You just knew they couldn't keep it quiet

Eventually it had to come out. Centralized control. Centralized operations. Centralized voter list management.

Oh yeah. The Harper central campaign is the first ever party to ask for ... wait for it!

Over to DAMMIT JANET! for the answer, and then on to Dr. Dawg.

Halifax Regional Municipality gets a lesson in Harper politics

Ice arenas are as Canadian as Moosehead beer. Getting federal stimulus money out the door on a shovel-ready arena project shouldn't be a problem then when the local government involved has done all the planning, has committed local funds, has secured provincial funding and was approved for federal cash.

Well, maybe not.

A decision to pull $15 million in federal funding has the Halifax Regional Municipality on thin ice.

Regional council found out Tuesday that it is no longer getting the money to help pay for a four-pad arena in Hammonds Plains — the municipality's top capital project.

Coun. Sue Uteck was shocked to learn the news at the closed-door session.

"We've spent close to $8 million on this piece of land with the assurances that this project was a go, that it qualifies [for] funding. And for no apparent reason they're telling us today that it doesn't," she told reporters after the meeting.

Council expected the money to come from the federal government's economic stimulus fund. The province approved its share based on that federal contribution. The municipality was planning to spend up to $10 million.

The reason given by the Harper feds? (Emphasis mine)

Uteck said council was told that the federal Conservative government has concerns that the four ice surfaces might not meet environmental tests.

Might not?! We're talking the government of the Tar Sands here. What environmental test do they require? In any case, environmental impact would be a provincial responsibility shared with the regional municipality. If the province has already approved its funding, it suggests provincial environmental standards in the construction plan have already been met.

But she suggests shady politics are at play, given Nova Scotians recently elected an NDP government.

"This project was a go before the election, and now that the election is over we were informed this [project] is not a go," Uteck said.

Yeah, well that too. But I would have a closer look at the broad political ground, Sue. Halifax Regional Municipality (which, by the way, I enjoyed living in) isn't exactly ripe Harper territory. Of the core federal electoral districts which encompass HRM, including the one in which Hammonds Plains resides, Harper vote buying doesn't look like it's getting much of the desired result.

Halifax West - MP Geoff Regan, Liberal.

Halifax - MP Megan Leslie, NDP.

Sackville-Eastern Shore - MP Peter Stoffer, NDP.

Dartmouth-Cole Harbour - MP Michael Savage, Liberal.

On the other hand, take a look at what's happening in Central Nova where nothing is being cancelled and Peter "Airshow" Mackay just keeps shovelling in money. And in the Harper-held riding of South Shore-St. Margaret's, Conservative MP Gerald Keddy, (Atlantic Accord sell-out artist), watched the provincial NDP carry out an electoral sweep which literally delivered a provincial NDP majority to Halifax. The most serious message to Keddy (and Harper) though was what happened in the provincial riding of Chester-St. Margaret's where Keddy's spouse, Judy Streatch, a high ranking cabinet minister in the NS Conservative government going into the provincial election, was thoroughly trounced by NDP Denise Peterson-Rafuse... in Chester, of all places. That was a Conservative stronghold! The message to Harper (and Keddy) is clear: No length of lifeline is going to save Keddy in the next election.

Now, if you were wandering around L'Aquila, Italy early today you heard Harper announce a $5 million contribution to a youth centre in L'Aquila. Keep in mind, L'Aquila was flattened by an earthquake and is still in the process of cleaning up, much less rebuilding.

Before entering the working lunch on the first day of meetings, Harper stood at the foot of a rubble-strewn street today and announced a modest contribution to the massive earthquake reconstruction job here. With a federal government building crumbling behind him, and nervous Italian civil security officials barking at reporters to keep back, Harper pledged $5 million for a youth centre in this university town at the heart of the Abruzzo province, 90 kilometres northeast of Rome. Harper is one of a parade of world leaders who would pledge funds here today for the rebuilding of L'Aquila, a project estimated to cost between $12-16 billion.

That funding was approved by all parties and, when compared to the overall cost associated with rebuilding L'Aquila, is mere peanuts. It does however, stick in the craw of places which have had their approved federal funding withdrawn for no apparent valid reason. Except that Harper, always the politician and never a statesman sees more value in presenting L'Aquila, Italy with 5 million bucks than he does giving Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia $15 million.

