Harper Pictures Presents

The Bank Job 2: The Legend of Brian's Gold

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The Leaves Are Starting To Turn

The mornings are dark and I wonder, where are the Afghan detainee documents?

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New Definition Of Fair

A comment on a Globe piece on electoral reform:

The results under a proportional representation system would be no less biased. They would simply be differently biased. At the national level, for example, a proportional representation system would give places with large populations (i.e., southern Ontario) a lock on the federal government. Why should someone in Toronto have the whip hand in determining federal policies that will primarily affect northern Canada or the west or east coast (or northern Ontario for that matter)?

The fairest system would balance popular support (through a rep by pop House of Commons) with regional interests (as reflected in an elected senate)

So, in this case bias means the following will of the majority of the nation and fair means a veto for Prince Edward Island? Thanks for clearing that up. Now I know why Canadian politics is as fucked up as it is.

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John Baird's Intellectual Godfather?

Republican Congressman, Steve King reacting to Stephen Colbert's appearance before a House committee said:

"Maybe we should be spending less time watching Comedy Central and more time considering all the real jobs that are out there, ones that require real hard labor," King said bitterly. He invoked the "Joe the Plumbers of the world who, many days, would prefer the aroma of fresh dirt to that of the sewage from American elitists who disparage them even as they flush."

Of course you know, Colbert couldn't let that one go:

"This is America! I don't want a tomato picked by a Mexican. I want it picked by an American, then sliced by a Guatemalan and served by a Venezuelan in a spa where a Chilean gives me a Brazilian."

We live in farcical times, my friends, when clowns are both running governments and mocking them at the same time.

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Privatization

Of Ontario Hydro. Another brilliant idea (you will note Tim Hudak's shilling for the utilities), courtesy of the modern conservative movement. Thanks guys.

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Vic Toews, Voice Of The Patriarchy

Vic Toews to Niki Ashton, yesterday:

The hard-working, law-abiding gun owners of Manitoba and Canada know that the long gun registry does not work. I would call upon the member for Churchill to stand in this House and, instead of voting with her downtown Toronto leader, represent her constituents in rural Manitoba, as her father does in the Manitoba legislature, where he has consistently spoken out against the long gun registry, together with the NDP in that province who do not support the long gun registry.

Do as your father does, young lady. That's what I love about Canada's Conservative Party. Every day is 1953, when men were men and women shut the fuck up and did what they were told.

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Harper's Willing Accomplices

Here are the Ontario urban/suburban Conservatives who voted to gut gun control. If I missed any, let me know.

Stephen Woodworth Kitchener Centre
Terence Young Oakville
Mike Wallace Burlington
Lisa Raitt Halton
Peter Kent Thornhill
Ed Holder London West
Gary Goodyear Cambridge
Royal Galipeau Ottawa Orleans
Jim Flaherty Whitby—Oshawa
Peter Braid Kitchener—Waterloo
Lois Brown Newmarket—Aurora
Paul Calandra Oak Ridges—Markham
Colin Carrie Oshawa
Bob Dechert Mississauga—Erindale
John Baird Ottawa West
Pierre Poilievre Nepean--Carleton
Harold Albrecht Kitchener--Conestoga

Voters in these ridings need to remember these names and hold them to account for their sheep-like support of the Prime Minister's insane policy of lawlessness.

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Yay

The gun registry is safe for now. Opposition leaders, by all means bring forward suggestions for reform, but the PM is not interested in reforms, so good luck with that. If you are smart they will set a big chunk of money for the next election to target urban Conservatives for defeat on this issue. You know the Conservatives will throw everything at those NDP and Liberal MPS who did the right thing here. You might as well go after those urban Conservative sheep who think gutting gun control is a good idea.

PS. My donation has been made to the NDP via the website. Congratulations.

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Keeping Fear Alive

Shorter Jim Flaherty: An election is fatal for the economy, unless the governing party calls it.

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Fare Thee Well To Nova Scotia

Attention Nova Scotia voters. This is what the Conservative base thinks of you, your province and your elected representatives:

What did you expect? A deadbeat socialist MP from a deadbeat socialist riding from a deadbeat province with hands out all the time? Put a dead bottom feeding lobster in that riding paint it deadbeat socialist orange and the socialist deadbeat hillbillies will vote for it.

