END RUN AROUND DEMOCRACY...

Let me get this straight. We've accepted that Stephen Harper has become the Don of patronage appointments -- setting new standards between doses of proroguing.
The Canadian public and the CON sheeple are okay with the idea of him stuffing the porkulent office of the Senate with his failed candidates, fartcatchers and bagmen.
But now, Canadian taxpayers et al, we have to accept him shoehorning in his future candidates for MP into the chamber of sober second thoughts, in effect getting them on the public dime before they even have to be tested by the public?
If you're not shocked, perhaps you should be amused -- one person who only sees the senate as a nice, comfy well-accomodated holiday to launch his campaign for his own importance, as opposed to that set-for-life lottery ticket?
How humbling of Larry Smith to give the voters of Lac St. Louis a heads-up that he'll be eager to step out of his plum appointment at the drop of the next writ.
Apparently, he's chosen to avoid the complete Michael Fortier comparison -- ie two-time loser -- by refusing Harper's offer to be an unelected member of his cabinet.
Harper, who hasn't met a truth he wouldn't trade for partisan gratification, is still pitching the angle that he's not about to shovel money to municipalities looking to attract/keep professional sports franchises... Remember the Income Trust tune? Funny that, rumours being one of Smith's major tasks will be to till the soil to make just such a vote-buying venture palatable coast-to-coast.
If I recall my Reform party history correctly, these governmental doings would result to the rightwing setting its hair ablaze.
The vast sinkhole that was the conservative movement's ethical being already has to deal with smoking pants...

ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS...

... with Stephen Harper's latest stooges appointed to the senate.
Keeping with his 'integrity-free' decision to ignore everything he had said about the Senate in the past, the CON prime minister tagged CFL former great Larry Smith and failed federal candidate and minister Don Meredith to the upper chamber -- just in time for Christmas!
"Hey, no one does Santa like me!" Harper crooned to his covy of bobbleheads. "These two will do my bidding until I uncover the secret of Vlad Tepes!"
During Smith's tenure as CFL commissioner, he led the wildly popular expansion to such Canadian outports as Sacremento, Shreveport, Las Vegas and Baltimore.
Upon leaving the commissioner's office, Smith worked on his resume, primarily being a bootlick with the Montreal 'left-wing media' Gazette.
Meredith, who rode 2,982 votes to finish fourth in 2008 in Toronto Centre, has said that he believes homosexuals to be 'people.' He also said: "It's the right of individuals to choose their orientation."
Of course, that belief should be taken with a grain of salt lick, since his soul now belongs to Harper's Legion of Marauding Senators. To prove he either is mistaken, unclear or not had his CON mindmeld take, Meredith later added: "...if it is, it is the law and we would vote according to what the law is."
Like the set-election law? Or signed agreements on Kyoto, Kelowna et al?

...TO HIGH HEAVEN...

It's a stink, stank, stunk moment for the Harper CONs.
How long before someone in the media digs a little deeper?
Or they could try and shine their light a little harder here, or here -- it's Keystone Cops in Parliament, but with Snidley Whiplash-esque execution...

FAKE IMITATING ART...

On the 'if this doesn't soften my image, i'm just gonna call in the commandos' Harper tour, another one bites the dust...

Of course, he couldn't even get his rip-off signoff right, either.

BULLY MAN'S BLUFF...

The ogre is back at it again... Pitching one meme while doing bi-annual 'I suddenly care about people' act.
Oh, look -- Harper suddenly realizes he's in a land where ancestors of another nation reside! And many of these people are poor! (will he use the word 'poverty'? Over-under says 'no')
Quelle surprise! Harper wants to provide his big shoulder to the women and children of the world -- just don't shake his hand too vigorously.
Perhaps this is all part of the shedding of his skin that occurs with other reptiles. Skulk, hiss, shimmy, hide under a rock, then shed skin. Yep, sounds familiar.
In a year-end interview with CTV, Sauron, er Harper said "...[I'll] not screw around with a bunch of political games."
If CTV and its mainstream members need any reminders -- political games is what Harper's all about. He never saw an issue that couldn't be used as a wedge, and spent his first mandate trying to dare the opposition into defeating his government. Of course, the most benign example actually is apropos; see 'fixed election dates', September 2008.

LETTERS WE'D LIKE TO SEE...

That should point out when members of the government get it right (no, not necessarily one of the signs of the apocalypse):

Dear Editor,

I'm often a loud critic of our federal government when I feel it's done something wrong. From prorogation to lying about the deficit (we were in it before the 'economic downturn') to single-tender agreements to buy expensive military aircraft, i've disagreed.
But I think it's important to acknowledge (FILL IN CONSERVATIVE James Moore/Gerald Keddy/Shelly Glover) for voting with the side of human rights last week. Mr/Mrs (Moore/Keddy/Glover) voted in favour of an opposition bill that would enhance the rights of transsexual and transgender individuals.
Despite the majority of the Conservative government voting overwhelmingly against the motion, these individuals broke party ranks -- a party that shamefully voted against the rights of indigenous peoples at the UN -- and said transsexuals and transgenders deserve the same protection and regard in the Canadian Human Rights Act of other citizens, as it deals with discrimination and hate crime provisions.
They did this just after the newest Conservative MP, former Ontario chief of police Julian Fantino, attacked the Canadian Charter of Rights during his election campaign.
I like to point out the good things -- so bravo Mr/Mrs (Moore/Cannon/Keddy/Glover/Boucher)!

