A check of the hit meter today revealed a surprising number of links from Conservative bloggers.
They didn't like the cheapening of Canadian politics post from earlier. In one instance, there was a mention of Warren Kinsella (and his purple dinosaur, no doubt) and, of course, Jean Chretien.
It's flattering to get noticed by the BlueBloggers, even if it generates the sort of e-mails that have been coming my way today; you know the ones that start out by insulting my intelligence for supporting another political party than the obviously correct blue one. In fact, to date, I have yet to receive a single e-mail from a Conservative supporter that didn't simply slag me personally.
Ad hominem attacks are no substitute for thought, but if that is all that is brought to the table of ideas, then we shall have a truly poor feast
More to the point though, I should make it clear: the cheapening of politics in this country didn't happen overnight. Waving around purple dinosaurs and lampooning a man's spiritual beliefs is no basis for informed public discourse.
However, two wrongs don't make a right, to borrow a hoary but accurate cliche.
One of things we have seen in the first half of this election campaign is a discussion of policy issues, largely separate from the sort of political stunts that pass for thought. What made Scott Reid's comments or Mike Klander's idiocy stand out is that they are two blips on an otherwise blank screen. In another campaign, say the ones most Conservatives might point to, these remarks would have been seen as amateurish and mild.
While it is fair game to tackle an opponent's comments and arguments, the sort of personal smear embodied in the Barney episode is just plain wrong.
So too were the anti-Chretien television spots foisted in 1993 by a Conservative party that was bereft of just about everything, including some shred of propriety.
What have seen in the past few days, however, is a return to the sort of unsubstantiated and excessive rhetorical attacks that further debase our political process. It started with Jason Kenney, but after a few days, mercifully, he vanished from the radar screen.
What is worse in the past couple of days, however, is that the verbal grenades are being tossed by a party leader, who presumably, would do things differently. I know full well Stephen Harper never specifically promised to be better; he just said despise the other guys.
But, there is a reasonable implication from all that he has said that somehow a Conservative administration would be better.
It isn't just enough to say the words. The words must be backed by deeds.
Unfortunately, the deeds have been sadly lacking, not just in this campaign but for the past 18 months. It is sadly too easy to rattle off the list of slimey personal attacks that have been visited on Liberals of Italian origin, a former Conservative who crossed the floor, or indeed, me personally by at least one local Conservative supporter.
Hence, my comment that no matter which party wins the next election, the fruits of the past two years or more and indeed the fruits of the past two days will be a parliament that is characterized by political animosity of the kind we have not seen in Canada for decades.
Surely, as Canadians, we can all decry the likelihood of this situation.
Surely, as Canadians, we can appreciate that if we slavishly follow the Old Testament dictum and pluck out an eye for an eye, it will not be too long before we are all blind.
30 December 2005
The educational value of crap reporting
CTV meanwhile is providing an example of the sort of reporting that my public relations students can expect to see from even a good news organization when something other than fact is driving a story: shoddy research, half-baked presentation and relevant details buried.
This story purports to have copies of e-mail providing there was insider trading.
It has nothing other than confirmation people knew an announcement was coming. There's no sign they had details: that's what counts as evidence.
Meanwhile, CTV did report this relevant bit of information, namely that there was actually a lot of speculation in the trading but no sign of anything criminal.
But don't expect to see Tim Cadwell, securities expert, quoted very much, expecially in the expert "commentaries" plastered all over NewsNet and the national news:
Cadwell's analysis simply contradicts where the herd thinks. it's more important to fit in than to be right.
All of this has been in the public domain before.
All of it.
The only thing that has restarted the story is confirmation the police are checking everything.
There is still no proof of anything.
Unlike the guy who bugged his telephone calls and then leaked information in bits and pieces along with bogus translations.
Backed by his boss and his boss' staff in the deliberate deception.
This story purports to have copies of e-mail providing there was insider trading.
It has nothing other than confirmation people knew an announcement was coming. There's no sign they had details: that's what counts as evidence.
Meanwhile, CTV did report this relevant bit of information, namely that there was actually a lot of speculation in the trading but no sign of anything criminal.
But don't expect to see Tim Cadwell, securities expert, quoted very much, expecially in the expert "commentaries" plastered all over NewsNet and the national news:
Cadwell's analysis simply contradicts where the herd thinks. it's more important to fit in than to be right.
All of this has been in the public domain before.
All of it.
The only thing that has restarted the story is confirmation the police are checking everything.
There is still no proof of anything.
Unlike the guy who bugged his telephone calls and then leaked information in bits and pieces along with bogus translations.
Backed by his boss and his boss' staff in the deliberate deception.
RCMP trust probe could go anywhere
The Globe's story this morning, that the RCMP trust probe could investigate the Prime Minister's office is the kind of misleading reporting worthy of Berk Bourque that give journalists a bad name.
Truth is that the RCMP probe could go anywhere it needs to go: the offices of the Globe; Jason Kenney's teddy bear; the forensic trading accountant dude everyone is quoting; my grandmother's basement.
There's no reason to single out the PMO. The story is a selective reporting of facts to make the story appear to be something it isn't.
Meanwhile, CBC television's political panel featured a few people not friendly to liberals ever, intoning somberly that everyone Liberal is doomed. Sorry Chantal Hebert and Andrew Coyne, most of your comments, including the bits about ministers stepping aside were based on something other than fact.
A fair assessment would have noted that the closest parallel here is with Michael Wilson. He didn't resign over a budget leak since he was not implicated in it in any way.
By the same token, while everyone including Berkue are pointing at Judy Sgro, remember this: she was pilloried, forced to resign and was later exonerated.
Where are the political and journalistic mea culpas over that one?
Oh yeah.
I forgot.
Admitting publicly to a mistake is a sign of character that is sadly missing from too many people these days.
It's another reason why politics is cheapened and the nation lessened.
Right up there with overzealous political attacks and crap reporting.
Truth is that the RCMP probe could go anywhere it needs to go: the offices of the Globe; Jason Kenney's teddy bear; the forensic trading accountant dude everyone is quoting; my grandmother's basement.
There's no reason to single out the PMO. The story is a selective reporting of facts to make the story appear to be something it isn't.
Meanwhile, CBC television's political panel featured a few people not friendly to liberals ever, intoning somberly that everyone Liberal is doomed. Sorry Chantal Hebert and Andrew Coyne, most of your comments, including the bits about ministers stepping aside were based on something other than fact.
A fair assessment would have noted that the closest parallel here is with Michael Wilson. He didn't resign over a budget leak since he was not implicated in it in any way.
By the same token, while everyone including Berkue are pointing at Judy Sgro, remember this: she was pilloried, forced to resign and was later exonerated.
Where are the political and journalistic mea culpas over that one?
Oh yeah.
I forgot.
Admitting publicly to a mistake is a sign of character that is sadly missing from too many people these days.
It's another reason why politics is cheapened and the nation lessened.
Right up there with overzealous political attacks and crap reporting.
29 December 2005
The cheapening of politics, the lessening of the nation
No matter which party wins the next election, we can expect the next sessions of the Commons to be characterized by vicious political battles of a kind rarely seen in Canada, let alone any place that can call itself civilized.
The reason is simple.
In politics as in life, what goes around, comes around.
The major difference is that in politics, the world is small so as it goes around, it picks speed.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have launched an investigation into the possibility that information on a government policy was leaked to certain individuals who profited by their inside information.
The police actions are prudent. They are doing exactly what we would expect police to do.
That said, the police caution in the matter is also prudent - there is no evidence of any criminal action by anyone.
There may never be.
Yet if you listen to the savage rhetoric of both major opposition parties, one of the most decent and honourable of men, namely Ralph Goodale, should be nailed to a cross and tortured for his supposed sins.
What crime has he committed? None.
Is he accused of any impropriety? Not even Jason Kenney in his wildest delusions has linked the federal finance minister to any wrongful actions.
Jack Layton calls for the minister to step aside while the investigation proceeds. He claims there are hundreds of precedents, yet when pressed by reporters could not name a single one.
There are none.
Having worked for one of the most scrupulously honest politicians in recent memory, I learned first hand what a genuinely fair approach to this sort of issue is. It would do others to ask a simple question, based on the few examples of alleged impropriety during the Wells administration: what would Clyde have done?
