'Harper Government' - High Tech Attawapiskat Genocide?

Virtually all ideologues, of any variety, are fearful and insecure, which is why they are drawn to ideologies that promise prefabricated answers for all circumstances. 
Jane Jacobs, Dark Age Ahead, p. 115

Well! Bet you didn't see this coming! Why, it was only yesterday, that I predicted that the 'Harper Government' had already peaked. Even I am scaring myself. (?) And didn't this outrageous scandal make for awesome Question Period? Since the Oracle of Ottawa has watched every Question period of this parliament, I can safely tell you Dear Reader that today was simply the best so far. The Oracle of Ottawa was sure that Bob Rae was going to pop a blood vessel! When "Premier Bob" is really pissed, there is no orator alive today, that can even hope to catch him when he gets to full flight. He was literally and physically vibrating! And Charlie Angus laid down the supporting covering fire, in and with his usual aplomb. He is so good at the outrage with restraint, it is just poetry to watch.  The Oracle of Ottawa was awed and proud to be a Canadian.

Attawapiskat Luxury Inn - Enjoy your stay!

 As you might expect, on a day such as this, that there were some people on the government side of the House who were wishing with all their being, that they could be just anywhere else!  One of them was John Baird, and as the Oracle of Ottawa predicted, he has realized today that he is in way over his head. He knew way more then any of  his peers on his side, how bad this was going to be and that it is now playing out all over the world. And that this is another terminal deadly screw up that is going to follow him around for longer than he cares to contemplate. The fall out from this will stream on for the rest of the mandate... Especially for that secret "ark" plan for a certain small Middle East state... That doesn't get along too well with its neighbours... And at the present rate it is going could be in the Med at any moment, I just can't remember the name, brain freeze!


Another thought,  Diane Finley has a big bill coming that will change all the charity rules in Canada forever. It contains a lot of that insane neo-con crap about Private Public Partnerships, which today is all but a smoking pile of wreckage! The Conservatives will constantly be reminded of that PPP between the Attawapiskat First Nation and that one very well known international diamond company. Totally cooked and doomed. All hat and no cattle indeed!

What?! - Wrong picture?

But there is one Hail Mary way out for the Conservatives to save the day. Here it goes. It is radical, but it has been done before and recently. If the PMO  wants to upgrade the Attwapiskat First Nation in record time, all they have to do is clear about 50 million dollars in slush money from some other government department, put Tony Clement on a Challenger jet with the instructions that there is going to be a G8 summit in Attawapiskat in 90 days! Just like magic there will be a college campus, (that would probably get used...), luxury condos, apartment buildings, gazebos all over the god damned place, and for good measure, the mandatory "fake lake". Not to mention a Mounty behind every rock and tree. (No extra charge...) 

Go Charlie Go!!

Canadian Labour And The Three Tired Regimes

Forget the shrimp Honey I'm coming home with the crabs
Hunter S. Thompson, Better Than Sex, p. 94

The one thing that really eats the Oracle of Ottawa is the deal that today's youngsters are getting in the work place. When I think of the deal that my nieces and nephews have today compared with what the Oracle of Ottawa once enjoyed, well, a man could get weary. Although union labour is still strong in Canada, it just isn't what it once was. Recently I have been pondering much on the problem. When and where did it start to go off the rails? It has been a long and slow process, but the answer came to me just recently. Labour power, in Canada and America especially, started declining on July 30th, 1975. The day that Jimmy Hoffa disappeared.

Winnipeg General Strike - June 21, 1919

At first hearing it all sounds a bit much over the top. But like all profound revelations, it improves with each and every additional pass. What are the foundations of the whole worker thing? What is it all based on? How is that labour got so far behind the eight ball? Well the Oracle of Ottawa actually rounded up some material on the subject recently. The reason there is not much good information on the subject is that the works are so incredibly expensive! It seems to be a conspiracy of some nefarious powers of billable hour powered interests. But already I have learned that the basis of labour law is based on three (tired) regimes. And I will try to share with you what I have gleaned so far.

The first regime is the common law of employment. "Which treats employers and employees as free and equal contracting parties in the buying and selling of labour." Don't you just get a real laugh out of that howler? This is essentially the same common law that Adam Smith and Karl Marx bitched about in their major works over a hundred years ago. And what is even more depressing is that their arguments are still as relevant today as the centuries of the past that they first recorded them! You as a worker, essentially have no power what so ever under the common law. We had better hope that the other two regimes left have something better to offer.

