PTC pinheads and "Skins"

Since when did frank discussion amongst teenagers about teen issues, including sex, amount to child porn?

When the bunch of morons that calls itself the Parents Television Council does.   They asked the FCC to investigate the TV show Skins.

Which is fine, except MTV is a cable channel, and therefore the FCC has no jurisdiction.   So now the pinheads at the PTC have filed complaints with the Justice Department and Congress, demanding criminal action.

What's next?   The PTC will call for life imprisonment for all females when they get their first period saying that the menses and the women who have them are "indecent"?   And yet guys having wet dreams both aren't.   Big fucking surprise.

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If the death penalty ISN'T on Steve's agenda, what IS?

So at long last, Steve allowed one layer of skin on his onion to be peeled.   He told Peter Mansbridge that he does support the death penalty but he won't bring it up for debate in Parliament -- or at least, he doesn't plan to.   The unspoken addendum of course is, for now.
 
Those of us who oppose him have long accused him of a secret agenda.

And it's worth pointing out that once a country reinstates capital punishment it's open season for any of a number of other human rights abuses, as we see so often in the United States.   That doesn't mean our record is exactly, perfect -- witness our continued mistreatment of Aboriginals, for instance -- but we are generally seen as being better in the world view.   If Harper wants us to go back to the ante 1982 era sans Charter, or even before 1960 sans Bill of Rights, he should just come out and say it.   Wait, he actually did last night.

Maybe Harper doesn't realize it, but he may have very well thrown the entire process of negotiations with the EU on free trade and labour mobility, currently in round five, into jeopardy.  While agriculture doesn't seem to be as big an issue as thought (i.e. our system of collective supply management vs. their CAP) -- the process has bogged down over Canada's present visa restrictions on the Czech Republic, which runs counter to Europe's open border (literally) policy.   But one thing the 27 EU states are in unison on is capital punishment.   All 27 countries outlaw it for civilian crime, and 26 out of the 27 have abolished it all together even for war crimes (the exception is Latvia although it maintains a moratorium on the latter as well).   In fact, membership for new or potential members is contingent on adoption of Protocol 13 (total abolition) which is why Turkey, 95% Muslim, became the first Islamic state to get rid of the practice.

Does Harper seriously believe a free trade deal will be inked if he pushes it on this issue?   Does he realize this is one reason why the US and Europe, allies on most military and foreign policy issues, are so often at loggerheads when it comes to trade?

More importantly, does Harper remember the name Guy Paul Morin?  It's been 16 years since he's been exonerated in the sadistic sex slaying of his nine year old neighbour, Christine Jessop, and neither the Morins nor the Jessops are anywhere closer to knowing who killed Christine.   What if Morin had been executed and then the truth came out?   What would Harper have said?   Stuff happens?

If this is Harper's true view on one of the most fundamental issues there is, then what is his real view on health care, supplemented pensions for low income seniors, financial aid for students -- in fact, the entire social safety net?   Is it, as on the environment and military policy, whatever the US says it should be?

Apologies to Bill Engvall (who, if I recall correctly, supports the death penalty) but I have to say to Steve on this one, "Here's Your Sign."

UPDATE (9:46 EST, 1446 GMT):   Fellow blogger Scott Tribe has the same awful feeling I do, that Harper will try to push this one through on a private member's bill -- it's food for thought since at least one Reform et sequens MP has introduced a private member's bill on reinstatement in every session since 1994.

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Pay for rain?

Here's one way to combat urban sprawl, especially with stadiums and "power centers" and the huge asphalt footprint they create.   It's called a "rain tax" or a "runoff tax" and it put a surcharge on properties based on the impact that property has on storm sewer systems.   Currently, we pay a sewer charge based on the amount of water that is used regardless of footprint.

Obviously, since parking lots drain the most, they would pay more, say in the tens of thousands per year -- and take some of the burden off of lower income households who are getting hammered by the drastic increase in sewer charges; their sewer charge would drop to, say, $70 or so per year.   One reason this is being considered right now is the wild weather we've had in Southern Ontario, with several thousand homes in the lower east end of Hamilton having storm backwater valves installed (you can tell which by which properties have a green pipe with a white cap out front).


