New Canadian Ten Dollar Bill

Two wrongs can make a right in the sense that the best available arrangement may contain a balance of imperfections, an adjustment of compensating injustices.
John Rawls, A Theory Of Justice, p. 279

Well Dear Reader it has only been a few weeks now that the new plastic 'Harper Money' version of the new ten dollar bill has been released into general circulation here in Canada. There are problems with it of course, the major one being the Oracle of Ottawa is still wondering who is that guy that they have on the ten dollar bill?

As you can clearly see above, this the old ten dollar bill. It is part of the Canadian Journey Series of banknotes. All the picture bits, including the portrait, were done by the Canadian Banknote Company, that has a very long history in Canada of doing fine work on Canadian banknotes. The portrait is of course of Sir John A. Macdonald. And the likeness of the portrait is just perfect to the photograph from which it originates.The Oracle of Ottawa can easily prove that.

Sir John A. Macdonald - 1878

 The picture is from the old chieftan period around 1878. Notice how perfect the image on the bill matches the photograph in the finest detail. Notice the art of the engraver, how there is no mistakes in any respect of proportion? That Dear Reader is called craft. Now let us look at the image of Sir John on the new ten dollar bill, shall we?

Sir John A. Macdonald - Right??

The image on the new ten dollar bill is the one on the right on the picture above. The Oracle of Ottawa doesn't know who that is either. The image is said to be taken from the 1875 period. Well let us match them up shall we?

Sir John A. Macdonald - 1875

As you can readily see Dear Reader, that the image on the new ten dollar bill looks hardly nothing like the photograph of the Great Man at that time. But this bill was not done at Canadian Banknote. As a matter of fact the Oracle of Ottawa cannot find out on open sources where the new monster john bill was made. As you can see the rendition of Canada's founding father is bordering on obscene. You will also note Dear Reader that the actual released note does not match the Bank of Canada Specimen note that they used to market the actual note!! Why it actually looks like the guy who did the note portrait was on crack.

But wait! The wee banty Finance Minister of the 'Harper Government' at the time of this writing does know a crack head that also just happens to own a big chunk of a family commercial printing plant, you don't think do ya? The crack theory continues to build when you inspect the note more closely and discover that the Governors signature is that of Mark Carney! But Mark Carney is longer the Governor of the Bank of Canada and hasn't been since July 1, 2013! That Dear Reader is what a collector would call an error...

Microsoft - The Pengiun Eats The Butterfly?

I am a plain practical man, not one of your theorists and splitters of hairs and choppers of logic.
Sir James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, p. 69

At the time of this writing it is less then 137 days to the demise of Windows XP Pro. Probably one of the best operating systems that Microsoft has ever built, next to DOS of course. The Oracle of Ottawa has been a fervent user of Microsoft operating systems over many years, all the way back to the DOS era. My present box is in perfect running order, but, to upgrade to the same level as Windows XP Pro, the Oracle will have to shell out over $250.00 for Windows 8.1 Pro! Which is pretty stupid, considering that the computer that I am now  using only cost me $149.99 out the door!

Time to move to Linux!

The Oracle of Ottawa has given up a lot of corporate stuff lately. A corporate pay check, corporate fast food, and now the Oracle of Ottawa is going to give up corporate software. Although all the press and MS marketing states that support for Windows XP will end sometime in April of 2014, the Oracle of Ottawa has noticed that for all intents and purposes they have all ready stopped supporting it at the time of this writing, just to aid the big pre-Christmas marketing rush. The Oracle is not amused. And he is simply not going to take it any more.

As far back as 2006 Microsoft was once the third largest corporation on Earth measured by market capitalization. Now fast forward to 2013, and you will discover that Microsoft is now the seventh largest corporation on Earth by market cap. And to add insult to injury, or rather to increase the contrast of the writing on the wall, Apple is number one! Not even the Oracle of Ottawa had the balls to call that minor upset.

The Oracle of Ottawa has had another life altering revelation lately, and that is that an operating system in this day and age is just too important a thing to leave in the hands of corporate whores out in Redmond, Washington. All the stuff that the Oracle owns that has software to operate, and that works really well, sure as hell is not made by Microsoft. It is all Linux and / or embedded Linux. I mean really, if Google is not using Microsoft, why the hell should you Dear Reader?

