(UPDATE ON LAST ISSUE'S PANIC-STRICKEN UPDATE: no word yet from the Pispot re authenticity of pot story - perhaps they're mortally embarrassed and are just waiting for everyone to forget about it - perhaps they don't answer emails from rude people - or perhaps somebody really did slip some modern recreational chemical in the coffee machine - the latest from dear Ms Nicks is really off the wall - I can't give you a copy (my oh-so-low bandwidth server has been trying for the last 45 minutes to get through to the Pispot but is still sitting there blinking and looking stupid, as only non-performing screens can look), but you can look it up - she's off on another big tirade about, of all people, the American neocon urgoddess Ann Coulter (people's gods say a lot about them (in our image and all that stuff) - and any country that can deify Ann Coulter is certifiable beyond any doubt, as is she herself), and how absolutely fucking wonderful she is!!! - really - she gives several paragraphs summarizing the "book" about the great communist conspiracy of the mid-years of the last century, and how great Joe McCarthy was, and the other "communist-fighters", including Reagan!! (it is to weep) - the ultimate point being - get this - ALL LEFTIES ARE ***EVIL**** - that's not a misprint or my imagination! - we are the EVIL ones - and the neocons the embodiment of Christ on earth or some such shit (we've seen this in Ms Nicks before, she doesn't have much talent for seeing the great diversity of human existence, with everything being black or white in her sad little world) - anyway, my conclusion is that they've ALL lost it at the Pispot, and one needs no longer to take them very seriously - we will, of course, continue to monitor them in case Izzy gets back from whatever trip he's on and gets them sorted or fires them all or something, but we're not holding our breath - doing the things to your psyche that neocons have to do to operate has to be very damaging, and once the ol' brain snaps - well, it may be snapped for good. We will see. But we are prepared to declare at least a tentative victory over this major force of evil in Canada, after hardly a month on the job. So take a break, smoke 'em if ya got 'em - and meet me round the corner later - beer's on the house guys!! Well done!!!))

now - what were we working on before all that started?......

Odd it would seem indeed Mr. Smee the number of times I will embark upon one of these modest musings, driven by no particular muse other than some trifle of the day that catches one's attention for a spell, and then the very next day some related bit of scribbling from some other struggling Canadian commentator appears in one of the national papers - usually struggling to escape from the quagmire of some pispot neocon nonsense, a struggle which we do feel some small obligation to assist. Such is the case here, of course (otherwise why bother with that forgoing bit of twaddle? - the emerging Monarch spreading its new wings in joy at its beauty, perhaps? - working the wrinkles out.... searching for the sun to dry the ephemerally beauteous but sadly fragile implements of flight.... not unlike, in case the allegory sailed on by unremarked, as do so many profound moments where grace is right there within the grasp, unbeknownst!, the human spirit - capable of such sublime connections to the very heart of the universe and all its beauty - so easily corrupted to the paths of verily Stygian night.... so many butterflies searching for the sun, so many orcs busily slaving away in the fire pits of Saruman the Evil striking out in hate and envy and spite at the small things of beauty as they float by, until all that is left is the flickering embers, the dying coals, the last of the once great forests, after which there will truly be nothing left but the black.... but does one escape???) -

I don't know what the hell all that was about, but I figured I'd leave it in - but the ongoing Liberal so-called leadership race has been of interest, in that not one Canadian commentator (I don't think anyone else on the planet or universe is paying attention for some reason) that I have read has mentioned that C-word in relation to it - I guess it's such a given in Canadian politics that no one makes the Con-nection, or pays attention anymore - but it is of some Con-siderable importance to those of us looking for some small hole in the Con-adian (sorry) way that will lead to Truth and Beauty and all that stuff that we must Con-sider it - the word, the terrible word in a democracy, is, of course - Corruption (you knew that already from the leadin, right?)

