A Jobs Program
for Lawyers!

Don't trip over your
......mini-Dicks!

As Dawg points out in what is one of the clearest analyses of the Harpercon's latest display of their willingness to sacrifice the elderly, the poor, the sick, the natives and the evironment at the altar of their devotion to Corporate Greed and their ideologically self-created deficit and now necessary reduction of same:

The strategy was simple: prepare us for an attack by chainsaw-wielding maniacs—then just slap us around a little and break a few fingers. Folks will still sigh in relief, or so the Harper government is hoping with this year’s Spring surprise.

At the same time as they are proposing to cut essential services like food safety, environmental protection that are likely to lead to reduced life expectancy, they intend to raise the age of OAS entitlement, but so far in the future that they don't piss off their current gray haired supporters who are dying off perhaps faster than the younger cohort is losing interest in voting. Sister Sage presents a look at this through the resignation of Treason Steven's sixth PR Flack due to, ironically....his age, of 64

Also, another point, ol’ Angie is citing that long work hours are not suitable for someone his age–the ripe ol’ age of 64. Let’s think about this one for a spell, boys ‘n’ girls. 64 year old Angie citing long hours being too much at his age and starting to take a toll on his health–to the point where his doctor, reportedly, told him to resign his position because of this. Ok, I can buy that, as this is a common problem amongst seniors who still have to work for a living. But here’s why I ask if he’s being a hypocrite. The not yet 65 year old, as one of Stevie’s spin doctors, would’ve had to have been gung ho about hiking the OAS eligibility from 65 -67. It would’ve been his job, after all, to spin this in a way that would make Stevie, deficit Jimbo and their merry band of thugs come up looking just peachy keen. So, I have this question, Angie, if you’re so tired and not feeling as perky on the job, due to your age, how the hell do you and your former masters expect others @ 65 to be more spry than yourself? So, I ask again, is ol’ Angie a hypocrite? I’d say so. Oh, and don’t say your job was the only one with pressure and long hours. Odds are that most Canadians, including seniors who still work full time worked even harder and perhaps even longer hours than you did. Odds are even greater that their jobs are even more stressful. At least you were well compensated, I’m sure. Probably too well compensated.

This morning though I don't feel too frightened by Steve and Tommy's nightmare vision of Canada's future, because I figure soon enough they will be so enmeshed in litigation that they won't have time to devote energy and attention to the destruction of Canada as we know it.

Aside from the fact that they may be facing CRIMINAL prosecution for the possible election frauds of many flavors that evidence seems to mount daily to support and/or losing enough fraudulently acquired seats to lose their stolen majority before 2016, they have laid down the gauntlet for more litigation than Canada's under resourced court system (combined with the Omnibus Crime Bill) will be able to even deal with.

With their announcement of "streamlined" environmental review processes, and the additional and questionable "retro-active" nature of same, they have virtually guaranteed months and years of litigation by myriad first nations bands from the Alberta border to Kitimat. As BC Grand Chief Stewart Phillip puts it:

"This incredibly stupid move on the part of the Harper government will only serve to expedite the battle in the courtrooms and on the land itself," said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. He described the situation between B.C. aboriginals and the federal and provincial governments as "volatile."

This "pipeline is going to traverse the territories of literally dozens and dozens of First Nations. And all of them have said very clearly that they do not support the Northern Gateway project and that they will do everything that they can to stop this project," added Phillip.

Then there is the whole issue of any retro-active law, as I thought that concept disappeared from the lexicon of common law hundreds of years ago, unless Canada is indeed an outlier like Burma and North Korea from the mainline so-called civilized community that at least pretends to live under the "rule of law."

Then there is the quaint idea of:

Recent deliberately-fostered paranoia about alleged “foreign influences” on charities also got reinforcement from the finance minister: stricter reporting requirements will be forced upon them, as well as a closer watch on “political activity.” Will this affect the far-right noise machine known as the Fraser Institute? Don’t be holding your breath on that one.

This is particularly rich, as the aforementioned Fraser Institute, not to mention Ezra the Idiot's Ethical Oil gang would shrivel up and die without offshore corporate funding from multi-nationals and that bastion of democracy and free-enterprise - CHINA. There is certainly conditions for some Charter litigation around the issue of free speech looming here.

So Spiteful Steve, you can stall, you can have Dean del Maestro huff and puff, you can obfuscate and as proven already, you can cheat.....but in the end it is our Canada, not yours and your time is rapidly coming to a close - I hope you enjoy meeting the guy in the hoodie from Family Guy!

