The people had not yet heard the cry of war. Homer, The Iliad, Book 4, Line 331
At the time of this writing, late into the night, deep in the secure bunker, the Oracle of Ottawa ponders the present state of the 'Harper Government' Right Wing Revolution. Lets see; the conservative mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford is now somewhere deep into rehab. And is essentially out of office. 'Chain Gang' Tim Hudak, the head of the Conservative Party of Ontario is caught in a very dirty and tight provincial election and will soon realize a longly held dream. He will probably be a greeter at some Wall Mart early next week.
Danny hopes for a gun registry and fully funded mental health programs...
Meanwhile at the federal level, the Oracle of Ottawa can't help but notice the recent change in the presence and demeanor of Stephen Harper of the 'Harper Government'. Ever since that ex PMO officer released his book and the Supreme Court of Canada utterly trashed the great man, yet again, he now has a different look. The snarkyness has greatly increased. It was very evident in that Abbott press conference earlier this week. Could the once great man be having a slow motion nervous breakdown?
When the subject got to a carbon tax and the recent actions of President Obama to combat climate change, Ole Steve kept to the winger script. There was no attempt to moderate the tone, even as his own hole was starting to come down on him, he just pushed on with a bigger shovel. It all got much stranger latter into the scrum on the subjects of sex workers and legal pot. These things were not banned because they were hurtful, they are banned because they are harmful! Or some such bull shit words to that effect. Why doesn't the 'Harper Government' ever say that about guns?
Today was the funeral in Moncton for three fallen Mounties. The Prime Minister of the 'Harper Government' gave the usual fire and brimstone winger speech. Great photo op, the folks of the base in Duck's Ass Alberta just love it. More law and order, less government, why hell, someday, no government! The Oracle of Ottawa can't help but think that this sad event would have never happened if we still had the old gun registry, and if we actually had fully funded social programs for youth mental illness. The word is leaking out that the family of the shooter tried and tried. Spending Canadians tax money on that is just stupid. And when the specters rise up out of the trailer parks for their last stand conservatives rub their hands together in glee, another funeral, another photo op...
Those who think religion is about "belief" don't understand religion, and don't understand belief. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Bed Of Procrustes, p. 6
Pauline Marois is the present and thirtieth Premier of the Province of Quebec. Although, at the time of this writing, she is walking the knife edge of a minority government, and as of yet does not have the strength to bend the bars, she sure as hell is strong enough to rattle the cage! Much to the Oracle of Ottawa's pleasure and endless delight, Pauline Marois has had the backbone to finally draw the line in the sand. By proposing and implementing the Quebec Charter of Values. The main and visible part of this proposed act is to ban the wearing of all religious clothing by provincial public servants. And much to the Oracles delight she didn't miss anybody. She got them all including the sickening Jean Guy type with the oddly large Jesus cross. The Oracle of Ottawa finds this character as sickening as a walking tent woman in a burqa.
Premier Pauline Marois - A Great Canadian!
The Oracle of Ottawa can certainly understand the shock of his opinion of some of his Dear Readers. But allow the Oracle to explain. You see the Oracle of Ottawa is what would be called in Quebec "Pure Wool". The Oracles lineage goes all the back to the young wife of Samuel de Champlain! Helene Boulle, who married the notable Father of New France at the age of twelve years old. Although the official story goes that they consummated their marriage two years later, all the surviving members of her family that are alive today, and there are very many of us, know the real story. Helene Boulle was a real French girl, taber - nack! She was doing old Sam balls deep before the ink dried on the marriage contract! All of her descendants today, and there are very many of them, are very proud of her, colle - in! If you want it done, get a French girl from Quebec to do it!
Jason Kenny confers with PMO staffer...
As the Oracle of Ottawa was contorted in laughter in front of his Sony X series flat screen at the breaking news it got even more hysterical as the coverage switched to Ottawa as the major federal parties in Ottawa reacted to the Great Woman's breakthrough. The first to speak of course was the ever hated and past immigration minister Jason Kenny, who was totally blindsided and in somewhat of a deep shock. You could tell that his boxers were in a very large knot, as he could barley repeat the line that his handler had drilled into him all but 90 seconds before. The handler tried to make it as easy as possible for the hapless minister, but all was lost when the minister had to admit to the spin doctor from the PMO, that he didn't know what was meant by the concept of Church and State. But it didn't matter, every one across Canada was laughing so hard it all didn't really matter any way.
Justin Trudeau ponders his future...
Next up of course was the Next One, Justin Trudeau, and he, to the Oracle of Ottawa, looked even more shocked then the preceding Conservatives, you could really tell that the young Justin's thong was starting to ride up, so to speak, as he mouthed through a statement that was very similar to the Conservatives. And the Oracle of Ottawa has to note that Justin can sweat just like all the rest of us after all. How about that?
Then, of course, came the hapless NDP leader, Tom Mulcair. He was as hot and brash as a young teenage girl that was going commando for the first time. Yes, indeed, he was letting his balls dangle in the free air of the breeze. And he was making as about as much sense as the three others that just preceded him. It was not a fine moment, especially as the polling numbers were discussed immediately after he spoke that confirmed that the majority of Canadians were very much behind Pauline Marois. Perhaps their fart catchers should take note...
