Wednesday, February 28, 2007

L'argent Et La Vote Ethnique

Greg Staples points us in the general direction of Jonathan Kay's column in which he comes perilously close to claiming that the anti-civil liberties laws were struck down by "money and the ethnic vote". It amazes me how the least setback to the conservative movement triggers the automatic "damn immigrants" reflex among its followers.

As a side note, Kay's use of "anonymous" sources in his story is shameful. Are these "well-informed" sources Liberals (the inference is there but who knows?), Conservatives, RCMP? What axes do these people have to grind? Readers of Kay's column will never know. We are just to take the word of a conservative columnist that these people are neutral and have no agendas of their own. It seems the mainstream media has learned absolutely nothing from the shameful smearing of Maher Arar. They need to stop relying so heavily on "anonymous" spinners.
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Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Like Putting Lipstick On A Pig

Despite protests to the contrary, putting John Baird on the environment file is more about PR than anything else:
One of the leading industry officials who has been involved in the government's talks with industry said while the longer-term targets aren't yet decided, the draft plan is consistent with what he expects the final rules to look like.

"It seems consistent with the direction. I don't see anything in the [newspaper] report that particularly surprises me," said Mike Cleland, president and CEO of the Canadian Gas Association.

Mr. Cleland said Mr. Baird's appointment did not lead to any obvious changes in the industry talks.

"Minister Baird has clearly put a more aggressive or proactive face on things, but I think what we're seeing is a reflection of a lot of work that has gone on before that." So I don't sense a dramatic change in direction," he said.
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Monday, February 26, 2007

Kyoto Common Sense

Read this from Jutta Brunnee about Kyoto. It is a common sense guide to the accord and is an antidote to all the bullshit coming out of the mighty Wurlitzer of the CPC spin machine (aka the Blogging Tories).
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Harper's Motto

If first you don't succeed, lie, lie, again. You don't like greenhouse gases? Give Harper a pencil. He will soon fix that. Best quote:
"The federal government's proposal for industry regulation on greenhouse gases is a fraud," Ms. Comeau said. "Fabricating numbers so the current government's intensity approach looks better than the last government's intensity approach is no more acceptable today than it was two years ago. Intensity targets are dishonest. The time to regulate real reductions is now."
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Sunday, February 25, 2007

Ross K. Digital Detective

Ross K. at the Gazetteer has been caught in a whirlpool of spin during the last few days. All because he was doing what a good journalist should do, find out the truth behind a story. His saga, found here (scroll down there are several entries that are connected), is an example of how blogging and bloggers can be relevent to a story if they do things right. Well done Ross.
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Friday, February 23, 2007

Machinima

Here is something I didn't know existed until yesterday. This is why I love the Internet. You always are bumping into something new. This is an example of machinima. Machinima is a movie created using the characters from well known video/computer games. In the following example, the creator has used characters from the Sims as actors in "American Beauty". It isn't political, but hey, it's Friday. Enjoy.

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Great News For Canadian Democracy

The Supreme Court unanimously ruled against security certificates. Bless 'em. Now the question is, after all the bluster of the last week, was Harper preparing the population for his imposition of the "notwithstanding clause" in this case?
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Ibbitson Touches The Truth

From today's column:
For the Conservatives, it's too good to be true. By focusing on the Liberal opposition to the sunset clauses, the government gets to burnish its tough-on-crime image, paint the Liberals as weak-willed opponents of their own legislation, and perhaps win some immigrant votes. Without the investigative hearings, we may never know who was behind the bombing of Air-India Flight 182, which is why many Indo-Canadians support the government in its fight to keep the sunset clauses alive.

But with such a policy, the Conservatives risk losing more votes than they gain. Canadians with darker skin know that they are subject to racial profiling by security, customs and immigration officials. That probably can't be helped. Resources are limited and while the vast majority of visible-minority Canadians are loyal, it is also true that Scandinavian Lutheran terrorism is not a clear and present danger to Canadian security; Middle Eastern Islamist terrorism is. (Emphasis mine).
The Air India investigation is a sideshow. The real goal for the Harper government is to preserve the law in its ongoing "war on terror". Of course they can't say that openly because they would look like a bunch of racist pricks. Hence the pretense of Air India.
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Toronto Star: The Lies Continue

