Die, already!

A recent headline in local papers featured another image of a starving black child eating some gruel from a tin pail in a refugee camp. Boring! Been there, done that! Is there any news out there?
Way back in 1969, one of Canada's best, Lester Pearson, advocated and led the world to agree to commit 0.7% of national GDPs to development assistance to least developed nations. Decade after decade, Canada and other nations have re-committed to the goal, most recently popularized as the "Millennium Development Goals".
At the same time, decade after decade, as technology has made communication much more efficient, we have seen the images of starving black children. Pictures of the mothers are perhaps less common, because many of them died in childbirth. At the same time, decade after decade, we have encountered economic crises of many kinds, whether hyper-inflation or the "bubbles" that have made a few extremely wealthy and made most poor. Decade after decade, the economy or a war have been the reasons given by nations who are unwilling to live up to their international commitments.
So another photo of another starving black child somewhere on the other side of the globe just doesn't do it anymore. It doesn't matter anymore to politicians, because it doesn't buy votes. It doesn't matter anymore to the media, because it doesn't sell papers. The public is tired of the pictures. Take them away! Leave us alone! Die already! Horrible sentiments that amount to unofficial policy. So they die. By the millions. We have wars and economies to mind.
This is not leadership. It doesn't matter if we "win" the wars and solve the economic woes. They'll be back. Just like the starving children. Just like the sick and dying mothers.
The tragedy is that this is all so readily preventable. "Come on! Simply living up to our international commitments to the Millennium Development Goals will not solve these problems! Don't be naive!" I can hear you. In fact, that's what our "leadership" has been saying decade after decade, in one way or another. That is, when they say anything at all about the problem.
Rather than honouring our word; rather than shifting policy; rather than attempting a globally agreed-upon strategy; we prefer to do nothing. Leadership doesn't do nothing. Leadership does SOMETHING. Our governments will do nothing. They will not lead. What will YOU do?

LeaderSLIP

Leadership in Canada is taking another drift away from accountability, responsibility, and service. Whether Omar Khadr, Suaad Mohamud, or Robert Djiekanski, the position of the Canadian government is consistent in its unwillingness to support and serve Canadians. Instead, in the case of Omar Khadr, it hides behind American process, choosing inaction over taking responsibility as other Western nations have done. The result: Canada is the only Western country to leave a citizen in Guantanamo. In the case of Suaad Mohamud, officials as high as the Prime Minister's Office did nothing when informed of passport problems in Kenya, preferring inaction that led to months of needless separation from family in Canada. In the case of Robert Djiekanski, the feds avoid responsibility by claiming that provincial inquiries have no jurisdiction over federal institutions. While stating their "sincere" regret over Mr. Djiekanski's death, they hide behind "policy". Instead of helping Mrs. Djiekanski, they choose to let her suffer.
Leadership takes responsibility, before, during, and after issues. Mr. Khadr could be brought home to Canada to face judicial processes. Mrs. Mohamud could have been issues a DNA test within days of her identity problem. Mrs. Djiekanski could receive comfort that her government cares about her situation and will make sure to follow through on her complaint, and make sure others do not suffer a similar fate she and her son have.
While our Prime Minister plays piano and sings at a gala he decried a year earlier, real Canadians are left on their own. Canada gravely needs a return to the concept of "service" among our elected politicians. Not the kind of service that seeks re-election, but the kind of service that improves the quality of life for real Canadians, and serves rather than ignores Canadians with needs.
Our leadership has become leaderSLIP.

Leadership?

Mr. Harper based his entire election campaign(s) on the issue of leadership. Time and again, he and his party have not only promoted his leadership, but also attacked other leaders, as a strategy to make their leadership look better. While Mr. Harper is to be lauded for very strong and positive comments to a Canadian-American cross-border trade organization on Thursday evening, he has failed on a colossal scale in terms of seizing an opportunity to demonstrate leadership while in the USA on this visit.
Climate change, energy security, border management, Afghanistan, and other foreign affairs issues are not disconnected interests. Failure to include and highlight them as fundamental aspects of robust and sound economic policy and practice reflects lack of vision and leadership.
Further, at the same time as Mr. Harper extols the virtues of our close relationship, speaking in terms of family, he has missed a glorious opportunity to speak to the single most important and divisive issue facing Americans: health care. In addition to the other Ministers with him, our Health Minister could have accompanied him to America. A news conference to set out the facts of Canada's health care system could have cleared the air of a lot of slander, lies, and false information about the Canadian system promoted by health care lobbies and ideologues in America. It could have been a real and timely injection of leadership into a context where America is in desperate need right now.