Signed

___________

Send to:
James Moore - editorial@tricitynews.com; editorial@thenownews.com
Shelly Glover - letters@canstarnews.com
Gerald Keddy - letters@herald.ca; letters@thecoast.ca; info@halifaxnewsnet.ca; halifaxletters@metronews.ca; editor@theadvance.ca; editor@thecoastguard.ca;

JUST A CONJUGAL VISIT...

A lot of evidence suggests they're more than friends, tho...

Feds 'Not In Bed with Big Tobacco' Aglukkaq says
Shifting Positions on Tobacco Labels Lacks Credibility

Ottawa Met With Cigarette Maker...

Tobacco Lobbying Preceded Label Retreat

HARPER ON A ROLL...

...Of course, he does it from the safety of Rutherturd's radio booth, sounding like Lt. Cmdr. Phillip Queeg of the Caine Mutiny.
Next he'll ask to check Ignatieff and the opposition troika for the strawberries.
So, has Harper lost it? Sending ministers to stand before the international press and say if Canada doesn't get that UN seat it's Ignatieff's fault? Wow, who knew one man could be so powerful, but considering how Harper is a real one-man-band type, no wonder he is sweating over what his main rival is doing.
Just keep in mind that, while sounding psychotic and paranoid may not be a great campaign strategy, Harper is really playing checkers to our chess. While the media is giving air time to his illogical rants, it is taking real journalists away from the Parliament building reno scandal, the entitlements of righthand toddler Pierre, and the stubborn whacking of the census.

FAUX NEWS NORTH...

Even without a nation-wide delivery, Korn-Kob Kory Teneycke -- a Harper disciple sent out to muddy the media waters with bile and propaganda -- is demonstrating his pure lack of ethical moxie for all to see.
Irked by the very popular Avaaz Anti-Sun TV petition and its apparent punk-ability, the PM's pseudo spawn virtually gave the thumbs up to a supporter or supporters to sign up fake names to the petition, in hopes to shine a light on its illegitimacy.
In this wonderfully detailed post by the irrepressible Kady O'Malley, Teneycke (just remember, you can't spell Kory without 'yeck') lets slide that his name and some actual public media types were signed up illegitimately but rakes it for silly type signatures like Boba Fett, Snuffaluffagus and The Office's Dwight Shroot.
Nope, but he does take the time to make this online petition into a 'woe-is-us' and try to paint his opposition as mostly American (despite the signatures being unlisted) or artsy lefties like Margaret Atwood (who admitted to adding her famous name to the poll).
Free publicity; but when is the right going to step up to the plate and act like a responsible adult. You've got ideas, let them out and let them face the heat of debate. Hiding them and whining whenever someone throws some heat your way is not the act of an accountable, open organization. Oh right. You are a CON in wolf's clothing...

OUR GOVERNMENT, OUR SHAME...

The radical right-shift and fearmongering of Stephen Harper and his unscientific morons is making more news in foreign newspapers...
Harper and viagra-fueled lothario Vic Toews' stirred up anger and fear against the latest refugees, with the Manitoba MP labelling the Tamil boat as "terrorists" and "smugglers" and not 492 asylum-seekers.
Then the 'so-called leftwing media' helped carry the CONs' water -- Monte Solberg, anyone?
No need on doing actual casework to get ahead of the conclusions, right Vic?

READ MY LIPS....

He doth protest much, eh?
Of course, Diamond Bill Elliott knows what happens to CONs who tell the truth.
That's why when he suggested in an earlier interview that the long-gun registry was "useful", he couched it that facts showed that.
Fortunately, Harper has already began to make real facts unlawful.

RUBBER HITS THE ROAD...

... when the chicken sees its shadow. Or Harper gets the latest publicly funded secret poll data.
It's interesting how quickly the decision to shuffle out RCMP Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak as the head of the Canadian Firearms program -- but first, let's try to blame it on bilingualism -- has become a huge gravy stain on Stephen Harper's no-accountability shirt. If it's any consolation, Cheliak has good company.
The axe came days before Cheliak, who has vociferously defended the long-gun registry as a useful tool in protecting both the public and the police, was to meet with Canadian police chiefs. He was expected to give a speech at the meeting -- then 'Yoink!'
With hothead Willie Elliott putting on his mattel-made RCMP hat and doing Harper's biding, Cheliak is now toast. Oh, first he was just off to re-education, er, bilingual class.
All to protect the CONs' slow-moving act to disarm the controversial long-gun registry.
Even members from the CON-friendly side are not swallowing Harper's lame excuse.
Are the CON-support team starting to show cracks? Isn't there some kind of shame in standing behind a leader who refuses to let them defend and debate what is a fairly major belief? Why is hiding their ideals, their actions and motives from everyday Canadians now the modus operandi of Canada's not-so-new government?
Remember, the long-gun registry was a cause that played a major role in uniting the right.
But instead of explaining their reasons, their feelings and policy options that they want to put ahead of public safety (why listen to the police? What do they know about public safety?) the Harper CONs instead hide the research, data and people who may make their cause a little uncomfortable.
Nobility and transparency have no place in Stephen Harper's Canada, apparently.

