....AND THE ROCKET'S RED GLARE

At this juncture it is still difficult to predict how our American friends and neighbours will ultimately react to plans by the Government of Canada to mark, note and celebrate every aspect of the bicentennial of the "War of 1812" which will be getting underway in earnest shortly after the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Day.

Despite the cutbacks and austerity measures which will kick-in in the immediate aftermath of the Federal Government's early spring budget, Mr. Harper's Government has earmarked millions of tax dollars for celebrations and commemoration of the war between the American States and British North American troops, French Canadian compatriots and First Nations' Aboriginals (who sided with the Empire) and fought-off and won against U.S. aggression between 1812 and 1814.

From the iconic Johnny Horton top 40 tune "The Battle of New Orleans" of the early 1960's all the way back to America's cherished national anthem "The Star Spangled Banner," written by poet Francis Scott Key as he witnessed the British/Canadian assault on Fort McHenry in 1814;  the defeat of the Americans in the War of 1812 strikes at the very "being" of the United States.

Perhaps fortunately for us north of the border, the commemorations about to get underway may be overshadowed by the lead-up to, the debates, the conventions, the campaigns and the confrontations of the crucial November 2012 next election of the President of the United States.

Not exactly as illustrated, but you get the idea!

Regardless, unlike tensions rising elsewhere on the planet,  the United-States has little to fear from the Harper Government's somewhat misguided efforts (American style) to encourage Canadian patriotism over the next 5 years leading to Canada's Sesquicentennial of 2017. On the other side of the world matters of far greater and immediate concern, including Vladimir Putin's campaign for the Russian Presidency; tensions with the rogue states of Iran and North Korea; ongoing irritants with Paskistan over the prosecution of the Afghan War; and the country's accumulating massive debt to China (a significant contributor to America's spiralling economic crisis) - and surely many other things in between, will end-up by default on the next President's agenda.

As with the case of the legendary Laura Secord, the Canadian milk maid of the aforementioned War of 1812, through Mata Hari, the Dutch exotic dancer of the Great War, and the U-2 spy-plane flown by Col. Francis Gary Powers which crashed 'intact' in Russia in 1960 - In matters of human conflict;  access to unprocessed, wholesome and relevant strategic information about your enemy is as important as prosecuting an offensive.  Thus, though publicly low-key, in official Washington there has been some consternation over the loss of the on-board secret technology of the pilot less drone spy-plane which crashed (apparently also intact) in Iran on December 4. - In the relentless campaign to unseat President Barack Obama from the White House next year, some Republican candidates are even advocating early military strikes against the Iranians...I digress!

A prototype of the X-37B after an initial test flight in 2010.

But whether it is in flights over its own borders with Canada and Mexico, or in spy-like missions flying over rogue states like Iran and North Korea; like its U-2 predecessor, America's reliance on the low-flying technology of pilot less drone aircraft is probably close to ending anyway. Behold the X-37B space drone...An ultra-secretive shuttle-like vehicle currently orbiting the planet at 17,000 miles per hour. The United-States Air Force confirmed just a few days ago that its initial 9-months "mission" is being extended. Of course the Air Force will not confirm the objective of the X-37B, but most skeptics think that the vehicle's mission is somehow defence and/or spy-related. In fact, amateur astronomers accidentally detected the orbital pattern of a prototype in May 2010. According to their data the X-37B's orbits included flyovers of, you guessed it: North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The manufacturer of the current variant of the X-37B, the Boeing Corporation, confirms that the space plane was launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida last March. Coincidentally just last month, NASA turned-over its "Orbiting Processing Facility No.3" to the Boeing Corporation. It's being described in the local press as a..."first-of-a-kind agreement allowing a private company to take over the government property." - Orbiting Processing Facility No.3 was previously used to ready the Space Shuttle for flight. A government austerity program ended the Space Shuttle program this past summer after more than 20 years.

In the spy business, staying just ahead of the competition is a daunting task. As pretty much everyone expected, but hoped against in the aftermath of the launch of "Sputnik" in October 1957, Space (the final frontier) has incrementally changed from an experimental planetary test laboratory to a giant "eye in our sky". We are no longer alone, indeed!

STAND ON GUARD FOR THEE

Actor Johnny Depp who stars in an autobiographical film about Hunter S. Thompson, "The Rum Diary" which opens this weekend, says the journalist/author committed suicide in 2005 because of his growing disillusionment over the collapse of the America dream. Depp says Thompson's faith in, and disappointment with, America resulted in a..."bubbling oozing rage especially during the Bush era."

Perhaps a lesson not too late to grasp for moderates growing rageful at the people who attempt to run our lives. - Oh, Canada! A country with a proud history of accommodation, peacekeeping and inclusion, in the grips of the new hawks of the western world who, in the name of their "War on Big Government" justify policies which make no sense, decisions that can't be justified and initiatives only understood by the few who may be privy to a hidden agenda.

Lest I digress: "War" is such a distasteful term that it should NEVER be utilized in the same sentence as government; and most certainly never to justify initiatives against the democratically constituted institutions of a peaceful society. I am disappointed at the orchestrated attacks against our cultural institutions primarily CBC/Radio-Canada, fronted by Sun Media and its parent company Quebecor and I fear, orchestrated within the deepest recesses of the corridors of elected power.

