Democracy of Hypocrisy

Link: http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Election+fight+brews+over+canal+project/3364722/story.html

Eddie Francis is up to his usual self, this time taking pot shots at councilor Halberstadt for wanting to gauge his constituents on the matter of the building of a $42 million canal. Instead of agreeing that asking the community would be the prudent thing to do, Eddie chooses to attack Halberstadt's character by saying things such as this

Coun. Halberstadt has made a career out of ensuring he is on the other side of whatever the issue may be, regardless of who is mayor,” Francis said. “So I’m not surprised.”

“Development is not just going to happen by itself, especially in a depressed economy,” said Francis, who welcomes ideas and action rather than simply criticism. “On the canal issue, he’s out there shredding it apart, doing what he does best. But what are you proposing Coun. Halberstadt?

The OPP are now threatening alleged G20 protest ringleaders that they risk going back to jail should they continue to speak to the media.

After 90 years, General Motors presence will no longer be felt in the city of roses. GM has ceased production at it's Walker road transmission plant, leaving the few workers that were left with happy memories and uncertainty about the future. At one time, GM employed roughly 7,000 workers between the transmission plant and the trim plant. But today was a day filled with mixed emotions for the dedicated workers who put their hard work into a company that was once an automotive giant, but has since been affected by the global recession and backwards management.

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/07/27/hillier-wikileaks-friendly-fire-allegation.html

Wikileaks.org has released over 90,000 war documents that have caused quite a stir worldwide. Among the nations questioning the legitimacy of those leaks is Canada;specifically the documents that pertain to supposed friendly fire incidents that have occurred in Afghanistan that claimed the lives of Canadian soldiers. What others perceive as whitewashing of official stories, the Canadian government maintains it's stance that these soldiers did in fact die as a result of Taliban insurgency. Former Commander Rick Hillier said that

the U.S. military,like any bureaucracy, produces millions of documents, including "some written by people as first response who don't know what they're talking about and have the facts wrong...first reports are wrong, and the second reports are wrong and the third reports are wrong,"

All hail King Edward

Eddie Francis is going to seek a third term as mayor er, King of Windsor, which shouldn't come as a surprise. He has unfinished business according to his press conference. One can only guess that his unfinished business is privatizing the rest of the city workforce because other than that he hasn't really offered much to the people of Windsor. This is his shtick, his ticket to a third term. Had he not decided to outsource he wouldn't have a leg to stand on. Red bull races only go so far and an arena plopped in the east side of town with crappy parking isn't something to brag about.

Dwight Duncan will be meeting with public sector workers and union leaders on Tuesday to appeal to them about a two year wage freeze. Talk about a daunting task, the government wants to engage the biggest unionized workforce in the country and tell them that they must bear some of the burden facing this have not province with an increasing deficit. Good luck, although I am unsure of how the unions will react to this. We've known about it for quite some time now, since March in fact and there has been plenty of discussion surrounding this, and from my involvement in the university sector, it looks as though we will be telling them an resounding No.

Why not, it's business as usual in Windsor and not a day goes by without hearing how the people of Windsor are sick of the unions and they can't wait to see them run out of town. That is of course if you believe the mouthpieces that vent their disdain in the Windsor star. The latest blitz to hit CUPE came in the form of city council voting to outsource the refuse and recycling collection 100% to Toronto based company Turtle Island, who will take over sometime in the new year.

Stephen Harper, in his quest to be the biggest douche this country has ever had for a leader, is now filibustering in a bid to block the opposition from launching an investigation into the G20 antics of the police and what role his party played. Stephen Harper is a broken record and a hypocrite and why his charm continually blinds the people of Canada is a mystery. Between proroguing parliament, attempting to block documents that would show the cons collusion in torturing Afghani prisoners, selling out Canada's sovereignty and now this, one should be asking them-self what this guy is capable of next. Do you really want Harper to have a shot at a majority come next election, whenever that may be?

Seriously, more talk of a possible fall election. I sure am sick of hearing about possible elections. This time it is over liberal and independent senators blocking an omnibus bill put forth by the cons that contains idiotic things such as privatizing overseas mailing, weakened environmental assessment and selling off the power division of Atomic Energy Canada. This 883 page budget bill reeks of American style pork barreling, which shouldn't come as a surprise because the cons have pretty much adopted American policy in Canada so why not go the extra mile. I have no affiliation to any party but I once thought that Harper was doing an ok job, but that was way back in 2006. This is 2010 and I honestly want the cons out.

Mr McGuinty, call for a public inquiry because we all know that the independent review ordered into police conduct during the G8/20 summit wont get very far. The simple fact is that it will be conducted by the Toronto Police Service Board ,who some say have too close a tie to the police, which would result in a biased outcome. Couple that with the fact that it wasn't just Toronto police, but police from all over Canada who will not be subject to this inquiry.

What gives anyhow? How does a government official like Dalton McGuinty have the authority to thumb his nose at a public inquiry, especially since it directly involves him. Is that not some wacky bs or what. Is he basing his reasoning on some poll that was done that supposedly showed 72% of people polled agreed with how things went down? Interesting because the CBC poll shows the opposite, 75% of people NOT agreeing with how the police handled the G20. Not only that, the facebook group calling for a public inquiry has just over 48,000 members as I write this, with the number growing each day. Compare this large group to the small facebook group made up of a little over 3,000 that supports the Toronto police service. I realize this isn't "scientific" but I think 48,000 people calling for something shouldn't be ignored.

The truth has come out and comes as a bit of a shock to those who were still in awe over the enacting of legislation to have people being ID'd and searched. The police lied to the public, yes, I used the word lied whereas the mainstream media prefers to use the term "mislead" as if to soften the blow.

The G8/20 fiasco has come and gone and what we are left with is a huge bill, property damage and the latest buzzword which we will hear about in the next few days. So, was it worth it? I had my eyes glued to the television yesterday, all day, forgoing sleep after working a midnight shift Friday night, just so I can watch the events unfold, and boy was I not disappointed. But what I saw was confusing to say the least. What transpired will be remembered for a long time and people will hopefully become more aware of the way things are going.

The G8 summit has officially begun amidst a cloud of controversy, as if the whole thing wasn't controversial enough. Over the night, people began to hear that Ontario has enacted legislation called the Public Works Protection Act which is being used to designate the entire security perimeter which surrounds Toronto's convention Centre as a "public works" site during the summit. This legislation gives police extraordinary new powers to ID and search people within five meters of the security fence, but as I just watched on the news, the police are searching people and demanding ID in areas that are far away from the fence. Refusal to produce ID can apparently lead to arrest as shown in this video taken yesterday.