Stevie's Alleged Electoral Fraud

Go read Alison at Creekside: Steve's Margin of Victory - revised for the latest figures on those critical ridings that allowed PMSHithead and his CONtempt Party to grab his 39% "majority" government.

And then go to Dr Dawg's for a good howl.

As one of the commenters at DJ! said: "Harper's "prove it" response in the House. All he sees is the opposition parties attacking him, not the Canadian people wanting answers. No leadership, no class."

Aaron Wherry observes how Stevie Spiteful goes on a Baird-like bullying bombast in the House of Commons.

Added: This picture from @0lddutch in answer to question "What do you get when you cross a Con with a root vegetable?"

Illegitimate Majority = Illegitimate Legislation

The Sixth Estate is doing its usual fabulous job of keeping track of the (at the moment, 48) ridings where 'unprecedented' allegations of electoral fraud have been reported.

By my count, 32 of the 48 were won by Cons, in some cases narrowly. Dr Dawg does the math on how Stevie's long-lusted-for majority is constructed.

The majority, as we are all aware, that he is using to shut down debate and ram through legislation that Canadians do NOT want -- like online spying. (And the dissolution of the Wheat Board, destruction of the long-gun registry, etc., etc.)

Clearly, the Contempt Party is praying for Canadians to ignore the current outrage as they've pretty well ignored the whole slimy Con track record of abuse of democracy and accountability.

Let's help keep this pot boiling, shall we?

Illegitimate majority = illegitimate legislation.

Not short and snappy, alas. We welcome improvements to it.

#CPCCluetheboardgame

As with the cascade of revealing tweets from @Vikileaks30 and #TellVicEverything, people expressed healthy sarcasm to leaven the heavy, lumpen realization that the CONtempt Party lied, cheated and used illegal methods to "win" the last election. We call it rightfully Election Fraud.

When the CPC decided to throw a lowly flunkie under the bus, people were incredulous. A 23 year-old engineered a multi-riding scam all by himself - did he have the savvy, the authority and the budget to do that? C'mon!

So a Twitter game was launched, based on Clue, the board game which has set characters, locations, weapons. The point is to find who committed a murder. It's a game of logic and deduction, quite amusing actually.

The resolution comes when one player, confident that she or he knows the identity of the killer, declares: "It was Colonel Mustard in the study with the pistol."

This trope lent itself to a diverting exploration of "a CON committed a crime; where and how?" Here are some of the best responses I've gathered.

It was the entire CPC in the parlour bludgeoning the truth with a blunt object.

It was a ConBot in the #cdnpoli thread with a load of horseshit.

It was Jason Kenney, in the Library, with a samosa in hand.

It was Pierre Karl Péladeau with the Rupert Murdoch manual on how to create a network that reports fake news.

It was not Bev Oda, not smoking a cigarette, not rolling her eyes every time Poilievre opens his mouth. Not.

It was Vic Toews at the babysitter convention with a copy of Yeats' greatest pick up lines.

It was Bruce Carson in the water treatment plant with a monkey wrench.

It was Stephen Harper at the NAC with a tone-deaf version of "With a Little Help from My Friends".

It was Bernard Généreux in Kamouraska/Rivière-du-Loup with a deforestation project.

It was a call centre, in Montana, with ill-gotten voter lists.

It was James Moore with funding cuts to Canadian Theatres and Festivals.

It was Peter MacKay in the Conservatory joining the Reformers.

It was Leona Aglukkaq, in the restaurant, with 50 pounds of unlabelled Trans Fats.

It was Baird Clement and Flaherty in the kitchen with the Mike Harris cookbook.

It was Rob Nicholson in a brothel with unreported, I repeat UNREPORTED, criminals.

It was Jim Prentice at CIBC with the last laugh.

It was Doug Finley in the Senate with an In-and-Out scheme.

It was Bev Oda in an NGO's Office with a rope tied in NOTS.

It was David Emerson in the cabinet with the Olympic Torch.

It was Dimitri Soudas, at a meal with Port de Mtl board members, with the support of the PMO.

It was Brad Trost and Maurice Vellacott and Stephen Woodworth in the wombs of the nation with a Bible.

It was the National Citizens Coalition in the lobby, with the batshit.

It was Candice Hoeppner at a victims' rally shouting: "in your face!"

It was Stephen Harper, in the bathroom, with a tantrum.

It was Steven Blaney with a 'denied' rubber stamp inside a cone of silence.

It was Rona Ambrose in Copenhagen with a pipe line.

It was Joe Oliver in the #tarsands with a dead duck.

It was Diane Finley, in the retirement home, with a knife in the back to seniors.

It was that fool Preston Manning who opened the way for a more powerful, nastier Harper.

It was "Prof" Tom & "The Honourable" Doug with a $1M insurance policy, in Cadman's office.

It was Harper & McKay holding cement shoes & stuffing Richard Colvin into a big bag of lies.

It was us with apathy in the last election.

It was Stephen Harper in China with a "Canada For Sale" sign.

It was Tony Clement with his $50Million at the G8 in Muskoka.

It was Clement at the shredder with the long-form census & any semblance of evidence-based decisions.

It was Kellie Leitch in the oncology ward with a bag of asbestos.

It was Kenney at a fake citizenship ceremony with a recipe for curry in a hurry.

It was John Duncan in Attawapiskat with a third-party manager.

It was Peter Kent in Durban with a denial.

It was Helena Guergis in the PEI airport with her stiletto boots.

It was Gary Goodyear in the lab without a clue about evolution.

It was Rob Nicholson in Bad Cop Drag with his HardOnCrime bill.

It was Gerry Ritz in the House of Commons with Maple Leaf baloney.

It was Jim Flaherty in a hole with the largest deficit in Canadian history.

It was Peter Mackay in the Search & Rescue chopper using F-35 estimates as bait for fishing trip.

It was Trost in the kitchen with the turkey baster singing Every Sperm is Sacred with Vellacott on violin.

