Fight the FetusMobile!

Maybe gas prices have plummeted in Calgary. Maybe some fetus fetishist won a lottery.

Whatever the reason, the good people of Calgary are getting seriously annoyed by the sharply increased presence of the FetusMobile on their streets.

There are several variants of the FetusMobile. You can see a representative array of them here. Creative lot, aren't they?

Complaining to the city and police hasn't done any good. So the good people of Calgary are fighting back -- with ridicule. And facts.

We really like the poster promoting Tubby Dogs' Hot Dog Eating Contest.



The copy underneath takes a swipe at the fetus fetishists' fetish for bogus statistics.

Approximately 70% of the hot dogs eaten during this event will be soaked in water to aid swallowing and 13% of the contestants will top their hot dogs with dome type of condiment -- often ketchup. It's estimated 83% of the hot dogs prepared will be destroyed during this event -- 100% of those hot dogs will have no choice.

Here's Tubby Dog's inspiration (snaffled from JJ's hilarious post about the FetusMobile and its insane driver caught in a road-rage incident):




Another group is also making mock. Calgary Pro-Choice Coalition has developed a comic. They're raising money to get it printed, but they're offering a free download here.

It's intended to inform people about the actual law of the land and the wackadoodles driving to subvert it. I'm not going to link but it is the abortion = genocide ijits.

Go. Download. Make supportive wall-posts on the Coalition's Facebook page.

Most of all -- laugh.

Yo! Gun Owners! You Are Being Played!

Take it from one who knows, my Facebook friend Connie at the Freaks:

The CPC will never touch this issue again. They will do like they have done with the same-sex marriage issue and say that they tried, but that there was no appetite for getting rid of the registry.

The gun owners are about to get screwed just like the socons did.

Just watch.

And here in reply to another poster:

RadicallyLiberal wrote:
Connie, the CPC proper may not, but I guarantee every executive in rural ridings will be pounding this issue during the next election campaign.

What the CPC leadership does to control parliament is one thing, but even Harper knows that during a campaign he has absolutely no power.

As has been said by others on this board, Harper has one election left in him. Then it is a whole new game.

Yes, this was very well played on Harper's part. It was a move that will solidify his base, and he now has an excuse to avoid this issue from now on. The best hope for gun owners is for Harper to NOT win a majority so that we can replace him with someone who actually wants to do some good instead of playing politics.

And today The Jurist doubles down on the notion; detailing the opportunities the ReformaTories have whiffed on:

Since taking office, the Cons have introduced three government bills which would have had the effect of repealing the long gun registry. And as the governing party, they've had full control as to when the bills would be debated and voted on.

And pointing out exactly where the blame lies:

But with the Cons telling rural voters that the registry is the only issue that matters and that he has some interest in getting rid of it, it's well worth pointing out that the registry only exists today because Stephen Harper chose to leave it in place.

So, I ask again: Why wasn't this a government bill?

And I answer again: Because the issue is double-plus-good: a wedge and a cash-cow.

BONUS: EKOS poll suggests Stevie Peevie may have shot self in foot.

Is Christine O'Donnell a mini-Sarah Palin?

Not quite. Three writers at Slate have produced thoughtful pieces about Christine O'Donnell. The opening salvo:

It's too easy to make Christine O'Donnell jokes. If you're not part of her intended audience of conservative voters, you can just dismiss as wacko her talk of treating masturbation like adultery, dabbling in witchcraft, and welcoming "a season of constitutional repentance." And you'll be doing her a favor—all the mockery may not broaden O'Donnell's appeal in her sober state of Delaware, but it makes her committed supporters double down. It's a lesson Sarah Palin teaches: Make fun of the down-home woman (who happens to be hot) for her quirks of speech, and you also insult all the people who identify with her.

More here and here. Another delicious quote:

[...] what is O'Donnell—a Catholic, not a Protestant evangelical—doing in the middle of this movement? O'Donnell came of age when young Catholics caught the evangelical fever. In the early '90s, she was the front line of the movement's effort to control sexual politics. (Phyllis Schlafly, who founded Concerned Women for America, where O'Donnell worked, was also raised Roman Catholic.) O'Donnell's gift has been to make herself the fetching spokeswoman for the Christian-right obsession of the moment. She had her own little Terri Schiavo, as you both pointed out. And she did her anti-masturbation riff on MTV (with sultry red lipstick and a toss of her fabulous hair, in true evangelical girl style) just when the movement best-seller I Kissed Dating Goodbye was instructing Christian girls everywhere keep their hands to themselves.

Stranger than fiction, no? As with the whole Bible Spice phenom, you just can't make this stuff up.

Is it crying time again?

Please shed a tear or two for poor persecuted pope Maledict and his Vatican Taliban.

According to this, catholic church officials are "perplexed and amazed" that their private banking institution have come under criminal investigation. It is also reported that they are "in shock" because the state has frozen accounts.

An update:

The Vatican says the seizure by police of €23 million ($30 million) from a Vatican bank account and the investigation of two top bank officials is due to a misunderstanding that should be clarified quickly. [...] Italian financial police seized the money as a precaution Tuesday and Rome prosecutors placed the bank's chairman, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and his director general, Paolo Cipriani, under investigation for alleged mistakes linked to violations of the norms.

Just a misunderstanding. Say, isn't that the same excuse used for decades to justify clergical obstructiveness with regard to preventing the criminal investigation of priests' pedophilia?

More:

[...] the Vatican bank had neglected to communicate to financial authorities where the money had come from. The reports stressed that Gotti Tedeschi wasn't being investigated for laundering money himself but for a series of alleged omissions in the transactions. [...] Gotti Tedeschi has said he was "humiliated and mortified" by the probe but that the transfers in question were for perfectly normal transactions.

It's simple. Just tell the secular authorities where the money originated, Gotti. Shouldn't the chairman of a financial institution, likely paid a 7 digit salary + benefits, know about such regulations?

Rob Ford Is a Big Fat Coward

So, I was arguing with an imbecilic -- and totally typical -- Rob Ford supporter on the wall at CAPP. She put up a link to Ford's Facebook page with the comment: 'Don't like Rob Ford? Go tell him.' (She removed it soon after.)

I went there and put up a link to Chris Hume's story titled: Rifts would only deepen under Mayor Rob Ford. He calls it right -- this election is about anger.

That, of course, is anger, anger at everything, but especially Toronto City Council and “Toronto elites.”

I added to the link: 'I earn under $35,000, am a tenant and don't own a car, but I must be a Toronto "elite", because I wouldn't vote for Ford if you held a gun to my head.'

It stayed up long enough to garner three comments -- all, as you might imagine, unfavourable -- and then the whole thing disappeared.

