One Woman. One Blog.

My Friend's Got a Bad Case of the Betrayed by Stephen Harper Blues

It's terrible when a friend is hurting.

It's even worse when that friend is hurting because she has terrible taste in men. I mean, the worst.

If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Miss Ruby Jones, this video will explain who she is and why she's singing the betrayal blues. (Well, not literally. She left the singing to KISS.)

I hope 2010 will be a better year for you, Miss Ruby Jones (a.k.a. Harper Girl: the self-appointed president of the Stephen Harper Fan Club).

Canada's Most Arrogant Prime Minister

They criticized Pierre Trudeau for his arrogance. Now the Conservative Party of Canada has given Canada its most arrogant Prime Minister ever: Stephen Harper.

Ask some long-term Conservative party loyalists what they think of Pierre Trudeau and you'll get the kind of reaction you'd expect from a resident of Dog River if you were to solicit their opinion of Wollerton: spitting or the verbal equivalent.

"I simply couldn't stand the arrogance of the man."

But times have changed and the Conservative Party of Canada is now being credited for giving Canada its most arrogant Prime Minister ever. Unfortunately, it's a gift that isn't easy to return, given our current voting system.

If the events of the past week continue to roll out the way some folks are predicting and Stephen Harper's government finds itself in contempt of Parliament for refusing to release complete, unaltered copies of the detainee documents, the finger-waving Conservative Party of Canada could soon find itself before the courts.

Wouldn't that be a tough one to explain to the we're all about law-and-order party loyalists?

Spotlight:

Toronto Star: Jim Travers: Prisoner Issue Turns Into Dangerous Test of Wills: Jim Travers highlights what's at stake.

Toronto Star: Tories Defy Document Order: A roundup of the latest developments from Susan Delacourt, Les Whittington, and Richard J. Brennan .

CBC News: Lives at Risk if Afghan Info Released: Day: See final three paragraphs of the article: "Meanwhile, Peter Tinsley, the departing chair of the Military Police Complaints Commission has taken the Harper government to task for refusing to renew his term in the middle of the Afghan detainee controversy. It is unprecedented for the government not to renew his appointment....His departure will effectively halt the commission's ability to continue the public hearings — and send a 'chill' through other quasi-judicial bodies whose heads are appointed by the government."

Impolitical: If it's December...it's that time again: Note this bit in particular: "It's highly irresponsible for federal cabinet ministers to be so vigorously attacking their political opposition like this in staged theatre. It does damage to our democracy when they do this. What is the higher purpose? None. It's a show of what the opposition's in for. The danger of having such people at the helm of our government is always evident when they pull such stunts. They're prepared to say anything to advance their political survival." See her post from today, too: No longer in the mood.

Dec. 6 @ 3 pm - 20th anniversary of Montreal Massacre (Candle Light Vigil: Peterborough)

Sunday December 6, 2009
3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Kenner Collegiate High School
20th Anniversary
There will be a film interviewing a survivor of the
Montreal massacre.
Food and Refreshments following vigil
Sponsored by the Peterborough
Women’s Events Committee.
For more information
Call Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre:
705-748-5901
Please join us for a
Candle Light Vigil
To commemorate
the 14 women murdered
December 6, 1989.

Jane Taber's Column

Dion's wife goes rogue? - The Globe and Mail.

This is the comment I added to Jane Taber's post on The Globe and Mail's website.

Whatever you may have thought of his strengths and weaknesses as a potential Prime Minister, Stéphane Dion had the courage to present a platform that offered the very solutions that Canada needs -- and the world needs Canada to rally behind, as a responsible global leader: environmental action, sustainable development, and social justice.

The real tragedy here is that Canadians allowed themselves to be distracted from those critically important messages -- that timely vision -- during the election campaign.

The net result is that Canada will soon be heading off to Copenhagen with the reputation of being a nation of climate change obstructionists. The situation could have been so different.

Politicians may try to dodge the gravity of these issues by making the climate change debate about partisan politics, but we, the citizens, have no obligation to follow their lead.

We can set our own agenda for the country and insist that our elected representatives follow that agenda -- or find new representatives who better represent that agenda.

They work for us, after all.

 

A Novel Solution for Dealing With Broken Promises to World's Children

Promise to world's children remains unkept after 20 years - thestar.com.

"If [governments] are not ready to stand up proudly and give voice to the rights of children, then they should put into place reforms that magnify the voices that already exist. The most important would be reforming an electoral system that disenfranchises all those younger than 18 by allowing their parents to cast additional votes for each of their children. Maybe only then when they have to actually look their electorate in the eyes will there be sufficient resolve to make child rights the priority that a commitment made 20 years ago stated it should be."
- Miles Corak, former research coordinator and lead researcher of the 2005 UNICEF Report called Child Poverty in Rich Countries.

Del Mastro Drama: And You Thought Battle of the Blades Was the Show to Watch

I see that Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro is in the headlines once again.

• CBC: Kady O'Malley: Counterpoint of Order: Dean Del Mastro vs. Michelle Simson
  
• CBC: Kady O'Malley: Committee Liveblogging: Ministerial Ethics and the Sponsorship Scandal: Best. ETHI. Meeting. Ever.
• Impolitical: Great Moments in Dean Del Mastro

Heck, even people on message boards have been talking about him.

(And you thought Battle of the Blades was the best drama to be had this week.)

Here in Peterborough, the media isn't saying much.

• The Peterborough Examiner, which features news about Del Mastro on an almost-daily basis, had to rely on a Sun Media story for a story about the Simmons-Del Mastro incident. 
• MyKawartha.com doesn't have any coverage of the incident at all.

Perhaps Del Mastro has already said everything he wants to say about the bruhaha -- or someone has suggested that he stay incommunicado for the next day or two.

That might not be a bad idea, given that journalists like Aaron Wherry of Maclean's have great memories -- and have been busy digging up examples of Del Mastro behaving badly to help put the incident in context. After all, Del Mastro has earned quite the reputation for lobbing insults at others in the House of Commons. (Apparently, it's better to give than to receive.)

Partisan messages OK in Taxpayer-funded mailings: Milliken

Member of Parliament are allowed to publish whatever they want in their mailings to constituents -- at the expense of the taxpayer.

That's what Speaker of the House of Commons Peter Milliken had to say during a visit to Peterborough this week. ("Partisan messages OK in pamphlets: Milliken" - Peterborough Examiner - Ontario, CA.)

"There used to be rules forbidding partisanship on these things but I believe it was before I got on the [board that oversees the House of Commons operating budget] they changed those rules and allowed members to publish whatever they wanted on them," Milliken said yesterday. "So the board has very little control of the content."

This contradicts a statement made just days earlier (Nov. 12) by Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro, who told the Peterborough Examiner that the House of Commons approves the content of every message he sends out: "Every piece that I send is approved by the House of Commons, not by a political party."

Federal Liberal Candidate Betsy McGregor and Federal NDP Candidate Dave Nickle have each been highly critical of Del Mastro's use of taxpayer-funded mailings.


Facts and Figures
The Peterborough Examiner notes that out of the top 100 MP spenders on printing, 82 were Conservatives. In the top 20, 19 were Conservatives with NDP MP Olivia Chow coming in 10th at $78,485.