On Foreknowledge

Tony Keller at the Post, in an otherwise boilerplate apologia for the police, writes:

The union groups that organized Saturday’s peaceful march knew that it would be carrying rioters inside it. Everybody knew. The cops knew it, the anarchists knew it, the average Torontonian knew it. At least one newspaper even ran a map of where the rioters would likely start their rampage. The protestors nevertheless insisted that they be allowed to march downtown and get as close to the fence as possible, so that their “message would be heard.”

Ok, if everybody knew there was going to be trouble and where, why did it happen? Why did the police stand back an let the anarchists run wild, if they knew?

Update: The question of why the police allowed the original black bloc riot to go unopposed seems to be the emerging central question in this whole affair.

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Why?

The video below examines what happened on Saturday and asks some good questions.



Why did the police back off and let the black bloc run riot in the financial district? Why did it wait for the black bloc to escape and only then wade into the crowd of protesters? Why did a security operation costing a billion dollars fail so badly? We need to get answers to these questions and until we do, this is not going to go away.

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We Are Through The Looking Glass

In a land where it is ok for the cops to lie about their power of arrest. Bill Blair needs to go, but he won't. Miller hasn't got the balls.

Update, Later That Same Day: So, if Blair lied about his police powers, what else is he lying about?

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Can You Spot The Difference?

Police tactics against the thugs:

I spent a considerable amount of time on Saturday breathlessly running alongside black bloc anarchists, documenting an unprecedented reign of destruction on the streets of Toronto. I saw them congregate and collaborate in the early afternoon hours, hatching a heinous plan that would leave indelible scars on our city, both financial and psychological. I saw them lob rocks at retreating police, smash and burn cruisers, spray-paint numerous structures with revolutionary slogans, and shatter windows with a seemingly insatiable appetite. I saw them target members of the media, myself included, with taunts, sticks and rocks.

What I didn’t see Saturday were any arrests taking place while this violence was occurring. If the security agenda on Saturday was to prevent the black bloc from reaching the G20 Security Fence, it was a success. But throughout a large portion of the downtown core a frightening ‘anything goes’ aura had spread.

Police tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists:

On Sunday, I followed and took pictures of a peaceful march down King Street and up Bay towards Queen, to its final ill-fated destination at the intersection of Queen and Spadina. I saw no one in disguise. I saw no violence, vandalism, or hostility. Smiling demonstrators chanted, danced, and walked together.

The crowd was comprised of the young and elderly, men and women, and families with young children. It was what any sensible law-abiding citizen likely imagined a G20 march was supposed to be --- an expression of solidarity and hope for a better world.

Despite this obvious contradiction, I soon saw riot police closing in. I saw their jet black batons, their massive shields and tear gas guns. I saw numerous arrests being made, and in the end I saw first hand the inner workings of the makeshift G20 prison on Eastern Avenue.

This is how I became a G20 jailbird.

The cops were allied with the anarchists, as both groups justified each others' existence. So, the cops left the anarchists to do their grim work on the downtown of Toronto. On the other hand, peaceful protesters singing the national anthem, was something the cops could never abide. Goddamn hippies.

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It's A Stephen Harper World

And Ireland is the first success story of his vision for the rest of the world. Behold Ireland in all its austere glory. The people may be suffering, but the global bond market is happy and that's what is important. Oh wait:

“When our public finance situation blew wide open, the dominant consideration was ensuring that there was international investor confidence in Ireland so we could continue to borrow,” said Alan Barrett, chief economist at the Economic and Social Research Institute of Ireland. “A lot of the argument was, ‘Let’s get this over with quickly.’ ”

Rather than being rewarded for its actions, though, Ireland is being penalized. Its downturn has certainly been sharper than if the government had spent more to keep people working. Lacking stimulus money, the Irish economy shrank 7.1 percent last year and remains in recession.

