Canada's gnu recalibrated liars

In other words, what we said is not what we really meant and if we didn't actually say what we intended to do we can actually proceed with our hidden agenda. Not that we have a hidden agenda... just the one we didn't tell you about.

Here and here.

Hillary drops the A bomb on Cannon

At the G-8 foreign ministers wrap-up today, Hillary Cinton was asked about Canada's initiative on child and maternal health care in the Third World. Clinton responded:

"You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health. And reproductive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortion."

She was seated next to Lawrence Cannon at the time. After she abandoned him on podium yesterday for excluding aboriginal leaders and three northern nations - Iceland, Finland and Sweden - from his Arctic summit, I figure his butt plug must be packed with smelling salts.

O' course, Hillary's bold pro-choice statement would carry more weight had Obama not just jettisoned abortion funding in the US in order to get his not-really-health care bill passed, but it doesn't look as if Harper's chances of using moms and tots to vault into a seat on the UN Security Council were much advanced by Cannon's shenanigans this week.

Université Laval sure knows how to build 'em . . .

WIRED REPORTS THAT A CAR designed and built by students from Université Laval has won the Shell Eco-Marathon for the second year in a row, with a winning consumption of 2,487.5 MPG. That's a lotta empeegee, folks. According to Tony Borroz, 

This year’s Shell Eco-Marathon was held over this past weekend, and the winner in the top “prototype” category was a bunch of Canadian students. At first, that might seem surprising, but as it turns out, the students from Laval University won last year, so they seem to be the team to beat.

Turns out that in 2010, it was the same team that won in 2009: A student team from Laval University in Canada. They brought home the gold in the prototype category from the race in Houston, Texas with a winning miles per gallon figure of 2,487.5 mpg. The Laval University team’s car used an Alerion Supermileage combustion engine to accomplish the feat. Interestingly, they were unable to match the MPG figures they set last year, a staggering 2,757.1 mpg.

California Pot Vote

THE SACRAMENTO BEE has a report by Peter Hecht, "California will vote on legalization of marijuana in November".

California's raucous argument over legalizing marijuana is headed to the ballot.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen confirmed Wednesday that voters will decide in November whether to legalize and tax marijuana use for Californians 21 and over.

California's annual pot crop is worth about $14 billion, according to the State Board of Equalization. It estimates that legalization and taxation could bring in up to $1.4 billion in revenue.

Should be a hell of a show to watch. The U.S. Department of Justice National Drug Intelligence Center, has released a report, "National Drug Threat Assessment 2010". 

Overall, the availability of illicit drugs in the United States is increasing.1 In fact, in 2009 the prevalence of four of the five major drugs–heroin, methamphetamine, marijuana, and MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine)–was widespread and increasing in some areas. Conversely, cocaine shortages first identified in 2007 persisted in many markets.

… Although drug use remained relatively stable from 2007 through 2008, more than 25 million individuals 12 years of age and older reported using an illicit drug or using a controlled prescription drug (CPD) nonmedically in 2008. Each year, drug-related deaths number in the thousands, and treatment admissions and emergency department (ED) visits both exceed a million. These and other consequences of drug abuse, including lost productivity associated with abuse, the impact on the criminal justice system, and the environmental impact that results from the production of illicit drugs, are estimated at nearly $215 billion annually.

Mexican DTOs {drug trafficking organizations} continue to represent the single greatest drug trafficking threat to the United States. Mexican DTOs, already the predominant wholesale suppliers of illicit drugs in the United States, are gaining even greater strength in eastern drug markets where Colombian DTO strength is diminishing. The extent of Mexican DTO influence over domestic drug trafficking was evidenced in several ways in 2009.… National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC) analysts estimate that the overall threat posed by illicit drugs will not diminish in the near term. Although NDIC believes that sustained shortages of cocaine will persist in some U.S. markets in 2010, the availability of heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana will increase, largely the result of increased production of the drugs in Mexico. The growing strength and organization of criminal gangs, including their alliances with large Mexican DTOs, will make disrupting illicit drug availability and distribution increasingly difficult for law enforcement agencies.

Uh, just say no.  :)

Fun in the sun . . .

THERE'S THIS CHAP ERINGER, Robert Eringer, who has some interesting tales to tell about his time, starting in 2002, as the spymaster for Prince Albert of Monaco.

Eringer’s brief was simple, if complex in its execution: To ensure the Prince would be well informed not only during his extensive foreign travels but also about the foreigners, residents and native Monegasques who surrounded him at home.

His mission statement: 1) to investigate individuals and entities about whom the Prince voiced concern. 2) To keep the Prince apprised of information, which, as his eyes and ears, would come to his attention. 3) To create liaison partnerships with the intelligence services of select countries--with a view to soliciting expert briefings and advice.

Well, for a number of reasons, the wheels fell off. Eringer wound up suing the Prince, and won. An excerpt:

That evening, the Prince and his spymaster dined in the private room of a Spanish restaurant in downtown Washington.

Their hosts: Senior officers from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).

Purpose: To open unofficial contact.

Much to the dismay of CIA, Prince Albert permitted two of his buddies to attend the dinner meeting. Later, when the agency ran checks, they were horrified to discover that one of the Prince’s friends had spent a year in prison for his role as bagman to Maryland’s corrupt governor, Marvin Mandel.

