Guns and Stuff - Week 64 - July 16-23

This wasn't going to be at the top.  But read the article.  Holy shit is it scary.How is it that Rolling Stone is now one of the best sources of hard hitting investigative journalism?  Between Matt Taibbi pointing out all of the crazy financial stuff going on in the States and this guy writing about Global Warming, they're doing some good work.   Of course, he probably just made up all of those numbers.  Or they don't point to a pattern.  Or something like that.

It's pretty hard to talk about anything but guns and violence this week.  After the Batman shooting (I'm not going to link to anything here) and all the shootings in Toronto, one has to think a bit.  First, we have Rob Ford suggesting...who knows.  He doesn't even make any sense, but he seems to want to deport anybody who is violent.  Jason Kenney actually makes some sense and tells him that this isn't possible.  But it's scary that politicians seem to miss the point.  It's not like spending money on youth programs is going to solve all of these problems, but the politicians of the day seem to be able to talk about nothing other than longer jail terms (see earlier Rob Ford link and anything Stephen Harper has said in the last 10 years).

Speaking of Jason Kenney, a young refugee was arrested for interrupting his speech at a BBQ.  He paid for a ticket.  He ate his BBQ.  And he interrupted Jason Kenney's speech to ask a question.  It's illegal to interrupt a speech to ask a question?  How can that warrant getting dragged out of a room by four people and then an arrest?  That's crazy.


The Globe actually seems to suggest that Stephen Harper has made some mistakes recently!  The emperor is only wearing underwear?  Anyhow, even they can agree that blindly supporting Enbridge (honestly...follow that link.  They still claim that Enbridge knows what they're doing!) and completely screwing up every military purchase ever, are bad things.

Speaking of Enbridge, they finally realize what everybody else has: Their pipeline sucks and needs some changing.  Aren't you glad that you don't own stock in this company?  I mean, ignore all of the ethical questions of Enbridge Stock Ownership, these guys have proven that they don't really know what the hell they are doing.  They handed out raises after the last spill!  And, Christy Clark actually takes a bit of a stand against Enbridge.  Surprising.

And this came out of nowhere (for me).  Peter Kent announces tougher regulations on wastewater from municipalities.  Of course, there's no mention of how to pay for it...but I think this is good news.  I don't like poop in my water.

A Supreme Court ruling on the Etobicoke election paves the way for a by-election?  Maybe?  Elizabeth May has suggested that only the Liberals and Conservatives should run if there is a by-election.  I think this strategically makes sense for anybody that is not a Conservative.  Others don't agree.

Doesn't it seem odd that Canada is the only country in the entire world that refuses to deal with it's own Guantanamo inmates?  I don't care what you think of Omar Khadr.  He is a Canadian.  There is no reason to leave him in Guantanamo.  And then you read this article and it gets even worse.  For two reasons:
1) Stephen Harper continues to fabricate reasons to not bring him back.  This time, he wants to see video of psychiatric interviews.
2) The psychiatrist that conducted those interviews...ya, he says Omar Kadhr is an "unrepentant, dangerous, Islamic extremist who has been “marinated in the radical jihadism” during his imprisonent."  Yes.  I know.  Double quotes.  But what does this say?  "We threw a guy in jail with a bunch of terrorists but now we can't let him out because he's been hanging out with terrorists."  Joseph Heller would be proud.

Helena Guergis.  Good god.  Who even knows about this.  However, Stephen Harper seems to suggest that he hasn't done anything wrong here, based on a technicality: Crown prerogative and Parliamentary Privilege.  I'm sorry, but when I'm ducking out of blame based on a technicality, I find it's best not to suggest that the other party is speaking "gibberish".

Speaking of ducking out of legal responsibility, the BC and Canadian governments have responded to one of the RCMP harassment claims by, and I'm paraphrasing here, suggesting that the victim is a drunk who was asking for it (by daring to work in the same location as her harasser).

Strange Harper Obsessions makes a comeback!  Stephen Harper is issuing military personnel with pins to celebrate the War of 1812.  And they can wear them for 3 years!

I'm like a teenage girl when an American publication talks about Canada.  Here, Slate talks about our housing bubble.

Why are the Conservatives so hell bent on not letting this lady die?  I think the potential of an unscrupulous doctor or family member taking advantage of a patient's vulnerability is not a factor here (seeing as she has continually and consistently fought for her right to die with dignity), what' the problem?

Michael Geist talks about the Supreme Court copyright rulings.  It all sounds like it makes a lot of sense...but what's going to happen when the latest batch of laws take effect?