Digging his own Grave(s)

Frank Graves just keeps digging himself deeper and deeper.

Yesterday: ‘I told them that they should invoke a culture war. Cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Alberta don’t like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin.’

Today he sort of makes a half hearted apology, but moments later he steps into again by telling the Globe :

Mr. Graves said he was trying to show there are demonstrable differences between Conservative supporters and supporters of other parties.

“I do believe, and this gets more subtle, that there is a higher incidence of people who are less tolerant to homosexuals and more wary of other races, within the Conservative Party. I can demonstrate that empirically."

“That does not mean that Conservatives or Albertans are homophobic or xenophobic, but it does mean that many people, and more people statistically that have those points of view, end up in that party than in other places."

Wow, just freaking wow.

Not only does he single out Alberta again (why does he keep doing this?) but he goes on to say that he can prove that there are more racists in the CPC than other parties and that he can demonstrate this empirically.

How? Did he do some type of survey asking people if they were racist and to identify their political party affiliation at the same time? He didn't and he is full of it, but if he did conduct such a poll I wonder what the margin of error rate would be for that one.

No chance of anyone lying on a question like that is there.

Keep digging Frank, you may get to the bottom sooner than you think.



and here I am thinking my little issue with the CBC was going to be the most interesting thing on Power and Politics yesterday.

Silly racist Albertaardvark.


Update: A tip from JDot in the comments: Laurence Martin stands by his quote: "The quote is exactly as Frank gave it to me. 'I told them...' meaning the Liberals."

That is 'told' as in the past tense. Spin that.

The CBC Responds. Part 2.

The CBC has again responded to my calling out of Scott Reid back on April 1, 2010 when he said:

"He (Kory Teneycke) along with that, sort of, you know, paid professional brigand of ah, of ah bloggers that work for the Conservative Party; those guys can mobilize a grassroots movement in the snap of a fingers......"

Their first response can be read here.

This time the reply was from Esther Enkin, Executive Editor CBC News who notes that Reid's comment about conservative bloggers being paid was not factual.

"They are not, of course. He was wrong,...... We regret the error."

Enkin commented that the matter has been discussed with Mr. Reid, that my e-mails on the matter were brought to his attention, adding "I do not expect him to apologize, as you suggested he should. However, at an early opportunity, when the subject of partisan blogs comes up again on the program, I expect Mr. Reid will correct his earlier remarks."

So this being Thursday, the normal day for the "Point of Order" segment to run, it might be worth it to tune in to "Power and Politics" today and see what our good friend Scott Reid has to say. Even if the subject does not come up today, I hear that Frank "I told them to invoke a culture war" Graves will be on the show going head to head with Kory Teneycke. Which in itself should be well worth the price of admission to see.

So please tune in to P&P this afternoon on the CBC News Network.

Enjoy!


UPDATE: Scott Reid's error continues to live on as NO correction was made today.

UPDATE April 29th: Another week passes and still no correction. What exactly does "at an early opportunity" mean in CBC language anyway? If we are waiting for the caveat about the topic of partisan blogs to come around, I suspect that I will be waiting a long time as I have never heard that topic brought up since Newman left.

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Blog related: I have decided to give Twitter a serious go. If you are interested you can follow me on Twitter here.

I told them they should invoke a culture war.

Frank Graves, CBC (and Liberal Party) pollster: ‘I told them that they should invoke a culture war. Cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Alberta don’t like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin.’

Michael Ignatieff: "One of the things I took away from the experience is it awoke particularly strong feeling in the West. I’m in this country to unite Canadians, not divide them, and I took the messages from the West very seriously. There was a genuine feeling of anger on that issue, and we all have to learn from that."

Abortion motion anyone?

How about the gun registry?

It looks like Ignatieff is already taking advice from the grave in spite of what he himself has said repeatedly about not trying to divide Canadians.


Update:
Be sure to catch CBC's Power and Politics this afternoon. I hear that Frank Graves will be on with Kory Teneycke, which should be very entertaining, and it's Thursday so time for 'point of order' with our old friend Scott Reid who I hear may be making some type of clarification.

