Sunday, January 08, 2006

Kate Kinsella Warren McMillan

Its getting scary out there in the blogosphere when two of the biggest self promoters and mouths that roar actually say exactly the same thing on the same day.

I am speaking of Kate from Small Dead Animals and her doppelganger Warren Kinsella. Or perhaps they were just seperated at birth. Cause they had identical posts on Friday.


Kate:

January 06, 2006

It Must Be Friday

Updated - (and Im moving this item back up to the top)

Another day, another scandal. And all coming at such a inopportune time.


Warren:

Fri. 6 Jan., 2006

It's Friday, Why I Must Be In Canada!

Oh look! Another police investigation launched during a national election campaign, this time targeting a former aide to the nation’s most powerful elected leader!

If this is Friday, I must be in Paul Martin’s Canada!



And then they had identical picture posts. As the saying goes small minds seldom differ.

Kate:

The Enemy Is Everywhere

I'm beginning to suspect the Conservatives have recruited small children...


martinandscaredchildren.jpg




Warren:

January 6, 2006 -



(CP – Special) Unidentified child (top right) reacts to hearing “come Hell or high water,” “transformative change,” “essentially,” “very, very important,” “fundamentally” and – most recently – a sitting Prime Minister actually commenting on the merits of an ongoing RCMP investigation: “offensive.” Another unidentified toddler (top centre) slips into a self-induced coma after reading all two pages of Liberal campaign platform. Scott Feschuk, bottom right, channels Paul Wells for his next English-only blog entry.


So you see when I said Warren had gone to the far right....I was well, right. He and Kate think the same; PM bad, Liberals bad, Harper OK!

kate2.jpg

Like siamese twins seperated at birth.


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Saturday, January 07, 2006

Quiz Time Again



"What a mystery is this, that Christianity should have done so little good in the world!
Can any account of this be given? Can any reasons be assigned for it?"
You are John Wesley!

When things don't sit well with you, you make a big production and argue your way through everything.
You complain a lot, but, at least you are a thinker and not afraid to show it. You are also pretty
liked by people, and pretty methodological about your life and goals. You know where you're going.
Some people find you irritating, so watch out for people leaving you out of things they do.


What theologian are you?

A creation of Henderson


Scary how accurate these little quizzes can be. Which is why I posted this in my sidebar. Tag you are it.


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Conservatives Vision of Ideal Day Care

The Conservatives took the opportunity to reannounce their Baby Bonus for Baba Babysitting plan again this week. And as only these arrogant dweebs could they did it in a private upper scale day care for the rich. One their models of day care choices that they offer Canadians. If you can't afford this you get a measly $25 bucks a week for baba to babysit.

Yep I can see that $25 bucks really helping out here. His whole day care plan wouldn't pay for one month at this elite daycare. Vote Conservative if you love the rich.

Valerie Nease, the Copper House day-care director, refused to en-dorse Harper's child-care plan and begged off wading into the political debate.

"I can't comment on that ... I'm staying status quo," she said.

The Conservatives requested a visit to the high-end facility where parents with toddlers pay $1,200 a month, pre-school children pay $900 a month for a spot and children who need care before and after school pay $400 per month.

Nease said her day care, which doesn't qualify for any government funds, welcomes 150 children and there is still a waiting list.

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Harper 's Phony Tax Cut

Well we now know what the Tories mean by cutting taxes. They cut them for the rich and business and increase them for Canadians who earn $40,000 or less a year.

As we reported here the Conservatives intend to tax the lowest earners in Canada to pay for their tax cuts for the rich and their 1% GST cut. Harper attempted to clarify what his plan is for low and middle income Canadians. CBC reported:
"Our plan will mean substantially lower taxes for Canadians. It's a combination of a GST cut, of selected personal tax cuts and some cuts for a range of business.
Harper did add one small tax detail on Saturday, pledging to remove the capital gains tax on charitable stock donations to encourage Canadians, especially the wealthy, to be more generous.

Andthose 'selected personal tax cuts' do not apply to the lowest income earners. The Harper then says that even though the Conservatives intend on abolishing the Liberal Tax cut which comes into effect this year thats ok cause well the Liberals weren't serious about it anyways.

"The problem with general tax reductions, as the Liberals have shown in the past, is they're always offset by other measures," Harper said. "That's why nobody's going to notice this particular tax reduction."