Jimmy Hoffa - Left - Where Labour Leaders Come From...

The second regime is collective bargaining. " It is based on the realization that the usually inferior economic position of the employees vis-a-vis the employer keeps the individual employment contract from being a satisfactory mechanism." No shit! Once labour was totally on top of this and really ran successfully with it for many many years. Then somehow, during the recent right wing wave that has circled the earth, this most powerful tool has been slowly and very successfully undermined. The one weird thing about all this to the Oracle of Ottawa is that the corporate overlords have no problem forming as a block against the workers of the world, through such "unions" as the Bilderberg Group, and all the other various secret societies! And yet they will not seem to allow and are never at all happy when we try to do the same thing for our own protection! Are you starting to see the problem here? 

The third regime is statutory regulation. This is the employment standards legislation of you province or state, that you happen to reside and / or work in. You don't need the Oracle of Ottawa to tell you that, depending where you live, this regime is now, it seems, constantly under attack. The Oracle of Ottawa is just in shock when he watches the incredible decline of American workers rights, especially as of late. It seems that the corporate blue suited whores will use any trick method, or naked power to even accelerate this dismantling. The old days of hearing the knees knock on the other side of the table is long gone it seems to me. What is to be done?

We need another Golden Age. And perhaps a Global Master Freight Agreement??

Globalization Free Trade Fail

The fox has been in the henhouse for many years, but now the coon is coming.
Hunter S. Thompson, Better Than Sex, p. 88

God! What a haul it was! Finally finished reading George Ritzers monster book on globalization, entitled Globalization - A Basic Text. Yes, dear reader,  the Oracle of Ottawa read it so you wouldn't have to. Drier than all the sand dunes in Libya. But in conjunction with the Oracle of Ottawa's Thinking About Thinking Project, I think I have made several breakthroughs! You don't need the Oracle of Ottawa to tell you that there is really something fishy with this globalization crap. When you hear the knuckle dragging social Darwinist's of the Conservative Party of Canada going on about its wonders you know you have to be worried. And when you are sitting at home in, say, Southern Ontario, waiting for your first unemployment check, that you are not going to get, because your workplace just left for Mexico or China without you, then you will know that globalization is a crock of crap. How did it all come to this?

Milton Friedman - Fooled ya!

It is all a very convoluted and twisted tale. The two names you will hear the most often are Adam Smith and David Ricardo. The right wing Chicago School economist will go on endlessly about the benefits of the Invisible Hand as first written about by Adam Smith, then this will lead invariably to a long dissertation on the brilliance of Comparative Advantage. Now the Chicago School is big and unquestioned ever since Milton Friedman did his big thing in Chile, you know that miracle story? But when you really look at the whole thing closely today, you see it was all an engineered set up. It seemed to be old Milty's big rush to get into the Ivy League. Never happened, alas. Now you will hear about the miracle of the Chicago Boys, but did you hear about the bits about the Ford Foundation and the United States State Department? Geez, you soon come to realize that once with the full unimpeded power of the United States of America you could make darkness happen at noon! Let us just say that the playing field was altered somewhat before the said great experiment even started! And of course that coup thing had nothing to do with the "successful" outcome...

We will get it all back Comrade....

Well, the Oracle of Ottawa has discovered two new logical fallacies that allow this crap to be continued to be sold. The first fallacy I call Era Displacement. For example comparing the workings of comparative advantage in the time of David Ricardo to the modern world of today! Workers at the time of Ricardo who were engaged in so called foreign trade were not much better off in respect to one another, more or less. In todays modern world, there are great differences between the workers of the first world and the third world! And when you allow the capitalist corporate pigs to carry off our factories to third world countries, you are essentially allowing them to export unpaid for surplus labour back to the originating country, got it? Talk about adding insult to injury! Ponder that for a moment! And soon your first world country will be transformed ever so slowly to a third world country! Don't believe me? Just ask anyone that lives in say Windsor, Ontario...

Working through another problem....

The second fallacy is very similar to the first, but very subtle, I call it the fallacy of Proportion Displacement. Free trade between similar countries of social development will more or less work pretty well. But so called free trade between a first world country and a third world country is a total rip off for the citizens of the first world country, and the citizens of the third world country. The only ones that really laugh all the way to the bank coming and going are the right wing economists and the global corporate whores, of no fixed address.
Now the Oracle of Ottawa has a solution to these two newly discovered fallacies. See my blog post entitled "A Gold Standard For the Rest Of Us". (Not a neo-con rant...) Totally solved it didn't I? And by the way, it was not Karl Marx who first coined the concept of surplus labour, it was Adam Smith! Can you find the exact reference in The Wealth of Nations?  No? Some economist you are!
        

