Oh Those Pesky (not hockey) Senators

Well the auditors are done with at least three of our Senators.  They met with two of them and the third, Mike Duffy was apparently far too busy to meet with them or even bother to send them the paperwork they requested.

Maybe their request was too confusing.  However Duffy did let them know as they were wrapping things up that he was open to a meeting.  The Senate subcommittee decided they didn’t need Mike anyhow.  The auditors had pieced together his attendance and where he was by using his cell phone records and the records from his Government Issue Amex Card.

I saw the news gathering on TV.  It was Conservative Senate Leader Marjory LaBreton came out to make her statement to the media.  She seemed a bit disappointed that the Liberal side of the Senate weren’t ready to put this all behind them and wanted more time to consider the matter.  Ms. LaBreton seems to feel that if the money is repaid then there is no harm and no fouls.

Some of the media pushed her on that, pointing out that if they were over claiming on their expenses they wouldn’t have their jobs very long.  She seemed noncommittal when asked about whether the RCMP would be called.  If the police want to investigate it’s their call, not the Senate’s it seems.

So what have we got?  Conservative Senator Mike Duffy says he was confused and paid the money back, even the per diems he received when he was in Florida and not eligible for.  He blames a temp in his office, but he signed for it.  Apparently Mike doesn’t bother to read things that are put in front of him to sign.

Former Conservative and now independent Senator Brazeau isn’t saying anything.  He’s in enough trouble as it is, he’s probably smart for keeping his mouth shut.

Former Liberal and now independent Senator Mac Harb is going to fight this.  He thinks he has done nothing wrong.  I disagree, but at least he’s standing behind what he did, and if he loses his case then he’ll pay back the money with even more interest.  That is if he loses.

The bottom line is that out of 105 Senators 101 appear to be following the rules, well at least they’re not being investigated.  The auditors and the subcommittee are done with three of them and we’re still waiting to hear on Senator Pamela Wallin. 

But just when you think things can’t get any weirder… the reports on Brazeau and Harb say the rules about residency are unambiguous but that section gets left out of the report on Duffy.  How odd the only one who claims he was confused is not told how clear the rules are.  You’d think that would be the other way around, wouldn’t you?

Look, if you or I were to pull these kinds of games on our employers, we’d be on the street looking for a new job if we were lucky… we might just as likely be charged with fraud.  I don’t care if they are greedy or just thick, ignorance of the law is no excuse.  Taking money you are not entitled to is a crime for citizens and it should be for Senators too.

When I was watching the press conference with Marjory LaBreton, I heard her say one thing that I have to agree with… there is no honour in the Senate.

Imagine that, I’m agreeing with a Conservative…

…and I’m usually the one defending the Senate…

I need a beer.

Cheers! BC

This just in… Liberal Senator James Cowan is saying that the RCMP is indeed interested in examining the expenses of three Senators.  Is this the same RCMP the Senate was chastising this past week?  It could get interesting…

BC

The $3.1 Billion Question

How would you feel if you lost $100.00?  You had it in your wallet when you left the house today but now you can’t find it.  I’ll bet you’d be a bit annoyed if not out and out pissed.

Well, this week the Auditor General Michael Ferguson told the government just that.  But it wasn’t $100.00 he was talking about. It was $3.1 Billion.

You see the government, between 2001 and 2009 gave various departments $12.9 Billion for security and anti-terrorism measures but they can only account for $9.8 Billion of it.  That leaves $3.1 Billion unaccounted for… that’s about $100.00 for every man, woman, and child in Canada.

Does this bother you?  I’m a little pissed.

So Michael Ferguson did his research and produced a report which he delivered to Stephen Harper and the Harper government telling them of the missing money.  And what was the Harper Party’s response? 

Sheer and utter indifference.

Seriously, they really don’t seem to give a rat’s patoot about the fact that there is $3.1 Billion missing.

Tony Clement made a statement.  First he noted that some of the money given to these departments was during the Liberals’ time in office.  Secondly he noted that the Auditor General can’t show that the money wasn’t misappropriated or misspent.

Now don’t forget that Tony is the guy who took money earmarked for border improvements to build a gazebo in his home riding. 

I wouldn’t leave Tony in charge of a Lemonade stand.

Seriously, how can you stand in front of Canada and say that you don’t know where it went, but you know that it wasn’t misspent and it wasn’t stolen? That everything is just hunky dory?

In the real world, you have to account for your spending.  When I was managing a business, when one of my guys went to the store to get a light bulb, the receipt went into petty cash and it was reported weekly.  My boss and his boss (the owner) knew down to the penny how much was coming into the business and how much was being spent.  If the numbers didn’t make sense, I would have heard about it.  My numbers always made sense.

