Something everyone has missed about the PM singing last night.

Here is something that everyone missed about the PM's performance last night. If you play a copy the PM singing last night backwards it says "Iggy is politically dead"




Bravo Mr. Prime Minister. Bravo.



CTV has the entire performance here (time limited link?)

Full HD version including intro:




For those interested: Sandy is tracking the MSM and blog reaction to tbis story at her place.

Joanne on Harpermania!

PM Stephen Harper sings the Beatles "With a little help from my friends"

It's Ruby Tuesday!

A little late to the party but an article in the Toronto Star today about Ruby Dhalla has just ended Michael Ignatieff's honeymoon period much sooner than I bet he was expecting. His only comment today was that they "we're checking the facts."



Since most of you are already aware of the details there is no need to go over them all again, but here are a few things that I found interesting in the article and maybe the Liberal fact checkers might find them interesting as well.

Ruby is "Shocked and appalled" over these allegations and stated that she had"no knowledge of the details regarding the live-in caregivers for her family" or "no involvement in the selection, interviewing, hiring, supervising, sponsoring or any financial transactions whatsoever with a live-in caregiver for my family."

All of the nannies say otherwise, Richelyn Tongson has stated that she was interviewed and hired by Ruby Dhalla on Feb. 22, 2008, the same day Gordo said she quit. Tongson said Ruby Dhalla gave her a test, making a noodle dish. She said the MP liked it and put Tongson on a three-week "tryout," promising to sponsor her if she worked hard during the trial period, she said.

Interesting considering that it is not just the nannies who are saying otherwise but so is Akemi Taniguchi, who runs a placement agency that placed the nannies. Taniguchi said she dealt mainly with Ruby Dhalla and placed the women after the MP assured her she could expedite the necessary work permits. "I was told that she could work on it right away because she's an MP," said Taniguchi. Also of note is that when Tongson was worried about her passport being taken she turned to Intercede, a separate agency that helps foreign workers. Intercede has confirmed that they called Ruby Dhalla's office in Ottawa and got immediate results.

That sure is a lot of people saying the same thing isn't it.


Here are a couple of other things I found interesting. Ruby is quoted as saying " I've never raised my voice to anyone." Umm, has anyone ever seen her on the attack in the House of Commons? Come on. Also one of the nannies stated that when she finally was paid the money owed to her that payment was made to her at a McDonald's restaurant and she recieved $400 cash in a bag.

Cash in a bag given at a restaurant. LOL, this just gets better and better.

So there we are. There are lots of other questions like were the proper taxes deducted, or how can a live in nanny possibly work legally without the necessary LMO paperwork, why didn't the proper government agencies know about these nannies etc, but those I will leave up to the fact checkers in the OLO to get to the bottom of.


More from Ruby on a recent visit to India.

I know the spin on this was that she had no idea that the children were beaten by the police, but if this was the case why did she in the FIRST interview make the comment that "I cannot control what the police does." unless the police had already done something that she was aware of? More questions for the OLO fact checkers I guess.



Goodbye Ruby Tuesday.........

CTV.ca : Changing Headlines

I happened to read about a new poll that was released yesterday and did a little Google search trying to find a full story on it. This is what I found.


"Trouble ahead for Harper's Tories, poll suggests" That doesn't sound so good does it? But clicking in the link this is what I find at CTV.

"Tories preferred on leadership and major issues: Poll" A totally changed headline to a story about the exact same poll. Only this one seems to be indicating the complete opposite from the first one, and after reading the story I have to wonder just how the first headline ever made it's way onto the CTV .ca website in the first place.

Here is the story. Please read it for yourself, and see if you can figure out how anyone could conclude that there is trouble ahead for Harper's Tories.

The Canadian Press

OTTAWA -- A new poll suggests Canadians prefer Conservatives over Liberals when it comes to leadership and most major issues -- even though that preference has not translated into popular support for the governing party.

The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey suggests 43 per cent of Canadians think the Tories, with Stephen Harper at the helm, have the best leader to be prime minister.

Only 22 per cent of those polled picked the Liberals, led by Stephane Dion.

Moreover, the Tories came out well ahead of the Liberals when respondents were asked which party is best equipped to deal with the economy (40 per cent to 22 per cent), taxes (41 per cent to 20 per cent) and crime (39 per cent to 18 per cent).

They also enjoyed a smaller two- to three-point advantage over the Liberals on foreign affairs, energy and health care.

When asked generally which party cares most about the issues closest to respondents' hearts, respondents favoured the Tories 35 per cent to 32.

The survey respondents preferred the Liberals over the Tories on only two issues: the environment (36 per cent to 24) and poverty (32 per cent to 25).

That appears to reflect Dion's summer-long campaign to promote his so-called Green Shift -- a complicated climate-change plan that would impose a carbon tax on fossil fuels, offset by income- and business-tax cuts and tax benefits to the poor, elderly and rural dwellers. The plan includes measures aimed at halving the number of Canadians living in poverty.

Dion has said the green shift will be the centrepiece of the Liberals' platform for the next election campaign. But the poll results suggest he may be in danger of being seen as a one-trick pony.

"I believe that is a definite risk for Dion right now," said a Harris-Decima senior vice-president, Jeff Walker.

Although Liberals tout The Green Shift as an economic plan, as well as a plan for tackling climate change, Walker said it appears to be seen primarily as an environmental initiative thus far and that's "too narrow a definition."

