Bad Science, Part Umpty-Seven

Well, looky here. Not only has another of Priscilla Coleman's papers been shot to shit by real scientists, even the editor of the journal in which it appeared agrees.

A study purporting to show a causal link between abortion and subsequent mental health problems has fundamental analytical errors that render its conclusions invalid, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Guttmacher Institute. This conclusion has been confirmed by the editor of the journal in which the study appeared. Most egregiously, the study, by Priscilla Coleman and colleagues, did not distinguish between mental health outcomes that occurred before abortions and those that occurred afterward, but still claimed to show a causal link between abortion and mental disorders.

The study by Coleman and colleagues was published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research in 2009. A letter to the editor by UCSF’s Julia Steinberg and Guttmacher’s Lawrence Finer in the March 2012 issue of the same journal details the study’s serious methodological errors. Significantly, the journal’s editor and the director of the data set used in the study conclude in an accompanying commentary that “the Steinberg-Finer critique has considerable merit,” that the Coleman paper utilized a “flawed” methodology and that “the Coleman et al. (2009) analysis does not support [the authors’] assertions.”

Sadly, lying liars like Maurice Vellacott who desperately want to recriminalize abortion will continue to rely on these hucksters for their 'science'.

And, no doubt, these are the people who will be invited to testify at Stephen Woodworth's Standing Committee on Government-So-Small-It-Fits-In-Women's-Uteruses Abortion.

Which is why sane people should just decline any such invitation.

Double Whammy: Election Fraud + In & Out?

Last November, the CPC and its fundraising organ pleaded guilty to their violations of the Canada Elections Act.

Senator Finley is a lying Attack Parrot™© flapping his gums and trying to divert attention from his CONtempt Party's record of illegal and criminal practices, in light of alleged voter suppression and election fraud activities during the 2011 campaign.

Last week Le Devoir's Hélène Buzzetti did some good old-fashioned investigative journalism and produced information that seems to demonstrate that the CPC did it again. Here's an adaptation of her findings, in English.

Using the telephone – what else for this kind of story? - she established that money that helped pay for the Conservatives’ automated robocalls went through Quebec.

She called up Quebec conservative candidates one after another.She had them singing like canaries in a mine after a while.

Bertin Denis, defeated Conservative candidate in Rimouski-Neigette-Témiscouata-Les Basques, (that’s a trip in itself) admitted his campaign organization had paid $ 15 000.01 to the Toronto-based Responsive Marketing Group (RMG.)

Bertin Denis laid it out plainly. He was no more than a "mail box" for paying phone call bills to other parts of Canada. The party had sent him $55,000 but he had to write out a cheque to RMG for $15,000.01.

Money in, money out. (Sounds familiar?)He couldn’t remember what the cheque to RMG was for.

There appears to be a number of Québecois CPC candidates who claimed expenses that were actually in support of activities done for the national campaign, and not for their riding. Robocalls support.

We have to keep the pressure up; it appears CONs are currently trying to discredit the Elections Canada investigation with every Rovian tactic at their disposal.

Many politically engaged bloggers who don't support the Contempt Party for a multitude of reasons and voted for other parties were puzzled that the Bruce Carson corruption story didn't sink Stevie's boat.

The Toronto Star's Susan Delacourt provides some insight into how the CPC accomplished that, in her excellent article:

Quoting from StatsCan figures, Soudas said that while 92 per cent of Canadians claimed to watch TV news and 70 per cent claimed to read newspapers, in fact the real figures are around 50 per cent for both.

This is why, Soudas explained, Conservatives concentrated their advertising buys on more popular, non-news TV shows. It’s also why the Conservatives pay close attention to giving citizens the same clear, strong imagery that Canadians are accustomed to seeing in their consumer brands.

No matter how hard the Cons try to deodorize this corruption and hide their criminal actions, their *brand* still stinks.

Class Act

Some rightwing reactionary who put his own trademark imprint on the Republican Party died this week. DJ! wrote about him here:

[...] a toxic fabricator, a con man, and a dumpster-diver. He's a self-styled JackAss reporter; he's a balding, schlumpy and braying male version of Ann Coulter; a wannabe Christopher Hitchens without the creds. Yet his presence amongst the Limbaughs and O'Reillys serves a purpose; he makes them look like serious newsman in comparison with his own disgraceful method of gotcha! reporting.

Still applicable though in the past tense.

He engineered a malevolent hoax; this is what the target of his deliberate character assassination had to say about his death.

“The news of Mr. Breitbart’s death came as a surprise to me when I was informed of it this morning. My prayers go out to Mr. Breitbart’s family as they cope during this very difficult time.”

Shirley Sherrod is a class act, something Breitbart never was.

Election Rigging for Dummies

Woo-hoo! Our bud Alison at Creekside just made this for DAMMIT JANET!

Aren't we lucky!

Gotcha!

As my long-suffering friends and relations will tell you, I'm kinda tedious on the subject of how the Internet is changing politics.

Well, look who agrees. Antonia Z.

Call it the hive mind, swarm intelligence, maybe collective consciousness.

Really, what’s happening online with the so-called “robo-call” scandal is all about crowdsourcing the story.

Posts and comments on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, alternative websites and even corporate media are bouncing off each other, adding to the mass of allegations of election wrongdoing by the Conservative party.

And it's not just what's happening now.

She pointedly points out that bloggers have been on this since the minute the polls closed, citing the Essential Alison and in particular, her blogpost on the margin of victory from May 5, 2011.

