Mike Duffy Saga

Harper sure knows how to appoint Senators, Pamela Wallin, Patrick Brazeau, and the notorious Mike Duffy. Harper campaigned against an appointed Senate, against privilege and corruption, in 2006, only to embrace it full on when he became Prime Minister. He appointed Mike Duffy, a so-called journalist who abused his position to gain the Prime Minister’s favour and get a Senate appointment. Duffy would promote stories favourable to the Prime Minister, even saying no one could question his integrity.

Duffy relished in a 2008 tape of then-Liberal leader Stéphane Dion stumbling, which was shown repeatedly even though the network had assured Dion it would not be shown.

In the Senate, Harper and the Conservatives used Duffy as a fundraiser at events across the country, and Duffy lived the high life off the taxpayer dime. He even claimed his cottage in PEI as a residence to get more payouts. However, the corruption caught up to Duffy, Harper’s chief of staff tried to pay Duffy off but got thrown under the bus instead.

Now, on television, Conservative pundits are distancing themselves from Duffy, including Paul Calandra who is constantly on CBC’s Power and Politics doing damage control for Harper and gang. Harper and the Conservatives may pretend now they had little to do with Duffy, but he was their bagman, he was Harper’s appointee. He is central to Conservative corruption.

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Mike Duffy: The Rise and Fall - CBC Fifth Estate

                     Fitting caricature given his ego    

                

It was a comedy, for real. Mike Duffy, the ultimate Ottawa insider, a cartoonish character who has become the leading symbol of Senate corruption, claiming living expenses for a cottage in Prince Edward Island he hardly occupied. The ultimate oversized sense of entitlement. He is a schmoozer who likes access to power, and has a giant ego to boot. A highschool dropout who made it big.

The documentary showed how Mike Duffy had been lobbying for a Senate seat since the Mulroney era. He had no principles or party preference, he did the same sucking up to Jean Chretien. Finally, Duffy got his break, when during the 2008 federal election he replayed the tape of Stéphane Dion's false start during an interview with CTV Atlantic, leaving out the rest of the interview, focusing on that one stumble. A serious breach of journalistic ethics. Though Harper rewarded him with a seat in the Senate after the election.

Maybe Harper is regretting that decision now... given the embarrassment Duffy has caused him.

You can watch the documentary at this link.

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Russia: Sochi Olympics 2014 and corruption

Last evening I watched a program on CBC on Sochi Olympics 2014. The corruption in Russia is incredible.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, listens to Jean-Claude Killy,

Chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission

 for Sochi 2014, during a February summit.

(Alexei Druzhinin/RIA-Novosti/Associated Press )

Russian officials and businessmen have stolen billions of dollars during the years of preparations for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, a prominent Russian opposition figure claimed Thursday.

Boris Nemtsov, a former Russian deputy prime minister-turned-Kremlin critic, and an associate said in a report released Thursday that up to $30 billion US was stolen in the run-up to the games in the southern Russian city.
Read more here.

You may watch the video of the program here.

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Should Stephen Harper resign?

I strongly believe that Stephen Harper should resign. $3.1 billion missing or unaccounted for. Despicable behavior of Senators that he appointed. I stopped watching news as the Harper government's behaviour is so depressing. He is the worst Prime Minister we have in my memory.

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Afghanistan - Spreading Democracy or Corruption

Many of the problems that plagued the War in Iraq are cropping up with vengeance in Afghanistan. Like Iraq, Afghanistan is a quagmire (probably more so in the case of Afghanistan given that country's hilly terrain and tenacious guerilla fighters). Also like Iraq, there are serious problems with corrupt and abusive private contractors in Afghanistan.

This story in the Huffington Post highlights the problems with private contractors in Afghanistan, including appalling and immoral behaviour such as a company party where an Afghan teenage boy was hired to dance. Overall, drunken, naked dancing, use of prostitutes, and rude behaviour by employees is disrespectful to Afghan values and Afghan people - thus further increasing resenment towards the NATO forces.

Also, among the private contractors in Afghanistan is Xe Services, formerly the infamous Blackwater company that was responsible for egregious abuses in Iraq.

Why are the same mistakes being repeated? Why are these people in Afghanistan? Maybe it's time to give a rest to "nation-building" that does nothing more than create resentment and antagonism and spread corruption.

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The nature of democracy in Iraq

Huffington Post.

We are told that war has ended in Iraq. It has not. US combat troops might have left but there are still more than 50,000 troops and according to some estimates close to 100,000 mercenaries, in Iraq, all paid by the US taxpayers. Moreover Bush and Cheney were supposed to bring democracy to Iraq, instead corruption is in abundance and US operatives and mercenaries are very much party to it.

Here is a gripping story on the Huffington Post site about such corruption.

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Brian Mulroney or Brian MulMoney

Brian Mulroney has his own hit. Floyd may be Pink (Floyd Pink) but Mulroney is totally green.

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William Jefferson's Frozen Assets

William Jefferson, former Congressman from Louisiana, was convicted on bribery charges and may be jailed for 20 years. What was he thinking? Why do some politicians get so corrupt after they get elected?

Maybe after he comes out of jail he can form a consulting firm with Brian Mulroney, "How To Get Rich Quick".

Click here to read the story.

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Karzai and Pals are Happy with American and NATO Efforts in Afghanistan

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