My boss loved clichés.  One of his favourites was “What are the first three rules of management?”

Give up?

1)    Follow up

2)    Follow up

3)    Follow up

What are Tony’s and Stephen’s first three rules for government?

1)    Pass the buck

2)    Pass the buck

3)    Pass the buck

Now in a way Tony is right, there is no proof that any money was misspent or misappropriated, but there is nothing to show how it was spent.  But we don’t have it either.  So if no one stole it, and no one misspent it, then we can only assume that they guys who cut the cheques are incompetent.  That would be you, Tony.  You and your cohorts in the Harper Party.

You guys have been in charge of the store for seven years and counting, and no one noticed the missing money.  No one said, hey Department X, your books don’t balance.  Does anyone on the government side of the House look at the accounts?

Apparently not.  That could explain why current budgets handed down by Jim Flaherty are devoid of numbers.

Math is hard.

Actually Math is not all that hard.  It has rules and follows logic… but then again, these are foreign concepts to the Harper Party from what I can see.

Back in the real world, I wonder what would happen if the Chief Financial Officer of a Corporation was told that over the last few years $3.1 Billion evaporated?  Would he stand in front of the shareholders and say “Oops”?  Would the shareholders start chanting “Four more years”?

No, I think the CEO would be dialling 911 on his cell phone while the shareholders started to look for a rope and a tree.

But this isn’t the real world is it?  It’s Ottawa.  Steve backs his gang and says they’re doing a fine job. 

I’d say otherwise.

Cheers! BC

Of Conspiracy Theories and the Boston Marathon

I swear Facebook is a zombie that eats my brains.

I just found out the the Boston Marathon bombing was a hoax perpetrated by the American Government.  All the blood was fake, likely paint, and the pieces of people at the site were silicon or silicone.

Part of the proof they offered was a picture of a lady who lost her legs to the blast being wheeled away on a stretcher with her legs still attached.

Anyway, what I really wonder is if the American Government wanted to host a "terrorist attack" why bother with fake victims, fake blood and fake body parts.  Why not just get a couple of malcontents or Federal Agents of some kind to sneak around and set off a couple of real bombs and maim and kill real people.

The simplest solution is usually the best.  If you need to acquire fake blood and gore there is always the danger that someone who sold it you you will remember and start to talk about it.  Actors and actresses to play the parts of victims, they will still need to be paid, and you'll never guarantee their silence unless you silence them.

Every link in the chain has the potential to be "the" weak link.  The smaller the conspiracy the better the odds of it never breaking. The best case is a conspiracy of one, like the Unabomber.  His only mistake was in making one bomb too many, otherwise he may never have been caught.

The other flaw in the conspiracy is that the players have to die.  Lee Harvey Oswald is a prime example.  The conspirators could not allow Oswald to go to court, if he started to name names then the conspiracy would unravel in a hurry.  Likely Oswald was supposed to resist arrest and be shot and killed trying to flee.  He was meekly arrested and the conspirators had to ensure his silence.


On the other hand, the government could just bide its time.  There are enough crazies out there itching to make their mark.  Wait a while longer and one or some of them will make an attack, blow something up, or create a situation where the government has to act, maybe something like Waco?

No, the scary thing is that two disaffected brothers were able to assemble working bombs without anyone noticing what they were doing.  There were no cell phone calls or telephone calls required.  No emails, no electronic or traceable messages of any kind.  Two brothers plotting to commit an atrocity and nothing to tip their hand to the authorities.

Let us hope that it never happens again.

Peace, BC

Can We Remove the Stigma Surrounding Rape?

When I write these musings of mine, I’m trying to sort things out in my own mind and when people share their comments with me I read them. Your comments often help me look at problems from a different angle and even if I don’t reply, I do read them.

Sometimes I try to be funny, sometimes I’m snarky, but I’m trying to think out loud… and I’m trying to get you to think as well.

I take the easy part, I ask the questions… I have lots of questions.

One of my questions is why is it when things happen “over there” in faraway places the media jumps on the story and runs with it, but when things happen in Canada they slide under the radar?

Not too long ago the media was abuzz with stories about rapes in India. Before that there was a story about a poor girl in the Maldives who was to be given 100 lashes for being the victim of rape, but when rapes occur here, we don’t seem to hear about it.

I’m thinking first about Rehtaeh Parsons. I don’t recall anything coming across my screen about the alleged rape of a 15 year old girl by four boys in 2011, but I’m in Ontario. I don’t know if this story made the regional news or even the local news in Nova Scotia. It should have.