But seriously Dear Reader, something had to be done. Even walking around Ottawa on any given day now, you would swear you were in some medieval third world country. It has all gotten out of hand. And there is nothing more disconcerting than seeing what looks like a walking tent advance on you at the local shopping mall. Canada is an OECD country. It is a secular state. The concept of the separation of church and state has a long and hard fought history that peaked in Quebec and the rest of Canada in the 1960's during the Quiet Revolution. This is course the first time that we had to fight the power of our own "rag heads" in the Roman Catholic Church! The Oracle of Ottawa is quite surprised that no one seems to remember that today....
We see parts of things, we intuit whole things. Iris Murdoch, Metaphysics As A Guide To Morals, p. 1
It was a week of smoke here in Canada, in the deepest dog days of summer. Usually the hits to the blog drop off to nothing at this time of year, but not this year. The Oracle of Ottawa is somewhat miffed by the whole thing, as it is cutting into my deep baseball binges. But yet it was another week of discovery, the thinking about thinking project is totally out of control. Now facts and realities are revealing themselves to the Oracle of Ottawa with out any effort at all.
Lac-Megantic - Conservative Smoke...
This week, the reality of smoke reared its ugly head. The discovery that presented itself was that political ideologies create their own real, physical smoke! And of course, where there is smoke there is usually fire. It all got going when Steve Harper of the 'Harper Government' announced that the fall sitting of Parliament was going to be somewhat late this year. But what did you expect Dear Reader? Did you actually think that the scum of the 'Harper Government' would actually show up and take it like a man? Did you actually think that they would risk having to admit that they could have possibly have been wrong on about a dozen or two beliefs?
Mini-Me Paradis...
That fire bombing of that small town in the Province of Quebec, Lac-Megantic was the stake through the heart of the Chicago School experiment of the 'Harper Government'. And that it was the present seat of the "Harper Government's Minister of Industry, one Christian "Mini-Me" Paradis is serious proof to the Oracle of Ottawa that there really is a God. Talk about getting shagged by Doctor Evil! Why the invisible hand of unregulated tooth and claw capitalism burned so bright, that it was picked up by American Spy satellites! As the fire storm took up media time all around the world for days and days we all now know the smoke of Conservative Party of Canada ideology, don't we?
Liberal Smoke...
With the prorogation of Parliament will be the death of many of the 'Harper Government's most cherished and Canada killing bills that it ruthlessly forced through the House, damn Reason, full speed ahead. They will all die on the order paper, this is called the silver lining in your undergraduate textbooks of political science. Most of the next session will be filled with votes of confidence, and with all the abandoned Conservatives crawling out from under the bus, like a herd of very pissed zombies, it is really going to be high entertainment.
Justin Trudeau - Cumming Soon...
Meanwhile out west in British Columbia the young next one, Justin Trudeau, was on summer vacation with the wife and kids. Then there was that press conference about legalizing cannabis at the first opportunity of the next Trudeau Liberal Government. When the Oracle of Ottawa saw the footage on the local vulgar old style media he could literally feel the the youngsters poll numbers rising. Back in Ottawa there was full and guarded accounting of pot smoking experiences of youth. The Prime Minister had to bullshit the media, by admitting that he tried it a few times, which the Oracle of Ottawa has on good authority is a total lie, but one cannot appear to be un-hip can one?
All in, everything is unfolding as it should, just like old Pierre Trudeau said many years ago. The young Justin is rolling another Jamaican jumbo blunt and is preparing to make some more babies with the comely Sophie. It is very important when you are the First Lady of Canada that there are lots of attractive youngsters around. The press loves it and it is really good for business. The social whirl of a young Liberal Government and the continued construction of the Just Society will make Ottawa magic again.
At the time of this writing it is less than 18 months to the next federal election. The forces of evil are all but contained and ready to be put back in the bottle for another couple of generations. We all just have to be patient, buy our tickets, and be ready to take the big ride that is soon to come...
Perhaps the most obvious feature of the use of symbols to represent things, events, or processes is the economy of representation. Marx W. Wartofsky, Conceptual Foundations Of Scientific Thought, p.37
You know it is a terrible idea when the beached whales (i.e. James Moore) of the dying 'Harper Government' are dumping their latest right wing Bilderberg Group ordered directive in the deepest dog days of summer on hapless Canadians. Now the brainwave is that the way to get cheaper cellphone rates in Canada is to invite Verizon, the Wall-Mart of communication companies, into Canada and in turn destroy the whole industry. I guess the punks in short pants at the Prime Ministers Office thought this this would be a great idea.
'Harper Government' gets the call...
But the Oracle of Ottawa has to admit it is just music to his ears to hear the scum at Rogers, Bell and Telus complain for a change! Recently when the Oracle of Ottawa called Rogers to bitch about the lack of Major League Baseball, he was told that he couldn't complain! Oh the Oracle got to complain all right, and it is a terrible thing to make a temporary foreign worker cry.
Of course if Verizon is allowed into Canada there will be thousands of lost Canadian jobs. As a matter of fact the Oracle of Ottawa is quite surprised that no one has figured out the real reason that wee Jimmy Moore is rolling out the Red and White carpet to Verizon. The Oracle of Ottawa has it on good authority that it is really about the creation of that new labour union that is going to called UNIFOR, which is going to take place on this coming Labour Day. The Oracle of Ottawa is really going to enjoy it when the NDP start pumping this rude fact out to the Canadian public during the fall sitting of the House.
