Misogyny!

It's nice to be a dude in Stephen Harper's Canada:

PM won't punish Shory over fraud investigation
Calgary MP among 300 people named in BMO's civil lawsuit over mortgage fraud

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he won't take any action against one of his Calgary MPs who has been named in a Bank of Montreal civil lawsuit over what the bank alleges was a massive mortgage fraud.

Devinder Shory, the Conservative MP for Calgary Northeast and a lawyer, is among the 300 people, including Alberta lawyers, mortgage brokers and four BMO employees, named in the suit.

To recap then, Helena Guergis -- accused of still-unspecified allegations -- was stripped of her Cabinet position, turfed from the Conservative caucus and handed over to the RCMP for investigation.

Devinder Shory, on the other hand, who is actually named in a massive mortgage fraud investigation, gets a free pass and life goes on.

I await Canada's Blogging Tories to finally logically conclude that the Stephen Harper Party of Canada hates women. That is the logical conclusion to draw here, no?

Analogy!

Um ... what?

Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez has been charged with refusing to obey a police officer after a traffic accident involving his car.

Has anybody seen the Liberals who attacked Conservative MP Davinder [sic] Shory today? I didn’t think so.

So we're comparing a Conservative MP whose name has been linked with a multi-multi-multi-million dollar mortgage fraud scheme with ... a traffic accident? Really?

Awesome.

Left hand, meet right hand.

OK, then:

The order to cut Canada's 12 coastal defence vessels by half has been rescinded — just one day after it was announced, according to the country's chief of defence staff.

Check back Monday when the Harper government again does something baffling and inexplicable, then checks public reaction to see if it was a good idea after all.

... and this is why we mock them.

Over at BCL's, a link to Dr. Dawg's regarding Harper government funding of faith-based organizations inspires this comment by ubiquitous wanker commenter and mathematical illiterate "wilson":

'22 out of 173 grants made went to faith-based organizations'

WOW! 1.27% of the funded organizations were faith based, that's real scary stuff BCL.

Is there a breakdown where the other 98.73% went to?

It's always a bad idea when wankers try to do simple arithmetic. It never ends well.

AFTERSNARK: I love wilson's implication that there is some magical percentage for misappropriation of public funds below which we should just give it a pass. One immediately thinks of ADSCAM!!!!!, and the popular figure of 100 million dollars. If we take that figure, and compare it to the total Canadian budget for one year, and that ADSCAM!!!!! amount turns out to be less than 1.27 per cent of the total, can we tell Canada's wankers to finally fucking shut the fucking fuck up about it?

I'm just asking.

Same-sex marriage and the "slippery slope."

"It's a slippery slope," the wingnuts screech. "First, you let gays marry. Then it'll be polygamy. Then adults will be marrying children, and men will be marrying sheep. And box turtles. Where will it end!?!?", they howl tearfully.

Yes, let's talk about that slippery slope, shall we? Where said wingnuts will first refuse to perform same-sex marriages. Then, perhaps, given time to reflect, they will decide it offends their religious sensibilities to perform inter-racial marriages. And maybe it will outrage their religious convictions when one of the couple is divorced. Or when one atheist wants to marry another atheist. Or when a human female wants to marry Ezra Levant.



OK, maybe I pushed that analogy a bit far, but you see where I'm going with this.

Fetuspalooza!

Apparently, there was a "pro-life" rally in Ottawa recently:



What?

Satire!

Dr. Dawg gets it about right. Check back later today to learn how the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal took what should have been an open-and-shut case and fucked it up completely as you know they will.

I STAND CORRECTED: Apparently, this is such a complicated and nuanced case that the justices will have to ponder on it at some length after hearing arguments. Which means they have already fucked it up beyond belief. Epic legal fail.

The very definition of a "no-brainer."

So ... any bets?

Same sex vs. religious freedom case in Sask. court

Saskatchewan's top court has begun to hear arguments in a case that pits gay rights against religious freedoms.

Lawyer Michael Megaw argued Thursday before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal that the law should not force marriage commissioners to perform same-sex marriages if it's against their religious beliefs. Megaw said that making them do so forces them to "park their rights at the door."

If I have days where I just want religious yobs to burst into flame, does that make me a bad person?

WHEN STUPID PEOPLE COMMENT: While this case deserves to take no longer than the corresponding justices saying something like, "Either do your job or piss off," commenter "pastordave" thinks he's being outrageously clever with a proposed compromise:



This is, of course, appallingly idiotic crap. There is no "grandfathering" to be done since absolutely nothing has changed. A marriage commissioner's job is, quite simply, to marry those people legally entitled to get married under the laws of Canada. Whether or not that definition changes over the years should matter not one whit to the job description of said commissioner.

Do the job. Or fuck off. Are we done here?

Reality and that gosh-darned liberal bias.

Staying on topic with Stephen Harper's gutting of Canada's navy, we have, over at this CBC story, one of Little Stevie's perky attack poodles with his massive man crush spilling over:



And then there's reality:

The Harper Conservatives’ failed record on the Arctic:

• They broke their 2006 election promise to build three armed icebreakers by cancelling two of them and failing to deliver on the remaining one;
• There has been no progress on much-needed plans to build new fixed-wing search-and-rescue aircraft for Canada, jeopardizing the safety of Canadians and our military while failing to live up to international obligations to work together on Arctic search and rescue;
• There is still no deep water dock facility – all they’ve done is change its planned location from Iqaluit to Nanisivik;
• They terminated the procurement process for new ice-strengthened naval resupply ships;
• No new coast guard patrol vessels have been built after the government cancelled their own procurement process; and
• They failed to increase Canadian Ranger numbers from 4,100 to 5,000.

Are we done here? Yeah, I'm pretty sure we're done here. Attack poodle epic fail.

And from the "Department of Spectacularly Bad Timing" ...

Given today's news of Stephen Harper's scuttling of Canada's patrol fleet, one hopes that this sanctimonious twatwaffle has the grace to be appropriately embarrassed (all emphasis tail-waggingly added):

Credit for Harper is long overdue

By Gerald Hall, Times Colonist May 13, 2010

It is refreshing to see the prestigious Economist magazine and German Chancellor Angela Merkel come to Stephen Harper's rescue with some well-deserved accolades for leadership in his stubborn resistance to European pressure for a new global tax on banks.

Harper has not only managed to generally govern quite admirably for the past four years, but without the advantage of a parliamentary majority he has successfully guided our economy through the current economic turbulence.

