Category: The MSM

I thought that these clowns were owned by the Toronto friggin’ Star, fer chrissakes!

Of all the things that I thought I’d see before this campaign was done (and my mind goes in some startling directions at times), this didn’t even come close to making the list.  Not even remotely.

I guess this is the part where I tell you what the hell I’m so stunned about, huh?

Okay, here we go.  Everybody and their dog knows that newspapers aren’t really neutral in their political leanings; that’s just the nature of the beast.  No, I’m not bellyaching about it.  Newspapers are private companies and their owners can run them as they wish.  If the rest of us don’t like it, we don’t buy their papers and they go tits-up.  It’s as easy as that.

Papers frequently come out on one side or another of an election, usually determined by the owners of the paper (see the note above), which is why you can usually make a safe bet on who they’re going to be endorsing.  This is why I was shocked as shit to find out that The Record — yes, The Record; as in “The Waterloo Record” — has come out and endorsed STEPHEN HARPER FOR PM!!

No, I am NOT making this shit up…

In contrast to the Liberals, the Conservatives, for all their failings, offer a safer, more credible approach to the economy. Months ago, aware of the looming crisis in the American economy, the Conservatives took action. They cut taxes across the board, to corporations, yes, but to ordinary Canadians too. We believe those cuts have helped buoy the Canadian economy. And while Harper was late in releasing his platform, it appears to be a prudent plan, offering targeted support for specific sectors of the economy.

There is reassurance, too, in Harper’s record over 2 1/2 years in power. He reached a welcome compromise with the Liberals so that Canadian troops can help bring aid and security to Afghanistan until 2011. Separatist sentiment in Quebec slumbers, thanks partly to Harper’s efforts to reach out to that province.

Nor have we seen the so-called “hidden agenda” of socially conservative initiatives. We see no indication Harper intends to resurrect national debates on abortion, the death penalty or same-sex marriage. And this only makes sense. Whatever Harper’s personal views are on these subjects, he knows that pushing them onto the House of Commons agenda would be political suicide.

On balance, Harper has put Canada in a good, even enviable position to weather the coming economic storm. Proof of this came this week when the International Monetary Fund predicted that Canada will lead the Group of 7 industrial nations in growth next year, with our gross domestic product estimated to rise by 1.2 per cent.

And what of the other choices? Well, neither the New Democratic Party nor the Greens appears to us as a viable option for government in this election. NDP Leader Jack Layton has fought an energetic, passionate campaign for which he will likely be rewarded with more seats. However, his plan to pound corporations with higher taxes and interfere with our free trade agreements would be economically disastrous. As for Elizabeth May’s Greens, as much as they belong in the political landscape, their call for new corporate taxes and distrust of free trade are not what Canada needs. The Greens deserve a seat or seats, not a government.

This, at least, is how this newspaper’s editorial board sees things.

Okay, Lord, you can come and get me now.  There’s nothing else to see down here… 😯

… when the rats start running off the ship.

Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen, the good ship Gritanic is hauling ass for Davey Jones’ locker. The latest evidence can be found in the fact that even the rabidly Liberal-loving Mop & Pail is starting to sigh heavily and admit that the Grits are completely and utterly screwed.

Just how bad do things need to get before even the Glob starts admitting that their favourite horse isn’t even in the race anymore? Well, we all know the answer to that one, don’t we? Some highlights:

The more people see of Mr. Dion, the more they want to vote for someone else. Since the campaign started, his negatives have soared. Mr. Dion is now disliked far more than Stephen Harper, who has morphed into the nation’s tough-but-fair dad.

… Many Liberal campaign events are drawing only 35 or 50 people. If Mr. Dion were any weaker, he’d need a blood transfusion.

… what we have here is a train wreck. It’s the wreck of the Liberal Party as we know it.

… He talks like a professor, sometimes unintelligibly. He has no sense of audience.

