I am mightily pissed off at the Toronto city council. To set up the background, over the last year, decals of yellow "support the troops" ribbons had been attached to the ambulances and fire engines of the city. They were of a pretty good size and highly visible. I found this disturbing, because while the sentiment of "support the troops" is itself reasonable, it has been twisted by the right-wing into "support the troops, don't question the mission." The way I support the troops is by wanting to bring them back, so they stop dying. We are involved in a war of aggression in Afghanistan, and we have no place being there. Yet these stickers suggest that the city of Toronto, and by proxy all of its citizens, support the occupation of Afghanistan, but that could not be further from the truth. Further more, these decals have no place on civic vehicles, which must be construed as representing all the members of the community. For them to display such opening jingoistic, war-mongering, messages is to discount the views of members of the populace that don't support this war. For those that would like to see things in the opposite manner, who would say that the lack of decals means that the city would be endorsing the slaughter of Canadian soldiers is in no way true. Beyond the fact that Canadians against the war are calling for the immediate and safe withdrawal of troops, the lack of decals simply expressing the neutrality of the civic structures and services, which is as it should be.
The city had decided that after a year the decals were to come off, especially because some members of council had become concerned about exactly what I explained above. The councillors had gotten to the point of voting to have them removed, with most of the council on side and only the ridiculous reactionary Frances Nunziata putting up a real objection. Yet, two days ago, after the deaths of three more Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, the council (on the initiative of Mayor David Miller) voted to leave the decals on the vehicles. Shame on them for caving.
Supposedly, there has been a great wave of protest from around the country, but this wave has been whipped up by the right-wing press (Toronto Sun, I am looking at you) as well as conservatives in the 905 belt surrounding Toronto, who are not citizens or tax-payers in Toronto. As a result of this faux-fire-storm, Mayor Miller proposed a motion that the decals would remain on the vehicles., and it was unanimously passed by all of those present (six councillors were not present, three of whom deliberately abstained and three of whom were away on other business but said they would have voted for the motion). This is a city council that is supposed to be dominated by progressive politicians. These politicians have no business calling themselves progressive if they are willing to have decals that support a belligerent, aggressive and imperialistic war attached to city vehicles. If they don't have the guts to stand up to a wave of complaints from people who have no stake in Toronto, then they are not standing up for their citizens, who elected them for their leftist positions, expecting leftist government, and yet all we have here is placation of the ravenous, foaming-at-the-mouth reactionary crowd. For shame.
If these politicians will not even stick by the philosophy on which they were elected, and if they chose to put the views of non-residents ahead of the views of their electorate, they have no business representing us. Any "progressive" councillor who voted for this measure has a lot of explaining to do, if they want to get the votes of their electors back. Every one of them, from David Miller on down, needs to explain why we should believe anything they say when they are running for office.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 582
Friday, June 22, 2007
Monday, May 07, 2007
Sarkozy wins French Presidency
Sucks to be French today. Nicholas Sarkozy, the ultra-Conservative former interior minister has been elected to the French presidency by a vote of 53%-47% over Segoline Royal, the candidate of the Socialist Party. Sarkozy is the one who referred to immigrants (and in particular those living in the suburbs of Paris) as "scum." Not exactly a good attitude for someone who will be governing France for at least the next four years.
Sarkozy is also disturbingly close to George W. Bush on issues of foreign policy and civil rights. While I may not have agreed with Jacques Chirac on most issues, he was at least a strong voice opposing the idiocy of the foreign policy of the U.S. government in Iraq. Sarkozy cannot be counted on to do the same.
Sarkozy has announced his resolution to destroy a significant part of the fabric of the French social security net, including reducing state pensions and lengthening the work week. France is finally coming in for the kind of neoliberal garbage government that those of us in North America, many parts of Europe, much of Africa, much of Latin America and in Oceania have suffered through for two decades. It is too bad that the French did not learn the lessons of economic disaster brought on by neoliberal idiot economics and of right-wing governments with authoritarian tendencies:
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 629
Sarkozy is also disturbingly close to George W. Bush on issues of foreign policy and civil rights. While I may not have agreed with Jacques Chirac on most issues, he was at least a strong voice opposing the idiocy of the foreign policy of the U.S. government in Iraq. Sarkozy cannot be counted on to do the same.
Sarkozy has announced his resolution to destroy a significant part of the fabric of the French social security net, including reducing state pensions and lengthening the work week. France is finally coming in for the kind of neoliberal garbage government that those of us in North America, many parts of Europe, much of Africa, much of Latin America and in Oceania have suffered through for two decades. It is too bad that the French did not learn the lessons of economic disaster brought on by neoliberal idiot economics and of right-wing governments with authoritarian tendencies:
- Jobs, fleeing to South and South-East Asia as a result of trade "liberalization."
- Dramatically increasing gaps between the rich and the poor as low-decile incomes stagnate or fall and high-decile incomes soar into the stratosphere.
- Security states, where the most basic of human rights and civil liberties can be sacrificed on the altar of Security, a demon insatiable for the freedoms that define a democracy.
- Social programmes and safety nets torn to ribbons in the quest to get rid of "fat" in the system, and in the never ending search for "efficiency".
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 629
Saturday, April 28, 2007
New Green Plan
The Harpokon government released its new green plan the other day. And it is a bag of worthless crap. The key things to know are these:
By making these pathetic half-steps towards reducing our GHG emissions, we are essentially letting the big emitters of the world (U.S., China and India) off the hook. After all, if a rich, first world, state like Canada is unwilling to bite the bullet and take the necessary measures, why should China or India feel obliged to do so with much more meagre resources?
If the Conservatives think that this will get the public on-side, I am willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that it won't happen. All of the respected voices of the environmental movement (from Al Gore and David Suzuki on down) are calling bullshit on this so-called plan. I am so tired of this and I am so angry.
There is a problem, and it needs fixing now. And the fixing won't come from tinkering around the edges. We need to make major adjustments to the way we live, and they need to be made soon. There is still a very limited amount of time to phase in these changes, but if we wait much longer we are going to hit a wall and be forced to change by the fact that we will be facing an existential crisis.