At least he or she didn't mention a "culture of defeat."

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Conservative Physics

Cause and effect. Mr Wizard and friends know, if they lose the legions they lose the election (That isn't coming, because Canadians don't want one, because of the economy ^tm).

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Stephen Harper, Cartoon Villain

Shorter Harper: And I would have killed that registry if it wasn't for those meddling kids!

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What Took Them So Long?

The opposition should have been posting these in every urban, Conservative-held riding in the country, for the last month. Hat tip to Kady on Twitter.

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Here'sTo John Baird

The only vegetarian cabinet minister to have ever graduated from Queens, who isn't a member of the elite.

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NDP MPs Hear The Voices Of The Conservative Base

In the message boards of the nation:

same ol', same ol' hey? The people don't want it.. we don't want to do it pay for it.. billions..then they cut it down to millions (yeah..right).. and, it leaves an open door to entry without cause or search warrent.. all a cop has to say is..oh..i thought there was a weapon on the premisis.

If i were a politician in ottawa today.. i'm telling ya' i wouldn't want any citizens to have guns either.

And that's probably why they are switching their vote to save the registry. The Conservative Party has officially become the Black Helicopter Party.

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Liars, Rogues And Thugs

Don Martin wrote:

Watching the Conservatives wrap themselves in a freedom-of-expression argument, insisting their 144 MPs were all voting their constituent’s orders, was a hilarious misrepresentation of reality.

Nobody believes the Greater Toronto Area ridings held by Conservatives are uniformly against the registry just as we know not all Liberal or New Democrat ridings support its preservation.

The government whipped MPs into unanimity of opinion by letting it be known there was an obituary waiting to be written for any who dared vote to back the registry.

Mr. Martin is publicly calling this "private member's bill" a fraud ( and Mr. Martin, it isn't "hilarious"). Are we, as a nation, going to allow our government to pervert our democracy so cavalierly? Are we so inured to this gang of thugs that they can literally lie in our faces and we will just sit back and take it? My answer is no! All of us together, must say in a loud voice, NO!

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Frankly...

I don't care why they changed their minds and I really don't give two shits whether or not that rat bastard Harper thinks he has won his majority ( he hasn't and his own caucus knows the man is a loser). All that matters is the registry looks to be safe (with the important caveat that everyone shows up. Liberals I am looking at you). P.S. NDP you will be getting a nice donation if this is pulled off.

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Be Careful What You ask For

Item:

As the Nanos poll found, there’s no mystery in a partial fix. Canadians want MPs freed to vote more often as they believe, not as leaders and unelected advisers dictate.

You may just get it. Massive ad campaigns aimed at "resistant" MP's, based on massive fund-raising, fueled by lobby groups and propaganda? No thanks. I have seen this movie and it stinks.

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Who Spends This Amount Of Money

On a private member's bill? No one, that's who:

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives launched an aggressive campaign, including radio ads and billboards, Monday to pressure the 20 opposition MPs who voted with the government to scrap the registry not to reverse their votes.

This is a last-ditch effort by the Tories to ensure the registry dies. It comes on the eve of a crucial vote on the controversial program’s future scheduled for next Wednesday in the House of Commons.

This bill is a fraud and NDP members and its leader should not feel bound to follow the "tradition" of non-whipped voting.

Update: Common sense seems to be prevailing. There is no reason on God's earth that the NDP can't both support the registry and call for reform. It makes a Hell of a lot more sense than voting to scrap it and then calling for reform. That position is, quite frankly, stupid.

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When Half The Conservative Caucus Believes The Earth Is 6000 Years Old

It makes perfect sense to muzzle scientists who want to talk about floods that happened 13,000 years ago. Stupid eggheads and their facts, always contradicting God.

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Reason Has No Place In Harper's Government

While I can appreciate the idea presented in the letter by David Dodge et al  to the PM about his stupid change to the census :

A letter to the Prime Minister, also signed by former chief statistician Ivan Fellegi, warns the Conservatives their top-down decision to scrap the compulsory long-form census is eroding faith in the nation's statistical agency.

The approach is, I think, wrongheaded. These men are making appeals to reason and as we are all aware, reason ranks with socialism and separatism as something to be destroyed, by this regime.

