Weekly Highlights from our Conservative Overlords

Weekly Highlights from our Conservative Overlords

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

So much stuff! - Week 140.5 - Dec 30 - Jan 8

This is just totally insane.  Chuck Strahl, while still acting in some sort of CSIS oversight role, has registered to lobby on behalf of the Northern Gateway pipeline.  This has so many layers of wrong.
1) He's a government employee.
2) He's a former cabinet minister (isn't he?)
3) His son is an MP
4) CSIS seems to be monitoring environmental groups on behalf of Energy Companies
I mean, bravo Enbridge, but what the fuck?

Stephen Harper has appointed a non-diplomat, super pro-Israel ambassador to Israel.  It sounds like she has knowledge and history in the area, but shouldn't a position like this be held by somebody with a bit more balance?

A Conservative MP seems to have acknowledged the existence of climate change and postulated on its contribution to extreme weather.  A clarifying statement will most likely be issued in a day or two.  In other news, Al Roker comes to the defence of the polar vortex.  It's not actually a fabrication of the left wing climate change zealots.

A Conservative MP attempted to bill taxpayers for his trip to New York to run in the marathon there.  But he's such a good guy he's not going to try to get that money now.  After people freaked out about it.

Senator Bob Ruciman wants to create some sort of magical "no protest" bubble around the Prime Minister.  Because how dare those guys sneak in and try to get the PM's attention when hard working businesspeople paid hundreds of dollars for that privilege!  Steve-O thinks the whole thing is hilarious.

Another train hauling crude oil blew up (in New Brunswick).  If I was more of a conspiracy theorist I would think Enbridge is paying rail companies to blow things up.  Speaking of which, Kitimat is planning on holding a plebiscite to see if there is support for a pipeline.  Not a terrible idea.  Judging by real estate shooting up by 25% there I can imagine what the results might be though.  Unfortunately, many people would sell their souls for a 25% jump in their property value.  As well, oil companies seem very aware that this stuff is explosive.  And the train that exploded in North Dakota was carrying the stuff.

Charlie Angus broke a minor campaign finance law.

Our good buddy Rob Anders is facing a nomination challenge in his home riding.  Again.

An amazing post on car manufacturing standards that is really a lesson in trade barriers.  Very interesting.

The government is delaying it's offshore tax evasion snitch program.

Proof that closing DFO libraries was done for nefarious purposes ("culling of materials") rather than to save costs?  That's what this memo suggests.  I love how this is buried in the "Technology" section of the Province...Harper cutting the budget and jobs in the DFO.  Of course, there's been pushback from the Conservatives...and now pushback on the pushback.  And mainstream news organizations are starting to pick this up.

The War on Piracy is working!  Pirate Bay uploads were up 50% in 2013.

An International survey shows that news of our terrible foreign policies hasn't trickled down yet to common folk across the world.

Seeing as a majority of Canadians didn't vote for the Conservatives, is this really surprising that the majority of Canadians think we're heading in the wrong direction?

France has passed a massive wealth tax on any earnings over a million Euros.  Of course, it will "destroy the economy".  Or at least French football.

A theory on the cause of the UK housing bubble: Policies created in the 80's to prevent building new public housing.
The always amazing Matt Taibbi just wrote the most on-the-nose comment about Tea Party America and, well, right wing politics in general:
"the "movement" was about always about rallying ordinary struggling Americans behind an idealized anti-tax/deregulatory agenda that, in an amazing coincidence, also favored the super-wealthy industrialists who happened to be backing groups like FreedomWorks."

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