Why, it is only the second day back, and you would not think that they been away for six weeks at all! Already, Diane "The Fly" Finley's eyes are bugging out, and poor old Joe "Change Me" Oliver is already doing his trembling like a horny school girl routine! And it all so ironic as it is actually a thin wisp of a schoolgirl that is actually the cause of the great mans trembling. Yes, dear reader, it is that impish Megan Leslie up to her evil and dastardly routine of embarrassing the old blue goats.
It was another scorcher of a Question period again. And one of the most humorous and / or pathetic so far, all depending on which side of the House you were cheering for! Who said there was no more good afternoon television on anymore? The young Megan Leslie again made the dottering old fool, Joe Oliver, look like a complete dinosaur. The Part where he tried to compare the skanky Alberta oils sands to the "National Dream" of the Canadian Pacific Railway was just a hoot! To compare the scum entity of the 'Harper Government' to Nation Building was enough to make the ghost of Sir John A. MacDonald puke!
Here is Rick Perry with a very popular demonstration of early onset senility. In reality he is older than Joe Oliver....?
Is that rage? .... Or is that Parkinson's Disease? Julian "Jack in the Box" Fantino stands by with the wipe to catch the embarrassing spittle trail, as soon as the august member returns to the sitting position....
It is important to realize that the market economy, though it is associated historically with the rise of modern private capitalism, is as a mechanism not necessarily limited to that system. Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p. 223
The Oracle of Ottawa as per good form should not like to say "I told you so", but I do so much love it! All the people who during the last federal election reassured you that there was such thing as the Harper "hidden agenda" are all now firmly ensconed in the Senate, and other boards and tribunals where they are now free to achieve their highest levels of incompetence.
The pigeons of the 'Harper Government' come home to roost!
We have all learned in school that the main responsibility of the Government of Canada is to its citizens. Over the years we have refined that quite a lot, just to make sure that the government of the day stays on the rails. As per earlier posts, the Oracle of Ottawa has schooled his dear readers on the fact and reality that corporations cannot vote. They can no longer buy a government, like in the old days. So you have to wonder why the 'Harper Government' goes so far out of its way to ensure that an entity, that legally can in no way aid or support a government, gets everything it desires as a class! You should be asking yourself, what is in it for the minions of the 'Harper Government' to ensure such good service?
Now everyone that knows about such things of government, knows that to protect our social systems all we have to do is bring back the old corporate tax rates. Yes, some companies will leave Canada, but it will be the ones that we want gone anyway. When the old corporate tax rates are implemented there should be a clause that states; if you want to leave, you are gone forever. If you wish to re-enter and conduct business in Canada in the future you will have to pay a tax of 10% of total assets at the time of originally leaving Canada! It is all too easy!
Old woman wise to the 'Harper Government'...
In Canada we have a wonderful thing called OAS or old age security. It is above and beyond the Canada Pension Plan, but in Canada if you are well off and don't require a pension, you could end up with no government pension at all. It will be "clawed back" completely if your income is over $110,000. All in it is probably the fairest system in the world, next to some exceptions in the European Union.
But the Oracle of Ottawa got a peek into the Tory secret play book, that explains the real reason for the attack on OAS and eventually all other pensions, that will eventually be lowered and if possible, eliminated... In Canada the normal retirement age for a working man is 65 years. A man in Canada has a life expectancy of 78.3 years. The man can expect a retirement of 13.3 years. Now, and this is where it gets very interesting, your blessed Mother who stayed home as a homemaker, can start to get a small pension at the age of 60! Now, the life expectancy of a woman in Canada is 82.9 years! She can look out to a retirement of 22.9 years! Now simply divide 22.9 by 13.3 and you get an answer of 1.72. That is, it costs the 'Harper Government' 1.72 times more to pay a pension to a woman as it does for a man!
Now everyone knows that here in Canada, the greatest gender of poor senior citizens that receive OAS are women! Women do not vote for the Conservatives! So, as far as the 'Harper Government' is concerned, it is a "financial decision". Fuck'em!
Diane "The Fly" Finley learns that a nine man majority, is not really a majority at all...
No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than you had in mind , well... maybe chalk it off to forced consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten. Hunter S. Thompson, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, p. 89
It is a great comfort to the Oracle of Ottawa that there is another country in the Commonwealth group of nations that has a prime minister creepier then Steve Harper of the 'Harper Government' here in Canada! Every time I see her on television, my skin crawls, the same effect when I try to watch Steve Harper! The most charitable way that I can describe the prime minister of Australia, is that low crawling snake of a skank bitch!
Julia Gillard finally gets "won" at a drinking party
and is determined to show her gratitude, right now!
How is it that 127 back benchers can turn around and out an elected prime minister, that nice Kevin Rude lad? You people in Australia are in desperate need of a constitution or some serious constitutional reform! I swear, if you don't get on with it soon, you, each and every one, deserve to be chained in a chinaman's basement to the buffet dishwasher! For Ever! What a joke.
It all had that air of revolution didn't it? The mass of the nearly unwashed, pawing at the windows, and the royalty, not taking it in the least serious! The tune changed pretty fast didn't it? The great leader has her first brush with brute force, you could call it meeting God. I certainly hope that Australia's she bitch never comes to Canada! Don't be expecting the Oracle of Ottawa to be lining your motorcade route.
