I think in grade five we had a current events folder where you were supposed to be able to notice bias. “Boondoggle” is one of those words.

Everybody is horrible.

So let’s call that “baseline stupid.” Anything other than “Sure, here are the records” is going to be at least baseline stupid. And then there’s the next level:

“She is an employee of the house,” Liberal MP Scott Andrews said. “We appoint her. So why would she audit the people who appoint her?”

Oh god.

It’s no mystery. Even someone with only “legitimate” expenses is going to have something that they’d be forced to apologize for if someone else decided to make an issue of it. Then there’s all the illegitimate expenses. Nobody would come out of this looking good. Even if there are a few scattered individuals who could make it through an examination, within each party there will be at least a few bad spenders who make the entire party look bad. Frankly it would probably undermine confidence in our entire political representation. You could argue that so will not giving them up in the first place, but that’s not true, people forget things quickly.

For the record I’m for MPs having to give up their receipts to the auditor general, and think it’s horrible that they’re not. I’m just saying it’s no surprise.

According to The Star, “Ruth’s remarks, intended more as friendly advice than a warning, were met with gasps of disbelief and even anger…” The article’s framing makes it seem as though it wasn’t a threat, but an attempt at help. The way a complicit mother might say to an abused child, “Please, just stay in the closet for tonight.”

Which is of course more disconcerting than if it were just some loony making threats. We’ve seen that before. In this case it seems much more indicative of vindictive policy decisions, which would seem to constitute something of a pattern.

It’s true that the leading party should have some discretion over where funds go. But a leading party in a minority government needs to tread more carefully. Or should need to.

I think we’ll get the hang of this minority thing eventually, once “coalition” stops being a bad word.

Canada has more women (22%) in the House of Commons than the US has (17%) in the House of Representatives. It looks like in the Netherlands 42% of their house is female.

Putting it this way implies that Harper’s replacement of Jean is an indication of some sort of failing on her part, and that Harper’s to be blamed for her replacement. There’s really no point in this. It’s true that whoever he selects will likely be worse, but I don’t know who this tact is supposed to appeal to. The left is already upset at Jean’s handling of various prorogation requests.

The Star suggests the concern is “that Liberals also would like Jean to stay in office in case the ongoing dispute between Parliament and Harper’s government, over the release of Afghan documents, lands in the office of the Governor-General to be settled.”

First, I’m not sure how it would land there. Second, with a minority government, if it were to land there it would only land as a bomb that would end the office.

I’d assume it’s (in part) because while they may be women, they didn’t get to be where they are by acting like women. Women who care about women’s rights and are politically motivated are more likely to work with a party or group that shares similar views, rather than against a party that has opposing views.

“‘There’s no freeze,’ Barkat told a group of reporters at a Washington restaurant Tuesday night. ‘There is building going on. There will be more building going on.’”

Well that settles that.

I’m nowhere close to an expert on Israel-Palestinian affairs. I’d describe my knowledge as “close to zero.” But thanks to the existence of the web, here’s my thought on the whole thing. It will never get solved in isolation. If it gets solved, it will be part of a solution for a much larger regional problem, and “solved” will probably mean tens of thousands of deaths. It will be solved as part of or in the aftermath of a regional if not world war probably having something to do with Iran.

There. It’s on record. Quote me in thirty years.

Discussing the perpetually growing US deficit, Ezra Klein says “But at the end of the day, our deficit problem is likely to get worse slowly, and then get much worse all of a sudden. And it’s the consequences of that ‘all of a sudden’ that are likely to spur action, as the decisions are too hard for politicians to actually take responsibility for.”

He says some other good stuff too, in the post, which is worth reading.

And it’s not a deficit-fighting issue, it’s an any-large-problem issue.

This is the way I feel about climate change. If it can’t be solved at the last minute, we can’t solve it.

Sharpen your reading glasses.