Excited Delirium

Stories about Excited Delirium, the Shock Economy and a little fiction here and there.

Monthly Archives: December 2008

A Challenge to All Media Companies: Reject Conservative Ads

As GM, Shopper’s Drug Mart and other companies yank their media budgets from TV and print ads, this challenge will be difficult to swallow, but hear me out.

We all know Stephen Harper has done a very bad thing.  He has just leaned on the Governor General to declare him dictator of Canada for another 54 days to January 27, 2009 at which point we can finally vote him down.

Until then, Canadians will have to suffer the sweater vest, the sibilant vitriol and the scheming in the backrooms (his seem to be OK) for seven weeks as they try to sell us the Conservative caucus like Satan’s snake selling Eve the Tree of Knowledge.

Yes, this is deceit on a Biblical scale.

So to the point:  if you run a newspaper or program a TV show and you believe in democracy, you will reject their ads.  You will avoid the temptation to profit from the bile of the Conservatives because you believe it’s important to take the high road.

There is nothing noble in what has happened today and you must be willing to acknowledge it.

In fact, the opportunity is for you to shout from the roof tops and publish articles and stories about how you are rejecting all ads during these times in order to let Canadians take the lead.

I repeat:  this is not a time to profit from this madness.  Step aside.  If you don’t, the outcome could be very costly.

Just look at what’s happening to Canwest . They’ve lost their objectivity and Canadians along with the markets are punishing them for it.

The Light at the End of the Harpercrite Dictatorship Tunnel

Winter has come and these are dark days indeed for Canadians.

Our Parliament has failed us.

Our Governor General has proven her lack of use.

Our country stands teetering on collapse as Quebeckers, insulted by Canadians, go to the polls Monday to vote on their choice of leadership.  After the way we’ve treated them, I won’t be surprised by anything less than a mandate to separate.

Our coalition of the majority voice of Canada has been rejected and silenced.

Stephen Harper has gotten what he wanted.

He’s now officially a dictator.  All Canadians now live in a dictatorship.  Democracy is on hold.

Shut it all down kids.  Time to pull the plug.  The patient’s dead.

Yeah, I’m mad .  So are about 8.63 million other Canadians that didn’t vote for Stephen Harper.

This really, really sucks.  I’ve spent the last two months speculating, voicing, acting and now it all means nothing.  I’m upset and I don’t know what to do.

To quote Bob Rae, this is like the idiot kid pulling the fire alarm to avoid an exam he knows he’s going to fail.

And it’s that notion that gives me hope at my very core.

We have 54 days to January 27, 2009 and when that day comes, Our Coalition is going to kick some Conservative ass.

We have 54 days to pull things together, organize, branch out, communicate, create platforms, encourage a national day of strike and generate the awareness that we need in order to prove our worth.

It was a rough birth, but the baby will be fine.

We’ll bring down the Conservative government on January 27, 2009, regardless of what the Conservatives deliver because the Conservatives have proven that they CANNOT be trusted with the management of this country.  I would much rather give the people of Quebec a seat at the table than worry about Stephen Harper and his cronies sabotaging our nation.

The light at the end of the prorogue (or my preferred term, pro-rogue) tunnel is that we will be prepared.  We MUST be prepared.  If we are not, we deserve everything we get.

Enjoy the Holidays, Steve!  You’re going to be booted from office in 54 days by a well-prepared and meaningful coalition.

2000, 2004 Invalidation of Steve’s Claim to Canada

This blog gets credit (from me, at least) for reminding us of this Globe article , where we’re shown background information on ‘secret’ documents that reveal once again, that Pinocchio, er Stephen Harper, is incapable of telling the truth.

‘Backroom’ deals with ‘separatists’ were being made then by your members in 2000 and in 2004, Steve.  They are no different from what is happening now, so your justification for ending democracy in Canada is completely groundless.

In fact, it reminds that you will be known in Canadian history as our biggest Harpercrite .

Stephen Harper: Fiddling while the ship sinks

Stephen Harper is fiddling with parliamentary obscurities (example:  proroguing the House of Parliament) while our country falls to economic pieces.  Be it Rome or the Titanic, he seems oblivious to the disaster that is brewing around him.

A generation from now, "Stephen Harper prorogued while Canada died" will be the expression of norm when communicating failure.  Feeling pressure from exams?  Let’s prorogue them.  Not wanting to work on a deadline for your job?  Prorogue and hope the world is willing to wait.

