You Did What? The Law of Unintended Consequences

Did you happen to see the joint presser today, with Calderon, Obama, and Harper? I should know better, high blood pressure inducing...but I did see it.

As we knew he would, Harper again bashed our Immigration/Refugee system and suggested that the problem had nothing to do with Mexico, but was a Canadian problem. He said something like, ' Canadian refugee laws encourage bogus claims. In the absence of legislative change, a Visa requirement was the only way to fix it'.

That he said this is not a surprise, but consider his words for a moment. He is on a world stage, announcing that we have bad laws that literally encourage bogus refugees claimants, and this problem can only be fixed in parliament.

So, what the hell has he been doing for almost 4 years? It's not as if this is a new problem. In fact, there was an article in March that referred to it:

Interestingly, the largest number of refugee claimants in Canada now comes from Mexico and there are now concerns over illegal Mexican immigration here as well.

It went on to say:

Either way, Canada should be paying more attention to Mexico, not wishing it would somehow go away.

Filipe Calderon didn't mince words. He responded that this issue is serious and has made what should be a strong relationship difficult. Very telling that.

Here's the point though. On more than one occasion, this government has not thought through the consequences of their actions. Like adolescents they seem to only be able to see what is in front of them and dismiss future fall out.

I have no doubt that the bureaucrats warned them, but I also have no reason to doubt that they ignored the advice as we know they are wont to do.

Here's an example of the fall out from this ill conceived policy.

I am a Canadian citizen, born to a Mexican mother, and have been sending kids from Mexico to Canada, to the Victoria and Calgary school districts, for many years. This surprising visa issue has been devastating, and yet most Mexicans have been more than gracious about it.

Our work of an entire year, to enhance the Canadian and Mexican public school systems not only economically but with the thousands of pesos Mexicans spend to study in the system and the resulting cultural advantages, has been severely affected. I am appalled and embarrassed at the handling of this situation. The very least they could have done was give them enough notice to be able to graciously and calmly get their documents together and have a choice of sending them or appearing at the embassy to apply.

Is it really too much to ask that our government think before it takes action?

I won't quibble that our system needs fixing as they say, but watching this gang who can't shoot straight, has gone beyond being embarrassing.

A Prime Minister is charged with protecting our interests abroad and improving them at home, not mocking them, but we know that's his comfort zone, don't we?

Update - One Mexican's personal experience.

Wanted: Intelligent Debate

Watching the debates (for lack of a better term) rage on in the US, has really been something hasn't it? From 'Birthers' to Health Care, there has been no shortage of crazy talk. From Sarah Palin's comment about Obama's 'Death' panels, to Orly Taitz speaking about Obama not being a US citizen, it's bizarre that these things get coverage, but here we are.

I thought of that earlier as I caught some of Fareed Zakaria's show. He was interviewing Hillary Clinton.

Let me begin by saying, we would do well to have a political show in this country hosted by someone with his breadth of knowledge. At one point, he was discussing Bill Clinton's trip to North Korea. He referenced John Bolton's comments last week about the trip, well actually, I think he only got the words "John Bolton said..." out, when Hillary just burst out laughing. Perfect! I thought, perfect!

What a perfect response to the extreme right and their followers. In a second, that laughter destroyed any credibility Bolton's comments may have had. Poof...dismissed!

It's what we should do here more often. It's how progressive political leaders should respond to the lunacy often put out by the right.

All to often though, we become indignant, or angry, because the attempt to reduce substantial issues to dumbed down 30 second sound bites is just so bloody insulting. That anger though is then picked up in the media and it legitimizes that there actually is a debate on a non existent point.

Think of the whole phony 'coup' issue in the fall based on the coalition. The media certainly didn't try to diffuse the situation with facts. Instead, it was as if someone had screamed food fight! and they covertly lobbed a few dozen eggs themselves, just to keep it going. It should be said that we haven't quite fallen to the lunacy we see south of the border, but we've had our moments.

Now, I'm not blaming the media. It is what it is at this point, but if we want a different result, maybe a different reaction is what is needed.

Some issues are too serious to laugh at obviously, but when the outrageous lies are spoken, I'm thinking we'd do well to laugh at them first. Point out their stupidity. Have the media glom on to that track.

It could be why shows like John Stewart's, Rachel Maddow's and Bill Maher's, make mince meat out of GOP talking points in pretty short order.

That said, when the issues are more serious, we need reasoned dialogue, such that I witnessed on Zakaria's show today.

Who Is Up For This Job?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Seriously. Don't we need our own Maddow?

Okay, I know things are more nuanced in Canada, but do we not have one person, willing to debunk the junk coming from the Harper government? Really? Not one?

That is a sad state of affairs my friends, because if ever a government in this country deserved scrutiny, it's this one.

h/t- Impolitical for the vid

Here's an Idea!

There seems to be a bit of a lazy trend developing. That is, many in print media, mostly the opinion writers, have decided for themselves that whatever Ignatieff does is wrong, not enough, too much, too vague, too precise....well, you get the idea.

What's remarkable is that most of them base their opinion on the polls that have come out over the summer. You know, the polls that come out when people are on vacation and not focused on politics. I mean, didn't these same opinion people tell us that at the start of the summer? They also told us that Ignatieff had to work on rebuilding the party, he had to work on the brand and he had to put some policy together.

As far as I can tell, that is exactly what he has been doing. I don't remember him laying out a plan in June to boost his summer polling numbers, do you?

Then there is this false accusation is that he hasn't been seen anywhere. Hmmm, who's job is it to tell us where he's been and what he's been doing again? Oh right. Well despite the claim that he hasn't been anywhere, this record of events would beg to differ.

It's interesting to me to watch said media repeat this nonsense, because it says so much about them really, doesn't it?

It suggests to me that they are bored. It could also suggest that they are looking for something different, I say could, because that seems to be what they are missing here. Ignatieff is doing things differently. He's not doing the huge, 'look at me' events, but rather meeting with small groups, listening, concentrating on meeting Canadians, while doing Liberal events as well.

That strikes me as someone who is serious about the job they've undertaken, not someone who assumes that the Liberals will return to power through osmosis as some have implied.

The summer will soon wind down, (I know, shhh), and the political scene will regain it's energy. The bored people paid to have opinions will once again have real news to follow and all their ridiculous whining and whingeing will have been for nought.

Their hiatus as fiction writers will have proven to be a bust and they'll be grateful that none of their colleagues had the energy to sue them for plagiarism.

Here's an idea for them though. Instead of making it up as you go along, instead of determining what someone else's job is and how you would do it, presuming of course that you possessed the skills to hold it, why not hone your own talents and actually go see what Ignatieff is doing. You know...cover events, book interviews, shoot footage, take photos...all the things that you are qualified to do.

I know, it sounds whacky, but believe me, you'll feel better and you have my word...so will we.

Unsolved Mysteries - Canadian Political Edition

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