Help Stop (or at least embarrass) CPC Cheaters

Remember the 2010 Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament movement? Then, before Twitter was as omnipresent as it is now, the CAPP Facebook group built more than 200,000 followers.

Now that the CONs have their majority and have had 4+ years to fuck the country -- and doing an excellent job at it -- we have a chance next year to get rid of the bastards.

But. They're going to do everything they can to stop us.

Including of course cheating. In each of the past three elections, CONservatives have been caught cheating.

With the absolute minimum cost or penalty.

You think they won't do it again? What or who can stop them?

Us.

Here's the petition.

It was started on December 5. When I signed about 5 p.m. yesterday (Sunday, Dec. 7), it had about 660 signatures. By 11 p.m., it had over 800.

This morning it has over 900.

These things are maddeningly slow at the beginning. But they soon start to snowball.

Let's get this Big Canadian Snowball rolling.

It's a delicious win-win for us. If it gets a respectable number of signatures, questions will be asked and the issue of election fraud(s) gets re-aired.

If it gets an impressive number of signatures, it will make CONs squirm as more questions are lobbed at them.

If it goes, as they say, viral, it will make international news. Mockery and finger-pointing will ensue. More squirming by CONs.

And Harper wins too! He gets to add to his Enemies List. :)

Well, 'tis the season. You wanna be on a List, don't you?

CAPP's New Purpose

CAPP, Canadians Against Parliamentary Proroguing, is repurposing. With prorogation just about over, the group has become Canadians Advocating Political Participation, which keeps the original acronym, but I learned today, shares it with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. Oh well.

Here's the launch video.



Christopher White, founder of the original CAPP Facebook page, appeared at the Liberal roundtable today on parliamentary democracy, which was live-blogged by Kady.

One more thing. I won't repeat myself about what a fascinating experiment in new media organizing and activism this is, yadayada. But, if you're in the mood to play, it's time for the Money Test, aka, The Will This Be Taken Seriously? Test.

Make a Donation, Get a Reward

Do you share this view?

Stephen Harper says the Senate needs reform, but more Canadians think it's the Prime Minister's Office that has too much power.

With the Commons shut from December till March because Mr. Harper prorogued Parliament, a new poll shows 42 per cent of Canadians think the power of the PMO should be trimmed.

The survey, conducted by Nanos Research, finds Canadians retain the long-standing feeling that the Senate has more power than it deserves. But there's more concern about the Prime Minister's Office.

“It's not just the usual suspects,” said pollster Nik Nanos. “There are more Canadians that think the office of the prime minister is one of the parts of our democracy that requires a second look.”

The Nanos poll found that 42 per cent of Canadians think the Prime Minister's Office has too much power. Another 40 per cent say it's just right, and 9 per cent say it has too little power.

Yeah. I know. Polls, schmolls.

But if you are a regular reader of DJ!, you probably share our opinion that Stevie the Spiteful is the worst thing to happen to this country in a verrrry long time. Maybe ever.

So. What to do? I've yammered on about the grassrooty CAPP Facebook group and its offshoot CRUSH.

CAPP seems to have stalled -- at least in membership numbers -- and CRUSH (Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper) isn't exactly booming.

Here is CRUSH's vision:

Stephen Harper is increasingly strengthening the powers of the PMO and eroding the democratic rights of the people of Canada. It is time for a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons. It is time for the people of Canada to have their say in a general election!

Harper’s Offenses Against our Democratic Traditions and Institutions:

o Proroguing parliament to avoid facing a nonconfidence vote (2008)

o Proroguing parliament to avoid answering questions about the government’s handling of Afghan detainees (2009)

o Muzzling ministers, members of Parliament, and government watchdogs; stacking committees with political operatives

o Politicising federal institutions and programs that should represent all Canadians

o Avoiding questions by the media; restricting or denying access to information

o Using obstructionist tactics; employing American “spin doctors”

CRUSH is trying to raise enough dough to run nationwide newspaper ads calling for an election on March 3.