The Prince departed with his two chums early, at ten o’clock, so he could visit a striptease-club in Baltimore owned by his ex-con friend.

Eringer remained behind to cement liaison relationships with both special services.

Anyway, it's an interesting read. When you visit his site, be sure to go to "older posts", because he has published excerpts (titled "Spy Lord") from a series of interviews with former KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov. A Vlad kind of guy.

Matt Weighs In . . . .

Matt Taibbi weighs in on the "Vati-scum" - aka, "bennie and the jerks" - in action.

A sample:

That’s all the church is. They’re a giant for-profit company using predatory salesmanship to sell what they themselves know is a defective, outmoded, basically unnecessary product.

The full article here.

As usual, his writing is on-target and verbiage more than entertaining . . . .

"We have shot an amazing number of people...

...but to my knowledge, none has ever proven to be a threat," said Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who became the senior American and NATO commander in Afghanistan last year. His comments came during a recent videoconference to answer questions from troops in the field about civilian casualties."

~ New York Times, Friday, March 26, 2010

h/t Chris Floyd at Empire Burlesque

Red Libs vs. the Blue Dog and Bay Street Libs

Cliff at Rusty Idols on the Libs' very very very bad week :

About time for the Red Libs to realize the Blue Dog Libs and the Bay Street Libs are going to use them hard and put them away wet forever. They don't respect them, they plan to never respect them. They'll push them in front for the cameras during campaigns and keep them chained up in the basement the rest of the time.

Libs who believe in reproductive freedoms, a robust safety net, peace and economic justice will still be getting used and abused by what's left of the Liberal Party long after the rest of us are all dead.

George Orwell, cheerful sod that he was, said the defining image of the future would be a boot smashing into a face again and again forever.

For those on the left wing of the Canadian Liberal Party it's John Manley's smirk. For him it's the back of their heads.

Elephant Painting

An amazing elephant that really paints. Not alone, either, apparently other pachyderms daub and dab, as well. News to me. The video is really impressive. Sentience at work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk

True grit . . . .

CHINA DAILY has a report by Cao Li and Hu Yinan "Desert storm blankets most of North China". It's a report of interest, because it indicates a continuing and worsening problem for the Party. The climate is producing a humongous dust-bowl. When you need all the agricultural production you can get, this is a heaping, steaming bowl of NOT GOOD.

The sky across North China turned dark yellow over the weekend as the biggest sandstorm this year offered a grim reminder of the impact of the country's worsening desertification.

Tons of sand carried by winds of up to 100 km/h have affected more than 270 million people in 16 provinces since Friday, covering about 2 million sq km, said meteorological experts. The storm, the worst since January last year, reached Shanghai on Sunday.

Thanks to overgrazing, deforestation, urbanization and drought, deserts now make up more than 16 percent of the country, and scientists say the shifting sands are increasing the risk of sandstorms - the grit from which could travel as far as the western United States.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences estimates that the number of sandstorms has jumped six-fold in the past 50 years to two dozen a year.

Now, why should you care? Well, if the wheels fall off Chinese agriculture, then a Chinese expansion into less gritty areas further south might happen. As well, it will make the Party more intransigent to change and challenge and Taiwan.

Truth . . .

From slacker.co.nz

Censorship or just the Free Market in action?

As much as I dislike Ann Coulter, I do respect her right to say just about any stupid thing that comes into the space between her ears. I don't think the University of Ottawa should have invited her in the first place, but I'm not sure how I feel about her speech having to be cancelled due to "security concerns."
I'd rather have seen her be allowed to speak, and then roundly booed and mocked by those in attendance.
One thing is for certain though, and that is that she, and Ezra Levant and the rest of the para-fascist shriekosphere will be milking this for all it is worth.

I'm puzzled as to how Canadian Immigration Authorities can justify allowing a hatemonger like Ann Coulter into the country while barring British MP George Galloway, scholar and former radical  William Ayers and trying to keep out journalists who might say mean things about the big burning stick festival in Vancouver.

But then, I suppose such people are not going to bring teh laffs like Brownshirt Annie:

During the Q & A a 17 year old female Muslim student quoted Ann Coulter's statement encouraging 1) the US to invade the Islamic nations, kill their leaders and convert their citizens to Christianity; and 2) for Muslims to be banned from airplanes, and that if they need to fly they should take their magic carpets. The girl asked if 1) she should be forced to convert, and 2) given that she doesn't have a magic carpet, what should she do if she needs to fly somewhere. Coulter didn't much address the first question, but addressed the second one by telling her to take a camel! (not that camels fly but, you get the drift).

Laugh? Ha, I almost started!

Stay KKKlassy conservatives!

Ann was introduced in London by fellow wingnut trougher and longtime media whore Ezra Levant. And apparently Kathy "12 feet of nasty packed in a five foot box" Shaidle was also there to try to claw her way onto the gravy train and spreading her usual sunshine.


What these half-bright hate peddlars and their "moran" fans fail to realize is that history has completely passed them by. They and their morally and intellectually bankrupt ideology are flavor-of-the-moment relics from the last decade and anyone with any sense at all has long since moved on. All their outrageous statements and publicity stunts aimed at getting them back in the limelight will fail, because after 20 years of their screaming "wolf" and predicting doom if they weren't given the keys to the kingdom even conservatives are now realizing they've been had.

