The supermarket checkout tabloid election continues...

For one brief and fleeting moment I find myself actually agreeing with at least one thing Maximus Pantload has to say:

The biggest “prize” so far in the quest to destroy Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s vice-presidential candidacy is the “news” that her unmarried daughter is pregnant. I have little to say about that because I don’t think the press should be saying much more about it.

If, (and that's a big IF), that was all that people were pointing at, Goldberg would have a point. However, coming from someone whose career was launched bartering information in an attempt to generate an international incident out of a blow-job, it reeks of Goldbergesque conservative hypocrisy. Then...

But what is remarkable is how little that or other revelations matter to the GOP rank and file. Simply put: They love Sarah.

It is quite remarkable, isn't it? Especially since there isn't a substantive thing any of them can actually identify as being a factor which would actually make her presidential material. Let's be right up front here. The Goldberg-identified GOP rank and file, if they truly "love Sarah", aren't looking past the illusion any more than the press Goldberg chastizes. Substance? Who needs it?

While Goldberg attempts to dismiss efforts to dig into the personal and family affairs of Sarah Palin, he might be reminded that that is all Palin has brought to the GOP. The first one-third of her speech was all about her, her family, the PTA and the fact that she's a hockey-mom. If that's what she's selling then you can expect people to check out that aspect of the product. And you can expect the tabloids to go through gallons of midnight oil looking for dirt.

That's something with which Goldberg should be intimately familiar. Given that his mother, masquerading as a reporter on the McGovern campaign in 1972, turned out to be a spy working for Nixon campaign dirt-merchant Murray Chotiner, earning $1000 a week to report back to the Nixon campaign, in her own words, "... really dirty stuff. Who was sleeping with who, what the Secret Service men were doing with the stewardesses, who was smoking pot on the plane--that sort of thing."

The media scrutiny of Palin pales in comparison to the sewer diving exploits of the Goldberg clan.

Palin's speech, beyond all the gooey family references, was a rolling barrage of lies and exaggerations. Easily picked apart, it will send the tabloids searching for more. And they're going to go for the titillating stuff that sells at the checkout. The Goldbergs helped create that environment. It was and is their stock in trade.

Perhaps though, it's worth looking at something in the speech prepared for Palin. The writer tried to make a connection.

Long ago, a young farmer and a haberdasher from Missouri, he followed an unlikely path -- (cheers) -- he followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency.

She compared herself to Harry S. Truman, and described his ascendency to the vice presidency and (through allusion) the presidency as unlikely. As unlikely as the position she finds herself in but, hey, look at what Truman did.

Not so unlikely. At least not on Truman's part.

By the time Truman had been selected as Roosevelt's running mate in 1944 he had been a US senator for 10 years. In the middle of the 2nd World War, Truman chaired the US Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, also known as the Truman Committee. Essentially aimed at creating greater efficiency in military procurement, it was best known for slamming war-profiteers and saving the United States no less than $15 billion while they were engaged in total war and industrial output was on a full war footing. By 1943, Truman's face had appeared on the cover of Time magazine. American's knew who he was and his committee was lauded as a major success.

When Truman was selected as Roosevelt's running mate he had the endorsement of all the key players in the Democratic National Committee including that of the outgoing and incoming chairmen. Further, the DNC was fully aware that Franklin Roosevelt was in ill-health and that Roosevelt's vice presidential pick would probably finish his term as president. In fact, Roosevelt dumped Henry Wallace, the incumbent vice president, to put Truman on the ticket, a clear message that he was seriously concerned about the qualifications and political symmetry of his successor while the country was still in the depths of a world war.

McCain can hardly say the same for his pick.

Truman was honest, diligent, a known quantity and selected specifically for his abilities. Palin, by comparison is a campaign stunt intended to put a Hollywood paint job on a crumbling Republican movie set. As Jezebel puts it, she's viagra for an RNC limp dick.

By the time a person is selected as the possible successor for the prospective holder of the nuclear launch codes, offering one's membership on an elementary school PTA simply does not cut it as a valid credential and certainly doesn't compare to the route taken by a much more substantial and skilled politician.

Don't step in that. It'll stick to your shoe.

Never has so much horse shit been cobbled together on one page by someone who has no clue what they're actually talking about.

She's unqualified. Anti woman. A "right-wing man in a skirt and fetching up-do." Feminists went apoplectic when Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was chosen as Senator John McCain's running mate. The same feminists who keep saying we must have more women in politics suddenly changed their minds. We need more women--just not that kind of woman.

