When Slime
Smiles!

Why is this man creature
smiling?

It's only Thursday morning, but it has already been a good week for Treason Steven Harper.  This morning the Supreme Court of Canada, in an apparent attempt to become more like its cousin to the south the USSC, both in the tenor of its decisions and the polorized split evidenced by the 4-3 judgement, over turned  Ontario Superior Court Justice Thomas Lederer's ruling that invalidated the results of the 2011 election in Etobicoke Centre riding. Once again the PsuedoCons of the Harper Government (tm) were reassured that cheating is just fine, if that is what it takes to win. Of course they also have the resources of the Canadian taxpayers to finance their ongoing attempts to wiggle away anytime they are called on, or challenged about their gradual destruction of democracy and establishment by stealth of Stephen Harper as Emperor - Stephen the Great.

When they were accused of violating election finance rules over the in and out scandal, they denied with vigor for a couple of years until they finally had to essentially plead guilty and pay a miniscule fine, less than the cost of one of their sickening attack ads on opposition leaders and/or potential opposition leaders that run even when no election is in sight. In the view of the majority justices 59 of the votes tossed out by the lower court judge were not invalid, thus giving Ted Opitz a six vote victory. However, the dissenting three judges, not only dissenting,- but dissenting quite strongly, included the Chief Justice and had a very different opinion.
According to the CBC:

What is surprising is that three of the judges reached an opinion that is almost diametrically opposed to the four in the majority.

Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and Justices Louis LeBel and Morris Fish found that 65 of the 79 ballots discarded by the lower court judge should have been tossed.

The minority judges took a much harsher view of procedural errors...../snip

 "The Chief Justice, in her words, says she cannot accept the view of the majority ... (that) imperfections in the conduct of an election are inevitable. That is to say, I suppose, that imperfections are acceptable. I don't think that is the kind of elections Canadians want," Tighe (attorney for the plaintiff) said after the ruling.

Stephen Harper and Ted Opitz refused to comment, at least that I can find so far. Ted Opitz of course had a good excuse because he had a plane to catch so he could go to the Ukraine to teach Ukrainians how to steal run elections. Bob Rae issued a statement after the ruling was announced.

.....interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae thanked Wrzesnewskyj for his "dedication to upholding the integrity of Canada’s electoral system," calling his faith in democracy "nothing short of remarkable."

"In addition to the split ruling today, there still exists a disturbing trend of irregularities and reports of election fraud stemming from the 2011 general election," Rae said in the statement. "We cannot forget that Canadians across the country were deprived of their right to vote through a co-ordinated attack on our democracy.

"There is still much work to be done and many questions to be answered in order to restore our confidence in Canada's electoral institutions," he said.

Over at the Sixth Estate, the decision is broken down in detail, and links provided to the complete judgements in both the lower court and today's Supreme Court smackdown. SE quotes from SCC judgement as follows:

A candidate who lost in a close federal election attempts to set aside the result of that election. We are asked to disqualify the votes of several Canadian citizens based on administrative mistakes… We decline the invitation to do so. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms… [has] clear and historic purposes of enfranchising Canadian citizens, such that they may express their democratic preference, and of protecting the integrity of our electoral process… we reject the candidate’s attempt to disenfranchise entitled voters and so undermine public confidence in the electoral process.

This diligent blogger then goes on to point out, and I agree fully:

 
Before we go on here, I want to highlight that last sentence. The Supreme Court is accusing the Liberal Party of attempting to “undermine public confidence in the electoral process.” Not just saying that the effect of the ruling would be to do that, but that this was the active intention of the candidate. These are highly accomplished jurists writing here: it’s safe say to say they mean what they write. It’s sad to see the court politicized in this fashion, and presumably it’s something we can come to expect with regularity under the Harper regime.

In essence, this ruling can be summarized as: prove it.

This is the same attitude the Harper excuse for a government has used repeatedly when caught engaging in questionable tactics. When a dying independent former Reform and Con MP was offered a bribe to prop up Stevie's majority, even a recording of Harper and a cohort discussing it wasn't proof enough and apparently the promise of her husband's seat in the house was enough to shut up the widow and daughter who had originally protested the gall of offering a dying man a million dollar life insurance policy. I'm starting to believe that even a picture of Slime Stevie in bed with a dead hooker or a live boy would just be attributed to PhotoShop (tm).

