Honesty In Politics: Punished, With Good Reason?

If politicians don’t start being a little more brutally honest about some well established facts, and how they endanger life, then expect them to support laws that endanger us all. For instance, if our POS Environment Minister Peter Kent hadn’t made a habit of lying about the danger of climate change, then I wouldn’t be spilling all over his sudden, insincere reversal in stated thought.

“You don’t have to convince me that climate change is a very real and present danger and we need to address it. [...] We would ignore it at our peril.” — Peter “POS” Kent. So, thanks for imperiling us until this point, jerk.

The Conservatives’ climate killing carbon nonsense is being mocked in the House too. Yet people in positions of some power to do something about our deadly pollution problems get little support from media who’ve thrown their lot in with ignorance long ago and peddle it to consumers as an acceptable political position.

The simple fact is again and again the press have cared more about a good story than the truth and not cared who they hurt #tabloids—
Noel McGivern (@Good_Beard) November 28, 2012

Truthiness is a big, deadly problem:
“We just believe that the plastic bag has never been a problem for the environment.” [link added to make my point] That quote is from a literal Bag Man. ““We’re very happy,’ plastics industry spokesperson Joe Hruska told reporters.” Toronto City lawyers, afraid of being sued by the plastics industry, backed down and council buckled too. Instead of doing what was right, they did what seemed easy, to the detriment of our land, oceans, and our lives.

BONUS IMPERILMENT: For more brain cell killing stupidity from Canadian Conservative politicians, check this out: (http://www.fcpp.org/publication.php/4135 Senator Greene-Rain embarrasses herself)
“The “CO2 is carbon” mistake is a common misconception, and it unjustifiably encourages people to view this benign gas as dirty, which indeed it is not.”

Justin Bieber and Chris Brown

Justin Bieber at the Grey Cup wasn’t the only ‘interesting’ pop music story of yesterday.

I’m not a Bieber expert (Belieber), but I did watch his biopic a few months ago, and he’s certainly got some real musical talent. How he is as a human being will probably degrade with his over-worldly fame, but he has a long way to drop before he reaches the level of Chris Brown. Brown got into an argument on Twitter yesterday with wise-cracking Jenny Johnson. Jenny was calling the woman-beating Brown names, and he called her names back (spelled badly) and told her to do graphic things with his male body parts before saying he was going to defecate on her “retina” (the part inside her eyes, so one must think he meant cornea unless he was trying to be impossibly ridiculous).

He then seemed to have quit Twitter (or his agent quit it for him, like Senator Brazeau), because last night during the game while I was trying to click his username, Twitter said the user didn’t exist. If only Rhianna could be so lucky (it was Brown who beat her face to a pulp the other year).

Of course Brown’s rabid fans are no model of civility either, with several of them sending death threats to Johnson. Here’s a sampling of some of the boors that are less violent, but still have questionable idols:

@JennyJohnsonHi5 now u victim huh?! U ain't worth of God's gift called LIFE!!!! It makes me sick to my stomach on thought of waking up as u!—
Filip (@filipdakic) November 26, 2012

But God says we are all prone to making mistakes!!! We should forgive the ones who r trully sorry for making em! U forgot that shit obv..—
Filip (@filipdakic) November 26, 2012

https://twitter.com/Cree_316/status/273055344878567424

https://twitter.com/ImariGabrielle/status/273055297587777536

I’ll take these ignorant kids over those “adults” listed above, any day:

https://twitter.com/kianadelury/status/272871730052210688

Snow Way That’s Cool

My bad. I put away the snow shovel before June. Sorry Regina.
I saw snowflakes flying in the street lights as I left the Lawson Thursday night.

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As you may have noticed, I’m now an aspiring politician as well as a political blogger. We’ll see how my political blogging insight/baggage/humour serves me in my upcoming race to become a Regina City Councillor. You’re invited to enjoy the show too. If you’re in Regina, I hope you’ll offer to support my campaign too, and help show it’s possible for young people who grew up blogging/facebooking to win political office (despite all of their hilarious hijinks indexed in Google). For instance, did you know I twice sold half eaten sandwiches (the first buyer has already endorsed my campaign, via Twitter)? True story. It’s also true that I can be serious when the time calls for it, so I hope my online personality is taken with a grain of salt if you’ve not met me in person.

