The most disturbing thing I've read today...

2003- "UN officials have opened a formal investigation into the allegations."

Sinafasi Makelo, a representative of Mbuti pygmies, told the UN's Indigenous People's Forum that during the four-year civil war his people had been hunted down and eaten. [....] Mr Makelo called on the forum to ask the UN Security Council to recognise cannibalism as a crime against humanity and an act of genocide. [....] Father Joseph Deneckere, a Belgian priest who has lived in the DR Congo since 1970, said [...] "Some of the victims had their sexual organs missing after tribal fighters cut them off to use as charms,"...

Not sure the UN has formally acted on this yet, but Jesus-fucking-Christ... wouldn't making cannibalism "a crime against humanity" have been one of its first logical proclamations?

Here's the best thing I've read all day

Wanna see why Harpo & Co's bogus "tough on crime" philosophy won't work?

Read this - here's an excerpt:

"Who would design a system that ostracizes, marginalizes, impoverishes and ensures the disease of the addict, and hope, through that system, to rehabilitate large numbers? It can’t be done. In other words, the so-called “war on drugs,” ... is a war on people, [that] actually entrenches addiction deeply. Furthermore, it institutionalizes people in facilities where ... there’s no care. We call it a “correctional” system, but it doesn’t correct anything. It’s a punitive system. So people suffer more, and then they come out, and of course they’re more entrenched in their addiction than they were when they went in."

Farce - Winnipeg Style!

Hey Winnipeg, wanna a new football stadium? Here's the price: make the decision quick, don't reflect, don't question, and make sure Mayor Sam gets to go on his Arizona XMAS holiday and newlywed fuck-fest on time!

"The deal must be signed Wednesday to ensure the construction costs are locked in at $190 million, Mayor Sam Katz told reporters Monday after a closed-door council seminar."

Whatever the merits of the existing proposal (and they are sparse at best) we, the taxpayers, do not deserve to be treated in such dismissive fashion.

THIS IS A $200 MILLION DOLLAR EXPENDITURE - surely to fucking Christ we taxpayers deserve more than 48 hours to weigh its merits! But no, as sheep we will follow... travesty!

A Special P.S. to Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger --- BTW, MY Premier, OUR Premier, OUR DEAR Premier ... in case you're interested, there's only one politician's future and one politician's asshole that's in danger of being irrevocably burned at the proverbial electoral stake here - YOURS!

re: "the non-profit Winnipeg Football Club must repay the province $85 million over 40 years"!!! Are you fucking kidding me?

Where's the accountability here? My 12 year son will be 52! I will be dead, you will be probably be dead, and (if there is a God?) Katz will have mercifully expired in Arizona ... and the loan will not have been re-payed! Well done you idiot! Guess there's nothing like giving that one-note-uber-simpleton Wee-Hughie an unnecessary edge.

Jesus! Even a supporter like me can see this deal is indefensible. All the weasel words in the world, and all the Rastafarian-inspired-smoking-"tax-pay-back-schemes" in a bong can't hide the fact that this is almost an entirely financed PROVINCIALLY FUNDED SCHEME!

Egad! What a mess... S'cuze me ... I gotta go upchuck now.

Dec. 8, 1980 - Thompson Manitoba

Thirty years ago tonight, a young boy, a teen of mere sixteen sat in his basement alone and watched CBC's Knowlton Nash deliver the devastating news that his hero was gone: "John Lennon - Dead!"

Tears followed and, yes, life resumed - but rarely a day passes that I still don't dare "Imagine"... thanks John.

Hey Riders! Remember, math is for winners!

"It's hard to imagine not being able to count." Err, unless you're a Saskatchewan Roughrider. Not only can they imagine it - - it haunts them still! For they learned the hard way last year that there's a price to be paid "If you can't count it, [cause] then you don't know how many you've had, how many you've got, or [most importantly] how many you need."

So recognizing that "the ability to count is a culturally learned skill" here's hoping Regina's locker room culture has beat into, driven home, and drilled into the minds of every member of the Green Machine one simple fact: All will be forgiven if only they can remember that a gridiron is no place for a baker's dozen!

As the Globe & Mail has noted, today's Grey Cup gives the Rider's a "chance to quell the bitter bile that rises in their throats when they think back" on one of the biggest boneheaded plays in football history. Here's wishing them the best of luck!

GO RIDERS GO!

Two Big Guts with Shit Eating Grins: Harper & Sopuck

Harper: Okay, remember we could get a fucking turnip elected in this riding if we slapped a PC sticker on it. You're the turnip we chose so enjoy!

Sopuck; Yes Steve.

Harper: Guns and Crime, that's all you gotta talk about. Got it?

Sopuck: Yes Steve.

Harper: Don't talk about nothing else, got it?

Sopuck: Yes Steve.

Harper: If somebody asks you about the rigged nomination - just talk about Guns & Crime.

Sopuck: Yes Steve.