Instead, the retired civil servants should have appealed to religion or some emotional hot button issue close to the Conservative base's heart. For example, ending the long form census will cause boatloads of Tamil refugees to crash on our shores because now we won't be able to track them. Or, how about ending the long form census will allow governments to raise taxes without fear of anyone being able to say it is unnecessary, since no one will be able to prove otherwise? Neither of the above arguments is based on fact or reason, or even reality, but those are the kinds of things this government cares about. Reason is the enemy gentlemen and now that you have revealed yourselves allied on the side of the enemy, you will be dismissed at best and have your reputations smeared at worst.

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A Winning Strategy

Give billions to billionaires to build stadiums, while simultaneously cutting benefits to the unemployed and raising payroll taxes. The Vulcan chess master has either outdone himself with brilliance, or this is a trial balloon made out of lead.

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Come To Florida...

And feel the warmth of our hospitality.

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Dear Dr. Malloy

You seem confused by the Harper government. Let me help you with that. If you want to know what possesses the Harperites, look south. The Harperites have infused the modern Conservative Party with the credit card conservatism of the U.S. Republican Party. Conservatives believe that if you blow vast amounts of cash on prisons and the military, while at the same time running up the debt by not cutting in other areas (except taxes which exacerbates the above trends), eventually the country will hit a wall, and the government as a player in the lives of citizens will have no choice but wither and die, for lack of funds. It is clearly the course of action preferred by this government and will continue whether or not there is a majority elected. I hope this helps to clear up your confusion.

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Brian Topp, Liberal

At least he drags out the tired, old Liberal scare tactics in his latest apologia of NDP tactics during the gun registry debate:

Most activists in the NDP universe take a decisively pro-registry position. But the more thoughtful among them know that if their party misplays its cards, they could hand enough rural seats to Mr. Harper to give him his majority – ensuring the outcome they want to prevent.

Vote for us, no matter what kind of shit we are shoving down your throats, or else Harper gets his majority. Well Brian, I rejected that kind of crap when it was on offer from the Liberals and I am going to reject it from you, too. I have no quarrel with reforming the registry, but that is not what is on offer here. If you vote with the Conservatives, they will kill the registry and salt the earth so it will cost another billion to restart the thing (and you know that will not happen).

Your party is faced with a choice. I know it isn't fair, but then what is? You either stand with the registry and reform it later, or you kill it, dead and for all time. You might lose some rural seats in the bargain, but you may also pick up some urban ones in the west, in the process. I can tell you one thing though, I wouldn't want to be running in Vancouver or Toronto as an NDP candidate, in the next election, if the party helps to kill the registry. It will be a slaughter.

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Kory Is Upset

And is shaking his little fist in rage at Margaret Atwood. Perhaps he can explain why the Sun chain employs people who use the phrase "lock and load" in the context of refugees? Somehow I doubt he will try though. His stock in trade is smear, not exposition. I can't wait for Ms. Atwood to tear him a new one. No one has a sharper pen than Peggy.

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Mr Harper Sort Of Right

It is kind of bizarre to have a potential coalition member that believes that national parks are a federalist plot. But, it isn't as bizarre as a government that believes its own census is a communist plot.

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Observation Of The Day

For a guy who says he doesn't want an election, our Prime Minster sure does mention it a lot, as he travels the country, handing out checks.

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Dear David Akin

So sorry you are offended that people equate Sun Media with "hate speech". Would you care to give us an alternate meaning to the phrase "lock and load"?

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Like Scorpions In A Bottle

If you want to know what is wrong with Canadian politics, all you need to do is read the following, from an interview between Liberal pollster, Michael Marzolini and Susan Delacourt:

"By the time they [he means anyone] get elected, who knows what the lay of the land looks like. We know that it’s more difficult for the Conservatives to form a majority than it is for the Liberals to form a majority. Because of the Tory weakness in Quebec, you need additional support elsewhere in the country for the Tories. That really means you need about 14 points to form a majority, the Liberals need about 12... There’s no magic number, just a magic plurality." (emphasis mine)

The big parties are obsessed with finding the "magic plurality" (ie getting 40% of the vote so they can then act like dictators for four years) and could really give a goddamn about the majority of voters in this country. Meanwhile, the NDP is doing its level best to become a searcher in this self-destructive snipe hunt.

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