The In-and-Out election

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 1:49 PM - 73 Comments

The 2006 election campaign that brought Stephen Harper to power on a promise of new accountability continues to raise questions of accounting.

The Canadian Press has learned that chief electoral officer Marc Mayrand has taken the governing party to task for failing to properly report the cost of running two regional campaign offices in Quebec. The $107,000 tab was divvied up and claimed as a shared expense by 15 candidates in Montreal and Quebec City. They claimed the expense even though Elections Canada found many candidates never used the regional offices, which were staffed by central party workers involved in what appear to have been national campaign activities.

Pundits Guide has more.

Elections Canada renews hostilities with the Tories

By macleans.ca - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 1:46 PM - 51 Comments

Elections Canada has once again targeted the federal Conservatives for reprimand. Federal election officials say the party violated election laws by improperly accounting for the cost of running two regional campaign offices in Quebec. Instead of filing them as national campaign expenses, which Elections Canada says they were, the Conservatives split the $107,000 tab for the offices between 15 candidates in Quebec City and Montreal. According to Elections Canada, since the candidates made little or no use of the offices, they shouldn’t have been able to claim them as expenses. The party has complied “under protest” with Mr. Mayrand’s demand that it file a revised campaign financial return, adding on the cost of the regional offices. But it has also served notice that it intends to challenge the watchdog’s order in court. Elections Canada and the Conservatives are still involved in a legal battle over the so-called in-and-out scheme the Conservatives used in the 2006 election to pay for party advertising.

The Globe and Mail

Chilean miners vs. BP

By macleans.ca - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 12:22 PM - 0 Comments

The Chilean miners

The now-infamous Chilean miners spent 69 days trapped underground in the collapsed San José mine in Chile’s Atacama desert. Their rescue was watched by as many as one billion people and transformed several of the miners into global celebrities. Brad Pitt’s production company is reportedly trying to secure exclusive film rights to their story. One of the miners, Edison Peña, says his time underground has made him more human. “I think I’m loving everybody more,” he told the BBC. “I believe in touching people. I think I love myself more.”

BP

Former CEO Tony Hayward—the man tasked with explaining the world’s largest-ever oil spill—climbed to the top of oil giant BP as a reformer who stated, after a 2005 refinery explosion, that his company’s leadership “doesn’t listen sufficiently well.” But after the Deepwater Horizon spill, Hayward, 53, didn’t seem to have absorbed his own lessons. He told reporters he “wanted his life back,” refused to answer queries from congressmen, and attended a yacht race while one of the worst environmental catastrophes on record slowly unfolded.

Back to the contest bracket

Sidney Crosby vs. Aung San Suu Kyi

By macleans.ca - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 12:20 PM - 7 Comments

Sidney Crosby

He’s the man behind the brilliant, blindingly quick goal that sent this country into a paroxysm of joy at the 2010 Olympic Games. It was, without overstating, the goal that defined the Games themselves, so vivid is its memory, and so deep its impression on the national psyche. As challenging as 2010 has been—with its wars, natural disasters and political upheavals—“the Goal” resides on a higher plane, dwarfing among other things Sidney Crosby’s other achievements, which include a Stanley Cup and a host of personal awards.

Aung San Suu Kyi

When, on the evening of Nov. 13, Aung San Suu Kyi suddenly appeared from behind the red iron bars surrounding her house, her lonely prison for most of the past two decades, her ecstatic supporters erupted into cheers; many were reduced to tears. Thousands had rushed to Suu Kyi’s crumbling white villa on Rangoon’s Inya Lake after security forces began taking apart the compound’s barbed-wire barricades: a clear signal the world’s most famous political prisoner would finally be freed from house arrest.

Back to the contest bracket

How to spend $21-billion

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 11:32 AM - 104 Comments

David Pugliese’s three-part series on the proposed purchase of 65 F-35s—see here, here and here—is an altogether epic tale of confusion, misdirection and the unexplained.

