Catholics for Choice

From their Twitter page (an account that I follow):

A voice for Catholics who believe that Catholic tradition supports one's right to follow her/his conscience in matters of sexuality and reproductive health.

This is an article that was recommended and linked to, in a recent tweet. It is relevant, given the obfuscation and lies that CPC MP Stephen Woodworth and his antichoice Attack Parrots™© are saying about third trimester termination of pregnancy.

“This was our baby that we had waited a long time for and the decision was not made lightly. We had to think of our life too and that of our families. What would happen after we died? Nobody could love our child like we could. We had to let go, try to be unselfish. Perhaps many would say that this decision was not right, but we made it for what we considered the right reasons.”
— “Jill” 2007

Since Antenatal Results and Choices (ARC) was founded in the UK in 1988, we have had contact with thousands of women like “Jill.” In our lifetime, we have seen a rapid development in and implementation of genetic testing technologies. What has definitely not changed is the emotional impact on a parent who is told their baby has a fatal, life-limiting or disabling condition. After receiving the news that their baby is not developing as expected, parents then face the difficult decision about continuing or ending the pregnancy. I use the words “parent” and “baby” because this is the way women like Jill who come to us most often refer to themselves and the fetus. [...]

It is worth pausing to consider the political context in which women now make decisions after prenatal diagnosis. In recent years we have seen laudable gains made by the disability rights movement. There have been legislative changes to combat discrimination against those living with disabilities dis-abilities and inroads made in constructing a more inclusive and accepting society. At the same time, antichoice campaigners have seized the opportunity to attack the clause in the UK Abortion Act of 1967 that allows for abortion if “there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped” and called it “eugenic.” Antichoice advocates have attempted to enlist disability campaigners to their cause. The Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (a small but vociferous UK antichoice organization) uses its website to accuse ARC of being “actively complicit in the fatal discrimination of disabled people enabled by legal abortion.”

It is a clever move by the antichoice lobby, as they are aware that many who would class themselves as “prochoice” worry that ending a pregnancy on the grounds of disability may devalue the lives of those living with some sort of impairment. Furthermore, when antichoicers decry that those women who have terminations for fetal anomaly are pursuing perfection or taking the “easy way out,” they know that it is rare for a woman who made this choice to speak out publicly against such vilification. In such a deeply private and personal experience, most women understandably do not want their circumstances put under public scrutiny.

The antichoice movement also readily exploits public squeamishness about late abortions in the hope of restricting access. There are regular media flurries around late abortions, in particular those performed past the legal limit of 24 weeks for non-medical abortions in the UK. The fact is that these post-24 week abortions are few in number (according to government statistics there are fewer than 200 post-24 week abortions per annum in England and Wales—0.1 percent of the total) and the majority are carried out due to indications of serious fetal abnormalities that do not manifest until late in the pregnancy.

This charged context can add an extra layer of difficulty for women and couples dealing with a diagnosis of fetal anomaly. They struggle with complex and often conflicted feelings over ending the pregnancy while being fearful of the judgment of those around them and in the wider world. I hope that by exploring the perspective of parents who come to ARC, it will be clear that they are not denigrating those living with a disability, but making responsible decisions informed by their individual values and personal circumstances.

It continues in this rational, compassionate and prochoice manner. An excellent read and also a necessary antidote against the glurge and disinformation that antichoicers Somerville, Blob Blogging Wingnut and other supporters of the Vatican Taliban religious dogma always shriEEEk.

Double Whammy: Election Fraud + In & Out?

Last November, the CPC and its fundraising organ pleaded guilty to their violations of the Canada Elections Act.

Senator Finley is a lying Attack Parrot™© flapping his gums and trying to divert attention from his CONtempt Party's record of illegal and criminal practices, in light of alleged voter suppression and election fraud activities during the 2011 campaign.

Last week Le Devoir's Hélène Buzzetti did some good old-fashioned investigative journalism and produced information that seems to demonstrate that the CPC did it again. Here's an adaptation of her findings, in English.

Using the telephone – what else for this kind of story? - she established that money that helped pay for the Conservatives’ automated robocalls went through Quebec.