"Especially in this (weakening) economy, people need to know and hear that there's some plan for the economy."

Despite the Conservatives' advantage on the economy and other issues of importance to voters, the most recent Harris-Decima survey suggests the Tories remain mired in a virtual tie with the Liberals, with 32 per cent and 33 per cent support respectively.

Walker said the Tories appear to be held back by their inability to gain support in urban and suburban Ontario and Quebec, where the Liberals seem to be the "default choice" for voters. But that could change during the course of an election campaign, which could come as early as this fall.

Leadership becomes critically important during a campaign and Harper, having led his party through two elections, is far more experienced than Dion, who is preparing for his first campaign as leader.

Moreover, Walker said the preference Canadians are showing for Conservatives on most issues is really a reflection of the greater trust they have in Harper as a leader.

"Right now Conservatives are very solid in a whole bunch of areas and that's almost a surrogate for leadership. That's why it really will come down to the campaign," he said.

The poll suggests only 14 per cent of Canadians think it's time for an election. Thirty-eight per cent think an election this fall would be "a waste of time" but a plurality -- 41 per cent -- said they can live with the prospect.

The telephone phone poll of just more than 1,000 Canadians was conducted Aug. 7-10 and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points 19 times in 20.


For your added enjoyment; watch this clip titled http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/trouble-ahead/#clip83578 for Craig Oliver's take on this latest poll and whether or not he thinks there is trouble ahead for the Tories.




.

Grenade Attack on police station in China kills 16

Terrorist attack in China.

AFP Sixteen policemen in China's Muslim-majority northwest were killed on Monday in a suspected terrorist attack, state media said, raising security fears four days before the Beijing Olympics.


Still waiting for someone from the left to blame Bush.

WTF is wrong with the media in this country

Seriously, would someone like to please explain to me why, arguably the most important story in years regarding our basic rights is being ignored by the main stream media in Canada? If there is a valid reason why the news isn't 'all Ezra, all of the time', I would like to hear it, because not only does this sham proceeding against Ezra effect all Canadian citizens right to free speech and expression, but it also greatly effects the very heart of what the free press/MSM is, and supposedly stand for in a democracy such as Canada.

This should be a bread and butter issue with the Canadian MSM, but yet most of them remain strangely silent as a fellow magazine publisher gets hauled before a government sanctioned body to explain why he published news worthy cartoons in a news magazine, and explain to them what his motives and thoughts were when he did so. Something that threatens the very existence of the free press/MSM is all but being ignored by those that it may have the most profound effect on. I don't even have a word for something like this, but unbefuckinlievable comes close to my thoughts on the entire thing.

As of this writing, a Google news search only produces 54 hits for Ezra Levant. 54!!! 78 with duplicates included and the real sad thing is that almost half of these new stories come from sources OUTSIDE of Canada. If you take out the National Post, Sun Media, and the now online only Western Standard stories from the list, and you are left with a little over a dozen hits on the HRC/Levant story. A quick search of our taxpayer funded CBC News site gives a grand total of zero ( I guess Rex's rant does not qualify as news to Google), and an exact same total of zero hits can be found over at the CTV News website.

Bloggers have again jumped in where the MSM fear to tread, which is to be expected as most of us can see the potential threat in all of this to what we do in our spare time. Even those opposed to Ezra because of his political leanings or past writings should conclude that their own freedom to write that scathing post about Levant, is the exact same right that Ezra exercised when he decided to publish the cartoons.

Freedom of thought, speech, and ideas form the backbone of what it means to live in a free society, and when those basic rights are attacked, threatened or even possibly curtailed, the rest of our rights of which we should hold so dear, are very much in danger themselves of being removed all together.


Again, where is the media on this?

Late Sunday thoughts on timely topics

This is something that has bothered me for some time on the GST debate. We always here that 'economists' like/support the GST, but nobody ever seems to go into why they like it so much.

It is pure and simple; the GST may be the 'perfect tax' when compared to all other taxes out there. If you were trying to design the perfect tax vehicle, I think the GST would fit the description perfectly. Think about it; for the most part the GST collects money that has already been taxed once, and no one escapes paying it. You get to tax money a second time, and everyone including both the wealthiest and the poorest of Canadians of every age group and ability has to pay it. What is not for an economist to love about this. Come to think of it, this might be why the Liberals love it so much as well.

The so called in and out non scandal has not been such a hot topic recently but some Liberals still feel that there is something in it for them to keep it going. Interesting; I think something is in it for them, but when it finally does arrive I doubt that they will be very happy about it. As a person who is much more in tune than myself to what is happening recently told me; Why do you think when the Liberals are done asking questions on this in question period, that the NDP and Bloc do not jump on board and ask their own questions on the subject to nail the government? Hmmm, why is that? More on this to come.

As promised.



Airbus. Why is everyone taking the word of Karlheinz Schreiber to be the gospel truth lately? If there is one person who stands to really gain anything from a long drawn out costly inquiry it is Karlheinz Schreiber. Does anyone else think that this guy might confess to having Jimmy Hoffa in his freezer if he thought it would keep him in this country longer than he should be? He has been fighting extradition to Germany for about 7 years now in an effort to keep German authorities from getting their hands on him and showing the world just how much of an upright citizen he really is. Half of what he says contradicts his own previous accounts, much of it before the courts, and the other half he has conveniently saved for just before he gets Das Boot right out of the country.