I knew this was coming, so I am not surprised. The Toronto Star, the official mouthpiece of the Liberal establishment is scared shitless that proportional representation might, just might, be coming to Ontario. To try to prevent that, they are resorting to distorting the truth. Read this passage:
The best argument in favour of the status quo is that it leads to strong governments. By contrast, proportional representation is a recipe for unstable coalitions, permanent minority government and legislative chaos. For proof, one need look no further than Israel and Italy.
Have you ever read a clearer case of willful ignorance in your life? The editors know that the systems in Italy and Israel bear no relation whatever to that under consideration here in Ontario, yet they trot those examples out, every single time they pontificate on this subject. The Toronto Star editorial board is composed of people who do not want any change at all in their comfortable little world. They will literally say anything to prevent that change. Read anything they write with a pound of salt. Better yet, educate yourself about the system under consideration (Note: the system in New Zealand is pretty close but not exactly what we may be asked to consider, but it is close enough for you to get the idea.) and ignore the blathering in the media.
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Thursday, February 22, 2007

No One Is Answering The Central Question

Why, after investigating for over 20 years and having access to the anti-terror laws for the past 5 or six years, are the RCMP saying that now, now, they must have this law, or they will be forced to terminate the investigation? If I was a cynical man, I would suggest they are looking for a convenient excuse for decades of incompetence.

And how about our Prime Minister, eh? Here is a man who, knowing that to state plainly that the real motivation for pushing the extension of this law has more to do with his foreign policy than a two decades old investigation, would be suicidal, has instead decided to use the distraught relatives of Air India as human shields. What a prince among men. The pigs are running the farm. That's for damn sure.
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More Ibbitson Idiocy

John Ibbitson is starting to sound like a Marxist apologist. He begins his column with a proforma condemnation of the attack against Mr. Bains and ends with an "ends justifies the means" defense of Stephen Harper, in his war against the "elites". It is a masterpiece of tut tut, well done, punditry we have come to expect from Mr. Ibbitson.
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Ian Urquhart Propagandist

I wish, just once in his life, Ian Urquhart could write something about voting reform that doesn't read like a hatchet job. In today's installment, the first of many, I am sure, Urquhart begins at the title "Radical voting proposal gains steam" and goes down hill from there. To Urquhart, you see, anything that isn't FPTP is "radical". I am convinced he has no idea what is being proposed by the Citizen's Assembly. It doesn't matter because it isn't FPTP. So, he goes after the motives of the members of the assembly, muttering darkly that:
The assembly's members – predominantly homemakers, students, self-employed and retired persons – have signalled in their thumbnail biographies they want to "make history," which they won't do by voting for the status quo.


Throughout the piece he emphasizes what he always emphasizes, that MMP will lead to minorities (rather than coalitions);that the process is being pushed by the "leftists" and "social conservatives" who think they can grab control of parliament (rather than spending thirty seconds confirming that voter thresholds will be adopted to prevent Italian or Israeli style parliaments).

I expect this kind of BS to become even more shrill from the Star, the closer we get to the referendum. The only way to combat it is for people to educate themselves about the system adopted by the Citizen's Assembly (which I should add, hasn't happened yet).
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I've Got A Question

From today's Star:
The Vancouver Sun article doesn't cite sources, but says Bains's father-in-law, Darshan Singh Saini, "is on the RCMP's potential list of witnesses at investigative hearings designed to advance the Air India probe." (emphasis mine)
More anonymous source smears. I guess it worked so well against Maher Arar, they thought, "What the hell". The question is for the media. At long last, will you do the decent thing and name names? Or barring that, will you stop using anonymous sources unless you can verify the information with someone who will go on the record?

Update: From today's Globe:
Although the RCMP has said it wants to conduct investigative hearings, the names of potential witnesses have not been made known, and even Mr. Rae does not know who they are.

"There's no reason for any of those lists to ever become public."
If the list of names is kept by the RCMP and is not public, then the chain of custody of that list is probably quite small. Shouldn't somebody ask who had access to that list?
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Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Harper Expressing His True Inner Nature

What Olaf said. And he's a Tory.

Update: This was about the dumbest thing Harper has done since the imfamous "soft on child pornography" affair in 2004. This will absolutely insure the Liberals will vote en masse against the anti-terror laws, just to show solidarity with Bains. Harper has united the official opposition at the exact moment it was about to be divided (perhaps fatally). For a "brilliant strategist", Harper sure is a fool sometimes.

Update 2: Some Tories are trying to deny that Harper was trying to smear Bains (because he never actually read the article into the record) in comments on other blogs. Watch it for yourself and decide. I know what he was trying to do and it disgusts me that a thug is running my country.
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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Odd Excuses From The RCMP

Does anyone else find this odd?
If Parliament does not approve an extension, the two provisions will automatically expire on March 1. The new Liberal position pits them alongside the other opposition parties and leaves the minority Tory government outnumbered.