Harper: If somebody asks you about the Indians... err... First Nations, just bring it around to Guns & Crime... okay?

Sopuck: Yes Steve.

Harper: Your riding is one of the least diverse and most poorly educated parts of the country - so just talk about Guns and Crime; Crime and Guns; Guns and Guns; Crime and Crime; Guns and Crime... nothing else. Got it?

Sopuck: Yes Steve.

Harper: We're gonna have Shelly give you our PC mind-shrink indoctrination. Just do as she does. Absolutely incapable of self-generating a singular critical thought on any issue, she's exactly what we look for at PC Central. Follow her lead and you'll be fine. Got it?

Sopuck: Yes Steve.

Harper: Any questions?

Sopuck: {dead silence}... err... Nope.

Harper: Good, that's the way I like it.

Spuck: Yes Steve.

Harper's Senate

There's this guy... AND...

"A review of Harper's appointments shows 21 of the 36 have strong partisan links either to Harper personally or the Conservatives (federal and provincially) and their predecessor parties — the Reform party, the Progressive Conservative party, and the Canadian Alliance."


Stephen Harper's own words criticizing Paul Martin Senate appointments (Mar 25, 2005): "He's stuck to the same old ... patronage routine. And worse, he's using the Senate, at taxpayers' expense, to play political games."

My Prime Minister - What a fucking hypocrite!

5 Stupidest Things I Have Read Today - pt.1

Okay, here goes... a listing of the 5 stupidest things I have read today. Enjoy.

1. - "In oral cultures, the most significant historical information is found in oral sources, particularly stories."
* MacKinley Darlington, "Captain Death Strikes Again: Tuberculosis and the Stó:lõ 1871-1907", (MA Thesis: University of Saskatchewan), 2010. p.3

2. -"World-class news commentary from the most authoritative news source in Canada" * Globe & Mail's banal banner boast on their "Commentary" section webpage (devoid of hubris)

3.- "If Prime Minister Stephen Harper had the oratorical style of a Barack Obama, the nuanced elegance of a Pierre Trudeau, or the fire of a John Diefenbaker, his speech last week on anti-Semitism and Israel would be put on a pedestal." *Toronto Star, Nov. 15, 2010 (editorial)"Stephen Harper is exactly right on Israel" - UTTER BULLSHIT!

4.- "Winnipeg, Manitoba, March 31, 2010 – Premier Greg Selinger and Mayor Sam Katz today joined Ken Hildahl, Chair, Board of Directors of the Winnipeg Football Club, David Asper, Executive Chairman of Creswin Properties Inc. and University of Manitoba President, Dr. David Barnard to announce a plan to accelerate construction of a new community-owned football stadium at the University of Manitoba. ... Beginning this summer, Creswin will construct the $115 million facility with an opening in time for the 2012 CFL and Bison football seasons" *Government of Manitoba News Release - Jesus, that's always good for a laugh!

5.- "Harper said his government's budget forecasts are ... already forecasting modest economic growth in the years ahead." *Vancouver Sun, Nov. 15, 2010, "Global trade imbalance serious, but not an urgent issue, PM says" - "already"?

Asked and ... Answered? Futility and the Pembina Trails School Board

So, speaking of futility - a buddy of mine who cares about such things was over this fine eve lamenting what one hears at School Board meetings. To wit, he showed me something on his Blackberry that illustrates what happens here in Winnipeg when a member of the public deigns to ask a School Board a question:

"Questions from Members of the Public in Attendance"
"A. Filewich noted that during the Auditor’s report, the Auditor stated that the Division was maximizing all of its Provincial Grants. She asked if the Division was maximizing the Equalization Grant.

The Secretary-Treasurer responded stating that the Equalization Grant increases as spending increases. He said that the Equalization Grant in Pembina Trails increases only 3¢ or 4¢ for every additional $1.00 in increased expenditures. He added that, since the Division is on the 2% Formula Guarantee in the Funding of Schools Program, any increase in the Equalization Grant results in a reduction of the 2% Formula Guarantee Grant so that increased expenditures result in a zero increase in Provincial grants."

[from: PEMBINA TRAILS SCHOOL DIVISION - Highlights of Board Meeting of November 9, 2010, p.4]

REALLY? I mean c'mon, was that a real answer? Am I missing something? Is the "Equalization Grant" real? Was the question misguided? Cripes, if that's the kind of nonsensical jargon one can be subjected to at their local Board meeting, it's small wonder more of us don't participate. Further, an answer like that makes one wonder what the Board, Trustees, and the Provincial Department of Education are smoking? I mean in what alternative universe could that answer be seen as a faithful and logical depiction of our current educational funding formulas here in Manitoba? Anybody?

If the guy below was right in the 1850s, I'm willing to bet that Trustees, School Administrators and Department of Education minions and their ilk have probably been part of the group smoking "something" for at least the last century and a half - how else do we explain an answer like that!

Guess which one's the Crazy?

