Pat Martin Tweets it as He Sees It! ~ And No Effing Apology Is Needed

WARNING!

This post contains some "Industrial Language."

Just as the Conservative Party has done on eight other occasions including their ridiculous Omnibus Crime Bill, since they became a 'Split-Vote Majority', they have stated recently that they would also seek Closure on the Budget. No more discussion,  just push it through as quietly as possible. These guys like their stealth. There is no doubt that this Closure will happen, and that all debate will stop, in spite of the huge flaws in everything this government authors,  the time for sober thought is over. Or so said the government.

"The best laid plans of mice and men
ofttimes go astray"

It all seemed to be going along so well, just as the prime minister had hoped. But any thoughts that the PMO had that the issue of these repeated and so obviously undemocratic forced closures would escape the somewhat myopic Canadian main-stream-media were suddenly dashed on the evening of November 16th 2011. That was when Pat Martin decided to 'tweet' to the world, or at least to his relatively few followers on Twitter,  (at that point he had only about a thousand) and in his usual raw and passionate style, he said exactly what was on his mind.

Upon a quick reading of that tweet it is not so very hard to sense that he was 'somewhat frustrated' with the way that our long and proud democracy is relentlessly being attacked in the frightening new and still unfolding 'Harper Land.'

When asked repeatedly if he intended to apologise he simply said "No."

He stated very succinctly that he had no intention of retracting any of it. Apparently, unlike the prime minister, Pat Martin knows that it is wrong to make apologies that would not be heartfelt expressions of contrition. Good for You, Mr. Martin, good for You!

And what has become of all this in the first 24 hours?



8:00 pm Thursday

  Well, for starters, Pat's Facebook profile has been getting a lot of friend requests, his Facebook page has been collecting a lot of 'likes', both have been getting a lot of traffic as has his Twitter account. It is gaining followers by the hundreds. I took a screen shot at 8 pm. and another a few moments ago, which is only about 6 hours apart. As you can, see the number of his followers has grown by over 1400 in that short time.


2:00 am Friday

 And of course, it was a trending topic on Twitter in Canada, if only for about 18 hours or so. That may make Canadians seem somewhat fickle, but nothing changes quite as fast as Twitter's trending topics.

To see real-time stats on Pat Martin's Twitter feed, to see what the fuss is about, or to Follow him Click HERE

"  The (twitter) exchange was monitored by Martin's (at time of publishing) 1,600 followers and caused a stir throughout the Twitterverse. Martin told the Free Press (Winnipeg) this morning he was surprised by the uproar and admitted he'd had "hundreds" of calls since the tweet last night. "I can't believe that," he said.

He also said that most of the comments he is getting from his own caucus colleagues are supportive because they too are so frustrated by the repeated closure of debate by this government.

It (closure ~ttsm) has happened numerous times this fall including on the omnibus crime bill and the bill to eliminate the monopoly of the Canadian Wheat Board. (And I will add my compliments here to Pat for being the Opposition's most effective speaker on that subject. ~ ttsm)

"It (the original tweet) happened while I was voting. I was looking across at them and thinking they don't even know the damage that they've done," he said of the Conservative MPs. "It took the Liberals 13 years to get this arrogant." (it has taken the Harper Government only 6 months~ ttsm)
Interim NDP Leader, Nycole Turmel is not asking Martin to apologize though she doesn’t agree with his words. "His language was not appropriate and could have been offensive to some. That said, the Conservatives' actions are not appropriate in a democracy and offensive to all Canadians."
Martin is known to be one of the most colourful MPs in the House of Commons and has come under fire numerous times for his comments. "
He also said that it was "industrial language" and that having come from a background of  construction work, he knew that it was the way many Canadians talk. He also pointed out that the word (fuck) was in fact in the dictionary, which of course it is, and that he felt no apology of any kind was necessary.

Go Pat Go!

I agree Pat, there is no need to apologize, and certainly not to me. I cannot imagine having to work so near the prime minister, or any of his raucous caucus, on a daily basis and not wanting to lash out at the mind-numbing idiocy and ideology that has overtaken this once rather civilized country. The time for passively taking Mr. Harper at face value has long since passed. It is time to stand up to this bully once and for all. It is time to expose his every shortcoming. It is time to see him as he really is, and if one has to be that rude to get the attention of  the press, then so be it. I say: Bring it on.

Personally, I just wish that the Corporate owned Media would finally clue in to the fact that all is ^NOT well in Harper Land. They need to understand that the cumulative effect of such a dismal leader's presence among us ( or rather, above us) is more important than their constantly myopic 24 hour news cycle. They really do not seem to 'get' that history is a continuum, that one thing builds on another and that there is a responsibility on their part to see each day in the context of  those days, weeks and years that came before it.

