Odds And Sods

Paul Zed on the move

Taber: Ignatieff's chief of staff poised to run again, Green Party Leader eyes new riding and Harper's former flak stokes Senate speculation

Whether It Is Dion Or May Selling It......

Green Shit if still Green Shit. It makes you wonder if Dion's latest "it's not my major campaign platform" comments tells us even he can't stand the smell.

Flawed Logic

Those Canadians who feel pulling out of Afghanistan will make us more secure from terrorist attacks are to put it simply are STUPID. They have forgotten something that that even young children know.....caving into a bully doesn't make you safer and the reality is it makes you more of a victim and causes you to be victimized more often.

Here’s the real story about the video: The barbaric Islamofascist leader called for an all-out jihad—within North America and Europe and globally — against anyone who is white and western, to be conducted by all nations’ minorities. He wants all of us white Canadians killed—by non-white Canadians—in a global jihad. He wants a global jihad. But the main thing is “he mocked Bush”.

Poll shows concern about Afghan mission: pollster
Updated Sun. May. 6 2007 6:54 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

A new poll suggests that two-thirds of Canadians think this country's presence in Afghanistan makes Canada more vulnerable to a terror attack.

Pollster Nik Nanos of SES Research told CTV News, "If there's one word to describe Canadians' view of the war in Afghanistan, it's concern.

"Canadians are concerned we're not putting in the resources to succeed, they are concerned the mission makes us more of a target and they are concerned about casualties," he said Sunday.

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Michael Not Letting Elizabeth Off The Hook

Fundamental flaw
By MICHAEL COREN

For many years now, Canadian politicians and journalists have warned us about what they refer to as "fundamentalists." Harsh and unbending people who will impose their will on the country and accept no opposition.

They meant Christian fundamentalists of course. They couldn't define what one was, they'd never really met one and they had no idea that genuine Christian fundamentalism is minimal in Canada. It was just a way to discredit those with whom they disagreed and make them seem, well, nasty and American.

Thing is, fundamentalism is alive and kicking in Canada and we saw a fine example of it from Green Party leader Elizabeth May last week. She spoke in a United Church, part of the most rapidly declining denomination in North America. A national church, by the way, that has largely been ruined by liberal fundamentalism.

She gave a speech in which she found her emotions getting the better of her and began to cry at the dangers faced by the environment. Then, when the tears were apparently under control, she argued that the Canadian government's position on climate change was, "a grievance worse than Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of the Nazis."

A fascinating case study. First comes the absurd emotion, illustrating instability, extremism or mere false histrionics. Then the dismissal of all opponents as monsters, akin to those we think most evil in society, such as people who refuse to oppose genocidal murderers and racist fiends.

The wording here is important. It is standard for May's allies in the green movement to describe anybody who has even mild doubts about fashionable thinking concerning global warming as "deniers." The term is, of course, usually applied to people who refuse to acknowledge the Holocaust. Mostly neo-Nazis.

Elizabeth May, however, is prepared to blithely exploit that same Holocaust and condemn her critics, including Jews and others who lost family members to the Nazis, as appeasers and worse. Which surely makes her the real "denier" in all of this.

Or perhaps not. The word used by serious students of the Nazi regime is "Holocaust Minimizer." Yes, let us be kind and generous to the leader of the Green Party and describe her as sounding like a Holocaust Minimizer.

If she merely misspoke, if she was enraptured by the Sacraments of climate control, if she was inebriated by the spiritual euphoria of recycling, then she only has to apologize. But after more than four days of criticism the best she could offer was, "I deeply regret that the inflamed rhetoric around this issue has caused pain or offence" and a few words about the evils of the Nazis.

It was a long time coming and all it really said was that others had got it wrong and it was their reaction and not her comments that were at fault.

Another example of the arrogance that makes such fundamentalists so dangerous. But at least she's not Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson. Mind you, both men have over the years made public apologies and begged forgiveness.

What makes those fundamentalists different from the Elizabeth May variety is that they do not have fashion on their side and have few friends in media. Which is not the case for anybody who weeps and splutters about lonely polar bears and dying trees. It may be an inconvenient truth Ms. May, but you are unfit for public office.

Sorry David But The Media Was On Her Case First

And she would have had ample opportunity to tell her side during question period IF you voters in the London area had elected her to office. Let's look at the trend....



Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 10:42 AM
Ségolène Royal, Elizabeth May, Farhan Chak -- They demonize the opponent and we live with the consequences

Ségolène Royal, Elizabeth May, and Farhan Chak have all recently engaged in vicious attacks on their opponents, likening them to dictators of the worst possible kind. When violence erupts because well-meaning fools decide that history ought not to repeat itself, and that these budding Hitlers must be stopped by any means possible, they insist they've been misinterpreted. That is, of course, nonsense.