The first good step to fixing this would be for the three opposition parties (NDP, Liberals and Bloc) to put every ounce of pressure available to them on the government to bring bill C-30 (the amended Clean Air Act) back to Parliament. It has important measures in it that would be very helpful. NDP leader Jack Layton has sent an open letter to the leaders of the other two opposition parties asking them for help, and hopefully the three parties will work together to make something happen.
We are running out of time.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 637
- The target it aims for is a 18% reduction in GHGs by 2010. The key problem here is that this is an 18% reduction from 2006 levels, not from 1990. Given the extent to which GHG emissions have risen since 1990, this does not even get our emissions back to our 1990 levels, let alone below them, as envisioned by the Kyoto Accord.
- Instead of a hard requirement for emissions reductions, companies will be allowed to make "intensity" reductions, meaning a reduction in the GHGs emitted per unit of production. This means that if a company reduces emissions intensity by 25% yet increases production by 50%, emissions will rise 12.5%, instead of falling at all.
By making these pathetic half-steps towards reducing our GHG emissions, we are essentially letting the big emitters of the world (U.S., China and India) off the hook. After all, if a rich, first world, state like Canada is unwilling to bite the bullet and take the necessary measures, why should China or India feel obliged to do so with much more meagre resources?
If the Conservatives think that this will get the public on-side, I am willing to bet dollars to doughnuts that it won't happen. All of the respected voices of the environmental movement (from Al Gore and David Suzuki on down) are calling bullshit on this so-called plan. I am so tired of this and I am so angry.
There is a problem, and it needs fixing now. And the fixing won't come from tinkering around the edges. We need to make major adjustments to the way we live, and they need to be made soon. There is still a very limited amount of time to phase in these changes, but if we wait much longer we are going to hit a wall and be forced to change by the fact that we will be facing an existential crisis.
The first good step to fixing this would be for the three opposition parties (NDP, Liberals and Bloc) to put every ounce of pressure available to them on the government to bring bill C-30 (the amended Clean Air Act) back to Parliament. It has important measures in it that would be very helpful. NDP leader Jack Layton has sent an open letter to the leaders of the other two opposition parties asking them for help, and hopefully the three parties will work together to make something happen.
We are running out of time.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 637
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Canadians Sending Afghans to Torture
Thanks to some excellent investigative reporting by the Globe and Mail, it has come to light that the Canadian government has been knowingly handing over Afghan prisoners of war to face torture in prisons run by the Afghan government. Not only did senior commanders on the ground clearly know about it, but the political leadership in Ottawa has been clearly demonstrated to be in the know as well.
Afghan prisoners report being beaten with bundles of wire, choked/asphyxiated, made to stand naked outside overnight in sub-zero temperatures and other inhuman and cruel treatment. I don't think any reasonable person could argue that this does not constitute torture. The fact that Canada knew about this and continued to hand prisoners over to Afghan torturers places Canada clearly in violation of our responsibilities under the Third Geneva Convention and under the Anti-Torture Convention. Canada has broken international law by handing these people over, knowing that they would be tortured for information. We have become a criminal state.
Under the Third Geneva Convention (available here) the detaining power (that is Canada) remains responsible for the well-being of prisoners of war transfered to another power (in this case Afghanistan). In the case of inhumane treatment by the power to which prisoners have been transfered, the detaining power has a responsibility to either take substantive action to fix the situation or to take the prisoners back. The Canadian government has done neither of those things. That means that Canada has violated the international laws of war, and thus has committed war crimes.
Additionally, the government is making a conscious effort to brush off the torture of these people. The government suggests that they are all Taliban fighters and thus their complaints cannot be believed. The government calls the reports "rumours." The government response to this is so wrong.
Torture is wrong, and we cannot countenance, condone or tolerate it by any state or actor, be they allied or opposed to the Canadian government. Now is manifestly the time to stand up for reason and justice in a world rapidly spiraling downwards.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 640
Afghan prisoners report being beaten with bundles of wire, choked/asphyxiated, made to stand naked outside overnight in sub-zero temperatures and other inhuman and cruel treatment. I don't think any reasonable person could argue that this does not constitute torture. The fact that Canada knew about this and continued to hand prisoners over to Afghan torturers places Canada clearly in violation of our responsibilities under the Third Geneva Convention and under the Anti-Torture Convention. Canada has broken international law by handing these people over, knowing that they would be tortured for information. We have become a criminal state.
Under the Third Geneva Convention (available here) the detaining power (that is Canada) remains responsible for the well-being of prisoners of war transfered to another power (in this case Afghanistan). In the case of inhumane treatment by the power to which prisoners have been transfered, the detaining power has a responsibility to either take substantive action to fix the situation or to take the prisoners back. The Canadian government has done neither of those things. That means that Canada has violated the international laws of war, and thus has committed war crimes.
Additionally, the government is making a conscious effort to brush off the torture of these people. The government suggests that they are all Taliban fighters and thus their complaints cannot be believed. The government calls the reports "rumours." The government response to this is so wrong.
- These people have not been tried or convicted of anything. Anything at all. So to call them Taliban is to violate the presumption of innocence that should be afforded to all people.
- Even if they are Taliban fighters, it does not mean that their complaints of torture are necessarily false or that they deserve to be tortured.
- The minimization of the reports of torture as "rumours" makes clear that the government does not plan to investigate them with any vigour.
Torture is wrong, and we cannot countenance, condone or tolerate it by any state or actor, be they allied or opposed to the Canadian government. Now is manifestly the time to stand up for reason and justice in a world rapidly spiraling downwards.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 640
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
A Horror in Virginia
Yesterday, a man killed 32 people at Virginia Tech, apparently with two handguns, before killing himself. This is a horrible crime and my sympathies go out those who were injured, and to the families and friends of the injured and the dead. My sympathies also go out to the family of the shooter. It must be horrible to lose a son or brother in such a manner, knowing that they had done such a repugnant thing. I totally condemn this crime, and it makes me think of a few different things.