Huh? Talk about the ultimate in cynical statements. So the Conservatives will turn back the Liberal Tax cuts cause they are Liberal Tax cuts. Not because they will be offset by user fees or other increases. This does not make any sense and this Harper guy says he is an economist.
The Liberal government's plan, announced before the campaign began, would increase the basic personal exemption by $500 and trim the tax rate at the bottom income bracket to 15 per cent from 16 per cent.
Now thats a real 1% cut for working Canadians, not like the phoney 1% cut of nothing that the Harper promises he will do with the GST a tax his party introduced in the first place.

Liberal Leader Paul Martin, who was campaigning in Montreal on Saturday, said the Tories would actually have to increase income taxes to pay for the GST cut."They intend to go to those Canadians who need that money most and they intend to increase their taxes," Martin said.

Yep I have to agree with Paul on this one. And so can any rational Canadian. Which will immediately leave out all the partisan Conservatives and Blogging Tories as they try and spin this Tax Increase (which even Andrew Coyne recognizes it to be).

It's politically dishonest and sleazy. The Conservatives now say they will not honour the Liberal tax cuts after saying they would before the election.

"We will be doing our tax plan, not the Liberal tax plan.We can’t do both."

And like 100 monkeys in a room with a calculator the brain trust for the Tory's can't estimate what their tax breaks to the rich will really cost.

Members of Harper's team said they had costed their plan, estimating Tory tax cuts would total $32 billion. Later Saturday, on the campaign plane, Stephen Harper told reporters that the Conservative tax cuts would actually total about $49 billion.

And who will pay for this? Canadians who are lower and middle income earners. Cause thats whose going to pay for the Harper Tax Cut for the Rich regardless of its cost.

Harper spoke to reporters as he visited a car dealership in this southwestern Ontario community to showcase how the cut in the GST would give families a visible tax cut. Posing beside a minivan, he said the party’s promised GST cut would save buyers of such vehicles between $400 and $500.

Yep that Van cost $49,999 not exactly the average family vehicle for the average family that earns less than that annually. Who can afford this why those who earn $100,000 a year of course.

And if I have to hear one more cretin from the right talk about how the NDP is all about increasing taxes, lets hear what Jack has to say about all this.

NDP leader Jack Layton meanwhile, vowed to fight to keep Martin's tax cuts because they help low-income earners.

NDP Leader Jack Layton said he was shocked to hear of Harper's plan and said it shows he has no other way to pay for his earlier tax-cut promises.

"The fact this has come forward should give every Canadian citizen pause as to what kind of an agenda is here, and certainly it's the wrong way to go," Layton said after a rally in Vancouver.

For more on the Tax Cuts that aren't see:
Leaders battle over tax cuts


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Much Ado About BCE

The Blogging Tory universe is all a buzz about with the latest conspiracy theories about Bell Canada (BCE) and its Bell Global media units, CTV and the Globe and Mail, and their connection to the Liberals.See here, and here

Toronto Tory has been digging up dirt onthe executives , all two of them, who are on the BCE board. And how BCE donates to the Liberals. From this he jumps to the conclusion, complete with nice Yahoo Stock charts, that BCE somehow benefited from Ralph Goodales Income Trust announcement.

Of course BCE is a publicly traded company and NOT an income trust, but of course that begs the question when those with conspiracy on their minds start to play connect the dots.

Well all capitalist corporations benefit from and support the state, regardless of the party in power. They donate to both main parties and they hire from both parties. Here is a former BCE excecutive manager who was instrumental in the BCE buying CTV and the Globe and Mail and she is a Conservative.

She is now the President of the Board of Trade in Montreal, do you think she is helping the Conservatives gain votes in her home province. Do ya? Is it a conspiracy? No of course not it's politics of the rich and corporate elite as usual.


Isabelle Hudon
President and CEO
Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal

Isabelle Hudon has worked in the field of public affairs, communications, and strategic positioning for more than sixteen years. She has developed solid expertise in the areas of company reorganization, strategic counseling, communications, crisis management and government relations in both the public and private sectors.

In 1988, Ms. Hudon began her professional career in federal politics, where she worked for more than six years. Starting out as regional organizer and coordinator of ministerial tours for the Quebec wing of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, she joined the office of Minister Monique Landry as press secretary in 1990 – first in the Department of External Affairs and International Trade and then in the Department of Canadian Heritage. For six months, in 1994, she served as executive assistant to Ms. Mila P. Mulroney, responsible in particular for managing the Mulroney family's transition to private life.