The answer in this instance is likely that he would have stood by his minister, against whom no allegations have been made. Wells did relieve ministers of their duties either temporarily or permanently, however in each instance there was a valid reason. In cases where ministers were relieved, either he or she was directly involved in the alleged infraction. In one instance, a minister remained in cabinet but was relieved of departmental responsibilities as justice minister and attorney general solely because there was the potential that some interference in the police investigation might be alleged. Such was his high standard of public integrity that even the potential of an allegation, no matter how baseless was cause for action.
In Goodale's case, none of these criteria can be applied. Hence, he should stay in place.
The answer is that Wells would ensure that the police are clearly charged to get to the bottom of the matter and report fully. There is no prospect of political interference in the current matter since the administration of criminal justice falls to the provincial solicitor general, not the federal one. Mr. Harper has already displayed his profound ignorance of Canadian criminal law during this election, but that is another subject for another time.
The answer is also that Wells would have given both Jack Layton and Stephen Harper a tongue lashing for cheapening politics with their excessive and abusive rhetoric.
No matter what the outcome of this matter, it is hard to excuse Layton and Harper for their crudities. The cynical Conservatives, angry and as bitter as they are, are likely relishing the chance to get to power by whatever means possible. Invention and gross distortion are legitimate means to an end in some minds; they are hardly appropriate in a political party seeking to govern a country.
Evidence from elsewhere shows that focusing so relentlessly on negative issues - pounding incessantly on allegations that politicians are criminals - only serves to diminish the view Canadians hold of politicians generally. Again, the cynical political operative would not care since the voters staying home in this case will mostly be Liberals and New Democrats. The hard-core, the committed Conservatives will flock to the polls.
Yet in the longer run, the Conservative (and New Democrat) approach to the matter of integrity in politics is ultimately a self-defeating one. On the one hand, they will engender ever deeper cynicism and distrust among the electorate already grown weary of shenanigans. Each misrepresentation, each distortion serves to undermine public confidence in the entire political system even more. It is a political system of which they, themselves, are an integral part.
When Mr. Harper accuses all Liberals of being criminals, he is perchance a few scant years away from a closet full of Guccis and rumours of a secret deal to buy foreign passenger planes.
On the other hand, the Conservatives have crafted for the Liberals a rod with which to beat every Conservative back all the time. Their actions have destroyed any prospect that the next parliament could be one in which integrity, civility and maturity will prevail. Expect that even the slightest misstep by a Conservative member of parliament will be an excuse to pile on. Decent and honourable men and women will be crushed without mercy, along with the truly guilty, just as the Conservatives are now slicing into Ralph Goodale. No allegation will be too outlandish. The Conservatives have set the bar and they have set it exceedingly low.
Nor will things be better in parliament if the liberals or New Democrats win. If the Conservatives lose this next election, we can only expect that their rhetoric, their verbal butchery will intensify.
No matter what the outcome of this election, the next parliament will make the Rat Pack and Tequila Sheila look like kindergarten antics.
Of course, were any of the Conservatives slurs about Gomery and Goodale even vaguely true, Liberals would be the first to agree with them.
Reid was publicly criticized for his silly remarks. Klander was denounced quickly, and as I have said elsewhere, one need only look at the number of Liberal bloggers who have criticized Liberal errors to see a functioning political party in which there is discussion and debate. There is a readiness to disown that which cannot be defended.
Flip to the Conservative blogger world and you will see bile and invective for Liberals, yet no sense of proportion or introspection for the Rob Anders of their party or the "Belinda the whore" brigade of misogynists who crawled over each other to see who could make the most hateful of comments.
There is no recollection of the Conservative Party operatives who engaged in extortion during the Mulroney regime and who were suitably condemned to prison for their crimes.
On the one side - the Liberal - we have seen corrective action and apology. On the Conservative side we find only silence, or worse still, churlish drools at the prospect of occupying government offices.
The allegations about Goodale and Gomery are not even remotely true, however.
And so Liberals across the country will bitterly resent the cheapening of politics we have seen from Conservative and, to only a slightly lesser extent, from New Democrats.
What has lessened the nation is not the actions of a handful in the case of the sponsorship mess or the possibility - not probability, but possibility - that someone committed a crime in the case of the income trust issue.
Rather what has lessened the nation, what has further debased political life in Canada, is the campaign of exaggeration and slander being mounted by the Conservatives and their associates.
Canadians should be saddened that our national political dialogue has been reduced to such vindictiveness.
We shall all pay a price for it in the very near future.
The reason is simple.
In politics as in life, what goes around, comes around.
The major difference is that in politics, the world is small so as it goes around, it picks speed.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have launched an investigation into the possibility that information on a government policy was leaked to certain individuals who profited by their inside information.
The police actions are prudent. They are doing exactly what we would expect police to do.
That said, the police caution in the matter is also prudent - there is no evidence of any criminal action by anyone.
There may never be.
Yet if you listen to the savage rhetoric of both major opposition parties, one of the most decent and honourable of men, namely Ralph Goodale, should be nailed to a cross and tortured for his supposed sins.
What crime has he committed? None.
Is he accused of any impropriety? Not even Jason Kenney in his wildest delusions has linked the federal finance minister to any wrongful actions.
Jack Layton calls for the minister to step aside while the investigation proceeds. He claims there are hundreds of precedents, yet when pressed by reporters could not name a single one.
There are none.
Having worked for one of the most scrupulously honest politicians in recent memory, I learned first hand what a genuinely fair approach to this sort of issue is. It would do others to ask a simple question, based on the few examples of alleged impropriety during the Wells administration: what would Clyde have done?
The answer in this instance is likely that he would have stood by his minister, against whom no allegations have been made. Wells did relieve ministers of their duties either temporarily or permanently, however in each instance there was a valid reason. In cases where ministers were relieved, either he or she was directly involved in the alleged infraction. In one instance, a minister remained in cabinet but was relieved of departmental responsibilities as justice minister and attorney general solely because there was the potential that some interference in the police investigation might be alleged. Such was his high standard of public integrity that even the potential of an allegation, no matter how baseless was cause for action.
In Goodale's case, none of these criteria can be applied. Hence, he should stay in place.
The answer is that Wells would ensure that the police are clearly charged to get to the bottom of the matter and report fully. There is no prospect of political interference in the current matter since the administration of criminal justice falls to the provincial solicitor general, not the federal one. Mr. Harper has already displayed his profound ignorance of Canadian criminal law during this election, but that is another subject for another time.
The answer is also that Wells would have given both Jack Layton and Stephen Harper a tongue lashing for cheapening politics with their excessive and abusive rhetoric.
No matter what the outcome of this matter, it is hard to excuse Layton and Harper for their crudities. The cynical Conservatives, angry and as bitter as they are, are likely relishing the chance to get to power by whatever means possible. Invention and gross distortion are legitimate means to an end in some minds; they are hardly appropriate in a political party seeking to govern a country.
Evidence from elsewhere shows that focusing so relentlessly on negative issues - pounding incessantly on allegations that politicians are criminals - only serves to diminish the view Canadians hold of politicians generally. Again, the cynical political operative would not care since the voters staying home in this case will mostly be Liberals and New Democrats. The hard-core, the committed Conservatives will flock to the polls.
Yet in the longer run, the Conservative (and New Democrat) approach to the matter of integrity in politics is ultimately a self-defeating one. On the one hand, they will engender ever deeper cynicism and distrust among the electorate already grown weary of shenanigans. Each misrepresentation, each distortion serves to undermine public confidence in the entire political system even more. It is a political system of which they, themselves, are an integral part.
When Mr. Harper accuses all Liberals of being criminals, he is perchance a few scant years away from a closet full of Guccis and rumours of a secret deal to buy foreign passenger planes.
On the other hand, the Conservatives have crafted for the Liberals a rod with which to beat every Conservative back all the time. Their actions have destroyed any prospect that the next parliament could be one in which integrity, civility and maturity will prevail. Expect that even the slightest misstep by a Conservative member of parliament will be an excuse to pile on. Decent and honourable men and women will be crushed without mercy, along with the truly guilty, just as the Conservatives are now slicing into Ralph Goodale. No allegation will be too outlandish. The Conservatives have set the bar and they have set it exceedingly low.