That's just the start and it get progressively worse from there.

Ultimately, feminism -- in its current manifestation as a hodge-podge of left-wing positions on abortion, gender quotas and family law -- has become a brittle, insecure ideology. Nothing highlights this better than the animus feminists reserve for a woman like Sarah Palin.

Not just feminists, Andrea. Anyone who recognizes abuse of authority, those of us who abhor censorship, anybody who expects an elected representative to actually represent those who sent them to their office.

In short, Andrea, you're trying to camouflage what Palin really is - another incompetent, narrow-minded, religion-driven, fundamentalist right-wing freak. You're trying to use the "feminist" argument because you can't defend her on her record, which quite frankly, sucks.

But if you need your little strawman addressed, I'll hand you over to Jane who quite ably, (and far too politely, in my view), leaves your ridiculous diatribe in a smoking heap on the ground.

Take it away Jane.

What was doctored Stevie?

Doesn't sound like that tape was. In fact, given your testimony, it sounds like your little lawsuit may come back to bite you squarely on the ass. (emphasis mine)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has testified that he personally authorized an offer made to late MP Chuck Cadman in 2005 for help defeating the Liberal government.

In sworn testimony filed Wednesday in Ontario Superior Court, Harper said it happened after he heard Cadman was willing to side with the Tories but couldn't because of financial distress and fear of losing an election.

It was Harper's first detailed account of his role in the so-called Cadman affair and, during four hours of testimony, he offered two different versions of when he first learned about Cadman's financial troubles.

Harper said he approved the overture to Cadman on May 18, 2005, the day before a crucial confidence vote, after receiving a message from his top political organizer and campaign manager, Doug Finley.

Harper testified during a cross-examination in his $3.5-million libel suit against the Liberal party that he gave permission for Finley to speak to Cadman, a former Conservative, even though he was sure Cadman was going to support the Liberals in the confidence vote.

This is Harper's only lengthy explanation of his actions in the Cadman affair – allegations that Conservative representatives offered Cadman a $1-million insurance policy to help defeat the Liberals.

Harper testified that he personally met Cadman on April 1 that year in an attempt to coax him back to the Conservative fold, after having authorized a similar approach by former Tory MP John Reynolds as early as the previous fall.

Under cross-examination by the Liberal party lawyer, Harper initially said Finley informed him about Cadman's worries over finances and life insurance the following September.

So which is it, Stevie?

As Chrystal says, this may lead to yet another lawsuit.

In Case the G&M Turns Me Down

Lately the G&M comments boards have been declining my longer posts. So I decided to post the longer ones here to be sure they're not lost. I would recommend to anyone who posts lomger than 5 or 6 sentences to the G&M comments to do the same. Especially if your posts reference either Harper's ignored history or the failures of the national media.

"The G&M again calls the Harper Conservatives "Tories"

John Diefenbaker was a Tory. Robert Stanfield was a Tory. Joe Clark was a Tory. Even Brian Mulroney was a Tory.

Those men had Canada's welfare at heart. They respected our institutions and our traditions. They and the party they led were honorable and trustworthy. As much as I disagreed with them, in particular Mulroney, I never once believed that their motivations were less than honourable.

Harper's brand of conservatism is another kettle of fish altogether.

Viewed with a long lens, not just one or two elections, his stated aims would have confederation becoming little more than a nominal, even ceremonial, condition. Provinces, like US states, would become so much more autonomous and disconnected from the federation that our current understanding of the Canadian state would be meaningless.

I don't think this is well understood as the Conservatives have done a good job of removing all references to Harper's past writings and speeches. The national media have helped in this by not referring to that past body of work which he has never disavowed.

Should Harper gain his majority and be able to repeat it at least once more we would eventually awaken to a Canada changed beyond all recognition and almost certainly unrecoverable.

Just as he and his closest confidantes have always told us we would."

Goldwater predicted this

Back in 2006 I wrote:

Kind of makes you nostalgic for Barry Goldwater, a man who believed in legalized abortion, supported the NAACP, didn't consider gays in the military to be a problem and supported equal rights for all. In 1994 he told the Washington Post:

When you say “radical right” today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.

It would have been interesting to hear Goldwater's assessment of the Bush administration. I think he would have been horrified.

In fact, I miscalculated. Goldwater would have looked at the entire Republican party today and shuddered. They've become a religious party - no more; no less. The Canadian equivalent is the Conservative Party of Canada.

And I bring this up again because JJ has a list of Goldwater quotes which foretold the problems if the wingnut Christian Right ever got a handhold on a major political party.

