Harper starts to show his true colours

Back in August I talked about how Harper would start to reframe the pension debate, as Harper has said that he will change the way we finance our pensions, perhaps it is time to consider taking some action. Here is part of what I said in August 2011

So why is Mr. Campbell raising the issue at this time, I think it is to start to frame the agenda so the right wing agenda of Mr. Harper and his supporters can shift public thinking to the idea that we have to be prepared to have less services and less income. (The following is taken from Why Stop Harper website)

Although seniors’ incomes have dropped for the first time in decades, it is clear the Harper government is laying the groundwork to replace Canada’s well-run, cost-effective, and stable CPP with a private, more expensive pension scheme – the Pooled Registered Pension Plan (PRPPMallick: “When Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, the government of Alberta and insurance giant Sun Life all agree that a national privatized pension plan is a great idea for your retirement, be very afraid. Feel your fear and let your anger flower.”

According to Sun Life Financial, Canadians are much less optimistic about retirement – and the average Canadian expects to retire at age 68, three years later than reported a year ago. The confidence level of working Canadians slumped to a low 39 in 2011, from 50 in 2008 and 51 in 2009. At the end of 2009, Canadians still believed recovery from the recession would be quicker than they now believe, but unemployment remained relatively high.

When older workers stay on the job it affects the labour market, resulting in fewer job openings and increased competition for younger people. Canada’s youth jobless rate is 14.4 per cent.

In the 2011 federal budget, responding to demands by the NDP, the government offered low-income seniors an extra $300 million annual enhancement to the Guaranteed Income Supplement. The NDP had requested $700 million.

The government ignored the NDP’s request for a doubling of CPP benefits.

Harper’s Income Trust “betrayal.” In 2005, Harper wrote: "Income trusts are popular with seniors because they provide regular payments that are used by many to cover the costs of groceries, heating bills and medicine." Then, without notice or consultation, he terminated them.

So to move along the agenda to reduce and attack Senior benefits, the right needs spokespeople on Radio, and TV (Corus radio and Dun tv) to start to frame the agenda on pension and health care so that over the next few years the public will start to believe the big lie (remember the right has learned from the past, while the left still believes in an honest approach) and the frame will shift. Don't forget that Steven Harper still has his agenda and will take steps to carry it out, he is a very patient and evil man.

Remember that Steven Harper helped found and was

President of the National Citizens Coalition, founded in 1967 to oppose Medicare, he supported US-style bank de-regulation. In his first budget, Finance Minister Flaherty invited “new players” into the Canadian mortgage market, offering greater choice and “innovation,” thus lowering mortgage insurance standards – the US recipe for disaster. Nevertheless, since the 2008 Financial Crisis, Harper has been taking credit for the relative strength of our financial sector, based on a system he inherited, but didn’t support.

Harper wants the federal government to abandon certain financial and administrative responsibilities – returning to an era 50 years ago before our nation-building social programs. Instead, his government “will look to innovative charities and forward-thinking private-sector companies to partner on new approaches to many social challenges.” Victorian England?

Harper thinks Medicare is provincial and wants to break it up. While heading the National Citizens Coalition, Harper said “the feds” should scrap the Canada Health Act. He doesn’t dare repeat that now, but he rules as though the law guaranteeing Canadians universality, portability, accessibility, and more doesn’t exist. Measures to encourage the provinces to comply with the Act aren't being enforced

These twp blog paint a very interesting picture of where Harper is coming from and where he intends to take this country, they are both worth a read.

The Canadian Manifesto: The Politics of Obscurantism: First You Obstruct 

 Montreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Hour of Darkness

The Spin continues

I read two interesting accounts today about what Andrew Frank said. The first  was from the Wall Street Journals MarketWatch, which started with this statement"ForestEthics has sent a statement to supporters confirming the veracity of Andrew Frank's claims that the Government of Canada targeted the environmental group.  In an email sent to supporters yesterday afternoon (January 25), ForestEthics co-founder, Valerie Langer confirms the veracity of Andrew Frank's claims"

The second report was Straight.com, which started with this statement "An environmentalist claims that Stephen Harper's office threatened to revoke Tides Canada Foundation's charitable status, but the group's CEO says that this comment is "inaccurate".

Interesting spin being put on this issue by these two sources. The Straight is interested in the effect that muzzling of this charity will have on other charities,  and wonders what other groups the government will go after. This article ends with the following statement:
"If Frank's whistle-blowing allegation is correct that the Prime Minister's Office threatened Tides Canada, then one wonders who might be next on the government's hit list.