Much suggests that a lot of the storm water that clogs the sewers during major events comes from parking lots which do not pre-treat water on site before sending them down the ditches and rivers and / or sewers, unlike industrial companies which have to by law.

I'm not the first to suggest it but it is seriously being considered by the idiots at Hamilton City Hall (I call them idiots because that's all we ever do here, elect a pack of idiots).   I personally think it's a smart idea, but what do you think?

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What's up, Baby Doc?

After last year's horrific earthquake in Haiti, there was a bit of a surprise when the exiled dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier, better known as "Baby Doc," announced he was donating his "fortune" of $6 billion (read, just a portion of the billions he plundered) to the relief effort.   At the time, I thought, what a nice guy -- but there's got to be a catch.   People just don't give away large chunks of their wealth without expecting something.   Even Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates, who have dared the rest of the 500 richest people in the world to give away 99% of their net worth, have ulterior motives.

Last night, Baby Doc made a surprise return to Haiti.   This is stunning given the numerous human rights abuses he and his father committed during their reign of terror, including systemic torture which has been well documented by many human rights organizations -- Amnesty International and Freedom House just to name two.   The total lack of progress in reconstruction is appalling enough, but to allow this maniac back with no questions asked, makes me ask if he bought immunity in exchange for his free return.

How is this possible?   How can this happen in this age, when human rights should be non-negotiable?

More thoughts after the jump.

Money for Nothing THIS!

The international one finger salute.   That's my reaction to private radio's decision to ban Money For Nothing from the airwaves in Canada -- unless it's censored.   Well, at least there's the CBC, to whom the ruling doesn't apply.

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Really, Palin? "Blood libel"?

When I heard about it earlier today, that Sarah Palin used the term "blood libel" to savage her critics who have suggested her rhetoric may have been a contributing factor in last weekend's terrible events in Tucson, I thought, she can't possibly be that stupid.   Then I heard her actual comments, verbatim, from her own lips, from her vodcast, broadcast tonight on CBC Radio One's As It Happens.    And yes, she did use the words "blood libel" -- a reference to the completely false claim that Jews sacrificed children to obtain blood used in their religious rituals.  Something which led to centuries of persecution of God's Chosen People.

Reading it is one thing.   Actually hearing it for myself is quite another.   And sadly, by attempting to clearly disassociate herself from the massacre (which she did plausibly well, I have to admit) but then make matters even worse by using those two words ... she's proven if she didn't already that she is completely unacceptable as a serious candidate for any national office in the US, now or in the future.   Even Dubya wouldn't have been that stupid.   And that is saying something.

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Ivor Wynne, but ...

So at long last, it's back to square one, literally, as the year long game of chicken seems to have come to an end and the Hamilton Tiger Cats will stay at a rebuilt Ivor Wynne which will also serve for soccer for the 2015 Toronto Pan Am Games.   My only concern:   The press box.   For God's sake, move it to the north stands so when there's a kickoff people across the land see our parks, not the wasteland that's left of what used to be our industry.

Sadly, this one has Dalton McGuinty's hand all over it.   It's not enough to change my vote against him this fall.

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"Refudiate, homophones!"

We must be living in a land of idiots when it is not just implied but ordered that straight Catholic teens cannot be or make friends with gay or lesbian Catholics on or off campus, such as in Halton Region.

What ... and you actually expect me to be friends with a "homophonic" -- no seriously, someone I overheard at a Timmies on the way to whatever I was doing today, came up with this reaction to the fact the Halton Catholic School Board is being forced to backtrack on a truly stupid decision.  She said she was a "homophonic," of course she meant to say homophobic but this shows you her kind of class.

Perhaps there is an argument to be made that we do what Newfoundland and Labrador did -- nationalize all the schools and get the religion out of there.   If parents want to install values of hatred, they can set up their own private schools without provincial accreditation.