PUKE Central

Just when you thought it couldn't get stranger... ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Canada's new Ambassador to the United States, Mr. Gary Doer! Oh, wait, Mr. Doer needs to resign from being Premier of Manitoba first. (Heard in the distance: "I resign!") Great! - now, lets get on with political leadership as usual in Canada.
Since its inception, Canada's Senate has been used and soundly criticized for being nothing but a happy retirement center for friends of political powers, a rubber stamp factory for the government of the day.
Yesterday, Canada was brought to a collective gag reflex yet again when Steve, the Harper, appointed several cronies to the Senate. Not even smart enough to pay the Senate lip service as a credible institution, Steve the Harper says all the new appointees will be supporters of his agenda. So much for the last remaining shred of any concept of "sober second thought", which is supposed to be what happens in the Senate. Blatantly and with no regard for Canadians' desire for balance (as expressed in successive minority governments), Steve the Harper at least owns his opinion of the people he appoints: his personal puppets. (Makes ya wonder at the mentality of this latest round of Harperites -as if ya didn't have enough reason for wonder already!)
The Liberals, in a stunning burst of creativity, call this "Harpocrisy". After the shock of something interesting coming from the new Ignatieff - yawn - Libs, we can only laugh at the ridiculous farce of pots calling kettles black. Could Canadians be stupid enough to buy any of this.... stuff? It may be different bums, but it's still the same old poop!
But back to the center of today's attention: two guys with equally goofy grins telling each other how wonderful they are. In Gary the Doer's version of it, it sounds like this: "I'm glad to be part of a great Canadian team, with you as leader". I'll pause, to allow sufficient time for you to wipe the puke off of your shirt and keyboard....
Canadian politics and the democratic process seems to be taking a headfirst dive into irrelevance. With no alternative, the best Canadians can do is stay away from the polls on election day. Even hyper-partisan rhetoric is losing steam. It's just too tiring to maintain a straight face while suggesting that your version of events is more holy than theirs.
It's time for a change, but not the kind of change we've been used to. Switching what bums are in which seats does nothing to change either the bums or the poop they dish out. We need a new system. Gotta go - more nausea setting in.

Journalism becomes entertainment becomes blogs

It's not news anymore: newspapers and other "classic" media are in peril. Even reporters are asking if traditional media journalism is dead, in favour of bloggers, tweeters, and whatever other means of sharing information is now available to just about anyone. In Iran, Twitter became a democratic champion recently, by providing important information to fellow Iranians and a watching world during the "election" debacle and subsequent protests, while traditional journalists were restricted to their hotel rooms.
But what of real journalism? Let's be honest: bloggers (like me) are just highly opinionated people who either like the sound of their own online voices, or people who think their blogging actually makes a difference. Yes, there are some examples of socially empowering blogging, as noted above. But most blogs are just the rants of people who use the Internet as a release for pent up frustration.
I think the media itself is to blame. In my city in Canada, a local radio station, one of the most popular radio stations per capita in North America, established itself by featuring a growly watchdog whose daily morning talk show was a festival of his opinions, with dissenting opinions expertly edited out by a capable producer. He was replaced by someone with an even more hyperbolic sense of self importance, with hyper-opinions to match. Now, except for a friendly morning show, the station is almost exclusively a celebration of outrageous opinion, fueling callers who express their equally outrageous opinions.
Editorials are almost extinct, because what passes for news in many venues these days is editorializing entertainment, not journalism. Even Canada's national public broadcaster has its share of highly opinionated "journalists" and news readers. A direct result is the increasing absence of real journalism, the kind that researches several sides to a story before printing the facts. In its place is ubiquitous airing of opinion, masquerading as journalism.
It's not just journalism that suffers. We seem to be losing the capacity (did we ever have it?) for rational, reasoned, public discourse, discussion, and debate. Almost absent is any venue that features an airing of differing viewpoints by people who respect each other enough to actually research and present well. Equally rare, it seems, is the potential to evaluate positions and make informed decisions, a foundational plank of democratic process. In their place are arguments, name calling, "attack ads", character assassinations, and increasingly hyperbolic rhetoric.
The media did it to themselves. Bewitched by the easy money that comes with Springer-like journalism, they gave more and more time and space for entertaining tripe that sells instead of substance that serves. Even Parliament plays for the sound byte like obedient puppies looking for a treat.
Will the public get tired of this trend? Will an appetite for substance replace the feast of sugar-gorging opinions? I hope so. I hope we get back to a place where journalists write whole stories instead of just enough to get folks upset enough to share their uninformed opinions. I hope editors return to a professional standard again, instead of the existing money standard.