Nor will things be better in parliament if the liberals or New Democrats win. If the Conservatives lose this next election, we can only expect that their rhetoric, their verbal butchery will intensify.
No matter what the outcome of this election, the next parliament will make the Rat Pack and Tequila Sheila look like kindergarten antics.
Of course, were any of the Conservatives slurs about Gomery and Goodale even vaguely true, Liberals would be the first to agree with them.
Reid was publicly criticized for his silly remarks. Klander was denounced quickly, and as I have said elsewhere, one need only look at the number of Liberal bloggers who have criticized Liberal errors to see a functioning political party in which there is discussion and debate. There is a readiness to disown that which cannot be defended.
Flip to the Conservative blogger world and you will see bile and invective for Liberals, yet no sense of proportion or introspection for the Rob Anders of their party or the "Belinda the whore" brigade of misogynists who crawled over each other to see who could make the most hateful of comments.
There is no recollection of the Conservative Party operatives who engaged in extortion during the Mulroney regime and who were suitably condemned to prison for their crimes.
On the one side - the Liberal - we have seen corrective action and apology. On the Conservative side we find only silence, or worse still, churlish drools at the prospect of occupying government offices.
The allegations about Goodale and Gomery are not even remotely true, however.
And so Liberals across the country will bitterly resent the cheapening of politics we have seen from Conservative and, to only a slightly lesser extent, from New Democrats.
What has lessened the nation is not the actions of a handful in the case of the sponsorship mess or the possibility - not probability, but possibility - that someone committed a crime in the case of the income trust issue.
Rather what has lessened the nation, what has further debased political life in Canada, is the campaign of exaggeration and slander being mounted by the Conservatives and their associates.
Canadians should be saddened that our national political dialogue has been reduced to such vindictiveness.
We shall all pay a price for it in the very near future.
Layton meets his match
Despite efforts to turn yet another Liberal blog comment into some thing hideous, this time I suspect Jack Layton won't be able to play the ethnic slur card quite as easily as with the buffoonish Mike Klander.
Bourque the berk was playing this story up late yesterday and so is CTV.
But read the CTv story about industry minister Mike Emerson, referring to Jack Layton's insincere smile as being a boiled dog's head smile.
While Dippers are expressing outrage, turns out that Emerson's wife was born in Hong Kong and, as one might expect., tends to use Chinese idiomatic expressions in both her spoken Chinese and her English.
"Boiled dog's head smile" is apparently a translation of a Chinese remark about someone's insincerity.
Dippers said the remark is typical of Liberal arrogance. They didn't explain how. Seems that the word "arrogance" just comes up with the Dipper talking points and must get used a lot, irrespective of the context.
At some point today, some Dipper or Connie will claim this comment is related to the culture of entitlement. Again they won't explain how.
Meanwhile, Stephen Taylor is busily working on his next blog entry: how this statement is example of yet another Liberal conspiracy.
For the record, the last comment in the CTV story needs correction or clarification. Bourque claims to be the Canadian version of Matt Drudge. He isn't. On any given day, The Drudge Report highlights news stories from across the United States that while they are embarrassing are not skewed or slanted.
Bourque hammers Liberals. Every day. Repeatedly. And only Liberals. He sticks misleading headlines as links to stories from other places.
Drudge is an equal opportunity slagger.
Bourque just slags.
Bourque the berk was playing this story up late yesterday and so is CTV.
But read the CTv story about industry minister Mike Emerson, referring to Jack Layton's insincere smile as being a boiled dog's head smile.
While Dippers are expressing outrage, turns out that Emerson's wife was born in Hong Kong and, as one might expect., tends to use Chinese idiomatic expressions in both her spoken Chinese and her English.
"Boiled dog's head smile" is apparently a translation of a Chinese remark about someone's insincerity.
Dippers said the remark is typical of Liberal arrogance. They didn't explain how. Seems that the word "arrogance" just comes up with the Dipper talking points and must get used a lot, irrespective of the context.
At some point today, some Dipper or Connie will claim this comment is related to the culture of entitlement. Again they won't explain how.
Meanwhile, Stephen Taylor is busily working on his next blog entry: how this statement is example of yet another Liberal conspiracy.
For the record, the last comment in the CTV story needs correction or clarification. Bourque claims to be the Canadian version of Matt Drudge. He isn't. On any given day, The Drudge Report highlights news stories from across the United States that while they are embarrassing are not skewed or slanted.
Bourque hammers Liberals. Every day. Repeatedly. And only Liberals. He sticks misleading headlines as links to stories from other places.
Drudge is an equal opportunity slagger.
Bourque just slags.
28 December 2005
Harper Christmas campaign: "Battalions for Everyone" continues
Campaigning during the Christmas season in British Columbia, Stephen Harper added to the number of infantry battalions he is promising to create once elected.
Yesterday, the number was three. Until Steve got to BC. Then the people of Comox discovered they'd be home to a new battalion of 650 soldiers. That makes at least four new battalions being promised across the country despite the fact the army can't support any manpower beyond the existing battalions plus one new one already being set up in Petawawa.
Harper is also promising to create new reserve units consisting of 100 regular soldiers and upwards of 400 reservists. These are to be set up in major centres like Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto to tackle natural disasters. Harper used the Toronto shootings for political purposes but stopped short of saying his Toronto composite unit will tackle urban gun violence.
Wait for it, though.
Harper also revealed his fundamental ignorance of military deployments and Canadian geography, saying:
"Canada's military capacity in this region has been allowed to age and deteriorate... British Columbia, which is in an earthquake zone, is now the only region of the country without a regular army presence."
No points there, Steve, at least if you think B.C. is a region but Newfoundland and Labrador is merely part of Atlantic Canada.
Taken altogether, Harper's defence announcement is yet further proof of two things:
- the most cynical vote buying attempt from a political party in decades; and,
- the complete inability of news media to subject Harper's announcements to any form of critical scrutiny. Perhaps they have been intimidated by the relentless Connie criticisms of the supposed bias in mainstream media.
Yesterday, the number was three. Until Steve got to BC. Then the people of Comox discovered they'd be home to a new battalion of 650 soldiers. That makes at least four new battalions being promised across the country despite the fact the army can't support any manpower beyond the existing battalions plus one new one already being set up in Petawawa.
Harper is also promising to create new reserve units consisting of 100 regular soldiers and upwards of 400 reservists. These are to be set up in major centres like Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto to tackle natural disasters. Harper used the Toronto shootings for political purposes but stopped short of saying his Toronto composite unit will tackle urban gun violence.
Wait for it, though.
Harper also revealed his fundamental ignorance of military deployments and Canadian geography, saying:
"Canada's military capacity in this region has been allowed to age and deteriorate... British Columbia, which is in an earthquake zone, is now the only region of the country without a regular army presence."
No points there, Steve, at least if you think B.C. is a region but Newfoundland and Labrador is merely part of Atlantic Canada.
Taken altogether, Harper's defence announcement is yet further proof of two things:
- the most cynical vote buying attempt from a political party in decades; and,
- the complete inability of news media to subject Harper's announcements to any form of critical scrutiny. Perhaps they have been intimidated by the relentless Connie criticisms of the supposed bias in mainstream media.
27 December 2005
What is so important here?
There's a great scene in A bridge too far where a German general at Arhem wonders what is so important that thousands of British paratroops are dropping from the sky to capture?
Completely ignoring the bridge that would open the drive into Germany, Walter Model immediately concludes the paratroops are coming to capture him.
Stephen Harper better be careful.
Talk of deploying all sorts of new rapid-reaction, airborne battalions to Trenton and Goose Bay in addition to the one in Ottawa may start people wondering what he is really up to.
After all, the Arctic just isn't under threat and the entire crowd of people living up there are hardly likely to mount a separatist campaign. The Danes aren't about to come streaming across from Greenland.
So what gives?
It could just be crass electioneering. That's my bet.
But a conspiratorial mind, like say the kind of mindset that comes from the Conservative Party's blogging community, might lead one to dig out a book from the 1980s by retired General Dan Loomis. While there wouldn't be more glory now than there was before, the three rapid reaction battalions, in addition to the one already stationed in New Brunswick seem poised to look inward rather than outward.