The Canadian prime minister toured the damaged city centre, stopping at a university residence where 13 students died in the collapse of their dormitory. "Your tears were our tears" Harper told a small gathering of local dignitaries including L'Aquila Mayor Massimo Cialente. Harper who attended the funding announcement. The Canadian contribution was welcomed by L'Aquila Mayor Massimo Cialente, who said the university is the "future of the city and at the same time the economic engine of the region."

In truth, the job appears overwhelming, even to several Italian Canadians who travelled here with Harper, but they insisted it was worth the effort, even in a zone still subject to tremors.

Not that L'Aquila shouldn't receive the Canadian contribution to its reconstruction, but the councillors of Halifax Regional Municipality must be able to recognize a possible voting block and the attempt to buy it.

It's just that after promising all that money to build an arena, the people of Halifax Region (and huge chunks of Nova Scotia) still aren't showing Harper what he considers to be the appropriate amount of gratitude. And if you really want to get a Conservative kick in the groin, try asking for federal Marquee Event Funding for this event.

Selling Canada one piece at a time

I always thought that when people said "count the silverware" when the government changed hands, that it was just an expression of general mistrust, not something to be taken literally.
Silly me, I forgot we were talking about Stephen Harper and Co.

crossposted from The Woodshed

Start corrupt...

Stay corrupt.

The Harper party has a new way of counting ballots. (Emphasis mine)

Federal Conservative party president Don Plett rejects criticism that the new system used to determine whether sitting MPs should face a nomination challenge was undemocratic.

Plett said 94,000 ballots were mailed nationally to party members in ridings with an incumbent, asking them whether they wanted a nomination race in their constituency. The mail-out included Calgary West, where lawyer Donna Kennedy-Glans wanted to challenge longtime MP Rob Anders.

Two-thirds approval was required to trigger a battle, while an unreturned ballot was counted as a no under new rules adopted by the Conservative party's national council in March. In the past, if people wanted to challenge a nomination, they generally could after an interview, Plett said.

"I find it very, very strange that somebody would even suggest that that is not democratic," Plett said.

Of course Plett would find that strange, particularly since the two-thirds approval requirement is hoisted out of Robert's Rules of Order and then promptly corrupted to favour the incumbent.

A two-thirds vote means two-thirds of the votes cast, ignoring blanks which should never be counted.

A mail out ballot, not returned in time for the tellers to count it, is considered a blank.

Starting the process in a corrupted manner simply means they'll continue to try it further on up the line, when it has a more direct impact on more than card-carrying Harperites.

Update: Fairness dictates that I point out that the Liberals aren't better than the Harperites on this issue. From comments over at Canadian Cynic we get the word from a Liberal party member.

... we were told that Liberal incumbents would also be protected. Sure, they had to meet some minimal requirements as outlined here but it was anticipated that every incumbent could easily pass the test.

In the case of the Liberal Party it's not just sitting members who are protected, it's everyone who stood in the last election and still wants to be the party nominee.

Sure enough, the Hill Times has the details.

The difference, (and there is one), is that the Conservatives call themselves a "grassroots" party, and that is patently untrue. They're a party of "inners" - if you ain't one of the good ole boys, you ain't gettin' in.

What is more heinous however, is the attempt to demonstrate a democratic process which truly is no such thing. For Plett, or any other Conservative, to suggest that using a two-thirds majority rule and then assigning unreturned ballots (blanks) to any part of the question is not a corrupted process is demonstrably dishonest.

Why not just announce that incumbents would go unchallenged and be done with it? Going through a public exercise in corruption shows just how stupid they actually are.

H/T Accidental Deliberations

Rick Santelli - Scam Artist UPDATED

So... Rick Santelli's rant from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange turns out not to have been spontaneous... at all! Santelli's smear of "The Losers" and his call for protests turns out to be a well-orchestrated astro-turf campaign by a well-funded group of Republican organizations famous for their fake grass-roots efforts. Veteran Kremlin watchers, Mark Ames and Yasha Levine, noticed the similarity of the direction and speed which Santelli's outburst traveled with the way the Kremlin generated fake grass-roots effects.

So they started turning over a few rocks... and they found a conspiracy for which Santelli was the willing front-man and CNBC clearly participated. Read the whole thing. You'll learn that one of the richest families in the US is behind the whole thing.

Then amble on over to Crooks and Liars where even more evidence is being dug up and John Amato is calling for Santelli's head.

Why would a second-rate hack like Santelli do such a thing? Read Ames and Levine for the answer.

Justice would be a yapping mutt like Santelli finding himself out of work and short for his next mortgage payment.

Cathie wonders how Olbermann will handle this one on Monday. Not to mention Jon Stewart.

