You likely will not hear it here first (it’s been said by others) but I am going to say it out loud again anyway: Harper knows nothing about the economy.  But neither does Trudeau, Mulcair or even Elizabeth May(my fave) but she may come the closest.  Their only defense is that it doesn’t matter much what they know given the way they see the economy and the way they are playing at it.  Let me explain….

Canada does well economically for awhile and Harper (or Mulcair/Trudeau had they been in power) strut about touting their acumen and wisdom.  “We are the best managers!”

Canada then does poorly and they quickly reply, “Well, it’s not our fault.  The world economy is on the ropes and we are weathering it the best we can!  We are still the best managers.”

Wrong.  Totally, completely, embarrassingly wrong, wrong, wrong. The way they have it set up, they manage nothing.  They are not even puppets on the strings, they are barely the shoes on the puppets.

The US or China’s economy hiccups and small-country economies (and especially those resource based) go into paroxysms and spasms like epileptics having a seizure.  China and the US drive our economy – plain and simple.  Canada’s population of under 35 million is not even as populace as China’s largest municipality.  We simply don’t swing any weight internationally except as purveyors of natural resources NONE OF WHICH THE AVERAGE CANADIAN OWNS OR BENEFITS FROM!

It does not have to be that way.

If Harper/Mulcair/Trudeau had any economic sense they would instead say, “Well, internationally, we are completely vulnerable to just about everyone and everything.  We can’t manage the part of the economy that has international buyers and sellers.  They manage it.  We just react.  All we can really do is help manage the domestic economy and that means investing in infrastructure, education and making sure the provinces and the north can deal easily and reasonably with one another.  That’s a big task in itself given the size of our country and we have not done that.  In fact, we have neglected that.  But now we will.  We promise.  We will make the trains run on time and inexpensively.  We will repair the roads.  We will take care of the people.  We will also support, nurture and initiate local economic development right down to the municipal level.  That means transportation, loans, grants, local economic policies and initiatives.  We may be small potatoes but we can at least help grow them!”  

Put another way: our leaders should stop posing as economic leaders.  They are not. They are currently simply leeches on the economy.  They should get their snouts out of the trough and help re-build Canada for Canadians.  They could do a lot more if they thought like the 100 mile diet people, the small-is-beautiful people, the buy-local people, the everyday Canadians that, internally, domestically, we are.

If some thug (Petronas/CNOOC) comes looking for Liquid Natural Gas or Tar Sands, then maybe dabble in that.  A bit.  Maybe.  But put your energies, your resources your management energies into your own country first.  Clean up your own backyard.  It’s called ‘management by walking around’.

Most of us are aware of Harper-as-bastard.  You don’t need much more evidence.  But most of that which you know about is political and you either agree with him or you don’t.

His personality has been maligned, of course, but, for the most part, he has skated through the personality-based, ad hominem attacks (exception: he is clearly a stone cold liar).  We do not think, for instance, that he cheats on his wife or takes bribes or is connected to organized crime (well, there are the Fords).  I don’t think he snorts coke or has a mistress. We think of him as a racist to some extent but, then again, a lot of people are afraid of Muslims so that is not hurting him too much (maybe in the after life).  If there is a major personality trait we are coming to know, it is that he is an isolated, fearful sociopath of some kind who likes to think of himself as macho AND entertaining when playing music.  The rock-star syndrome, I guess.  As a person, I just think of him as a scheming Luddite who craves power and cares for no one but himself.  It is not all that uncommon nowadays in a world committed to the pursuit of money over all things.

But there’s more.  And this part really sickens me: a dozen or so firefighters in the interior were just coming back to barracks after a long 12 hour plus shift in stifling heat putting their lives in danger.  They were exhausted and likely just looking forward to a shower and hitting the sack when they were Shanghai’d by some suit-and-tie person urgently compelling them to ‘come over here for just a moment’.  Probably too tired to resist, they went.  They stood there and waited and wondered why.  Stephen Harper then showed up to shake their hands.  He came complete with photographers and film-makers and writers and the moment of our PM on the front lines with the firefighters was duly captured for political gain.  The firefighters were then dismissed and, of course, the pictures were splattered all over the news.

That was despicable.  That was ‘theft’ of some variant.  It was definitely political exploitation of the worst kind.

