Working in Ottawa today --NO NEED TO YELL

Good morning folks,

I will be working in Ottawa today, and will be sure to keep a close eye on my wallet, what with 105 Senators there.

In the continuing saga of improper Senator spending and just a plain general corruption and lack of oversight and accountability in gov't, guess who else owes a bag of money to Canadians?

Senator 'Smiling Mac' Harb owes $230k.  Yep.

Just a bit of sanity checking here, we have 105 Senators in Canada, and they have expenses, but the view from here is that by a few bad strokes of a pencil a Senator can easily 'accidentally' overcharge Canadians $200,000.  That means that with 100 bad pencils and a lack of prudent accounting skills these Senators could cost Canadians (that's you and I) $20,000,000 in overcharges.  That's in addition to the legitimate charges.  So the question begs to be asked..

Who the hell is in charge?  When my staff submit expenses I examine them for legitimacy and accuracy and then I sign off on them.  The buck stops here.  Does no one in the hill have the responsibility of approving expenses on an ongoing basis?  Performing audits years aft the fact is just plain horseshit, trying to recoup $230,000 is awfully hard compared to simply saying no.  Let's try this all together, no.

The Senators will have you believe that there is vagueness and uncertainty in the rules of expenditures but there isn't, that their expenses were approved by committee, but they weren't.  Paying a submission for reimbursement is not an approval.  Perhaps tacitly yes, but it does not constitute a review and approval.

In Smiling Mac's case, the way I understand it, and the way David Tkachul sees it is this was willful abuse.  Let me break it down for you.  Harb has lived in Ottawa since being a young man.  Represented Ottawa center as an MP and was an Ottawa Alderman.  Then he was appointed to the Senate in 2003 by 'A proof is a Proof' Jean Chretien.

In 2010 he purchased a house in Pembroke, and then started charging living expenses in Ottawa to the Senate.  The view of the Senate Committee on Internal Economy (yeah, that's its name) takes the view that since Harb spends effectively all of his time in Ottawa and has done so for years, that his primary residence is in Ottawa.  

IN OTHER NEWS, THE U.S. NAVY HAS ISSUED ORDERS THAT THEIR ORDERS AND COMMUNICATIONS NEED NO LONGER BE IN ALL CAPS.  THE PRACTICE OF ALL CAPS HAS BEEN IN EFFECT SINCE THE 1800'S AND HAS THE DISTINCT EFFECT OF MAKING THE INTENDED RECIPIENT PAY ATTENTION AS IF THE ORDERS ARE BEING YELLED.

WHAT IS ALSO INTERESTING IS THE SWITCH TO ALLOW LOWER CASE LETTERS HAS BEEN REPORTED AS SAVING THE NAVY $15MILLION PER YEAR.  THAT IS A LOT OF INK.

HAVE A GREAT DAY,   SAVE YOUR VOICE, DON'T YELL.