Should that happen, the families fear "the federal government will lack the teeth to catch suspected terrorists and stop future attacks," the association said in a news release.

"This will also seriously impact the ongoing Air India investigation."

Air India Flight 182 was blown up by a terrorist bomb over the Atlantic Ocean in 1985, killing 329 passengers, most of them Canadians of Indian descent. The tragedy ranks as Canada’s worst terrorist attack. Only one person has ever been convicted of involvment in the bombing.

It emerged last week that the RCMP has been planning to use the investigative hearing provision of the Anti-terrorism Act to compel Air India suspects to testify before a judge. If the provision is allowed to lapse, those plans would have to be scrapped. (emphasis mine)
The RCMP has had use of this law for several years and has been investigating for over 20. Why, when the law is set to expire, are they suddenly so desperate to use it in the Air India case? Are they using the victims of Air India and their families as human shields, to cover the law's use in areas of much less noble causes, perhaps? You may think so, but I certainly couldn't comment.
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Harper's New Federalism At Work

If you are an immigrant professional or a fisher concerned about environmental issues around the fishery, who are you going to call? According to Stephen Harper, not him. Those aren't his problems. He's not in those businesses any more. Just like Mike Harris was not in the water business, Harper is passing things on down to multiple jurisdictions, so as to increase the amount of chaos in the system (in order to further discredit government). Give this man a majority and stand back. It will be the Common Sense Revolution on steroids. I wonder how many people will die, in this version?
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Democracy In Action

Take a look at the TVO Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform, in Ontario Site. You can see streaming video of the deliberations of the Assembly. Fascinating stuff for us junkies and it is inspiring to see ordinary folks take their citizenship so seriously.

Update: I didn't realize they had a report on the KW consultation meeting. It was really a fun experience.

Update 2: The MSM is completely ignoring the process. Count on that not preventing them from weighing in against change when the campaign begins. Bastards.
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Monday, February 19, 2007

Oh The Irony: Air India Edition

Remember a few days ago, how the Blogging Tories were suggesting that those who opposed the genius of the anti-terror laws risked scuttling the Air India inquiry? Well, it turns out the Air India inquiry is in jeopardy. Not because of the resistance to the anti-terror laws, but because the Tories are playing hide the documents from the presiding justice. I wonder how they will spin this so it is the opposition's fault? I know they will. It's what they do. The Jurist caught them out too.
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A Study In Contrast

While the Prime Minister and Mr. Dion roll in the muck, Jack Layton is proposing policies. For those who are sick of politics as usual, Layton may be on to something.

Update: A national minimum wage! Go Jack, go.
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Saturday, February 17, 2007

Not To Be Too Cynical....

But I expect the Harper government to make a "major announcement" about something, anything, on Monday. Why Monday? Why, to keep this from being the lead story on the National, naturally.
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The Elephant In The Room

After all the uproar, the Incomes Trust Affair has come down to charges being laid against one civil servant. There is something here that doesn't meet the sniff test. How could this one guy be responsible for the spikes in trading of income trusts that called attention to a possible leak in the first place? This question was briefly raised yesterday on Newman's Politics. I hope journalists don't let that question die. Something is not right here.
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Harper Hearts Separatists

Even Harper's biographer is ashamed of the guy. And why not? He's a pretty shameful guy. I think William Johnson has twigged to the intentions of the CPC under Harper. It is Harper's intention of putting the BQ's philosophy into practice, Canada-wide. It is Harper's intention, I believe, to balkenize Canada into 13 fiefdoms with no central government to speak of (aside from Harper's two pet departments, the army and the RCMP). His appeal to BQ supporters is obvious. Why separate when you can elect us and we will break up the country for you? Of course, he can't come out and say this openly, so he has to use code like "the Liberals want "centralization"" and "With the Conservatives, Quebec takes charge". The whole point is to get the message across that the Conservatives share the same goals as the separatists, but have the opportunity to put them into practice in Ottawa. It is a clever message. It is one, we in the rest of Canada, who like having a strong central government, can't ignore.
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Friday, February 16, 2007

Hillier Steps On A Landmine

I don't disagree with anything General Hillier said, but it is not his job to say such things publicly. It isn't his place. He needs to retire.
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MacLean's 50

Props to Stephen Taylor for getting the gig at the MacLean's 50. Taking a look at the rest of the list though, it looks like the usual suspects. Where are Scott Tribe, Cherniak, the CG, Greg Staples, The Jurist, IP, Declan, or Pogge on the list? If they want this place to represent the best of the blogosphere, they have to get more representation from our best.