IT GETS BETTER

Take a walk through the Democratic Underground. Prepare to scare yourself.

Really Sharon? No problem?

Like Unrepentant Old Hippie we suddenly started to get a lot of traffic looking at this post about Houston BC mayor and Conservative candidate for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, Sharon Smith. Oddly, the traffic was coming from one of our friends in Nevada, Coyote Angry.

Accidental Deliberations provided the explanation by pointing out this story from CTV, and as AD points out, CTV is burying the greater of three stories - specifically the one related to democracy corrupted by the Conservative Party of Canada.

The Conservative candidate for B.C.'s Skeena-Bulkley Valley insists naked photos taken of her in her office are not an issue for the party.

Sharon Smith, the mayor of Houston, B.C., grabbed worldwide attention five years ago when pictures of her wearing nothing more than a smile and her mayor's robes were widely circulated on the Internet.

Copies of the pictures were allegedly copied from her computer and circulated around the small mill town.

In one full-length photograph, Smith is seen seated naked with the mayor's medallion around her neck.

Speaking from Smithers, B.C., Smith told CTV the Conservative party is aware of the pictures, and they were never an issue in her bid for office.

"They've known since I put my name forward for the riding and the federal candidacy," she said.

Well, they should be an issue, but we'll get back to that.

Appearing at a luncheon with Smith in Smithers, Conservative Gary Lunn says the photos don't matter to the party.

"This election is about leadership. Sharon has shown leadership in the riding and on council so we're very proud to have her as our candidate here," he said.

Gary Lunn. There's a real prize. This is a guy so incompetent that he didn't have a clue what was happening in his own ministry, lost track of the condition of a nuclear reactor and then had the country's nuclear regulator fired to cover up his own shortcomings. Leadership? Lunn might want to take a course. In any case, he's wrong. This election is NOT about leadership. It's about Harper breaking promises and ignoring his own legislation.

Machterschleichung (sneaking into power)

Smith is a different issue. The crux of the issue surrounding her was her appointment by the Conservative Party of Canada as "liaison to the federal government" and the blatant effort to sideline the duly elected member of parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley. In effect, Smith's appointment was an affront to Parliament and a dismissal of the democratic process. In fact, Dick Harris, chairman of the Conservative British Columbia caucus made it clear that he considered the democratic process a complete waste of time:

I and other BC Conservative MPs will work closely with Sharon Smith as she represents constituents of her riding to the government members. It will be a bonus for people of Skeena-Bulkley Valley to have direct representation to the government on so many issues,” continued Harris

Harris concluded, “Having an MP from the fourth party in the House just doesn’t cut it when it comes to actually getting things done for the folks in Skeena-Bulkley Valley .

So, Sharon Smith, obviously the annointed candidate for the Conservatives in any future election, was given the job of representing constituents, a role which belonged to Nathan Cullen of the NDP. And then Harris made his reason for the appointment based on his belief that the Parliamentary system really wasn't aligned with the way his party did business. In order to talk to government, a "representative" had to come from the government party. All others, despite the choice of the constituents, were ignored.

The Germans actually have a word for it - Machterschleichung.

That Sharon Smith accepted the role shows one set of a variety of colours. She went along with this whole idea. She too, clearly believes that democracy is inconvenient and standing in the way of her diety-provided position with a Conservative government.

That was the first, and most important, of three issues.

Schlafenzeitungen (Sleeping newspapers)

The uproar that followed Smith's "appointment" by the Harper government developed into another issue. That uproar was coming from the report in one local newspaper and a wide array of blogs, where all the research and digging was taking place. The affront to democracy, although obvious, was being totally disregarded or completely missed by the major media in British Columbia and, to a much greater degree, Canada at large. At least six blogs, with moderate readerships, were making regular posts and sending emails in an attempt to get the major news outlets to wake up.

It took four days. Four days to get a story of major significance out into the light and into the public arena. And once that happened, didn't the Conservatives immediately backtrack. Yes, and a name appeared which surfaced again during the current campaign: Ryan Sparrow.*

What became evident however, was the fact that the major media outlets were paying little or no attention to the skullduggery of the Harper government and, as self-declared public watchdogs, were not doing their jobs. They were quite comfortably asleep.

The Germans have a word for that too - Schlafenzeitungen.