Well, it turns out that it was not quite the worst………….

Coming to Campbell River in secret is one thing.  And Harper did that.  His visit had a lower profile than a Slytherin.  But, before he arrived, a fellow Con in the Boy Scouts in Victoria arranged with a naive associate in Campbell River to ‘dress up’ a troop of scouts, “..the Prime Minister wants to meet them”.  A troop was hastily gathered and they all stood at attention in awe and wonder at meeting the PM.  But he, instead, used them as a backdrop to make his political campaign speech to the dozen or so faithful and, of course, the platoon of PR flacks were there to capture the moment.

The Boy Scouts are committed to political neutrality.  They will not ‘stump’ for anyone. But, of course, they will greet heads of state in the capacity of young people greeting heads of state.  Like kids giving flowers to the Queen.  It is schlock PR but it is used in a neutral role-of-office kind of way.  It is never to be used for partisan purposes.

Harper used the kids for just such a purpose.  And that was even more despicable than the firefighters.  They were adults and could have, if they had the energy, walked away. The kids were just trying to be good scouts and gave it their all. Whether he bothered to address each one and shake their hand might mitigate it a bit but clearly their role was scenery, back-drop, colour and much like that of the previously mentioned firefighters.

Only worse.

If you don’t understand the political madness of Harper’s sword rattling in Ukraine and Syria; if you don’t see the inherent evil in his ‘bad’ trade deals; if you don’t see his failure in the economy or his dereliction of duty to those who need the government’s support like the veterans; and if you don’t see the erosion of your own freedoms with his draconian omnibus bills and security measures, you should at least be able to see the crass and selfish exploitation of ordinary Canadians in those two small vignettes that we recently witnessed.

Do we really need to see anymore of this guy?

I am not a news junky anymore like I used to be but I still know what’s going on in our neighbourhood.  But I didn’t know that Stephen Harper came to Campbell River to ‘appear and speak and help’ the local Con and the other one in the district south.  That other one is John Duncan, his deputy PM, and the one that actually makes Harper look like a good person by comparison.  Serious stink on that guy.

But my point is: the Prime Minister of our country came to ‘speak and politic’ on behalf of his fellow cons and no one is informed.  Why is that?  Virtually NO coverage.  Why is that?  Some people did know so I guess it was not a secret and those who knew were on the streets protesting so maybe the Cons knew that public appearances out here weren’t going to go well.  Those he spoke to reportedly numbered only a dozen or so. Appearance time? Negligible.  Quotes?  None.

I think Harper has given up on the west coast and that is actually smart – for him, anyway. He is reviled here.  He may as well politic in Alberta or wherever because there is little in the way of support for the Cons here on the west coast.   I really think John Duncan blew his own feet off but no one likes Harper either so they are like lepers here.

A bunch of angry BC veterans started a group called ANYBODY BUT CONSERVATIVE. ABC for short.  They are mad.  The head of the group wanted to meet with the minister or the PM.  “No!”  was their response.  Makes it seem like Harper is simply dodging or avoiding any place that is hostile and most places seem to be.

Looking forward to October.

Seems dozens of whales are dying out here.  50% more than usual.  Scientists think it might be related to the red algae bloom that is virtually covering the entire Pacific Ocean. ‘Course, they really need to do autopsies on the whales first but, of course, there is no money for that.  So, I guess we won’t do ’em.  No money.  No money.  Too bad.  We’ll do nothing without money upfront, eh?  Let ’em die!

Hottest July in recorded history of the world read one headline the other day.   Another said it was not an applicable statement for the whole world but mostly it was true.  El Nino this year is being referred to as the Godzilla of el Nino’s.  Baby Godzilla.   A heat engine just pumpin’ heat like mad all over the Pacific and much of the world.  Oil falling in value. China stocks falling.  Pollution levels in China beyond belief.  Millions of Africans and Central Americans heading north.  Even Obama is on the climate change train.

Things are changing.  Things are really changing.  I think they are changing fast.  Faster than I thought, anyway.  Canada is changing, too.  But Harper is not.  ‘We are good’.

Cons have their heads up their butts.  Good place for them, I guess.

