If you make things sound inoffensively obvious, than it is likely that no one will listen closely. B. W. Powe, Towards A Canada Of Light, p. 92
It seems to the Oracle of Ottawa, the one certain way to sign up for a 24/7 colonoscopy , is to be the newbie mayor of the largest city in Canada and then sneak out a 1000 man police force layoff notice to the press in the dog days of summer so that the Chief of Police will hear second hand on the six o'clock news! Now the Oracle of Ottawa has never had the pleasure of elected office, but if he did, this is one thing that he would certainly not risk! And by the look of the picture of the Toronto Police Chief in today's Globe and Mail the Oracle of Ottawa is more right than wrong yet again!
"Robina" rocks the Casba...
I am sure that the people of Toronto will be very pleased with the 2,500 new ex "mall cops" who will no doubt replace the thousand sworn members, now soon to be unemployed! Don't you wish you could see the method here? Oh! There is no method? Well...
Video I
All that is left to wonder about I guess is who is going to get the tax farm concession for the municipal property taxes? Maybe that nice Swiss accounting firm, that seems to know everything about Toronto...Maybe Rob will pay another visit to Dalton and try to get the Province of Ontario to do it for nothing? It is always worth a try, especially if a lot of the press show up and take pictures and all. One shudders in the realization that Jane Jacobs was probably right after all, and we are all doomed.
Video II
Forgive this 'umble blogger, but I just couldn't help but notice the incredible similarities of the two "actors" in Video I and Video II.
The accumulation of capital and misery go hand in hand, concentrated in space. David Harvey, The Limits To Capital, p. 418
The hits have gone to nearly zero, the political landscape is all but decimated, the barbarians have arrived. The neo-liberal, Bilderberg Group social deconstruction will begin anew again, in a couple of weeks. Old style capitalism works, it is efficient, the tenants assemble out on Donald Street, the tony little Scum Lord addresses the local vulgar media. It is only the second time in less than a few years that the whole electrical system was blown out of residential building in Ottawa. No recourse, the proles suffer what they must. The cheques, hidden by a numbered company and many shell corporations will find their way to a beach somewhere in the middle-east. To a country that hasn't long to go. To peoples on the beach like marooned whales who have even a shorter future.
Beating back the barbarians...
No charges will be pressed by the City. Another unfortunate act of God. We must welcome business, any kind of business. Capitalism, it works, it is efficient. But as the wise know, there will come along a disaster, that all the corruption in the world will not be able to cover over. Yes, one fine day and sooner than you think, one of these Scum Lord towers will collapse. It happens in places like New York City and Pakistan and India all the time. Globalization rent large.
Amalgamation was a brilliant Tory idea. It makes everything so easy to corrupt. It makes the patronage totally controllable. And most importantly, it removes that most annoying feature of an equitable socially just society, countervailing power. Rock on in the remnants of the once free world...
Mental conceptions of the world can become a 'material force' in a double sense; they become 'objectified' in material objects and materialized in actual production processes. David Harvey, The Limits To Capital, p. 101
The Oracle of Ottawa is certainly not innumerate. As a matter of fact he has a very good grounding in numbers indeed! Due to security concerns there is no need to delve into any great detail. But suffice it to say that the said grounding in all things numeric has allowed the Oracle of Ottawa a much greater limit of freedom than an ordinary person. Why it is one of the main reasons he is now free to regale you with his near daily missives.
Damn logarithms are everywhere!!
Aside from the utter joy of seeing my verbal constructs in immediate print and marveling at my God gifted artsie limp wrist when it it comes to all things of effective graphic design, the Oracle of Ottawa realizes that he abounds in wealth of more than one kind. One of the most interesting places in the blog has become the Stats section. Some weird things are going on here that I have not seen mentioned in any math book that I have read lately. It appears that there are two very clear demonstrations of the logarithmic distribution at play
Logarithmic distribution....
The first one seems to appear in the top ten hits. I will list the articles by number as a percentage of the total hits of the whole blog....
The conclusion? Well, from a total posting of 165 posts, the top-ten posts will amount for over half (!!) of the total hits of the blog! ( 51.70% exactly...) To this blogger, that is rather extraordinary in deed! The second display of the log distribution resides in the top-ten viewing countries! I will list the top-ten countries by percentage of total blog views....
The conclusion here is that about 90% of your total blog views will come from just ten countries! ( 89.77% exactly..) Who ever said that doing math is boring? And a little "experiment" like this is essentially doing applied math... I am still amazed that the distribution is so logarithmic, I expected a much less pronounced or "flatter" distribution...Always look for yourself and always think for yourself!!
