“Is it my job to feed my neighbour’s child? I don’t think so.” UPDATED

That, from Harper Industry Minister and Harper MP for Port Moody, James Moore when questioned on the embarrassing levels of child poverty in British Columbia. 

The only words that don't fail me are, Fucking selfish ... greedy ... scumbag. Typical bloody-minded right-wing puke. Charles Dickens wrote books about people like James Moore.

UPDATE: Moore is now claiming he was taken out of context. Sara Norman, who was interviewing him at the time, has something different to say about Moore's rushing to his own defence. So ... you need to hear it for yourself. Off to The Gazeteer with you where you'll hear the whole context and understand that my description of Harper government minister, James Moore need not be altered. 

Moore would watch Canadian children starve in the street.

The vilest thing I've seen in some time

Dear human race,
I am very, very disappointed in you.
Sincerely,
Rev.Paperboy


P.S. Is it something in the water in parts of the country? Does repeated exposure to loud bangs cause some kind of subtle brain damage? Is it blood poisoning from sucking on lead bullets? Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you people?

Just knowing that someone was sick enough to make this shooting range target make me furious.

Knowing that they were sold out of them in two days makes me wonder if the Chinese communists weren't on to something with their idea of re-education camps, because until these kind of people learn the error of their ways or are sent away somewhere, Western society is completely screwed.

Tweet

Two minutes for interference and a game misconduct for being a dick

This piece in the Toronto Star lifts up a rock and shines a light on the worst aspects of kids' sports. Briefly, asshole hockey dad decides that the his son's competitive peewee hockey team is having any fun because they aren't winning often enough, so he decides that the kid he thinks is the least talented player should either be kicked off the team or at least be given less ice time and -without the coach's approval-goes ahead and calls a meeting of the team's parents to discuss this.
I have no idea whether the player in question was the worst player on the team or not, but since this is a competitive team, the player did have to try out to make the team, so they can't be that much worse than the other kids on the squad. Looking at the case in this light, the dad is just plain being a dick, right?
Well, let me add one more piece of information. The player in question was the only girl on the team.
So in addition to being a major dick, I suspect there may be more than a little sexism at play here.
As for the headline on the Toronto Star article: "Should hockey dad be 'ashamed' after girl's humiliating departure?" I would argue that he should have been ashamed well before she left and that the league should ban this clown from ever entering the arena again just on general "for the good of the sport" and "no assholes allowed" grounds. I think the coach, while not wanting to hold the asshole's son responsible for his asshole father's assholery, should at least ban said asshole from the dressing room and any other team affairs, simply on the grounds that deciding who to put on the ice and when is the decision of the coach and only the coach.

Pride - and a loud mouth - goeth before a fall

Like many posts, this started as a comment and metastasized. For the post to which I was reacting, go here.   It's a shortish post by Jeff "BCer in Toronto" Jedras about how the Rob Ford campaign brain trust are now openly bragging about the various dirty tricks they pulled during the election, something Jeff predicts will come back to bite them on the ass. And it will.

Like all asshole conservatives ( Note: I don't think all conservatives are assholes, I just think it is a legitimate subset, like fiscal conservatives or social conservatives) these proudly ignorant bully-boy frat types can't do anything that is remotely successful without a lot of hooting, high-fiving, belly-bumping and chugging Jaegermeister shots.
 People tire very, very quickly of smug, smirking bullies. Especially ones who endless slap each other on the back and boast about how they "fixed those damn hippies/socialists/homo/(insert offensive characterization of marginalized social, economic or ethnic group here) and good, blarharharharhar!"
We've all seen it. From the barely literate fag-bashing jocks who peaked in high school to the failed-jock hockey dads who scream obscenities at minor hockey referees and urge their kids to play dirty to the salesmen who idolize Alec Baldwin's character in Glengarry Glennross to the person on every reality show who at some point declares "I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to win!"
An undercurrent of it seems to run through conservatism like a  vein of fools' gold, occasionally becoming an El Dorado  of self-congratulating wankerism like FOX NEWS or the Blogging Tories. Rush Limbaugh has made a career of it.
It's the same mentality that led to the outing of Valerie Plame, the outrages of Abu Ghraib and the smearing of Sean Bruyea. It's the attitude that "the rules are for other people," that only winning matters, that silver medals are for losers, that "third prize is you're fired." 
It is an attitude of entitlement - nevermind that most of them were born on second base and think they hit a triple - they think that because they have some level of success, they must have earned it and that they deserve it - and that those who haven't achieved what they consider success (and usually that means money or power of some kind) don't deserve it and are somehow morally weak/lazy/evil/gay/drug addicts/eggheads/commies/beatniks/etc etc, "losers" who deserve only scorn.
As long as they have someone to look down on, they consider themselves successful.