Kiss politics goodbye. Unless sanity finally takes hold.

For your entertainment.

Maybe Joe's Just Misguided

So the Democratic Party is "considering" some kind of sanction against Joe Lieberman.

Apparently the powers that be in the Democratic Party think that a member of the caucus who speaks in prime time at the Republic convention and slags the Democratic nominee might require censure.

Are these people for real?

Are they really ready to slink away in fear and give away another presidential election to the Repugnican thieves?

Did they learn nothing from Lieberman's losing the Democratic nomination in Connecticut in '04? He's an Independent now remember.

I swear to FSM the cowards in the HQ of the Democratic Party should be marched into a studio and made to watch back to back episodes of Hanna Montana until they work up the courage to break down the door and leave.

Throw the little weasel out of caucus - disown him - make him dead to you - call him road kill - do anything that indicates you have some spine.

Jeebus.

Ford plant, yeah. Build a stadium while you're at it, Steve.

Stephen the Election Bunny is hopping all over the place with his basket of goodies, today unloading 80 million chocolate eggs to... well here, read for yourself:

Ottawa gives Ford plant a boost
STEVEN CHASE
Globe and Mail Update

September 3, 2008 at 2:22 PM EDT

WINDSOR, ONT. — Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Wednesday that Ottawa will give Ford Motor Co. of Canada up to $80-million in assistance to help it produce more fuel-efficient engines at a once-mothballed Windsor plant.

The pre-election aid is the first direct cash the Conservatives have given to auto makers since taking power and is a bid to quell charges they have done little to salve the pain being felt by Ontario's battered manufacturing sector.

And all the (visible) auto workers stood around in shot, with yellow construction helmets on, clapping at the wonderful news.

Meanwhile, some figures about what's happening in the auto sector, from economics blog Calculated Risk:

In summary:

Honda - down 7.3%
Toyota - down 9.4%
GM - down 20%
Ford - down 27%
Chrysler - down 34%

Just the time, it appears, to dump a whole pile of money into the Canadian manufacturing and sales arm of Ford, owned by the US Ford company.

I hate to be a party pooper, but doesn't this look rather like support for the buggy whip industry? Does the Windsor Ford plant plan to be making streetcars, buses and high speed trains? Nah, it's not that bad, but with the market down so steeply, who's going to buy the Windsor cars? Canadians? Well, maybe.

And what's in it for Ford? I can see that possibly Ford might reopen the plant in response to a big slug of money, but in the USA and Mexico, Ford plants are also having an awful time of it, and do you think they will let a mere $80,000,000 displace a stateside plant?

Suppose Harper's chocolate eggs turn out to be real and not imaginary, (remember, this is the man who just named an icebreaker "CCGS John G. Diefenbaker" -- a ship for which there is still no contract, and which can't be finished until 2017.) But just say he is really serious about the $80 million.

I really want to see what will prevent Ford from pulling an NHL --taking the money and then saying, a year or so down the timeline, that alas the auto sector can't support the Windsor plant, goodbye and thanks for all the fish.

A Billion Here, A Billion There and Pretty Soon You're Talkin' Real Money . . . .

Big announcement today courtesy of Reuters:

Rice announces $1 billion in aid for Georgia
Wed Sept. 3, 2008 - by Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday announced at least $1 billion in aid to help U.S. ally Georgia rebuild after its conflict with Russia over the separatist enclave of South Ossetia last month.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice unveiled the package to help reconstruct Georgia's economy and infrastructure that was destroyed during a short war with Russia, which crushed Georgia's attempt to reassert control over South Ossetia.

"We are responding to what we consider to be urgent needs," said Rice.

Now hold on just a damn minute, condescending!

Why don't you and your ignorant boss "help reconstruct" the US' "economy and infrastructure that was destroyed" by eight years of The bush-league Administration ? ! ?

How 'bout some of the "urgent needs" you have at home, you twit?

Maybe you could promise a billion or two to a program for national health care, huh?

Possibly a billion toward skill retraining for all of the unemployed due to corporations sending US jobs overseas, huh?

Maybe a billion dollar commitment to improving veteran's health facilities - assuming they ever come home. How 'bout that?

Naahhhhh.

Those programs would actually help folks at home and not put any $$$ in your war-machine buddies' pockets.

You people are despicable . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

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

With condolences and respect to the families and friends of Corporal Andrew Paul Grenon, Private Chadwick James Horn and Corporal Michael James Alexander Seggie, all of 2nd Battalion, Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. Killed in action.