What a guy!  Our Duffy, eh?  Years and years as a supposedly neutral news reporter who was, while working into our hearts and minds, selling himself to the highest bidder.  Seems the Cons bid the most.  Maybe it was a two-fer with Pam, hard to say?  Still, Duffy and Wallin sold their soul and jumped to the front of the trough and all they had to do was stump for the Cons.

Isn’t that weird?  What were the Cons thinking?  “Hmmm, here’s a guy and a gal who all Canadians accept as neutral truth-tellers and, God knows, we could use some of that in the party. Let’s go buy them!”

“But, sir, as soon as they are bought and paid for, wouldn’t that undermine their image as neutral truth-tellers and, in fact, make them out to be hypocritical liars and cynical in the extreme?  Wouldn’t we lose both ways, getting such horrible people and then losing what little credibility they may have?”

But they did it anyway.  Harper’s idea of leadership.  And then Duffy and Pam’s elitist, pampered, selfish, ugly sides showed up and it was a bit embarrassing even for the idiot Cons who can’t spell financial management let alone demonstrate it.  So, they tried to sweep them under the carpet.  How stupid is that?  They could much more easily have made political hay, gotten rid of them and actually looked good in the doing.  But they chose to be weasels instead.  Leadership from the shadows.

Stephen Harper could have said:

“My fellow Canadians of this great country and with all of us going forward….to….well, uh, the end of the day…we have to be accountable to our citizens and I am sorry to have to report that two (or four or ten – he can pretty much pick any number from his group) of our senators have violated the ‘spirit and intention’ of public service and, even tho there was no law proven as yet to have been broken, the morality and the indulgence, the sense of entitlement and greed nauseates me as your prime minister.  So, I have asked for their resignation.  In fact, my aid, Nigel Wright and I have offered the senate accounts committee the money to ‘pay back’ for their selfishness and their disregard for doing the right thing.  I have no idea how things got this bad but I’d rather pay this debt from our own pocket than have the Canadian public go through it.  Can you imagine all the piggy behaviour that might come from others if this kind of thing goes to trial?  It’ll cost us all a fortune!  And take forever.  All I can add going forward is that maybe we will go backwards some day.  Just for a change.  Start at the beginning of the day, ya know?  And, when we do, we’ll pick better people for the senate.  We will pick honest, unselfish Canadians who recognize their primary duty to serve others and not take for themselves.” 

And he would have looked good doing it.

But, you see, saying that kind of thing and doing that kind of thing requires leadership and our politicians don’t lead.  They follow.  The best they can do is react because they do not ACT.  Had Harper shown some strength of character and leadership, the Duffy issue would have won him votes, not lost him any.  As it is, he is likely to skate by using the plausible deniability clause (AKA: permission to lie and cheat on someone else’s account). But I mention it because this is the crap that passes for leadership in Canada these days.

“Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.”  Warren Bennis

“……leaders will be those who empower others.” Bill Gates

“Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less.”  John Maxwell

Which of our great leaders is doing any of that?

Stephen Marche, writing in the NY TIMES, had this to say about Canada, Harper and the upcoming election.  I couldn’t agree more.

And…it makes me think…………hmmmmmmmmmm………….

The way Marche writes, he implies that Harper is a bit ‘mental’.  And, of course, I agree with that, too.  But, if that is true, how did a nut-case get to be PM and keep the job for so long?   Doesn’t that mean that either Harper is NOT mental and I (and Marche et al) am wrong?  Or, maybe Harper became mentally ill AFTER the fact and maybe BECAUSE of the job?

Or could it possibly be that the job REQUIRES a person be a nut?  Certainly we believe that most politicians are narcissists and that is considered a bit crazy depending on the severity.  We also believe politicians are controlling (indeed, that is why we have the government in the first place) and ‘controlling’ can be dysfunctional depending on the severity, too.  And, so it goes.  We seek people (and they seek us) for essentially a dysfunctional relationship.  How whacked is that?

“So, Dave, what is your stupid point this time?”

I guess I am asking the question: Do we really need politicians at all?