Martin piles on the donations RM archive copy - when you think about it even a bit (as you would, unfortunately, however, never do just sort of thinking things in the little box the tv tells you to) here we have it right out in the open - Canada is a completely politically corrupt country - and fucking proud of it! - the people in the leadership "race" to be Canada's next PM bragging to the paper and all and sundry about how much money they are getting from the wealthy sectors of Canadian society - I mean really, you think the guys giving Martin all that money are doing so for sheer love of democracy?!?!? - or is there just some sort of small chance they might expect some favors in return (rhetorical question and possibly even sarcasm alert!) - and we don't mean an invite to the summer cottage either (although that would undoubtedly come along with the favors). Really. Joe and Alice down in walk-up flat #3 on Dingydive Drive in eastend Toronto or asswipe alley in anytown anyprovince don't give any money to Paul or Sheila, because they don't have any to give - but they sure as fuck need a bit of help and consideration from the government - but what chance do you think there is that they will get an invite to Paul's summer abode wherever it is to talk over the state of the country and their particular needs, and how the government can make their lives a bit better? hahahaha right - and in a "democracy" isn't it kind of definitional that the rights and needs of the many take precedence over the rights and needs of the few, at least in general terms - and aren't there a fuck of a lot more poor and middle-class people in Canada than rich (stat last time indicated that around 3% of Canadians qualify as at least sort-of rich)?

And what exactly do you call giving money and expecting political favors in return, if not corruption?

The Star is even more blunt (probably not thinking of the corruption connection) - Martin raises $6.4 million for leadership campaign OTTAWA—Big business and the Bay Street crowd have helped Paul Martin's leadership campaign amass $6.4 million in publicly declared donations.... RM archive copy - and there it is, about as blunt as you could ask for - Big Business and Bay Street, buying the next PM, right out in the open. Ain't democracy grand, Josephine? And when it comes time to talk about taxes, or health care, or funding for education, or any of the many things people in the country talk about - why, who do you suppose Paul is going to be talking to himself? Joe and Alice in dingydive who couldn't afford to come to any of his $1,000 a plate dinners but sure as hell need that healthcare - or the nice people from Big Business and Bay St who passed the hat and came up with $6 million+, and don't much care about any public health care schemes for the poor (unless we privatise them so they can get their endlessly greedy fingers in that very lucrative kitty somewhere) but do still have some concerns about the horribly high taxes they are paying?? Mmmm-hmmmmm.

It seems the connection is not that clear for everyone, however. In the serendipitous column referred to at the first - Reality check: How corrupt are Canadian politics? a G&M columnist has sort of a look at Canadian corruption, and comes to the conclusion it is not that bad, really - a bit of sleaze like is kind of inevitable in politics anywhere, and much worse at the provincial level than the federal level (that one's understandable for a Toronto writer or paper, after 10 years of Mike Harris and his Big Business buds). But really, this is a piece that is dangerous as hell - Orwellian one might even say - because it reinforces what most Canadians probably feel, which is pretty much what the elite wants them to feel - a "clean" system, mostly - be proud of it citizens CANADA GOOD CANADA GOOD! - the column points out that in terms of the world, Canada is regarded as one of the least corrupt countries - another misleading sort of idea, imparting the idea that many other countries are REALLY corrupt man!! - but we're only a little bit - and obviously, in the long run, no big harm is being done by what little corruption we have - undoubtedly our first-rate police and law and court system is taking care of things pretty well. I'm surprised he never got around to saying how lucky we are to have Santa Claus too - I guess though the "free-presents!" Santa story is for little kids and the "not-very-corrupt-at-all" Canadian politics stuff is the Santa story for big kids. Sesame on Steroids or something.

Well, as the saying goes, one begs to differ. Big time. (I bet you could figure that already)

First, definition of terms - many views of corruption can be found - for this bit, it is pretty straightforward and simple, in two parts: first, the taking of money or other favors (i.e. Bush's use of Kenny Boy's Learjet during the 2000 election campaign, free gratis) by politicians to do things for the benefit of the givers of such money or favors; and second, such favors-for-money must have a fairly serious effect on the wellbeing of the majority of the people in the country. That is to say, if someone with a lot of money gives a politician a campaign donation, on the understanding that the donor will get an invitation to the beef barbeque at the donee's summer cottage on Canada Day, and nothing else - well, it might be a bit sleazy and indicate some sort of vaguely questionable ethics on both sides - but no harm is done to the country through such things - hell, invite whoever you want to your own BBQs! It's really nothing more than simple prostitution, which should not be illegal, although is not very desirable in one's elected people, as they might start selling the wrong stuff, which many do, actually.