Is McCain Palin's Bitch?

Sorry, but this is just way too funny. The UK Telegraph has "Sarah Palin parodies: Best humour on the web". Oh my. The first, "Is McCain Palin's Bitch?", is devastatingly funny. Enjoy.

"Sarah Barracuda" Palin

Hell, even I can't resist this. With all the personal crap flying around the pedestal of Sarah Palin we finally get something with some political history... and it ain't pretty.

The following quotes comes from Crosscut Seattle which received an email from a housewife in Anchorage who knows Sarah Palin apparently much much better than John McCain or any of his campaign staff.

What I found interesting when reading all of this was that if I had substituted the name George Bush, (The Younger), where Palin's name appears, it fits almost perfectly. Given that, and the fact that John McCain's remaining heartbeats are less than the annual output of a Ford truck plant, Palin as president gets even more unnerving.

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Gov. Sarah Palin since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first-name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99 percent of the residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she's like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice for vice president and won't vote for her can't quit smiling when talking about her because she is a "babe."

That's the good part.

During her mayoral administration, most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings, which had given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a "fiscal conservative." During her six years as mayor, she increased general government expenditures by more than 33 percent. During those same six years, the amount of taxes collected by the city increased by 38 percent. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax, which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefitted large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenue during her mayoral administration weren't enough to fund everything on her wish list, though — borrowed money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt but left it with indebtedness of more than $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? Or a new library? No. $1 million for a park. $15 million-plus for construction of a multi-use sports complex, which she rushed through, on a piece of property that the city didn't even have clear title to. That was still in litigation seven years later — to the delight of the lawyers involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5 million for road projects that could have been done in five to seven years without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

This has a ring to it which is all too familiar.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as governor Sarah proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while she proposed distribution of surplus state revenue: Spend today's surplus, borrow for needs.

That seems to be a conservative trait. Give all the money away to buy votes and then quietly borrow to run government.

She's not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As mayor, she fought ideas that weren't generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren't evaluated on their merits but on the basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was mayor of Wasilla, she tried to fire our highly respected city librarian because the librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the city librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

And I suspect the writer of this email may well also be on Palin's list of enemies. But, damn, this is all sounding so familiar.

Sarah complained about the "old boy's club" when she first ran for mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys." Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the city and as governor, she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal — loyal to the point of abusing their power to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the state's top cop.

Uh huh. Hang on, this gets better.

As mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla's police chief because he "intimidated" her, she told the press.

I'm only guessing, but perhaps he demonstrated a distinct lack of fealty.

As governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative action restored most of these projects — which had been vetoed simply because she was not aware of their importance — but with the unobservant she had gained a reputation as "anti-pork."

Line item vetos? Where have we heard that before? And then only to be overruled by the state legislature. Interesting. Apparently though, her lust for power goes back to her high-school basketball days.

Around Wasilla, there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her "Sarah Barracuda" because of her unbridled ambition and predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah's mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and experienced manager, ran for mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

Point guard? Yeah, I suppose, but the situation with her mother-in-law is even more interesting. It would explain why her mother-in-law is saying that she's still not sure who she will vote for.

The above are excerpts from a much longer work. You really need to read the whole thing. It's worth it and instead of the personal shit swirling around the drain you get a picture of an ambitious, ruthless, no-account, small town politician who cares more about her personal advancement then the people she is sent to serve.

She's also out of her depth.

If Anne Kilkenny's email is accurate, Sarah Palin is just a female version of George W. Bush. No wonder the conservative base is so enamoured with her.

Imagine That !

Apparently David Emerson has decided being a big shot in Steeeevie's cabinet is not for him.

Who'd a thunk it?

Anyone rational with grade school reading skills might have noticed that Emerson was less than thrilled at being made to play bumboy for a neo-christian-conservative control freak with a volcanic temper.

Loyola Hearn too.

I wonder how many other front benchers for the Harperites are deciding to stop drinking the koolaid.

It's not about Palin; It's about McCain.

I agree with Digby, it doesn't matter what comes out about Sarah Palin.

Did she fire her Public Safety commissioner over a personal issue? So what? That's pretty much the Republican norm these days. It fits the authoritarian view of their position.

Did her 17-year old daughter get knocked-up? So what? That simply means the abstinence-only education didn't take.

The truth is, the morals espoused by the politically active Christian Right don't apply to them. Look at the stream of hypocrisy flowing out of the Christian Right and behaviour which they would wag fingers over if it was anybody else and you can see where they stand. The Christian Right isn't going to drop an axe through Sarah Palin's nomination over any particular failure because she's one of them. The Christian Right forgives their own, no matter what they do.