Rob Ford is a big fat coward. In addition to all his other horrible characteristics, of course.

Torontonians, wake the fuck up!

He's in the lead by a long shot. But Pantalone is gaining and 25 per cent of us are undecided. I wish Rocco Rossi would bow out and throw his support to someone else -- probably Smitherman.

I'd prefer Joey Pants, but if I had to, I'd vote for Smitherman (with a clothespeg on my nose).

Join in the despair at the Anybody but Rob Ford Facebook group.

BONUS TRACK: Dr Dawg's Toronto elites poised to apologize to the rest of Canada.

Tim Minchin and the Poop

I had never heard of Tim Minchin until yesteday when I ran into a post at PZ Myers's place that has a cartoon embedded called Pope Song. It contains some very bad words and YouTube won't let me embed it unless I confirm that I'm 18 years old by signing up. I don't want to sign up, so you'll have to go to PZ's place to watch it and, in particular, listen to the clever lyrics.

This scathing and hilarious piece was released last April, but in 'honour' of the Poop's visit to the UK, Minchin has a free MP3 download of it at his place.

Minchin has his own YouTube channel where you'll find me for the next little while. I just popped back here to share this with you on a lovely Sunday morning.

Here's a sample that YouTube will let me embed. It starts slowly but stick with it. He's not only funny, he's a pretty good musician too.



You're welcome.


Update: Unlike fern hill, I am over 18 years of age and subscribed to YouTube. So here is the NOT safe for work animation - deBeauxOs

Piling On (Well, heck, all the cool kids are doing it)

As JJ so cleverly demonstrates, Ezra the Crow-Eater may be desperately soon redesigning his website.

We suggest he also have a go at his Facebook page.

And just in case he does, we took a screen shot.





Interestingly, the link in his comment takes one to the Ottawa Sun but nothing shows up, not even a 404. The header for it though is dated September 3, 2010.

BONUS: Alheli Picazo's excellent link-full summary of the saga, including a link to a Twitpic of the now-404-ed column.

h/t Antonia Z.

ADDED: Uh oh. Even some of the Freaks think Ezra has some 'splainin' to do.

COVERING OUR ASSES: A journalist friend advises that we remove the link to the Twitpic of the original offending column. So we did. It wouldn't take much searching to find quotes from it -- or the whole damn thing -- in the usual dark parts of the bloggysphere.

Eyebrow raised in salute.

Roughly twice a year I get my hair cut and coiffed by a lovely woman, a business person who owns her own salon.

She listens to what I want, makes suggestions and prunes my hair so I can style it with my fingers. Since it can be gnarly, as well as curling and flipping in odd directions. it's a demonstration of her skills that the cut grows out nicely and requires no daily fussing.

This time she convinced me that my (also gnarly) eyebrows would benefit from a judicious weeding. This involved the application of warm wax around the imaginary perimeter of a normal eyebrow line, the firm pressing of a small cloth, and many merciless yanks.

After the swelling subsided - about 24 hours later - I observed the results. Who knew that brows, much like the berms along rivers, need something to anchor them? The removal of those sparse, wandering wisps precipitated un glissement de terrain.

The upside is that one of my eyebrows is quite mobile and often emphasizes what I'm thinking and saying. So now when I raise that brow, it is a perfectly defined, expressive arch instead of a fuzzy caterpillar wriggling between my forehead and my eye.

This calls for such salute. Is it my imagination or is Ezrant's apology a wee bit ... grudgy?

In Toronto . . .

. . . we're so fricking elite that this guy is going to be our next mayor.



John Baird, on the other hand, was nailed by Rick Mercer thusly:

Baird calls 4 million Cdns "toronto elites"; from a guy who has a chauffer and complains the food on the PM's plane isnt organic.

More USELESS blathering from Blob Blogging Wingnut

SHE who sits in judgment upon all those who do not share HER religious beliefs has decreed that protests against pope Maledict's presence in England and Scotland are USELESS.

"Naturally, there will protests against the Pope on his State visit to the UK.

Can someone tell me what exactly the purpose of these protests are? What exactly will these protests accomplish?

Do these protesters genuinely expect the Church to change her stance on birth control and homosexuality? In any future century?

Don't hold your breath."

Nobody's holding their breath SUZIE CAPS-ON, but many are holding their noses shut while Benny Ratzo spews his rank and fermenting doctrine.

So, why is Maledict not visiting Ireland? Such a catholic country ... would protests regarding the Vatican Taliban's shameful record in allowing the clergy to perpetrate decades of child physical and sexual abuse be EMBARRASSING?

Nonetheless, protests in North America have proven useful for disclosing thousands of cases of priests' pedophilia, and forcing the catholic church to deal with the grievous harm their clergy has done to families and children.

A subtle though sulfurous stench of anti-semitism

Two weeks ago Blob Blogging Wingnut defended in the comments to this blogpost, DooDooCanSmell's description of Mayor Bloomberg of New York City as a

"money-loving Jew who has sold his soul"

The Fetus©™ fetishist SUZIE CAPS-ON is currently regurgitating truthiness from LiesSite regarding Dr Bernard Norman Barwin and allegations against him, calling him 'pro-abort' and observing:

"There appears to be a pattern of dishonesty here."

The least contentious account of the facts of the litigation case is found here.

An Ottawa fertility doctor is being sued for allegedly mixing up sperm samples and inseminating the wrong one into two of his patients.

Trudy Moore launched a civil lawsuit against Bernard Norman Barwin last year after she learned that her daughter, Samantha, is not a genetic match to her husband, Matthew Guest, the statement of claim said. Recently, another woman also came forward and filed a statement of claim against Dr. Barwin.

Jacqueline Slinn found out in April that her five-year-old daughter Bridget is not a genetic match to her intended sperm donor, the statement said.

Other "news" gathering agencies mention several times that lawyers have petitioned the judge to force Dr Barwin to provide sperm, in order to verify if his DNA 'contaminated' samples from other donors. From Natsy Post:

Lawyers for two families suing a well-known Ottawa fertility doctor for allegedly using the wrong sperm samples to create their children say they believe other patients of the clinic may be in for a surprise.

Dr. Bernard Norman Barwin and the Broadview Fertility Clinic, which he owns, are the targets of two lawsuits launched in Ontario Superior Court seeking a combined $3-million in damages for “heightened anxiety, depression and frustration,” among other things, suffered by the families.

I expect in HER next screed Blob Blogging Wingnut will remind us that Doctors Barwin and Morgentaler are both pro-choice AND jews.

Shrieeeekkkk!!!

