Opposition Look Like Fools

Standing around whining about how the mean Conservatives aren't living up to the spirit of their agreement on ten percenters:

It was revealed this week that she [Candice Hoeppner] is sending letters to individual homes in the ridings of the eight Liberal MPs who voted in favour of scrapping the registry. “Dear Friend,” she begins, and goes on to explain that Mr. Ignatieff is “forcing” their MP to support the registry after they did the “right thing” on second reading by voting with her.
Her letter is a clever way around the recent ban on the use of taxpayer-funded partisan flyers called “10 per centers.”

In mid-March, MPs – with the exception of the Conservatives – supported a Liberal motion to abolish the practice of mailing the partisan pamphlets to voters outside of their ridings.

It was deemed too expensive, the flyers too aggressively partisan; estimates were the practice cost up to $10-million each year.
There is a view among some opposition MPs that her letter-writing campaign goes against the spirit of the ban.

She disagrees: “I have completely complied with the rules of the House.” She says she has sent between 500 and 800 letters to people in the eight Liberal ridings who have indicated to her they are interested in the issue. (Taxpayers are picking up the tab for the postage – 57 cents a letter.)

And yet, these same whining losers are expecting this government to live up to the spirit of the agreement on the detainee documents. As P.T. Barnum once said, "There is a sucker born every minute". To which I would only add, "When they grow up they graduate to the opposition benches in Ottawa".

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Charm Offensive

Conservatives to the women of Canada: "Shut the fuck up', or else. I thought, as a country, we were past the point of threatening women with violence, even metaphorically .

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Question Of The Day

When will the smears against Amir Attaran begin? We all know they are coming. It's what the Conservatives do.

Almost Instant Update: Oops, they already started, nearly a month ago. Very efficient, PMO. Way to go!

Later Thought: Oh and Terry Milewski had better watch his back. The Conservatives are not known to play well with reporters from the CBC who cross them. Just ask Krista Erikson. I just hope the CBC brass put up a better fight for him, than they did with Ms. Erikson.

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For Christ's Sake

The Conservatives may as well padlock Parliament, suspend the constitution and declare Harper, president for life. They just do not care how it looks anymore. Not even a little bit.

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Attention War Crimes Prosecutors

The Globe and Mail has a handy, dandy time line for your edification.

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The Checkbox Defense

From the Globe and Mail:

Gen. Natynczyk claimed the case wasn't one of a Canadian-transferred detainee being maltreated by Afghans because the man was never officially listed as captured, even though Canadian soldiers stopped, questioned, and photographed him.

The government's defense seems to be we knew prisoners were being tortured, but we didn't "know" ours were. So, since this man was not checked off on our forms correctly, the government closed its eyes and didn't investigate how our captured prisoners were being treated. Is that about right? I suspect the prosecutors in the Hague would not look too kindly on that defense. "Me'lud we would have done something if only that soldier had ticked the correct box on his form."

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What Else Is New?

Greg Weston in today's column, on the Canadian Military Police Complaints Commission's attempts to wrestle documents about torture from the Harperites:

In fact, in the 18 months since the commission launched a public inquiry into the Afghan detainee issue, the government has yet to provide a single page of evidence of any kind. It hasn't been for a lack of trying on the part of the commission.

As the commission's chief lawyer recently said: "Despite numerous document requests and despite continuous assurances the documents would be produced ... the commission has not been provided with a single new document."

Instead, federal lawyers have devoted their efforts -- and no doubt staggering amounts of taxpayers' money -- to binding the commission in legal knots, intimidating witnesses, denying requests for documents and generally ensuring the inquiry goes nowhere. (emphasis mine)

As I have said before, this government has no spending limit on lawyers and lawsuits. None. Being able to go to court on the taxpayer's dime seems to be Stephen Harper's favorite perk as PM. H/t to the Jurist.

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Irony Watch

Prime Minister Harper slammed the media for reporting on an "unsubstantiated story" and then attacked Michael Ignatieff, based on an unsubstantiated story.

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The Slander Party

From the Globe:

“The political party that's governing our country feel they can say anything about Joe Little Guy. They've got deep pockets. What recourse does the average Canadian have against that kind of power?” Mr. Zytaruk said.

One Hell of a way to run a country, eh?

Bonus Snark: And just what the Hell is going on with the Liberals?

Outside the Commons Friday, Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale said he could not comment, because the terms of the Liberals' settlement of the lawsuit preclude him from discussing the case.

So, we have a government that can say whatever the Hell it wants about the Cadman Affair and an official opposition that can't say anything. Welcome to Zimbabwe.

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We Are Being Governed By Thugs

What can one say about a government that has so little of substance on offer that it can spend most of its time smearing decorated retired generals and other assorted enemies? I am at a loss for words really. This is truly the worst government in the history of the country. Coincidentally, key people surrounding the previous "winner" of the worst government in the history of the country are prominent members of our latest "winner".

Update: Meanwhile, as the government amused itself by attacking yet another enemy, the real world moves on. It turns out that Steve's estimate for military spending was only off by $20 billion (and I think that $20 billion will turn into $30 or $40 billion over time). A question for any MSM readers of this blog. How is it that the Tories have a free ride when it comes to "managerial skill"? In my opinion these guys couldn't run a two hole shitter, let alone a government.

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