Showing posts with label Accountability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Accountability. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
New Song & Video: "Bev's Crystal Chandelier"
Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I reckon the latest Bev Oda schmozzle ain't anywhere near as important as the robocalls election fraud thing or the F35 deal but I had a couplafew requests to do a song about Bev an' I aim to please my thousands an' thousands of adulating fans.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
MP Expenses Scandal: Grassroots Outrage or Media Invention
Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, I like the discussions that take place over at Steve V's Far and Wide. They're mostly Grits but they tolerate my Green-tinged rants and the partisanship doesn't permeate the conversation as much as on some other blogs. The topic on everybody's tongue these days is the MP expenses issue. Steve figgers the dang media's blown it all out of proportion and he's got hisself boog on that idea today.
I disagree with Steve and I just spent a few minutes blatherin' on (and on) about it. I'm recyclin' that comment here.
We all gave the MSM proper shit for failing to seize upon the prorogation issue. Their excuse was that they didn't think the public was politically astute enough to grasp the nuances of parliamentary protocol. They were wrong and they ended up admitting as much.
You don't have to be too politically astute to understand expense account sleaze, though. The issue comes hot on the heels of the UK's MP expenses scandal with homegrown provincial counterparts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. The MSM doesn't have to wonder whether or not the public understands. We get it and they know it.
While I agree there are similarities between this issue and prorogation, there are major differences. Prorogation was all about ducking responsibility for the handing over of Afghan detainees to torture. I am one of those who have been on top of that issue for years but I know very well that it fails to strike a chord with many Canadians.
The A-G issue is all about money --- our money. Despite the fact that the amount pales in comparison to what we've squandered on an unwinnable and immoral war, it hits us close to home.
WRT the Facebook thing, there could be a couple of mitigating factors. First, the very fact that the MSM IS all over this issue makes it seem less important for individuals to get personally involved. This time around, the media is not ignoring the issue and perhaps would-be Facebook group members are sitting back and allowing the media to do its job and push for disclosure.
Secondly, the first and largest Facebook group is the creation of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, considered by many to be a right-wing lobby group. The anti-prorogation group was the creation of a non-partisan student and was truly a grassroots effort.
Perhaps partisanship is the biggest difference here. With prorogation, it was everyone against the ruling Conservatives. They only got 38% of the votes, after all. 62% voted against them and were not happy with the affront to democracy. There weren't too many card-carrying CPCers out on the streets on January 23. There were plenty of Liberals, Dippers and Greens.
In the expenses issue, highly partisan citizens -- card-carrying party members from all parties -- may be holding back. Ignatieff hasn't endorsed the protest. Neither has Layton. In fact, they are the ones we are protesting against, along with the Harper Conservatives. When the party faithful are being told that this isn't an issue by the party leaders and nearly every MP, party members are not too likely to join a Facebook group or take to the streets.
When the 4 parties finally struck a deal on the detainee documents, it was big news. The parties in this hitherto fractious parliament had been able to reach an agreement. The media was a bit surprised by the fact, as were many voters. Getting to the bottom of the torture allegations was secondary in the reportage. The all-party agreement on a divisive issue was the big story.
Jump ahead a couple weeks and there's parliamentary unanimity on another issue: MP expenses. Why shouldn't that be newsworthy? When the MPs solidarity is contrasted with the public's diametrically opposite solidarity, it's news.
Poll after poll after poll has found the MPs to be entirely out of step with public opinion. That's news and the media would be remiss in failing to report it. Remember, we faulted them severely for failing to pick up on the outrage around prorogation. Do they want to be accused of being out of touch yet again?
There is a big difference between journalists' expense accounts and MPs expense accounts. The MPs are spending our money. The MPs are our employees. The MPs are public servants. The MPs pledged accountability and transparency and we elected them and gave them our confidence. Abuse may be commonplace in every workplace but in this particular workplace, we are the employers. We have every right to see the books and we have every right to be outraged when MPs band together across party lines to hide them from us.
If we lose confidence in the media, we can quit buying newspapers. If we lose confidence in MPs of every party, we can live with it until the next election at which time we can choose between tweedle-crook and tweedle-crookeder.
Scandals are news. Scandal sell papers. So what? Would we rather bury our heads in the sand? There's a bigger scandal brewing regarding the detainees and I relish the moment that the media grabs it and runs with it. Crimes against expense accounts are scandalous, sure. War crimes and crimes against humanity are more scandalous and I won't fault the media for delving into such a scandal -- even if their motivation is to sell more papers.