As for Jacqueline Slinn, given the "heightened anxiety, depression and frustration" she claims as well as the MASSIVE embarrassment she's inflicting upon her daughter, she should petition OHIP to cover the nose job she probably fears her daughter will need.

'Own goals' all over the place today

Indeed, what a lovely day this is shaping up to be.

From Let Freedom Rain, news about Fox News South:

It's been a perfect day so far. Best of all, FNN is kaput. South of the border, something even more interesting is brewing. The selfish assholes who call themselves tea partiers have party-lusted themselves into major electoral troubles. They elected a non-electable scumbag in Delaware who will take away a sure Senatorial seat from the GOP.

Despite the protestations of major GOP tyrants like Rove, O'Donnell won easily and lost the Republicans a major seat. Best of all, Fox News' Rove is getting shit upon for his role in dissing O'Donnell. It can't get any better than that. Fox News South also in trouble, methinks.

Christine O'Donnell is a piece of um, work.

Across the pond, His Poopiness's tour of the UK is not going well.

One of the pope's top advisers on his visit to England and Scotland has dropped out of his entourage following the publication of an interview in which he said that arriving in Britain "you sometimes think you've landed in a third world country".

Benedict XVI's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, told the Guardian, however, that Cardinal Walter Kasper had withdrawn "for health reasons".

He said the 77-year-old prelate's absence from the papal party, which lands in Edinburgh tomorrow at the start of a four-day visit, "had absolutely nothing to do with anything else".

Kasper, the Vatican's leading expert on relations with the Church of England, made his remark after noting that Britain was a "secular, pluralistic" country.

Asked by the German news magazine, Focus, whether Christians were discriminated against in Britain, he replied: "Yes. Above all, an aggressive new atheism has spread through Britain. If, for example, you wear a cross on British Airways, you are discriminated against."

Nope, absolutely nothing to do with fatuous Catlick martyrdom. Perhaps he wants to spend more time with his family. . .

Finally, we'll give the last word to Margaret Atwood whose signature on the Avaaz petition really got this ball rolling.

Re: SUN's Kory T. resigns: I didn't do it. Honest. It was the Great Pumpkin (plus a few Own Goals.)

Ooops - the plates come a-crashing down.

Back in the 1950s - those years fundamentalist christians and various rightwing neo-cons believe to be the golden era of the 20th century - plate spinners were standard fare on variety shows like Ed Sullivan.

Harper's New©™ Government has deployed the same diverting qualities as professional plate-spinners since it lurched into Parliament. Minority after minority, Stevie Spiteful and his bunch of goons and bullies have whirled and twirled information to suit their propaganda needs in order to hold on to political power.

Events in the last year have cranked up the frenzy level in the PMO as minions scurry about to control the spinning: the second prorogation and the backlash it engendered, the ersatz maternal health initiative and the fall-out, the G8/G20 horror show, the long-form census questionnaire trashing and the tentative Québec sports stadium funding.

But Teneycke's recent gaffes - first with his opinion piece on the Avaaz petition and then with his NRA 'freudian lingerie" - may finally have taken down the precision-spinning efforts of Emperor Steve the First and his own little politburo.

Good.

Breaking news: Teneycke has resigned from his position with Quebecor.

BREAKING! Bye-Bye KKKory

Wow. According to Kady's liveblog, KKKory Teneycke just resigned. No reasons given, no questions taken.

Of course, people are wondering if this has anything to do with a potential investigation into the sabotage of the Avaaz petition to stop Fox News North.

ADDED: ReTweet from Antonia Z.

UPDATE: Ricken Patel of Avaaz responds.

KKKory's Freudian Lingerie

This is delicious. ReformaTory, aka US Rethuglican-wannabee, lies and shenanigans spin together two current ugly confrontations -- the long-gun registry (which, by the way, may now be safe thanks to the NDP) and the Fox News North kerfuffle -- into a perfect hurricane of irony.

I knew I'd heard KKKory Teneyke say something about the US National Rifle Association meddling in Canadian politics as he hysterically claims Avaaz, the organization running the Stop Fox News North petition, is doing.

I was looking for a link, but was pretty sure it was during the shouting match debate betweeen KKKory and Avaaz's Canadian director, Ricken Patel, on the Evan Solomon CringeFest a week or so ago.

Bingo. James Bowie to the rescue.

"What if the NRA came in to Canada trying to influence policy and decision? People would be outraged!" - Kory Teneyke 03 09 10

Hee. The NRA is doing exactly that and has been for years and yes, KKKory was right on one thing, people are outraged.

When I heard him make that comparison, I thought to self, 'KKKory, are you sure you want to go there?" Maybe as he was bloviating about 'foreign' meddlers, he had a Freudian lingerie moment and out popped the name of a powerful foreign extremist group that he knew bloody well had been meddling for years.

Wikipedia says of the NRA:

Members of Congress have ranked the NRA as the most powerful lobbying organization in the country several years in a row. Opponents of the organization accuse it of unduly influencing political appointments.

In related news, Avaaz today turned over the Ottawa-area IP address of the saboteur(s) of the FNN petition to the RCMP and the Ottawa Police. You remember, that sabotage that KKKory has some connection to? KKKory said that an 'acquaintance' told him he or she had signed up fictional characters. But the acquaintance denied signing up real-world journalists -- which would be identity theft. Avaaz says that the same IP address was used to sign up both.

Ooooh, I'm making a REALLY big bowl of popcorn for this one.

Conservative Backlash!

Good news. Another NDP MP will vote to keep the long-gun registry.

But what really gladdened this despairing old heart was this line:

A Conservative backlash is driving more New Democrats MPs into the pro-gun registry camp, the Toronto Star has learned.

Conservative backlash. Doesn't that sound lovely? Wouldn't you love to see it on every newspaper and blog in the land? On the lips of every commentator and pundit?

Conservative backlash = enough people are finally finally f*cking sick to death of these goons.

Why so grumpy?

Cat got your tongue, Stevie? Didn't you like the "surprise" your Québec MPs pulled on you, dressing up in Les Nordiques hockey sweaters?

Gosh, there's just no pleasing you these days. The brown-nosers and yes-men in the PMO (aka Stevie's mini-politburo) are indulging your every whim, and yet you're still peevish?

Perhaps this response to that purportedly "favourable" Ernst and Young report is rattling you a wee bit?

I was not at all impressed by the Ernst & Young study, which concluded that the project would be “profitable” – but only on the assumption that governments provide full funding for the construction as well as the repairs and renovations that will be necessary over the next 40 years. That’s a deceptive way of putting it. The conclusion should rather be that the project is simply not profitable and will constitute a financial burden for taxpayers for decades to come, even in the best scenario. That’s why not a single private player has been found to invest in it.

