Mayor Ford Gone Wild

What more can I add to what's been said about Mayor Rob Ford?

Mayor Ford has, while in office, used illegal drugs, been inebriated in public, and driven a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.   He has also been caught driving distracted (apparently, he was reading printed material), and when caught, he gestured as if he was pointing a gun at the witness.  There have been other transgressions by this mayor against the people of the community, and against the finer sensibilities of decent, civil citizens.   This is no way for a government leader to lead.   This mayor has lost his dignity and his respect.

Mayor Ford is truly a politician gone wild.   For the good of his city, for the good of his family and all who are dear to him, and for his own good (not least his own health), he should step aside.  But, alas, this mayor will not go quietly.

One way or the other, Mayor Ford will not be mayor of Toronto much longer.  But the ending is likely to be ugly.

What a shame.

Abolish the Canadian Senate!

The Canadian taxpayer is fed up with the Senate, a government body that does nothing except rubber stamp all legislation and exhausts nearly $100 million of taxpayers' money each year.

Yes senators are connected to major Canadian corporations and can provide a back-channel conduit to Canadian business for the government.  Yes they sometimes give advice to our political parties in Parliament.   But those are weak reasons for preserving a body which, at the end of the day, really exists as a way for the prime minister of Canada to reward his influential supporters, to keep them comfortable well into their retirement years.

No thanks.

As long as we're doing some belt tightening, it's time to close down this useless (to Canadians) body of gas bags and use the hundred million dollars saved each year to help a few more poor people in this country.

Tea Party Terrorists

U.S. Tea party supporters ought to know better.  You don't hold a gun to someone's head until you get what you want.   But that's what happened with the debt ceiling stand-off last week.   That's what happened with the government shutdown that started on October 1.   That's what terrorists do.

You know what happens to terrorists?   They either get shot and killed or they get caught and then either executed or given a life sentence.

Tea party terrorists -- let's call them TeaTs, for short -- should be sent packing by voters, never to be seen again.   That would be the equivalent of political execution.   Unfortunately, with partisan redistricting and other tricks, it probably isn't going to happen.   And the unintended consequence for Republicans -- the upstanding kind, that is -- is that they will be stuck with TeaTs within their ranks for some time unless they do something to rein them in for the good of the Republican Party.

The best the United States can hope for during this president's remaining time in office is for saner Republicans (and that includes the deep pockets behind the party) to zip up their TeaTs.

There was a time, not long ago, when the GOP was indeed a grand party.  But to put the "G" back in G-O-P, first, it has to rid itself of political liabilities and useless baggage.

And there's nothing more useless than teats on a bull.

Why the US Won't Default - Part 2

John Boehner wants to get a deal done.  His only problem now is he can't round up enough votes in the House.   The best he could do is 217, when he needs 218 to approve a budget and lift the debt ceiling.

Assuming a deal can't be done before October 17, the U.S. will start running short of cash and will stop paying some people.   Bond holders aren't due to be paid until later in the month but plenty of others are.

President Obama has said, right from the start, that he would not let the U.S. default.   I believe that means he will break the law and order a rise in the debt ceiling.  What happens after that is anyone's guess but that's what I believe will happen.

Why the U.S. Won't Default

Like many people, I wonder whether I should cash out my mutual funds and other investments this week before the U.S. defaults on its debt on October 17 and the markets tank.

In my opinion, John Boehner is the one person that can determine whether that cataclysmic event can be avoided.  That's beacuse he can hold an up-and-down vote if he wants in the House which, at this point, would pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling, according to media reports.

So I do a little research on who this man really is.  I discover, among other things, that he's interested in padding his own pockets and watching his own investments.  I conclude that he will blink in this game of "chicken" and avoid a default.

And lo and behold, today, October 10, Boehner extends an olive branch.

It may be a bumpy ride, still, to October 17, but I think I'll leave my money invested.

Hang on!

Who Is the Tea Party

You can see the Tea Party caucus here.

As you'll see, they hail from mostly rural, mostly white, mostly well-off congressional districts.

So much for helping out those less fortunate.

Time to Amalgamate Toronto With the 905 Belt

On a recent weekend visit to downtown Toronto wherein my wife and I played tourists in our own city, as I walked around the empty bank towers and skyscrapers I realized that this city is made up of two groups of people.  Group 1 consists of the people who work in these towers who are career professionals and predominantly affluent.   Group 2 is made up of the workers who service them.  They are the restaurant workers, the retail workers, the guys who wash Group 1's cars and shine their shoes, the stage hands and special events guys, and perhaps the flea market merchants who try to earn their daily keep from the sale of junk, otherwise known as antiques.