Referring to the
Oxford Dictionary

disgust 1. n. strong aversion, repugnance 2. v.t. cause disgust in

-ing suffix forming present participle verbs (asking, fighting), often as adjective (charming, strapping - or in this case disgusting)

disgusting the quality of being disgusting, distasteful, repugnant

Illustration of disgusting:



Yesterday Rich "disgusting" Coleman implied that his former colleague John van Dongen had left the BC Liberal cartel caucus, as the result of mental problems that kindly helpful disgusting "buddy" Rich had wasted hours (that his family was spared his presence during) trying to console him through. Today he backed up to the position that John's action yesterday was an abuse of the Legislature. Well, Rich should know all about abuse, his existence is an abuse of the planet.

I find the entire charade laughable. So after almost two decades Ding-Dong Jr. left because of a six million dollar payout, the fact that one of the nastiest telecomm's in the western world didn't get to name BC Place and oh yeah, he doesn't like Christy, but before that everything was just peachy keen. I think some folks are trying to blame Christy for everything that Gordo, Christy, Gary the Ferret, and the entire sleazy LIEberal Caucus has done to the people of British Columbia for well over a decade now and somehow everything will be alright.

I can't help but wonder just who Treason Steven Harper is rooting for in all this mess, the Christy Clown surrounded by his team, or the Cummins crew of clowns who are carrying the same name. Or more likely Treason Steven has TWO horses in this (he is hoping) fixed race. Of course everyday it becomes apparent that Stevie knows all about "fixing" things, and if you help him do it you might be banished to the Senate that he used to decry!

Meanwhile the thoughts of
...a constituent of one Ding Dong
......or the other:

That everyman philosopher king Mr. Beer and Hockey sums things up best in Dope City Free Press Political Desk

I live way the fuck out here with John Van Dongen. He could be my MLA for all I know. I get him mixed up with the other Van Ding-Dong MLA we have re-elected just about as often as the Conservatives have got re-elected in the dumb as stone province to the right of us on the map. The pair of them make sure we get as much lolly as we can out of the provincial treasury for roads so we we can get to the motherfucking Wal-Mart without blowing a tire or two every month....../snip

....Few people screw themselves as hard or as often as the people of B.C. do. Let's see what happens now.

That is the first and last paragraph of Mr. Beer and Hockey's analysis, it is worth your while to go to his place and read the middle.

This just in, Christy isn't concerned about John van Dongen's defection, what a surprise. She is confident that by focusing on their goals the BC liaR Party will prevail again next sprint......right! By the way, she has goals, policies and such, that is news to me! Jeepers (not)Premier Christy, that is all you could come up with in twenty four hours with help from all of Harper's men and women?

Après Moi
les Déluge

Cummins, I'm a Coming Over!

Well, it has just seemed to be a matter of time before the BC LIEberal Rats started to jump the sinking H.M.S Christy. I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that Ding Dong McLeadfoot, previously notable for his collection of speeding tickets would be the first to abandon ship. So John van Dongen has now left the BC liaR party that apparently hates all British Columbians, except immediate family and cronies to the BC Conservatives who only hate gays, natives and other select groups. Mind you with the whole Christy Clark band of thieves composed of Harperites like Ken Bossenkool, Sara MacIntyre, it is impossible to actually tell who are the real conservatives and who bats for the CRAP team.

On the one hand Cummins should be happy to have a nominal member in the house, but then again, perhaps this puts his leadership at risk, because as dull a knife as Ding Dong Junior might be, he might be a brighter bulb than old John Cummins. If I had more friends that gave a shit about what the Canadian version of ReThuglicans did in their spare time, it would be fun to start a pool with picks for who will abandon ship next, but serious people are more concerned about Adrian Dix trying to fare jump onto the skytrain.

According to Mr. van Dongen, one of the revolving Solicitor-Generals in Victoria, forced to leave due to legal issues, he is jumping ship because:

"Every week, constituents question government actions and issues that I am not able to defend,"

This should have been happening to you for effing years...........or have you been in a coma until recently?

The full text of Mr. van Dongen's statement in the legislature is here

Meanwhile next door in
........Texas North Alberta

Alison Redford has called an election for April 23, which has all the signs of being a contest between two parties fighting over who is the most right wing nutty. If I was unfortunate enough to live there I would be voting for the candidate with the hub cap brassiere......NOT!

Unmitigated
Gall!

