http://www.pogge.ca/ Who promised you democracy would be easy? en-us pogge@pogge.ca 2009-02-16T10:47:00-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002240.shtml The site is currently closed for comments and trackbacks while I see if I can upgrade this puppy to the latest version of Movable Type. If things look a little odd around here for a bit, don't get too excited. I assure you that if things continue to look a little odd for long enough, I'll be getting excited enough for all of us. See you on the other side.... 2240@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-16T10:47:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002239.shtml Go ahead. Have another cup of coffee. This is Rio Funk by Lee Ritenour.... 2239@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-15T09:56:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002238.shtml So I took a few minutes, went to YouTube and checked out some Viking Death Metal. I had no idea that human vocal chords could make a sound quite like that. Here's Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan on Ask Me No Questions. There's another tune on the flip.... 2238@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-13T20:49:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002237.shtml 2237@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-13T16:42:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002236.shtml The change in the administration in the United States presents an opportunity for us to pretend that doing nothing about greenhouse gas emissions for the last three years was actually a reasonable approach. Now if we can only figure out how to ensure that Obama doesn't actually do anything either, we'll be all set.... 2236@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-12T17:25:39-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002235.shtml Michael Ignatieff's Liberals may not be inclined to oppose the Conservative government's budget implementation bill but someone is. On Friday, February 7, the Conservative government introduced an omnibus bill to implement the provisions of the federal budget that contains two “poison pills”: legislated wage rates for federal public sector workers and a problematic overhaul of federal pay equity legislation. PSAC is committed to fighting wage legislation that would affect any of our members – especially if it threatens free collective bargaining. We also oppose changes to legislation that would undermine pay equity as a human right and make it much harder for women to demand equal pay for work of equal value. That PSAC press release goes on to explain why the legislated wage rates are a direct violation of the collective bargaining agreement with the PSAC members at the Canada Revenue Agency. It also explains why, at least in the opinion of someone at the PSAC, the Conservative legislation does serious damage to the concept of pay equity and "ignores the recommendations of the 2004 Pay Equity Task Force." And all of it makes sense to me. It once again raises the question of why Ignatieff settled for window... 2235@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-11T20:41:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002234.shtml In the latest on the tainted peanut story, CTV reports that the owner of Peanut Corporation of America urged his employees to continue shipping product even after he was aware of positive test results for salmonella. This comes to light because of internal company emails released in advance of the company owner's testimony before Congress today. Wait a minute. This is still a breaking story in which eight people have died (that they're aware of) and already the company owner has been asked to sit in front of a congressional committee and answer questions. But here in Canada with a death toll of 20 from a listeriosis outbreak that began last summer, we have an official inquiry that's only now getting under way. And there are enough questions surrounding the government's choice of the individual who's to head up that inquiry and the manner in which she's proceeding that the opposition parties have already agreed to run a parallel inquiry. Heckuva job, Harpie.... 2234@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-11T12:16:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002233.shtml Towards the end of the Bush administration Senator Barack Obama had the opportunity to vote against a piece of legislation that would grant retroactive immunity to American telecoms who were complicit in illegally spying on American citizens. A lot of those supporting Obama in his run for the presidency were surprised when he voted in favour. Many of those same supporters are no doubt in shock today. Glenn Greenwald has the details and he's certainly not impressed. The short version is that President Obama's Department of Justice has stuck with the Bush administration's use of the state secrets privilege to thwart a suit brought against a subsidiary of Boeing for its role in the kidnapping and torture of five individuals. As Greenwald points out, the secrets that the DOJ would be protecting involve programs that Obama has already claimed to be winding down. This really appears to be an attempt to prevent the prosecution of crimes committed by, and on behalf of, the Bush administration. If this is supposed to be postpartisanship, there's nothing new about it. The message it sends is an old one: the political class and large corporations can commit crimes with no consequences. There's another politician... 2233@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-09T20:50:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002232.shtml I've noticed a few bloggers pointing to this Hill Times piece that reports on Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett's concerns that we the people are getting entirely too much information from the Parliamentary Budget Officer. Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page ... is garnering too much media attention and shouldn't be allowed to release his sensational reports unilaterally, says Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett. I don't think anyone should find it surprising that some Liberal MPs, particularly veteran Liberal MPs, would feel this way. While it appears to have grown worse under Conservative governments, an increase in government secrecy and the politicization of access to information was already happening under Liberal governments as reported in 2003 and again in 2005. Kevin Page is a public servant and as such one would think that public access to his work product would be the default position and the onus would be on those who would withhold it to provide some compelling reason for doing so. Obviously our Conservative overlords don't agree but let's not forget that recent Liberal governments have preferred to keep us in the dark when it suits them as well. So far I've seen no reason to assume that a Liberal... 2232@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-09T12:08:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002231.shtml I get it now. Stephen Harper really has employed a devious strategy in his attempt to reform the Senate. Since becoming a Senator, Mike Duffy has already managed to demonstrate contempt for the institution of which he is now a member and for the taxpayers who now pay his generous salary. By spouting offensive crap and using his new soapbox for purely partisan purposes he'll surely convince us all that the Senate desperately needs to be reformed or abolished so that, if for no other reason, at least Duffy will lose access to the microphone. It's a brilliant maneuver, isn't it? And the Duffster certainly deserves our respect for being willing to lay his reputation on the line and make himself look like a contemptible buffoon for the cause.... 2231@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-08T10:44:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002230.shtml Bob Rae gets in a few good ones here: Dear Prime Minister, I am writing you in my former role as Deficit Poster Boy and Punching Bag. This title was bequeathed to me by Pierre Trudeau and Brian Mulroney when I became premier of Ontario, and I have been carrying it around on my back since 1990. I have tried to wear the title as lightly as possible, but have to admit that its "baggage" has hindered my progress on occasion. It is hard to describe the pleasure I take in bequeathing it to you and Jim Flaherty. As they say, read the whole thing.... 2230@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-07T18:35:47-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002229.shtml For a change of pace I wanted to hear some David Crosby this evening. He brought Graham Nash with him. This is Traction In The Rain.... 2229@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-06T19:58:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002227.shtml It was almost a year ago that the chair of Canada's Military Police Complaints Commission announced his intention to hold public hearings into the handling of Afghan detainees by Canadian forces. And since then the Harper government, those believers in accountability and transparency, have been trying to put a stop to it. Harper may be winning. Less than two weeks before it was to begin hearing evidence from witnesses into Canada's handling of detainees in Afghanistan, the government has again blocked the inquiry of the Military Police Complaints Commission. Commission chair Peter Tinsley, who had planned to begin full-scale public hearings on Feb. 17, issued the indefinite adjournment order this week after the Justice Department filed a motion in Federal Court calling for the inquiry to be stayed. Here's a quote from a letter written by a government lawyer to the commission: The government of Canada seeks to prevent irreparable harm to the reputation of our soldiers recently returned from Afghanistan, risk to national security ... and the potentially needless expenditure of time, effort and resources The risk to national security and "potentially needless expenditure" sound like so much padding. It's that first clause that's of interest. The government's lawyer... 2227@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-05T11:23:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002226.shtml Poultry inspection changes could pose health risk, say veterinarians Veterinarians who monitor food safety at federally regulated poultry slaughterhouses are taking the government to court, claiming a pilot program that shifts inspection duties to slaughterhouse workers breaks federal rules and could pose a health risk to Canadians. Under the proposed changes, called the "poultry rejection program," slaughterhouse employees would be responsible for monitoring birds as they pass through the production lines, a task usually carried out by veterinarians working for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. The changes would also mean slaughterhouses wouldn't have to make public the reasons why carcasses were rejected, say the veterinarians. ... In a written response to the union last October, the CFIA's executive vice-president, Dr. Brian Evans, said the pilot project frees the veterinarians from the time-consuming and mundane task of inspecting sick carcasses so they have more time to look for pathogens in the birds. I do believe that during the listeriosis outbreak we heard about changes to the inspection regime that were intended to free up inspectors from "time-consuming and mundane tasks." And that worked out well, didn't it? Of course we're not entirely sure how well it worked because we're still waiting... 2226@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-02-05T10:44:00-05:00 http://www.pogge.ca/archives/002225.shtml I don't think our politicians have quite got the knack of coalitions. It's supposed to involve people working together. Like Gary Moore and B. B. King on Since I Met You Baby. (Give it a minute. It picks up.) There's a big fat bonus track on the flip.... 2225@http://www.pogge.ca/ 2009-01-30T20:36:00-05:00