Is our world mad, mad, mad? You bet!

It's been one of those normal days! Conflict and confusion without end. Amen.

President Obama tells us we must all encourage education, especially in technology. So, today, some splendid young woman was the first to get a degree in...Biology? Wrong! Battlefields of yore? Wrong again! BS without end? Meme chose! The academic subject is The Beatles! Seems the city of Liverpool sponsored her.

The Montreal Gazette also advised me in health club etiquettte; don't spit in the water fountain, while the Middle East continues to fall apart in a hurry.

Apparently, even voters lie when phoned by pollsters, so what is their real purpose, if any? I refer to both pollsters and the polled.

Will there be an election soon? Who cares? When do our MPs work, and at what? Who knows!
They scream at each other when Parliament is in session, to impress the voters. What they do interim remains one of the great mysteries of Canada.  They left for Christmas on December 16th, 2010. They start yelling again on January 31st, 2011.

Michael Ignatieff's been taking drama lessons; "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Stephen remains hidden in the washroom while Jack is searching for a hair restorer. As for Ms. May, she is totally preoccupied with finding a famous name she can contest when/if the great day comes and she meets the same fate she did when she "battled" PeterMcKay last time. That woman loves a fight. Win or lose! If she won one, she would look better.

You people have a great day and try to keep a smile on your face. I know it ain't easy. But this brought a laugh - a sign we could put on the front door of Parliament perhaps?

                      ________________________________                       
                               
                               OUT TO LUNCH
                   IF NOT BACK BY 5 P.M.
                THEN OUT TO DINNER TOO
               __________________________

Oink! Oink!

Very little is sacred these days. As Cole Porter would have put it, "Anything goes!" Since the Jaffer affair, lobbying has become a hot topic. Nevertheless, no one appears to object to lobbying, in one form or another. It is baffling! In our democracies, Ottawa's Parliament, the USA's Congress or the British House of Commons and House of Lords, it is not a violation to "persuade" people in power to sway their decisions. Persuasion for profit? Influence peddling? More like bribery - and viewed as criminal - outside politics.

What of party politics? Good? Sound? Honest? The great Winston Churchill changed parties twice. In those good old days a child of the elite went to Eton or Harrow; Oxford or Cambridge; short stint in the Grenadier or Coldstream Guards and then...decided which of the parties offered the best chance of a job! Jean Charest is a Conservative. He ran for the federal Conservative leadership in 1993 and lost to Kim Campbell, who got trounced in her first, and only, election. So, Jean became a provincial Liberal and is now Premier of Quebec with three consecutive minority election wins.

Then there is the matter of how many "jobs" an elected Member of Parliament, etc., can hold/manage. If s/he is a lawyer, it is acceptable to continue to practice. Run a construction company, you do not have to quit that job, or sell the company, to work serving the people!

The last straw happened yesterday. The Auditor-General, Sheila Fraser, courteously made a request to audit the expense accounts of the MPs, et al. The members of all parties, (about to embark on a seven-day sojourn of R and R) ran for the exits to avoid the press, and the reply to the A-G was, "No!" Such arrogance is appalling. Who the hell is in charge in Canada? Does the A-G need to ask? The figures spent by parliamentarians, reported by the CBC, is half a billion...that's right, billion dollars. Surely such a huge sum has to qualify for audit. That the members were reluctant to submit is immediately suspect.

The whole rotten bag-of-tricks needs replacing. I don't mean by electing Michael Ignatieff as P.M. That would be more of the same. We urgently require a national enquiry to determine EXACTLY what the duties of Members of Parliament, and their flunkies, hangers-on, lobbyists, etc., etc. are. What, EXACTLY, are their job descriptions, responsibilities, vacation periods (including periods of proroguing) salaries, extras (especially the extras). It won't happen, you say? You are probably right but until we, the voters, tell them what we will accept, you can bet your breeches the greed element in  them will go unchecked. The oinking 'on the Hill' has become deafening....

Transparent: Easily Seen Through!

Speaker Milliken is to be applauded for taking the high road in the Afghan torture affair. Alas, his follow-up comment that he hopes a compromise can be found, weakens his resolve and his position as Speaker. If Parliament is supreme, why do we need compromise? The relevant documents must be brought forth, intact and uncensored - and without further delay.
Prime Minister Harper flaunted the word transparent when mesmerizing Canadians during his first election campaign. Ever since, he has been decidedly more opaque (impenetrable to sight). The only thing transparent to Canadian citizens is the fact that Mr. Harper and his government are involved in a cover-up. There is an abundance of evidence that crimes have been committed in Afghanistan which deserve scrutiny. Responsible government is a cornerstone of Canada's independence as a nation.

Is Stephen Harper Desperate?

Recently he wanted to save the poor, the hungry and the devastated homeless of the world. Today he is a different saviour; he must get on that white horse and save us all from Iran.
The USA has thousands of nuclear warheads. Pakistan has fewer but they are, perhaps, less stable. Israel, China, India, the UK, France, et al, have more than enough. It is easy for the 'haves' to tell the 'have-nots': "Pull up the ladder, Jack, I'm on the wall!" That is perfectly normal in the right-wing world. It is hard, however, to justify preventing nations from developing atomic energy that provides services for their people.
Harper has now announced that an attack on Israel will be considered an attack on Canada...oh dear.
Surely he is not hoping to get our minds off him by developing our own nuclear weaponry?
What next can Mr. Harper think of to recover from proroguing Parliament? After all, "Canadians don't care," he said.
His time might be better spent doing the job we pay him for - running a Canadian parliamentary minority government.