Der nackte Bürgermeister (The naked mayor)

It was the digging around to find out what Harris and Smith were up to in Skeena-Bulkley Valley which dragged out an older story and the third issue surrounding Smith. In 2003 photos appeared, all over the globe, of newly-elected Houston, BC, mayor Sharon Smith posing in her publicly-owned municipal office, wearing nothing but her publicly-provided chain of office. At the time Smith refused to apologize (and she still hasn't), criticized those who published them and claimed that the photos were private; not intended for public viewing.

I'm quite certain they weren't, but those photos exposed more than Sharon Smith's body.

Take this comment from the latest CTV story:

Let's not forget that the pictures were private and were stolen from her computer. It would be nice if some of you righteous Liberals would remember Mr. Trudeau's comment that government and (for that matter the public) have NO place in the bedrooms of the nation.

Alright. Let's not forget that these photos were taken in the mayor's office at Houston, BC. Let's not forget that they were taken shortly after Smith had won the election to the mayor's post. Let's not forget that Sharon Smith is now running for the party of "family values". Let's not forget that Sharon Smith treated her ascent to the Houston mayor's chair with complete disrespect. Let's not forget that Sharon Smith presumed to treat the symbols, accouterments and fixtures of the mayor's office as her personal property rather than something entrusted to her to safeguard for the public as required by Letters Patent. Let's not forget that Sharon Smith participated (obviously) with secret intent in an event which would have caused outrage had she announced she was going to do it, and then saved them without regard to consequences.

Let's not forget that in most business offices if you take a picture of your naked ass on a photocopier and are discovered, your fully clothed ass usually gets fired.

Taken as one, Smith presumed to own the trappings of her office and abused them without first considering the consequences of her actions. That's just plain bad judgement. Then she refused to apologize. That's just plain arrogant. Then she dismisses the whole thing by claiming a level of priviledge to which she is not entitled because of the public venue. That's just plain imperious.

The truth is, Smith will fit right in with Harper's Conservatives because their behaviour is no different. She's the perfect Harper Conservative.

And let's not forget that her defenders, those who are saying photos taken in a mayor's office, wearing a mayor's chain, are private and not an issue which should be public, are the same ones who went into fits of apoplexy over Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky because, you know, that was different.

No problem? Right. The Germans have a word for that too - Hypokrisie.

========

* For Kady... because we know how she loves to read his name.

Idiots and Turds

That's the view of the senior party officers of their own members who expressed concern over the "In-and-Out" scheme they had allegedly cooked up to get the taxpayers to fund national political advertising while claiming it was "local".

Mr. MacKenzie's campaign manager, Bruce Richards, said in one email that the plan for the campaign to contribute $10,000 to the media buys "has caused some concern internally."

Mr. Richards is the former chief of police in Ingersoll, Ontario.
The party's regional organizer for South Western Ontario wrote back to assure Mr. Richards the plan was legitimate. "There is absolutely nothing wrong with this," John Bracken said in his email. Mr. Richards replied that the Oxford campaign didn't have enough space under its local spending limit to take on the extra $10,000 expense limit, anyway.

At the same time, Mr. Bracken was emailing with Michael Donison, the Conservative Party's national director, who was quarterbacking the plan to bill local ridings for so-called regional media buys.

"These idiots in Oxford have now told me they don't have room for the $10K," Mr. Bracken wrote. "These people really take the cake."

Mr. Donison wrote back: "What a bunch of turds - this is not going to cost them a cent nor give them a moment of cash flow problem and in fact will allow them $6,000 more in their reimbursement and they still try to wiggle out!"

And the name, Michael Donison, jumped right off the monitor at me. Mike Donison is calling other people "turds". Heh!

Here's a wee bit of history.

Several decades ago a local scout troop was camped out on a clearing overlooking a lake on Vancouver Island. The regular shenanigans associated with a scout patrol on a camp were well underway. Practical jokes, booby traps, disassembled backpacks littering the area, etc. Supper was being put together by the "duty cook" and everyone was waiting to see what this edition of macaroni and cheese would taste like.

Suddenly there was a scream and the patrol leader of Blue Heron patrol found himself flat on his face, very close to the cooking fire, having hit a trip wire placed as a defence against sneak attacks by the members of other patrols. The "duty cook" was unimpressed and told the patrol leader to move back. That's when things got a little crazy.

The patrol leader lost his temper and started issuing orders at a rate not unlike a sub-machine gun with the trigger wired back. He berated the members of the patrol for their "un-scoutlike" behaviour and a general level of sloppiness that would cause Baden-Powell to rise from the dead and rip off everyone's Bushcraft, if not Citizenship badges.