The people of Australia should take this as an omen of things to come...That black day when the Asians of every shade and hue come to land in Australia from every direction of the compass, in their uncountable hordes. You are going to lose more than your shoes...
Nuff said?? No, no, that is pronounced Gillard! Like gizzard!!
As Hegel well knew, the ascent of reason has never followed a straight line. Paul A. Baran, The Political Economy of Growth, p. 298
You know the whole world is in deep do-do when the founder of the World Economic Forum stands up in Davos and finally admits right out loud that something is wrong with capitalism! Now you can't knock old Klaus Schwab. The big hoe-down at Davos is not the Bilderberg Group. All the meetings are covered by accredited Press of the vulgar old media and the the hot new media. Why you can catch quite a bit of it on BBC. The conclusion that you have to come to is that old Klaus is at least really trying to make the world a better place, free of the Washington Consensus.
Klaus informs us that capitalism is busted...
Why even Steve Harper of the 'Harper Government' is in attendance. Hoping that he will hit on some strange, near as good looking as that other young ministers wife, what's his name... But he better pay attention to the lectures, he doesn't have a chance in hell of trapping the hot exotic stuff. Even though he is the leader of a 'super power' it is all Wal-Mart clad muffins for him for ever. Of course, as far as the Conservatives are concerned, there is nothing at all wrong with capitalism. We just have to lower costs, i.e. taxes, and dismantle what remains of the Canadian state even quicker! This will make capitalism work better.
The Keystone XL pipeline has recently bitten the dust. The Gateway pipeline is no doubt soon going to be toast also and shortly. You know it is in trouble when the federal Minister of Natural Resources, one Joe Oliver, sends out letters and press releases shitting over all the legal NGO's and the environmental lobby for showing up at the hearings! Of course he doesn't mention the presence of the money of big oil and is always very silent of the monster money from the Peoples Republic of China! Yes sir Bubba! It appears that there are a lot of people in public life that are just now discovering the cost of their fulfilled "ricer" fantasies as provided by the Chinese Embassy! With tapes and video to back up their chits, the China-men want results now!
With all the focused attention on serving corporate interests you would swear to God that corporations voted! The Oracle of Ottawa has never missed a chance to vote when he could. But for the life of me, I have yet to see a corporation vote! Have you? Then you have to ask yourself why the 'Harper Government' goes to such lengths and trouble to serve an entity that cannot finance or vote for them in the next election.What ever could be the driving force?
The same malady has descended to us in the City of Ottawa. Instead of standing up to the 'Harper Government' even symbolically, Gentleman Jim Watson the fearless burger of Ottawa has stated in his State of the City report that he is just going to roll-over and cave. Allowing the 'Harper Government' to dismantle the unionized civil service, that will be replaced by the same people working now on for minimum wage for some scum sucking Calgary contractor! The same is being planned for OC Transpo, as that international sole sourced contract for the great Ottawa "subway" is soon to be awarded, manned forever with cheap Chinese contract workers? Can't happen? Really...
The perfect metaphoric analogy of the current situation of Canada and the City of Ottawa... Just try to watch....
If the language of art is not accessible to ordinary language and ordinary experience, how can it be accessible to ordinary people? Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p. 131
Sri Lanka is very far away from the Oracle of Ottawa's secured bunker. Actually it is as about as far away from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada as you could possibly get and still be on Earth. Why the Oracle of Ottawa, who is not a geographical slouch, had to go to Wikipedia and look it up! And with the quick reminder, Sri Lanka used to be part of the British Empire, of course. Why they are a Commonwealth Country just like Canada. And therefore many people speak English, still, to this very day. But the Oracle of Ottawa is very impressed and surprised that some one way out in the Indian Ocean would even know what hockey was!
From Ottawa to Sri Lanka, The Empire still holds?
Words carry. Shit gets around, especially today. It is most flattering to the Oracle of Ottawa that someone half way around the Earth would come to this humble blog of pure gibberish and spike the hell out it! Perhaps like a butterfly flapping it's wings somewhere, the words of the Oracle of Ottawa will alter the matrix of our present space-time continuum, to set off that one in a trillion chance chain of events that would result in social justice for all, wherever they are in the world. But then the Oracle of Ottawa worries about screwing up all the innocent butterfly's.
Like Karl Marx, the Oracle of Ottawa worries about altering the universe with his jottings. It is like William Golding who continued to receive letters all his life from all over the world from readers that got messages from his work that he never considered in his wildest dreams! I wonder what Wittgenstein would have thought about that?
Every culture we have tended to assume, hangs together in some fashion, and this we have called its style. Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p. 99
There will be no smell of curd cheese and goats hair in the French Senate! It will continue to be the usual smell of Chanel and unwashed bodies. Whether or not this will inspire Turkey to continue to desire entry in to the European Union is quite another question. I have always felt that on this question Europe should really take a pass. You shouldn't have to marry off your daughter to an Arab just because you fancy a bit Shawarma now and then.
Smells great, or what!
What Turkey should do is form and join the Arab Union. I have always wondered why these people have always avoided this most natural move? It would be the third pole in an otherwise bipolar world. And we all know how stable a two legged stool is don't we? Why if they only would get on with it, we could probably get Russia to be a full member of the European Union! And then, who would be the World Power now? Ho Bubbha! Get your Waterman treaty signing pen shined up, I smell an empire under creation.