We need administrators.  We need accountants.  And we need bureaucratic managers, to be sure.  Maybe we even need a good-looking spokes-model now and again….(there has to be a use for pretty young people who can talk silliness while smiling widely and grinning intensely besides ventriliquism and general good humour).   But do we need politicians who, for the most part, just bring partisanship to the equation? They basically bring only bias.  They bring ‘personal’ and ‘party’ agendas to what is otherwise just a big institution that manages and redistributes our taxes in accordance with the constitution.  Couldn’t anyone with a 3-digit IQ and a high standard of ethics do that?

Couldn’t the philosophical input that changing conditions require be submitted by social media?  I mean – do we need MPs at all when we can vote directly on issues within minutes?

For example: SHELL has just been given permission to drill for oil off the coast of Nova Scotia.  Why not?  Doesn’t every coast deserve an oily sheen and black-slick marine life? That is all bad enough but Shell managed to write into their contract that – should a drilled oil well go awry – they will not have any obligation to ‘cap’ the runaway well for 21 days. That’s right – they have to get it capped but they have 21 days for it to spew poison first.

So, I signed a petition to influence the ‘deal-makers’ to rescind that provision and make them act quicker. In real life, they will likely do as they please – they always do – and our sole remedy will be a fine that they pay by charging us more at the pump.   But my point is: aren’t I and all the other 50,000 signers expressing our democratic rights directly in that instance?  Couldn’t I do that on every issue?  Aren’t I doing that better than any MP?

My MP is John Duncan.  He is an idiot and a waster of taxpayer’s dollars.  He retains a limo driver to such an extent that the driver racked up in overtime (last year) the equivalent of the average Canadian wage.  IN OVERTIME!  The limo driver was required to wait in the car while John dined and partied and did what he did best (which was nothing). The guy made his govt. salary as a limo driver to the elite of this country (I am guessing at least $60K) and then made almost the same amount again in overtime!

Do you think John Duncan read that Shell contract?  Do you think John Duncan reads anything?  John Duncan is the ‘mouthpiece’ for Harper when Harper is away.  John does what Steve tells him.  He does nothing more.  He does nothing less.  He is a mannequin. He doesn’t stand up for his constituency.  He does not stand up for the fishing industry, the coast guard, the health system, education, veterans or any other issue that our area voters may hold dear. He keeps to the script and he eats in restaurants while his limo driver makes out like a banker.

Isn’t a web-based, social media, petition directly speaking my opinions of more use to me than John Duncan? Is it not quicker?  Is it not more effective if 50,000 others sign with me than John eating lobster with some oil baron even if he went to so far as to do that?

Canada is wondering if we need the senate at all.  Many are calling for the abolition of the upper house.  And, I agree.  But I may go a step further…. why not get rid of them all? Replace them with SUM of US or LEADNOW or the whole roster of petition drafters.  Let the people speak directly to the issues and let us cut out the middle-meddle-muddle-fuddle men!

I admit that the above is a radical thought and not likely to gain any immediate traction but, really, isn’t it heading that way?  Eventually?

Interesting phrase, don’t you think?  It is cynical in the extreme, it reveals much about the way business is done and, essentially, it (the phrase) is a lie-in-waiting.  Here’s why: it is either a 100% lie or it is a 100% condemnation of the subject claiming plausible deniability (pd) to being stupid beyond belief.

Re: Duffy, Harper either didn’t know about ‘some things’ when he should have because it was a big deal, it was close-to-home and it was possibly illegal.   Or else he did know but, because he has a fall-guy-filter in the form of a Chief of staff, that person gets thrown under the bus if required.  There is no ‘win’ for Harper. Crooked or stupid.  And, worse, hiding behind someone else’s skirts makes him Nixon-esque.  The irony is that whether Duffy is a crook, Harper is a crook or else they are both incompetent, they both look bad.

They both smell.

Nigel Wright even comes across as stupid because he did what the Con party said was wrong.  Imagine that?  The Con Party said, “Don’t bail out Duffy.  He was wrong.”  And they did it anyway and then they are caught covering up.

I am inclined to go for the plausible deniability position simply because that is why they have Chiefs of staff – to act as the backstop filter.  And that is the way they do things.  The mud stops there.  But what does that say about our leaders?  It says; “Well, we are going to have some nasty stuff goin’ down and I don’t wanna get sprayed brown and smelly when it happens.  So, let us create a few fall-guy positions and, even better, let me just charge them now with ‘KEEP ME SAFE. DO WHAT YA GOTTA DO BUT GIVE ME PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY!’