Jack Layton and the NDP still wooing the Bloc

Jack Layton and the NDP look to still be wooing the Bloc (as possible coalition buddies?) instead of supporting legislation that would increase democracy and add representation to underrepresented Alberta, BC and Ontario.

I take special note of Edmonton Strathcona MP Linda Duncan who again tosses the needs of the people of Alberta out the window in order to appease the Bloc and Quebec.

We will remember this Linda.

To those of you in BC and Ontario represented by the NDP you might want to ask them what the hell are they thinking.


Here is what the NDP caucus voted in favour of earlier today.

" That the House denounce the fact that the government seeks to marginalize the Quebec nation by introducing a bill to decrease Quebec’s political weight in the House, and that it affirm that Quebec Members of Parliament, who represent a nation, must hold at least 25 percent of the seats in the House; The House proceeded to the taking of the deferred recorded division on the amendment of Mr. Laframboise (Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel), seconded by Ms. Demers (Laval), — That the motion be amended by deleting all the words after the words “in the House” and substituting the following: “and call on the government not to enact any legislation that would reduce Quebec’s current representation in the House of Commons of 24.35% of the seats.”.
Results can be found here.

The General pays off its loan. 5 years early!

More good news.

General Motors has repaid $1.4 billion in loans it received from the Canadian and Ontario governments 5 years ahead of schedule and it expects to repay another $8.1 billion to Canada for money it received in exchange for large stakes in the company. Canada now owns roughly 12 per cent of the company and the U.S. government owns 61 per cent.

GM plans to repay both with a public stock offering, perhaps later this year.

Good news; now you can go back to watching the non stop Jaffer coverage.

Firearms registry Bill C 391 and the list of marked men.

I suspect that somewhere on the wall in the office of the OLO is an old style wanted poster containing the following names.

Lib Scott Andrews (Avalon)
Lib Larry Bagnell (Yukon)
Lib Jean-Claude D'Amours (Madawaska—Restigouche)
Lib Wayne Easter (Malpeque)
Lib Keith Martin (Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca)
Lib Anthony Rota (Nipissing—Timiskaming)
Lib Todd Russel (Labrador)
Lib Scott Simms (Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor)


Their crime? Voting their conscience.

And Ignatieff is going to make sure that does not happen again. (Or at least he is going to try.)


BTW: What makes Ignatieff think that he is going to have any more luck this time than he has had in the past?



Related: With all of this talk again on party discipline and consequences, has anyone in the media followed up on the consequences handed out the last time certain Liberal MPs stabbed their leader in the back? OR would that simple task be asking too much of our every vigilant media?

Ignatieff flip flops on Jaffer. More Liberal games.

7 months ago the Jaffer arrest was considered to be a private matter for Ignatieff and the opposition; they felt sorry for those involved and they vowed not to play games with it.

Today, not so much.

News that Rahim Jaffer was arrested broke Sept 16, 2009.

Michael Ignatieff had this to say Sept 17, 2010.

"This is an unfortunate matter," said Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. "This is a man who held public trust and it's before the courts and I have no further comment to make about it."

Another story (also Sept 17, 2010) adds this interesting bit of trivia.

An adviser in Ignatieff's office said he has instructed his MPs not to discuss or attempt to make a political issue out of the matter.

Don't make this a political issue the OLO says.

April 18, 2010. (Highlighting mine if that isn't already obvious).

"the key issue here is the prime minister's judgment."

After Jaffer's arrest in September, Ignatieff wondered about Harper's response. "Did he call in Helena Guergis? Did he say, 'what's going on here?' What is the nature of Mr. Jaffer's business relationships? How could he possibly be accused of cocaine possession? Is there any connection to you in any way?'"

"Seven months ago he should have been asking those questions," Ignatieff added. "We don't know whether he did. This thing has gone on for seven months with increasing questions about his judgment, his handling of the whole affair."

Well, I don't want to make false accusations, but you don't get cocaine at a corner drugstore, right. You have to get it from somewhere, from someone, and usually that means organized crime."


