Perogying Hasn't Lessened The Din Emminating From Ottawa

Tories and Liberals compete to show they're still at work

Liberals pledge jobs and gather outside the empty Commons, Tories vow restraint in attempt to slay deficit Jan 26, 2010 3:42AM EST 112 11

• On the hill: Opposition pushes for new rules on prorogation
• Norman Spector: Mr. Ignatieff’s game
• Audio comments: More of what you said about prorogation
• Full Coverage: Parliament on pause

Public Are Not Shutout At ELECTION Time So....

....you have to wonder why there is such a dismal turnout at the polls.

Public shut out of Toronto city council debate of terms to end strike
Toronto’s city council decided this afternoon to bar the public and media from their meeting after a city manager refused to answer questions in public about what sort of tax increases, if any, might be expected if council ratifies the deal. This is so typical of the David Miller administration of the city: tax payers and media barred from hearing the debate of the terms and consequences of the.....
Russ Campbell's Blog

Freedom Of Expression, Freedom of Expression

He calls himself Canadian Cynic - SICKO is more like it
He describes himself as:Left-leaning, progressive snark from the general vicinity of Waterloo, OntarioHe has four nitwits chewing up endlessly like cows in a dung-ridden pasture, the crumbs and leftovers that we at Blogging Tories deem to throw their way.The nitwits are aptly named: Lindsay Stewart (a female maybe or a girlish name for a guy whose mother thought he looked better in a frock?)
Dodo Can Spell |

Nannygate, Raittgate, eHealthgate And Now....

• Ont. PC Leadership Race Turns Into Theatre Bizzare
  ...a bizarre autodial that is slowing working its way through the Ontario PC Party membership list.

Police probe shakes up Ontario PC race Police have been called in to investigate allegations of a campaign to intimidate voters in the Ontario Progressive Conservative leadership campaign, throwing the race into disarray just days before the party is to chose a new chief.

• View the docs that resulted in the police investigation..

• Steele: Here comes the pain

Maybe We CAN Learn Something From EU Members

Why don't we have politicians like this?

Posted: June 05, 2009, 2:02 PM by NP Editor

Oh those Europeans, what they won't get up to.

Here we are in North America, thinking our politicians are all a bunch of dullards, wasting their time arguing about the economy, international affairs and Lisa Raitt's lost documents.

Not so in Europe. In Europe they know how to do scandal. And when they're not doing scandal, they do crisis. Just check out today's headlines from Britain, France and Italy.

France: Nude Carla Bruni photo auctioned in Berlin

Click here to read more...

At Best That Is A Silly Suggestion......

Why not ask the current live-in caregiver at the Dhalla household how conditions are?

Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 10:52 PM

Comments: 2

It seems so obvious. With the allegations and counter-allegations swirling around Ruby Dhalla and the question of how three live-in caregivers were treated, the simplest way to cut through the confusion is to ask the current live-in caregiver how she is being treated.Click the title to read the whole story...

....I would question them about the treatment they receive in their home country.

If Not Being Used For Merchandising Why Not Allow

It would appear the only thing athletes can do is create a venue where the Olympics can profit.

IOC lays out new rules for athlete blogs

Posted Wednesday, May 13, 2009 8:16 PM ET

By Stephanie Levitz, The Canadian Press

VANCOUVER - Olympic athletes blogging during the 2010 Games won't be allowed to use the iconic Olympic rings on their web pages.

The rule is part of a new set of blogging guidelines issued by the International Olympic Committee in the wake of the popular experiment to officially allow the online diaries during the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

MORE

Don't Take Your Guns To Town

Thank God. The truth is out on Ruby Dhalla

CHRISTIE BLATCHFORD From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

I think that I Ruby Dhalla, as the embattled and beauteous Liberal MP from Brampton-Springdale clearly prefers to be called given the number of times she referred to herself that way Tuesday, said it best.

She certainly spoke for marginalized women everywhere. In fact, I think it's a pretty safe bet she spoke for everyone in the country, and certainly for every politician.

I was lying on my couch watching television with my white bull terrier Obie when she said it Tuesday, which is sort of what I Ruby's mom, Tavinder, used to do with her supposed former caregivers when she wasn't making them food or waiting on them hand and foot, or the layabouts had actually deigned to come up from their luxurious quarters in the basement of the Dhalla family home and their own giant flat-screen TV.