First, and as Juan Cole points out, Iraq suffers the equivalent of two Virginia Tech slaughters every day, be it deaths inflicted by occupation soldiers, insurgents or Sufist terrorists (and yes, there is a distinction between them). The people of Iraq must suffer through this kind of horror twice per day. And the violence there is just as random. Whether the people are killed by American use of weapons of mass destruction (e.g. white phosphorus in Falujah), or are near an American patrol attacked by the insurgency or are in a market that is blown up by a suicide car-bomber, they die randomly and meaninglessly. We in the west need to think about this. Western nations are inflicting dozens of deaths every day. No wonder populations around the world are saying "if this is 'freedom,' we don't want any thank you." Can we blame them for rejecting something that has become associated with chaos and meaningless, random, death? The situation in Afghanistan is only quantitatively better, in that less people are dying random, meaningless, deaths every day, but Canadian troops are inflicting random death on people who have done nothing to deserve the harsh occupation that has been imposed on them by an imperialistic NATO.
The second thing the Virginia Tech slaughter has made me think of is the importance of gun control. Throughout the day, I had to listen to idiotic pro-gun activists say that if only, if only, Virginia Tech had not prohibited students from carrying concealed handguns on campus, most of the deaths would have been prevented. This is idiotic on so many levels. Firstly, if the killer had not been able to obtain a gun at all, he would not have been able to kill nearly the number of people that he did. It is simply much, much harder to inflict lethal wounds on a large number people in a short period of time with a knife than it is with a gun. Second, picture this. A number of students were armed with concealed handguns on campus. They hear the shooting start in the lecture hall and draw their weapons to try to hunt down the killer. The police then enter the building, after the shooting is reported, and see one of these students walking around with a drawn handgun looking for the shooter. They are going to assume that the student with the gun is the shooter, in all likelihood, and that student may quite likely then be shot, before the mistake can be sorted out. Third, unless someone is well trained with a handgun, it is easy to miss one's target. In a crowed environment like the lecture hall, they could just as easily hit other students as the shooter.
Gun control is necessary. This is because homicidal maniac control is always going to be harder than gun control. On the street, one can see a handgun and realize, "gee, that's a handgun." What one cannot do is look at a homicidal maniac just walking down the street and realize, "gee, that's a homicidal maniac." It just doesn't work like that.
Furthermore, handguns should be entirely illegal. The only purpose they have is shooting people. Sure, you can do some kinds of recreational shooting with them, but the benefits of making them entirely illegal (i.e. less dead people) would be much greater than the negative impacts on sport shooting.
Horrors like what happened at Virginia Tech make me so sad, because of the number of lives lost that could so easily have been saved.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 648
First, and as Juan Cole points out, Iraq suffers the equivalent of two Virginia Tech slaughters every day, be it deaths inflicted by occupation soldiers, insurgents or Sufist terrorists (and yes, there is a distinction between them). The people of Iraq must suffer through this kind of horror twice per day. And the violence there is just as random. Whether the people are killed by American use of weapons of mass destruction (e.g. white phosphorus in Falujah), or are near an American patrol attacked by the insurgency or are in a market that is blown up by a suicide car-bomber, they die randomly and meaninglessly. We in the west need to think about this. Western nations are inflicting dozens of deaths every day. No wonder populations around the world are saying "if this is 'freedom,' we don't want any thank you." Can we blame them for rejecting something that has become associated with chaos and meaningless, random, death? The situation in Afghanistan is only quantitatively better, in that less people are dying random, meaningless, deaths every day, but Canadian troops are inflicting random death on people who have done nothing to deserve the harsh occupation that has been imposed on them by an imperialistic NATO.
The second thing the Virginia Tech slaughter has made me think of is the importance of gun control. Throughout the day, I had to listen to idiotic pro-gun activists say that if only, if only, Virginia Tech had not prohibited students from carrying concealed handguns on campus, most of the deaths would have been prevented. This is idiotic on so many levels. Firstly, if the killer had not been able to obtain a gun at all, he would not have been able to kill nearly the number of people that he did. It is simply much, much harder to inflict lethal wounds on a large number people in a short period of time with a knife than it is with a gun. Second, picture this. A number of students were armed with concealed handguns on campus. They hear the shooting start in the lecture hall and draw their weapons to try to hunt down the killer. The police then enter the building, after the shooting is reported, and see one of these students walking around with a drawn handgun looking for the shooter. They are going to assume that the student with the gun is the shooter, in all likelihood, and that student may quite likely then be shot, before the mistake can be sorted out. Third, unless someone is well trained with a handgun, it is easy to miss one's target. In a crowed environment like the lecture hall, they could just as easily hit other students as the shooter.
Gun control is necessary. This is because homicidal maniac control is always going to be harder than gun control. On the street, one can see a handgun and realize, "gee, that's a handgun." What one cannot do is look at a homicidal maniac just walking down the street and realize, "gee, that's a homicidal maniac." It just doesn't work like that.
Furthermore, handguns should be entirely illegal. The only purpose they have is shooting people. Sure, you can do some kinds of recreational shooting with them, but the benefits of making them entirely illegal (i.e. less dead people) would be much greater than the negative impacts on sport shooting.
Horrors like what happened at Virginia Tech make me so sad, because of the number of lives lost that could so easily have been saved.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 648
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Budgets
Both the federal government and the government of Ontario brought down budgets in the last week. The federal government has adopted the tried and tested Liberal Party of Canada approach to the budget. Sprinkle a tiny little bit of money to just about everybody, and try to use that to hide honking big corporate tax cuts. Excellent, just what we need. At a time when corporate profits are going off the scale, what they need is another tax cut. All this while money could be used to fight poverty, reduce the debt burden on post-secondary students, fight global climate change, encourage primary health-care, ensure that aboriginals have a decent standard of living or so much more. Jack Layton put it quite well when he said that the federal budget "put crumbs on the kitchen table and a buffet on the board-room table." I'm not surprised, but I had been hoping for more. With the amount of money being thrown around, Jim Flahrety has reduced the expected surplus next year to just $300 million dollars. Remember that number. You're going to hear it again.