Canada has changed incrementally since the election of January 2006. So it is outrageous that on at least six separate occasions since the election last May of Mr. Harper's first majority Conservative government it's seen fit and appropriate to limit legitimate democratic debate in the House of Commons on important (some critical) matters such as the Omnibus Crime Bill and all of its ramifications, cutting subsidies to political parties, cutting the powers of the Wheat Board and the Gun Registry.

They claim, as the parliamentary weekly newspaper "The Hill Times" reports this week, to be simply cleaning-up the backlash from 5 years of minority stalemate in Parliament so that..."they have an opportunity to hit the reset button and some time in 2012 come with a new Throne Speech that sets (Mr. Harper's) longer-term agenda." May Heaven help us!

"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercise in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."

Canadian - American economist, John Kenneth Galbraith (1908-2006)

WHAT WOULD JESUS CUT?

It is increasingly apparent as the un-official campaigning for the 2012 run at the Presidency ramps-up in the United States that evangelical Protestantism and extreme fiscal conservatism have somehow become entangled. The front-runner in the current round of Republican Party candidates seeking the party's nomination, the Governor of Texas Rick Perry, has been focussing on politics, prayer and redemption from his one pulpit.

Pundits denounce this brand of  Christianity as focussed on fear, and in Governor Perry's case an abuse of power.  Harsh critics say this most fundamentalist of born-again credo seems so strict that if the alternative to raising taxes involves gutting services such as umemployment benefits in a time of severe joblessness, basic medical care, food stamps or shelter for the homeless - well, so be it!

Perhaps there were elements of truth; certainly an air of surrealism on Monday during the CNN/Tea Party Express debate in Tampa, Florida when the moderator, Wolf Blitzer, asked a hypothetical question about whether a man without health insurance should be provided medical care in the event of an accident - "Are you saying that society ahould just let him die?" Blitzer asked. - Before the candidate could reply several shouts of "yeah!" came from the audience.

Reporting on the Tea-Party sponsored Tampa debate, the Canadian Press  noted: "It was the second Republican debate in less than a week to feature such a show-stopper from the audience. Last week in California, Rick Perry got the most boisterous cheers of the night when he noted proudly that 234 people had been executed in Texas in the 11 years he's been governor."  Tongue set firmly in cheek, a liberal commentor Tweeted: "Given all the applause for death in the last two GOP debates, the Grim Reaper would be a very strong candidate.

The politics of the United States are clearly divided, poisoned and increasingly strident. A discord which doesn't bode well in dealing with the myriad of multiplying issues and problems the country is facing. Mobilizing a nation in prayer, quiet contemplation and reflection  to seek the legislative wisdom to make the right choices and decisions is one thing. - Throwing God into the middle of this poisoned debate is a whole other matter which (I am frankly not sure) even He in His infinite wisdom would approve.

Canada isn't immune to the creepism of extreme-right fundamentalism disguised as evangelical fervour. The divisions and debates south of the border in the name of, and which invoke Jesus and a singular interpretation of The Bible, can easily be imported into our own legislative process. For instance the "National House of Prayers" based in Ottawa claims that it has an on-going..."presence of praying people in the halls of our Federal Government." The group formed about 10 years ago now maintains an "Embassy of Prayer" in Ottawa from which it sends (it says) "intercessors" to attend Question Period, sit-in on sesssions of the Senate, position themselves in Committee meetings and make appointments with individual Parliamentarians.  It's founder, Rob Parker, claims to have received Divine direction to this mission after crying-out to God that Canada had become a "Godless Nation."

The precept of division of State and the worship and practice of religion is fundamental to the healthy process of democracy. Otherwise the danger is in getting the government you've been praying for.

IT'S A DEAL, NOT A SOLUTION

My first reference on these pages to the looming American debt crisis dates back to October 2008 in a post related to that month's Canadian Federal Election. (See: "Crucial Debate..." 01/10/08). Despite the congratulatory afterglow of America's Congressional leaders, as the designated curmudgeon on the matter, I note now the nervous, restive skittish and muted response of the North American Stock Markets to Washington's last minute decision to avert an unprecedented international financial crisis.

Perhaps America has somewhat salvaged its crippled credit, but it really has plugged just one hole in an uncontrolled leaky dike of debt.  Had I been posting thirty years ago, I may then have noted the shift to a right-of-centre ideology that began in the United States under President Nixon and continued incrementally during the terms in office of Ronald Reagan through to George W. Bush's 21st Century. That's as far back as this multi-trillion dollar debt hole reaches. Manifest in the current "Tea Party" Republicans, the right-wing ideologists  have reached their extreme, and have evidently evolved into a movement willing to visit economic calamity on the civilized world in the name of minimal taxes and smaller government in the USA.

There is a resounding great disconnect between the politicians of Washington and for that matter those here in Ottawa and the electors they expect will bring them to (or keep them in) elected office. Modern journalism's hysteric incessant need for updates and reams of mostly irrelevant information means that at crucial moments in our times, politicians who play along are reduced to talking "at" each other through a third party (the media); rather than "with" each other directly to solve a crisis. It's become a dangerous sport; one which may affect the well being of an entire country, or as we've witnessed over the past two weeks, the welfare of the world. In June the departing host of "The House" on CBC Radio, Kathleen Petty, weighed-in on these media hysterics: "We keep score, assign penalties, and generally treat politics as a sport. But as sports go, politics might be a great game for participants, but not spectators or listeners."