The latest is that Karlheinz Schreiber wrote a letter to the PMO possibly containing more details about the entire affair, the PMO denies this but the Liberals think they are on to something and are again outraged. I must say I am shocked as well. How can it be that the PM does not read each and every piece of mail he receives, especially letters from people who are about to get deported and have matters before the courts. I think the Libs must be confused with how things used to be done at the PMO that they forgot that there is now someone else in the big chair who does things a bit differently.

Not that it matters much but something else most seem to forget is the 2.1 million dollars that Mr. Mulroney won in that libel suit against the Liberal government was donated to charity.

I think the PM is doing the right thing by announcing a probe into this matter, and if there is indeed something more to all of it, I think it will be well handled in a responsible way.

NASCAR, Sponsorship and the Left.

Unbelievable.

The left seems to be under the impression that the Canadian public actually gives a rat's ass about how the Conservative Party of Canada spends it's own money.

NEWSFLASH!!! They don't, and all of this feigned outrage from the Liberals and NDP is only making themselves look foolish to those whose votes they covet. Get over it. The cost of this is not covered by government money, but your wages are, so speaking as a taxpayer please stop wasting time on a non issue. If you still are that upset over this, than please send in your 10 bucks and become a member of the CPC to have your say. (Come and join in with the many thousands of other Canadians who already have signed up to the CPC, you will be glad you did)


Speaking of sponsoring racing in general; does anyone else find it strange that the Liberals are even talking about this? I seem to remember the last time the Liberals were involved in auto racing that a rather large amount of Government money was (mis)spent in Quebec on placing large Canada signs at various events. Many Liberals like to refer to this period as "The Happy Times", but now prefer to forget it ever occurred or that anyone in government was responsible. A strange strategy indeed.

Media Priorities

How does a story about a new free trade agreement between Canada and 4 European countries not make it into national news casts, while stories about how Bono is not happy with our Prime Minister make all the telecasts?

I guess on a day where the story of Paris Hilton being sent back to jail led off the Global National News cast, that I cannot expect overly much from our so called national media.


I love this quote from the PM: "I've got to say that meeting celebrities isn't kind of my shtick, that was the shtick of the previous guy." Priceless.

Free Homes. It is in the Constitution.

Did you know the the Canadian Constitution guarantees housing, shelter and food to everyone in Canada? I was not aware of this either, but according to 'protester' David Cunningham of the Anti-Poverty Committee, these rights are included in the constitution.

Listen to the interview here, the constitution comment starts around the 7:45 mark. Ht SDA

Damn, and I have been wasting all this time working to pay for all of those things when all I had to do was put out my hand and get my constitutionally granted house.

Time to head downtown and trash Premier Stelmach's office. Maybe someone could let the CBC know that I am on my way so they have time to set up their cameras.


Al

AFP, Call your lawyers.

A good rule of thumb for MSM in general, and AFP in particular:-- Fact checkers are always cheaper than lawyers.

Some more advice:-- A simple 30 second Google Search can go a long way in preventing your organization from looking incompetent to your customers/audience.

For those of you in what we Bloggers like to refer to as the MSM (main stream media),which is of course a money making business where credibility should matter, would it not make sense for you to actually check stuff out before you send a story out on the wire around the world where it is picked up by and sourced by other news organizations, bloggers and anyone else who is interested? Basic fact checking; is that really too much to ask for?

It just might be if you take a look at a recent story, that I think most of you are already familiar with: the Mike Lake / Bigfoot story.

Consider the following:

On Feb 16, 2007 a petition was brought to the constituency office of MP Mike Lake by Ross Shuliak and Todd Standing of Sylvanic.com. The petition asks for the government to provide protection for the creature known as Bigfoot, and was signed by over 300 people mainly from Western Canada.

Watch it on video here *Please note in the video where Mr. Shuliak acknowledges that, by Mike Lake accepting the petition, it does not constitute his support for the petition.

March 28th, 2007. Mike Lake tabled the petition in the House of Commons and at no point did Mike Lake speak about the petition in the HoC, nor has he ever indicated his own support for the petition, but rather he presented it to the Clerk of Petitions where it was deemed to be in order and was accepted.

April 5th 2007. Here is how the Edmonton Sun covered the story (Original link but now PPV) (Highlighting mine)

Max Maudie Edmonton Sun: "An Edmonton MP has presented the government with a petition to protect Bigfoot.

Edmonton-Mill Woods- Beaumont MP Mike Lake offered the petition up March 28 in the House of Commons on behalf of a constituent who’s convinced Bigfoot exists and needs legal protection.
“You don’t make judgment calls on petitions,” Lake told Sun Media yesterday. “We try to do it as a service to constituents.”
Asked whether or not he believed in Bigfoot, the Tory offered a firm “No,” followed by a chuckle.
“But if he did exist, I’m sure he would vote NDP,” Lake kidded.
Todd Standing, 33, is the Bigfoot seeker behind the petition, signed by about 500 people, he said.
He claims to have at least 12 seconds of video footage that proves Bigfoot exists. He’s worked it into a 30-minute documentary.
The movie is called Sylvanic, a derivative of a native word used in southern British Columbia to describe the “shadow guardians of the mountains,” said the moviemaker.
The fact the petition will now be considered by the government is a “huge victory,” said Standing.
“Now that we’re in the nation’s business, people are going to start taking me seriously. People ask me, ‘Why would you do it? It doesn’t make any sense.’
“Of course it makes sense, because I’ve really found the species. Anyone could go out and execute these animals, and I can’t allow that to transpire.”
He won’t say where in the Rocky Mountains he caught Bigfoot on camera.
“When you have a Bigfoot discovery, men with guns show up,” he said. “People lie and deceive and cheat because it’s worth millions when you (find Bigfoot and) become famous.”
The government hasn’t yet responded to the petition, but has 45 days from the time it was presented to do so."
The facts were clear and concise, and the story passed without much notice or fanfare from anyone; that changed however, when another story made it out on the wire, because in this story the facts had somehow changed.