As I've said before, this isn't really about newspaper ads, or unseating Stevie the Spiteful -- lovely as that prospect is.

No. It's about The Money Test. The leaderless, totally grassroots, non-astroturfed CAPP put feet on the street on January 23, much to the chagrin of pundits and pols.

Now, simply, can it raise money?

I think it/we can collectively give the one-fingered salute to the ReformaTories and their running dog lackeys in the MSM.

If you have 5 or 10 bucks not otherwise committed, go get your checkbook or credit card. I'll wait. Remember, there's a reward. You'll like it.






You're back. Good. Those of you with credit cards and PayPal accounts, click here. For those of you with chequebooks, here's the info

Make cheques payable to: UNSEATHARPER.CA

Mail cheques to:
UNSEATHARPER.CA
BOX 1284 LAKEFIELD, ONTARIO
K0L 2H0

Thanks.

Here's the reward. It's not violence, it's therapy.

I Want to Know . . .

Who the hell are pundits and pols talking about when they airly say: 'Canadians don't want an election'?

I am Canadian and I desperately want an election. So does every single one of my politically aware friends.

Or a coalition.

Mainly, we want someone OTHER than Stephen Fucking Harper in the PMO.

The heretofore bloody useless MSM has started to pay attention to the Harpocrits -- and to us, pissed-off Canadians.

We pissed-off Canadians put our feet on the street in rallies across the country.

Another is planned for March 3 on Parliament Hill.

CRUSH, Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper, is planning to run that ad up there (or something to the same effect) in newspapers across the country on March 3. They need $30,000 to $40,000 to do it.

Here is the donate link, now with PayPal and hoary but effective fundraising thermometer. Last time I looked, the money-meter read just over $1,000. (I mailed a cheque, so I don't know if my contribution is included.)

Let's ride this wave of grassrooty citizen activism and show the pols and the media that we really do care about democracy, transparency, and accountability in our government.

This is the Money Test. Are you in?

Feet on the Street? Check. Pay to Play? We'll See.

The creators of the Facebook group, Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper, or CRUSH, have a new -- and still work-in-progressy -- website.

From it:

Harper’s Offenses Against our Democratic Traditions and Institutions:

o Proroguing parliament to avoid facing a nonconfidence vote (2008)

o Proroguing parliament to avoid answering questions about the government’s handling of Afghan detainees (2009)

o Muzzling ministers, members of Parliament, and government watchdogs; stacking committees with political operatives

o Politicising federal institutions and programs that should represent all Canadians

o Avoiding questions by the media; restricting or denying access to information


o Using obstructionist tactics; employing American “spin doctors”

We progressives/lefties/feminazis don't need no steenkin' links to all those crimes. Most of us have been blogging about them incessantly for four years.

For me, the most recent and craw-sticking examples are the disgusting exploitations of the Owe-lympics and the suffering in Haiti. And the embarrassment and insult of 'our' Olympic Shed too, of course.

This whole CAPP -- and its offshoot CRUSH -- movement is truly grassroots and it's a fascinating experiment in online activism.

It's still being dismissed -- despite the 60,000 feet on the street it organized on January 23 -- by pundits and politicians.

They're right about one thing though -- the next test is the money test.

Can we get pissed-off Canadians to open their wallets, chequebooks, and Pay Pal accounts?

Well, can we?

CRUSH now has a PayPay option.

You Knew This Was Coming

(mock-up of the proposed ad)


A CAPP offshoot group, C.R.U.S.H. - Canadians Rallying to Unseat Stephen Harper, has been created.

A group for concerned Canadians who are committed to exercising their democratic right to unseat Stephen Harper through a general election.

"When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid dissent is frankly when it's rapidly losing its moral authority to govern.” - Stephen Harper, 18 April 2005"

Here is the story behind it.

