Photos from August 7th anti-eco-tax protest in Ottawa part 1: the speakers

Today, yet again, hundreds of people protested the illegal taxes known as eco-fees which the Ontario Government plans to re-impose on the citizens in October 2010.  (Photos from the July demonstration can be found here and here.)

The protest was organized by two local citizens:  Shirley Mosley and Debbie Jodoin.  They are the ones who took out the permits, the ones who promoted the demonstration by phoning call-in radio shows (especially Lowell Green’s Island of Sanity on CFRA).

These ladies (and I do mean ‘ladies’ as a term of high respect:  women who are leaders) are private citizens.  These protests are not your standard ‘load up all the union-members who want to keep their jobs, give them these pre-printed protest signs and make sure they look enthusiastic, or it’s off to the unemployment line for them next week’ kind of protests.

No.

These citizen activists have taken it upon themselves to do something against the lies and ever-increasing taxation levels emanating  from the Liberal Government of Ontario, its Premier, Dalton McGuinty (or was that McGuilty?) and its Communications minister, Bob Chiarelli.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  So, please, turn your word-counter off, because here come some pictures from the demonstration!

Debbie Jodoin:

Shirley Mosley:

And, they had quite a lineup of speakers!

I’ll go in sequential order (though, Debbie and Shireley also spoke in-between the other speakers):

OK – I’ll admit it:  I was late and did not catch the name of this speaker from the Canadian Taxpayers’ Association.  Is someone would, please, comment with his name, I’ll update this and, hopefully, do a bit of face-saving….  My apologies!

Here he is later, talking to the crowd:

Janet Jackson Beth Graham, the Conservative candidate who challenged Bob Chiarelli in the by-election that brought Bob back into a McGuinty Cabinet:

Lisa McLeod, the Ontario Conservative MPP for the Nepean-Carleton and someone who’s making me think that my initial assessment of her was too hasty – the more I see, the more I like her:

Rob Snow, the popular CFRA radio show-host and a bit of a local celebrity (he was at the first demonstration, too):

There was nothing subtle about Mr. Rob Snow:  he is a most awesome rabble-rouser!  And, he is an excellent speaker!  To the point!  He said – among other things –  ‘We can’t do much worse than these Liberals!’

Well said.

Mr. Snow also brought greetings and words of support from the legenday broadcaster, Lowell Green, who would have come had he not been on holidays out of town.  And, he also brought greetings from Nick Vandergragt, who is also a CFRA radio host and is currently filling in for Lowell Green.  Mr. Snow told us that Mr. Vandergragt would have lved to attend the show, but could not:  today was his wife’s birthday, and, had he abandoned her to go to the protest, she threatened to vote Liberal in the next election….  I think we all understand and appreciate Mr. Vandergragt’s sacrifice!

Last – but not least – was another CFRA legend and financial guru, Mr. John Button:

With his expertise in finance and economics, Mr. Button explained the effect this unreasonable (and in my never-humble-opinion illegal) taxation is having on the economy and the real human price which is being paid for it, especially by Ontario seniors.  Regarding the Ontario Liberals, Mr. Button gave us advice above gold:  ‘Reduce taxes!’ and ‘Throw the bums out!’

Well said!

More pictures to follow in part 2.

Urgent message from Maryam Namazi: a woman’s life is in danger

Today, I received this email, which I would like to share with everyone:

Iran stoning case, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is at imminent risk of execution in Tabriz prison.Moreover, her well known human rights lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei, is in prison in Turkey after having fled the country to evade arrest for his advocacy work. His wife remains in prison in Iran – held hostage – until he is remanded into the regime’s custody (http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/?p=1652). Given Turkey’s close relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mostafaei can face deportation back to Iran even though he has applied for refugee status with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees there.

Campaigners are concerned about the safety of Mostafaei and his wife. We are also extremely concerned for Ashtiani’s life. The regime may be preparing to execute her within the next few days, particularly given that the Tabriz prosecutor has demanded her execution and is awaiting the Tehran high court’s confirmation (http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/?p=1665).

In her most recent heart-wrenching message, she says:

“I am now quiet and sad because a part of my heart is frozen.