In the 1980s, when Canada’s Air Force was looking for a new fighter jet — eventually picking the CF-18 — it gathered the competing aircraft at Cold Lake, Alberta, for rigorous flight tests. One military participant recalls tens of thousands of pages of aerospace evaluation data and flight test details. Among those taking part was then military pilot Laurie Hawn, now the Conservative point man on the JSF file.

But Canada decided on the JSF without testing it against competing planes. Boeing and French aircraft manufacturer Dassault would later confirm DND never asked nor received high-level performance data from them. The developmental nature of the JSF, in itself, violated DND’s criteria for a replacement aircraft. In 2006, department officials stated that any CF-18 replacement would have to be an aircraft in operation with an allied force, according to records obtained by the Citizen.

Avoid a straightforward explanation at all costs

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 10:10 AM - 35 Comments

It would be difficult to improve upon the knot Jason Kenney tied himself in last year to explain why the government would no longer be providing funding for KAIROS, but Bev Oda seems to be trying.

CIDA President Margaret Biggs told MPs Thursday the “NOT” wasn’t there when she recommended the minister approve funding to help an estimated 5.4 million people in developing countries. CIDA Minister Bev Oda told the same parliamentary committee she could not say who had added the word “not,” but that the final decision to scrap funding to KAIROS was consistent with the Conservative government’s priorities … At first, Oda said she signs off on all documents but then said she didn’t sign the memorandum that has her signature.

Will we be safer?

By Michael Friscolanti - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 10:00 AM - 9 Comments

Tillman’s name would have been registered under the new rules despite the fact that the prosecutor didn’t ask for a registration order | Troy Fleece/CP

Eighteen months ago, the federal government promised to finally fix Canada’s dysfunctional sex-offender registry. At the heart of the proposed legislation was a “mandatory inclusion” rule, ensuring that every person guilty of a sex crime actually ends up on the database. No exceptions. No excuses.

But eighteen months later, as Bill S-2 slowly works its way through Parliament, the status quo stands in the courts: a prosecutor must still ask a judge to add a rapist or pedophile to the registry—and some judges are still refusing. Like in the case of J.W., a Nova Scotia man sentenced to 15 months probation for pinning his girlfriend against a wall and tearing off her clothes. The Crown wanted him registered, but J.W. told the court he was planning to enlist in the military after serving his sentence, and that checking in with police on a regular basis would be tricky.

Continue…

Was someone after photos of Harper?

By Michael Friscolanti - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 9:20 AM - 17 Comments

Getty Images

Stephen Harper is a law-and-order type of guy, a champion of mandatory minimum sentences and tough legislation with names like Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act. But it turns out that not even the Prime Minister’s own office is safe from the criminal element. Just ask Jason Ransom, his official photographer. Someone stole his computer—right inside the Langevin Block, the PM’s supposedly ultra-secure headquarters.

The heist happened in April 2009, but news of the incident didn’t spread until this week, when Maclean’s started asking questions about an obscure item buried in the latest public accounts of Canada: a $1,298 reimbursement for “theft of personal laptop.”

Continue…

A never-ending journey of a thousand miles begins with a thousand first steps

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 9:10 AM - 66 Comments

Environment Minister John Baird, this weekend, on the Cancun accord. “This represents the first step to a single, new legally binding agreement … A first step.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, last week, on the Copenhagen accord. “Mr. Speaker, the Copenhagen accord was only a first step.”

Environment Minister Jim Prentice, last February, on the submission of Canada’s emission targets to the Copenhagen accord. “We took our first step down that road on Sunday, January 31, 2010.”

Environment Minister John Baird, three years ago, on the Bali climate talks. “With the United States now signed on to this framework the results of this conference show progress and we see that as an important first step.”

Environment Minister Rona Ambrose, four years ago, on the Clean Air Act. “After more than a decade of inaction on the environment by the previous government, Canada’s Clean Air Act is the first step in turning things around to protect the health of Canadians.”

Headline of news release from the office of Environment Minister Stephane Dion, five years ago, on the coming into force of Kyoto targets. “Achieving Our Kyoto Targets – A First Step Toward a Greener Canada”

Environment Minister David Anderson, nine years ago, on the Kyoto Protocol. “The Kyoto Protocol is only the first step on a long road towards implementing an effective solution to climate change.”