In other words: We play dirty.  We play to win.  And we do not tell the truth.  

It is the way politics and, to a large extent, big business is done.  And NOT just in Canada. If you think otherwise, get a really big screen and subscribe to the Disney Channel.  You are living in a fantasy.  We live the BIG LIE all the live-long day.

Harper announced yesterday that he will ban Canadian travel to countries he doesn’t like if he is re-elected.

He doesn’t like Russia. So, presumably, Russian-Canadians can’t go home again.  And I can’t go with ’em even if I wanted to – which I don’t (I don’t think I like Russia much, either) He isn’t keen on Pakistan, Somalia, Ethipoia and well, I am guessing…Venezuela…so those folks with relatives there are also now trapped by the new Harper one-way ticket policy to Canada.  ‘Course the Middle East is largely off-limits, I am sure.  Mind you, he likes India and China – despite their human rights shortcomings – so I guess we can go there. Exception to the rule: he likes Israel but not Syria…some parts of the middle are OK?

I wonder how he feels about Thailand, Argentina or Portugal?  Ya know, Fid might wanna go back to his roots someday….jus’ sayin’…

Doesn’t matter, really.  He has made his point: YOUR travel to a foreign country will not be permitted without first obtaining Harper’s approval.   Kim Jong-Un (N. Korea) feels the same way.  They are both leaders, don’t ya know?  Maybe North Korea will be on the OK-to-visit list?

Seems I will soon need my prime minister’s approval to travel outside of Canada? It is a small step from that to being forbidden to leave the country at all.  Who would have thought that a Canadian would experience such oppression?

Mind you, our scientists were gagged a few years ago.  And, to their collective shame, they have remained silent for the most part.  Our MPs have been ‘whipped’ into pudding and, for the most part, they seem to like it so they aren’t complaining.  Not doing much of anything, really, except bleating in unison and cashing their paycheque – no heroes there, I am afraid (except Elizabeth May).  Very Pre-WW2 Germany-like.

But, to be fair, I have pretty much petered out my own traveling bug, the odd country notwithstanding, so I was not planning on going too far afield myself.  I mean, I have been to all the places where I really wanted to go and so I would have been pretty content to stay home rather than try to stretch my ever-shrinking 70-cent dollars to afford a hostel in Turkey or a souvlaki in Greece, anyway.

Not so much now!  Now I want to go where Harper doesn’t want me to go.  The bastard! NOW  I may have to travel as a form of protest rather than as a manifestation of personal interest.  You see, I like to think that I am FREE TO DO AS I PLEASE (within the bounds of reasonable legal constraints, of course.  And good taste).  And I intend to do that.  So, arrest me when I get back from Turkey, you dictator. Taser me.  Lock me up, Adolph! You ego-maniacal bastard!

My minor dilemma: if I am truly free and I don’t want to travel anymore, why should some anus forbidding me to travel have any effect on me whatsoever?  It is only by being knee-jerk responsive to that dictatorial act that I truly lose my freedom….oh, what the hell….I hate the guy…that’s a good enough reason all in itself!

The key word is reasonable.  And he is not.  NOT in anything I have opinions on, anyway. He and I disagree – fundamentally – on who is and who is NOT a terrorist, for instance. And now, Stephen Harper is proposing to unreasonably restrict my legal freedoms – AS IF I WERE A TERRORIST!

And not for the first time.  He already restricts your right of assembly by requiring permits for protests and harassing associations and societies (with Rev Can) engaged in political work he doesn’t like – not unlike Hitler and Stalin did to their people.  It is that simple.  This is government oppression.  Soon they’ll be issuing coloured arm-bands but, don’t you worry your pacified little head about it.  They will be issued to the Muslims first.  Then some damn coloured folks.  Maybe First Nations next.

You’ll be fine if you’re white and moneyed.

We have had government exploitation forever.  We have had government criminality forever.  And we have had government corruption forever.  But we have not experienced too much in the way of direct personal oppression ever before. Well, not white folks, anyway.  Some newcomers to the country have been hassled.  Some have had their land, homes and fishboats taken away. Others spend years in prison.  And some poor souls get tasered and jailed and sent packing or to the morgue for no good reason.   But your basic, bona fide three-generation white Canuck has been pretty much free to do what their wallet and their wives will allow.