When I heard I Ruby say it, in fact, I cried aloud, “Thank God. The truth is out. You rock, I Ruby!”

Unfortunately, I must have used a too-loud voice, because I disturbed the dog, who reproached me with a sharp look and a disdainful pffftt or two from his rear quarters.

He and I have a relationship that sounds comparable to that between Tavinder and the alleged caregivers: I'm the supposed master, but I'm not, which is why I sleep on a sixth of the bed, my arm braced on the night table, while he stretches out, and why I pick up his droppings and carry them about for hours as the treasures they are, and not the other way around, and why I routinely smother him with kisses while he gives me only the odd peck when he is feeling generous.

The nature of our relationship is in truth the exact opposite of how such relationships are conventionally understood, but we are both fine with that, just as the Dhallas and the purported caregivers probably were once. We have reached a certain comfortable accommodation, or so I used to think. I confess that the Dhallas' experience with their ungrateful alleged caregivers has me wondering if he will turn on me, as the ostensible caregivers did with I Ruby and family.

Already, the dog sometimes bites my calves playfully on our walks, when I am trying to go one way and he is bent on another, or when he is feeling particularly saucy.

Heretofore, I have always amused myself by imagining, should I be found dead in suspicious circumstances and my body autopsied, what the bewildered coroner would make of those little marks on the backs of my legs and the tiny bloodstains on so many pairs of jeans. It is in the event of that unfortunate turn of events that I am now putting on the record the true nature of the marks. I bet that I Ruby wishes she had done something like that herself before the so-called Nannygate affair burst into the headlines and she was left reeling.

Anyway, she was wrapping up her moving statement to a parliamentary committee, in which she detailed her haunting experience of the past week or so, when she explained that, although “people have used the words ‘power' to describe those that are in politics and the caregivers as the vulnerable,” they have it ass-backwards.

“I like the way you roll, I Ruby!” I shouted, prompting another baleful gaze-cum-flatulence from the dog.

“I think all of us as Canadians must never forget that politicians are people,” she said, then added tremulously, “People are human beings with feelings and emotions.”

It was but a small leap to take her inference: Supposed caregivers, not being politicians, probably aren't human beings with feelings and emotions, at least not the same sort of deep ones, although they may cry buckets and get all trembly when they speak, via video camera, to officials and MPs such as those on the committee. Supposed masters are supposed to be the bosses of their canine companions too, but I know the truth of that little societal construction.

I Ruby, as she reminded the committee a little later, is the victim here, either of the bewildering accusations made public by the alleged caregivers, or by the heartless curs of the press who reported the allegations, or of some bigger political conspiracy – perhaps, she hinted, one hatched by the Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, whom she espied once in conversation with one of her political opponents.

Now, she offered no hard evidence but that sighting to indicate Mr. Kenney did anything of the sort.

But let's be frank: Although it is true that he is a politician and therefore human, he is also a man, a white one at that, and therefore not subjected to the same barriers that made I Ruby's struggle as a young, drop-dead gorgeous, Indo-Canadian woman designated as the Brampton-Springdale candidate in 2004 by then-prime-minister Paul Martin so terribly hard.

Her appearance before the committee lasted about an hour, and was shown between parts of Brian Mulroney's testimony, I believe between the gripping grade-school years and the college years. The perpetually beleaguered former prime minister, who has been fighting to clear his name longer than he ever was in office, was appearing before the Oliphant commission yesterday.

He wasn't as blunt about it as I Ruby, but, you know, I think his words and body language made it pretty clear that, appearances to the contrary, he is the victim in this one – generally of what he called the “deceitful and false purveying of information” about him, particularly by the German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber.

Indeed, Mr. Mulroney explained that it was precisely because the enormity of those attacks made upon him over the Airbus affair had so scarred him that when Mr. Schreiber handed him envelopes stuffed with cash that he took them, and kept them secret, even from his accountant. It was to avoid a repeat of the Airbus attacks, he said: In effect, Airbus made him do it.