REVERSE LOGIC...

Before, it was the rallying cry of a small fringe group that 'provoked' Stephen Harper and his caucus minions to halt something that had become an accepted, even a civic duty by millions.
Now, the growing chorus of supporters of the long-form mandatory census are just noisy complainers who should just cough up the information on their own.

"If this census thing was such a hot issue with as many people as some of the national media would like you to believe then. . . if all those people would chip in and volunteer that information, we won't have any problem (with a lack of data), we'll probably have twice as much" as was collected previously, (CONservative MP Larry) Miller said.

Seems like perfect CON circle logic to me...

CIRCLE JERKS...

... have no reason to look further than two minutes into the future.
Tony Clement's ability to step in piles of self-made doo-doo while commenting on the floral fragrance is a nice skill set.
Emasculating StatsCan by eliminating the mandatory long-form census -- without any form of debate, discussion or dialogue among users or members of non-tin foil set -- can only be described as short-sighted. First thing, Clement's new plan will cost $30-million more in its voluntary version. Secondly, other jurisdictions, most notably the U.S., went through a similar exercise and discovered that the end result wasn't just more costly, but very unreliable. Ho-hum. There's no evidence that can move faith-based decider Harper.
Here to prove Harper's case of a self-absorbed whiner looking out for No. 1 is the CONs' own version of Sgt. Schultz, MP David Tilson.
Yes, Stephen Harper, the suddenly scared of his own shadow so-called leader of this dumb revolution, is happy to let others do the talking. Who said he hasn't evolved?
Although let's be positively clear on this -- besides the private polling industry that would like to pick up the pieces from all the suddenly now underserved private and public groups thanks to a gutted national census -- Harper is the main grumbler who wanted this done.
The likes of Tilson only provide a bit of comedic effect.

SITH HAPPENS...

... Another day, another bumbling CON government lie exposed.
Gone is the argument that StatsCan mandarins actually supported Stephen Harper's decision to hamper religious groups, social planners, social service providers, chamber of commerces, provincial and municipal governments and the people who paint bedrooms.
The faux strawman of invasion of privacy has been shown to be as hollow as Stephen Harper's soul, and the unabashed lie about thousands of complaints has been proven to be shred-ible. Nor the ribald fib that a totally voluntary project could replicate one that included a mandatory form -- like the current decree from the government for Canada's farmers.
While the census may be a regular target for libertarians and grumblers from across the political spectrum, it has been the same minor inconvenience that a dozen Prime Ministers from the turn of the previous century managed to support for the good of the country.
Unfortunately, the current job-holder gives a rats' ass for that institution.

CLARITY...

...is never an easy thing with Stephen Harper's government. There'll be no recession meant "the recession is here but we're not responsible." Canada will run no deficits turned out to be "we're already in deficit but you haven't seen nothing yet!"
When StatsCan is turning out numbers that reflect this one can't help but wonder that this kind of data is anathema of the CONs' existence.


Numbers, they say, don't lie. And the numbers say that once again, overall, Canada last year became a safer place in which to live.

Statistics Canada is reporting that the national crime rate -based on the number of crimes reported to police -dropped three per cent last year compared with 2008, and has declined 17 per cent since 1999.


Any questions as to why Harper is hoping to create a huge divisive election issue out of his 'Big Government' boogieman? Considering he's the master of Big Government, the irony is rich...

SILENCE IS GOLDEN...

... or it may be their best attempt at getting people to swallow the swill being funnelled out of CON government headquarters.
Unappointed Harper biker-chick checker Maxime Bernier now claims the move was in response to "the silent majority."

"We're not there to please all special interest groups, we're there for the silent majority of Canadians," Bernier said. "I'm sure that the big majority of Canadians understand that, and will agree with our decisions."

Even though it is also admitted that there was no consultation of such.
Unless we're counting the psychic dresser hotline, perhaps. And things Stephen Harper thinks are good for you -- like a senate seat if you're fat and blue enough...
I've got a tip for you Maxime - don't ask that silent majority what they think of paying taxes, which also requires a significant amount of personal information bandied about to 'Big Government'. The kind of 'Big Government' that can create fake lakes, shut down a city, twist two provinces' arms to take on the HST-bugaboo (Don't invest in Ontario! unless...) and non-competitive contracts for billion-dollar military expenditures.
What a crock.

DISHONEST MISDIRECTION...

