Where the Wilde things are

via oursin When you see this, quote Oscar Wilde:

Ah! J'ai baisé ta bouche, Iokaanan, J'ai baisé ta bouche.

Gomery reports at last

So Mr. Justice Gomery has decided that Jean Chretien was "responsible" for Adscam. This doesn't come as much of a surprise but nor does it mean anything. Chretien is retired so he doesn't have to worry about reelection.. He ran a $330 million slush fund for nine years but that's not illegal so he won't be prosecuted. I'm quite sure his reaction will be that, given the chance, he'd do the same thing again.

To me, it makes several things clear. First, the Federal Public Service at its highest level is run by people too spineless to prevent the PMO doing as it pleases. This is worrying but no surprise. Second, the Liberals (and probably the other parties too) simply don't believe that "the rules" apply to them (any comparison with Blair and Blunkett should be fairly obvious). Again, this is no surprise. Chretien on occasions made Leona Helmsley look downright humble. Finally, and most worrying of all, Gomery won't change anything. The Liberals are a self-serving bunch of crooks, and now we have it in writing, but we all knew that. They will still get reelected though because, for most Canadians, the alternatives are even worse. Like Tony Blair, Paul Martin is blessed with an opposition that would need to improve its aim substantially before it could even shoot itself in the foot.