The provincial situation is a little bit more positive. The Ontario Liberals have been feeling the pressure from the NDP on the left to do something, anything, for working-class and poor Ontarians. As a result, there is going to be an Ontario Child Benefit for families earning less than $20 000/year phased in over the next couple years. In conjunction with this, the provincial government will stop clawing back the National Child Benefit from families on welfare (though not for three or four years, which is far too long). Thirdly, the government will raise the minimum wage $0.75/hr each March for three years, starting next year. This will bring minimum wage to $10.25/hr by 2010. This is a decent start, but the minimum wage needs to be at least $10/hr now, and it needs to get there now, not in three years. After all, Dalton McGuinty and the other MPs didn't have to wait three years for their fat raises, so why should the lowest income people in this country have to wait for their (rather slim) raises? Also, this provincial budget was balanced, with an estimated surplus of $300 million next year.
Remember that number? That means that at the federal level, Flahrety has reduced the federal government's fiscal situation to the same as a province that has just introduced its first balanced budget in at least 4 years. That means that the slightest downturn in the economy, which will come (it's called the business cycle, folks), we are back to deficits. Good job Harpokons. I hope you're happy.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 671
The provincial situation is a little bit more positive. The Ontario Liberals have been feeling the pressure from the NDP on the left to do something, anything, for working-class and poor Ontarians. As a result, there is going to be an Ontario Child Benefit for families earning less than $20 000/year phased in over the next couple years. In conjunction with this, the provincial government will stop clawing back the National Child Benefit from families on welfare (though not for three or four years, which is far too long). Thirdly, the government will raise the minimum wage $0.75/hr each March for three years, starting next year. This will bring minimum wage to $10.25/hr by 2010. This is a decent start, but the minimum wage needs to be at least $10/hr now, and it needs to get there now, not in three years. After all, Dalton McGuinty and the other MPs didn't have to wait three years for their fat raises, so why should the lowest income people in this country have to wait for their (rather slim) raises? Also, this provincial budget was balanced, with an estimated surplus of $300 million next year.
Remember that number? That means that at the federal level, Flahrety has reduced the federal government's fiscal situation to the same as a province that has just introduced its first balanced budget in at least 4 years. That means that the slightest downturn in the economy, which will come (it's called the business cycle, folks), we are back to deficits. Good job Harpokons. I hope you're happy.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 671
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Alberta Takes Another Step Towards Two-Tier Healthcare
The government of Ed Stelmach in Alberta has just decided that people will be able to opt-out of the public healthcare system for three years at a time. The government claims that this is simply a housekeeping measure, to reduce the amount of paperwork people have to do, but it is clearly more than that. To allow people to opt out of a universal healthcare system at all is a bad idea. To let them opt out for three years at a time is even worse.
The point of a universal healthcare system is that everyone pays into the system, and we can all draw on it when we are in need. The education system works exactly the same way. I don't have any kids, but my taxes still go to pay for the education system and I am perfectly happy with that. I haven't been to a hospital for care in close to 10 years, but I still have no problem with my taxes going to support a public, universal, healthcare system. To allow people to opt out of the system is to allow the system to be deprived of resources. And who do you think will opt out? Why the rich. Those that put the most money into the system in the first place through the progressive taxation system. What the government of Ed Stelmach is up to is a covert attempt to let healthcare privatization in through the back door. He should be ashamed of himself, and ashamed of the lies that he is telling to his people and to the rest of the country. If other provinces start doing this type of thing, we are going to be boarding the handbasket to hell in an awful hurry, and we are going to be without a public healthcare system. And we are back to the bad old days, when only those who could afford to pay would get medical care. For shame, Mr. Stelmach. For shame.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 681
The point of a universal healthcare system is that everyone pays into the system, and we can all draw on it when we are in need. The education system works exactly the same way. I don't have any kids, but my taxes still go to pay for the education system and I am perfectly happy with that. I haven't been to a hospital for care in close to 10 years, but I still have no problem with my taxes going to support a public, universal, healthcare system. To allow people to opt out of the system is to allow the system to be deprived of resources. And who do you think will opt out? Why the rich. Those that put the most money into the system in the first place through the progressive taxation system. What the government of Ed Stelmach is up to is a covert attempt to let healthcare privatization in through the back door. He should be ashamed of himself, and ashamed of the lies that he is telling to his people and to the rest of the country. If other provinces start doing this type of thing, we are going to be boarding the handbasket to hell in an awful hurry, and we are going to be without a public healthcare system. And we are back to the bad old days, when only those who could afford to pay would get medical care. For shame, Mr. Stelmach. For shame.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 681
Thursday, March 08, 2007
A $10 Minimum Wage
There is a campaign underway in Ontario to raise the minimum wage to $10/hr. I think this is an excellent idea, because it simply is not possible for people to live on $8/hr (the current general minimum wage in Ontario) in many parts of the province. If anyone is interested in my living expenses calculations for Toronto related to the minimum wage, leave a comment and I will post more details of my reasoning. Suffice it to say, rents are so high in many cities in Toronto that even working 40 hours per week (and very few minimum or just-above-minimum wage jobs give 40 hrs/wk) will not allow people to live, even if heavy use is made of food banks. Obviously, $10/hr will not allow people to live comfortably, but it is a dramatic improvement on what has gone before and will help people have some degree of stability in their lives.
The Ontario NDP, the Federal NDP, many unions and a vast plethora of community and citizen groups are pushing this effort forward. A good measure of a society is how it treats the most abject of it's citizens. And right now we are treating the poor of our society like crap, to be frank. Raising the minimum wage to $10/hr won't make that better, but it would be a good first step.
Now, the right wing will whinge about how raising the minimum wage like this will cause the sky to fall and cause every small business in Ontario to go out of business. Well guess what; doctor's said that socialized healthcare would cause the end of the medical system and that didn't happen. And business has been claiming that every increase to the minimum wage since the invention of such a thing will have catastrophic effects on business, and the economy has continued much as it ever has, cyclical as always. Frankly, a lot of the business sector is full of shit and not to be trusted on these issues.