There was only one problem for the patrol leader: Blue Heron patrol was the senior patrol in that scout troop. Every member was either a First Class Scout or a Second Class Scout needing only one or two requirements to advance. In scout years, these were old hands, more than capable of looking after themselves. The patrol leader was an appointment made from outside the patrol and most members didn't view the current patrol leader as being capable of dealing with his authority.

So, for the most part, they ignored him, including his younger brother who possessed a razor sharp wit and a remarkable talent for baiting his elder sibling. This occasion requiring less wit and a more direct statement, words were exchanged.

In the parlance of the day, brother the younger said to brother the elder, "Quit being such a turd."

If I remember correctly, the patrol leader, suffering from some kind of apoplexy, screamed, "I'm not a turd! I'm in charge!" Causing the others to break out in fits of laughter and the patrol leader to stomp off into the bush to commune with an Oregon Grape or something.

The younger brother was this guy who, as a trustee of the National Arts Centre, a musical director of national renown and the current director of Music by the Sea, may be having some difficulty with the drive-by cuts to arts funding executed by the Conservatives.

I'm sure you can figure out who the patrol leader, forever labeled a turd, was. And yes, I was there. I made a wicked macaroni and cheese dinner.

==============

This part of the Ottawa Citizen article I found curious.

Mr. Donison left the party's national office to become a senior policy advisor to Conservative House Leader Peter Van Loan, and is not playing a role in the current election campaign.

That's odd. According to the parliamentary website, revised on 2 Sept 2008, Mike Donison is still the executive director of the Conservative Party.

===============

Hat tip Kady, who is hopefully able to knock down the Dreaded Lurgi with cheap pharmaceuticals and a good night of rest.

Goodbye Ryan...

Lesson to Sparrow. It doesn't matter who the families of slain members of the Canadian Forces support. It doesn't matter who the families of live members of the Canadian Forces support. In fact, it doesn't matter who the individual members of the Canadian Forces support.

Senior Conservative Party spokesman Ryan Sparrow has been suspended from the campaign after suggesting the father of a slain soldier who criticized Stephen Harper today was a Liberal.

Mr. Sparrow sent an email to CTV News today suggesting that Jim Davis, the soldier's dad, is a supporter of Liberal Michael Ignatieff.

He has also been ordered to call Mr. Davis and apologize for his comments.

Do that publicly for us, would you, Ryan?

Steve V points out that the media have been treating these events as butter-side up landings, when in fact they are indicative of a campaign team made up of juveniles and nasty partisans.

Kady laments that it may be the last time she gets to use her Ryan Sparrow tag. Fear not Ms. O'Malley, something Sparrow's boss said makes me think you'll be seeing him again somewhere, sometime in the future.

Another Harper spokesman Kory Teneycke said Mr. Sparrow has been suspended and ordered to apologize to Mr. Davis.

“Obviously, that's not appropriate. And he will be contacting the father directly to apologize and is being suspended immediately from the campaign, (for) the duration of the campaign.”

In short, he's been sent to the penalty box. He hasn't been pulled from the game.

And while we're hearing from Kory Teneycke about "inappropriate", let's take a look at this. Would it be at all surprizing if Sparrow had a "temporary duty" assignment at The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association for the duration?

Just askin'

Update: Ha! You Dawg.

Conservatives in action. Pissing off the stroller moms

They are trying anything to get the female vote. Anything. From Sue Bailey: (My emphasis)

An Ottawa children's shop owner says she feels duped after she and several other moms expecting a major announcement on child care wound up as props in a Tory campaign photo.

Krista Thompson says she was contacted by an organizer in Conservative MP Royal Galipeau's office who was seeking a place where moms and tots congregate.

Thompson, a 37-year-old mother of three, co-owns Boomerang Kids which sells children's products and offers free exercise and social gatherings each weekday morning.

The Conservatives told her they were looking for a place where Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Rona Ambrose could reveal new daycare details, says Thompson.

That should have immediately raised suspicions for two reasons:

1. It's Rona Ambrose;

2. The Harperites don't do daycare.

The shop owner saw it as a good chance for marketing exposure and offered moms a 20-per-cent discount on store items, along with free T-shirts, to attend.

"But we're not partisan," Thompson said Wednesday.

"The truth of the matter is we agreed to do it because they said they were making a big announcement about child care. And what became evident by the end of the day was there was no announcement.

"I'm feeling incredibly naive in this whole thing. ... I'm a whole lot more eyes-wide-open after this than I was before.

"It's embarrassing."