And

Despite its strenuous efforts, Ireland has been thrust into the same ignominious category as Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. It now pays a hefty three percentage points more than Germany on its benchmark bonds, in part because investors fear that the austerity program, by retarding growth and so far failing to reduce borrowing, will make it harder for Dublin to pay its bills rather than easier. (emphasis mine)

Never mind then. Our Prime Minister, the guy who denied the possibility of a recession in the first place, is now the economic architect for the world. The world is in serious trouble.

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Let Them Eat Broken Glass

I watched an extraordinary interview with the head of the G20 security command center, on the National. This gentleman made it absolutely clear that the $1 billion spent on security meant securing the safety of the assembled politicians. To him, the damage done to Toronto was an acceptable cost of ensuring the safety of those who mattered. The journalist asking the questions was gobsmacked by his offhand dismissal of any concerns other than those of the VIP's (he kept mentioning helicopter landing coordinations and motorcade details as if that was supposed to make people feel better). I suspect many Toronto residents were shaking their heads in disbelief as well. The message is there for all to see, unless you are of the elite, you might as well just crawl away and die, for all the police care. Welcome to Canada, where the oligarchs play and the rest of us clean up their messes.

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Save This Article

Paul Krugman vs. super genius economist, Stephen Harper, in a battle royale over world economic policy. I suspect Harper will take the early rounds, as he is backing the interests of the banks and the rich. However, in the long run, I suspect history will prove Krugman right. Not that Harper gives a shit about the long run. By the time this all blows up, he will safely be in the private sector, sitting on the boards of the very banks he is championing.

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Black Block Bullshit

What we are being told about the Black Block riot is not what really happened.

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The Education Of Steve Paikin

From his blog:

The police, who normally have excellent support among Toronto's citizens, are facing some appropriately tough questions.

They seem to have overreacted numerous times in dealing with members of the public and journalists. They used too much force in detaining many members of the public, who either were protesting peacefully, or were just passing by at the wrong time.

And yet, they were caught, if you'll forgive the pun, flat-footed and completely unprepared for the goons and thugs that destroyed so much property on Yonge Street on Saturday. Supposedly, that's why we spent $1b on security --- to prevent this from happening.

The more I think about this the darker my mood. I am beginning to think the police were not brought in to "prevent" anything, except inconvenience for the assembled VIPs. Their actions show that the priority was to keep protests away from the fence, not to safeguard the city of Toronto from violence.

In fact, the violence was welcomed by our Prime Minister who used it as a justification for the outrageous cost of the fence security. The fact that downtown Toronto was on fire, was a convenient fact for the PM and meant no more (or possibly less) to him than not getting the last jelly donut in the box. The government of Ontario and the feds will be asked a lot of questions about this fiasco. Let's not let them get away with weak justifications for the unjustifiable.

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I Have Questions

1. Anarchists have been "problematic" at these gatherings for years. We spent a billion dollars on security, was there no intelligence as to the whereabouts of these groups?

2. If not, why not?

3. If so, why did the police appear to be so reactive and unprepared?

4. Were there any intelligence operatives involved in the riot as part of the Black Block?

5. What was their involvement and why didn't they alert their colleagues to the pending violence?

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Danielle Smith Goes After The Cheney Republican Vote

How right wing do you have to be to utter the following sentence? Danielle Smith of the Wildrose Alliance says Albertans want a conservative government because:

"We've had enough of Socialists and Liberals masquerading as Conservatives."

Ed Stelmach a socialist? Only in Alberta, I guess.

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Don't Let The Screen Door, Etc.

Milliken is quitting. I wish he had done this before he let the Liberals and the Bloc sell parliamentary supremacy down the river. His Milton Milquetoast routine from the chair got old years ago.

And this paragraph froze my blood:

The timing of his retirement announcement briefly heightened speculation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper may choose Mr. Milliken as the next Governor General. Mr. Harper is widely expected to name a successor to Michaëlle Jean next week, during the Queen's visit to Canada.

I guess Harper wants to make sure that the next GG will be as pliable as the present one. Prorogations for all!