Ted Chartrand wrote:
Joe Klebanoff asked some questions in a post below that deserve answers and I will attempt to provide more information on behalf of the group that organized this facebook group.

This group was the "brain child" of seven active members on CAPP that felt a focus needed to be brought to the next logical step in our dissatisfaction with the Harper government and that the next logical progression was an election so that the people of Canada could have their voices heard. Bear in mind, that this group was formed only 48 hours ago.

It was immediately seen that the objective of forcing an election needed to be taken outside the realm of simply a facebook group and out to the Canadian population. Two short term actions were identified:

1. An ad in Canada’s three major dailies: The National Post, Globe & Mail and Le Devoir. The focus of the ad would be the need for a general election. This will reach a large number of Canadians that are outside the “internet” world.

2. A national rally day (March 7) to foster active engagement by Canadians at large. The March 7 date was chosen as it will follow the delivery of the Throne Speech and budget but will be in advance of the budget debate and the first opportunity for a non-confidence vote.

Within these 48 hours since the facebook group’s creation, a team of 7 people have worked to create an appropriate ad and to negotiate with all of the named newspapers regarding rates. Others have examined various fundraising options and continue to do so. Both these tasks are nearing completion and will be posted on the facebook group page within the next day or so. While it is always preferable to have involvement of the many rather than the few, we are in a time crunch on this and must move quickly to take advantage of this small window of opportunity. Members of the organizing committee are also meeting with a number of local chapters to gain their support and involvement. This is a considerable amount that has been accomplished in less than 48 hours.

Regarding the use of a pseudonym, no one person alone was responsible for the idea for this facebook group, so, we melded our personae into Liberty Freeman, representing all of us. I am one member of that organizing committee. Increasing amounts of detail will be posted on the group facebook page in the coming days.

OK. Now they need the dough to run the ad. They are in the process of setting up the mechanics for that and need a volunteer lawyer or accountant.

Can you help?

Where's Democracy?

Another clever project from the CAPPers: The 'Where's Democracy?' Project.

I don't want to spoil the fun, but it involves the Parliamentary Mace, pictured here:






And of course it has a Facebook group.

Get involved if you can. Or help promote it.

CAPPers: This is your mission. . .

Should you choose to accept.

The wonderfully creative, grassroots, and multi-partisan people at CAPP have another fun project in the works.

On January 23, 2010, we showed up in tens of thousands in over 60 communities in Canada.

This time, we'll show up with even more.

On March 2, 2010, the last day of prorogation, Mr. Harper will be under the impression that we've all forgotten about his evildoing. Care to show him that not only do we still remember...that not only are we still ANGRY...but that WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

Ladies and Gentlemen...our mission for now shall remain a secret. The element of surprise is in our favour. They will never see it coming.

For now, consider this to be the secret headquarters for those Canadians who still have not forgotten.

Every Monday leading up to March 2, a clue will be revealed as to what our mission will be. For now, recruit your friends, your Facebook acquaintances and Groups, your family...everyone you know.

THIS IS A MISSION THAT WILL GO DOWN IN CANADIAN HISTORY.

DISCLAIMER: We do NOT condone violence. Bug the crap out of anyone who chooses to ignore that and message the admin ASAP.

The first clue has just been revealed.

And there's still time to send a Valentine to Stevie.

Stevie: Looking for love in all the wrong places.

Over at Strategery! The tactical brilliance of Stephen Harper, C.C. lists those Blogging Tardies who are licking one another all over in a paroxysm of ecstatic relief that (less-popular-than-fried-onion-ring) Leader has turned his cylon gaze back to Parliament.

Meanwhile, Montreal Simon spanks and flogs Stevie teh Spiteful in public, marvelously.

Valentine's Day is approaching. May I remind you all about this brilliant idea, following up on the momentum of the Pro-Democracy Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament rallies.

And. Also. Our very own DAMMIT JANET! notion for curing what ails the Lardy Leader of the ReformaTories.