Oddly enough, 'Mad Man' Max didn't show up for the hockey sweater photo opportunity - did he?


Just keep looking over your shoulder, Stevie. Maxime may be on your team, but it could be that he's playing a different game strategy.

Contrast Bernier's attitude with Vic Toews'.

Is Bernier being played by the PMO?

This headline at the top of Full Comment at the Natsy Post gave me pause.

Maxime Bernier: The Nordiques must stand on their own two skates

Though I'm not an admirer of Bernier, this phrasing - which doesn't appear at his own blogpost btw and thus was provided by a NP flunky - smacks of that 1950s vintage joke told about the strapping young Quebecois hockey player who was drafted by Toronto. He spoke no English so one of his new team-mates offered to teach him basic expressions, such as: "Me, I be strong like bull, smart like street-car" that would be useful when reporters spoke to him.

When the Cons got blow-back as a result of their bizarre decision to slash, trash and burn the census long-form questionaire, Bernier was sent out to defend it. It wasn't a stretch for him, since he had expressed a similar view when he was minister for Industry.

But now that Bernier has come out against the funding of arenas for professional (for-profit) organizations and he is advancing substantial arguments, it's likely Stevie's Politburo is deploying damage control to discredit his view and make him appear like a Beauce Goober.

Because it's what Stevie and his bullies do, even to their own ReformaTory team members.

Sign a Canadian Taxpayers Association Petition!

No, seriously.

To the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Canada:

The Conservative government under Prime Minster Harper has increased government spending by 42%. This year's deficit is projected to be $48 billion. Despite this, the federal government is considering giving $200 million for a hockey rink in Quebec CIty to support the return of an NHL hockey team. In an effort to justify this wasteful spending Prime Minister Harper may also fund other arenas and stadia across Canada, including an Edmonton hockey arena for the Edmonton Oilers hockey team and a domed stadium in Regina for the Saskatchewan Rough Riders.

We the undersigned demand the federal government not fund professional sports projects starting with the Quebec arena.

That was fun, wasn't it?

The curious case of Ezra Levant.

I once watched a CBC interview with Ezrant.

Ewww. Afterwards I would have washed out my eyes with bleach but my ears were already bleeding from listening to his shrieeeking, Craig Russell-esque performance. Though greater minds than mine have nailed his scrofulous prevarications and obfuscations to the wall, there is one issue that remains nebulous.

His pre-emptive attack on George Soros, delivered without a soupçon of irony, heralds a new era of deeper cesspools for Ezrant to plumb in service to the media empire created by Pierre Péladeau, a supporter of Adrien Arcand as well as an ardent admirer of Hitler and Mussolini.

Ezrant's ability to swallow offal and regurgitate bile is no doubt his most iconic accomplishment. His piece about Irwin Cotler is typical of his speudo-erudite spewing about fellow Jews who do not share his ideological beliefs:

And this is the point of the within blog post -- besides an opportunity to point out that Irwin Cotler has become an Uncle Tom Jew [...] I used the phrase "porch Jew", an anology to the dichotomy between field slaves and house slaves.

No matter. I'm sure Ezrant will look fetching in a jockey outfit, holding high his lantern, outside the corporate headquarters of Quebecor. After all, Péladeau once declared that Jews take up "too much space", so recruiting Ezrant to guard against the wrong kind will be good for their business.

Religious Warfare in a Declining Dysfunctional Society

Andrew Sullivan on religious warfare (emphasis mine):

I think the demagoguing of Park51 is a direct result of the GOP's turn toward Christianism. It's a tipping point where mainstream American Muslims become indistinguishable from the mass murderers of 9/11 in the psyches of those too poorly educated to know the difference. Religious warfare, once begun, is hard to stop; and when it is tacitly endorsed by a political party many of whose members believe that the president is a Muslim and no one in the GOP directly attacks, rebuts and discredits this nonsense, we are in very dangerous territory. The disturbing fusion of nationalist Christianity and loathing of Obama in the Beck-Palin movement - crystallized by the Park51/Cordoba contretemps and the August Mall rally - wittingly or unwittingly gives these violent fringes a coherence and legitimacy. Because it's not just hatred of Obama at stake any more; it's a conflation of Obama with Islam and then a conflation of Islam with Jihadist terror. If that's in your mind, it takes very little to set off a chain of inflammatory acts that build on one another.

Richard Gwyn on the end of Amerika®:

This is the point. Obama’s problem, which indeed is sizeable, doesn’t reside in himself, although he needs to learn the art of faking sincerity that Clinton, with his “I feel your pain” pitch was so good at. Obama’s problem resides in America. It’s become a near-dysfunctional society.

The Tea Party, which is a genuine grassroots movement, confirms it. It stands for “freedom.” No more big government. No more meddling in people’s lives. But instead, Sarah Palin.

That a sizeable number of people should want Palin for president is irrefutable evidence their society has gone dysfunctional. She’s a third-rater, except in demagoguery (and in faking sincerity). Paris Hilton would do the job as well, probably better.

Why should this be so? My guess is that Tea Party members and a lot of others, including that Florida evangelical minister who wanted to burn the Qur’an, even though it would have put a lot of American soldiers at risk, have actually got onto something important.

That something is that the U.S. today is clearly in decline. This shouldn’t be exaggerated. Americans have an astounding capacity for resilience. Once there was humiliation in Vietnam. Once all the experts were saying Japan was about to become No. 1. Both are now history.

The U.S. will always be powerful and wealthy. But it will never again bestride the world like a colossus towering above all others. It will be, rather, a big guy in a crowd.

America’s conceit of “exceptionalism,” or of being better than anyone else and fundamentally different from all other societies and countries, can no longer be sustained. It’s exhausted its quota, a very large one indeed, of bright, confident mornings.

Obama’s problem thus is stark and simple: He’s the right guy at the wrong time.

As some readers may remember/know, I was Born in the USA, lived there seven years until we arrived as shivering refugees and were kindly taken in by a kinder, gentler Canada than we have now. (Actually, Dada told Canadian-born Mama to get her ass outta town and to take those damn kids with her, but the concept is similar.)

I am scared. Seriously scared.

Win/win for Republicans. (Update)

As pastor Jones continues his flip-flop about whether or not he will burn a pile of qu'rans tomorrow, teabaggers and other fringe elements in the Republican party are jubilating.

If Obama does nothing, they win. If he stops the event, they win.

Local health authorities in Gainesville should consider taking Jones into custody for a psychiatric examination. Someone who enjoys sucking up media attention as he does - and doesn't have the excuse that he's an entertainment figure with a product to flog or a politician seeking public office - without regard for the violent consequences his actions will trigger, must have a couple of screws loose.