NOT ANYMORE!  That kind of freedom of choice is over if Harper is re-elected.

Whales.  Humpbacks, this time.  Four of them.  Rolling, swooshing, even breaching and pulling off big flop-body bangs not two hundred feet from our deck.  We saw them go up the channel and then we saw them come back a few hours later.  One of them was a baby but bigger than a new-born.  Couple of tons, I would guess.  Pretty neat.  Nice to see.

Even nicer was the rain yesterday.  We got a day-full.  It was good.  Real good.  We really needed it.  A lot of places really need it but we got enough to sustain our water source likely though the rest of the summer.  Especially with what we have stored in our cisterns as well.  The ‘worry’ seems over for awhile.  Our ‘source’ is a big, flat area like a high elevation marsh that soaks up the water like a giant sponge and then trickles it out in a remarkably consistently flow given the naturalness of the situation.  If we get rain once every two weeks it is enough to keep us in good flow all season.  This year, it dwindled but it did keep flowing.

Got all our fire-fighting stuff up and operating.  That was a chore.  Two big tanks installed (separate from the cisterns), tuned and fired up the pump.  Fresh fuel.  Hoses strung at the ready.  Fire extinguishers checked, a few new ones added just to be sure.  I figure that one gallon of response within five seconds is worth way more than five hundred gallons ten minutes later.

Carburetors proving I was a bit premature in my earlier celebrations.  Still acting quirky. Still stalling out when least expected.  Carburetors, eh?  Can’t live with ’em, can’t live without…..

The visitor flow has started up in earnest.  Grand Central, we are.  August, our month of popularity. Could be worse.  What if we were even nicer and had July, too?  Actually, September is pretty booked, as well.  Which is a function of our age…..when you are younger, summer ends on Labour Day for school and work reasons.  But, when you are retired, you can stretch your summer past the usual limits and maybe miss out on some of the two-ferry wait crowds.  Our circle is almost entirely made up of retired people.  So, the tourist season is a smidge longer for us.

Environment is changing.  Again.  Aside from the heat this summer, the wind patterns were very different.  Precipitation non existent.  Salmon are bunching up in the area ’cause there isn’t enough water in the streams for them to go up.  That brings more seals and Orcas and, for reasons inexplicable, there were fewer eagles, herons and even the ravens were less than frequent visitors this year.  They still attack on shopping day, of course but, otherwise, were often busy elsewhere.

Got squirrels up the wazoo.

This summer, I have seen quite a few garter snakes and salamanders.  Very cool.  We like them.  But ‘quite a few’ means four or so sightings when, for years, we saw nothing. So, it is NOT a migratory event or a climate change indicator.  But, speaking of migratory, there seems to be fewer birds about this summer….jus’ sayin’….

…..and we had the wasp season from hell this summer.  Gazillions.  So, I dunno….is it changing?  Yes.  Does it always change?  Yes, I kinda think it does.  Is it changing more than it used to?  Yes, I kinda think it is.  So, is that it, then?  We doomed?  Yep, I think so. I think it is all over.  We are toast.  The whales, squirrels and the wasps are clearly taking over.

Oh yeah, and the urchins, too.  They are everywhere in the water.  Could be the dawn of the urchinstene era.

We are doomed.

Pitting the environment against the economy as a political debate issue is an asinine position to take. Ignorant in the extreme.  Fatuous.  Disingenuous and just bloody stupid. You have to wonder if those who do (the media, the provincial Liberals and the Conservatives) understand the economy at all. Clearly they have proven they don’t understand the environment to the point that they are killing that which sustains us but it is hard to believe that they could miss two out of two. What nincompoops!

The economy is a concept, a man-made construct.  It is the whole of our personal trades and exchanges and it is as much a fantasy construct as say, our forms of entertainment. The economy is not real without people saying it is.  The economy is just an agreement.

The environment, on the other hand is real.  It exists whether we do or not.  The environment is real in a much bigger examination than is the study of the economy.  In fact, the economy rises and falls and even collapses now or then based entirely on our collective moods.  If we lose confidence in the economy it diminishes and, if we are optimistic, it grows.  Could there be a better definition of a fantasy?  It’s just like bogey-men in the closet.