The day I was flogged in front of [my son] Sajjad, I was crushed and my dignity and heart were broken.

The day I was given the stoning sentence, it was as if I fell into a deep hole and I lost consciousness.

Many nights, before sleeping, I think to myself how can anybody be prepared to throw stones at me; to aim at my face and hands? Why?

I thank all of you from Tabriz Prison.

Mrs [Mina] Ahadi, tell everyone that I’m afraid of dying. Help me stay alive and hug my children.”

As a result the public outcry, Brazilian president Lula da Silva has offered Ashtiani asylum there. Ashtiani has accepted the offer (http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/08/sakineh-ashtiani-accepts-brazilian.html). The regime, however, has rejected it and continues to push for her execution and to disseminate misinformation on her case. It says it intends not to stone her but to execute her for murdering her husband. At the 30 July press conference in London, Mina Ahadi exposed the regime’s misinformation on the case and revealed court documents showing Ashtiani’s sentence of death by stoning for adultery. [In fact, she was acquitted of any murder charges; even those found guilty of murdering her husband have not been executed at the request of the victim’s family.]

At the 30 July press conference, Maryam Namazie also refuted claims made by the embassy of the Islamic regime of Iran in London and the former French ambassador to Iran that stonings in Iran were rare; she referred to a new report published by the International Committee against Executions which has found that over 100 people have been stoned with 25 known cases currently awaiting death by stoning in Iran (http://www.iransolidarity.org.uk/Stoning%20List%20(1989-2010)_edited.doc). Other speakers at the press conference AC Grayling spoke of the contradiction between a medieval government and a progressive population wanting to be free whilst Peter Tatchell stressed the importance of supporting Sakineh and all those languishing on death row.

Given the imminent risk of execution faced by Ashtiani and the insecure status of her lawyer in Turkey we urge the public to act now.

Ashtiani’s stoning and execution orders must be rescinded, she must be immediately released and there must be an end to stoning and executions.

PLEASE ACT NOW!

1- Send Sakineh a postcard of the city you live in or are visiting this summer telling her you are thinking of her and other prisoners on death row in Tabriz prison. You can address it to:
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
Tabriz Prison
Tabriz, Iran
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=tabriz+prison&fb=1&gl=uk&hq=prison&hnear=Tabriz,+Iran&view=map&cid=5511433647417998115&iwloc=A&ved=0CBcQpQY&sa=X&ei=kRVbTK2HKJOe_gaemtzoBA

2- Write letters of protest to the Islamic regime of Iran demanding Ashtiani’s release and an end to stonings and executions. Protest letters can be addressed to the below:

Head of the Judiciary
Sadeqh Larijani
Howzeh Riyasat-e Qoveh Qazaiyeh (Office of the Head of the Judiciary)
Pasteur St., Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhouri
Tehran 1316814737, Iran
Email: info@dadiran.ir or via website: http://www.dadiran.ir/tabid/75/Default.aspx
First starred box: your given name; second starred box: your family name; third: your email address

Head of the Judiciary in East Azerbaijan Province
Malek-Ashtar Sharifi
Office of the Head of the Judiciary in Tabriz
East Azerbaijan, Iran

Sayed ‘Ali Khamenei
The Office of the Supreme Leader
Islamic Republic Street – Shahid Keshvar Doust Street
Tehran, Iran
Email: via website: http://www.leader.ir/langs/en/index.php?p=letter (English)
http://www.leader.ir/langs/fa/index.php?p=letter (Persian)

Secretary General, High Council for Human Rights
Mohammad Javad Larijani
Howzeh Riassat-e Ghoveh Ghazaiyeh
Pasteur St, Vali Asr Ave., south of Serah-e Jomhuri
Tehran 1316814737, Iran
Fax: +98 21 3390 4986
Email: bia.judi@yahoo.com

3- Sign petitions in support of her case if you haven’t already done so. Here are two of them: http://stopstonningnow.com/sakine/sakin284.php?nr=50326944&lang=en, http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_stoning/?cl=651962225&v=6766.