Politicians really are people, and people are human beings, with feelings and emotions. We have all been reminded of that – ostensible caregivers with their slurs, German-Canadian businessmen bearing envelopes, scurrilous reporters, and those of us who live to serve white bull terriers.

• Article
• Video
• Comments (124)

PeaNUT Alert

Galloway plans to sue Jason Kenney...
I can't see him actually moving forward with this...but then again, the guy is nuts...British antiwar MP George Galloway, who was denied entry into Canada in March, announced Friday he plans to sue Immigration Minister Jason Kenney over suggestions he supports terrorism.The defamation notice, the first step in commencing a defamation action, was also served on senior members of two Jewish organization...
GayandRight

Who Is Responsible For Your Survival?

YOU ARE!

A Thought For The (EARTH) Day

Behind green door
Save the planet and help your sex life. Or is it the other way around?
By MIKE STROBEL
Tonight, as you prepare to give your lover a good Earth Day spanking, ask yourself one question.
Is that an eco-friendly, fair-trade paddle?
Yes? Then flail away, with pride. Your sex life is not only black and blue, but green, too.
Now, kill the lights to save energy.
(BE WARNED. Spanking or flogging in the dark is dangerous.)
Good grief, sex is complicated enough without the green machine invading the bedrooms of the nation.
We drive hybrids, we cycle, we recycle, we drink tap water, we compost, we eat organic, we change our bulbs. So, inevitably ...
The bedroom has become an eco-chamber. We're all trying to get a green piece.
My latest clue is a press release, on the eve of Earth Day, from the inventor of We-Vibe, a sex toy.
Bruce Murison is in Ottawa, where they have found assorted ways of screwing us for years.
The bulletin is titled, "How to Buy a Green Sex Toy: Earth Day Shopping Tips."
Murison, naturally, touts his toy.
It is "the first strapless, wireless, dual-motor vibrator that can be worn by the woman while making love for internal and external stimulation."
Not only that, but after she scrapes herself off the ceiling, she can bask in the knowledge she has struck a blow for the environment.
"We specifically designed the We-Vibe with the environment and consumer safety in mind," says Murison.
The $129.95 little monster is "lead-free, phthalate-free, rechargeable (and) made of medical grade silicone."
(Fellas, don't panic. That's phthalate-free. Different spelling. It's used to soften plastics and has raised health flags.)
The We-Vibe contains no nasty metals, so the only lead will be in your pencil.
"We care deeply for our environment," says Murison, 49, who has sold 80,000 of his doodads worldwide. "We have made every possible effort to minimize the manufacturing impact to our planet."
Today, he is off to China to visit his toymakers, to ensure they still make a good living in happy factories.
He may fly over Japan, where even sex clubs have gone green.
At the Beauty and the Beast club, everything that vibrates is powered by clean energy. The mannequin used to practise S&M is made of recycled material, as are the ropes and candles. Even the chopsticks are reusable.
Japan is in the forefront of green sex, but the phenomenon is global.
You can equip your playpen with all manner of green gizmos: Dildos of easily recycled glass or safe silicone. Whips of old tire rubber. Wood paddles made by fair-trade projects in India. Solar-powered vibrators. Vegan condoms, not tested on animals, unless you count your husband.
My late dad would be delighted to hear hemp, which he farmed, is now a popular earth-friendly lubricant.
Hemp panties, too. After sex, you can roll them up and try to smoke 'em.
Of course, hemp rope has many uses in the bedroom. Climbing out the window when her husband comes home, for instance.
Bamboo sheets are as sexy as silk -- and no worms die.
Yes, the green sex business has come a long way from cucumbers and certain root vegetables.
Greenpeace has a Guide to Environmentally Friendly Sex.
This includes drinking guarana and caju juice as aphrodisiacs, to spare shellfish populations. Save The Oyster?!
If backyard sex whets your whistle, use natural fertilizers and pesticides.
Finally, says Greenpeace: Make Love, Not War.
So, now you know the G in G-spot stands for green. You're on the eco-kink bandwagon.
But start slow. Don't rush out and look for a biodegradable blow-up doll.
If you're into recycling your better half, I can recommend a swingers club or two.
Too extreme? Then simply shower together. Saves water and energy.When you bolt for the boudoir, remember to shut off the shower.
And last one in bed, turn out the lights.

