Planet, Shmanet

I still don’t know what planet Harper is on:

"I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see a gala of a bunch of people at, you know, a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren’t high enough, when they know those subsidies have actually gone up – I’m not sure that’s something that resonates with ordinary people,"
The Star, Sept 24, 2008

Gosh, I really love what he’s doing there.  Pitting “ordinary people” against the arts by continuing with the “rich artists” analogy.

Of course, I have to take Stéphane Dion to task on his response, though.  Although its true that the “average” wage for artists is $23,000, that’s probably an inflated number.  Most artists would be quite happy to make that much in a year at their art.  But what I take issue with is Dion’s statement (from the same article) that

"Most of them [artists] need to rent their suit and beautiful dresses at these galas,"

Dion makes the poor choice here and continues the “Gala” analogy, which allows harper more traction with his lie.  It would have been more accurate to state that most artists never even go to these mythical “galas”, but instead are struggling to make ends meet.

Whiners: I am one, apparently…according to Harper

Well, Stephen Harper once again showed his contempt for the arts today.

He defended his government’s cuts to cultural programs and characterized artists who have complained as government-subsidized whiners.
TheStar, September 23, 2008

Conservatives just love to portray those in the Arts community as a bunch of champagne sipping “elites” who are rolling in money.  They love to portray the arts as something that appeals to the rich and out of touch.

And yet, this betrays an ignorance on a level that’s almost unbelievable.  How many rich artists do you know?  How many artists do you know who are just rolling in cash, and hobnobbing with the “cultural elite”?  I know absolutely none.  I do, however, know a lot of artists who are struggling to make ends meet, working minimum wage jobs in order to keep a roof over their heads, while also trying to work at their craft.

Harper and his bunch, hate those of us who make art.  Probably they hate artists because they don’t understand the need to communicate.  This is, of course, a government who have worked very hard to not communicate with the entire Canadian public.  His own ministers aren’t permitted to make public statements unless these statements have been approved by his office.  One doesn’t have to look very far to see this.  Look at the bill C-61 debacle, and how his government refused to even consult with citizens on the issue of copyright reform.

This is a Prime Minister that hates artists, the press, cities, and citizens who want to be informed about what the government is doing.  And yet, according to polls, he’s winning this election?  What’s wrong with us?  What’s wrong with Canadians that we are buying into his sweater vest wearing, carefully crafted, “softer image”.

Look, if all it takes to gain public approval and votes in this election is wearing a blue sweater vest, and talking about your family, then hell, I say that all the party leaders should go to the debates wearing sweater vests, and turn every question into an opportunity to talk about their family.  I mean, why aren’t we mocking this guy?  This whole campaign is completely mock-worthy, and yet…its not being done.  Harper is stealing this election by not talking about anything of worth and spreading lies about other party leaders.

And we’re letting him.

Doesn’t anyone else think there’s something wrong with that?

God is…hate?

You know, I don’t usually give lunatics like the Westboro Baptist Church “air time”, because seriously, they get enough publicity, which they absolutely don’t deserve.  But today, I cannot help it.   The WBC…those are the happy people behind sites like godhatesfags, godhatescanada and godhatesamerica (no links because they really don’t deserve the linkage).

They’ve been in Canadian news because of their plan to protest the funeral of Tim McLean, the poor guy who was stabbed and beheaded on a Greyhound bus on the way to Winnipeg.  Why are the protesting this funeral?

From CTV.ca:

Although no member of the group ever met McLean, they claim he lived an immoral and godless life, just like all other Canadians.

And my favourite part:

On Friday, [Shirley] Phelps-Roper [ daughter of the founding member of the Westboro Baptist Church] said her group will not be stopped from getting its message out, even if only one member makes it to McLean’s funeral. “Don’t worry. It won’t matter how many people there are. When they get the signs up, they’ll (get) the same raging, screaming response,” Phelps-Roper said.

Of course.  Because the bible is very clear on how much hate is a part of God’s message.  Oh wait.  It isn’t: You must love another as I have loved you (John 15:12).  Its pretty clear that the WBC is only interested in getting publicity for themselves.  Why else would they be calling the media every time they want to stage one of their hateful protests.  If only the media could bring themselves to just say No thank you.  You aren’t worth the ink.” [I realize saying this that it applies to me as well, since I'm writing about them.  But then, its rage that gets me writing on the topic this morning, so perhaps the journalists who give them press have the same reason].

The article ends with:

They have repeatedly called the U.S. a “fag” nation, a phrase Phelps-Roper told CTV.ca applies well to Canada.

If Canada is a “fag” nation…well, the truth is, I’m ok with that.  At least I’m not a screaming, raging psycho who’s trying to traumatize and already traumatized family at their son’s funeral.

Just in case anyone had any doubt…

Jack Thompson is still an asshole.

Asshole of the year

At this time of year, everyone is giving awards for the best and the worst and publishing top ten lists and the like.  I’m only going to give one "award": the Asshole of the Year award.

Hands down, this goes to the RIAA, for blithely suing consumers without regard for customer relations.  Their latest instance of assholery can be found here:

…the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer. The industry’s lawyer in the case, Ira Schwartz, argues in a brief filed earlier this month that the MP3 files Howell made on his computer from legally bought CDs are "unauthorized copies" of copyrighted recordings.

The RIAA is attempting to prove in court, its long time assertion that just because you bought the CD, doesn’t mean you own it.

This is made possible by the DMCA.  Is there are more powerful argument against having a Canadian version of the DMCA, I’d love to hear it.