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On Legality And Rights

What Premier McGuinty and his cabinet has done in passing their draconian, anti-dissent law was most certainly legal. Here, in a famous speech, the late William Kunstler speaks to the ways governments use "legality" as a shield against the rights of its citizens.

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Dalton McGuinty's Dim Bulb Chamber

Dalton McGuinty's Liberals are working hand in glove with the federal Conservatives to turn Toronto into a gulag (wow there's a surprise, eh?). They are even going so far as to pass a law in secret that make it an offense to walk 5 meters from a fence. What the fuck is going on here? When a police chief can tell elected authorities he wants more power and they give it to him, without public debate, I would say that is the very definition of a police state.

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Hollywood Reporter Tells It Like It Is

The first line of their report on the bun fight between James Moore and critics of his copyright legislation is dead on:

Canadian federal politician James Moore has lashed out at opponents of his made-in-U.S.A. copyright reform package as "radical extremists." (emphasis mine)

It also gives a clear-eyed explanation for why Moore is so frantic to ram this legislation through:

The Canadian mud fight over copyright reform comes as Ottawa looks to get back in Washington's good books after being placed by the U.S. Trade Representative on its "priority watch list" for piracy.

The Americans know who are calling the shots here. Moore should be ashamed for selling his citizen's personal property rights away on behalf of giant foreign corporations.

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Something For The Kids

From the Intertubes.

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Roh Roh

News Item: U.S. New Home Sales Drop 33% in May, to Record Low. This sounds like a perfect time for austerity.

Update: Retail sales drop 2% in April. Yup, seems like the perfect time to make the lives of ordinary folks miserable.

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Welcome To Alberta

Where climate change doesn't exist and they keep voting for Team Denial.

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Krugman Must Be Stopped

He is making way too much sense in a world dominated by the guy who thought there was no recession coming in the fall of 2008.

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At Least They Still Have Doctor Who

Wow England sucks, this time out, at the World Cup. Mind you, my team didn't do so well today, but at least I still have hope. The English not so much. Don't believe me? Read this. One thing you can't beat the English at is witty put downs. Favorite bit:

One can only observe, yet again, how perfectly good, even excellent players seem automatically to malfunction the minute they don the accursed garment. The England shirt is the precise opposite of a superhero costume, turning men with extraordinary abilities into mild-mannered guys next door. Were Stephen Fry to pull it on, he would struggle to string a sentence together. Were Lucian Freud to slip it over his head he would turn his easel round to reveal a childlike scribble of a cat. Psychological meltdown is now part of the warp and weft of its wretched fibres and it will clearly take someone other than Capello to fix it.

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Let Me Help You Out Gilles

Gilles Duceppe made a prediction about the fall sitting:

Bloc Leader Gilles Duceppe suggested Parliament will return to the same issue that dominated the winter and spring sitting: the right of MPs to hold the government to account.

He said the government could face a contempt of Parliament motion over its refusal to let ministerial aides testify at Commons committees investigating the Guergis-Jaffer affair and political interference in Access to Information requests.

Instead of doing that Gilles, why not propose that a cardboard cutout of the ministerial aide be put at the witness table alongside his or her minister, should he or she decide to show up too? It sounds like a compromise the Speaker could live with and it will save everyone a lot of time and bullshit about how you are really going to stand up to Harper.

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Shorter Milliken

Thank you Iggy and Gilles for rescuing me from having to make a decision that might make the PM angry. I gave you a way to save me from having to campaign this summer and you took it. Who cares what's actually in the agreement? Woo hoo summer! Thus did the iron curtain descend on the matter. I just pray to God that the someone in the Hague is taking note.

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Frank Graves Jumps On The Merger Bandwagon

From the Globe:

Frank Graves has come up with a provocative merger scenario based on his latest numbers – a coalition between the Harper Conservatives and the Ignatieff Liberals.

“Oscillating Conservative and Liberal majorities may have been the rule of the last century, but it appears we have entered a strange new political world,” says the EKOS pollster.

Inevitably, the dismal poll results are provoking serious thinking about coalitions and mergers. And the political chatter of late has been about a merger on the left as a way of breaking the political gridlock that has no party being able to form a majority government.

