Dear Ukraine,

Once again, I find myself praying for you. It is fascinating that at the same time as you are giving the Russians permission to retain a naval base in Crimea, the European Parliament is preparing to declare Holodomor a crime against humanity.

Reporter Mevlut Cavusoglu noted that his own fact-finding mission to the region leaves “no doubt that the Soviet regime bears the responsibility for the deaths of millions of people in Ukraine as a result of its actions and policies, and is guilty of the crime against its own people.”

Now here you sit ready to make nice with Russia and all I can do is pray for you.

Dear America,

Have you ever heard of a company called Magnetar? No, me neither, but guess who made a fortune betting that Americans would default on their mortgages? A little hedge fund from Chicago named after the powerful magnetic field created in the last moments of a dying star/supernova. How perfect is that? They saw an opportunity to make money in the last moments of a dying empire.

It's quite a complex story, my understanding of it (and please read the ProPublica story linked above to get the full picture) is that Magnetar pushed bankers to include increasingly risky mortgages into CDOs. Magnetar would then sponsor the most risky portion of the CDO. The rest of the CDO would be covered by other investors - you know mutual funds, pension funds, everyday suckers like you and I. Then Magnetar would bet that the CDO sponsored would fail by purchasing "hedging instruments" called credit default swaps that covered the value of the entire CDO, even though Magnetar only had an interest in a portion of the CDO. Meaning that while the other investors in the CDOs lost their money, the people with the risky mortgages lost their homes, and the banks lost their money, Magnetar made billions (almost $6 billion).

It's the story of American ingenuity and a good old-fashioned fuck everyone approach. It's the sort of thing that made America great and exactly what is cutting short the American empire. God bless them all, but the dream is over. Ayn Rand was wrong, individualism and self-interest will not make a country great, but it will make a few selfish assholes a stack of cash. It's time to ditch the shoddy objectivist philosophy and attempt to salvage your country.

On a side note, I had the good fortune to come across the fantastic podcast, This American Life. The very first episode I heard was one called Inside Job, which lead to this posting. Give it a listen.

Note to John McKay, Dan McTeague and Paul Szabo

Gentlemen, access to contraception and abortions are cornerstones for maternal and child health. Period.

Shame on you for voting against the motion put forward by Bob Rae. Shame on your cowardly cohorts who refused to show up for the vote.

"This is a moral issue for me and I voted based on my conscience," said Szabo.

My response to Mr. Szabo is to quote my beloved Helen Philpot:

Abortion has no business being a political game… a sound bite to make the evening news. It is a medical decision between a woman and her doctor. If you have a moral dilemma or a religious issue, then don’t have an abortion. It really is that simple. Trust me. I know.

Blessed is Helen.

I knew it

Some time ago I noted that the new citizens' guide, Discover Canada, appeared to represent ideology rather than a balanced view of our country. Strikingly absent was any mention that same sex marriage is legal in Canada or any mention of equality rights. Now the news is out that there were sections covering these topics in early drafts and Jason Kenney blocked it.

Minister Kenney has consistently voted against same sex marriage and clearly has his own issues with homosexuality. I can't help wondering how much he has in common with a politician from California...

Dear Canadian Voters,

Yeah you. Where have you been? It's not enough to join Facebook protest groups - you must stand up for your rights. Call your MP. Tell him/her that you want democratic representation, now. Opposition parties need a call to arms before they'll force an election. We need to tell them we're ready for a new leader.

This country needs real change. Our Fearless Dictator (OFD - the PM formerly known on these pages as Steve) cannot continue to lie about the state of the economy.His shiny, happy economic outlook is strikingly different than that of the Parliamentary Budget Officer. "PBO’s estimates suggest that the Canadian economy was operating significantly below its potential in 2009." This downward trend has been evident since 2000 and is projected by the PBO to continue in the foreseeable future. Strange that Jim Flaherty's outlook is that "Canada's strong fiscal condition going into the recession would be a bonus coming out and that a good chunk of the deficit would disappear when the stimulus spending stops by March 2011." Why would these two views differ? Who benefits from lying about the economy? Oh that's right the politicians. But they never lie!

If the economy continues to under-perform (and it looks like it will) government revenues will also be reduced. The Conservative budgetary projections, aka lies, will have my boy paying down our deficit when he's gray.

Rest assured OFD has been busy working at more than faking numbers, he's also been giving out patronage appointments. 1,500 of them since 2006. I believe he's well past any Liberal records in this department. My favourite so far is appointing a lobbyist from Pfizer to the Canadian Institutes on Health Research. Guess which drug company is about to rich on our dime? Pfizer stock, anyone? Mention that when talking to your MP.

If you need more convincing check out the links at the bottom of this post, Our Fearless Dictator has been very busy centralising power.

Help me, Canadian voters, you're my only hope.

PS to Jack Layton: Sorry about this. Now that your health challenges have come to light, I feel rather shame-faced for complaining about you. Best wishes for a speedy recovery. (However, the NDP should have a presence without Jack or is that ship a dictatorship as well? Apologies aren't my strength, does it show?)

Dear Democrats,

WTF? Where were you?

(And herein lies the problem with the left in Canada and the US. Is it complacency? Ineptitude? I can't decide, but man, am I tired of it. It's time to get off the sidelines and get in the game.)

Dear Reader,

In the past I've mentioned The Current's Request Count. The CBC Radio program tracked the number of requests for interviews with Conservative Ministers and number of interviews actually granted. It's pretty shocking stuff - 34 requests and only 4 interviews were granted. I had thought that Steve's death-grip on government communication was an example of micro-management at its best. After coming across this, I'm not so sure.

Is kind Uncle Stevie, with his sweaters and fake smile, actually a dictator? Do yourself a favour, check out some of those links. I found these ones especially thought provoking:

Canada slips in press freedom rankings

Has Canada entered a Bush-like vortex?

Democracy Canadian-style

Gov't program wants job applicants' views on Tory budget

Watchdog slams lack of transparency in stimulus spending

Siddiqui: Harper acting like an elected dictator