Another objection that the right-wing will raise is that most people who earn minimum wage are teenagers living at home who don't need a raise. Nice try. That may be strictly speaking true, but a raise in the minimum wage from $8 to $10 would also help every person making between $8.01 and $9.99 per hour. And that is a lot of people in Ontario alone.
This is a good idea, and the reason the right fights it so strenuously is because they need a demoralized and abjected working class to produce wealth for them. As Ambrose Bierce said:
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 688
The Ontario NDP, the Federal NDP, many unions and a vast plethora of community and citizen groups are pushing this effort forward. A good measure of a society is how it treats the most abject of it's citizens. And right now we are treating the poor of our society like crap, to be frank. Raising the minimum wage to $10/hr won't make that better, but it would be a good first step.
Now, the right wing will whinge about how raising the minimum wage like this will cause the sky to fall and cause every small business in Ontario to go out of business. Well guess what; doctor's said that socialized healthcare would cause the end of the medical system and that didn't happen. And business has been claiming that every increase to the minimum wage since the invention of such a thing will have catastrophic effects on business, and the economy has continued much as it ever has, cyclical as always. Frankly, a lot of the business sector is full of shit and not to be trusted on these issues.
Another objection that the right-wing will raise is that most people who earn minimum wage are teenagers living at home who don't need a raise. Nice try. That may be strictly speaking true, but a raise in the minimum wage from $8 to $10 would also help every person making between $8.01 and $9.99 per hour. And that is a lot of people in Ontario alone.
This is a good idea, and the reason the right fights it so strenuously is because they need a demoralized and abjected working class to produce wealth for them. As Ambrose Bierce said:
Corporation, noun: An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit, without individual responsibility.He was on to something there. Capitalists don't care about people, they care about profit. This is to put the cart before the horse in a dramatic manner. People should come before profit.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 688
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Opposition Defeats Terrorism Act Provisions
For once, I have something nice to say about the Liberals. They voted the right way on the government motion to extend the arrest-without-charge and compulsory testimony provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act. These sections of the Act posed a serious threat to the freedoms of Canadians and should never have been enacted in the first place. What is hilarious is to see the Liberals posturing as the defenders of civil liberties. To hear them tell it, you would never think that they wrote the law in the first place. One Liberal voted in favour of the government motion, notorious right-winger and arch-bigot Tom Wappell. It remains to be seen what, if any, punishment he will face for breaking ranks with the rest of his party.
The Conservatives now think that the Liberals have handed them a club for the next election. Expect to hear an endless repetition of "soft on terrorism" for the next couple of months. What is true is that by finally doing the right thing, the Liberals have proven that once again they are hopeless flip-floppers, following the political winds of the day. The NDP opposed these provisions from the beginning. The NDP was the only one to be concerned that the government was using the threat of terrorism as a means to induce Canadians to accept a diminution of their civil liberties.
The Conservatives also seem to have decided that they will bring in a new act to reinstate the measures that were allowed to expire on Wednesday. Expect it to be a matter of confidence, so that the Conservatives can say after they are defeated that the Liberals (plus the NDP and the Bloc) brought down the government because they support terrorism. It would be about par for the Republican course, and would fit right in with the playbook used by the American right in the last several elections.
All of this should make for more interesting politics in the weeks to come.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 696
The Conservatives now think that the Liberals have handed them a club for the next election. Expect to hear an endless repetition of "soft on terrorism" for the next couple of months. What is true is that by finally doing the right thing, the Liberals have proven that once again they are hopeless flip-floppers, following the political winds of the day. The NDP opposed these provisions from the beginning. The NDP was the only one to be concerned that the government was using the threat of terrorism as a means to induce Canadians to accept a diminution of their civil liberties.
The Conservatives also seem to have decided that they will bring in a new act to reinstate the measures that were allowed to expire on Wednesday. Expect it to be a matter of confidence, so that the Conservatives can say after they are defeated that the Liberals (plus the NDP and the Bloc) brought down the government because they support terrorism. It would be about par for the Republican course, and would fit right in with the playbook used by the American right in the last several elections.
All of this should make for more interesting politics in the weeks to come.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 696
Monday, February 26, 2007
A bit of catch-up
Hi everybody. Sorry for the long absence from posting to this blog. A lot has happened in Canada and Canadian affairs that I should catch up on.
First up, the timing of the federal budget. This is the most transparent federal interference in a provincial election that I can recall. The budget (which is sure to be full of goodies for Quebec and claims to have resolved the "fiscal imbalance" between Quebec and the federal government) is a manipulative attempt by Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada to influence the outcome of the provincial election and create the conditions for the Conservatives to grow in the next federal election. It is simply disgusting that the federal budget would be timed for a week before the provincial election. Now, I know some people out there are going to be thinking to themselves: "but the election was called after the budget date was announced, so there can't be collusion." Those people are either willfully deluding themselves or idiots. It's frank, but it's the truth. Anyone who doesn't believe that Harper and Jean Charest were consulting each other on the timing of the budget and the election is seriously gullible. Shame on Harper, shame on Charest and shame on the media who are doing nothing to make this known to Canadians.
Second, the Supreme Court ruling on the security certificate regime. For those that don't know, security certificates are documents signed by the ministers of Immigration and Justice that allow for non-citizens to be held in indefinite detention, with the evidence behind their detention is heard in a sealed court room by a judge of the federal court in the absence of the detained person or their attorneys. These documents have, in recent memory, been used to detain a number of men who, it is suggested, are tied to al-Qaida, though the evidence against them is clearly insufficient to bring them to trial or that is where they would be, rather than rotting in a detention centre in central Ontario. The Supreme Court recently ruled that it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (specifically section 11[d]) for detainees to be denied the opportunity to confront the evidence against them. The court gave the government one year to alter the law in order to ensure that it complies with the Charter. This is a good ruling. It does violence to the concept of justice that a person could be imprisoned for the rest of their life without being granted a fair trial and without being able to even know on what grounds they are being imprisoned. Unfortunately, the Court, in it's ruling, suggested that the government adopt a "special advocate" system, similar to what is in place in Britain in which security-cleared lawyers act for the defendant and are able to challenge the evidence on his or her behalf. The key problem with such a system is that the special advocate is prevented from discussing the evidence with his or her client and as such can not bring forward alternate facts or explanations to dispute the arguments of the government. As such, a fair trial is denied and the burden of proof is reversed. In essence, the defendant must prove that he or she is not guilty, rather than the state being forced to prove that the defendant is guilty.