We all know that Stephen Harper can't be trusted to play fair with anyone he perceives to be an enemy. Maybe it's time for the NDP leadership candidates and Liberal Leader Bob Rae to propose a long-term solution to prevent prime ministers from throttling registered charities for partisan political purposes. The best way to do that would be to craft legislation to create an independent charities commission."

The Wall Street Journal article discusses the letter in light of the governments contempt for freedom of speech and  ends with this statement "Andrew Frank's original open letter ( http://www.scribd.com/doc/79228736/Whistleblower-s-Open-Letter-to-Canadians  ) to Canadians has been read more than 55,000 times since Tuesday morning (January 24), sparking an online movement to reveal the truth and hold the government to account for its contempt of the most basic rights of Canadian citizens, including freedom of speech and freedom of expression"

As we move closer to the end of time (December 21:-) some thoughts

What is Love ?
As we move into the year that many are afraid is the last year, perhaps we should consider what December 21, 2012 means.  First, as I understand this  the Mayan Doomsday Prophecy is purely based on a calendar which scientist believe hasn’t been designed to calculate dates beyond 2012. Mayan archaeo-astronomers are even in debate as to whether the Long Count is designed to be reset to 0.0.0.0.0 after 13.0.0.0.0, or whether the calendar simply continues to 20.0.0.0.0 (approximately 8000 AD) and then reset. As Karl Kruszelnicki wrote:

“…when a calendar comes to the end of a cycle, it just rolls over into the next cycle. In our Western society, every year 31 December is followed, not by the End of the World, but by 1 January. So 13.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan calendar will be followed by 0.0.0.0.1 – or good-ol’ 22 December 2012, with only a few shopping days left to Christmas.” – Excerpt from Dr Karl’s “Great Moments in Science“.  Sources: Dr Karl’s Great Moments in Science, IHT, 2012 Wiki

However, if you choose to believe the end is this year then it may be in your best interest to rediscover what love is and what it means to humankind.

Is love as a principle of the universe, not the love we humans have cheapened to a ridiculous degree confusing love and lust?  Is there such thing as love? What do people mean by such phrases: 'love is everything', 'love is life', 'God is love'? Are they just words or do they point to a deeper existential truth?

Buddha says that Craving, attachment, and want are the seed to misery and that the law of nature is that matter and energy are constantly changing.

Is love merely another word for craving, leaving attachment, and want a breeding ground for the seeds of misery?

It is funny that on one hand, we live in a universe where life is sustained by everything eating everything and on the other hand, people tell us that love is what keeps everything going.

What is the relation between those two in terms of matter and energy? Christianity draws a sort of parallel between eating and loving in the idea of 'the bread and the wine', implying that the supreme love is to 'let yourself be eaten' for others, so that what you love can grow. Simone Weil had a similar idea. Unconditional love that leads to sacrifice is, in a sense, the reverse of eating. Another definition of unconditional is to accept the flaws and talents of the loved one.

This acceptance may ensure that there is no disappointment. I suggest that perhaps the only way no disappointment could be achieved is that one would have to be well on the way to enlightenment.

On the other hand, love as a procreative force (love between sexes) creates a temporary unity that does not destroy identity.

The euphoria at the beginning of a relationship that is regarded as "one falling in love" is really an overload of endorphins so basically it’s a drug induced altered state of mind that will change, sometimes for the good, sometimes not.

n the other hand, perhaps this state of mind is a glimpse of what enlightenment would feel like. So have we invented   love to give us hope of living a consistent and blissful life the way we  have invented religions to give us hope that there is an beautiful heaven awaiting us in order not to fear death and the end of time as we know it.

Silencing the critics

 Mr. Harper does not like those who speak against him and who question his decisions. Are you an enemy of Canada if you oppose the Northern Gateway plan. Harper seems to think so and has taken steps to silence his critics. The following is interesting reading:

Prime Minister’s Office Tries to Silence Pipeline Critics; Labels Environmental Group“Enemy of the Government of Canada” and “Enemy of the people of Canada.” For the full letter follow the link

 A Whistleblower’s Open Letter to the Citizens of Canada

 

My name is Andrew Frank. I grew up in a small town in the Okanagan valley of BritishColumbia. My granddad taught me how to fish. My father was a well‐respected lawyerknown for his unwavering integrity, and my mother was a favourite kindergarten teacher. Both have always impressed upon me the importance of telling the truth.Today, I am taking the extraordinary step of risking my career, my reputation and mypersonal friendships, to act as a whistleblower and expose the undemocratic andpotentially illegal pressure the Harper government has apparently applied to silence critics of the Enbridge Northern Gateway oil tanker/pipeline plan