It was the Blogging Tories in their own words.

It was Diane Ablonczy in a Denny's with the unfounded allegations and lies about Jane Stewart.

It was Rob Anders in the House of Commons with a pillow.

It was Stephen Woodworth in the kitchen with the medical dictionary.

It was Julian Fantino in the cargo container with the sand and rocks.

It was Lisa Raitt in the limousine with the isotope.

It was Maxime Bernier in the cleavage with the classified documents.

It was Michael Sona on the grassy knoll with a cell phone reading from an old union handbook.

It was Peter Kent in the main hall with the large crock.

It was Jason Kenney in the vestibule with the unregistered squirt gun.

It was Ezra Levant in the bitumen with the ethical shovel.

Depending on the point of view, it almost reads like a list of reformaTory *accomplishments*.

There's much, much more on Twitter. Search the hashtag #CPCCluetheBoardGame.

Creekside: *Ethical* election fraud

Go read Alison at Creekside: Ethical election fraud with hilarious caricature of PMSHithead and linky goodness.

Bad times, good times.

As I wrote to a friend this morning:

"These times are tough indeed for CONs. Though a week late, I think the New Orleans jubilant exhortation for Mardi Gras is more than appropriate for democracy-lovin' folks who can't wait to see the back of those carpetbaggers: 'Laissez l'bon temps rouler!'

Ouais. Rouler all over them like a MASSIVE steam roller, though the CPC scam will leave a stain that'll never wash out. Good. Our history and collective memory need a reminder that democracy requires vigilant defenders."

On May 2nd pale at A Creative Revolution posted, with links to CBC news items, a report of the curious incidents of robocalls harassing and mis-directing non-reformaTory voters.

DAMMIT JANET! also raised the issue last May here, here and here.

Yesterday Dr Dawg noted the heavy silence of the Globbin'Fail with regard to the alleged CON robocalls. Sour grapes? Imagine being scooped by the NatPo!

The Toronto Star's Joanna Smith reminds the NDP sent a letter to Elections Canada in April.

The Montreal Gazette has the Liberals' response.

If the so-called 'mainstream media' overlords had allowed their journalists to be diligent and vigilant - as many of the bloggers are - this story would have emerged in May, before the odious, vote-suppressing, corrupt CONtempt Party started its wrecking ball on the Canada we love and cherish.

It appears even Radio-Canada is vulnerable to pressure from Stevie's Politburo. This week the director of news reporting, Alain Saulnier was fired. On his watch "Enquêtes" did ground-breaking investigative journalism that exposed the corrupt underpinning and religious zealotry of the CPC.

The best word on this vote suppression scam belongs to Stephen Lautens:

"It just goes to show that the only way a far right agenda can win in Canada is by cheating."

The last image: a smug, complacent PMSHithead at the Calgary Stampede.

The last words (from good cop John McClane): "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker."

Legacy

The Harper Government is well on its way to being the Government of Firsts.

First, contempt of Parliament.

The contempt finding is unique in Canadian history. In a wider context, it is the first time that a government in the 54-member Commonwealth of Nations has been found in contempt of Parliament.

This morning on The House, former Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley was asked what the penalty for electoral fraud is. He said, 'a fine of $5,000 and/or a prison term of up to five years'. Asked whether anyone had ever gone to prison, he said not to his knowledge. But then added: 'But there's a first time for everything'.

There's a legacy for ya, Stevie.

ADDED: Niles asked in the comments but others may have the same question: Who orders an investigation?

As I understand it from this morning's radio program, the Commissioner of Elections Canada orders an investigation by Elections Canada staff who then take the findings to the Director of Public Prosecutions, currently this guy, who decides whether there is a case to bring. Note date of appointment. Yup, 2007, post-Harper.

Viral, Baby!

This is cool. The number of signers of this RoboCon/RoboScam petition stood at just over 2300 when I signed at about 3:30. Just two hours later, it's now at nearly 5100.

My good friend Connie at Free Dominion is on it.

Can we get 100,000 by the end of the weekend?

UPDATE: 8:30 p.m., over 8600.

That's how the CONs roll.

As we predicted, Michael Sona took the fall. Stevie's Politburo now hopes the whole stinking robocall mess will stop drawing attention to the CONtempt Party's unscrupulous, unethical and quite likely, illegal tactics.

But not so fast. Here's an example of what happens to CPC political operatives who get thrown under the bus.

Is it a scam or a miraculous resuscitation?

Added: A prediction that Sona will have a cushy landing and will be offered employment at the Canadian Olympic Committee because of this connection.

Also you MUST read Alison at Creekside for more connect-the-dots goodness.

RoboScam: RackNine Paid in US Dollars?

Right now there are more questions than answers in the RoboScam election fraud affair. (I had no idea we [ok, deBeauxOs] here at DAMMIT JANET! had been on this for so loooong.)

Here is my question for now.

Why were some RackNine invoices either billed in or paid in US currency?

It's an Edmonton company working a Canadian election.

Have a look at the invoices, receipts, and emails.

The invoice to Leon Benoit's campaign has a note about the amount in equivalent Canadian dollars.

Jason Kenney's invoice has a scribble at bottom near the total that looks like 'US $'.

Yet noted on the RackNine invoices:

Unless otherwise agreed in writing by the supplier all invoices are payable on or before the due date noted above, in the currency of the invoice drawn on a bank based in Canada or by such other method as agreed in advance by RackNine Inc.

The RackNine receipts specify CAD beside the amount, but invoices just say 'Total (in $)'.

Do Conservatives love the US so much they prefer to use its currency?

Or was it an attempt to limit Elections Canada's jurisdiction?

And more questions: Alison has questions about connections between Campaign Research and deniability in general and the robocalls in particular.

We hate to say we told you so but ...

actually, we do like to say "We told you so!" though in this case it's not triumphant, simply an observation that DAMMIT JANET! suggested there was something fishy about the robocalling scam.