Continuing on with how the story is now being amplified, she quotes -- ooooo! -- DJ!'s own deBeauxOs.

For example, when news of Elections Canada’s investigation of the “deceptive robo-calls” hit the headlines, it took over Twitter.

“Those of us who had tried to flag these U.S.-styled tactics (last year) responded with tweets linking to previous news stories and our blogs,” says Ottawa blogger DeBeauxOs of Dammit Janet.

Each fed off the other and boom. The story exploded.

And the feeding continues. Antonia has the grace -- a substance lacking in most MSM stenographers -- to credit the indefatigable Sixth Estate for his excellent ongoing compilation of reports and commentary thereon.

There is a quibble from Alice Funke of the Pundits' Guide. She says that all this yammering on the Tubz may be 'muddying the waters'.

Um. No. We are propelling the War Canoe.

Funke worries that muddying and confusion is playing into the Stevie Peevie's evil plans.

Plan? This is planned?

Ha. The Contempt Party is in full-bore panic and scramble mode. (See: Del Mastro, Dean, passim.)

The upshot? As my friend and relations can tell you -- Utopia.

OK. Not quite.

That said, [Internet strategist and broadcaster Jesse] Hirsh thinks this scandal is just the beginning of crowdsourcing political news.

“What we’re seeing is a clear marking of this is how things are now done, and this is how things will be done going forward,” he says.

“And this may even be the last major political scandal because the only lesson a politico can take from all of this is, you’re going to get caught.”

Unlikely. But the blogosphere and twitterverse will have a grand time hunting the evil-doers down.

Was there CON election fraud in the ballot counting too?

Before the 2011 federal election, I wondered if the CPC would try to control the results of voting in key ridings by infiltrating Elections Canada with their stooges and goons.

It's not difficult to get hired on as poll clerk or even DRO in ridings that have isolated poll stations.

Which may account for the curious case of 100 ballots for the NDP candidate being "accidentally" assigned to the GPC candidate, in Montmagny-L'Islet-Kamouraska-Rivière-du-Loup.

The CON candidate had been declared the winner, until the NDP demanded a recount.

The defeated CON's churlish, sore loser behaviour is predictable, particularly if he'd been assured his victory was *in the bag* thanks to post-voting fraud support.

Perhaps such "accidents" account for some of the surprising and inexplicable CON "victories" in the GTA. A few 100 voting ballots "reassigned" here and there - it all adds up to a fraudulent "majority".

Elections Canada should be MASSIVELY pressured to do a recount of votes cast in those key ridings.

The photograph came from this article which describes how Citizen Observer volunteers in Russia are being trained to spot election fraud.

Creekside: How CONveeeenient?

Imagine that said in a classic reformaTory, Preston-Manning-like wheeze.

Creekside: RoboConfetti : WWMD?

It's pretty bad when even a Watergate thug observes that they didn't attempt election fraud or voter suppression.

What was that quote PMSHithead used, here?

Ah yes:

"You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube." H. R. Haldeman

Funny, Stevie Harper should say that.

Hosni Mubarak was able to maintain power as a dictator for as long as he did by rigging the votes in Egypt.

What if. . . ?

The Contempt Party of Canada is denying and flailing and spinning and finger-pointing and lying and blustering. You know, the usual.

But these election fraud allegations appear to have legs. Pretty strong legs. Helped along perhaps by a pissed-off press corps sick of being regularly and routinely shat upon by Harpercons.

What if Canadians do ^NOT fall asleep again, as Stevie Spiteful and crew are desperately praying for?

What big guns will the Contempt Party Brain Trust pull out?

Could it be the abortion debate that nobody wants?

I put absolutely nothing past them. Stephen Woodworth's Private Member's Motion is coming up for debate sometime in March.

It is March.

Thinking ahead here -- if the motion passes and a stacked committee of parliamentary Fetus Lobby members is convened to listen to all the same old crap again, I have a suggestion.

Suppose they had an abortion debate and nobody came?

Nobody but the fetus fetishists of course.

They've been creaming their Depends since Woodworth raised this notion.

They'd all be lined up around the block to spout their lies, tut-tuts, finger-wagging, et fucking cetera.

Picture it. One after another, the Forced Pregnancy gang makes their depositions.

Charles 'The Homo Annihilator' McVety.

Margaret 'The Pearl Clutcher' Somerville.

Andrea 'The Mean Good Girl' Mrozek.

Throw in a few of the 'Tough Guys in Dresses' chorus.

And the prochoicers?

Do. Not. Appear.

They reply politely to invitations, if any, with 'Been There. Done That. Won. Thx.'

Just say no.

And leave the Fetus Lobby howling like this.

Self-Pitying Toews

What if Vic Toews threw himself a pity party and nobody came?

Oh. Wait.

While no laws were broken, the Conservatives want to learn if anyone else was involved and if Carroll is being used as a scapegoat to protect key staffers. [...]

Toews also wants the committee to look into Liberal MP Justin Trudeau's role in the affair. He was one of the first to retweet the volleys to his followers.

"It's very clear Justin Trudeau is in vikileaks30 up to his neck," said Toews.

Opposition MPs say the Conservatives are hammering the vikileaks issue to change the channel on allegations of election fraud.

Pretty loose and cheap talk for a serial adulterer and sexual predator. CONtempt of Parliament - it's how the CPC rolls. Attack others for actions that they're guilty of advocating and practicing.

I hope Trudeau sues Toews for slander and defamation.

The illustration was found here, also available in a larger format.