Tuesday, February 07, 2006
And They're Off!
Stephen Harper's government has wasted no time at all, in getting straight down to business. Harper's choice for Minister of Justice and Attorney General is none other than Manitoba's own Vic Toews.
Toews had been Justice Critic since 2000, but now he gets his chance to shine in the spotlight. Now, normally I'm no fan of Toews due to his Christianofascist views. He has been stone-cold set against any type of "marriage" for gays, hates abortion, has advocated for greater use of the Notwithstanding clause, and I think he should have resigned when he pleaded guilty to violating election laws. And worst of all: he opposes the decriminalization of marijuana.
Toews' first few initiatives should be winners with the general public as a whole. And they should quell any concerns of a Conservative "hidden agenda" to impose their social-order in Canada. The other fact to note, with regards to Toews, is that he has been playing the roll of Justice Critic for the last 6 years. As such, he's often put in a position where he has to critisize policy that he may normally support. Oh, the joys of politics.
The change that I've most taken a liking to, is to have parliament review judicial appointees. This goes hand-in-hand with Harper's plan to have an elected Senate. There really is no good reason that these bills shouldn't pass. Some people think that by winning an election, a party has won the right to do whatever the fuck they please (the fact that these laws weren't introduced in 1867 is proof enough that this has been the view of every government since then), including naming Senators and Judges. Others don't like the idea of an elected Senate and a publicly vetted judiciary, simply because thats the way American's do it. In the real world however, more public input is always a good thing.
Toews is also wants to review the age of consent, hopefully scrap the gun-registry , and we might even start putting criminals in jail again.
Basically, I think that Toews will be a wicked-awsome Attorney General. He held the post in the Manitoba legislature under Gary Filmon, so he should have a pretty good idea of what he's up against. He understands that laws need to be enforced, no matter what the particular law is. He realizes that handing out house-arrest sentances to convicted murderers isn't really law-enforcement. I could do without his Christianofacist views being expressed from the office of the Minister of Justice, but more importantly this country needs an old-fashioned GUN-SLINGING Sheriff in town.
-Are you feeling proud and enlightened about how advanced our society is? Well, international religious diplomacy has devolved into a game of I know you are, but what am I?
-400 people attend a dogs funeral. Nitro was killed while on duty, and a mere 6 months prior to retirement. Apparently government employed dogs get the golden hand-shake at 9 years old. It sorta makes you wonder why you're human!
-Even the big-boys at AOL and Yahoo! have decided to get into the spam business. They won't say it that way, but the plan is if you pay them, the e-mails you send will avoid any spam-filters. It'll make a lot more money, and be easier, than improving those filters. Next-step: charge the end-user to delete Spam.
-Google plans to build it's own "internet"? Considering the source, the fact that AOL tried to build it's own "internet" in the 90's, and the fact that Google already owns the internet; makes me wonder if they don't have something much different planned.
-They've got their hands full with Google vs. the US Government. Between tracking Google searches, and the NSA's massive data-mining projects performed on all communications from outside the USA, I think it's fair to say that Orwell might have been on to something.
Toews had been Justice Critic since 2000, but now he gets his chance to shine in the spotlight. Now, normally I'm no fan of Toews due to his Christianofascist views. He has been stone-cold set against any type of "marriage" for gays, hates abortion, has advocated for greater use of the Notwithstanding clause, and I think he should have resigned when he pleaded guilty to violating election laws. And worst of all: he opposes the decriminalization of marijuana.
Toews' first few initiatives should be winners with the general public as a whole. And they should quell any concerns of a Conservative "hidden agenda" to impose their social-order in Canada. The other fact to note, with regards to Toews, is that he has been playing the roll of Justice Critic for the last 6 years. As such, he's often put in a position where he has to critisize policy that he may normally support. Oh, the joys of politics.
The change that I've most taken a liking to, is to have parliament review judicial appointees. This goes hand-in-hand with Harper's plan to have an elected Senate. There really is no good reason that these bills shouldn't pass. Some people think that by winning an election, a party has won the right to do whatever the fuck they please (the fact that these laws weren't introduced in 1867 is proof enough that this has been the view of every government since then), including naming Senators and Judges. Others don't like the idea of an elected Senate and a publicly vetted judiciary, simply because thats the way American's do it. In the real world however, more public input is always a good thing.
Toews is also wants to review the age of consent, hopefully scrap the gun-registry , and we might even start putting criminals in jail again.
Basically, I think that Toews will be a wicked-awsome Attorney General. He held the post in the Manitoba legislature under Gary Filmon, so he should have a pretty good idea of what he's up against. He understands that laws need to be enforced, no matter what the particular law is. He realizes that handing out house-arrest sentances to convicted murderers isn't really law-enforcement. I could do without his Christianofacist views being expressed from the office of the Minister of Justice, but more importantly this country needs an old-fashioned GUN-SLINGING Sheriff in town.
In unrelated news....
-Are you feeling proud and enlightened about how advanced our society is? Well, international religious diplomacy has devolved into a game of I know you are, but what am I?
-400 people attend a dogs funeral. Nitro was killed while on duty, and a mere 6 months prior to retirement. Apparently government employed dogs get the golden hand-shake at 9 years old. It sorta makes you wonder why you're human!
-Even the big-boys at AOL and Yahoo! have decided to get into the spam business. They won't say it that way, but the plan is if you pay them, the e-mails you send will avoid any spam-filters. It'll make a lot more money, and be easier, than improving those filters. Next-step: charge the end-user to delete Spam.
-Google plans to build it's own "internet"? Considering the source, the fact that AOL tried to build it's own "internet" in the 90's, and the fact that Google already owns the internet; makes me wonder if they don't have something much different planned.
-They've got their hands full with Google vs. the US Government. Between tracking Google searches, and the NSA's massive data-mining projects performed on all communications from outside the USA, I think it's fair to say that Orwell might have been on to something.