She called up Quebec conservative candidates one after another.She had them singing like canaries in a mine after a while.

Bertin Denis, defeated Conservative candidate in Rimouski-Neigette-Témiscouata-Les Basques, (that’s a trip in itself) admitted his campaign organization had paid $ 15 000.01 to the Toronto-based Responsive Marketing Group (RMG.)

Bertin Denis laid it out plainly. He was no more than a "mail box" for paying phone call bills to other parts of Canada. The party had sent him $55,000 but he had to write out a cheque to RMG for $15,000.01.

Money in, money out. (Sounds familiar?)He couldn’t remember what the cheque to RMG was for.

There appears to be a number of Québecois CPC candidates who claimed expenses that were actually in support of activities done for the national campaign, and not for their riding. Robocalls support.

We have to keep the pressure up; it appears CONs are currently trying to discredit the Elections Canada investigation with every Rovian tactic at their disposal.

Many politically engaged bloggers who don't support the Contempt Party for a multitude of reasons and voted for other parties were puzzled that the Bruce Carson corruption story didn't sink Stevie's boat.

The Toronto Star's Susan Delacourt provides some insight into how the CPC accomplished that, in her excellent article:

Quoting from StatsCan figures, Soudas said that while 92 per cent of Canadians claimed to watch TV news and 70 per cent claimed to read newspapers, in fact the real figures are around 50 per cent for both.

This is why, Soudas explained, Conservatives concentrated their advertising buys on more popular, non-news TV shows. It’s also why the Conservatives pay close attention to giving citizens the same clear, strong imagery that Canadians are accustomed to seeing in their consumer brands.

No matter how hard the Cons try to deodorize this corruption and hide their criminal actions, their *brand* still stinks.

Remember the dignity of your womanhood ...

Aww, fuck it. Here's that notorious pic of MP Shelly Glover.


MP Glover is a CONtempt Party Attack Parrot™© and she serves well in that capacity since she is too stoopid to do much else.

Today she stood up in Parliament and shrieeekkked that the NDP was "anti-Canada".

Savour the irony.

The full quote from the post title comes from Christabel Pankhurst:

Remember the dignity of your womanhood. Do not appeal do not beg do not grovel. Take courage join hands stand beside us fight with us.

Kill the Wegistry!

This Montreal Gazette political cartoon is the perfect counterpart to the tortuous train of thought that left the cavernous terminus of MPty-suit Contempt Party flunky Maxime Bernier:

[...] the Quebec Conservative MP for Beauce riding, offered little hope his party would bend when he trotted out to plug the party line Thursday.

"I'm here to reiterate the position of our government that has always been very clear - that we will abolish the long-gun registry because we believe it unfairly targets hunters and farmers, rather than real criminals,"he said.

"When we said we would destroy the registry, the registry is comprised of data ... and that data is what we're going to destroy because it is the registry."

Your choo-choo train of *reasoning* is going around in circles, Maxime.

This is another order of Contempt: "prendre le monde pour une valise".

Inspired by gloatessa's tweet.

Muttart trail leads back to US dirty tricksters

No fresh scandal here, just excellent investigative work by Alison at Creekside.

Creekside: Patrick Muttart trail leads back to US dirty tricksters

And, as Red Tory points out, a brilliantly played little charade.

Smoking gun meets pêtard mouillé.

Don't like that quote?

There's plenty more where that one came from.

Rusty Idols wrote a powerful post, well written and researched.

Add Dr Dawg's piece about the Contempt Party's shrieks of injury, it's a one-two gut punch to the Cons' self-righteousness.

You can almost imagine the Con Attack Parrots™© screeching: "But, but, but, but ... even if it was our party that lowered the bar, with regard to attack ads and that provided Parliamentary reports replete with words out of context and fudged info, we're the only ones who can do it! Those are OUR MISRULES!"

eh. I left a comment at Rusty's and the word verification was "plizeday" - which will shurely be the very special cracker jack plize MinJKenney will get on May 2nd - "Surplise! You're out of a job!"

Did Con candidates pack the crowd?

