Politics

G20 police response: who’s responsible?

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CBC News – Canada – Sentencing act to cost billions: report.

The security for the G8/G20 costs 1.2 billion. The new jail terms cost billions. The law and order agenda. In Toronto this weekend we saw what that really means.

The results of all that money in Toronto: property damage, indelible memories of black-hooded thugs roaming unchecked; ordinary citizens treated like what….cattle, hardened criminals, terrorists?  I watched it for several hours Sunday night, as people were encircled, man-handled, herded, hoping that someone would say something that would justify the disregard for civil rights. No one did. Eventually the police chief, Bill Blair, according to the Globe this morning,  called them off.  Today he said it was a large and dangerous protest. Not according to the press who were in the center of the crowd. People claimed that the police surrounding them were OPP. Who was in charge?

There were severe thunderstorms, torrential rain. No one talked to the people in the crowd. If an individual spoke to a policeman, he was arrested. People were approaching the line to get arrested so they could get out of there. A tactical decision they said. Whose?

They were apparently searching for the individuals who were in the black bloc, believing that they were going to strike again. Some said they had found weapons along Queen Street.

As I understood the powers granted under some obscure act, the police were allowed to ask for id and search within 5 metres of the fence. They were a long way from the fence, and the meetings were over.

The fence came down today. The mayor wants Ottawa, that is us, to pay for the property damage. Who is going to hold the police accountable for their actions? Or at least demand they explain them?

Black Bloc …again

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So the message of the marchers is lost yet again, not because the people weren’t allowed to march, thousands of them, but because a group of so-called anarchists, thugs in masks who seem to move from city to city only to destroy, are the only ones whose voices are being heard.

Many, not all, of the leaders who are in Toronto, were democratically elected. The voices of their people are heard through them. Who are these men in masks? They represent no one.

Harper’s Fake Lake

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The overspending becomes tedious, doesn’t it? First, the delegates are fenced into a small area of Toronto, and not the most attractive area, except for the lake itself. No, not the one in the Convention Centre, the real one visible from the hotel windows for those lucky enough to to have rooms on the South side. Second, they are surrounded by 1 billion! dollars worth of security (and there still is no accounting for where all that money is going). Finally, they and the reporters for whom this stage set was constructed, are walked past a cardboard cut-out of cottage country. As someone pointed out in the Globe this morning, they didn’t import the blackflies.

The priorities of this government are strange and speak to an astounding lack of imagination at the top. And it comes from the top. This is a government run by micro-managers, with the supreme micro-manager at the top. Remember all the directives about staying on message. This was the guy who preferred a US style press conference, with all the reporters standing up respectfully when he came in the room, and controlled questions from hand-picked journalists to the hurly-burly of the scrum. When you are looking for the guy who spent all the money that the former government set aside for a rainy day, look no further. Remember all the fiscal pain when Paul Martin was in charge of the government purse. The pain produced surpluses. They are all gone, spent to buy votes, and now we are left with deficit for years ahead. There was nothing  for the rainy day that came 18 months ago. Remember Harper denying how severe it was going to be.

No fiscal conservatism here, no transparency, and no  sense, common or expert. No wonder they took the Progressive out of the party’s name.

Harper’s control central

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Harper’s message control is unprecedented, critics say – The Globe and Mail.

The funding for a retirement home, a mere 12,000 or so, is cause for a script, “to make sure everyone stays on message.” The message, according to this article in the Globe and Mail is heavily controlled, in an “unprecedented manner” citing former staffers of the Privy Council Office.

It doesn’t sound unprecedented to me. It sounds like the kind of control exerted in countries who don’t have democratic regimes. Harper got elected by saying his would be transparent government. It doesn’t seem to be transparent; it seems to be murky as hell. Why do they have to control so heavily. What is happening that we can’t know about? If we knew it, would we be calling for an election to throw them out?

No wonder they are spending one billion or so on security at the G20, when a few months ago it was three or four hundred million. They were spending too much time worrying about the 12,000 in Edmonton in the retirement home to pay attention.

And what does one billion in security buy anyway? Does anyone really know? Don’t expect an answer. It wouldn’t be on message.

No abortion law says Harper

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CBC News – Politics – No new abortion law: Harper.

Harper has stated that he is against a new abortion law and will oppose discussion in the house. Interesting, when he is trying to maintain his core vote which I understand to be amongst others, the anti-abortion crowd. However he refused to answer a question as to whether he would designate an up-coming private member’s bill as one the other conservative members must vote for.

He is afraid perhaps of antagonizing those he will need to vote for him if he is to get a majority. But this is the same guy who refused grants to Planned Parenthood, and Gay Pride. And he is the same guy who is refusing to have a place on the G8/G20 agenda for abortion rights in other countries. How do you spell hypocrisy?

Raped, pregnant and condemned.