To such people empathy is a sign of weakness. Showing sympathy is for losers.
They are terrified of being one of "those people" and the easiest way to make sure that no one will ever think they are, is to attack "those people."
That fear of being branded one of the Loser class will make them do almost anything to achieve whatever they consider success. It is that need for validation that makes them incapable of doing anything without breaking an arm patting themselves on the back that will eventually sink them. They can't resist the temptation to dance in the end zone, to rub someone's nose in their defeat, to shit downhill just because they can.
That is what eventually does such people in. Other people - sane people - get tired of the bragging and chest pounding. You can only pour shit downhill for so long before you find yourself standing on a pile of shit. And people who like to brag about how dirty they played and how low they stooped will eventually find that the only people impressed are other shitheels and grifters - and ambitious prosecutors who are waiting for an admission of something legally actionable.
Time and Karma will not be kind to Rob Ford and his campaign team and hubris will eventually prove their undoing. Nobody likes a sore loser, but most of us hate a bad winner just as much.




Tweet

Is there something in the water supply in Arizona?

Or are people there just being taught to be racist dingbats?
Apparently an elementary school in Prescott, Az., allowed the students to vote on what kind of mural they would like to decorate the school with and the kids chose a painting of themselves. Professional artists were called in and worked with the kids to create a mural on the exterior of the school that portrayed the students attending the institution. The problem, apparently, is that some of the students have the temerity to not be white! And so local knuckledraggers, encouraged by (surprise, surprise, surprise!) a local radio talk show host and city councilman, took to driving by and shouting racist epithets at the school and the kids working on the mural.
So in response the principal organized groups of kids to shower the cars of the racist fuckknuckles with bricks and molotov cocktails as they drove by ordered the skin tones of the African American and Latino kids in the mural to be lightened. Nice example to set, Captain Courageous.

On the plus side, now that this story has hit the national press, the radio host, city councilman Steve Blair, has been fired from the radio station. However, he is still a member of the city council and a giant racist douche bag.

Just listen to him in this brief interview in which he is given every chance to backpeddle or reconsider being a racist douche bag and yet, still insists on there is nothing wrong with his actions and that his encouraging people to terrorize a bunch of third graders is all about "freedom."




Big tip of the hat to Cliff at Rusty Idols

crossposted from the Woodshed

People suffering and dying? Let's look at the bright side of that...

What do Steve Harper, Barbara Bush and Silvio Berlusconi have in common?

They're all conservatives, they can't find the word "empathy" in any dictionary and they are all mindless, self-centered assholes so far out of touch with the reality of daily life that they should really have their own private island.

And, as deBeauxOs points out, the Pope may go among the suffering. Maybe. It's kind of yucky with all those homeless people and all.

Torture? No problem. It covers so much.

Pogge is on this, but I can't resist.

Geoffrey O'Brian, a CSIS lawyer appeared before the Public Safety Committee today and blew the cover of CSIS right off.

Geoffrey O'Brian, a CSIS lawyer and advisor on operations and legislation, under questioning by the public safety committee, admitted there is no absolute ban on using intelligence that may have been obtained from countries with questionable human rights records on torture.

No... there isn't. In fact, one hasn't really murdered anybody unless one actually, you know, personally killed that person.

Oh! Am I wrong?! Imagine that! You can be accused of the same crime if you are an accessory before, during or after the fact.

He said it would be extremely rare but in a circumstance as grave as the 9/11 attacks or the Air India bombing, the executive branch has a "duty" to protect the security of its citizens, even if such information can "never" be used in a court proceeding.

Whoa, whoa, whoa!!! What the fuck is O'Brian trying to produce here? He drags out the 9/11 "Cheney" card and a home grown cluster-fuck as examples of instances we would use torture to prevent?!

Better idea. Try the truth.

Nobody had to torture anybody to prevent 9/11. All the information, including warnings, were right there for anybody who wanted to pay attention.

Why did it happen?

All those serious people ignored every single warning, right up to the Commander-in-Chief, who, I might add, was given details as to how it would happen.

Air India? Well, now that we know the truth, finally, it appears there was a little problem with coordination and the sharing of intelligence already in the hands of the RCMP and CSIS. Again, the entire event could have been prevented if it wasn't for the fact that CSIS was one of the parties involved and contributed to a performance that would make the Keystone Kops look like the British Special Air Service when held up against the inept behaviour of Canadian intelligence services.

And now, O'Brian wants to run down to the other end-zone. Even though the information was there, in their possession, the easy way to deal with any future threat is to gain it through torture... maybe. No suggestion that if they actually did their jobs in a diligent and competent manner that the results would actually have been much, much different.

A deal I'm willing to make with Mr. O'Brian: I will guarantee the Canada Revenue Agency that I can find at least $10,000 of earnings which Mr. O'Brian did not report on his tax return. Even if every single tax return he ever filed is completely honest, I will have O'Brian admitting to being a complete tax cheat by the time I've tossed three of his fingernails into the garbage bin.

I have nothing at all to do with the Canada Revenue Agency, but I'm sure they'll thank me for the information... without regard as to how I got it.