And speaking of cheap and obvious publicity stunts, apparently Coulter is planning to launch a complaint with the Human Rights Commission over a letter she received prior to speaking at the Univeristy of Ottawa.

"...a senior University of Ottawa administrator has warned her to use "restraint, respect and consideration" when speaking at the school.
Francois Houle, vice-president academic and provost, advised Coulter, who holds a law degree, to review Canada's hate speech and defamation laws before giving her talk at the university.
In an e-mail sent to Coulter on Friday, a copy of which has been obtained by the National Post, Houle wrote: "Our domestic laws, both provincial and federal, delineate freedom of expression (or "free speech") in a manner that is somewhat different than the approach taken in the United States. I therefore encourage you to educate yourself, if need be, as to what is acceptable in Canada and to do so before your planned visit here."

He continued: "Promoting hatred against any identifiable group would not only be considered inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges."

After also mentioning defamation law, the provost wrote: "I therefore ask you, while you are a guest on our campus, to weigh your words with respect and civility in mind."

Shorter: "We both know you like to shoot your mouth off and we have laws against hate speech up here, and every liberal in the country will be waiting to pounce, so please don't drag the univerisity into a lawsuit by saying something actionable, mmmkay?"

And Coulter's response?

"Now that the provost has instructed me on the criminal speech laws he apparently believes I have a proclivity (to break), despite knowing nothing about my speech, I see that he is guilty of promoting hatred against an identifiable group: conservatives," Coulter wrote in an e-mail to the Ottawa Citizen Monday...

Shorter: "You Canuckistani socialists aren't the boss of me! I'll say whatever hateful thing I want!"

Obviously, Ezra has had a word with Ann about the publicity value to be had in getting to speak in front of the Human Rights Commission, no matter how obviously stupid your case, something he has considerable experience with.

Seriously, there ought to some kind of fine levied for wasting the commission's time with this kind of bullshit.

(crossposted from The Woodshed)

Disorder in the Court

THIS MORNING, I RECEIVED an e-mail that had some oldies but goodies, from a book allegedly  called "Disorder in the Court". As it happened, I had been thinking about one of 'em, and voila! — there it was in my inbox. I decided to search, and yes, the book really does exist: "Disorder in the Court: Great Fractured Moments in Courtroom History", by Charles M. Sevilla.

I'm sure you may have seen them before, but what the hell . . . .

ATTORNEY: What gear were you in at the moment of the impact?
WITNESS: Gucci sweats and Reeboks.

ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active?
WITNESS: No, I just lie there.

ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
WITNESS: I forget.
ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot?

ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo?
WITNESS: We both do.
ATTORNEY: Voodoo?
WITNESS: We do.
ATTORNEY: You do?
WITNESS: Yes, voodoo.

ATTORNEY: Now doctor, isn't it true that when a person dies in his sleep, he doesn't know about it until  the next morning?
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?

ATTORNEY: The youngest son, the twenty-year-old, how old is he?
WITNESS: He's twenty, much like your IQ.

ATTORNEY: So the date of conception (of the baby) was August 8th?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: And what were you doing at that time?
WITNESS: Getting laid.

ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
WITNESS: Yes.
ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
WITNESS: None.
ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?

ATTORNEY: How was your first marriage terminated?
WITNESS: By death.
ATTORNEY: And by whose death was it terminated?
WITNESS: Take a guess.

ATTORNEY: Doctor, how many of your autopsies have you performed on dead people?
WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.

ATTORNEY: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
WITNESS: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
ATTORNEY: And Mr. Denton was dead at the time?
WITNESS: If not, he was by the time I finished.

ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: I see, but could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.

ATTORNEY: What is your date of birth?
WITNESS: July 18th.
ATTORNEY: What year?
WITNESS: Every year.

Canada-EU Trade Agreement and the 'Buy American' scare

Why does it fall to a former Irish MP and Member of the European Parliament to raise questions about the dangers of privatization to Canadians when the Canada-EU trade agreement (CETA) gets passed? Isn't that the job of the Canadian government and the Canadian media? *rhetorical lol*

Under the guise of harmonizing regulations between provinces, TILMA enjoyed limited success in the west in ending the provinces' and municipalities' right to "Buy Local" in favour of investor rights for international corps. This was a big sticking point for the EU decision in going ahead with a Canada-EU trade deal - if European companies weren't going to be allowed to bid as equals on government contracts for both goods and services and if the provinces refused to end the favouring of local or national providers of public-sector services, well then the EU wasn't very interested in pursuing the deal.

Luckily for Harper and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the 100 transatlantic CEOs plumping for CETA, the big "Buy American" scare came along. In exchange for a one day opportunity window into the 4 or 5 billion dollars left in Obama's Buy American stimulus package - jobs! jobs! jobs! - Harper convinced the provinces to give up their local procurement rights.

Between these two deals - the throw-away Buy American 'exemption' and the proposed Canada-EU deal - we're caught in a pincer move to further corporatize public services.

Good thing there's one Irishman at the European parliament asking a few questions on our behalf then, eh?

At the going down of the Sun, and in the morning...

