The Other Other March Madness #nlpoli

Premier Paul Davis mentioned the prospect of privatizing some public services last week.

This week,  the Liberals started running ads declaring they were opposed to privatising any part of health.

This week, NAPE started an ad campaign that predicted any form of privatization of public services would result in the end of life on the planet and possibly on adjacent planets in the galaxy.

This week,  whatever political staffer it is they have looking pretending to be Paul Davis on Twitter assured us all the future is bright, the fundamentals are strong, and that this financial problem is just a temporary hiccup for which the Conservatives will have a plan.

We’ve heard that before every year for the past three or four years.  It wasn’t true then and it isn’t true now.

But that’s not you should pay attention to.

From the Earth to the Moon… in a sealskin spacesuit #nlpoli #cdnpoli

Over at the Ceeb, John Furlong does his usual superb job of cutting through the bullshit.  This week it’s dissecting the noise this week over what Ryan Cleary said, or what people claim he said and such.

Over at the Telegram, Pam Frampton goes at the same subject with similar observations.

Different style.

Same subject.

Both worth every second of your time.

When you are done with those two gems, compare that with Ryan Cleary’s observations on his own experience rendered by Geoff Meeker in his Telegram blog.

Ryan talks a good tale about what good journalists do and about bravery, the connection between what scares him and what he used to write about and about the relationship between reality and where he is.  Where the first two columns are about Cleary’s comments and reaction to them, Meeker writes about Cleary’s favourite subject:  himself.

The one thread you won’t see in Cleary’s usual pile of self-serving and entirely risible twaddle is the simple fact:  as soon as the first tweet of criticism hit, Ryan Cleary ran from his own comments as fast as someone’s fingers could type the release. He wrapped himself in the sealskin flag. 

He turned his back on the brave position he took and instead held aloft the banner of self-praise for his new role as champion of “conversation”,  debate and that other spin-word “dialogue”.

Cleary told Meeker that being in Ottawa, one is on the moon.  His riding is Earth, presumably the place of reality and presumably where Cleary loves to be.

How odd then, that as soon as he appeared in the real world – the one of his comments on the seal hunt – Cleary could not strap on his rocket pack fast enough and head home.

Read all that this weekend.  Afterward, if you are not better clued into the world as it is,  there’s something seriously wrong.

That’s where Meeker, Frampton and Furlong live.

Their subject?

On the moon.

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With a bit of straw and a cocoanut #nlpoli #cdnpoli

Perhaps we should do as the wag said.

Perhaps we should appoint a royal commission to find noob Bloc NDP member of parliament Ryan Cleary’s position on the seal hunt.

A couple of nights ago Cleary spoke frankly about the seal hunt. 

Ordinarily, there’d be no nationalist symbol like the seal hunt that Cleary wouldn’t monger.  There is no ethnic touchstone of its kind that Cleary would not grope, fondle or otherwise maul.

But this time he spoke frankly, as he had in 2008.

Brave thing to do in these parts where politicians seldom do genuinely brave things like have opinions of their own and voice them.  Normally what you get is lots of pledges to be a strong voice for this cove or that tickle.  They all claim they’ll speak loudly about this, that or the other. 

Fight?

Sure if you listen to the crowd of local crackies either seeking office or safely on the public tit, they’ll fight any time, any place against anyone over any thing.

Have no doubt about just how untamed and untameable these ponies are, either.

They’ll be the first to tell you, even if all that they really do is stuff a bit of straw in the belt of their pants and clop a pair of cocoanut halves together for a good show.

So after Cleary spoke frankly on a touchy subject, two things happened.

For one, Cleary’s political opponents and a whole lot more besides scrambled to shit on him everywhere and anywhere they could.  News releases from Connies in Ottawa,  John Efford on the Open Line,  Siobhan Coady on da facebook all tearing big strips off Cleary.  A hundred jobs to be lost in Corner Brook was nothing in the news coverage compared to Cleary’s words, accurately reported by the local media..