I wonder how O'Brian feels taking on the mantle of Alberto Gonzales?

Apology not accepted

Not that I want to drag this out, because there are more important things to discuss, but...
Bygones?
Do they think they can repeatedly talk this kind of smack about Canada and then just say "oh sorry, just kidding" when they are finally called on it? Really?
Well, I don't think so. What exactly did we "misunderstand" about this festival of dumbassery? Was it actually a scripted outtake from a Rick Mercer "Talking to Americans" special? Greg Gutfeld and the rest of the crew of ignorant jingoistic taints at Fox can kiss my Red-and-white-but-never-blue-maple-syrup-and-hockey-loving ass. Thank god most Americans are smarter than these smirking arses. Fox News is blight on the airwaves and should never have been given a licence in Canada. I vote we cut off the oil for a few months, starting yesterday. Sorry to the rest of America, but if you have a problem with the spike in gas and heating oil prices, take it up with Fox News.

"Isn't this the perfect time to invade this ridiculous country? They have no army!"
-alleged funnyman Greg Gutfeld

Yeah, cause that worked out so well for you guys the last time, Greg.

Bonus funny: One of douche bags involved, Doug Benson, was actually scheduled to perform his comedic stylings in Edmonton from April 2 to April 5, but the gig has been cancelled. I guess the club was afraid some of these guys might have misunderstood his humourous take on their activities. Too bad, I'd certainly have paid top dollar to have seen that. No more BC bud for you, Dougie, you're eyes are red enough.

crossposted from the Woodshed

Blood Pressure Rising . . . .

If this doesn't get you pissed off, I don't know what will:




Undoubtedly, everyone on that panel has had extensive military service, don't you think? Giving credibility to them on military matters is like believing me when I discuss nuclear fusion. Knowledge on subject matter = 0.

Now, how do you feel about the US/Canadian relationship from the FoxNoise perspective ? ? ? ?

Video originally viewed at Unrepentant Old Hippie.
Thanks for the heads up, JJ!


Update March 23: Now even Peter Mackay and the Canadian MSM are up in arms over FoxNoise. Hell, the Bill Good show on CKNW even had a segment of outrage over it this morning. Funny thought, though: Does anyone doubt if Rupert Murdoch wanted to start up a Canadian operation that the current government would not give him the keys to the building?

Seriously . . . .

David Frum puts a new coat of paint on his hypocrisy

David Frum needs to gather his carcass in front of a mirror. The National Post, according to Frum, invited writers to submit their comment on the R v Morgentaler case, the outcome of which invalidated Canada's anti-abortion statutes, and discuss the legacy of the case.

David Frum, you will recall, was the author of the line in the 29 January, 2002 State of The Union address in which George W. Bush declared Iraq, Iran and North Korea an Axis Of Evil. Frum had been assigned the task of painting Saddam Hussein as the greatest living threat to US security. And so, Frum joined in the conspiracy of lies which led to the unprovoked attack on and the invasion of Iraq.

He's doing it again. In the National Post article Frum states this:

Late-term abortions remain legal in Canada. When it was reported that no Canadian doctor would perform them, the Quebec government acted to create a new clinic in Montreal specifically for this purpose. All this is the legacy of the Morgentaler case — even if Morgentaler himself condemns late-term abortion as ethically offensive.

Yes, Dr. Morgentaler has some concerns, but he has not condemned them.

Further, Frum is trying to make a case against abortion of a fetus by providing the most graphic case possible - late term abortion. What he doesn't tell you is that over 97 percent of abortions in Canada are performed before the 16th week of pregnancy.

Third trimester abortion is not something a pregnant woman would take lightly. A woman doesn't carry a pregnancy through to a late term and then suddenly decide, "Oh. I don't want to have this baby."

It normally involves severe medical complications and neither David Frum nor any other individual not involved in the health of the mother or the fetus have any right to interfere with or know what those complications entail.

Frum is simply repeating an oft heard line from his ilk that rare late-term abortions are common.

If there is anything in Frum's article which should be wound up and stuffed firmly up his ass it is the title:

David Frum: The Morgentaler decision cheapened the worth of human life

Really?!

And I wonder how Frum, who was an active participant in the lies and manipulation which resulted in the Bush administration's attack on Iraq, considers that he, who bears equal responsibility for hundreds of thousands of deaths of Iraqi civilians, children included, feels he has any credibility suggesting that anyone other than himself has cheapened the worth of human life.

Frum has blood on his hands and has no room to comment.

Dedicated to the Ford F350 driver who....

Thinks he can control his truck 12 centimeters away from my rear bumper.

While driving over ye olde mountain to get from land thing to the thing that floats I encountered fog, rain and yes, dammit, mixed rain and snow. That however didn't stop shitlips from following so close that could have washed, waxed and re-chromed my rear bumper while driving at 90 kmh.

Then I remembered. Jimmy Buffett wrote a song about him. While searching for something appropriate, I found this. Seemed fitting.