...typical CON mode of defence. Load up the guns, fire at will. Repeat.
Scott dissects the current 'non-debate' over Stephen Harper's secret decision to axe the long-form census, remarking about how there has not been much of a 'rallying cry' against the census until Harper and sock-puppet and gazebo expert Tony Clement said so. Then the CON-sheeple sat up and began to typeth on cue.
Now they've got renown lazy ex-cabinet guy and bedder of known gangster affiliates Maxime Bernier on the right wing, leading the tea-party-esque silliness. Yes, the minister who forgot his homework near the bed of a motorcycle mama. Well, I know why he doesn't want the Canadian government to know how many bedrooms he has...
The Vanity Press and the Globe and Mail's Jeffrey Simpson nail it in two different directions -- Harper wants to hide his own track record, while framing the future. He knows his electorate opportunities improve with a befuddled, ignorant and impulse driven public. Data, science and substance have no room in the decisions and actions of a Harper government. Stockwell Day and his dinosaur must be cheering very loudly from his seadoo parked in the garage.
It isn't hard to see how this could actually turn into a win for the dicta-er so-called CON leader. Grab an issue that connects in the stomach of a large enough group, hide your tracks and fuzzicate the rationale and debate. Call an election over it. Harper's core supporters are trained seals; they'll vote for fish.
By dividing the opposition's support, through means of governmental warfare, de-funding, isolating and disenfranchising, the right-wing wins.
That's the kind of Canada he wants.

CONSENSUS ON CENSUS...

... unless you're a living-in-the-dark CON, that is.
Oh sure, there's the token non-Tory contrarian questioning the purpose of the mandatory long-form Stats Canada questionaire, which has fostered a whopping three whole complaints to the privacy commissioner over the past 15 years.
Newspaper editorials are nearly unanimous; academia is too. Bankers and bureacrats, also. Geneologists, ditto. Stephen Harper's favourite (second) kicking post, those special interest groups that help the sick, underprivileged and visible and non-visible minorities? Count them as worried. Social planners, engineers, municipalities, policy planners, private businesses - they all have been aided in their work through information gleaned from the Canadian census.
Without a functioning, accurate census, more decisions like this will certainly be easier to slip past the great 'unwashed'.
So, while a virtually silent Harper leaves all the dodging and weaving for sock-puppet Tony Clement, the lie about why continues to stink.
If the issue was about privacy concerns, who raised them? Is it the cabal of religious right fanatics who've gained inside cabinet access through the likes of Darrel Reid? Wouldn't they love to see government eliminate its interest in solving the social ills, ie. a GWB-like platform that would result in religious groups controlling more social response agencies, here and abroad. Or is it the big business information industry that, perhaps, would love nothing better than control the data, the access and manner inwhich it is created? What do you think, Mr. Fraser Institute? Completely speculative on my part, but when Clement can ride a lie that Stats Canada on its own provided the option to rid themselves of this critical tool, I'm afraid even the most machavellian rationale must be examined.
This policy decision, which came about with no public consultation and no great study, according to Tony the talking Tory, must have had some big kahunas behind it. Who are they -- maybe they also know who secretly paid for Harper's run to the Alliance leadership? Or paid off McKay's bill after he turned all-Judas on the progressives who put him on that pedestal? Or is it just another piece to Harper's own remaking of Canada secret project? The one that he occasionally lets slip -- while the mainstream media keeps us comfortably warm in that pot of warming water?
It's up to us, and you, to keep up the heat on this one.

TRUTH MUFFLED...

Should we be shocked that the story on Harper and his "Audit reveals prime minister's department flouted contracting rules", by the Canadian Press' Dean Beeby, is being hidden by the so-called 'left-wing media'?
How is this story not in every Canwest paper, or is not even available when you search google news? I always wondered how their news roll was manipulated, but I wouldn't be shocked to find that it's as open to moral corruption as some other private headline sites.
The story, which I recommend you read, is apparently only available on the Winnipeg Free Press' online edition from June 19, while one other 'publication' (likely a web-only item) has picked it up. Yes, it is a Canwest paper which has been known to think it's own thoughts now and again.
None of the other papers in the chain, or elsewhere for that matter, have printed it to date to my knowledge. Have you seen it? Send me the link if you have.
Let's not forget all the backs to scratch and regulations to be circum-navigated with all these media corporations changing hands.
Deep pocketed ethically-amputated A-holes like our so-called PM know the importance of burying the real goods -- whether its on tape or elsewhere.
I guess when even the talking points can't produce a facsimile of a distraction, smothering the truth is the only other option.
Shamefully, it is apparently working.

HARPER'S HIDDEN FOLLY...

It's been repeated enough that it has become gospel.
It can't happen here because we're different.
So-called leader Stephen Harper said it on the election campaign, along with 'Canada can't afford a deficit', 'if a recession was coming to Canada it would be here by now,' and 'does this mumu make me look fat?' -- ooops, that last one was just for the tax-payer funded psychic dresser.
Nope, the lie I'm referring to about the CONs -- and I know that it's dizzying to pick just one, but let's do so, just today -- is that the Canadian banks didn't get a bailout.
Nope, they didn't. Ask Flim-flam Flaherty. Let treasury bore Stockwell channing Day assure you.
It didn't happen. Wasn't at all like all the others. Nada, mission accomplished, and all that right-wing jazz.
Except:

"The banks were actually "bailed out" to the tune of $125 billion just before and after the 2008 election — in the form of a massive purchase of questionable mortgages and other "rotten paper," in the words of one economist, held by them. This was done through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, a federal agency."

It isn't bad enough that the so-called fiscal conservative Harper has been one of the biggest and most secretive liars this side of Tiger Woods. But now we're all on the hook for some large and dubious debts that could reveal Canada's economic stock a crock.
But hey, perhaps we now know why Harper virtually made it his own personal mission to make sure the banks didn't have to face a tax on earnings to cover these possible liabilities. Next up, possibly he'll host a telethon for BP.