That is, if the Charest government falls at the next provincial election.
Conspiracies are wonderful things to muse about but at least when they are offered here, my tongue is planted firmly in my cheek.
Of course, that doesn't mean it wouldn't be worthwhile pondering Mr. Harper's real intentions.
Completely ignoring the bridge that would open the drive into Germany, Walter Model immediately concludes the paratroops are coming to capture him.
Stephen Harper better be careful.
Talk of deploying all sorts of new rapid-reaction, airborne battalions to Trenton and Goose Bay in addition to the one in Ottawa may start people wondering what he is really up to.
After all, the Arctic just isn't under threat and the entire crowd of people living up there are hardly likely to mount a separatist campaign. The Danes aren't about to come streaming across from Greenland.
So what gives?
It could just be crass electioneering. That's my bet.
But a conspiratorial mind, like say the kind of mindset that comes from the Conservative Party's blogging community, might lead one to dig out a book from the 1980s by retired General Dan Loomis. While there wouldn't be more glory now than there was before, the three rapid reaction battalions, in addition to the one already stationed in New Brunswick seem poised to look inward rather than outward.
That is, if the Charest government falls at the next provincial election.
Conspiracies are wonderful things to muse about but at least when they are offered here, my tongue is planted firmly in my cheek.
Of course, that doesn't mean it wouldn't be worthwhile pondering Mr. Harper's real intentions.
Battalions for everyone!
Paul Wells heard from an anonymous Conservative source that the Conservatives still plan to stick to their commitment to Goose Bay from last May.
Apparently, the "Promise 'em Anything" tour still plans to announce a rapid reaction battalion for Goose Bay. And yes it is suspiciously similar to the rapid reaction "airborne" battalion promised to Trenton Ontario before Christmas.
The Connie war room has been keeping some local reporters here at bay with the same promises of a battalion in every town needing some infusion of federal cash.
Take it at face value and it seems that the Conservatives expect Northern Canada to be a hotbed of insurrection and invasion, what with the two battalions it will need for "rapid reaction." That's two on top of the one General Rick Hillier is creating to fight instability in parts of the world that are actually unstable.
Ok.
Enterprising and cynical people (especially reporters) should ask:
Why was this Goose Bay battalion previously omitted from Conservative Party announcements, even though common sense dictated it should have been included?
How will Gord O'Connor find the people to fill the positions for what appears to be now three new battalions (a total of 1300 new positions), when DND is falling short of its recruiting targets by about 1, 000 people annually?
Just so that everybody can see the similarities in the announcements, here are the relevant excerpts from the Connie media missives:
May 2005:
"Gordon O'Connor, a former army officer and the Conservatives' defence critic, said his party 'would establish a new rapid reaction army battalion in CFB Goose Bay' with about 750 soldiers – if it formed a government after the next general election." - CBC News 15 May 2005. The inner quotes are straight from Gordo. The actual Conservative news release said:
"Establish a regular force rapid reaction army battalion at CFB Goose Bay". [Emphasis added]
December 13 2005
"Creation of a new airborne battalion (650 regular force personnel), to be stationed at CFB Trenton and to be available for rapid deployment;" - Conservative Party news release. [Emphasis added]
December 22 2005
"Providing an army emergency response capability through the new airborne battalion and airlift capacity stationed at CFB Trenton to provide a rapid emergency response capability throughout the entire Arctic region." - CPC news release [Emphasis added.]
Apparently, the "Promise 'em Anything" tour still plans to announce a rapid reaction battalion for Goose Bay. And yes it is suspiciously similar to the rapid reaction "airborne" battalion promised to Trenton Ontario before Christmas.
The Connie war room has been keeping some local reporters here at bay with the same promises of a battalion in every town needing some infusion of federal cash.
Take it at face value and it seems that the Conservatives expect Northern Canada to be a hotbed of insurrection and invasion, what with the two battalions it will need for "rapid reaction." That's two on top of the one General Rick Hillier is creating to fight instability in parts of the world that are actually unstable.
Ok.
Enterprising and cynical people (especially reporters) should ask:
Why was this Goose Bay battalion previously omitted from Conservative Party announcements, even though common sense dictated it should have been included?
How will Gord O'Connor find the people to fill the positions for what appears to be now three new battalions (a total of 1300 new positions), when DND is falling short of its recruiting targets by about 1, 000 people annually?
Just so that everybody can see the similarities in the announcements, here are the relevant excerpts from the Connie media missives:
May 2005:
"Gordon O'Connor, a former army officer and the Conservatives' defence critic, said his party 'would establish a new rapid reaction army battalion in CFB Goose Bay' with about 750 soldiers – if it formed a government after the next general election." - CBC News 15 May 2005. The inner quotes are straight from Gordo. The actual Conservative news release said:
"Establish a regular force rapid reaction army battalion at CFB Goose Bay". [Emphasis added]
December 13 2005
"Creation of a new airborne battalion (650 regular force personnel), to be stationed at CFB Trenton and to be available for rapid deployment;" - Conservative Party news release. [Emphasis added]
December 22 2005
"Providing an army emergency response capability through the new airborne battalion and airlift capacity stationed at CFB Trenton to provide a rapid emergency response capability throughout the entire Arctic region." - CPC news release [Emphasis added.]
What Connies won't blog about...
Scandal fatigue.
Conspiracy weariness.
As Les Perreaux of Canadian Press writes, Canadians are getting just a wee bit tired of scandals and likely scandal mongers.
Now there's a big difference between scandals- genuine, deep -seated corruption or horrific corrupt acts - the kind of policies that annoy some people alot.
But if Mikey Harris - the Sun chain scribbler, not the golfer cum Premier - wants to understand how voters react to "Teflon Grits", then he just needs to think for a second. It seems Harris is a bit perturbed that Canadians are not turning on the "evil" Liberals who are evidently completely corrupt - everyone of them debased and immoral - simply based on the fact that Mikey just says the Liberals are bad people.
In that respect , Harris is hitting on not the problem with the public but the problem in the Connie campaign and in his own commentary.
Since last spring, the Connies have built an entire strategy around the Ken Starr-like philosophy that if you simply repeat over and over again that all Liberals are corrupt, criminal people, then people should accept it.
It clearly doesn't work since the evidence doesn't support it. An extreme claim must be backed some measure of evidence to be even partially credible.
The Connie corruption claim lacks even a teensy bit of evidence. Their conspiracy ones are sheer invention.
The Connies will make the same mistake about Mike Klander, as well. Apart from the few Coppsers who will relish Mike's self-imolation, most people will understand that Mike Klander is not a metaphor for all Liberals, no matter what volunteer post he held with the provincial wing of the Liberal Party.
Mike Klander will quickly be understood to be the kind of relative we all have in our families. The sort of obnoxious one we invite to gatherings because we have to.
Now compare Klander to say a Rob Anders, or even a Stephen Harper, and you can see the fundamental difference between Liberals and the Conservatives - the Reform-a-Tories - the Connies.
Klander resigns, likely before he was fired.
Anders? Well, the guy who still thinks that Nelson Mandela is a terrorist, the guy who was too chickenshit to take Mandela's phone, the guy who is spreading anti-gay propaganda in other ridings besides his own?
Anders is a star Conservative candidate.
And Stephen Taylor's blog is remarkably silent on the entire affair of Mr. Anders and his current campaign activities.
Compare that to the number of Liberal blogs that have denounced Klander.
Therein lies yet another example of something Connie blogs won't write about.
Conspiracy weariness.
As Les Perreaux of Canadian Press writes, Canadians are getting just a wee bit tired of scandals and likely scandal mongers.
Now there's a big difference between scandals- genuine, deep -seated corruption or horrific corrupt acts - the kind of policies that annoy some people alot.
But if Mikey Harris - the Sun chain scribbler, not the golfer cum Premier - wants to understand how voters react to "Teflon Grits", then he just needs to think for a second. It seems Harris is a bit perturbed that Canadians are not turning on the "evil" Liberals who are evidently completely corrupt - everyone of them debased and immoral - simply based on the fact that Mikey just says the Liberals are bad people.
In that respect , Harris is hitting on not the problem with the public but the problem in the Connie campaign and in his own commentary.