This is an effigy. Make it as minuscule as its subject deserves or as bloated as your penetrative tool of choice allows. Have fun.

222,222 on 02/02

On 02/02 -- around 2 p.m. EST two boot -- the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group hit 222,222 members.

And we had to do it twice because some bodies -- trolls, it is to be assumed -- were funning with the numbers. Clicking join and unjoin so that the total keep bouncing around.

*big grin*

I *heart* Democracy -- UPDATED

Someone at the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook group had a great idea.

Send a Valentine to Stephen Harper with some variant on the message 'I love democracy'.

The idea gets better. Someone -- dunno if it's the same someone -- set up a PO box. The plan is to collect a whack of them, then hand-deliver them to Stevie, and maybe get some media attention in the process.Emily Dee posted a reminder with the address of the PO box.

Please send Valentine's Day Cards for Mr Harper (eg. I love... Democracy). CAPP will deliver the mass of them all at once. Get family + friends to send cards too. Please copy and repost this message regularly so the word gets out. The address is: Mr Harper c/o P.O. Box 693, Osgoode, ON K0A 2W0. Pass it on.

UPPITY-DATE: The organizers of this stunt have arranged for a horse-drawn carriage to deliver the Valentines. Could be FABULOUS media coverage, but only if there are LOTS of Valentines.

Please get involved. It does cost a stamp and an envelope/postcard/whatever.

These are regular people organizing for change. They deserve support.

Here is the group if you feel like joining.

We got 'em on the run!

Yesterday, local CAPPers confronted Tony (aka Tony Cashmere) Clement at York University. It was twittered but not widely reported otherwise.

Today, Saskatoon CAPPers forced Tony C. to slink out the back way and then put out a press release about it, on Facebook of course. (emphasis mine)

More than a dozen members of the Saskatoon Chapter of Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament attended a flash rally outside the Radisson Hotel in downtown Saskatoon between 11:30am and Noon today. The group marched back and forth along the sidewalk bringing their message to members of the Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce who were attending a luncheon with Minister Tony Clement at the Radisson.

"We want to keep the pressure on until Parliament resumes and the Harper government is held accountable to Canadians and a working democracy," said Mary Jean Hande a participant at today's Flash Rally.

Chants of “Pro-democracy not prorogue,” “You can prorogue but you can’t hide,” and “This is what democracy looks like” echoed through the buildings in Saskatoon’s downtown core. Minister Clement escaped the scrutiny of the demonstrators by slipping in the back door of the hotel and staff at the hotel barred entry to the demonstrators who wished to bring their concerns to the Industry Minister.

"Our group braved -30 Degree wind chills to bring a message to Minister of Industry Tony Clement that the abuse of Canada’s democratic institutions for political reasons is not acceptable," said Flash Rally participant Peter Garden. "We are urging other chapters of Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament and any concerned Canadians to monitor public appearances of the Harper government, Cabinet Ministers and other MPs, and then publicly confront them on the prorogation of parliament and the attacks on democratic institutions."

The flash rally follows the mobilization of more than 25,000 Canadians in over 60 communities, including over 450 people in Saskatoon, on January 23 against what many Canadians see as the erosion of Canada’s democratic institutions under the Harper government. The leaderless, grassroots, national group, Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament (CAPP), has vowed to continue the pressure on the Harper government to return to work and be accountable to the Canadian electorate.

CAPPers are planning other flash rallies.

They're turning up at constituency offices trying to ask questions.

They 're holding constituency office vigils.

And the best part -- all that photo-op grandstanding on Haiti seems not to have done the ReformaTories any good, according to the latest poll.

Membership is still growing at Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament. A few minutes ago, it stood at 219,133.

I'm having too much fun!

'Put this lightning in a bottle'

That's what the pollster-guy said on CBC's The Current this morning on the weekend's rallies. He was talking about how Obama married the power of the Intertoobs to an inspirational message and leader. (And how's that going for you, Merka?)