Then don't make false allegations you disingenuous "genius" and if you "wondered" about all of this back in September, why the hell didn't you bring it up then? Stop playing games.





Inspiration and ht BLY

More on Bill C-232. This time from a retired SC Justice.

"What galls me," says retired Supreme Court justice John Major, "is that people like Bob Rae and Ignatieff vote for it."

According to Justice Major, that (Bill C232) would eliminate most of the current court, "In the present court, there's a fair number who can carry on a conversation in French," says Major. "But there are only three completely bilingual judges."

"Bob Rae is a trained lawyer, he was a Rhodes Scholar, he's an intelligent man, he knows the pros and cons of all this and he should have known better. And Ignatieff is the leader of the opposition who supposedly has the interest of the whole country but he's pandering to this New Brunswick motion."

Previously.

Saskatchewan leads the way. Possible shut down of HRC

This can only be described as good news.

Justice David Arnot, Saskatchewan's Human Rights Commissioner, has recommended that Saskatchewan's Human Rights Tribunal be discontinued.

"Currently human rights law, I think it's fair to say, is evolving," Arnot said. "It's becoming more and more complex and the Human Rights Commission believes that judges are best placed to deal with those complexities rather than an administrative tribunal that really doesn't have any dedicated officers or assigned staff and has really little infrastructure."

Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan has suggested that, if the tribunal is scrapped, that its cases will be forwarded to the Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench.

"This is a recommendation that's come forward and is a recommendation that, in fact, may have some merit. There are criticisms that the Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal may be seen as too close to the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission," Morgan explained.


Lead the way Saskatchewan and lets hope the rest of the provinces follow.


h/t Nexus of assholery.

The CBC responds.

The CBC responds to my concerns regarding the false statement made by Scott Reid on Power and Politics. (part 1?)

It took a bit of time and some jumping through some hoops but the CBC has finally responded to my concerns regarding a statement made by Scott Reid on the Point of Order segment from the April 1st, 2010 edition of Power and Politics with Evan Soloman.

Here is what Scott Reid said: "He (Kory Teneycke) along with that, sort of, you know, paid professional brigand of ah, of ah bloggers that work for the Conservative Party; those guys can mobilize a grassroots movement in the snap of a fingers......" and the blog entry I made on the subject can be found here.

An excerpt from the reply I received from Paul Hambleton Managing Editor of the CBC Parliamentary Bureau: The email states that indeed the statement made by Mr. Reid was a "misrepresentation " and goes on to say "The Power & Politics segment in question asks Scott Reid and Jamie Watt [sic] to take a swing at the hot political issues of the day. With their experience we expect insight. But we also want them to be opinionated, funny, and as well; to poke at each other and at politicians. And they're good at it. That said, we need to be as accurate as possible, and at times things that guests say get through that perhaps should not have. It's a fact of life on cable television."

While I do want to thank Mr. Hambleton for his reply and the work of producer Ryan Hicks for getting my (originally ignored) emails to be addressed, I have some big concerns with the contention that Scott Reid was only a "guest" on the show.

Mr.Reid's statement did not occur on one of the many panel discussions, moderated by Evan Soloman, but rather in a pre-taped regular and un-moderated segment on P&P called 'Point of Order', where he and Jaime Watt (correct spelling) give their take on the issues of the day without any type of disclaimer what so ever as to them being merely guests.

Is it normal for the CBC to give "guests" their own regular weekly segment to say whatever they feel like with no accountability or disclaimer, and more importantly is Mr. Reid paid for his work on Point of Order?

So what do you think. Is the CBC correct and Scott Reid is just one in a long line of guests on the show or should he be viewed as something more?

And how does all of this fit into the CBC's own code of Journalistic Standards and Practices?


More to come?

FYI I have replied to the email from the CBC.

Bonus pay for me, pay cut for you.

Old Fast Eddie's government is into it again, this time over bonuses paid out to the executives at Alberta Health Services. The same AHS that currently is trying to roll back the wages of nurses in Alberta.

