Wrong Approach

Another appeal to reason over the census, is in the Star Phoenix today. It is a wonderful editorial and should be widely read. Unfortunately, an appeal to reason is the wrong approach with this government. They are immune to reason. What is needed instead is a wild charge, based on irrational fear and tribal hatred -- something designed to appeal to the average Conservative voter.

For instance, opponents of the government's decision to scrap the long form census should say that scrapping it will help Al Qaeda. If we don't know how many Muslims there are in Canada, the terrorists will use that to smuggle more suicide bombers into the country and may increase the chance that our daughters will marry one. It is complete nonsense of course, but it will scare the shit out of the Conservative base, something this government will not let stand.

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A Common Thread

This sounds very familiar:

“It just seems everybody in Ottawa that tries to do their job and let the government officials and bureaucrats know what's failing and what's wrong and what needs improvement are being canned,” said Mr. Manuge, a former army corporal who suffered a debilitating back injury in 2000.

This government does not care about "doing one's job"(ask Linda Keen or Paul Kennedy). They care about ideological purity and loyalty to Steve. Veterans are not exempt from those organizing principles. I guess it should be "Support the troops--until they deviate from our narrative".

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Still Not Getting It

From today's Toronto Star:

“When the government uses words like smuggling, Tamil Tigers and terrorists, most Canadians assume there is evidence,” said Siemiatycki. “But there isn’t … and making statements like that is irresponsible and does terrible injustice to the people on the boat.”

When will people realize that "evidence" is no longer prized in Ottawa? The government's actions on the census, the long gun registry and Stockwell Day's musings on "unreported crime", all contradict evidence. The point is, evidence is objective and appeals to the rational and is therefore suspect. In Stephen Harper's Ottawa, the emphasis is on messages that appeal to the limbic system. Stephen Harper and his mini-Republicans have learned that if you push those primitive emotional buttons and scare people to the brink of insanity, you can get them to accept just about any government policy. Evidence is the tool of the prey, not the predator, the weak, not the strong. This is a government of predators. Don't look for evidence there.

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Progress Of A Kind

Watching Power and Politics yesterday, I was struck by the exchange between Vic Toews and Evan Solomon, over the issue of terrorists on the recently seized Tamil ship. Given the way this government likes to make claims, based on what the world looks like through beer goggles, it is always prudent to ask for evidence when dealing with one of its members. To his credit, Mr. Solomon repeatedly did ask for evidence of terrorist infiltration of the ship. Clearly taken aback, Mr. Toews retreated into a "Well, I had an intelligence briefing, so there just have to be terrorists involved', stance. It was clear, that Vic Toews has no evidence. None. The fact that he had to essentially admit that he was making unsubstantiated claims, in public, is at least progress. It won't stop the Conservatives from spouting bullshit, but calling them on it, is no longer considered rude by the MSM.

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Say What?

Shorter JIm Flaherty on the census: What is all the fuss about? Why, I asked a bunch of my CEO friends the other day to come to a meeting and they did. That is the same thing as getting people to fill out long form. Case closed.

I guess for Jim, that is a random sample of opinion, eh?

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I Find Your Lack Of Faith Disturbing

Pogge points to a CBC report indicating that BMO is urging caution when it comes to ending stimulus spending. The story includes this:

To support its arguments, the bank tried to dispel what it calls myths about spending, including that bond markets are worried about high borrowing by governments.

That would usually be indicated by high interest rates as lenders priced in the higher risk of default.

But BMO said most government bond markets are showing no such concern this year.

"Quite the contrary," said the report's author, and the Bank's deputy chief economist, Douglas Porter.

"Ten-year U.S. treasury yields have recently dropped to their lowest level since April 2009, when the economy was still mired in recession and losing more than 600,000 private sector jobs per month," he said.

The fools, making logical arguments with facts and statistics. Don't they realize that facts and statistics are meaningless when weighed against the gut feelings and divinations of Stephen Harper?

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On Wasters

What would you call a government that would spend $30 million extra on a census, in order to get an inferior data set? If you said "Prudent managers of the taxpayers' money", Senator Doug Finley is standing by for your donation to the Conservative Party of Canada.

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