If, on the other hand, the donation is quite large, and the donor expects not only an invite to the cottage of the donee, but also that the donee will use his or her influence to see to it, for instance, that the donor gets a government contract of some sort that he is tendering for, even though he is well known as a cost-cutter and provider of shoddy services that will result in the public getting an inferior whatever compared to other companies tendering (think of any of the privatisation stuff) - why, you would have to call that corruption in high places. I'm sure this is all no big surprise to anyone, but for the record, as they say, for the record.

So - how does that relate to Canadian politics?

Well, one should note one other facet of corruption in any kind of politics (or anywhere else it happens) - paper trails are rather difficult to come by. Most people who engage in this kind of thing are aware that the public is usually rather offended and even pissed off when they learn about politicians doing this, and there are even laws against it, so they are fairly careful in most cases (some of the more stupid ones excepted, of course - Mulroney had quite a few bottom-feeders he had to get rid of because they couldn't keep certain things to themselves...) not to leave any hardcopy evidence lying around - so usually a good deal of the evidence for corruption must be of the circumstantial variety - smoking gun stuff - we didn't see you pull the trigger, but...... Which means opinions come into it, and things get quite difficult to prove, as many opinions, certainly in the right wing tradition, are most assuredly for sale (can we say Fraser Institute?). And when people like Mr. Saunders above get things printed in national papers saying "nonono!! - there's no corruption here, or nothing important!" - well, that's his "opinion". In a naive schoolboy sense, or a bought and paid for sense, whatever - but lent credibility by the forum in which it appears, and by the lack of any contradictory offerings.

Here, as noted, we will present a different opinion. We invite all to examine the evidence, as presented in a light perhaps not usually shone in the national media, at least in this era, and arrive at your own conclusions.

It's not actually rocket science, and it's kind of in the open - but like so many things, the best place to hide something is right in front of someone's eyes - classic shell game stuff, which modern "democratic" theory relies so heavily upon. The Big Lie gets involved as well, of course, but let's see if we can keep focused on one fucking thing today already and leave the book for next year.

To begin with, let's have a quick overview of what has been happening the last 20 years of so in Canada, in the big picture - things like the big national debt and deficit, "free" trade, deregulation, globalisation, major spending cutbacks to every program benefiting your normal citizen types, big tax cuts for the wealthy and the corps - if I've missed anything important, write (no I don't want to hear about Shania Celine's husband's affairs or Bob's wedding or whatever). And who are these things benefiting? In every case, the big corps and banks and their wealthy "investors". Who are these things hurting (regardless of the propaganda emanating from the rightwind (oh what an interesting typo! - right wing wind indeed!) media)? The average people of Canada.

And here we have Paul Martin, in all probability the next PM of the country, bragging about how much support he is getting from - guess who?!?!? - drum roll....... the big corps, of course (Manley and Copps are trying to get some of the same support, but not doing very well). And what has Paul Martin been doing for the last ten years? Well, he's been Finance Minister of Canada. And what has he been doing as Finance Minister? Several things - faithfully handing over something like 25+% of Canada's national tax income to the banks and wealthy "investors" year after year with nary a word of complaint, or daring to suggest any ways of getting out of this usurious situation through legitimate use of the Bank of Canada; he's been the author of the biggest tax cuts in Canadian history for the wealthy corps and banks (Mulroney expressed his envy at one time!); he's been instrumental in slashing the budget for social programs such as healthcare and education that the corps have been demanding but almost all Canadians want maintained and improved; and he's been a strong supporter of the so-called "free trade" programs and globalisation around the world, again very high on the wish-demand-list of the big banks and corps (thee and me, we "wish" for improved health care - the big corps and banks have a rather more forceful approach than mere "wishes" - as can be seen when looking around after the presents are opened on budget day and seeing who got what... - would one dare suppose that the distribution of presents on budget day is in any way related to the distribution of donations to the Budget Minister's (or his party's) campaign funds HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA - of course one would never dare suggest such a thing in such a fine, corruption-free democracy as Canada!!!!! NEVER!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA - oh sorry gotta go and work on my Santa list hahahah!!).