I disagree with Steve and I just spent a few minutes blatherin' on (and on) about it. I'm recyclin' that comment here.
We all gave the MSM proper shit for failing to seize upon the prorogation issue. Their excuse was that they didn't think the public was politically astute enough to grasp the nuances of parliamentary protocol. They were wrong and they ended up admitting as much.
You don't have to be too politically astute to understand expense account sleaze, though. The issue comes hot on the heels of the UK's MP expenses scandal with homegrown provincial counterparts in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. The MSM doesn't have to wonder whether or not the public understands. We get it and they know it.
While I agree there are similarities between this issue and prorogation, there are major differences. Prorogation was all about ducking responsibility for the handing over of Afghan detainees to torture. I am one of those who have been on top of that issue for years but I know very well that it fails to strike a chord with many Canadians.
The A-G issue is all about money --- our money. Despite the fact that the amount pales in comparison to what we've squandered on an unwinnable and immoral war, it hits us close to home.
WRT the Facebook thing, there could be a couple of mitigating factors. First, the very fact that the MSM IS all over this issue makes it seem less important for individuals to get personally involved. This time around, the media is not ignoring the issue and perhaps would-be Facebook group members are sitting back and allowing the media to do its job and push for disclosure.
Secondly, the first and largest Facebook group is the creation of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, considered by many to be a right-wing lobby group. The anti-prorogation group was the creation of a non-partisan student and was truly a grassroots effort.
Perhaps partisanship is the biggest difference here. With prorogation, it was everyone against the ruling Conservatives. They only got 38% of the votes, after all. 62% voted against them and were not happy with the affront to democracy. There weren't too many card-carrying CPCers out on the streets on January 23. There were plenty of Liberals, Dippers and Greens.
In the expenses issue, highly partisan citizens -- card-carrying party members from all parties -- may be holding back. Ignatieff hasn't endorsed the protest. Neither has Layton. In fact, they are the ones we are protesting against, along with the Harper Conservatives. When the party faithful are being told that this isn't an issue by the party leaders and nearly every MP, party members are not too likely to join a Facebook group or take to the streets.
When the 4 parties finally struck a deal on the detainee documents, it was big news. The parties in this hitherto fractious parliament had been able to reach an agreement. The media was a bit surprised by the fact, as were many voters. Getting to the bottom of the torture allegations was secondary in the reportage. The all-party agreement on a divisive issue was the big story.
Jump ahead a couple weeks and there's parliamentary unanimity on another issue: MP expenses. Why shouldn't that be newsworthy? When the MPs solidarity is contrasted with the public's diametrically opposite solidarity, it's news.
Poll after poll after poll has found the MPs to be entirely out of step with public opinion. That's news and the media would be remiss in failing to report it. Remember, we faulted them severely for failing to pick up on the outrage around prorogation. Do they want to be accused of being out of touch yet again?
There is a big difference between journalists' expense accounts and MPs expense accounts. The MPs are spending our money. The MPs are our employees. The MPs are public servants. The MPs pledged accountability and transparency and we elected them and gave them our confidence. Abuse may be commonplace in every workplace but in this particular workplace, we are the employers. We have every right to see the books and we have every right to be outraged when MPs band together across party lines to hide them from us.
If we lose confidence in the media, we can quit buying newspapers. If we lose confidence in MPs of every party, we can live with it until the next election at which time we can choose between tweedle-crook and tweedle-crookeder.
Scandals are news. Scandal sell papers. So what? Would we rather bury our heads in the sand? There's a bigger scandal brewing regarding the detainees and I relish the moment that the media grabs it and runs with it. Crimes against expense accounts are scandalous, sure. War crimes and crimes against humanity are more scandalous and I won't fault the media for delving into such a scandal -- even if their motivation is to sell more papers.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Green Party Calls for MPs to Open Expenses to Auditor-General
Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, Earth Mother Lizzie May put out a press release this morning and she's on the money a hunnert percent's worth, sez I.
Dang right!
JimBobby
Greens call for transparency
17 May 2010 - 10:26am
The Green Party of Canada pledges full support for the Auditor General in her bid to increase the transparency of MPs' spending habits. Greens are calling for the release to the Auditor General of the last 10 years of MP expenses.