Here and there, individuals in the media are raising valid and thoughtful points about this event, instead of throwing fuel on the fire, as it were.

My prediction: if Terry Jones is not found to be mentally incompetent and stuck in a padded room for an indeterminate time, the Tea Party Hatriots will recruit him to run for political office.

Update: Terry Jones's daughter still lives in Germany. Spiegel interviewed her.

Q: It is true, then, that the church in Cologne ousted your father itself?
Jones: Yes.

Q: Did he leave Cologne willingly?
Jones: It was a mixture. We confronted him and demanded that he correct his errors. But he didn't give in. When we brought up the church finances, he disappeared the next day.

Q: Are you still involved with the church that he left behind? Jones: No.

Q: Do you believe your father is serious about burning the Korans?
Jones: I do. My father is not one to give up. As his daughter, I can see the good-natured core deep inside him. But I think he needs help.

Q: Is your father a megalomaniac?
Jones: I'm afraid he is. As his daughter, it is difficult for me to say that. [...] I don't know what's going through his head. I think he has gone crazy. But I am convinced that he thinks his plan is both correct and good.

Q: He has indicated that the final decision will be imparted to him by God. Does he see himself as someone who is in constant contact with God?
Jones: Yes. He was constantly comparing himself with Moses.

Who will take responsibility for ensuring Terry Jones gets medical care?

Palin in Lotusland

Barbara Yaffe wonders if there's an appetite in Canada for $arah's politics.

But first this stunning note:

An Angus Reid poll reported Thursday that fully one half of Republicans regard her as "intelligent, down to earth, strong and honest."

Fully. One. Half.

Oh. Wait. Half of ReThuglicans. Never mind.

We continue.

The Vancouver event, organized by the Mon Bot book club, will pay Palin $75,000. Tickets to the Oct. 13 Vancouver Club session, by invitation only, are $500.

Yaffe reminds us that 900 turned up in Hamilton, Ontario, paying $200 to listen/watch as the nitwit served up the word salad.

It's hard to know whether that bit of Canadian attention was borne of admiration for her political philosophy or simply curiosity.

Because the smart money says Palin's political style would flop here.

"My instinctive reaction is to hope Palin is unique to Alaska and the U.S.," says University of Victoria political science professor emeritus Norman Ruff.

Whew, that's a relief.

But just a minnit. Looky here at what my Facebook friend Connie has to say:

I would fly to Vancouver to see her if I could afford it. [Very Happy smiley]

They walk among us. *shiver*

Will he or won't he? But the more interesting question is . . .

Will Faux News really abstain from covering the Quran BBQ bunfest?

Fox News is the only [network] so far to say it will not. It did so in an interview Thursday with The Baltimore Sun.

"We do not cover every flag burning that happens in this country. We don't run every hostage tape," Michael Clemente, senior vice president at Fox News, said in a phone interview. "If we tried to cover everyone who wants us to stick a camera in front of them, we'd run out of cameras pretty fast each day. But this is really about just using some judgment."

Clemente summarized that judgment by saying: "He's one guy in the middle of the woods with 50 people in his congregation who's decided to try, I gather, to bring some attention to himself by saying he's going to burn a Quran if he gets the permit. Well, you know what, there are many more important things going on in the world than that. I don't know what they will be this weekend, but I am sure they will be more important than that."

Clemente said there will be no live coverage, "video" or "still pictures." He was unequivocal in saying Fox News will not cover the burning or the event.

Unequivocal, eh?

I, for one (as the letter-to-editor writers like to put it), will be gob-smacked if Fox News South does not cover whatever happens tomorrow.

Help for those suffering from erectile dysfunctions.

Looks like Pastor Jones got hisself a wanking buddy.

"Book burning is a cowardly act by those afraid that their beliefs aren't strong enough to attract people if if they are allowed a choice," said Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life. The National Association of Evangelicals, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Southern Baptist leaders all issued similar statements leading up to Saturday's anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history.

The Rev. Bob Old of Springfield, Tenn., doesn't care what they think. The longtime Baptist minister says the Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove World Center Outreach in Gainesville, Fla., is doing the right thing by burning the Quran. So he's going to do likewise.

Why pay for Viagra when you can join Jones and Old to get your hate hard-on for free?

More: Margaret and Helen weigh in - "... a bunch of jack-asses are going to tell us that God hates us too and we shouldn’t generalize all Republicans like that. Well all I have to say is if it quacks like a Duck and sets a Quran on fire then it must be a Republican."

merci, boom boom.

Slap into Action Campaign

We at DJ! get more than a little miffed at charities that, well, lie and cheat and pursue purely ideological goals -- often misogynist and anti-gay -- on our dime.

Like getting involved in politics, either in the US to crusade for removing abortion services from health care, or here to sneak their 'social values' into ReformaTory policies.

Like lying to and manipulating women seeking abortion but who wander into
crisis pregnancy centres/fake abortion clinics.

And like being economical with the truth about the activities of a beneficiary (a fake abortion clinic) of a hockey fund-raiser.

And, of course, the entire misogynist, anti-gay, pedophile-protecting Catlick Church.

Here's another one. An outfit, Exodus Global Alliance, with charitable status in Canada, has the purpose of 'curing' gays through prayer and lard-knows-what-else.

Mark, at Slap Upside the Head, got interested when he read that the group had had its charitable status rescinded in New Zealand. (Good on the Kiwis.)

Research ensued. Then ACTION! Lots of detailed information about Exodus, charitable status in Canada, what to do and who to write to, here at the Slap into Action page.

Charities get special tax status if they can show they are producing a 'public benefit'. If you agree that trying to 'cure' gays is a public evil, find out more and join in the campaign to get these sumbitches off the pubic tit.

h/t Bruce at Canuck Attitude.

* Image courtesy of Mark at Slap Upside the Head. All rights reserved.

NaPo: Self-proclaimed authority on Truth vs Truthiness?

A Creative Revolution's pale blogged about this:

A girl is in hospital and a boy is in custody after an alleged sexual assault Monday afternoon in northeast Calgary that was witnessed and possibly filmed by eight other young people. [...]

What else to say? A couple weeks ago there were reports of people in Calgary driving past a dying man lying in the road after a motorvehicle accident.

Now this one. One of those youths, who cannot be named, told CBC News that everyone involved had been drinking heavily. He said the alleged victim is 12 and the boy accused of assaulting her is 16. "I didn't do nothing. I know I could have stopped it, and should have, but I didn't because I didn't want to get involved and all that," [...]