He deserves credit for the attention given the Arctic with the building of a commercial fisheries harbour, geo-mapping to upgrade Arctic research and plans to build the John G. Diefenbaker icebreaker. Significant progress on social policies has been achieved like making Employment Insurance more available and extending parental benefits for the self-employed, strengthening Internet child pornography laws and increased funding for health inspection of food. The government has been strong on crime and justice issues, defence and military policies and continues to work for Parliamentary reform and has supported quite generously specific initiatives such as the Olympics.

Harper and the Conservatives have progressed well beyond rhetoric with concrete achievements and deserve the chance to prove what they could do with a majority government.

Gerald Hall

Parksville

Unsurprisingly, charter members of the Stephen Harper Glee Club have already creamed themselves in agreement.

Yeah, that's kinda awkward.

Oh, for fuck's sake ...

It's almost cruel to continue mocking her.

This doesn't even come as a surprise any more.

Ho hum, another day, another example of mismanagement of the Canadian defence portfolio.

A shortage of money and sailors is forcing Canada's navy to mothball half of its fleet of coastal patrol vessels.

Canada's 12 Kingston-class ships, based in Halifax and Esquimalt, B.C., are operated by the navy reserve. The 55-metre vessels are used to patrol the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific ocean coasts.

In a statement to CBC News, the navy says it made the tough choice to leave several ships at dock and strip them of their crews because it doesn't have the resources to operate all 12.

Stand up for... ah, fuck it. I can't even be bothered to be snarky about it any more. The one area that Harper has staked his reputation on more than any other -- his support for the military -- is an utter fraud.

CC here: And here's where we juxtapose ...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Oh, my:

Government ops committee should be studying departmental budgets and cutting FAT from DM budgets and asking hard questions about program value. The Afghan committee gets an F for not making any recommendations for post 2011. No one cares what happened in 2005-7.

On the other hand, ADSCAM!!!!!

Really, what punchline is there?

And here's where we juxtapose ...

Sometimes, actually having a clue about science might have been useful:

Weed resistance could mean herbicide is futile

THE world's most popular herbicide is losing its knockout punch. More and more weeds are evolving resistance to glyphosate - originally marketed by Monsanto as Roundup - but the problem could have been forestalled by farming practices enriched by a better understanding of evolution...

The solution, as any evolutionary biologist will tell you, is for farmers to vary weed-control practices so that weeds face a number of evolutionary pressures instead of just one. Monsanto recommends precisely this in its instructions to farmers. But farmers have been reluctant to reduce their use of an effective herbicide for an intangible future benefit, especially when few have experienced glyphosate-resistant weeds.

Where diverse weed control is practiced, however, resistance has not yet developed. In most of Canada, for example, farmers grow glyphosate-resistant canola in rotation with wheat and barley. They vary the herbicides used depending on the crop grown, and glyphosate-resistant weeds are unknown.

By way of rebuttal, Canada's whingers retorted, "Evolution? Well, if evolution is true and we evolved from apes, how come apes are still around? Huh? Answer that! Can't answer it, can you? I didn't think so."

You only wish I was making that up.

Ah, the unintentional hilarity -- Part Duh.

Blogging Tory Alberta Ardvark -- with not a trace of irony -- mocks the intellectual state of affairs of other Canadians:

CDN High school students don't know our national anthem

This is messed up:

When it comes to Canada's national anthem, only 67 per cent of Canadian high school students know the words — and even fewer can hum along, suggests a survey done by the University of Victoria.

Here'a s thought, Ards. As long as you're a member of Canada's Blogging Tories -- a collection of witless, yammering imbeciles of whom a disturbing percentage believe wholeheartedly and unabashedly in an invisible sky monster, a recently-created Earth, that biological evolution is an evil liberal plot and that Ann Coulter is an awesomely deep thinker -- you really don't have the moral high ground to make fun of other peoples' intellectual achievements.

I'm just sayin'.

Ah, the unintentional hilarity.

Blogging Tory "NB Tory Gal" delivers the adorable setup:

At one time being an MP mattered and was looked upon with respect by Canadians as a whole.

Yes, dear ... and then the Stephen Harper Party of Canada came to power and showed us all just how wretchedly stupid and evil MPs could be. Thanks for pointing that out, sweetie.

BONUS DUMBASSITUDE: With nary a trace of irony, NB Tory Gal yammers on mindlessly:

MP’s belonged to Committees and discussed legislation that the government of the day wanted to pass. Committees served useful communication purposes and gave an MP the sense that they were making a difference.

Yes, dear ... about those committees:

'Obstruction' handbook leaked

OTTAWA – The Harper government is being accused of a Machiavellian plot to wreak parliamentary havoc after a secret Tory handbook on obstructing and manipulating Commons committees was leaked to the press.

Now, dear, why don't you go fix yourself a nice warm cup of shut the fuck up, and let the grownups talk for a while? That's a good girl.

Batting 0-for-infinity, intellectually.

It actually takes a special kind of wingnut to be wrong about, literally, every single thing in a blog post. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Blogging Tory "BC Blue":

Don Martin: Nazism and Harper

If you wonder how far Don Martin has fallen as a credible writer and to what lengths he will go to try to discredit PM Stephen Harper, check out his latest column here.

Martin sinks to a new low trying to equate Nazism with Conservatism with a reference from a much maligned book by Marci McDonald. She’s the author who has just released “The Armageddon Factor-The Rise of Christian Nationalism in Canada” who couldn’t even get details correct such as naming prominent Jews as Christians and smearing a non-partisan organization as some sort of Christian backed advocacy group. Ezra Levant does a nice job of exposing her bias here.

It was an absolute disgrace that Canwest continued allowing Martin to produce such garbage and hopefully the new owners won’t accept the same.

Point the first: Martin did not equate Nazism with Conservatism. He was simply referring to a passage from McDonald's book, where McDonald reports on Canadian evangelical whackjob Faytene Kryskow drawing parallels between her own followers and Hitler's little brownshirts, as you can clearly see here:

There's a particularly bizarre analogy in a just-released book on the rising religious right in Canadian politics where a youth evangelist with strong connections to the federal Conservatives compares her Christian fan club to the Hitler Youth.

"If they could mobilize their cause to become that mighty with the power of evil backing them," militant evangelical Faytene Kryskow urges her followers, "how much more could we accomplish with the power of God backing us up?"

Point the second: With regards to naming Jews as Christians, one assumes Blue refers to one Joseph Ben-Ami, a ridiculous fiction Dr. Dawg dispenses with here. (WARNING: Ezra Levant gaping maw alert! Do not allow small children to view.)

Point the third: Regarding "smearing a non-partisan organization as some sort of Christian backed advocacy group," Blue clearly means the Canadian Constitution Foundation, whose description as a religious advocacy group was due to a Star editing error, for which they apologized profusely here.

