The colour of the sky on Stephen Taylor's planet.

Well ... isn't this ... special?

In Canada, some of our Liberal Parliamentarians have shown surprise over the past three weeks at allegations that some Afghans treat their fellow Afghans with callous disregard and fault Canadian officials for an uneasy balancing of coddling of a country reborn out of rubble going through the birth pangs of establishing a civil society, with the brutal hell of war against combatants that wear no uniform, splash acid in the faces of schoolchildren, and cut off the ears of those that would work to bring good governance to their country.

Yes, Stephen, this whole screaming clusterfuck is because we're shocked -- shocked, I say -- by what some Afghans do to other Afghans. That's what this is all about, Stephen. A purely civil matter. That we can only observe and tut-tut from a distance. If only there were something we could have done about it. Besides the lies, whitewash and coverup, that is.

And uniforms! And acid! And ears! And all manner of bright shiny things over there! At which point, Stephen went back to his cigar and port, and ordered another servant flogged for not drawing his bath at the correct temperature.

THE COMMENTS, AH, THE GLORIOUS COMMENTS: It's physically painful to peruse the comments section on that post, and bear witness to the stunning separation from reality of Stephen's regular commenters. Like, say, this:

Colvin is the lone voice who had made unsubstianted allegations refuted by the Red Cross, three retired generals, top military brass active, Ambassador Mulroney Prison Inspectors.

How do you refute that? Seriously, how do you even begin to intellectually engage someone so hysterically uneducated and wilfully ignorant?

The mind reels.

SETTING A RECORD OF LIES PER SENTENCE: It's entertaining to see how little Stephen Taylor can write before he's forced to lie. Consider, if you will, just these words that open the paragraph quoted above:

In Canada, some of our Liberal Parliamentarians have shown surprise [over the past three weeks at allegations that some Afghans treat their fellow Afghans with callous disregard] ...

What's astonishing is that, if you discount the bracketed part which qualifies the earlier words, Taylor has managed to lie three times in the space of 10 words -- surely no mean feat.

First, he opens with "In Canada, ..." when it's painfully obvious that diplomats from other countries have joined in the chorus of outrage over this issue. This is no longer just a Canadian issue.

Taylor compounds that lie by accusing "some of our Liberal Parliamentarians" when it's a fact that members of other parties are just as furious over this.

And the final lie -- that these people are "surprised" at how Afghans are treating their fellow Afghans. In fact, that's not at all what surprises us. As is common knowledge by now, we've known about these allegations for quite some time, dating back to 2006. That is not what surprises us. What surprises (and appalls) us are the recent revelations that the Stephen Harper Party of Canada not only knew about it all this time but quietly condoned it. That's the surprising part.

Shocking, isn't it? Three mind-numbing lies in the space of 10 words. I don't think I've ever seen such efficiency.