Finally, I come to Afghanistan. The occupation rumbles on, though Stephen Harper has now launched an effort to convince Canadians that we are doing more in Afghanistan than propping up a puppet government made up of misogynistic and homophobic drug dealers while blowing Afghanis in the south into little teensy bits. Now let me be very clear on this point: the Taliban were, are and likely will always be, a nasty group of people committed to making the lives of the people under their rule very, very difficult and generally living in the word of 1007 as opposed to 2007. I do not want to see the Taliban return to power, but it has to be recognized that the Taliban are a potent force in Afghan society and cannot be crushed by force of arms. Ultimately a political, negotiated, solution is the only possibility in Afghanistan. There is still time to end the occupation with a political settlement, but in not that long the occupiers in Afghanistan will cross the same threshold that was crossed in Iraq years ago: the point where the only possibility for withdrawal is a Saigon-style evacuation under fire. Yet Harper is spending $200 million on "development" work in order to convince the Canadian public to back the continuation of the occupation, and (though he won't admit as much) to back the next extension that Harper wants to pass to the mission, namely to 2011. By itself, $200 million in aid to Afghanistan is a good thing. But this aid will be tied to the existing government and will be delivered by agencies that are irrevocably tied to the occupation. If we want the insurgency to stop blowing up schools, we have to stop having them built by the armed forces. The insurgency will rightly see anything built by occupation forces as being a tool of the occupation. I don't know another way to get it done, but funding local groups indirectly through international NGOs might be a good start.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 699
First up, the timing of the federal budget. This is the most transparent federal interference in a provincial election that I can recall. The budget (which is sure to be full of goodies for Quebec and claims to have resolved the "fiscal imbalance" between Quebec and the federal government) is a manipulative attempt by Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada to influence the outcome of the provincial election and create the conditions for the Conservatives to grow in the next federal election. It is simply disgusting that the federal budget would be timed for a week before the provincial election. Now, I know some people out there are going to be thinking to themselves: "but the election was called after the budget date was announced, so there can't be collusion." Those people are either willfully deluding themselves or idiots. It's frank, but it's the truth. Anyone who doesn't believe that Harper and Jean Charest were consulting each other on the timing of the budget and the election is seriously gullible. Shame on Harper, shame on Charest and shame on the media who are doing nothing to make this known to Canadians.
Second, the Supreme Court ruling on the security certificate regime. For those that don't know, security certificates are documents signed by the ministers of Immigration and Justice that allow for non-citizens to be held in indefinite detention, with the evidence behind their detention is heard in a sealed court room by a judge of the federal court in the absence of the detained person or their attorneys. These documents have, in recent memory, been used to detain a number of men who, it is suggested, are tied to al-Qaida, though the evidence against them is clearly insufficient to bring them to trial or that is where they would be, rather than rotting in a detention centre in central Ontario. The Supreme Court recently ruled that it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (specifically section 11[d]) for detainees to be denied the opportunity to confront the evidence against them. The court gave the government one year to alter the law in order to ensure that it complies with the Charter. This is a good ruling. It does violence to the concept of justice that a person could be imprisoned for the rest of their life without being granted a fair trial and without being able to even know on what grounds they are being imprisoned. Unfortunately, the Court, in it's ruling, suggested that the government adopt a "special advocate" system, similar to what is in place in Britain in which security-cleared lawyers act for the defendant and are able to challenge the evidence on his or her behalf. The key problem with such a system is that the special advocate is prevented from discussing the evidence with his or her client and as such can not bring forward alternate facts or explanations to dispute the arguments of the government. As such, a fair trial is denied and the burden of proof is reversed. In essence, the defendant must prove that he or she is not guilty, rather than the state being forced to prove that the defendant is guilty.
Finally, I come to Afghanistan. The occupation rumbles on, though Stephen Harper has now launched an effort to convince Canadians that we are doing more in Afghanistan than propping up a puppet government made up of misogynistic and homophobic drug dealers while blowing Afghanis in the south into little teensy bits. Now let me be very clear on this point: the Taliban were, are and likely will always be, a nasty group of people committed to making the lives of the people under their rule very, very difficult and generally living in the word of 1007 as opposed to 2007. I do not want to see the Taliban return to power, but it has to be recognized that the Taliban are a potent force in Afghan society and cannot be crushed by force of arms. Ultimately a political, negotiated, solution is the only possibility in Afghanistan. There is still time to end the occupation with a political settlement, but in not that long the occupiers in Afghanistan will cross the same threshold that was crossed in Iraq years ago: the point where the only possibility for withdrawal is a Saigon-style evacuation under fire. Yet Harper is spending $200 million on "development" work in order to convince the Canadian public to back the continuation of the occupation, and (though he won't admit as much) to back the next extension that Harper wants to pass to the mission, namely to 2011. By itself, $200 million in aid to Afghanistan is a good thing. But this aid will be tied to the existing government and will be delivered by agencies that are irrevocably tied to the occupation. If we want the insurgency to stop blowing up schools, we have to stop having them built by the armed forces. The insurgency will rightly see anything built by occupation forces as being a tool of the occupation. I don't know another way to get it done, but funding local groups indirectly through international NGOs might be a good start.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 699
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Conservatives Create Green Smokescreen
All through this week, the Conservative government has been occupied in busily painting itself Green. But like most slapdash jobs, they have done a bad job of it. The government seeks to convince the people that it is truly concerned about global climate change, and is taking action to fix it. That is just a bit difficult to swallow, because these are the same people who just a few years ago were denying that global climate change was occurring at all.