With condolences and respect to the family and friends of Cpl. Darren James Fitzpatrick, 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Succumbed to wounds sustained as a result of enemy action.

Ric-A-Dam-Doo

IP Nails It . . . .

Idealistic Pragmatist has the definitive post on the US dems, health care "reform" and the sorry condition of the Excited States here.

Go, read and hope the situation doesn't creep across the 49th . . . .

Missed statistics class that day, did we Steve?

I don't know of any post-secondary education in things involving the exchange of goods and services, the movement of money or the creation and stability of wealth that doesn't involve a healthy dose of the science of statistics. That would include, even at a basic level, an education in economics.

Apparently Harper missed that part of his boiler-plate economics training and paid more attention to his political science puppet-masters. And now, he's pretending Canadians don't notice that he's being led around by his statistically insignificant Christian-Conservative base.

So, Steve, here's a lesson you apparently missed. No confidence interval - just easily understood statistics which prove you, Buckwheat, and your crypto-fascist Christian base are out of step with the statistically solid majority of Canadians.

Rock on!

With none other than Lindsay Stewart, resident at Canadian Cynic and a regular commenter here at TGB.

Way to go, PSA!

The enterprise of piracy.

As Charli Carpenter points out, one of the more interesting parts of the UNSC-mandated Monitoring Group on Somalia report is not just the rampant corruption, but one of the annexes to that report which details how piracy operations are run from that territory.

A basic piracy operation requires a minimum eight to twelve militia prepared to stay at sea for extended periods of time, in the hopes of hijacking a passing vessel. Each team requires a minimum of two attack skiffs, weapons, equipment, provisions, fuel and preferably a supply boat. The costs of the operation are usually borne by investors, some of whom may also be pirates.

To be eligible for employment as a pirate, a volunteer should already possess a firearm for use in the operation. For this ‘contribution’, he receives a ‘class A’ share of any profit. Pirates who provide a skiff or a heavier firearm, like an RPG or a general purpose machine gun, may be entitled to an additional A-share. The first pirate to board a vessel may also be entitled to an extra A-share.

At least 12 other volunteers are recruited as militiamen to provide protection on land of a ship is hijacked, In addition, each member of the pirate team may bring a partner or relative to be part of this land-based force. Militiamen must possess their own weapon, and receive a ‘class B’ share — usually a fixed amount equivalent to approximately US$15,000.

If a ship is successfully hijacked and brought to anchor, the pirates and the militiamen require food, drink, qaad, fresh clothes, cell phones, air time, etc. The captured crew must also be cared for. In most cases, these services are provided by one or more suppliers, who advance the costs in anticipation of reimbursement, with a significant margin of profit, when ransom is eventually paid.

When ransom is received, fixed costs are the first to be paid out. These are typically:

• Reimbursement of supplier(s)

• Financier(s) and/or investor(s): 30% of the ransom

• Local elders: 5 to 10 %of the ransom (anchoring rights)

• Class B shares (approx. $15,000 each): militiamen, interpreters etc.

The remaining sum — the profit — is divided between class-A shareholders.

As you may have already determined, there is a level of business sophistication one wouldn't expect from a group of "disorganized outlaws". It's downright Wall Street.

But then, maritime pirates have always been well ahead of the likes of both business and government. As Peter T. Leeson wrote in 2007, 17th and 18th Century pirates, far from either the romantic, swashbuckling buccaneers portrayed by Hollywood or the less savory image presented by the British Admiralty as bloodthirsty murderers, maritime pirates were actually well-organized, employed democracy to their benefit and lived by a strict code of behaviour amongst themselves.

They could easily have taught their land-based organized crime brethren a few lessons in personnel management. Apparently the last few crops of MBAs drifting out of the world's leading business schools caught at least a part of the lesson. The one where they pay themselves bonuses.

In any case, far from glorifying these acts, it is interesting to note that modern-day pirates continue to operate more like a business than an unorganized rabble. Take a look at page 97 of the report and then page 99.

Oh.... you have a question? Yeah. So do I.

A pondering Corleone . . .

Japan 1 Bluefin 0

THE NEW YORK TIMES has a sad report, "U.N. Rejects Export Ban on Atlantic Bluefin Tuna", by David Jolly and John Broder. If you're a polar bear, it's also a bummer, too.

Delegates at a United Nations conference on endangered species in Doha, Qatar, soundly defeated American-supported proposals on Thursday to ban international trade in bluefin tuna and to protect polar bears.

Atlantic and Mediterranean stocks of bluefin, a fish prized especially by Japanese sushi lovers for its fatty belly flesh, have been severely depleted by years of heavy commercial fishing, while polar bears are considered threatened by hunting and the loss of sea ice because of global warming. The United States tried unsuccessfully to persuade delegates to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or Cites, to provide strong international protection for the two species.

“It wasn’t a very good day for conservation,” said Juan Carlos Vásquez, a spokesman for the United Nations organization. “It shows the governments are not ready to adopt trade bans as a way to protect species.”

Then there's Japanese whale hunting, aka "research". I hope all those shiny, happy people in their Toyotas, Hondas and Nissans feel warm and fuzzy. Then there's dolphins, and "The Cove". A pox on all their keiretsu. Like Republicans, the only thing they respect is money — so I don't buy Japanese.