Don't worry about us in the Americas! With that big French government presence in Canada through Quebec, that darn EU is everywhere now, in name or in practice. Geez! Thomas Jefferson never saw this coming, did he? Any left over invaders and has beens could easily be disposed of by the rolling of a large brick of the finest Limburger cheese into the battle formations.
Not very popular in Turkey, but the French Armenians don't seem to mind. You got a problem with that?
Modern culture is defined by this extraordinary freedom to ransack the world storehouse and to engorge any and every style it comes upon. Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p.13
As the great Hunter S. Thompson said in copy from campaigns many decades ago; Scum also rises. The great Doctor would be amazed at the progress we have achieved since then. Now, the Scum still rises, even bringing its own baggage! Well Bubba, that's progress. Hide your sons and daughters. The screw heads are coming over the horizon! Again!
The mighty newt...
Old Steve of the 'Harper Government' must surely have choked on his Alpha-getti, when watching the hardy (hardly?) endorsement that the mighty Newt flipped the 'Harper Government' on the recent announcement by the State Department and the Office of the President of the United States that the "sure thing" Keystone XL pipeline was now on the far back burner. Probably for good and forever. And, no doubt, for the better of everyone in the way.
It was awful generous of the mighty Newt to say that the 'Harper Government' is conservative. But that bit hidden between the verbal barf-up that implies Americans, Chinese, it is all the same.As long as who ever is the end customer ponies up the required and fungible legal tender. It is only stupid, dirty oil after all. Meanwhile, somewhere in a secure bunker in Beijing, old Hu, between episodes of The Price Is Right, rubs his chop sticks together in utter glee. Careful not to disturb the empty bottles of Three Penis Wine that are accumulating at his feet.
Old Steve of the 'Harper Government' ponders the near future. Old Joe will have to go. And what the hell is to be done with that defense minister? The House starts the second session on January 30. With all the present and recent deviations from the carefully scripted message, the Opposition will be like a pack of wolves that stumbled on to an unlocked feed lot.
As old Steve tries to find some solace in the dark dank halls of 24 Sussex Drive, Stanley the cat is really gagging up on another hair ball. With one last sickening heave and a strange popping sound, the agony is over. Steve attends to inspect the mess. Lynn! Call the vet! The cat puked up his asshole!
The mighty newt helps the 'Harper Government'. The real meat starts at 3:00. Enjoy!
The ultimate support for any social system is the acceptance by the population of a moral justification of authority. Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p.77
In the Canadian Constitution and / or the Charter of Rights it says that Canadians have freedom of the press. The only thing they forgot to add was that you better own the press! Ho-Ho Bubba! Who ever heard of a forty year old sub subby in the Navy? Do you think if you worked at HMCS Trinity and you started running with a real hot Russian babe that answered to the name of Tatania that somehow the Military Police would sort of put the kibosh on the whole thing all so quietly and with no trail to the vulgar old media? This has all been so weird that the Oracle of Ottawa smells a rat deader and stinkier then I don't know what! And the failure of the old vulgar media on covering this sad tale is woeful to say the least! One begins to wonder if that the old vulgar press guys shit there pants when some trollope from the Prime Ministers Office poses as a member of CSIS !
SOSUS - tap, tap, Is This thing on or what? (lol...)
Think about it. Does the story you heard make any sense? The timing of the thing is just amazing! The Keystone XL pipeline goes down the tubes and a young cabinet minister marries an Iranian and presto! We have a spy story of the century, so far! Please! And don't worry this poor putz is certainly no Robert Hanssen! This is about as damaging as broken car window. Ask yourself; why would the Russians risk an international incident over information about SOSUS? They have their own SOSUS system. They would just run their boats over their own sensors, just like us and the Americans! It is all standard practice.
The other argument is that the Russians are looking for information on the Arctic? That they are looking for secret information to justify a land claim? Forget about it! They gave up all that and any extra future claims to the Arctic, when the Czars sold Alaska to the United States. Think about it... The reality is that Denmark does have a valid claim and will get some of the sector adjoining the Canadian sector. The Russians will get what they already got. Everything that is on the other side of the Canadian sector. Which is much larger than the Canadian and Danish sectors put together. Geez, you guys at Justice, should get on the ball.
The Cold War is long gone. There are no secrets! Over eighty five per cent of all the "secrets" are out in the open media online. Any rational clear and logically thinking person can put together a very accurate picture of all the events now ongoing. It is all in asking the right questions. The Oracle of Ottawa bets that this poor putz of a disaster will have the grounds for a huge lawsuit before too long. I just hope that the pathetic press and the lawyers will step up and put the crush on this flagrant attempt of a channel switch to hide the Tory Bund's increasing failings.
What they do with the SOSUS system, that in the United States has been turned over to NOAA, since the Russians practically have nothing at sea, and the USN doesn't require it any more.....Yawn....Lofagram anyone?
The market is where social structure and culture cross. Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p. 55
Are you going to go? Imagine! Discussions and "events" with your favorite Sun News personalities! Who could pass this up? Set at a very posh resort at Lake Rosseau, gee, you would think it was just like the first Bilderberg Group meeting. At over 200 km from Toronto there seems to be only one resort on the lake. It is called Windermere House. It markets itself as a "preferred" resort. What ever that means...
