Midnight Ramblings

OK, I wanna knuckled down and get some job applications out, but first, I want to get all politico on you.

Firstly, here we all are, encompased in the grip of the possibility of having a Christmas election. Quick re-cap: the preliminary Gomery report came out a couple of weeks ago. While Paul Martin was exonerated, the people ain't buying it, so the Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecios are threating to bring down the government at the first possible opportunity.

Yesterday, the NDP came forward and said, "You know, we don't like the Liberals and their health care reforms. We can no longer support the Liberals. When the Conservatives bring forth their non-confidence motion, we're going to vote the Liverals out of office."

Immediatly, the Conservatives dismissed this as an NDP negotiating tactic in their negotiations with the Liberals. The Conservatives essentially said, "What? WE never said anything about bringing down the government! If there's going to be a non-confidence motion, it'll have to tabled by the NPD."

Bottom line: odds are very good that we'll be having an election over Christmas holidays. And I'm sure we can all agree, a Christmas election is VERY STUPID!! Who the hell is going to get out there and vote when they're having turkey with the family, or have taken off to Mexico to get away from the snow?

Now, let's get to the current stupidity of Ralph Klein and the Alberta Conservatives.

Back in the spring, Klein finally unveiled plans for his much-ballyhooed healthcare "thrid way." The Third Way is shaping up to be two parallel healthcare systems: one public, the other private. But, in pure Klein fashion, they don't have a plan in place yet.

No, in order to get a plan in place, they put out a contract to private consulting firms. The contract was won a few weeks ago by Aon Consulting, a healthcare consulting firm that specializes in setting up health plans for companies.

As soon as it was announced that Aon Consulting had gotten the contract, the Alberta opposition parties struck. See, in the States, Aon Consulting recently paid out $190 MILLION in an out of court settlement when health fraud charges were brought against them.

The opposition called for the contract to be revoked. How DARE the Tories put Alberta healthcare in the hands of crooks! The Tories refused, however. Klein pointed out that the charges were brought against the American parent company, and the American parent company and the Canadian branch are really two seperate companies. Health Minister Iris Evans said that maybe, probably, the government would think about reviewing their screening process.

The opposition struck again. Turns out the Canadian branch of Aon Consulting is currrently paying out over $1 MILLION in fines for health care violations...in Ontario. Again, the opposition called for the contract to be revoked.

This time, Klein said, "FUCKING LET IT GO!! ALBERTANS DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS!!" I'm paraphrasing, of course.

And, you know what? The media is now silent on the subject.

And that's why the Alberta Conservatives keep getting re-elected.