Saturday, December 6, 2008

What Harper is really like

Impolitical: In which Harpie's friends speak to the media about what he's really like
Robert Benzie's piece in the Star today is an eye-opener for Conservatives and an interesting read for anyone seeking to understand why the nation has been brought to such a place as it has been this week. It's all about Harpie. While I agree there's not much "news" here in terms of how the PM governs, the report is a worthwhile reminder that the governing style itself is unsettling and has wrought this week's crises. There is another intriguing angle, below.

On why there was no swaying Harper from his disastrous ideological economic update:

In interviews with federal associates of Harper, past and present, a picture emerges of a bright and driven man who does not take dissenting counsel especially well and is prone to profane outbursts.

"The people around him, the stable, has generally been bred for obedience, so that's what you get," says a confrere.

Another insider agrees "there's no question the Prime Minister rules by fear," which is not always productive.

"At some point, you know, you get up every day and you get kicked in the balls and, you know what, you get tired of it. So when people stop fighting back, I'm telling you, that's a most dangerous, dangerous, dangerous day," he says.

It was Harper who insisted that the Nov. 27 economic statement be used as a political weapon to bludgeon the Conservatives' foes. (emphasis added)

Creating an atmosphere where he's unopposed by his staff and colleagues, it's no wonder he's unable to work with the opposition. It doesn't seem to be in the DNA.

Video upgrade on Facebook introduced

Facebook Introduces Embeddable Videos Only Your Friends Can See

The key change, though, is that the videos will now be embeddable on
other sites. This is also something that has been a standard for a long
time at YouTube, MySpace, and practically every other video site. But
Facebook is adding a privacy twist. Just as on Facebook, you can
determine exactly who can see any video you upload. Those privacy
settings will be maintained across the Web. Anyone will be able to see
public videos. But if you set it so that only your friends can see it,
the video won’t play unless those friends are currently logged into
Facebook.

Orbital carbon observatory satellite launched by NASA

Conservatives Exposed

A BCer in Toronto: (Video) Don Newman schools John Baird

John Baird has been a member of parilament for years, provincially and federally, and he exposes the fact that he does not know how parliament or our democratic system works. He also contradicts himself in statements about the Bloc (if the Bloc supports the opposition, then the opposition stance is evil and anti-Canadian, but if the Bloc supports the Conservatives, they are Canadian).

"Coalition government better for environment" - Sierra Club

World Report: "Coalition government better for environment, says Sierra Club," Greenpages.ca, December 3, 2008.
December 3, 2008 - A Liberal-New Democratic Party coalition government would be better for Canada's natural environment, says Sierra Club Canada.

14 steps to fascism - How does the Harper government stack up?

Blogging if necessary but not necessarily blogging: Interactive project on the fourteen steps to fascism, eh?
In 2003, Political Scientist identified fourteen characteristics of fascism. The Old American Century website put together a compendium of ways in which the Bush regime matched these points. I thought it would be interesting to see how well Steven HarProrogue (TM) is doing.

The characteristics are listed below. I will add in a few links that I think demonstrate his adherence to the fascism two step. Feel free to add yours in the comments and I will update this post with them periodically.

Peterborough Politics on the Editorial from the Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal

Peterborough Politics: I Couldn't Agree More
The fact is that Canadians are suffering, and the Conservatives are looking out for their own cushy cabinet posts. I'm not surprised by the Chronicle-Journal stating that they have received more letters of support for the coalition than against it because Canadians are the kind of people that usually look to work together. And that's precisely what this coalition is about, putting aside differences and working together. But instead of lauding that, the Conservatives tried to turn the good characteristics of cooperating and working together into some kind of deep seeded, anti-Canadian character flaw.

Canada awarded 4 Fossil of the Day awards

Another crisis that Harper is promoting « Verbena-19
OTTAWA—Today, during international climate talks in Poznan, Poland, Canada was given an unprecedented four “Fossil of the Day” awards by the international community.

The awards are given to governments taking positions that stall or block the progress of climate negotiations. At the climate talks, the Canadian delegation has failed to take a constructive approach to negotiations – at the same time as the Harper government prorogued Parliament, shutting down debate until next year.

Tim Burton to make a Dark Shadows movie with Johnny Depp

Dark Shadows: Can Tim Burton Convert Over 1000 Hours of TV into One "Dark Shadows" Movie?


One of the weirdest soaps ever to hit the airwaves is Dark Shadows,
a late-1960s daily story that spent 6 months as a typical gothic
melodrama and then surprised viewers by abruptly introducing ghosts,
ancient gods, a sexy vamp named Barnabas (pictured), time travel, and
parallel universes. Dan Curtis' iconic series aired for 5 years on ABC,
racking up almost 1100 hours of television packed with monstery
goodness. And now Tim Burton is set to make a movie version of it, with
Johnny Depp as Barnabas. Can it really be done?

Dollhouse - meat or cake? Get on with it so we can see for ourselves

Dungeons and Dragons dance music

Music: It's . . . Dungeons & Dragons Dance Music?

Okay, this is funny.

Could it get any cheesier? How about getting David Hasselhoff to cover it and star in the video.

