Category: Government

Dust ’em off and trot ’em out, boys and girls, because this one has to have earned at least a good-sized bunch of them. Yup, that’s right: a bunch of boneheads in Poland’s lower house are touting the idea of naming Jesus Christ the honourary king of Poland.

HEY, guys… what the hell are you thinking???

Not surprisingly, the Church in the overwhelmingly Catholic country is NOT amused with the idea:

The proposal “marks an overuse of religion for political goals,” Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, a member of the Catholic Church Episcopate, said in an interview with the station. Archbishop Slawomir Glodz, also a member, told TVN24 “legislators should steer clear of things they have no idea about.”

I’m not big on it either. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure those guys’ hearts are in the right place; it’s their judgement that I find dubious. Perhaps they should have considered:

Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”
– John 18:36

Despite being Catholic, I have no real problem with the theory of evolution per se.  It’s actually rather neat and tidy, when you think about it.  Things that can survive, do.  Things that aren’t properly equipped and adapted to the realities of the world in which they live, don’t.  Sort of like nature’s way of keeping the traffic moving.

If you’re wondering why I’m babbling about evolution, it’s because yet another dinosaur is facing extinction: the City of London Board of Control:

The fate of London’s board of control is in the hands of a simple majority of city council.

Amendments to the Ontario Municipal Act approved yesterday at Queen’s Park reduces the required two-thirds majority vote of council to abolish board of control to a simple majority, or 10 of 19 council members.

And it removes the need for Ontario Municipal Board approval of any change.

Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best, who supports abolishing the board, said she expects the issue to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

Okay, so maybe Annie’s not a total writeoff, after all.

Just about everybody hopping into the ring in this little circus –regardless of what side of the issue they’re on– all seem to agree that nothing is going to get done on this until after the 2007 budget is dealt with.  Fair enough; deal with things in order.  But this sauntering sauropod has been lumbering across the London political landscape like a bull in a china shop for decades past its best-before date and it’s damn well high time that it was put out of our misery.  London is the last city in Canada with a board of control.  Just shoot the damn diplodocus and get on with business, already.

Hm.  Come to think of it, now that Joe “I campaigned against it before I ran for it” Swan is back in town again, I wonder how long it will take before he starts hooting about this?

Since this site is on a blogroll that is family-friendly and their aggregator picks up the first 400 characters of each post, I’m going to have to be somewhat restrained for couple of paragraphs. But I am still TOTALLY [BLEEP]ed off, so here goes…

Well, now; isn’t THIS just a big [BLEEP]ing surprise to everyone? It seems that the [BLEEP]ing [BLEEP]heads down at [BLEEP]ing London City Hall, even if you lined them all up [BLEEP] to [BLEEP], couldn’t find mathematical common sense with both hands and a [BLEEP]ing map if you nailed it to the ends of their [BLEEP]s:

London city hall is sitting on another fat surplus this year and the fight over how to use it began last night.

City coffers will have an extra $8.1 million at year’s end, staff project, the third year in the row the city’s taken in more money than it has spent — more than $30 million over three years.

City finance boss Vic Cote wants to use most of the surplus to reduce debt and for spending initiatives.

Far down the priority pole is offering immediate relief to homeowners, who face a projected tax hike of between 3.5 and 4.5 per cent, including water and sewer charges.

Yup, that’s right: as we wade into yet another term stuck with Anne Marie DeCicco-Clearly-Not-The-Best, we’re averaging $10 MILLION a year in surplus (for those of you who are wondering, that comes out to about thirty-one bucks a head for every man, woman and child in the city) and the Tax And Spend Squad are STILL cranking it to Joe and Jane Lunchbox.

Vic Cote came dangerously close to growing a brain when he was talking about using the surplus to pay down the municipal debt (something I’m always in favour of) but then he blew it by barfing up a hairball about “spending initiatives” and suggesting a paltry 600 grand for tax relief. Gee whiz, Vic; thanks there, buddy. Yer a real font of… well, you know.

Somebody (I’m not sure who) tabled a motion to nix this bullshit last night but it died on the floor by one vote. The Freeps had how they voted:

Yes: Gina Barber, Bill Armstrong, Susan Eagle, David Winninger, Paul Van Meerbergen, Judy Bryant, Walter Lonc, Joni Baechler and Harold Usher.