Life doesn’t stop for you, Steve.

And heaven forbid that we pull our esteemed GG away from her gala European tour to weigh in on the issue properly.

If Michaelle Jean accepts Stephen Harper’s request to prorogue the Canadian government, she too will be showing that she is unwilling to support the voice of the majority of Canadians.  With that in mind, the notion of ‘royal assent’ and the role of the Governor General must also fall into question.

Ask yourself:  how is that a non-elected official is able to determine the economic fate of an entire country?

I’m sure she isn’t enjoying her predicament, but this is what she signed up for.  It’s not all crabcakes and crystal.

In the event Michaelle Jean fails Canada and that he is successful with his request, Stephen Harper will put the power of the Parliament on hold just when we need it most.  As Canadians enter the holiday season, unsure of what economic fate lies ahead, Stephen Harper will be enjoying the security of knowing that he’s effectively introduced a totalitarian regime over a democratic society.

Two months later, will all be forgotten?

NO.

Prorogue = Martial Law?

If Stephen Harper prorogues Parliament – a practice that is only advisable at the END of a parliamentary session – will this be the equivalent of declaring a state of parliamentary Martial Law?

We’ve elected these people to do their job and they’re playing games with our country.  Preventing them from doing so is an act of fascism and treason against the people of Canada.

The opposition – those who represent the majority of the voice of Canada – have responded to the politicking of the Harpies and have formed a coalition.

Why should they back down and why should Harper have the right to silence the voices of the majority of Canada?

This ain’t no sandbox Steve!  You can’t just grab the biggest truck and then call for teacher or mommy when other people get upset!  You have to negotiate, act in a civil manner and win the respect of Canadians.

it’s unbelievable that those who vote Conservative find this behaviour acceptable.

If you’re out there and are reading this blog, please give me some decent reasons why this stomping on democracy and the rights of Canadians is acceptable.  And don’t bring the ‘socialists’ or ‘separatists’ into it.  NDPers and Quebeckers have earned the right to be at the decision making table.

In the interim, to support a coalition government, please visit this site .

A Solution for Canadian Parliament: Acknowledge The Long Tail

For those of you who don’t understand the Long Tail , check out what the concept’s creator, Steve Anderson, has to say about it .

Generally, the idea is this:  we live in a world of fragmentation and being ‘number one’ is no longer as important as representing all opportunities in the economic (or social or political) spectrum.

There’s really nothing new to the idea:  imagine a rainbow that’s all white.  Apply a prism and you get the full range of perspective on things.

Canadian politics have evolved to become very much like the Long Tail.  We have a ‘number one’ party (the Conservatives), although they represent just a little more than 30% of the popular vote.  3 out of every 10 Canadians that voted in the last election don’t want Harper as our leader. They think he’s just a step away from Jim Jones and he’s not the person that should be representing the voice of all Canadians, despite the fact that the Conservatives believe this is what happened October 14, 2008.

Following out last election, nearly 70% of the voices of Canadians were scattered across a disparate range of views.  You might be called a separatist, a moderate, a ‘socialist’ (although I think calling Jack Layton a socialist is as dangerous as calling Obama a socialist.  Not quite, but kind of) or you may be called a whole bunch of people that get get classified as ‘other’.  Regardless of what colour you are on the spectrum, you get white and you don’t get a voice in the House of Parliament in Canada.

This is unfortunate.  Seven out of every ten Canadians are being shut out of the decision making process and I think it’s safe to say that a coalition represents the first effort in acknowledging the future of politics in Canada.  Unfortunately, it will be lead by someone who has already quit the job.

No wonder voter turnout is reaching up to touch bottom.  It’s disgusting and it’s depressing.

A solution you ask?  I think we all already know what I’m going to offer:  Proportional Representation or PR.

By understanding the point of the Long Tail – there is much profit to made in acknowledging the opportunities of the majority of activity – we can address the future that politics in Canada MUST take.

PR represents the Long Tail of politics in its purest form.  Voices get heard, voting counts and the true diversity of Canada is reflected in our main political and legislative body.

The challenge now is finding a way to introduce PR.  The Conservatives are seen to be power-hungry and few in Canada could conceive that they should be the ones to introduce such a bill.  The Liberals plus NDP:  not enough votes.  The Bloc:  no national mandate and PR would drastically reduce their number of seats.

