Second Gen (2003-2016, 2016- )
What an odd choice of a word by the Globe and Mail for its headline: “preacher“. Images of 1890s church picnics dance in my head, plates of food covering checked table cloths as children run three legged races. Or visits to the hospital to hand out caramels here as a kind thoughtful word is placed there. The man in the dog collar unexpectedly rolling up his sleeves pitch in as the rectory’s spring gardening is done. That’s a “preacher” to me.
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The NYT has great coverage of the press conference by Alex Rodriguez on his use of steroids in the first part of this millennium. But who doesn’t. It has been the sole topic on sports radio for over a week. For Canadians needing a hockey analogy, it is tantamount to Wayne Gretzky admitting he was on the juice. A-Rod is touted as the greatest player of this era and he has told us all that he stuck needles in his butt 36 times in the sixth seventh and eighth years of his career. Apparently not everyone is amused with the situation:
Because Rodriguez’s words and actions are often choreographed, there was some speculation among members of the news media about the legitimacy of his emotional display toward his teammates. Several minutes after Rodriguez’s silence, he told his teammates he loved them and looked forward to an “amazing season.” The players offered no visible head nods or thumbs up to Rodriguez. Posada bolted about halfway through Rodriguez’s session. The Yankees were unsure why he left. None of the Yankees hung around to do interviews. Jeter, the Yankees’ captain, was emotionless and sat slumped in his chair. He will discuss Rodriguez on Wednesday, at which point he may still be emotionless.
I’d slump, too, if this was my team. The story makes no sense. Likes like “I was a young guy” and “I was immature and I was stupid” fails to take into account how deep it occurred into his career. It also fails to take into account he has admitted that took another later banned substance from 1994 to 2000. He says “I’m not sure what the benefit was” but the Texas years 2001-2003 were among the best in his career.
It almost makes you feel sorry for the Yankees. Almost.
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Thank God for Family Day. It was great. As we sat around in our pajamas, dilly dallying with unconsciousness, trying to kill of the last of our colds until mid-afternoon when we got to watch the mailman deliver the mail. How delicious to have a holiday that is not applicable to the Federal civil service. I do hope they have their own that provides them the analogous experience. Later, we walked out on the river as the sun set and listened to the grinding sound of ice boats way out on the St. Lawrence. They seem to be associated with the Kingston Yacht Club. Reason enough to try the family membership for a year. I did loads of laundry. We also watched more Doctor Who, reads some Doctor Who literature, checked out some Doctor Who web information and the cast from the Hill from Hell got a Dalek drawn upon it. I made veggie Parmesan with the stuff acquired after Saturday saw a trip to the town’s Italian grocery. It was all disorganized, lazy and relatively unproductive.
Is that what “family” means? Sure thing. I still have my copy of “In Praise of Idleness” by Bertrand Russell from 1932:
I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached. Everyone knows the story of the traveler in Naples who saw twelve beggars lying in the sun (it was before the days of Mussolini), and offered a lira to the laziest of them. Eleven of them jumped up to claim it, so he gave it to the twelfth.
Magic. This could be an epistle to my generation, we louts raised on video arcades and nuclear fear – the two great pillars of relative valuation. How much plainer could a clever person be about being idle: “work is of two kinds: first, altering the position of matter at or near the earth’s surface relatively to other such matter; second, telling other people to do so. The first kind is unpleasant and ill paid; the second is pleasant and highly paid.” Wednesday morning at 10:37 am when a report is screaming to be done and the email is stacked high, you don’t think of such things. Family Day gets you to the point that you can remember such things. I wonder what postmen got paid in 1932.
February day-off reports past: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008. That makes this the sixth. I could be fluent in Finnish and Urdu by now had I not decided to blog.
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Great flibberty jibberty. I sure am grateful that there are smarter people out there than me. I sure would hate to be left to my own devices to make my way in the world and understand, you know, stuff. So it is with appreciation and relief that I read the news today that the media might soon be under the guiding hand of a national content watchdog according to a submission from the Ontario Human Rights Commission to the Canadian Human Rights Commission:
The media’s freedom of expression comes with a duty to “address issues of hate expression, and [media] should do so either voluntarily through provincial press councils, or through statutory creation of a national press council with compulsory membership,” the report reads. “At the same time, the OHRC recognizes the media have full freedom and control over what they publish. Ensuring mechanisms are in place to provide opportunity for public scrutiny and the receipt of complaints, particularly from vulnerable groups, is important, but it must not cross the line into censorship.”
Hmmm. That’s not what I expected. I thought this would be, you know, based on law. But what is that? Where is that “duty” from. Duties are not just made up you know. The footnote to the OHRC submission right at that spot reads:
UN treaty bodies such as the Committee on Civil and Political Rights have stated through their interpretive “Comments” that human rights treaties such as the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights convey positive obligations on signatory States to take immediate and progressive measures including refraining themselves from making any hate propaganda (see for example ICCPR Committee Comment #11).