May 2nd, 2007. A new AFP story appears: Picked up world wide by the other media outlets and bloggers alike. A Google search reveals over 12000 hits on key words from the story. (Highlighting mine, and shortened for brevity)


OTTAWA (AFP) - Bigfoot, the legendary hairy man-like beast said to roam the wildernesses of North America, is not shy, merely so rare it risks extinction and should be protected as an endangered species.
So says Canadian MP Mike Lake who has called for Bigfoot to be protected under Canada's species at risk act, alongside Whooping Cranes, Blue Whales, and Red Mulberry trees.
"The debate over their (Bigfoot's) existence is moot in the circumstance of their tenuous hold on merely existing," reads a petition presented by Lake to parliament in March and due to be discussed next week.
"Therefore, the petitioners request the House of Commons to establish immediate, comprehensive legislation to affect immediate protection of Bigfoot," says the petition signed by almost 500 of Lake's constituents in Edmonton, Alberta.
A similar appeal has been made to the US Congress.
Down through history, there have been numerous, if unsubstantiated sightings of Bigfoot, also known as Sasquatch in North American folklore......


Another version or perhaps morphed evolution of the same story from a Canadian Newspaper, The Province *Not sourced directly to AFP, but too similar in wording for coincidence.

Protect Bigfoot as species at risk: MP

Published: Thursday, May 03, 2007

OTTAWA -- The sasquatch, the legendary hairy man-like beast said to roam the wilderness of B.C. and other parts of North America, should be protected as an endangered species, says MP Mike Lake.

He wants the sasquatch -- a.k.a. Bigfoot -- to be protected under Canada's Species at Risk Act.
A petition to the House of Commons, signed by almost 500 of Lake's constituents in Edmonton and due for debate next week, asks the government "to establish immediate, comprehensive legislation to effect immediate protection of Bigfoot."
A similar appeal has been made to the U.S. Congress.
Bigfoot researcher Todd Standing, who was behind the petition, claims to have proof of the sasquatch's existence and says he fears for its safety.
One might think that The Province might know that petitions do not get debated in the HOC in Canada, but then again I am a media optimist and still hold out some hope.


May 5th, 2007. Another slightly morphed version? appears and can be seen here. This version differs in that it comes from The Press Association and it now refers to the petition as "His petition", but it also continues to get some basic facts wrong.


To put it nicely, the above stories do not reflect the facts as they occurred, and even a simple fact such as where those 500 people who signed the petition live was not even checked out. Just about any Blogger would do a better job than this, and even a new Blogger would never be so stupid as to attribute words and views to Mike Lake that are simply not true and which could be easily verified in minutes. There is a term for this, but I cannot think of it at this time; perhaps the legal department at AFP might be able to help me out with my little memory lapse, but I digress.

A simple Google search or even a phone call could have prevented it all, but once the story managed to hit the wires, more fuel was to be be added to the fire as numerous bloggers of all political stripes and from all around the globe have commented on Mike Lake based on these news stories. To be honest, I can not blame them at all if the source of news they were using was itself corrupt; after all, a trusted source for news had come up with the story so why would anyone suspect that AFP did not check the facts? They are the pros after all.
A tip of the hat to Calgary Grit, Cowboys for Social responsibility, and Scott Tribe, Liberal Bloggers who all love to nail it to the Conservatives on a regular basis, but upon learning the facts of this story have since changed their stance on the entire affair. It is not often that Conservatives and Liberals agree that a news story is bogus, but in this case the truth is clear.


So there you have it. A very poorly researched news story is released, it gets picked up by MSM and bloggers worldwide, is read by countless numbers of people who now believe it to be the truth, and all the while doing yet untold damage to the credibility of Mike Lake.

What can be done? I do not know, but if AFP were to issue a correction on this ASAP, and perhaps think about employing more fact checkers, it would be a good start.


And lastly for your entertainment may I present yet one more 'version' of the story.
This morph sums it up nicely as it now includes the little gem that Mike Lake is a member of the RCMP.
I mean if the original story is not factual anyway, why not just add a little homegrown make believe into it before posting it to the web. Note how in this version Mike Lake has some new words attributed to him, not found in any of the other versions of this story. "According to Mr. Lake, the creature that is also known as the Sasquatch is real, and is endangered."


From the RCMP version:
A member of the Canadian Mounted Police by the name of Mike Lake has officially notified the Canadian Parliament that he believes that Bigfoot should be added to the Nation's, Species at Risk Act. This is similar to the Endangered Species List in the United States.

According to Mr. Lake, the creature that is also known as the Sasquatch is real, and is endangered. The reason, he says that there have not been more sightings in North America of Bigfoot is because the creature is endangered, not necessarily shy like many believe.

