Toronto - How Dead Do You Have To Be?

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.

Glock 17 - plastic cops plastic gun...

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?

Herman Melville - The Meaning Of The Whale

We live in a world that has got along without us for billions of years, and could still get along without us, in fact still may.
Northrop Frye, On Education, p.148

It has been many years ago now, that the Oracle of Ottawa has read Moby Dick by Herman Melville. The Oracle found it a deep, dark, masterpiece that goes very deeply into many of the remotest recesses of the human mind. The best edition to read is the one that was illustrated  by Rockwell Kent. Today if you can discover a first edition of Moby Dick in the orange or slate blue cloth, it would be worth about $60,000 to $100,000.00 dollars! Which is all pretty ironic because it was all but a busted flush in Melville's lifetime. It is widely known that poor old Herman only made $556.37 from the American edition in his lifetime and the book never sold out its first 3000 copies in his lifetime. It was the same with Karl Marx with Das Kapital, and it was the same with Henry David Thoreau and Walden. The nut of the story is don't expect anyone to get it while you are still alive, normal people are such a drag aren't they?

Herman Melville

As with all classics of English literature, Moby Dick goes down a lot easier if you know your Bible and have a good grounding in the rudimentary facts of the classics. The Oracle of Ottawa would just like to touch briefly on some points that he found passing weird. Many of the characters have Biblical names, this is all real important, and the Oracle of Ottawa suspects that some of these names could have Islamic references, it is very surprising that no one has went there yet, so to speak. The theology is grounded in the Old Testament, and possibly the early Prophet. Moby Dick is the gayest, queerist, raging fag novel in all of American literature. Note that there are no women characters, or any mention of the feminine at all through out the greatest American novel. But this is very important to what the novel and especially what the whale is all about.

Moby Dick - Americas gayest novel...

Another aid that will help the modern reader get the most out of Moby Dick is a copy DSM IV. You will soon discover that he majority of the characters of Moby Dick are lightly touched to outright certifiable! How long do you think the character Ahab would last in modern society? If you read right through to the end you will be very well versed in the symptoms of all the major obsessive disorders. And if you are very perceptive you will soon realize that the whole book is about the pursuit of raw naked power. You can delve deeper into this by reading Arthur Schopenhauer in his Will And Idea. It all can't be helped really.

The whale is the ultimate homo erotic phallic symbol. The monster beast that plows the deeps. Just about what America has always been about isn't it? The whale is the symbol of raw naked power and the joys that come with it. Domination, degradation and humiliation. Moby Dick, the ultimate representation of the real American experience. Any questions?

Rob Ford - Rehab, No, No, No?

I am not so old and cowardly as not to be young in reason on behalf of piety.
4 Maccabees, 5:31, NRSV

Well dear reader, I am sure you have seen tonight's video of his eminence Rob Ford on the CBC National News, yet again. Today's outburst concerned the density challenged mayor of Toronto's reaction to a rather not too flattering story in today's Toronto Star newspaper. A rather scurrilous article that reported that one said mayor was asked to leave a certain military social function. Due to the apparent condition that the said mayor allegedly appeared to be in at the time.

Rob Ford - Time running out?

 It struck the Oracle of Ottawa that the mayor was sweating rather more profusely than usual, which is a whole lot, if you check out the video carefully. Now any one with even the most basic analytical skills, can guesstimate the present mayors weight at over 300lbs, easy. Now any other chemical effort combined with breathing is and would be most dangerous for a person in the shape that the eminent  mayor now appears to be in. And did you see the pictures in the said article? Oy!

Now the Oracle of Ottawa will tell you from experience that alcoholism is very easy to hide, if you have the smallest amount of discipline. But other stuff can be damn near impossible to hide once it gets a hold on you. And from the look of the pictures that the that terrible article printed and the ones you can see on Google Images, well dear reader, you can come to your own conclusions. Now the only question is; will the rotund asset of the Conservative revolution just survive to the next election, let alone win it?

It appears to the Oracle of Ottawa that someone had better intervene here and soon. Seriously, if all my favorite Conservatives start dropping, the Oracle of Ottawa is going to be severely challenged for future copy after the funerals. Now Rob Ford should attack this problem in a cold rational Conservative fashion. He should find out if he can get a discount if he brings a certain federal finance minister with him at the same time...

Justin Trudeau vs. Steve Harper - Boxing In The Mind

Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, strong or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
Exodus, 4:11, NSRV

In case all of the "red meat" conservatives from Ducks Ass Alberta to Pembroke Ontario are wondering what is keeping the lord and master of the present Conservative Party Bund up at night, they certainly got their answer today in Question Period. It appears that the Lord has spoken through his soon to be unemployed servant Steve Harper of the tar sands in a most prophetic way, like the Spirit descended upon him.