On Tuesday the Contempt party held a multi-candidate (all-Cons) in St-Agapit, Québec. From here:

Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis, Harper’s Quebec lieutenant and MP for Mégantic-L’Érable, said the Bloc reflects Montreal’s trendy Plateau Mont-Royal and Duceppe only agrees with those who think like him, saying that means defending criminals and illegal immigration. “We don’t think like you,” Paradis said, addressing the absent Duceppe.

Jacques Gourde, the local MP for Lotbinière-Chutes de la Chaudière riding, introduced the Conservative senators and candidates, as well as [André] Arthur, who has been the independent MP for Portneuf-Jacques-Cartier riding in Quebec City’s suburbs since 2006, but votes with the Conservatives.

While a number of same-old same-old declarations were uttered, the main purpose of this event was to shout down accusations the Contempt Party screens out registered participants who might be *undesirable*. And to pack those pre-screened bodies into a crowded venue, so that ex-PMOpolitburo Attack Parrot Dimitri Soudas had something to say - over and over again, whatever the question posed by CBC reporter Louise Elliot.

This was another staged photo opp for Contempt leader Harper, a purported MASSIVE crowd to cheer him up, providing more and more pix for more *patriotic* Con election ads that are ∧NOT attacks on the former Opposition parties. This one is an odious visual hagiography of Emperor Stevie Spiteful. Who knew he played a role in winning WWII?

Here's a wrap-up of the Contempt Party's classic Rovian crowd control tactics and an upbeat antidote:

Conservatives [...] don’t want activists sneaking in with hidden placards and disrupting the political homogenity of the crowd. So here’s my idea: We do exactly that. We justify their fear. If Dimitri Soudas’ fears are realized then he will have no choice but to continue to screen campaign event attendance, which will continue to make the Conservatives look bad. The side-benefit is that we get to break up the meaningless hyper-partisan campaign events that are taking away from discussion of the real issues in this election.

So if Harper or a Conservative cabinet minister shows up in your town, do whatever you can to get into his event, then make a scene. It could be a big scene or a small scene, but make sure that his staffers know you were there. Let’s push [...]

BACK!

Bonus: delightful YouTube animation

The systemic erosion of democracy (more)

This is how it starts. A narcissistic sociopath takes control of a political party and proclaims: "We can create a country built on solid Conservative values [...] the kind of country I want to lead." Here are a few more quotes:

"Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed."

"Gratitude is a sickness suffered by dogs."

"The writer is the engineer of the human soul."

"Ideas are more powerful than guns. We would not let our enemies have guns, why should we let them have ideas."

"Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party."

"It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything."

The first pronouncement is from Stephen Joseph Harper. The rest are from Joseph Stalin.

Notwithstanding his tactical deployment of tricks perfected by contemporary Republican operatives, Stevie Spiteful's strategy is eerily similar to Stalin's view.

Of the Stalinist regime, Alexander Solzhenitsyn said: "In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State."

Yesterday's display in Parliamentary committee of the contempt which Harper and his thugs have for Canadians is breath-taking. Tony Clement reprised his Attack Parrot™© role, but it was Stockwell Day who cranked it up to a new level of sheer political chutzpah with this:

“Do you think it is right that you can threaten your neighbour with jail time if she doesn’t tell you if she has mental issues or not?” he wrote. “Or who does what chores in the house? Or whether she is a Jew or not? Don't you find that one even a little bit chilling?”

What I find chilling is the sustained campaign of propaganda and disinformation Stevie Spiteful's PMO has waged on every issue it has shoved down the throat of the electorate since the ReformaTories formed their first minority government in 2006.

And as the continuing debacle over the G-8/G-20 demontrates, the Cons' electoral promise of transparence and accountability in government is nothing more than a typical Con job.

The only obstacle to a Canada controlled by Harper's steel fist and administered by his cowering cadre of lying bullies is a purposeful response by Canadian voters.

More crumbling away: Who needs to get nasty feedback or pesky facts entered into the public record?

Federal civil servants won't get to fill out a workplace survey this year because the Conservative government has axed it. [...]

A Statistics Canada official broke the news to colleagues last month in an email obtained by The Canadian Press. "I regret to inform you that plans for the 2010 Public Service Employee Survey are cancelled," Geoff Bowlby, head of the agency's labour statistics division, wrote on June 2. "We received notice from Treasury Board secretariat yesterday evening that funding for the project was not approved for this year. [...]

