Stoplights: Safety? Or vehicular tyranny?

If you can make an issue out of the Census, you can make an issue out of anything.  But in the Season of Dumb all things are possible:

The Tories’ indulgence in this melodrama shows we have more cause to worry about the ninny state than the nanny state.

Indeed.  And what’s next on the Ninny State agenda?

Phone Books:  Convenience?  Or naming names?  (Ma Bell:  Agent of the State?)

Food Inspection:  Health?  Or an infringement on your right to host the parasites of your choice?

I doubt it’s a coincidence that the Harper government went full-metal Freedom Fighter on the Census just a few days after presiding over an event of such spectacular  police-state thuggery (whoa, that’s a 7 out of 10 on the Hyperbole Scale) that it threatens to bring left and right together in outrage… whoops!  That most certainly wasn’t in the playbook.  I can just picture the horrified CPC strategists:  “Quick!  We need a Wedge Issue, and it can’t involve fetuses or boys kissing!“

I’m not wild about being listed on any useless government databases (*cough*long gun registry*cough*) but even I have to admit that Census information serves a useful purpose even if some of the questions sound a little weird:

A case in point: the long form does not ask if your home has loose tiles or defective steps. It asks if it needs repairs (useful data when government is budgeting millions for renovation tax credits) and merely gives tiles and steps as examples of minor repairs (as opposed to major items like plumbing and wiring).

There’s no shortage of genuine examples of government over-reach, like say, oh, I don’t know, G20 policing.  Falling apart over this kind of dumbness is exactly what they want.

The sliming of Shirley Sherrod

I have said it many times over the last couple of years, and unfortunately I’m sure I’ll have occasion to say it again: something rotten is happening in the frenzied nation to our south.  For the most recent proof, look no further than this week’s systematic sliming of an innocent and honourable public servant, Shirley Sherrod.

American politics, a blood sport to say the least, has always been entertaining to observe from afar.  But thanks to glaringly dishonest citizen *cough* ” journalism” and a TV channel that does shit-mongering and character assassination with the enthusiasm of a pack of hyenas falling on a dying antelope, it’s become something much uglier.  That the Fox Channel does its vile and shabby work in the guise of “News”, completely without the rigours of journalistic integrity applied by even the dumbest, low-tier blogger, makes it a shit-stain on the once-proud profession of journalism.

And speaking of dumb bloggers, how about this “Breitbart” character who got the ball rolling on the sliming of Sherrod on his blog, uh, “Big Douchebag” I think it was called?  Not just a clown and dolt but a low-rent dung-peddler and genuine human scum of the first order, with the brains of a tree toad and the morals of a hammerhead shark.  An amateur hit man who uses spliced and diced video to do the execrable, and thanks to a malleable media, he’s just good enough at it to pick a few scabs off the American psyche.

It’s well past time that these brainless bullies were stood up to and sent slithering back under their scum-ridden rocks.  Olbermann’s Special Comment last night about nailed it:

UPDATE: Sue the living shit out of him, Shirley.

The Census

This is what’s got Canadians all fired up today?

Like some kind of virulent high-tech rabies, a little Minnesota Madness may have seeped through our porous border, because otherwise the Census is about the last thing I would have guessed would end up on the table of hot-button political topics in Canada.   But it is the Stupid Season, so why not?

Whether you think it’s an invasion of privacy or an excellent source of data that gives government a better idea of how to spend our tax dollars (for the record, I think it’s a little of both), as an information source the Census has always had one thing going for it:  non-partisanship.

During the last door-to-door Census in 1997, I had a job supervising about 20 door-knockers, and the importance of leaving politics at home was emphatically impressed on us during the hiring process.  The Census must be untainted by politics or ideology of any kind, because anything less would naturally compromise the process and the data.  (I had to fire someone for proselytizing on the job, something I immensely enjoyed, and being informed of my eventual horrible fiery fate for doing so only added to that enjoyment.)  Like Elections Canada, the Census is one of those government undertakings whose credibility depends on it being stubbornly apolitical.