For two, Cleary issued a news release in which he disowned his frank and brave words.  He blamed the whole thing on the reporter who first raised the seal hunt issue and accused the media of misquoting him. 

Cleary even felt up the touchstone  - pledged his eternal, unquestioned and undying support for seal bashing - just so there could be no further about as to his true feelings.

But what are those true feelings? 

Good question:

I will not shy away from any issue as a federal MP. I will continue to embrace all sides of every argument in the interest of healthy and reasoned decision making.  There may be room to negotiate a better deal for our fish products generally.

Let me re-iterate, I am not proposing to ban the commercial seal hunt in any way.

If we don't do things differently, we will end up with the same result every time. We can't be afraid of the conversation.

Embrace all sides?

Yes friends, as he ran from the conversation, as he abandoned the debate, Cleary proudly clopped his cocoanuts that much harder and stuffed some extra straw in his belt to show how much of a maverick he really is.

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Bashing your own guys over the head is soooo strategic

An article in the current issue of Embassy magazine examines the European Union’s seal ban and how it is that Canada found itself outmanoeuvred by the anti-hunt movement.

University of Calgary political science professor Donald Barry told Embassy that two things gave the otherwise moribund seal crowd a new lease on life.

One was a hike in quotas that brought the number close enough to a million to give it some propaganda value again.

The other was…

Mr. Barry says another key development was the fierce exchange between Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams and former Beatle Paul McCartney and his then-wife Heather Mills McCartney on CNN's Larry King Live in March 2006. During the show, Mr. Williams alleged, among other things, that the FBI was investigating the International Federation for Animal Welfare and other animal-rights groups for terrorism, and that the McCartneys were being used by the groups.

"The publicity propelled [IFAW] right back into the forefront of the opposition," Mr. Barry says. With IFAW's ability to mobilize support and the Humane Society's strong public relations machine, "you have a series of groups whose strengths complement each other and they're practiced at what they do."

So basically that whole Larry King foolishness turned out to be a gigantic help to the other guys.

And that one trip to Europe did exactly diddly-squat.

Like, no one saw that coming.

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Nailed it! or Seal Hunt Silliness Starts Sooner

March madness Ray Guy once called it.

In a normal year, March is the time when the animals rights crowd, a raft of C and D list celebrities and Newfoundland politicians chew up precious oxygen arguing the merits of smashing in seal skulls with clubs.

This year promises to be an abnormal year.

First, someone tosses a shaving cream pie into the mug of the Canadian fisheries minister.

Then a local politician gives a local radio audience this idea:

"I am calling on the Government of Canada to actually investigate whether or not this organization, PETA, is acting as a terrorist organization under the test that exists under Canadian law."

The Canadian Press story from which those words were taken includes this bit:

In an interview with radio station VOCM in St. John's, N.L., on Tuesday, [Gerry] Byrne said he thinks what happened should be reviewed under the legal definition of terrorism.

"When someone actually coaches or conducts criminal behaviour to impose a political agenda on each and every other citizen of Canada, that does seem to me to meet the test of a terrorist organization," said the MP from Newfoundland and Labrador.

The story wound up in Aaron Wherry’s blog at macleans.ca without much comment from Wherry.  One of his readers nailed the whole thing in two separate comments.  They are reproduced here for posterity:

There are about a million ways to respond to a pie in the face that do not require stretching our terrorism laws until they lose all meaning. Gail Shea could sue. She could seek charges under the criminal code for assault. She could ridicule PETA. She could admit they have a case and argue, sternly, that this is not the way to press that case. The reason it "might sound ridiculous" to seek to designate PETA as a terrorist organization because one of its members tossed a pie is because it is ridiculous.