Neither Treasury Board President Stockwell Day nor his department were immediately able to say how much the survey cost. The government solicits voluntary feedback from its workers every three years to improve programs and services. The survey gives a snapshot of workers' demographics, skills, career expectations and concerns.

ADDED by fern hill: A plug for the Facebook group, Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper, which today passed the 5,000 member mark. We've been raising money and placing newspaper ads to raise awareness of just this issue. Totally grassroots, volunteer. Check it out.

Rationality and good sense VS Ideology and batshitcrazy

Rationality and good sense:

The national body that advises Statistics Canada and the chief statistician called Monday for the restoration of the long-form census, along with the removal of the threat of jail time for not completing it and reform of the planning process for the next census, in 2016.

The National Statistics Council, a 40-member panel of prominent analysts and researchers from across Canada, issued a statement expressing concern about the government's plans to make the mandatory long-form census a voluntary survey, urging a series of reforms and compromises instead.

"We believe that the changes will harm the integrity and quality of the Canadian statistical system," Ian McKinnon, chair of the council, said of the Conservative government's plans. "At the same time, the council recognizes that concerns about intrusiveness and confidentiality should be addressed."

The council believes Canadians "should not be overburdened by intrusive demands for unnecessary information," the statement said, but loss of the mandatory long-form data will leave a "serious gap" in the snapshot of Canadian society and its portrait of change over time. There are just a few weeks left to make changes to either the long-form census or the voluntary National Household Survey proposed to replace it if the census is to go ahead as planned in May 2011, the council said, but discussion of the issue has ground to halt.

"Debate over the future course of the census has become heated without moving toward a resolution that meets both concerns about privacy and intrusiveness, as well as the need to maintain the quality of Canada's statistical system," McKinnon wrote.

Ideology and batshitcrazy: The mouthpieces and Attack Parrots™© the PMO keeps trotting out - Flaherty, Clement, Day and Bernier - regurgitate "half-truths, red herrings, misdirection, scaremongering, and a straw man or two" over and over again to support Stevie Peevie's unilateral and monomaniacal decision.

The knuckle-draggers and ReformaTory minions who keep popping up in the comments after each news article that brings new facts forward also keep shrieeeking the same points.

"But, but, but, questions about bedrooms!!!" As these thugs, goons and bullies desperately try to Con-vince us that brave, brave HarperCons are protecting the Canadian people against the invasion of their privacy, the National Statistics Council would like to remind us that there are no census questions - and never were - about what folks do in their bedrooms.


From fern hill: I was going to blog on that but deBeauxOs was faster and no doubt more elegant than I would have been.

This census dealie is blowing up real good for the Cons. Now the seniors are miffed and they tend to vote and vote Conservative. (See the CARP poll here or zip to the quite comprehensive results here.)

BONUS TRACK: Go read Chet who doesn't want to be a Canadian idiot. (Fat chance, Chet.)

Attack Parrot™© in full bully mode.

After some judicious prodding by the PMO, the conservative Fraser Institute catapulted a senior economist onto the media stage, in order to regurgitate more speaking points.

When asked how they would ensure even representation across different income and ethnic groups on such surveys without reliable long-form data, Veldhuis questioned why those differences would matter.

“This is what should be worrying average Canadians — this information is used by central planners to plan how to tinker with the lives of Canadians,” he said of the ways in which census data is used. [...]

The Fraser Institute uses long-form data in its school report card rankings, Mr. Veldhuis said, but he believes the short-form census — which will remain mandatory — the voluntary census and other polling, market research and voluntary surveys conducted by private companies will provide more than enough data on Canadians.

"Central planners" - is that Con code-speak for policy-shapers who don't cleave to the ReformaTory party line? And by the way, Veldhuis is a flat-taxer and reactionary analyst of the Calgary School mold.

Are those who share the CMAJ perspective set out in a recent editorial also "central planners"?

"It [long-form census questionnaire] provides accurate and reliable data on social trends and issues, including the determinants of health, such as the relationships among income, gender, education, region, work and other factors that influence access to care and health outcomes."