Sorry - slipped over into Aliceland there for a second - a mushroom looked awful tempting. But it's pretty hard to deny the connection, if your head is anywhere at all outside of the sandbox - the corps etc give the man (and his party of course over the last decade, and PM of course but that's a story for the history books now, which we may or may not get to some day) a lot of money, and they/he do most, if not all, of the things the corps, banks etc want, in spades (not to be forgetting, of course, that in his "real" life he is one of "them" also). The quid pro quo is direct, obvious and beyond denial - a smoking gun, as it were, with the very sound of the shot still ringing in the ears - perhaps the gun was pointed at the head of the average Canadian, if she or he is not understanding what is happening - how else to explain it? (We hardly need to point out that the parties such as the NDP or Greens or CAP, who stand pretty solidly by the people and against the corps in all of the above issues, get diddly squat from the corps - of course, in the great free democracy Canada, with NOOOOOO CORRUPTION!!!! - why that would be just coincidence of course! - man, I am gonna have to get at that "coincidence theory" piece soon!)

But the kicker, of course, is that do the things the corps want, and Martin has been giving them, harm the country or most of the people? If they don't, of course, or if, as the corps and Martin maintain, they are actually GOOD for everyone - why then, obviously, no corruption - corruption by definition has to result in bad things happening to the people of the country through policies that result in good things for the corruptors. (Interesting question - if some damn rich lefty (is that an oxymoron?) gave Martin $6 million and shortly thereafter he increased corporate taxes and instituted every recommendation of the Romanow report, and thus made the country demonstrably better for the 95% of non-wealthy Canadians - would the corps and banks have a case for corruption?!?!?!? (prediction -they'd sure as hell act like they did! - don't forget, they also own the courts!)

But I digress, as happens occasionally....

And this is, of course, where opinion gets involved.

Well, we've never been accused of being short of opinion here, so let's have a look - have Martin and the Lib's policies which have been so beneficial to the corps resulted in bad things for the people of Canada?

Actually, if one were a person from another planet, with some impartial observation already of what has been happening here, facing that question, I can almost see the puzzled look, and uncertain smile - "What? Is this a trick question?" might be the response - because the damage to the country and the wellbeing of the people has been so obvious over the preceding 20 years of corporate government, that the question should not even need to be asked - it is a statement to the power of propaganda, and the rightwing control of the media, that the question is so rarely asked - and when asked, so rarely addressed by the politicians.

We would refer the reader to Mel Hurtig's book, The Vanishing Country, for the most recent statistical collection of material proving this (the country is very much worse off for most people than 10 or 20 years ago) beyond all doubt - other places to look for solid evidence of the damage to Canada over the last couple of decades would include the work of Paul Hellyer (check the Canadian Action Party website), or the Council of Canadians, or the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) website - a few hours spent with such material makes the case to a point where disagreement is really impossible except for your hardcore "my mind is made up don't bother me with the facts" type of rightwing neocon fanatic, with whom there is little point in arguing anyway unless you are, as they say, a bugger for punishment, and I won't try to repeat it all here.

And what you will find is a bunch of stuff you know already, really - healthcare is in much worse shape than it was 10 or 20 years ago, with hospital budgets pared to the bone so that any run on emergency rooms leaves people dying in corridors and ambulances for lack of personnel to treat them, long long waiting lists for many necessary treatments, staff shortages such as became so evident in the recent SARS outbreak, etc and etc and etc. The government has been claiming it had a national debt to deal with of course, but in reality has been giving the wealthy and corps huge tax breaks during this time they were cutting back on the healthcare system, and all other public expenditures - again, clear and direct, if looked at with open eyes - Bay St etc give lots of money to politicians, and benefit from tax cuts while citizens (without large donations to give!) are damaged, often seriously, by reduced services caused by government cutbacks. No rocket science here, no complex or abstruse equations required (like you find with neocon "economists" trying to justify high levels of unemployment, for instance (it's good for Big Business to have a large pool of unemployed desperate for work at any wages because social programs don't pay enough to support them, for various obvious reasons - i.e. higher profits and union busting), or that the government should allow banks to create money and borrow it from them, rather than printing the same amount themselves, thus saving the government the need for chaining themselves to high "service charges" forever and a day, or the ludicrous "Trickle Down" theory - how in the fuck do these people get degrees with the complete lack of rational thought they show is another sign of something seriously wrong here, quite possibly corruption related - i.e. bought degrees) - direct cause and effect - or bribe and payoff, if you want to be a bit more direct about it all.