Right after elxn41, we urged journalists to investigate the curious matter of phone calls to folks ^NOT identified as CONtempt Party supporters.

Some of the robocalls were harassment, some gave false instructions about voting on Election Day and deliberately directed people to non-existent polls locations. None of the calls said they had been initiated by the CONservative Party; in fact some claimed they were from Elections Canada.

More election fraudulence? The Cons are furiously trying to distance themselves from this stinking mess and bets have been placed: many think this political operative will take the blame and be thrown under the expediency bus ... only to be eventually resuscitated and recycled by Stevie's Politburo, no doubt. Cheating and fraud, as well as getting away with it has become an achievement of the reformatories.

Susan Delacourt makes interesting connections about voter apathy.

At Dawg's Blawg, the combined research capabilities and political acumen of Alison at Creekside and the Dr are on top of the story.

In May last year, I attended an evening of information sharing about political websites and discovered the awesomeness that is The Pundits' Guide to Canadian Federal Elections. Check it out.

That's Michael Sona - the putative *masturmind* of the CONs' robocalls scam, lurking in the background.

Sauce for the Gander

Since the TeaBaggers took over so many state houses in the US, the Fetus Lobby has been revelling in an orgy of abortion restrictions.

Lately, though, female politicians have been pushing back. The birth control idiocy going on now seems to have revved things considerably.

We've reported on a few of them. Mostly, they are amendments to draconian legislation aimed at women's reproductive health. The push-back is aimed at men's health and sexuality.

One from Virginia would mandate a physical including rectal exam for men wanting prescriptions for limp-dick syndrome. File that one under 'unnecessary medical procedures intended to punish and humiliate'.

Another from Georgia asserts a state interest in men's reproduction and bans vasectomies.

House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams added, “The Republican attack on women’s reproductive rights is unconscionable. What is more deplorable is the hypocrisy of HB 954’s author. If we follow his logic, we believe it is the obligation of this General Assembly to assert an equally invasive state interest in the reproductive habits of men and substitute the will of the government over the will of adult men.”

Similarly, a female state senator in Oklahoma proposed an Every Sperm Is Sacred amendment.

any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman's vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.

And there's more. In Florida, state senator Eleanor Sobel introduced EIGHT amendments to what opponents are calling an 'omnibus anti-choice bill'.

In that bill are requirements for abortion providers to undergo regular ethics training and for clinics to be wholly owned and operated by licensed doctors.

Sobel's amendments are rather pointed.

In response to the ethics training provision of the bill, Sobel introduced an amendment requiring that a “legislator who offers to vote or who votes on legislation relating to human reproduction must annually complete a minimum of 3 hours of continuing education related to ethics.”

Much like a measure recently introduced in Georgia in response to anti-abortion legislation, Sobel also offered an amendment that regulates vasectomies and treatment for erectile dysfunction.

According to her amendment:

A vasectomy or treatment for erectile dysfunction may not be performed except with the voluntary and informed consent of the patient, or in the case of a mental incompetent, the voluntary and informed written consent of his court-appointed guardian. Except in the case of a medical emergency, consent to a vasectomy or treatment for erectile dysfunction is voluntary and informed only if the physician orally, in person, informs the patient of the nature and risks of undergoing or not undergoing the proposed procedure or treatment which a reasonable patient would consider material to making a knowing and willful decision at least 24 hours before the vasectomy is performed or the treatment is provided.

Sobel also introduced an amendment that would require that CPCs [crisis pregnancy centres, aka Fake Clinics] be “wholly owned and operated by one or more physicians who received residency training in performing dilation-and-curettage and dilation-and evacuation procedures or by a professional corporation or limited liability company composed solely of one or more such physicians.”

She didn't even get to present all her amendments, which were characterized as 'designed to waste time' by a ReThug.

Um. No. They are designed to mock and ridicule.

Weirdly, Sobel thought she was entitled to speak not only because she is a duly elected state senator, but because:

Sobel pointed out to the committee that she had the right to say something as “the only woman in the committee.”

Wow. One woman. An improvement over this though.



ADDED: Great minds and ganders.

Rick tells Vic how it is.

Meanwhile, over at unrepentantoldhippie JJ tells Vic how it is.

Under the radar.

Try googling the name "Tamila Ahmadov". Go on.

Intrigued by this tweet, I tried and got surprisingly few results, considering what is alleged. And no other links either. One mention here that she served as

a former adviser to the President Aliyev and one of Azerbaijan's architects of the BTC plan, was the key promoter of the idea.

So. Graduate of Harvard's MIT? And what is her connection with the propaganda instrument below that mentions the Keystone XL pipeline and the *Ethical* TarSands?

Not a Dot, Just a Dash

In the 'you people have Harper Derangement Syndrome when you whine about seeing all those links between what his eponymous government does and the American Republican agendas' department, leave us never forget that this comedian is the same fellow as noted by the Harper Index and Desmogblog and Sourcewatch and this other place, called(coffcoff) Creekside.

I think the takeaway here is, Frank Luntz...

a/ is very aware of what he says in public and that what he said as a 'joke' has eliminationalist meaning, and that Mr. Frank was willing to go there.

b/ is very skilled at dogwhistling and damage control and continues to be welcomed to the podium to address Republican pols. Like, oh, state governors, so many of whom have been behaving...so vociferously and exclusionarily of late, bless their hearts.  I'm sure the similiarity in reasons and tactics for dealing with the Occupy movement all over North America is a coincidence.

 c/ has advice and influence still underpinning the Harper government six years after being famously linked to the Canadian Conservatives.

d/ has a dog in the Canadian fight via his corporate clientele, who aren't corporate citizens here.  Yet.

While nosing about, I found this piece and thought it amusing even the marketing fanbois were smelling Luntz in the air behind the Conservative 'rebranding' of the last year.

But it's all HDS you know, which is nothing like Bush Derangement Syndrome.  It's just independently evolved rebranding for 'are you gonna believe us or your lying eyes?'