May hung out to dry
May 03, 2007

Nazi remark denounced
May 2.

Green party Leader Elizabeth May has become the latest target in the Conservative government's ongoing experiment in the sleazy art form of the "hit and run" sound bite. They drop an out-of-context bomb in question period, and then engage their selective, top-down relationship with the media to spin the fallout.

As someone who was sitting in the London church last weekend when May made her comments, I want to share what I heard. She was not likening Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the Nazis. She was making the following point: When the world was confronted with the threat posed by Nazi Germany, countries overlooked their differences and short-term economic and political agendas, rolled up their sleeves, made sacrifices and addressed the threat. She was saying that Harper is like Neville Chamberlain in that he is ignoring a threat that is obvious to most of the world, and in doing so is embarrassing Canada.

And shame on the Liberals and NDP for abandoning May. By cowardly clinging to safe territory in the narrow window of political discourse approved by lobbyist and campaign contributors, they only reinforce why people are embracing the Greens as the party willing to get off the fence and take hard positions on issues.

Dave McLaughlin, London, Ont.

Canada's Own Rosie O'Donnell????

Elizabeth May's bizarre speech
National Post
Tuesday, May 01, 2007

On Sunday, Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party of Canada, returned to London, Ont., where she lost a byelection five months ago. Although Ms. May was not on the campaign trail, she was preaching the Greens' environmental catechism, this time from the pulpit of a local United Church.
Her odd sermon should concern not only Green party members who hope to take the party into the political mainstream, but also Liberal leader Stephane Dion, who recently struck a controversial political alliance with Ms. May -- and has pledged not to run a Liberal candidate in the Central Nova riding where she plans to challenge Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay.
Ms. May's teary-eyed homily on global warming no doubt moved many in the audience. She told the United Church congregation that "Through the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, we can meet this moral obligation."
But other parts of her speech were entirely bizarre, conjuring up theories that call into question not only her credibility as the leader of the Greens, but also Mr. Dion's judgment.
In referring to Evangelical Christians, Ms. May stated that some "are waiting for the end [of ] time in glee ? and they unfortunately include President [George W.] Bush." Ms. May also described Stephen Harper's plan to deal with global warming as "worse than Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of the Nazis."
That's quite impressive: In one speech, Ms. May not only managed to insult Canada's Christians, but also the President of the United States and the memory of those who died at the hands of the Nazis.
And to think this is a woman campaigning to be admitted into the party leaders' debates when election time comes.
At Sunday's event in London, Glen Pearson, the local Liberal MP, escorted Ms. May to the pulpit and described her as a "prophet." We wonder if Mr. Dion shares that view. In any case, we'd like to offer our own prophecy for the rest of 2007: Ms. May will continue to make her party --and, by extension, the Liberals with whom she is now formally allied--look ridiculous.
© National Post 2007

Elizabeth May - More Than You Might Want To Know

Elizabeth May, Nazis, and the voters of Central Nova

You Are Judged By The Company You Keep

And this is something Dion should keep in mind.....May, Turner, Potvin, etc. Ask Joe Clark and Preston Manning. At least we now know that there are Christian fundamentalists on the left, not just in the White House, and that the climate is not just an environmental issue but rather an edict from God. Dion could show some balls by running against May rather than givin her a pass.

Uproar erupts over May's 'appeasement' remarks
Updated Tue. May. 1 2007 10:15 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

Other politicians have seized on weekend remarks by Green Party Leader Elizabeth May comparing the Conservatives' climate policies to appeasement of the Nazis by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

"It is time for the Liberal members opposite to stand up against outrageous, hateful, mean-spirited comments by their candidate in Central Nova," Environment Minister John Baird said in Tuesday's question period.

"It is inexplicable how they could not stand up against people who bash Christians and invoke Nazi-era atrocities."

May isn't running as a Liberal in the Nova Scotia riding, but the Liberals won't be running a candidate against her. She has praised Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's environmental philosophy and policies.

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Comment: May should be aware that bloggers are the only ones allowed to use the Chamberlain analogy when talking about the peaceniks, taliban and al queida supporters.

Even EnviroNuts Admit Kyoto Would Cost Jobs

But they counter that like when computers displaced typwriters new jobs were created and the same will be true of the loss of present manufacturing jobs would be be offset by new manufacturing jobs in the green sector. Probably right but what guarantee these jobs won't go offshore much like many of the IT jobs have done.

Baird bites back
By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN

Yesterday, I wrote about why no Canadian who cares about global warming should vote for Stephane Dion and the Liberals.

Today, let's examine why this also holds true for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives.

Few can approach the hypocrisy of the Liberals these days as they yap at Harper for doing nothing to combat man-made global warming. The Liberals had more than 12 years in power to do something -- and did squat.

But they are matched every time Harper and Environment Minister John Baird fire back that the Liberals did nothing while they were the government. True, but beside the point.