Americans like the rest of us in the world that surrounds them think that the last couple of weeks have been a disgrace. In fact according to "Time" (on-line) the words most frequently volunteered to pollsters following-up on the theatrics in Washington were "ridiculous," "disgusting," and "stupid".  - Lest I too belabour the sports analogy, there were no winners in the last few weeks in the debt debate.

Though I am not terribly hopeful of the outcome; what remains to be seen is whether political leaders in the United-States and those who watched events unfold from this side of the our common border have learned any lesson from the drama?  There are five provincial elections on the docket in Canada this fall. With more than a third of the country's population living in Ontario its call-out to voters on Thursday, October 6th is crucial to Canada's well being. While in the United-States what's abundantly clear from the debt debate is that President Obama has significant challenges ahead to alter dynamics and perceptions to secure a second term in the Presidential Election in 15 months.

H3!

Little by little, step by step, slowly the country is turned. Safely ensconced in a "majority" third mandate in the Canadian Parliament, The Conservatives of Mr. Harper some critics foretell, will lead the country along a corrosive path of divisive political polarization.

In Canada, just as with our neighbours south, what passes for national discourse and debate is a new emerging culture of gladiator politics where nothing less than the annihilation of the opposition by any means is an acceptable outcome. Techniques skillfully used by the minority H1 and H2 Governments to destroy two national party leaders (Dion & Ignatieff) and decimate the Liberal Party of Canada. Lest I digress pundits argue the very same methods honed and tested by Mr. Harper's western based Reform/Alliance supporters in eliminating the Progressive-Conservatives a decade ago.

With a comfortable 166 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons, the Conservatives' long simmering right of centre agenda which includes abolishing the long-gun registry; sweeping reforms to crime and punishment; harsher prosecutions and longer jail terms; and a muscular foreign policy supported by increased militarization will unfold by Parliament's return in the fall.

For the most part those measures formed the base of the Conservative Party platform leading into the May 2nd Federal Election, and they were reiterated by the Governor General in the "Speech From The Throne" a couple or three weeks back. But in a recent and subsequent national convention held here in Ottawa the Party also reaffirmed its position that marriage is "the union of one man and one woman," as well as its opposition to euthanasia. Fringe elements within the party's core of supporters have never been shy about also adding the return of Capital Punishment and ending abortions to that list.

Very recent developments including intervention into, and the threat of forcing striking employees of Canada Post and at Air Canada to go back to work, have set clear precedents for this Federal Government. Particularly alarming for the future of the country's labour relations is Mr. Harper's swift reaction to the walkout of 3,800 service staff employees at Air Canada, a private corporation in a competitive environment. At first glance the government action seems to send an unequivocal message about the nation's collective bargaining process, one which in fact could void, well at least emasculate, elements of the Canada Labour Code.

Alas; conspiracy theorists could be forgiven if they believe the threat of bringing the labour movement to its knees is just one element of a coordinated plan of post election strategies rolling-out as the Parliamentary Session breaks for the summer. The centre-moderate Liberal Party of Canada having now been obliterated, the way is sufficiently cleared to set sight on another bastion of a Parliamentary democracy: The pesky journalists of the Ottawa based national press gallery. Veterans of the country's press corps have been both targeted and alarmed by recent attacks akin to Richard Nixon's rants about the "nattering nabobs of negativism" circa 1972.

Just before the Conservative National Convention in Ottawa held starting on June 10, the Party President John Walsh sent-out a letter to the faithful soliciting funds to fight against what he called..."the hailstorm of negative attacks from the media elite." His letter was subsequently followed-up with an outburst from the podium at the said convention by former Reform/Alliance Leader and past Treasury Board Chair Stockwell Day who blasted the country's media for engaging in personal attacks. Even more recently the Conservative Leader in the Senate, Senator Marjorie LeBreton, blasted the national media for spending too much time criticizing Stephen Harper during the election campaign. Her opinions were published in a national daily newspaper.

Along with the obligatory respect for, and the trust in, those we elect to represent us; our confidence in the elements and institutions of a vibrant healthy democracy are eroding at a steady, methodical and alarming pace. Canada's political culture has been stressed and its discourse is increasingly ignorant,cheap and coarse. That's our fault. And, unless Canadians demand change, "real" political leadership will continue to elude us. Pity!

ALAS! FAME IS FLEETING

Re-action has been mixed and divided over the actions of the Senate of Canada Page, Brigette DePape, who held-up a "Stop Harper" sign while the Governor-General, the Queen's representative in Canada, delivered the Speech From the Throne in the Senate on Friday.

What seems clear however is that the young woman's protest trumped the news value of the Throne Speech, and likely will be remembered long after the contents of the "speech" (whatever they were) have long been forgotten. To that degree at least; Ms DePape aged 21, sealed her 15 minutes of fame.

About 25 years ago I attended a writing seminar in Ottawa. The workshop designed to assist writers focus their vocabulary and message for better communications was conducted by Eric McLuhan, the son of Marshall McLuhan. He made no secret about the identity of his famous father, in a government town like Ottawa it was good business. Frankly I would not have hidden his identity either. He died in 1980, but Canadian educator Marshall McLuhan is regarded as the father of, and his book "The Medium Is The Massage (sic)" (1967) the Genesis of the modern electronic age. Lest I digress; 44 years ago a typographer working on the book's cover accidentally substituted "Massage" for "Message" - McLuhan chuckled and left it uncorrected.