But Mr. Graves is thinking outside of the box, noting that the arithmetic in his poll shows that the Conservative and Liberal support – 56.8 per cent – is the same as that of the so-called traffic-light coalition of the red (Liberals), green (Green Party) and orange (NDP) – 56 per cent.

“For those who see this as preposterous, the current coalition in the U.K. looks more ideologically congruent with this mixture (Conservatives and Liberal Democrats) than the more oft-discussed centre-left coalitions.”

More and more of the ruling class is pushing for the True Blue Coalition to embrace publicly. Will the blue Liberals and the Conservatives consummate the love that dare not speak its name? Stay tune.

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Wherry Explains It All

Just as I thought:

After conferring with both sides (or at least two of the three sides) of the detainee document agreement, it would seem that this much is agreed upon.

If, in the process of producing documents, the government believes that all or part of a document may be covered by solicitor-client privilege or cabinet confidence, that document will be sent directly to the panel of arbiters. The panel of arbiters will then decide what from those documents can be disclosed to the ad hoc committee of MPs. If the panel of arbiters does decide that the document is subject to privilege, they must explain their decision to the ad hoc committee of MPs.

So, far from MP's (even those few on this special committee) "seeing everything", they will only get what the government and the panel of experts let them see. The Bloc has been had. I suspect Iggy was fully aware of what he was signing, on the other hand.

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The Deal Has Another Review

This one from a Liberal-friendly paper:

Four years after Colvin began telling his superiors what they didn’t want to hear, the cover-up is complete. Conservatives can now be confident that Canadians won’t learn much more than they already know and that civil servants will think at least twice before speaking tiresome truths to powe

Talk of NDP/Liberal mergers sounds even more ridiculous today than it did yesterday. The Liberal hierarchy has found its true parliamentary partner and it isn't the NDP.

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Peace In Our Time Watch. The Reviewers Speak

From this afternoon's Globe web site:

University of Ottawa professor Amir Attaran, an advocate for greater disclosure on detainees, calls the deal a failure.

"It is an own-goal for the opposition if they sign this agreement, surpassing any fumble seen in the World Cup," Professor Attaran said.

Prof. Attaran laid out six criticisms which are his beefs with the deal:

"1. It pretends that Cabinet confidences are impenetrable by Parliament. There is no law to say that this need be the case, and it was not something that the Speaker said was the case. On the contrary, the Speaker said that the power of Parliament to require documents is absolute.

2. It also pretends that solicitor-client privileged opinions of government lawyers are impenetrable by Parliament. This is wrong, for the reason already stated, but it also gravely misapprehends the entire notion of “solicitor-client privilege” in a simpleminded way that I am surprised duped the opposition. Pause to think, “Who is the client of a Government of Canada lawyer?” and you can only conclude that the client is the Government of Canada. ... There is no legitimate solicitor-client privilege claim.

3. The agreement at para 6 allows any member of the review committee—any ONE member—to refer a disputed document to the panel of arbiters. With 20,000+ pages of documents expected, that could be abused to refer all the pages—every single one—totally swamping the review committee.

4. The review committee, further, is quite at variance with the terms of the Speaker’s order, which said that it was up to the members of the House to decide what documents would be released: if, when, and how. Yet now the proposed agreement puts that decision in the hands of a review committee of retired judges, who are not Parliamentarians. One hopes the Speaker rejects the agreement on this basis.

5. The referral of documents to a review committee of ex-judges is also worse than referring the same to sitting judge. At least sitting judges, in a real court, have rules that they follow, and there is a (mostly) open process where submissions can be made — by the public, by the press, and so forth. Nothing of the kind exists here, so actually, it would be better if this agreement not be signed. We don’t even know who the ex-judges are ...

6.This draft agreement shows nothing if not that the opposition parties in the House failed to bring the same quality of thinking to the problem that the Speaker did. It’s an own-goal. One might think they agreed because they don’t want an election now, but there are various ways they could have solved this conundrum without provoking an election."

