Circus Ringmaster Stevie Peevie and his troupe.

My virtual roomie fern hill discovered this brilliant website of Canadian political satire.

From one of UrNews items:

Con­ser­v­a­tive spokesman Dun­ning Kruger announced today that he is launch­ing Cirque du Steve’s Freaks and Geeks, a new circus-style show that will com­bine fund-raising for con­ser­v­a­tive causes with get­ting the mes­sage to the grass­roots in key ridings. [...]

“All right-thinking Cana­di­ans love a cir­cus – just look at the polls,” said Kruger. “But they’re sick of Pepsi per­former types from Que­bec with their New Agey ‘foreign-cultures-are-more-spiritual-than-yours’ crap and their fairy cos­tumes. What they want is to get back to the good old days of clap­ping seals, scary strong­men, hall of mir­rors, bearded women, bad suits and cre­ation­ists. Cir­cus for the base is base circus, baby!”

Fea­tured in the show are: Duff­ster, the Human Can­non­ball; Iggy, the Danc­ing Bear; tight-rope walker Big Tony C.; Vic Toews, the Human Pret­zel; John Baird, the Human Han­key; Bev Oda as Humper the Clown; the Amaz­ing Taz­ing Fan­tino; Peter Mack, trained to jump through burn­ing hoops; bearded lady Jason Ken­ney; and more.

More? Oh yeah, babeee! Larry Cannon as MeeMoe the Mime! Reverend Knife-thrower Vellacott aka "Flak the Ripper". Rod Bruinooge in his Magical MASSIVE Kidney Suit! Helena Guergis on her flying trapeze!

And let's not forget the little people: Dimitri Soudas, elephant-poop-scooper extraordinaire! Flaming Regurgitator 'Fatwa' Flanagan!

As US circus founder P.T. Barnum (allegedly) said: "There's a sucker born every minute."

Wikileaks is vital.

In a world where this kind of bald-faced lying and covering-up has become the standard modus operandi, where our own public broadcaster is subverted by the odious antics of millionaire spouting his vile rightwing spleen, Wikileaks is vital.

Fatwa Flanagan continues to perform his stupid aw-shucks schtick.

As Buckdog said:

If Mr. Flanagan joked about a bomb in his shorts at the Edmonton Airport, should we expect the security guards to merely laugh and slap good old Tom Flanagan on the back for being such a funny joker?

Fatwa Flanagan and other members of the Old Con Boys Club keep behaving like this because their sense of entitlement ensures they can get away with hoodwinking the public.

Until Wikileaks pulls back the curtain and the whole world can see the 'bomb' Fatwa Flanagan's concealing is a smelly old dud that a mega-dose of Viagra couldn't revive.

Here's one blowhard who's really funny and who gets what's comin' to him.



Bonus: Go read Alison at Creekside. Now.

Extra bonus added by fh: Go sign another fun Avaaz petition. Because it gets up the rightwingnutz's noses. Organizers are aiming for one million signatures this week.

'Fatwa' Flanagan crawls back under his rock.

Many Canadians would rather not look at what's living under the ReformaTory rock. Then Wikileaks comes along and does the heavy lifting.

'Fatwa' Flanagan's perorations were disgusting propaganda but typical of that fundamentalist mindset. Also illegal - incitation to murder someone is crime - so 'Fatwa' Flanagan' coughed up some desultory regrets. And thanks to Buckdog, we learn from the Calgary Herald that 'Fatwa' Flanagan's academic career won't be squashed like a bug.

University of Calgary spokesman Grady Semmens said the school had received numerous complaints about the comments. "At this point, the university is not considering any disciplinary action. We had discussions with department and faculty heads, but that's all we can really say," he said.

Flanagan was representing himself, not the university, when he made the comments and had a right to his opinion, said Semmens. "He has publicly backed down from statements and said he regrets making them in such an offhanded way," he said.

And that's the way to avoid criminal charges under a supposedly "Tough On Crime" Harper's New©™ Government because it's okay to break the law if you're a ReformaTory Conservative.

Grand merci to our blogging pal Blevkog for further fanning the 'Fatwa' Flanagan fire.

Sarah and Tim, er, Tom

In an interview with Democracy Now, Julian Assange's lawyer confirms that he's in the UK.

And. Also. Tim Tom Flanagan finds himself in exalted *cough* company. From the rush transcript:

AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you about the growing number of threats against Julian Assange. The former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has said Assange should be, quote, "hunted down," and a former campaign aide of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper went a step further in a recent interview on the Canadian Broadcasting, CBC.

TIM FLANAGAN: Well, I think Assange should be assassinated, actually. I think Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something. You know, there’s no good coming of this.

AMY GOODMAN: That was University of Calgary professor Tim Flanagan, who served as the Conservative Party’s campaign manager in Canada’s general election in 2004 and 2006. Jennifer Robinson, as Julian Assange’s attorney, your response?

JENNIFER ROBINSON: These calls for his assassination are absolutely outrageous and, indeed, illegal. I think that the prosecuting authorities ought to consider prosecuting these individuals for incitement to violence. Obviously assassination is illegal, and we take these concerns very seriously. Now, the press around the fact that my client is in hiding to evade arrest is absolutely incorrect. And one can imagine that when you have very public officials making these sorts of serious calls for assassination, that one would be concerned for their personal safety. I also think that it raises genuine concerns when you have Sarah Palin making such allegations for the prospect of my client receiving any sort of due process in the U.S.

Great publicity for the UofC, too, eh?

Wikileaks: Whacking and Wackiness

Tom 'Fatwa' Flanagan claims he regrets calling for the assassination of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

He did so 3 times on the CBC infotainment show "Power'n'Politics". He could be charged under the criminal code for inciting to murder. No surprise 'Fatwa' Flanagan is regretful.

He is not alone. Others, particularly in the US, are shrieeeking for blood. And the moral puffery of Joe Klein is neatly eviscerated by Glenn Greenwald.

On a merrier note, our blogging colleague Alison has discovered that the spook assigned to Canada is a TV critic manqué.

EKOS pollster Frank Graves told Poloff he thought that at this point such shows are reflective and not causal in determining attitudes in Canada. They play on the deep-seated caution most Canadians feel toward their large neighbor to the south, a sort of zeitgeist that has been in the background for decades. As one example, a December 2007 Strategic Counsel poll showed that nine percent of Canadians thought U.S. foreign policy was the greatest threat to the world - twice as high as those who were concerned about weapons of mass destruction. What Graves does find disturbing - and here he believes that the causal or reflective question is not important - is that support for a less porous border is increasing in both Canada and the U.S. - in the U.S. because of generalized fear of terrorism and in Canada because of concern over guns, sovereignty, and the impact that a terrorist attack on the U.S. would have on trade.

From here.

Where are Wayne and Shuster when we need them?