But again, I have the answer (thank you for asking):  the Conservatives should introduce a bill declaring that PR will be on the next election ticket , regardless of who calls for the dissolution of Parliament.  There could be other requirements, including fixed election dates (that everybody abides by) and an expanded communication effort to ensure that all Canadians understand the benefits of PR.  Another idea might be to include a separate vote for who the leader should be versus who should make up the Parliamentary mix for that person to lead.

However, do not over-complicate the core mandate, like the governments of Ontario or BC have in the past .  Make it a simple yes/no question.  Make it contigent on the majority (50%) of Canadians accepting it.  Bring it to law.  Make it law.

The evolution of Canadian parliament would be quite exciting in a post-PR world. To appreciate what PR might look like, look at your family, a corporation or Not-for-profit organization.  We surround ourselves with well-educated and well-meaning people that may disagree offline, but who agree when it counts.  They push things forward, find ways to make concessions and negotiate for the best interest of that organization among thousands of other organizations.

We make progress.

Also, the reality is that the Conservatives have little choice.  Proroguing the government is not an option.  Chaos will ensue and the people of Canada will never forgive the Conservatives for eliminating the right of Parliamentarians to rule just when we need leadership most.  Proroguing the government would spell the end of the Conservatives in Canada, as they will be seen as demagogues and polyannas wanting to maintain a grip on power – at any cost.  Reformers, Alliance members and all of the other splinter right-wing groups would fragment and disappear into oblivion because they’ll be out for blood and Steve will look like a fat zebra on a Savannah packed with lions.

So the solution must be presented by the Conservatives.

By acknowledging that the Canadian ‘first part the post’ system fails the majority of Canadians and ties the hands of Canadian politicians, the Conservatives would set an unprecedented level of expectation and distinguish themselves from the bickering that’s taking place today.

It would be the ONE opportunity for the Conservatives to redeem themselves and could very well earn them a majority (something that’s still possible with PR), as many Canadians would see them as taking the high road through all of the nonsense that our leaders seem desparate to perpetuate.

The biggest losers would be the Bloc, but the reality is that they should be.  The people of Quebec have a right to be at the table, but no more than those of Alberta, Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, PEI, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, the NWT or the Yukon.  If the people of Quebec disagree, the risk is a Constitutional Crisis, but I think we’re heading that way already.

Of course, the onus is on Stephen Harper to broker a deal that makes Quebeckers feel a part of Canada without surrendering their unique status.  As he does so, his stock will gain and he’ll make an accomplishment that he can be proud of because it will preserve This Nation.

The Long Tail of politics isn’t about winners and losers.  It’s about understanding our differences, finding peace with your neighbours and making our country a better place.

Go, Steve, go.

Nestle: Product Ban?

As the City of Toronto and other municipalities wrestle with ways to moderate the volume of waste resulting from plastic bottles, Nestle has been accused of engaging in potentially misleading advertising, at least according to the sources quoted in this article .

For me, it seems like the answer is really quite simple:  stop drinking bottled water (or other liquids) .

We’re very fortunate, in that a massive percent of all municipal water in Canada is safe to drink.  Some argue that it could be safer, by eliminating the excessive use of chlorides, flourides and other additives, but at least we’re in much better shape than a significant array of communities across the globe.  Some also argue that the state of water is balanced on a very precarious fulcrum.  The Council of Canadians , for example, have been exmplary in exposing the frailties of our water system.

That said, I feel safe in saying that, whever possible, you should bottled liquids of any kind, including colas, wines, water, juices and other drinks because all of these sources of demand increase our thoughtless demand for plastic.

Financial Crisis and Ecological Amnesia

I’ve been using this blog to try to point out some of the flaws in getting the same old crew to repair the messes that they created in the first place.  Of course, to take a page from the Adbusters gang as they revved up Buy Nothing Day for last week, we also start to understand that the core of the problem is us.  Until we demonstrate with our pocket books and stop shopping, the world will always be trying to fix a problem that shouldn’t exist in the first place.

This morning, I received a newsletter from the Socialist Project, a group based in Toronto, where Laurie E. Adkin asks tough questions about how we got here and what we’re trying to do to move forward.