The Oracle of Ottawa is just fed up with the so called Microsoft experience, the overpriced registered drudgery of it all. It is an industry and an era that has had its time and is now past. A lot like buggy whips. Other concerns have started entering the Oracles mind also, the major one being my security. The next operating system that the Oracle runs will not be the product of an American corporate whore in the employ of the New World Order and the Department of Homeland Security! Yes the Oracle has decided to bring Linux to his Desktop. And one that originates in Europe, not the United States.

The Oracle  of Ottawa has been toying with the idea for a while now. He has done his due diligence and actually researched Linux on You Tube which was powerfully helpful. But what really shifted the Oracle of Ottawa was catching the philosophy of Linus Torvalds in his many talks that just happened to posted on You Tube. The Oracle of Ottawa was simply blown away by the mans candor and left leaning ideology. Bill Gates can't hold a candle to him as a mental force or as a man... The Oracle of Ottawa will be running some flavor of Linux way before April 2014.

Rene Girard - Who IS This Guy?

Yet for all that the table continues to be that common everyday thing, wood. But, so soon as it steps forth as a commodity it is changed into something transcendent.
Karl Marx, Capital, Volume I, p. 82

Rene Girard at the time of this writing is nearly ninety years old. He is the greatest philosopher and Christian alive today that you probably never heard of. The Oracle of Ottawa discovered him on You Tube, quiet by accident while doing up the Richard D. Wolff piece on the best introductory lectures on Marxian thought. Once I heard the famous theory of mimetic desire spelled out, the Oracle of Ottawa was completely hooked. It basically states that all our desires are borrowed from other people. All conflict arises from mimetic desire, and this of course leads to the eventual sure as Sunday scapegoat mechanism.

Rene Girard - Immortal (richly deserved...)

As the "thinking about thinking project" has been progressing, the Oracle of Ottawa kept coming to the same realization over and over; I am missing something really elementary here but I can't put my finger on it. Well Dear Reader, after you become familiar with the basic ideas of Rene Girard, you will soon realize that you have finally discovered the missing and key piece to damn near every thing.  Religion, language, politics, economics and history in the big.

The Oracle of Ottawa quickly realized that this guy must be really dangerous, since it is damn near impossible to find his books or any anyone who has even heard of him. When you happen onto a an actor under these circumstances, you know that you are probably on to something powerful and very valuable. The clincher was when it provided the final and complete piece to my common stock algorithm, which I have deemed the Midas Algorithm For a Portfolio of Common Stocks. Weird how useful and universal a basic idea can be, isn't it?

Among the many advantages of the theory of mimetic desire is that it provides the center idea to understanding many weird books that you know are important but just can't seem to get into. The Oracle of Ottawa will list a few:

1. The Bible - any version...

2. John Milton - Paradise Lost

3. Karl Marx - Capital and most all of his other works.

4. Julian Jaynes - The Origin of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind

5. Arnold J. Toynbee - A Study of History...

6. James George Frazer - The Golden Bough

Once you have even an elementary grasp of mimetic desire you will be able to plow through the above mentioned works with ease and greatly enjoy them at the same time, much unlike the usual crop of ordinary undergraduates...

Now Rene Girard should have won the Nobel Prize by now, but alas he hasn't. He has won something even better than a Nobel, he is an Immortal in the Academy of France! From what the Oracle of Ottawa can find out about this gig it is way better than a Nobel any day. The French People are pretty smart to have something like this, that elevates the best and the brightest, always keeping the spiral in an upward direction, they should all be very proud of this. In Canada and the United States at the present time we are on a downward  Wall - Mart spiral of spend less, live better, which all in only teaches you one thing; You only get what you pay for...