…

The pertinent phrase here is "in an interview...with VOCM." You don't go on VOCM if you're planning to be thoughtful about NL's household gods: the fishery, the weather, resource revenues, equalization or Danny Williams. You go on VOCM to compete with every other NL politician to demagogue these issues around the block. It's a bit like the op-ed page of Le Devoir or the speaker's podium at the Petroleum Club. Local orthodoxies are there to be paid obeisance, not questioned.

That pretty much says it all.

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Related:  “Who’d waste the ammo?” (2005) Warning:  not all links in that old post might still be working, much like the celebs who do the anti-fur thing each spring.

Incidentally:  For those so inclined to ponder these things, here is a succinct statement of the law in Canada:  “The non-consensual application of force by one person to another is an assault…”. The PETA stunter applied force to fish minister Gail Shea in the form of a shaving cream pie.  Shea did not consent to the application of force.

Ergo…

For those Connie supporters out there who are screaming blue murder over the incident and looking for charges to be laid, they are on the right track.  But then again, that would also have been the right track for Connie party lout who assaulted a reporter during the 2006 campaign.

How to tell when your position is wrong

When you are a political leader and your comments show you to be so far out of touch with the best interest of your province such that Stephen Harper looks sensible in comparison, then you know something is wrong.

Seriously wrong.

Like there’s a giant fireball in the sky above the place you’re heading and you can’t understand why all these cars are going the other way wrong.

Like you and a bunch of your drunken teenage friends go camping at Crystal Lake and you start making out with your girlfriend alone in a tent in the middle of the night and wonder where that machete came from sticking through the tent top wrong.

Topic:  the annual seal hunt, also known as March Madness (in this case in May) or as it has become, the platform by which every “C” list celebrity or celebrity wannabe seeks the public spotlight once again.

Issue:  The European Union voted to ban imports of seal products.

The Stephen Harper Comment: "If we were to make our trade relations with the European Union about only the sealing issue, we will never have any trading relations with the European Union because as we know this is a disagreement of long-standing," [Prime Minister Stephen] Harper said at a news conference.

The Danny Williams Comment:   "You know he's prepared to sacrifice Newfoundland and Labrador's interest in the interests of other issues for Canadians. And I think that's just dead wrong and it shows what this guy is all about," [Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams said].

Okay.

According to the provincial government’s own fact sheet,  “the sealing industry is worth $55 million” to the provincial economy. That was a figure for 2006.

In that same year, Newfoundland and Labrador did more than 10 times as much business with Germany and the United Kingdom combined as the total value of the seal fishery.

In 2006, exporters from Newfoundland and Labrador sold a heckuva lot more than seal pelts to European Union countries.  At that value, they shipped a heckuva lot more to European countries than the seal products they may have shipped through them.

In 2008, Germany alone accounted for $1.02 billion of Newfoundland and Labrador’s exports. According to CBC, total Canadian seal exports to the EU last year amounted to a measly $5.5 million.  That’s all Canada, not just Newfoundland and Labrador.

Get the idea?

Now just think – for one teensy second – about the implication of Danny Williams’ comment.  Apparently, the only issue of any consequence here for Danny Williams is the seal hunt and 10 times as much trade between our province and Europe and the chance to sort out some of the grievances doesn’t matter one jot or tittle.

Lest you think this remark is out of context consider that the provincial government earlier this year turned down the chance to work with an international trade mission aimed at increasing trade with European countries.

Why?

Because of the seal hunt, among a couple of other issues which would have been better addressed at the table rather than far away from it .Actually, if you follow the links you’ll see another classic Williams administration constantly-shifting-position, but let’s just go with the “No seal hunt, no play” position.

If there’s logic in the provincial government’s argument – as enunciated by Danny Williams  - it sure isn’t obvious. Apparently, the economic benefit to the provincial economy of increased trade with the Europeans isn’t something the provincial ministry could be bothered with. 

At this point, it’s hard to see how the provincial government is protecting provincial interests by launching into another tirade with anyone over seals when seals are only a tiny fraction of the overall provincial economic picture involved.