Harper Conservative Jim Abbott believes in torture...

So long as a a whisper-fine technicality allows it.

Let's put it another way. Despite the fact that the Canadian Forces and the Department of National Defence have absolutely vowed that the articles of the Geneva Conventions apply to all combatants in Afghanistan, Jim Abbott is defending the actions of Canada's Afghan jailers on the basis that "the enemy" does not constitute a "state" as defined in the various conventions of the laws of armed conflict of which Canada is seized.

Therefore, according to Abbott, torture is NOT prohibited... technically, y'know.

Resolved. Jim Abbott is not suggesting torture does not happen to detainees handed over to our Afghan jailers. He is suggesting it happens and it is perfectly legal because the combatants taken into custody are not protected by any convention.

That is the Harper Conservative position... once again emerging as a defence against charges of Canadian government complicity in inhumane treatment.

I guess Abbott now understands he has just put Canadian troops at great risk. Should a Canadian soldier fall into the hands of "the enemy" they can do pretty much anything they want to that individual, with Abbott's permission, because the technical line he's following works in both directions. If a bunch of insurgents, Talib or not, capture a Canadian soldier and start cutting off his body parts on a You Tube video, (when they're not pre-empted by Steve Harper trying to play one of the kewl kids), he'll just shrug it off because technically, our troops have no protection from partisan forces under the rules of armed conflict.

Tie me another yellow ribbon Abbott, you senseless fuckwad.

If things were going well in Afghanistan...

This wouldn't be happening. (Emphasis mine)

This refusal to allow reporting of certain combat actions is one of the odd experiences of being at war with the Canadian military and I have complained about it for years, as have others. But the gag order on embedded reporters in Kandahar continues.

The excuse the Canadian Forces gives is that Taliban guerrillas might learn from immediate media accounts whether their warheads had hit a target or not, which would allow them to recalibrate.

That's a legitimate concern even though most Taliban firing isn't that sophisticated. Rockets are simply hurriedly stuck in the ground at a rough angle and fired off, usually to no effect.

However, I accept the need for caution and so I am not offering up the exact time or location of these incidents. But there should clearly be limits to all this secrecy.

What really concerns me here is that a tally of rocket attacks on Canadians never does get out. Not even days or weeks later, after a safe passage of time.

It's simply as if they never happened, and such censorship distorts our own sense of the war and its changing tempo.

Something most of our closest allies are aware of and realize that, if such stringent censorship was ever exposed, it would come back to bite them.

This is interesting because Canadian officers have become extremely skilled in recent years in appearing open towards the media, which they are compared to most Harper government departments.

Still, neither of our principal allies, the U.S. and British, imposes the same OPSEC restrictions that Canada does. They are more open.

So, if they're hiding the obvious ineffective rocket attacks from the Canadian public... what else are they hiding?

And who ordered them to hide it?

More from M@ and POGGE.

Corporations are people too!

PR Watch : "After the US Supreme Court declared that corporations have the same rights as individuals when it comes to funding political campaigns, the self-described progressive firm, Murray Hill, Inc., took what it considers the next logical step: running for office in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District."

Washington Post : "In Maryland, independent candidates are not required to be registered voters. They can qualify for the fall ballot by collecting enough signatures from voters in their district -- about 4,500, in this case."

As a five year old company, Murray Hill Inc. does not meet the minimum age requirement of 25 however so a "designated human", the company's CEO, has been chosen to represent them.

The corporate candidate has its own Web site, a Facebook page with nearly 6,000 fans, and the online ad above that has drawn more than 187,000 hits.

“Vote for Murray Hill Incorporated — the best democracy money can buy.”

Heh. Well done.

That weird feeling...

Was You Tube abuser and abysmally bad Beatles cover artist, Steve Harper, blowing scripted sunshine up your ass.

Kady first:

Oh, I know what some of you are thinking: "Aha! You control freakish mainstream media types just don't want Canadians to be able to hear the prime minister speak without a filter!" But really, it's not always about the cuts, it's about taking part in the discussion -- asking follow-up questions, probing the answers, and yes, when necessary, saying, "Alright, let's move on to a different topic." It would be different if this actually had been an interactive chat, and the Canadians posing the questions were able to respond to the PM's replies, but it wasn't, and they weren't, and as Susan Delacourt points out, the resulting viewing experience was reminiscent of nothing so much as an oddly anodyne end-of-year outing.

And now, Susan:

The optics are the same; the PM, made up for TV, in a chair, fielding questions from an interviewer. The people who asked the questions were not permitted a chance to interact or ask follow-up questions. There was no one there to say -- hey, wait a minute, you didn't answer the question. Or, in the case of the Prime Minister saying that questions about Afghan detainees were an insult to the troops, after he said he didn't always answer critics with that retort, there was no one to say, well, that.
Moreover, I suspect that if the Google interviewer had asked a question that the Prime Minister didn't like, that would have been the last interview he did with Harper. That, I'm afraid, is the sorry reality here -- the "you're so dead at recess" strategy of media management. So that's business as usual too.