… “You are going to be seeing Stéphane Dion unplugged,” promised a Liberal shill. From now on, a new, improved leader would play down the Green Shift, which has proved about as palatable to the voters as boiled spinach. As Wall Street blows up and economic growth grinds to a halt, the environment has dropped off the radar of the electorate. But yesterday, when Mr. Dion unveiled his platform, the boiled spinach was still front and centre on the plate. And so was he. Still plugged.

… Could it get worse? Yes. Liberals are dreading next week’s English-language debate, when Jack Layton and Elizabeth May are likely to remind us how bad on his feet he really is. He may well deliver a knockout blow – to himself.

… Mr. Dion, of course, can’t be blamed for destroying the Liberal brand. It has pretty much disintegrated already. The decline of the Bloc Québécois and the fragmentation of the left are also not his fault. Mr. Harper’s sober, steady and focused performance is not his fault. The ideological exhaustion of the party is not his fault. Maybe he’s just the guy who happens to be driving the big red bus when it finally runs out of gas.

Ouch.  If this is what his friends have to say about him…  You get the idea.  You know the Grits are screwed when even these clowns have given up on making excuses for them.

Well, it seems like a slow election day today…

(or maybe it’s just that my mind is on my son’s first game of the season today and he’s all bugged that they started him off as left guard in all the practices but have now shifted him further to the left all of a sudden so he’s trying to get his head into a completely new space with next to no notice and besides, being moved to the left in any fashion, especially when it’s not your idea, really sucks even more than a run-on sentence…)

… so I guess that I’ll get back to something that I’ve been neglecting a little bit lately: the dastardly, conniving, rights-ravaging HLCs and their Section 13 sycophants and the Stalinist show trials they love so much (a little thanks to Kathy for bringing this back into my melon). What really gnaws at my gnuts about that post is the complete and utter heap of seaming bovine byproducts that Iggy decided to hack up on the rug in response to an email:

…thanks for your message about Keith Martin’s proposal. It blindsided the party, so we’re still working past that problem to look at the merits. I don’t want a free speech chill, but I also don’t want open season on minorities. So Im still working on it.

HUH???

First of all, it’s in the name of these so-called “vulnerable minorities” that Stalag Section 13 is being abused in the first place. Being white seems to put a bullseye on your ass when this bunch is around. Open season, my lily-white ass…

Second, as Kathy pointed out, Section 13 has turned into a one-man band in the last few years. Little Dickie Warman has turned the whole damned CHRC into his own personal cash cow. Being the most thin-skinned sonofabitch in Canada pays pretty good, from what I hear.

So why is it that so few people seem to know about this? Hell, even the last few calls I’ve gotten from the Conservative Party were (except for the first guy) by people who, while they were nice enough, hadn’t a friggin’ clue what it was that I was so steamed up about! I try to give them the Reader’s Digest version, because I understand that they have a job to do and need to get on with it, but I still get the feeling that most of them are left scratching their heads.

The main reason for this was, no doubt, the utter silence that emanated from the national media on the subject. After all, who really gives a rat’s ass if some neo-nazi kook gets himself battered from pillar to post through the legal system? Is that really news? Is it going to sell any papers? Not likely.

Well, all that changed when McLean’s — the much-beloved “Canada’s National News Magazine®” — found themselves in the gunsights of not one, not two, but three of these little Thought Police commissions. Ah, okay… now there’s something wrong. Had themselves a little Martin Niemöller / road to Damascus kind of moment there, I guess. Yeah, well; whatever it takes to get ’em finally talking.

But does anybody think that this will stop at McLean’s? I mean, really? Barbara Kulaszka — one of Marc Lemire’s lawyers — doesn’t think so, and has a no-bullshit warning for anyone who thinks that It Can’t Happen To Themâ„¢:

Barbara Kulaszka, a lawyer for Mr. Lemire, told the tribunal that the mainstream media paid no attention to unfairness of Section 13 complaints until Macleans magazine columnist Mark Steyn was targeted by a Muslim group earlier this year.

“Every religion is going to start using it,” she warned. “Just look at the first Muslim complaint in 30 years. Everyone went nuts. The media woke up, and said: ‘It isn’t just Ernst Zundel and his creepy right-wingers being attacked. They are going to come after us.’