So a committee of an international bureaucracy has commented on the text of a treaty and come up with an idea that should be adopted in Canada as the equivalent of a duty which limits to some degree or another the freedom of speech. How wacky. Not what I had imagined at all. What can this mean? Let’s see. The “ICCPR” is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. But I can’t seem to find the comments, let alone Comment 11. This page, however, seems to have it if you scroll down a bit where we learn that Comment 11 relates to Article 20 which states:
1. Any propaganda for war shall be prohibited by law.
2. Any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence shall be prohibited by law.
That’s interesting and sensible. There ought to be a law! And that is what Comment 11 says at section 2:
In the opinion of the Committee, these required prohibitions are fully compatible with the right of freedom of expression as contained in article 19, the exercise of which carries with it special duties and responsibilities. The prohibition under paragraph 1 extends to all forms of propaganda threatening or resulting in an act of aggression or breach of the peace contrary to the Charter of the United Nations, while paragraph 2 is directed against any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence, whether such propaganda or advocacy has aims which are internal or external to the State concerned… For article 20 to become fully effective there ought to be a law making it clear that propaganda and advocacy as described therein are contrary to public policy and providing for an appropriate sanction in case of violation.
See, it actually does say “there ought to be a law.” And you though that I was making it up. And, fortunately, Canada has a law. It’s called the criminal code. It is a law that provides for an appropriate sanctions in cases of violations. And the Criminal Code of Canada has a specific one on the question of hate law. It’s right there at section 319. Perfect. Duty fulfilled. The treaty says we need a law to deal with this stuff and we have it. Hooray for Canada!
But I don’t see where it says we need a national press oversight body. That isn’t in the authority cited for the principle. It actually says in the submission of the OHRC that:
Striking this balance between different forms of rights is important and necessarily has some legal parameters. Hate expression against identifiable groups is undeniably a human rights matter and should be confronted through human rights law, not just criminal law. But a perfect balance cannot be legislated. It’s also an active process that all individuals, organizations and institutions in society are obliged to go through; a process that must include being open to public debate.
Where is the authority for that? Where is the authority for the idea that hate expression against identifiable groups is undeniably a human rights matter? And where is the authority for the implicit accusation that the Criminal Code is not open for public debate? It may be out there but it is not provided. It also is couched in the sort of insecure language – “undeniably” and “should be” – that makes one wonder if it is actually out there just waiting to be cited. This is pretty unsatisfactory stuff. A constitutional right is balanced off against a comment in a treaty obligation discussion which does not even support the principle to which it is stated to relate. Then it is extrapolated from to state that the obligation isn’t good enough. And an underlying tone that the legislative branch is not about public debate. Weird.
That is a whole lot of sliding and sledging and slipping for me. It may well be that there is a case for some of all of this. I am not one of those Chicken Littles who obsess about hate speech and human rights. But it would be nice if the underlying factors supporting the cause were put in a way that could be read without scratching one’s head.
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Jay came up with a great idea in the comments last night: creditor’s prison. What a clever bunch of civilized Whigs we are. Or are we civic republicans? A veritable moral meritocracy. Gone are the days of comments with “people like you” finger pointery. No, now we are getting to the 18th century heart of things. People can do evil with an idea. The community can be corrupted by improper deal making. Me? I don’t understand to whom all the money is owed and, if it is a great big Ponzi scheme, why such debts are being honoured and not rewritten as unconscionable? If confidence is to be restored surely it will be due to the restoration of proper valuation though the application of equitable principles.
Fine. That is it. By next week we will be mere days from March and March is when baseball starts. It is almost over! Have I mentioned I hate winter? Winter is for people who say “I like to make the most of winter” and, honestly, we know what people think about people who say that.
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I hadn’t heard things were not going so well in Dubai. We have extended family in the Gulf – as apparently everyone one does – but hadn’t heard a peep about charms like debtors prison:
Now, like many of the foreign workers who make up 90 percent of the population here, she has been laid off and faces the prospect of being forced to leave this Persian Gulf city — or worse. “I’m really scared of what could happen, because I bought property here,” said Sofia, who asked that her last name be withheld because she is still hunting for a new job. “If I can’t pay it off, I was told I could end up in debtors’ prison.” With Dubai’s economy in free fall, newspapers have reported that more than 3,000 cars sit abandoned in the parking lot at the Dubai Airport, left by fleeing, debt-ridden foreigners (who could in fact be imprisoned if they failed to pay their bills). Some are said to have maxed-out credit cards inside and notes of apology taped to the windshield.
Wowie-kazowie! But we still have certain types of jailings for debts, though they are rarely used. Deadbeat parents who don’t pay support might be hoozegowed. It was more common a few decades ago, though. PEI had another approach historically that was still in effect when I took the bar exam there: if someone thought you might skip off, they could seize your stuff based only on making a claim in court. Pre-trial garnishment. Court released the goods after the trial. You no show, it’s gone. Neat and handy.
But who knew? I thought it was all golfing off skyscrapers and making islands shaped like trees in the Emirates. And who knew 90% of the population were auslanders? But no wonder I didn’t know: “…a new draft media law would make it a crime to damage the country’s reputation or economy…” Remind me to stay home.