But seriously:

How can you tell your political position is crap?

When Stephen Harper sounds reasonable in comparison.

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Updated – added sentences giving value  of seal exports to EU last year, according to CBC story.

Government by Fernando

To call Shelagh Rogers interview [audio link] on Wednesday with Danny Williams frothy would be an insult to the intellectual capacity of foam, but the half hour gab with the Premier of what Danny Williams likes to call Canada's "youngest and coolest province" was typical of the genre.

You know it all too well.

Normally seen on such brain-numbing fair as Entertainment Tonight, the celebrity interview features some gushing host interviewing someone famous for being famous. The celebrity is invariably either plugging his or her latest movie or reminiscing about past triumphs.

The Danny interview fell decidedly in the latter category although it was billed as being a chat about "how oil and gas development is affecting his home province, the confident new provincial psyche, and his need to keep taking on big battles for the sake of his province."

The exchange started off with the usual celebrity banter: Shelagh saying she was delighted Williams could join her and he replying that he was "honoured quite frankly" to be on the show. There was an obviously inside joke by Williams about seeing Anderson Cooper outside and early on Shelagh making an issue of asking if she could call him Danny.

Like all celebrity interviews there was not much meat in this. Williams quickly introduced his regular sound bites on a renewed sense of pride in the province since he took office and it wasn't too long before he brought up the offshore talks with Ottawa.

The interview was basically a chance for Williams to say what he wanted with an obviously enamoured interviewer whose awareness of what is going on in Newfoundland and Labrador could charitably be described as limited.

What he said for the entire 30 minutes was basically a series of sound bites, though: short phrases and key words Danny likes to use aside from the multitudinous variations on "quite frankly". Nothing of substance, no specific objectives, no vision interrupted his references to emotions or vague ideas like a renaissance among young people.

In the middle of the interview, not long after the references to Williams personal popularity came a discussion of the seal hunt. Shelagh played a clip from Williams' appearance on Larry King Live some months, framing the whole thing as Williams not being afraid of anyone, even one of the musical idols of his youth.

Williams made the news on Thursday for his comments that he would like to ban the hakapik from the hunt because the hooked club - used for killing seals - looks bad in pictures.

Because it looks bad.

If anyone is looking for the one word that describes Danny Williams' overwhelming obsession, it is "image".

The hakapik is to be banned because it looks bad, because it allows anti-seal hunt protesters to get visuals for their campaign. The substance of the issue is irrelevant.

Image is everything.

Never mind even that in this instance, the issue of the seal hunt and anti-seal hunt protesters is far from being the most serious issue affecting the province and people of Newfoundland and Labrador. This was the bit that drew the most specific comments and Williams' one concrete suggest that generated news coverage.

Get rid of the clubs because it doesn't look good.

As Williams talked about working to help rural Newfoundland he said little beyond the tinny words generated from his publicity assistants. But bring up an annual event that has become - if nothing else - a way for B List has-been actors to get their names and pictures on the tube and Williams is right there with an idea.

This is no accident, by the way. If Williams' publicist did not want him to talk of the seal hunt, she would have steered Rogers in another direction before booking the interview.

Williams wanted to talk about seals.

And as a result, we should think carefully on what this means. Only three years ago, we elected Williams with his promise of "jobs, jobs, jobs".

Now he has chosen to join the group of what Rex Murphy aptly described as "the endless file of soap-star intellects, preening starlets, sitcom revenants, small-screen action heroes and full-bore Hollywood poseurs who, over the years, have given an ounce of their time to drop by the ice-floes, park in front of a whitecoat, do the caring press conference and go back to whatever it was they were doing when they were not saving seals."

We might wonder the same thing.

What has Danny Williams been doing when he isn't saving sealers?

Perhaps lining up his next gig, a cable talk show called the Hide-away.

He'd be perfect for it.

Quite frankly, Danny certainly looks mahvelous.

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