DON'T DO AS I DO...

...
may be the memo that Vic Toews may have wanted to pass Canada's top soldier.
Although the circumstances differ -- one being a subordinate puppet to Canada's social conservative so-called despot, the other the nation's top soldier in a war zone -- it does smack of typical CON double standards.
Mr Toews, just as Mons. Bernier's clumsy public dance and private slip-ups with a former associate of known gangsters, knows that a little tryst with a subordinate can work out just dandy.
Perhaps Brig-Gen. Daniel Menard can make amends with the piously dishonest CON government by signing off on some prisoner transfer documents, or fall on a sword...

HUG A BANKER...

In these trying times, it's nice to know who's your real friend.
Stephen Harper, the pal to big oil, is extending his unwavering support to big businesses' Hinterland of Who's, the Big Banker.
Sorry, environment - you'll just have to wait until the bankers' bullion is safe from the Robin Hoods of the world. What's in your wallet?

HARPER DREAM TEAM TAKES ANOTHER HIT...

He knows how to sing a song and speaks in simple, soft tones. His stories have been incredibly tall and entertaining, stretching reality to a fawning audience.
Not only that, but he might be familiar with the CON circle of friends!
Unfortunately for Stephen Harper, Robert Munsch's public confession today was not a mere cry for help but a timely step to avoid being cast as a card-carrying member of the 'laws are for you, not for me' CONs.

PANIC AT GROUND ZERO...

Harper is slowly being forced to reveal his hand.
Let's assume that what was diagnosed as serious damage to his credibility and hold on the levers in evil CON corp were not damaged by his last two prorogation dance steps.
However, if you scan the profiles of people lining up behind his shadow, you are seeing a sudden plethora of social conservatives, grinning and staring as though Jimmy Swaggert had just gave them a lapdance.
The Vancouver Sun today has a front page column by Barbara Yaffe that blares 'Harper's Motherhood Issue Backfires, Triggers Secret Agenda-Fears On Abortion.'
Front page.

Other editorials point out Harper's mish-mosh of a policy pronouncement. Originally against 'family planning' he's now just not going to allow Canadian funding of abortion in third world countries. But maybe he's not completely supporting contraceptives, either.
No clear message but one clear signal -- we may not know who paid Harper's way to the party leadership, but we do know who's got their hands up his keister now. It perhaps also reveals why dimbulbs like Anders, Breitkruz, Bruinooge, Cannan, Del Maestro, Fast, Gallant, Glover, Goodyear, Hawn, Hiebert, Kenney, Lukiwski, Poilievre, Ritz, Schellenberger, Smith, Tilson, Trost, Vellacot and Yellich look so happy these days.
Maxime gets it. Soon we will witness more freelancing and leadership ambitions surface. Maybe we'll get Harper to lipsync the Beatles 'The End' to close the books on this morally corrupt and economically moronic party.

TANGLED TORY STORIES...

Bet Stephen Harper is sure wishing he had saved his last 'go to prorogue' card for a new spring break.
The current scandal is looking more and more like one of those dangerous stingers that leave a nasty cold sore where everyone can see it.
Although some of the salacious and overly personal jibes at incompetent and impudent Helena Guergis are over the top, certain elements of this current scandal are exposing a familiar character flaw in our so-called PM.
Apparently, Steve's a one-trick pony:
Deny, deflect and detach. Repeat.
Hopefully the Canadian public will get a chance to do their own detaching from this inept, morally corrupt group of bunglers soon.

PROGRESS

Obama stickhandled his health care plan through the US House of Representatives today. Despite some vicious, blatant scare-mongering from the far right and corporate special interests, it appears 32 million more Americans will have access to health care that only the rich have taken for granted.
Although the rhetoric about 'government take-over of the health industry' is pure balderdash, the concerns that it may be unaffordable -- considering the sway and power the military interests hold over the national treasury -- is still to be answered.
The media for the most part has covered both sides of the argument with some semblance of balance (FoxNews being the biggest and expected exception). The opponents to Obama's plan have used every level of scurrilous attack possible to pressure and frighten both the general public and the politicians on the hot seat.
Perhaps one of the other reasons the tea partiers have dug deep and dirty is that their braintrust knows its history. The last time a US President undertook a radical, innovative government aid program during a time of economic turmoil, the success and connection with the American voter was enough to lock up the White House for the Democrats for 20 years.
I'm not saying that the health care plan is 2010's version of the New Deal, but certainly some on the right are worried about that. Not only have they not wrestled with their own guilt over the Bush-Cheney mess that was left, both nationally and internationally, they aren't interested in creating new and innovative programs to solve the problems that Americans are facing today. Not when scare tactics work so much cheaper.
Oh, and raspberry to our own CON movement -- remember Stephen Harper's non-committal non-support of Canada's health care system when Republicans tried to use it to paint national health care as a socialist boogieman? Well, at least one CON leader stood up for it, but it wasn't Harper. Was it because in Harper's mind he'd rather side with the tea-baggers?
Again, more proof that the CON man is not a leader.

OBVIOUS OBSERVATION...