:)

New Farscape news!!!!

Splash Page » EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW: ‘Farscape’ Creator Rockne O’Bannon Brings Series Back — As A Comic Book

 A four-part comic book, and a webisode mini-series will take up where the Peacekeeper Wars mini-series left off.

'Farscape' #1

Test Tube Meat - more news

Checkout Line: Meet shmeat | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist

Shmeat is grown from a cell culture (hence the in vitro or cultured
prefixes), not from a live animal. These harvested cells are taken from
an animal, such as a pig, and placed in a "nutrient-rich medium" that
mimics blood. Once the cells multiply they are attached to a spongy
scaffold or sheet (sheet + meat = shmeat) that has been soaked with
nutrients and stretched to increase cell size and protein content.

Repo Man sequel - Repo Chick

Repo Man Sequel Starts Filming Next Month | /Film

Alex Cox’s Repo Man sequel Repo Chick is finally going into production next month (January 2009). Production Weekly reports that David Lynch is producing the project.

Cox has previously said that the follow-up will “unfold against the
background of the credit crunch and the subprime mortgage crisis in the
US, where repossessions of homes, cars and other forms of property is
at a new high. ‘The repo business has expanded to everything from
boats, houses, aeroplanes, small nations…children”.

Is that job you found on-line too good to be true?

US National BBB.org: News Center

Look for Seven Red Flags when Searching for Jobs Online


Our democratic rights were taken away, and the corporate media approves

Getting it Right: WSWS: Canada’s “constitutional coup” and the corporate media
Whilst the editorial pages largely avoided commenting on the shutting down of parliament, the dailies did publish many copy-inches of reportage. The common refrain of this reportage was that the governor-general had called a "time out."

The "time out" metaphor has a very definite political significance. It is meant to lull the population to sleep, to foster the notion that little, if anything, of significance has taken place and everything will, in any event, soon go back to normal because parliament has merely been "suspended."

The truth is otherwise. The suspension of parliament and of MPs' right to defeat and replace the sitting government strikes at the most fundamental democratic principle—the right of the people to choose their own government.

If not overturned by a movement from below, Canada's constitution, through the power of precedent, will have been rewritten and the powers of the executive, of both the sitting government and of the governor-general, to ignore parliament and rule by decree will have been significantly increased.

As for the question of "suspension," this is precisely how democratic rights are taken away. Governments moving in an authoritarian direction don't generally outright abolish democratic rights; they "suspend" them, claiming that they need to be temporarily withdrawn so as to confront a purported crisis or emergency.

Working people must take heed: The corporate media's support for the constitutional coup engineered by the Conservatives and the governor-general attests to the fact there is no significant constituency within the ruling class committed to the defence of constitutional principles and democratic rights.

The business suits' love affair with Prime Minister Stephen Harper is beginning to wane

Is something actually sticking to the Teflon PM? « the regina mom
Since first being elected to the House of Commons in 1968, at a time of great national unity, I have never witnessed a Canadian prime minister consciously decide to disunite the nation. Until now.

Instead of following constitutional precedent and allowing a democratic
confidence vote to take place when it should, we have a power-hungry
man who will be recorded as the first prime minister in Canada’s
history to deliberately create a political crisis and set the fire of
national disunity. - Ed Broadbent




Marijuana could help our economy

Canadian Spades: Legalizing cannabis could end our recession

I could go into a long winded rant about the benefits of cannabis
regulation and how it could infuse billions of dollars into our sagging
economy, but I'm sick and tired of doing it, so I'll just point you here, and post a few key quotes from the article:

Bringing down the Harper government - for the good of Canada

Bringing down the Harper government… « Verbena-19
This poignant piece
written by Political Science professor James Laxer is in Straight
Goods, Saturday, Dec. 6th.  Laxer’s sage advice is intended for
Liberals and the NDP. But all Canadians, especially those who are
brainwashed by the Harper government into believing that the coalition
is bad for our country
— and that Harper’s is the only ‘legitimate’
government — should also pay attention.


...

This is it guys.

If the opposition fails to defeat the government and install a new one, Harper will exercise complete control for the next couple of years. The opposition parties will be stuck with Flaherty’s budget at the end of January, which is virtually certain to fall short of what the country needs in terms of economic stimulus. Do they really want to place the fate of Canadians in the hands of a man whose first plan for coping with the economic crisis included selling the CN Tower?

...

Harper is a neo-conservative ideologue, obsessed with power and his own
sense of self importance. He is contemptuous of Canada and a stalwart member of neo-con right-wing groups, closely linked to their U.S. counterparts.
This group’s insidious agenda is not what most Canadians envision for
our country. Conservative Canadians who believe that Harper’s party
represents them and the country have been duped by his relentless
divisive propaganda aided and abetted by the cowed media and pundits.
If these Canadians remove their blinders, they will see the ‘real’
Stephen Harper and get a glimpse of what he has in store for us in the
coming year. They will see that Harper’s plans for the direction of our
country are far different from that of mainstream Canadians, regardless
of where we stand on the political spectrum.. It is imperative that
Canadians of all political persuasion unite for the good of our country.