Just imagine the sheer elegance of it all. Words fail me, let me put it all into pictures...First, imagine dining with Ezra Levant! I mean that is a life changing event, no doubt. I always wondered what wine goes with perogies? Then, how hot would it be to watch the "stars" with Krista Erickson? You will just never be the same after that for sure...And then there is supposed to be snowshoeing with that fat cockey guy who's name escapes me. Sure sounds like a fine time, don't it?
Why maybe in the down time from all these stimulating events you might have time to look into a fractional time share in the un-built phase n of that thriving cottage development. Hey! No pressure!
An "ethical duck" ready to be harvested from the Syncrude tailings pond in Alberta. Bon appetite!
What defines bourgeois society is not needs, but wants. Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p. 22
The Oracle of Ottawa has been around a while. He knows a few things. He knows for sure that you never, ever call Americans foreigners! The Oracle of Ottawa also knows that you never, ever interfere with an Americans right to due process, especially when they have reciprocated in a hearing process with no interference of any kind. It was all hanging in the balance, it really was.
Forget about it - its over for good....
Officially the Keystone XL pipeline was canceled by President Obama of the United States on the recommendation of the State Department. The unsavory early appearance of our new present Minister of Foreign Affairs was not looked on with great favor, and was seen as brash and under handed. Just as stated by the Opposition many times in the House of Commons. Form and protocol is every thing in Washington. Just because you formed a strong, stable, majority Conservative government at home certainly does not entitle you to act like you have one in Washington! The "pit bull" has been de-balled! This is just one of the many disasters to come and the Oracle of Ottawa called this on day one. See earlier posts....
Ultimately the Keystone XL pipeline was killed by the ham fisted machinations of the 'Harper Government', through the actor filling the present office of the Minister of Natural Resources. Some old men like Irwin Cotler will be awesome into their nineties. Some old men like the Minister of Natural Resources should already be in a nice posh day room somewhere out of the way, where they can wreak no havoc. Yes indeed, the 'Harper Government' and its minions of the Tory Bund really showed those Americans didn't they?
Some things are best left to the truly beautiful and the truly intelligent, you know, like it was in the Trudeau era...
It is equally clear that what an individual often wants for himself (such as an open highway) in the aggregate becomes a nightmare. Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p. 21
The Oracle of Ottawa knows that he should just leave it alone, just let it go. But he just can't, no matter what I do, I see them, all hot, luscious, and pink. That color! All my old really hot old ladies from my wild days in the Navy wore that same color...Why my woodie was starting to spark, but my internal gagging, prevented any firing.
This is all getting greasy weird...
Did you see it? The Prime Minister Harper (of the 'Harper Government') interview last night on the CBC, or other wise known as "the state broadcaster" by the Tory Bund. Of course it was scripted, or as the Prime Ministers Office calls it "media managed". Poor Peter Mansbridge drew the short straw again(!) and was saddled with the bores nest chore. He looked some what distressed right from the start. But he soldiered on like the professional he is. As he asked all his watered down questions and received the excited and practised answers from "Steve" it all suddenly dawned on the Oracle of Ottawa what was the cause of poor Peters anguish. Those luscious perogy burnt lips! I think the color of Steve's lipstick was Do Me Now pink, double high gloss no less! I can't tell you for the life of me what was said in the interview, all I could see was those smokey pink high-gloss lips!
Then, with out any warning, my significant other, who was reclining on the sofa, with her favorite pillow and blankey, abruptly rose up and headed to our bedroom. I could hear drawers open and close, in ferocious haste. Then it all went quiet. After a short pause there was that indignant stomping to the kitchen garbage can, that soon made that resounding smashing sound as the lid hit the wall with full foot pedal opening force! I heard a bunch of objects fall in and rattle together.Then, like nothing happened, she returned to the sofa, adjusted the pillow and got under her favorite blankey. "What the hell was that all about? " I asked.
She replied "I'll never wear that color again!"
With my old TV (490i), I wouldn't have hardly noticed, but with the Sony Bravia EX620-40 in full HD (1080i) the Prime Ministers lipstick just grossed the wife and I totally out! You could see Peter thinking "don't look at his lips, don't look at his lips". It would be wise future policy for the Prime Ministers Office to spring for a professional make-up person and not too rely on a staff members gay teenage son, who happens to like experimenting with colors! The make-up industry in Canada is worth hundreds of millions of dollars....
The sociological truism is that a social order is shored up by its legitimations, which provide the defenses against it's despisers. Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p. xxvii
It is not news to the Oracle of Ottawa that there is sex-selective abortion going on in Canada. Even out and about in Ottawa, the Oracle of Ottawa sees this all the time. Mostly as per news reports, it is those swarthy, swarmy, greasy East Indians with the peasant Chinese pulling a real close second. Now one living in Canada doesn't really give a rats fuck what goes on in India and China. But what goes on in Canada when this barbaric, feudalistic crap starts taking hold, does matter to me. First of all, we don't want to lose that big and rich European Union tourist dollar and all of our other high end European business! First things first. And if this barbaric shit continues, Canada will lose spots on the next Human Development Index!
Make the Woman valuable...
Every time the Oracle of Ottawa is out and about in his hood, and he chances to spy a banty strutting packie, that is pushing around his infant son, that gives me that look; "can you squeeze off a son like this sahib?" I feel like grabbing that packie piece of shit by the scruff of the neck, look him straight in the eyes and tell him the truth! Hey Ramjam my Navy bitch's aborted more boy childs then you will ever have in a wack of life times alive! Which is true. The Oracle of Ottawa is a real he-man... Ya right... But rather I say to myself; "Ya but, who is your brat going to marry?"...you macho piece of insect shit!