This week, the Conservatives announced three new measures:
These proposals stink of voluntary measures. We have seen that these don't work. The previous Liberal government set voluntary targets for industry to cut emissions, and the emissions went up instead. What we need is immediate hard-cap targets for industry. If we really work at it, I believe that we can still meet our Kyoto Accord commitments. But of course, the Conservatives don't want that to happen. They are too beholden to the oil and gas industries to ever do anything that would threaten the profits of those industries. All the Conservatives want to do is bamboozle the Canadian people into believing, even for a minute, that Conservatives care about the environment. It simply isn't true.
What is equally true is that the Liberals are no better. They had years, and years, in government to make the decisions, enact the regulations and fund the programmes that would have allowed us to reach and surpass our Kyoto Accord targets. And now they cry crocodile tears for the environment, using it as a cynical means to regain power. As environment minister, Dion presided over some of the most dramatic growth in Canadian CO2 emissions in our history. People should know better than to think that the Liberals will take any action on the environment that is more than mere window dressing.
What we need to do is change our way of life. In Canada, we are one of the most dramatically wasteful societies in the world. We have per capita CO2 emissions higher than the United States. We need to use less energy and live in a much more sustainable manner. This means using energy efficient light bulbs, improving insulation, not driving nearly as much (instead choose to walk, bike or take public transit) and a whole host of other changes. Combined with that, we need to help the developing countries of the world to develop in a clean manner. We need to provide help to China and India to develop an economy driven not by fossil fuels but rather by renewables like wind, solar, tidal and geothermal power.
It is not to late, but we have got to do something soon.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 733
This week, the Conservatives announced three new measures:
- $230 million for clean energy research over the next four years.
- $1.5 billion for the construction of renewable energy projects over the next ten years.
- $300 million for home and business energy efficiency incentives over the next four years.
These proposals stink of voluntary measures. We have seen that these don't work. The previous Liberal government set voluntary targets for industry to cut emissions, and the emissions went up instead. What we need is immediate hard-cap targets for industry. If we really work at it, I believe that we can still meet our Kyoto Accord commitments. But of course, the Conservatives don't want that to happen. They are too beholden to the oil and gas industries to ever do anything that would threaten the profits of those industries. All the Conservatives want to do is bamboozle the Canadian people into believing, even for a minute, that Conservatives care about the environment. It simply isn't true.
What is equally true is that the Liberals are no better. They had years, and years, in government to make the decisions, enact the regulations and fund the programmes that would have allowed us to reach and surpass our Kyoto Accord targets. And now they cry crocodile tears for the environment, using it as a cynical means to regain power. As environment minister, Dion presided over some of the most dramatic growth in Canadian CO2 emissions in our history. People should know better than to think that the Liberals will take any action on the environment that is more than mere window dressing.
What we need to do is change our way of life. In Canada, we are one of the most dramatically wasteful societies in the world. We have per capita CO2 emissions higher than the United States. We need to use less energy and live in a much more sustainable manner. This means using energy efficient light bulbs, improving insulation, not driving nearly as much (instead choose to walk, bike or take public transit) and a whole host of other changes. Combined with that, we need to help the developing countries of the world to develop in a clean manner. We need to provide help to China and India to develop an economy driven not by fossil fuels but rather by renewables like wind, solar, tidal and geothermal power.
It is not to late, but we have got to do something soon.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 733
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Winter! Finally!
Winter has finally come to central Canada. Last night we got 15cm of snow here in Peterborough. It was a total 0-60 moment when I looked out my window this morning. Up till now, we have had very little snow, and it never stuck around for more than a few days. This snow looks like it will hang around for a while. And it is about bloody time.
This is the weirdest "winter" that I have ever experienced. No real snow until January, and then it all comes in one eight-hour period. Global climate change anyone?
The lack of cold weather and snow in central Canada, and the volatility of the weather in BC have helped to put the screws to the federal government to finally take some real action on reducing our carbon dioxide emissions. I hope that the advent of winter weather is not going to stop the momentum that has been building. After all, when there is no meaningful snow until January in Peterborough, something is deeply wrong.
I really, really, hope that when Parliament resumes in two weeks they can get past partisan bickering and get some real work done on the rewriting of the so-called Clean Air Act. I am deeply afraid that Conservatives will use Cabinet powers to try to scuttle any changes that are made (because most of them don't really accept that global climate change is happening) and that the Liberals will scuttle any attempt to make real progress on the bill because they don't want it to be something that the Conservatives can campaign on in the next election. We need action and we need it now. Ultimately, it will be up to the NDP and the Bloc to keep this issue in the public eye and shame the other two parties into taking real action. What has to happen is that the bill must be given real enforcement teeth, and the targets to be met (which must include the Kyoto targets) must be written into the act, not left to Cabinet to enact (or not enact). Minority Parliaments present a wonderful opportunity for the Parliament to control the power of the Cabinet, and this Parliament must seize the opportunity to do precisely that.
If I have children, I want them to believe me about winter. I want them to know what snow is, and what winter is. If we don't work fast, climate change will be beyond our power to fix, and if that comes to pass, we are all in very deep trouble.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 738
This is the weirdest "winter" that I have ever experienced. No real snow until January, and then it all comes in one eight-hour period. Global climate change anyone?
The lack of cold weather and snow in central Canada, and the volatility of the weather in BC have helped to put the screws to the federal government to finally take some real action on reducing our carbon dioxide emissions. I hope that the advent of winter weather is not going to stop the momentum that has been building. After all, when there is no meaningful snow until January in Peterborough, something is deeply wrong.
I really, really, hope that when Parliament resumes in two weeks they can get past partisan bickering and get some real work done on the rewriting of the so-called Clean Air Act. I am deeply afraid that Conservatives will use Cabinet powers to try to scuttle any changes that are made (because most of them don't really accept that global climate change is happening) and that the Liberals will scuttle any attempt to make real progress on the bill because they don't want it to be something that the Conservatives can campaign on in the next election. We need action and we need it now. Ultimately, it will be up to the NDP and the Bloc to keep this issue in the public eye and shame the other two parties into taking real action. What has to happen is that the bill must be given real enforcement teeth, and the targets to be met (which must include the Kyoto targets) must be written into the act, not left to Cabinet to enact (or not enact). Minority Parliaments present a wonderful opportunity for the Parliament to control the power of the Cabinet, and this Parliament must seize the opportunity to do precisely that.