So, who can do it here? Jack? Too smarmy for many, including me. Iggy? Mr. Torture Lite? No way. Lizzie 'Nuance R Us' May? In some bizarre parallel universe, maybe.

So, who?

Short answer: We got nuthin' and nobody.

The only thing that could possibly boot the Harpocons is a coalition AND deals among the opposition parties to run ONE strong candidate against the Cons in each riding.

For one election.

Harper will be gone. The ReformaTories will be in disarray. Then the Libs, Dippers, Greenies, and Bloquists can go back to their partisan games.

One election.

Please.

Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament still growing -- now 216, 131 -- and pissed at all the dismissive coverage the rallies are getting.

Harness the wrath, the passion, the engagement, the energy.

Put this lightning in a bottle.

We must be winning. . . .They're acting like bigger idiots than ever

The various ReformaTory spins being put on yesterday's Pro-Democracy rallies are instructive (and fun!).

Over at Free Dominion, at first some refreshing honesty from my Facebook friend Connie Fournier.

There were thousands of people on Parliament Hill. I would guess about 5000.

We went there half expecting it it to be a crowd of freaks wearing terrorist garb and masks like the group that was in Ottawa protesting Bush that time, but we were surprised by the people who were there.

They were a bunch of normal looking Canadians.

That said, we did leave early because the speakers were crap. One thing that we learned when we were organizing rallies is that you have to get your speakers to stick to the message. We left because we were sick of hearing about "climage change". A guy behind us was saying he left because he didn't want to listen to someone talking about some problem with Nortel.

Anyway, I agree with Narrow Back. Harper is in trouble.

After some more typical FD drivel, Connie wades back in again:

Is the CPC telling people to say that it is better to not have Parliament than to have it? It seems to be quite the theme here lately, and I find it quite disturbing coming from people with populist Reform roots.

I'll put this as plainly as I can. Any country that is being run by one person is a dictatorship.

I know that none of you would be dismissing this if a Liberal had sent everyone home to run things himself. You'd really be better off to just say that you don't care than try to justify it.

A very few of her minions, l like the above-mentioned Narrow Back agree with her. The rest put their hands over their ears, chanting 'IdontcareI dontcareIdontcare.' Like this poster, EdS, who can't handle the quote function and has a 'I miss Ronald Reagan' poster for an avatar:

{quote="Connie Fournier"]I know that none of you would be dismissing this if a Liberal had sent everyone home to run things himself. You'd really be better off to just say that you don't care than try to justify it.[/quote]
That is my position, precisely. If the Liberals had done this, I would be ranting on street corners. That Harpoolah has done it...
Ho-hum... you're right... I don't care. I don't care what Harpoleon does. He could declare Martial Law... don't care. Don't care what happens so long as no bastard liberal is in power. Those vile curs, those socialistic progressive bastards are scum. I hate them with a passion that cannot be described.

Another novel ReformaTory approach is to deny that there were any rallies atall atall. CC in a post tellingly titled 'Let the dumbass, retarded wankitude begin' demolishes one Blogging Tory called The Iceman.

Pause to savour what happened here. Iceman wants to go to the CAPP rally to mock people who actually value the idea of a real democracy. He does not bother to actually check any of the countless online sources of information to find out where that rally is marching to. Instead, he takes a wild guess ... and guesses wrong. He therefore concludes there was no rally, and goes home.

If a four-year-old did something like that, I would consider them retarded.

Go to CC's to read the whole thing and get the link to Iceman's hilarious photo essay on Where the Woozle Wasn't.

Meanwhile, one of the discussions at the CAPP group focuses on collecting examples of such spin and considers ways of confronting them. Drop by with examples or advice.

Oh. And membership is still growing. It hit 215,000 early this evening.

ADDED: I think I might be getting a girl-crush.

Harper was at our rally too!

