HOW TO AVOID THE TRUTH WITHOUT LYING

  (as with the F-35 fighter jet fiasco)

1) For three years don't release information on the expected cost of 65 fighter jets other than that is the only "fifth generation fighter jet available to meet the requirements. When required by vote of the Canadian Parliament to release cost and specifics, refuse to do so. When the Speaker of the House threatens a contempt of Parliament charge, prorogue Parliament and cause an election (2011).

2) State the total cost of the jets as $9 billion dollars and totally ignore maintenance and other costs as required in the governments regulations.

3) Have photo ops of the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense posing in the pilot's seat of a MOCK-UP of  the F-35 aircraft as if it were real. Also, as often as convenient, show pictures off the F-35 flying and doing maneuvers even though the plane is an experimental design without undertaking a full test flight.

4) For 3 years, answer all questions about the F-35 with the sound-bites,"as we have said, the cost of the F-35 is $9 B.", and "not a single dollar has been spent on the acquisition of this plane". Ignore the fact that some $600,000 had been spent on the process of preparing for the acquisition of the experimental plane.

5)  When the Parliamentary Budgetary Officer reports the expected cost to be $15 B attack his competence and ridicule his report. Say it will be $9 B and that there is a contract signed (actually a  memo of understanding)

6) When the Auditor General suggests the cost over 20 years would be $25 B set up an Independent Audit committee and begin distancing the government from the whole project.

 7) When the committee reports that the cost over 40 years (the updated predicted life-span of the  planes) would be in excess of $45 B set up another committee to look into possibly of having an examination of the needs of Canada and the availability of other 5th generation fighter jet.

8) Repeat that the total cost has been capped at $9 B as they have always said its would be. Don`t mention that will mean there will be 11 fewer planes purchased than the number previously stated as the minimum for Canada`s safety. When questioned, say you are pressing the "reset" button. Then keep pressing it.

Note: The timeline for the delivery of  the first  F-35 to Canada (2019) is dangerously close to the estimated end of the current CF-18 fleet life (2020).  There are 8 "fifth generation" fighter jets currently under development with production dates from 1990 to 2020.

     The F-35 has three main models; the F-35A is a conventional takeoff and landing variant, the F-35B is a short take off and vertical-landing variant, and the F-35C is a carrier-based variant. Which one is everyone talking about?  Or don't they care? They are not all the same price but it seems price is not an issue.

 

HOW THE MEDIA SELECTS NEWS ITEMS

Two items competed for coverage last week. One received extensive media coverage the other did not.
Which do you think was front and centre of the news?

  

Item 1:

 APTN National News 
OTTAWA –Facing mass country-wide protests under the banner of Idle No More, the Conservative government unveiled its plans for proposed First Nations legislation Tuesday only to have it met by immediate derision.

Item 2:

CBC LIVE ONLINE: The Ikea monkey and Canada's exotic pets

     The "Ikea Monkey," as he's come to be known, has been dominating news headlines, Facebook status updates and water cooler chatter all week - possibly even inspiring some body art.  

The cute monkey in a nice coat won hands down in the media. One cute monkey was by

 far more newsworthy than country-wide First Nations protests with one of their leaders (Chief Theresa Spencer) going on a hunger hunger strike.

COMMON SENSE IS A RARE COMMODITY

     The CBC radio show "This is That" recently presented a deadpan parody suggesting there was a proposed Montreal bylaw requiring all dogs in public parks to be bilingual and that dogs should obey commands in both English and French to avoid confusion.

     The issue went viral after the show posted a segment on its website about the "untenable chaos" that was rife in Montreal dog parks because some animals were receiving commands in French and others in English.      Many readers and viewers took the "bylaw" and even the added suggestion that dog parks be language-free and dog owners must use "tones and hand signals" seriously.

     It was all a joke (duh?).

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