And it is all really just another sign of the failed ideology of the 'Harper Government'. By failing to do their job and stepping in to protect the Canadian consumer as it is the job of a real government to do, they are now in desperation, going to contract out their responsibilities to Verizon, with hopefully a cell phone price war just in time for the next Federal Election.
Attacks are rarely directed at true objectivity, but rather at pretenders who use it to mask their own dishonesty, or perhaps the falseness and injustice of the whole culture. Theodore M. Porter, Trust In Numbers, p. 3
It seems like only yesterday that the Oracle of Ottawa witnessed the western idiot Preston Manning declare just after the 'Harper Government' majority that Canada is now all but gone over to the Dark Side of the political right. The Oracle of Ottawa, as a public service, to his worldwide audience has decided that it is time to let all the members of the Global Village know how this has all been working out for us here in Canada.
African Rock Python - messenger of the Right...
It was a packed church somewhere in the Canadian Province of New Brunswick today as several hundred mourners gathered for the double funeral of two young brothers aged five and seven, who were constricted to death by an African Rock Python several days ago. No matter where in the world you are as you are reading this, you have no doubt heard about this event through your local vulgar media. CNN International just loved it. It is quite true as you have probably suspected, that it is illegal in Canada to own this animal privately. And yes, we have (had?) a Federal Law that contains a huge list of scummy animals from the Third and other worlds that are not allowed in Canada, my once nice clean country, under any circumstances. Things like an Indian mongoose for example. But Dear Reader, did you know where the owner of this snake got it from? Sitting down? It was given to him by the provincial government of New Brunswick! Along with twenty six other restricted animals that the government seized! The Oracle of Ottawa can only imagine that the local governments budget has been cut so down to the bone that they could no longer afford bullets to do their mandated job. And the Right bears it's fruit.
Preston Manning - God of the Right
Recently in the Province of Quebec, a huge train of tanker cars containing "crude oil" was left out side a small town called Lac-Megantic. The unattended 73 car freight train simply rolled down the hill into the center of a small town and of course derailed and blew up, killing at last count 43 people, and creating a fire storm that resembled a little Dresden. But the upside of all this is that everybody in Canada now knows for sure that there really is a God. The said fire bombed town was in the riding of the 'Harper Government' Minister of Industry and Development! You just can't make this stuff up! The Oracle of Ottawa remembers very well and clearly how the sock puppets of the 'Harper Government' stood up repeatedly in the House of Commons on many occasions and stated more than once that it was not the governments job to tell a capitalist pig how to run his / her company! And the Right bears it's fruit.
Prime Minister Harper - Lackey of the Right
Recently in the Province of Ontario, cancer patients in southern Ontario were informed that their chemo drugs have been discovered to be watered down by about 10%! The "honest mistake" was made by a private sector contractor, who's accountant must have figured that a one percent drop in concentration would result in a ten percent plus rise in profit. Who would ever know, right? And it certainly is not up to the Federal Government, or as it is now known, the 'Harper Government', to step into such situations and interfere with the divine workings of the Invisible Hand, is it? And the Right bears it's fruit.
In the northern reaches of the Province of Alberta, raw tar sand, otherwise known as bitumen, has started to mysteriously seep from the ground, and has been proven to be impossible to stop. It is now contaminating
the water table of a small band of Canadian Aboriginals, not to mention that lake and all its tributaries. Clean up costs are estimated to be in the tens of millions of dollars. The monster large oil company in question claims it is all news to them, or rather until the intrepid members of the local vulgar media found out that it is leak from a SAGD mining of tar sand in the immediate area, that has somehow found another route up to the surface of the Earth due to an unknown number of rock fractures. Now it is taken as Gospel out in the western Canadian oil patch that it is no business of the Federal Government to impose foolish and expensive restrictions on dollar seeking oil companies.(3-D sesmic is not that expensive, but it does cost money...) The market will take care of all that, along with the Invisible Hand. It is not the governments business to tell an oil company what to do. And the Right bears it's fruit.
Now we are out to Vancouver, British Columbia. Where upon this week it has been found that a local Chinese peasant has been running a dental practice out of a spare bedroom of his private home, in a very, well, somewhat nice street somewhere in Vancouver!! It hasn't been going on too long, only about twenty years! And the said buck-toothed peasant (irony?) didn't have too many patients, only about 1,500, well maybe a lot more than that, the police are still searching for his patient records, nothing yet. The said buck toothed Chinese peasant had very many dental tools, but from the video that the Oracle of Ottawa saw on the CBC newscast, it would probably be safer to get your dental work done at a GM dealership, at least my mechanics tools are bright and gleaming! Since there was no instrument sterilization equipment found as of yet, it has been recommended to all former patients to get tested for Hep A, Hep B, Hep C and while you are at it, get the AIDS test also. It seems that the Bucktoothed "dentist" was very popular with the high and low end downtown hookers of Vancouver Island. But certainly it is not for the Government of any level to interfere with an industrious person that just wants to make a buck for crying out loud And the Right bears it's fruit.
These things happen. We are living in cheap times, and the fast lane is littered with some very expensive wrecks. Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine, p. 228
If it wasn't for a clear headed citizen with his ankle bracelet cell phone, it is very likely that we would have never even heard of the death of Sammy Yatim. The murder took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada sometime late last Friday night or early Saturday morning. Somehow the youngster slipped his clutch plates and ordered the clearing of a Toronto streetcar at knife point, so the story goes.
