So, where's the CONspiracy? Has #TGDN gone global or delusional?

#TGDN = Twitter Gulag Defense Network.

In case you don't gaze towards the Excited States of America much these days, or don't tweet, this little right-wing nutjob conspiracy hoohaw might have not caught your attention.

From here:

Twitter makes it easy to report accounts for spam. When enough users report an account, it automatically gets suspended. Some users abuse this feature by organizing a group to report or “spam-block” a single account in order to get it suspended.

Conservatives created the “Twitter Gulag Defense Network” or #TGDN to stop spam-blocking attacks. Aware that accounts with more followers are less likely to get suspended, they mutually followed anyone else using #TGDN. Now that their group is organized and members are protected, they have begun targeted spam-blocking of progressive accounts, exactly what their group was created to oppose. Ironic.

Bloggers at LGF have been diligently following this phenomena and its permutations. Many have posted about the various Hatriots and other right-wing, firearm-fetishizing nutjobs who are involved.

One of my twitter friends, @fem_progress, drew my attention to this item:

A little known policy slips quietly under the radar in January 2012 as our friends at Twitter announce they will censor tweets, if a country’s government requests them to do so. A year later, Australia becomes the first modern democracy to identify, filter and ban free speech whilst not in a state of War.

In recent weeks, the censoring of tweets by Australian conservatives, or, indeed anyone who dares to either engage in political debate or offer opinion on the ruling Labor-Green alliance, has become so pervasive many have thought it was a bug with Twitter. You can read Twitter’s well hidden censorship policy here.

But now I can reveal that Twitter is actively censoring Australian tweets at the direct request of the government.

It sounds like the rantings of disgruntled Australian RWNJs and neo-cons, but if that Twitter policy does indeed exist, it could be deployed in accordance with the whims of a tinpot dictator like PMSHithead, at the request of his PMO/Politburo, to censor progressive or anti-Harper conservative tweets.

So, if this Aussie idiot has stumbled upon a MASSIVE ploy by his government, why hasn't that happened in Canada yet?  Critics of the Harper regime have certainly been quite vociferous in their excoriation of CPC electoral fraud, its corruption, its censorship of scientists and other public servants, its quasi-legal and illicit manipulations, its incessant prevarications and Rovian tactics.

My intuition tells me that it serves a greater purpose to have us scurrying around in plain view, expressing our anger, our fears, our hopes.

Harper's CPC is focused on perfecting the military precision of a volunteer and staff infrastructure that will facilitate the rigging of the next federal election in their favour, while their opponents are distraught, scattered and distracted.

Their May 2011 machinations were a taste of things to come.  Alison at Creekside has done an extraordinary job of investigative work on this matter.

So we have to get cracking on the coalition and cooperation-building NOW.  Talk is cheap, and the Cons have millions in their election war-chest, likely from the Koch Brothers foundations and possibly more that will be siphoned off from public funds now that Kevin Page is gone.

Manic Depression or Coalition?

This election has made me manic depressive. Madly hopeful one minute, scared shitless the next.

I seem not to be alone in my affliction. Today, NDP candidate Ryan Dolby dropped out of the race in Elgin-Middlesex-London in an effort to unseat incumbent ReformaTory, Joe Preston.

Dolby suddenly announced through an email Wednesday morning he's leaving the race to throw his support behind Liberal Graham Warwick.

"I am worried if Stephen Harper gets a majority. I made a strategic decision," Dolby said.

Evil, reckless coalitioning has begun!

And I found yet another grassroots group: Canadians for Coaltion.

Canadians for Coalition is a grassroots collective pressing for a stable federal government and collaborative Parliament. We understand coalition government to be a constitutional option to a one party minority. We represent no political parties.

We got wind that an election was brewing when the Conservatives started an election-style smear campaign this winter targeted at Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. Concerned that the possible election would devolve into a series of character assassinations to serve Harper’s quest for majority rule, we decided to send another message.

We gathered together our friends to shoot a series of videos, and created this website with the aim of tapping into a growing appetite among left-leaning voters, who incidentally made up the majority in the last election, for a coalition government.

Join us. Let’s send Ignatieff and Layton a message that we support a Liberal-NDP coalition government if the Conservatives fail yet again to win a majority. Let’s see a government that better reflects the values of the majority of voters, and offers stable governance once again.