"So - we're not supposed to gawk, but we're supposed to call something in. The last time I called about a traffic accident, the 911 operator was quite rude - very annoyed that I was calling because, he said, "lots of other people had already called" and I didn't need to."

That was what "Jan" said in the comments in an article reporting the apathetic cruelty of Calgarians who simply ignored that dying man on the road. What has she taught her children if she has any?

It was inevitable that the Natsy Post should cloak itself in self-righteousness to defend the reputation of Calgary and to lecture non-ReformaTories about The Truth©™.

The author of that disingenuous work of obfuscation is Kevin Libin, an ardent defender of Harper's New©™ Government. The sleazy weasel seems to suggest that the 12 year-old was asking for it, since she initiated the 'hook-up' - and she allowed the sexual assault happened in public view. "What a slut" appears to be the implicit message.

Here are some actual facts - as opposed to Natsy Post truthiness and insinuations - regarding sexual assault, as defined by the Criminal Code of Canada. From here:

The law about consent can be complicated. Basically, the legal age of consent is 16 years.

On May 1, 2008, the federal government amended the Criminal Code of Canada to raise the age of consent to sexual activity from 14 to 16 years of age.

If you are 12 or 13 years old, and you have sex with somebody more than two years older than you are, the other person can be charged with sexual assault.

Nor can the alleged sexual assailant, the 16 year-old male, use his own state of alcohol intoxication as an argument to defend his actions.

Poll: Canadian men, stupid

Another poll.

It seems Conservatives are from Mars and Liberals are from Venus.

A new poll indicates the gender gap has increased between the two top federal parties.

The Harris-Decima survey, conducted for The Canadian Press, put Conservative support at 36 per cent among men, compared with 26 per cent for the Liberals.

With women, the Liberals led 34 per cent to 27 per cent for the Tories. The Conservatives have been ahead of the Liberals with women in several polls over the past year, but they lost ground this summer.

The comments are good. Some samples:

just look at the way the harper cons treat female colleagues when they mess up.
it speaks volumes.

Three words explain it Mr. Harper

Long Gun Registry

Well guys, I've resisted the idea that women are smarter than men. This however seems to be conclusive evidence.

And I swiped the title from this one:

The headline on this story should read:

Poll: Canadian men, stupid

"Honour" killing and the men who enjoy writing about it.

J. Kay, for instance.

I am hardly the first pundit to bemoan the lack of Western feminists who’ve shown any interest in this gendered genocide. Most are too busy denouncing the phallocentricity of free trade and unregistered guns to mourn the killing of 20,000 women every year for the crime of falling in love, having boyfriends, bearing children — which is to say, being human.

And you're hardly the only lying prevaricating dickhead schmuck to proclaim this as though it were self-evident.

When we've blogged about "honour" killing we observed that many men who commit these atrocities justify their actions by invoking the patriarchal 'honour' codes of their own religious, political or cultural ideology beliefs.

Not all of the killers, it should be emphasized, are Muslim: There are some Christians and Hindus in this mix.

What? No jewish "honour" killings? Perhaps you should check in with jewish feminists - if you're on speaking terms with any of them - to find out what forms of femicide occur in strict Orthodox groups.

In previous centuries, the Vatican Taliban validated acknowledged "honour" killings by elevating to sainthood some of the women murdered - and only if it could be proven that they were still virgins.

So I say this in the most respectful & concerned way: Go fuck yourself JK. It sounds like you need a good one and since most sane women wouldn't touch a hateful gynophobe like you with a ten-foot pole and your mama Barbara would rip your balls off if she learned you purchased the services of a sex worker, your options are: one or both hands.

What a MASSIVELY excellent idea.

It's really too bad this notion and action has taken so long to arrive.

[...] the 58-year-old minister proclaimed in July that he would stage "International Burn a Quran Day". Supporters have been mailing copies of the Islamic holy text to his Dove World Outreach Center to be incinerated in a bonfire that evening [September 11, 2010].

And also:

The church's senior pastor, Terry Jones, has said he is "exposing Islam for what it is". "It is a violent and oppressive religion that is trying to masquerade itself as a religion of peace, seeking to deceive our society," the church said. "Islam is a lie based upon lies and deceptions and fear.

Now that pastor Terry Jones has launched this original form of protest, the next logical step would be for feminists, gay, lesbian & trans folks, Jews, and all those heretics and heathens still persecuted by fundamentalist evangelical christians to schedule a public bible-burning event.

The contentious question might be: December 25th or March 25th? It's not that we hold a grudge against Jesus, since he's not responsible for the rabid, zealous, hate-spewing followers that Paul of Damascus set on the rightwingwrong path.

It's simply that Gawd, in his infinite wisdom, neglected to record Adam's birthday.

Strangely enough, Sarah Palin has been quiet about pastor Jones' plans. Perhaps she doesn't like having someone else steal her thunder fire?

Branding Sarah Palin.

Whatever your political orientations/choices may be, there's some interesting information to be found in the article about Sarah Palin in the October issue of Vanity Fair, now online.

She manages to be at once a closed book and a constant noisemaker. Her press spokesperson, Pam Pryor, barely speaks to the press, and Palin shrewdly cultivates a real and rhetorical antagonism toward what she calls “the lamestream media.” The Palin machine is supported by organizations that do much of their business under the cover of pseudonyms and shell companies.

In accordance with the terms of a reported $1 million annual contract with Fox News, Palin regularly delivers canned commentary on that network. But in the year since she abruptly resigned the governorship of Alaska, in order to market herself full-time—earning an estimated $13 million in the process—she has submitted to authentic, unpaid interviews with only a handful of journalists, none of whom have posed notably challenging questions. She keeps tight control of her pronouncements, speaking only in settings of her own choosing, with audiences of her own selection, and with reporters kept at bay. (Despite many requests, neither Palin nor her current staff would comment for this article.)

She injects herself into the news almost every day, but on a strictly one-way basis, through a steady stream of messages on Twitter and Facebook. The press plays along. Palin is the only politician whose tweets are regularly reported as news by TV networks. She is the only one who has been able to significantly change the course of debate on a major national issue (health-care reform) with a single Facebook posting (in which she accused the Obama administration, falsely, of wanting to set up a “death panel”).

The reaction from Palin's marketing division/PR should be instructive.

Good news, Bad news story.

Good news: The president of Ecuador Rafael Correa stated in his weekly address that Beauty Pageants organized in public schools will no longer be authorized. He directed the Minister of Education Gloria Vidal to bring an end to these events which he qualified as sexist. He added: "Which educational values does it transmit? That physical beauty counts more than generosity, intelligence, effort and dedication?"

Bonus: In the US, a number of rightwing fundamentalist religious political crackpots were beauty queens in their youth: Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman and Anita Bryant for example.