You're used to Canada's Blogging Tories publishing utter and total shit, but it's actually unusual for one of them to be absolutely wrong about absolutely everything from start to finish. Ladies and gentlemen, your Blogging Tories.

Stephen Taylor must be so fucking proud.

(Wag of the tail to BDBO.)


PRETTY WICKED COMEBACKS ... FOR A FIVE-YEAR-OLD: Over at BC Blue's, commenter "Ted" correctly points out Blue's appalling misrepresentation:

Except it was the right wingnut who made the comparison.

How dare those Loonie Lefties quote the evangelical right!! How dare they quote the evangelical right admiring the Hitler Youth!!!!

How desperate must you be to quote the right when you are writing about the right!!!!!!!!!!

To which Blue so maturely responds:

I do worry about you…

Commenter "harebell" similarly attempts to address the issue:

So Krsytow’s own words show her for whom she is and the CPoC cuts back on charities that would support women while funding bible translations in Calgary. Meanwhile modern fundamentalist christians and the other foreign supported evangelicals have unprecedented access to policy makers and are tax exempt; and somehow that is smearing people of another faith.
After reading what socons have accused those of other faiths and of no faith of intending, I believe you need to attend to the beam in your own eye first.

once again reducing Blue to a sand-flinging, petulant infant:

You’re back ... I must have made another loonie leftie’s blog site again.

They're simply children. Never forget that. When the Day of Judgment arrives, Stephen Taylor is going to have so much to answer for.

What A Leader Looks Like

Two douchebags for the price of one.

Blogging Tory "Glendronach" is curiously incoherent:

Grits come clean on buying votes

Give the Alberta Liberals credit for proposing to eliminate the middle man:

The Alberta Liberals want everyone who casts a ballot in a provincial election to get $50.

The proposal is Step 10 in the party’s 12-step program to improve the accountability and effectiveness of government.

The money would come in the form of a tax credit and the aim is to improve voter turnout.

This is not enlightened civics, merely another debasement of the franchise.

It's not quite clear how giving all voters $50 equates to Liberal vote buying, until Blogging Tory co-founder and welfare queen Craig Smith stops by to explain it:

And who benefits the most from a $50 tax credit? The poor – who tend to vote Liberal. It is a blatant attempt to buy votes in the guise of “improving democracy”. Next thing you know they will establish a provincial television station to “protect Albertan culture” that does nothing but spout pro-Liberal propaganda. Liberals are pathetic.

Fucking poor people -- getting all that benefit from tax credits while the rich get squat. There's just something unfair about that, don't you think?

WAIT A MINUTE ... THAT'S BACKWARDS: It just occurred to me that the standard storyline is that giving out tax credits does no good whatsoever for poor people since they weren't going to be paying any tax anyway, so reducing their tax via a tax credit is worthless for them. Isn't that the way it works? Which means that the whining above is particularly idiotic, no?

When it's so bloody obvious that even the National Post gets it.

On the topic of marriage commissioners, amazingly, even the National Post has finally twigged to it:

National Post editorial board: Marriage commissioners have no right to say no

Civil marriage commissioners are, in effect, agents of the state. It is government that gives them authority to perform legally binding marriage ceremonies — which means they must follow the government’s rules when they execute their duties.

Etc, etc, etc, logically irrefutable argument that marriage commissioners should either marry who they're told to marry, or find other work. So who -- I ask you, who -- is still so irredeemably retarded as to keep flogging this long-decayed carcass? Oh, Christ:

Sasketchewan Court Considers Legislation Protecting Conscience Rights of Marriage Commissioners

REGINA, May 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) will appear before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal Thursday, May 13 and Friday, May 14 in a case involving proposed legislation that would allow the province's marriage commissioners to refuse to perform same-sex "marriages" because of sincerely held religious beliefs.

*Sigh*. You wouldn't be protecting their conscience. You'd be protecting their ignorance, their bigotry and their intolerance. Oh, and their infuriating, goddamned hypocrisy. That, too.

Horse. Barn door. Hoofbeats disappearing into the distance. Get a fucking clue.

The Good Lord giveth ... and giveth ... and giveth ...

Via ACR, we learn that while other groups are going wanting, there's always some cash lying around if you have the right attitude:



Almost a half mil for Bible translation. I'm sure Canada's Blogging Tories will be all over this egregiously inappropriate misuse of public funds. Any minute now. Yessir, any minute now ...

OH, MY. Some seriously patronizing sanctimony here. Some folks sure are protective of their tax dollars. Sometimes.

Just when you think they couldn't get any crazier ...

When mixing your prescription with alcohol goes horribly, horribly wrong:

... You see, CBC really doesn't give rats ass about canadians period.

If canada become like GREECE under the opposition parties who all support unions, CBC will find something 'positive' to say on this. Yet as we stand the most stable country in world praised by other countries and guess what CBC finds something negative to say on our success.

When the taliban say that they watch CBC everyday look out is because they taliban know more of what kind of a media CBC really is all about than most canadian ever will know. CBC IS THE TALIBAN BEST FRIEND.

And they wonder why we mock them. No, seriously, they apparently have no idea.

Useless, goddamned, motherfucking, stupid, cocksucking CBC.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Accomplishment!

The Blogging Tory two-cans-and-a-piece-of-string communications network is up and running, as everyone rushes to congratulate Stephen Harper on his unparallelled ability to congratulate other people:



The fact that Cameron, without an outright majority, is still at the mercy of the Lib Dems is a detail that would only tarnish an adorable story line, so it's carefully excised.

HOW ... ODD: Apparently, Captain Canada Taylor seems singularly unfazed by the latest developments across the big water (emphasis tail-waggingly added):

Speaking from the steps of the official residence at 10 Downing Street, Cameron said Tuesday evening the Queen has asked him to form a new government and he has accepted. Cameron will form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. The party's leader, Nick Clegg, will become deputy prime minister.

Stephen Taylor seems perfectly fine with the idea of a coalition government in Britain. This would be the same Stephen Taylor who hysterically wet himself, shrieking about the evils of a coalition government here in Canada not that long ago.

How times have changed.

The Mansbridge/Guergis interview.

I didn't have the patience to watch the whole thing, so I just snipped the highlights:



If you close your eyes, seriously, could you tell the difference?

Food fight!

Awesome. I don't care which side wins, I'm just praying for injuries.

Humour at the expense of Teh Gayz.

Via Twitter account FakeAPStylebook:

Avoid references to "gay," "homosexual" or "alternative lifestyle." Instead, just use the phrase "the damned."