Garbage in, garbage out I guess.



Al

From The Anthill Mar 1, 2007

Lots of things to comment on but not enough time for single posts on each topic; the curse of the middle class working blogger.

The latest poll numbers are out (Angus Reid Decima) , and while I do not put much stock into polls in general, I do not see the Liberal numbers going up in the near future. The Liberals do not get it, but Canadians do.

More free advice from the Ardvark: Once you guys figure out that you lost the election for good reason and that you are not entitled by some kind of divine right to be the government, maybe then Canadians will give you a shot at power. Your performance and actions so far in opposition has been dismal and it constantly reminds voters as to why they voted your Liberal Party out.

It is really that simple, but judging by how the new brain trust over there has been handling things, I do not expect to see results on this very soon.

-----------------

So, Al Gore buys carbon credits from a company he helped found, and is chairman of?

h/t Promo Christian

I think it is kind of a Boris Karloff thing; making money from scaring people, brilliant!!! An angle that even the great Suzuki has yet to think of, but some others have.

And don't forget to send me that cash! We both will sleep better knowing you did.

---------------------------

Do you think this could be true? A little tease: I think we’ll see Garth pop right back into that National Press Building room he loves to visit every six weeks to announce that Elizabeth May is the only visionary to lead the country in no time!

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Diabetes rates are rising in Canada at an alarming rate. Another sign that we are going soft.

-------------

Pablo Rodriguez deserves something nice, perhaps a nice muffin or fruit basket. *

--------------------

It is all over for the Oilers this year; after last years run this is a tough one to take for many fans, but they are fans and will bounce back.

Speaking of the Oilers, why all the fuss about Ryan Smyth being traded? He didn't sign because he didn't get a big enough offer from the Oil, and the tears of a millionaire should not take away the fact that this is business entertainment and it was his choice. Yes I said entertainment; sports is something you play, not watch. ( see the above reference to diabetes)

Besides, anyone old enough to have seen Gretzky get traded, should not get that upset because Smyth left.

-----------------------

It looks like Bill 257, better known as the Bloc sponsored anti-scab bill, might die. There is still plenty of time for Dion to try to pull another 'I am a leader' ploy, so I will just wait for the vote tally before I relax.

------------------------

And last for tonight I must thank Mr. Pierre Bourque from Bourque Newswatch
as he linked my post on Iggy's sideshow comments on his site. I thought my sitemeter was broken when I looked at then traffic numbers, and the best part is that it didn't cost me a thing =)



* for historical reference.

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Update of a few more recent items of interest to myself.

Read the comments on this post from Red Tory as a great example.


Just Right has an angry climate scientist here.

Everybody loves a good smackdown, and Officially Screwed has one up of Marlene Jennings on the receiving end again.


A supporter of Bill 257 has no clue what he is talking about. Telecommunications/ internet service has already been ruled NOT to be an essential service by the CIRB, nor has any airline that I am aware of, so the unions in these areas could easily paralyze the country on a whim and this bill would help them do just that. The bill is so one sided even the Liberals cannot support it in good conscience, and that is saying something.

Say What?

"The Vancouver Sun has learned that the father-in-law of the member of Parliament for Mississauga-Brampton . . . ''



That's it. All of it. Not even 20 words and nothing more. Yet, it is enough to get Liberals everywhere to feign outrage over what was, said, not said, implied, telepathically telegraphed , subliminally suggested; actually I am not sure how the above words sent the Liberals into a frenzy, but they have.

Maybe the LPC website can help me find the answers: "Prime Minister Stephen Harper must immediately withdraw allegations he made....", "Mr. Harper’s actions today are the worst ...", "...the Prime Minister explicitly suggested that..., "There can be no doubt about the Prime Minister's intention...", "....there is no doubt about what that insult was intended to be.", "Mr. Bains also demanded that the Prime Minister apologize for the smear.", "I had the opportunity to listen to the Prime Minister attack my integrity....".

Allegations? Smear? Attack? From this "The Vancouver Sun has learned that the father-in-law of the member of Parliament for Mississauga-Brampton . . . '' ? (you can watch it here as well)


Nothing was said people. You have no idea what the PM was going to say or where the statement was leading, because he never had a chance to finish. To claim otherwise puts you into a category with the Amazing Kreskin for 'psychic abilities', and if it is indeed the case than perhaps you could use your talent for good and email me next weeks winning 649 numbers.

If there is a legitimate complaint to be made, it would be against the Vancouver Sun as it was from their story that the PM was referring to, and as their story, they are responsible for its content. Yet somehow I do not expect to see a wild mob of angry sign carrying protesters at the offices of the Sun tomorrow screaming for an apology for this 'smear' and 'attack', because there would be no political capital in going after the source when the messenger makes a much better channel changer from the Liberals current problems.

---------------------

Update: A Step to the Right has an interview up with Kim Bolan the writer of the article at the center of this Liberal faux outrage.

What is really interesting is that in the interview she states that she had talked with some Liberals before writing the story and that they were aware of the content of the story; this group includes Navdeep Singh Bains.

This Liberal 'outrage' does not pass the smell test and it looks like it was indeed orchestrated and planned in advance as part of the Liberals continuing Campaign of Fear™. The Libs knew about the story, they had a copy of the story (in their media package all MPs receive) and they were so ready (in advance) to leap to their feet in outrage that they did not even wait for the PM to say ANYTHING that could cause such a reaction. Even the Susan Bonner from the CBC agrees "They were ready for this. They were primed and they were angry," Bonner said.