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I am a little surprised that Iggy is not completely on board but what is the guy to do? What would he look like if he jumped up and down clapping his hands and shrilly screamed “I love it, I love it!!!” like a school girl? He has to buck at the reins but I don’t see an election this spring. Who ever forces an election before 2010 loses. Yet he has to play the game:
Some MPs, speaking on condition they not be named, said all options appeared possible, but that it was unlikely the Liberals would vote for the budget in its current form. It seemed probably they would propose amendments. “Obviously, that could still lead to an election if they’re not co-operative,” one MP said. At the top of the Liberals’ concerns were objections that there was not enough softening of the employment-insurance rules, and that the tax cuts announced yesterday could leave the federal government mired in deficit years from now, even after the economy recovers. Sources said Mr. Ignatieff spent the early evening listening to caucus concerns and did not say which way he was leaning.
See, Iggy listens. He needs to create the aura of being a wise man. Because I think he is a wise man. We have been without wise folk in Federal politics for so long that Canadians have lost their ability to spot one. And I don’t mean ideologically pure, either. Jay isn’t happy but these last years of minorities have basically forced all parties to sell their souls one way or another. Yesterday was just Harper finally being stripped naked of his. He may actually have been flayed. I really don’t want to look that closely to check. It isn’t pretty.
What about the details? Tax breaks? For all that, each family only tops out at 350 bucks. Exactly one-third of the beer and popcorn money. It will stimulate nothing but is a body blow to the budget. Infrastructure? It is merely well placed catching up. Remember the crumbling highways. We need infrastructure spending in any event. Green revolution? I don’t see it – not enough focus but it depends how it plays out. Southern Ontario economic development program? Let’s be honest – I’ve seen ACOA at work and other business development programs at a level above the rubber hitting the road, been in the offices, filled out the forms and seen what it does: weep for Mr. Harper for proposing such a thing. He must feel humiliated.
So, in the end, if the Liberals remove the tax break on the upper end of tax payers by shifting the 22-26% bracket lower again and have all the savings shifted to the rather clever home renovation program and twiddle another couple of things, I think Iggy supports Harper. I think he should for the country and for his own party. That way, Iggy is Prime Minister in 2010 and Harper eats the entire recession personally.
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All the town is abuzz with the budget day news. Half the street had their lights on before 5 am, faces pressed to the windows waiting for the newspapers to be delivered. It’s budget day! It’s budget day!!!
Budgets used to be so drab. In the 70s and 80s there was a guy like Marc Lalonde stoking up the deficits like there was no tomorrow. Best wikipedia notation by the way: “He was very important and helpful.” In the 90’s it was all slash and burn as Paul Martin and Big Jean did the impossible and actually turned Canada around from being a rival to Italy in relation to fiscal house mess to being the talk of the G7 water cooler: “Jean said what? Paul said what?? I don’t believe it.” That is what Germany said to Japan.
There has been much made about PM Harper acting like a drunk NDPer at this moment in time, passing out Federal Government credit cards like Santa handing out candy canes. And it is true. But there is absolutely nothing indicating that the proper thing is to do otherwise. Except if, you know, Canada is not really having a recession. So there is more coming today as The Star semi-speculates:
The tax cuts will highlight a massive economic bailout plan with tens of billions of dollars in new federal spending and tax measures, $2 billion in help for the jobless, cash for the auto industry, $7 billion for urban reconstruction and measures to free up consumer and business loans. The budget will project a deficit of $64 billion over the next two years. The government is planning a series of tax initiatives, including incentives for home renovations to revive the building trades during the recession.
See, I don’t think so much that we are having a recession yet but the US is. The equivalent of the entire work force of PEI or Kingston or more was fired yesterday in the US. Home Depot is shutting stores for heaven’s sale – you know, the place you go to do it yourself to save money. The barber in Ithaca (a well off college town) said people who are getting once a month hair cuts are moving to one every six or eight weeks. The beer store owners told me that people are moving down in their buying patterns, too. The grocery store was mobbed on Sunday night but the malls were quiet. It could be January. It could also be the first January of a recession.
So while our biggest trade partner takes a hit, if we bridge build, home renovate, retool the car factories to make engines that run on hydro electricity is that so bad? Didn’t we spend the last 15 years through administrations that ran the gambit from the moderate centre-left to the moderate centre-right paying off the debt just in case this was going to happen? The self-defined “principled” who never have to actually do anything are not amused.
Utterly tangential amen: Amen.
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Things are loosening up. There is no minus sign in front of today’s temperature and that is in Celsius. It’s back to the deep cold tonight but one day of a lighter jacket and slushy rubber boots not mountain climbing gear is good. Things are lightening in the political world as well. Obama (aka Barry) is at his desk. The clench of fear may be relaxing. It may also be just moving to another part of the body, less about anticipating a body blow and more about handing out what those who wield fear deserve. Up here, Iggy seems to be trying to get us off the roller coaster of brinkmanship that we have be saddled with for most of the decade. “We need an election in February like we need a hole in the head,” Good point:
A busy day ahead. Planning for the weekend. Getting into that relaxed state. Picking out my casual clothes from the pile. A really big day.
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