War Zone

In an hour or so according to the CBC Radio, our illegitimate government, led by our un-elected premier is going to announce that the locally detested Jumbo Resort is to be green lighted. This will place the equivalent of a town in the alpine region of one of the last wild game corridors in North America all to make money for the same old looters and exploiter class and provide a few minimum wage jobs for the locals who will have to be happy with crumbs. The Shuswap band, who frankly have nothing to do with this area, WE ARE NOT IN THE TICKY_TACKY SHUSWAP, in case you didn't notice. The local native bands unanimously oppose this development as do the majority of the locals, at least on the BC side of the Purcell Divide - the other side of the divide that elects an asshole like Bill Bennett may as well be in Alberta, and right now I wish it was part of Alberta, because then we wouldn't have to go to war over this proposed monstrosity.

We spent months, no years, shutting down/preventing the ridiculous Glacier/Howser IPP project which was designed to correlate with this proposed monstrosity, they hoped to piggy-back road construction and power supply from the west, in spite of the fact that the IPP, if primarily intending to provide power to the existing grid could have connected to the grid within anywhere from five to forty miles of already developed land, rather than building eighty kilometers of road and transmission through wilderness.

Anyway, according the the CBC website at this moment:

B.C. to approve Jumbo Glacier Mountain Resort

CBC News has learned that the B.C. government will approve Jumbo Glacier Alpine Resort Tuesday.

The highly controversial year-round ski resort has been on the books for two decades, having gone through all regulatory approvals but no government would sign off on it — until now.

The Liberals are expected to hold a press conference at 11 a.m. PT to announce the billion-dollar development, located 55 kilometres west of Invermere.

For the past over twenty years no ELECTED government has dared wade in to approve this affront to nature and the local residents. However, non-Premier Crusty and her mandateless bunch of thieves, knowing their time at the trough is almost done, have the unmitigated gall to approve it before they are turfed out the door. A letter in the Invemere Echo makes some relevant points about how "impartial" the process has been from the BC liaR circle of hell.

BC Liberals never impartial on Jumbo

.......Bill Bennett was quoted as saying "we are long past the stage where government is obligated to remain impartial." Actually, Bennett and his colleagues in government have shown nothing but bias in favour of this project from the moment they came into power in May of 2001.

Gordon Campbell in fact showed his bias three times through public statements he made in 2002 before the environmental assessment process was even half completed.

He made these statements despite the fact that there had been one grizzly bear report and one economic feasibility report (government commissioned) that had given the Jumbo project two thumbs down.
Well non-legitimate assholes, I guess this is war.........

It isn't difficult to predict where illegitimate Christy Clueless stands on the Enbridge Pipeline......it could be a hot summer in BeeCee!

False
Equivalence

Twins Separated at Birth?

Just how dumb do the HarperCons think we are? On second thought, there must be a reservoir of stupidity somewhere in the country or the ReformaTories wouldn't have their 39 percent "majority." During the last Parliament Jockular John Baird, the slime minister's pet bulldog was in charge of baring his teeth and spreading spittle and insults across the floor at any opposition member who would dare to question King Peevie Stevie or his herd of fenceposts, some with hair. But this time around Dean del Mastro seems to be the go to guy when loud and stupid is what is required.

When I have a chance I like to watch the high low lights of the days infantile behaviour in the House of Parliament during lunch here on the Left Coast. I find it handy for a laugh or two, and especially good if I need an emetic to bring up something harmful I may have accidentally ingested - but Dean, who might be a human bean, was right out to lunch today as he accused the Liberals, and the campaign of Frank Valeriote, of "criminal" acts - namely robo-calls arranged by the Liberal candidate's campaign to remind voters that Marty Burke, the candidate for the Canadian Taliban, might be a threat to the reproductive freedom of Canadian women. Overall I find it amazing that this issue keeps coming up, but I guess we'll just have to wait until all the fundamentalists who know how everyone should conduct their life join the dinosaurs on the extinct pile before we can actually address issues that matter.

I imagine Conrad Black is tossing and turning in his cell down in Florida as his erstwhile Flagship loss leader Con propaganda sheet the National Post takes the lead in trying to hold the HarperCons accountable for their nationwide exercise last May in voter suppression and other forms of Electoral Fraud. It isn't like the HarperCons haven't been caught cheating the election process before. After claiming to be as pure as the driven snow for two years or more over the "in and out" scam, they eventually had to basically plead guilty, throw a couple staff members under the bus, pay a ridiculously small fine (for such an affront to democracy) and carry on, claiming it was just a mistake made by overzealous supporters. Today one article in the Post discussed the likelihood of "Pierre Poutine" actually appearing before Elections Canada and another discussed the so called "Abortion Robocalls."