No wonder Ralph Goodale's only response is to talk REALLY LOUD! Hat tip to Scott, who has the grace to be troubled by this betrayal of Parliament.

Update: Steve V declares the deal "A Dud".

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Support Libby Davies

I would rather support someone who is wrong on the dates, but right on the main issue, than a lunatic who is right on the dates, but is leading this country into a disastrous alliance with Likud.

Update: And, given that the only party in the house with a more right wing foreign policy than the Conservatives is calling for her head, stay she must.

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Ok Riddle Me This

The Star Phoenix in its scathing editorial against the NDP this morning wrote glowingly about the documents deal:

The deal to which the NDP so vehemently objects allows members of the three signatory parties to see any documents deemed relevant. If there is concern about cabinet confidentiality, solicitor-client privilege or national security, the documents will be forwarded to a special panel to arbitrate what can be made public and how that should be done.

It seems to me the Star Phoenix is dissembling somewhat. My understanding is that the term "made public" means shown to the committee of MP's. So, if the government can prove something is a cabinet document, it will never be viewed by anyone. Am I wrong, or is the corporate press just covering for its friends?

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Horsefeathers

You have to say this about Jean Chretien, he was a good judge of talent and political smarts. Ralph Goodale was a nobody in the Chretien era and was plucked from obscurity only by hitching his star to that political genius, Paul Martin. It is obvious Goodale is sharing everything he learned from that Caesar of the Rideau, with the new Liberal leader, and the party is reaping its reward in the polls.

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Ewww, The Liberals Pull Out The Big Guns

Ujjal Dosanjh says the NDP isn't "SERIOUS". It takes a serious party to sell out Parliament, apparently. The people who said the war in Iraq was illegal and based on a lie, weren't "serious" either, just right. Why do elites always use the word "serious" when they mean "falling into line with the accepted prejudices of the ruling class"? I guess "serious" is better shorthand.

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The Fog Is Lifting

And it is a pretty ugly sight to behold. Correct me if I am wrong, dear readers, but here is what I think the Liberals and the Bloc have agreed to.

1. They get representatives on a special committee to view documents.
2. They get a say in the creation of a "panel of experts" designed to adjudicate disputes.
3. The government has the right to challenge any document being demanded by the special committee, if that document is either a cabinet document, or the fruit of attorney client consultations between the government and its lawyers.
4. The challenged document then goes to the panel of experts who get to decide if the document does fall into either category. If it does, then it is excluded from the list of potential documents to be viewed by the special committee.

In other words, all the government has to do is satisfy a panel that a document is what it says it is and it is off the table. If that is so, then the government is virtually home and dry. I suspect that the juicy stuff will be deemed to be one or the other, since this government is well known to routinely cc their lawyers virtually everything, in order to claim attorney client privilege. So, tell me, how are we going to get to the bottom this mess given this accord? Anyone?

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Well...

At least the NDP see it the way I do, in this instance. Parliamentary supremacy is a joke. The big parties and for some unknown reason, the Bloc, have decided to play "hide the salami" with the truth. We will never learn whether or not our government is covering up war crimes, unless, by some miracle, someone at the Hague takes note of our Potemkin democracy.

Instant Update: Now come the inevitable justifications from the Liberals and the snotty denunciations of those who dissent. I watch in horrified fascination.

Update the Second: Yup, the Liberals are accusing the NDP of negotiating in bad faith (what a fucking joke). Also, I suspect we will hear only praise for Gilles Duceppe from the government. I guess they are not "evil separatists" today.

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The Affair Is In The Open

Another pundit dares to speak of the love that dares not speak its name. Look, it just makes sense. I would hate it, naturally, but at least Liberal self-delusion and hypocrisy would be at an end. Let's just call a spade a spade. In the end, blue Liberals share a vision of the country not that much different from the Conservatives. Since the blues are running the party and have done so for most of the last 30 years, it is natural that the Conservative Party should be the default coalition partner of the modern Liberal Party. Trudeau is dead. This is the party of Martin and Manley.