Stephen Harper and his CON game wasn't interested in the altruistic spreading of joy after all.

A post-campaign evaluation of the publicity for the tax credit – mandatory for government advertising worth more than $1 million – submitted to the Canada Revenue Agency last December suggests creating positive feelings about the government was one of the goals.

Apparently, the Canada's Action Plan ad campaign was all about making the government look good. Shock. No wonder Canada's fiscal record has hit the skids since Harper took office.
Stephen Harper's government? Only in it for themselves...

FLUSH WITH CASH...

Good thing Canada's fiscal bottom line is tickety-boo.
That means we can afford to waive registration fees, lavish corporate-style increases for our so-called leader, and send mini-ministers on short trips on jets, for say coffee and a timbit.
Nope, I guess the CON team of Stephen Harper is really glad that the previous government left a surplus to splurge with. Otherwise we'd likely have to resort to raising payroll taxes, play 'Boo!' on income trusters, and invent new fees that apply just to the peon classes -- now just to get that government-issue tequila airlifted...

REASON #312...

...why Stephen Harper has to go.
This is no laughing matter, so Ritz has been gagged. It isn't sexy, either, so Raitt has been shushed.
And I think Leona Aglukkaq will make sure there are no premature body bag shipments.
Of course, all but the tinfoil CONbot brigade will recognize a trend here.
But let's try to hope that behind closed doors CON ministers aren't treating this issue with the same cavalier, self-preservation-first motives that were exposed in past health care issues.
Perhaps in between cabinet ministers' airport rage and Supreme Waffler's post-prorogation habit of daily redux platter of flip-flops, the Canadian government can man-up and put together a real plan, other than handing it over to private, profit-oriented industry to take care of the people?

FISCAL FIXERS...

After cutting imaginary jobs with imaginary salaries, the CON's magic budget balancing high-wire act is off to weed out the $1,000 plants and doorbells from the government purchase lists.
Creating a balanced budget won't be the 'sleight of hand' work that constructing a deficit out of a $13-billion surplus was (pre-economic downturn), but be patient. No doubt with the increase in advertising, personal private (ie. none of your beeswax!) Harper matters and long, private air travel to Tim Hortons in a neighbourhood near you -- and far enough away from Parliament to enlist an expense account -- we'll begin to see progress on this file sometime when Stockwell and Stephen grab their brass pension rings.

FLAHERTY'S FAUX DIET...

This week's CON budget showed little signs of a 'recalibration' or 'austerity plan'.
In fact, the thin morsels that flim-flam finance man Jimbo Flaherty painted had all the magic of Avatar by crayola.
Harper's team plans to freeze MPs' salaries at the current level -- oh, that's tough stuff. He's already wearing the most bloated, lethargic cabinet in modern history. I guess perhaps they mean to cut back on Australian speechwriters, or limit focus groups to just one box of timbits. Naturally, partisan advertisement, including the blarney, hatchet-job 10 percenters will continue to fly off the presses, with an increase of $5 million from Jack and Jill Taxpayer; but don't worry, Harper may just off-load the printing work to the U.S., as he did with the 'Economic Action Plan' signage, or maybe a German-U.S. project like Canada's pup-tent Olympic pavilion.
But what's it all mean when Flaherty, to mouth the words 'tough' and 'fiscally responsible' before the cameras, uses the government's Challenger jet -- estimated to cost $9,000 from Ottawa to London Ont. -- to fly for his dollop of photo ops?
Even CON friends from the morose Fraser Institute couldn't help but see the sham in the numbers.

SHARING THE CREDIT...

Certainly, the Canadian-esque disowning of the 'Own the Podium' earlier this week was a tad premature.
Canadian athletes did as we expected them to -- made us proud, and reached beyond our expectations.
That the 'Own the Podium' program had set expectations beyond what we're use to may have played a role. Governments and corporations and communities all stepped forward to assist our athletes in reaching the targets they had dreamed of.
Naturally, Stephen Harper's CONs will all be about getting their photos with the champions -- perfectly understandable, since no government would turn down that possible connection. However, their support seems to stop there. I recall Pierre Trudeau boarding the plane in 1972 when Team Canada touched down after edging the Soviet Union during the great, untoppable Summit Series.
While Harper wouldn't dare acknowledge it, and most athletes likely have forgotten, I think it's a good time to make sure the credit for some of these initiatives is spread to more than today's spotlight grabbers.
Former B.C. premier Glen Clark, who put a lot of his personal moxie on the line to get Vancouver into the competition of winning the 2010 bid.
Former Prime Minister Jean Chretien, for being a full supporter from the moment go.
Former Prime Minister Paul Martin, for creating and funding the 'Own the Podium' program. Former sports minister and B.C. MP Stepehn Owen was the point person.
Chretien and Martin deserve some extra credit, too, for creating the economic conditions where a two-week bash in the middle of winter wouldn't be a financial burden on a nation. Unfortunately, someone else came along and punched holes in that rainy day fund to where now B.C.ers and Canadians will be paying for the party for a long time.
Gold medals all around, gentlemen!

LAME FOLLOWING THE IMMATERIAL...