The Oracle of Ottawa is not just one to complain profanely, although, Lord knows, I truly do enjoy it! But as per usual and as per always, I have and will offer a solution! Now this solution can be implemented right away in Canada and in India and in China. Make the woman valuable. Tax the dowry as income! (to the husband...) And I mean at a very high rate, so high that it would just be better to act like the white people and forget all about it. Plus we could pay off the operating deficit and probably the national debt! Woo Hoo!
In Canada we could go a few more steps, since we have a Constitution and the Charter of Rights, I could see the Supreme Court of Canada outlawing dowry on the grounds of discrimination! See sections 7, 8, 12, 13, 26, and finally 28. Oh yes! It will fly! The Oracle of Ottawa has a real feel for these things. perhaps the Liberal Party of Canada could have included this as Liberal policy right up there with the legalization of cannabis? Geez, you guys just keep missing all the easy ones, don't ya?
It is the 21st century! Can you believe that this goes on in a democracy anywhere in the world? Can you believe that this goes on in Canada!??
Any tension creates its own dialectic. Daniel Bell, The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism, p. xxv
Well folks, it is all in all done. Now you can date the Liberal Party of Canada! For nothing! Isn't it grand? The lads in the 24/7 Conservative war room must be still laughing. But you got to hand it to Builder Bob! What a job of spin! This last Liberal Policy convention will go down into spin and fart catcher history. What a masterful job. There just has never been anything like it. And, no doubt, there will not likely be anything like it again.
Wall-e and Eve go home...
The Oracle of Ottawa has always wondered why there is something called the Sunset Channel in the vulgar media cable package. Now he knows. Now he knows indeed. Do you remember that big policy convention that the NDP threw, just before Jack Layton got ill? Did you watch it on CPAC? The Oracle of Ottawa did. There wasn't a whiff of a smell of any thing un-towards. The Oracle of Ottawa did not get the same impression when watching the machinations of the Liberal policy convention that just past. Why the Oracle of Ottawa got the feeling that he was the observer of a deep clandestine political operation, that was using all the tools and latest technology of the fart catchers and spin doctors art. The plumbers bag of tricks now contains no spanners.
But I know that there are some of you Liberal delegates out there that are very strong willed and independent. The statistically rare types that the Neuro-linguistic programming does not work on, no matter how strongly applied. But take heart. There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that Builder Bob will probably be the next leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. The bad news is that he will probably be the last leader of the Liberal Party of Canada.
When will crowds out knowledge we call the result obstinacy. Arthur Schopenhauer, Essays and Aphorisms, On Psychology, no. 10
It was early Saturday morning, and the Oracle of Ottawa thought he would check out the progress of that policy convention that the Liberals were throwing downtown at the big new Ottawa Convention Center. It was being broadcast live via CPAC. What the Oracle of Ottawa saw was not very uplifting. When I had tuned in all the liberal wall-e's were trying to vote on a resolution with their cell phones! Now of course their were the rich wall-e's with the latest I-Phone thingy's and they were done in a snap! Then there were the want to be wall-e's with the welfare bum budget phones, that just didn't seem to be able to grasp the nut of the exercise... It also could have been all those budget phone plans also, it seemed the poor wall-e's couldn't even get connected to the great red grid! Has the great dream of the Just Society come to this?
Wall-e and Eve do the Liberal convention in Ottawa...
There have been signs for weeks now...the news, that some contractor fart catcher wall-e came up with the brilliant idea that the Liberal Party should have primaries just like the hick Albertans and The Americans! Why if I wanted that I would have just voted Conservative! And then the worst possible scenario of old decrepit Bob Rae talking like Paul Martin, that he isn't really going to run for the leadership...God in heaven help us all...The bigger dick delusions born in the dorms of the University of Toronto just won't die, will they? Lets face it folks, the Liberal Party of Canada seems now to be just a bunch of terminal "grass eaters". Hoping for one more green field...
And what the hell was Rotman School of Management doing at a Liberal Party policy convention? And who was paying for all this? And doesn't Rotman have a marketing advisement contract with the Conservative Party of Canada? And if you ever owned a stock in your life, you know that to make money with Rotman advice you always do the opposite of what they suggest! They are consistent, but they are always wrong!! I guess the Liberal party of Canada is the perfect client! I hate to say it, but the way it looks now folks, there just doesn't seem to be a hope in hell.
Wall-e discovers another "device"... He doesn't have much luck with this one either! Alas.. the roach is a spy from the conservative party....
Philosophy is human thought become self-conscious. Its topics are life, the universe and everything; it can include all the categories of religious, artistic, scientific, mathematical and logical thought. Simon Blackburn, The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, Preface, p. vii
Seeing that it was such a slow news day, the Oracle of Ottawa thought he would share a few lessons gleaned from the ever ongoing "Thinking About Thinking Project". I have discovered that it is very useful to have a selection of philosophy guide books. I have found three of them becoming indispensable. Let us call the levels Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. Allow the Oracle of Ottawa to share with you his impressions and descriptions of these handy reference works.