4- Write to government officials, heads of state, MEPs and MPs in your country of residence calling on them to intervene to save her life and to cease recognition of a regime that stones people to death in the 21st century. See Mina Ahadi’s recent letter to heads of states on this: http://stopstonningnow.com/wpress/?p=1694.

5- Join protests to save her life. On 10 August come out in support of Ashtiani. On 28 August join 100 cities against stoning. More information to follow.

6- Write to the Turkish government asking them to release Mohammad Mostafaei and to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Turkey urging them to grant him refugee status and expedite his resettlement to a safe third country.

Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Basbakanlik
06573 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: +90-312-417 0476

Minister of Interior
Icisleri Bakanligi
06644 Ankara
Fax: +90 312 417 23 90

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Disisleri Bakanligi
06100 Ankara
Fax: +90 312 419 1547
webmaster@mfa.gov.tr

UNHCR – Branch Office in Turkey
Tiflis Cad. 552. Sok. No: 3
Sancak Mah. 06550 Ankara
Turkey
Fax: +90 312 441 21 73
Via website: http://www.unhcr.org.tr/MEP/index.aspx?pageKey=BizeUlasin

7- Donate to the important work of the International Committee Against Stoning, International Committee Against Executions and Iran Solidarity by making your cheque payable to ‘Count Me In – Iran’ and sending it to BM Box 6754, London WC1N 3XX, UK. You can also pay via Paypal (http://countmein-iran.com/donate.html). Please earmark your donation.

NOTES:

* See information on 30 July press conference in London here: http://www.youtube.com/user/rezamoradi and here: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/07/press-coverage-on-30-july-press.html.

* See clip of Islamic Republic’s state TV’s misinformation on the 24 July International Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani Day protests we organised and Ashtiani’s case. The regime blurs out her face, uses only her initials and says she was sentenced to execution for brutally murdering her husband. A translation of the court document sentencing her to death by stoning for adultery is available here which refutes their statements on her case: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/07/islamic-regime-of-irans-broadcast-on-24.html.

* See a report of the successful 24 July International Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani Day here: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/07/24-july-huge-success.html and here: http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/2010/07/media-coverage-of-24-july-2010-world.html.

* For more information contact:
Mina Ahadi, Germany, International Committee Against Stoning and International Committee Against Executions Coordinator, minaahadi@aol.com, 0049 1775692413; http://notonemoreexecution.org/; http://stopstonningnow.com.

Maryam Namazie, UK, Iran Solidarity Spokesperson, iransolidaritynow@gmail.com, 0044 7719166731, Iran Solidarity: http://www.iransolidarity.org.uk; http://iransolidarity.blogspot.com/.

Another eco-tax protest planned for Saturday, 7th of August in Ottawa

When:  Saturday, 7th of August, 2010, 12:00 noon – 2:00 pm

Where: Bob Chiarelli’s constituency office at 2249 Carling Avenue (near Woodroffe), Ottawa

Why:  Bob Chiarelli, the Communication Minister – let’s communicate!!!

17th of July, 2010 saw a protest in front of Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s office, as Ontario residents were outraged that the Ontario Government had permitted an industry organization to levy direct taxes on the populace.

The industry organization is called Stewardship Ontario (not to be confused with the Government initiative called Ontario Stewardship).  The taxes this industry organization has been permitted to levy on the citizens of Ontario is called ‘eco-fees’.

Pictures from the rally can be seen here and here, more on the eco-fees is here and here.

The July demonstration – along with other pressure – had succeeded.  At least a little bit…

Most (not all) of the eco-fees had been temporarily stopped.  But, the Ontario Government – the same one 3 of whose departments are being investigated by the rackets division of RCMP is planning to re-introduce these fees in a different, better-hidden form in October of this year.

Happy?

Chances are, not so much…

Here is a chance to send a message to the McGuinty government that  permitting industry to tax us – openly or in hidden ways – is unacceptable.  The same folks who organized the July demonstration are at it again:  there will be a demonstration in front of Bob Chiarelli’s constituency office this coming Saturday, 7th of August, at noon.