Don't believe me? Watch my buddy here, he backs me up nice....
I answer that, It must be said that every evil in some way has a cause. For evil is the absence of the good, which is natural and due to a thing. Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, First Part, Question 49, Article 1
The Thinking About Thinking project continues a pace. After yet another bout of dangerous reflection the Oracle of Ottawa has had yet another epiphany! This time it was on the subject of the where and why of the reason and cause of building tunnels in Ottawa that has become such a hotly pursued and debated topic over the last few years. It is all a bit complicated and weird, but having delved to the depths of the problem, the Oracle of Ottawa will explain it you from its basic root axioms...
This post requires the couch...
If, dear reader, you have your wits about you, you will easily remember that the whole tunnel mess was conceived during the last Cue-ball administration. This administration as you will well recall had very close ties to the Conservative Party of Canada. It therefore is essentially a problem of anal retentiveness which regrettably spread to all members of the City Council in albeit, varying degree's.
Sigmund Freud says; Oy vey!
Now it all gets dark and gross. Conservatives, as a class, want to consume and suck up all the evil and poison of the Earth. To eat it all and to retain it, and to never to shit it out of their bloated bodies! This is the common unifying element of being a Conservative! Now the subway tunnel can be rationalized as the large intestinal colon or "shit track". Following me so far? Good... Now subway tunnels are in and of themselves not evil. But must be seen as Freudian vehicle that the Conservative wishes to transfer to his evil being internally. i.e. Since not even the most gross and obese Conservative can eat a whole tunnel, they are socially deconstructing it and are there fore able to attempt, with seeming success, to ram the idea of the ultimate "shit track" up their own arses ideologically!
Tunnel - Arsehole...Got it?
Thank-you, I know, I know, a brilliant diagnosis! Now that you as a taxpayer and stakeholder know the ideological basis of this obsessive-compulsive disorder you will be well armed to fight it to its early and permanent demise. As a further example, when you observe an over rotund city councilor from Skank-Haven (sporting a childs Tonka hard hat, since it is the only one small enough to fit his pin head...) gushing in front of the cameras of the vulgar local media that the act of covering one of Andy Haydons Transit Way depressions with a roof, as per Woodroffe Avenue, is now a great tunnel project you will understand without further explanation that placing a roof over a great mans ditch does not make it a tunnel! Q.E.D.
When I think of all the good things still to be written I am glad, for there is no end to them, and I know I myself shall write some of them. William Saroyan, The Bicycle Rider In Beverly Hills, p, 9
If it hasn't dawned on you yet, the Oracle of Ottawa leans pretty far to the Left. So you might be wondering why I have the Adsense set up. Well truth be told, it all has to do with irony and it is part of the graphic design of the little blog offering. For example you can write about right wing nutters and like magic you will have an American Heritage banner ad! Loads of laughs..
You want a piece of me dick head??
If writing only happened to get Adsense chump change all the Adsense servers would spin down to zero in a nano-second! There is absolutely nothing in it! But if you insist, a little tip. If you want the big click money just don't forget to mention one little word; insurance...You can just sort of work it in on each post.. Too Easy! Of course corporations are not psychopathic entities at all. That is why when you write a tribute piece on someone who passes away from cancer there will appear a great selection of ads to sell health insurance, even if you live in Canada! It does give a great shade of irony to the page...
Opps! Time for some happy....
It amazes the Oracle of Ottawa all the little whores that will gladly jump your wagon of boundless talent in the hope that some of your brilliance will be fungible to their little shit ball entities! There is no such thing as pride in the corporate whore world. The Oracle of Ottawa often wonders why you rube proles put up with the abuse you smile through every day of your over marketed, wasted lives! It would all stop if you simply stopped giving your money and your life blood service to the shit companies you dread the utter sight of!
But you are so far gone and your balls have retreated so far back up into your thorax that you could join a ladies only golf club! Ya, go ahead and Twitter me you fucking twit! Or better yet de-friend me on Facebook you fucking moron! Is that your smartphone vibrating or is it the Grim Reaper trying to tell (sell?) you something? And for crying out loud, don't click on any thing, it only encourages them...
The state in some form or another is a necessary precondition to the establishment of values. David Harvey, The Limits To Capital, p. 19
Unexpected and untimely death is a harsh reality of public and private life. But as Jack often said, the movement and the party is always bigger than any one man. It is Jack Laytons greatest legacy to have taken the NDP as close as they have ever gotten to the mountain top. With the inspiration from the vistas and the views, of which the legacy, that the leadership Jack has so selflessly provided, there will be found the strength for the final push to the summit.