Update: It looks like Calgary Grit made it to the list, after all! Congrats to Dan.
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Jamey Heath Is Right

The more I read of Jamey Heath's book, the more I agree with him. It is time for progressives to take a hard look at the empty shell that is the Liberal Party and throw aside the illusion that it is, in any way, progressive. They need to realize that no matter what they do within that party, it will always tilt to the right as soon as it sniffs power. It always has and it always will. It is time for progressives to join with the NDP to built a progressive majority in this country. It is time for a political realignment.
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Harper The McCarthyite

Stephen Harper has gone into his library of historic horrors and is using that old cold war chestnut "soft on", as in soft on terrorism, to attack Dion. Harper claims Dion is being led by "extremist elements" (fellow travellers?) in the Liberal Party. What is Dion's crime, you ask? Well, he has had second thoughts about the draconian laws, drafted in the hysteria following 9/11, that have been a disaster for the civil liberties of people living in this country. Harper has always had an authoritarian bent, but now he is combining it with an ugly campaign of terror baiting. If Harper wants to find extremist elements, all he needs to do is look in the mirror.

As side note, by his friends ye shall know him. Who is rushing to Harper's aid in this sordid affair? Why it's our old friends the Martinite wing of the Liberal Party. We all remember what geniuses they are, right? Dion is wise to ignore them.
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Thursday, February 15, 2007

I Find Myself Agreeing With Don Martin

Why have an election now? The NDP should make sure this government doesn't fall until it has more of a record. If an election is held now, the Tories will run against Kyoto without having to defend their own lousy "policies" or lack thereof. Let's hold off for another year and let the Tories get more of a record on daycare for example, so they can't blame everything on the last sorry excuse for a government. Hat tip to Greg Staples.
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We Are About To Enter The Twilight Zone

In the real world, the Tories are still gutting climate change programs. They have no plan to reduce greenhouse gases and don't believe the science. So, their only option for victory is to sell a fantasy. The fantasy they are going to try to sell is that their "intensity target" based approach is the only "realistic" way to deal with greenhouse gases. The fact that intensity targets will not bring down absolute emissions will not come into it (and I suspect the MSM will buy into the narrative, by reporting the debate and the political saleability of the plan, rather than the science). All those who question the brilliance of this approach will be branded "unrealistic" (as in "so and so is being unrealistic, as anything other than our plan will destroy the economy."). It reminds me very much of the "arguments" of the war hawks before the Iraq disaster, which shouldn't surprise me, because it is the same people, by and large, getting the firewood ready for the new witch burnings.

Will this fantasy sales pitch work? Well, people did buy pet rocks for a while and Mike Harris did have some success at the polls, until the schools fell apart and people started dying from bad water. Fear of an economic armageddon is a pretty potent weapon and an easily understood message. So, I guess it is possible. Sooner of later though, reality will out and then the government will have to stand up and tell the world that not only could we not reach our 2012 targets, but we will probably not make any subsequent reduction targets either. The Canadian people will not like that admission and will probably not reward any government that pushes that line. But by then, it may not matter.
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Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Someone Should Tell Voters In The West That...

"With the Conservatives, Quebec takes charge."

Update: Never mind, it looks as though they are figuring it out for themselves.
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Like An Old Married Couple

I missed this article yesterday by Susan Riley. It expresses much better than I, the frustration I feel every time the Tories and the Liberal party touch the Kyoto file, with their diseased and dirty fingers. In a just world, both parties would be swept away and tossed into the dustbin of history. Unfortunately, we seem to be stuck with these losers for a long time yet. I only hope our species can survive them.
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The Harper Juggernaut Rolls On

If you read the Blogging Tories, you would think that Harper's genius has moved Muslims to disregard his "Israel right or wrong" stance from last summer. This, is of course, a complete fantasy:
Asked whom they intend to vote for in the next federal election, 54 per cent of Muslim respondents said the Liberals; 13 per cent said NDP; and only 7 per cent said the Conservatives, which is virtually the same way they voted in the last election.
Once again, reality bites conservatives in the butt.
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Monday, February 12, 2007

Who's On First?