Now watch this carefully and then read the above text again...

'Harper Government' Meets The Invisible Hand

Men of wit always turn the discourse on subjects that are entertaining to the imagination ; and poets never present any objects but such as are of the same nature.
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, Book II, Part II, Section V, p. 358

What a difference a week makes! Or, who would have figured that the 'Harper Government' would have peaked over the hump so soon! It is all down hill from here Bubba! It is also amazing what you can glean from the Globe and Mail Friday edition. Why if you are very preceptive, and able to think critically in a sane and somewhat linear manner, you can figure out pretty much what is going to happen next week! Take for example the nice compact piece by Dean Beeby, entitled Truce called in CBC dispute...

Mad Hatter looks a lot like.....

It seems that the Tory members of the Access to Information and Ethics Committee have agreed to return the Pandoras Box of sealed CBC documents. I guess the thought of future endless feature programs analyzing the Tory Man Love Triangles from every possible angle (sic) has somewhat taken the inquisitive edge from the stark raving nuts Tory Bund. The Oracle of Ottawa has received  confirmation already that one Mad Hatter press baron in Quebec is just livid. It seems that all the money in the world and a strong Conservative majority is no match to having your hind grinding exposed on the "State Broadcaster" after all! Sort of like, Let's Make It Better, but not right now. I wonder if the Mad Hatter of Qu#b#c#r has figured it all out yet? What month of the day is it?

Mad Hatter & Counsel try to get Aljazeera
back into the Tea Pot....

But if one peruses the want ads at the back of the Report on Business one can see a real ground shaker coming down the road. Why, it seems that ALJAZEERA is coming to Canada! They are posting 15 positions, and a dozen of them are for many multiple candidates! All you poor bastards that have been suffering in abandoned industrial buildings in seedy industrial parks under the guise of Sun Media newsrooms, your Moses (Allah?)  just entered town! Brian Dunstan is going to go over the top after all! You can be a prick, you can have "the power", you can be a jerk that everyone is afraid of, you can pay as little as you can get away with, but only for a while. Even God couldn't run the Sun News empire by himself! Perhaps for the speculative types, a large short sale is in order, along with the purchase and sale of a raft of near options....There will be blood  and gold for the brave.

Even the dumbest Sun news "intern" serf can figure out who will pay more. Sun News Quebec, or ALJAZEERA of Doha, Qatar! It seems that ALJAZEERA is on a mission from God. Money is no object. Many "media" outlets of all persuasions are soon to be picked clean. It will be sheer heaven to watch one certain stock tank to utter oblivion... What insane actions will this cause? Will the police have to be called? Allo Police??

One day you are on top of the world, all powerful, the next day your toast! Will the Harper Government intervene in straight up good old fashioned capitalist competition? Any thing is better than Sun News...

'Harper Government' Darkness Descends

Thy sin and place of doom obscure and foule.
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV, Line 840

You would think that the Oracle of Ottawa would have got a heads up from his many sources. But I was as shocked as you dear reader at today's Libya mission accomplished celebrations held on the Hill and in the Senate Chamber, which was converted for the day into a drill hall for the air types and the choir? Sort of Gilbert and Sullivan on drugs. The shit started to hit the fan right away in all of the vulgar media. When I saw the images on the local CBC evening news I just couldn't believe it. And when they brought up the fact that no such imperial display was done for the lads who have been slogging it out in Afganistan, well this is all a dark day in Canadian history.

Where is this guys fly past?

A lot of places in history were forever abdicated today. Two examples come to mind. Peter MacKay and David Johnston especially David Johnston. He started out as a hick from Sudbury and after being involved in this fiasco, Sudbury will be about the only place he will be able to retreat to when his gig is over. He should have realized that this screw-up couldn't have happened if he refused to show up. One can just imagine the effect this will have when everyone with a spine of their own starts to refuse to attend his Levy's and other events at Rideau Hall. But the worst thing is to go down into the history books as the most hapless Governor General of all time. The one who willingly aided and abetted the descension of the Great Darkness.

Nothing really matters.....