Jack Layton - press conference, Quebec City
August is supposed to be the slow time of the year. One does not expect to be shocked awake by hearing of the news of the unexpected passing of a Great Canadian. The outpouring has been immense and quite surprising. Proving that the fire is more deeply planted and burns hotter then had been expected in the souls of the many Canadians that Jack has inspired in life.
The similarity didn't bother
me at all!
Jack was one subtle bastard, he never came right out and said it out loud, but he was fully aware of the present period of neoliberal social deconstruction that we are all being subjected to. He saw it as clearly as he understood the concept of the country of Canada. He was one of the present small handful of men in contemporary federal public life, that from this humble scribes view, truly "got" Canada.
In the House there will be one empty seat, but it will be surrounded and protected with a new found vigor and the gift of an unchanging, forever focused, searing, penetrating vision of the future that all Canadians can have and deserve to have. This, history will record, was Jack Laytons greatest gift.
Unfair exchange, pillage, robbery and all manner of other coercive practices can sustain such systems for a while. But in the end it becomes necessary to master production itself in order to resolve the fundamental contradiction between the equality presupposed by exchange and the inequality required to gain profit. David Harvey, The Limits To Capital, p. 33
It is very seldom that an article in a broad sheet newspaper can utterly floor the Oracle of Ottawa. But this Friday past, an article written by Susan Krashinsky in the Globe And Mail, in the Report On Business section, page B3 certainly moved the earth under this readers feet! The said article was entitled; "Sun News abandons free spot on the dial" with the tag line; "At the end of October, the news channel will only be available through subscription services". Apparently "free access" will end in Ottawa at the end of August for "administrative" reasons and then throughout the rest of Ontario on November 01 2011! Total victory? I simply couldn't believe it! I read the article several more times.. Then I cut it out and saved it in my day journal, what a total victory!!
Sunset at Sun News?
If you read the article, the wording is really kind of weird, which I believe is reflecting caution.So I went to the Rogers television website, and at the right bottom of the page you can find your province and then enter your city for your plan and the channel list will open in a pop-up. And the lads at Rogers are certainly not letting the grass grow under their feet on this issue! They have already updated the channel list and channel 66 is no more! As of midnight Wednesday August 31 the Oracle of Ottawa will be in a Sun Free Zone ! So one can then assume that the rest of the province of Ontario will be in Sun Free Zones at the end of October. Before I watch Charlie Rose on August 31, I will dial up channel 66 and watch it go to noise! The Oracle of Ottawa will enjoy this greatly!! GOOD RIDDANCE!!
We hardly got to know ye!!
What do you think the chances are that Sun News Network will have a "specialty agreement" with Rogers and Cogeco by the end of this month or the end of October? From the already updated channel list I would have to say that chance is less than zero! Thank You Rogers!! And what do you think the chances are that someone will select a specialty package with Sun News Network in it? Yeah, about zero...Notice to all employees: Please return all on air costumes to the Skank Locker at central wardrobe.....
It was only last Saturday in the Ottawa Sun newspaper that the great Canadian journalist marc dunn wrote on page two that "We Will Not Be Muzzled!". Did the great journalist know at that time that management had already sold them out, or did the said "journalist" write a lie to keep a smile on the faces of the on air types until the end of August in Ottawa and the end of October in the other parts of Ontario?....Insert the word perfidy anywhere...
Corporations now govern society, perhaps more than governments themselves do; yet ironically, it is their very power, much of which they have gained through economic globalization, that makes them vulnerable. Joel Bakan, The Corporation, p. 25
The Oracle of Ottawas Thinking About Thinking Project continues. And upon another period of very dangerous reflection I fear that I have made yet another very important breakthrough! I am again totally shocked at the yield of this little thought experiment project and am very nearly at the point of having to vigorously disagree with the great man, Stephen Hawking, over his announcement of the death of philosophy.
Your interests as a Citizen are superseded
by more "urgent" interests...
The subject of the latest breakthrough concerns the utter stall out of social progress in Canada. Pondering my childhood in the 1960's and the veritable wave of social reforms that seemed to happen all at once and that have proved their worth by still existing, I can't for the life of me understand why it is that we can't get to at least the same level as Norway and the host of European nations that enjoy wonderful social programs that allow each and every citizen to realize his/her maximum potential. Where did it all go wrong?
Spend less..Live better??
I figured by now we would all have a guaranteed income at a healthy rate above the Statistics Canada poverty line.That government run Day Care would be a breeze and of course free education to the doctorate level would have been old hat by now, among other important programs. But alas, we seem in reality that we are regressing to the time of the "factory day" as per the lifetime of Karl Marx! It is all very depressing, and one wonders how this has all come about. It certainly isn't because Canada is a poor country and can't afford it! Then it all dawned on me....