In conversation: Christopher Hitchens

By Noah Richler - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 164 Comments

Photography by Tom Sandler

The 61-year-old author and Vanity Fair columnist Christopher Hitchens is one of the most popular, eloquent and contrarian public intellectuals of our time. His book, The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice, assailed the reputation and work of the Catholic nun and icon, as his later The Case Against Henry Kissinger did Richard Nixon’s former secretary of state. His book God is Not Great has become necessary reading for atheists everywhere and was the reason Hitchens visited Toronto recently to challenge the former British prime minister and converted Catholic Tony Blair in a Munk debate with the proposition “Be it resolved that religion is a force for good in the world,” which was broadcast globally. Hitchens, “Hitch” to his friends, won, taking 68 per cent of the vote—and this, despite being gravely ill with cancer that was diagnosed in the spring. His most recent book is Hitch-22: A Memoir.

Continue…

Nothing to fear but WiFi and fluoride

By Andrew Potter - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 102 Comments

Steve Cole/Getty Images

As the cholera outbreak in Haiti continues to worsen, the population is getting increasingly desperate. In some areas, mobs have embarked on genuine witch hunts, attacking people accused of using black magic to deliberately spread the disease. At least 12 people suspected of being witches were stoned or hacked to death last week, their corpses dragged into the street and burned.

Haiti’s descent into superstition in the face of chaos might afford us a few drops of condescension to mix with our pity at the country’s fate. But it bears keeping in mind that when it comes to confronting fears, Canadians are no less prone to fits of magical thinking.

For example, back in October, parents at an elementary school in Ontario voted overwhelmingly to ban WiFi in the classroom*. Were the parents concerned that surfing the Net during class might be bad for learning? No, they were reacting to symptoms reported by their kids that included dizziness, nausea, and headaches, and which mysteriously disappeared on weekends and holidays. Deftly elbowing past the obvious explanation—going to school makes most kids want to barf—parents concluded that the in-school wireless must be to blame. And so out went the Internet routers, despite assurances from the province’s chief medical officer that they posed absolutely no threat to students.

Continue…

Sarkozy vs. the press

By Julia Belluz - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 2 Comments

Most of the reporters who say they have been targeted have been investigating politically explosive stories and scandals | Guillaume Horcajuelo/Eric Feferberg/EPA/Keystone Press

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has had, at best, a peculiar relationship with the press. Unlike his remote predecessors, who shut journalists out of their private lives, Sarkozy ferried reporters right into the presidential bedroom. “Me and Carla, it’s really serious,” he gushed at his first major press conference in 2008, referring to then-girlfriend Carla Bruni, whom he married that year.

In addition to courting the press, Sarkozy has enjoyed unprecedented power over it. The 23rd president of the French republic is the first to be in charge of nominating the chairman of France’s public television broadcaster, France Télévisions. Close friends, too, run some parts of the media, which has raised questions about dropped stories and the sacking of journalists who present unfavourable depictions of the leader. “Sarkozy plays with the press more than any other president,” says Dominique Moïsi, founder and senior adviser at the French Institute for International Relations, “and he also seems more intent on controlling it.”

Continue…

Mike Holmes wants to fix the world

By Jonathon Gatehouse - Monday, December 13, 2010 at 9:00 AM - 25 Comments

Photography Derek Shapton

A rhetorical question needs no answer, but sometimes it’s better to be safe than sorry. “Am I full of crap?” Mike Holmes barks from the stage, pausing just long enough to flash a teeth-baring smile. “No, I know I’m not.”

Even if they disagree, the teenagers before him—Aboriginal youth from across southwestern Ontario, brought together for a career fair at which the burly contractor is the keynote speaker—are unlikely to say it out loud. They’ve seen him on TV. He’s famous. Or at least recognizable enough that a bunch of 16-year-olds want to take his picture with their cellphones. At their age, Canada’s second most trusted man—trailing only David Suzuki in an April survey by Reader’s Digest—was a dropout, working full-time as a renovator, and living alone in a Toronto apartment where he wired the TV, stereo and all the lights to a panel attached to his armchair. Now he’s standing there, jabbing his finger in the air like Apollo Creed in Rocky, and pulling out every trick in the motivational bag to convince them to stay in school, and preferably pick up a skilled trade. There’s the scare: “If you quit, what the hell are you going to do? Work at McDonald’s?” Blandishment: “There’s so much opportunity. In 10 years, we’re going to be a million tradespeople short.” Even the potential for hookups: “I have met some of the hottest female electricians, welders and plumbers . . .”