Group 1 leaves the downtown by night to retire either to the comfort of its home in Rosedale, Forest Hill or  some other posh neighborhood in the city or, more typically, to the "905 belt", the suburbs surrounding the City that donned that moniker to distinguish them from the City of Toronto's 416 code.  Group 2, on the other hand, is more likely part of the bottom 50-percent of the income distribution, probably doesn't own a car, and therefore probably lives in one of the city's less affluent neighborhoods with access to bus transportation, at least.  Group 2 travels on foot, by bike, by bus, by streetcar or by subway.

And in that moment I could feel the decline of the middle class in this city we call Toronto.  A quick Google search found this article which describes succinctly what is happening here, socioeconomically.

It occurred to me as we were leaving the city that the infrastructure linking Toronto to the 905 belt around it where roughly two thirds of the metropolitan area's citizens live was crumbling because Toronto's democratically elected council in City Hall could not agree on how to move forward; not just recently but over the last forty years.  It occurred to me that unless something revolutionary were done, that the infrastructure would hold back Toronto and the rest of the metropolitan area.   It occurred to me that, given the hollowing out of the City's middle class, given that the majority of Group 2 lived outside of the City of Toronto, that a large voting bloc had given up its right to vote on matters that transcend City borders, matters like the Gardner Expressway, for example, which is crumbling and needs to be replaced.

It occurred to me that the solution is to reconstitute City boundaries to include the 905 belt.  The solution is to create a regional government that consists of a government that presides over the metropolitan area, one that allows metro residents to vote on Toronto city issues, and vice versa.

The Government of Ontario passed an amalgamation bill in 1998 which reconstituted the City of Toronto, ostensibly, for cost efficiency.  This time the provincial government needs to cast a wider net and do it in the name of ending the political gridlock in Toronto City Hall which has slowed or prevented progress on issues like metro-wide transportation and infrastructure improvements.   The City of Toronto belongs to the metropolitan area, not just to the people who reside within its borders.   It's unfortunate that the income gap is widening within the City's borders.   But that is no reason to allow it to paralyze development of the City within the context of its role within the wider metropolitan area.   Until the City's government is reconstituted to allow the 905 belt to have a voice, development will be sub optimal, at best.

Abolish the US Senate

Why does the US allow Wyoming, a state with less than 600 thousand people, have the same power in the Senate as California, which has over 38 million residents?   How is that fair?

It might have seemed a fair compromise between those who wanted proportional representation and democracy and those who wanted to protect state soverignty in a time when America was predominantly rural (the 1780's). Fast forward to 2013, however, where 80% of Americans live in the top 10 cities in America, which in turn happen to lie in the top 10 most populous states.  The Senate is thus clearly controlled by the 20% who live in the rural countryside.  Is it any wonder why farmers and oil men and cattle ranchers and riflemen are getting their way?

I'll spare you the history of the U.S. Constitution and its amendments.  You can research it yourself.   The point is, it's no longer relevant to today's America and it needs to be amended again.   Starting with abolition of this crime against democracy called "the Senate".

Politics: Canada-style

If things keep going the way they are, Canadian politics, normally dry and confined to minor skirmishes in the House of Commons or Queens Park, will rival U.S. politics for colour and excitement.

Two weeks ago, Toronto's mayor, Rob 'Taking-Care-of-Business-As-Usual' Ford, was discovered to have been smoking crack cocaine with drug dealers, and was observed on video with them.   Since then and, as I write this, he has steadfastly refused to step down from office, even as no less than six of his staff have resigned in protest.   Meanwhile, the public wants this guy and his brother, Doug, a Toronto city councillor and former drug dealer, himself, according to the media reports, to step aside.   At Queen's Park, Kathleen Wynne, Ontario's new gay premier, is fuming as she and everybody else watches Canada's biggest city languish in this sordid mess.   The trouble with Ontario is that mayors cannot be impeached.   The province must pass legislation which will allow municipalities to boot out rogue mayors.  Such legislation could take six months or longer to pass in Ontario.