No: Anne Marie DeCicco-Best, Tom Gosnell, Bud Polhill, Gord Hume, Steve Orser, Roger Caranci, Paul Hubert, Cheryl Miller, Nancy Branscombe and Bernie MacDonald.

And for the record: no, I don’t pay city taxes. Not directly, anyway; I rent. But I know plenty of folks that do, and every one of them are getting sick and God damned tired of having to take a screwing every year while City Hall counts up the extra quid every December. These people are pissed.

And I don’t blame ’em one bit.

Just because I haven’t been around for a couple o’ days doesn’t mean that I haven’t got anything to say.

It seems that the HypoGrits have dropped a big ol’ brick o’ fudge in their collective longjohns over Harper’s intentions to take the first steps to follow through on his commitment to actually introduce a little bit of democracy into their precious little Red Chamber.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find that monicker — “Red Chamber” — to be more than just a little ironic? For years, the Librano$ have used the Senate as their personal porkbarrel for favoured stooges and little political failsafe against any legislation that they might not like. Hey, just because the public boots you from office doesn’t mean you can’t still gum up the works with your appointed/annointed Senate flunkies; right? To listen to the Fiberals, you’d think that ol’ Steve was raping the very soul of Canadian traditions. Newly-minted UberGrit Stephane Dion cacked up this lovely little hairball for the rest of us to have a look at:

“…completely irresponsible… The very moment the two chambers would be elected, they would have (the) same behaviour, a greater likelihood that you would have a stalemate without some kind of dispute mechanism.”

Like the kind of stalemates that we have now, whenever the Grits don’t like something? Smirkin’ Jack! wasn’t any better:

“It will give the Senate more dysfunctionality and they’ll be able to monkey with the business of the House of Commons even more then they have up to now.”

And you just know that you can’t possibly have something like this on the table without hearing of doom, gloom and general asshattery from the lollygagging Librano$ of the Upper House:

“We’ve had it since Confederation and it does very good work,” said Sen. Art Eggleton, a former Liberal cabinet minister.

“This is silliness quite frankly. Mr. Harper should be focused on the environment, on Afghanistan,” added Sen. Terry Mercer.

Of course. Anything that might curtail the Librano$’ ability to monkey with the wishes of the people, as expressed through their choice of representation, must be silly. I mean, come on now, we can’t have the unwashed masses sticking their noses into the business of choosing who gets to play in the high-an’-mighty Fiberals’ personal little sandbox now, can we? How silly would that be??

This one though, has just got to be my favourite:

“We don’t want to start a new constitutional round,” added Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe.

Hey, Gillesigan, listen up: When Quebec actually signs the Constitution, then Quebec can bitch about it. Until then, kindly stick a croisant in it and shut the f#*% up!

Then, there are the proposed changes to the Human Rights Act, which have essensially left the Liberals — the “natural guardians” of all human rights in Canada 🙄 — shrieking “HE STOLE MY BALLOONS!!” at the top of their lungs:

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice wants to repeal a 30-year-old section of the Human Rights Act that has blocked complaints against Ottawa and band councils acting under the archaic Indian Act.

“First Nations citizens don’t have the same rights and remedies as other Canadians,” Prentice said. “We think that’s unacceptable and we’re prepared to move on it.”

Very interesting that they should be bothered by this. Even more interesting that so many band councils should have their panties in a bunch over it:

National native leaders rejected the bill, however, saying they can’t support what they called a rushed and unilateral move that would sow dissent and tension on reserves.

Is that so? Gee whiz, guys, what the heck makes you say that? Just what is it about giving natives, particularly native women, the same rights to avenues of redress that every honky in the land has enjoyed for … well, for as long as I can remember, anyway?

Already cash-strapped band councils could be peppered with claims. Allegations of unfair treatment would likely range from housing disputes to fights over how higher education funds are shared.

Ottawa is also expected to be targeted for various despised policies. Those include Indian Act rules governing status.

For years, the Indian Act stripped thousands of native women of their Indian status along with rights and benefits when they married non-native men.

So let me see if I’ve got this straight: You think this act is a bad thing because, if it goes through, you guys might find yourselves suddenly accountable to the very folks that you’ve shafted. Have I got that right?

Well, the feds are going to be in the crosshairs too, but you don’t hear them complaining. Sounds like they’re actually willing to stand up and take responsibility for past screwups that they didn’t even do (maybe because they know that the Fiberals never will).