Simon Blackburn
Basic: My first choice in this category is called; The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy, written and compiled single handedly (!) by Simon Blackburn. You can have it in paperback for around twenty Canadian dollars. It contains about 2,500 entries and the biographies of 500 philosophers. And since it was written completely by just one guy, it is a very straight ahead book that you could easily read right through. It is portable, cheap, quick and dirty for the main ideas and the basics about the main players. And I really like Simon Blackburn's writing style.
Ted Honderich
Intermediate: The Oxford Companion To Philosophy-New Edition, edited by Ted Honderich. ( A nice Canadian boy..) This is just a beautiful book to dip into any where. You can get the very posh hardcover edition in Canada, brand new for less than fifty dollars! It is illustrated, and printed on the posh creamy white clay paper. It contains 2,200 articles that are composed by a team of 249 contributors. (Only 1,056 pages...what!?) Some of whom will no doubt be the big names of tomorrow. The articles go into much deeper depth, very many are the size of a small book. Rigorous but yet mostly very readable. All in, you can't beat the value.
Advanced: Now by all rights, the Oracle of Ottawa does not feel worthy of having a personal mint copy of this fine reference work for my very own use. It is entitled The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by Paul Edwards. This is considered as a monumental work of twentieth century philosophy and some swear the peak of the analytical school! (whatever that is...) All the Oracle of Ottawa can tell you is; You really really want this! Eight volumes, set into four large quarto volumes, containing over two thousand pages for a mere 1,500 articles with over 500 contributors, many of them who are today the highest and poshest names in Philosophy.
Now this is real important! You want the 1967 edition or the 1972 reprint! This work is a lot like having your own Oxford English Dictionary...(Compact Edition-1971), after a while it sort of becomes furniture, but when you need it, you really need it, it is invaluable. Now what I am telling you must be true since this work is still in print for a new price of over 600 dollars! I recently saw a very warmly worn copy in an Ottawa bookstore for a mere 250 dollars!! The Oracle of Ottawa got his copy for a mere eight dollars, and the suffering of the funny looks of the nice old lady in the thrift shop, who commented that I must have a lot of doors and windows that need stops. All the Oracle of Ottawa can say is that since I have started my Thinking About Thinking Project all this weird stuff has been continuing. I am beginning to ponder the possibility of Divine Intervention....
If all else fails...try this most excellent sight from Stanford University, and don't forget the philosophy portal at Wikipedia.
Give up the girl? I swear she will grow old at home in Argos, far from her own country, working my loom and visiting my bed. Leave me in peace and go, while you can, in safety. Homer, The Iliad, Robert Fitzgerald Translation, Book I, lines 35-38
And you thought the Tory Bund of the 'Harper Government' would come to ground with the issues of the gap toothed, mouth breathing, knuckle dragging social Darwinists, of the deep rear back benches, as they fought for the rights of hetro-sexual marriage and the lives of the unborn, no matter what? But it now appears that there is a Trojan Horse in the Tory Bund, that is going to bring a rather much more interesting mythological fall of the whole damn mess. The Oracle of Ottawa is as surprised as you no doubt are.
Size does matter?
Befriend and betray. It has all worked so well for the "The Boss" till now. But as usual with sadistic, bent bullies, at some point they go too far, and fuck over the wrong person. Then the whole house is brought down slowly and all so publicly. Like a local Tory riding association president taking the wings off of a fly...The dream Tory ideological city will soon be illuminating the night like the burning ruins of Troy of all those years ago.
Helen of Troy - Comes to Ottawa...
It all started, when, at the behest and orders of "The Boss", that a certain young stud of a minister, whose usefulness had exceeded his expiry date, was outed, under the radar, so to speak, so that he would no longer be that late night lingering threat... He had committed all the sins. He was better looking by a mile, way too smart for his own good, and the insult of insults; his old lady is way better looking then anything any Tory has ever done! "The Boss" realizes that with that exotic young Persian on his arm, no one will even see the boss, and the embarrassment of having to drag his old wal-mart frump to the same functions, well! And what the hell is "The Boss" to say to that forever friend ambassador of that troublesome little country from the middle east? Especially when the ambassador from Iran comes calling at the same time?!! Oy Vey!!
All those years ago they had said hello to each other and could not look away. Soon, both knew, they would have to say good bye forever. But for now, just for now, it was as it had ever been.
Mary Gabriel, Love and Capital, p. 486
Well, it is all in, and all done. All 709 pages of it. I even thought the notes were good reading! How sick is that? Love and Capital was even nominated for a National Book Award for non-fiction! For an American to write about Karl Marx and get nominated for a National Book Award is like you or me making a short film with a cell phone and having it nominated for an Oscar! Writing about Karl Marx in America automatically puts you way behind the eight ball, so to speak. She should have won! But she got beat out by some tall guy with big hair, that wrote once about Shakespeare, a guy who was merely a front man for the Earl of Oxford. But you get invited everywhere when you write about Shakespeare. It is like recommending a blue chip stock. No one ever got fired for doing that.
Mary Gabriel (Yeah..She is hot, isn't she?)
As I neared the end of her book, I started to wonder; Who is Mary Gabriel? There was practically no information about her in the book, save and except that she was an editor with Reuters for twenty years and the names of two other earlier books, and the fact that she now lives in Italy. Well the Oracle of Ottawa was not happy with that. So I did some simple digging on Google. I found that she had recently did two interviews. So I watched both of them. The first was her December 1, 2011 appearance on Charlie Rose! Like the book must have been really good, if Charlie Rose will have the author of a book on Karl Marx on his nationally syndicated television show!