Of course the street car driver hit the hidden panic button and every cop within a radius of God only knows quickly started to appear at the scene. Now if you know any old cops, the first thing that they will tell you is that the most dangerous thing in a cops life is another cop going for the gun too soon. Since 9/11 cops have been getting all the funding beyond their wildest dreams. We always hear about the Ninja like training that they all get today. And we have all heard about the latest body armour that even the most common beat cop gets in any city in Canada.
So when it comes to disarming a lone nutter you would think that a big burly constable would walk right up to the mental miscreant and deftly disarm and subdue the poor citizen, armed with a knife, gun or both. Haven't any of these cops of today seen any recent movies? And as per the Oracle of Ottawa's view on the matter, it is much more fun to beat the crap out of someone face to face that threatens me then just shoot him from a great and safe distance. But that is just the Oracle, old school macho...
Well if you have seen the video, which appeared to the Oracle on Sunday last as he checked in to his You Tube account and noticed it in the popular now section! So that means that the whole world has or will soon see it. That sure is good for Canadian tourism isn't it? As the Oracle of Ottawa pressed the play button he was floored! Never in his life had he observed a cold blooded murder for real in a Canadian city. But if you watch the video carefully and count the shots fired, it seems that one of Toronto's "finest" emptied the contents of his Glock's clip into the kid. (9 Shots - listen and count carefully...)
But it gets even worse, upon closer viewing. After all the shots are fired, and the mob of cops enter the bus, to subdue the corpse, you hear that unmistakable sound of a Taser being deployed! (At 1:00 on the video...) It is just unimaginable, but they Tasered the kid after they killed him! Now we all know that most police departments put their recruits through a ton of "wiring" tests before they are hired. Perhaps they should start screening for Dyslexia?
The real ironic, ignorant fact of this whole mess is that it got recorded from more than one angle. There is no way out. It makes the Oracle break into a wry smile. The results of living in our locked down world, that has most of us covered 24/7 as soon as we walk out the door in the morning is that the system is catching more cops than criminals! Do you think there is any information in that fact? Well do ya?
The creation of a work of art, like an act of love, is our one small "yes" at the center of a vast "no". Gore Vidal, The Selected Essays Of Gore Vidal, p. 14
Detroit is not very far from the Oracle of Ottawa's bunker in south-end Ottawa. Why it is just a drive down the 416, a right onto the 401 to Windsor and then cross the bridge. Why even the two biggest local Detroit TV stations are included in the Oracles TV cable package, it is darn near like being there! In another Black Day In July, this time on July 18, 2013, Detroit has filed for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy, the largest filing of its type in the history of the United States (so far).
How in hell can the thirteenth largest city in the United States of America go bankrupt? And Detroit is not just another City, it was and still is to some extent, the Motor City, the Arsenal of Democracy, the Mother F*cking Big 'D'! In 1950 there were 1,850,000 in Detroit, as of 2013 there are 701,000. You hear all kinds of causes, the most often heard is "white flight" caused by "deindustrialization". But if you dig into the nut of the matter you will soon discover that the real cause of the decline of Detroit is the charter townships!
It is impossible in Detroit to start up a Regional Municipality of Detroit! Although there is "only" 701,000 people in the old core of Detroit now, there is at present, over 5,000,000 people in the Detroit Metro Area! Now the Detroit Metro Area consists of 330 local governments (!) which by the 1947 legislation can never be annexed into an efficient administrative body! The Oracle can hear all the people in Canada and the European Union saying the same thing; How nuts is that?
At the time of this writing in Detroit there are 90,000 abandoned lots, 70,000 abandoned buildings, and 31,000 abandoned houses! The word is that you could place Paris and Bremen in the empty parts of Detroit and still have room left over! If you don't believe the Oracle of Ottawa just check out Google Earth and go for a street view walk in Detroit, or enter Detroit on You Tube and you can watch for hours in utter amazement and horror at how insane the whole mess really is. Why even the pigeons and shit hawks have given up on Detroit! It is truly just about beyond comprehension! Is this the efficient result of Adam Smith's invisible hand?
Another favorite excuse of the right wing wack balls in the United States is that it is all the fault of Detroit being strongly Democrat for the last 50 years! But if that is indeed true why can't the Oracle of Ottawa find at least one small Detroit in the European Union or in Canada? And there are many cities in the European Union and Canada that are as old or much more older than Detroit! You will be able to come only to one conclusion, Detroit is not a disaster of circumstance, it is simply a disaster of governance.
As Ottawa fries like an egg on a curb in Death Valley who would ever think that the summer of 2013 would contain so much entertainment? Usually in the bake of the summer months in Ottawa very little of note takes place, especially the clash of titans and mice. That, in the past, has always waited for the commencement of the standard social season that starts sometime after Labour Day.
The winner is: Eugene Melnyk?
It all just blew up out of nowhere didn't it? One day nothing and then Ka-Boom! Gentleman Jim the Mayor of Ottawa thought he could brush off the boorish Eugene Melnyk just as he would a poor stakeholder or long time employee that has actually taken the high ground and refuses to step down. That bit that showed up on the Oracle of Ottawas supper time news recently explained every thing. That Melnyk guy was hotter than hell, at that last City Council meeting, wasn't he? That is all quite easy to explain, if you are familiar with the recent workings at the present city of wall - mart. Gentleman Jim and his band of pathetic burg(h)ers thought they could tell old Gene one thing behind closed doors and place the knife in his back in public just like a pesky outraged small stakeholder or senior employee.