After a one-year sabbatical in France, Ms. Hudon joined Bell Global Solutions, a subsidiary of Bell Canada, as a communications consultant. Her mandate focused on positioning Bell solutions in the emerging e-commerce sector.

From 1999 to 2001, Ms. Hudon was senior manager, communications and public relations, with BCE Media. Spokesperson for the company, she was also responsible for coordinating internal and external communications and planning and managing advertising purchases. In particular, she worked on the acquisition, by BCE, of CTV and the Toronto Globe and Mail .

In 2003 before the Elections act changed to reduce direct Corporate donatiaons, Bell Canada and BCE were in the Top 50 donators to the Conservative party. Information is from Elections Canada.

1007 Bell Canada Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 20,000.00 Monetary
1005 BCE Inc Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 10,000.00 Monetary


The Top 10 donations bankrolled the party for the 2004 election.

10 biggest contributions received
No. Name of contributor Name of political party Part number Class of contribution
*		 Amount of contribution
$		 Type of contribution
1114 Magna International Inc Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 380,337.43 Monetary
1155 PM Capital Inc Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 275,000.00 Monetary
1067 Goldcorp Inc Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 250,000.00 Monetary
1096 Jetport Inc Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 250,000.00 Monetary
1165 Rogers Communications Inc Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 250,000.00 Monetary
1199 WITTINGTON INVESTMENTS LIMITED Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 250,000.00 Monetary
1069 Grant Forest Products Inc Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 120,000.00 Monetary
1051 EnCana Corporation Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 100,000.00 Monetary
1137 National Steel Car Ltd Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 100,000.00 Monetary
1189 TRANSCANADA PIPELINES Conservative Party of Canada 4 B 75,000.00 Monetary

The Top 10 Liberal Corporate donations included Bell Canada.

10 biggest contributions received
No. Name of contributor Name of political party Part number Class of contribution
*		 Amount of contribution
$		 Type of contribution
50 55555 Inc. Liberal Party of Canada 4 B 2,974,341.20 Monetary
371 Bombardier Inc. Liberal Party of Canada 4 B 139,795.22 Monetary
501 Canadian National Railway Company Liberal Party of Canada 4 B 119,579.93 Monetary
1091 Grant Forest Products Inc. Liberal Party of Canada 4 B 105,889.00 Monetary
888 EnCana Corporation Liberal Party of Canada 4 B 103,473.60 Monetary
1392 Kruger Inc. Liberal Party of Canada 4 B 103,000.00 Monetary
6233 Donald Meehan Liberal Party of Canada 4 A 100,000.00 Monetary
2227 SNC-Lavalin Inc. Liberal Party of Canada 4 B 84,664.99 Monetary
326 Bell Canada Liberal Party of Canada 4 B 78,469.94 Monetary
1962 Power Corporation of Canada Liberal Party of Canada 4 B 70,000.00 Monetary


So yes the Blogging Tory's are right to identify Bell Canada,now BCE its parent holding company as being big donors tothe Liberals, but so what. Thats just business, if the Conservatives were the government then the corporate donations would roll in to them too. Mind you they won't be getting as much from Magna Corp.

Don't believe me that Capitalist corporations play the winner game in politics and put their money on the party in power. Lets go back a decade to the 1993 election when the Progressive Conservatives were last in power. Here is what BCE donated to them and to the opposition Liberals.

Progressive Conservative Party donations 1993
BCE Inc. $50, 000
BCE Inc. $30, 000
BCE Mobile Comnunications Inc $5, 000

Liberal Party donations 1993
BCE Mobile Communication Inc. $5, 000

Meanwhile the Conservatives coming into this election had already raised $5 million dollars in donations. Because the ceiling on personal donations was set at $5000 as Democracy Watch points out it still allowed corporate donations to be funneled through the staff and employees of a company.

Mr. Conacher said that the $5,000 limit is higher than what an average Canadian can afford in a year and should be lowered to $1,000. He added that the limit, as well as the new law in general, is undemocratic because it "facilitates funnelling of donations by corporations, unions and other organizations through executives and employees." Not all of the donor's information, such as employers or major affiliations, is disclosed, Mr. Conacher said, so voters still don't know who is supporting or "bankrolling" the parties.
It's one of the ironies in this election that the Conservatives have benefited from Bill C-24 and its electoral reform, allowing more funds to be laundered into the party without corporate identification, since only members of the Conservative Party of Canada voted against the bill en masse. And yet the new election act has leveled the playing field, as the case of the Power Corporation shows.