Continue…

The Backbench Top Ten

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 2:57 PM - 1 Comment

After a week away, our weekly, and wholly arbitrary, ranking of the ten most worthy, or at least entertaining, MPs returns. A celebration of all that is great and ridiculous about the House of Commons. Last week’s rankings appear in parentheses. Continue…

This week has four sketches

By Aaron Wherry - Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 1:29 PM - 0 Comments

Our weekly look back at all we saw and heard.

Monday. ‘This is about victims’
Tuesday. Anyone can be environment minister
Wednesday. These fleeting words
Thursday. The hangover and the afterglow

Grant Kippen: Small, Positive Steps for Democracy in Afghanistan

By Andrew Potter - Saturday, December 11, 2010 at 10:33 AM - 7 Comments

The following article was written by Grant Kippen, past chairman of the Electoral Complaints Commission in Afghanistan. For those unfamiliar with Kippen’s pivotal role in the 2009 presidential election, check out John Geddes’ profile of Kippen from late 2009. He sent me this piece, and I post it with his permission.

*********

Slowly, important changes are happening in Afghanistan.

With all the focus this past week on the WikiLeaks release of US State Department documents it was not hard to overlook a significant milestone that occurred in Afghanistan, as the country continues its journey towards instituting the rule of law and building stronger, more independent democratic institutions and processes.  The event occurred on Wednesday, December 1 when the Independent Election Commission (IEC) released the final results for Ghazni province, the last of the 34 provinces to have the results from the September 18 Wolesi Jirga (parliamentary) elections certified.

The announcement brought closure to an election that was widely acknowledged as being exceptionally difficult by any international standards.  The degree to which fraud took place was on a par, if not greater, than what occurred in last year’s Presidential and Provincial Council elections, driven in large part by the intense competition amongst the approximately 2,500 candidates for the 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga (Parliament).

While there are inevitably many more losers than winners in any election, the maxim is not entirely applicable in this instance, since the actions of the IEC have clearly signaled a win for the people of Afghanistan.   Despite coming under intense pressure from various actors, including the Attorney General’s Office and the Complaints Committee of the Meshrano Jirga  - who have no legal authority over electoral matters – the IEC resisted efforts to have them accept a political solution in Ghazni.  After careful deliberation and following the results obtained from their own investigations the IEC went ahead with the certification of the final results.

At Wednesday’s press conference the Chairman of the IEC, Professor Fazel Ahmad Manawi eloquently stated, “Our decisions are not driven by issues by tribe, ethnicity or language, but only by law.”

Afghans should take pride in the words of Chairman Manawi and the accomplishments of the IEC this year for their actions signal renewed hope for the long-term prospects of the electoral process and representative democracy in their country.  Donors should also pause to reflect on this achievement knowing that against the backdrop of the myriad challenges facing Afghanistan some positive progress is taking place.   It is not all doom and gloom in the country.

However, neither Afghans nor the international community should be lulled into a false sense of security thinking that work in this area is anywhere close to being completed.   In the short-term vigilance will be required in order to head off any potential retribution directed towards officials of the IEC or spurious attempts to re-write the electoral law, as was the case this past February

Electoral reform is desperately needed in Afghanistan in order to address the significant shortcomings that played out so publicly in the 2009 and 2010 elections.  This should be the first priority of the incoming Parliament (Wolesi Jirga) and the international community needs do everything it can to ensure that the mistakes made between the 2005 and 2009 elections are not repeated.