From the Socialist Project, written by Laurie E. Adkin :

Financial Crisis and Ecological Amnesia
As OECD governments and political parties rush to pour billions of dollars into the generation of more credit to stimulate more consumption, no one seems to be pointing out that only a short time ago, the same governments were insisting that there was no money for a significant reduction of greenhouse gases. There was no money for transition to renewable energy sources. There was, in short, no money to invest in the ecological transformation of our economies. Now, it is as if politicians everywhere have developed a severe case of ecological amnesia. Is there no longer a global warming crisis? A collapse of fish stocks in the oceans? An historically unprecedented rate of extinction of species? Millions of people living without clean drinking water or sanitation? Endemic illnesses caused by ubiquitous toxins? Or any of the other socio-environmental crises that scientists and social ecologists around the world have worked so hard to document and to bring to the public’s attention?

Suddenly all that matters is that “consumers” in the rich countries redouble their efforts to over-spend, over-consume, and generate more waste so that the global economy does not remain in recession. And let’s not mention that personal debt is a huge problem in North America, as well as a leading cause of the current crisis. Have all these economic experts and politicians had their memories and imaginations surgically removed?

Unbelievably, there is serious talk of handing over billions to the big three auto-makers to restore demand for private vehicles. Are cars not one of the major sources of greenhouse gases that only a short time ago we were, supposedly, trying to discourage people from buying and using ? Where are the billions for investment in urban public transportation and rail transportation? In environmentally-sustainable jobs for the thousands of autoworkers who face unemployment due to the short-sighted, profit-maximizing strategies of their employers? Heck, if governments can nationalize banks in a crisis, why can’t they buy controlling shares in the auto manufacturers and redesign the plants to produce electric buses, trains, and other pollution-reducing products? The collision between the old “endless growth and consumption” economics and the environmental crisis will not be averted by pouring billions into the old, destructive model. Nor will sustainable livelihoods be created for autoworkers and their children.

In Alberta, the oil and gas giants are putting their expansion projects in the tar sands on hold, now that the price of oil has fallen by half since last year. Ah, what a carbon tax could not achieve, a financial crisis has wrought – at least in future emissions of greenhouse gases – at least temporarily. And what is the response of the Alberta Government? The sky is falling!! Quick, cut the budget (public services first, of course)! Spend when you’ve got it; invest nothing in the future; follow corporations’ interests wherever they lead; do nothing to direct the economy in a greener direction; run around like headless chickens when the budget surplus falls… That’s Conservative economics. What should we expect next? A “rescue plan” for Syncrude, Shell, Suncor, Albion, and the rest? Funny how there is never any money for child care, or for investment in renewable energy growth, and no thought of making mega-emitters internalize the costs of their greenhouse gas emissions.

At the federal level, the Harper government seizes the opportunity to cut the salaries of civil servants and remove their collective bargaining rights, and to undercut the public funding of political parties in the hope of weakening their opponents in the next election. Neoliberal ideologues and political tacticians to the end, eh, never mind what’s going on in the real world. Never mind that it is renewed public investment in services and green infrastructure and a revitalized democratic politics that are needed to get us out of economic and ecological crisis and into a greener future.

What an opportunity to grab the horns of this financial crisis and turn it in the direction of a green economic transition! Are there any political leaders out there with the courage to do it before the moment has passed?

Laurie E. Adkin teaches Political Science at the University of Alberta.

What Was the Point of the Economic Statement

It seems the Conservative government has blinked and has eliminated several of the more contentious components of the economic statement from last Thursday.  John Baird said over the weekend that they won’t try to eliminate the right for public sector members to strike, nor would they eliminate public funding for campaign finance.  Of course, it wasn’t Harper or Flaherty making these statements.  It was Baird.  Why the Minister of Finance or our Prime Minister aren’t standing behind these decisions, I don’t know.

These details, along with details about the Liberal/NDP coalition plans were discussed here .

These developments beg the question:  what was the point?  Since the Conservatives have rolled back some of the details of their ‘economic’ statement, was it just politics all along?  Did they not think the opposition had a spine?

Obviously not.

Unfortunately, we’re heading into the deepest recession, possibly depression, that the entire world will experience and the Conservatives are nit-picking and seeking out a power grab.

This is shameless.  The world is demanding leadership and we’re getting opportunists.

What’s truly embarassing is that there are still some Canadians who can’t see past the politicking and are only worried about smoke-screen issues like abortion and gay marriages.  They can’t see that the world is changing and that we need to change our government to reflect this.