And that, my friend, like it or not, is definable as corruption. Of the serious kind. Of the kind that, were we to deal with it honestly, would result in a looooooot of people going to jail for a looooong time, because they have done a looooooooot of very serious damage to the country, in many ways - not only in the debt we are carrying, the trillion plus dollars they have stolen to give to their rich benefactors, and the millions of Canadians who have lived and are living much less happy and secure lives than they might have with a bit more government support for everything from education to healthcare to decent police protection, and are also now very disillusioned with and cynical about THEIR OWN FUCKING GOVERNMENT!! - but also on the world stage, where we have lost huge amounts of good will and credibility the last 20 years when we have been supporting the drive to the New Feudalism of the Elitists' New World Order, rather than a sane and safe and good society for ALL of the people of the world, as we should have been doing, and as our destiny appeared to be during the 50s and 60s and early 70s of the last century.

Now the Bay St rightwingers, of course, will have a whole list of excuses for this (they don't support right-wing "think"tanks (oh a mind is a terrible thing to waste!) like the Fraser and CD Howe Institutes out of the charity of their little hearts!), such as the national debt was OUR fault, we greedy little citizens!!!, economic conditions in the world or US have held us back, or we haven't gone far enough yet or fast enough - but their excuses don't really hold up to any examination - that is to say, the governments have been under their control completely for the last 20 years and more, and if things aren't getting better for most Canadians, it is because things are proceeding more or less as the corps want them to proceed, and they are, thank you very much!, getting better for - ahem - the corps (you knew that didn't you? huge "investor" payouts the last few years, that sort of thing, huge bank profits? CEO salaries? sure ya did!) - and things getting better for Canadians is NOT on their list. They will not, of course, ever dare to say that - but it is true - always remember the Rat Theory with these people (you know - looks like, smells like, walks like, squeaks like a rat - even if it puts on a 3-piece expensive suit and calls itself a banker or lawyer or Bay St exec - well - you know....).

- it's so very obvious in the US right now, the government is totally corrupt, that only someone with their head in the sand up to their knees could even dare to deny it - and when the pattern is there to be observed, right out in the open - well, when the same favors and policies are happening in Canada, even if on our more modest Canadian scale, it's naive at the very best to say that it might look a bit like corruption, but really it isn't. Jesus H Christ, as the saying goes - grow the fuck up. Wake the fuck up!!!!

(HAHAHAHAHA - you were wondering when I was going to get to that weren't you?!?!?!)

Just to point out briefly the naivete, if not outright stupidity, of Saunders' general 'argument', he says, for instance -

"...Federally, Mr. Paquet said, there just isn't enough stuff to maintain serious corruption: "The amount of money that is corruptible at the federal level is not very high. Ottawa is just a machine to redistribute funds. They don't deal with many contracts." And there are obsessively devoted national media...." -

- we cannot say for sure which planet Mr. Saunders is from, but in most places on this one a budget on the order of $150 Billion dollars is a pretty fair piece of change, and with huge amounts of wiggle room (it is a government with a fairly large accountability problem - another smoking gun of serious corruption is that nothing meaningful is being done to improve it) for everything from a few hundred thou to a few million and even bigger, which is pretty regularly done, it seems, even according to the papers' rather limited efforts at finding it - and what exactly is corruption if not the "...(mis-)redistribution of funds..."?!?!? - i.e. funds that ought to be going to healthcare or education or infrastructure or other programs to improve the public weal going to wealthy "investors" in the form of "service" on the debt or tax cuts? But even that only scratches the surface - big corruption is not some kind of one-shot deal, but ongoing (look at the Bush family in the US - bigtime corruption going back at least to the 1930s, both giving and receiving) - the biggest scam in Canadian history has scammed the taxpayers for over a TRILLION dollars to date, and there is still 500 Billion outstanding, and something like 20-30% of the national income is still being diverted to this scam each year, has been for over 20 years so far, and looks to continue into the indefinite future (until people start waking up and saying WHOAAA BABE!! FUCKING WHOOAOAOAOAO!!!!!) - and to say that kind of money "...isn't enough to maintain serious corruption..." is really beyond comment - sort of like trying to seriously debate Santa with a 10-year old or something - "Look at my presents, Mr. Saunders - how can you tell me Santa doesn't exist, eh?!?". Saunders might as well be invoking the tooth fairy to support his opinions, and he really ought to get his nose out of text books (or perhaps Fraser tutorials for Grade 3-ers) about how the country theoretically works and how it really works. (of course, the theory of things is what the major media want the citizens to believe (sort of like Sesame Street for Big Kids!!), thus the appearance of pieces like this on a regular basis, reassuring everyone that no matter how bad things may look, or what them crazy conspiracy people are saying, the universe is unfolding as it should - and so it is, of course, for the corps and banks. Somewhat less so, however, for the people, who could and should be doing a hell of a lot better - kind of like having a relative with a gambling problem or something, and everyone conniving to feed his habit under the table while going deeper in debt rather than getting him or her the help they need - our politicians and banks and corporate leaders really need a taste of the 'tough love" they are so happy to prescribe for everyone else....)