Pundits commenting on Ms. DePape's unique protest have quoted Voltaire: "I don't agree with one word you are saying - but, I will fight to the death for your right to say it." Just as appropriate and to the point is Andy Warhol's 1968 observation that "In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." - The American "Prince of Pop Art" was a contemporary of Marshall McLuhan and clearly understood the "massage"!

Increasingly, (We should be alarmed) it seems the world is being distracted by a media circus, and the news neutered by the public appetite for round-the-clock gossip masquerading as essential information. It is not a new phenomenon. Since the invention of the print medium, whether Paul Revere, Evangeline and/or Laura Secord, the media have fawned over the unique exploits of otherwise unworthy commoners. Though at least in those cases theirs' had purpose. If "News" is a first draft of history: It is, as foretold by McLuhan and Warhol, that the media's new obsessions are tantamount to a modern "Great Train Robbery" of the draft - to paraphrase historian Clinton Rossiter.

I am a fan of the popular personality "Judge Judy", and the television news satire of the "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and the "Colbert Report" - Guilty as charged! I am nonetheless appalled by the number of people, victims of Warhol's prophesy, who are willing to be humiliated (or humiliate themselves) on these and the many other "reality" television programs of our times that substitute for journalism. These poor sods, their problems, and their issues ARE NOT, as Journalist Bill Moyers would suggest: "The actual experiences of regular people...the missing link in a nation wired for everything but the truth."

No wonder that the real news makers; politicians, business leaders, personalities of consequence can obfuscate and say anything but the clear unequivocal truth with impudence and little fear of challenge....and when they can't: There's a course they can take for that too!

LOOSE LIPS SINK SHIPS

Just as few days ago as the 111th Congress of the United States convened in Washington; nine white men from isolated outposts in Arizona, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Kansas and California were meeting with reporters just around the corner from the White House.

Emboldened by what observers and pundits have described as the new "Tea Party Congress," they brandished a manifesto proposing legislation to make a distinction of American birth certificates between persons "born" subject to the jurisdiction of the United-States, and persons who are "not born" subject to the jurisdiction of America. Essentially, a "Class B" birth certificate for the offspring of non-U.S. parents who are born in America: So called "anchor babies"...The American born children of what the group described to reporters as an..."illegal invasion of roofers, house cleaners, carpenters, nursemaids, drug mules, drywallers, hookers, gardeners."

Forty years ago this week "All In The Family" debuted on North American television. Though it forever changed television, it seems that it's ability to use comedy as an equal opportunity weapon to tackle politically charged issues has been abandoned to the garbage bin of history. It is not surprising therefore that in the aftermath of the shocking and dreadful events which have unfolded in Tucson, Arizona; Archie Bunker has surfaced back in America's national consciousness and conversation, with some observers and pundits claiming that the legendary character portrayed by actor Caroll O'Connor who died in 2001..."was the original Tea Partier"



As Americans (Indeed the entire world) may have learned from the events which have unfolded in Arizona's 8th Congressional District. It is entirely possible that over-the-top rhetoric whether it is pronounced by politicians, far too frequently by television commentators, or quite simply by unbalanced people; may lead to violence.

Norman Lear who is credited with creating the characters of "All In The Family" isn't quite sure whether Archie Bunker was 40 years ahead of his time a charter member of the "Tea Party Movement". Of Archie, Mr. Lear who is 88 years old, is quoted in the current issue of Parade Magazine: "He would, however, defend the Tea Party because he, too, was for small government and fiscal responsibleness - just as he sang, ...Mister we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again."

In early 1971 Archie Bunker's worries and fears: Whether about losing his job; making the next mortgage payment; or quite simply that the world (embodied in son-in-law "Meathead") is moving too fast, struck the very same chord and fears which grip modern Americans.

But as Tucson bears witness: Far greater dangers are lying amongst our current hyper-partisanship biases than Archie Bunker's issues forty years hence. Today, the media and perhaps more so personal mass communication devices via the Internet; wireless technology; Twitter and social media of every description instantly assign motive; and far too frequently speculation of every nature is passed-on as fact without any reasonable effort at confirmation.

HAVE ROOM IN THERE FOR JIMI AND JANIS TOO?

There is tradition dating back a couple of centuries in American politics that an outgoing Head of Government grants clemency to, or pardons "worthy" convicted felons. For instance, it was just shy of 2 years ago that the relationship between the former President, George W. Bush; and his White House partner, V.P. Dick Cheney; iced-up after the President refused to pardon "Scooter" Libby (Cheney's assistant) who'd been convicted of lying to a Grand Jury.

Exiting Florida Governor, Charlie Crist, is causing quite a stir of emotions in his home state with a proposal to grant a "posthumous pardon" to Jim Morrison, who fronted the iconic 1960's rock band: "The Doors". Lest I digress - Mr. Crist, is the Republican Governor who followed Jeb Bush in the Florida Legislature. He turned "independent" last summer and ran for the U.S. Senate earlier this month, and was defeated.

Those of my generation and enthusiasts of Rock n' Roll history will recall the Gladiator like Miami confrontation following a March 1, 1969 "Doors" concert, which ultimately pitted fans of the Sixties counter-culture against those of the "Mainstream" then spear-headed by Miami born orange juice pitch-woman - Anita Bryant.