Pierre may or may not show up, as we've seen in spite of the fact the HarperCons have nothing to hide, the infamous one man electoral fraudster who was being prepared to be thrown under the bus by the Harperites, now is refusing (on his lawyer's advice) to appear before Elections Canada. But del Mastro's attempt to compare the robocalls that went out at the behest of Frank Valeriote's campaign to the nationwide fraudulent activity that has been surfacing almost daily on the HarperCon side is laughable.

The behaviour attributed to the HarperCons in 11 17 324261, hell I give up trying to keep count, is very different than what is alleged to have happened in Guelph - to the point where it isn't even comparing apples and oranges, it's like comparing peaches and ROCKS. On the one hand you have one party whose thugs use "burner" cell phones, using phoney numbers and addresses and names and then lying by claiming to be calling from Elections Canada or representing the Liberal Party of Canada - and doing all this stuff to carefully targeted voters, in other words trying to suppress only the voters that the "intelligence" would indicate are likely to vote Liberal or NDP. On the other hand, Mr. Valeriote's campaign may have bent or broken a rule by not correctly identifying the party, but they were calls that were basically informing voters, UNTARGETED voters at large, what the policy was regarding reproductive rights of the candidates. As the Post explains:

Valeriote’s office would later claim the message was intended to correct the Mercury’s story that suggested he was not pro-choice. But missing from the message was any mention of Valeriote or that his campaign had sponsored it — as required under Elections Canada rules.

The recipients of the robocall were chosen from a list of voters, but not filtered for party preference, the Valeriote campaign says. Unspecified thousands of voters received the call.

To this observer, this is a mistake, or a broken rule, if the Reformatories actually were doing half of the stuff that has been alleged, those are crimes that warrant putting lots of Reformatories in their brand new jails and holding another FAIR and honest election. As pointed out at the Exile two weeks ago:

.......there is now a permanent taint on the legitimacy of the Conservative majority government. Only a new, closely monitored election can restore legitimacy and they sure as hell aren’t going to call an early one because they’ll lose.

It’s a cancer. They will not be able to enact the big-ticket items on their agenda. Everything will be questioned.

The Harper Government™ is now a very lame duck.

The malaise from the Sponsorship Scandal still affects the Liberal Party of Canada. This – which all signs point to being the biggest, darkest political scandal in Canada’s history – will destroy the Conservatives.

Parties that were exponentially less sleazy than Harper's gang have been sent to the political graveyard for much less.

Female Pols turn the Tables
........... on the Boys

With Ricky "frothy" Santorum, Rush and the rest of the RePukes to the south trying to re-litigate Roe v. Wade to our south and some of Harper's minions bringing it up on this side of the border - in spite of the Spiteful One's denials - too many pasty white men in suits are busy trying to get all over women's business this year. So some female politicians in the U.S. have decided that turn about is fair play. According to the Dayton Daily News:

An Ohio State Senator is turning the tables on men seeking to regulate women’s access to reproductive health. Sen. Nina Turner (D-Cleveland) has introduced legislation regulating men’s access to erectile dysfunction drugs........snippety doo dah

Before getting a prescription for Viagra or other erectile dysfunction drugs, men would have to see a sex therapist, receive a cardiac stress test and get a notarized affidavit signed by a sexual partner affirming impotency, if state Sen. Nina Turner has her way.

The Cleveland Democrat introduced Senate Bill 307 this week.

A critic of efforts to restrict abortion and contraception for women, Turner says she is concerned about men’s reproductive health… Turner said if state policymakers want to legislate women’s health choices through measures such as House Bill 125, known as the ‘Heartbeat bill,’ they should also be able to legislate men’s reproductive health.

Nina Turner isn't the only woman attempting to turn the tables on the old white guys either:

There have been similar efforts in other states. An Illinois bill would require men to watch a “horrific video” on the side effects of Viagra. In Virginia, Sen. Janet Howell (D) submitted a bill requiring men to undergo a digital rectal exam before recieving a prescription for erectile disfunction drugs.

Hey, if a woman has to submit to "vaginal insertion" style ultra-sound in Virginia, what's good for the goose is good for the gander (I didn't really notice the pun coming). Anyone with a brain (RePuklican base exempted here) knows you don't have to stick an object up a woman's business to see an ultra-sound image of the fetus within.

ReFormatories &
Voter Suppression

Vote for Me,
or don't bother voting!