Blogging Tory talking points are go!

Hey, kids. Be the first one on your block to regurgitate the Conservative-provided meme! Well, OK, maybe the second one:



(Wag of the tail to e-mailer Brian B.)

Zerb!

Here you go. The Jonathan Kay-related douchebagitude can't be far behind.

Red-faced retractions in three ... two ... one ...

The Star screws up, and makes things right with a blindingly obvious correction:

NOTE: This article has been edited from a previous version that incorrectly stated the non-partisan Canadian Constitution Foundation is a Christian advocacy group.

Wouldn't it be fun to note how many of Canada's shrieking wankers suddenly generated an entire industry of outrage from that editing error? Let's watch.

Misogyny!

Disgraced drama queen Helena Guergis gives an interview that no one gives a fuck about. I await with bated breath the inevitable shrieks of "Misogyny!" from Stephen Taylor's blogging brownshirts regarding how horrifically unfairly that poor woman was treated by the Stephen Harper Party of Canada.

Personally, I blame the Liberals. And Adscam.

Mostly Adscam.

AFTERSNARK: Dave lays on the lumber. And, by the way, why did Helena of Tory give an exclusive interview to the CBC of all media outlets? I thought the CBC was an irredeemable bastion of leftist, baby-killing socialism. Until, apparently, you're a pathetic wanker who needs to get her story out there. Then, suddenly, the Ceeb is, like, your bestest friend.

Try not to look shocked.

P.S. I love the part where Guergis claims to have thought of Stephen Harper as a friend, and Dave points out -- entirely accurately -- that Stephen Harper doesn't have friends. Rather, he has colleagues who are politically useful until they stop being useful. It's like the old techie joke: What do you call a Microsoft business partner? An organ donor.

Stephen Harper doesn't have colleagues. He has organ donors.

Dumbassitude open thread.

What's the dumbest thing you've read today? A simple link should do -- additional explanation would probably be superfluous.

How goddamned stupid is Don Newman, anyway?

Apparently, this goddamned stupid:

Wrong issue, wrong lesson to take from the British election


British election results
Party:Seats:% vote
Conservatives:306:36
Labour:258:29
Liberal Democrats:57:23

... Consider that if Labour holds on to power because of third-party support then the party that actually received the most votes and the most seats in the election will have no say in how the country is run.

The Conservatives will (again) be the official opposition. How fair is that?

Moreover, the party that received the fewest votes and the fewest seats of the three main standard bearers, the Lib Dems, will effectively be calling the shots (and likely writing the referendum rules) on an important policy issue that fewer than one out of four voters supported on election day. How fair is that?

Gosh, Don, I don't know ... how fair is it that, when there's no clear winner, somebody's going to have to negotiate and you can expect offers and counter-offers and that sort of thing?

Fucking idiot. Say, Don, how about that whole Israel thing?

The February 2009 elections produced five prominent political parties; Kadima, Likud, Israel Beytenu, Labor and Shas, each with more than ten seats in the Knesset. Three of these parties were ruling parties in the past. However, only once has a single party held the 61 seats needed for a majority government (the Alignment from 1968 until the 1969 elections). Therefore, aside from that one exception, since 1948 Israeli governments have always comprised coalitions. As of 2009, there are 12 political parties represented in the Knesset, spanning both the political and religious spectra.

I look forward to Newman waxing similarly shrieky and weepy and pearl-clutchy over the current state of Israeli politics.

Fucking idiot.

Nice life you got there ...

... be a shame if you don't shut the fuck up:

Carnac the Magnificent speaks!

Nov. 7, 2007: Give them time, and the Saskatchewan Party will become just as arrogant and contemptuous with an air of dismissive superiority as every useless, right-wing wanker before them.

Oh, look.

AFTERSNARK: Before anyone gets carried away, no, I didn't actually make the above prediction. I'm just implying that it would have been the safest prediction you could have made back then.

And here's where we juxtapose ...

Jan 5, 2010:

People don't care about Afghan detainee issue: Harper

OTTAWA–Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canadians aren't really concerned about allegations that the government engaged in a cover-up over the abuse of Afghan detainees.

"I think polls have been pretty clear that that's not on the top of the radar of most Canadians," Harper said in an interview with CBC-TV correspondent Peter Mansbridge.

May 9, 2010:

Canadians believe Afghan detainees tortured -- and disapprove: poll

OTTAWA - A solid majority of Canadians believe prisoners detained by Canadian soldiers have been tortured after being transferred to Afghan authorities, a new Ipsos Reid poll suggests.

A fat majority also say that if torture occurred, it was not only wrong but that they believe there was widespread knowledge of it within the Canadian government -- and that senior officials should lose their jobs, if that was the case.

Pollster John Wright said Canadians are saying they "care deeply" about the possibility of detainees being tortured after Canadian soldiers have transferred them to Afghan custody.

"They're saying it's not proper, it should have stopped and, if it didn't, somebody should have done something about it," he said.

We'll check in with the Blogging Tories later, when they take a break from crowing about the Conservatives leading in the polls to tell us why polls aren't worth shit.

Every Blogging Tory you've ever argued with.

Some of this should look excruciatingly familiar. Remind you of anyone?

(Wag of the tail to April Reign.)

Sure, let's talk about deficits.

I'm sure no one over there appreciates the hilarity:

Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 8:30 pm

If I'm not mistaken, with increased tax revenue and the money GM paid back, I think the deficit is down to $25 billion.

Keep in mind that Harper paid off over $30 billion in the first few years of his government.

Yes, he did. He pissed away the surplus bequeathed to him by the Liberals and fucked up reliable government revenue by slashing the GST, whereupon we find ourselves in the hole we are now in, with Blogging Tories now bragging about how Stephen Harper reduced the national debt during his first few years in office, with nary a hint of what should be legally-required irony.

Fuck, but these people are children.

Spineless Ignatieff capitulation in three ... two .. one ...

Given that it's been two weeks since Speaker Peter Milliken's two week deadline, isn't it just about time for Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff to make a mockery of his recent bluster and braggadocio, drop trou, spread his cheeks and take whatever Stephen Harper feels like dishing out?

I'm pretty sure that's today, isn't it?

Where did all those raving, lunatic, whackjob Christians come from?

Oh.

AH, THE UNINTENTIONAL HILARITY: Blogging Tory "Diogenes Borealis" is, like, totally put off:

Marci McDonald's report in Friday's Toronto Star entitled How Canada's Christian right was built is such an appalling piece of journalism that I think it should be included in every Grade 9 English curriculum as an example of bad writing, ...

That would be a Blogging Tory, presuming to lecture the rest of us on the topic of appallingly bad writing.