What Ms. Thompson has now learned, along with all the others who were duped into this scam, is that it doesn't matter what the Conservatives say. They have their own plan and it centres on them - not you.

Galipeau's campaign manager, Wendy Noble Woodcock, could not immediately explain what happened.

"I was told there would be a child funding announcement so that's what I told them because that's what I was told," she said in an interview.

Cool. The Conservative candidates are now lying to their campaign managers.

It doesn't get better than that.

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.

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?

Painting the town blue, Olympics edition

After whipping their base up into a regular santorum of outrage over government funding for swears and lefties and rock stars, the program that supported "Young People Fucking" is still intact, but $40M of moneys to promote Canadian arts and culture has been transferred to fund 2010 Vancouver Five Ring Circus sports events like the $24.5M torch relay.

Well you couldn't really see Steve cutting a ribbon to open YPF, could you?

Ottawa to shift arts funds to Olympic programs

"More than $40-million in savings the federal government will reap from controversial cuts to arts and culture funding will be redirected to the Vancouver Olympic torch relay and two other programs, exacerbating fears that replacement initiatives are not in the cards."

Well thanks, G&M but Kady and Jennifer at Runesmith and Beijing York are already all over this.
Unlike Josee Verner who has been busy explaining the Cons had merely cancelled inefficient programs in order to replace them with better ones. Yeah but not arts programs though, huh, Josee?
OK, so what's this arts and culture funding laundered mainly into sports gonna look like then?

Ottawa aims to put its stamp on 2010 Games
Vancouver opening ceremony must help Harper government 'achieve its domestic and international branding goals,' memo says

"The Harper government says the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony must reflect its agenda as the price of its $20-million commitment to the event, an internal government briefing memo [dated Feb 5 ] says.
"The Minister [Emerson] has recently confirmed with VANOC in writing that the Department of Canadian Heritage intends to invest $20-million toward the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in order to ensure that the event adequately reflects the priorities of the Government and helps to achieve its domestic and international branding goals," the memo says.

Ensure...priorities of the Government?
Domestic and international branding goals?
Good lord, they're going to paint the town blue.

Toon and badly cobbled together post at Creekside.

Harper's war on culture - Con remix edition

Harper's box of hammers gets caught ...

1) Military historian and acclaimed film maker Gwynne Dyer is asked by Harper's government to go to Cuba in 2007 to give a lecture for $3000 in airfare and hotel expenses.

2) Unbeknownst to Dyer, DFAIT pays for his expenses out of ProMart grant funding.

3) When the Cons decide to axe ProMart, they use Dyer as a public example of what is wrong with the program, referring to him as :
"a left-wing columnist and author who has plenty of money to travel on his own," and
"not exactly the foot that most Canadians would want to see put forward."

Here is Gwynne Dyer's response :

"When the Canadian government announced it was shutting down the PromArt cultural diplomacy program, it named me as one of the free-loaders who abuse the grant system - in my case, by going off to Cuba to misrepresent true Canadian values. The Conservative talking points said I am "a left-wing columnist and author who has plenty of money to travel on his own," and your editorial The Arts Belong In Foreign Policy (Aug. 11) said "those grants never should have been approved, and the criteria should be tightened to prevent such abuses."

But, in fact, I was asked to go to Cuba in early 2007 by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Some embassies in Havana were bringing in experts to talk to groups of influential Cubans about how things work in free societies. Fidel Castro was on the way out, and the embassies were being creatively subversive. I talked about the media to young journalists, and about civil-military ties in a democracy to senior military people.

I didn't get paid for the work, but the Canadian embassy gave me $3,000 in cash to cover my travel costs. I never applied for a grant, and I never heard of PromArt until last week, but obviously some wily accountant at Foreign Affairs took the money for the Cuban project out of the wrong pocket. Stephen Harper's ministers just can't keep control of their departments."

Care to rewrite your bullshit editorial now, NaPo?

Jennifer at Runesmith has great background on the ProMart program and wonders who is going to get fired for fucking up the talking points this badly.

Accidental Deliberations points out that the Cons appear to see all public resources as slush funds.

Cross-posted at Creekside

Update : HA HA HA HA
Meanwhile the crack(ed) editorial team at Western Standard stakes out the high moral ground for the Cons, just in case, you know, they had misplaced it :

Conservatives abandon White Man’s Burden and end funding for cultural imperialism
"Artificially injecting our culture into another nation like an imperial poison? No way.
Using millions of dirty petro-dollars taken from Alberta to displace the indigenous culture of a struggling developing nation? No way.
That’s not Canada. That’s Amerika.
Didn’t our Prime Minister just apologise to Canada’s aboriginal community for an earlier version of a White Man’s Burden program called Residential Schools?"

stop...stop...I can't stand it...must breathe...oh noes, there's more...