Since last spring, the Connies have built an entire strategy around the Ken Starr-like philosophy that if you simply repeat over and over again that all Liberals are corrupt, criminal people, then people should accept it.
It clearly doesn't work since the evidence doesn't support it. An extreme claim must be backed some measure of evidence to be even partially credible.
The Connie corruption claim lacks even a teensy bit of evidence. Their conspiracy ones are sheer invention.
The Connies will make the same mistake about Mike Klander, as well. Apart from the few Coppsers who will relish Mike's self-imolation, most people will understand that Mike Klander is not a metaphor for all Liberals, no matter what volunteer post he held with the provincial wing of the Liberal Party.
Mike Klander will quickly be understood to be the kind of relative we all have in our families. The sort of obnoxious one we invite to gatherings because we have to.
Now compare Klander to say a Rob Anders, or even a Stephen Harper, and you can see the fundamental difference between Liberals and the Conservatives - the Reform-a-Tories - the Connies.
Klander resigns, likely before he was fired.
Anders? Well, the guy who still thinks that Nelson Mandela is a terrorist, the guy who was too chickenshit to take Mandela's phone, the guy who is spreading anti-gay propaganda in other ridings besides his own?
Anders is a star Conservative candidate.
And Stephen Taylor's blog is remarkably silent on the entire affair of Mr. Anders and his current campaign activities.
Compare that to the number of Liberal blogs that have denounced Klander.
Therein lies yet another example of something Connie blogs won't write about.
Klander's gone; now what will they blog?
Pierre Bourque calls it a scandal rocking the Liberal Party. So he exaggerates something negative about Liberals? No surprise there.
Stephen Taylor climbs on an extremely high horse about ad hominem arguments and anti-gay insults. I am astonished he didn't link it to a larger conspiracy.
Some idiot made stupid remarks on a blog.
Mike Klander made some of the dumbest comments imaginable on a blog and proved he can't spell. His remarks about Olivia Chow are unacceptable and the guy is history - he resigned.
I am hardly surprised on any of those counts.
I guess the only question is how many days of blogging will Taylor and his buds milk out of this?
Stephen Taylor climbs on an extremely high horse about ad hominem arguments and anti-gay insults. I am astonished he didn't link it to a larger conspiracy.
Some idiot made stupid remarks on a blog.
Mike Klander made some of the dumbest comments imaginable on a blog and proved he can't spell. His remarks about Olivia Chow are unacceptable and the guy is history - he resigned.
I am hardly surprised on any of those counts.
I guess the only question is how many days of blogging will Taylor and his buds milk out of this?
24 December 2005
Christmas in the Land of Arctic Sovereignty
<----- Most of us think of Santa Claus as Kris Kringle, the character played by Edmund Gwenn in the classic Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street. Kindly, gentle, slightly English. Living peacefully at the North pole (which is partly inside Canadian territory)
Little Stevie Harper seems like he grew up with this image of Santa, as a dastardly foreign invader on Canadian soil. ----------->To make matters worse, Santa is not only anagram of Satan, he dresses in Liberal red and hands out presents, free of charge or GST (even at 5%).
Enough of the politically inspired - if not otherwise inspired - humour.
Only Stephen Harper and Maude Barlow seem to think it makes sense spending billions of tax dollars on new military forces to defend against Santa Claus or whoever else has evil designs on the frozen wasteland to our north.
Surely the alignment of those two political opposite poles - Maude and Steve - is a warning of the Apocalypse.
In any event, the children are finally settling down after a very hyperactive day. Grandpa Grandma and my sister have headed home stuffed full of an amazing Christmas Eve feast. Now, we just have to nestle into our beds to wait for Pere Noel, Kris Kringle, Santa Claus or whoever it is that drops presents to everyone tonight.
In far off Hong Kong, it is already Christmas morning. Peter, Karen and the boys are up, have their presents opened and are enjoying their first Christmas so very far from the snows of home.
It's Christmas morning in Afghanistan as well, where thousands of Canadian men and women work to restore stability in that beleaguered country. They are doing the really tough, but rewarding work of defending our country. The billions Harper wants to flow to Ellesmere Island would be better spent supporting them directly. Armed icebreakers aren't much good in the Khyber.
Some of the people deployed there and in other places around the world are people I know, friends of mine. Others I feel like I know having spent some time with others just like them. At Christmastime and at other holidays in the year, my thoughts and prayers are with them.
So when you sit down to Christmas dinner think about Corporal Paul White, 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment, currently serving in Afghanistan.In the photo at left, Cpl White is receiving the Chief of Defence Staff Commendation from General Rick Hillier, Chief of Defence Staff. The photo was taken by Master Corporal Ken Fenner.
Cpl White was awarded the commendation for his actions at the site of a civilian vehicle accident where a young boy was injured and the crowd became hostile.
Or think about Sergeant Jo-Ann Bullied, from Newfoundland, a clerk with the Task Force Afghanistan National Support Element in Kandahar. She's shown here talking to General Rick Hillier during his recent visit to Canadian operations in Kandahar.Merry Christmas to them all.
May God keep them safe and return them to their loved ones in Canada soon.
Santa might skip Norm's house this year
St. John's east Connie candidate and anti-equal marriage campaigner Norm Doyle has a slick new website.
It's a nice piece of work.
Except for the bits Santa might have some problems with.
The claim: "Norm Doyle stands up for Newfoundland and Labrador."
During last spring's efforts to pass the Atlantic Accord bill, Norm put Party before Province. Oh yeah, I know he pounded away at everyone else to do the same, but when push came to shove, Norm just couldn't shy away from Stephen Harper.
When given the choice, Norm, like his old pal Loyola Hearn put Harper before Hamilton Avenue.
In order to get some of the heat off, Stephen Harper came up with a two step, so that Norm and Loyola could vote for the Accord before they voted against it by bringing down the government.
So intense was the heat on Norm last spring that he even resorted to blaming the whole thing on unnamed "Liberal spin doctors in St. John's". You can find a lengthy post on Messrs. Hearn and Doyle and their offshore two-step in the May 2005 archives under the title "The why incision".
Things got so bad that Norm was running from spin point to spin point trying to escape the pressure put on him by the Fair Deal people. He claimed the offshore bill would have been delayed five weeks if Harper had forced an election in the spring.
At the same time, Harper himself said it would be more than a year to get the bill back on the table.
Even Danny Williams turned against Hearn and Doyle over the whole fiasco.
Norm Doyle stands up for Newfoundland and Labrador.
Except when Stephen Harper tells him to sit down.
The claim: That Norm attended negotiations between the Government of Canada (of which he is not a part) and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (of which he is not a part).
Specifically, Norm quotes his old pal, provincial finance minister Loyola Sullivan:
"I attended just about all the meetings in St. John's and Ottawa on the Atlantic Accord file and I can assure you that few people worked harder to make this a reality than Norm Doyle."
Now the Connie typing pool will quickly point out that Loyola Sullivan doesn't actually say that Norm was at the meetings. But ya know, for all Norm accuses other people of using "spin" - another word for lies and bullsh** - he sure can play cute with the English language when he wants to.
There's a pretty clear implication in Sullivan's words and, as they did back in May, Doyle is hoping people won't notice the truth as he spreads something other than the truth.
Norm didn't attend any of the official meetings on the Accord. He wouldn't be allowed in the room. Other than that all he did was wrant and rave about what a great job he was dooing standing up for Newfoundland and Labrador.
Then Steve told him to sit and he sat.
Truth is, Norm had nothing to do with getting the offshore money.
Not a thing.
His only role in the Atlantic Accord was in 1985. That's when he and Loyola Hearn voted in favour of the clawbacks contained in the original deal.
Everything else, as Norm would say, is spin.
I'd call it bullsh**, but then I'm funny that way.
It's a nice piece of work.
Except for the bits Santa might have some problems with.
The claim: "Norm Doyle stands up for Newfoundland and Labrador."
During last spring's efforts to pass the Atlantic Accord bill, Norm put Party before Province. Oh yeah, I know he pounded away at everyone else to do the same, but when push came to shove, Norm just couldn't shy away from Stephen Harper.
When given the choice, Norm, like his old pal Loyola Hearn put Harper before Hamilton Avenue.