Then there's Canada's Senate scandal.  Yes, a scandal, and every bit worthy of that word.   Mike 'Humpty
Dumpty' Duffy, who looks like he's gained a few more pounds since leaving his CTV news post as political correspondent in Ottawa, now the senator from Ottawa -- or is it PEI?  -- Ooh, I don't know -- was caught cheating on his expense account to the tune of $90,000.   But wait, it gets better.  Duffy, caught red-handed, decided to pay the money back, except that he didn't.   For some reason, the prime minister's office cut a cheque on Duffy's behalf! Time will tell if it came from the Conservative party's considerable war chest or -- gasp! -- from the public purse.

Another senator, Pamela 'I'm-a-Prairie-Girl' Wallin, who, judging from recent pictures of her, looks like she's really let herself go since leaving her CTV media job (that's right: our prime minister decided to poach several former media types to help him get re-elected last election, and guess what, it worked!), was also found to have been in contravention of Senate guidelines on expense accounts and on spending taxpayers' money.  So far, no word yet on how this old bird will make amends and save face at the same time.


Then there's young Patrick Brazeau, the senator from the Kitigan Zibi reserve near Maniwaki, north of Gatineau, Quebec, who has single- handedly demonstrated that even a meathead appointed by the current prime minister can apparently violate a half dozen or so guidelines of of common social etiquette, the Senate or, worse, rules of law, and still continue to steal taxpayers' money.

Brazeau started defrauding Canadians (as far as we know) by declaring an income tax exemption from 2004 until 2008 for living on a reserve.  Trouble was, no one could recall him living on that reserve.  But never mind.  In December of 2008 Prime Minister Stephen Harper still went ahead and appointed Brazeau a senator.

Brazeau was then criticized for accepting the senatorial appointment and for keeping his office as chief of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) at the same time, meaning he was collecting not just one but two six-figure salaries from Canadian taxpayers.   Under pressure, he resigned his post as chief of CAP.  Nice try, Brazeau!

During Brazeau's tenure at CAP, Health Canada auditors rejected $260,000 in spending claims by CAP executives which had been part of a $473,000 budget of funds provided for aboriginal health programs, courtesy of the federal government and the Canadian taxpayer, when it was discovered that the funds had been used for meetings which had nothing to do with aboriginal health.

And after outing Brazeau on his poor attendance record as a senator (Brazeau had even missed 65% of his own subcommittee's meetings on aboriginal affairs, between June 2011 and April 2012), Canadian Press reporter , Jennifer Ditchburn, was called a "bitch" by Brazeau, on his Twitter feed.

Over the years Brazeau has come under fire for sexual harassment and for allegedly condoning heavy drinking during business hours.

I'm not making this up.  And there's more.

During Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence's hunger strike to get a meeting with the prime minister and the governor general to discuss aboriginal issues, earlier this year, Brazeau apparently saw fit to mock her and to suggest that she even looked like she gained some weight during the hunger strike.  And during the Idle No More movement, Brazeau was openly critical of aboriginals, saying that he felt that many of them simply expected to be supported by Canadian taxpayers.

For someone who spends a lot of time in front of the mirror, one wonders what Brazeau sees when he looks at himself.

In February of this year, sadly, Brazeau stooped to a new low by allegedly beating his girlfriend.  He was arrested at his home, released on $1000 bail and ordered to stay away from her.

But wait, there's more.

Recently it was disclosed that taxpayers footed the bill for Brazeau's attorney when he was being audited for his fraudulent expense claims as a senator.

In 2012 Brazeau challenged Justin Trudeau to a charity boxing match.   Brazeau demonstrated that one needs a brain, in addition to brawn, to win a boxing match, as the slender Trudeau outfoxed him in the ring.   In the end, Brazeau got a bloody nose, an embarrassing defeat and a lesson in boxing strategy from the wily (and fit) Trudeau.

So no one can complain anymore that Canadian politics are boring.  But on a serious note, neither can they claim that Canadians are clean and honest when, clearly, corruption and deplorable behaviour are being tolerated.  And I haven't even mentioned 'robo' calls.

What can be done for now?

For starters, Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne must ensure that the Ontario Provincial Police and the RCMP do their jobs and thoroughly investigate the Ford brothers who, despite their name, seem unfit even to sell used cars, at this stage.  The brothers need to be charged, criminally, and sent to jail, if in fact they are found guilty by a court of law, and thus, they must be found unfit for public office (unless of course Ontario law is so full of loopholes that it allows one to govern from behind bars).   The premier and her party also need to start work on amending provincial law around municipalities.   Citizens deserve the right to be able to impeach their public officials if they are found unfit to govern.