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CBC News – Montreal – PQ leader ‘outraged’ at cardinal’s rape remark.

A celibate priest with a singular lack of imagination and empathy thinks its quite necessary for a woman to carry to term and deliver the progeny of  her rapist. At least one commentator on the story seems to think this is quite a rare event, apparently not having heard that rape is a weapon of warfare in the battle zones of the world. Nor do either of them consider that rape in marriage is not a rare event. These men not understand that she must relive the event every day that she carries that fetus, that she may develop significant disease, be rendered sterile, and finally see the rapist’s face reflected in her newborn. Then what? Is she stare at that same face at her breast for twelve more months?

The mother’s health, mental, emotional, social mean nothing to these people. It would seem that in their minds she is only a host to a more valuable potential creature. I have never understood why the life of a living breathing sentient human being is less valuable than the embryo she carries.

The Cardinal deliver’s his message at anti-abortion rallies on Parliament Hill attended by thousand , and twenty or so M.P.’s. All of them were men, except Conservative MP Kelly Bock. Three of them, to their shame , were Liberals. No New Democrats, no Parti Quebecois, and no cabinet ministers.

All men but one. I think they want their power back. I don’t think we should let them take it.

Guarding the coasts

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CBC News – Nova Scotia – Canada’s navy cuts coast patrol fleet in half.

The Canadian navy has a long, proud history. At present it is celebrating 100 years of guarding our coasts and fighting our wars. On May 4th, it presented a ship’s bell to the people of Canada, a symbol of it’s dedication in the past and for the future.

The CBC reports that on May 13, the navy announced the mothballing of ship due to budgetary constraints, leaving 3 ships on each coast. Later in the article the Minister responsible says the navy  has more money than ever before in it’s history. The article quotes figures that reveal that the amount of the budget – 1.97 billion, is down from 2.1 billion last year with more cuts to come.

It would seem that the Conservative government thinks, again, that we can’t count. The navy is getting 200 million more in it’s budget, the Minister says. 2.1 billion minus 1.97 billion -do the math. Maybe it’s Minister MacKay who can’t count.

And now the funding cuts.

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Women’s groups decry Tory funding cuts – The Globe and Mail.

Eleven women’s groups have had their funding cut in the last two weeks , plus three more who are  silent  for fear of further repercussions, according to this article in the Globe and Mail today. All these cuts were then followed by Senator Ruth’s advice to “shut the fuck up”. The Globe in its editorial supported the notion that there are other ways to support women’s health besides focussing on the reproductive issues.

They just don’t seem to get it. All the other measures don’t matter if a woman is burdened by a pregnancy every year. The body just wears out. Reproductive choice is the starting point, the foundation for women’s health. Not much worry about heart disease if you die in childbirth.

The Globe makes the valid point that there are other conversations worth having. Are we only allowed one at a time? And does the Tory caucus decide which conversations we can have when, and only the ones that don’t offend them?

Now they’re telling us to shut up.

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CBC News – Politics – Tory senator to women’s groups: shut up.

Nancy Ruth, appointed Conservative senator, philanthropist, failed politician(several election tries) and high-profile supporter of women’s equality rights tell the international groups assembled for a conference on those rights to”shut the fuck up” about the inclusion of reproductive rights in the Canadian proposal to the G8.

Senator Ruth sits in the Conservative caucus and she is quoted as saying that if more pushing goes on there would be a backlash from the government. Unspecified threats but it sounds that at the least she meant that the inclusion of contraceptive rights would be removed, or the government funding these groups may receive. (Government, from me and you, not just Conservative supporters.)

Those rights were only included because of pressure from women’s groups. She thinks the Canadian people have no time for such altruistic matters as the provision of reproductive health care to women in other countries. Apparently the Canadian people only have time for mortgages and other personal concerns. She also declared that  ” we still have the right to abortions in this country.” What does she mean “still”?  Another threat?’

Senator Ruth has a background that includes education at a prestigious Christian college in Washington State, and a degree in political science from York, as well as theological diplomas, unspecified. She has been a member and supporter of many groups active in the area of women’s rights. It would seem that the atmosphere in the Tory caucus is so schoolyard that the chief bully can convince even a woman with the Senator’s activist credentials that she has to toe the line.

I am surprised that someone with her background would suggest that the way forward for women is to sit quietly and wait for the government ie Mr. Harper to do the right thing. That hasn’t worked out well so far in this and many other issues. Silence never works for women, ever.

No, it doesn’t, Mr. Harper

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CBC News – Canada – Maternal plan should unite Canadians: Harper.

Apparently Mr. Harper doesn’t believe that those of us who are pro-choice have strong feelings about it. He thinks we will ignore those feelings in order to “unite” with those who are anti-choice. I don’t care to do that. And I don’t care to “unite ” Canadians by ignoring the realities of women’s life in the third world.