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Michael Ignatieff, Two Beats Behind

Funniest headline you will read today: Harper may be ‘ragging the puck’ on detainee records: Ignatieff Really, Mike? Might be, Mike? Jesus, Mike.

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He's Just Saying What I Have Been Thinking

Walkom finally speaks of the love that dares not say its name. Jeff Jedras will be furious, since he is in deep denial.

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Journalmalism

Headline in the Vancouver Sun: Canadians frown upon Liberal-NDP coalition. First line of this story: Canadians have given a thumbs-down to the notion of a merger between the Liberals and NDP, a poll suggests. Do you see the difference? Of course you can, you are neither a retarded three year old nor a journalist working for one of Canada's news outlets. Merger and coalition are two different concepts, but the MSM insists on using them interchangeably. They know that if they do not, they cannot confuse people and make them angry and making and keeping them angry seems to be our media's main job. No wonder Harper was able to manipulate the coalition debate so easily in 2008. Our press corp is corrupt in its soul.

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It's Over

The parties met yesterday about the Afghan detainee documents. The media didn't even bother to write about it. The government has won -- again. It must be lovely negotiating with people without backbones. It makes things so easy. We now officially live in an absolutist republican state, in everything but name. L'etat, c'est Steve.



Update: Shorter opposition parties: If you don't stop screwing around we are telling on you! This time we really mean it! To which I reply, why is this Monday's deadline any more sacred than the one from two weeks ago? Deadlines only work if they are, you know, final.

Instant Update: And when I read a sentence like "A spokesman for the Liberals said the talks are still proceeding in good faith.", I know that the fix is in.

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Harper's Separatist Network

The new Canadian Conservative Network is owned by a prominent Quebec family with a proud separatist past.

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A Prime Example

Lawrence Martin gives us in one paragraph, a great example of why Canada is completely fucked:

What was irrational about the coalition talk was the suggestion that the situation in any way paralleled the one that led to the merger of conservative parties six years ago.

We have a political commentariat that does not know the difference between a coalition and a merger.

Update: Travers piles on. Really, the Liberals (and increasingly, the idea of a coalition) are royally screwed and all because the media's agreed upon narrative is a complete nonsense. It is electoral reform all over again.

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Faux News Canada

Daily programme schedule of the new Canadian Conservative "News" Network

6:00-9:00 Conservatism Today -- Are leftists poisoning the minds of youth? Ezra Levant investigates.
9:00--10:00 AM Conservative -- Are Muslims Anti-Semitic scum? Ezra Levant investigates.
10:00--11:00 "Cooking" With Ezra -- Ezra Levant roasts leftists.
11:00--3:00 I love Stephen -- A light hearted look at why Stephen Harper is awesome! -- Ezra Levant Hosts.
3:00--6:00 Pull My Finger -- Ezra Levant interviews visiting Republican political figures, all of whom think Stephen Harper is swell
6:00--10:00 I love Stephen -- Repeat
10:00 -- Sign off -- The Star Spangled Banner followed by an 8 hour montage of Stephen Harper's greatest moments.

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The Wobble Movement

Here is the list of names given on Power and Politics as those involved in the SERIOUS MERGER TALKS: Jean Chretien, Ed Broadbent, Roy "The Kid" Romanow, Roy McMurtry, and Joe Clark. My first clue that this story was bullshit was the reference to the NDP renouncing socialism, as a precursor to a merger. Ed Broadbent would drop dead before that happened.

By the way, they should rename Power and Politics to "Amazing Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy". I can't believe they wasted two hours of air time on a non-event like this. I also can't believe that Evan Solomon is as stupid as he appears. No one can be that stupid and live. Imagine a host of a political show who seemingly, did not understand the difference between a coalition and a merger, and in fact insisted on using them interchangeably, despite being called on it, over and over. No, I just don't buy the stupidity defense. What I saw was a guy who needed to fill two hours of air time and didn't have much to say, so he acted dumb in order to coax anger and frustration out of his increasingly bewildered guests.