In my never humble opinion, Bob Chiarelli is the slimiest, most contemptible politician in Ottawa (which is filled with a lot of politicians), even when Dalton McGuinty is in town….  But, I know many people who like him even less than I do.  Still, that is not the point of this demonstration.  The illegal eco-taxes are.

The protest is organized by Shirley (sorry, I did not catch her last name), and I have heard about it on the radio (CFRA).  So, this is all I know about it.  If you have more information, please, let me know and I will update this post with it!

If you will be in Ottawa on Saturday – see you there!

‘A Mafioso-type Style Government’

Looks like a defenestration may be imminent!

City of Ottawa officials and civil servants – take note!  We are not far from this here – us dumb peasants is getting restless!

On a completely unrelated note…

Mr. Dalton, McGuinty, Mr. Bob Chiarelli, Jim Watson – can you please explain to us why the ‘rackets’ department of the OPP raided 3 – THREE – Ontario government departments???

Pat Condell: The Enemy Within

Taxes, serfdom and the story of Kozina

When the practice of ‘serfdom’ was first introduced, it was nowhere as oppressive as it grew to be later on.  In some instances, at the beginning, the ‘serfs’ had to provide as little as 3-4 days of service to the ‘lord’ per season – in return for the ‘lord’ being responsible to maintain peace and order in his domain..

Gradually, the amount of work required of the serfs kept creeping higher and higher, the responsibilities of the ‘lord’ to the serfs kept getting smaller and smaller and the powers of the ‘lord’ over the ‘serfs’ kept getting bigger and bigger as the ‘lords’ increasingly used their powers against the ‘serfs’ instead of in their protection.

By the end, things were not so good…. People were compelled – often forced by armed guards – to work for their ‘lord’ from sun-up to sun-down 6 days a week, every week…

These days, we pay so much of our incomes in taxes – it can reach more than 50% of a family’s income.  The State sets the level of taxation one-sidedly and The State has usurped for itself extraordinary powers to compel you to pay these taxes, even suspending your innate civil rights as irrelevant in the process!

Indeed, the parallels to serfdom are increasingly undeniable!

Which is why I’d like to tell you a story about a peasant who refused to become a serf (in the original, ‘robotnik’ – this is the root of the word ‘robot’).  His name was Jan Sladky Kozina.

This narration is not exactly the way the story is written up in the history books.  Nor does it match the ‘official’ or even ‘semi-official’ narratives put on the internet by people who claim (probably rightly) to be the genetic descendants of the Dogheads.  I am not re-telling the story with any claim to ‘factual accuracy’.

Rather, here and now – to us, this version of the story has great archetypal relevancy!

Like Kozina, this storyteller (who was in his 90’s when, I was a child,) was a Chod, born and raised as a ‘Doghead’ – but a ‘few’ generations too young to have lived through these events himself.  Still, he was not so young as to not have heard the story from the grandchildren or great-grand-children of the actual people who lived this story!  (While there are many guesses – some of them more educated than others – there is no definitive answer as to who the Chods were, where they came from or what their mythology truly was.)

OK – to the story, as I remember it having been told me by an ancient story teller:

The ‘Dogheads’ were not your ordinary peasants. They were a people of their own, with a proud and ancient heritage.

One of their unique skills was in animal communication and training – especially training dogs (hence they had the head of a dog in their clan symbol (is it a coat of arms when it refers to the clan and not a specific person?) – and the nomicker ‘Dogheads’). The Dogheads were the only bunch of people in feudal Europe to have a document officially exempting them from serfdom.

Many historians claim it was written by John of Luxemburg, the father of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, in recognition for ‘extraordinary services’.

That was the ‘outside’ story.

Our ‘inside’ tradition says that the papers GIVEN to us by John of Luxembourg were simply his acknowledgment of much older and more powerful claims/documents (depending on who told the story, it was either ‘ancient claims that everyone acknowledged’ or a chest full of very ‘ancient documents’). (A few old Dogheads actually claimed these ‘even older’ documents put the Dogheads outside the jurisdiction of even the Inquisition – but that is hard to believe…)

For centuries, all the kings respected this.

Until a bad, greedy king came to power.