"In my judgment, these programs come dangerously close to promoting cultural imperialism. It's a good thing the Conservatives canceled these programs before Canada’s international reputation was tarnished.
PMO staffer Kory Teneycke, a brilliant and principled newish addition to Harper’s team..."

.....make..it..stop...oh no.....I'm...melting.....

When the lobbyists scramble over the side...

Shouldn't that tell you something?

Grab onto this for a second.

Ian Brodie shucked his job as the Prime Minister's Office Chief of Staff... effective July 1st.

General Rick Hillier, formerly the most senior serving member of the Canadian Forces, did what all regular serving members of armed forces eventually do. He sat there long enough, pulled up his trousers and decided he had had enough. Resignation effective July 1st.

Sandra Buckler announced last Thursday that she was leaving her job as communications director for the Prime Minister's Office. Effective date of leaving government to spend more time with the family? July 1st.

What are these people going to do with themselves? I mean, the adrenaline is still pumping and it will be for some time to come!

Ian Brodie.

Mr. Brodie did not give any indication of what he is planning to do.

Rick Hillier.

Fresh from running a war, Rick Hillier, who stepped down as chief of the defence staff this week, is temporarily joining Gowlings, a huge law firm in Ottawa, to consider a future “career in the private sector.” The general is not a lawyer and says he has not made any firm decisions about his future. Still, a statement provided by the firm said he “has indicated that when he assumes a new career in September, he is looking to provide strategic advice, leadership training and other consulting services.” And Gowlings can help him with all that. Does this spell lobbying? Certainly, Mr. Hillier's name and expertise in the defence world will add even more cachet to the national firm, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP.

Sandra Buckler.

Wow! Listen to those crickets!

So, the former PMO Chief of Staff isn't really sure; the former Chief of Defence Staff, not a lawyer, is joining Gowlings LaFleur Henerson LLP; and, the former communications director and former lobbyist is being as tight-lipped as she was when she should have been providing information.

Since Steve fixed government and imposed a five-year ban on people leaving designated positions and high office from lobbying, it would stand to reason that they can't go out and become lobbyists. Not for five years.

Or can they?

Oh! Look at that! The Lobbyist Registration Regulations, lovingly referred to as The Clean Lobbyist Act. And take a look at paragraph 13.

COMING INTO FORCE

13. These Regulations come into force on July 2, 2008.

How fortuitous! The former PMO Chief of Staff, the former Chief of Defence Staff and the former PMO communications director escaped the force of Big Steve's cleaning up of the lobbyists by ONE. FUCKING. COINCIDENTAL. DAY.

And for a little extra flavour: I'm not the only one who thinks, "Hey! That's really lucky for you guys!"

Mulroney Schreiber Inquiry. Led by a Mulroney appointee.

I suppose when asked Stephen Harper's response will be that he "missed" that part. From the Office of the Prime Minister:

JUSTICE JEFFREY JAMES OLIPHANT Justice Oliphant was appointed on August 22, 1985 as a Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba. On December 24, 1990 he was appointed as Associate Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba. He was appointed a Deputy Judge of the Nunavut Court of Justice in October 2002 and is a former Chair of the Judicial Inquiry Board of Manitoba. Justice Oliphant was born February 10, 1944. He graduated from the Faculty of Law from the University of Manitoba in May 1967 and was called to the bar on June 2, 1967. He worked for the law firm of Johnston & Company in Dauphin, Manitoba from 1967 – 1985.

On the surface all this looks pretty good. Justice Oliphant looks to be well qualified to inquire into the dealings of Brian Mulroney and Karlheinz Schreiber.

And then along comes Kady. She compared the dates of Justice Oliphant's appointments to the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba, (first as a Justice and later as Associate Chief Justice) and notices this: (emphasis mine)

Oliphant was appointed a Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba, and later, Associate Chief Justice, by then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney

Peachy! Is there a picture of them together? (No. I'm not asking a rhetorical question.) Perhaps Justice Oliphant could open the inquiry with, "Nice bells, Brian."

Really. This is the stuff of books.

Thanks Kady.