Why am I not surprised?
But the interview that you simply have to see is the "After Words" interview she did on C-SPAN on October 06, 2011! It is near an hour long and was conducted by Bertell Olman. A lot of information about Mary Gabriel leaks out here between the lines. But you have to watch for yourself... The real interesting thing that I found concerning her education was at Smashwords - About Mary Gabriel- and my earliest suspicions were all but confirmed. She is a native of Minneapolis and a long time resident of Baltimore! Why a nice Catholic girl no doubt? And as I suspected she has had a dream education. A "Diplome" from the University of Paris at the Sorbonne! A B.A. in fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art ! And for good measure, cause a girl should always having something financially fungible to fall back on; a Masters degree from American University in journalism!! Man those student loans must have been a real bitch!!
The Oracle of Ottawa did not receive a free copy of Love and Capital. I paid full hardcover price for my copy like everyone else. And I didn't mind a bit, because it was worth it.
Mary Gabriel reading at the National Book Awards. Think of her as the Ian Fleming of biography...
The truth is that the wants of the people are complex historical phenomena reflecting the dialectic interaction of their physiological requirements on the one hand, and the prevailing social and economic order on the other. Paul A. Baran, The Political Economy of Growth, p. xvi
Very shortly, just like in the United Kingdom, Canadians are going to have to work longer, pay in more, and eventually receive less during their retirement. It is quiet simple to put the nuts to this plan and the whole 'Harper Government' by simply retiring as soon as possible. This simple realization came to the Oracle of Ottawa as he remembered a nice clear example that Karl Marx used in Das Kapital, Volume I, where he explains that the ultimate profit in a business rests solely on the last ten to fifteen customers standing in the daily line up of about 100 customers. It is the last ten people in the line that keep the doors open! Think about it...
Doomed?
Well dear reader, it is the same for governments. The much longer line of the citizenry pays income and other taxes. It is a very simple matter to bring that government down. You only need a small fraction of that line of taxpayers to stop paying taxes, by simply retiring now. Contrary to all the spin and black hole marketing, you will require much less then you think to retire. As a matter of fact the Oracle of Ottawa has discovered that up to 40- 60% of what you earn "working" is simply lost in the costs of the honor of having a stupid "job"! Your results may vary, but I doubt it.
Is that RRSP still bulging Fat? Is the house paid off? The wife is already retired? Are the kids all gone and out there kicking serious career ass? Then why in heavens name are you still hanging around in your civil service job? Especially you people in the Federal Civil Service! Do you really think that that last ugly budget paring before Christmas last is the last one? Well let the Oracle of Ottawa disavow you of that silly notion! The 'Harper Government' could be sitting on the largest surplus in Canadian history and it would not make any difference! They are coming for you out of ideology. Not facts, not science, not reason. They are coming for the workers for the sheer sadistic right wing joy of being able for once to actually to do it.
Just as a serial killer always keeps a souvenir of his last victim, so do the right wing wack ball contractors and managers that are going to call you in to fire your ragged ass. Yes sir they have it all on tape... Many of them will pull themselves for years when you start to cry in front of them. They practically come in their pants when that happens. But it is a much different story when that same pig opens his inbox one morning and finds over a dozen resignations with attached leave forms! No bonus or video jollies!
Us "over fifties", are from the greatest generation that has ever lived. We have taken no crap and no prisoners. Are we going to let everything that has gone before us vaporize with out a fight? Flip that cocksucker manager you email resignation. Watch on CPAC how the little shit ball finance minister tries explain why tax revenues are virtually drying up! There will be other days and other governments. Then we can return to work (or not) and double, triple dip like wild crazy bastards! After all we are the entitled generation. We are entitled to our entitlements. We just have to sit it out and watch the 'Harper Government' go down in flames. And there is not a goddamn thing the right wing, gap tooth, mouth breathing, knuckle dragging social darwinists can do about it!
The brilliant Schiller was wrong in his Joan of Arc when he said "against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain." It is actually by means of the gods that we make our stupidity and gullibility into something ineffable. Christopher Hitchens, On Intelligent Design, p. 77
Is it really true that the whole world is dumber than a bus load of Conservatives? The oracle of Ottawa is really getting miffed at all the hub-bub building about this 2012 end of the world crap! Would you believe that the article about it now ranks 649th out of the nearly four million articles in Wikipedia? Would you believe that that article has been hit over one million times in the last thirty days? No?
You buy this crap?
Would you believe that the Oracle of Ottawa saw a very well heeled and seemingly rational and well educated man literally close all his bank accounts and announce to the teller that he was leaving North America to hide out in his ancestral Austria? Well that dear reader is true! I witnessed this act of insanity at my very own bank branch in Ottawa Ontario, just before Christmas last! I was dum-founded as was the teller, who could hardly keep the straight face...
Not a wheel to be found...
If you think about this logically and rationally for just a moment several arguments should soon occur to you. But I will go over a few of them with you because the Oracle of Ottawa knows that not every body is an "85" in this sorry world.
Argument 1: If the prophetic power of the Mayan calendar is or was so shit hot, how come they didn't predict there own demise? In turn why would you consider their prediction about our civilization?
Argument 2: If the Mayan culture and civilization was so damn awesome, how was it that it was kicked over by less then two dozen rag ass pirates from of all places Spain!??