He refused to recognize the Dogheads innate freedoms and documents ordering all kings to recognize our rights to these freedoms. This bad king deeded their land to a nobleman who paid him off – effectively turning the Dogheads into this man’s serfs (this was a little over 3 centuries ago).

The Dogheds were not keen on this. They refused to submit to serfdom (‘robota’) and petitioned the king, but the king refused to hear the petition.

The Dogheads did not know what to do.

Many wanted to take up arms and die fighting rather than submit to serfdom – but taking up arms against the king was abhorrent, because it would be an open rebellion against the position and not just the evil man who occupied it.

They could never justify such violent means to achieve any good end.

So, Kozina (that is how he was referred to commonly by his clan) chose a different way: He publicly displayed the documents guaranteeing the Dogheads freedom from serfdom in perpetuity, proving to everyone that the king was indeed the one who was breaking the laws!

This cost the king dearly, because all the noble houses and all the people saw him for what he was…. a criminal thug! An usurper! An unfit king!

But, he still had a big army…

Embarrassing the king publicly was not so very good for Kozina’s longevity. The king had Kozina tossed into jail and sent in his army to install this nobleman (whatever his name was, we called him Lomikar) as our overlord.

Then, the king permitted Lomikar to have Kozina tortured and publicly hanged.

At the gallows, Kozina looked at Lomikar and said:

“Lomikare, Lomikare!  Do roka a do dne, zvu te na sud Bozi!  Hync sa hukaze – “

Kozina spoke in the old Chod dialect…..and the way the words are put together is said to have the quality of a magical incantation. Roughly translated:

“Lomikar, Lomikar!  In one year to the day, I challenge you to God’s judgement! Then it shall be shown – “

He never got to say any more, because Lomikar was wildly gesticulating to the executioner to ‘get it done’ and not let Kozina talk, because he feared he himself might get lynched by the people watching the execution, as the Czechs were rather empathetic to the Chods.

One year later – on the day which was the anniversary of Kozina’s execution – everyone expected Lomikar to be judged by God. Lomikar lives – Lomikar (and, by extension, the king) was right.. Lomikar dies (and stays dead) – Kozina was right.

To show just how ‘not worried’ he was, Lomikar put on a bit of a feast to which he invited his friends (but not the Dogheads).

Just as he was about to make a toast – to mock Kozina’s last words – Lomikar grabbed his chest, fell over and he breathed nevermore…

Nobody else wanted to be the overlord who turned the Dogheads into serfs. The king was told unceremoniously to stuff it and leave the Dogheads be, because God would punish ANYONE who tried to oppress us.

So, after one year of serfdom, the Dogheads were free people once again!

I do hope you liked the old storyteller’s tale.  We still can learn from Kozina!

Ontario’s illegal ‘eco-tax’ scrapped and ‘under review’

Last Saturday, there was a protest at Premier Dalton McGuinty’s constituency office.  Yes, even his brother, David McGiunty (a federal MP for this part of Ottawa) showed up at the protest!

The protest was sparked by a totally evil thing the McGuinty Liberals have done:  on the same day that prices went up because of the introduction of HST (no problem with the ‘what’ of the HST, but rather the ‘how’ – it was imposed on tons of products previously tax exempt – an unelected agency of the Ontario Government, whose board of directors is composed of ‘industry partners’, imposed an ‘eco-fee’ on  over 8 thousand  new items…

I say ‘new items’, because this ‘eco-fee/eco-tax’ had first been introduced in 2008:  but so quietly, on not that many items, and not so high…..so nobody really ‘noticed’ it.  Having ‘established’ this method and legitimized it (no protests were seen against it), the McGuinty Liberals then cynically decided that the danger was ‘past’ and they can begin to ‘tighten the screws’.

This is an important pattern we must be aware of:  a government – any government – can introduce some measure.  Perhaps this measure is not really noticed (like this ‘Stewardship Ontario’ program – not to be confused with a completely different and unrelated government initiative called ‘Ontario Stewardship’), or perhaps it is even applauded by the populace because it appears to remove a perceived (rightly or wrongly perceived) threat (like, say, banning the full Islamic facial veil).  Once the measure and the method has been ‘accepted’ and ‘normalized’, the government can then expand on it:  using this new ‘tool’ to their own benefit.  If anyone speaks out – they can claim this is ‘the accepted way of doing things’!