Urgent message - We will send you $40,000

Calgary Grit gets an email from a Nigerian prince :

December 2, 2005

Dearest Candidate,

Good morning, how are you and your family? I hope fine. Please, I am sorry to bother you with my problem.
Please know that it's not by mistake I am contacting you but by the special grace of God. My name is Stephen Harper and I am the leader of the Conservative Party.

The Conservative Party has $ 9.1 million in its bank account which is destined to be used for advertising in the election campaign. However, the evil Commissions of Elections Canada is watching us closely and is not permitting us to spend more than our $ 18.3 million limit.

In order to free this money for spending on the election advertising, I need your assistance. I wish to transfer $ 40,000 to your election account. But first you must give me a wire transfer form so that I can take the money out of your account as soon as it send you the money....

Go. It's brilliant : the Con's In and Out scheme in a nutshell.

The Canadian Nixon

Buckdog posted this very good link from The Guardian yesterday.
Here's the bit he quoted, in case you missed it :

"The historian Garry Wills once observed that Richard Nixon wanted to be president not to govern the nation but to undermine the government. The Nixon presidency was one long counterinsurgency campaign against key American institutions like the courts, the FBI, the state department and the CIA. Harper has the same basic approach to politics: attack not just political foes but the very institutions that make governing possible. The state for Nixon and Harper exists not as an instrument of policy making but as an alien force to be subdued.
Canadians have never had a prime minister who has literally made his career attacking and undermining the legitimacy of Canadian institutions. Until now."

Here's a mirror. Have a look

I will apologize now to those who may have written something on this, but I promise to make it up with links when I get back to home-plate.

All the Conservative whining and complaining means nothing. It's what right-wingers do when they get caught. Look at him! Look at him!

It's as though they never expanded their view beyond grade four.

It no longer matters what other political parties did in the past. What matters is that you, Stephen Harper, promised "No more".

You failed to tell us that Tom Flanagan, a Canadian-American who is still allowed to vote in a fucked-up American electoral system, and Frank Lunz, a Republican party operative, were running your-oh-so-clean show.

You promised "clean" and delivered "dirty". For that Canadians delivered you a very cautious minority government.

And now we think you're a liar who will do anything to win. Lie, cheat, steal... no big deal. Right?

Wrong.

You promised something else and failed to deliver.

One-trick pony with the same tricks as the previous performers. Are you going to do it again?

We're looking at you. You have power. Nobody else matters.

Tilt!

Via BigCityLib... oops!

The candidate chosen in 2005 to run for the Conservatives in Chuck Cadman's Vancouver-area riding said he was never approached about stepping aside to allow the terminally-ill MP to run for the party.

Where I come from that would get you a Not Satisfactory for attention to detail.

Cathie takes a snapshot of Tom Flanagan's Canadian wing of the American Enterprise Institute. That's right! The American blogs have now labeled the Harper government AEI North making them just another arm of the Republican smear machine.

How much has George W. Bush's excellent adventure in Iraq cost? Remember, it was supposed to cost either $1.7 billion, $50 billion, $60 billion or $200 billion depending on which minute of the day you were listening. (The last figure elicited a response from Rumsfeld: "Baloney!"). Apparently, Rumsfeld's assessment, taken alone, may have been accurate. Try $3 trillion... and counting.

Now they're pulling straws from the manure pile

Coincidence?

This is looking like a new and unbelievably low talking point being flung around by the Conservatives as they try to defend themselves in the Cadman bribery scandal.

Dona Cadman's campaign manager, Bill Zemianski, had this to say in reference to Chuck Cadman's state of mind just before he died and during the attempt to allegedly buy his vote: (Video)

Mr. Cadman was under a lot of medication. He was dying and very often very irrational. But there often was a lot of stress.

Via Kady we learn that at about the same time CTV's Mike Duffy was interviewing Jodi Cadman and this happened: (Video)

DUFFY: "You don't think there's any possibility that your dad, with pain medication and whatever, somehow might have been a little fuzzy-minded at the time he told you the story?"

JODI CADMAN: "I think that's a valid question, um, I have to say no because he told my mother the same thing. We were not all in the same room, these happened on different occasions. He even spoke to my husband about it afterwards. I wasn't in the room at all, so there's three different occasions, three different people, the same story told."

The idea was quickly debunked by Simon Fraser University political science professor , Paddy Smith, as being terribly late in the game and not congruous with Chuck Cadman's apparent state of mind in the days leading up to the confidence vote.

That same talking point is starting to appear in the comments section of "Canada's Best Blogger". (No. I'm not linking to it.)

By the way, when you go to the link to Kady, read the bottom of that post.