One of these men professed last night that he'd rescue Manitoba from "the merchants of fear and falsehood(s)" and that he was against the practice of "rewarding car thieves and low level gangsters with slurpees and baseball tickets." - the other is just plain nuts! Care to guess who is who?

Dear Premier, Our Premier, My Premier: DON'T FUCK THIS UP!

Sources say the price is more than $160 million and the stakeholders are now huddling to determine what comes next. The project will require extra money or the design could be altered to make the stadium fit the $115-million budget used to put together the existing funding package.


Dearest Greg,

Oops, where are my manners? May I call you Greg? No? Am I being too personal? Really? If so, I apologize... err... (ahem) let us start again.

Dear Mr. Premier,
(The same one who promised all Manitoban's we would only be on the hook for no more than $90 MILLION of our hard earned tax dollars to fund yet another Asper vanity project... i.e. a new Winnipeg Football stadium),

Must say sir, I was quite disheartened to read the this news. Forget about the insipid calculated timing of the release of this story mere days after our recent civic election... how odd? Wow, what a coincidence? I mean who knew this was in the pipe? Did you? Did Katz? Did Asper? I bet one of you "True Blue" knew? But as that fat corrupt mafia guy on TV used to say: "fogetta-bout-it". Who-knew-what-when-was-convenient-for-them is not my point here.

My point here, and what is bothering me, is that I fear you, our Premier, my Premier, our Dear Premier, are about to break our trust. I fear that you, our Premier, my Premier, our Dear Premier, may soon succumb to the most debilitating Manitoba political disease of all ... aka: "The AKA's" ("The Asper-Katz Appeasement Syndrome").

I fear that even now this affliction, the "AKA's", may be taking hold of your person and senses and causing you, my Dear Premier, to lose your bearings, good judgment, and moral compass. Please, my Premier, our Premier, ... our Dear Premier, ... please say it isn't so! Please confirm for us that you are healthy. Please confirm, in no uncertain terms, that you are not afflicted. Please confirm you are immune to the "AKA's" by announcing that you refuse, ABSOLUTELY REFUSE, to enter into any further discussions regarding a rejigged/re-vamped funding agreement with either of these these boldfaced opportunists.

You made a deal with Asper... a deal is a deal. Cost overruns are his responsibility. Further, it is his responsibility to deliver the product originally promised (amenities and all). Anything less is a deal breaker. Surely, my Premier, our Premier, my Dear Premier, you don't want to be seen as one who breaks either deals, or the trust of the people - certainly not at this juncture. Not when so much is riding on your integrity. So, my Premier, our Premier, our Dear Premier: NOT ONE MORE RED CENT for the AKA's! Not now, not ever - - A deal is a deal!

One Observation Deserves Another

"By my count, Sam Katz has a conservative majority on council to do what he wants."

Fuck me! God help Winnipeg - cause Lord knows - we 'Peggers who aren't members of the Chamber of Commerce are going to need it!

A Post-Easter Resurrection: Fat Arse is Back!

Sometimes self-imposed prorogues are healthy(?)
Don't ask where I've been... it's enough to know that I am back.
Too bad I've returned to find our governing party still rife with the same hypocrisy we have all come to expect of the "open and accountable" charade that is Harpo & Co.

Is Blogger broken?

Egad, is Blogger broken? My whole template seems out of whack, banner is missing and page will barely load. Same appears to hold true for other blogs I have tried to load. They are loading slowly, weirdly, oddly... and some are missing their banners as well. Is it just me? Am I the only one?

PBO Kevin Page - a noble knight?

So Harpo & Co.'s prorogue is on, eh?

From the Tory vantage point this must all seem like a win-win. Partisan, myopic, self-serving, committee avoiding; it's just what a Con doctor would order... oopsie, maybe not? Seems there may be some unintended side-effects to this strategy. From today's Globe and Mail we read that, indeed, not all parliamentary offices will be lying dormant until early March. Though the House of Commons may be silent, Canada's Parliamentary Budget Officer has rightly determined that he should carry on with his duties:

"Prorogation will not silence Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, who plans to release three substantive reports in the run-up to the March budget.

Through a quirk – or, more accurately – complete silence in the rules when it comes to the conduct of his fledgling office during a prorogation, Mr. Page says nothing stops him from continuing with his work. As a result, his reports will provide a rare flurry of activity in a quiet, snow-covered parliamentary precinct scheduled to remain idle for 11 straight weeks. ....

His next report, which could come out as early as next week, will explore an issue Finance Minister Jim Flaherty doesn't want to talk about.

It will provide an in-depth analysis in support of the view that Canada faces a “structural” deficit – meaning the country will be stuck in the red even when the economy bounces back."

Nice to see that, at least in some quarters on the Hill, the work ethic and quest for tranparency is alive and well! (Hmm, wonder how long it will take for Harpo & Co. to try and shut him down? My guess... they are trying to do so as I type!)