They paid millions to pay out contracts, which didn't have to be bought out, for the old health executives, and now AHS has decided to give themselves a little something extra as a bonus for what has to be very dubious results. Been to a hospital in Alberta lately?

But yet the government came out and defended the bonuses.

Is anyone surprised?

That is a good question Mr. Ignatieff

Michael Ignatieff asked a good question yesterday.

“Well, who's the third party? I mean they've simply got to come clean here with Canadians,” Ignatieff told reporters outside the House of Commons.

When dealing with 'third parties' one can never be too careful; so what would you do Michael if you were Prime Minister?

Say you had an MP, lets use Wayne Easter as an example, who happened to receive allegations from a third party against another MP that some would consider serious enough that they would warrant a call for that MPs resignation.

So what would you do Michael? Would you demand that your MP come clean with Canadians and identify the third party making those allegations, as you currently are of the PM, or would you just ignore it and hope nobody noticed?


BTW Michael, we noticed.

Alberta Liberal leaves the party, nobody notices

or cares?

On the local scene:

Dave Taylor, the party’s former deputy leader, the Calgary MLA many Liberals wanted as their top gun 16 months ago, will sit as an independent beginning Monday.
“I’m not doing this to get David Swann. It seems to me David Swann is doing just a fine job of getting himself,” says Taylor, who finished second to Swann in a leadership battle at the end of 2008.

“I’ve given him 16 months to lead, to show me, the party and Albertans what he stands for and I’m still waiting. He drifted. I don’t know why he drifted. I don’t know if he’s aware the extent he’s drifting.”

More bad news for a party that recently tossed around the idea of changing their name from "liberal".

Nobody cared about that either.

A Saturday non political post on Hockey and the Oilers.

With a game this afternoon against the Kings and the season ender against the Ducks tomorrow, the nightmare that was the 2009-2010 season for the Edmonton Oilers is almost over. With 514 man games lost due to injury, including our top player Hemsky and our #1 goaltender Khabibulin, this season was a complete disaster and the Oilers have ended up in last place.

OK enough on the negative stuff lets look at some hope for the future.

The draft: Finishing last gives us a 48% chance of drafting #1, and if we miss that, a 100% chance of drafting #2, and with this years crop of draft choices I am not sure their will be much of a benefit by drafting first over second. Will it be Seguin or will it be Hall? That we will have to wait until June to know for sure but either one of these guys will be a great help to the Oilers and the future.

Next year we can expect to see Jordan Eberle, the hero of our national junior team, make his way onto the roster along with a guy that few people know about, Linus Omark.

I am not sure if he will be able to transition to the NHL, but as you can see from the following videos, the boy has some hands. FYI Omark has put up more points playing on Moscow Dynamo than Ovechkin did when he was playing for them. ( I know it means little, but it is interesting)


Shoot out goal vs Switzerland.


Another highlight reel goal.


Highlight reel from 2008/2009



With 2009-2010 out of the way the future looks bright for the Oilers.

I wonder when this guy will be eligible for the draft!

I don't want to make allegations but......

Question (approx 8:15): 'It is all about her and no one else?'


Michael Ignatieff: 'I don't want to make allegations myself but that is an excellent question. In my opinion it's hardly credible to think that this does not touch other individuals in the Conservative Government. I repeat, I do not want to make allegations but there are 2 individuals, very well placed individuals, in the Conservative Party and in the current government, and so we can ask questions.'


2 individuals in the CPC and in the current government?

You got any names that you would care to name there oh great intellectual one?


Or is this one from the Scott Reid school of drive-by smear?

You want an insult to Canadians intelligence.....

This is an insult to not only the intelligence of Canadians but to reality.

“The other thing that is getting tiresome is calling Rahim Jaffer a private citizen, Ignatieff said “This is becoming an insult to the intelligence of Canadians,”

Ok Mr. Intellectual, or his many blog trolling toadies, please explain to us all how your appointed leader is correct and that Rahim Jaffer is not really a private citizen.