Want fries with your wasted life??
It is all because of the Canadian Conservative Party and the federally registered lobbyists! For example, the reason we don't have coast to coast free daycare is that all children would get, among other things, proper toilet training. Why just ponder the effects! In about two decades we would essentially eliminate all citizens of the anally retentive kind. The effect of this would be very dire indeed! Who would be left to vote Conservative?
Sorry, some things are more important than social programs!
And the reason, I fear, that we do not have free education to the doctorate level is simply that there would be no one left, willing or otherwise, to work in the lowlife jobs! Such as flipping burgers or stocking shelves at the local Mega-Low Mart for minimum wage. Quite simply your interests are not as important to those in power as the interests that the whore federally registered lobbyists represent! What? You don't feel loved? Back to work you lowlife prole!!
Since there is a God...Why do you have to lobby for Him and/or Her?
Most people hope that history in their lifetime will unfold in a gently upward linear line. There goes the Oracle of Ottawa confusing yesterday with today again. I was thinking of all the better things of yesterday and my mind crashed into insurance. Remember all the choice one had? Where oh where have all the Canadian insurance companies gone? Gone to corporate consolidation, every one...Many of the great and grand Canadian insurance companies of the past were set up explicitly to provide insurance at a reasonable rate for the "insureds" and the "annuitants", these companies were owned by their policy holders. Do you ever remember one of those grand old companies dragging or stiffing a payout? Thought so, neither do I...
What insurance should be...
Then around the 1980's it seemed that the snot nosed MBA geeks thought it would be a great idea to takeover by any means possible all these stiff competitors. And many started to vanish into the maws of the colossal corporate whores. If you want to follow along just go to Wikipedia and check out the List of Canadian insurance companies. Pretty interesting isn't it? If by chance you are an old school insurance nerd you will probably add the missing ones, I know the list is not complete and thanks in advance!
If you are the average-joe, anywhere in North America and especially in Canada you must have noticed the nasty turn of attitude and events with your corporate insurer. Upon reflection, I noticed a real change after 9/11, but the reason upon even more dangerous reflection had nothing really to do with it. This was also the time that the corporate colossal whores were just then discovering that selling insurance to asian barbarians, just out of their rice paddies is a very hard dollar indeed! Not to mention the the ever increasing grease required for the local party officials! But Canadian corporate insurance companies are a lot like American Republicans digging a hole, when it starts to fall in on you, you don't quit, you just go and get a bigger shovel!
Well guess what? You and I here in Canada are the shovels! Flattered? No?
Maritime Insurance -1786 -
In recent years this has caused a silent wall of horror stories in the large insured corporate groups here in Canada. It seems that the snot nosed geeks discovered that you could boost the bottom line by corrupting the people in the benefits office and splitting the huge difference with the guilty parties...Like when you take over from a competent insurer and then charge more for the life insurance and then lower the coverage without letting the insured know! If you not cheating your not trying, right? Then harass the life insurance holders with the smoking coverage, that they are paying a premium for, until they no longer respond and use that as the reason to charge more and lower the coverage again! (cover me...Lord) But the real gold is in the long term disability coverage! If you can get away without paying for the cancer types and the queers that go a downer because of terminal Aids you have a virtual gold mine! Especially if the group is over 10,000 members in size! The snot nosed geeks figured out a sure fire method here to.
N. Bowditch, The first American actuary...
What you do is simple and plain on the surface. You get all those worthless goners with cancer and Aids that are surely sandbagging the system and you require them to get their doctors and specialists to write up an essay on and about what was done on each visit! Of course the medical types have no time for this and when the required "essays" are not coming in you simply cut off the "insureds" pay and or benefits! Brilliant! They will usaully commit suicide all by themselves. Results? Bottom line fat as hell! Make sure all the "accomplices" get a free week end at that water front cottage! If you can corrupt the union garbage, bonus, let them have a taste to! LOL!! Too easy! (cover me...Lord)
But what is an honest man to do today? Well, the Oracle of Ottawa will not only bitch, but he will provide you with some good practical tips to survive the snake pit of corporate insurers. First thing, take only the absolute minimum from your employer. For decades this was the best deal for the average Canadian, but sadly this is no longer true. Do you have a father or mother, brother, sister or uncle, aunt that is a an Anglican Minister or an Ontario School teacher? Or is your spouse a federal or provincial civil servant? Investigate these insurance options. If you are not from this slice of the social strata fear not...
