The blinders are starting to come off.....maybe

It appears that the love affair between President Obama and many of his loyal supporters is going through a shaky period. For the last 5 years in the eyes of many on the Left their savoir Mr Obama could do no wrong, broken campaign promises, stepping outside the Constitution, throwing gas on the fires of bipartisanship, political scandals, or stumbling on foreign policy, none of this seemed to matter to those that drank the Progressive "kool-aid". He was "the man" who would take them to the promised land.

The poor economic performance under his stewardship was defended by his supporters as something he inherited from the previous president, failure to fulfill campaign promises was blamed on an obstructionist Congress, and occasionally when things got really dire for the President the "race card" was pulled out (Thank You, Oprah). To a large degree what allowed this charade to continue was the outright refusal of Liberal media to out this guy and hold his feet to the fire. Obama was given a free pass by traditional print, television, and radio like no President since Kennedy who the press lauded as a "family man" while every reporter who could draw a breath knew he had a revolving door of models and actresses at his beck and call. Now to be fair, Kennedy's era was a gentler, politer time that held a higher respect for the office and man when it came to reporting on the President.  However that time has come and gone, the media has for most segments of society taken the kids gloves off and in today's world little is sacred when it comes to getting a story and boosting ratings. Add to that the explosion of on-line news, blogs, twitter, etc., where nothing political is taboo and one can only wonder in amazement how Obama with his lackluster performance has avoided being tarred and feathered by the press.

Whoohoo...... The world didnt end

When I initially woke up this morning it took me a moment but something dawned on me, I had in fact woken up...the world was still here.

My first thought after this realization set in was, Duh...Stupid Mayans.

However once the cobwebs cleared from my head and I was able to think clearly I realized that it was never the Ancient Mayans that foretold the world ending today, they simply predicted the end of a cycle on their long day calendar. It was ill informed doomsayers that incorrectly interpreted the meaning of the Mayan calendar and predicted the end of us all. Duh....Stupid Doomsayers

None the less, even though this appears to have been a false alarm (remember the day is not over yet), maybe we should view it as somewhat of a second chance, a new beginning, so to speak. So moving forward these are some things I personally would like to see take place starting tomorrow.

One can only wonder where it will all lead....

Over the years as I have watched the world go by it has become more apparent on a daily basis that the manner in which our democracy works is at times it's own worse enemy. Although from an early age we are taught that the different levels of government exist to serve the people, unfortunately in practice it seldom works as originally intended. In reality, many basic human traits make the practical application of good government far more difficult to implement than it appears on paper. Greed, lust for power, ignorance, prejudices, and people's general inability to understand that every action has a consequence, all play a role in making perfect government only a dream that will never be achieved.

Those that "serve us" in government rely solely on the electorate process to maintain their seats of power. So our politicians have learnt well that the people's loyalty can be bought with a few baubles and trinkets. Every election brings more promises of what the electorate can expect "in payment" from each of the political candidates if they are elected. What we generally see is a bidding war for votes with every party pulling out the cheque book and removing all stops in their zeal to promise the voter more than their opponent can. The problem is compounded as the demands of the electorate and the promises of those running for office increase with each election and every generation of voters. Now on first glance, one may wonder if this is such a bad thing, after all it is taxpayers money intended to be spent for the common good and the betterment of society as a whole.

Stoking the fires of resentment

With the first snow on the ground I suspect I will be a bit more housebound and spending more time "putting my thoughts to paper", as they say. So here I go, for those of you who have any interest read on.

With the race for the Oval Office in its last days we can expect to see the candidates talking themselves up and talking their opponents down. Now to be very honest I have no problem with a political candidate preying on the weaknesses and and character flaws of their opponents. After all, as Harry S Truman would say, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen".

However where I have a problem is when candidates intentionally stretch the truth, creatively edit the facts, or simply assume that a false message delivered in the right tone will fool us simpletons into believing what they want us to believe. Yes, I know that it is common practice, but the reality is that at times it is taken to the point that it creates undeserved animosity amongst the electorate toward a particular candidate. Animosity to the point where a candidate's character or personal integrity are called into question based on nothing more than "political spin".

You tell them Harry

One case in point is the efforts that have been made by Democrat Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid to besmirch Mitt Romney's character, above and beyond the point of common decency.