Update: It all makes sense now. Ignatieff considers himself better than the rest of us and part of the "political class", and I assume that never again could he himself ever be considered to be something as low on the class scale as just a private citizen.

More news that the OLO does not want to see.

While Michael Ignatieff is busy thinking thoughts at his villa in France.....

A global economic forecasting group says Canadian economic growth will outpace that of other G7 nations by a wide margin during the first half of 2010. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Development and Co-operation is forecasting that Canada’s economy grew 6.2 per cent in the first quarter, well ahead of the 1.9 per cent overall growth for the G7 nations. The OECD predicts that Canada’s second-quarter growth will be about 4.5 per cent, nearly double the 2.3 per cent growth expected from the combined G7.

How did this guy get pardoned?

The National Parole Board has some explaining to do.

Graham James, the junior coach convicted of sexually abusing his players in a case that rocked the hockey world from house leagues to the NHL, has been pardoned by the National Parole Board, The Canadian Press has learned.

WTF, this guy was found guilty and is still being investigated for other possible instances of abuse and he gets pardoned? I hope they are seriously going to look into this.

This from the PMO

A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, while noting the independence of the parole board, expressed shock that the government is learning of the pardon only three years after the fact. “The Prime Minister has asked for explanation on how the National Parole Board can pardon someone who committed such horrific crimes that remain shocking to all Canadians,” Dimitri Soudas said.

The ruling, he said, was made “without our government's consent or knowledge.”

“The actions of this convicted sex offender shocked the conscience of a nation – one where the bond of trust between coaches and players in our national game is sacred,” Mr. Soudas said.

Mr. Harper, he added, has asked Public Safety Minister Vic Toews “to propose reforms that will ensure that the National Parole Board always and unequivocally puts the public's safety first.

I am not sure what the government can really do considering the arms length relationship, and if they do try to do something the Liberals will scream about interference and hidden agenda etc, but they have to try.

Related: considering the outrage the Liberals showed over the Jaffer sentence, maybe they will do the right thing and not try and turn this into another political game.

Yea right.

Post Comedic Stress Syndrome.

Post comedic stress syndrome can strike anywhere at anytime. Learn to recognize the symptoms before it is too late.

If any of the following happen to you, contact your local HRC as soon as possible.

Hurt feelings.

A loss of self esteem.

A feeling that you have not been serviced.

The sudden urge to hurl a drink in someones face; twice.

And the inability to get up and just walk away. ("literally")



PCSS is no joke, it can strike anywhere, anytime. Won't you please give now to find a cure before it strikes someone you love.

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Seriously; Guy Earle has spent thousands of dollars defending himself against a system, paid for by your tax dollars, that is stacked against him while the complainant pays nothing. 5 or 10 dollars can go along way to defeat the real menace here and help stop the abuse of our rights by the so called Human Rights Commissions in this country.

Scott Reid makes up stuff on CBC's Power and Politics

Today on CBC's Power and Politics, Scott Reid, former Paul Martin adviser famous for his beer and popcorn comment which sunk his boss in the 2006 election and who is already quite familiar with libel suits, made the following statement:

"He (Kory Teneycke) along with that, sort of, you know, paid professional brigand of ah, of ah bloggers that work for the Conservative Party; those guys can mobilize a grassroots movement in the snap of a fingers......"

Watch the video. Approx 4:20



Some people never learn.

Mr .Reid, do you, or the CBC for that matter, have any proof at all of your allegation that the conservative party has a roving criminal band of bloggers in its employ?

Or didn't you learn your lesson the last time you made s#1t up and Warren Kinsella sued your lying ass?

I wonder what the CBC has to say.

More to come......?

Watch it for yourself here. The segment starts @ approx the 1:51:30 mark.

Update: Senator Doug Finley responds in the comments

"I can assure all readers that the Conservative Party of Canada has not paid one thin dime to any blogger or activist. The strength of this party largely lies with the many volunteer bloggers and activists in this country."



More of Scott Reid's musings can be found here ( I forgot about this one)