The CMAJ's position is that the elimination of the long census will cause regional institutions to "lose the only accurate information about the populations they serve."

Of course, Stevie Spiteful's goal to create a Canada that conforms to conservative values is not "tinkering". No, it's more political engineering that will shift power and profits to friends of the Conservative party and will exclude those who aren't ideologically aligned.

And that's why Stevie and his bullies, thugs and hooligans don't want evidence of damage their tactics have wrought documented and recorded.

Solberg regurgitates Con speaking points.

Monte Solberg may be the first ReformaTory Attack Parrot™© to get his party's propaganda in print, but he won't be the last.

The Con-fabulators can also rely on services provided by Blatchie - she who lectures journalists who presented first-person accounts of what they experienced at ground zero during the G-20 at the hands of riot police goons about professional standards - to repeat the truthiness that's fed to her.

Here, for example. And most memorably this report, where Blatchie submitted with impunity the big fat lies 'leaked' by her overlords.


Grand merci to our much-admired commenter Niles for the heads-up and his observations, always judicious.

How do you spell hypocrit?

In general, I try to avoid reading the Comments section after CBC news items. They are frequented by knuckle-draggers, fact-challenged ideologues, freepers, ReformaTory Attack Parrots™© dutifully re-posting Con speaking points, sociopaths and, occasionally, a few sensible & rational human beings.

Bureaucrats may also be adding to the general confabulation by contributing so-called factual information from Harper's New©™ Government.

Nonetheless, the following comment jumped up when I glanced down from perusing a short article about the public outcry against the destruction of a small forested area in Kanata.

savant1 wrote:Posted 2010/06/06at 11:41 AM ET"Kanata North councillor Marianne Wilkinson said she has explored the area with her grandchildren and, like hundreds of others, has come to appreciate the forest trails." ---------------------- On May 26 she pushed through a Special Tax Levy against her constituents (without a vote) while claiming the taxation per household would be reduced as further new homes were constructed in Kanata. How do you spell hypocrit?

Um ... you spell hypocrite with an "e" at the end. With one word, this commenter's rhetorical flourish became a big, embarrassing FAIL.

We are all fallible. Tpyos and spelling mistakes happen in this blog too; fern hill and I will correct each other's posts when that happens. My particular bugbear: words in English that will differ from the French ones by one letter. Example: aggression and in French, agression.

But. There are occasions and opportunities when correct spelling counts. I don't believe I'm a grammar snob, but when I encounter error upon error in a blogger's text, I tend to stop reading that particular author. I tend to wonder if they're as sloppy about their information as they are about their composition.

And I loathe cutesy, deliberate mistakes such as "teh" that are used by people who unconsciously condescend, as mawkish expressions of their need to connect with hoi polloi or to be "teh" edgy.

Bonus reading: Go immediately to balbulican's brilliant post Are You A "Citizen Journalist", or Just An Asshole?



PS: Speaking of mistakes, it appears that my accidental double click or slip-up with the "enter" key caused my post to be prematurely published, and thus to show up at Progressive Bloggers before I officially released it. Oops.

How can you tell if a Con MP is lying?

His lips are moving.

MP Steven "Blarney" Blaney just spoke on Radio-Canada about the release of National Defense documents relating to the handing over of war captives to the Afghan authorities.

He regurgitated well-rehearsed ReformaTory Attack Parrot™© points:

1. Opposition MPs cannot be trusted with top secret, sensitive materials.
   
2. Disclosure of this information endangers our troops in Afghanistan.
   
3. There were witnesses to the Parliamentary Committee who told "stories".
   
4. Opposition MPs hate our soldiers.

This is why we say:


They LIE.

They lie they lie they lie THEY LIE!

When Lawyers Get All Lawyeristic ... with update

you know they must be working hard for Harper's New™ Government.

When you read this, a certain quote from Henry VI (Part 2) does come to mind - 'The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers'.

A government lawyer yesterday disputed the Military Police Complaints Commission’s right to see certain government records on the matter and refused to even set a date for handing over others.