That is why we need to really really examine not just the ‘what’ of each thing a government does, of each new law passed, but perhaps even more importantly – the ‘how’ of it!    But, I am off on a tangent….sorry, I have the attention span of a gnat!

Today, the Ontario Environment Minister announced that the ‘eco-fees’ are ‘scrapped’.

Not exactly ‘gone‘….

Just their current format is ‘scrapped’.

For now, the Ontario Government will take 3 months to ‘study’ the issue – and pay five million dollars from general revenue over the next 3 months to maintain the programs while it tries to figure out another way to  stick us with the bill.

Bob Chiarelli, the Ontario Government’s Communication Minister (and thus the guy who ought to have told us about this), has openly claimed in both the press and radio interviews that ‘NONE of the money collected through the eco-fees  goes to GOVERNMENT’ – yet we are now told that programs like the ‘Blue Box recycling’, which we have been told are paid from our municipal property taxes and their cost used as a justification to raise the municipal taxes, well, we are now being told these programs are being 100% paid for through the eco-fees!

So – which is it?

Are we paying for recycling programs through our property taxes – as our municipal politicians are telling us – or are we paying for it through this eco-fee?  One level of government or the other has GOT to be lying!

But, I am off on a tangent again…

What is important – really important – about this ‘eco-fee’ is the HOW of it all…

Ontario Government had – ages ago –  created ‘Stewardship Ontario’ with a board of ‘industry partners’ to work on these recycling initiatives.   The idea was that since industry is producing the things which need to be diverted from garbage dumps, they ought to be consulted on ways to deal with diverting ‘stuff’ from the dumps.  We were told it was supposed to be a sort of a ‘think tank’ type thing.

The Board of Directors of Stewardship Ontario is  truly made up of ‘industry giants’:  from McCain Foods and Canadian Tire Corp. to Procter & Gamble and Loblaw Companies Ltd. …

So, this ‘arms-length’ organization, with a BOD made up entirely of ‘industry partners’ (read ‘big business corporations’) is given power, by the government, to tax citizens!!!

What is the definition of fascism?

Ah – fascism is DEFINED as  ‘the collusion of big government and big business’!!!

How much more ‘collusion’ can there be between ‘big government’ and ‘big business’ than for the government to give the big business the ability to levy taxes (which is what non-voluntary fees are) on the citizens?!?!?!?

Ontario taxpayers have seen some serious money mismanagement in the past.  The ‘e-Health’ scandal has been a billion-dollar program that funneled money from the woefully broke medical system to ‘advisers’ who were not just highly overpaid McGuinty cronies, they also provided exactly zero value for their services….

Now, Lisa McLeod, an opposition MPP, has revealed during a radio interview that some of these same e-Health consultants are also ‘consulting’ for Stewardship Ontario…

Please, think of this:  the very sleazy skum-buckets  who claimed the Ontario Government is not the one who imposed these ‘fees’ have had no problem ‘scrapping them’…because now, the Ontario Government is taking credit for ‘scrapping’ them.

And, in 3 month’s time, they hope to have figured out another way to weasel the money out of us!

Photos from ‘McGuinty eco-tax’ protest, Ottawa

Today, a crowd of several hundred people had gathered in front of Premier Dalton McGuinty’s constituency office to protest the illegal taxes he has imposed on Ontario taxpayers, disguised as ‘eco-fees’.

The photos speak for themselves:

There was a visible – put very polite and respectful police presence.  Their only concern seemed to be that nobody got run over by the many cars driving by (and mostly honking).  One could not help but get the impression that they kind of agreed with the protesters!

The above picture is across the street from Dalton McGuilty’s office – the parking lot in the ratty-little strip mall where he has his office was too small to hold the protest, so it spilled across the street (no sidewalk there) and even into the near side street!

Dalton McGrinchy himself made an appearance!

With his trusty ECO-VAC, he was vacuuming everyone’s money!