*Snort*.

Capitalism!

In the midst of Canadian whingers slowly puzzling out how our public library system works, we have the following suggestion by one "Thucydides":

Other names to look for (and request) would include Russel Kirk, Friedrich von Hayek, Ayn Rand (her collections of non fiction and philosophy essays), Ludwig von Mises and Preston Manning.

A mass campaign to get these books and others into libraries across the nation would be a true "shock and awe" moment for the conservative movement, and actually having these books in the libraries might inspire a few more minds out there.

An excellent suggestion, and wouldn't it be awesome to use the publicly-funded, taxpayer-supported library system to act as the delivery system for the merits of unbridled, unfettered, unregulated capitalism? What a master stroke of pure irony!

I suspect this will also be the only time you see the phrases "shock and awe" and "Preston Manning" in geographical proximity.

P.S. It's always a bad idea to mix books and conservatives. The unfamiliarity and all that.

We'd like to thank the Academy ...

OK, moment's over. Back to work.

Conservatism: A culture of pathetic whining.

Oh, for fuck's sake:

Are Our Libraries Too Liberal?

Since we are in the midst of a discussion about a 'culture war' I thought I'd share a personal experience I had that has some relation to the issue. I was on my library's online catalogue searching for a copy of "The Conscience of a Conservative" by former Republican senator Barry Goldwater, hoping to bone up on my conservatism from a very respectable patriarch of said movement. I found no copies of the book I was looking for, in fact Barry Goldwater's name did not even come up when I searched under "Author". You know what I did find? Five copies of books by Paul Krugman, the renowed liberal American economist. Two copies of "The Conscience of a Liberal" and a few other copies primarily discussing economic theory.

Now I'm not saying that Prof. Krugman's literary works should not be displayed in our public libraries, and I might even be interested in reading some of his books. But it seems to me that if you're going to have a book describing the conscience of a liberally minded individual, you should have a book in the library that offers a prevailing counterpoint to those ideals, and I would say Goldwater's most famous manifesto on the conservative movement is a very good example. Goldwater's ideas and presidential candidacy paved the way for Ronald Reagan to become President. I would think our libraries would not be duly influenced by political ideology, or maybe this is just some honest omission on the part of the Library Board.

In the end, I had to go online and order the Goldwater book from a company down in Atlanta. It is unfortunate that I had to go to the Americans again for quality reading materials (I was at a Christian conference in Louisville where they handed out free books by prominent theologians like John Piper and John MacArthur), but it's hard to fight against liberal bias in this country (not to say that many of us are not trying).

I'm now sure what amuses me more -- that Blogging Tory Alan Kan is nonplussed that his library might, given Conservative-inflicted finite resources to purchase books, assign more importance to a recent tome by a recent Nobel Prize-winning economist, or that he thinks there's something to be gleaned from the writings of an American politician whose 1964 stint as the Republican Presidential nominee it can be fairly said:

He lost the 1964 presidential election to incumbent Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson by one of the largest landslides in history, bringing down many Republican candidates as well.

Mostly, what I glean is that Canadian conservatism has turned into the most eye-rolling example of mewling, squalling whiners imaginable, for which every slight or inconvenience is simply more evidence of an evil liberal conspiracy to keep them from getting educated.

This is, of course, utter bunk. Their appalling lack of education has nothing to do with us.

AFTERSNARK: One is tempted to suggest to Mr. Kan that, if he is unhappy with all those evil liberal-dominated sources of information, he is free to collect some like-minded right whingers and see if he can do better. Sadly, we've seen the results of that sort of thinking. And it's not pretty.

"Yo, Ottawa! Are you ready to fucking rock!?!?"

Join rock-and-roll rebels Nickelback at their next concert where they exhort their audience to work hard, stay in school and have their pets spayed and neutered. And they don't want to lecture, but they've been told that some people out there are smoking marijuana and they don't approve of that sort of thing.

UPPITY DATE: "Chartattack" juxtaposes:

According to the Ottawa Citizen, our dear leader and his son were in attendance for some good, pro-family entertainment — y'know, songs about blowjobs and strippers — wholesome children-friendly stuff.

And cocaine. You forgot cocaine.

And as for you fancy-pants, educated folks and everything ...

And you thought "Fahrenheit 451" was just a good read:

Woman: [Shouts] “Burn the books!” [applause]

Man: “I don’t think you were serious about that, were you?”

Woman: “I am too.”

Man: “Burn all the books?!”

Woman: “The ones in college, those, those brainwashing books.”

Man: “[laughs] Brainwashing books?”

Woman: “Yes.”

Man: “Which ones are those?”

Woman: “Like, the evolution crap, and, yeah...”

Did anyone else just envision a world full of "Hunter"s?

From Stephen Harper's ass to Stephen Taylor's keyboard.

Captain Canada and adorable smear merchant Stephen Taylor drags himself out of bed, checks his e-mail for marching orders from the PMO, and dutifully gets to work:

Oops, I’m sorry. The paragraph above erroneously cited the name of Rahim Jaffer. The excerpt above is not about the former MP who is the subject of a probe into website fibbery (and some alleged “puffery”) by the House of Commons ethics committee, but was rather in reference to a sitting Member of Parliament. I regret the deliberate yet illustrative error.

Wow, MP Derek Lee must have done something egregiously unethical to merit this kind of smear. Oh, wait ... Taylor continues:

Now, of course, Lee has has [sic] probably not anything [sic] wrong here ...

But "probably" not doing anything wrong has never been a defense when Stephen Taylor is on the case. Hey, Stephen Taylor has probably never snorted coke off a busty hooker's ass. Probably. And let's not let facts like that Lee cleared all of his work through the Ethics Commissioner before doing any of it get in the way of a good old-fashioned character assassination.

In any event, we can safely conclude that Taylor and his coterie of brain-damaged flying monkeys have all received their instructions and are on the march, torches and pitchforks in hand. Because Rahim Jaffer is to be defended at all costs. And if Derek Lee turns out to be collateral damage, so be it.

Vital Viewing

A friend of mine is one of the producers on CBC's The Current, a radio program which has earned a stellar reputation for quality of both content and delivery. At the moment they're conducting an experiment and presenting the show online in video. Today is the 4th and last of the pilot videos of the show and I can't recommend it highly enough. Unlike so much of the fare we've grown used to, there are no side scrolling blurbs or blinking ads, there are no flashy effects, no spinning, whirling graphics. The studio is austere, the video production is simple, cutting from host to guests and back and in that simplicity there is enormous power to communicate in a manner that has largely been lost to television.