"The Green Party of Canada fully supports the Auditor General having a mandate to oversee MP expenses," said Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. "The Canadian public deserves accountability for the half billion dollars MPs spend every year. The fact that MPs are afraid to have Sheila Fraser examine their accounts suggests that it is probably long overdue."
Provincial governments and the government of Britain have been rocked by government spending scandals in recent years, adding to the disillusionment of citizens and mistrust of politicians.
"Given the declining voting record in this country, Parliament should be doing everything possible to encourage public trust and engagement in democracy," said May.
According to the Toronto Star, a Leger Marketing poll showed 88% of Canadians would like a deeper examination of politicians' expense accounts. Currently, details of any spending by MPs and senators are kept secret.
"For someone who campaigned on transparency, Prime Minister Harper is failing miserably," said May. "Shame on the Liberals and the NDP for agreeing that the public doesn't deserve to know how their tax money is being spent."
Dang right!
JimBobby
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Isotope Crisis: Manufactured and Avoidable
Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I just left a bigass comment over to The Progressive Right and I'm recyclin' that comment here. Jim was talkin' about Presto Manning and how he's pushin' fer some new Ministry of Science and Technology, or some such thing. Manning says the new bureaucracy could do things like develop replacement reactors for the aging Chalk River NRU.
So, Manning thinks we need a brand new bureaucracy to develop new research reactors? We're already building the Maple 1 and Maple 2. Those new research reactors were scheduled to replace the aging Chalk River plant in 2000. They are 8 years late and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. More bureaucracy will fix that? I ain't bettin' on it.
The latest chapter to the AECL saga is that Mr. Burns was selected on purely partisan grounds after two headhunting studies recommended a qualified, experienced individual for the job. Just like Harper said, the problem is with political hacks being appointed to jobs for which they are unqualified.
Tony Clement is now saying there are management problems at AECL. He's making it sound like Burns had to go. Two days ago, the spin was that Burns' hasty departure had nothing to do with the manufactured isotope shortage. Yesterday, a different story. Tomorrow? Wait for the next spin cycle. The $31 million dollar polls aren't in yet.
The biggest part of this whole scandal is the fact that the shortage and ensuing crisis were avoidable, even at almost the last minute.
MDS is the profitable private company that distributes AECL's isotopes. On Nov 30, MDS issued a press release advising investors that the company was facing a supply problem and shortages may develop. Such reporting is required for publicly traded companies when a known issue may affect stock price.
Alternate suppliers, particularly a Holland-based reactor, were already gearing up their production schedules to meet the demand when NRU could not. A similar outsourcing program was used in 1998 when a labour dispute shut down Chalk River.
Procedures for dealing with future shortages were implemented after the 1998 strike. Even during that strike, though, they managed to keep isotopes available.
This time, they let the crisis develop. Lives were put at risk. A full-blown crisis was manufactured and Harper, et al, saw no other option than to overrule CNSC and restart NRU. There were other options but they were apparently unknown to parliament.
If MDS had outsourced, no crisis would have developed. If MDS had outsourced, MDS's stock price would be negatively affected. Outsourcing from suppliers who are working overtime to meet demand is expensive. MDS's customers are mainly in North America. Flying isotopes from Holland or South Africa is expensive. Transportation costs would have would cut further into MDS's profits.
MDS played its cards skillfully. They created a shortage. They failed to notify all the affected parties. They failed to procure available alternative isotopes. They put thousands of lives at risk. They got Parliament to restore their source of profitable isotopes.
Harper's disdain for crown corporations is well known and his years at NCC document his anti-crowncorp ideology. Placing an unqualified party fundraiser in charge of a multi-billion dollar nuclear industry giant was tantamount to sabotage. Now, CPoC strategists like Norquay are popping up and saying we need to rid ourselves of this troublesome AECL.
Who benefits from a discredited safety board and a devalued AECL? G.E. for one. They are front runners in the bid to purchase AECL from the taxpayers of Canada.
20 years from now, will we be seeing some HoC ethics committee grilling Harper about his connection to an avoidable isotope shortage that threatened thousands of lives?
UPDATE: A commenter at the Globe & Mail found this file:
http://www.eh.doe.gov/NEPA/rods/1996/17se6rod.pdf
It outlines how a shortage is to be dealt with and names a Belgian supplier as the alternative source for isotopes.
JimBobby
Other bloggers are posting on this:
So, Manning thinks we need a brand new bureaucracy to develop new research reactors? We're already building the Maple 1 and Maple 2. Those new research reactors were scheduled to replace the aging Chalk River plant in 2000. They are 8 years late and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. More bureaucracy will fix that? I ain't bettin' on it.