History lesson you query? - No question that the concert was a ruckus from the git' go! (That's about all anyone has ever agreed on) It was alleged that an intoxicated Jim Morrison..."stumbled through 'Light My Fire' and 'Break On Through', taunted the crowd and threatened to expose himself before fans mobbed the stage." The melee was subsequently investigated by a Miami Crime Commission and six arrest warrants were issued against Morrison for "lewd and lascivious behavior (sic)." A report in the Miami Herald newspaper having claimed that the rock icon..."appeared to simulate masturbation during his performance."

In its wake, three weeks later, songstress Anita Bryant, Comedian Jackie Gleason and "boy band" (1950's version) "The Lettermen" staged a "Rally For Decency" attended by an estimated 30,000 high-schoolers and their parents. In a letter to the rally, President Richard Nixon, told organizers they were showing..."admirable initiative."

A year later, Jim Morrison was convicted on two misdemeanor (sic) charges: Profanity and Indecent Exposure. He was fined $500 and sentenced to 6 months in jail. Morrison was appealing both convictions when he died in Paris at aged 27 on July 3, 1971.

Well passions run deep, and they're threatening to erupt once more down in the (very) Deep-South. Governor Crist has confirmed to no less than the "New York Times" that he..."will submit Morrison's name to a state clemency board next month." Though it's viewed by many as the culmination of a four-decades long battle. Others see it differently: A stoking of the socially polarizing forces which continue to afflict Americans.

At stake (it seems) is the underlying belief that not only were the charges against Morrison "trumped-up," but that they were used to discredit the emerging counter- culture which ultimately led to the subsequent turbulent times of the War in Viet-Nam, the racial tensions and riots, and beyond. Times from which the United States have hardly begun the emerge. It seems that as a parting gesture Governor Crist is choosing to align himself with that interpretation.

Stay tuned!

NOT READY FOR PRIMETIME

The process of democracy as practiced in North America for the last 200 years implies a symbiotic relationship between the mass media and the politicians. As repeated ad nausea, a free press is the hallmark of democracy.

Over the course of those two centuries snake oil salesmen, film flam artists and schemers of every type and description have predicated the success of their enterprise on manipulating the media. Showman P.T. Barnum and illusionist Harry Houdini among the better practitioners of the first 100 years.

The arrival of the motion picture industry about a century ago, and latterly the phenomenon of television in the 1950's seem to have sparked an embryonic convergence of all three of the elements: Schemers and manipulators, politicians and the public media. It is hard to tell just when it started. Certainly Director Elia Kazan's groundbreaking 1957 motion picture - "A Face In The Crowd" - which explores the power of television in the aftermath of the Arthur Godfrey Show and subsequent scandals, warns of both the dangers of, and the potential for manipulating mass audiences. The same thing Barnum and Houdini understood.

This weekend Prime Minister Stephen Harper took time out from his busy schedule to film a bit part in the Victorian murder television series - "The Murdoch Mysteries" - which shoots in Toronto. Though Mr. Harper is generally described as a timid and diffident person; he is not shy about appearing in television cameos (he's also appeared on the comedy "Corner Gas") nor on the stage of the National Arts Centre to sing a pop tune. There is a certain level of confidence imbued when a script controls the message.

Some may argue with considerable conviction that 1940's - 50's movie star Ronald Reagan staged his best career acting roles as Governor of California for eight years from 1966 to 1974; and much more importantly as President of the United States elected in 1980 and for a subsequent four year term in November 1984. Meantime the jury is probably still out on whether those rascally Californians elected Arnold Schwarzenegger as their Governor to handle their state's moribund finances 8 years ago, because of his on-stage muscle strongman persona, or whether they actually thought he could do something. He couldn't. - Mr. Schwarzenegger leaves office next month - California's financial turmoil is worse than ever. His Austrian birth precludes him from running for the U.S. Presidency.



As Britain's - "The Independent" - cited this week: "The quandary that is Sarah Palin just gets more troublesome...for dedicated Palintologists everywhere, the titillation is unbearable." American neo-conservatives like her values. After all the "Tea Party Movement" to whom she both plays and appeals calls her the "Mama Grizzly".

This convergence of the elements which should be uppermost concern to North Americans is precisely in this ever tightening relationship and the blurring of divisions between show business and politics. In the aftermath of the economic meltdown at the end of the last decade, the seething discontent and anger which persists; and which spawned the "Tea Party Movement," is fertile ground for the accelerated rise of hubris if not outright demigodry...religious or otherwise. It's plausible that it could appear from either The Right or The Left.

Political satirist and observational comedian Jon Stewart, an increasingly harsh and vociferous critic of "The Right," is making the rounds of the American talk-show circuit this week in advance of "The Rally To Restore Sanity" on October 30th in Washington, which he launched from his television pulpit: "The Daily Show". The rally has already won the support of Oprah Winfrey and by inference her millions of fans. President Obama, who's Democratic Party is facing tough mid-term elections next month, endorsed the rally in a speech in Arlington, Virginia. So far Jon Stewart has clearly rejected pressure to jump directly into the political arena.

Such is not necessarily the case with the strident conservative radio and Fox News personality and commentator Glenn Beck. Mr. Beck hosted his own "Restoring Honor Rally" at Washington's Lincoln Memorial at the end of August. Sarah Palin was its main speaker.