If you want the same old Saskboy bloggin’, you’re in the right place. If you want primarily press releases and campaign updates, try my campaign website. A right wing, former SK radio producer sparked an interesting discussion on Twitter the other day about my two accounts. I described them as “channels” so viewers of Saskboy’s Abandoned Stuff don’t get too much Regina civic politics.

@tammyrobert It's not like @saskboy could tweet something and not have it known that it was John who said it.—
Ryan Holota (@ryanholota) May 23, 2012

Here’s a handy list of declared candidates for the Regina civic election.

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In important news I’ve not had time yet to blog about, the RoboCon investigation proceeds out of view of the media. As the Etobicoke Centre election nullification demonstrates, EC has been incompetent [paperwork, and enforcing, and not losing it] on at least one front, and appears to take too much time to convict guilty Elections Act violators in other serious circumstances. Four lead investigators will never sift through the 800 serious reports of illegal phone calls made, in time to punish the benefactors and perpetrators of the crimes.

The other Elections Canada investigator whose name has surfaced in connection with the robocalls investigation is Mr. Charbonneau, though he appears to be focused on investigating possible instances of fraudulent phone calls being reported to Elections Canada outside the riding of Guelph, Ont. Based on media reports, Mr. Charbonneau has interviewed people in Thunder Bay, Toronto, and the riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming, Ont.

Once the Elections Canada investigation is complete, the findings would be turned over to Commissioner of Canada Elections William Corbett, who would then decide whether charges should be laid.

Meanwhile, Conservative MP Ted Optiz’s 2011 federal election win last year was declared null and void by an Ontario Superior Court judge on Friday, May 18. Mr. Opitz won the election by 26 votes, but former Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj challenged the election result in court over voting irregularities, according to the CBC.

Justice Thomas Lederer set aside 79 ballots in his ruling in Toronto. Mr. Optiz has eight days to appeal, according to the CBC, and if he does, the case could be heard by the Supreme Court by June.

Meanwhile, the federal Conservatives reportedly want the Federal Court to throw out the Council of Canadians’ legal challenge that claims misleading telephone calls were made in the last election in seven ridings, including: Elmwood-Transcona, Man.; Winnipeg Centre, Man.; Don Valley East, Ont.; Saskatoon-Rosetown-Biggar, Sask.; Nipissing-Timiskaming, Ont.; Vancouver Island, B.C.; and Yukon.

Will we see the Ontario Tories implicated in a new Robocalls scandal? LaRue says yes. If that happens, it’s interesting to note who the PCs’ current president is, and who he worked for prior to his latest gig organizing for Hudak’s Tories. A bit of homework for you, if you don’t know.

Blog Navel Gazing – Tweet Heard ‘Round The World

I’ve never had a tweet of mine be ReTweeted so much.

It was an excerpt from a Facebook post that got liked and shared by about 15 people by this point, but the Tweet is at 83 ReTweets, and that doesn’t count the dozen or more who’ve rephrased it and tweeted it under their own accounts either crediting me or not.

Ask yourself why people camped out to buy crap are glorified, but people camped out in protest of economic injustice & greed are raided.

Later in the day I saw someone had used the same idea, probably arrived at by their own thought, and put tents from both, and crowds from both, and labeled each with the media narrative around them. Mob – shoppers. Illegal camping – Dedicated shoppers.

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Another question that fewer may connect with is, “How would you feel if one of your best friends was an undercover cop sent to spy on you because you want to peacefully change the political system?”

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What if those people using public safety as an excuse for authoritarian action, are actually the ones instigating dangerous situations that harm the public?

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Why can a city tear down temporary homes for the homeless, in the grip of Winter, and not replace them with anything other than blame?

Mayors Out Of Touch: MOOT Canada

I think it’s time for Rob Ford to “leave” office, and “move on”.
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Constitutional law expert and University of Saskatchewan professor Dwight Newman appeared on Richard Brown Wednesday afternoon, and believes the city law could survive if they argued the protest is unsafe.