Conservatives out-fundraised Liberals in first three months

For the first quarter of 2005, the Tories raked in $2.6-million in donations compared to the $2.2-million raised by the Liberals. Critics say the new fundraising rules banning corporations and unions have been a 'bonanza' for parties.

According to the list of contributors published by Elections Canada, many well-heeled Canadians contributed to the Tories and Liberals, including Montreal's powerful Desmarais family, owners of international management and holding company Power Corporation.

Five family members, including Paul Desmarais and his son Paul Guy Desmarais, gave the maximum allowed contribution of $5,000 to the Liberals for a total of $25,000, while four family members gave the maximum amount to the Tories for a total of $20,000.
Of course the Desmarais family is closely connected by marriage to Liberals such as Jean Chretien. But a certain lonely heart Conservative Deputy Leader has been romancing one of the Desmarais girls. So do you think he is being a bag man for the Tory's as well as a young Lothario? Well of course, if we use the logic of the Blogging Tory's.

And yes while BCE is a hornets nest of Liberals, Rogers Communications is a hornets nest of Conservatives. But of course the Blogging Tory's are not talking about Ted Rogers at all.

As for bias in the media, well yes Mike Duffy does literally gush over every Liberal he see's. While Don Newman over at CBC 'this is pooooolllliiiitics,' plays time keeper between disputing talking heads on his program. So again the Blogging Tory's attempt to create a Liberal conspiracy out of personal political peccadilos is a bit much.

They are trying to say that where there is smoke there is fire. Sometimes, to paraphrase Freud, where there is smoke there is just a good cigar.


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Canadians Give Harper the Boot


Harper is toast, no matter how ya spin it. He is toast if he wins Minority government, he is toast if he looses the election. Toast. As I have said all along.

Poll finds 44% low on Harper
Sun Media, Canada - 6 Jan 2006
TORONTO -- The Conservatives may be ahead in the polls now, but 44% of Canadians think their chances would improve if Stephen Harper wasn't leader.



My Columns:

Harper

Tory Watch

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Elsie Wayne Challenges Harper

Toronto Tory commented 'grow up' on my recent post; Conservatives Hidden Agenda Exposed.

Well a couple of days later and a millimetere taller here is what the MSM is reporting.

Tory firebrand Elsie Wayne back on national stage to fight same-sex marriage

Wayne says she is convinced a national referendum on the marriage question would produce overwhelming support for the traditional definition.

"We have a lot of people in this country who are for marriage being between a man and woman and nothing else," she says.

"The fact of the matter is that Paul Martin just listened to a few loudmouths on this issue. He hasn't listened to Canadians."

Wayne's controversial views on homosexuality often landed her in hot water when she was an MP and deputy leader of the Conservative Party.

She says Canadian society is founded on Christian values and there is no place in that value system for people who have made what she considers a lifestyle choice to live as gays and lesbians.

"If you want to live that lifestyle, go live it. But don't ask us to change marriage. Just shut up about it," she says, repeating comments she once made in the House of Commons.




And not to be left out Michael Coren the scion of the Catholic Right sez Stand up for family values, Mr. Harper


And I said that the Conservatives are wide open to using the Free Vote and thus the Not Withstanding clause on a variety of issues of importance to their right wing base, including (despite thier convention resolution) abortion, the death penalty and Same Sex Marriage.

An article in the Toronto Star confirms that my scepticism of Harpers promise that 'he' won't use the Not Withstanding Clause, is hollow since he does not speak for the backbenchers that will bring forward private members bills on these issues.

Will Harper override the Charter?
Survey shows Conservative MPs will exert strong pressure on leader to change definition of same-sex marriage if they take power, say Jerome Black and Bruce Hicks

During the two leaders' debates, the issue of revisiting same-sex marriage was raised and Harper repeated his commitment to hold a free vote. He went on to say that he would not use the "notwithstanding clause" — the clause that allows Parliament to override the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — during the vote on "that issue."The implication is clear. Harper's promise to not use the notwithstanding clause is temporary. He will specifically not use it in the free vote to repeal same-sex marriage that will take place immediately following the election.How will MPs vote? When will Harper use the notwithstanding clause? An overwhelming number of Conservative candidates — 86 per cent — responded that Parliament should be able to override the courts. In fact, more Conservatives would support Parliament in overriding a court decision on the Charter than would vote for the repeal of same-sex marriage.
So what is likely to happen on same-sex marriage under a Conservative government?Based on the views of candidates, it seems likely that the Commons would repeal same-sex marriage.