From the chamber of sober second thought

Senator Mike Duffy, formerly of Corporate Television Vehicle™, has figured out what's wrong with modern journalism :

"When I went to the school of hard knocks, we were told to be fair and balanced," Duffy was quoted from his speech in yesterday’s issue of the Amherst Daily News. "That school doesn’t exist any more. Kids who go to King’s, or the other schools across the country, are taught from two main texts."

According to the Senator of Extra Pudding, those two main texts polluting young minds are : "Noam Chomsky and critical thinking"

Critical thinking. Oh, the horror.

Boulder Mountain drama... after the avalanche

A grieving Alberta widow wants to know why, even after clear avalanche warnings, an event which was clearly dangerous, especially to a bunch of weekend thrill-seekers, went ahead.

The executive director of the BC Snowmobile Federation provides an answer.

"Right now it's personal choice," Les Austin said in an interview from Revelstoke. "I don't believe there needs to be greater regulation. We need greater education and stuff like that so people can make better-informed decisions. That doesn't happen overnight."

Yeah. I guess a series of snowmobile triggered avalanches are pretty tough to absorb over all that noise. And as for the effect of their actions on everybody else?

And what of the time, cost and personal risk associated with rescue efforts for snowmobilers who get into trouble after wilfully ignoring avalanche warnings?

"You're right, we appreciate all the rescue efforts because without all those people this thing could have been worse than it was," he said.

Consequences of one's behaviour. Taught in primary school.

Of course, given all the warnings, we could just call it suicide and let the insurance companies provide the lesson.

In the meantime, there's always this.

Dear Frank

Good letter from Fern to Frank over at Dammit Janet :

My Letter to the Hon. Frank Iacobucci

Dear Sir,
I am writing to you as one private citizen of Canada to another.

As a former Supreme Court Justice and upholder of the Constitution, you must recognize that the government's move to employ you to examine the documents relevant to the Afghan detainee ruckus is, at least, not very popular among some knowledgeable commenters.

To many, me included, it is a mockery of the concept of Parliamentary supremacy.

It is, further, merely the latest in a long series of anti-democratic initiatives by this Conservative government.

No one questions your ability or your reputation. The issue is whether Parliament is to be allowed to do its job.

Please. Reject the assignment.

Yours truly,
fern hill

Phone: (direct) 416.865.8217 Fax: 416.865.7380
Email: fiacobucci (at) torys.com
Mail: 79 Wellington Street West, Suite 3000Box 270, TD CentreToronto, Ontario, M5K 1N2 Canada

I'm guessing Fern wouldn't mind if you copy and pasted that puppy with your own name under it.


Here's my letter :

Dear Frank :

In your last go round with whitewashing government complicity in torture, it took you 16 months to determine that even though :

1)CSIS and the RCMP "mistakenly" advised Egyptian and Syrian authorities that Canadian citizens Ahmad El Maati and Abdullah Almalki were "associated with Al Qaeda" and an "imminent threat to public security" and a "confessed terrorist" and that El Maati was "involved in a plan to commit a terrorist act in Canada", resulting in

2)El Maati being subjected to "electric shock to his hands, back and genitals, and sleep deprivation while being subjected to excruciatingly painful stress torture for days on end", and that subsequently

3)CSIS fired off a handy list of questions to be put to them,

you ultimately determined in your report that :

"I found no evidence that any of these of these officials were seeking to do anything other than carry out conscientiously the duties and responsibilities of the institutions of which they were part."

and

"It seems inevitable, in the struggle against terrorism that mistakes of various kinds will be made."

After which the government redacted "about 20% of your findings from the public document for national security reasons."

So, really, Frank, who gives a fuck what you think?

Yours truly,
Alison

Strongly advise sending Fern's letter instead.

Guergis to sue Air Canada employees?

For "slander", apparently, and "breach of privacy" for reporting her manic meltdown at Charlottetown Airport

"They" will never let Helena "hell hole" Handbasket go through with it of course.

Pity.

h/t Buckdog

That could be on rye . . .

WIRED MAGAZINE has a very disturbing report by Brendan I. Koerner, "Red Menace: Stop the Ug99 Fungus Before Its Spores Bring Starvation". It's about a mutant fungus that originated in Uganda, discovered in 1999, that is starting to spread.

Why should you care? Well, according to Mr. Koerner,

Stem rust is the polio of agriculture, a plague that was brought under control nearly half a century ago as part of the celebrated Green Revolution. After years of trial and error, scientists managed to breed wheat that contained genes capable of repelling the assaults of Puccinia graminis, the formal name of the fungus.

But now it’s clear: The triumph didn’t last. While languishing in the Ugandan highlands, a small population of P. graminis evolved the means to overcome mankind’s most ingenious genetic defenses. This distinct new race of P. graminis, dubbed Ug99 after its country of origin (Uganda) and year of christening (1999), is storming east, working its way through Africa and the Middle East and threatening India and China. More than a billion lives are at stake. “It’s an absolute game-changer,” says Brian Steffenson, a cereal-disease expert at the University of Minnesota who travels to Njoro regularly to observe the enemy in the wild. “The pathogen takes out pretty much everything we have.”

