Perspective . . .

THANK-YOU, Mound of Sound.

He knows nothing ...

Over to Cathie's with you. She picked up on the thought I was having this morning. The late John Banner's character, Hauptfeldwebel Hans Georg Schultz, became synonymous with seeing nothing and knowing nothing in the TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes.

As Cathie points out:

We're supposed to believe that not only did Harper know nothing about Wright's $90,000 cheque to Duffy, he also knew nothing about the previous plan to get the Conservative Party to pay Duffy's expenses and he knew nothing about the phone call to the auditors to try to stop the Duffy audit.

Do come back so you can hit this link to Buckdog, who directs us to today's PMO load of garbage.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper had no idea his staff had asked the Conservative Party to pay Sen. Mike Duffy’s ineligible expenses, his spokesperson said Sunday.

 Right. He saw nothing. He heard nothing. He knew ... nothing.

Another connection, and this is relevant for any number of reasons. The Cadman affair. You can get more of that one over at Creekside, and do pay close attention to the names.

In short, Harper has a history of being in the centre of bribery attempts and ... knowing nothing.

Owen nails it . . .

— Porkarama personified —

IN CASE YOU MISSED Owen's post at Northern Reflections, "Mr. Harper's Balloon", do click on the link to find out more about the Mike Duffy Hot Air Balloon and a lot more about some serious facets of Stevie's malfeasance. The way the CONcheese seems to be ripening, maybe they'll make a Porkela Wallin version in time for the Santa Claus Parade?

The art of truth . . .

THE CHRONICLE HERALD has a fine cartoonist in Bruce MacKinnon, who has fine advice for Duffy. Kudos to the man, made my day.

That $90,000 cheque . . .

WE SHOULD BE

This could cause more damage than all of the Stevie gaffes to date, because it won't play in the beer parlors aka "sports bars", where the politically unaware and ignorant hang out. These people are unsophisticated, and things like Global Warming and the Tar Sands pipelines confuse. BC should be a reminder; all of the "Progressive" Canuck poliblogs were pronouncing Christie Clark toast. So, what happened? Simple, the ignorant voted for what they could understand. People can understand greed when they look at Duffy.

 — Sen. Maximus Avaritius —

Sociopaths are people, too, and as long as you're not one of their targets, hail, fellow well met, just don't get in their way, by doing stupid things like asking for accountability. It costs to live well, socially. As we see from Nigel's largesse, these sociopaths can afford to be gracious when it suits them — or when they are sufficiently shamed by publicity, or are on the wrong end of a 12-gauge.

Yon Duffy has a porky aspect, to bash the Bard, that plays so obscenely well. To Duffy, the Senate was an All-You-Can-Eat buffet of expensed perks: the Porkarama of Patronage. T-t-that's all, folks.

New talking point! It was run amok leprechans playing with phones

The big man speaks.

Conservative Senator Mike Duffy says “third parties” – and not necessarily any of the political parties – could be behind election “robo-call” scandal that’s become a full-blown headache for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives. 

Mr. Duffy offered up his theory in the blame game over a spate of May 2 phone-calls misdirecting voters in an interview with morning host Jordi Morgan on Halifax radio station News 95.7 Monday morning.

I first encountered Duffy some decades ago in Ottawa at the Mayflower. He rather rudely interrupted our group of  about a half-dozen senior sailors, in uniform, by asking what we were doing there and stating that he'd never seen us there before.

None of us had enjoyed a particularly good day and to a man we were in an ugly mood. One of our number told Duffy to fuck off. It wasn't me.

Go back to the free food, Duffy. You are absolutely full of shit. 

From the chamber of sober second thought

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

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

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

Critical thinking. Oh, the horror.

Harper's Senate puppet

It was during one of my infrequent expeditions to Ottawa that I first encountered Mike Duffy... live. Years ago.

We, a group of servicemen in uniform, had completed the final day of our headquarters temporary duty and had found a place to down a few ales with our more permanently assigned NDHQ brethren. I can't remember the name of the place but I believe it was one of those Elgin Street establishments.

I do remember a sense of awe. The crowd contained a mix of personalities from politicians to journalists, none of whom I had ever seen in person before and all of whom I recognized from the insular distance of national television. But what truly snagged my attention was the fact that the politicians and the journalists seemed to a homogeneous group. There was no apparent division in the patrons, save us in our uniforms which were no less than a neon sign announcing We don't belong amongst this crowd. (Not that we were planning on leaving.) Journalists and politicians were fraternizing in a spirit of good fellowship I did not think existed nor did I think was possible. It suggested that perhaps the adversarial vision provided in 90 second news items of "reporter versus politician" was an act. And chief among those enjoying an apparent comradeship with those whose feet he would hold to the fire of public scrutiny was none other than Mike Duffy.

I might leave it there if it were not for the fact that Duffy took it upon himself to come over and ask what we were all about. We had been warned by our NDHQ hosts that being in uniform in a drinking establishment on a Friday after a certain evening hour might attract some attention - and was frowned upon by those who occupied the upper floors of headquarters. Not that we cared. We were leaving in the morning for our respective coasts and our mission in Ottawa was routine if not benign. We expressed the same to Duffy, who never freed his right hand enough to offer it in either welcome or acknowledgement. He simply dismissed us and returned to those he could comfortably address by their first names. End of encounter.

While not a significant event, it did change how I viewed the relationship between politicians and journalists who faced those politicians. And I did not consider it healthy.

So then Saturday, newly minted Conservative Senator Mike Duffy railed against those he might once have considered his media brethren for continuing to pelt him with questions regarding his "inappropriate" metaphor when commenting on PEI Premier Robert Ghiz and NL Premier Danny Williams.

Once again, Mike Duffy's behaviour provides an awakening.

The relationship between senators and most Canadians is relatively calm. We usually don't hear much from senators. That may be to their detriment at times since the actual work they do is more than a mystery to a large percentage of the population. What isn't a mystery however, is that they are virtually bullet-proof. Regardless of which prime minister submitted their name for appointment, once they take their seat in the red chamber, they are beholden to no single master nor are they bound by party ideology. Even if, as a result of the nature of their arrival in the upper house of Parliament, they can only voice opposition to any particular policy of government, at least it is a voice - for the country.

Whenever I start to lean in favour of an elected, (and thus much more powerful Senate), something happens to shake that inclination. This time it was the tone and meaning of Mike Duffy's maiden speech in the Senate and his subsequent snapping at the hands of those who are pressing him on its content.

What Duffy demonstrated is what we could expect from elected senators: An endless stream of partisan diarrhea acting as the mouthpiece for their party leader because the only way they would get there is by being an active supporter of a particular party.

What Duffy hasn't gathered in is that the substantial shield he enjoys from his Senate seat protects him from the likes of Harper - not the Canadian public. The whole idea is that a senator rises above the partisan fray - not joins it.

In that Duffy's presence in the Senate is yet another reminder of Harper's broken promises is bad enough. To re-emphasize that fact by mouthing Harper's words and behaviour, issuing insults and creating division suggests that Duffy is no more qualified to engage in sober second judgement than he was to critically question the powerful as an advocate of the fourth estate.

You will now go read Pretty Shaved Ape, for none has said it all better than he.