SO LONG, JOE...

Don't let the door hit you on your way out.

So what did they promise you, Joe?

Maybe they've promised you a shiny new job with a bling-bling car, some free flyin' points and all the perks?

Are you working on a special, secret 'only-for-The-Big-Guy's-Eyes' report, or maybe just happy to find a place where accountability is only for those on the inside?

Maybe you're hoping to finally fade out into the sunset as quietly as an election-hating, I'm entitled to your entitlements bagman?

Or was it your dream all along to wind up a brass bauble that a PM could hang on his mantle?

I guess Joe we'll never know.

But good luck with that...

MULLET BOX POLITICS

The message that the CONservatives are sending out these days are strange and contrasting.
No doubt there could be a valid appeal for their brand name among the NASCAR crowd. But where are the stats that say those people cheering on Bubba and Jim Bobby in a race of General Lee-like powderkegs aren't already voting for the right-of-centre group? Do the men (and women who love mullet-wearing men) abstain from voting more so than the group that support ecological and environmental alternatives? Do the CONs really want to brand those who don't like NASCAR as being less than "people who follow NASCAR are our kind of people. They’re hard-working families, they’re taxpayers who play by the rules."

And what of the messages being sent?
-How as a government they've cut the funding for women's centres and local museums and cultural events, but feel its fine to spend party funds on car races?
-That the environment is still a high priority, but that their choice of advertising involves cars that get 4-miles to a gallon, that use (or used until recently, depending upon the source) leaded fuel, and is a frivolous entertainment, while the global warming is threatening our very future?
-That they believe their supporters will back this vehicle of spreading the 'word', along with negative campaign ads in non-elections -- and despite the fact that all Canadian taxpayers are subsidizing this?
-That their chosen sport glorifies speed for speed, while they talk about stopping those who celebrate speed out of emulation (as one source) in high-speed street racing?
-That a government that is up on blocks, empty on ideas and stocked with flat tire cabinet ministers is trying to look quick, slick and powerful by painting a pinstripe on a fat bloated winnebego?

A Leader for our Times...

Who has Steve Harpor patterned his leadership style after?
	Wile E Coyote
	Augusto Pinochet
	Darth Vader
	Snidley Whiplash
	Gordon Gecko
	a little of each
	none of the above
pollcode.com free polls

HEADING FOR THE DOGHOUSE...

Shaggy, let's get outta here!
The soap opera of deceivin', flip-floppery and bullyhooing on Parliament hill has gained steam over the past few hours. Now it's come out that Sandra Buckler -- Deceivin' Harpor's Iago -- attempted to twist Peter McKay into signing the Flaherty letter to a maritime newspaper. In the meantime, Harpor has issued a challenge for those waving the 'lying and promise-breaking' charges best be ready to go to court -- hey, First Nations, here's your chance.
That doesn't sounds like the act of a tough guy. When he's on the perch, he's peeling back his shirt and threating a clobbering, a regular 'He-man'. When others dare challenge him, he wants to run like Shaggy to the courts. In fact, that's the bluff of a coward, often used by double-dealing businessmen and shady swamp salesmen -- because they know the cost and time for court will scare off 98% of all accusers. But as the minority premier of NS said, its the court of public opinion where the big loser will get his comeuppance.
Zoinks! Here's the most curious twist and one where Harpor -- less Velma and more scooby with each passing blunder -- should be force fed some Scooby snacks as punishment: Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador are asking that he honour the agreement signed two years ago with the Liberal gov't of the day. He tells a press conference that his gov't honours government contracts and agreements **cough-cough Kyoto-Kelowna-Atlantic Accord**... But what the maritime provinces are asking is something that he has already offered someone else.
The two provinces, long-time have-notters, essentially had an agreement that allowed them to keep all proceeds from their mineral and oil resources so that they might catchup until the point that they are not have-nots. Harpor said nope.
In Alberta, the Big Oil Co. have essentially been told that they won't have to pay for their pollution or pay higher taxes despite outlandishly rancid profits after years of developing the resource at bargain-basement prices.
On one hand, the people who Harpor once accused as 'defeatist' are being denied what he's giving to Big Oil. Any doubters as to whose names he's hiding on that list of contributors to his first leadership race?