But not anymore.  The debate set off by the Harper government’s plan to ditch the long-form Census has lined up two distinct sides, for and against, that happen to coincide fairly precisely with political ideologies.  Liberals are generally for the long-form Census and Conservatives are generally against it.   No matter where you stand, that’s the worst thing about this brainless little Census skirmish — the Census has been politicized, and whatever ends up happening, the data might be viewed a little askance in the future.

Then again, there’s always the possibility that the proposal was just meant to milk a little temporary outrage so the government could reap the benefits of walking it back later.  They do have a history.

Similarities

Sometimes I despair of the Human Condition.

Why is it that given the choice, people who are ostensibly on the same side of a particular political issue but disagree on others will almost always choose to ignore their common ground and focus on their differences?   That way lies Failure, and it’s always depressing to watch it play out.

I recently joined (and subsequently left) a Facebook group supporting a certain political issue, and was dismayed to find one of these brainless pissing contests in progress.  And I wondered if our self-destructively inflated egos might be kept somewhat in check if we occasionally watched this routine by a man who was no stranger to the weirdness and dumbness of the human condition:

Sympathy for the sulphuric

In this part of the world coal exists in abundance, or at least did until we mined the shit out of it, and where there’s coal, there’s usually the Whiff of Sulphur.

The mineral permeates the water tables, and since we’re all on well water, the evil-smelling Whiff of Sulphur slithers in through open taps and toilets and washing machines and makes buildings smell like the finish line at a bean-eating marathon, at least to those unaccustomed to it.   I’m lucky: my home has a deep well and the water is generally untainted by sulphur.  (Or maybe I just don’t notice it anymore, eh?)   But my workplace is more typical:  a shallow well means the Whiff of Sulphur is strongly evident upon entry, which is where I am usually situated.  This being a tourist area, it’s not unusual for someone unfamiliar with the Sulphur Problem to enter the store, wrinkle their nose and cast a quick accusing glance in my direction.  I roll my eyes and shrug helplessly.

So when I heard about Michael Ignatieff’s remark that Canadians could “smell the whiff of sulphur” emanating from Stephen Harper, I thought “What are you, ten years old?”  I had forgotten that the Whiff of Sulphur is associated with… the devil. Which is not that far up the maturity scale from saying Stevie smells like farts, but never mind.  The comment threw the National Post into a fifth-gear frenzy of indignance and outrage that prompted the ejaculation of several articles on the topic, including yesterday’s front-pager:

Yes!  Yesterday was the time at the NatPo when they juxtaposed! You can see where they’re going with this sympathetic bracketing of an evil-looking Count Igula with Harpie’s rapt, um, one might even be tempted to say “angelic”, heavenward gaze. But it could also be Iggy snarling “Eww, who farted?” while Harper rolls his eyes and shrugs helplessly and says “It was Cheddar!”

Take your pick.  I know how it looks to me.

Christian Government: now with 44% less theocracy

Time sure flies when you’re having fun.  It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since I discovered the disturbing spectre of creeping Canadian theocracy, personified in an ominous-looking website banner and its equally creepy site:

{{{Shudder}}}  Brings to mind visions of door-to-door Morality Checks by the State Virtue & Vice Police.  Well, we had our fun with it and other than the occasional slap or poke of a stick through the cage, moved on.  But while researching another matter this morning, “Christian Government” popped up and I noticed it seems to have undergone a conversion of sorts:

The site is using two URLs, the original “Christian Government dot ca”, and the New Improved “Christian Governance dot ca”.  But the name of the site has apparently changed from “Government” to “Governance”.  (Although they’re still “Government” on Twitter.)

Things that make you go “Hmm”, hmm?

Tripping back to April 2008 in the turbo-charged Wayback Machine, we see that at that point the site was still called “Christian Government”. Sometime between then and now it was apparently decided that the word “Government” was horribly wrong and had to be changed.  According to the Whois data, that point may have been as recently as  May 25th:

Who knows?  Maybe they decided to jump aboard the Teabagger Train and realized they shouldn’t be perpetuating the well-known fact that the religious right cherishes Big Fat Greasy Government as much as any Socialist Swine, as long as it’s doing what they want — imposing sterility taxes and keeping a watchful eye on the bedrooms of the nation, that sort of thing.