'Harper Government' - Campaigning For Justin Trudeau

The norms applying to persons who are players in a game depend upon the rules of the game.
John Rawls, A Theory Of Justice, p. 349

It is pretty hard to sit down and write to the blog when you are witnessing the collapse of the Right Wing Revolution in Canada. The spectacle of it all is just breathtaking. Preston Manning is no where to be found. The latest RCMP revelations of the goings on at the Prime Ministers Office are proving that the Prime Minister is either a hay seed rube or the twin brother of Richard Nixon, much talk continues, but either way the chromed domed majesty of ole Steve Harper is all but in and done.

Justin Trudeau - About any time now...

A whole government is going to fall shortly due to some chump change of few Senators, that the Prime Ministers Office had no business meddling in. But the temptation to control just one more thing at the molecular level was just to strong for ole Steve Harper to resist. It is all sort of like a Greek Tragedy with a laugh track. The back benchers days are filled with booking movers and haggling over the cost of the soon to required lawn signs. But the Oracle of Ottawa has heard that many are not even going to bother on the next go round, are just hoping to escape Ottawa with out going to jail.

It is finally starting to sink in to the rubes out West that the Harper Government law and order agenda sort of stops just outside Toronto city limits. And as the Health Minister has stopped the supply of morphine and heroin to the terminally ill, it seems that the supply to the Mayor of Toronto gets hand delivered, every day. This is causing much grumbling in the cock-us.

Changing the channel, the favorite ploy of the 'Harper Government' fart catchers and spin mavens, is no longer working. The reintroduction of the new Bullying Legislation is garnering nothing but laughs from the seasoned media, everyone knows that it is all just another run at the bloggers, the CBC, and that satanic internet. But it is suspected that when the RCMP raids the PMO at all its locations all at once, there won't be much getting done on the legislative agenda. And of course, those pesky by-elections are taking place shortly, and the Oracle of Ottawa has it on good authority that it is all a train wreck in  the making. This means that the "majority" could possibly be in real and total trouble. Now that folks will be real entertainment!  

Jason 'Popeye' Kenney - Leadership?

Time, and Industry, produce everyday new knowledge.
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, p.176

Up to today the Oracle of Ottawa was convinced that the greatest definition of an oxymoron was "military intelligence". Then while out to the local market the Oracle noticed the front page headline on today's Ottawa Citizen which stated; Jason Kenney Leadership (!) now that is an oxymoron that is all moron and no oxy.  The Oracle of Ottawa knows that we are into the last days of the 'Harper Government' right wing revolution, but you can certainly draw a very sharp line under it now, when the likes of Jason Kenney starts rising up with the utterly insane delusion that he could possibly be the "Next One"!

Jason Kenney campaigning for Justin Trudeau!

Jason Kenney is such a right wing wack ball that he got tossed out of Jesuit University! Ya that is right, Dear Reader, the University of San Francisco. It seems he was such a right wing wack ball trouble maker that even the Jesuits couldn't stomach his fascist opinions and beliefs assorted. Long story short, Jason Kenney has all the requirements of a 'Harper Government' cabinet minister, including being a drop out, ole Steve Harper doesn't like to anybody that is too sharp around him. If you don't believe the Oracle, just check out the old news footage on You Tube.

Look familiar?

 Even though at the time of this writing the golden wanna be is a front row minister of the 'Harper Government' he is as about as popular as a blown out pair of Popeye court shoes. His article on Wikipedia, at the time of this writing, for the last thirty days, has all of 3,886 hits. Meanwhile the leader of the Third Party, Justin Trudeau, had 29,997 hits and ranks 3307 and climbing out of the 4,340,000 articles on Wikipedia! There is no way that the wanna be likes of Jason Kenney can ever catch up with that any time soon, in this lifetime anyway.

The Conservative Party of Canada is soon going to discover the inherent weakness in the Steve Harper management style, especially when he is no longer around. There is not one person in the 'Harper Government' that has any charisma to compete against Thomas Mulcair, let alone Justin Trudeau! The Oracle of Ottawa is wondering how long it is going to take the mentally challenged  Jason to figure out that all that early leadership money is coming from the Liberal party? Ho Ho! As far as the obtaining any leadership position in the Conservative party of Canada, the Oracle of Ottawa can only state that the ponderously slow Ed Fast has a better chance... At least he graduated from everything after high school.     

