There's the setup:
The Secret To Being A Liberal Hysteric
QOTW;
No secret: just treat adults like children, and treat children like adults. Require adults to ask the government “mother may I” for every least little thing, ...
and there's the smackdown:
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Stephen Harper has imposed central control over all information and comments to the public issued by government officials and even cabinet ministers, directing them to have everything cleared by the Prime Minister's Office, according to an internal e-mail and government sources.
Degree of difficulty: 0.01.
7 comments:
Dear Ti-Guy:
You once smacked me down with the remark that government in Canada is superior to that of the United States because Canada is governed by a cabinet, each of whose members is personally responsible for the collective decision.
This particular smack-down arose in response to my admittedly petulant complaint that Her Majesty's Government, in Canada, is controlled by a committee of two, consisting of Stephen and Sandra. (S2) I felt wounded by your smack-down. Let’s just let it at that.
So, my question for you is: What good’s a cabinet when you have to raise you hand and neither Stephen nor Sandra will call on you? This issue is personal for me because the nun in sixth grade refused to call on me, no matter how long I held my hand up. (In the nun’s defense —I always try to be fair — she was not allowed to select, or fire, the members of her class.)
If I can step in and respond on Ti-Guy's behalf, the point of having a bunch of cabinet ministers when the cabinet is controlled by Steve and Sandra is that it gives Steverino someone to fire when one of his decisions blows up in his face -- a fall guy, a sucker to take the rap. If Steve's enviromental plan isn't playing in the polls and the opposition is screaming for blood, it will be buh-bye Baird. When the torture of Afghani prisoners captured by the Canadian Army gets too embarrassing for the government, it will be goodbye Gordon. But until the government loses a confidence vote and then an election, Steve and Sandra will continue to live happily ever after, no matter how badly they screw things up for the rest of us, because they will have an endless supply of scapgoats in the Cabinet to push out of the lifeboat.
And that's what we call "accountability," boys and girls.
One thing we do better is that our Ministers do have to answer to the Legislature. Usually. They're at least made to look bad. Oh well.
In fairness, the Cons seem to have good reason to treat their supporters like small children. Just look at the schoolyard-level communications of a spokeswoman for Gordon O'Connor.
jurist, I'm uh...speechless regarding the O'Connor statement. Is English among the spokeswoman's first few languages?
Don't pile on Kate too hard: she was just quoting me!
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