Liberals using manufactured outrage for their own political gain; why am I not surprised.

National Post Editorial on this issue and a good read for those that doubt how the Liberals like to operate.

From the Anthill : February 18th, 2007

Time for a catch up post on recent events.

Why all the fuss about Liberal appointed CDS General Hillier bringing up the "decade of darkness" again?

This is not the first time he has used that line in a speech, it is the truth (Liberals all failed history), and just a few months ago PM Harper was being accused of muzzling Gen. Hillier and now when the General speaks out, it becomes another Liberal created imaginary crisis which they would solve if only they were back in power. For heavens sake, please think of Susan Delacourt and her laying awake at nights thinking about those soldiers with guns in our streets, and have some compassion.

Thanks Denis Coderre; you have brought forward a quote by the general that would have otherwise gone unnoticed and not only exposed your partys, as well as your own weaknesses on this issue, but have given the Conservatives a big boost in one of their bread and butter issues. Some free advice for the Liberals:All the spin in the world won't ever make the Liberals look like they are friends of the Canadian Military, that horse left the barn long ago.

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Speaking of Denis Coderre; he is but one Liberal who sits on the HUMA Committee, which is dealing with the Bloc Quebecois sponsored Bill C-257. This nightmare of a bill has a chance of passing if enough Liberals support it. I would normally not be worried about such a flawed piece of legislation passing because the Liberals have twice voted down similar legislation in the past, but watching Dion flip flop from old Liberal positions and ideas to those of the far left, I am beginning to become a bit more concerned.

My original post on 257.

The NCC has some good stuff up as well.

----------------

Dion looks to be flip flopping on the Liberals own anti terror legislation, which is causing some degree of problems among the few Liberals left who are not totally Left. I don't agree with Anne McLellan often, but in this case I agree that she is correct when she said this:
"After 9/11, we did not actually believe we were going to have to deal with homegrown terrorists." "The situation today is, if anything, more dangerous and more complex and the powers have never been abused, so why would you take these tools away from law enforcement?"

Do not forget that Dion himself voted for this legislation in 2001. Leadership at work, Dion style.

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Opposition parties pushed through legislation on Wednesday that requires the Conservative government to respect Canada's commitments under the Kyoto accord. There is just so much wrong with this legislation that I am astounded that Dion could think that Canadians stupid enough to buy into this cheap political trick.

I may be wrong, but I have not seen 1 single MSM organization that supported this move by Dion, as the reality of the situation makes the legislation all but impossible to accomplish (something which Dion HAS admitted himself in the past). This is but one example from the Toronto Star, which judging from the negative stories they have been writing about Mr.Dion lately, that I am beginning to get them confused with the Toronto Sun.
"There is a widespread consensus – stretching way beyond Conservative ranks – that Canada cannot even come close to meeting its Kyoto greenhouse emission reduction objectives in time for the 2012 deadline without launching a major offensive against the energy industries of provinces such as Alberta, and/or inflicting a crippling hit to the already flagging auto industry in Ontario, and/or diverting a debilitating amount of federal resources to a single cause."

Dion puts another nail in his political coffin and Iggy, Rae, Manley and perhaps a few others are probably out buying new black suits in anticipation of the funeral.

Are the blinders off?

Is it just me, or are MSM stories about Dion's lack of leadership/political skills becoming an almost daily occurrence? We on the right have always known that Dion was lacking, but seeing this type of sentiment is now coming from much of the MSM, I think Mr. Dion may want to start work on a knife registry program soon for his own protection. Those Liberal brand knifes hurt when stuck in your back.

Have the blinders come off, or is it more of a case that the MSM can no longer cover for or attempt to speak for Dion when public opinion seems to be in agreement on how well he is doing in his leadership roll.

The honeymoon is indeed over; time to re-write some history to prop up support for Dion, or as Cherniak likes to call it an "artistic licence"[sic] with reality.

The Liberals can't even get it done in opposition, and other thoughts.

My blogging has been light this week, and I missed commenting on many news items, including the big Garth story (which I will comment on later in this post), because for most of this week I have been working to not only support my family, but also as a result of that hard work, I get to send a nice chunk of those earnings to Ottawa in taxes.

So speaking as a taxpayer, I feel that I am not getting my monies worth from the Liberal Party.

Yes they are the opposition, and I get it, but if they really are so concerned with the environment, senate reform, crime, or just about everything else they claim to be concerned with, why are the Liberals using every type of delay or stall tactic available to hold up the government from getting anything done? Just look to the Liberal dominated Senate taking 255 days with Bill S4, which sets term limits on Senators, and think back to how that same Senate handled the accountability act ,which was conveniently delayed until after the Liberal convention, as examples of not only delay but also as examples of how they are deliberately wasting our tax dollars with this nonsense.

They wasted our money while they were in power, and now they are doing it in opposition all the while claiming to be concerned with _____________________. -----Insert issue here, the Libs support 'em all.

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Ardvark's smack down of the week award goes to my MP, Mike Lake. Read it @ Hansard here

"Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to address an inconvenient truth, not the movie but rather the inconvenient truth about the opposition leader's record on the environment.

The previous Liberal government talked a good game when it came to the environment but the truth is that in 13 years it did not get it done.