Is this the beginning of the end, or the lull before the ballyhoo for this CONservative Gov’t?
The defection of Bill Casey, an MP who is respected by both sides of the house and who is rock-solid popular in his riding (and now all of Atlantic Canada) over Harpor’s stubborn stance on the Atlantic Accord, may be the tip of the iceberg.
Certainly polls in the coming weeks will show that there is a swelling of anger on the east coast over how the CONs have twisted and turned their version of the truth into a multitude of broken promises.
You’ve got Danny Williams and now Rod MacDonald pissed off, one MP out the door. None of the other atlantic CON MPs can be sitting very comfortably, knowing that they sail on choppy seas.
Harpor had always said that Atlantic Canada suffered from a culture of defeatism; hopefully the defeat will be his. But lets concede that there could be an out of this mess, should Deceivin’ Stephen and flippy-floppy Flaherty make haste and agree to stand by the Atlantic Accord as written.
The signal of a misstep is obviously something Harpor loathes to do — see how he changed directions on the media’s coverage of the return of soldiers’ remains, and the adaptation of all those Liberal programs after he axed them. Slap on a new label, blame someone else for the mistake, then leave with a potshot at the ‘complaintant.’
It’d be nice if all those angry Atlantic CONs like Williams, Casey and MacDonald would open their eyes to Harpor’s recent history of ignoring or all together disrespectful attitude to Liberal programs and promises – like the Kelowna and Kyoto Accords, the national childcare strategy, Income trusts, etc. Each of these was intended to serve someone and a purpose, and since Harpor has rolled into town, those groups have essentially been isolated and ignored.
Harpor has nearly challenged the disgruntled to take it to court to test their arguments. He’s a leader who won’t back down. He may not have a vision, but stubbornness, plus that hockey book he’s working on, point to leadership with a capital ‘L’.
In this week’s The Hill Times (June 11th, by Bea Vongdouangchanh), Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch gets in a couple of fine points when comparing Harpor’s minority machinations with Chretien’s majority movements.
He says the CONs have “acted undemocratically by breaking promises” when it comes to their biggest campaign spiel — the Federal Accountability Act.
They have failed or purposely delayed the implementation of former Information Commissioner John Reid’s proposals to strengthen the Access to Information Act. They’ve demonstrated contempt to the public’s need to know when it comes to their plans, programs and proceedings.
And their whole demeanor speaks of someone who would prefer to obliterate opposition, as oppose to work with or accept that it’s a reality in a democracy.



"It's not so much on those initiatives, but just the way they're trying to push them through and reacting to the opposition parties having different views," Mr. Conacher said. "Contrast that to what [former prime minister Jean] Chrétien did, for example. Chrétien broke a lot of promises as well. 'Governing with Integrity' was the chapter in the Red Book [in the 1993 election campaign] and then eventually he kept them, most of them in the end, with the lobbying law changes, but just to give an example of an initiative he put forward that he didn't say he was going to, was the political finance reforms. He introduced that bill, and he had a majority, but he still made changes the opposition parties wanted. That's what I'm talking about when I'm talking about the reaction of the Conservatives to the opposition parties. They don't have a majority."



Conacher gives the CONs a failing grade when it comes to their honesty level, not merely the broken promises but that Harpor’s modus operandi is to deliberately set up roadblocks and false accusations to deter the role of the opposition and the media.
Does it mean that the majority of Canadians will see this reality, too? Is Atlantic Canada the start of a wave, rolling across this broad, hard-to-manage country, petering out at the Alberta border?
The great claims of Harpor being ‘a brilliant tactician’ seem dubious at this point. But never underestimate a snake in the grass, unless you’re on your knees with a mongoose at your elbow.

Game of Horseshoes

Well, like the Ottawa Senators, it appears the hopes of environmentalists everywhere is facing a serious shiv to the face at the G-8 summit in Germany.
However, you could be forgiven for believing that the whole exercise was a defeat pulled from the jaws of victory.
Our hero Harpor goes in eagerly hoping to rag the puck. His hero, the Rooster Cogburn of world leaders, shows no indication that global warming is on his radar. Instead, his attention seems turned to riling up that shifty grappler Putin. Canada's PM unplugs and walks among the peeps with his new pal from France, tho even the french guy would prefer to be at Le Disneyland.
Suddenly, the right-wingers begin to pull out some surprising statements. They see hope in Kyoto, want there to be an agreement -- a 180-degree shift from their declarations just a day earlier. Could both Harpor and Bush hoping to convert some confusion into currency at home and abroad?
That would appear to be closer to the truth, although the whole charade hasn't quite played out yet. Maybe Bush is ready to quote Al Gore and repeal his 'War on Progress'... Harpor, having read the latest focus group study on Ah-nold's popularity, deems it worth his while to continue making like a faux-environmentalist.
But don't buy it yet. Did you see the German president wince and look quite apolectic, having to stand beside Bush while he makes green-friendly soundbytes? She obviously would have preferred to be having Putin put her in a headlock.
Apparently, the words, as we Canadians are all to familiar with thanks to Harpor's 'My accountability can't be questioned' attitude, are easy to translate.
Bush and Harpor are playing a game of pretend at the expense of Europe. Two buddies having a little fun, hoping to look angelic despite the dirt on their hands. Are they fooling you?