Well as we all know, that didn't work this time. Eugene Melnyk is the real deal. He is the 75th richest person in Canada, with a present net worth of around a billion dollars. More than enough money to carry out his threats. More than enough money to hire every private dick in Canada and totally destroy the present creepy altar boy of City Hall, once and for all. Many items would no doubt be hauled out of many dark closets, why not even the Chinese could save him...
Coming soon to Kanata??
As real power would have it, old Gene won't have to spend a cent. The creepy altar boy has done everything that he was told to do save and except bending over and spreading them. And to add insult to injury, he won't be getting his name on it, or anything near or around it. That bit where he showed up on CBC Radio news recently was an absolute howler of fear and collapse.
The last municipal election proved how the people are reacting today, it was the largest flush out of a council in the history of Ottawa. At the time of this writing it appears to the Oracle of Ottawa that it really is true that sometimes one has to flush twice. The Oracle of Ottawa like many stakeholders in Ottawa can hardly wait...
Well Dear Reader, it was a hell of week in old Ottawa, once known as Bytown, when it was run and owned by the timber barons. The illusion, or rather the delusion, that government at any level can be run as a public relations exercise by spin doctors and fart catchers has all but crashed and burned and the fire of the wreckage still burns.
It all started during the dinner hour earlier in the week when the Oracle of Ottawa's old style vulgar media supper news broke to "breaking news" and announced that Gentleman Jim Watson had folded and thrown in the towel on the insane, but much treasured idea, of a downtown casino in Ottawa! We were all duly informed that the head Burg(h)er of the City of Ottawa had sent off his letter to the Ontario Gaming Commission to announce that the new casino will only be allowed at the present site of the Rideau Carleton Race Track, where the Oracle of Ottawa reasoned many months ago was the only logical choice. No doubt one of the Mayors unpaid contractor interns probably read the Oracle of Ottawa's blog and realized that any other plan was indeed hopeless. The trial balloon to get the site beside the Canadian War Museum did not fly very well at all with the knuckle dragging Conservatives from the Prime Ministers Office. The dream died.
The Senate, that Harper wanted to abolish,
is going to abolish Harper!!
Meanwhile the encampment of the outta town Conservatives down on Wellington Street suffered many rattling death blows, so much so that many movers have been called and reserved for sometime in the near future. The "state broadcaster" the great Mother ship of the CBC is pulling out only one or two stops in the fight for its life. The stories are breaking daily and the slip of secret revenge dumps in thick envelopes are turning into a flood at all the media outlets in Ottawa. It seems to the Oracle of Ottawa that all the people from under the bus have risen up. The Oracle of Ottawa will admit freely that he is enjoying every moment of the slow motion train wreck. The spin is clashing and the talking points are causing more trouble than the effort to write them, that at present, goes on late into the night, to no avail.
Brent Rathgeber a back bench sock puppet of the 'Harper Government' has finally sickened of the little jackie bastards in short pants from the Prime Ministers Office and has resigned from the Conservative Party of Canada! The Oracle of Ottawa strongly suspects that the trickle will soon turn into a flood. Soon the so called majority will be under numerical threat as the Oracle of Ottawa predicted the day after the last election. It is not long now Dear Reader, when the social swirl of Ottawa will return to its grandeur that is only known when the leftist elites of the Liberal Party of Canada are strongly in control, which is their destiny. Why the Oracle of Ottawa has booked his fitting for his formals that will be greatly in use and demand again after this period of Canada's darkest age....
Meanwhile it is another day at Ottawa City Hall of the dying administration of Gentleman Jim and his Burg(h)ers... Someone E-mail the media! LOL!!
Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. Sir Francis Bacon, Essays, Essay L - Of Studies
Thomas Mulcair is the second son of a huge family of ten kids! He was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He rose way up in Canadian society, it is a hell of a story. From essentially the wrong side of the tracks, in all truth and honesty, he has risen to become the Leader of the NDP, which is now the Royal Opposition in the present Parliament. The whole story makes Horatio Alger look like a slacker.
Thomas Mulcair - Give yourself a shake!!
It has been a pleasure to watch ole Tom roll on and over Steve Harper of the 'Harper Government'. As far as the Oracle of Ottawa can tell he is one of the very few that has made Harper squirm at will and with much pleasure. You know that Mulcair is getting to Harper by the unfailing thumb tell that Harper exhibits every time Mulcair starts to get a little too close to the truth. Just watch early videos from Question Period when the 'Harper Government' was young and cocky, and then compare them to recent videos of Question Period since the onset of the Senate scandal. Do you see it? Pretty wild or what? The 'Harper' thumbs are literally twisting.
Don't fuck with the Senate!!
The Oracle of Ottawa has gone on at length in earlier postings about how much he utterly despises the 'Harper Government', or anyone else for that matter, that starts to talk about the dinking or any serious changes to any of Canada's constitutional institutions. And that includes the Senate of Canada. The Senate of Canada has existed since 1867 and is enshrined in the Constitution Act, 1867. The person that was behind its creation and the expression 'House of second sober thought' was ironically a Conservative Prime Minister, the first Prime Minister of Canada, Sir John A. MacDonald! The creation of Canada is a hell of a story, it was in the end a grand compromise, and the older the Oracle of Ottawa gets he is becoming more convinced that the creation of Canada, out of all its opposing forces, could only have been Divinely inspired.