“The documents will be given to your counsel when they are good and ready,” Justice Department lawyer Alain Préfontaine told the inquiry. The tone of Mr. Préfontaine’s response prompted astonishment from Glenn Stannard, the acting chair of the commission.

“I find that to be close to offensive, not only to this panel but also to the public,” Mr. Stannard said. “The government of Canada can’t tell us how long it’s going to take to get the documents?” [...]

The Justice Department official refused several times to say when documents might be released, first saying this was a secret between him and the government of Canada. “That is not something I am at liberty to discuss with you. That is covered by the solicitor-client privilege.”

When Mr. Stannard asked for the name of someone in government who could come before the panel and give a date for the documents’ release, Mr. Préfontaine replied: “I do not perceive that it’s my obligation to answer that question.”

Mr. Préfontaine said numerous requests from the commission are making life difficult for government record keepers because they have to keep screening more of them as new demands are made.

What MASSIVE nerve! A Commission established by Parliament requests documents in order to meet its mandate! How dare it defy a flunky lawyer from the Justice Department?

Is Alain Préfontaine is auditioning for interested in a future in public service as an arrogant politician in the ReformaTory Con Party - and thus performing for his real boss?

Grand merci to our dawgy friend for the tip.
Update: Dr Dawg continues to sniff out more of Prefontaine's stinky business. Apparently, when you deal with Justice Dept. lawyers, you can get screwed coming and going.

Guergis Falls on Stiletto.

In ancient Rome, disgraced military leaders fell on their swords.

In the Harper government, ministers who have brought public embarassment to Stevie Spiteful get to pick the weapon of their choice.

It's not clear whether Helena chose a Manolo Blahnik or a Christian Louboutin to end her political career.

Watch for Blogging Tories and other assorted Attack Parrots, acolytes and sycophants to start chanting the new Speaking Points faxed by the PMO:

"Meanies! Look what you make her do!"

Crank up the propaganda and fax, fax, fax!

It seems many, many people were shocked, then angry when Jaffer copped a plea and the charges – speeding, driving over the legal blood alcohol limit, and cocaine possession – were dropped.

Such law-abiding people tend to supply the media with solid information for their investigative stories.

In Stevie Spiteful's Office, the furniture has now been righted, arrangements made to repair broken glass and the temps who took shelter under theirs desks have been coaxed into staying for another day.

The PMO spin doctors gather to survey the damage, to produce speaking points to fax to their Attack Parrots and to create a bright shiny diversion.

The ReformaTories - business as usual. That hammering you hear is not another nail in the coffin of Helena Guergis' political career.

Wait, wait, wait ... Family Values©™... yes! The spin doctors pump the air. Jaffer was driving home to be with his wife. And that anti-family bulldyke OPP officer stopped him as he was rushing to his beloved's embrace.

Just another day of prevarication and fabulation in the PMO.

It's straight out of Law and Order, folks.

Canadian Cynic has the last word: Coke and hookers? Works for me!

Afterthought: Toe, one of our frequent commenters (don't forget to get your loyalty card stamped!) wondered just how valuable Jaffer's information about Gillani could possibly be, given the tenuous and opportunistic nature of their "business" relationship. Makes no difference. It gave the higher-ups a pretext. Otherwise, it would be evident the plea bargain was all about political pull - and Jaffer's knowledge of skeletons in other people's closets.

ReformaTory Minister Lectures Haiti about transparence and accountability.

Un-frakking-believable.

Larry "Loose" Cannon deigned to patronize Haiti and other countries within hearing of his droning sanctimonious little lecture about transparence and accountability.

Rule of law will be the key to rebuilding an earthquake-devastated Haiti, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon told an international donors conference Tuesday. "While Haiti has been weakened, it is not stateless," Cannon told the meeting of more than 100 countries at the UN headquarters in New York. "Strengthening governance and rule-of-law institutions, as well as facilitating decentralization, will be critical elements of a holistic and comprehensive reconstruction plan."

Cannon did not say in his remarks how much Canada will donate to earthquake reconstruction, pledging to make an announcement later.