Creekside: Skynet : Connecting the dots

Alison does it again at Creekside: Skynet : Connecting the dots.

Read. Rage. Take action.

The irresponsible world of entitled guys swinging big ...

appendages around. Or in the case of DSK, a Viagra-enhanced monetary incentive.

I love this quote:

Two men with ties to Strauss-Kahn have been put under preliminary investigation in France on charges including organizing a prostitution ring and misuse of corporate funds.

Strauss-Kahn's name surfaced in the investigation last fall and his lawyer has asked that Strauss-Kahn be allowed to tell his side of the story. One of Strauss-Kahn's lawyers has said that the former French presidential hopeful never knew that the women at orgies he attended were prostitutes.

“He could easily not have known, because as you can imagine, at these kinds of parties you're not always dressed, and I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman,” Henri Leclerc told French radio Europe 1 in December.

DSK is so repellent in character and physique that women should only accept his advances when considerable material benefits are offered.

Here's another instance of a man with delusions of grandeur - the chest-thumping captain of the Costa Concordia, a coward and a liar when required to act honourably and responsibly.

Feel free to provide other examples in the comments thread.

Bang! Bang! It's 1812 according to the CONs.

During the 1812 edition of Winterlude .... sorry, 2012 - the CONtempt Party is so early 19th century - children were encouraged to play war games with replicas of vintage weapons.

Little about these activities held at a family-oriented park has appeared in the anglophone press, but a number of articles* in Le Droit and other francophone media have raised questions. Many parents were disturbed at the military presence and sponsorship at this event and found it intrusive.

The MP for Hull-Aylmer, interim NDP leader and grandmother of 9 children, Nycole Turmel found it inappropriate that the Harper government promoted its pro-gun agenda in this manner, encouraging the use of mock weapons as well as casually facilitating such activities with young participants.

The majority of parents surveyed by Le Droit seemed uneasy that the activity was sponsored by Parks Canada. "Who had this idea?", asked Julia Robinson of Ottawa, "When you put a gun in the hands of a child, even a replica, it trivializes violence. "

Other parents said war re-enactments performed by adults belong in military museums and not in a park dedicated to families with young children.

In the print edition of Le Droit, the vice-president of the National Capital Commission Jean-François Trépanier shrugged off parents' concerns. "We all played cowboys and indians when we were kids."

Such words betray a stunning ignorance of the reality of child soldiers and stats on children killed by guns.

A survey of 26 middle-upper income countries by the Centers for Disease Control showed that Canada is fifth among industrialized countries in the rate of children under 14 years killed with guns, following the US, Finland, Northern Ireland and Israel.

As someone remarked on Twitter: "Toto, I don't think we're in Canada anymore."

*google translation here.

And If You Don't Buy That Reason...

Religious Liberty? That's yesterday's excuse.  You've come a long way, baby.  Until you haven't.  The Very Serious talking points in the 'Doubling down? We're *tripling* down!' game of abortion=all contraception=you shall not escape punishment, are circling around to what's really important to today's American Republicans.

Teh Menz.

Because the poor unsuspecting beastly boys, bless their hearts, having been lured into having sex with the toxic Jezebels and Salomes loosed on the world by legal and easy chemical contraception, are now paying the price for dipping their wicks in poisoned ponds.  Not even condoms could have saved them!
O perfidious selfish wimminz, what hast thine sluttiness wrought?

Fact and reality free as the claim is, I just won't be surprised if this talking point rockets up the charts past Abortion causes breast cancer by the start of March.  Because women don't have enough pressure on them.

After that, I sense an uptick in emphasis on wimminz chemical contraception causing boys to feminize by drinking the water containing all that evacuated estrogen, thereby bringing about the culmination of the feminazi plot and the End Times.

Creekside: Oh sting, where is thy death?

Alison says it best: Oh sting, where is thy death?

MP Dean De Monstro continues to perform as a lesser CONtempt Party Attack Parrot sent out by the Politburo to repeat ad nauseam the speaking points - aka fabrications - their propaganda machine has cranked out.

State Rape

I have a suggestion for women like this:

CNN contributor and Andrew Breitbart blogger Dana Loesch, however, sees no problem with a law that effectively legalizes state-sponsored rape, saying the procedure is no different than penetration that occurred during consensual intercourse that “resulted in the pregnancy.”

Dana,



meet Small Government.



Every female supporter of Vaginia's State Rape law should be forced to have a transvaginal ultrasound. I recommend the determined and thorough tech at Mt Sinai Hospital who did mine.

We breathlessly await your opinion post-procedure.




Image source

Ceiling Vic is watching you.

Every step you take
Every move you make
I'll be watching you.

More information about Bill C-30 here, from CBC journalist Terry Milewski.

[...] then, there's Section 34. After reading it, you wonder whether it's just pandas we're getting from China.

Government-appointed inspectors

Among other things, the bill requires [Internet Service Providers] to install surveillance technology and software to enable monitoring of phone and internet traffic. Section 34 is there to make sure ISPs comply. So what, exactly, does it say?

Essentially, it says that government agents may enter an ISP when they wish, without a warrant, and demand to see absolutely everything — including all data anywhere on the network — and to copy it all. If that seems hard to believe, let's walk through it.

First, Section 33 tells us that, "The Minister may designate persons or classes of persons as inspectors for the purposes of the administration and enforcement of this Act." So we're not talking about police officers necessarily. We're talking about anyone the minister chooses — or any class of persons. [...]

Next, Section 34 spells out the sweeping powers of these "inspectors." And, if they sound Orwellian, welcome to the world of Section 34.

The inspectors may "enter any place owned by, or under the control of, any telecommunications service provider in which the inspector has reasonable grounds to believe there is any document, information, transmission apparatus, telecommunications facility or any other thing to which this Act applies."

And, once he or she is in, anything goes.

The inspector, says the bill, may "examine any document, information or thing found in the place and open or cause to be opened any container or other thing." He or she may also "use, or cause to be used, any computer system in the place to search and examine any information contained in or available to the system."