Finally, let’s vote. A coalition is only going work well if the Liberals and NDP collectively outnumber the Conservatives. It’s really up to us to turn our dysfunctional parliament around and get our elected officials working effectively on the issues that matter most to us.

Lots of good info on coalitions at the site.

Like them on their Facebook page. And follow on Twitter.

We scaredy cats need company.

Damp Squib

Well, the title up there says it all really.

Like, so, like, so, what was the point of that? As a business acquaintance said today, who's he talking to? What if Michaelle was watching a Friends rerun? Isn't she the only person in the country with anything to actually do about this so-called crisis?

There was no 'call to action'. You gotta have a 'call to action'. You know, 'order now', 'riot now', 'kick a sovreignist now'.

Utterly pointless.

Dion was OK. Jack *sigh* was Jack.

No. I Won't.

Like a lot of us, I've been obsessively reading the MSM and blogs on both sides of the coalition kerfuffle. And an odd thing happened today: I disagreed with a blogger I respect immensely and I agreed with a Blogging Tory I've never read before.

First, the disagreement. Impolitical wants us to write to the G-G in support of the coalition.

I'm not going to.

The Governor-General should NOT be influenced by anyone. In our funny system, the Governer-General is apart. Apart. Not political, not influenceable. She has a job to do and I expect her to do it to the best of her judgement and ability. It is an insult to the office and position to try to influence her decision. And before someone with a long memory reminds me that I encouraged people to write to the G-G on the Morgentaler decision, I point out that that was after the decision had been made.

Now the agreement. A Blogging Tory is taking crap at his (?) site for writing:

Rally For Canada is Wrong
The idea of holding mass protests to try and subvert British parliamentary tradition is wrong in principle and wrong in practice. This is the kind of thing the left and right did in France in the 1930's to delegitimize a constitutional government.

. . .

So, don't do it; don't 'Rally For Canada.' The dangers are too great, the partisan advantage too little.

We have a Parliamentary democracy in Canada, not mob rule.

It is already ugly in the media, the House, and the blogosphere. The Conservatives are trying to paint their opponents as 'traitors'.

Cameron at Peterborough Politics reports on a rally and counter-rally in Peterborough today.

The Peterborough This Week also had a short write up on their site, along with video that was quite frankly disturbing. At the 25 second mark of the "This Week" video, you actually hear the highly partisan crowd chant "traitors" and "traitors to Canada", which are obviously just so helpful to this situation. This is sure evidence that the Conservatives are trying to sow the seeds of division, and are obviously not the least bit interested in working with the other parties. It's the politics of division at it's most craven and self serving, with no obvious shame or remorse. Nothing new, but taking it up to a whole new level.

What the coalition is trying to do is entirely legitimate. I wrote to the only person I voted for -- my MP -- to tell her that I support the coalition. That is all I can do.

The die is cast and we'll have to see how it plays out.

The Conservatives are desperate lying scum and are trying to corrupt the system. I will not participate in any further corruption. I will continue to write and opine, but I will not bother the G-G or lend my presence to any kind of mob, even a 'good' one.

Take Him Out!

Scott Reid, former communications director for Paul Martin, in the Globe:

First things first: take him out.

After all, Stephen Harper is the most dangerous animal lurking in the jungles of Parliament. He is a threat to the future viability of the Liberals. A blood simple opponent of the NDP and the only serious contemporary challenge to the Bloc Quebecois. Without him, his party is an unlikely combination of Reform Party leftovers, Harris refugees and Red Tory desperates. They don't matter or even exist without Mr. Harper. So before you think a moment longer, opposition leaders, think on that.

And if that's not compelling enough, remember: He doesn't play to win. He plays to conquer. Under his guidance, the public interest is always subjugated to his personal political advancement. And he poisons Parliament with an extreme, bare-fanged breed of partisanship that has no hope of repair until he is banished.

This becomes relevant because suddenly, he is weak. In fact, at this particular moment, he is almost unable to defend himself. Owing to a ridiculously ill-considered act of hubris, he has laid himself vulnerable to his opponents. Their imperative could not be more clear: kill him. Kill him dead. Do not, whatever you do, provide him with an opportunity to extend his hold on power. Because you can be damn certain he will never again be so reckless as to give you a chance to finish him off.

Go read the whole thing.