"HARPERMAN" - a place in Canadian folk canon!
Posted: Tue Sep 01, 2015 10:56 amPunishing birdwatching songwriter ensures 'Harperman' a place in Canadian folk canon (Numerous LINKS)
[ http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/j-baglo ... canadian-f ]
By J. Baglow | August 31, 2015
Punishing birdwatching songwriter ensures 'Harperman' a place in Canadian folk canon
Tony Turner, who studies bird migrations in his day job, has been a fixture of the Ottawa folk community for years, writing and composing as a member of the songwriting collective Writer's Bloc since 1994. But recently, he's vaulted to national fame for "Harperman," a ditty that really does speak for itself. Go watch, and sing along with the chorus.
He's been suspended from his birdwatching activities (what is it with our overlords' fascination with birdwatchers, anyway?) and he's now under "investigation" by the commissars over at Environment Canada where he worked. The reason? He's been accused of breaching the public service Values and Ethics Code.
It's not likely that Harper or the PMO had a thing to do with this, although the song has probably attracted their attention by now. Rather, it's senior departmental officials, immersed in the new Harperian political culture, who know how to take cues. This sort of thing becomes systemic over time. A fish rots from the head, and so the corruption spreads, without direction needing to be given. Our "impartial" public service has become anything but, as illegal/unethical acts of loyalty to the Harper regime accumulate. And sometimes, even when exposed, they go unpunished.
It's different for dissenters. Pre-emptive action is taken to ensure their compliance with standards that have no basis in law. Public service workers are warned that they are, in effect, owned by the employer. And small fish are inevitably caught in the fine mesh of the government's ideological net.
The Supreme Court of Canada declared in 1991 that rank-and-file federal public service employees have the same political rights as other Canadians. And even a cursory reading of that Values and Ethics Code reveals that Turner had done nothing wrong. He separated his outside activities from his public service ones, to the point that few of his folk following were even aware of what he did for a living. His workplace duties had nothing whatsoever to do with political policymaking. The migration of birds, in fact, has to be about as non-political as it gets -- how can one track our avian friends in less than a fair and impartial manner?
MORE:
[ http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/j-baglo ... canadian-f ]
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WATCH VIDEO:
[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei50lM6ab1c ]
= = = = = =
SAVE TONY TURNER
Let's make this the most widely seen election video in Canada and turn this censorship into a political nightmare -- share it with everyone.
[ https://secure.avaaz.org/en/harperman_loc/?tfzOaab ]
[ http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/j-baglo ... canadian-f ]
By J. Baglow | August 31, 2015
Punishing birdwatching songwriter ensures 'Harperman' a place in Canadian folk canon
Tony Turner, who studies bird migrations in his day job, has been a fixture of the Ottawa folk community for years, writing and composing as a member of the songwriting collective Writer's Bloc since 1994. But recently, he's vaulted to national fame for "Harperman," a ditty that really does speak for itself. Go watch, and sing along with the chorus.
He's been suspended from his birdwatching activities (what is it with our overlords' fascination with birdwatchers, anyway?) and he's now under "investigation" by the commissars over at Environment Canada where he worked. The reason? He's been accused of breaching the public service Values and Ethics Code.
It's not likely that Harper or the PMO had a thing to do with this, although the song has probably attracted their attention by now. Rather, it's senior departmental officials, immersed in the new Harperian political culture, who know how to take cues. This sort of thing becomes systemic over time. A fish rots from the head, and so the corruption spreads, without direction needing to be given. Our "impartial" public service has become anything but, as illegal/unethical acts of loyalty to the Harper regime accumulate. And sometimes, even when exposed, they go unpunished.
It's different for dissenters. Pre-emptive action is taken to ensure their compliance with standards that have no basis in law. Public service workers are warned that they are, in effect, owned by the employer. And small fish are inevitably caught in the fine mesh of the government's ideological net.
The Supreme Court of Canada declared in 1991 that rank-and-file federal public service employees have the same political rights as other Canadians. And even a cursory reading of that Values and Ethics Code reveals that Turner had done nothing wrong. He separated his outside activities from his public service ones, to the point that few of his folk following were even aware of what he did for a living. His workplace duties had nothing whatsoever to do with political policymaking. The migration of birds, in fact, has to be about as non-political as it gets -- how can one track our avian friends in less than a fair and impartial manner?
MORE:
[ http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/j-baglo ... canadian-f ]
= = = = =
WATCH VIDEO:
[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei50lM6ab1c ]
= = = = = =
SAVE TONY TURNER
Let's make this the most widely seen election video in Canada and turn this censorship into a political nightmare -- share it with everyone.
[ https://secure.avaaz.org/en/harperman_loc/?tfzOaab ]