Argument 3: Why would you believe any prediction from a "civilization" that existed for over two thousand years and never got around to figuring out or even come close to inventing the wheel? How much advice do you take from people that run every where? Yeah, not too much....
So for all you panicking, sorry, dumb as fuck wallies, I hope that this will at least allow you to sleep tonight....
The nice man from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory back up the Oracle of Ottawa with even more rational information that you paid for with your tax dollars, that were all in all very well spent... No go to bed you idiot!!
Marry’d in Haste, we oft repent at Leisure;
Some by Experience find these Words misplac’d,
Marry’d at Leisure, they repent in Haste. Poor Richards Almanack, 1734
R.E. Note from the society desk.
They come and they go...
Peter MacKay, present Minister of Defence in the 'Harper Government' has married a very nice girl from Iran by the name of Nazanin Afshin-Jam. Now known as Mrs. Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay...
You didn't actually think that I would touch this, did you?
A wonderful addition and role model to Conservative Party of Canada family values... Oh by the way? "That emptiness inside you", don't count on that being filled in any time soon.....Can't you just wait for the Sun News Krista Erickson interview?lol...
There is nothing worse than trying to write with a poorly made Dollar Store pen from China. They are a real bargain, but they sure as hell are no deal. The Oracle of Ottawa doesn't just write this humble blog. He writes a journal every day, in the good old fashioned way, with a fine quality writing instrument. I have been doing this every day for decades without any gaps. The motivation has a lot to do with that old Greek guy that once said, about 2,500 years ago, that an unexamined life is not worth living. Obsessive compulsion should be practised by more of us.
uni ball - A lot of high technology for less than a dollar!
Recently my usual office supply store where I used to get my day pens started going out of retail business in Ottawa. Therefore I had to find a new supplier. Ironically quality showed up in a most unlikely place. While in a Dollarama waiting for the wife to complete her shopping I decided to scan the stationary aisles and I came across uni ball pens! At first I thought that they were Chinese knock offs! But upon turning the package over I spotted the ACMI seal! And reading on in the very fine small print I discovered that the uni ball VISION RT pens, (three for two dollars, plus tax), conformed to ASTM D-4236! In other words this stuff is the ultimate in quality! And what it is made of won't kill you if you get it on your skin or your little kid or dog chews into it!
The Oracle of Ottawa loaded up! I got two three packs of the black VISION RT's and the multi color pack containing one blue, red and green pen, again for two dollars! But the test is in the writing and the comfort and the quality of the line. And most of all the the durability. You will not be disappointed! These sixty six cent pens write as nice as an expensive luxury pen. I was quite simply astounded at the quality of the line. And the line seems to be very long indeed! The pen will not run in your pocket or on an airplane. And they are certified for secure document signing that can't be altered. These pens are imported from Japan by Sanford! A Rubbermaid company, that has made the list of America's most loved companies more than once. Gee, I wonder why?
Here is another review buy another contented camper. Real quality is not marketed, it is discovered! Good durable stuff does not always have to be expensive. You just have to be a good shopper.
The traditions of all the dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brain of the living. Karl Marx, MECW, Volume 11, 103-104, 106
The Oracle of Ottawa reads at least a hundred books a year. No Tom Clancy, no John Grisham. Only non-fiction works of science, economics, history and philosophy. He is also very careful of the text he chooses. Only complete unabridged texts will do. He has even been known to do extensive research on the text before he acquires it. The Oracle of Ottawa is on a mission from God. The search for enlightenment is not to be taken lightly.
Karl Marx and daughter Jenny Marx
It is seldom that I come across a real page turner in the non-fiction genre. And even rarer is one that is written by a woman. The year past has been very good to the Oracle of Ottawa indeed. I first saw Love and Capital by Mary Gabriel in a local Chapters retail store. As all my dear readers know the Oracle of Ottawa has developed in to real little Marxian scholar in the last few years. And anything new about Karl Marx is looked into deeply, immediately. Open Love and Capital anywhere and start to read, and it is riveting. The style is like oil, smooth and viscous. And it flows for ever. Bet you can't read just one page!
I have read a few Karl Marx biographies and I have a few more standing by to be read. But I am sure that Mary Gabriel's book will become the modern standard. It is based on the familial level, which I do not believe has ever been attempted before. And it contains some real new revelations which I will not give away here. Having access to the secret Stalin files was surely a help. And it was put to very good use by the author.
There were two theories that I had developed from my reading of the text of various works of Marx. First the Communist Manifesto was written in bars by a couple of wild young lads with the world by the tail, with unlimited tomorrows. I was right on that one partly. The final editing of the work was done at the kitchen table with the wife Jenny. I did not know that. The second theory that I have developed was the that the turning point of the "young" Marx into the "raging" Marx occurred with the death of his son Edgar on April 6, 1855. This event more than any other in Karl Marx's life started the gestation of Das Kapital. And only a woman could have caught all the nuances and the importance as well as it is related in Love and Capital. Mary Gabriel gave this book years of her life and I am predicting it will surely be one that will live forever.
Another thing I noticed from the text; Jenny Marx, the daughter always is wearing a crucifix! And even when photographed with her "atheist" father Karl Marx! Perhaps another myth bites the dust? And another shocker, Karl Marx and his family celebrated Christmas and New Years just like you and I. That fact wasn't in my high school history book....