One thing is abundantly clear: At our critical time of history when the political discourse on the Continent should be both rational and reasoned; we have allowed it to be adulterated to its lowest shameful denominator. For that: Each one of us bears a level of blame.

TAKEN FOR GRANTED

Admittedly Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is not a great friend of the Province of Quebec, nor of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Newfoundlanders have been smarting for 50 years over Hydro Quebec's hoodwink of Joey Smallwood over the Churchill Falls hydro project back in 1961.

In a most recent example on Wednesday; Premier Williams told the St. John's Board of Trade - "The rest of the country, and even Quebec itself, is finally admitting that it has been getting away with highway robbery in Canada for decades."

Canadians are generous. Just this week for example the British-based "Charities Aid Foundation" ranked us third in the world for generosity according to its survey of 153 countries for the willingness of their citizens to donate both time and money to worthy causes. Australia and New Zealand tied for first, Canada and Ireland tied next in line. The United States was next along with Switzerland.

But as Premier Williams' observation suggests; the problem in this country is the too frequent perception that our own money is spent not too wisely to buy the votes of any given segment of the population. It happens all the time at every level of the representatives we elect to municipalities, provincial legislatures and yes: The Federal Parliament...Sometimes it's just too blatant and flagrant to ignore.

Politicians from the lowest to the highest levels of government somehow manage to ignore that on the other side of the equation there is only ONE taxpayer: Us! - More galling and insulting, they use the money to advance their own "benevolence." Their ultimate goal being to stuff the ballot box with votes bought using the same dollars. - We fall for this? It works!

The Federal Liberals may have claimed the noblest of all vocations; "Saving the Country" for the excesses of the sponsorship scandal; but the tactics, methods and goals were the same anyhow. The politicians behind the current Economic Action Plan -Noble cause; "Saving the Economy" use the exact same ploy insisting that the billions of our stimulus dollars being doled-out are conditional on the project managers putting up the Government's (sponsorship) signage. "Secret" memos obtained by the Canadian Press note that the signage is so critical that funding contracts hold-back 20% until photographic proof of sign installation has been filed. Dear God!

Little wonder that faced with a weak and virtually ineffective opposition in Parliament it's the media which has been howling (summer long)to call attention to the Conservative Government's stumbles which; I noted in an earlier post, are too frequently "self-inflicted."

As the Parliamentary Chess challenge is about to resume there's growing anecdotal evidence that the government is looking for an obvious "elegant" way to sink at least another $200 Million (or so) of "our" dollars financing an NHL hockey arena in Quebec City. The trick being to avoid making us (rightly) conclude that it's a Quebec buy-off, Conservative style. It would be a sorry day if the case for the defence were to raise the specter of the Liberal sponsorships.

The Prime-Minister travels to Quebec City next week and Mayor Regis LaBeaume fully expects walking away from his meeting with Stephen Harper, grant-in-hand, at least equalling Premier Jean Charest's provincial commitment of $160-million. Spin doctors obviously at the ready to sell the rest of the country a "nose stretcher" about funding - "Really for a multi-purpose municipal amphi-theatre which (among other things) will bolster any future Quebec City Winter Olympic bid". Quebec City was a Canadian runner-up to the Vancouver bid a decade ago. Observers point out that one really disquieting matter about the plan is that the team owner of the proposed NHL franchise in Quebec City (and primary tenant of the arena) is billionaire Pierre Karl Peladeau. If the name sounds familiar: Mr. Peladeau owns Sun Media Television, the right-wing news channel with an application now before the CRTC.

And, if Winnipeg and Manitobans cry "fowl" over their own NHL Franchise "in the wings" for lack of a decent arena, they should be reminded that there are just 14 Parliamentary seats in Manitoba and Quebec has 75. That tactic worked for Brian Mulroney in '86 when the Military CF-18 maintenance contract was yanked-out of Winnipeg in favour of Montreal. We buy this? It works! Or simply: - They'll be flipped-off Trudeau style and told: "Mangez de la merde!"

MISINFORMED "ON-LINE"

The advent, and the subsequent rapid development, of Internet generated journalism, opinions and posts in blogs; forums and group message boards has the Court system, government agencies, and perhaps also our own societal norms scrambling to catch-up.

In recent years, bloggers, unconventional sources and questionable stories have placed enormous stress on "legitimate" journalistic organizations. In North America; radio has essentially abandoned its traditional news gathering role in favour of talk and opinion formats frequently of some questionable validity. Once dominant newspapers and their ownership chains have been decimated by the trend to on-line journalism. Television news operators, particularly the "all-news" channels, have been forced to dump staff and reduce costs, all-the-while stuffing their news cycles with FaceBook, My Space, Skype and Twitter chatter from their own viewers to make-up the shortfall.

Lest I digress; even a recently published commentary on Leader Michael Ignatieff's, "Liberal Express" national tour questions why he is on a face-to-face tour to meet with voters, and eschewed the modern "web" way of reaching the same audience by staying at home in the relative privacy of a computer keyboard, webcam and screen.

The Federal Government is assessing a pilot project it launched last spring to refute Internet information deemed incorrect or questionable. There is some danger there: Not everyone is likely to agree with Ottawa's definition of "on-line" misinformation. What seems to be clear though is that the next time someone posts an opinion in an Internet forum such as FaceBook, they may very well receive a rebuttal from an employee of the Federal government.