The meme that these particular robo-calls or this instance of voter suppression or fraud wouldn't change the results of the election comes up often and as far as I am concerned is completely irrelevant. I'm confident that if I attempted to rob a bank, and left without any money and without hurting anyone, I wouldn't have much luck using that in my defense, other than in my plea for a lighter sentence - and even then it might not count for much, especially under the HarperCons Tough on Crime (as long as we didn't do it) Government!

Treason Steven might be even happier with the result of a trial in Italy in which the verdict and sentences came down a day or two ago. From Time magazine

Yesterday was a very good day for stupid — better than any it’s had in a while. Stupid gets fewer good days in the 21st century than it used to get, but it enjoyed a great ride for a long time — back in the day when there were witches to burn and demons to exorcise and astronomers to put on trial for saying that the Earth orbits around the sun.

But yesterday was a reminder of stupid’s golden era, when an Italian court sentenced six scientists and a government official to six years in prison on manslaughter charges, for failing to predict a 2009 earthquake that killed 300 people in the town of l’Aquila. The defendants are also required to pay €7.8 million ($10 million) in damages.

If there are any folks Stevie Slime detests more than opposition politicians, they are scientists and statisticians. If there is anything other than a bullet that strikes fear into the heart of an ideologue like Harper and his Canadian Taliban it is scientific or mathematical facts. I fear that this judgement in Italy will give Steve and the Choirboys 'n Girls ideas. So far they have limited their assault on reality to weakening the ability of Statscan to gather information and gagging scientists working for, theoretically, the people of Canada.  I can see Harper in my mind's eye right now, rubbing his hands together and emitting a Montgomery Burns worthy cackle as he plots how to arrest, charge and jail dem irritating scientists that are concerned with climate change and the environment.  The only knowledge (other than biblical fairytales) that Harper respects are the discredited economic theories of his mentors at the University of Calgary and the font of neo-liberal golden showers, the Chicago School of Reich Wing Monetary Voodoo!

The good doctor, Doctor Dawg, captured the absurdity very well with his post DawgNews exclusive: Ottawa weatherman jailed

  (Ottawa, October 24) DawgNews has learned that the once-popular CBC weatherman Ian Black was sentenced to a eighteen-month jail term today for public mischief, after being found guilty by an Ottawa judge of “misleading weather predictions causing harm to the community.”

Uncontradicted evidence had been submitted to the court that Black, on numerous occasions in the past year, referred to a “possibility of precipitation,” without exercising due diligence to warn citizens of impending heavy snowfalls and thunderstorms.

“My car went into a ditch after skidding on a patch of ice,” prosecution witness Elmer Fairfield testified. “The unexpected snow had concealed it from view.”

Lettie Hollander, a spokesperson for the Westboro Unified Church, testified that a summer picnic she had helped to organize at the Experimental Farm had been “utterly ruined.” “We were soaked to the skin,” she said. “And our sandwiches were too soggy to eat.”

As usual it is well worth a trip over to Dr. Dawg's joint for not only the rest of the post about the incarceration of the weatherman, but his commenters who carry on the discussion just as tongue in cheek. We have to use humor as a weapon, it's either that or going more Latin American or Middle Eastern - bullets and bombs.

Calling Lisa Raitt   

Lisa Raitt, who is usually on top of labor disputes even before anybody is locked out or out on strike has been conspicuous by her invisibility during this owner initiated cessation of Canada's favorite winter team sport at the highest professional level. Recently I suggested she step in like she had with the Post Office and Air Canada and order the seven Canadian teams back to their arenas - and invite Buffalo to join, being as it is a depressed city and it would be cool to have a four team division for both East and West. After all there are many folks undergoing ECONOMIC hardship in seven Canadian cities right now. I dare say the lack of the Canucks, Flames, Oilers, Maple Laughs, Canadians, Jets and Senators really hurts sales of jerseys, business at sports bars and massive losses for the owners of parking facilities from coast to coast. I can only guess that since both sides in the NHL dispute are one percenters, the millionaires versus the billionaires, Lisa can't figure out which side of her constituency to favor.

I haven't heard from Canada's First Fan, Stephen Harper on the issue, but last night on Jay Leno, President Obama said:

  "I just want to remind the owners and the players: you guys make money because you've got a whole bunch of fans out there who are working really hard. They buy tickets. They're watching on TV. Y'all should be able to figure this out. Get this done."