Indeed, 90 percent of the world’s wheat has little or no protection against the Ug99 race of P. graminis. If nothing is done to slow the pathogen, famines could soon become the norm — from the Red Sea to the Mongolian steppe — as Ug99 annihilates a crop that provides a third of our calories. China and India, the world’s biggest wheat consumers, will once again face the threat of mass starvation, especially among their rural poor. The situation will be particularly grim in Pakistan and Afghanistan, two nations that rely heavily on wheat for sustenance and are in no position to bear added woe. Their fragile governments may not be able to survive the onslaught of Ug99 and its attendant turmoil.

And it gets better:

Ug99 isn’t just on the march. It’s mutating, too: It has developed the ability to overcome resistance genes that were being used to combat it. At least four variants of the pathogen have been discovered to date, and each has the ability to knock out resistance genes once thought to be worthy substitutes for Sr31. The most troubling of these variants, first detected in Kenya in 2006, tears through Sr24, the gene that so many North American wheat producers rely on to keep P. graminis at bay. Another variant shreds Sr36, commonly used in the winter wheats of the Great Plains.

Can you make brownies with rye flour?

Steve reaches out to Youtube World

As PMO spokesthingey Dimitri Soudas pitches it somewhat awkwardly on YouTube :
Ask Your Questions to Prime Minister Harper :

Submit your questions for Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his response to the Speech from the Throne and the recent budget. The Prime Minister will answer a selection of your top-voted questions in an exclusive YouTube interview next Tuesday March 16, 2010 at 7 p.m. ET.

It must have seemed like a pretty good idea at the time when they were kicking it around the PMO - avoiding reporters while controlling the message, getting down with new social media, and reaching out directly to the demographic with a solid majority lockdown on Youtubeworld - youth.

But as any working clown will tell you, teh youth are a very tough audience. A sampling of questions submitted to Steve so far :

lol look at this talkcanada guy trying to be all formal and serious on a crap website

can you explain how selling our Natural Resources is good for Canadians

Check out the proper way to crush a beer can with ur head!!! It rulez

why is the quality of this video so shitty?

Mr Harper this a question regarding what has happened to the Afghan detainees. Currently by having retired Supreme Court Justice Iacobucci look into the documents, you have only created a smokescreen to hide behind. You have not chosen a sitting judge who would actually have power to do a proper inquiry. As well you are currently in violation of the Constitution by withholding these documents from parliament. When will you be releasing the documents regarding the Afghan detainees to parliament?

This guy sounds like he just gargled a bucket of cum

i gotta question,?? which u will never reply to, ... why the fuck do you lie stephen Harper??

WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO LEGALIZE WEED ?

He hasn't listened to Canada for a long time, I'm Surprised he wants to start now. :/

What did you do during the time Parliament was prorogued besides sitting next to Wayne Gretzky and coming up with a plan to change the national anthem?

What's with the low-quality vid and the script reading...

I agree that the stimulus package was a good oppurtunity to further our advancements in green energy, but due to your lack of intrest in said topic, my scrotum gets itchy when I engage in sexual intercourse with multiple women. is this because of your lack of intrest in energy efficiency? If so what steps will you take to ensure the cleanliness of my yambag? Will you tax it? WE NEED answers Mr. Harper!

legalize marijuana?

When will your government end the waste of corporate tax cuts?

WHAT'S YOUR HAIR MADE OF?

Mr Prime Ribroast Minister, CAN I HAS CHEEZBURGAR?

Mr Harper, Will you please sing Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain" on live television?

Why have you not requested that the United States release Omar Khadr from the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp? He was just a child when he was arrested in Afganistan. His continuing detention puts Canada's image as a champion of human
rights in jeopardy. (thumbs up if you want Mr. Harper to reply to this question.)

My question is how can you live with yourself?

legalize marijuana .

stephen harper - can you please quit your job

I couldn't be bothered putting down questions for that dud Harper

Jeez At least make it watchable. I mean it's not 2005 anymore. You are the government and you can't afford a freaking HD camera... sad

I think the prime minister should invest in a steady cam and a better mic for his youtube rep... c'mon...

fucking numpty

How can you possibly justify not legalizing marijuana?

Why are we "fighting" for peace (contradiction)? As a Canadian i hear that we are the peacemakers who care about all beings but yet we barely support those who are less fortunate. If Canada is known as the peacemakers of the world and have great alliances (U.S.A) than why do we waste our much needed money on weapons of war instead of food and shelter for the world?

why wont you legalize weed ?

testicals. that is all.

I think I have a way to cut the deficit ... stop making Canadians pay for your makeup PM. You want to look the way you do - do it on your own darn dime.

I find it amusing that marijuana is the topic of perhaps 30% of the questions (probably more) and is currently the top 3 asked question

What agreement we have with Israel? Will you send troops for Israel to attack Iran?

BORING

With crime at an all time low, why get tough on it, as well as building more prisons, shouldn't we build more schools and hospitals?Is there nothing to be learned from californias budgeting nightmare experience?

Harper, why have you continued to ignore your own Accountability Act?

why are you such an asshole on climate change?

Would you debate legalization of small quantities of marijuana considering:
A:Tax money saved w/reduced policing/incarceration/court costs B:Tax Revenue
increases. We're able to make wine/beer. 99% do not! Resulting taxation income
is massive. C:Drug cartels make Billion$! Then expand prostitution/guns/armed
gangs D:Create new job markets in these depressed times. Hemp is so
useful/environmental.Considering the facts, how can continued Fed Prohibition of
marijuana be justified?