I implore you to go and witness the story of Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish as he and his two surviving daughters share their courage in the face of horror, tragedy and loss. It has been just over a year since his home was shelled by Israeli tanks. Three of his daughters and one of their cousins were killed in the attack, another of his daughters wounded. That would be more than enough to drive most of us toward thoughts of vengeance and hatred. This is by no means the first or only cause that Dr. Abuelaish might have to pursue a path of anger and reprisal. Yet this man still finds the strength to seek peace. He and his daughters are currently in Canada. Dr. Abuelaish has written a book detailing his story and his hope not only for his own family and people but for the all of the people of the region, I Shall Not Hate.

Some would have us believe that the four girls killed in his home were somehow human shields, that he and his people were somehow brutal and uniform thugs, united in savagery. Allow those lies to be put to rest by this man and by his daughters, by their obvious anguish and their refusal of violence.

"Are you talking to me?"

"Are you fucking talking to me?"



"You better not be fucking talking to me."

Popcorn!

Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please:

Guergis to fight nomination ouster

Former federal cabinet minister Helena Guergis says she will appeal the Conservative Party's decision to drop her as a future nominee in her Ontario riding of Simcoe-Grey.

In a letter to party executive director Dan Hilton, the sitting MP asks what she has done to justify the "drastic measure," which she says "defies the wishes of grassroots electors" in the local riding association.

"In recent weeks, in essence, I have been charged, convicted and sentenced without any due process or knowing what I have done wrong," Guergis wrote.

"There have been endless rumours and allegations unfairly levelled against me, but to date I have not been given a specific reason for my removal from caucus, nor has there been any investigation launched, let alone concluded.

"I am confident that I have done nothing wrong and will be exonerated of all the baseless accusations in the media."

This has massive potential entertainment value. I want to see someone defend the idea that simply being a pathetically incompetent human being with creepy anger management issues shouldn't necessarily disqualify you from being a Canadian Member of Parliament. Let's lower that bar -- as long as you haven't murdered anyone or been photographed snorting coke off Ezra Levant's naked body, why shouldn't you be a Conservative Cabinet Minister?

It used to be "the best and the brightest." Nowadays, it's just "Have you ever done prison time?".

And here's where we juxtapose...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper would like to emphasize that it would be entirely inappropriate to comment on the case of Omar Khadr, since it would be tacky and unethical to muse about currently ongoing legal proceedings and the proper course of action is to let the justice system work without any outside interference or speculation.

This would be the same Stephen Harper who threw Cabinet Minister Helena Guergis under a bus, stripping her of her Ministership, expelling her from the Conservative caucus and handing her over to the Ethics Commissioner and the RCMP, based on questionable gossip from a private eye.

Please tell me you find the comparison enlightening.

The Lie Of The Free

Freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the right to a fair trial are no longer relevant in modern America. In a day when the likes of rape gurney Joe Lieberman is putting forward legislation that would allow the government of the United States to strip individuals, merely accused of terrorism, of their citizenship it should not be too great a surprise. And the subservient lap dogs that infest our halls of power seem perfectly content to bury their snouts in that big dog's hind and accept the stench as the perfume of power and not as symptomatic of a disease that needs to be fought.

The always brilliant skdadl over at Pogge! points out that the disgusting and illegal kangaroo charade being perpetrated at Gitmo has permanently ejected reporters from the Star, the Globe and even Canwest from covering the ongoing travesty of justice. The pretense is that they printed the name of a witness protected by what they're passing off as a trial. It is telling that the individual being "protected" already has a measure of fame as befits his prosecution and conviction for detainee abuse. Before this mockery of a trial even began, the individual in question had given an interview to the Star. The Pentagon has decided that their protected witness would be referred to only as "Interrogator No. 1". But Joshua Claus, the walking vermin in question has a Wikipedia page that details his admission of guilt in the routine torture of "extrajudicial detainees" and the homicide of at least two of the prisoners there. His role as one of Khadr's interrogators has been known to the public for more than two years.

I am confident we can count on Stephen Harper's government to bleat some vague tripe about ongoing blah blah as they continue to turn a blind eye to war crimes, torture and crimes against humanity. When we are not the authors of such crimes, our government is happy to tacitly accept and approve of the demise of our honour and credibility. We are no less the terrorists for our complicity than those that pull the triggers and plant the bombs. I don't enjoy feeling ashamed of this land. We, the people of Canada, are better than this. And if we are not better than this, then we should bloody well aspire to become better, far better.

Mr Harper you are guilty of crimes against humanity and crimes against the person of Omar Khadr whose human rights and charter rights have been grossly violated. As a child soldier, Khadr's protection as a Canadian citizen and under the Geneva Conventions was your duty. You have stood idly by and when that was insufficient you actively prevented the right thing being done. Mr Obama, you were elected in an upwelling of hope for positive change. you fed into and were in turn nourished by the idea that you would steer the ship of the American state away from the gross abuses of law and justice perpetrated by the prior administration. Turns out you lied through your teeth as your forces in your command bombs civilians in third party nations. The very fact that this farcical "military commission" is taking place on your watch is an indictment of you and your presidency. So much for the promise to close Gitmo and clean up the mess you inherited. Turns out you decided to wallow in the filth instead.

What the hell were my old man and the other veteran's fighting for in WW2? It sure as hell wasn't to see torturers and murderers wearing the uniforms they had served in and it certainly wasn't to follow the illegal orders of corrupt rulers. The greatest generation staked their lives against secret prisons. They left their homes and families and sacrificed in every regard to bring low those that would create a Bagram or an Abu Ghraib. Mr Harper, Mr Obama, you and your generals bring shame to the memories and uniforms of the men who fought for freedom and for justice. In a slip of time it would be you two in the docks at Nuremberg with your generals and those who followed the orders you give. We will never defeat evil by becoming evil ourselves. Shame on you and shame on us for abiding your disdain of our better instincts and natures.

That's our Lindsay.

Pop over to Michael Geist's and check out the list of "notable blog posts from creators ... and other sites." Yeah, we rock.

OK, Lindsay rocks. I just live vicariously through him.

Maybe it works for bloggers, too.

Macallan 21 Fine Oak -- the single-malt choice of sophisticated bloggers everywhere. If you need me, I'll be standing by the mailbox.

Interwebs On The Air

Maple Syrup Revolution #2 the Rev goes one on one with Dr. Dawg!

ADSCAM! ADSCAM, I say!

Huh ... this looks entertaining:

MP Shory accused in giant mortgage fraud

The Bank of Montreal is accusing Calgary Conservative MP Devinder Shory of having ties to what is believed to be Canada's largest mortgage fraud.