Forget the Nazi analogy, too ... any legitimate argument ends when someone even attempts to invoke a sui generis of that type.

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Pray for Gaby

Well, folks, treason season really has come early this year ... a federal judge and five others were murdered, and fourteen wounded including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a "Blue Dog" Democrat from Arizona.   And incredibly, on one side Ms Giffords, a former executive for Price Waterhouse and Goodyear tire, is expected to survive; while on the other side the alleged shooter even though he was getting "more erratic" as of late (and was suspended from community college) still bought his gun perfectly legally.

Heal the wounded, bury the dead, lock up the creep for the next eighty years ... but isn't it obvious we have to finally tone down the rhetoric?   One of my greatest fears is that someday soon we will have an assassination or an attempt thereof here in Canada.   Don't say it can't happen.   I pray it doesn't of course, but we've had a few close calls -- such as an attack against an NDP MP in 1997 (can't remember if it was a mugging or a carjack) that spooked Preston Manning so much he finally and reluctantly moved into 541 Acacia (aka Stornoway), after he initally refused the perk.

It would help so much, the political discourse that is, if we actually finally listened to each other for once.   Isn't that what dialectic is supposed to be about?  Speaking one's mind as well as listening to the other side?

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Canada blows it on the rink

Who can believe it?   Even about 24 hours after the finals, I still can't believe how Canada blew an easy 3-0 lead and gave up FIVE unanswered goals in the third to lose to Russia 5-3.

I checked the roster and I noted that only one player actually has a fall back -- i.e. he's on a university scholarship in the NCAA.   Every other one plays in the juniors.   Not to knock the system; but no university players from our system?   No NHL players who are still under 20 and eligible under international rules? It's worth pointing out that the American team which ended up winning bronze has 17 out of 22 in the collegiate system.

My open question to Hockey Canada is why there is such an aversion to collegiate players who might actually be better for the national team -- and be rounded out more balanced, both athletically and mentally?   (Remember, you actually have to keep up a fairly good GPA to keep your hockey scholarship -- how many players on Team Canada have dropped out of high school chasing the elusive NHL dream?)   True we would like to keep our players here, but we need to beef up our university games here too, including TV coverage which basically is non-existent.   If it means allowing athletic scholarships at Canadian universities so be it, and screw the CIS and whatever they think about that!

Yes, we beat the US in the semi-final this year, but they beat us in the final last year.

Unfortunately there are too many politicians in the system that would ever allow it -- but I think there should be a quota as to how many juniors are allowed to be selected; the rest should be university players, not just a token one.   Maybe they know something about beating the Europeans that Don Cherry doesn't want even Les Boys to know.   The fact is we still play hockey like it's hockey.   When was the last time you saw a Canadian player cross-train doing other sports -- baseball, basketball, hockey; and yes, even figure skating?!   No wonder the Europeans manage to run circles around us when it comes to the games that really matter.  Dang it.

That being said, kudos to Buffalo for hosting a great and fun tournament.

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Want to launder money? Go to a casino

Hearing this one on Radio One this morning, I really wasn't surprised that casino money laundering it's happening in British Columbia.  It's been a problem at Ontario's casinos ever since we opened the first one -- now known as Caesar's Palace ™ Windsor -- in 1994.   Organized crime elements -- whether it's terrorists, drug traffickers, the mafia or just people working the "underground economy" (READ:  Black Market) launder ill gotten gains at gaming facilities (casinos or "slots at race tracks," turning dirty money into "clean" cash and don't have to report the winnings even if they are buying chips, say a hundred thousand at a time then cash them in just a few minutes later.

In one example, a guy from New Westminster bought $1.2 million in chips, quickly turned that back to cash (not a certified cheque, mind you, but cash) and boarded a plane to get out as quickly as he could ... but not before he got a letter from the casino confirming it was a jackpot payout so as to evade airport security.


Suspicious?   I certainly would be.

