Born That Way

They can't help themselves.

Conservatives I mean. The media reported recently on a study in the on-line edition of Current Biology that there are differences in the brain structures between those with liberal and those with conservative views.

This isn't the first study to suggest such a difference. Another one a few years ago in the journal Nature Neuroscience reported similar findings.

Seems Lady Gaga was correct: "I'm on the right track baby; I was born this way."

Now I know some of you are thinking, "Being Conservative is just a lifestyle choice. With intensive therapy, they can be changed; they can become moderate, tolerant, sensible, even."

Me, I'm not so sure. Anyway, most of them seem perfectly happy the way they are.

Besides, how do you get through to someone who believes that the poor have too much and the rich have too little?

Or that access to health care should depend on your ability to pay?

Or that higher education should be beyond the reach of all but the offspring of the elites?

Or that billions need to be spent on new jails despite falling crime rates?

Or that "strong leaders" make elections unnecessary?

But if conservatives (and by extension, Conservatives) are "born that way", I guess as a liberal, compassionate, reasonable person I really ought to stop picking on them; it's not their fault.

Actually, just as long as they stick to their own hangouts (boardrooms, donut shops, Coach's Corner), I really don't care. What bothers me is their openly flaunting their Conservativist lifestyle, or forcing it on others.

It's not like they're in the majority or anything.

I Can’t Make This Stuff Up

Sometimes I make stuff up. You know, like Conservatives standing up for democracy and human rights (November 29 post) or Tony Clement being a superhero (October 11 post).

But lately it's been getting harder. I mean, how do you compete with stuff like this?

Fer instance:

The newly-elected millionaire mayor of Toronto invites a millionaire TV sports celebrity who lives in another city to officially inaugurate him. The millionaire media celeb (who derives most of his income from performing his schtik on the public network) agrees, saying "People are sick of the elites and artsy people running the show. It's time for some lunch pail, blue-collar people."

In his inaugural speech, the newly-elected mayor calls on all councillors to work together. The visiting, celebrity (but apparently non-elite) millionaire, opines (while wearing a pink jacket) that pinkos "ride bicycles and everything." He then insults various members of council, calling them "left-wing kooks".

The newly-elected mayor declares, "The war on the car" is over, and moves to kill public transit projects underway. The elites will now have to drive, just like Joe Lunchpail.

Elected on a platform of fiscal responsibility, the mayor's move wastes $130 million already spent and risks incurring financial penalties for reneging on $1.3 billion in contracts already signed and machinery already purchased.

The mayor announces a tax freeze, abolition of the vehicle registration tax (costing $64 million), and his plan to hire 100 more police officers.

The mayor promises to balance the budget without cutting programs. He gets rid of free coffee for councillors. He also plans to cut their office budgets by $20K. Combined, the savings add up to a few hundred thousand.

The new mayor is reported to have a campaign debt of $650,000.

The visiting millionaire TV celebrity predicts the new mayor will be "the greatest mayor this city has ever seen."

Ninety-one Toronto police officers are fined a day's pay for removing their names tags so they couldn't be identified while beating peaceful protesters during the G20. That should eat up a chunk of their overtime.

Toronto police chief Bill Blair attacks the victim of one particularly vicious assault by police, as well as the provincial Special Investigations Unit. He then apologizes. Sort of.

Ontario ombudsman, Andre Marin, in his report on the infamous five metre law, calls it illegal and unconstitutional. It was used to harass, interrogate, and detain without charge thousands of people. Marin says it was requested by Blair. Blair says he regrets not explaining things better.

So far Blair still has his job. No police officers face charges or discipline over the acts of brutality.

Unlike some of his officers, Blair is a stickler when it comes to protecting the rights of the accused -- accused police officer, that is. He explains the delay in identifying the culprits and holding them accountable is because he has to follow procedures to the letter.

Federal auditor general Sheila Fraser finds that the ethics commissioner appointed by Stephen Harper acted unethically toward her staff.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Nothing Worth 500 Words

This week I've been tossing around ideas for a post without being satisfied that any of them were really worth expending five hundred words on.

The Ontario budget? Nothing much new there that hadn't already been leaked or hinted at ahead of time. The cut to transit funding for Toronto is something Torontonians are going to have to finally stand up and fight back over. Maybe it's time they stopped expecting someone else (the feds, the province) to solve their problems and just put tolls on the DVP and Gardiner to pay for the TTC and roads. Public sector wage freezes and cuts to welfare are something we saw with Mike Harris. At least McGuinty pretends to be doing it reluctantly, unlike Harris (and Hudak) who acted with gleeful meanness; but scapegoating the poor and public sector workers is what all governments do these days on behalf of "hard working, tax-paying families", so not even the NDP really objected.

And Mike was back in the news this week. Seems they're thinking of naming a new library at Nipissing University for the guy who gutted education in Ontario and slashed library budgets. Better we should officially rename the 407 the "Harris Highway", as it's already informally known.

Ann Coulter? She came to Canada and was widely quoted as saying that all terrorists are Muslim. I wondered what her reaction would be to the midwestern American Christian militia accused of plotting to kill police officers. I went to her website, www.anncoulter.com, wanting to send an email to ask. Unfortunately, there's no way to do that. Seems Ann's all about free speech -- for Ann. For you and me, not so much.

Speaking of right-wing, media-spawned buffoons, I see Don Cherry is the subject of a made-for- TV movie biography.

Which reminds me, the U.S. promoter of something called "Ultimate Fighting Championship" wants to bring his act to Toronto. If people will pay to watch the Leafs, no doubt they'll pay to watch this. I say let 'em.

Oh, and it seems most people ignored Earth Hour this year. According to the Star, Toronto Hydro reported only a 10% drop in electricity usage, while across Ontario, use was down 560 megawatts. Since normal usage on a Saturday evening in March is about 15,000 megawatts, that represents about a 3-4% reduction, or about one or two light bulbs per household. And though I support Earth Hour and the motives behind it, I have to wonder if it sends the right message. Should we really be saying to people, to effectively deal with climate change, you have to turn off the lights and sit in the dark? Maybe it's time for a different approach. Small acts of individual self-denial have a lot of appeal to the highly-committed, but smart technology, conservation, and, yes, higher pricing will be necessary to make a real impact on climate change.

So that's it, a pretty ordinary week. Makes a guy wish Harper would prorogue Parliament or a cabinet minister throw another tequila tantrum. Come on guys, I'm counting on you.