The Canadian Senate will continue, unchanged...
Senates go back in history over two thousand years. Why even the first and earliest Senate of the world, located in Rome (Curia Julia) still stands! And wherever and whenever a Senate is abolished there usually the results of dire consequences and endless troubles. Again I direct the reader to research the history of the Weimar Republic of Germany in the time from 1919 -1933. There was another guy, Adolf whats his name, who was as hot to be rid of the Senate as Steve Harper is today in Canada. Why do you think that is? The Germany that rose out of the ashes of World War II and the division of Communism certainly included a Senate (Bundesrat) and even after re-unification Germany still has a second "upper" (appointed) house.
Is the Oracle of Ottawa the last old man in Ottawa to read that far back in history? The system we have works and has worked for as long as Canada has existed as a nation state. Yes there have been bumps on the road, and there will continue to be, that is human nature. If the powers of the day want to bring in some minor rules to protect the petty cash as times and technology changes that will be acceptable. But the Oracle of Ottawa does not want an elected Senate. The Oracle of Ottawa does not want the United States in Canada. All this has been dealt with over a century ago. It is surely shocking that the powers that be today do not know that, save and except that young Justin Trudeau. The Oracle of Ottawa totally agrees with the Justin Trudeau model of Senate Reform; If you want a good Senate start by putting good people into the Senate, just like his father did! And the Oracle of Ottawa must be honest and tell the truth. Someday he expects to get that call, and yes, for that Library of Parliament card, the Oracle of Ottawa will come out of retirement for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and serve in the House of sober second thought....
Criticism, as I see it, is really the shaping of a central tradition of recreation. Northrop Frye, On Education, p. 150
It was wondrous strange to the Oracle of Ottawa to hear of the arrest of Arthur Porter IV while in Panama, Panama, while doing his "laundry". It seems to be a rather strange thing to be doing when you claim have Type IV lung cancer! Does that even sound rational? If you had Type IV (inoperable) cancer would you be traveling over 1000 miles to do your banking? Or anyone else's? I mean, just asking.
Arthur Porter IV - I can do anything for you...
But such is the ways and means of the international T-shirt middleman class. With their bullshit stories of exotic descent and endless quest, just what the idiots in power today love to hear. People of the ilk and likes of Arthur Porter know exactly what those in power want to hear. They have been doing it for centuries if you are curious enough to look into it. If the vulgar media were on it, they would be asking his Daddie; Arthur Porter III, who by incredible chance seems to also live in Ottawa! I mean who knew?
It seems that the shit is all coming in on the 'Harper Government' like a tidal wave. This is of course the results of continually going for the bigger shovel, instead of stopping the excavation of their death hole. Ho! Ho! And talk about commitment to their fuck ups! At the time of this writing the Oracle of Ottawa discovered that SIRC still has the fallen doctors bio page up on its web site! Just like nothing ever happened. And the same with regards to his appointment to Canada's Privy Council! Yes Dear Reader, you can certainly see that the 'Harper Government' is on top of it all, aren't they?
The only thing that remains is to watch it all unfold. It is the Province of Quebec that has started it all, and looks like they will get it all in and done. And as everyone knows, the 'Harper Government' has made it very clear and more than once, that they don't need Quebec at all! Well, we shall see, won't we? The Oracle of Ottawa has discovered the rumor that the good doctor in question was on a diplomatic mission with the required passport, and may try to claim diplomatic immunity! One must have all the cloaks up when setting up the offshore repository's of today's active elected public politicians. But that only means that the grasping wife will be like dog meat in a riot. Ya, she will roll.
Now lets suppose that the good doctor is removed to Quebec, what ever stories do you think he has to tell to save his fat lumpy ass? The Oracle of Ottawa strongly suspects that it will put the Charbonneau Commission to complete shame. It was mentioned in the vulgar media this evening, at the time of this writing, that the Prime Minister is simply not himself lately, as observed at the end of session "garden party" for the media. Poor thing. It is the Oracle of Ottawa's fondest hope this summer will be the longest summer in the now horizon shortened life of the useless 'Harper Government'.
The mines are still going off, as the chunks of sheep meat fall from the air to detonate even more mines, it truly is like watching a herd of sheep cross a mine field. The latest round of revelations in the Mike Duffy affair went off around 4:00 p.m. today. It seems someone from possibly the Prime Ministers Office has slipped a ton of e-mails under the reporters door at the CBC. Of course it was on the airwaves in short notice.
The Puffster...
The Oracle of Ottawa is still amazed that all the power of the Conservative Party of Canada and its minions and its bottomless financial power, all painstakingly built by the best educated and predatory minds of our society is going to brought down to rack and ruin by a spud headed midget with grade seven! The Oracle of Ottawa is guessing grade seven, one more year than Jethro Bodine had from the Beverly Hillbillies. It all boggles the mind to even ponder the paradox of it all.
The Oracle of Ottawa finds it full and ironic that the whole 'Harper Government' is going to fall from the hapless screw ups of just one person from Canada's Maritime area of chronic underachievement, as old Steve Harper has put it in the past. The utter insane irony of it all. Just look at all the wreckage so far Dear Reader. Nigel Wright, the gee whiz whiz kid, the strapping shaker and mover of Bay Street, gadzillion-aire, Trinity College meets Bud The Spud, and it was no contest...