Once again, the Tories are making good on promises that they made — and that other parties made too, but nevered fulfilled them — and once again, the predictable suspects are howling that the sky is falling.

Nope. Nothing new here.

And away we go. Strap yourselves in, boys and girls, because this ride is promising to be bumpier than a ride on Highway 32 at 120Kmph. Yes, the big, bad Tories are making good on yet another election promise by bringing the issue of same-sex “marriage” back to the House, this time for a free vote, and the usuals are wasting no time getting themselves worked up into a lather. Gee, what are the odds? 🙄

The Conservative government under HMPM Stephen Harper has announced that they are going to fulfill their election promise to review Bill C-38 in the Commons and submit the issue to a truly free vote.

Government sources say the Conservatives will table a motion asking MPs whether the debate on gay marriage should be re-opened, which could see debate start Wednesday and could be voted on late next week.

The HypoGrits and their social engineering henchmen would have you believe that this is all a done deal and that the Tories are whipping a dead horse because there “has already been a free vote” on the issue. But Bill C-38, you may recall, was undemocratically rammed through the House in June of last year after then-PM Martin ordered all cabinet ministers to vote in favour of the bill or else lose their jobs. Joe Comuzzi, the minister responsible for Northern Ontario, resigned his post in protest so that he could vote against the bill. The final count: 158-133.

Hardly an ideological victory, especially when one considers that the entire Liberal cabinet was voting under duress. The Grits at the time, tried to spin this issue as a question of the Charter:

The “vote is about the Charter of Rights,” said Martin. “We’re a nation of minorities and in a nation of minorities you don’t cherry-pick rights.”

There’s just one little problem with that: the Charter — which was a poorly thought-out document to begin with — says absolutely nothing about gay marriage, or homosexuality, or marriage, or sexual inclination, or anything else having to do with this issue. You will find no reference whatsoever to sexual orientation anywhere in the Charter. It just plain isn’t there. The courts, however, have decided that they can “read in” things that aren’t in the Charter and that the Charter, therefore, says whatever they say it says.

Ever since then, the Charter has been wielded as a hatchet by a motley assortment of malevolent social engineering malcontents to impose upon the rest of us changes to our very way of life that could never have been passed in the House (where all who sit are periodically held accountable to those whose lives they are fiddling with). It has also been used in some truly disturbing ways, not the least of which is the erosion of religious rights, by federally funded special interest groups, under the pretense of “equality.”

As a result of all this Machiavellian manipulation and using the Charter as a sword rather than a shield, this issue has become less and less about whether or not Adam and Steve can get hitched and more and more about just who does and does not make the laws in this country: the government (chosen by, and accountable to, the people) or the courts (elected by, and accountable to, none)? When laws are made by those who owe no obedience whatsoever to the citizenry, there is a name for that kind of system; and it’s not democracy.

What kind of country do you want to live in?

Yes, I did.  Silly me thought that just because the byelection in London North Centre was a done deal, Pearson won and all that, that was going to be the last that we heard of it.  We could get on with the rest of our lives.  Man, but I can be naive sometimes.

It seems that the London cops have decided to open an investigation into something of a rather unsavoury incident that occurred a few days before we went to the polls:

At the request of London’s Muslim and Jewish communities, police are probing a fake flyer left at doors of several Jewish homes days before the federal London-North-Centre byelection, Chief Murray Faulkner said yesterday.

Disguised as a political endorsement of Liberal candidate Glen Pearson by the Canadian Islamic Congress, the back of the flyer had three cartoons reflecting a close link between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Israel.

The CIC has denied involvement with the flyer, which seems to suggest Muslims should support Pearson because the Harper government is pro-Israel.

Somebody, anybody, I don’t care who… give me a God damned break. We in London have better things to do with our time than sit back and watch the spectacular turd typhoon that this will no doubt kick up.

No doubt, it will be only a matter of time before the usual suspects pop up to begin the monomaniacal debate over who should be most offended; Muslims or Jews? “Hate crime” and all the other favourite buzzwords will fly fast and furious and we’ll all be gawking at our bellybuttons till our eyes pop out. 🙄

All this — and much, much more — because of what, more likely than not, was nothing more than a couple of little shit-disturbers with a dumbass sense of humour, access to daddy’s PC and printer and too damned much time on their hands…