They LIE! They lie, they lie, they lie, they lie!

It's the ReformaTory Anvil Chorus.

They LIE.

They lie they lie they lie THEY LIE!

While the Conservative government treats Rahim Jaffer publicly as a pariah, messages and calls between senior officials and the former MP over the past year show he was handled inside as a friend and even a "priority."

More than 60 pages of government documents obtained by The Canadian Press Wednesday paint a picture of a busy, cheerful businessman reaching out to people he knew within government. [...]

At least six ministerial offices were contacted by Jaffer over the past year, and that includes previously unknown communications with Public Works and the office of Diane Ablonczy, minister of state for seniors. The documents were tabled with the Commons government operations committee, and with the lobbying commissioner and some with the ethics commissioner.

In his emails, Jaffer was often describing renewable projects he was working on with his partner Patrick Glemaud, and the responses were swift and often personal.

From here.


They LIE.

They lie they lie they lie THEY LIE!

Oh, and make sure you take in the deliciously apt Monty Python skit over at Canadian Cynic: Adscam! Adscam, fer Chrissake! too.

It's Okay if You're a ReformaTory.

There's a reason we call them Con jobs. In this morning's blogpost, Canadian Cynic: You have to give him credit for initiative demonstrates the fine art of prevarication, also known in older times as selling snake oil.

Andrew Coyne has more about that splendid duo in his aptly named: Rahim & Patrick’s Don’t Pay a Cent Event; he deconstructs their initiative.

Let’s assume everyone’s telling the truth. Rahim Jaffer and his partner, Patrick Glémaud, never got paid for their activities. They were simply making inquiries about the terms and conditions on which certain types of government grants might be available to certain companies. The companies in question never hired them to act as lobbyists. And nobody got a dime of government money. How do we make sense of this?

The scrutiny to which these 'businessmen' have been subjected may very well be the flip side of a recent incident regarding an international cooperation project based in Halifax.

For years, the Nova Scotia Gambia Association has sent Canadian nurses, students and other volunteers overseas to teach HIV-awareness and other health education programs to people in the small West African countries of Gambia and Sierra Leone.

This year, the non-profit group decided to bring eight of its Gambian staff to Canada, to attend the group's 25th anniversary celebrations in Halifax, and to talk to students in local schools about life in Africa.

A Halifax church and a handful of schools across Nova Scotia raised $23,000 to pay the costs of bringing the Gambians to Canada. But plans for the trip were cancelled this week when Mr. Kenney rejected visitor visa applications for the group.

More about the organization, including its board membership.

Of course, speculating that Jason Kenney may be recoiling at the moment from initiatives that involve dusky-skinned people, especially those that do not have the right party and correct church affiliation would be premature until more information is available.

Or until Harper's bullies cut Jaffer and Glémaud off and let them twist in the wind.

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.

This is rich

An adulterer smears journalists in defense of a former colleague arrested for speeding, drunk driving, and drug possession.

This calls for action, Canadians!

A few days ago, our friend Bina wrote a love letter to Dan Savage.

Dan challenged Canadians to pay more attention to Vic Toews.

Toews has described gay marriage ceremonies as satanic "Black Masses," and insisted that adding gays and lesbians to existing Canadian civil rights statutes would bring the "jackboot of fascism [down] on the necks of our people."

You know where this is going, right?

It turned out that Toews—who once warned that gay marriage could lead to polygamy—was cheating on his wife of 25 years. After getting a much younger woman pregnant, Toews wound up getting divorced. Another marriage destroyed not by gays stomping around in fabulous jackboots, but by yet another straight "Christian" bigot slamming his dick into someone who isn't his wife.

Toews's affair became public two years ago, but the scandal didn't destroy him—he became minister of public safety this January—because the Canadian press sniffed that Toews's affair and divorce were private. Excuse me, Canadian- press pansies, but a politician who scares up votes attacking the private lives of others, a politician who insists that other people are out to destroy his marriage, can't be allowed to hide behind "my private business!" when it turns out that the only threat to the politician's marriage was the politician's own greasy cock.

Dan winds up with this:

Toews is pronounced "taves," and it seems to me that it should be a word for something nasty. Get on it, Canada.

Hmmm. Should the word be a noun, like Santorum? Or maybe a verb: 'to toews: v. trans., to defend the indefensible, preferably with smear tactics, from a safe ReformaTory seat'.

There are some good suggestions at Bina's. As Dan said, let's get on it.

BONUS: Read the excellent comments here.