In order to get some of the heat off, Stephen Harper came up with a two step, so that Norm and Loyola could vote for the Accord before they voted against it by bringing down the government.
So intense was the heat on Norm last spring that he even resorted to blaming the whole thing on unnamed "Liberal spin doctors in St. John's". You can find a lengthy post on Messrs. Hearn and Doyle and their offshore two-step in the May 2005 archives under the title "The why incision".
Things got so bad that Norm was running from spin point to spin point trying to escape the pressure put on him by the Fair Deal people. He claimed the offshore bill would have been delayed five weeks if Harper had forced an election in the spring.
At the same time, Harper himself said it would be more than a year to get the bill back on the table.
Even Danny Williams turned against Hearn and Doyle over the whole fiasco.
Norm Doyle stands up for Newfoundland and Labrador.
Except when Stephen Harper tells him to sit down.
The claim: That Norm attended negotiations between the Government of Canada (of which he is not a part) and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (of which he is not a part).
Specifically, Norm quotes his old pal, provincial finance minister Loyola Sullivan:
"I attended just about all the meetings in St. John's and Ottawa on the Atlantic Accord file and I can assure you that few people worked harder to make this a reality than Norm Doyle."
Now the Connie typing pool will quickly point out that Loyola Sullivan doesn't actually say that Norm was at the meetings. But ya know, for all Norm accuses other people of using "spin" - another word for lies and bullsh** - he sure can play cute with the English language when he wants to.
There's a pretty clear implication in Sullivan's words and, as they did back in May, Doyle is hoping people won't notice the truth as he spreads something other than the truth.
Norm didn't attend any of the official meetings on the Accord. He wouldn't be allowed in the room. Other than that all he did was wrant and rave about what a great job he was dooing standing up for Newfoundland and Labrador.
Then Steve told him to sit and he sat.
Truth is, Norm had nothing to do with getting the offshore money.
Not a thing.
His only role in the Atlantic Accord was in 1985. That's when he and Loyola Hearn voted in favour of the clawbacks contained in the original deal.
Everything else, as Norm would say, is spin.
I'd call it bullsh**, but then I'm funny that way.
23 December 2005
The polls that were secret...
apparently just got released as Danny Williams' Christmas present to Rob Antle at The Telegram.
How sweet of Danny to give Rob something to read over the holidays.
It's especially sweet since up until now Danny was insisting that releasing them would cause a catastrophe of biblical proportions. Real wrath-of-God type stuff.
I'll look forward to reading them in due course as well from Rob's story.
The last poll they released - also completed by Karen Ryan in early January this year - showed that despite her best efforts to lead respondents to an answer, when it came to the flag, most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians were opposed to Danny's little stunt.
How sweet of Danny to give Rob something to read over the holidays.
It's especially sweet since up until now Danny was insisting that releasing them would cause a catastrophe of biblical proportions. Real wrath-of-God type stuff.
I'll look forward to reading them in due course as well from Rob's story.
The last poll they released - also completed by Karen Ryan in early January this year - showed that despite her best efforts to lead respondents to an answer, when it came to the flag, most Newfoundlanders and Labradorians were opposed to Danny's little stunt.
Widely known, but not reported...
Dave Salter, second fiddle to Krysta on Out of the Fog has a new job.
He's off to the Confed Building to become a communications director for the Danny Williams government.
Salter's wife already works as a comms director on the Hill, Dave already knows where everything is.
Dave joins John Tompkins, late of NTV, who packed it all in to work with Danny.
What is the most common qualification of comms directors in the Newfoundland and Labrador public service?
I'll let you figure it out over Christmas and I'll post my answer in the New Year.
It has nothing to do with being married.
He's off to the Confed Building to become a communications director for the Danny Williams government.
Salter's wife already works as a comms director on the Hill, Dave already knows where everything is.
Dave joins John Tompkins, late of NTV, who packed it all in to work with Danny.
What is the most common qualification of comms directors in the Newfoundland and Labrador public service?
I'll let you figure it out over Christmas and I'll post my answer in the New Year.
It has nothing to do with being married.
It's actually really simple...
The Conservatives have moved the Goose Bay battalion promised in June to Trenton.
Inkless Wells over at Macleans has it right. Not a single report in this province has delved into the obvious crap being foisted by the Harper camp.
Here's the ultimate answer to the bullsh** being pushed by the Conservatives to someone who has asked about the Connie's phantom Goose Bay battalion. It's a simple set of logicial propositions.
1. Yesterday's announcement was about defending the North.
2. Goose Bay is in the North.
3. Goose Bay was mentioned in the release. It got promised something it's already getting.
4. The need for a rapid-reaction force was mentioned too. In June, the Connies promised that rapid reaction force to Goose Bay.
5. Now the Conservatives say the rapid-reaction force for Goose Bay will come out of Trenton.
So, I ask you, logically, why would the Conservatives be saving their battalion for Goose for an announcement to be made later?
It doesn't make any sense.
So if anyone has asked about this and been told the Goose bay promise is safe:
you are being bullshitted.
There's no other answer.
If the bullshit is coming from one of the local Connie incumbents, then you can tell one thing more:
Neither of them has any pull in Ottawa with Stephen Harper.
You might be on to a much bigger story than the one in Goose Bay.
Inkless Wells over at Macleans has it right. Not a single report in this province has delved into the obvious crap being foisted by the Harper camp.
Here's the ultimate answer to the bullsh** being pushed by the Conservatives to someone who has asked about the Connie's phantom Goose Bay battalion. It's a simple set of logicial propositions.
1. Yesterday's announcement was about defending the North.
2. Goose Bay is in the North.
3. Goose Bay was mentioned in the release. It got promised something it's already getting.
4. The need for a rapid-reaction force was mentioned too. In June, the Connies promised that rapid reaction force to Goose Bay.
5. Now the Conservatives say the rapid-reaction force for Goose Bay will come out of Trenton.
So, I ask you, logically, why would the Conservatives be saving their battalion for Goose for an announcement to be made later?
It doesn't make any sense.
So if anyone has asked about this and been told the Goose bay promise is safe:
you are being bullshitted.
There's no other answer.
If the bullshit is coming from one of the local Connie incumbents, then you can tell one thing more:
Neither of them has any pull in Ottawa with Stephen Harper.
You might be on to a much bigger story than the one in Goose Bay.
22 December 2005
Sheila Copps abandons principles, backs Harper
From the Hamilton Spectator, the admission by embittered former Liberal cabinet minister Sheila Copps that she is helping elect Stephen Harper.
The woman who once resigned her seat on a matter of principle - and good for her for having the integrity then - is now helping elect all the guys who hate her guts and who worked against everything Sheila once stood for.
Yep, the woman who Rob Anders once described as the Hyena from Hamilton who shrieked and shrilled her way under people's skin, is now backing Rob's man all the way. Anders is the guy who called Nelson Mandela a terrorist and a communist. Anders then showed his courage when he refused to take a telephone call from Mandela, who only wanted to discuss Anders' concerns.
Rob is now one of Sheila's buds.
Let's just take a look at what Sheila once said and what she obviously backs now:
Equal marriage:
The former champion of gay and lesbian rights is now working to elect a prime minister who wants to turn back the clock.
Here's just one part of an interview she gave to a Toronto-based gay and lesbian online publication last year:
Copps: "...The people who are against same-sex marriage are motivated by their narrowness. Over the tendencies of the gay community which are more..."
Int: Open minded and left leaning?
Copps: "Yeah. If you'’ve been discriminated against the way the gay and lesbian community has, when you see progress as a minority you really think "‘great, that'’s it"’. And you might think there isn'’t much left to be done. Also, you don'’t want it to sublimate life. This is why I think this issue is like the women'’s movement. You get a bit tired of fighting and want someone else to pick up the torch. But the difference is, the uni-dimensional out there are devoted to the issue of being against same sex marriage and they don'’t get tired. They are single-purposed, and focused on religious values, period. And that'’s the template for their lives. On the other hand, if you'’re gay, your whole life isn'’t consumed by your gayness, you have other interests and you have a life. It'’s analogous to the ideologically motivated and they are passionate and stick with it. Pragmatists, who I think are the majority of the population, don'’t wake up thinking about their next political move. But the ideology of the zealots is more focused and concentrated."