Bad news: Correa deigned to lecture feminists about the evils of Beauty Pageants and wondered why they hadn't denounced these events.

Perhaps they're just too busy dealing with more urgent matters, such as helping women who have been subjected to savage violence and are seeking refuge or medical help.

In fact, feminists admire intelligent and dedicated beauty that's deployed judiciously to draw media attention and secure support for their community projects.

Some of the women in the centre, run by the Women´s Federation of Sucumbíos, told harrowing tales of beatings, incest and other forms of sexual and gender-based violence. Some women even have to resort to "survival sex" to get lodging to feed their children. Others fall prey to sexual exploitation.

Correa might concentrate instead on preaching to the men who abuse women and children, physically, sexually, emotionally and politically, as well as to the men who don't speak up against this violence.

When CanWest starts investigating Con lies ...

the tide has finally turned against Harper's ReformaTory government.

In his recent visit to the Arctic, Prime Minister Stephen Harper warned that Canada must remain vigilant because of "foreign aircraft probing the skies."

But statistics requested by the Ottawa Citizen from the joint Canadian-U.S. North American Aerospace Defence Command show that at their high point in 2008, Russian aircraft only made a total of five flights near Canadian territory.

In 2007, when the Russians resumed such patrols, they flew near Canadian airspace four times. In 2008, it was five times, and in 2009, three times. So far in 2010, they have made three flights near Canadian airspace. In all cases, the Russian aircraft were shadowed by Canadian fighters.

Darn. The Russians aren't coming after all to liberate us from the tinpot dictator and glorious leader of all Con jobs.

Freud and his acolytes would have a field day, however, decoding Stevie Spiteful's words and his need for, as well as Petey MacKay's obsession with, big, shiny, flying and probing objects.

And also - read the excellent series of posts Dave has written about the F-35 purchase that Stevie's Politburo is desperately trying to spin, at The Galloping Beaver.

Avaaz Sabotaged

Well, isn't it classy?

Yesterday Avaaz experienced an attack on our “Stop ‘Fox News North’” petition consisting of fraudulent sign-ups of targeted individuals.

And dig this (bold mine):

It's deeply disturbing that in all Avaaz's years of campaigns against US President George Bush, Burmese, Zimbabwean and Sudanese dictators, irresponsible multinational corporations and corrupt politicians, no one has ever yet stooped to this kind of tactic to undermine our members' right to express their views.

Go here to see what sort of dictators and war criminals they have taken on in the past. And Fox News North supporters are the first to stoop to sabotage. Isn't that special?

Sounds like Avaaz is some pissed:

We do not yet have all the facts, but it appears to speak to the poisonous political climate and deeply deceptive tactics that have been bred by the radical right in Canada and its progenitor in the US. It is precisely this kind of bare-knuckled, brazenly deceptive and often hateful political climate that Sun TV's "Fox News North" appears keen to promote.

Canadians understand this, which is why, in just over 36 hours, well over 50,000 Canadians have signed our petition against Stephen Harper's attack on the independence of the CRTC as it resists the Sun TV request for access to Canadian’s cable fees.

Go sign the petition if you haven't yet. When I looked a few minutes ago, the number was closing in on 58,000.

And, of course, KKKory Teneycke's hissy fit will just help the numbers. I'm not linking to it; you can find it if you must.

Here's some background on Avaaz.

Avaaz.org was co-founded by Res Publica, a global civic advocacy group and non-profit organization, and MoveOn, an American non-profit progressive public policy advocacy group and political action committee. The organization is also supported by Service Employees International Union, a founding partner, and GetUp.org.au. Avaaz's individual co-founders include Executive Director Ricken Patel, Virginia congressman Tom Perriello, Australian progressive entrepreneur David Madden, Jeremy Heimans, Andrea Woodhouse, Tom Pravda, and MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser.

Attention, Socons

Referring to the Citizen article I linked to yesterday, Chris Selley writes:

Well, well, well. As the Ottawa Citizen’s Elizabeth Payne reports, Canada’s Minister for International Co-operation now has no problem with funding abortion infrastructure in Third World countries where abortion is legal. But … but … what about all that vote-courting “no Canadian money for abortions” bluster back in April? Aren’t we now risking a terrible “divide [in] the Canadian population,” as Stephen Harper warned? Well, no. Of course not. It was just a ruse. Attention, social conservatives: You’ve been had. Again. And to borrow a line, it’s not going to stop until you wise up.

While the PMO is insisting that nononono, we are NOT funding abortions, the base is pissed.

LieShite:

In a shocking about-face, pro-abortion activist and Minister of International Cooperation Bev Oda has said that the Canadian government is now open to funding abortion under its G8 maternal health plan.
. . .
"Bev Oda worked closely with Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups during the G-8 discussions and made pro-abortion statements at that time,” commented CLC national organizer Mary Ellen Douglas in a press release today. “She eventually conformed to Party policy regarding maternal health at the last moment. It is now very clear that she was merely biding her time."

The Freaks are discussing it too and my Facebook friend Connie writes:

Can someone please explain this to me because it looks an awful lot like the socons just got screwed again.

So, socons, as mothers used to say to daughters back in the neolithic, why would a man buy a cow if he could get the milk for free? You're being milked. And no doubt sneered at to boot.

Yo! Fetus Fetishists! Con Government Does Fund Abortion

Illegal ones, too.

Despite its refusal to consider abortion in its maternal-health plan, the Harper government has given financial support to an international agency that provides abortion illegally in some African countries.

It's a very coy article and one wonders what the point of it is.

In a related story, the Ottawa Citizen claims that Bev Oda has seen the light on family planning.

Fresh from a fact-finding trip to Mali and Mozambique, Stephen Harper's minister in charge of delivering the federal government's $1.1-billion commitment to improving maternal and child health, is singing a different tune, and it is one that includes funding for family planning and even indirect support for abortion, if Canada is asked.

International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda seems to have returned from Africa with a more nuanced vision of how Canada can help reduce hundreds of thousands of maternal deaths every year than the one originally offered by her government.

Here we go with the nuancy shit again.

Asked if you could improve maternal mortality rates without family planning, Oda, during a telephone interview, replied: "Of course not."

She said she has always understood the importance of family planning to reducing maternal mortality, adding that it was a topic of much discussion during her trip in meetings with government officials, health officials, and NGOs in small villages.

Oda said the governments of Mozambique and Mali are both highly supportive of family planning, including abortion in some cases, and they like working with Canada, because it is considered very flexible. "We are not seen as having stipulated certain paradigms ... or having any particular direction. We say 'How can we help? What is the most effective way?'"