Of course there is some legitimacy to worries about government employees being paid to monitor on-line chatter and post comments. But, in early April the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) paid a Toronto company $75,000 to monitor social activity and identify areas where information was being presented about the always controversial east coast Seal-Hunt. Once alerted about questionable on-line comments, employees at Foreign Affairs and/or Fisheries and Oceans posted comments, including views the Government considered more consistent with Canada's position.

That may be just the tip of the iceberg. A spokesperson for DFAIT described the Seal-Hunt initiative as just part of an effort ..."to establish foundations and recommendations for future programs and campaigns to use social media as another way to listen to, inform and engage with Canadians."

On the other front: Twice now, Courts in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have issued orders which restrict the limits of anonymity and privacy on the Internet. Most recently, the New Brunswick Court of Queen's Bench ordered the publishers of the Moncton "Times and Transcript" to reveal the identity of an anonymous commenter after the target of the post launched a defamation suit. The Judge ruled the plaintiff's rights would be violated unless he knew the identity of his accuser. In Nova Scotia in April, a Halifax weekly, "The Coast", was ordered to release all the information it had to identify seven anonymous commenters who had posted on-line allegations of racism, cronyism and incompetence at the Halifax Fire Department.

Last fall in Ottawa, SLAW.CA which deals with legal matters, launched an effort to reveal the identity of the blogger behind "Zero Means Zero", an insider's look at the administration of controversial Mayor Larry O'Brien. The blogger has since stopped his postings and the blog appears to have been removed.

As clearly it should have, privacy on the Internet has its limits. Recent anecdotal evidence suggest that there is a diminishing appetite on the part of websites, Internet providers and social media sites to protect people who are posting anonymously. In his own recent post; former CBC colleague and Visiting Professor of Journalism at Ryerson, Jeffrey Dvorkin, questions the media's rush to publish the photos of some G-20 rioters provided by the police. He argues that while some photos clearly show acts of vandalism, others of head and shoulder shots don't reveal any evidence of law-breaking beyond the say-so of authorities. The sources of some photos (From cellphone cameras for instance) may be questionable; and Professor Dvorkin raises the danger of citizen journalism of almost any nature verging on vigilantism.

Though the debate about access to new technology and the phenomenon of social media's impact on society is far from over; people should think twice before posting anything on the Internet because they can almost always be identified. Those recent east coast legal decisions mean people posting comments or nebulous photos on the web can't expect to have, nor do they have, a lot of privacy.

ACCIDENTS: HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY AND TV REALITY

In the forty-eight contiguous United States, there is only one place where one has to go south to get to Canada: Detroit, Michigan.

Wither Detroit - Once the fourth largest city of the United-States, it now barely reaches the top 12. When music producer, Berry Gordy (now aged 80), moved Motown Records to Los Angeles in 1972; he took along its soul. Lest I digress: White North America's love affair with Motown Music is a direct result of the legendary Music Director at CKLW Radio in Windsor, Rosalie Tromblay, who programmed the tunes on the station.

It is in fact much more than the City of Windsor and the residents of southwestern Ontario who share a cultural bond of sorts with Detroit. Back in the seventies, a consortium of Canadian cable companies, called CanCom, started picking-up the signals of Detroit's major network affiliate television stations for re-broadcast across Canada. Now called Shaw Satellite Services, the company is the major supplier of U.S. television signals across Canada. Close to two generations later, Canadian television audiences in every province view and share in the trials, tribulations, corruption, murders - In short the ups and downs, warts included, of daily life in the auto capital of the world.

And...there has been plenty to see: Just recently when police burst into a home in search of a murder suspect; an officer accidentally shot and killed a 7-year-old child. Her death is now raising serious questions of ethics and morality about reality television programs. A crew from the reality series: "The First 48" which airs on A&E, last week was tagging along and filming when police raided the home where Aiyana Stanley-Jones was killed. Her death shines a critical spotlight on the growing number of reality programs that focus on police activity. Some critics claim police behave differently when cameras are watching.

Authors and experts on violence and murder say quite possibly officers become more aggressive and confrontational in the presence of television cameras. One observation is clear: Cities, including Memphis, Tennessee and Dallas, Texas no longer allow filming because it created a perception that the cities..."were overrun with crime". - A perception that Detroit has battled for decades.

Quoted in a related article by the Associated Press; the author of: "The Peep Diaries - How We're Learning To Love Watching Ourselves And Our Neighbors (sic)"; Hal Niedzviecki, claims that having a reality camera crew along on a police raid contributes to a culture that reduces everything to mere entertainment..."Somebody's accidental death, somebody's drug problem, somebody wins the lottery - it's all equally entertaining."

History, geography, the economy haven't always been kind to life in Detroit. Reality television it seems may not be kinder in death.

35 WEEKS; COUNTLESS EPISODES; A RASCALLY ENSEMBLE..

In Old Bridge, New Jersey, Donna Simpson is about to become America's next "Reality TV" star. The show's outcome is all very predictable. Donna aims to break the Guinness Book of Records by becoming the fattest woman on earth. She weighs 604 pounds, and eats 12,000 calories per day to reach 1000 pounds (half a ton) by January first.

Back here on "The Hill" we have our own endless "soap opera" of sorts with a seemingly endless cast of colourful characters, now entering it's 35th week - The intrigue is palpable, the outcome not so predictable.