You read that right. The inspector gets to see "any" information that's in or "available to the system." Yours, mine, and everyone else's emails, phone calls, web surfing, shopping, you name it. But, if that sounds breath-taking enough, don't quit now because the section is still not done.

The inspector — remember, this is anyone the minister chooses — is also empowered to copy anything that strikes his or her fancy. The inspector may "reproduce, or cause to be reproduced, any information in the form of a printout, or other intelligible output, and remove the printout, or other output, for examination or copying."

Oh, and he can even use the ISP's own computers and connections to copy it or to email it to himself. He can "use, or cause to be used, any copying equipment or means of telecommunication at the place."

In short, there's nothing the inspector cannot see or copy. "Any" information is up for grabs. And you thought the new airport body scanners were intrusive?

Finally, note that such all-encompassing searches require no warrant, and don't even have to be in the context of a criminal investigation. Ostensibly, the purpose is to ensure that the ISP is complying with the requirements of the act — but nothing in the section restricts the inspector to examining or seizing only information bearing upon that issue. It's still "any" information whatsoever.

Read the whole thing.

Meanwhile, the editorial board at the NatPo is rearranging the location of deck chairs on the Titanic.

ADDED: An excellent summary of the @vikileak30 story from Stephen Maher.

Oh, and that delightful photoshop was created by Robert MacLelland.

Today's Weasel Award

Back here, we found a conveeenient connection between the Knights of Columbus who were looking for an anti-choice MP to push their fetal rights agenda and -- SURPRISE! -- a member of the KoC and current stalking horse for the Hidden Agenda® Stephen Woodworth. I said I'd ask him on Twitter and I did.

@WoodworthMP Care to comment? …hinglywrongrightwingnutz.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-co… Are you KoC's point man on fetal rights? #prochoice #cdnpoli #HiddenAgenda

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) February 16, 2012

First, the acronym defeats him.

@fernhilldammit I'm not sure what you mean by KoC,but I'm no one's point man #prochoice #cdnpoli Nor is mine a #HiddenAgenda

— Stephen Woodworth (@WoodworthMP) February 18, 2012

And he clearly hasn't had the grace (or wit) to read the link. I try to help out.

@WoodworthMP You belong to Knights of Columbus or KoC. Share fetal rights as goal. Working with? Prohint: info to be found in links often.

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) February 18, 2012

Next, he goes all McCarthy-esque (with some Freudian lingerie showing in 'Knoghts'?) on my ass. Still clearly NOT having read the link.

@fernhilldammit "Are you now, or have you ever been, a member of the Knoghts of Columbus?Good grief!! #abortiondebate #prochoice

— Stephen Woodworth (@WoodworthMP) February 18, 2012

His aw-shuxing doesn't go over well.

.@WoodworthMP @thereginamom @fernhilldammit @ToewsVic Just a humble backbencher, opening a discussion the PM promised not to. #cdnpoli

— Diddy Boo (@DiddyBoo1) February 18, 2012

Nor his McCarthy refs.

Isn't that cute?! @WoodworthMP makes McCarthy references, while his #CPC cohorts make warrantless searches legal. Bravo! @fernhilldammit

— Tweeting Ninja (@parliament_nil) February 18, 2012

And now Woodworth again. Not answering questions, aw-shuxing it up -- while respectfully flinging red-scare poo -- WINS today's Weasel Award with:

@fernhilldammit#prochoice #cdnpoli I am simply focussed on the policy not the politics

— Stephen Woodworth (@WoodworthMP) February 18, 2012

I think I'm done with direct contact with the guy.

Now imagine him on a Standing Committee on Abortion. With Trost, Vellacott, McVety. . .

Aieeee!

Poor Vic, Victimized Again

Naughty vikileaks Wikipedia.

UPDATE: Rats, it's been changed to what it was before.

In 2008, Toews divorced from his wife of 30 years, Lorraine Kathleen Fehr, after it was discovered that he fathered a child with a younger woman who may have been his child's babysitter.

But that's not true either, is it?

UPDATIER: Eeek! We get a visit from @vikileaks!!!!

Republic of Gilead Watch

To continue DJ!'s Republican of Gilead Watch, here are some more details on Vaginia's march towards it from Dahlia Lithwick.

This week, the Virginia state Legislature passed a bill that would require women to have an ultrasound before they may have an abortion. Because the great majority of abortions occur during the first 12 weeks, that means most women will be forced to have a transvaginal procedure, in which a probe is inserted into the vagina, and then moved around until an ultrasound image is produced. Since a proposed amendment to the bill—a provision that would have had the patient consent to this bodily intrusion or allowed the physician to opt not to do the vaginal ultrasound—failed on 64-34 vote, the law provides that women seeking an abortion in Virginia will be forcibly penetrated for no medical reason. I am not the first person to note that under any other set of facts, that would constitute rape under state law.

What’s more, a provision of the law that has received almost no media attention would ensure that a certification by the doctor that the patient either did or didn’t “avail herself of the opportunity” to view the ultrasound or listen to the fetal heartbeat will go into the woman’s medical record. Whether she wants it there or not. I guess they were all out of scarlet letters in Richmond.

An anti-choice commenter at the link points out that the bill doesn't actually stipulate 'vaginal' ultrasound. True, comes the reply, but since gestational age (information required by the bill) can't be reliably determined from a stomach ultrasound until after 12 weeks, women submit to vaginal ultrasound or wait.

Lithwick raises another issue raging in the Excited States: conscience rights. While Tighty Righties are all hot and bothered about the conscience rights of the Fetus Lobby, Lithwick ponders the conscience rights of healthcare providers who perhaps find that being forced to RAPE someone kinda violates their conscience and ethics. What about their conscience fucking rights?

By the way, the fetish fetishizing governor of Vaginia, Bob McDonnell, who is favour of this bill, is being touted as a possible candidate for vice-president under Romney.