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You Say You Want A Coalition

It already exists, my friends. Shhh, no one is supposed to know about it.

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Line Of The Day

Courtesy of Charlie Angus, in Question Period:

Mr. Speaker, I have reserves in my riding that are so poor they do not have schools or playground equipment and I see a minister who is blowing through taxpayer money like he has won the pork-barrel lottery. This is a question of professional integrity.

The Prime Minister promised accountability and trust, so either he did not know what was happening under his watch or he totally supports this misuse of money.

Is the Prime Minister willing to take action or is he going to continue to act like Captain Bligh on steamship Tony's ship of fools?

The line about "Tony's ship of fools", is cute, but I think the first sentence of this sequence is the most spot on. Billions for gazebos and fake lakes, zero for schools for native children. Screwed up priorities much?

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Sinister's Law

Never get involved in another family's argument. I just watched Warren Kinssella and David Herle on the National. My advice to the NDP for what it is worth is, stay away from this. You will become collateral damage in a war not of your making and this is the longest running civil war in Canadian political history. It is the War of the Rose, between the Trudeauists and the Wintersites. You may have a favored side in the dispute, but make no mistake, if you side with it you will be drawn into that madness. I know I am on the outs with you at the moment and we may never reconcile, but I still have some sentimental attachment to the NDP and I would hate to see it die on a foreign battlefield. Merger with the Liberals is suicidal. That's all there is to it.

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Liberal Media Take Care Of Their Own

Exhibit A.

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Teh Stupid. It Burns

Christ, the intellectual dishonesty in this statement, by MP Jim Abbott is breathtaking:

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Liberal leader admitted that he would form a coalition government. Last time the Liberal strategy was hidden, but now we know the Liberals will ignore the wishes of Canadians and join forces with the NDP and Bloc Québécois to ignore an election result.

Canadians remember his statement the last time the Liberals tried to form a coalition with the Bloc Québécois and the NDP when the leader said, “I am prepared to form a coalition government and to lead that government”.

However, the Liberal leader's plan is not acceptable. If Canadians reject his party, he cannot ignore the election result and install a coalition rejected by the voters. It is not acceptable to give the NDP co-management of the economy. It is not acceptable to share power with a political party committed to the breakup of our country.

Regrettably the coalition plan is more proof that the Liberal leader is not in it for Canadians. He is just in it for himself.

I am not sure what is worse, the fact that this is nonsense spouted by someone who clearly knows it is nonsense, but is saying it anyway; or the fact that it is nonsense by someone who is saying it anyway so as to whip up hysteria among people who either don't know or care it is nonsense. Seriously, how to you fight an opponent who doesn't care if you call him a liar, because his target audience will take your charge as "proof" that he is telling the truth? Conservatives have taken post-modernism to the furthest edges and are threatening to push us all into the abyss.

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It's June 7

Do you know where your Afghan detainee documents are?

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Greatest. Ad. Ever.

Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole.

World Cup is coming. Yippee!!!!

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Our Madman

Paul Krugman has an essential read this morning. It is entitled Madmen in Authority and it lays out why a policy of austerity during a time of high unemployment is, not to put too fine a point on it, crazy. Our own madman, Stephen Harper is one of the leading figures in the "inflict needless pain now" movement and it is a fair question to ask why no one in our media has thought to ask why he thinks making unemployed people suffer is a hot idea?

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C-391

NDP take note, whining that "Those bad old Liberals are making us do bad things!" only moves me to laugh and or retch. The party could use this opportunity as a springboard to making the changes to the registry it says it wants. It could even use it as leverage in any talks about coalition. Instead, it is using the extremely small fig leaf of Liberal intransigence over the current bill, to cover moral cowardice on the part of the leadership of the NDP. Such acts of cowardice will not win the NDP the gun lover vote, but it will absolutely guarantee that people like me park their vote somewhere else, until the party regains its bearings.