Justin Trudeau - The next one...

It was all very weird and comedic to the extreme. It all started with the appearance in the House by one Justin Trudeau, dropping in off of the leadership campaign  trail to keep up his media profile, by asking a few pointed questions to the chrome domed eminence in person. It all concerned the great conservative party claw back of employment training money to try and save the ever fattening face of the wee banty finance minister, who's wee little dick is presently caught in the electric pencil sharpener of the public glare.

It seems that the Prime Minister referred to the young Justin as the Minister! The House of course went nuts! If that wasn't bad enough, he repeated the mis speak about five seconds later. Now we have all heard of the Freudian slip, but the back to back ones are God himself speaking through a soon to be out of favor vessel. The Oracle of Ottawa has never seen anything like it in all his years of following along.  

You can't make this stuff up... Also, did you catch the third Freudian slip at the end, where Harper just about says "I am shorter then him"? LOL!! In what respect are you referring to steve?? 

The Symbolism of Kellie 'Sparky' Leitch

We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom. 
Sir Francis Bacon, Essays, Essay XXII, Of Cunning

The Oracle of Ottawa can say with much certainty that if you live in one of the great government towns of the world like Ottawa, Washington, London, Paris or even Moscow, you soon learn that human beings at a certain level can come with an unbelievable amount of twists, kinks and other many other "issues" various.

Hmmmm....

 The Oracle of Ottawa has been watching the antics of one Kellie 'Sparky' Leitch for the duration of this Parliament and the same question still pops into the Oracle's head: What the fuck is this woman(?) trying to prove? And for the life of me, knowing what a member of parliament earns, why is she wearing the clothes of all her old boyfriends? I mean really, what is up with that? And when the bona fides about this little actor in the link provided, you soon become even more mystified. i.e. Why isn't she the Health Minister?

At the time of this writing, there are over 850,000 Canadians without a job. But as you have discovered, old 'Sparky' not only has just one job, but three jobs! She is  member of Parliament, an Orthopaedic paediatric surgeon and for good measure an assistant Professor. Which reminds the Oracle of Ottawa of a joke going around Ottawa at the present; What is the difference between a member of Parliament and an Orthopaedic paediatric surgeon? Answer: About $250,000 a year...   

Knowing all these facts, it is just great entertainment when 'Sparky's' little helper, one Pierre 'Little Polly' Poilievre starts going on about the "big union bosses", while just about beside him sits 'Sparky', who of course, as the irony of life would have it, is a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada! Now folks if there is one Cadillac union in Canada, the RCPSC is it! And if you are ever in Ottawa, you simply just have to see the "union hall"! It has to be the poshest one in Canada. Why 'Sparky's' union is so powerful it will probably get a bye when the union transparency act is passed. Wanna' bet?   

Here is a bit of another member of the healing profession; Hedy Fry quizzing 'Sparky' about the recent tainted meat fiasco, the answer provided should make all doctors in Canada proud. This would be a howler clip to run at the next RCPSC dinner, no?

The Western Canadian Barley Teaser Rate

"a reasonable person's beliefs change according to the state of the persons knowledge."
Irving M. Copi, Carl Cohen, Introduction to Logic, 8th edition, p. 462

The Oracle of Ottawa does not know shit about farming! But he does know that although people may not always need oil and gas, they will always have to eat! People have always chided the Oracle of Ottawa for the "risk" he takes when picking and buying his own stocks... but when the Oracle of Ottawa contemplates the Western Canadian farmer planting his section in the springtime (One section = 640 acres = 1 square mile?) he realizes what risk is really all about! There have been times when the Western oil and gas producers have said "Let the Eastern bastards freeze in the dark!" But for the life of him, the Oracle of Ottawa cannot find a reference of any Western Canadian farmer ever saying " Let the Easterners starve in the dark!".

Real Power...

As stated in many earlier posts to this humble blog, the Oracle of Ottawa gets very nervous and alarmed when he see's venerable Canadian institutions come under attack and assault. The latest instance was just last week when the precedent was set by the Conservative government of employing "Final offer arbitration"
in the solution of large labour disputes. Totally irresponsible talk of changes to the Canadian Senate is absolute red meat to the base at home, but in reality, it is a reckless play with the fires of chaos. Another institution that has come under attack is the Canadian Wheat Board. Now even to an Ontario city slicker, this is scary talk.

More powerful than nuclear weapons?