Which will just about cement what more and more Merkins are realizing. The Republican Party is completely out of touch.

Image source.

ADDED: Couldn't resist.



Image source.

USA creeps closer to 'A Handmaid's Tale'

Democrats tore into House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R) for preventing women from testifying before a hearing examining the Obama administration’s new regulation requiring employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage to their employees. Republicans oppose the administration’s rule and have sponsored legislation that would allow employers to limit the availability of birth control to women.

Ranking committee member Elijah Cummings (D) had asked Issa to include a female witness at the hearing, but the Chairman refused, arguing that “[...] the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience [the] congressman insisted that the hearing should focus on the rules’ alleged infringement on “religious liberty,” not contraception coverage, and denied the request. Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Eleanor Holmes Norton walked out of the hearing in protest of his decision, citing frustration over the fact that the first panel of witnesses consisted only of male religious leaders [...]

From here:

I can see why the Republicans would bar female religious leaders from the hearing; they would bring their wombs, whose dangerous *humours* they fear.

ADDED: And. Also. This.

On February 14th the Virginia State House passed an anti-abortion measure that would mandate that a woman seeking an abortion be required to undergo what is called a trans-vaginal ultrasound. This is a type of pelvic ultrasound that is used to look at a woman’s reproductive organs. Unlike a normal ultrasound, this type of ultrasound is an invasive procedure. A woman lies on her back with her feet in stirrups, as the health care provider places a probe covered with a condom and lubrication into her vagina.

State-sanctioned rape for women needing an abortion.

Remember the dignity of your womanhood ...

Aww, fuck it. Here's that notorious pic of MP Shelly Glover.


MP Glover is a CONtempt Party Attack Parrot™© and she serves well in that capacity since she is too stoopid to do much else.

Today she stood up in Parliament and shrieeekkked that the NDP was "anti-Canada".

Savour the irony.

The full quote from the post title comes from Christabel Pankhurst:

Remember the dignity of your womanhood. Do not appeal do not beg do not grovel. Take courage join hands stand beside us fight with us.

How Conveeeenient

On May 27, shortly after the federal election last year, we blogged on the Knights of Columbus.

At their 108th Ontario State Convention in Toronto on May 22nd, the Ontario Knights unanimously passed a resolution “to work with a Member of Parliament to introduce a Parliamentary Bill seeking the restoration of full legal protection for the lives of the unborn.”

Hm, Stephen Woodworth is an Ontario Catholic.

Does he have any connection to the KoC? From his about page, yes, indeed he does.

Over the years Stephen has also had the privilege of assisting many local organizations as a Board member or advisor.  He was elected a School Trustee in Kitchener in 1994, 1997 and 2000, served on the board of Big Brothers, volunteered regularly with the Knights of Columbus and has been a lector at his church since 1967.

'Volunteering regularly' sounds kinda distant and benign, like volunteering regularly at a food bank or something. But you know, not actually involved or a member or . . .

Oh. Wait. He is a member. (Quite the list there, including Samuel Alito, John Boehner, and Canadian MPs Denis Coderre and Rob Nicholson.)

Seems the Knights found their MP and he's one of them.

Would some enterprising journo please ask Mr Woodworth about this?

ADDED: I asked him on Twitter this morning, now 7 hours ago. No answer. No surprise.

@WoodworthMP Care to comment? …hinglywrongrightwingnutz.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-co… Are you KoC's point man on fetal rights? #prochoice #cdnpoli #HiddenAgenda

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) February 16, 2012

Again -- Respectfully -- WHY?

On CBC Radio's The Current this morning, stand-in host Jim Brown interviewed MPs Stephen Woodworth and Brad Trost and Star Parliamentary reporter Tonda MacCharles.

While Woodworth weaselled around about his Private Member's Motion to have a 'respectful' dialogue on when life begins, aka Opening the Abortion Debate That No One Wants Opened, he failed again to answer the basic question of 'Why?'

Brown didn't press very hard, but to be fair, his interest wasn't in the debate as such but in a political analysis of what trying to open it may mean.

The segment started with about five reiterations of Stevie Peevie using his patronizing-a-four-year-old voice on 'I've been very clear. . . yadayada . . . will not reopen' schtick. Then Woodward came on to say basically nothing.

Then a little introduction to Trost and his desire for martyrdom in the form of airing his own notions as opposed to the rigorously enforced Contempt Party talking-points.

Trost came on live to witter on about his own interest in reopening the debate. Brown prodded him about what his fellow caucus members think of his going off-message. More bafflegab about respecting everybody . . . (I had sorta stopped listening by then, to tell the truth.)

Then MacCharles came on to reassure us that Stevie Peevie really really really means it about not reopening the debate and everybody should just relax.

OK, then. I wasted half an hour of my life on that.

Regular readers know that we here at DJ! trust the Contempt Party about as far as we could throw Rob Ford. In fact, we're devoted to keeping vigilant guard on the Hidden Agenda Watch.

So are we reassured?

Nope.

We think a debate, however respectful, is a total waste of time, money, and patience. Remember, if this motion passes, what amounts to a Standing Committee on Abortion will be formed to listen to windbags like Charles McVety opine. Plus a whole host of the usual suspects like R.E.A.L. Women, Campaign Lie, etc.

And politicians don't become politicians unless they looove the sound of their own voices, so the pols will dive in enthusiastically and we'll have a Parliamentary circus like this, with the elected equivalents of Twatsy running their mouths.

We've asked before and we'll ask -- respectfully -- again: Why do we need this debate?

If Stephen Woodworth can provide one reason for it, one injustice that would be righted, one social problem that would be clarified, then fine, bring it on.

But this appears to be the best he's got.

Members of Parliament have a duty not to accept any law that says some human beings are not human.

Seriously, that's all he's got.

Here we go again. Find your MP here and shoot her or him a quick note expressing displeasure/disgust/outrage at this effort to reopen The Debate We Have Had and Settled.