- and as for "...obsessively devoted national media..." - well, with a minor exception here and there such as the Toronto Star on some days, most larger media of the last 20 years, under right-wing ownership, have been diligently pushing the corporate agenda with all their influence, so are hardly the ones to be looking to to uncover corruption, upon which the rightwing agenda so heavily depends - and not a one of them has had either the financial intelligence and/or integrity to name the debt scam for what it is, which is prima facie evidence that they are not capable of seriously dealing with such issues. One needs to be outside the box, with one's feet somewhere else besides the ever shifting quicksand of neocon "economics" (last year deficit bad!! this year deficit good!!!) (and that really was an oxymoron), to be able to see through that one with a clear eye - and the Canadian media simply do not qualify. Certainly they give the appearance of doing something at times - but it's all a smoke and mirrors show to give the appearance of doing something useful while actually being up to their eyeballs in the real corruption - lookee here at what we've found!! - while completely ignoring the bigger and more serious problems. Sacrifice a pol here and there (who's being troublesome anyway - good riddance!) to give the appearance of scrutiny, while diverting attention completely away from the real problems.

Well, if we're going to talk about how corrupt the place is - what would be better? What should the government be doing? Maybe, bad as it is, this is the best of all possible worlds, as the government likes to pretend - not perfect, of course, but gosh darn it we really are doing the very best we can for all of you!! Well - it may sound trite or something, but a pattern has emerged rather clearly the last few years - basically, if the corps want something, the best thing for society as a whole is the opposite. Rule of thumb, as the carpenters say - and sometimes the carpenters whack that thumb, but usually their kind of feet on the ground ideas are pretty sound. As is this one.

For instance - The corps want basically unregulated "free trade" a la NAFTA, FTAA, WTO, etc - VERY bad fucking idea for most of us, although great for them - the race to the bottom - they want to get YOU competing in wages and working conditions, for instance, with oppressed third world workers - any sane system would work that the other way around - so that third world workers were improving their lives - the corps like the dismal third world lives just fine, however, as it gives them great profits, and want to make YOUR job less secure and less well paid, so they can up their profits even more. Just look around at what has been happening in Canada since the FTA in 1988, and the NAFTA, and the WTO, and figure - are you and the people you know making better money now than then? Better jobs and opportunities? What about corp and bank profits? What about decent quality jobs in your community? hahahaha - small joke there! - most new "jobs" are at some kind of telemarketing center, or non-union basis, and isn't that a great paying job for your kid to look forward to, and something they can be so proud of as a career in our new globalised country! Oh well - rhetorical questions!

So - instead of "free" trade that benefits the corps - a government that cared about people first rather than profits would be promoting FAIR trade - trade that was good for people and communities, both in our "first" world and in the "third" world as well (people, after all, are people, whether the corps want to acknowledge that or not) - and if that meant that corps and banks and their shareholders had to take a hit in their profits - well, a government of the people would say Fine! (and if the corps got in a big sulk and said we're closing our factories and going somewhere else and not giving you any more "donations" - again, a government of the people would say "Fine! Begone with your corrupt ways! We will help our workers buy your factory at fair market value, and we'll all be a lot happier and more prosperous without your corrupt little fingers in the till! Leave your traitorous and selfish "values" at the border with your passports!" or something clever like that.

fuck - there's that mushroom again!