Now is the precisely the time for Canada to renew and redouble our efforts in this area by working with Afghans as they continue to build their nascent democracy.  Let’s use the momentum that the IEC has created so that the next elections are less fraudulent, more inclusive, credible and transparent than has been the case to date.
Grant Kippen

Past Chairman,

2009 and 2005 Electoral Complaints Commission

Afghanistan

The lion of the House

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 5:10 PM - 121 Comments

Bob Rae’s ability to hold and reward attention is unmatched in the present House of Commons and his presence is perhaps all the more unique and all the more remarkable in the wider realm of daily conversation and rhetoric. And here, from earlier this afternoon, is a rather captivating, perhaps even important, nine minutes. Depending on your level and kind of partisan allegiance, it may inspire, embolden, provoke or enrage. Regardless of political leaning, one should be able to appreciate a speech well and truly delivered.

How our MPs live

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 4:12 PM - 19 Comments

More pressing than the crumbling nature of our democracy may be the crumbling nature of the buildings that house our democracy.

Too close for comfort?

By macleans.ca - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 3:15 PM - 59 Comments

In an effort to further coordinate border security and trade, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama have drafted an agreement entitled “Beyond the Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Competitiveness.” The document proposes closer cooperation among police, security and military officials from both countries, as well as shared border management facilities and greater exchange of law enforcement information intelligence. Critics see the deal as posing a possible threat to the personal privacy of Canadians, and raising questions around Canadian sovereignty in regards to refugee and immigration policies. Spokesperson for Harper, Dimitri Soudas, said the proposed pact is a still work in progress.

Toronto Star

How to respond to Don Cherry

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 3:11 PM - 45 Comments

Brian Topp notes both Don Cherry’s latest ranting and Patrick Muttart’s recent observations and casts forward to a progressive response.

A good place to start is to stop building up our opponents by mocking or demonizing them, as so many progressive people did, self-defeatingly, in the case of both Prime Minister Harper and Mayor Ford. Next, we need to find some clear words to point out the fundamental contradiction in the conservative message – a populist message designed to beggar the populi. And third, we need to scrub off thirty years of impenetrable, internally-focussed, liberal, academic, bureaucratic, entitlement-driven, self-absorbed “progressive” language.

Opening Weekend: 'The Tourist' is strictly for tourists

By Brian D. Johnson - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 3:09 PM - 3 Comments

Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in 'The Tourist'

In the past couple of days, I’ve seen a couple of films that stagger the imagination. Films with high-powered talent that left me reeling with shock and awe, thinking, “I can’t believe that this movie exists.” And not in a good way. One of them was How Do You Know, the new James L. Brooks romantic comedy, starring Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Jack Nicholson. It doesn’t open for another week, so I’ll hold my fire for now. The other is The Tourist, starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp, which opens this weekend. (Also opening this week is The King’s Speech—by now I’m sure you already know that it’s an Oscar front-runner and highly recommended by critics across the board. For more on The King’s Speech, go to my piece in Maclean’s: Going up against Hitler with a stutter.)

The Tourist is directed by German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who won the foreign-language film Oscar for the brilliant Stasi intrigue The Lives of Others (2006). It’s almost inconceivable how such an intelligent director could make such a mediocre, witless, deliberately dumb movie. And you can’t just say it’s because he got married to a misconceived project as a director-for-hire. The Tourist was von Donnersmarck’s baby. He brought it to producer Graham King and the director’s reputation helped lure Jolie and Depp. So he’s got no excuse.

How bad is it? Well, if there’s anything groundbreaking about The Tourist, one could say that it redefines the notion of guilty pleasure. You could buy a glossy magazine just to look at the ads, or you could see The Tourist.  Its pleasures are twofold: gazing at luxurious images of Venice, and gazing at luxurious images of Angelina Jolie—who does not act so much as pose in a series of regal close-ups, in which her features are barely more mobile than those of the city itself. Don’t get me wrong. Angelina and Venice are to die for—breathtakingly beautiful, even if both may have had some work done. But I can’t remember that last time I saw a movie where the camera seemed so enslaved to a screen goddess, doting on her in one unflinching close-up after the other, letting her gazelle-like jawline find the perfect angle, fixing on those Sophia-Loren-sized smoky eyes. And everyone else in the frame seems to be doing the same thing, just gawking at her.