When the Oracle of Ottawa hears the likes of Ezra Levant pinging off of the CWB on Sun News TV, you have to start to worry. Who is who lobbying for now? When you have a Prime Minister saying that Canada is going to be a "world power" and then threaten to close down the CWB you got to start wondering about imbalances on axis three and four... Canada is a G8 country. There is no way that we can field a million man army in the field like India or China can. But we can decide who gets to eat! That is more powerful then all the armies in the world! During the cold war this power of the grain bin allowed Canada to punch way beyond its reach. Why would we abolish the one true lever we as a nation  have in geopolitical world power?

Heavens knows there are a few irritants with the CWB. And these problems are very repairable. But the guy in southern Alberta that can truck his barley to a mill in the States and get "more" money is a compelling story. But what about the guy in the northern parts of the western provinces? Will that "teaser" barley price still stand up when the CWB is gone and you have to deal with Cargill, ADM, and Monsanto? Will it really? I doubt it!

Canadian Wheat Board, A global brand!

But you western farmers can prove this to yourself. Call your provincial MLA and ask him/her if the western provinces can buy or rather assume the CWB from the Federal government? They want to get rid of it don't they? Now call your Federal member of Parliament and ask the same question... Well go ahead... No answer, that is strange... Beware the the Barley Teaser Rate!

 
What else would you close with? All the best to the farmers out west.

Letter to Rob - The Fraud - Anders

It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expence, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion. 
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, Book V, Chapter II, Part II, Article I, p. 911

Sieg Heil Herr Anders!

How creepy is that? The moment you showed your face on Sun News TV a horde of wasps gathered in down town Ottawa, in the sight of Parliament Hill! They had to close the street and call in the unionized City workers to spray down the lot... Talk about a scary and ominous Omen for the next Parliament about to start very soon. I heard you were a bit nuts, but that is totally untrue, you are totally fucking out of your head nuts!

Heinrich Heine was a friend of...

How do people like you crawl upon this Earth? The first sign that tipped me off to your being a total fraud was the "I love Adam Smith" bit... Like most of all the right wing nutters like yourself, you have never read Adam Smith! Or if you did, the Manga picture version does not count! I included a quiet liberal quote from the Wealth of Nations to prove my point. You can check it out for your self... If you ever sit down and read the unabridged version of the Wealth of Nations, which I am sad to inform you, is over a thousand pages of small print, you will discover much to your horror that Adam Smith could be said to be the first Marxist! Opps!

Karl Marx, who published Heine in...

But the total confirmation that you are a total fraud was your reading of the poetry of Heinrich Heine! I expect that you will be reporting to the Prime Ministers Office to explain your lack of Conservative Purity... You see Rob, Heinrich Heine was a far left Liberal! So much so that he had to vacate Germany! He spent the last twenty five years of his life as an expatriate in Paris! But it all turned out pretty good. While in Paris he made many new friends.          

Karl Marx's paper, Vorwarts.....

One of those friends that Heinrich made was a fellow German exile that went by the name of Karl Marx! As a matter of fact Karl was so inspired by Heinrich Heine that he published Heinrich's most famous political poem
Die schlesischen Weber ("The Silesian Weavers") in his newspaper Vorwart's!  Now this occurred in 1844. Why a lot of scholars say that this poem inspired Karl Marx to write The Communist Manifesto! So what the hell were you doing reading this guys poetry on the greatest and most right - winged media organ in Canada!?  Perhaps you should have stuck to the talking points after all. They are made created to protect mindless morons such as your self....

And you thought you were a good heckler??

Tony Clement Harrases The Wrong Industry

NORFOLK:     Be advised,
Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself.
William Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Eighth, Act1.1, line 139-141, The Complete Pelican Shakespeare, p. 1174

Tony Clement the Minister of Industry has threatened to call in certain and unknown oil industry executives for a public(?) Parliamentary Committee  hearing concerning the present market derived price of gasoline. I just don't get it at all. The people of Canada have just given the Tory government a majority in the last Federal Election. They have voted for small government, no interference in the market place, and that free and open markets will always come to the right solution.

You can buy all the gas you want...

 The Conservatives cheered when the Canadian Government sold their shares in Petro Canada for a huge profit, stating that government has no business in business.When they achieved office, barely, it was slash and burn...The best government in the true Shit For Brains western manner is no government at all. Screw you and screw the future... But the thing is you can buy gasoline, if you pay the price, you can have all you want! We are all out of 90 cent a litre gas at present, but you can have all the $1.40 a litre gas you can pay for!

Chemo Drugs not available at any price..

If only all the items in our economy were like gasoline... you can buy all the gas you want! But, just hope you or the wife or the kids don't come a "downer" with cancer! It seems that a whole wack of the range of the Chemotherapy drugs that are very widely used and most of them generic are unavailable at any price! What is up with that Mr. Two Tier? Why don't you haul in some of the pigs from Big Pharma? Why won't you allow Health Canada to source these everyday drugs from the European Union? Now that would be television!!