Meet Andy Radia. He's no one's answer to Rachel Marsden, that's for certain, but he may be one small community newspaper's version of Karnak, a character from the ol' Johnny Carson Tonight Show.
Perhaps he's a faux mystic with the foresight of a bowling ball.
Unfortunately, Andy's not funny, nor nearly as insightful as 30-year-old jokes from a laboured comedy skit.
In today's copy of the Tri-City News, he's scrambling a little behind the times in trying to defend the so-called leader's pro-rogatory holiday.
Andy, who fashions himself as Telly Savalas for the right, doesn't use any new talking points, because after all, the CON handbook depends upon repetition of same-old, same-old until you either surrender or become ambivalent, or both.
"Yada-yada others did it too," says Andy.
He says Bob Rae "shamelessly" used it while premier -- thus questioning his own so-called leader's level of shame in the process.
"Yada-yada coalition of evil," snorts Andy.
Conveniently forgetting this agreement, aren't we, Andy?
"Yada-yada busy agenda for ze big leader," mutters Andy.
Funny, all those items he lists, except the photo op in Haiti where Harper kindly forced Haitian officials to ignore local emergency responsibilities to protect a visiting dignitary who once upon a time couldn't get out of Dodge fast enough to avoid an AIDS convention, kinda sound like things that routinely happen in Ottawa when the session's in.
The defence of Harper's prorogue holiday isn't getting easier. But the defendants are getting lamer.

In honour of the real Karnac, please glance and chortle/smirk/groan through some Carson classics:

A: A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and thou.
Q: Name three things that have yeast.

A: The Nestea Plunge.
Q: What does the president of Nestea use when his toilet is topped up?

A: A, B, C, D, E, F, G.
Q: What were some of the earlier forms of Preparation H?

A: Shoo-be-doo-be-doo.
Q: What do you look for when you're tracking a shoo-be-doo-be?

A: Zippo Marx.
Q: What do you get when something gets caught in your Zippo?

A: Kitchy-kitchy-koo.
Q: What do you call a military coup led by General Kitchy Kitchy?

A: Big Ben, Joe Namath and a candidate's campaign promises.
Q: What is a clock, a jock and a crock.

MAXIME'S SILVER HAMMER...

Maxime Bernier is showing signs of Dead CON Walking... By showing refreshing candor, the former minister/biker-chick dater has broken one of Stephen Harper's key personal rules -- don't say what we're thinking!
Bernier wrote a letter to La Presse newspaper that said the CON government was wilfully sluggish on environmental action because the decision-makers doubted the evidence of global warming.

"There is, in fact, no scientific consensus. What's certain is that it would be irresponsible to spend billions of dollars to impose unnecessarily stringent regulations to resolve a problem whose gravity we still are not certain about."

Harper's man-of-imobility, Jimmy Prentice, did his best to backpedal and hide from Bernier's assertion, but c'mon. A good portion of CON blogging nation has gone viral over the past six months about how climate change is some leftist conspiracy to lower the activity of our precious bodily fluids.



I think no doubt Harper and his agents have done a good job of hiding their true feelings and true plans for Canada's government. He's tried to hug the mushy middle, done his own Mr. Dithers routine with just an added impersonation of Robert Conrad -- "I dare you to knock this battery off my shoulder! I dare yah!"

CONs have tried a number of ways to test drive their more cavemen-esque ideas on the nation. They've established a habit for punking polls -- getting Trudeau's name atop the Most Hated Canadian poll a couple of years ago was their trial run.
Harper himself has gone on record that stats and facts should carry little weight when it comes to gut instincts.

Evidence is bad. Those April blossoms that are currently decorating the cherry trees in Vancouver? Not a sign of climate change. The ice floes that have disappeared? Nope, no sign. The various changes of ocean species washing ashore in the formerly cold waters of the north pacific? That's right, not a sign. Did you know that you could run an eight-cylinder Cadillac in a 10'x 40' garage, keep the doors closed until it runs out of gas, and the air quality would sustain plenty of life, while healing heartburn and goiters?
That's the kind of thought process the CONs are offering, but in a more strategic way. Attacking the credibility of the data and data-gatherers. Swiftboating the Geeks, in other words.
Are we going to buy it? Apparently, Harper and his gang aren't eager to stand behind their own beliefs, which you'd think would make some of their true believers angry. What's worse is that just by repeating those beliefs, even if its just to deny that they hold them, helps create a faux-truth to them.
That's your Harper. Too nakedly ambitious to lead.

FAMILIAR REFRAIN...

...about the meddlers and meddlesome jobs they do. I think it was Anthony Newley who sang it. Or maybe Kate Smith.
Neither here nor there. But it appears old habits die hard with the CON-voluted anti-governing party, who bet their meal ticket on a racist band of hick reactionaries in Quebec, and are now being accused of tying their cannard to the growing popularity of the Wildrose Alliance of Alberta.
We can always count on that slick chess-playing huntsman, Harper, to push the envelope. Currently using the Olympics as cover for some despicable governmental organization disabling, the so-called leader is willing to soil his party's name in the homeland to prop up Rob Anders, his private dunderhead.
Prorogue once, twice, three times a loser. Like that eventual housing bubble -- remember, what happens down south typically takes 3-4 years before the echo hits here -- Harper's time is coming.

HELP WANTED...