He has the instincts of a dung beetle. No living politician can match his talent for soiling himself in public. Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine, p. 228
You know when Steve Harper is lying. His hands appear above his waist. Although the Oracle of Ottawa is not a spin doctor or fart catcher, he does know enough about the communication skills to know that what the erstwhile Prime Minister said today in his low rent South American news conference was the worst possible course to take. At the rate he is going there will shortly be no more candidates to put under the bus. And of course there will be no more exploitable candidates coming forward in this lifetime.
Relax - The Senate will always be here...
Meanwhile back in Ottawa during Question Period today, John Baird was crushed and humiliated by the young Justin Trudeau, when he provided and tabled to the Conservative government, documents that they claimed they did not know existed! And the sad thing is they were not lying on this one. The piss and vinegar of the so called pit bull John Baird is just about at the breaking point. He is finally realizing that he is the fall guy. The Prime Minister took all his western buddies on the plane and left the easterners to spin in the dark. The voice of the bum boy minister is falling to the lowest register, the Liberals will be in for the final kill every day from now on.
John Baird - hapless fall boy....
The media has been spurned and dissed one too many times by the knuckle dragging, mouth breathing, social darwinist skid marks. That old Troskyite Terry Milewski is just putting the nuts to the 'Harper Government' and the Oracle of Ottawa is certainly enjoying seeing his tax dollars at work. And to see them twist in the light, is totally beyond words of description. Yes, today the 'Harper Government' was fed to the wolves, and the wolves puked...
It also appears today that one Senator Mike "The Puffster" Duffy has regrouped, and you can see his counter attack forming between the words. The little spud head knows that the box containing his Order of Canada is nailed and double welded shut for ever. The Oracle of Ottawa wonders late into the night what dirty goods he possibly has on the 'Harper Government' that he can get it to contort on command. The Oracle of Ottawa is sure that it is enough to bring down the 'Harper Government' dead.
How is that the Senate of Canada has existed since 1867, with barley a blip in over a century and as soon as the hick 'Harper Government' gets its sticky hands on the levers of power, the whole place explodes in scandal? But what can you expect when you appoint a high school drop out, sad victim as the Leader of The Government in The Senate? As the Oracle of Ottawa has stated many times in this blog, the best way to improve the Senate is to appoint the best people you can possibly find to it!
But to all Canadians that care about such things,they know that when the young Justin Trudeau is Prime Minister, the proper high property values will again return to the Chamber of Sober Second Thought.
Tonight Ottawa is a stinking roiling mess of shocked silence. You know it is worse than bad when in today's Question Period, John Baird, the bum boy of Foreign Affairs, was asking what time it was near the end of Question Period! Yes indeed, the sweat of the erstwhile Straussian, was dripping through the fat of his worthless body. Much to the Oracle of Ottawas surprise, Steve Harper did not stick around to hear the music play. He and his closet cronies scrambled to the jet that would remove them to somewhere in South America like a pack of rats scurrying across the tundra.
The very quantum fabric is rent..
Although the talking heads of the old vulgar media are playing this as a crisis, you ain't heard nothing yet Dear Reader. At some point the connection of the Prime Ministers Office to the Bilderberg Group is going to come out. When that finally drops, it will be a royal scandal. When all the red meat, grass roots, conservatives find out that the 'Harper Government' is just a mere puppet for a secret society, that will be a scandal. Many old hands in Ottawa tonight are wondering about the present forward motion of Preston Manning's right wing revolution. It seems that the remainder of the Laurentian consensus has more life than the right wing wacko politico's thought.
But the saddest and yet most enjoyable events of the day were watching the shocked reactions of the green as grass conservatives, that thought Steve was better than all that, react. Some of them are just about sick to death. Wait for it. They are now discovering that their whole lives and political careers are nothing but a joke and a lie. The Oracle of Ottawa loves watching hicks hit the wall at a hundred miles an hour, and noting the splatter pattern.
In the near future you will soon see that some faces will be absent, and will not return. The names will shock you Dear Reader. The friends will desert, no one will come. Who could have imagined that the whole thing would be brought down by a spud headed skidmark from Prince Edward Island? Soon Marjory LeBreton will again be a high school drop out housewife in Barfhaven, free to spend less and live better at the local Wal-Mart, were she and John Baird will have coffee, with Little Polly Poilievre, Well at least on the days when they don't have certain appearances to make....
The Victoria Day long weekend in Canada is usually a very quiet and unremarkable affair. It is the unofficial, official start of the Canadian gear down from winter to summer, and all the relief that it brings. But not this year Dear Reader. It all started to go all rather nuts on Friday morning just past, when the Oracle of Ottawa was awoken by the name of Toronto's mayor and the words video, crack and smoking! The Oracle of Ottawa thought this is it! The Oracle has really slipped his clutch plates for sure this time! The Oracle of Ottawa immediately rose out of bed and dragged his significant other to the radio and had her confirm that what he just heard was indeed true! This was at 9:00 A.M..
'Harper Government' - The pig is in the tunnel folks...