Well, that explains why none of the money pledged by thousands of citizens, in support of infrastructure reconstruction, held in trust by Harper's Government (the condition for securing CIDA matching funds) has been given to Haitian organizations. Those of us who donated to the Red Cross and Médecins sans frontières provided swift humanitarian and medical support.

What's your next lecture, Larry? The legal obligations of governing parties to respect and uphold Parliamentary procedures?

While we're on the topic of Con Speaking Points, who knew that Canadian senators are now receiving them from Mark Steyn? It appears that a squad of ReformaTory Attack Parrots™© cloaked themselves in self-righteousness, in defense of US stand-up performer Ann Coulter's right to flout our laws regarding hate speech - and comparing her plight to that of the behaviour-challenged Guy Earle. Go read Dr Dawg to get accurate facts - which would be those that Harper's bullies distorted in the Upper Chamber.

the lie has become ... a pillar of the State (re:redux)

They LIE.
They lie they lie they lie THEY LIE!

Over at Canadian Cynic, C. C's ... and you don't fuck with Kady O'Malley illustrates how the ReformaTory foot soldiers have received their talking points and marching orders. They're all over the comments sections of online media, spewing the same lies over and over again like Attack Parrots™©.

They LIE.
They lie they lie they lie THEY LIE!

From Paul Wells' latest article about Rights & Democracy and the comments that follow from ReformaTory acolytes, we learn there's a hierarchy amongst the Attack Parrots™©: the MASSIVE prevaricators, the doublethinkers and the common liars.

They LIE.
They lie they lie they lie THEY LIE!


Update: And perhaps they also have "friends" who read obituaries and know when to break in during a funeral to steal the good stuff.

"In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State - Alexander Solzhenitsyn."

This bit from David Matas is deliciously ironic and perhaps unwittingly transparent:

"Human rights NGOs are reluctant to take money from governments, for fear that it might compromise their independence. Political NGOs are not as reluctant, and are often financed by sympathetic governments. GONGOs, government organized NGOs, have been a traditional feature of communist regimes, but they proliferate wherever repression is found. ..."

Is Matas admitting it's effectively what Harper and his bullies are putting in place, a Rights & Democracy GONGO that will further their dominionist imperative? The hounding to death of Remy Beauregard by a trio of ideology-driven party goons leaves no doubt as to Stevie's intent and his appetite for whatever means it takes to move Canada in the "right" direction.

Harper ReformaTories: mash-up of theocracy and stalinism.

They LIE.

They lie they lie they lie THEY LIE!

It starts with the seeds of casual exaggerations or tiny prevarications. Those sprout in warm ReformaTory manure, a pungent mash-up of theocratic arrogance and contemporary stalinism.

When they're ready for transplanting, they are lovingly wrapped in rhetoric and faxed/emailed to their acolytes & the sycophants (aka the MPs). They are proclaimed as self-evident truths by a phalynx of Attack Parrots™© ever ready to shout down any reasonable objection or the judicious presentation of actual facts contradicting them because ....

They LIE.

They lie they lie they lie THEY LIE!

Stevie, his bullies and their machinations are now indeed transparent: their tactics are obvious. The emperor has no clothes.

The growing, growling citizenry has caught on to the ReformaTory game.

They LIE.

They lie they lie they lie THEY LIE!


In our country the lie has become not just a moral category but a pillar of the State - Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

Will Canadians accept this, in our country?

I believe not.



Apologies to Jem Rolls for borrowing a particular phrasing, cadence and spirit of his spoken word poetry - though it captures perfectly the imperiousness and arrogance of the ReformaTories.

Re-arranging the deck chairs on the HMS Titanic

As C.C. points out in Doing the Harpo-Con shuffle, Harper's Most Spectacularly Titanical are being re-deployed, a few deserving the back benches of the House of Commons where the sun never shines and MPs get coal in their slippers at St-Nicholasmas.

So far, nothing indicates that the Minister for Empty Suits is going to enjoy a come-back.

As for Lisa Raitt, I sure hope she didn't spend a whole lot of money on a designer wardrobe because the effect will be lost in the nosebleed section of the venues where the Owe-lympic events will be held.

Stevie Spiteful and his NEW! Improved! flock of Attack Parrots™© - another photo opportunity, at taxpayers' expense.