Justin Trudeau Is A Campaign Genius!

The community of man should be treated in the same way you would treat your community of brothers or fellow citizens. 
Pierre Eliot Trudeau, Memoirs, p. 224

A really good politician can bring along all of his followers in support when he campaigns. A great politician not only can enlist the support of his friends and followers but also all of his enemies and haters. At the time of this writing Justin Trudeau is showing signs of being a great politician. As of last Thursday he has at least one 'Harper Government' cabinet minister in his corner, ( i.e. Michelle Rempel), along with the Prime Ministers Office, and most all of the Members in the House that are sitting on the Conservative side. Along with the overall Conservative Party of Canada and the Mayor of Toronto, how can Justin go wrong?

Justin Trudeau - How the West will be won?

All political parties employ spin doctors and fart catchers, the difference with the Liberal Party of Canada is that they have all the really really good ones. The speeches and talking points are presently being crafted to contain little sound bites that are designed to be easily taken out of context, this is how you get your enemies and haters to campaign for you for free! After taking the free ride it is very easy to set all the commotion right by playing the whole bite. Your enemies and haters look like the idiots they truly are, and your candidate looks like a most overly harshly treated great person. At the early points in the game, it doesn't matter if what the media says is good or ill, as long as the media is talking about your candidate.

It is very helpful to put it all in context. Even though at the time of this writing, when Justin Trudeau is presently only the head of the Third Party in the House of Commons, his Wikipedia article ranks 3307 out of  the 4,372, 854 articles on Wikipedia! Justin Trudeau is 10 to 15 times more popular then Michelle Rempel, a 'Harper government' cabinet minister! Justin Trudeau has a You Tube video with over a million hits at the time of this writing. Not even the Prime Minister of the 'Harper Government' has anything that comes even close. The writing is on the virtual wall so to speak, and these numbers don't lie... and we of course can count on the enemies of Justin to keep digging, with perhaps the slight pauses to stop and get bigger shovels.

Marxian Thought - The Best Introductory Lectures

In fact of course, this 'productive' worker cares as much about the crappy shit he has to make as does the capitalist himself who employs him, and who also couldn't give a damn for the junk.
Karl Marx, Grundrisse, Notebook II, The Chapter on Capital, p. 193

It was just in the recent past that the Oracle of Ottawa wrote a little missive on the best introductory documentary on the life of Karl Marx. The post was written to share with what I suspected would be one or two of my Dear Readers that might become interested in such a topic. Much to the Oracles surprise it has been garnering much more hits than first suspected. No doubt it would be really a great public service to the world wide readership of this 'umble blog if the Oracle of Ottawa could direct you to a very high quality introduction to Marxian thought and theory. 

Richard D. Wolff - Feisty as Hell!!

This of course was a bit more difficult than fist imagined. But by total accident the Oracle of Ottawa has found a most excellent source for your continuing Marxian education. There are very many people talking about the works of Marx on You-Tube, but alas, most all of them prove after just the first few words that they have never read any of the great mans work ever in their lives. Wouldn't it be great if there was just one lone Ivy League prof that had somehow gone completely rogue, and became utterly obsessed with spreading the Marxian message?

Well Dear Reader, Richard D. Wolff is your man. Harvard, Stanford, and Yale! Is that wicked or what? And not only that, he was a student of the great Paul A. Baran , The only tenured Marxian prof in the United States, and as fate would have it, one his students was Richard D. Wolff! Well as fate would  again have it, (and doesn't it always?), the wheel of life has turned another full revolution and it is now Richard D. Wolff that is practically the only prof of Marxian thought in the Western Hemisphere at the time of this writing.

The main reason that the Oracle of Ottawa has singled him out is that you don't have to come to Richard D. Wolff already completely read up on Karl Marx. He will instruct you to all the reasons why knowing about Karl Marx is important. He will not harangue you to read Capital, (like David Harvey), after one or two Wolff lectures you will be starting your own collection of the works of Marx, you will be inspired, you will read Capital all on your own, and thank your maker that Doctor Wolff was generous enough to post his lectures on You-Tube for your free viewing and learning enjoyment.