Investigate Fraternal Orders! They have excellent insurance! For example the Independent Order of Foresters! Another Fraternal order that I discovered and was really surprised by was the Knights of Columbus! They not only sell insurance but hold the highest A. M. Best rating, one of only two in all of Canada!! I always thought that they only held great fiddle contests and wicked bean suppers! It seems that the best insurance deals are discovered not marketed and sold!! Good luck and if you know of any other excellent deals in this mode pleases leave a comment!!
Who knew? The Knights are kicking insurance ass...way better than corporate insurance??
The introduction of a substantial Government transfer tax on all transactions might prove the most serviceable reform available, with a view to mitigating the predominance of speculation over enterprise in the United States. John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory Of Employment, Interest And Money, p. 160
Who says that European types don't work in August? One must wonder if the earth moved in the United States, China and Japan? The stock markets sure did! Even if these brilliant changes of the Euro Bonds and the financial transaction tax don't happen right away it is all but inevitable now, the cat is out of the bag. Try stuffing it back in...
John Maynard Keynes
It is time that we started taxing the world in a 21st century fashion instead of the old tired fashion of the 19th century. The Robin Hood tax, the Tobin tax, but the first person that proposed this tax that I could find, with a reference, is John Maynard Keynes! Therefore the the new financial transaction tax should be called the Keynes Tax. I could think of no higher tribute to one of the greatest economists of all time.
There are certainly going to be very powerful forces that will do everything in their power to prevent the full integration of the European Union and the issue of Euro Bonds and the worlds first financial transaction tax. Because once this happens, the world reserve currency, will in no time, and for once and for all, will be the Euro! Do you remember back when the Euro first came out? The Americans said that it would be lucky if it ever got to 60 cents U.S! Well as far as I can recall the Euro has traded in a band of roughly 1.40 - 1.60 U.S.! Opps!
Angela Merkel - Uber Babe!!
The European Union is going to be with us for a very long time. One of the reasons that will ensure its survival is that it is nearly totally impossible to corrupt by lobbying. Look at the United States. It is a two party system. What is the factorial of two? Yep, that's right, two. Now in the European Union with all its members and all its levels makes it nearly, if not impossible, to corrupt by lobby. This is the unnoticed and the major strength of the European Union. Simple as that.
And the Oracle of Ottawa is not in the least surprised that it is Angela Merkel at the helm here. As far as I am concerned Sarkozy is just along for the coat tail ride. He would be very wise to get on side and be on the right side of history and his high heels. I still say that the future belongs to the European Union. I see the world power of the future, and a long time into the future, not China (peasents...) or the United States, but the European Union. I will even go so far to predict that there will in the near future by net immigration to the European Union from the "New World"! Ponder that, dear demographer...
That little weeny tax will generate HOW MUCH?? It is an idea that is long overdue...
The bossiest of men commands in the name of another - his father- and transmits the abstract acts of violence which he puts up with. Jean-Paul Sarte, The Words, p. 21
If David "Grendel" Cameron was wondering what all those poor young men were angry about I am sure he has recently discovered the answer. If he was wondering if he could possibly get away with cutting back on the backs of the poorest he really got his answer! Right from day one this actor has really troubled the Oracle of Ottawa. A spoiled rotten brat with mega maniacal goals, which it seems that the whole world is going to have to pick up the tab for... Trouble large! Gordon Brown must surely look pretty good about now.
GCHQ can't listen in on Blackberry? lol...
The Oracle of Ottawa believes that when you cut social spending that affects the poor and/or the less affluent, it is the same as stealing wages from a workman or workwoman. Which in my old Catholic prayer book is a sin that screams to heaven for revenge. Who says God isn't listening? But what really pukes the Oracle of Ottawa is the gutless lying and spinning when the little Daver got his micro-dick stuck in the sharpener! There were a whole bunch of lies told here, and I feel pressed to expose a few of them, from my vantage point in the Colonies...
The real reason that the police response was not up to scratch was that the supervisors did not want to blow there manpower spreadsheets and therefore start lay-offs early and all the other cut back crap that even the London Police were facing. And the real hooter of the lie that the Oracle of Ottawa resents the most has to do with Research In Motion a great Canadian company and the effect of their product, the Blackberry, on the effect and the outcome the recent "rising". According to Little Dave the Blackberry messenger service cannot be read and therefore all the poor skid-marks had the total jump on the security of a first world nation state!
Heads will roll....