Is it wrong of me to hope Jean Charest loses the next election, just to break up the little Abbott and Costello (or is it Costello and Costello) routine he has going on with Harper?
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Sunday, February 11, 2007

Robert Fife Please Stand Up

In 2003, Robert Fife wrote:
Canadian and U.S. intelligence officials are "100% sure" that a Syrian-born Canadian who was imprisoned for a year in Damascus trained at the same al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan as Ahmed Ressam, the former Montrealer convicted of planning a terrorist attack.
American officials have long maintained that Maher Arar had undergone training in Afghan- istan, but this is the first time they have identified the site as the Khaldun camp. Canadian officials have never made any claim before about Mr. Arar's alleged activities in Afghanistan.

and

High-level sources in Canada and the United States who have had access to an extensive secret intelligence file on Mr. Arar say the 33-year-old Ottawa software engineer travelled to Pakistan in the early 1990s and then entered Afghanistan to train at the Khaldun camp.

Osama bin Laden often visited the camp in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan where Western recruits were allegedly schooled in the use of explosives and suicide attacks.

"This guy is not a virgin," said a senior Canadian intelligence source, speaking on background. "There is more than meets the eye here." Officials link Arar to Qaeda camp National Post 12-30-2003
Now aside from the fact that this was 100% bullshit, none of these "senior sources" have ever been exposed. It is easy, too frickin easy, to hide behind the old "I can't reveal a source" dodge. Any "source" that would lie to a reporter in a way that damages the reputation of an innocent man, deserves to be exposed and held to the ridicule he deserves. It's been 4 years, Mr. Fife. Mr. Arar still needs to know the truth. You know who smeared him. Please do the right thing and tell.

Update: I hope Canadian journalists are smarter than this. I don't hold out much hope, however.
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It's Not Easy Being Green



Is Charles Adler right? If politics isn't fair, anything is possible.

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Saturday, February 10, 2007

Greg's Bookshelf

I just ordered Jamey Heath's new book. It sounds inspirational. I can't wait for it to come.

Update: As a bonus, check out Heath's rant against the Liberals and James Laxer from a couple of weeks ago.
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National Yellow Star Of Tehran Strikes Again

The rightist press is not letting little things like facts get in the way of their pursuit of truthiness on global warming.

Update: Just in case there are a few of you who don't understand the entry title, a little refresher.
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Friday, February 09, 2007

Harper's Big Mistake

You can fight a law, you can call an election over it, but you can't just say you will ignore it. That is the reasoning of thugs and outlaws, not a government in a democracy. If Harper pursues this line he will be swept away. He had better back off and fast. He is Prime Minister of this country and not its king.
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I Am Getting My Anger Back

Scolds like John Waugh are why people like me hesitate long and hard before even thinking about the possibility of considering voting Liberal. This guy is as deluded in his own way as any Blogging Tory. Christ, the Liberals just invited Garth Turner to sit with them and this guy thinks Dion is a leftist. I weep. "Progressives" like Waugh are the Liberal Party's shock troops of stupidity. They use them when convenient and then laugh at them once in power.
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It's 1988 All Over Again

On some things I agree with my buddy Greg Staples. This is where I think we are going. The Tories are going to dare the opposition to bring them down over Kyoto (which they probably will). The Tories will then spend the next 39 days on a scorched earth campaign featuring Buzz Hargrove in his next incarnation, the prophet of doom (who knows there may be a CAW jacket in Harper's future). The scary thing about this is it might work. If the Tories can scare the shit out of enough people, to the point where they believe their children will starve tomorrow (rather than die in a tornado twenty five years from now), they might be able to squeeze out a victory. It's going to be "bombing the bridge", all over again. Never mind that a Tory victory would be a complete disaster for the nation and the planet. As long as the great leader is re-elected, the world can go fuck itself.

Update:
When I say "victory" I may not necessarily mean "majority".
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Thursday, February 08, 2007

Mr. Wells Get's It

Too bad the Blogging Tories don't. I think Harper is just blowing smoke. If he had his druthers Harper would round up all the goddamn hippie greenies and send them to France. If only he had his majority, eh?
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How Not To Lead

From the Globe today:
The rank-and-file Tories worry that a long and very hot summer, especially one that brings drought and other severe weather events, could prompt Canadians to think even harder about the environment -- and could give Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion more time to establish himself as its protector.
So, rather than, you know, do something about climate change, the Tories would rather pull the plug on the parliament, slag Dion for 39 days and hope for a miracle. Man, I don't know about you, but to me, if this is leadership, Canada is screwed.
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Wednesday, February 07, 2007