The latest chapter to the AECL saga is that Mr. Burns was selected on purely partisan grounds after two headhunting studies recommended a qualified, experienced individual for the job. Just like Harper said, the problem is with political hacks being appointed to jobs for which they are unqualified.
Tony Clement is now saying there are management problems at AECL. He's making it sound like Burns had to go. Two days ago, the spin was that Burns' hasty departure had nothing to do with the manufactured isotope shortage. Yesterday, a different story. Tomorrow? Wait for the next spin cycle. The $31 million dollar polls aren't in yet.
“I think it's fair to say it confirmed our impression that there has to be new management, there has to be better management, at AECL,” Mr. Clement said.Was that the same impression they had in 2006 (edited from "2005" by JB per correction from LKO - see comments) when they paid for a headhunter and then chose a party hack instead of the recommended hire?
The biggest part of this whole scandal is the fact that the shortage and ensuing crisis were avoidable, even at almost the last minute.
MDS is the profitable private company that distributes AECL's isotopes. On Nov 30, MDS issued a press release advising investors that the company was facing a supply problem and shortages may develop. Such reporting is required for publicly traded companies when a known issue may affect stock price.
Alternate suppliers, particularly a Holland-based reactor, were already gearing up their production schedules to meet the demand when NRU could not. A similar outsourcing program was used in 1998 when a labour dispute shut down Chalk River.
Procedures for dealing with future shortages were implemented after the 1998 strike. Even during that strike, though, they managed to keep isotopes available.
This time, they let the crisis develop. Lives were put at risk. A full-blown crisis was manufactured and Harper, et al, saw no other option than to overrule CNSC and restart NRU. There were other options but they were apparently unknown to parliament.
If MDS had outsourced, no crisis would have developed. If MDS had outsourced, MDS's stock price would be negatively affected. Outsourcing from suppliers who are working overtime to meet demand is expensive. MDS's customers are mainly in North America. Flying isotopes from Holland or South Africa is expensive. Transportation costs would have would cut further into MDS's profits.
MDS played its cards skillfully. They created a shortage. They failed to notify all the affected parties. They failed to procure available alternative isotopes. They put thousands of lives at risk. They got Parliament to restore their source of profitable isotopes.
Harper's disdain for crown corporations is well known and his years at NCC document his anti-crowncorp ideology. Placing an unqualified party fundraiser in charge of a multi-billion dollar nuclear industry giant was tantamount to sabotage. Now, CPoC strategists like Norquay are popping up and saying we need to rid ourselves of this troublesome AECL.
Who benefits from a discredited safety board and a devalued AECL? G.E. for one. They are front runners in the bid to purchase AECL from the taxpayers of Canada.
20 years from now, will we be seeing some HoC ethics committee grilling Harper about his connection to an avoidable isotope shortage that threatened thousands of lives?
UPDATE: A commenter at the Globe & Mail found this file:
http://www.eh.doe.gov/NEPA/rods/1996/17se6rod.pdf
It outlines how a shortage is to be dealt with and names a Belgian supplier as the alternative source for isotopes.
'IRE and Nordion have signed a mutual Mo-99 backup agreement to avoid a complete shortage of Mo-99 in case of an unscheduled shutdown of the Canadian NRU reactor.'Nordion is MDS Nordion,
JimBobby
Other bloggers are posting on this:
Friday, May 11, 2007
Poll: Canadians Losing Confidence in Cons
Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I got another 3-R boog story today. I'm Reducin' my typewritin' workload by Re-usin' a comment I posted over to Far an' Wide in a Recycled version.
The topic was the latest publick 'pinion polls an' how bad the Cons is doin'. The polls point at Afghanistan and the Con green plan as the bigass troublems fer the HarpoonTossers.
Afstan's their big troublem right now, fer sure. I figger lotsa Canajuns is confuddled about green stuff but they ain't got any doubts about human decency issues like torture and the Geneva Conventions. Fer the most part, there ain't any vested interests in the torture industry who's denyin' the validity of the Geneva Conventions.
The climate change skeptics have done their best to obfuscate and confuddle the public. Seeds of doubt were planted by Harper himself (he was against green action before he was for it) and other big oil spokespersons and astroturf pseudo-science front organizations. When people ain't sure what to think, I reckon they're more willin' to give the gummint the benefit of the doubt.