EcoView: The Evil Way To Celebrate Earth Day
Happy Earth Day, everyone! If you’re not sure how to make the Earth a greener place, here are a few ideas that you won’t find on David Suzuki’s homepage: 1. Set off massive electromagnetic pulses in major cities around the planet to render all vehicles inert. No cars, no carbon footprint. 2. Forced evacuation of cities like Calgary that seem to have been built with the exact opCurrents

The Star Shows Purpose of Earth Day
They have an "Entertainment" Reporter covering the story
Canadian Blue Lemons

A Hallmark Moment For Greeners

We Haven't Learned Anything From The Debacles Of Various HRCs?

CONTROVERSY DOGS CANADIAN MUSEUM OF HUMAN RIGHTS
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights is set to tackle the thorny issue of whose story to include and whose to leave out -- a process that is causing controversy before it's even begun.
Construction of the $265-million project in Winnipeg is now underway and the museum will soon announce a cross-country "story gathering process."
"We will be talking to community groups, individuals, academics and researchers, to really start identifying what the stories are, and who the storytellers are as well," said museum spokeswoman Angela Cassie.
But some groups are already raising concerns their stories will be excluded.
Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale Canada, was worried gay and lesbian human rights would be ignored because the group was "totally omitted" from the museum's promotional materials.
"To have that totally erased was really disconcerting and alarming," said Kennedy.
After meeting with the museum's chief operating officer, she hopes the situation will be corrected.
Others such as James Kafieh worry the museum's tour will be "a public relations exercise" and will give the Jews' experience during the Holocaust disproportionate attention compared to other cases of human rights abuses.
EQUAL TREATMENT
Kafieh is the executive secretary of Canadians for Genocide Education, a coalition of 46 ethno-cultural groups including the Canadian Arab Federation, Armenian National Federation and Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations.
"It needs to be inclusive and equitable. If it focuses disproportionate attention to some cases over other cases, then what it is actually teaching us is that there is a hierarchy of human suffering, and that some human suffering is more important than other cases of human suffering; and on that basis, the museum would not be teaching us anything about human rights, it would be teaching us about racism," Kafieh said.
The museum, which is a Crown corporation, is funded primarily through federal dollars, but has also received provincial, municipal and private donations.
Chief operating officer Patrick O'Reilly is aware of the concerns and promised the museum will be independent from its biggest donors, such as Winnipeg's prominent Jewish family, the Aspers.
O'Reilly said the museum will be rigorous in its approach, and he expects controversial and conflicting points of view will be shared "as long as they are respectful."
ALTHIA.RAJ@SUNMEDIA.CA

Please List Improvements Liberals Made Over 13 Years

Something that's worth whining about
"All they do is whine. We are delivering."
That is Human Resources Minister Diane Finley's message to Canadians about Ottawa's hole-ridden Employment Insurance program.
The "whiners" are the three opposition parties. They want the government to provide coverage to all workers who pay into the program. Just 744,000 of the 1.4 million Canadians who have lost their jobs receive Employment Insurance (EI) benefits. The remaining 48 per cent don't meet Ottawa's eligibility criteria.
Here is what the government is "delivering":
Five weeks of additional EI benefits to workers who already qualify.
An extension in work-sharing agreements, allowing employees who split a job to use EI to supplement their wages for 14 additional weeks.
An extra $500 million for retraining.
Consultations on maternity and parental benefits for self-employed workers.
These measures are certainly welcome. But they don't address the central problem: Hundreds of thousands of workers who have contributed to the EI fund aren't eligible for benefits.
The exclusion rate is highest in regions where unemployment has traditionally been low. Applicants in Toronto, for example, need 595 hours of paid work in the preceding year to qualify for benefits (910 hours if it's their first claim). Their counterparts in Cape Breton or Newfoundland need 420 hours.
As far as Prime Minister Stephen Harper is concerned, these disparities will even themselves out as the unemployment rate climbs in Ontario. He sees no need to loosen the eligibility rules.
Michael Ignatieff, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe are united in their opposition to this do-nothing stance.
But there the similarity ends.
The only opposition leader who has put forward a clear alternative to the government's position is Layton. His New Democrats want every Canadian with 360 hours of paid work to qualify for EI benefits.
The NDP has been consistent on this issue since the budget was tabled on Jan. 27. Last month, the party put a resolution before Parliament, proposing this reform. The Liberals and Bloc Québécois supported it.
The Liberals said afterward they voted for "the spirit of the motion." Ignatieff would unveil his own proposals soon.
Last week, he accused Harper of "trying to patch EI with duct tape while evading the real issue, which is eligibility." When asked what he would do, he said it was the Prime Minister's job to govern.
Ignatieff has done this repeatedly. He could have proposed an amendment to the budget, calling for specific EI reforms, but didn't. He could have endorsed the substance of the NDP motion as well as the spirit, but didn't. He could have told Canadians what changes a Liberal government would make, but hasn't.
Duceppe's objective has never varied: a better deal for out-of-work Quebecers. His demands, however, have shifted. For now, the BQ leader is supporting the NDP's 360-hour eligibility requirement.
Unfortunately, neither the New Democrats nor the Bloc have enough votes in Parliament to force this issue. That puts the onus on the Liberals to spell out what they want and what they're prepared to do about it.
This is not a time for posturing. Canadians are losing their jobs at a rate of 3,800 a day. Many paid EI premiums, believing they were entrusting their money to the government for a rainy day. Now it's pouring and they can't claim it.
Finley doesn't want to hear any more "whining" about it. Ignatieff doesn't want to commit himself to anything concrete.
The EI system isn't the only thing that's broken in Ottawa.