When she ran for the Liberal leadership, Sheila agreed with Paul Martin on equal marriage. Egale welcomed her progressive position.
This year, Sheila has no problem with supporting the former Alliance leader.
On women in politics:
During last year's election, Sheila also found the lack of female Conservative candidates problematic: "Do you think that a party that couldn't find more than 11 per cent women candidates represents the country?".
Apparently, their new tally is acceptable to Sheila this year. The rough Connie tally of women candidates this time around? 11%
On Stephen Harper, himself:
Here's another great Sheila take on Stephen Harper from only a few short months ago. Holding a dead fish above her head, Copps told a political rally "See what's going to happen to Stephen Harper? This is Stephen Harper. This is Stephen Harper's social agenda."
On old vendettas:
Maybe, these past few weeks, Sheila's forgotten the $150, 000 Harper's old buddies at the National Citizens Coalition pumped into hamilton in 1996 in an effort to defeat her. They even ran radio spots that NCC said would "feature pig snorting sound effects and zero in on Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps...".
Now Sheila's happy as a pig in sh** to have Harper as Prime Minister.
But after all that, I am just wondering will Sheila shake hands with Chuck McVety, one of the "uni-dimensional" she used to condemn, at the Harper victory party?
The woman who once resigned her seat on a matter of principle - and good for her for having the integrity then - is now helping elect all the guys who hate her guts and who worked against everything Sheila once stood for.
Yep, the woman who Rob Anders once described as the Hyena from Hamilton who shrieked and shrilled her way under people's skin, is now backing Rob's man all the way. Anders is the guy who called Nelson Mandela a terrorist and a communist. Anders then showed his courage when he refused to take a telephone call from Mandela, who only wanted to discuss Anders' concerns.
Rob is now one of Sheila's buds.
Let's just take a look at what Sheila once said and what she obviously backs now:
Equal marriage:
The former champion of gay and lesbian rights is now working to elect a prime minister who wants to turn back the clock.
Here's just one part of an interview she gave to a Toronto-based gay and lesbian online publication last year:
Copps: "...The people who are against same-sex marriage are motivated by their narrowness. Over the tendencies of the gay community which are more..."
Int: Open minded and left leaning?
Copps: "Yeah. If you'’ve been discriminated against the way the gay and lesbian community has, when you see progress as a minority you really think "‘great, that'’s it"’. And you might think there isn'’t much left to be done. Also, you don'’t want it to sublimate life. This is why I think this issue is like the women'’s movement. You get a bit tired of fighting and want someone else to pick up the torch. But the difference is, the uni-dimensional out there are devoted to the issue of being against same sex marriage and they don'’t get tired. They are single-purposed, and focused on religious values, period. And that'’s the template for their lives. On the other hand, if you'’re gay, your whole life isn'’t consumed by your gayness, you have other interests and you have a life. It'’s analogous to the ideologically motivated and they are passionate and stick with it. Pragmatists, who I think are the majority of the population, don'’t wake up thinking about their next political move. But the ideology of the zealots is more focused and concentrated."
When she ran for the Liberal leadership, Sheila agreed with Paul Martin on equal marriage. Egale welcomed her progressive position.
This year, Sheila has no problem with supporting the former Alliance leader.
On women in politics:
During last year's election, Sheila also found the lack of female Conservative candidates problematic: "Do you think that a party that couldn't find more than 11 per cent women candidates represents the country?".
Apparently, their new tally is acceptable to Sheila this year. The rough Connie tally of women candidates this time around? 11%
On Stephen Harper, himself:
Here's another great Sheila take on Stephen Harper from only a few short months ago. Holding a dead fish above her head, Copps told a political rally "See what's going to happen to Stephen Harper? This is Stephen Harper. This is Stephen Harper's social agenda."
On old vendettas:
Maybe, these past few weeks, Sheila's forgotten the $150, 000 Harper's old buddies at the National Citizens Coalition pumped into hamilton in 1996 in an effort to defeat her. They even ran radio spots that NCC said would "feature pig snorting sound effects and zero in on Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps...".
Now Sheila's happy as a pig in sh** to have Harper as Prime Minister.
But after all that, I am just wondering will Sheila shake hands with Chuck McVety, one of the "uni-dimensional" she used to condemn, at the Harper victory party?
Dezinformatsya
Disinformation (n):
Information or material that is deliberately leaked in order to deceive an opponent or to discredit him.
I'll let you decide which way to take the stuff being peddled by Connie blog-typist Stephen Taylor. This is the same guy who was chasing down the idea that the whole confrontation with George Bush was carefully scripted by the Liberals.
Yep. Just like professional wrestling there, buddy.
Anyway, Taylor's posted a bunch of things that are supposedly planned Liberal Party "attack" ads planned for the New Year.
Here's the thing:
Before the campaign started some idiot who presented himself as a Liberal "strategist" was reported by the Globe as saying the Liberals would be going negative from the outset and that the television spots would be hard-hitting in the same negative fashion. That's not what was reported here, incidentally, although reference was made to the nonsense of the comments at the time.
Turns out this "insider' wasn't as inside as he wanted people to believe.
In a phrase: he was full of crap.
So now we have Taylor and his "leaks". He notes at the end of the post that Mike Duffy has confirmed from inside the Liberal bunker that the ads are real but that a couple are being dropped.
But take a close look at the ads. They are pretty clunky and heavy-handed. I'd venture they are pretty amateurish even. Heck, they might even be old, spare-time musing that's been laying about for a while.
The simple thing is that they just don't look like Liberal Party print ads at all. The layout is cheesy and the copy is clunky. Judging by the Conservatives' English-language advertising, they obviously can't tell sh** from shineola anyway, so it is no trouble to see how they could be fooled by substandard communications products.
Which just leads me to believe that somebody, somewhere was being fed some disinformation.
The purpose behind it is anyone's guess.
But Taylor took it and he's running hard.
Good for him.
The plan is working.
Information or material that is deliberately leaked in order to deceive an opponent or to discredit him.
I'll let you decide which way to take the stuff being peddled by Connie blog-typist Stephen Taylor. This is the same guy who was chasing down the idea that the whole confrontation with George Bush was carefully scripted by the Liberals.
Yep. Just like professional wrestling there, buddy.
Anyway, Taylor's posted a bunch of things that are supposedly planned Liberal Party "attack" ads planned for the New Year.
Here's the thing:
Before the campaign started some idiot who presented himself as a Liberal "strategist" was reported by the Globe as saying the Liberals would be going negative from the outset and that the television spots would be hard-hitting in the same negative fashion. That's not what was reported here, incidentally, although reference was made to the nonsense of the comments at the time.
Turns out this "insider' wasn't as inside as he wanted people to believe.
In a phrase: he was full of crap.
So now we have Taylor and his "leaks". He notes at the end of the post that Mike Duffy has confirmed from inside the Liberal bunker that the ads are real but that a couple are being dropped.
But take a close look at the ads. They are pretty clunky and heavy-handed. I'd venture they are pretty amateurish even. Heck, they might even be old, spare-time musing that's been laying about for a while.
The simple thing is that they just don't look like Liberal Party print ads at all. The layout is cheesy and the copy is clunky. Judging by the Conservatives' English-language advertising, they obviously can't tell sh** from shineola anyway, so it is no trouble to see how they could be fooled by substandard communications products.
Which just leads me to believe that somebody, somewhere was being fed some disinformation.
The purpose behind it is anyone's guess.
But Taylor took it and he's running hard.
Good for him.
The plan is working.
Harper on Goose Bay: national reporter gets the point
While the story has been completely ignored by local reporters, Paul Wells at Macleans blogged today about the shifting of the paper battalion promised by the Conservatives to Goose Bay in May to Trenton in this election.
Today's announcement from the Conservative Party is yet more pork reminiscent of the three uniforms one from 1983. The difference this time is that the Connies are promising equipment as opposed to clothes.
The similarity is that, like the clothes, everything from Trenton to the stuff heading to the Great White North under a Stephen Harper administration is something that doesn't fit with the strategic direction set by the senior leadership of the Canadian Forces.
Apparently games theory- lover Stephen Harper knows more than Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier and his colleagues when it comes to Canadian Forces operational requirements.
