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It's really tough to know where to begin today. I'm still anticipating the beginning of the end of Canadian civilization, while watching cascading failures and malfeasance bring down the once mighty American nation. Canadian Conservatives, thankfully, have only a minority government.
That means if they try to do any of the horrific things they really want to do, they can be stopped. The downside of this is that their forced reasonableness may make them palatable enough for voters to give them a majority. If that happens, look out.
Because in a parliamentary democracy, there are no checks and balances. A majority in parliament rules like great carnivorous dinosaur in a poultry farm. The opposition can squawk, but nothing can stop the great majority. Brian Mulroney was passing hatefully wrong legislation when he was down to a 7% approval rating. 7% pretty much means your own family is against you, and the dog won't come when you call.
But 'back-benchers' answered with their machine votes. By the time the people were able to vote the scoundrels out (but not Brian who'd already ratted off the sinking ship), their 250+ seats became 2. And yet, here is Steven Harper with his shiny new government. Twelve years later and the lunacy starts all over again.
The irony is that the American republic was meant to avoid the problems of the kingly prime minister. America was supposed to have checks and balances. But there is none of that any more. Congress has completely given up its oversight responsibility. Georgie's boys refuse even the most simple requests for information. Anything that could seem at all negative is covered up. Congress is a whipped dog that has lost the ability to even whimper.
The imperial presidency of Little George has become a tyranny. But Little George is a tyrant who knows who to pay off. He makes sure that the cave-dwelling rightists who've propped him up stay fat and rich. Whereas congress once did the people's business, it now serves the people's bosses.
Congress now uses 'conference committees' to re-write legislation that's already been passed. A few Republicans get together and - despite what was voted on in their respective chambers - change bills before they're signed. So let's say an insurance bill contains $22 billion or so in charges the industry want to not pay. Let's say the bill passes anyway. The insurance people can get to the conference members and get them to mark out that $22 billion. Couldn't happen, right? Not with these guys.
Or take the case of Georgie's deadly mismanagement of hurricane Katrina. Sure, his own party is doing the investigating, but that still doesn't mean he'll hand over any papers. They only represent - who? The American people? Forget it - Halliburton pays more. So, even though new information shows that the White House was warned of the magnitude of the impending disaster two days before the storm hit - and they did nothing - they don't have to answer any questions or provide any papers.
What about the mines? After all, people have died recently in mines in the US. And, clearly, it takes a few bodies to get any attention from the media. So what about it? Turns out, the Junta's been cutting mine inspectors. Why bother? Mining will police itself by killing innocent men every few years until a Democrat (or a democrat) hires some mine inspectors to clean up the industry. It's just part of the cycle!
Then there's the two top Junta mining officials who walked out on the gentle questioning of Arlen Spectre's committee. No sense wasting time in congress - just get Abramoff for somebody to give them a few thousand more for their re-election campaigns - they'll shut up. That's how it works now - politics is strictly a cash-and-carry proposition.
Too much, too much. And that doesn't scratch the surface of the incredible self-inflicted disaster of the drug plan. The fix for that will be whatever the Little Guy proposes for a Health Spending Account in his next assault - I mean speech. See, with a health spending account, see, you can save money while you're healthy and then immediately go bankrupt when you get sick, while rich people buy health insurance and laugh at you.
Stay tuned!
That means if they try to do any of the horrific things they really want to do, they can be stopped. The downside of this is that their forced reasonableness may make them palatable enough for voters to give them a majority. If that happens, look out.
Because in a parliamentary democracy, there are no checks and balances. A majority in parliament rules like great carnivorous dinosaur in a poultry farm. The opposition can squawk, but nothing can stop the great majority. Brian Mulroney was passing hatefully wrong legislation when he was down to a 7% approval rating. 7% pretty much means your own family is against you, and the dog won't come when you call.
But 'back-benchers' answered with their machine votes. By the time the people were able to vote the scoundrels out (but not Brian who'd already ratted off the sinking ship), their 250+ seats became 2. And yet, here is Steven Harper with his shiny new government. Twelve years later and the lunacy starts all over again.
The irony is that the American republic was meant to avoid the problems of the kingly prime minister. America was supposed to have checks and balances. But there is none of that any more. Congress has completely given up its oversight responsibility. Georgie's boys refuse even the most simple requests for information. Anything that could seem at all negative is covered up. Congress is a whipped dog that has lost the ability to even whimper.
The imperial presidency of Little George has become a tyranny. But Little George is a tyrant who knows who to pay off. He makes sure that the cave-dwelling rightists who've propped him up stay fat and rich. Whereas congress once did the people's business, it now serves the people's bosses.
Congress now uses 'conference committees' to re-write legislation that's already been passed. A few Republicans get together and - despite what was voted on in their respective chambers - change bills before they're signed. So let's say an insurance bill contains $22 billion or so in charges the industry want to not pay. Let's say the bill passes anyway. The insurance people can get to the conference members and get them to mark out that $22 billion. Couldn't happen, right? Not with these guys.
Or take the case of Georgie's deadly mismanagement of hurricane Katrina. Sure, his own party is doing the investigating, but that still doesn't mean he'll hand over any papers. They only represent - who? The American people? Forget it - Halliburton pays more. So, even though new information shows that the White House was warned of the magnitude of the impending disaster two days before the storm hit - and they did nothing - they don't have to answer any questions or provide any papers.
What about the mines? After all, people have died recently in mines in the US. And, clearly, it takes a few bodies to get any attention from the media. So what about it? Turns out, the Junta's been cutting mine inspectors. Why bother? Mining will police itself by killing innocent men every few years until a Democrat (or a democrat) hires some mine inspectors to clean up the industry. It's just part of the cycle!
Then there's the two top Junta mining officials who walked out on the gentle questioning of Arlen Spectre's committee. No sense wasting time in congress - just get Abramoff for somebody to give them a few thousand more for their re-election campaigns - they'll shut up. That's how it works now - politics is strictly a cash-and-carry proposition.
Too much, too much. And that doesn't scratch the surface of the incredible self-inflicted disaster of the drug plan. The fix for that will be whatever the Little Guy proposes for a Health Spending Account in his next assault - I mean speech. See, with a health spending account, see, you can save money while you're healthy and then immediately go bankrupt when you get sick, while rich people buy health insurance and laugh at you.
Stay tuned!
posted by fiduciary at 2:33 PM
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