“Being there overnight during the winter, the city could certainly argue that that poses a risk of harm.”

To point out the obvious, First Nations people survived on the open plains without modern toilets, and sleeping in ‘tents’ throughout winter. If there is a risk of harm, it’s no greater than the kind experienced through a hunger strike. The City can remove the risk of harm by agreeing to meet more frequently with constituents without talking “shit”, and adapt to the citizen’s wishes. When your boss shows up at your workplace, you don’t refuse to even speak with them to claim you are too busy, as Mayor Fiacco did on Wednesday. Well, maybe he has forgotten who his boss is (the people), or he knows something he’s not told the rest of us about who is really in charge of this city?

The opinions of Ford and Fiacco are both MOOT.

Topless Or Brainless

I know what I’d rather be on a hot day.

Making women wear clothing for religious/cultural reasons is something most John Gormley listeners critcise, but only if those women are in Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan and it’s Islamic garb. If they are Westerners/Christians in Toronto or Regina, then those women had better follow customs and laws of decency!

The commenters on John’s facebook wall had me writhing in smug superiority. The spelling mistakes were amusing me to death, and the hypocrisy was delicious. I’ve highlighted some of my favourite mistakes and comments in the edited thread below.

John Gormley Live:
On now, yesterday women stormed Toronto topless after their request to do so in a park was turned down. Should women be allowed to go topless in public?
o
Chelsee Blackett: I’m all for womens rights, but I don’t get the point? I’m a woman and would hate drawing that kind of attention to myself taking my toddler for a walk or grocery shopping… It kind of confuses me that its important enough to some women to fight for it.

Bike Sharing in Canada

This Summer I had the pleasure of using bike sharing in Ottawa. Had I know how easy it was, I’d have used it in Toronto too, and possibly Montreal while I was there. One thing I’m unclear about is if the Bixi Bikes in different cities are compatible, and billed as if they are one unified fleet or not. I think not, so correct me if I’m mistaken.

I swiped my credit card at 5:00pm one day in Ottawa, paying $10 to get two bikes for 24 hours, one for me, and one for April. April decided that the style of bike was uncomfortable for her, so she didn’t use her bike access the following day before 5:00pm rolled around again.

When we were both using the bikes, we picked them up near our hotel downtown, and rode across the river into Gatineau, Quebec. April became one of the few people on Earth who can say she cycled into Quebec her first time being there.

As the President of the Regina Car Share Co-operative, I’ve been interested in vehicle sharing models for a few years. I’d love to be able to one day offer some of the technology in Bixi to car sharers in Regina, but for now that sort of electronic gadgetry is out of our price range. I hope it becomes more common to see electronic bike sharing in other Canadian cities soon.

Toronto and Ottawa

From Church St. looking northish.

View from our hotel room. We paid a little extra over the Hotwire price to get this room, but it was worth it.

Security blanket Harper

I can’t have this photo, it’s a library.

Saskatchewan in Parliament

Harper in photos in Parliament

Elizabeth May’s seat in Parliament. It’s number 309.

Most times I remember being here, it rained.

DJ Six

Ontario

Flew to Toronto on Monday morning, and slept along the way, still only giving me a few hours of sleep, as I was wound up and doing chores I hadn’t done due to wedding preparations. Rented a car downtown after taking the TTC, and went back to the airport to pick up our friend who was on layover to Madrid.

We shopped at Yorkdale, and at at an Italian place with good food and good rating on Urban Spoon, and went back to the airport. We drove up to Richmond Hill and spent the night after talking in tbe Man Cave.

On Tuesday we met ACotta, drove to London, and camped at a friend’s.

Wednesday we went to Niagara Falls, then met Scott in Woodstock, and ate at East Side Marios. We almost ran out of gas, and put $59.59 into the tank of our Mazda 5.

Liberals Predicted Summer of 2010 G20 in Toronto

Who knew that the attack ad that never was, became the advance warning of an attack that was the G20?

I’m sorry that the source of the video didn’t have the foresight/hindsight to title it better.