As the accusations and evidence of widespread voter suppression tactics during the 2011 Federal Election mount and the cries of denial and claims of a "smear" campaign mount, perhaps its a good time to go back and examine the behaviour of the PsuedoCons during their first opportunity to sit in the big chair and pretend to govern as a result of the election of 2006. During this 39th Parliament, Spiteful Steve and his minions laid the groundwork for their first exercise in voter suppression. First they had the gall to enact an American style fixed election date law in spite of their minority status. Under Bill C-16, titled "An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act", the next general election should have been held on October 19, 2009. Though this law couldn't protect Stevie's slim hold on the big chair in the case of a non-confidence motion, one would have expected it to be honoured in the absence of such a action by the opposition. As well as passing this fixed American style election date, Stevie and his minions also changed many of the voter identification requirements, generally making it more difficult for a voter to prove his/her identity and residence at the polling station on election day.

Then lo and behold, the first person to violate the new fixed election date law was Mr. Lawn Order hisself. Emperor Stevie became frustrated trying to deal with a strong opposition and feeling that maybe his shot at the coveted majority had come decided to dissolve Parliament on September 7, 2008. Unfortunately he had a Governor-General that perhaps didn't understand her role (as she proved again during the prorogue scam later)* and granted Stevie not only his dissolution of Parliament, but his choice of and election date - October 14, 2008, the Tuesday following Thanksgiving. Steve and his minions were still just using sleazy methods to suppress the vote and hadn't yet worked their way up to completely criminal forms of electoral fraud and suppression that they would work their way up to later with the In and Out Scheme and the mess that is being more and more exposed hourly this week.

Jump ahead to October 14th, a day when many Canadians would wake up hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away from home, perhaps at grandmother's house, with a long drive or flight to their polling station necessary to exercise their right to vote. Then in many cases that occurred even in my small town, where damn near everyone, especially those who work in polling stations, knows everybody else, folks were denied the right to vote if they didn't have the appropriate, newly required, ID to satisfy the new, and mostly unpublicized requirements.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Of course by now the HarperCons have progressed way beyond the simply sleazy, but technically legal, forms of Electoral Fraud and moved on to tactics like the In and Out Scandal, which they denied just as vigorously as the current charges for a couple years before folding like a cheap suit, pleading guilty, paying a fine of $50,000 and tossing a couple party operatives under the big blue bus!

This morning we get news that the old "In and Out" scam has also resurfaced, this time in Quebec, thanks to Le Devoir with "Un Autre in and out au Quebec".

Les dépenses électorales de certains candidats conservateurs du Québec à la dernière élection générale soulèvent des questions. Au moins une direction de campagne locale admet s'être fait demander par le bureau national du Parti conservateur de payer une firme d'appels sans en retirer quoi que ce soit en retour. Une autre s'interroge sur la valeur réelle de la dépense.

Briefly – several CPC candidates were billed for using RMG call services, but their riding campaign never used the services. The money simply went through them to provide RGM services to the federal campaing. That’ll make it a fair bit harder for harper to isolate himself from riding activities.

Thanks to Of Gods & Other Monsters for the tip and the brief translation of the paragraph above. I won't be going to the Le Devoir myself for the full article as my French has become very rusty in the fifty years since I was semi-fluent during university days. This blog also had this to say about Harper's carefully parsed denials, which still doesn't account for the hot air that constantly spews forth from the nether orifice of Dean del Mastro.

With more and more allegations coming from individual ridings and Elections Canada indicating it has enough credible evidence to warrant an investigation, it may be that harper wants to protect himself from illegal election activity that he knows went on. By clarifying that the federal campaign is clean, but not defending the ridings, he sets himself above the scandal…or so he thinks. I don’t think that’ll fly, though. While from a legal perspective he may protect himself with this tactic, as leader of his party, he won’t be able to shake responsibility in the House and with voters. Either he knew about the activities and allowed them or even encouraged them, or he has practically no control over how his MPs and campaign people act. Either way, he is not fit to lead a party, let alone a country.

Perhaps Stevie Sleaze should crack some history books and refresh his memory about where one of his US Republican idols went wrong, more with the denial and cover-up than the original crimes, earning himself a special spot in history as a crook rather than as a statesman.

* In both cases Ms. Jean could have, and I feel should have, first checked whether or not the leader of the opposition could have garnered the support of a majority of Members of Parliament and continued the minority government under a new leader - it has happened in Canada and happens regularly in Parliamentary governments around the world - currently both the UK and Australia have effectively minority COALITION governments and in some nations like Stevie's fav Israel, coalition government is the norm!

Birds of a Feather
         or Father and Son?