Anyway, the only people who make a fetish of other people's reproductive choices are social conservatives and they will forgive her anything because she's a right wing Christian. There are, of course, many many other things about Palin and her selection that are very damaging, but in my view this Jerry Springer, Jamie Spears stuff may even help her more than hurt her.

Later on Digby makes the real point. This is not about Palin; it's about McCain. And while we can all question his judgement, something else, far more terrifying is on display.

Many have observed that all this is a reflection of McCain's bad judgment, but I think it's more than that. It's a reflection of his reckless temperament, which is not something you want in a president, particularly one who has spent most of his life as a warrior and has a violent temper. (Just think about the Cuban missile crisis for a minute and consider what would have happened if an erratic, impulsive president had been in charge.) This, to me, is the central problem with McCain, and his VP choice reflects that. It's as if he woke up and said "fuck it --- let's do it!" and didn't think through the consequences. After all, he is far more likely to die in office than most because of his advanced age --- to choose someone with a gargantuan learning curve, along with all the baggage of being an unknown "first," is an act of extreme recklessness. It's almost as if he did it to defy his own mortality. (He can't die and leave the country in the hands of this neophyte.) You can't get more arrogant than that. Or less patriotic.

And the Cuban missile crisis is a perfect example of what would have happened if someone who didn't weigh the consequences of every possible action. The whole thing lasted thirteen days. If Kennedy had listened to the likes of Curtis LeMay it would have been a whole lot shorter and there is a good likelihood that nobody would be around to hold elections in 2008. It was only because the president's ExComm team developed a list of options and ground through the consequences of each that the Cuban missile crisis didn't end in an intercontinental nuclear exchange.

Do you really think someone like McCain could have or would have pulled it off?

Election Issues 101

or, 101 things to think about if Steve gets his election :

Afghanistan mission/Operation Enduring Freedom, Cadman tapes, Bernier affair, in and out scheme, attacks on wheat board, Naftagate, dirty tricks manual, ignoring Kyoto Accord, gutting and intimidation of public service, cancelling Court Challenges Act, income trusts, Omar Khadr, Toronto 18/Paintball 11, nuclear watchdog Linda Keen fired, listeriosis, C-484, International AIDs conference snub, arts and culture funding cuts, Status of Women gutted, war resistors deported, war branding for Olympics, softwood lumber deal, attacks on Insite, cuts to BSE/mad cow testing, NorthComm pact, deregulating Canada Post, two-tier healthcare push, Abdelrazik, projected four-fold increase in tar sands production, ethanol grants to agribiz, Oily the Splot ads, extraordinary rendition, torture of Canadian-held prisoners in Afghanistan, 16 lakes to be reclassified as toxic dump sites, Lougheed Martin census, obstructing HoC committees, water and housing and schooling conditions on FN reserves, mail-outs from defeated Con candidates, rewriting/deleting research on government websites, Colombia free trade deal, Canada First - not, copycat crime bill, militarization of arctic, Bill C-537, Bill C-10, NACC, Server in the Sky, Canada-Israel homeland security pact, TOPOFF 5, government scientists muzzled/fired, support for Guantanamo, RCMP whitewash, TILMA, Chalk River, no-fly list, biometric passports, CIA access to banking records, Benamar Benatta, North American Forum, red fridays, Bali conference, Commonwealth climate change talks, undermining UN nuclear disarmament, Question Period a shambles, Independent Panel on Canada's Mission in Afghanistan, war on drugs, lowering pesticide standards, Montebello, secret deep integration meeting in Banff, "staying the course" in Haiti, DND funding in universities, 600 Canadian companies gone to foreign ownership, support for Wolfowitz at World Bank, Smart Borders, dissing UN rep Louise Arbor, P-3 security forces in Afghanistan, attacks on Dion for having a French mother, faking up law and order hysteria, nukes in the tarsands, Accountability Act, UN vote against pregnant Palestinian women, "Support the troops" as party backdrop, Adult Learning and Literacy Program - eliminated, Health Canada- $28M reduction, Medical Marijuana Research Program- eliminated, Law Commission of Canada - eliminated, Museum Assistance Program - funding cut, One Tonne Challenge - 40% budget cut, Stats Can- budget reduced, Status of Women policy research and lobbying - banned, CMHC - funding reduction, Canadian Heritage Centre - eliminated, Canadian Volunteerism Initiative - eliminated, Canadian Labour Business Centre - eliminated, Canadian Policy Research Network - eliminated, Community Access Program - eliminated, privatization of airline safety, sale of federal buildings, isotope "crisis", GHG "intensity targets", Clean Air Act, reversals on aid to Africa, blocking access to public documents, bullying of Elections Canada, lawsuit against Libs as intimidation, revolving door between Con polis and industry front groups, prominence of Mike Harris MPs in Harper cabinet, the muzzling of Con MPs and candidates, and of course, enthusiastic and unstinting support for deeper integration with the US.