Why won't you call an impartial public inquiry into the Afghan detainee affair?

When will Canada take a leadership role in the world when it comes to the environment? I am sick and tired of the Prime Minister taking a supporting role on such an important issue affecting our lives. Stop using the economy to ignore such a pressing issue. Time is no longer on our side when it comes to this issue. Please act now!

I often hear of you dirty playbook tricks , can you share them with the rest of us to use !Help us all learn to be Cons !

Why bother? Harper prorogued parliament so he wouldn't have to listen to anyone else. What makes you think he's going to listen now?

Legalize marijuana.

Methinks Mr Soudas better get himself a coupla sockpuppets up there pretty damn quick or Steve will be spending next Tuesday night talking about legalizing weed, the crap quality of Soudas' vid, and um, testicals.

h/t Kady, who has a couple of questions of her own about the appropriateness of Google gifting free Youtube facetime to Steve while registered as a federal lobby group.

Tuesday Night and we're off : Harper's Big Live Late Pretaped Youtube Debut

Who ya gonna call?

THE TIMES OF LONDON has a very disturbing report by Richard Owen in Rome:

Chief exorcist

Father Gabriele Amorth

says Devil is in the Vatican

Hey — it deserves big and bold.

Sex abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church are proof that that "the Devil is at work inside the Vatican", according to the Holy See's chief exorcist.

Father Gabriele Amorth, 85, who has been the Vatican's chief exorcist for 25 years and says he has dealt with 70,000 cases of demonic possession, said that the consequences of satanic infiltration included power struggles at the Vatican as well as "cardinals who do not believe in Jesus, and bishops who are linked to the Demon".

. . .

Father Amorth told La Repubblica that the devil was "pure spirit, invisible. But he manifests himself with blasphemies and afflictions in the person he possesses. He can remain hidden, or speak in different languages, transform himself or appear to be agreeable. At times he makes fun of me."

Boogityboogity. 

Six Degrees of . . . .

Quick!

What do george w.bush, stephen harper and tiger woods have in common?


The Universe indeed works in mysterious ways . . . .

A Bridge Too Far . . .

MICHAEL YON is an American journalist who spends his time in-country, with the troops in Afghanistan. I have posted some of his fine pictures here, in the recent past. Well, on Monday, March 1st, the jihaddis set off a car bomb on the Tarnak River Bridge. This bridge is a major conduit of supplies for the coalition efforts, and the car bomb caused enough damage that the bridge was put out of commission.

Yon inquired as to who was responsible, and this is where the shirking began: initially it appeared that bridge security was a Canadian responsibility, then it appeared that nobody was responsible. The bridge bomb had killed an American soldier, and Yon, an American, started a brouhaha when he posted critical comments on Facebook.

The Canwest Vancouver Sun media sprang to our defence in a general rebuttal, concluding with this gem:

Canadian Forces Lt.-Col. Danny Fortin: "But the Americans answer to a Canadian who answers to a British major-general who in turn answers to an American. This is coalition warfare at its best." 

To his credit, Yon realized he may have made a mistake:

In apology to BG Menard, I should not have demanded that he be fired so early in the process, despite that my assertion that he was responsible has proven true. I should never have mentioned hockey, as that created room for a diversion from the central importance.  Brigadier General Menard clearly was not the only responsible party for this strategic bridge that his soldiers depend upon. To single out BG Menard was a mistake, despite that he was ultimately responsible for the ANP.

Anyway, check out his article, "The Bridge" and other pages on his site. Below, is a picture of a wounded Canadian soldier, Danny, on his second tour of Afghanistan being medevac'd to Germany.

U.S. Air Force Nurse, Lucy Lehker, comforts
an 'unknown' Canadian soldier after he
was badly wounded in Afghanistan.

Because that's what they do...

This I believe. I'm not surprized in the slightest. It will underscore the point made earlier by many that the Chief of Defence Staff of the day was aware that the prisoner transfer agreement he had entered into was, shall we say, seriously flawed.

It will also cause the monosynaptic whipheads at the Blogging Tories to start squawking, "The Liberals did it, too!" Which is non sequitur to the current issue facing the Harperites.

This is closer to the issue. The Harperites developing a plan, not to correct the situation on the ground and guarantee that government direction did not place troops and diplomats in a condition which might violate international law, but to develop a single story and "stick to it".

That's not to say that a new MOU hadn't been signed by then. It had been. Just days before, in fact. So, you might ask, how long some group of frat-boys spent putting together a power point presentation intended for a cabinet meeting where they would all agree on a single velocity of spin?

But, I think there is a larger point being missed. At some stage a decision was made and direction issued that any prisoners or detainees taken in the field by Canadians were "technically" not in Canadian custody because patrols were accompanied by at least one member of the Afghan National Army or the Afghan NDS. Captives were "technically" the responsibility of the Afghans present and never "technically" passed through Canadian points of responsibility. Thus, it was Afghans turning captives over to Afghans, despite Canadian presence, and there was no requirement to monitor the detainee - at all.

I'm sure some genius will eventually work out the harm and foul of Canadians being ordered not to involve themselves, even if a capture was the result of a Canadian action. Eventually.