The Oracle of Ottawa then proceeded to breakfast of a coffee and two cigarettes and his book that was on top of the pile; "in reading". Still reeling from the wake up call, the Oracle of Ottawa than turned on the vulgar media and selected the CTV news channel and was stunned by more revelations of the Puffster Mike Duffy, and how the axe was just hanging over the vertically challenged Ms. Wallin! The Oracle of Ottawa at this point became somewhat dizzy, and repaired to the kitchen for more coffee and a few more bolstering smokes to calm his nerves. As the smoke took hold and the Oracle having bolstered himself against the kitchen counter, the earth began to move!! It all lasted for over thirty seconds! A gentle but powerful swaying motion, that set off a wonderful symphony of creaking and tinkling, that sounded as music from God.
This was at 9:45A.M. exactly, and the Oracle of Ottawa again turned on the vulgar media and was soon informed that there was indeed a 5.2 Richter earthquake measured in Ottawa from Shawville, Quebec all the way down to Ohio in the United States! The evil of the 'Harper Government' has so twisted the very quantum fabric that the earth itself moved to balance the evil forces! If this weirdness keeps up Dear Reader, by Tuesday morning the Oracle of Ottawa expects a pillar of salt at the intersection of Wellington Street at Bank Street!
While out of the fortified bunker on the usual Friday beer and lotto ticket run the Oracle of Ottawa noticed the vulgar media newspaper headlines. Kathleen Wynne had fired the head of the Ontario Lottery Commission! And it must have been the right move, since the whole board followed the ousted huckster out the door like rats being chased on the tundra. Could it be that there will be no Casino in downtown Ottawa after all? Upon returning home, the Oracle of Ottawa closed up and continued to be reeled by the revelations of the old style vulgar media, and enjoyed every moment.
All of Saturday the Oracle of Ottawa was in a happy state of shock, knowing full well that once the shit starts to roll down hill it will continue ever faster until something stops it. It was Sunday morning that the major axe fell, when the Oracle of Ottawa heard with shock that Nigel S. Wright was also thrown under the bus. At this point we are through the looking glass now folks, any thing could happen and probably will.
On this Sunday after noon the Oracle of Ottawa was on his way to Arnprior to visit a very important man, as per usual routine. The Oracle of Ottawa of course had CBC's Cross Country Check Up on, and was amazed that Rex Murphy had his old self back on, and was doing a hell of a job. The knuckle dragging Tory Conservatives were in total outrage! The Oracle of Ottawa could not believe his ears. Any thing could happen now! Then the Oracle of Ottawa realized that come Tuesday the very 'Harper Government' could fall in a vote of non confidence.
The Oracle of Ottawa hopes that it is Elizabeth May and / or Charlie Angus that get to do the honors! With the Prime Minister planning not to be in the House on Tuesday, due to his planned presence at some South American trade conference, with the usual retinue of sock puppet cabinet fart catchers and sock puppet back benchers, the numbers would be totally in the Oppositions favor! The wreckage is every where and piling up very fast. (And we still haven't got through the Bilderberg Group revelations yet...)At 3:00 P.M. the CBC radio complained that no one from the Conservative Party of Canada could be reached in any manner of communication. Get your voting suit ready Dear Reader, the Just Society of Justin Trudeau will indeed be coming sooner, much sooner than later. Just as the Oracle of Ottawa called it...
You had to know it was coming. With the demise of the sub prime mortgage market in 2008, the corporate whore greed heads had to come up with something new. They had to figure out a way to get all the F9 monkeys back to work and out of retirement from their tax havens. The market for junior oil and gas, and the proverbial gold mine of junior mining stocks has all but dried up, due to consolidation. And even if they did exist, the sheer scale is no match of the size of sheer numbers that the sub prime mortgage market once had.
Old fashioned corporate bond
It appears to the Oracle of Ottawa that the greed heads have come come up with a potential candidate, it is called a Social Impact Bond. It is a contract with the public sector in which a commitment is made to
pay for improved social outcomes that result in public sector savings.(?) In other words the greatest potential Public Private Partnership (ripoff) of all time! Trebles all around. Now the problem is that it all sounds good from the top. Just like sub prime lending, the first generation social impact bond, if you like. This helps a ton with the marketing all round. It only has to look good until the sucker signs on.
A very ancient trading company bond...
Advocates of these performance-based investments claim that they encourage innovation and tackle challenging social issues. It is just that they forget to tell you that the innovation is for their bottom line, and they have absolutely no intention of tackling challenging social issues. If this stupidity actually worked, you wouldn't be able to sell very many more "bonds" in the future would you? The Oracle of Ottawa will now explain all the (in)efficient cost adding measures that the corporate whores will add on to ensure failure and the sale of yet more "bonds" and the eventual construction of a fascist corporate society, with out any government at all ideally.
The Oracle of Ottawa has added a little video to explain all the advanced concepts of the social impact bond. It was the least complicated one he could find at the time of this writing. The problem is that every pitch for SIB's is different in varying degrees. The main problem that the Oracle of Ottawa see's is that there are going to be several add on layers to every government program that they will finance. First, there is the investment bank that will underwrite the so called bond issue, that really is not a bond. This will no doubt add 20% on to the cost of the said program! Second, while the investors (suckers?) money is at work in the project (train wreck?) there is another mediator, or rather and ideological policeman, after all the project cannot really be allowed to succeed can it? You certainly can't sell social impact bonds, if there are no social problems! Add on another 10%. And Thirdly at the end of the project, you have to audit it of course to insure that it was all after all, a total failure. Again this is legal ground paper for the next batch of bonds, and legal conformation for the valuation of the puts on the bonds that were sold by the investment bank to the hedge fund that bet against the project! The variations are endless! Isn't the future great?