Under the Liberals' watch, greenhouse gas emissions rose to an astonishing 35% above Canada's Kyoto targets. Under their watch, Canada slid to 28 out of 29 OECD countries in air quality rankings. Under their watch, Canada set records for the number of smog advisory days in our cities.

Canadians are demanding action and finally getting it from a new Conservative government that in just one year has established a reputation for action on the issues most important to the people we represent.

Wearing a green scarf does not make the Liberal leader an environmental champion any more than wearing a blue and white jersey and a foam finger makes a 40 year old with a beer gut the captain of the Maple Leafs.

As for the opposition leader's now famous dog named Kyoto, my seven year old daughter could name every one of her stuffed animals A-plus but she would still have to take responsibility if she earned an F on her report card."

To top it off, this was the last statement before Stephane Dion started off oral questions.

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The name Mark Holland is now as well known in Alberta as that of Stephane Dion; so for you Liberals out there who figured that his little mistake would be forgotten soon, send out our western homeboy Gerrard Kennedy to run out here, and we will show you how we really feel.

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Champion of 'social justice' Dion, leader of the 'party of the charter', may bar men from seeking nomination for the LPC. Remember kids, it is not discrimination if Liberals do it. Some Libloggers agree that it is not a good idea for obvious reasons.

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Question of the day: Did all Liberals fail history, or is it more of a short term memory loss thing?

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And last but not least, Garth Turner joins the Liberals.

To quote the secret memo from PM Harper's office on this subject, " Hahahahahaha, hahahahaha!!

Almost everything this guy has ever claimed to believe in has been the polar opposite of Liberal Party policy, and now he joins them; priceless.

The thought of Belinda, Bob Rae, and Garth Turner working together for the cause of Stephane Dion and the Liberal Party of Canada makes me laugh, not because it is just so preposterous in appearance, but because all of them would be happier if Dion was gone and they could be in charge.

It has been a very busy Sunday.

Too much to comment on when so many others have already done such a great job.

Link Dump.

Canadian Christian Conservative on Mark Holland, and the Ottawa Citizen's Randall Denley article about how Dion is NOT fit to lead this country.

A Step to the Right with Coren's Sun article on Dion.

Kate on Mark Holland here and here.

Former environment minister Anderson from CTV

Progressive Conservative on the Liberals ability to take a position.

BBS has the Mp3 of Dions interview by the editorial staff at the Citizen here. It is an hour long and painful to listen to, but it reveals much about Dion.

Not a good day in Liberal Land.

The National Post has this editorial today.

Ad Campaign thoughts.

Having just read this story from CTV about a possible advertising campaign from the CPC aimed at Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, I am having mixed emotions.

From CTV:
"One of the ads is a clip from the Liberal leadership campaign."You don't know how hard it is to set priorities," Dion states in one ad as a perplexed Ignatieff looks on, according to a Tory source.
Another ad mocks Dion's failure as environment minister to meet the Kyoto climate change targets."We didn't get it done." Deputy Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says to Dion in an exchange taken from the Liberal leadership race".


If the news story is true it would seem that I am a bit of a trend setter as I posted THIS back on January18th, and THIS back on January 15th.

Hooray for me, but I am just a humble blogger and can do this kind of stuff with little or no repercussions other than maybe being called a few names from the other side. Having the CPC do it while NOT in an election campaign has the potential to cause some problems, and I am not sure it is such a great idea.

The rational for the adds does makes sense to me. The MSM has given Dion a pass for the most part on his record as environment minister and on a few other items as well; which candidates did get those bags of money anyway Mr. Dion? The ads could be benificial, I am just question the timing.

Why the MSM has not been more forceful in their questioning of Dion and his record is beyond me, but I do not think it is going to last much longer and definitely will not last into an election campaign as the interest of the Canadian public climbs and the MSM ramps into high gear looking for 'the story' in competition to out do each other.

I guess we will have to wait and see if the story is indeed true and what the adds look like, but the possibility of having this turn south on the CPC is indeed real and I don't think the risk is justified at this time. Besides, if Dion has shown us anything about his leadership skills to this point it is that he is consistently inconsistent, and that will bite him on the ass in good time.

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Updated Jan 30. added CPC TV with the ads in question.

I see that the CPC is not the first to put out ads before an election. H/T Kitchener Conservative.

Link to raw video of the debate.

The Toronto Star Reality Check

Source My comments in red


Tory nose-stretchers

January 20, 2007

On their way to power and since gaining control in Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives have talked a great deal about the need to restore public credibility in the country's elected leaders.

But even allowing for the fact that hyperbole and sweeping generalities are the common fare of public life, the federal Tories have often let their rhetoric overtake reality:

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said his budget last May lowered taxes for Canadians.

The reality: The budget raised the lowest income-tax rate by half a percentage point to 15.5 per cent as of July 1, 2006.

The budget cut 20 billion in taxes, including the GST by 1% and increased the personal exemption by $1000 dollars. I challenge the authors to find me any Canadian that is paying more in total taxes because of this budget.

On Canada's military activities: In an interview with CBC-TV, Harper said Canada is on the front lines in Afghanistan – a role he said was in marked contrast to the traditional Canadian approach. "For a lot of the last 30 or 40 years, we were the ones hanging back," Harper told CBC.

The reality: More than 125 Canadian soldiers have died on peacekeeping operations around the world since 1956.