Ok, I've gone way over 101 here. Did I miss many?

Threat to the British parliamentary system: Guess who?

Fixed election dates are important and not only in other countries. My home province of British Columbia has a fixed election date. We have already had the first election. No one lit his or her hair on fire and it was not the end of the British parliamentary system. There was no chaos in the street. It was, however, something that all parties could plan on, that the population could work around and municipalities could tell what was coming. All in all, it worked very well.

Conservative MP Chuck Strahl,
November 6, 2007

Why, yes, Chuck, astute observations. BC does indeed have fixed election dates. And you were quite correct in pointing out that Premier Gordon Campbell (not considered all that popular in BC) stuck by that fixed election law and, no, it did not signal the end of the British parliamentary system.

No sir. The greatest single threat to the British parliamentary system in Canada is Stephen Harper who violates campaign finance regulations, approves of committee busting tactics, sues the Loyal Opposition for asking legitimate questions and ignores his own fixed-election-date law.

When your Dear Leader makes Gordon Campbell look good, I'd say you have a problem.

As Cathie points out, the one question we should be asking all these Harper fellating assholes is: Why are we having an election now? Or can't you people read?

Hoisting the white flag. The "terrorists" win.

Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in this chamber -- a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms -- our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.

George Walker Bush
President of the United States of America
Address to a Joint Session of Congess and the People of the United States
September 20, 2001

So, instead of pushing those freedoms to the front of the field of view, better to crush them and give the "terrorists" nothing to hate. Right?

Can Americans really be said to have rights any longer? When you can be arrested for having an opinion and saying it out loud, how is that an actual democracy?

Chet Scoville
September 1, 2008

Watch it and weep.

A Harper Majority In Sight

Remember that conversation we were having around the pizza laden table?

The one about Harper getting an increased minority?

The Strategic Counsel poll trumpeted in the G&M right now seems to indicate even the possibility of a small majority.

A unified coalition to oppose.

The only chance.

And that ain't gonna happen for about as long as it took the right to get to get around to it. Maybe not even then.

Get used to it kiddies. The foolish,self-centred partisan intransigence of the non-Harper vote is going to give him the country to dismantle.

You'll have no one to blame but yourselves.

Bloggerpalooza, Volume II - Afterwords . . . .

The Ink Stained Wretches, Choice Joyce and Frank Frink met for pizza, beer and stimulating conversation Saturday.

Group consensus was that it had been too long since the last confab. The Lady Alison accepted full responsibility, and will try to do better in the future. (Wait!! Don't throw that flame-thrower from Bowen Island to The West End! I'm still within range!! Damn that woman's got an arm on her . . . . )

The bad news is that RossK of the Gazetteer was unable to join us due to family obligations.

The good news is that Cheryl and Bob compared DNA and they are, in fact, Long Lost Twins . . . .

Protest Campbell Today . . . .

Looking for something to do this Labour Day morning?

How 'bout a protest rally against Gordo's LINO* government policies in BC?


Labour Day Rally: Gordon Campbell isn’t listening

Help us send Gordon Campbell a message he can't ignore.

The BC Federation of Labour is sponsoring the rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery in downtown at 11:00 am today.

We'll be there - Come and join us . . . .

*Liberal in Name Only

UPDATE: Photos of the event are here.

An idea

I have the immense good fortune to have a great long-time friend, who sent me this e-mail yesterday, after he sent it to Jack:

Dear Mr. Layton;

Please, please, please meet with M. Douceppe, M. Dion and even Ms. May. Hammer out a coalition government (if the Israelis and the Italians can do it, Canada can) and go to the Governor General after Mr. Harper pulls the plug on his government and say you three can form a government. I bet if you all worked on it you could hold a government together until the "Fixed Election Date". You could do a lot of good for Canada, and besides it would make Stephen Harper's head explode.

Yours in conspiracy
Bruce MacLean

Thanks, Bruce. Simple, and worth a try — e-mail your non-Con MP — TODAY!!