Now who needs to grow up Mr. TO Tory?


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Tory's To Increase Taxes On Poor

Tax Cuts For All............ My Corporate Friends

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says he'd repeal current income tax cuts

In order to pay for all their tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy the Conservatives have announced they will INCREASE taxes on the lowest paid Canadians! They have to pay for their GST cut of 1% of nothing.
This is a gives new meaning to an old Conservative tradition; The Poor Tax.


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Conservative Blogger Endorses NDP

How did I miss this entry by Macleans into the realm of Election Blogs, hmm must not have read the blog announcement from Paul Wells. Actually they just started election blogs this week. Slow off the mark Macleans. Sort of reminds me of the Liberal campaign. Both didn't get started till this week. And Paul Wells made no announcement. Sort like that other Paul.

Generation XYY of the neo-cons, Tasha Kheiriddin and Adam Daifallah are now election bloggers at Macleans. They replace their elders,Jason Kenney, Rob Anders, and Ezra LeRant as the newest generation of the same old same old Replublican Conservatives in Canada.

Anyways, Tasha and Adam join Paul Wells, Warren Kinsella (the whore that roars), Colby Cosh and Maude Barlow. All that's missing is Buzz Hargorve.

Not a NDP supporter amongst this motely crew. But what else is new, we know that to the MSM and theirpet bloggers this election is the same old same old, Liberals vs. Tory's.

In her latest blog installment Tasha takes Buzz's call for Strategic voting to heart and admits that she is going to have to vote for Olivia Chow, since she lives in the riding of Trinity Spadina. She says she is forced to do this cause of the first past the post system we have of regressive representational democracy.

While I don’t believe out-and-out proportional representation is the answer, a review of the federal system is in order.

Such a review includes many options, including making the Senate an elected, regionally representative body, electing some MPs at large while others represent ridings, or moving to a type of preferential ballot. MP recall laws would also hold politicians’ feet to the fire between elections.

So far only two parties have called for election reform, the NDP and the Green's. Sure the Conservatives have revived the old Reform Party program, like Frankenstiens ghost, of an elected Senate,with the Liberals piping up with a "Me Too".

Senate reform is as dead as a door nail. Waste of time and space. It's an outdated institution. The idea of the Triple E senate so favoured by Preston Manning, and the Reformers that are left in the Conservatives, Ralph Klein and Link Byfield is NOT electoral reform. As I have written before, we need to ABOLISH THE SENATE.

And while Link Byfield is a Senator in waiting along with a half dozen other Reform Party members in Alberta, when the last provincial election was held the majority of Albertans did NOT vote for our Senators in waiting. We either ignored the phoney election, abstained or spoiled out ballots.

Which says something considering that Alberta is the home of the Triple E senate lobby. If you can't get enough folks to support the idea here, its time to drop it.

Nor do we need American Style Republican Recall of MP's. This idea along with Term Limits failed in the U.S. and has failed miserably in B.C. where it was used to attempt to destablize the NDP provincial government.

Recall originated in Alberta back in the 1920's on the left. The United Farmers of Alberta and the Canadian Labour Party, under William Irvine had in their platforms recall as well as referendums. But once in power this too was shelved as unworkable within a parlimentary democarcy of the British model.

Recall is uneccasary in a parlimentary system where elections are held every four to five years. By the time one gets a petition launched, signed and passed by the courts, its election time give or take a year. As the B.C. experience has taught us.

What is needed is to have set dates for election. Proportional Representation, and eliminate the Senate (which discriminates against renters and those who do not own $5000 worth of free standing property, and owning a car doesn't count).

By getting rid of the Senate we open up the House of Commons to expand the number of seats, and I would further suggest a reduction in the size of Constiuencies, so as to have more not less MP's.

Meanwhile I am heartened to see that despite her neo-con agenda, Tasha has to take the plunge and vote strategically for the only person able to defeat the Liberal in her riding, Olivia Chow.

See the Conservatives can work with the NDP.

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