Under the anti-terrorism laws, any transaction over $10,000 -- or a combination of them in a 24 hour period -- must be reported to the feds.

But this is the weird thing:   In general, such unusually large transactions (if that's what it is) has trended down in nine of the ten provinces that have casinos, as it has in the Yukon (no casinos that I'm aware of in Nunavut or the NWT).   But in BC, it's tripled in the last year.

I'm sure the vast majority of high rollers, and even of the average Joe or Jane Blows, play money earned fairly.   But it doesn't hurt to ask some probing questions.   Some in some communities -- Native Canadian, South Asian, Middle Eastern -- may scream racial profiling.   Wrong.  This isn't about racial profiling, it's ensuring that ill gotten gains are seized and not returned.   It also wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on structuring -- whether it's done by individuals or groups -- so the spirit of the laws we have aren't violated.

I happen to believe that if some drugs as well as the sex trade was semi-legalized and taxed, then it would be a huge revenue generator and a lot of the really weird transactions would drop overnight.  It would also allow authorities to focus on those who go after our good nature and attempt to destroy a public trust.

The idea behind legalizing casinos and having them publicly run or under strict public regulation was to ensure people don't get taken for a ride.   And amazingly, we still are.  Hard to believe that even with all the money gaming facilities and lotteries make, and with set asides by law to treat "problem gamblers," some of the revenues can't be also set aside to ensure that everyone plays by the rules -- unless the crooks also happen to be the party in power's major financial contributors.   It's something worth thinking about.

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Wish list for Ottawa for 2011

So a Cabinet shuffle is happening in Ottawa as I write this.   Who really cares?   You can change the riders but you still aren't changing the horses.

 My wish list for this coming year -- no matter who winds up in power come year's end, and there's a better than even chance there will be an election:

• A real policy to end child poverty -- abolish the so called "universal" child care credit, put it on top of the geared to income and tax free Child Tax Benefit, and set real targets to lift people out of destitution (with major salary penalties on Cabinet ministers if they don't meet the targets -- say in the order of 100%).   If Britain can do it, so can we.
• A genuine day care policy.   If Québec can do it so can the rest of Canada -- it doesn't have to be exactly the same model, it can be geared to income for instance rather than universal.   But mothers and single fathers shouldn't have to make the choice between career and home.
• A real nation-wide environment policy.   This would include mandatory emission testing for all vehicles in all provinces and territories, done by the provinces of course but recognizing smog doesn't stop at borders or specific natural geographic checkpoints.   Demand the tar sands and precious metals mining industries clean up their act and impose the strictest penalties for tailings discharges.   Shut down the asbestos mines in Québec, permanently.
• Extend our 200 mile limit to 370 miles -- and demand those who treat our custodial management waters as a dumping ground be subject to the consequences.
• A way to ensure indigent seniors get the same tax treatment as wealthy ones.   Every $100 increase in seniors' tax credits for those who pay taxes must be matched by an equivalent increase in the Guaranteed Income Supplement for those who don't pay taxes -- which at present tax rates would be $15.   This is real money, for many it would pay the monthly phone bill.
• An expansion of the "child fitness credit" to include the performing arts.   PMS promised this one in the 2008 election and we're still waiting.   Meantime several provinces like Ontario have moved forward and Québec has had a refundable (not a non-refundable) credit long before anyone heard of PMS.
• An insistence that if any province wants to withdraw from the CPP and create its own plan (as Québec did with the RRQ) there must be full reciprocity just as there is with the RRQ.   Same premiums, same basic retirement, disability and death benefits.   If a province can invest the money better than our pension board, let them.   But Canadians will not stand for a province (read:  Alberta) that decides they can just charge lower premiums willy-nilly.   If they do, then the other provinces should reduce the payments that come out of the "number two" end for the time spent working in a discount province.  Fair is fair.
• Completion of a free trade agreement with the EU, one that reconciles our and their respective systems of agricultural subsidies -- and creates one class for immigration and visa controls rather than singling out certain countries in the bloc for allegedly bombarding us with bogus refugee claims.
• A declaration there will be no further free trade agreements with Third World countries until they comply with specific and accepted standards of human rights -- this includes fighting trafficking of women and children.    I am shocked that more than eight years after we signed an accord with Costa Rica child prostitution there is at an all time high and we still treat "sex tourists" with a velvet glove rather than with an iron fist.
• A return to a foreign policy that is based on pragmatism and honest brokerage rather than ideology dictated by Bay Street and the Christianities.   This also includes making it absolutely clear that while we oppose terrorism in all its forms, we also insist on a fair and equitable solution to the biggest issues facing the Middle East.   And that any state that still refuses to recognize the Israeli fact will see a progressive escalation in trade sanctions until such diplomatic ties are established.
• Finally, Mainland China.   If they continue to ship lead paint, toys, poisoned dog food, melamine laced infant formula and chocolate bars marked "nut free" when they are in fact full of nuts -- then we should terminate their Most Favoured Nation status.   And we should demand other democracies do the same.  If it takes a trade war to liberate the 1.3 billion people who continue to be enslaved by a small pack of Politburo apparatchiks then so be it.