Does David Cameron mean to tell you and me that Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) cannot and is not constantly reading and monitoring Blackberry messenger? And every other damn form of communication in real time in the whole United Kingdom? Do you believe that? I sure as hell don't! Does this little shit mean to tell me that the same organization that beat the German Enigma code, which in the theory of the time was considered all but nearly unbeatable, has not kept up with the times and there fore can not read Blackberry messenger?
Do you use Blackberry messenger thinking that you are invincible? Your greener than grass! This fall should be really interesting. The Murdoch affair has many mines in the field that have not yet gone off. The roiling masses of the "lower class" are mightily pissed, the utter arrogance of little Lord Dave is going to transform itself into a modern day Grendel!
Corporations now govern society, perhaps more than governments themselves do; yet ironically; it is their very power, much of which they have gained through economic globalization, that makes them vulnerable. Joel Bakan, The Corporation, p. 25
The Oracle of Ottawa has never been much of a purveyor of "two-bit" journalism. But when the significant other requests that I pick up a copy of the Ottawa Sun paper on Saturday I always oblige. Since the said great paper is published in tabloid format, and is composed of the old style newsprint, it is ideal for the cat box and the bird cage. It never comes into the house to be actually read.
Sun Set At Sun News?
As I was dividing up the work of masterful journalism as per routine, I came across the compact article on page two written by one mark dunn entitled "We Will Not Be Muzzled" updating the Sun nation on the progress of the pending Sun News clash with the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. The article ended with the admission that Sun News Media is accountable to its audience and the courts... I think perhaps that someone should inform mister dunn that the four thousand complaints filed with the CBSC did originate with the audience! D'uh!!
Present Editorial Policy??
And on page ten the Oracle of Ottawa was shocked and amused to find the editorial was also about the pending clash with the not too amused lads down at the CBSC. Both articles, as per Sun policy, were to this readers eye written in the standard belligerent tone of; You can't tell us what to do! But it sure seems that some one is getting ready to! As the Oracle of Ottawa predicted from day one, the Sun News TV Network has been a total train wreck. And it just seems to be getting worse...
Morning editorial meeting at Sun News TV....
In less than a year the great "network" has lost three front line talking heads already! The first was gone even before she got on the air, the second vanished without a trace around Canada Day, Theo, Theo what his name? Remember him? And the third guy, well this is really weird... The next great man was touted all through the month of July in the little bitty promo clips, starting in August! Starting in August!? When exactly? Well damn the month is half over already, and the Oracle of Ottawa is still waiting...and channel dipping, but no great man today that is starting in August!? I am sure there is a great reason for the delay, but I suppose that western canadian cowboy rules prevent the information from actually being disseminated. You know the drill; Never complain. Never explain, and always ride for the brand! (By the way, I wonder how Krista is doing in Spain....and which brand do you think she is riding for right now?)
But this third great man is a cagey bastard. Micheal, Micheal, what his name? During the early days he was all ass kissy and sweet, doing everything to ingratiate himself, however and whenever...Then he gets the big break and poof! He has simply vanished like Theo whats his name... Now the thing that the minor minions and dandruff that is in front of the camera and directly behind the camera at Sun News TV have got to be asking themselves is, what did Micheal what his name know that we don't know?
For the management: Capitalism as explained by David Harvey
It is also certain, that a commonwealth is always in greater danger from its citizens than from its enemies; for the good are few. Benedict de Spinoza, A Political Treatise, Chapter VI, Section 6
The Oracle of Ottawa's "Thinking About Thinking Project" is yielding quite unexpected results so early into its run. Perspective is widening at an ever increasing rate. All quiet shocking to its creator. While reading this Fridays Globe and Mail the top front page story caught the Oracle of Ottawas eye immediately and set off his bull shit alarm in the steady violated mode. In a wonderful article by Bill Curry of the Ottawa bureau entitled "Ottawa eyes fix for population crunch" the best fart catchers and spin doctors under contract to the Conservative Party of Canada have conjured up a new disaster, recently discovered, whereby the surface story as told to you and me is that by tomorrow there will not be any taxpayers left to support all the just recently discovered senior citizens!
Wee Jimmy needs more gold!
The whole thing of course is an outright crock of shit! This same crock doubles as the Finance Ministers crock of "gold" at the end of his ideological rainbow. The declining population argument has been covered by the Oracle of Ottawa, and you can check it out here. Rest assured, the whole thing is an outrageous lie. But what is the real story? What is the real purpose of this spin doctors recent creation? The Oracle of Ottawa will share his views, developed with his recent new powers of critical thinking....