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Lean To The Left, Lean To The Right

Stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight! That is the Liberal Party these days, one big chant. Iggy wants to continue his undeclared coalition with the Conservatives. Red Liberals want to move toward unity with the NDP. The 42 year old civil war in the Liberal Party of Canada (between the Trudeauites and the Wintersites), may, finally, be reaching its climax.

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SS To Get Medal Of Honor From Likud

Sergeant S. (SS) is up for the award for killing six sleepy peace activists on a boat bringing food to Gaza. You can't make this stuff up.

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Coalition Panic

Seems to be everywhere. Scott Reid is afraid it means "merger", which is understandable, since the media use the two terms interchangeably. I think he should stop worrying. Merger is not in the cards. It just won't happen. However, working together to form a government after an election is something that just might happen and it might as well be discussed openly.

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Ready, Aye Ready

I am reading more and more stuff like this:

NDP defence critic Jack Harris said a post-2011 role for Canada is in the works, but suggested a military presence was not the only option on the table.

“All Canadians do not want to see the sacrifice that has been made be for naught and we do have obviously a considerable amount of humanitarian concerns and institution-building concerns about Afghanistan,” Mr. Harris said.

“Whether that involves military or not is another question indeed. There are lots of other ways that we can help build institutions.”

It is becoming increasingly obvious that as the NDP jettisons one principle after another, that it is getting ready to govern. A coalition with the Liberals? Hell they will be the Liberals in another year, so what's the point?

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Oh, That's Why

Stephen Harper tells the world why he would never be involved in a coalition: "Losers don't get to form coalitions." And here I thought it was because he was a sociopathic asshole. You learn something new every day.

Update: As someone else has pointed out, it is a good thing Harper did not condemn Coalitions of Losers the other day when his buddy Netanyahu was in town. Bad manners and all that.

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Congratulations John Baird

For winning Parliamentarian of the Year. Your performance yesterday at the Government Operations Committee, was just one more example of the hard work you have put in, day in and day out, over the last few years, to make the House of Commons the place it is today. I can't think of an MP who better symbolizes this Parliament. Bravo sir. Well done.

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Operation Stall

Is heading into the home stretch. What, will the opposition parties do? Why they will worry that time is running out on them, the poor dears. Suckers.

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What Side Are You On, Jack?

From the Grope and Flail:

Says a senior Ignatieff official: “It is too bad there were so few journalists at the hearings last week. Jacques Dupuis, the Quebec Public Safety Minister, did a great presentation. Tons of stats – facts, something the Conservatives have a hard time with – showing the registry works.”

The official noted that other witnesses, including mothers of victims of the Polytechnique, supported the Liberal proposals.

“So now it is up to Jack Layton to show some real leadership,” says the official.

That’s right — Mr. Layton has not said yet how he will deal with the 12 MPs who voted with the government. Does he whip a private members’ vote? Or does he allow the registry to be killed?

True, it is a Liberal proxy asking the questions, but they are fair questions. Will Jack Layton back the victims of L'ecole, or will he allow his members to side with the Conservatives? The world awaits the answer.

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Courage

That's what it takes to publish something like this. Initially, it gave me some hope, because it was published, but the writer himself discounted even that. I see a lot of Stephen Harper in the society being built in Israel, and see some signs that he has instituted at least one tenet of the new state ideology, here (see point ten, KAIROS anyone?). The new Israel is one where rightists feel at home. The new Israel is Israel as designed by Rob Anders.

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It's June 1

Do you know where your Afghan detainee files are?

Update: The Hill Times speculates.

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Shorter Netanyahu

We had to kill people, because they wouldn't stand idly by while we committed an act of piracy. Stupid activists.

Or, as Michael Byers puts it:

“The issue isn’t whether the passengers were violent, but whether Israel should have boarded the ships in this way at all.”

Tinfoil Hat Added Extra: Don Newman speculated yesterday on Power and Politics that the raid may have been carried out by hardliners in the Israeli government, as a means of derailing Netanyahu's meetings with Obama. Mission accomplished, if so.

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