A Small Glimmer

Canada's Prime Minister and Leader of the Official Opposition are on the throes of a "deal" to prevent an election during the short Canadian summer. Canadians weighed in before they met, with only 14% wanting an election now, and 78% firmly opposed.
My naturally cynical leaning says it'll just be a matter of time before the political spin ratchets up again and we're back in the tension of an imminent election.
Regardless, it would be unfair not to mark the moment when our political leaders seem to actually respond in keeping with Canadians' stated preferences. Though responding to the public is far from a complete picture of leadership, at least it suggests that there are glimmers of a much misplaced ethic of service in the corners of our nation's highest political offices. Yes, I know it could all be just that no one is ready to take responsibility for triggering an election. Not exactly stellar leadership. But in this moment, I'll celebrate the possibility that Canadians' desire not to have an election has been honoured.
It may be a small glimmer, but in the deep, deep darkness of political spin and multiple-speak, it seems like a lightning bolt in a night-time Canadian prairie thunderstorm.

Sooo... tired...

I can't say I'm surprised. That's not to intimate that I saw it coming. I don't think anyone did. At least not in the dramatic ways we've seen it over the past several weeks. Still, it's not unusual, even if it is a bit over the top. I'm talking about the crisis of leadership in our country, most especially among our top political leaders.
As fast a review as I can manage: our financial manager goes from predicting a surplus of a few billion to a deficit of over 34 billion - whoops! make that 50% more at $50+ billion - in just a few months. The reason for the deficit is because of the massive stimulus measures and auto bailouts.
Meanwhile, two health crises hit the government: a flu pandemic and a shortage of medical isotopes that affects diagnosis and treatment of some of the worst kinds of cancer and other diseases. It's the second time in three years that the nuclear reactor that makes isotopes has shut down, and it's not pretty.
There's more. The Minister responsible for the nuclear reactor leaves secret government documents at - wait for it - a media office, where it could have been publicized all over the world. It was at least photocopied. Her underling is fired. Then, a five-hour tape of her and the pre-dismissed underling surfaces. It includes her talking about how the isotope crisis is a "sexy" file, one that will vault her career. She is taped slagging her colleague, the health minister, then another colleague who has introduced a private member's bill (a "bad career move", she calls it), and another colleague, who she says is pandering to big business.
What's wrong with this picture? Some of the most entry level jobs available to ordinary people demand people who can work well in a team. Every job I've ever had - and every one anyone I know has ever had - demands conscientious employees whose first responsibility is to the organization for whom they work, well ahead of career aspirations. I can't think of a context where lying or grossly distorting the truth is an acceptable work practice.
Yet, this is what characterizes many of our top political leaders, the parties they belong to, and the system within which these things happen. Perhaps only in the church would someone responsible for finances be able to miss the boat by such a large margin without seeming to bat an eye. Maybe in business, but those folks are usually found and prosecuted, even if it's too late. Think of Madoff...
As for the Minister who can't seem to concentrate on her job - her public service job - more than she concentrates on her own career goals, it's impossible to understand how it is that she keeps her job. And as I type that, I hear myself thinking "Well, that's politics".
Now, there's the problem. Politics is sick. I mean it's in a very ill context, and I'm not sure it can recover without a massive shift in the paradigm of politics in Canada. Canadians seem poised for such a shift, electing three minority governments in a row. But that doesn't impact our political parties even a little bit.
Oh! Let's not forget the brand new "attack ads" being run by our governing party against the leader of the Opposition party, and there's no election campaign right now!
As for the Opposition, it could be said that they're between a rock and a hard place, but that's just too generous. While Opposition poll numbers are up, Canadians are very clear that they do not want an election. How does the Opposition "oppose" without triggering an election that Canadians will interpret as opportunistic? How can they hold back without being labeled hypocrites?
Time for one aspect of a new paradigm for politics: speak simply and truly. sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? What with all we know about marketing and branding and so on (obviously, I don't know all that much!), we have learned to "spin" and "re-direct" and "handle", or "manage" media, to maximize the potential return. We have learned how to do anything and everything but speak the simple, plain truth. When have you heard a Canadian government leader say "Wow! We really screwed that up!" Even after being shown as an opportunistic manipulator, a government minister can't even say "I had lousy priorities." The finance guy can't say "this is over my head". You won't hear the Prime Minister invite anyone outside his party to join his cabinet. No one seems able to quit the lying, stretching, manipulating, shifting, twisting, or otherwise brutalizing information.
It's all just so tiring. And without deep pockets or deep connections, ordinary Canadians are shut out of the process. Try joining any party and demanding plain speak. You'll be "dis-invited" real fast.
How do we get from her to there?