He yells, he spits, he curses, he implores, he sweats. Damn! You won't forget it any time soon. This guy is not very concerned about making the faculty lounge for happy hour. Now the Oracle of Ottawa knows that someone with a resume that contains Harvard, Stanford and Yale, regarding the study of any economics could be hauling a great salary as an indentured slave of a galaxy of corporate over whores. Yet the good Doctor continues to spread his message. The Oracle of Ottawa would love to know what made him go rogue, what the full circumstances were. The Oracle of Ottawa suspects that would be darn near as good as one of Doctor Wolff's lectures. 

Michelle Rempel Campaigns For Justin Trudeau!

Politics is a game of friends.
Jean Chretien, Straight From The Heart, p.23

It was on Power And Politics this afternoon that the Oracle of Ottawa had the misfortune to witness a very agitated Michelle Rempel, one of the present 'Harper Government's token Ministers Of State for Western something or other, appearing very upset that the incredibly handsome Justin Trudeau was holding a $250.00 per person fund raiser in Toronto tonight that was only open to women. The event was organized by a group of  twenty professional woman, and what do Canadian women want to see today? Why Justin Trudeau, natch.

Michelle Rempel - The only thing missing is the street light..

 As the Oracle turned to discuss the ethics of the said event with his significant other, she was already out the front door, and then I heard the car speeding down the driveway, with a two wheel power turn smoking rubber down the road to the Ottawa Airport. The Oracle of Ottawa latter found a note on the fridge, that said she would leave the car at the airport, and that she would be catching the 6:45 flight to Toronto, and that she would be home Saturday morning! As the Oracle microwaved left overs, it was quiet apparent who is going to be the next Prime Minister of Canada, and who is going to get him there. The event, with all the free publicity provided by Michelle Rempel, of the 'Harper Government', was a total sell-out, and from the footage that I saw on the National, it seems that the roomful of woman weren't missing their $250.00 very much. 

It was all very unsavory when Michelle Rempel, the young hay seed rube, started to cry in front of Evan Solomon! It got even more ugly when that brilliant nice Italian babe from the Liberal Party just plowed here on national television like a mule on a slave galley. The Oracle of Ottawa suspects that it will be a very long time before Michelle Rempel will stick her flat nose where it does not belong.

Another possible reason for the emotional meltdown is that it is said that the young Michelle is "up and coming" in the 'Harper Government' cabinet, and therefore is barely smart enough to already see the writing on the wall. She perhaps realized right there on national television that she is only going to be a one termer as far as being the cabinet goes. All further trips to Ottawa will be as a back bencher in the Opposition for ever.

It is all very clear to the Oracle of Ottawa, Justin Trudeau is quiet simply born to be elite Canadian royalty, he is not seeking the office of Prime Minister, the Office is seeking him. Meanwhile Michelle is an ordinary no count hay seed rube, that wants to be... That quiet simply is the reality and the unbridgeable difference between her and Justin Trudeau. The best advice the Oracle of Ottawa can offer is to book your mover now and avoid the rush...

Canada - Recent Scandals Simply Explained

In the sinister human world one individual pole is the tyrant-leader, inscrutable, ruthless, melancholy, and with an insatiable will, who commands loyalty only if he is egocentric enough to represent the collective ego of his followers. The other pole is represented by the pharmakos or sacrificed victim, who has to be killed to strengthen the others.
Northrop Frye, Anatomy Of Criticism, p. 148

If you think that people all around the world are shocked by the recent events in Canada, it is but nothing, compared to the shock of the majority of people that are presently living in Canada. We are stuck with an obese, alcoholic, crack smoking mayor of Toronto, our largest city,  who seems to be able to do anything he desires, without any fear of being removed from office. Meanwhile in Ottawa, three Senators were destroyed with out the usual due process that once was the right of any and all Canadians.

The Scapegoat

 The irony was that these Senators were destroyed, banished, without pay for a period of two years for the so called crime of "false" expense claims, which all in did not even add up to a crummy million dollars! And which the 'Harper Government' accepted, and paid for at the time they were submitted. These three Senators were 'Harper government' appointments. These three Senators raised millions of dollars for the Conservative party Of Canada, with the full approval of Steve Harper of the 'Harper Government'! What is the real meaning of all this?