The  reporters/media just LOVED  Dalton McGrinchy!

OK – I am a really really bad reporter – I don’t even know the names of the people who organized it , or most of the speakers.  However, I did recognize CFRA’s popular Rob Snow, who really got the crowd whipped up!

By this point, it had begun to rain – a little.

Then, somebody (OK, Jessica) made a discovery:  David McGuinty, Dalton’s brother and a Liberal MP for this riding, was sitting in his car in the parking lot!

While we all concluded that even Dalton’s brother supports this protest, once his identity had been revealed, he drove away bravely.  Due to the rain, the picture I got turned out too foggy to use…  Sorry!

Anyhow…

It was quite a crowd:  young and old and in-between!

Dalton McGuinty was unavailable for comment:  rather than coming to the protest and facing the music, he chose to go on holiday….on our dime!

Update:  even more photos.

‘Consensus-building’ and ‘leadership’

From our schools to our media to our bureaucracies, every aspect of our society is so infested with Cultural Marxism that ‘Newspeak’ has seriously corrupted not just our language, but our very ability to think clearly.  We no longer even recognize it when we hear it.

One such example is the currently popular claim that ‘leadership’ requires one to be skilled at ‘consensus building’.

First, let’s look at the meaning of ‘leadership’ and what constitutes ‘a leader’:

‘Leadership’ is the ‘ability to lead’, fulfilling the role or function of a ‘leader’.

‘To lead’ means to ‘show way by going in advance’, ‘to guide’, ‘to direct’, ‘to inspire’.

So, whom do we, as a society, regard as the greatest leaders of all times?  I did a little bit of googling on this – please, do the same.  While the leaders ‘closest’ to us necessarily dominate our cultural memory, there were some names that consistently keep being mentioned, by educational sites, journalistic/populist opinion sites and discussion boards alike.

In no particular order, these are just some of these names that keep cropping up over and over when people discuss ‘great leaders’:

  • Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Elisabeth I of England
  • Gengis Khan
  • Epicurus
  • Alexander the Great
  • Ghandi
  • Margaret Thatcher
  • Golda Meir
  • George Washington
  • Cyrus the Great
  • Winston Churchill
  • Muhammad
  • Constantine
  • Samudragupta
  • Wu Ti
  • Ivan III
  • Napoleon
  • Thomas Jefferson
  • Abraham Lincoln
  • C. D. Howe
  • Ronald Reagan
  • Bismarck

So, how many of these were known as ‘consensus builders’?

If I may quote from ‘What is ‘Cultural Marxism’?’, a guest-post on this blog by CodeSlinger:

Another example is the concept of intersubjective rationality, developed by Habermas, which replaces the individual process of reaching a conclusion based on the objective criterion that it follows from valid reasoning and known facts, on the one hand, with the social process of establishing a consensus supported by the subjective criterion that the group feels good about it, on the other hand. In today’s schools, those who do the former are maligned for being judgmental and demanding, while those who do the latter are praised for being good team players.

‘Consensus’ literally means ‘coming together’ (con) ‘of feelings’ (senses, sentiments).  Dictionaries typically define ‘consensus’ as an opinion or position reached by a group as a whole.

In other words, ‘consensus building’ is a form of governance a group of people will resort to when it lacks ‘leadership’.

How does this translate into the political world?  We are constantly bombarded with the message that great political leaders ought to be skilled at ‘consensus building’…

Our ‘Western’ societies have built-in safeguard mechanisms to ensure that ‘governments’ remain accountable to the citizens who elect them.  Perhaps the most important single element in this mechanism is that our elected bodies are based on the adversarial principle.

It is precisely because the political adversaries of those who propose a particular policy or course of action bring public scrutiny to it by publicly pointing out the flaws or shortcomings of this proposal that the issue is brought to public attention and thoroughly examined.  It is certainly not a pleasant process (nor is it meant to be pleasant), but it is one through which at least some light is shed onto what is being proposed – in as much detail as possible – and which engages the electorate in the debate (at least a little bit).

This is the method through which, in our system, we the citizens keep our elected politician accountable to us.  It is therefore important that we do nothing which would minimize this process!