It begins as a love story and a hasty wedding on October 15th, 2008 - Clearly not since the "affair", starring the bosomy Soviet spy Gerda Munsinger, against the backdrop of Montreal's "Caffe de Paree" burlesque bar and Conservative Cabinet Ministers, George Hees and Pierre Sevigny, has the nation's capital been so taken with an endless story of encounters. Alas, reality TV didn't exist in the late 1950's. Though the 1992 TV movie "Gerda" is probably still archived somewhere.

On another web site: www.linkedin.com; I have been running an unscientific poll asking participants for an ideal title for the long running saga of Helena and Rahim now about to pass its calendar day number 250. "Survivor:Ottawa" is tops, with "Big Brother - Harper" and "Parliamentary Idol" also in contention.

Rahim Jaffer was pulled-over and arrested for speeding, and charged with impaired driving and possession of cocaine on September 11, 2009. From that moment the cast of characters, incidents, events, airport tantrums, fake letters of support, Parliamentary hearings, police investigations has grown expeditiously. It even includes bosomy escorts (Hello Gerda!). True to television ensemble casting the plot has been weaving through a series of marvelously rascally characters: the business mogul, Nazim Gillani - The hilarious bankrupt "two bit" gumshoe, Derek Snowdy P.I. - the bulldog government mouthpiece, John Baird - Green Fund promoter, Patrick Glemaud...(endlessly) I could go on. And quite like masterful television screenwriting the twists and turns of the story always return to the central characters: Helena Guergis, Rahim Jaffer and the plot's "grey eminence" - Stephen Harper. If it weren't true it might be unbelievable.

Lest I digress - Pundits, doubtless with tongue-in-cheek, have claimed the casting is out of character for Mr. Jaffer who, before his election defeat in 2008, had been voted the "laziest Member of Parliament" by the weekly parliamentary newspaper: The Hill Times.

Though we've all been entertained by their endless saga: It could be that the tribulations of Helana, Rahim and Stephen are just another manifestation of a Parliamentary session paralyzed by a minority government so bereft of ideas that there's simply nothing better now, nor on the horizon, to warrant the interest of Canadians.

THANKS! RAHIM

If as goes the saying, the best defence is a good offence, then Infrastructure Minister, John Baird, is on track comparing Rahim Jaffer's lobbying attempts with the Liberal sponsorship scandal.

It's to be remembered that the sponsorship kick-backs uncovered by the Auditor-General in her damning 2005 report hastened Jean Chretien's departure from politics, and crippled Paul Martin's efforts to hold-on for the Liberals.

What is being exposed by the endless list of revelations related to Mr. Jaffer's alleged preferential treatment over questionable business proposals is the sordid, sleazy underbelly of Ottawa politics, regardless of which Party wields power.

Though it seems true that Mr. Jaffer and his partners..."got no grants, no money" as a result of any of his meetings with politicians or bureaucrats, it's also clear from documents tabled with the House of Commons committee which has been looking into the matter that some of his requests were "prioritized" by government officials.

In addition to the documents tabled with the Parliamentary Committee, scores of others are also in the hands of the Federal Ethics Commissioner, and the Federal Lobbying Commissioner; and most likely as well with the RCMP who have been called-in to investigate "unspecified" allegations against Mr. Jaffer's wife, Helena Guergis, the Harper Cabinet Minister who was turfed from her job and the Conservative Party caucus.

It may have taken the Federal Liberals the better part of twenty years to end-up wallowing in sleaze so bad it cost them their government's reputation. The Conservatives appear to be quick studies and perhaps on the verge of a wretched downward slide into the abyss.

During Question Period, members of the Opposition have implied that the Conservatives purposely created a "loophole" in the Federal Lobbying Act that allows parliamentary secretaries to ministers to meet with lobbyists without filing reports of their encounters - A practice it seems Mr. Jaffer and acolytes were following on their schedule of meetings along the corridors of the House of Commons. Meetings, which at least in some cases, were arranged right from (and into) the Office of Minister Guergis herself after Mr. Jaffer suffered his own Parliamentary defeat in the election of October 2008.

This past week, the Conservative Government was ordered by the Ethics Commissioner to stop dressing-up over-sized photo-op Federal stimulus cheques in partisan colours, logos and slogans. And, it came under heavy fire for appointing a Judge to the Quebec Superior Court who, as a lawyer in private practice, once represented the Hell's Angels biker gang. For a party twice elected on a platform of accountability, openness, transparency and a "tough on crime" agenda: The criticisms' gotta sting!

The reluctance of the Liberal Party to exploit more fully these opportunities speaks of their own lingering vulnerability over the much maligned "sponsorship scandal," and the weakness of its Parliamentary leadership. Maybe everyone will catch a breather this week if tensions ease because of the Prime Minister's absence from the House to attend meetings and commemorations in Europe.

So far about the only thing that has gone right in the imbroglio is former Minister Guergis' silence over the "unspecified" allegations and accusations which hang over her head. Once she accepts the Parliamentary Ethics Committee's invitation to testify, or the RCMP break their own silence; who knows where all this may be heading?

It may be tempting to manufacture an issue to trigger a snap election (Afghan detainee documents perhaps?), before the other shoe - In this case Helena's much maligned PEI boots - drop to the floor!