The saddest part of Rehtaeh’s story is not that she was raped, but the victimization she faced after the rape.  The harassment and hate she had to suffer through for 17 months until she was unable to take anymore.

Rehtaeh is not alone, in the last few days a young woman in Windsor, Ontario has come forward telling her story as a rape survivor.  She was raped by her boyfriend and suffered through the same abuse that Rehtaeh suffered through.  She also tried to commit suicide to end the torment that she was living in.  She’s speaking out because she wants other victims to know that they are not alone.

The message needs to get out.

When there was a serial rapist in Toronto, a woman Tweeted a list of things to prevent being raped.  She suggested learning martial arts, carrying mace, and to stop dressing like a slut. 

This woman’s claim to fame was that her father is a politician in Toronto.

Her comments caused another woman to come out about being raped.  She was hurt and offended that people assume that only sluts or women and girls who dress like “sluts” get raped.  She said on her Facebook page that she had been raped, and that the dress she was wearing was the same one that she had worn to her Grandmother’s birthday.  Hardly “slut gear” by any means. 

The response to her coming out about being a rape victim was amazing.  She received many messages of support, but she was stunned by the number of messages of support from other rape survivors who had managed to carry on.

It really is a crime that it took the death of Rehtaeh to spur any action surrounding her case.  The initial investigation by the RCMP determined there wasn’t a good possibility of conviction so they let the matter slide.  17 months later and after Rehtaeh’s death Darrell Dexter, the Premier of Nova Scotia wants to look into the handling of the rape case by the RCMP.  Just a little late I think.

Rehtaeh’s parents and Dexter also had meetings with Stephen Harper.  They didn’t have much to say afterwards, and neither did the government, but it seems that the response will likely be more laws.

Another law is not the answer.  There were a number of laws broken here.  Rape, possession and transmission of images of the rape, the harassment, and no one was brought before the courts.  No one was found guilty of an offence, there was no justice.

When I sat down to write this I looked for the statistics on rape in Canada and there really doesn’t seem to be much to go on.  I ended up looking at Wikipedia to find there were 576 reported rapes in 2010, their most recent number.  Those 576 rapes boil down to 1.7 people per 100,000. 

But, and it is a big but, less than 10% of rape victims report the crime.

That means there are likely 2 rape victims per 10,000 people in Canada in 2010.  That means that it is entirely possible that you personally know someone who has been raped.  I also found a statistic that 25% of Canadian women have been raped at some point of their life.  That’s 1 in 4 women.

There has always been a stigma to rape.  For some perverse reason people think that women who get raped were asking for it.  We don’t think that a home owner is to blame for having their house broken into because they had nice things.  But we’ll blame the rape victim if she was wearing makeup or a dress just to look nice.

The way we have treated the women who have come forward to report rapes is horrid.  They’ve been dragged through the mud in the court system with lawyers trying to show that they were asking for it.  The community often looked down of these women as being beneath contempt because only bad girls got raped.  And then there are the idiots who seem to think that because a girl gets raped she must be some sort of easy lay and they want to get some too.

It’s no wonder they don’t report the crime.  Would you?

This isn’t something new.  It has been with us a long time.  The only difference is that today we have social media that is capable of reaching an untold number of people within seconds.  The stories might have rumours between friends back in the day or in coffee klatches, later on rumours moved down the line on the telephone, but always limited to a few at a time.  A post on Facebook can reach hundreds or thousands and a Twitter message can suddenly go to millions.

So what is the answer?  Will another law help?

It might, but we don’t seem to be able to enforce the laws we already have.  And if rape victims are too afraid to come forward will these laws help at all?

What we need to do is to understand that rape happens to nice girls.  And we need to teach our kids that bad things like rape happen to nice people and sadly we need to start teaching this to kids before they leave elementary school.

I’m not saying this is a school thing, parents teach kids too, and it should be parents teaching this to their own kids.

CBC Windsor had an interview with a 14 year old girl who was raped when she was 12.  She said that she was harassed and bullied by the others at her school when they found out.  When the interviewer asked her about it, she said that the other kids didn’t understand, they didn’t realize what they were doing was wrong.

She is very wise for 14 years old.

We need to remove the stigma from being a victim of rape.  We need to enable these girls and women so that they can be confident that they will not suffer for naming the person who committed this crime against them. 

Earlier I mentioned that less than 10% of rapes are reported in Canada… That means that 90% of the rapists are not charged, not brought to justice…

Think about it,

BC