'Harper Government' Turtles Canadian Economy

While by thee rais'd I ruin all my Foes,
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III, Line - 258

Money, like toilet paper, is printed on rolls, and to be really useful and enjoyable like toilet paper, you have to let it roll. Frightened people don't buy things. When you attack long standing institutions, not for any good logical reason, but rather for nefarious political and ideological reasons, people will fear for the future. They will withdraw from society nearly completely. Once they start, they are amazed at how little they really need to wait for the next election. They will have time to reflect, they will discover what Canada really needs.

Milton Friedman - You actually
bought my shit?

Over sixty per cent of Canadians did not vote for the 'Harper Government'. And the Conservatives and their minions are already hitting the ideological wall of rejection. They have played to the right wing neo-con Bildererg Group playbook exactly. Yet the deficit figures increase, due to the the rich enough upper middle class dropping out of Canadian society. With this drop in tax revenue, the unemployment numbers will continue to increase. Christmas retail sales will be horrendous. The majority of Canadian people have nothing to celebrate.

The right wing Chicago School rhetoric is met now, more than ever, by deaf ears. The proof of this is the repeated times the wee little financial leprechaun starts spouting it to the Canadian Press while the Markets are trading. Every time he does this the markets actually drop and tank for the whole day. Investors and stakeholders seem to have lost their confidence in Milton Friedman and his wee cheer leader Jimmy Flaherty.
The Central Bank of Canada has followed the Friedman k-percent rule with the fervor of a Western Canadian seeking the source of baby fat candles, worn Old Testaments, and Ayn Rand first editions. Yet it all continues to tank. We haven't seen anything yet!

The 'Harper Government' will continue with its insane game plan. The logic and reason of the Royal Opposition will soon be irrefutable, even to the thickest Tory gorilla of the farthest back benches. Then, at the just right time, Parliament will be prorogued, for the duration of the mandate. The Prime Ministers Office and the inner cabinet will rule by decree and the soft sweet light of baby wax candles...

Wait for it....

Does Kevin O'Leary Add Up?

From thir own mouths; all is not theirs it seems;
John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV,  Line 513

One true fact about Kevin O'Leary is that he is a good little employee. He never misses a chance for even more and further media exposure. He has become so good at it that the Oracle of Ottawa has given up watching business news on CBC altogether! The main show that the great Mr. O'Leary does is called The Lang O'Leary Report. Now the Oracle of Ottawa holds Amanda Lang in the highest regard. She is truly Canadian Establishment royalty. She is very well educated and you don't have to read her (true) Wikipedia bio to find this out, all you have to do his listen when she talks. But when I see her on television with the likes of Kevin O'Leary it reminds me of a dangerous violent personal relationship that some good women will find themselves in, that I am sure dear reader, you have seen in your lifetime at least one time before. You know, the good hearted high class woman stuck with a skidmark wanta'be who in his darkest heart of hearts truly resents and hates her guts. If  I was Amanda Lang's husband I would put my foot down on this and hard. Mark my words dear readers! The Oracle of Ottawa always feels she is in mortal danger around this "actor."

Kevin O'Leary - Really?

Now it just so happened that I heard of Mr. O'Learys new upcoming show "Redemption" which is based on the most bullshit premise that I have heard of to date! The greasy Kevin O'Leary is going to front an ex-con in some small business and be the poor suckers "mentor"! Then, let me guess, he will arrange for the ex-con to appear on the Dragon's Den to steel his business from him for chump "venture capital"! Like Mr. O'Leary always says; "It's all about the money..."  But I digress. I just wanted to find out the true dirt on this greasy little shit. And of course, there is the article about him on Wikipedia.

Imagine my surprise, at the time of this writing, that Mr O'Leary is claiming a net worth of 6 billion dollars! And that is US Dollars, thank you very much! Why that would mean that he is one of the richest people in Canada! But alas, this is something that is all very carefully tracked. All you have to do to confirm this is check out the Wikipedia article entitled List of Canadians by net worth. This article, is properly sourced, and can be considered very reliable. It seems that Mr. O'Leary is absent at the 6 billion dollar level (Canadian) and well, much to my surprise,  he is absent from the list altogether! Now the wording, like the actor, is all rather greasy. And of course it could all be an accident, an overzealous fan. But go down to the bottom of the article and hit the link O'Leary Funds Inc. Now when you get to the page hit the About Us tab and click on the Company link.

"Prior to his work in media, Kevin O’Leary built SoftKey into The Learning Company and a valuation of $4.2 billion".  

It "implies" that there is a link between Kevin O'Leary and $4.2 billion. Now we have two mistakes, of course...  The only conclusion one can come to is more than clear. And it is grounds for dismissal with cause from the CBC.

Nuff said?