The bank has filed a lawsuit against hundreds of Albertans, including Shory. Civil court documents filed in the lawsuit, and obtained exclusively by CBC News, allege Shory, a lawyer, executed legal transactions that misrepresented the true mortgage owner of at least five Calgary properties.

No! Don't look! ADSCAM! ADSCAM! For the love of God, ADSCAM!

P.S. If someone can come up with a photo of Shory, Rahim Jaffer, a bag of cocaine and some busty hookers, I can die happy. Having Ezra Levant in the same frame would just be a bonus.

ADSCAM! You think I jest? Go read the very first pissy, infantile comment here. I've worked on 4-pin circuit boards that have a more sophisticated feedback loop than these people.

P.S. The same useless, hypocritical Blogging Tories who have, for years, condemned Omar Khadr as a murderous terrorist -- no doubt about it, he's absolutely fucking guilty, what the hell do we need a trial for -- will now sanctimoniously lecture you on this whole "innocent until proven guilty, let's wait until all the facts are in, everyone's entitled to their day in court, how dare you rush to judgment?" legal system thingy. You know it's coming.

Stephen Harper: Selling Canada By The Pound

Dear Canada,

Democracy is just too darned inconvenient, when my masters call it is impolite not to answer. And since you've all been so stroppy with your little concerns about fairness, freedom and that malarky, well, I've decided to go the imperial fiat route. As your minority prime minister I'm going to inflict a corrupt, ineffective copyright regime on the country. Let's not have the interests of the general public stand in the way of rapacious greed and corporate malfeasance. The lobby has spoken, let the litigation as business model commence.

Autocratically yours,
Stephen Harper


The following is lifted in its entirety from Michael Geist's blog.

Months of public debate over the future of Canadian copyright law were quietly decided earlier this week, when sources say the Prime Minister's Office reached a verdict over the direction of the next copyright bill. The PMO was forced to make the call after Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement were unable to reach consensus on the broad framework of a new bill. As I reported last week, Moore has argued for a virtual repeat of Bill C-61, with strong digital locks provisions similar to those found in the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act and a rejection of a flexible fair dealing approach. Consistent with earlier comments on the need for a forward-looking, flexible approach, Clement argued for changes from C-61.

With mounting pressure from the U.S. - there have repeated meetings with senior U.S. officials in recent weeks - the PMO sided squarely with Moore's vision of a U.S.-style copyright law. The detailed provisions will be negotiated over the coming weeks by the respective departments, but they now have their marching orders of completing a bill that will satisfy the U.S. that comes complete with tough anti-circumvention rules and no flexible fair dealing provision.

The bill is not expected until June, but it will have dramatic repercussions once introduced. First, the bill represents a stunning reversal from the government's seeming shift away from C-61 and its commitment to a bill based on the national copyright consultation. Instead, the consultation appears to have been little more than theatre, with the PMO and Moore choosing to dismiss public opinion. Second, after adopting distinctly pro-consumer positions on other issues, Moore has abandoned that approach with support for what may become the most anti-consumer copyright bill in Canadian history. Third, the bill will immediately impact the Canadian position at the ACTA and CETA negotiations, where the bill's provisions on anti-circumvention and ISP liability will effectively become the Canadian delegation position.

For those wondering what can be done, my only answer is to speak out now. Write a paper letter to your Member of Parliament and send copies to the Prime Minister, Moore, Clement and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. No stamp is required - be sure to include your home address and send it to the House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6. Once that is done, join the Facebook group and the Facebook page and be sure to ask others do the same. You may spoken out before, but your voice is needed yet again.

Makes me sick to my stomach. I guess the agenda isn't hidden so much anymore. Canada's New Government is letting it all hang out, to hell with women's health and women's rights. To hell with responsible reproductive choice. To hell with some 50% of the population. To hell with Canadian values of fairness and decency. To hell with the rule of law. Our leaders sit idly by as certain of our population are stripped of their rights. Our leaders wipe the blood from their hands on the impeccable suits we've paid for, as they squirm and lie through their carrion clenched teeth about the crimes they sanction in our name. Our leaders no longer serve at our behest, rather they serve our tenders to the company next door. Our leaders squat in the filthy graft of their lobby fed winnings and sell our artists, educators, librarians and innovators to the lowliest of bidders.

To say I have lost faith in our system of government is an understatement. We are no longer being governed, these actions are not in our best interests, we're being sold off like so much demographic meat. After every effort by the actual stakeholders, by Canadian artists, writers, musicians and film makers, by educators, libraries and our most vital repositories of culture, after so very many people, citizens, real Canadians have spoken out saying, "We do not want this". After all of the effort and attempts to deal with the people who are sent to Ottawa in our name, after all of that, Stephen Harper has decided to simply enact a bad law because his master's voices have called and he is an obedient little whore.

I do not anticipate our milquetoast leader of the opposition will raise his timid voice in protest. After all, the corrupt opposition that sit across from Harper's corrupt government have shown only too willing to bend over and suck. They serve the same masters. One can only wonder who among this parliament of whores might remember who sent them and whose interests they are actually charged to serve.

By Our Own Hands

Greed and stupidity.

Die, National Post!

Please, for the love of God, just fucking die!

Is that your final answer, CS?

After Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth tells women's groups that they should shut the fuck up about this whole abortion thing or Stephen Harper will totally, completely and royally fuck them over because he's a vicious, mean-spirited, vindictive asshole, Blogging Tory "CanadianSense" has a most curious post:

Senator Nancy Ruth: Speaks Truth To Power

Um, CS? You do realize that, when you refer to the "truth" being spoken here, you're referring to Stephen Harper being a vicious, mean-spirited, vindictive asshole, right? You're sure that's what you meant to write? I'm just asking.

Morals and values and rent boys, oh my!

When you remember that Jesus Christ hung out with 12 other guys who always wore loose-fitting robes for easy access, this makes a lot more sense.

Misogynists, Frank. You forgot misogynists.

EKOS pollster Frank Graves points out the uncomfortable truth that the Stephen Harper Party of Canada is a comfortable place for bigots and racists of various stripes. If he'd only waited a few more days, he could have added that they hate women, too.

AFTERSNARK: Given how bullying, thuggish, vindictive and fascist Stephen Harper is now, can you imagine what damage he could inflict with a majority? The entertainment value would be awesome, but only if you could watch it from a distance and didn't have to deal with the carnage.

Here, let me explain it to you.

Welcome in Canada. Not welcome in Canada. Identifying the difference is left as an exercise for the reader.

No! Bad Dawg!

WTF?

The Torch, Canada's premier milblog, ...