It seems that many promises were made in the last federal election to many "new" Canadians that are not satisfied to be merely Canadian citizens in their own right, but demanded that if the Conservatives got a majority that they could bring to Canada forthwith all their relatives of their small extended families. Well by a total fluke of probability and chance, the impossible deed was indeed achieved! Now wee Jimmy's micro-dick is in the sharpener as he realizes that a gazzilion peasant grandma's and other unproductive litter will soon have to be resident and a total drag on Canada's social system. The real problem, and indeed, it is pressing, forgive the pun, is how to jerk off the Canadian population on how to pay for this useless and insane expense.
Wee Jimmy - ponders the next Big Lie...
Hence the "population crunch"! Wee Jimmy knows that it is the Big Lie that will work, if it is done right. What has to be done is to convince the gullible tax paying Canadian public that they can no longer count on the social contracts of yesterday. So that will mean that the retirement age will have to be changed to the age of 68 from the present age of 65. You will of course have to pay more into the pension fund, work longer, and if you live to collect a pension cheque, it will, of course, be less! Why that is just like the recent British changes! The extra (unneeded) revenues will be more than enough to load up the endless plane loads of peasants various... And to pay for all their ailments from the time they land to the time they finally drop dead. The Oracle of Ottawa is totally confident that the 60% of Canadians that didn't vote for the Conservative party will totally and gladly accept this... Won't they?
Every one who has any interest of the financial history of the New World has heard the old saw of the two social qualities that the future trophy wife in New York City is not looking for in a man. Those two qualities are being standard and/or poor!
A bond of the Dutch East India Company...
It was the first time in the Oracle of Ottawas life that he saw a down graded bond rise in price the day after its downgrade! For the life of me I cannot remember another example of such an event! Can you? Didn't think so... And after the 2008 fiasco it was surprising that any one of note took any notice at all! I have long ago ignored any rating by the lads at Standard And Poor.When you downgrade a nation state and a whole bunch of former Third World countries catch you on your math, you are due for some corporate retreats with the navel gazing option! That two thirds of the industry did not agree with you should perhaps be mulled over for a somewhat intense period of scrutiny...
A Sears Debenture...
Why, the Oracle of Ottawa is convinced that the offending CRA has a political axe to grind. After seeing one of the representatives on the Business News Network, I caught the message between the lines. We are going to totally fuck up that black bastard !@#*(* that is now in the White House. That is the way the reps speel came across to this viewer. Perhaps Standard And Poor should reconsider allowing this guy in front of any camera at all.
And today the stock markets have spoken.For a country that has just been down graded the stock markets have decided to totally ignore Standard And Poor. It seem that the majority of investors around the world have come to the realization that what one CRA says is to be taken with many grains of salt and in the harsh glare of the light of reality, ignore it.
Another Excellent piece by Russia Today! An up and coming world class media player...
There are pairs of losing games which if played one after the other become a winning combination. Whereas you would expect the combination of two losing games in sequence always tend to lose. Michael Clark, Paradoxes From A To Z, (Second Edition), p. 155
As any reader of this blog will now know the Oracle of Ottawa loves his paradoxes! A paradox is the tip of the iceberg that we can see over the wall of the limitations of our existence. They are very important. A paradox is proof that such useless things as the study of philosophy can be very profitable indeed. Paradoxes also prove that we don't have such a solid grasp of our respective reality's as we are lead to believe. A paradox is an indicator of all the knowledge that we are not yet aware of.
What is the optimal algorithm?
One paradox that has captured the Oracle of Ottawas attention of late is known in the literature as the Parrondo Paradox. It is the work of one J. M. R. Parrondo. I will leave it to the reader to track down all the forms that this striking oddity can appear. It is not a waste of time and you will get a lot out of it.
Back in my working days I was in a very large office lottery pool in a government office somewhere in Ottawa. The guy that ran it was old Bob. The way an office lottery in Ottawa usaully works is that you cough up some money every week. All the winnings go into a pool that is distributed just before Christmas. We had a great run with this pool. All of us shared in a prize of a couple of grand once! It was just before the closing of my first home purchase and it came in mighty handy, paying my closing costs and enabling a larger down payment that of course lowered my monthly payment. The mortgage has been paid off for a while now, but the thought of how to maximize the office lottery has kept popping up in my thinking.
J.M.R. Parrondo
If you are running a large pool or are buying a lot of tickets on a regular basis, you want to, at the least, play the most plays for the least possible amount money. A possible way to do this is to split up the number of plays between two or more lotteries per play cycle. For example in the province of Ontario there are at least three weekly lotteries that I like to take a flyer on. I think of it as "Extended Diversification". I once saw in a serious Investment text book that you should put at least a fraction of one percent of your yearly take into such bets! My combination at present is Lotto-Max, Lottario, and Ontario 49. There are not too many lotteries anywhere you could possibly win a seven figure prize for 50 cents a play! It is quite weird, but I am most always cashing winners in and keeping the over all cost down.