This passes as journalism? The PM is 100% correct in that our forces combat role in Afghanistan is not the same one that they have generally undertaken in the past. What is the point the authors are trying to make here?

In changing how equalization payments to have-not provinces are calculated, Harper said his party, if elected, "would ensure that non-renewable natural resource revenue is removed from the equalization formula to encourage economic growth."

The reality: The provinces are convinced that Flaherty's new formula for calculating payments to poorer provinces will include half of each province's natural resource revenue – an expectation that is sparking stiff resistance in Newfoundland, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

"The provinces are convinced" something will happen, makes something a reality? For someone who is paid to write for a newspaper this is absolutely pathetic. The authors need to buy a dictionary and look up the definition of reality. None of this has happened yet and is entirely based on speculation and rumours, so calling it a reality is an absolute joke.

On the Liberals' gun control record: "What this last government did is that, instead of worrying about insane people or criminals, they simply went after farmers," Harper said during question period in the House of Commons.

The reality: The Liberals' firearms licensing and registry program – with its background checks and requirements for training and safe storage – applied to all would-be gun owners, not just farmers.

Correct, the law applies to everyone, but only the law abiding ones are going to care. The criminals who already do not follow the laws will just ignore this one as well. 1/2 marks on this one.

After Liberal MP and former leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff said that an Israeli air strike in Qana during the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict was a war crime, Harper responded: "This is consistent with the anti-Israeli position that has been taken by virtually all of the candidates for the Liberal leadership."

The reality: Liberal leadership candidates denounced the remark as an inaccurate and unstatesmanlike "insult" that risked dividing Canadians for partisan political motives.

"Virtually all" was a stretch, but it cannot be said that 'all' the candidates were pro-Israeli either, something conveniently left out of this article. 1/2 marks.

"Canada's back," Harper said on Sept. 20 in New York.

The reality: But Harper used a string of statistics and figures to illustrate that the return to fiscal health and economic growth in Canada began under the Liberals.

Again, what is the point trying to be made? At a speech made to the Economic Club in New York the PM did what every other PM has done, and that is to promote Canada abroad . So what if it began under the Liberals as you suggest, as an argument can be made that it began under Mulroney just as well, but in either case it is irrelevant to what the PM said.

During the last election campaign, the Tories said if elected they would "stop the Liberal attack on retirement savings and preserve income trusts by not imposing any new taxes on them."

The reality: In a surprise decision on Oct. 31, the Conservative government moved to do away with income trusts, a decision that saw more than $20 billion in value lopped off the stock market.

Finally some truth, but I guess a 4 1/2 line article wouldn't make the Star so all the rest of the above BS was added to pad this one point out. I will not discuss why it was the right move by the PM nor list the many Liberals that agree with the decision, as this is not the place, but will give full marks to the authors. Just one question though, why add the $20 billion part to the story?

On climate change, Harper slammed the Liberals in a year-end interview with the Star, saying "literally nothing was done for 13 years at all on the environment, literally nothing."

The reality: While the Liberals did not halt the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, they used their final months in power to introduce "Project Green," an eight-year program at an estimated $10-billion cost designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 270 megatonnes between 2008 and 2012.

You may have had something, but ignored the obvious and started talking about another future reality. The Harper statement spoke about the last 13 years and your reality speaks of the future that is "designed to" do something. Go ask a 6th grader to explain it to you how silly this is.

On child care, Harper said that during 13 years of Liberal government, not a single child-care space was created.

The reality: The Liberals' $5-billion, five-year plan to create a national child-care program along with the provinces led to the opening of more than 5,000 new spaces in Ontario alone, with 20,000 more on the drawing board. But plans for more spaces in Ontario were slashed after the federal Conservatives announced they were cancelling the previous government's funding for the provinces as of this year.

Where are those 5000 spaces in Ontario? But facts aside, yes Mr. Harper did use some rhetoric in the comments so you get the marks for this one as well.

Compiled by Les Whittington

and Tonda MacCharles

To borrow from the above article: But even allowing for the fact that hyperbole and sweeping generalities are the common fare of media, the Toronto Star have often let their rhetoric overtake reality: as shown by the above article.

Bob Rae target of anti-semitism @ LPC convention

Was Bob Rae the target of an anti-Semitic smear campaign at the LPC convention last weekend in Montreal? It sure looks like it after reading this from CTV.

Somehow this does not surprise me.


ht to Ace from the comments @ SDA


This LibBlogger has some thoughts as well.

A roast isn't just a chunk of meat.

The Ralph and Belinda Show (which I blogged about Wednesday) continues to make waves today as it gets more blog time and the MSM tries to make a big deal out of it.

Lighten up people; this was a roast and comments such as this are not only common place but they are also more or less to be expected from the guest of honour and those that roast them.

Why any MSM organization would choose to run a comment/joke made at a roast as news makes for an interesting question. Do they not know what a roast is, or could it be for some other reason like pure shock value, for ratings, or....? I do not know the answer, but using quotes from such an event is not only bad journalism, it should make these reporters former journalism professors slap them in the head for being so stupid. News is supposed to be based on some type of truth and reality; at a roast reality and truth are left at the coat-check in exchange for a few non politically correct laughs.

I know Godwin's law did not exist when this clip from one of Dean Martin's famous celebrity roasts was filmed and I doubt that something like this would make it on tv in today's politically correct world, but I can imagine what the headline might look like in the paper the next day if it did:

Scooby Doo a Nazi!!