What would happen if, before proposing a new law or introducing a new project, the head of the group that is proposing it went to all the elected representatives and put just enough of an ‘incentive’ into the proposal for each an every one of the representatives to not want to loose that ‘carrot’?

Certainly, any such project would be significantly costlier, because in addition to the core cost, it would now have to also bear the cost of a ‘carrot’ for each of the elected representatives – the bit that got them to ‘go along’ with it.

Of course, any such law or rule would be significantly more convoluted because it would now have to accommodate/fulfill/have exemptions for/’bundle in’ all the ‘carrots’  for each of the elected representatives – the ‘incentives’ that would be built in to it to ‘facilitate the building of the consensus’.

Every ‘quid’ would have a ‘quo’.

All policy would be shaped by back-room deals, where ‘consensus builders’ would be busy building ‘accommodations’ and ‘incentives’ into everything that would placate or mollify any potential dissent….among the elected representatives.

Once this process was done, the product would be presented to the public as a ‘done deal’.  I imagine the ‘dialog’ with the electorate would go something like this:

We have worked it all out, the proposal is so awesome that we all agree on it!

What?  You want to see the details?

Why?

We, your elected representatives all agree on this so this must the best course of action.  We have examined it in detailed and built a consensus – you needn’t worry your pretty little heads about it!

What?  You don’t like it?  You want to vote us out?

And replace us with whom?  EVERYONE agrees with this!

In other words, if there is a consensus among our elected representatives on a proposed course of action, if each and every one of them considers it in his or her best interest to proceed with it as is, it is very unlikely that the voters, the citizens, will have any opportunity to learn much about it before it is implemented.  There is another word for this type of ‘consensus’:  collusion!

In an environment like this, an environment of back-room-deals and political collusion, where there is little controversy which leads to public debate or scrutiny of proposed policies, corruption can be very easily hidden.

In my never-humble-opinion, ‘consensus-building’ among elected representatives is not just anathema to responsible government and an abdication of leadership, it is an active attempt to corrupt our governance structures and eliminate accountability of elected officials to the citizenry.

I would even go further than that:  politicians who tout governing through ‘consensus-building’ are openly admitting they intend to rule through corruption!

Obama to get power to turn off the internet – worldwide

Sit up and pay attention.

I have been ranting on and on, that we need to set up a parallel system to the internet:  one so diffuse that it could not be controlled by any authority.

Why?

Because various governments have been attempting to strangle the freedom to exchange information which people all over the world have been exercising:  and which has been a powerful weapon against suppressing information that various governments would rather not make public.

This coming Sunday will be the first anniversary of the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan.  If her death was not caught on video and posted on the internet for all the world to see, would we know as much as we do about the protests against the rigged elections in Iran?  (On this note – the demonstration which is taking place in London, England, to mark the anniversary of her death this Sunday has had its location moved by the police at the last minute:  instead of Trafalgar Square, it will be held at Richmond Terrace junction with Whitehall opposite Downing Street.)

Of course, this is just the tiny tip of a huge iceberg!

It’s EVERYTHING!!!

It usually starts with ‘protecting children’ – after all, who could be against protecting our children?!?!

So, filters and tracking traps go on.

Then it’s pornography.

And black lists.

Of course, history has shown us (the last revelations were from Australia, were they not?) that most of the sites that are blacklisted and censored do not actually have anything to do with paedophilia or even pornography.  Rather, most have been political sites critical of the ruling government and/or the censorship bodies.

After these two biggies comes ‘security’.

Again, it is an emotional appeal that precludes any reasonable argument without being accused of siding with terrorists and criminals and other ‘enemies’.

And it is exactly this reasoning that lies behind the PCNAA (Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act) that Joe Lieberman, with vigorous support from Jay Rockefeller (the guy who thinks the world would be better off without the internet) is pushing through!

This bill – once law – would give Obama the power to shut down the internet.

Everywhere.

Remember that saying – the one about people who are willing to give up freedom for security not deserving either?

So, any ideas on an alternate method of connecting up?

If we get a few good ideas, we can take this off-line:  you know, before the line goes dead….