Hell, I am still fuming over the "Income trust scandal", The "In and Out Scheme" and all those other 1200 or more issues that have arisen since Mr. Stephen Joseph Harper has come onto the Canadian political scene.

The real story in Canada  remains the Harper Government's very well documented contempt and ignorance of our parliamentary process. That is the story that needs to be told.

That may or may not happen. But it certainly begs the same old question:

What does it take to wake up a Country when their own so-called main stream media sleeps so soundly, as their own Democracy is under such a threat?

It reminds me of some sedentary and yet,
    very well-paid Rip Van Winkle.

 




             ~ With sincere apologies to Pinky. ~
      ~ The Brain, I'm afraid, is entirely on his Own ~

A Tale of Two Tales: Jim Flaherty Rewarded by Media!

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Tale One: Jim Flaherty has just been named Business news-maker of the year by ...... Canadians in General happy to have his leadership? Well not exactly, But that did not stop the MSM from picking up this ready made story and distributing it verbatim. The Main Stream Media has a lot to learn and a lot to answer for. The early story was thoroughly short on reason. It simply quoted those who for one reason or another did not see anything wrong with Flaherty's dismal stewardship of our economy.

"OTTAWA - As the sovereign debt crisis rocked Europe and the U.S. economy spun its wheels with a jobless recovery, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty remained the steady hand at the tiller in 2010 on his way to being voted The Canadian Press business news-maker of the year.
 They started out with verbatim accounts from a news service, but by now they are adding info and more background on it. Of course many, many Canadians read these things as soon as they come out, and at that point they are virtually identical and and simply a copy of the glowing PMO press release. Most of them never check back to see how public opinion and some time to digest it sways the discourse over the course of a day or two. Here is some of the information that was added later in the news cycle, and keep in mind that the readership decline quite rapidly after a story breaks, and that most who have read it will not re-read it!

With the loonie near parity with the U.S. dollar and signs of the economy recovery taking hold, Flaherty could boast of a record better than most of his peers around the world in 2010.


"I think what we saw not only in Canada, but around the globe was a very aggressive policy response," said Paul Ferley, assistant chief economist at the Royal Bank.



"And certainly the infrastructure program, as well as various tax cuts in hindsight, look like they have been very successful in terms of helping to sustain the recovery."


But despite his success in helping keep the Canadian economy on track, the coming year brings even more challenges for the finance minister as the vast majority of the stimulus spending comes to an end and he faces the task of balancing the budget to meet his target of 2015-16.


"I think the government did well in terms of identifying just how deep the economic hit was and opted to respond in kind," Ferley said.


"Now the fallout from that are a fairly large debt and deficit, numbers not as bad as what we are looking at south of the border or in Europe, but still, imbalances that at some point will need to be addressed."


Flaherty has said there will be no major new spending in his 2011 plan, but also there will be no major new cuts either.


"In 2010, it became clear that Canada had emerged from the deepest worldwide economic crisis since the 1930s in relatively good shape," Flaherty said.


"But we are mindful that the recovery is fragile and there are still too many people out of work. So we are sticking to our plan. "

Flaherty, having forgotten his glasses, proudly holds up
 what he thinks is Harper's personal copy of  900 page Omnibus Budget Bill! 

Tale Two:  There were 108 votes by (  ? ? ? ? ). Flaherty got 21 of them and the runner up, Brad Wall who stood up to The Harper Government and in particular Flaherty himself on the Hostile take-over of Saskatchewan Potash, came in a very close second with 19 votes. So, it was not a runaway landslide decision, based on Flaherty's legendary record on the economy after-all? No it was a tight vote and there was obviously no clear winner as Flaherty only got only 19.4% of the vote. I am still looking for a good explanation of who exactly voted, and what the criteria were. 

OK, it was 108 print and online business news editors and broadcast news directors. Gee that seems like an impartial group eh? Of course I am still looking for details on who actually voted.

In even later versions some reservations to the choice are starting to be expressed. The huge deficit that was such a surprise to our boy Jim, the discrepancies between all of his predictions and the actual numbers, and his persistence in taking of all the credit for the work of Paul Martin. The constant criticism of the Office of Kevin page who has always seemed to doubt Flaherty's skills as a Finance Minister. The rampant spending on vote buying projects and the outright lies that they are telling as to the real impact on Canada. No mention of any of this in the early versions however.

Not that I am suggesting that any of us stop to think about any of this, and certainly not that the MSM will care if you simply put your head in neutral and play along with this silly little sham that they would like us to call real Journalism.

I am hoping that some real criticism will emerge in the Main Stream Media, before the 48 hour news cycle ends tomorrow. It is unlikely, but at least the real media, the people's media (the social media) is already all over this story asking real questions and secretly laughing at the lack of vision, the lack of long term memory and the lack of testicularity displayed by the Finance Minister and by the Canadian Press.