The Cons got the reins on a wave of anti-Liberal sentiment based on AdScam corruption and a (rightly) percieved Liberal attitude of entitlement. Transparency and accountability were lacking and the new guys would be fixin' that pronto.
Now, people who pay attention can see the Cons doin' the selfsame things and doin' their dangedest to be non-transparent and unaccountable. A lot o' people don't pay much attention, though, and they're still dwellin' on the past sins of the Grits. Almost like they're gettin' reminded everyday of "13 years of blah, blah, blah..."
Trouble fer the Grits: glass house syndrome. The Cons is buryin' themselves in their own hypocrisy. Grits'd be smart to let the Dips an' Greens point out that hypocrisy lest they look hypocritical, themselves.
The biggest problem with Afstan ain't the detainee issue. That's part of it but the big problem is the failure of the mission. Now that the Afghan parliament wants NATO to quit with the seek and destroy tactics, we really need to reassess our role. Grits can point out how the original humanitarian nation-building mission has become a series of offensive actions and even the people we're supposedly fighting for are not happy about the direction we've taken since Harper took charge.
I like non-PC boxing metaphors. I'm a dinosaur that way. The Cons is on the ropes. All the jabs and body blows with O'Connor, Oda, Rona, Baird, etc. are takin' their toll. The Grits don't have the muscle fer the knockout punch, though, and the Cons ain't throwin' in the towel. There's a few more rounds to go before an election and right now, the Cons is losin' on points.
JB
Monday, May 07, 2007
Stop Canada's New Government from Calling Itself Canada's New Government
Whooee! Well there's plenty of discouragin' stuff in the news and on the boogs this mornin'.
The HarpoonTossers been doin' polytickle 'pinion pollin' an' they ain't tellin' what they polled about even though it's the law an' they spent a $100,000+ on the poll. How many other polls have they been doin'?
It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't so dang hypocritical. The Cons is all up on their hindlegs huffin' an' puffin' about the Grits 'pinion polls when they was callin' the shots.
An' they been doin' more untendered buyin' fer the army. They just spent $8.8 million on some new armoured vehicles that'll help keep our army guys from gettin' their asses blowed off while they're fightin' the good fight fer Taliban Hamid an' his opium-financed warlord regime. Now, there's a cause worth ruinin' Canada's international reputation for. There's a bunch worth trustin' to treat prisoners humanely.
When I started this boogin' rant, I was mainly gonna write all about this funny petition I seen over to Cerberus's fine boog. The petition is fer gettin' the HarpoonTossers to leave off callin' 'emselves "Canada's New Government." That ain't the funny part. The funny part is when the petition sez they hafta start callin' 'emselves "Canada's Newish Government."
Here's a link to the petition.
Last week, there was a petition presented to the House o' Comments wantin' Bigfoot on the endangered species list. Maybe this petition'll make it to the House. It'd be good to see if the HarpoonTossers can laff at themselves. I ain't seen much self-deprication in polyticks so I ain't holdin' my breath.
JimBobby
The HarpoonTossers been doin' polytickle 'pinion pollin' an' they ain't tellin' what they polled about even though it's the law an' they spent a $100,000+ on the poll. How many other polls have they been doin'?
It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't so dang hypocritical. The Cons is all up on their hindlegs huffin' an' puffin' about the Grits 'pinion polls when they was callin' the shots.
An' they been doin' more untendered buyin' fer the army. They just spent $8.8 million on some new armoured vehicles that'll help keep our army guys from gettin' their asses blowed off while they're fightin' the good fight fer Taliban Hamid an' his opium-financed warlord regime. Now, there's a cause worth ruinin' Canada's international reputation for. There's a bunch worth trustin' to treat prisoners humanely.
When I started this boogin' rant, I was mainly gonna write all about this funny petition I seen over to Cerberus's fine boog. The petition is fer gettin' the HarpoonTossers to leave off callin' 'emselves "Canada's New Government." That ain't the funny part. The funny part is when the petition sez they hafta start callin' 'emselves "Canada's Newish Government."
Here's a link to the petition.
Last week, there was a petition presented to the House o' Comments wantin' Bigfoot on the endangered species list. Maybe this petition'll make it to the House. It'd be good to see if the HarpoonTossers can laff at themselves. I ain't seen much self-deprication in polyticks so I ain't holdin' my breath.
JimBobby
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