Really Harry is this the best you can do? " I heard Mitt Romney has not paid tax in the last ten years". The follow up from Harry was even better "It falls upon Governor Romney to prove otherwise by releasing his tax returns"

Frankly if I was a resident of Nevada I would be ashamed to admit that Mr Reid represented my state. This is the same guy that a quick search on the Internet will find hundreds of articles detailing how Harry has somehow managed to increase his net worth from a "paltry" $1.2 Million to the tune of about $11 million during the time he has been a public servant (public servants must be paid very well in Nevada). Interesting as well is the fact that while  Harry was claiming that Mr Romney could  disprove the allegations of tax evasion simply by making his tax returns public, good old Harry has refused all requests to make his own tax records open to the public. I guess Harry doesn't buy into the old adage, "what's good for the goose, is what's good for the gander".

What's really troubling about this is that it is the lowest form of mud slinging and was allowed under the watchful eyes of the President. All Mr Obama had to do to put an end to it was make one phone call. It speaks volumes about the man that he allowed this (and many would say "encouraged "it ) under his watch. I imagine what we have witnessed here is some of the tricks that Mr Obama learned during his tenure in Chicago style politics, not very Presidential to say the least. But on the other hand , pretty much what one would expect from a man who refers to his opponent as a "bulls^^^ter" in a televised interview. Just the kind of guy a nation wants on the world stage.

War on Women? I do believe we have found the culprits...

If you follow politics south of our border (the good Old USA) you have almost certainly heard the phrase "War on Women" used by candidates, elected officials, political pundits, and the news media. Trust me, it is not exclusive to one side, Liberal or Conservative, Democrat or Republican, both sides to some degree accuse the other of participating in some form of gender bias. Having said that, the accusations appear to come from the Left far more often than the Right. In fact the the term is used frequently by the more Left leaning, who carry it like a shield against the Right.

The heat on this issue has recently been turned up a few notches because several major events are taking place concurrently, how so?

A short walk, but an unforgivable betrayal

If you read this blog regularly it's no secret that Frustrated Joe's political philosophies tend to differ a great from those of the left, like say the NDP. However, once in while an issue arises that I find myself agreeing (at least partially) with someone I would normally be opposed to. Wow, that was a mouthful.

The issue at hand today are the shackles that are placed upon our Members of Parliament when they are expected to vote with their party on issues before Parliament. The particular case in question is that of Bruce Hyer, one of the NDP's northern Ontario MP's. Hyer was one of two NDP MP's that voted in November 2011 with the Conservative government on Bill C-19 to put an end to the long gun registry. Unfortunately for Hyer, that decision conflicted with his parties stance on the issue. The result, both MP's were disciplined by their party.

Now, maybe it is old school but as a voter I  personally feel that the first duty of elected officials is to those that elected them. Myself, I have always taken into account the candidates personal opinions and political philosophy (how close they are to mine) and given both almost the same weight in my voting decision as I give to their political parties views. After all this individual serves as your representative in government. You need to know "they have your back".

How in a sane world can this guy have any hope of re-election?

The US Presidential race will be kicking into high gear in the next few months and quite frankly based on Obamas disastrous first term as President it should be a one horse race, but sadly it isn't.

"Obummers" supporters are still contributing millions (literally hundreds) of dollars to his campaign and his handlers are busy laying the groundwork for the "second coming". Now how can this be?

I am amazed as the next guy, but why should I be. So rather than drone on about all the things wrong with this guy here are three that I personally feel speak for themselves.

Peter, Thank you for wasting my Friday evening right along with my tax dollars

Being a Friday night I had planned a quiet evening, nothing too serious, no blogging, maybe a little television for the evening. I did however have a blog article in mind for posting on Saturday, one that I have been researching over the last week or so. Like every night, when I arrived home I checked my mailbox to see what had been delivered and what I found threw my plans for a peaceful Friday night right out the window and put me on a different writing path than my intended Saturday blog.

As anyone who is a regular reader of this blog is aware I have had little if anything positive to say about the "Occupy" movement since its inception. The Occupy movement which originally sprouted from "Occupy Wallstreet" in New York's financial district had lost all sense of purpose by the time it moved to other locales and cities. What was essentially in the beginning a protest against massive government bailouts of poorly managed financial institutes and the corruption of sub-prime mortgages (funny enough, both are issues that I could have supported protesting against) quickly evolved to protesting  "the flavor of the week" depending on the particular group of Occupy Drones that formed in any specific city. Every perceived woe that faced society came under attack by Occupy Drones and allowed them to self justify criminal acts such as illegally trespassing on private property or the destruction of public property. After all it was all in the name of a greater cause. Soon they were demanding forgiveness of personal student loan and credit card debt, withdrawal of troops, closing down the oilsands, a reduction of CO2, you name it they wanted it. The bottom line is that the Occupy movement became a gathering place for the disenchanted and anarchists, at times the "camps" even became havens of refuge for the homeless. So whats this got to do with what I discovered in my mailbox?