“You’re going to be caught in the cross-hairs,” she cautioned.

Translation: They might not be bothering you — YET — but they WILL come for you; and who will be left to speak up?

And you — yes YOU, sitting there in front of your computer, all nice and comfy — pay attention:
Your turn is coming. Sooner or later, they will get around to you. Totalitarianism is a hungry animal, it needs to be fed regularly, and when it runs out of its usual food, it turns elsewhere. Mark my words: sooner or later, YOU WILL BE NEXT.

It’s just a matter of time.

PS-

In case you need some sort of recap about why we need to get rid of these Stalinist show trials, here it is:

1. They only support Leftist causes (sound familiar?).
2. The complainer gets all costs paid while the accused is forced to pay out of pocket (again: familiar?).
3. The very process itself IS a punishment.
4. The conviction rate is 100%!! (No, I’m not making that up) I don’t think even the Gestapo managed to pull that one off.
5. They plant fabricated evidence and willfully use it against the accused.
6. They only prosecute people of one race.
7. The rules change from case to case, as needed to ensure that the accused’s rights are properly violated.
8. Truth is not a defense.
9. They have no sense of humour…

This is beginning to give me the creeps.

It’s been over a week since word of this first broke and the silence coming from the media has been absolutely deafening. The lefties love to roll their eyes whenever conservatives (big or little “C”) complain about bias in the media. But how can we not complain, when an issue as serious as this gets swept under the national rug, in the middle of a God damned election, no less??

True or not (and no, I don’t know which), accusations that Premier Williams threatened people with financial ruin and other reprisals if they supported the Conservatives need to be dragged out and examined in the light of day, where everyone can see.

And just what have we heard from the MSM on this, what should be of major concern to all Canadians, not just Newfoundlanders? The most recent thing I can find is from eleven damned days ago:

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. (CP) — Premier Danny Williams denies he’s threatened Conservatives in Newfoundland and Labrador who work for Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a federal election campaign.

Is Danny guilty until proven innocent? Hell, no. But can you imagine the hue and cry that would arise from the Ministry Of What You Should Think, the TO Red Star, the Mop & Pail, and all the other usual media suspects if this had been someone accused of trying to intimidate Grits??

And isn’t it funny that we don’t hear a peep out of Elections Canada about this? No skulduggery there either, I guess.

Ah, fer the love of… Some days, I just wonder if I understand anything at all.

I know that I promised yesterday that I’d have some footage of PM Harper’s appearance in London last night. Things went south from the get-go. Cam battery was deader than Elvis so I had to resort to using my phone (lovely quality, that). Then, when I tried to upload the damned thing to YouTube, it croaked because the vid was too long.

Not to worry, though, I’m not done yet. I’ll try to post the raw files later today and see if that works. (I apologize ahead of time for the crappy quality but, like I said, it was done with a phone…)

11:00 – Turner Trounced

Dang. The problem with staging a stunt is, when you don’t let the crew in on the joke, you might just get caught…

And to think that some folks still have it in their heads that the PM made a mistake by losing that loose cannon… Go figure.

19:05 – Update: AITGWN has more. this poor bastard just keeps digging himself deeper and deeper…

12:20 – Okay, let’s try this

Alright, I got the files uploaded to the server so let’s see how this works. It’s in two parts and, due to a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo that I’m not going to get into right now, it might or might not play properly in your browser. Sorry about that.

If they won’t play in your browser, the direct links are here, for the first part and here, for the second part. They’re in the .3GP format, so you’ll need something like QuickTime to play them. Again, sorry for the quality but it’s what I had to work with… 🙁

12:30 – Update to this: Okay, that didn’t work worth crap. Trying to embed the vids here made a mess of things and slowed down the loading of this post to a crawl. Sorry folks, but it looks like the links are as good as it gets…

13:05 – They’re still out there

Lest we forget about the malevolent HRCs in our midst, the National Post has an article yesterday by Joseph Brean to remind us:

The foremost legal precedent for deciding these cases is the 1990 Supreme Court of Canada decision about the neo-Nazi activist John Ross Taylor, in which Section 13 was held to be a justifiable violation of the Charter right to free expression.

