You can CON some of the people...

The federal government's public health and safety programs that Harper and his Reformatory thugs have been ravaging since he came to power, have been deeply cut.

Remember how Agriculture Minister Ritz made jokes about listeriosis deaths?

Which may explain why this toxic coffee-maker, a cheap copy of an Italian product, is being recalled 6 years after being released on the Canadian market.

Note that it's the Bialotti Coffee Maker (and not the Bialetti brand) that puts lead into your cup of espresso.














The knock-offs are manufactured by National Aero-Technology - Hangzhou, China.

Could it be the same company that made those counterfeit electronic chips that were installed in National Defence's new Hercules military transport planes?

"Security" is more sexy than safety.

The 1.75 million dollars increase to the PMO operating budget was defended by

a spokesperson for the Prime Minister [who] said he believed the costs were essential.

There is more pressure in a 24-hour news cycle for ministers, MPs and the government to respond, said Andrew MacDougall, [...] “We’ve made the conscious effort to really step up our efforts and frankly, in contrast with past communications shops, to be out there more and be more helpful,” he said.

When I heard about this in the wee hours of the morning on Radio-Canada, I had a vision of a cellar room in the Langevin Building, filled with flunkies graduates from the Laurentian Leadership Centre spinning away furiously on stationary bikes, with Stevie Grudgiepants shouting at them: "Pedal faster! Our story has to top the next news cycle."


It turns out that no matter what one imagines the next outrageous Con fabrication to be, the actual news manipulation will surpass all expectations.


The airport "security crisis", precipitated by an amateur YouTube purportedly showing two veiled women passing through an Air Canada boarding gate without being forced to show their faces, is now the top story.


Though not the allegation Transport Canada is short-staffed by 98 aviation safety inspectors, which could explain why the ministry shifted the focus by claiming Aéropro disregarded maintenance regulations.


You can bet if a plane full of passengers crashes in Alberta that Harper's PMO will spin the story to blame the Opposition. Or unions. Or veiled muslim women.

RCMP: pre-emptive ass-covering for VanOC

When last we wrote about the RCMP, it was a mere spit in the ocean that has been blogged about the Horsemen and the Braidwood Inquiry.

It appears that in anticipation of the roughshod, no holds barred, security authority to 'Taser with impunity' that the Vancouver Olympic Committee is about to bestow upon the Mounties, the RCMP is attempting to cover its ample posterior by holding one public consultation.

Olympic security officials have approached a local multicultural organization for help in providing culturally sensitive security during the 2010 Games.

On behalf of Sukhvinder Vinning, vice president of the Multifaith Action Society, former Vancouver city councillor Nancy Chiavario has sent an e-mail announcing an opportunity for people to discuss issues pertinent to their faiths with an RCMP officer.

The objective is to enhance the understanding of security screeners at Olympic venues. Anyone who wishes to convey information on this topic will have an opportunity to speak to an (sic) RCMP officer on Wednesday (July 22) at 2:30 p.m. at the Guildford library branch at 15105 105th Avenue in Surrey.

The RCMP meeting with people of different faiths comes shortly after two legal experts claimed that the 2010 Integrated Security Unit's plans would be illegal in the absence of new legislation.

One meeting will enhance the understanding of (RCMP) security screeners at Olympic venues? Really? One. Meeting.

And what impact will that valuable public input have upon the legality of its security plans?

If security at the airport is lackadaisical, who you're gonna call?

All joking about the RCMP aside, the topic of this communiqué quietly released on Easter Saturday has got to be a barn-burner in some banana republic, possibly the one the ReformaTories aka the republiCons are attempting to create in Canada.

Canadian travellers will be safer as a result of a new information-sharing agreement to conduct expanded criminal background checks for workers with access to secure areas at Canada's airports. ... This Memorandum of Understanding will allow for greater information sharing between the RCMP and Transport Canada and will enable Transport Canada to base security clearance decisions on more complete data from a broader range of intelligence sources. "We have a duty to keep Canadians safe and secure when they travel," said Minister Baird. "This agreement is a big step forward in protecting Canadian passengers and employees against potential threats."

WTF? Uh-oh. Someone in Stevie's Cabinet has been watching far too many episodes of 24 and indulging delusions about playing rough with boys in uniform.

The Greater Toronto Airport Authority had suspended escorting privileges of the officers involved following reports that they allowed Transport Minister John Baird and Liberal Senator Colin Kenny to walk onto the tarmac and other restricted areas wearing baseball caps and windbreakers.

Why officer, are you happy to see me or is that a big Taser in your pocket?

When did the RCMP jump the shark?

Is it some point between the development of the restraining device pictured above and the moment Commissioner William Elliott publicly lied confabulated to cover up the implicit weaponry war that a number of officers have been allowed to wage?

Go read RCMP : Getting away with murder by Alison at Creekside.

Yes, it is very unfortunate for all the RCMP officers who do not support nor act according to the current policing practices that Elliot sanctions and justifies. They are decent people. But their colleagues have dragged down the force to such tangled and corrupt depths that disbanding the whole organization is the only solution to the menace the RCMP poses to public safety.