Pretty wild on the stock markets of the world last week wasn't it? Didn't you just love all the mightiest "talking heads" scratching and fishing for the cause, the over-all explanation? By the end of the week here in Canada it was down to Japanese intervention in the currency markets,(?) in the vain hope to prop up or prop down the yen against the dollar that caused the all the stock markets around the world to wobble! Have you ever heard such desperate bullshit in all your life..(so far)? The Oracle of Ottawa was very well entertained indeed!
The turtles not only win the race, they make it possible!
The Oracle of Ottawa feels compelled to offer the real explanation, since he has actually owned and continues to own some stocks in his own name. The real reason the stock markets are wobbling and will continue to wobble like this well into the future is that the proles all over the world are finally getting wise to the right wing Bilderberg Group agenda and are quickly approaching the point of a total rejection of the social and monetary systems as now presently configured. Or if you are an ordinary person somewhere in the formerly civilized world you are all pretty well collectively at the point of discovering that you are mad as hell and you are not going to take this shit any longer! Human Resource scum, take note and cautious heed.
It has been going on for years now. The gradual attack on the organized worker and his entitlements, as heartily earned by his fathers and mothers before him, has been escalating in the last years with incredible success, the key to it all is to play the suckers virtue against him/her gradually! But with the demographic structure of society such as it is at present, we the Baby Boomers are still driving this society. And we have discovered the game plan. The Oracle of Ottawa has discovered the way to really fuck it all up quickly and large!
This smart and senior turtle just resigned....
It would not take much at the best of times to really screw up a society. But in these troubled times it would take much, much less. The irony of it all is somewhat laughable. Lets take an easy example. Here in Ottawa there is and has been a constant Tory threat to gut the Civil Service. It is all due to the mistaken and insane Tory belief that you can nickel and dime your way to greatness.Well why don't you consider helping the great man Tony "Chain Saw" Clement out?
If you are past your retirement date already or are very close to it and just can't stand it anymore, why not flip the boss a resignation e-mail? If you have a ton of accumulated leave, follow the e-mail with a leave form that covers the period required for "notice"! This varies from department to department, I am sure you know the magic number.. Enjoy the good years you have left. And who knows how many that is? If the kids are long gone and the mortgage is paid off, bail now! It is only going to get worse from here on in. You don't want to be caught like a British Civil Servant do you? Pay more, work longer, and retire with less at the age of 68!??
You can bet on it. This is the next big "cost cutter"; the extended retirement age! Avoid this by bailing now! They don't call me the Oracle of Ottawa for nothing...
A baser meaning has been read into these characters the literal sense of which decency can safely scarcely hint. James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, p. 33
I know that this will come as a real shock to my Dear Readers of the world, but being Canadian can be really weird! As per North America in general Canada is not an ethnic nation state, as say Germany which contains over 90% German people. Or Russia which has mostly Russians. Or Poland, which has I hear, a lot of Polish people. Canada especially in Nova Scotia and Eastern and Southern Ontario has a bit, hit or trace of everything from all over the world. Not to forget to mention the peoples that were here way before us European Johnny come lately's!
The Oracle of Ottawa has concluded from long life experience this can make for interesting outcomes and some really weird Thanksgiving dinners! And totally obscure obsessions and pursuits, which rise up from deep in the ancient DNA of the family tree. The Oracle of Ottawa has to fight it most all the time, the piles of books in the secure bunker are always on the verge of nearly taking over. The long suffering wife pleading for some floor space and a general sort and stack. The constant ascensions and de-ascensions of volumes numerous. And that un-killable urge to write things so that they sound right. It all doesn't have to say anything on the surface, the message is in the rythm. Where the hell does this all come from?
The Oracle of Ottawas make up is French, Anglo Saxon, on my fathers side and Irish, French with a 1/8th twist of Aboriginal on my mothers fathers side. The inevitable fallout of chasing those stupid fur bearing animals all those years ago... Pondering this for a moment can make for some very strange thought chains and philisophical twists and turns. But it truly has its advantages also. A well written legal text is as fascinating as an old master drawing! And when ever I hear an Aboriginal drum circle the hair on the back of my neck stands right up. It took some questions and answers to my Mom to figure all this out, but I,m good with it...
Now my Mothers Mom was Irish, and Lord she was truly Irish. Now imagine ramming all this together into one person and you can see where all the weirdness comes from. And in closing, I heard that!, it is truly fascinating being in my head!