And the beat goes on.....Oink, Oink

Is it just me or do our elected officials at times seem to be suffering from memory loss or possibly even dementia?

Just two days ago I posted an article about 21 Alberta MLA's who have been lining their pockets to the tune of $1000 a month for sitting on a Legislative committee that hasn't met in the last 39 months. The article was aptly titled Like pigs they head straight to the trough.... Well, this particular incident of pork barreling appears to have annoyed the public at large more than the regular gouging of the taxpayer that our elected officials participate in on a daily basis. It's the talk of the town, featured on the nightly news, in newspapers, and on talk radio everyday. It has actually gotten so bad that Alberta's Premier, Alison Redford addressed it personally from out of the country last week.

Last Thursday Premier Redford who was in New York conducted an interview with the Calgary Herald in which she stated that she was unaware that 21 government and opposition provincial representatives have been paid $1,000 a month - a total of $261,000 annually - to sit on a committee that hasn't met since 2008.
"I did not know," Premier Redford stated. She continued by saying the situation with the committee "wasn't something that connected to me at all. But it's not right."

Now lets jump forward a day to Friday when speaking with reporters the Premier went on to say that the fact provincial representatives were paid to sit on a committee that doesn't meet was "a ridiculous situation." "It isn't the way that Albertans want politicians to be paid," she said. "It's why I asked for an independent panel to look at how everyone in the legislature is being paid."

Now before we go any further just so I am clear on this, the Premier has called a panel to look into a committee? Wasn't enough financial damage done by the first committee, I guess not as she feels it necessary to form a second one and pay them as well. Although I suspect there is a deeper and more thought out reason for forming an "independent panel" to look into the payroll issue. Such a committee will make recommendations for changes moving forward, they will not make judgement or access any blame on individuals based on how they were paid within the guidelines previously. This will further support the MLA's who were paid for serving on, but never attending the The Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections, Standing Orders and Printing. After they were simply being paid under the guidelines that existed at the time, they did nothing wrong. Whereas, if the Premier were to take a strong a stand on the issue, agree that it is wrong, and insist on immediate rule changes she will have to by default answer questions about the integrity and honesty of the MLA's involved.

So why is this something she would rather avoid? Well the most obvious answer is that it is making the governing party look bad, something that is not desirable for her in an election year. However, if you dig deeper there is another issue that I suspect worries our Premier equally.

Like pigs they head straight to the trough....

Every year the Canadian Taxpayers Federation announces the annual winners of their Teddy awards. For 14 years running these awards have been presented for the best examples of government waste, federally, provincially, or at the municipal level. In fact upon reading the details of the winners there are times when the thought that this is fiction crosses your mind, unfortunately folks sometimes the truth about our elected officials is just plain ugly. These awards are a great public service as they bring to light just how frivolous those that we elect are with our money.

As an Albertan, when I was reviewing the winners of this years Teddies one in particular caught my interest for a number of reasons.... Here you go , courtesy of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (I love these guys)

Robocalls, Is that anything like Robcop?

Over the last couple of weeks it seems the "talk of the town" for Canadian news media has been the "robocall election scandal" and who is responsible for it.

Was the Conservative government behind it?
Was it perpetrated by a third party to discredit the ruling Conservatives?
Were riding's that were in a tight battle for votes specifically targeted?
Is this a plot to destabilize Canada?
Could extraterrestrials (ET's) be involved? (I threw this one in myself for fun)

Now before I go any further with this, just in case any of you are wondering what I am referring to, here it is in a nutshell. It has come to light that during the last election  thousands of automated pre-recorded calls (thus the name "robocalls") were made that allegedly misdirected Guelph-area voters to non-existent polling stations. On top of this allegations have been made that all kinds of telephonic dirty tricks were used, including everything from live callers who made harassing phone calls to Jewish voters on the Sabbath, and others who promised to drive voters to polling stations, and then never showed up.