The point is that had the Liberals ever reduced greenhouse gas emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels, instead of allowing them to increase faster than even the United States, the Conservatives would have gone berserk.

Anxious to protect their Alberta political base -- the province leads Canada in emissions because of its energy-based economy, particularly the oil sands -- Harper and Co. never demanded the Liberals do more to combat global warming while in Opposition. In fact, they wanted them to do less, arguing the Grits should never have signed the Kyoto accord on climate change in the first place.

Not only did Harper, while Alliance leader, rail against Kyoto in a 2002 fund-raising letter as a "job-killing, economy-destroying ... socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations," he also dismissed the science behind "this so-called 'accord'" as "based on tentative and contradictory ... evidence about climate trends." He warned it would cripple the fossil fuel-based economies of Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C., arguing (in capital letters, no less) "THERE ARE NO CANADIAN WINNERS UNDER THE KYOTO ACCORD." Clear enough for you?

In the 2004 election, Harper vowed to scrap the UN treaty in favour of "realistic pollution control measures." After winning last year's vote, Harper's first version of his Clean Air Act, which has now been completely rewritten in committee by the opposition parties, didn't even mention Kyoto.

Harper's so-called concern about global warming and the environment has precisely mirrored its recent rise in the polls, as it moved from being a very low priority for Canadians, to the top one.

Yesterday, Baird unleashed the Conservatives' latest bid to undermine Kyoto, a report endorsed by several independent economists, which argued to implement the treaty at this late date (next year) would soon send Canada into a severe recession costing 275,000 jobs, hike electricity bills by 50%, up the price of gasoline by 60% and double the cost of heating a home with natural gas.

The opposition called it fear-mongering, but after blasting them yesterday for passing an earlier motion that would theoretically require the Conservatives to implement Kyoto, Baird hilariously added, "please, however, don't take my criticism of Bill C-288 as a condemnation of Kyoto." He said the Tories remain committed to it ... short of actually doing anything it says. (I swear, you can't make this stuff up.)

What Baird and Harper were really doing was countering the apocalyptic, "climate porn" rhetoric of global warming fanatics (if we don't implement Kyoto, we're all gonna die) with some apocalyptic, "fiscal porn" rhetoric of their own (if we do implement Kyoto, we're all gonna go broke).

Anyway, with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May now endorsing Dion over Harper on global warming (yeah, like that's a choice!) you should probably vote for the NDP or, in Quebec, the Bloc, if you really do care about climate change. Sorry.

Dion Found Someone To Take To The Prom

I don't see many liberals lining up to sign their dance cards......

Insiders shocked by Green-Grit deal
Liberals angry at Dion's deal to help Greens
The move was a reprisal, May says
Dion's misguided gift to the Greens
Liberals angry at Dion's deal to help Greens

Alliance + Conservatives = Stephen Harper

Liberals + Green = Elizabeth May. Probably the only smart move made by Dion.Considering his perceived ineptness this might be the answer for the liberals.

Grassroot Liberals Speak Out

Political left getting super crowded
By Lorrie Goldstein

Oh, we can just hear Prime Minister Stephen Harper trembling now!

With Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May making nice yesterday, Harper now has four parties to the left of him, all fighting for the hysterically "pro-Kyoto" vote.

Simply put, anyone who believes the increasingly catastrophic reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change about global warming can now vote for the Liberals, NDP, Greens or Bloc in the next election.

Everybody else, including those who think global warming is a crock or, more importantly, that it's real but that the threat is overstated and we need a rational, not a panicked response, can vote Conservative.

That is, they can if they think the only issue that matters is global warming. If they think it's overall leadership as well, Harper fares even better, the polls say.

Dion and May's side deal, that they won't run candidates in each other's ridings, arguably gives May a better shot at unseating Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay in Central Nova.

In return, May will keep touting Dion's record on Kyoto when he was the Liberal environment minister, even though the Grits, despite more than 12 years in power, never implemented the Kyoto deal they ratified.

If push comes to shove, May's now officially said Dion will make a better prime minister than Harper, which may come back to haunt her in the next election if it's a close race and Dion starts urging Green and NDP supporters to unite under his banner to stop Harper.

NDP Leader Jack Layton, who's been the victim of that Liberal tactic before, is understandably miffed with the Dion/May alliance, worried both the Liberals and Greens may cut into the environmental vote he believes rightfully belongs to the NDP.

Meanwhile, Liberals who like to think they're a national party which runs candidates in every riding, must be wondering what Dion has wrought.

We suspect the only leader who doesn't have a nervous stomach today is Harper, who now sees the "progressive" vote on Kyoto splitting four ways, while he gets anyone who hasn't completely drunk the Kyoto Kool-Aid.

Sounds like a good deal for the Tories.