This One Is A Keeper

For those on the right side of the aisle who are puzzled by why their campaign to smear Dion has flopped. Take a look at this. It captures the stupidity and mean-spiritedness of the ads to perfection and then plays it for laughs. When they start to laugh at you, you know you are in trouble. HT to CG
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Early Election Is Inevitable

If this is true. There is no way on God's earth that Layton can go along with "intensity targets". He would be thrown out of the NDP if he did. I suspect Harper has decided to try to ram his "vision" through and hope he can convince 4% of the swing voters that he is actually doing something and that everyone else in the whole world is just too stupid to appreciate his genius.
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On Market Environmentalism

Funny as it seems, I agree with most of Andrew Coyne's ideas about market environmentalism. Markets are good at moving goods and services around efficiently, and are tailor-made for trading carbon credits. My bottom line is, if it will save the planet, do it. I disagree with Andrew that this will prove markets will solve every problem (there are countless examples like healthcare where that is definitely not true), but in the case of carbon markets, he is definitely on to something.
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Tuesday, February 06, 2007

So Much For Mr. Ethics

Steve loves to pretend he is Mr. Clean, when in reality he is just Brian Mulroney with a bad haircut. Forget about Fortier and Emerson (please!). Forget about the hundred or so quickie appointments during the Christmas break. Instead ask yourself, does the excuse "it's just too hard" to sign the strong ethics portions of the Accountability Act into law, pass the laugh test? As Steve says about some else these days, "He just didn't get it done".
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Monday, February 05, 2007

Paul Wells Says It Will Work

The it, of course, is the Harper/Charest pact that will see the feds throw open the vault for Quebec. Now, I am just a goof from the provinces, but I wonder, does the fact that everyone knows this is coming risk raising expectations in Quebec so much that no amount of money will satisfy? We will see.
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Sunday, February 04, 2007

Harper's Reaction To Global Warming Report...

Made in the U.S.A. Note the talking points,"unintended consequences", "job losses", "lead to the transfer of jobs and industry abroad", "You would then have the U.S. economy damaged, on the one hand, and the same emissions, potentially even worse emissions", "we are a small contributor to the overall, when you look at the rest of the world". All of these could easily have come out of Steve's mouth. Oh wait, they did. I wonder if there is a morning conference call between the White House, Exxon and 24 Sussex.
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The Better Way

Just so my readers don't think I'm a complete commie, this isn't actually a bad idea. If it promotes public transit use and makes peoples lives a little more convenient, go for it, I say.
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Saturday, February 03, 2007

The RCMP Are Canada's Augean Stables

Well, yes I do want to find out about possible RCMP interference in our electoral process. I also want to know what really happened in Mayerthorpe. Any normal organization would, you would think, want to know how and why four of its members were slaughtered. The RCMP? Not so much, by the look of it.
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Friday, February 02, 2007

Whining Steve

I saw Steve on Newsworld whining about how hard it is to be him. How the other parties want him to do something about global warming but never propose anything. Well Steve as a public service to you, because you are obviously too stupid to do it yourself, I give you this and this. Now you may not like their plans, but that is a long way from saying they have nothing. Stop lying. Grow up, do your job, or step down. Wanker.
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Mr. Harper's Fractured Fairytales (With Apologies To Rocky And Bullwinkle)

News Item: PM: Emissions must be `stabilized’

Stephen Harper happens upon a group of people standing around a tub of water. The tap is going full blast and a man is face down in the tub and is clearly drowning. "Someone pull the man from the water or pull the plug so the man won't drown!" cries a woman. Mr. Harper hears this cry for help and is quick to jump into the fray.

"Now, now" replies Harper. "You are clearly not the Prime Minister of Canada. What you are proposing is way too much work. If I have to pull the man out of the water, I will get tired and sweaty. If I pull the plug, I will get my clothes wet and I have a meeting later. As you can see, neither of your suggestions is realistic. That's why you are just a dreamer and I am Prime Minister", he said with a mischievous smirk. He continued, "Why not just turn the water down so it at least doesn't spill over the side of the tub? That way none of us will be inconvenienced in the slightest".

"But the man will drown!", said the woman.

"That's the price I am willing to pay" said clever Stephen. And with that, Mr. Harper went on his way, happy to have been of assistance.

Update:If any NDP members read this, can you ask Jack how he can associate himself with a group of people that, after all this, is still pushing 'intensity targets'?
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