Which invites a whole other discussion on bogey-men (like ISIS) but I would digress…

The economy is our collective mindset, our construct.  We can change it.  In fact, we have changed it from time to time.  We had the agrarian-based economy of yesteryear, the industrial-based one that is slowly ebbing and the current information-based global economy already morphing somewhat into the specialty divisions of biology and robotics and God-knows-what-all.  Changing the base of the economy is what we do.  It is one of the ways we think we grow as a species (the jury is still out on that).  Getting off oil is not going to kill us.  Difficult?  Yes.  Unknowable?  Yes.  Killing?  Not so much.

So, really, where is the debate coming from?  Why would the media and the politicians make it look like we have to choose between living in a dying world or dying in a living one?  What is wrong with their heads?

And, even more to the point: economies in transition are invariably dynamic.  Things grow at a rapid-paced level.  The so-called economy gets bigger faster and with more surprises. People get rich.  Things get better.  What is not to like?

The Pope is even now pushing alternative energy – that’s a surprise, out-of-the-blue, spokesman for the GREENing we so desperately need.  Obama and Clinton just jumped onto the GREEN bandwagon.  Elon Musk has been on that wagon for some time.  Finally, the ‘leaders’ are going GREEN.  Might be too late but they have come to the party.

Harper is staying home, cleaning his room and washing his hair.

Our leaders are debating whether we should have a robust economy or whether we fret about the spotted owl?  And robust – to them – is fossil fuels!  Talk about stupid.  It would be funny if the media wasn’t giving that topic some credence.  They should be ashamed. And we should not tolerate it. If you hear anyone say, “Well, I like marmots as much as the next guy but I gotta feed my kids, eh?”, slap that doofus upside the head and tell him that marmots are better for the real economy than Harper or Clark.

Vote Spotted owl.

Like most things in politics the politicians make official what everyone already knew. Leadership, the Canadian way.   Safely.  From behind.

The election has been called.  BIG surprise.  They’ve been out humping the stumps (or whatever they call it) for some time now.  As usual, Harper comes late to the party like the dilettante he is to make it official.

Oh well, at least it’s on.

I won’t bore any of you with any more political rants aimed at influencing your vote.  You know how I feel.  But I will point out a few things of interest.  The ‘debates’.  Those ‘staged’, boring, play-it-safe, talking heads rigmarole that supposedly show our leaders ‘as they are’ are a sham.  You’ll only see something by mistake or else the political panderers will explain to you what you missed.  Shock and awe?  Very unlikely.  Brilliance? Impossible.  Coal does not shine.

Firstly, Harper is playing it coy.  Like he’s ‘above’ that sort of thing.  Talking to others, I guess.  He won’t commit to any debates except one and Elizabeth May is NOT included. Incredible. Secondly, Mulcair won’t commit if Harper doesn’t.  Presumably he doesn’t want to waste his time debating the rabble either….hmmmm….very Harper-like, if you ask me. They must both think they are above.

Above what?

But here’s the point I want to make.  I don’t care.  I really don’t care.  I DON’T CARE what these dickheads do or say during the election!  They talk gibberish 99% of the time anyway.  Poli-speak.  Party-line.  Anything but REAL.  They are liars and hypocrites and they don’t know how to lead themselves out of an outhouse on fire (possible exception: E. May, who, like the Japanese say, “When drunk, the real person showed up.”

If Liz gets drunk, then I’ll listen.

Harper is going to give us back some of our own money in an attempt to buy our vote and many people with go for that.  Incredibly pathetic on our part.  Mulcair will not say one thing that smacks of reform, change or social conscience lest he be branded a ‘commie’ and Trudeau will either speak pablum or put his foot in his mouth and start sucking like the idiot-child he is.  How do I know that?  Because that is what they have been doing for some time now.  Do you think Just-in is going to grow up right before your eyes?  Think Mulcair is going to risk his slight edge in the polls? And Steve has money.  Do you think a Con won’t spend money to win?  Ask Mike Duffy.  Harper knows how to use it (not for the betterment of Canada) and he will (for the advancement of Harper).

The game is afoot but, like all Canadian politics, it’s a club foot and the lame shall prevail.

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