And that's when I threw up in my mouth. The Torch? "Canada's premier milblog?" Get a grip, Dawg. On a good day, that blog is nothing more than The Politic playing dressup with GI Joe dolls.

If you want milblog, there's The Galloping Beaver. The only reason I'd subject myself to the infantile, sycophantic posturing of The Torch is if I thought Jay Currie was being too intellectual and I wanted to dumb things down even further.

The Conservative assholitude.

James Moore: Asshole.

PREDICTION TIME: The same Canadian whingers who went totally, apeshit, berserk fucking crazy, foaming at the mouth over Jack Layton moving a woman's arm out of the way so he could see the TV in a bar will now piss themselves in hysterical laughter and mock Justin Trudeau for making such a big deal over something so stupidly trivial.

You know I'm right.

Gosh ... never saw THAT coming.

David Caruso Peter MacKay admits what we've all known for, like, forever:

Afghan deployment past 2011 possible: MacKay

Defence Minister Peter MacKay on Saturday repeated the government's official line that the country's soldiers would be withdrawn from combat in Afghanistan next year, but he also suggested some Canadians might stay.

Check in later at the Blogging Tories, where the wankers who once lauded Stephen Harper's bold leadership for extending our troops' mission in Afghanistan, then lauded Stephen Harper's bold leadership for fixing a withdrawal date, will now laud Stephen Harper's bold leadership for again extending our presence there.

I'm pretty sure someone will describe this as an "accomplishment." But that's just a guess.

Did NOT think that one through, eh, Craig?

Blogging Tory co-founder and whiny, failed bloggy aggregator dude Craig Smith launches into the tedious wingnut refrain of "Why should my tax money go to things I disagree with?"

A perfectly good question, Craig, and while you're bitching, moaning, pissing and kvetching about the few million dollars that that represents, I thought I'd point out that I (and many others, I suspect) are really tired of throwing away billion after billion in the sinkhole that is Afghanistan. Can we maybe complain similarly about that?

I'm just asking.

P.S. As a Canadian taxpayer, I'm also not keen on being buried in a Conservative-produced deficit and watching my government trip over itself to lower corporate taxes even further. Boy, can we have some fun with this game or what?

And here's where we juxtapose ...

Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth would appreciate it if you would just, you know, "shut the fuck up." Or else.

In unrelated news, Conservative Senator Doug Finley is terribly, terribly concerned about the "erosion of freedom of speech" in Canada.

You cannot make this shit up.

ON SECOND THOUGHT, a number of bloggy types are suggesting that we not dump this on Ruth, and that she's actually being helpful and warning folks just how spectacularly mean-spirited and vindictive Stephen "Il Douche" Harper can be. And one certainly can't argue with her there, what with Harper being the textbook definition of an asshole and all.

It's only parody if you recognize it.

It has to be depressing when the original isn't even as enlightening as the satire.

Just when you thought he couldn't get any dumber, ...

... he gets dumber:

Liberals urge extension of GG's term

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff is calling for an extension to Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean's five-year term as the Queen's representative in Canada.

I was pondering an analogy involving battered women rarely leaving their partners, but that might have been in poor taste.

This is depressing.

We can teach sheep to surf, but we can't educate Canadian wankers as to how their own government works. That's just sad.

Stephen Harper tells lies.

When even Andrew Coyne recognizes that you're full of it, your argument is in deep excrement.

And if you don't like their principles, they've got others.

There's a macabre entertainment in watching life-long conservatives abandon their core principles in less time than it takes them to change their underwear. From Bobby "Smaller government!" Jindal suddenly deciding that federal aid is a good thing, to Sarah Palin:

All responsible energy development must be accompanied by strict oversight, but even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen.

That would be Sarah "Drill, baby, drill", suddenly a huge fan of "strict oversight" and rigourous government regulations, if I read it correctly.

Tune in tomorrow when the same howling banshees down south who staunchly defended George W. after Katrina will now explain that this is all Obama's fault and that's what happens when you let one of those darkies run things.

And here's where we juxtapose ...

Those excitable scamps over at "The Torch" just received this year's Christie Blatchford swimsuit pin-up poster, and can't wait to gush:

The invaluable and brave Christie Blatchford of the Globe and Mail takes on her own industry...

And then there are the grownups. I'm sure you can appreciate the difference.

"Just ask if you want me to stop. No? Very well ..."

Oh, Christ:

Military Police Complaints Commission chairman Glenn Stannard: "Did you say the information contained in the un-redacted [version] really isn’t critical – or did I misread that?"

Justice Department lawyer Alain Préfontaine: "No, you didn’t Mr. Stannard."

Stannard: "Just a real silly question then: any reason why we don’t have it? "

Préfontaine: "Because disclosure would be injurious to either national defence, international relations or national security."

Stannard: "Even though it’s not critical information?"

Préfontaine: "Well it might be that the information has nothing to do with what Mr. Colvin makes it out to be."

God help me, what comes unbidden to mind is that I have abducted Mr. Prefontaine, tied him securely, duct-taped his mouth and have started smacking him around with some industrial-strength battery cable, all the while saying, "If you want me to stop, Alain, just say so."

Alain: "Mmmm ... urrrrghhhhhh ... MMMMMM!!"

"No? All right, then ..." *WHAP!*

It's just a fantasy. I will try to tamp it back down again. You know, into the same dark corner with my obsession with "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey.

Yeah ... the really bad corner.

Oh, man, that is a kneeslapper.

Blogging Tory humour, Hunter-wise:

This was nominated for best joke of the year.

A Somali arrives in Vancouver as a new immigrant to Canada. He stops the first person he sees walking down the street and says ... 'Thank you Mr. Canadian for letting me in this country, giving me housing, money for food, free medical care, free education and no taxes!'

The passerby says, 'You are mistaken, I am Mexican.'

The man goes on and encounters another passerby. ' Thank you for having such a beautiful country here in Canada !'
The person says, 'I not Canadian, I Vietnamese.'

The new arrival walks further, and the next person he sees he stops, shakes his hand and says, 'Thank you for the wonderful Canada !'

That person puts up his hand and says, 'I am from Middle East , I am not Canadian !'
He finally sees a nice lady and asks, 'Are you a Canadian ?'
She says , 'No, I am from Africa !'
Puzzled, he asks her, 'Where are all the Canadians ?'
The African lady checks her watch and says ...'Probably at work'

In unrelated news, the Blogging Tories are outraged -- outraged, I say -- by pollster Frank Graves' suggestion that the Stephen Harper Party of Canada seems to provide a "haven" for people with homophobic or xenophobic views. Why, the nerve! Where does he get such ridiculous ideas?