It defined hate messages as those expressing “unusually strong and deep-felt emotions of detestation, calumny and vilification.”

Simon Fothergill, a lawyer for the Attorney-General of Canada, said Mr. Lemire’s challenge of Section 13 is “relitigation” of settled law, and amounts to “harassment” of the government, which won the Taylor case by a 4-3 decision. A decade later, in 2001, it amended Section 13 to include the Internet.

[…]

Mr. Fothergill answered that if Section 13 puts a chill on public discourse, it is only to be around the fringes of hate speech, and that this is not “a terribly bad outcome.”

“A little bit of chilling … is tolerable,” he said.

“TOLERABLE?” Is this asshole utterly out of his God damned mind??? And why the hell haven’t we heard so much as a peep out of ANY party on this subject so far in the campaign? Too uncomfortable an an issue, perhaps? Tough shit, bud; you wanna be in charge, you have to have the balls to do what needs to be done! And God knows, these things need to be reeled in.

Nest time some vote-hunting blowhard (from whatever party) bangs on your door, be sure to find out where they stand on this issue, because it’s just going to get worse if we don’t tackle it NOW.

13:22 – Another update: How’s this for a coincidence? I just got me a call from Steven at the CPC’s fundraising dept. What are the odds?Once again, the Tories were hoping for a buck or two to help out with the campaign. He was a nice enough guy (not as knowledgeable as Fred was on the issue, but still nice) but I had to tell him the same thing I’ve told the last four people that called me: No action on HRCs, no money from me.

17:49 – Holy crap!

I agree with Warren Kinsella. 😯 No, really, I actually DO. Yes, you heard me right. And don’t look at me like that.

I don’t know how it happened, either, but there it is. And it’s not just on one thing, strangely enough; I agree with him on a whole bunch of stuff. Like:

• Things are going badly for the Lieberal campaign
• Free advice is worth what you pay for it
• Warren is a has-been

I guess it just goes to show you, even a blind squirrel finds a nut some days.

18:10 – Practicing what he preaches

Say what you want about Steffy Dion, he sure does practice what he preaches. He’s always going on and on about how we should do this and that for the environment and, lo and behold, Steffy turns out to be one dead serious recycler. Trusty Tory has the goodies:

That’s right, folks, the old 1993 election campaign promise. This goes hand in hand with Dion’s continued election campaign against Brian Mulroney!

But, hang on a second. Didn’t Paul Martin promise this in the 2004 campaign? See for yourself.

Recycle, recycle, recycle! Because it’ll actually happen this time. They really, really mean it. Besides, it’s not as if the Green Shaftâ„¢ is earning them any love…

23:23 – Ker-SPLAT

Coincidence?  Poetic justice?  Prophecy?  You tell me…

MONTREAL – Stephane Dion’s aging plane was forced to make an emergency landing on its way to London tonight in what Liberals hope doesn’t become a symbol of the party’s faltering campaign.

The leased 29-year-old Boeing 737 was en route to London from Sherbrooke, Que., when it made an unexpected stop shortly after 8 p.m. at Pierre Elliott Trudeau Airport.

On the bright side, at least I don’t have to put up with that waffling weasel in London now. 😉

You’d never see this in Canada, but jolly old England actually has a TV broadcaster with the balls to do this sort of thing.  First there was Undercover Mosque. Then the predictable stink followed:

Racism!

Islamophobia®!

How dare you catch us in the act of being assholes, and then put it on TV!

Blah, blah, blah, three bags full. When they finally got it through their little medieval skulls that they’d been caught red-handed, nobody gave a damn if they were offended or not, and their faux indignation was only going to piss people off more, they promised that they’d clean up their act.

Fat chance. Now, we have Undercover Mosque: The Return, and it’s all nothing but same shit, different day…

I’ll put the other parts up as I get the time…