Oda said the controversy around Canada's G8 initiative and abortion was largely limited to Canada and is not an issue in either Mali or Mozambique.

Abortion is legal in both countries, when a woman's life is considered to be at risk, which, effectively, means that most women don't have access to abortion.

Still, Oda said Canada would support abortion infrastructure if asked. "As long as it is legal within the country and it's a legal procedure ... if we were asked to help in that way, we would do that."
. . .
But it is refreshing to see a minister from a government that began with an ideologically simplistic view of the issue concede something that those working in the field have long understood: "It's very complicated."

Any bets on when Bev will hit the pavement in front of the proverbial bus when the fetus fetishists find out about this?

Uh-oh.

Bev Oda shows her true colours and should be removed as International Co-operation Minister says Campaign Life Coalition.

TORONTO, Sept. 2 /CNW/ - International Co-operation Minister, Bev Oda has returned to Canada from Africa and has again been stating her personal opinions on her blogs regarding family planning and abortion in third world countries.

In a news article Oda stated that abortion is legal in Mozambique and Mali when a women's life is in danger. She said this means most women do not have access to abortion.

"Bev Oda once again shows her preference on "access to abortion" as she did at the time of the G-8 controversy," said Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition (CLC). "Surely the Prime Minister must have known that a Minister as pro-abortion as Oda would attempt to impose her own views within the implementation of the Canadian goals to provide help to women and children in third world countries."

"Bev Oda worked closely with Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups during the G-8 discussions and made pro-abortion statements at that time. She eventually conformed to Party policy regarding maternal health at the last moment," said Mary Ellen Douglas, CLC National Organizer. "It is now very clear that she was merely biding her time."

Campaign Life Coalition calls on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to remove Bev Oda from her position as Minister of International Co-operation since she cannot seem to follow Conservative Party Policy on the international stage.

Sauce for the gander, smear for the goose.

Imagine the following scenario.

An ex-patient of an orthopedic specialist initiates a civil suit against her, her gynecological oncologist husband and a hospital. Several years ago the patient found herself in the untenable situation of receiving, while under the care of her specialist, raunchy nude photos of her physician's husband and numerous invitations to have sex with him. The patient deflected these overtures. After her medical treatment was complete, she complained to the hospital who settled with her, giving her shush money provided that she destroyed all compromising photos and documents in her possession.

Now the former patient has gone public and the oncologist, currently the director of a teaching unit at a prestigious hospital, has taken administrative leave pending investigation and resolution of the litigation/complaint. His spouse, who suffered from PTSD at the time, acknowledged she'd posted private intimate photographs and offered his sexual services to this woman, without his consent or knowledge.

If this were a movie script, would it feature stars like Angelina Jolie and George Clooney?

Life imitates the stuff on the silver screen, as the recent actions of a man hoping to score a few million dollars by exploiting a husband's frailty and destroying a woman's life, illustrate.

Here's the actual story, not glossed by some Hollywood re-write.

[...] sexually explicit photographs of Douglas are part of the complaint made in July by Alexander Chapman, a 44-year-old computer specialist, who says he was harassed by the judge’s husband to have sex with her.

Chapman said after he retained Winnipeg family lawyer Jack King in 2003 to handle his divorce, King showed him about 30 nude photographs of Douglas and supplied him with a password for a porn website devoted to interracial sex. [...]

If a lawyer deliberately posts nude photos of herself on Facebook or on a website it could later undermine public confidence in her ability to serve as a judge, said Lorne Sossin, dean of law at Osgoode.

However, if the photos were taken in the context of an inherently private relationship and posted without her consent, Sossin said, it’s hard to imagine she should be judged negatively.

Sossin suggested it would also be unfair to find Douglas unfit for judicial office simply on the basis of her sexual predilections. At an earlier time, the same might have been said about homosexuals, he added.

In the first (fictional) instance, the demand for accountability (regarding sexual harassment and violation of sexual privacy) would be specifically directed at the spouse who acted with reckless disregard for her profession's code of conduct and her husband's privacy.

But in real life the public blaming, shaming, and punishing of women continues, whether they're sex workers, complainants in a high-profile contentious sexual interlude, G20 political activists or judges.

Because they're women, it makes them fair game for the gynophobes - within the RCMP, Harper's Conservative party or the CBC.

Note: Yes, I changed the title when I realized I'd written opposite to what I intended.

Nobody Cares about the Census, eh?

Looky here. Libs and ReformaTories are tied.

The Tory largesse to which Mr. Graves refers is, of course, the census. For weeks now it has dogged the Conservatives, gradually picking away at the party’s support, even with its own supporters.

“This seemingly obscure action has set in motion a chain of responses, which has managed to awaken the erstwhile dormant knowledge and professional classes,” the pollster said. “Virtually all of the shift in the political landscape has occurred with the movement of the highly educated.”

Previous EKOS surveys have shown that university-educated Canadians are leaving the Tory fold for the Liberals because of the census.

And though Graves doesn't explicitly say so, I'd betcha that a lot of Canadians have finally had enough of the idiotic Con spin on the reasons for ditching the census, including my fave, Soudas's charge that keeping it is an elitist Liberal plot.

And more good news from the poll!

But what should be more disturbing for Mr. Harper and his Conservative team are the concerns with the direction he is taking the government.

The poll shows 40.6 per cent of Canadians say it is going in the right direction; 48.2 per cent say it is going in the wrong direction. “Obviously, the census itself isn't a ballot booth issue but it has stoked concerns about the values and management style of the current government.”

Graves ends with a funny:

The pollster notes, too, that the parties were tied last fall. But that was before the Prime Minister’s virtuoso performance of a Beatles tune at a National Arts Centre gala, after which the Tories surged to a 16-poin lead in the polls last October.

“Perhaps the PM should consider rebooking the NAC for return engagement,” Mr. Graves said.

He might have to change the lyrics a little to 'With a helluva lot of help from my friends'.

By the way, the number of organizations, governments, and prominent individuals who want to retain the long form is continuing to grow, while the number of troglodytes remains the same. Score: 341 to 11.

Totally Predictable

As deBeauxOs pointed out yesterday, fetus fetishists are always quick to distort spin a story to paint themselves as victims.

They are also really fast on their feet when it comes to 'But-but-but pro-aborts do it too!'

SUZY ALLCAPSLOCK equates the nutter who took hostages at the Discovery Channel yesterday and assassins of abortion doctors.





The nutter had a number of complaints about the programming posted on a website, including this:

"All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs' places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it."

Yeah, because Al Gore campaigning about climate change is totally exactly the same as Bill O'Reilly spewing lies and hate towards Dr Tiller.