So Stephen Harper has finally clued in that his crew of climate-change deniers in cabinet just don't know how to rag the puck convincingly, and now he has to hire one.
Enviro-not minister Jim Prentice is too busy working on his succession speech to Big Oil to handle the chore of working with our spiritual leadership from down south? Perhaps he just can't keep up with the high-falutin' words and talk, especially when U.S. government officials start talking about 'action.' After all, that word only is used as an adjective/slogan in CON circles.
Who wants to bet that Harper's next pointman to this 'underling of the U.S. environment department' will come with highly familiar American credentials. Even the tepid response to the government's Canada Pavilion - a tent purchased at Chicago's Montgomery Ward at a cost of $10M - isn't going to bump Harper off track. Spending money is getting to be an expensive habit for this so-called leader. American PR firms to get him on Fox, American consultants to build our own Olympic pavilion, republican thinktanks offering dirty trick seminars -- I'm betting Harper goes south with this position, too. Even his predisposed supporters are beginning to catch on that money is no obstacle when it comes to spreading the Harper manure -- especially if its only taxpayers dollars.
Perhaps an FOI should be filed regarding last week's agreement on Buy American. Because right now it looks like that U.S. program is one policy that Harper is embracing.

LOOKING BEYOND HIS NAVEL...

Oh-oh! When influential minds of the foreign media/press are catching on to so-called leader Stephen Harper's end-run ambition to avoid democracy with his Harperholiday, it will only be hours until Harper realizes it himself.
Judging by his constipated look during most of the tepid Mansbridge interview, parliament isn't the only thing that's prorogued these days in Ottawa...

LOTTO-MANIA!

That's the sense in CON-land, because its that time of year again when so-called leader and emperor-without-clothes Stephen Harper divvies up the spoils to his most pliable, solidly bluer-than-blue true believers. Yes, it's Stacking the Senate time!
Of course, the weekly Harper 'Breaking a Hard-Fast Principle' moment will have to wait until Friday because that's when the dirty laundry gets pulled out.
But if you've been loyally sputtering out those CON talking points 'til your fingers are blue, traded all those long-held beliefs for mix-and-match lies, and show no shame when it comes to integrity, accountability and all that useless stuff, you too can be a winner!
The only skills you need are an ability to take orders, mop down Duffy twice a session, and hold your nose while looking offended.

HOPE FOR DEMOCRACY...

Now this is what democracy looks like.
No wonder Harper's main action plan is to shutter the doors of parliament, befoul committee hearings and turn members' statement and question period into childish partisan lying games.
By all means, lets give this so-called leader what he deserves.

ABOUT THAT WORM...

It's come to James Travers' opinion that Stephen Harper and his procedural whittling away of Canadian parliamentary purpose is leading Canada down a potentially dangerous path.
What should be a bold, even controversial opinion will be shuttered aside by the Conservative shouting brigade as mere left-wing blather from the media again. Others who may agree with the column will holster their opinions, worried that it may cause ripples in the offices that they tread near. The price of integrity and honest observation are apparently too steep these days. You won't be surprised to know that I agree with Mr. Travers' assessment and don't expect too many eyes to be opened by it.
Harper's contempt for the workings and workers of parliament are obvious; its evident in his gag-orders, his hidden caucus meetings, his turning statement period into partisan slander time, his instituting instructions to defile and debase committee hearings. When he sent out minions to call a potential coalition by the opposition as 'illegal' -- completely opposite to his view just a few years earlier -- the media by and large repeated it and didn't challenged it.
Unfortunately, a vast majority of the journalists and the string pullers of their industry don't feel they should take ownership of what they tell. Instead, too many editors will be glad to hide behind the journalist shingle, that of being unbiased and unwavering to what occurs outside their windows. But there was a time when papers (before television) and their editors proudly displayed their colours and firm opinions -- the best would proudly state that their points but would also listen and occasionally agree with their rivals' views. Now, journalism for all intense purposes is the equivalent to that of the ancient money traders, who cared not for what or for whom was the result of their convenient ignorance.
One can look south to see what happens in the worse case of both instances. A large portion of the U.S. media parked their position as questioner and sifter of facts when George W. and his ilk chose to turn a terrible terrorist act into a mobilizer for an illegal war. Too many members joined in the rally cry and failed to ask why.
When it came to re-electing the GWB team, the media however stayed behind the fray and allowed the Republicans' smear campaign of a war hero to go untested; by repeating it and giving it credence through reflection, the news media validated the lies thrown at John Kerry.
I don't assume that Canada's mainstream media is acting in the quite same reckless manner, however its hard not to see similarities. In the way that so many daily newspapers and TV news shows layer gossip and food features ahead of what is going on in parliament, what our reported lawmakers are doing to our parliament, it appears that many are onside with Harper's plan.
Like many of their counterparts down south, the commitment to the standards of the business are no longer applicable. The media never is wrong unless it impacts the bottom line. Other errors are just part of 20-20 hindsight.
But don't let their ambivalence and high opinions of their profession fool you. By choosing to play down Harper's contempt for our system of government and eventually the systems that we've created to bring justice and compassion to our citizens, the members of the compliant press are enablers of the worst kind.
At least, they are feeding the disconnect.