It is all about the fact that Canada is living under the administration of a budding tyrant. It is all about "under the bus". It is all about the fears of intelligent Canadians being realized. The present Prime Minister of Canada is simply stark raving nuts. Many of us raised the alarms years ago about the dangers of this actor and the coming hidden agenda that he has been working for the last decade.Many prominent people such as Rex Murphy stated in the media that we were under tinfoil hats and that there was nothing to worry about. One can only wonder what will be the ultimate price this actor will pay.

It has been normal practice in Canada to always attempt to salvage wayward individuals. For example, if a Liberal Minister screwed up big time, he was transferred to the back benches, the kinks were hammered out, the ship righted, and then returned to his/her formal position of dignity, or a reasonable facsimile there of.  But upon the advent of the 'Harper Government' right wing revolution, every thing started to take a much more darker and sinister aspect. Failure of any degree was no longer redeemable. It was under the bus. Total destruction, with no chance of any redemption, which is totally out of character for a Judeau- Christian democratic Country.
 

  
 At first these "under the bus" virtual executions were few and far between. Then they started to happen in single cases, but now, much closer together and frequently. Of course there is a grave price for these one off executions. Soon there are so many bodies under the ideological bus that the wheels of said bus will no longer touch the ground, even though it is full, someone is at the wheel steering and the wheels are spinning with the pedal to the floor. How pathological is this? And what is the future to hold? The Oracle of Ottawa will now look out ahead and tell you Dear Reader.

The present 'Harper Government' is very much like a seriously dangerous serial criminal, that is never satisfied for long at the demise of its latest victim. The thrill must be reenacted at ever closer intervals, and at some point one victim at a time will no longer be enough. We are presently at the time of this writing past that point. The next executions will consist of an even larger group of Senators and members of the House that spoke out against the earlier "criminal acts". This will continue until it is stopped....

Harper Government - I Couldn't Care Less

All that destroys social unity is worthless; all institutions that set man in contradiction to himself are worthless.
Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, Chapter 8

If Wall Mart ever installs a politics aisle in their stores it will no doubt look like the 2013 Calgary Conservative Convention. It was clearly evident that the whole town of Ducks Ass, Alberta turned out in attendance. The Oracle of Ottawa found the over appearance of all the corporate rent a cops very uplifting. But it was no doubt done to well up the love for the New World Order, and to develop that cosy warm feeling of the norm of the new locked down world.

Justin Trudeau - Better a Canadian Idol then Most Wanted!

Of course for all those that know of such things you could readily spot the cracks in the unity of the Harper Bund. This was all overly apparent when the three most unlikely cabinet ministers floated their approval of Nigel Wright, the parachuted messenger of the Bilderberg Group, and his shabby treatment at the hands of that terrible Steve Harper. And the Oracle of Ottawa eagerly awaited Preston Mannings update on the progress of the Canadian Right Wing Revolution and how that was working out for little Preston.

But what everybody tuned in for on Friday night was the speech of the fast fading Prime Minister. It was observed by the Oracle of Ottawa live and it left the Oracle somewhat underwhelmed to say the least. The killer line and after thought that has stayed with the Oracle of Ottawa is: "I couldn't care less". Canadians across Canada no doubt found that very uplifting. To the Oracle it simply stated that the 'Harper Government' was going to continue digging until the (w)hole was so deep, that when it finally collapses, not even an NDP type will have to appear to tamp down the earth.

The Oracle of Ottawa has lived a long time and heard a fair number of speeches. But never in his life to date has he heard such a cynical, arrogant and fear laced diatribe. You could see the disdain and utter hatred in the little pig eyes of the poor thing. It was all quite shocking to the Oracle of Ottawa, certainly not Nation Building stuff of a truly great Prime Minister. That footage of the cheap shots directed to Justin Trudeau are going to haunt little Steve for the rest of his life. And most all, Canadians will agree with the Oracle of Ottawa, that it is a far better thing to be a Canadian Idol then one of the Most Wanted....