If I have children, I want them to believe me about winter. I want them to know what snow is, and what winter is. If we don't work fast, climate change will be beyond our power to fix, and if that comes to pass, we are all in very deep trouble.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 738
Friday, January 12, 2007
More on the Explosion in Athens
It seems that the explosion at the American embassy in Athens was the result of a rocket (presumably a rocket-propelled grenade) that was fired at the embassy. The Athenian police are saying that the intended target of the attack was the American logo at the front of the embassy, but that the rocket missed, and instead went into a third-floor bathroom and blew up a toilet. No injuries are reported. More information is available from various online news sources, for example an article in the International Herald-Tribune.
Cheers,
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 742
Cheers,
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 742
Breaking News: Explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Athens
According to what cbc.ca is calling a "senior police source" a rocket was fired at the U.S. embassy in Athens, Greece this morning at 6 am local time. Apparently the rocket shattered glass and struck near the toilets in the embassy building. No one is reported hurt. The story is still developing and I will have more to say when more details are known.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 742
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 742
Monday, January 08, 2007
Gordon Brown Plans "Independent" Foreign Policy
According to an article in the Guardian (available here) Gordon Brown, the likely successor to Tony Blair as Prime Minister of Great Britain, is planning to have an "independent" foreign policy. According to the article, Brown acknowledges that "mistakes had been made in the aftermath of Iraq" and plans to initiate a round of "frank" talks with the U.S.
Riiiiiight.
Unless and until he is willing to admit the entire war in Iraq was an enormous catastrophuck (to use Jon Stewart's word) I will not have any sympathy for him. He was a part of the government that actively lied to the people of Britain and to the people of the world. He needs to apologize for the lies of the government before he is likely to gain any traction on that front.
As for frank talks with the U.S., I won't believe it until I see some good solid evidence for it. Brown has not earned the benefit of the doubt, and to the people of the world, he will continue to bear the odium of the British government's active participation in a gargantuan scheme of lies and armed robbery.
If Brown forges a good, truly independent, foreign policy for Britain, then I will applaud him. Until then, the U.K. sadly remains a puppet for Washington's village idiot.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 746
Riiiiiight.
Unless and until he is willing to admit the entire war in Iraq was an enormous catastrophuck (to use Jon Stewart's word) I will not have any sympathy for him. He was a part of the government that actively lied to the people of Britain and to the people of the world. He needs to apologize for the lies of the government before he is likely to gain any traction on that front.
As for frank talks with the U.S., I won't believe it until I see some good solid evidence for it. Brown has not earned the benefit of the doubt, and to the people of the world, he will continue to bear the odium of the British government's active participation in a gargantuan scheme of lies and armed robbery.
If Brown forges a good, truly independent, foreign policy for Britain, then I will applaud him. Until then, the U.K. sadly remains a puppet for Washington's village idiot.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 746
Friday, January 05, 2007
Wajid Khan Crosses to the Conservatives
Wajid Khan, the MP for Mississauga-Streetsville has crossed the floor from the Liberals to the Conservatives. Isn't it wonderful how little respect these floor-crossers have for the people who elected them? It is so dishonest to seek election under the banner of one party, and then cross the floor to sit as a member of another party, which campaigned on a different set of principles. Mr. Khan ran under the Liberal banner, and did not seem to have any qualms with the LPC's platform. Yet now he is prepared to endorse the platform of the most right-wing government in Canadian history? It just doesn't figure. How the Conservatives can accept him in, after the stink that they raised over Belinda Stronach's crossing to the Liberals is beyond me. And how the Liberals can have the nerve to protest, after they accepted Belinda Stronach in is beyond me too. Just goes to show that in those two parties (at least in the Parliamentary leadership) political expediency is more important than principle. If you feel this is wrong (be you an NDPer, a Liberal, a Greenie, a Conservative or what have you), I urge you to sign the petition that can be found here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/khanout/. What Khan has done is undemocratic and totally disrespectful of the will of the voters who elected him. For shame.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 748
http://www.petitiononline.com/khanout/. What Khan has done is undemocratic and totally disrespectful of the will of the voters who elected him. For shame.
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 748
Harper's Cabinet Shuffle
This morning, Stephen Harper shuffled his cabinet. Seven senior ministers had their portfolios changed. The changes are as follows:
The one move that is in any way encouraging is the move of Rob Nicholson into Justice. He is not nearly as extreme as Mr. Toews and will hopefully have the sense to scrap the insistence on draconian penalties and theatrics that Mr. Toews was so fond of.
This is not a team that will win Harper a majority in the next election, thank goodness. Frankly, I would be surprised to see Harper win the next election at all. He has not learned the lesson of Rona Ambrose's failure at Environment. Canadians do not want empty rhetoric and blaming previous governments that failed to act. They want action, and they want it NOW! All Harper is doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 748
- Rona Ambrose moves from environment (as everyone expected) to Intergovernmental Affairs
- John Baird moves from the Treasury Board to Environment
- Vic Toews moves from Justice & Attorney-General to Treasury Board
- Rob Nicholson moves from being Government House Leader to Justice & Attorney-General
- Peter Van Loan moves from Intergovernmental Affairs to be Government House Leader
- Monte Solberg moves from Immigration to Human Resources and Social Development
- Diane Finlay moves from Human Resources and Social Development to Immigration
The one move that is in any way encouraging is the move of Rob Nicholson into Justice. He is not nearly as extreme as Mr. Toews and will hopefully have the sense to scrap the insistence on draconian penalties and theatrics that Mr. Toews was so fond of.
This is not a team that will win Harper a majority in the next election, thank goodness. Frankly, I would be surprised to see Harper win the next election at all. He has not learned the lesson of Rona Ambrose's failure at Environment. Canadians do not want empty rhetoric and blaming previous governments that failed to act. They want action, and they want it NOW! All Harper is doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Cheers
Days Remaining in Bush Presidency: 748
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