How serious is the issue? Well, within just the last couple of days Elections Canada has reported a steady stream of complaints from Canadians since the robocall scandal first broke, so far 31,000 and counting. This will almost certainly grow as the opposition parties keep this as their focus and plead with Canadians to report any such calls they may have received to Elections Canada.

Now while the media is busing running this as their lead story every day (I assume due to the lack of any other news that might be important to Canadians?), parliament is also embroiled in the scandal. Virtually every day accusations are flying across the floor of the house with one party blaming the other, with suggestions being made that this may have changed the outcome of the last election (I imagine that's a lot easier for the Liberals to accept than the real reason they got skunked), and so on and so forth. It inspires me with confidence to see our elected officials focusing on the most critical issues of the day.....sheeeh! Shouldn't this investigation be the responsibility of Elections Canada, or maybe the RCMP? Once the facts are determined then parliament can spend time debating it, until that point they are simply wasting time (and taxpayers money) discussing innuendo and rumors (oops , what am I thinking based on that alone, it is business as usual for parliament).

Now trust me, I don't have any inside information as to who is responsible for all of this and as a Canadian I can only hope that the guilty party is determined and brought to justice. After all as Canadians we are proud of the fact that we are a democracy that holds honest elections, not some third world banana republic where the election outcome is announced before the votes are counted. However I do have a solution to prevent this from ever taking place again, and in fact it is very simple.

Obama's Sleight Of Hand Is Quicker Than The Eye

With the Republican Primaries heating up south of our border in preparation for a November Presidential race you can expect to see a great deal of positioning from both Republicans and Democrats in the upcoming months. Although Obama has not officially kicked off his campaign  for re-election there is no doubt what so ever that he and his team are laying the ground work.

I suspect the Republican nominee will hammer away at the President's dismal record over the last three years knowing full well Obama will have little chance of defending it as the facts speak for themselves. So the Obama teams strategy so far has been one of redirection, something that any good magician or politician knows all too well. In magic (like politics) a vital component to a magician’s sleight of hand is the redirection of the audiences attention from what they are inevitably trying to catch you doing. Unfortunately the re-direction that Obama and his team are employing may result in may result in America being torn apart. How so?

Our Government, So right one day, so wrong the next

If you are like me last week was one for celebration. The Conservative government finally made good on their promise to scrap the Long Gun Registry by the passing of Bill C-19, and to say this was long overdue would be an understatement. This legislation when first enacted by the previous Liberal government was promised to make the streets safer and be self-funding, unfortunately like so many promises made by those in power this was a hollow one. Not only were the safety benefits of the program questioned by everyone ( including many in law enforcement) but in short order the program ran up a cost to the Canadian  government of over $1 Billion.... Surprise

Well fortunately after 'only" a billion or so of taxpayer money wasted this program is close to being history. Public Safety Minister Toews stated
“It criminalizes hard-working and law-abiding citizens such as farmers and sport shooters, and it has been a billion-dollar boondoggle left to us by the previous Liberal government.”
(You have that right Vic, good for you)

According to Bill C-19, all data pertaining to non-restricted firearms will be deleted as a measure to protect individual privacy. Unfortunately, once the bill is finally passed into law, Quebec has indicated it will immediately seek an injunction from the courts to halt the destruction of the registry data. Gotta luv Quebec...

Congratulations to Mr Harper and his party for doing the right thing, now hopefully the Liberals in the Senate don't hold up the passing of the bill.

Now, lets look at another effort on the part of the Harper government, one that is not so "right".

When it comes to taxes , we all need a little perspective.

With the United States currently in the midst of the Republican primaries and the Presidential election coming this fall one topic that is being hotly debated and makes headlines virtually every day is taxation. More to the point, the rates of taxation.

The spark that ignited this fire is ever increasing government debt and no foreseeable end to budget deficits. Obviously the wisest solution would be to curtail reckless spending and live within budget, unfortunately that would entail making some hard choices, something that most politicians try to avoid at all costs. Apparently those in power have another route in mind, one that they view as having a lot less potential to cost them votes, simply increase revenues. From their perspective high atop the mountain they feel they have discovered an untapped "national resource" in the form of increasing taxation rates to higher income earners.

Nowhere was this message more clear than in President Obama's recent state of the union speech. Never one to miss an opportunity Obama used the State of the Union address to kick off his campaign for re-election. Here's a quote from his speech (the bolded text was highlighted by myself)