Did I mention Johnny Depp? Yeah, he’s in it, too. We love Johnny. But frankly, he’s looked better. And acted better. Not that he has much to do. I mean, Angelina’s got her work cut out for her, wearing the clothes and the jewelry and the infinite makeup, and being the object of so much adoration. He’s got that chopped-liver air about him. Maybe the Keith-Richards role modeling is taking its toll. Or maybe his ragged appearance is contrived for the role. Who knows? With Johnny, it’s hard to tell.

You don’t really want to know about the plot, except that there is one. Sort of. Angelina plays Elise Ward, an International Woman of Mystery who is being tailed by British agents and a big-time gangster. They’re trying to get to her paramour, Alexander Pearce, an International Man of Mystery who has stolen a fortune. He leaves her a divine little hand-written note in a cafe telling her to pick up a stranger on a train to Venice, someone of his approximate height and build. A decoy. She chooses Frank Tupelo (Depp), a math teacher from the Midwest. He presents himself as a simple tourist trying to mend his broken heart. Chase scenes ensue. Frank is hot for Elise, who toys with him. The plot seems to be the same kind of set up as in Knight and Day or Red, with an innocent civilian getting dragged into a dangerous cloak-and-dagger intrigue. With a much lazier plot. That’s because the main event in The Tourist is tourism. The backdrop is the foreground. This is a movie about buildings and boats and canals and hotel rooms. . . and Angelina. Her character, if one could call it that, is a female James Bond, whose only job is to strike a pose, smolder and let things happen around her. She’s good at it. But don’t go looking for any chemistry between her and Johnny. Playing straightman for a screen goddess is a thankless job, and he seems to be just going through the motions, waiting to split this Venetian pop stand and get back to the Caribbean.

Classic TV Sign-Offs

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 2:08 PM - 1 Comment

The best part of watching TV late at night, back before infomercials, was the little segment a channel would play to let us know it was signing off the air. Soothing, civically proud, patriotic, and frequently years out of date, these sign-offs briefly tricked sleepy kids into thinking this was the introduction to a new show. Or the “sermonettes” would make you wonder if it was Sunday and you just didn’t realize it.

This blog has assembled a collection of some classic conclusions of the broadcast day, mostly from the ’70s and ’80s.

The sign-off I’m most familiar with is the segment that starts around 2:32 in this clip, a bunch of stock film footage accompanied by the most uplifting orchestral arrangement of “O Canada” I’ve ever heard. (It’s also featured as the last clip in the post I linked to, but this version, from Global, has better sound. Besides, I saw this film more often on Global than I did on the CBC.) I still remember the little girl hugging her confused-looking baby brother at the end. Watching it again, I realize that these old films didn’t show Canada as a particularly diverse place — if a comparable collection of clips were made today, it would unquestionably put more emphasis on that aspect of the country. But, of course, there wouldn’t be a comparable collection of clips today, because there are infomercials out there to fill the late-night time.

Attack on Charles and Camilla raises questions about royal security

By macleans.ca - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 1:28 PM - 15 Comments

Protests over university tuition-fee hikes in Britain hit a fever pitch on Thursday, culminating in an attack by demonstrators on a car carrying Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. The couple was in a car headed to the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium when their car was surrounded by some 20 demonstrators who were chanting, “Off with their heads” and “Tory scum.” One of the car’s windows was smashed, and paint was thrown on the vehicle. Security analyst and former police officer Charles Shoebridge said: “This is a very serious incident. It ranks amongst the most serious security breaches of the past decade.” The strike on the royal family has also raised questions around security, and whether the right route was chosen for the royals to travel on. Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said it was “an unpredictable movement of some numbers of demonstrators” that led to the problems.

BBC News

Governing as sport

By Aaron Wherry - Friday, December 10, 2010 at 1:19 PM - 28 Comments

Last year. “For anyone who believes that our governments should be honest, open and accountable, this is a travesty. But it’s devilishly clever.”

This year. “But there is a certain Machiavellian logic to it, despite the apparent idiocy of ever using the ‘p’ word again.”