Or what about the biggie of the last few years - LOWER TAXES!!! - can you even take a wild guess at how many times you've heard that one? Thousands, at least - do you suppose there's even been one single fucking day in the last ten years when you haven't heard it at least once?!? And of course that's great for the corps and wealthy people - but what about you and the average Canadians? Those taxes are spent on health care and education and things like that - and as the corps have been getting their lower and lower taxes the last 10-20 years, what's been happening to the healthcare system? Right. What we really need from the corps is HIGHER taxes!!!! - higher, at least, than they are paying now - there is a point where taxation is fair, in return for the many benefits a could-be progressive world-class government like Canada used to and should provide (safety, good infrastructure, health care, well educated workforce, etc and etc) although you'd never know it from reading any of the rightwing papers - they yap about competitiveness and shit like that, but that's only because they know they wouldn't get to first base with the Canadian people with the truth - which is nothing more than sheer greed and selfishness. They don't give a shit about your hospitals and public education - the people who are promoting lower and lower taxes send their kids to private schools and are used to paying for first-class health care as well - and all they figure is that why should they be paying for the peasants to get the kind of health care they get themselves? As we've talked about before, although the definitive rant exposition is yet to come, for a government of the people to be truly progressive and provide a good society for all, and protection from bullies and predators like modern corps, it needs money!!! - not rocket science, but of course you're not EVER going to read about that in the corppapers - so by starving the government - YOUR government!! - of the funding it needs for these things, it is paving the way for what it is really after - the New Feudalism of the 3rd Millennium, a society of a few powerful lords and a lot of powerless peasants, a "modern" version of (really) old Europe, for instance. Crazy? Open your eyes, look around, and think about it.

So - just a quick wrap on this nonsense - Canada is a very corrupt country. The evidence is undeniable. The only reason we are still keeping our heads more or less above water is because, when the corporate revolution began in the 1970s, we were one of the best, most progressive and prosperous countries in the world, and it has taken a long time to reverse this trend, to whittle down this great society, to instill a new culture in the Canadian psyche, a culture of insecurity, acceptance of poverty, lower standards of living, and so on - a culture very much like the American culture, which the neocons so admire in its openly elitist ways, its reverence for money and brazen "fuck you" attitude towards the poor and weak, not only in their own country but around the world. But with the help of the national media, which is now almost completely in the hands of the corporate neocons, the transition is almost complete. These guys are not completely stupid, and realised they had to deal carefully with the Canadian people of the 70s, who, tasting the good life that progressive leaders like Douglas, Diefenbaker and Trudeau had begun establishing, would have protested most vociferously and maybe even stopped them (we do outnumber them by a lot, in terms of bodies) had they been forthright about what they were up to, and have done so - they have been carefully applying various fixit solutions to the shrubbery of the Canadian tree to keep it looking sort of green - while hacking away systematically and viciously at the roots - as anyone knows, allegorically speaking, it is the roots that provide the nourishment for the tree, and once you damage the roots enough, the whole tree is finished - back into reality, the roots of a functioning democracy being such things as enough money to operate a progressive modern society, a majority of decent politicians really trying to represent their constituents (and an electoral system that puts a truly representative government in power), and an open and honest and diverse press, to keep the people informed of what the fuck is really going on in the country and world. And now these important fundamentals have almost been completely erased from our "democracy" - the debt crisis and tax 'reforms" have starved the government to the point where Martin BRAGS about spending no more on government programs than the government did in the 1950s for fuck's sakes; the corps are openly buying politicians such as Martin, and MPs have virtually no power whatsoever, being completely under the PM's thumb since the days of Mulroney; and the media, of course, having been almost completely taken over by the neocon corps, endlessly preaching their dystopian "vision". And the results are also becoming more and more evident - a symbolically almost dead medical system, once the pride and joy of the country, for instance, starved for funding to the point where even the people it is supposed to serve are starting to repeat the words of the neocons, and wonder out loud if it is viable, and if some switch to private medical care like in the US isn't necessary -

The shelving a couple of days ago of the Romanow report of last year by the Premiers ought to be clear enough proof of which way things are headed - and we will have just a word or two more to say about that in a day or two.

"Is Canada corrupt" isn't even the question - what the fuck are we going to do about it, is where we have to be thinking now.

Down down down. Until a lot of people start to wake up up up.

But like any slippery slope, the path to the bottom is a fuck of a lot easier than the path back


Write if ya want.