Gregory Knox's Letter to Troy Clarke
Posted 3/10/2009
Letters between General Motors and Gregory Knox, President of Knox Machinery in Franklin Ohio. Greg ripped into the auto industry with some common sense:

Dear Employees & Suppliers, Congress and the current Administration will soon determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis........ .............. As an employee or supplier, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard. Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.


Troy Clarke President General Motors North America

How Many Meals For That Price Can Be Had On Welfare

I decided not to eat the sad, rubbery food I was given’

Well, I certainly got a strong reaction to my piece last week. Dozens of readers agree with me that too many places serve up over-priced meals and shoddy service. I'm obviously not alone in the things I expect when I dine out – an honest menu, no nasty surprises, no hidden extras, a friendly atmosphere, being welcomed on arrival, made to feel special. Judging by the emails, restaurants all around the country have forgotten these basics, instead charging £50 a head for fussy, sometimes disgusting meals with patronising service. [...more]

Hmmm! Very Interesting

Canada - Tuesday, October 21st, 2008

National Post | CRTC mulls looser restrictions for Do Not Call list -- OTTAWA • The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is considering changes to the national Do Not Call List just three weeks after launching the initiative so candidates from fringe political parties can get through and pitch for your vote.

[...more]

I Give Polls Little Credence And Agree With Nichols

Questions about those Polls

One thing to consider about all those opinion polls floating around are what the pollsters are asking.

For instance, Harris-Decima asks "If a federal election were being held tomorrow, who do you think you would be voting for in your area…the Liberal Party candidate, the Conservative Party
candidate, the NDP Party candidate or the Green Party candidate?"

Fair enough.

But I bet you would get a different result if the same pollster asked the question this way: "If a federal election were being held tomorrow, who do you think you would be voting for in your area ... the Stephane Dion Liberals, the Stephen Harper Conservatives, the Jack Layton NDP or the Elizabeth May Green Party?"

The point is most people don't vote for a party anymore, they vote for a leader and if you tied the leader to the party, it might show the Tories doing better than current polls indicate.

Just a theory.

Apology Is Fine With The NDP

Inappropriate remarks resulting in an apology are acceptable to the NDP when it occurs within their own party but burning at the stake is the minimum expected when it is a rival candidate. NDP candidate said what?

NDP candidate apologizes for U.S. war-resisters rant

Joe Who?

Volpe represents my riding for the liberals and this is the first I have heard of him since the last election. The ludicrous thing is that he will probably be successful in getting re-elected.....

Joe Volpe disturbed by Pearson fuel flap

By KWOK WONG, SUN MEDIA

When MP Joe Volpe found out about jet fuel tankers flipping over at Pearson, he immediately thought of the explosion at Sunrise Propane that jolted him awake.

more