At this point, senators Duffy, Wallin and Brazeau need to tender their resignations and, while they're at it, do the right thing and forego a senator's normal lifetime pension, having served less than four years.   I mean, really, most Canadians don't enjoy such a pension, themselves, and many have no pension plan at all, other than what they might be entitled to under our old age security system.

As to financial controls in the Senate, it would be well advised to institute some oversight into its expense reimbursement system.  It could start by having all senators review the Senate's expense policy and by adding in a little thing called a check, which would catch 99% of junior senators mistakes (because, apparently junior senators make a lot of mistakes).   Before submitting expenses to accounting for reminbursement, the leader of the Senate would have to check over their claims and approve them, just like it's done in most Canadian businesses.   Maybe that way the Senate can avoid getting caught with too many liquid lunches.

Finally, but by no means the last idea for improving Canadian politics: just get rid of the Senate!  When was the last time anyone heard of anything good that came out of this expensive unelected body of geriatric (save for Patrick Brazeau, of course) patronage appointees?

This isn't rocket science if even I can figure it out.

My advice to the opposition parties: if you want to raise your fortunes at the ballot box next election, promise Canadians you'll abolish the Senate.

My advice to Kathleen Wynne: if you want to trump people's memories of the gas plant fiasco your party was responsible for, show the Ford brothers who the new sheriff in town is and kick their asses to the curb -- with compassion, of course.   In the wake of your twin successes of (1) tamping down the conflict with the teachers unions in the province and (2) adroitly brokering a deal with Andrea Horwath's NDP to get a new budget passed, you'll be sailing into the next election with strong momentum behind you.

Meanwhile, who said Canadian politics weren't colourful!

Pay for Performance in Politics

Here's a way to break the logjam in U.S. politics: pay for performance.

The U.S. government can't or, more accurately, won't pass any meaningful legislation, whether the topic is gun control, spending bills, same sex marriage or immigration.   So hit 'em where it hurts: their paycheck.  Pay them only when they pass legislation on important issues such as these.   The rest of the time, don't pay them a cent.

The U.S. government is like a constipated patient that needs a strong laxative.  Withholding compensation until senators and congressmen actually earn it is a good one.

Republicans Gone Wild, Again

John Boehner (pronounced "Bainer", not "Boner") is a good man, an emotional one, even, who cries like a fountain in public over tragic things, and who is a genuine believer in faith and God.   But he is an odd duck, indeed, to be leading his party at a time when the real power mongers within it are fighting like the devil to prevent the government from raising taxes, especially for the upper classes.

The president of the United States and his Democratic party have tried to prevent the massive and callous budget cuts, the so-called sequester, from happening, by negotiating a more intelligent and balanced approach to budget balancing, a combination of smaller cuts and some tax increases.   The Republicans, with spokesperson and House majority leader, Mr. Boehner, will not agree to any tax hikes or revisions to the tax code to close "loopholes".   That's funny because closing loopholes was a key plank in Mitt Romney's campaign to become president.

When you think of crazy politicians gone wild, an obvious example has to be John Boehner and his posse of school-yard bullies, called the Republican party of Washington.

When ordinary people are hurt by the callous budget cuts because Republicans refused to authorize a rise in rich people's taxes, that will certainly give Mr. Boehner something to weep about in church.

 

Congress Passes Limited Spending Cuts; Cliff Averted

No, you're not reading tomorrow's news today.   But I do think President Obama will get his way with Congress and will get a slimmed down version of the draconian spending cuts prescribed under the so-called Fiscal Cliff (Obama Urges Congress to Act to Stave Off Cuts).   Why?

With the trickle of good news -- increased housing starts, lower unemployment, healthy auto sales -- showing signs of sustained momentum, stocks have understandably gone up.  The S&P 500 is up 3.4% year-to-date, and it's only February 5.

Congressmen and senators are getting rich, not just because of their substantial trusts and other "blind" investments, but because many of the companies that support them are actually prospering as the economy picks up steam.  That makes those companies happy.  And happy American businesses return the favor to their representatives.

The strategy to overthrow Obama by obstruction and pig-headed stand-offs has run its course, now that Mr. Obama has been elected president for another term.   Most Republicans have sensibly decided it's time to help juice the markets and make some quick gains for themselves.  And, at the very least, they have decided not to do anything that will hurt stocks.

So they will not take the nation over the Cliff.  They will go along with the president and keep this bull run going.

And that, folks, is how government works.