"L'état c'est moi." A placard attributing the famous pronouncement of Louis XIV to Stevie Spiteful was spotted at the Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament rally in Ottawa yesterday, just before Harper showed up. He was large and perfectly cartoonish with a big "Burger King" crown, a kitteh on his shoulder and a sign that read: What! Me worry?


We surprised ourselves in Ottawa with an amazingly large turnout. And people kept coming, adding to the crowd for the first half-hour. It was quite inspiring with good public speakers, chosen for their relevance, not party politics. A number of speakers addressed the bills, the issues, the urgent questions that were dismissed by the ReformaTories as irrelevant: climate change, bringing our troops home from Afghanistan and the effect of MASSIVE bankruptcies such as Nortel upon disable workers.


The Raging Grannies sang; we were supplied with lyrics by their young-ish helpers, presumably Grannies-in-waiting. And Trevor Strong of the Arrogant Worms was there too, leading the 3,500+ crowd in song. It was quite a well organized and well-attended event with an effervescent and good-spirited crowd. I took many pictures of the home-made placards, all of them inspiring and appropriate.

CAPP Rally -- Toronto

That was a blast! (And a huge relief. . .) People are still arguing about the numbers, but who cares?

There were lots and lots of people out in Toronto. All kinds of people -- babies in strollers, toddlers on adults' shoulders, high-school and university students, middle-aged and up to quite antique. And while anyone would have to admit that the ethnic diversity did not reflect the average subway car in rush-hour, I'd say that all members of the human family were represented.

The NDP and Greens were there with banners, as were a number of unions. The NDP had printed signs that said on one side 'Democracy Works' and on the other 'Stand Up to Harper'. They were NDP orange and had the logo at the bottom of one side. I noticed that some people holding up the signs had torn a small rectangle out of the bottom and realized that they objected to the NDP logo and had removed it but were still waving the signs around.

I have no problem with political parties supporting our cause and helping by paying for signs. I carried one.

But the handmade signs were really fabulous and the best one -- actually I saw two instances of it -- was impromptu as well as handmade.

This being Toronto of course there were mounted police and when you have mounted police, you have, of course, horseshit to step around on the march. Marchers were pretty good about alerting followers when such was the case.

At one point, though, not only were people diverting around something, they were laughing their asses off and taking pictures. I didn't bring a camera and wanted to share this, so I put out a request on the Toronto Rally Facebook page and got an immediate reply from photographer Mathew Rossi, who then kindly gave me permission to post it here.




The original Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament group is still growing. It hit 214,000 members this morning.

And people want to continue the energy and organizing. There's now a What's Next (that's not the correct name) group. Building on the success of yesterday, it's booming in numbers too.

Stay tuned, CAPP rally reports to come

Fast note: deBeauxOs was at the Ottawa rally; I was at the Toronto one. Reports when we recover.

Omen from Oman

Sarah MacDonald in Oman kicks off today's Democracy Rallies. More of her pictures here.

Find your local rally here.

And, there are many stories in the news this morning about the planned rallies and the Facebook phenom. I liked this one -- it mentions bloggers too.

Spelling Does Matter

Tomorrow, proofread your signs.

We don't want to be associated with anything like this.

Lizzie and Me

(This non-partisanship is killing me.)

Elizabeth May gets it.

From her blog (emphasis mine)

Since I posted my last blog on New Year's Eve, urging Canadians to demand respect for democracy and accountability from their government, I have been heartened to see so many actions launched. People who have never been political in their lives are organizing.

January 23 has been chosen as a day for rallies for democracy. I am going to post all those sites where actions are proposed. These efforts are not those of the Green Party. I want to be clear that we are not trying to claim "credit" for this grassroots movement, neither do we necessarily support every call for action. But the word needs to spread and greens from across Canada should support local actions in their area. The list grows daily, so let me know if we have missed any.

There. If Lizzie 'Nuance R Us' May can get it, how hard is it?