If a majority of MPs vote 'yes' on Woodworth's motion, the debate will be on and it will be those MPs' fault. Tell them you'll hold them responsible.




ADDED: The link now goes to podcast and transcript.

^NOT standing with Vic Toews

This is all over the toobz, but I wanted a copy here. You know, just in case.



Added by deBeauxOs:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Joseph Goebbels

Happy to be of service

But it looks like what DJ! offered wasn't quite what the searcher was looking for.

UPDATE from deBeauxOs: Could it be that someone in Toews' office was desperately trying to pin down who set up this Twitter account?

Toews: rhymes with *knaves*.

Rightfully so, given the Con adulterer's disingenuous attack against critics of his bill to award police unwarranted powers to spy on ordinary, "law-abiding citizens".

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews’ attempt to demonize opponents of his new Internet law — you’re either with the government, or with the “child pornographers,” he said on Monday [...]

What a god-damned liar Toews is. Earlier this month, a co-ordinated investigation by a number of police forces in Ontario busted a child pornography network. No *special* invasive legal provisions were required to give the investigators the evidence they needed to charge 60 men with these crimes.

Insp. Scott Naylor with the OPP's child sexual exploitation unit said the accused were tracked down with software the investigators created themselves.

In addition to Alison's post at Creekside yesterday, she provides link to Open Media which has *Stop Spying* email forms directed to Cons' big guns + petition.

Creekside: Skynet - It's all about the children apparently

Go read Alison at Creekside: Skynet - It's all about the children apparently if only because it's entertaining to hear the adulterer Vic Toews lecture to us about the "rights of law-abiding" citizens being subsumed to our Crusading CONtempt Party government's right to trample on our privacy.

ADDED by fh: On Twitter, Canadian Cynic linked to this oldie but goodie, when Dan Savage called for a new definition of 'Toews'. We never did settle on one, did we?

Contraception and the Culture War

Since Obama made his contraception rule 'adjustment' on Friday, there have been further developments.

The wannabe xian martyrs worked themselves into a righteous snit shrieking about 'war on religion', 'war on religious freedom', yadayada. Others called Obama a dictator. There were many raucous rounds of 'pregnancy isn't a disease, birth control isn't health care'. People flinging the word 'entitlement' around. Men -- presumably, some at least not 100% celibate or 100% gay -- were whining about fairness. And, of course, that old reliable saw 'Pay for your slutty sex yourselves, you slutty sluts!'

Our own Max Pointy couldn't resist. (Check the comments for a taste of the idiocy.)

In other words, the usual reaction to anything having to do with sex, women, and/or pregnancy and religion.

And then the Republicans fell into Obama's cunning trap. They doubled down in their opposition to accessible contraception.

Not only did they go there, they are now supporting an amendment that would allow women's employers to decide what kind of health care coverage they get.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is putting his weight behind Sen. Roy Blunt's amendment to the Affordable Care Act that would allow employers to deny coverage not just for contraception but for any treatment or any condition they claimed was contrary to their religious beliefs.

So, we go from a bunch of old guys in dresses, to a bunch of old guys in Washington, to one's own employer telling women what they can and can't do with their lady-parts.

Well-played, ReThugs! We now have you out in the open as anti-sex, anti-women, anti-healthcare, pro-employers' and -oldguysindresses' religious rights.

On a subject so uncontroversial even the political deadheads have woken up.

Like me, Andrew Sullivan is chortling.

As for politics, the Republican fusion with the Vatican is also, it seems to me, a terrible mistake for the party. Obama’s greatest skill is in getting his opponents to overreach and self-destruct. And this issue could not be more tailor-made to benefit the candidate with real potential pull with far-right-wing Catholics and evangelicals: Santorum. If the GOP really makes this issue central in the next month or so, Santorum (whose campaign claims to have raised $2.2 million in the two days following his victories last week) is by far the likeliest candidate to benefit. It could finally unite the Christian fundamentalist right behind him—especially since Romneycare contained exactly the same provisions on contraception that Obamacare did before last week’s compromise was announced. That’s right: Romneycare can now accurately be portrayed as falling to the left of Obamacare on the contraception issue. This could very well be the issue that finally galvanizes the religious right, especially in the South. Imagine how Santorum could use that on Super Tuesday. In fact, it could be the issue that wins him the nomination. And do you really think that would hurt Obama in the fall?

Um. I rather think not, Andrew.

And this morning, more fun stuff! Two of the five female Republican senators have broken with their party and announced that they are in favour of Obama's contraception rule.

Andrew thinks that this could be the end of the so-called culture wars. That may be waaay too much to hope for, but I think it's going to signal the end of the ReThuglican party in its current virulently misogynistic form.

The Fetus Lobby's Sanger Obsession

Speaking of Margaret Sanger, there's a twit-spat going on over this photo.

Will AUL's CEO @charmaineyoest scrub the fake Sanger pic from her website, or apologize for it?bit.ly/AEOx1G#prolife #prochoice

— Realtin Connor (@RealtinConnor) February 12, 2012

But this is the photo I found on the site.



Charmaine Yoest is a major fetus fetishist in the US, president and CEO of Americans United for Life.

Both photos look fake to me, but why? It was news to me, but not news in Sanger's well-documented life that yes, indeed, she did meet with the KKK.

In 1926, Sanger gave a lecture on birth control to the women's auxiliary of the Ku Klux Klan in Silver Lake, New Jersey. She described it as "one of the weirdest experiences I had in lecturing," and added that she had to use only "the most elementary terms, as though I were trying to make children understand." Sanger's talk was well-received by the group, and as a result, "a dozen invitations to similar groups were proffered."

The forced birth gang's obsession with Sanger is peculiar to say the least. They yammer on and on about her (nearly century-old) eugenist and racist views.

These views are a cornerstone on which they've built their racist, disgusting campaign claiming that Planned Parenthood targets African Americans for abortion, while conveniently omitting the fact that Sanger herself was opposed to it.

