a Canadian star system. Since French Canadians do just fine on their own, I think we should have CANCON (Canadian Content) regulations for multiplexes outside of La Belle Province and the Ottawa Valley. Say, out of every eight theatres, two must show Canadian films, until such time Canadians are regularly seen by Canadians and appreciated by their own. It's way past time for us to be able to see and hear our own stories. When such a system is possible, the CanCon regs can go and with them it also will no longer be necessary to have the complicated and often bizarre system of tax credits for film production; which all too often go to Hollywood studios anyway.
Besides, the trend might wind up working in reverse and we might be able to take over Hollywood all together. Heck, we've already got many of the actors there already. Why not give the Americans our real stories, too, rather than the stereotypes about Mounties and the weird passion we have with poutine?
To vote for this article at Progressive Bloggers, click here. |
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