On the other hand, didn’t Marci McDonald’s book “The Armageddon Factor” come out in May?  Oh my goodness, so it did… May 11… about 2 weeks before “Christian Government” adopted its new and improved, less aggressively theocratic name.

Probably just a coincidence.

GG appointment

This week the speculation about who our next Governor-General would be (and whether it would be some ideological appointment like Preston Manning or some Totally Cool appointment like William Shatner) was officially put to rest:

David Johnston, an academic of lengthy credentials who is president of the University of Waterloo, will succeed Michaëlle Jean as governor-general. Mr. Johnston spoke to reporters at a news conference after Thursday morning after the announcement was made official.

The reaction in the Progressosphere might be summed up as: “SHOCKA! Bland old white guy PM appoints bland old white guy GG!  EEEEEK!!”   Personally, I liked Mary Simon for the appointment, but overall this guy Johnston doesn’t seem like a bad choice in spite of being a bland old white guy.  For those keeping track of such things, our last two GGs have been female and minority, so maybe it was the BOWGs’ “turn”.   Or maybe it’s just that as a Constitutional law expert Johnston has the intellectual gravitas to fill the post with acumen, if not the dash and panache of his predecessor.

I always liked GG Jean — she’s snazzy and smart and great with the media, since she is of them.  And I loved that she did such quintessentially Canadian things as snacking on seal heart.  And this:

But much as I liked her, she lacked the legal confidence to push back against Harper when it could have made a difference in Canada’s profoundly goofy politics. As a Constitutional law expert, Johnston might be less likely to rubber stamp Harper’s every request to prorogue Parliament…. butbutbut, wait a minute:  if so, then why was he appointed at all, given Steve’s insane totalitarian fascist dictatorial tendencies?

I keed.  Johnston seems like a politically-astute appointment in what will likely be an election year; intelligent, uncontroversial and inoffensive.   Since recent polls indicate that for the foreseeable future we’ll be governed by a Conservative minority propped up by the usual sleazy consortium of spineless pimps and hacks known as “the opposition”, and with Harper’s Conservatives standing by to usurp the Liberals’ role as “Canada’s Natural Governing Party”, maybe Harpie isn’t too worried about the future.

MSR: Men In Black

This is too good to miss:  at the Maple Syrup Revolution this week, the Rev and Dave of the Galloping Beaver discuss the G20 demonstrations last weekend.

The Rev could not have chosen a better interview in the confusing week following the G20:  with his experience in the Military and security fields, Dave can see angles of the story that might escape the average person.   I at least finished listening to the interview with the feeling that I’d learned something, and in this day and age of 7-second sound bites and moronic partisan talking points, that is impressive.  Have a listen.

Excellent work!

Lawnorder: We can has it

Stand back: according to an Angus Reid poll taken earlier this week, the majority of Canadians (and an overwhelming majority of Torontonians) are onside with the police response to the G20 demonstration –

– Surprise!  Not really.

Even if the question had been framed as Kateland suggests in the comments here –

If AR had asked ‘were the police justified in violating most innocent citizens charter rights’ – it might have come out differently.

– I doubt it would have significantly changed the results.  People generally have trouble with the concept that protecting the rights of the few ultimately protects the rights of all — for an example of this truly benighted state of mind, look no further than here.   I suspect the general public has no problem with the violation of Charter rights of innocent citizens if they believe that’s the cost of keeping order.

My own *completely unscientific* poll of grocery store customers seems to support this hypothesis.  The majority opinion was that the cops were “damned if they do, damned if they don’t”, a consensus that gives law enforcement a convenient loophole to slither out of for both heavy-handedness with peaceful protesters and failure to respond to the small minority who were shit-disturbing.  Such a response would not have surprised me in Toronto or any other city, but in an area where personal liberty is the prevailing ideology, I was a little dismayed to see so much authoritarian bootlicking. Civil rights seem to lose their sheen when people are made to feel that order has been threatened.