In light of the Conservative announcements, it's worth taking the time to review General Hillier's testimony to the senate national defence committee. For example, when identifying Canada's security interests, General Hillier is quite clear:
"What are the threats to Canada? I would say instability, both indirectly — global instability hurts us because it impacts on many things — and directly, because global instability directly causes threats to be manifested inside of Canada. All of that requires, either in whole or in part, a military response.
From Canada's perspective, our credibility as a responsible citizen of the world and as a member of the G8 is constantly being assessed by the rest of the world. We need to be able to play both in Canada and around the world, and a part of that, of course, is the military commitment of men and women in uniform.
When we go to address what I call instability, it is my belief that it is in failed and failing states where we get the biggest bang for our bucks at affecting all those threats and reducing instability. That does require some military commitment."
General Hillier clearly sees a greater threat to our security from instability, not from the off chance there's someone sailing under the ice in the Arctic.
Al Queda doesn't own submarines.
The last time I checked, while we may not like everything the Americans are up to, they are still our allies.
Today's announcement from the Conservative Party is yet more pork reminiscent of the three uniforms one from 1983. The difference this time is that the Connies are promising equipment as opposed to clothes.
The similarity is that, like the clothes, everything from Trenton to the stuff heading to the Great White North under a Stephen Harper administration is something that doesn't fit with the strategic direction set by the senior leadership of the Canadian Forces.
Apparently games theory- lover Stephen Harper knows more than Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier and his colleagues when it comes to Canadian Forces operational requirements.
In light of the Conservative announcements, it's worth taking the time to review General Hillier's testimony to the senate national defence committee. For example, when identifying Canada's security interests, General Hillier is quite clear:
"What are the threats to Canada? I would say instability, both indirectly — global instability hurts us because it impacts on many things — and directly, because global instability directly causes threats to be manifested inside of Canada. All of that requires, either in whole or in part, a military response.
From Canada's perspective, our credibility as a responsible citizen of the world and as a member of the G8 is constantly being assessed by the rest of the world. We need to be able to play both in Canada and around the world, and a part of that, of course, is the military commitment of men and women in uniform.
When we go to address what I call instability, it is my belief that it is in failed and failing states where we get the biggest bang for our bucks at affecting all those threats and reducing instability. That does require some military commitment."
General Hillier clearly sees a greater threat to our security from instability, not from the off chance there's someone sailing under the ice in the Arctic.
Al Queda doesn't own submarines.
The last time I checked, while we may not like everything the Americans are up to, they are still our allies.
21 December 2005
The seance didn't work.
After weeks of searching, the Connies have announced the candidate in Labrador.
Their star candidate in 2005 is exactly the same guy who was their star candidate in 1988 (he lost) and provincially in 1975 (he won).
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, stand by for the return of Joe Goudie.
It is absolutely amazing that the two parties who pushed for this election now, and who are trying to push the agenda for a change of government:
a. took forever to get candidates in place (The Dippers are shy a few here still); and,
b. did everything short of making golems in order to find people willing to run.
Joe Goudie was born in 1939. Yep. He was six months old when Hitler invaded Poland.
Goudie took his first crack at elected politics in 1972, but was finally elected as a Progressive Conservative with Frank Moores in 1975. He served as minister of rural development from 1978, with added responsibility for agriculture and northern development in the second Peckford administration.
In 1985, Goudie was defeated by Liberal Jim Kelland. Goudie took a crack at federal politics in 1988 but was hammered by Liberal incumbent Bill Rompkey.
So the Connie line up in Newfoundland and Labrador consists of some who are neophytes and who are just sorting out their campaigns now. One is a political staffer. One is a young provincial politician wooed with promises of something or other to try and head to Ottawa.
And the other three?
Retreads from the cabinets of Brian Peckford.
Goudie was first elected to the provincial legislature in 1975. Norm Doyle made it to the House of Assembly in 1979 and went into cabinet in 1982. Last but by no means least is Loyola Hearn, who made it to the House in 1982 and into cabinet in 1985.
But bear in mind, all of these guys started in politics at least 35 or 40 years ago. All three collect provincial pensions already. Hearn is just six months or so shy of qualifying for his second pension, this time a federal one.
Of the two incumbent Conservative members of parliament from this province who double dip from the federal and provincial treasuries, only Norm Doyle donates his pension to local charities. His federal salary and allowances are enough to sustain him.
Last time I checked Hearn pockets his provincial cash in addition to the $141,000 he collects as an annual salary from the people of Canada for his work in Ottawa for Stephen Harper.
On top of that, Hearn annually costs taxpayers more than $100, 000 in travel bills. I gather Loyola upgrades to First Class - a lot - on the run from Ottawa to St. John's.
Their star candidate in 2005 is exactly the same guy who was their star candidate in 1988 (he lost) and provincially in 1975 (he won).
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, stand by for the return of Joe Goudie.
It is absolutely amazing that the two parties who pushed for this election now, and who are trying to push the agenda for a change of government:
a. took forever to get candidates in place (The Dippers are shy a few here still); and,
b. did everything short of making golems in order to find people willing to run.
Joe Goudie was born in 1939. Yep. He was six months old when Hitler invaded Poland.
Goudie took his first crack at elected politics in 1972, but was finally elected as a Progressive Conservative with Frank Moores in 1975. He served as minister of rural development from 1978, with added responsibility for agriculture and northern development in the second Peckford administration.
In 1985, Goudie was defeated by Liberal Jim Kelland. Goudie took a crack at federal politics in 1988 but was hammered by Liberal incumbent Bill Rompkey.
So the Connie line up in Newfoundland and Labrador consists of some who are neophytes and who are just sorting out their campaigns now. One is a political staffer. One is a young provincial politician wooed with promises of something or other to try and head to Ottawa.
And the other three?
Retreads from the cabinets of Brian Peckford.
Goudie was first elected to the provincial legislature in 1975. Norm Doyle made it to the House of Assembly in 1979 and went into cabinet in 1982. Last but by no means least is Loyola Hearn, who made it to the House in 1982 and into cabinet in 1985.
But bear in mind, all of these guys started in politics at least 35 or 40 years ago. All three collect provincial pensions already. Hearn is just six months or so shy of qualifying for his second pension, this time a federal one.
Of the two incumbent Conservative members of parliament from this province who double dip from the federal and provincial treasuries, only Norm Doyle donates his pension to local charities. His federal salary and allowances are enough to sustain him.
Last time I checked Hearn pockets his provincial cash in addition to the $141,000 he collects as an annual salary from the people of Canada for his work in Ottawa for Stephen Harper.
On top of that, Hearn annually costs taxpayers more than $100, 000 in travel bills. I gather Loyola upgrades to First Class - a lot - on the run from Ottawa to St. John's.
Maude Barlow: CPC foreign policy braintrust
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First Stephen Harper pledged to start a trade war with the United States over softwood lumber. He even mused about making some other country our major trading partner.
Now Gordon O'Connor is foaming about the possibility an American nuclear powered submarine may (note the conditional language) have passed through Canadian waters on its way to the North Pole. (Gordo never heard of right of innocent passage apparently.)
There's even a badly written news release from the Connie campaign bunker ranting about protecting Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.
Of course, there's a hidden reason Harper and his party are talking tough toward the Americans. It's just part of their efforts to cover the close ties between the Canadian Conservatives and their American brethren. Harper wants people to think he is just an ordinary, middle class Canadian guy. They'd like you to think he will stand up for canada against Americans, separatists and anyone else. The truth on those is out there.
Heck the Connies even have a website - pierretrudeau.ca - that links directly to the Connie campaign site all in an effort to appear more Liberal than Liberal.
But this latest rant by O'Connor had me thinking.
And no, it wasn't that Gordo hit his head on the cupola one too many times.
Since the Connies had local talk radio maven Sue Kelland Dyer on the Harper advance bus and she's been turning up on local talk radio defending Harper but without disclosing her connections to the campaign, maybe, just maybe something bigger is at play here. Maybe they've found the national version of Sue to help out too.
Maybe Maude Barlow is actually the Connie foreign policy brain trust. Maybe Barlow is slipping talking points to Harper behind the scenes.
One can only ponder on the true conspiracies at play in this election.
The evidence is mounting.
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