Too much to ask for?   Well, it's time someone stood up for Canada.   These are actually small steps that can bring some hope instead of fear to Canadians; and make Canada a beacon of respect and not a laughing stock amongst the community of nations.

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Sarah Palin gets the meat and gets away -- you betcha!

How is it that when a GOP member shoots someone, or something, he or she can get away with it?   Remember when Dick Cheney had a gun?   They couldn't even nail him for hunting quail without a license.   Now Sarah Palin has managed to escape prosecution for hunting caribou without disemboweling it as Alaska law provides for -- on penalty of a $10,000 fine.

And to think that she could actually be elected President next year?   She doesn't even make the grade for Housing and Urban Development -- the least desired of the Cabinet posts.  And she doesn't even have a sense of humour either.

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Idiot Camping making fool of himself -- and victims of his followers

It never ceases to amaze me the number of preachers out there in television boobdom, who keep saying we must "trust our Bible" when it says the world's coming to an end any time now -- when those readers really mean we should only trust their interpretation of the Bible.

Case in point:  Harold Camping.   I don't know what to say about this guy.   Last we heard from him, he set a date for the end of the world as September 6, 1994.   Remember all of his "followers" who were weeping when it was business as usual, wailing "God lied to us"?   Actually of course, it was Camping who was the liar, not God.

Now Camping has set a new date -- October 21, 2011, to be preceded by the so-called "Rapture" five months earlier in May.

Riiiiiight.  And "Preparation H ™ does feel good, on the (w)hole."

Simple rule folks:   If someone says they know when the end will come, they are lying.   How do we know?  Because Jesus said so.   Someone like Hal Lindsey, Harold Camping, any of a number of Word of Faith preachers -- just fill in the blank.

And don't get me started on the self-proclaimed successors to Herbert W. Armstrong and their continued promotion of British Israelism (READ:  White Identity).   I'm not talking about their love for apartheid and other forms of racial segregation.   I'm talking about how much they hate their fellow whites.  How anyone can seriously believe that Germans are genetically disposed to evil because they are descendants of the Assyrians (Mesopotamians or what we now call Iraqis) is really beyond me.  Especially when genetic science has proven this wrong as much as the alleged "link" between Caucasians and Semites.   Key of David, my ass.

About Camping's only redeeming quality appears to be -- far as I have been able to find out -- he eschews such blatant racism.  For now anyway.   Mark my words, folks:   Come Hallow-e'en and Camping will deny he ever made a prediction about the End of Days.   Or he'll blame it on God.   Trying blaming it on Satan, pal -- because that's who you're really talking to.

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As 2010 ends ...

... my wishes to you for a good New Year and a prayer that common sense will finally prevail on any of a number of fronts.

To close the year, something that I saw a little while ago that really cracked me up, from The Muppets ™ -- too bad you couldn't get politicians in Canada into the same room for six minutes to do something like this, not any more anyway.




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