To get back to the photos: the only point of using them -- whether fake or real -- is the shock value because we know Sanger addressed the Ladies Auxiliary of the so-called Second KKK, which was, shockingly now, fairly mainstream.

The second Klan was a formal fraternal organization, with a national and state structure. At its peak in the mid-1920s, the organization claimed to include about 15% of the nation's eligible population, approximately 4–5 million men.

In a way though, the Fetus Lobby's pathetic Sanger obsession is emblematic of the poverty of their arguments. They are forced to lie about and distort events of 85 years ago.

Last word (for now) goes to Bernadette Wagner:

@fernhilldammit Antichoicers, locked in past, desperate to take us back to dark ages, ain't gonna win this one.Promise!#prochoice

— Bernadette Wagner (@thereginamom) February 11, 2012

ADDED from the fact-checkers in the Department of Duh: fern hill, you ijit, it's Black History Month! This comes up every fucking year. Every. Fucking. Year.

ADDED 2: Looks like the disputed photo is Photoshopped.

Antichoice resurrects lies about Margaret Sanger.

Over four years ago, I wrote and posted this at Birth Pangs. It's still relevant.

Margaret Sanger: Saint or Fallen Angel?

AUGUST 15, 2007 BY DEBEAUXOS

As mentioned in a previous entry, Reverend Carlton Veazy‘s pictures can be found in the company of altered and faked photographs of Margaret Sanger, on certain websites. It appears that white-supremacy, fetus-fetishizing and/or fundamental religious websites incite their followers to express hatred towards specific targets: Reverend Veazy, Sanger, Archbishop Tutu, Maya Angelou and others.
Margaret Sanger is already dead, so that would make her physically immune to the violence and murderous hypocrisy of anti-choice terrorists. Nonetheless, they continue to slander and defame her legacy, and the competition to fabricate the most odious claims is ferocious.

If one were to borrow a tactic from the habitual sniveling and whining that transpires at the abortion-criminalizing blogs, the fetus-fetishizing message boards and the assorted hate-based sites whose members project themselves as modern martyrs to a holy cause, one could imagine that Margaret Sanger deserves to be canonized and elevated to sainthood, if her worthiness is measured against the egregious attacks upon her work.

An impressive number of fact-based, credible and authoritative accounts of Sanger’s accomplishments exist. Archival material is considerable, including a letter from Helen Keller which says, in part:

What a glow of gratification was kindled in my heart when Polly read last week the wonderful news that you had founded the Planned Parenthood Association in India! Not only have I continued to follow your work with loving admiration and expect ever greater results from your beneficence, I have also known of Nehru’s statesmanlike interest in birth-control, and now I behold you and him and Lady Rama Rau working together — a triple Hercules — for the deliverance of a land long cursed with excess of population. I cannot imagine anything more blessed happening on earth.

Spurious claims about Sanger’s work appear on the forementioned hate-mongers’ websites. In the spirit of fairness, equal consideration should be awarded to what critics claim about Mother Teresa and her work, since some imagine her to be a saint.

For example, Mother Teresa supported Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s suspension of civil liberties in India in 1975, and she accepted the Légion d’honneur in 1981 from Jean-Claude Duvalier, the homicidal right-wing dictator of Haiti. She received considerable donations from Charles Keating – who stole over $252 million US in a Savings & Loan scandal, and from Robert Maxwell – who embezzled £450 million UK from his employees’ pension funds. It was disclosed that she interceded on Maxwell’s behalf, wrote to the court to urge leniency and refused to return the money when requested by legal authorities, for reimbursing those who had been swindled.

Dr. Robin Fox, editor of the British medical journal The Lancet visited the Home for Dying Destitutes in Calcutta and described the care the patients received as “haphazard”. He observed that Mother Teresa’s order did not distinguish between curable and incurable patients, so that people who might have otherwise survived, were at risk of dying from infections and lack of treatment. Former employees claim that Mother Teresa refused to authorize the purchase of medical equipment, and that donated money was transferred to the Vatican Bank instead. There have been a series of other reports documenting inattention to health care in her facilities. And yet, that hasn’t stopped the Vatican from promoting the canonization of Mother Teresa.

Margaret Sanger’s detractors have attempted to draw a fallacious connection between her statements on negative eugenics in the 1920′s US and the barbaric genocidal policies of Third Reich Germany. Thus it might be astute to note that Joseph Ratzinger aka Pope Benedict XVI was a member of the Hitler Youth, in the interest of maintaining balance and perspective.

Those who might object to Margaret Sanger’s candidacy for sainthood should consider the question of whether allegations about her work are contrived, or as legitimate as the many concerns raised about Mother Teresa’s actions.

What distinguishes the sacredness of Margaret Sanger’s work from that of Mother Teresa’s mission is likely to be their respective motivations. Sanger stated:

Woman must have her freedom, the fundamental freedom of choosing whether or not she will be a mother and how many children she will have. … Regardless of what man’s attitude may be, that problem is hers — and before it can be his, it is hers alone. She goes through the vale of death alone, each time a babe is born. As it is the right neither of man nor the state to coerce her into this ordeal, so it is her right to decide whether she will endure it.

Loyal supporters of Mother Teresa affirm that missionary activity was the central part of her calling, and that she perceived evangelisation as her ultimate objective; providing shelter and health care were merely instruments that she exploited to achieve her stated goal of converting impoverished and vulnerable people of Hindu faith to Catholicism.

Margaret Sanger left behind a powerful legacy that is carried on by her grandson, Alexander Sanger. The photograph of his grandmother and Avabai Wadia is taken from his website.

Disclaimer: Of course we know that Margaret Sanger was an atheist and a humanitarian. She would not want to be canonized, though she was demonized enough during her lifetime by Conservative Christians who tried to discredit her work. She persevered, inspired by the memory of her own mother who died from the cumulated physical damage suffered during multiple pregnancies and the birthing of eleven children.