Ralph Says Ompph

This is a tragic comic classic for April Fools day. But this is no joke. So befiting the man who would be King forever. Now humbled on this famous day that makes fun of all rulers and their pomposity. Poetic justice indeed.

It's all over but the whailing. King Ralph's tragic tumble in slow motion from his throne began with his ill called 2004 election, is peek aboo healthcare reform, his threatening and challenging over how long he can retain power.

Klein takes devastating blow to leadership

And now his own party shows a massive 45% vote opposed to his continuing to linger in office. Ouch.



His big mouth has gotten him into trouble again. He announced he would be quiting if he wasn't supported at this convention. Well it has instantly come back to haunt him.

Klein dealt a crushing blow in leadership review

The press will badger him mercilessly about it, like a murder of crows after the battle.

So I ask is he more Hamlet or is he more Richard the III?

We shall see this afternoon when and if he meets the crows, err, press.

Will he retreat and hasten his retirement? When a leader gets only 55% support, he has lost the confidence of his party and his Volk. Ironic. Like his 'defeat' in the 2004 provinical election. His loss of seats, but left with an overwhelming majority the envy of every dictator in the world, left him rudderless, and the party adrift.

The PC's want, and need, a leader who swill steer their good ship of State somewhere, anywhere. The last thing they need is a lame duck leader who gooses the party while leading from the stern.

CALGARY (CP) - Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has received support from just 55 per cent of his fellow Conservatives at the party's annual convention in Calgary. It was not immediately clear what action Klein would take, though the numbers could only be seen as a crushing blow. Many observers had suggested Klein needed at least 75 per cent to avoid a serious challenge to his departure plans. Klein has traditionally enjoyed an approval rating of more than 90 per cent.

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Bush Liberation

King Georgie II announced at Freedom House that, shock of shocks, Womens Liberation is a key component of human rights struggles. It is the new face of American Humanitarian War. No wait it is the same old face. Yep they used Womens Liberation, that is the liberation of women from Islamiscist tyranny, as an excuse to invade Afghanistan. Sharia law being replaced with pluralistic modernist parliamentary representative democracy. Whew that was a mouthful.

And we have the photographic evidence of the success of the Bush war for Womens Liberation in Afghanistan.


Before Libertation After Liberation

Afghanistan; Americas Shame Canada's Tragedy

More On Afghanistan


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Is Delphi the Oracle of things to come?

Delphi not only halts production, breaks its union contract and lays-off workers, but it also bails on its underfunded pension liabilities. Awash in money GM seperated out Delphi for exactly those liablities. Now they come back to bite both companies in the ass. And they come back and hits workers twice as hard, first as workers losing their pension benefits and then as taxpayers asked to pay for the company outsanding debt on those benefits.

The pension funds themselves? Well those not locked into payments become a source of liquid capital for Delphi in bankruptcy.

Pensions will also be replaced with defined-contribution plans for hourly employees who are more than seven years from retirement and not covered by the GM benefit guarantee and salaried workers. The company said it will also need to obtain relief from the U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., Internal Revenue Service, and Department of Labor in order to amortize funding contributions over a longer period than may have previously occurred. Congressional action may also be necessary, Delphi said.

Proving once again that labour is the source of all capital, Delphi is stripping itself of its 'costs' that is variable labour; workers and commodities and holding on to its fixed assets as assurance.


See

Pensions

GM

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Eine Klein Nachtmusik

I read this Tories pressed into display of support

and thought of this guy

Supporters of Premier Ralph Klein are planning an orchestrated show of caucus support before Friday's crucial leadership review vote.

Caucus whip Denis Ducharme sent copies of a letter to the 61 government MLAs calling on caucus members to join the premier on the stage in a show of solidarity and support for the premier.

Ducharme's letter leaves little doubt that all MLAs are expected to show their loyalty to Klein.

Ducharme told Tory MLAs that Klein's speech, being touted by some as the most important in his 25-year political career, "will outline how he plans to work with our caucus during the remainder of his term.

"I would like to ask, as a demonstration of our support for the premier, and as a show of party unity, that our entire caucus move up onto the stage to stand briefly with our leader immediately following his speech," the letter says. "A cue from the stage will signal that we should move from our seats and file up via the closest stairs to join Premier and Mrs. Klein."

And I thought of the big mass rally that this weekend is to be for our Great Leader and thought of this.

Dont know why for the life of me.

After all I cannont conceive of what Alberta has in common with these other democratically elected one party states.

Just a thought. Since Daveberta gets all verklempt about this kind of comparison.

Hello, wakey, wakey, we live in a One Party State. We have a Great Leader who wants mass public support. Hmm could it be a metaphor? Meta For what? The Marxist in me wants to say.

Of course Daveberta being the politcal straight edge guy he is, will not find this funny either. Since he thought so little of the comparison of our Dear Leader with This Guy.

As for the headline here's the link, and correct spelling, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

by a more enlightened German,Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, than our King Ralph.

More Klein

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High Tech Keyensians

Once again the harsh reality of capitalism and its state once again debunk the fantasy world of the anarcho-capitalists and their lazzie faire comrades. Here again capitalism cannot function without some kind of prime the pump state intrusion into the marketplace. Because the market place is disfunctional. Unfortunately unlike my friends in the Libertarian Left I do not believe that the market place of capitalism can ever be anything but what it is; a Harsh Mistress. And here again we see it in it's neo-coservative version of Keyensian economics.

This is the same ideology of neo-conservative statist economics, as those who would have the state promote venture capital schemes as Alberta did and then sold off.

High-tech firms need government help, executive says

Last updated Mar 29 2006 11:19 AM MST CBC News

An Edmonton entrepreneur says the Alberta government has to do more to encourage investment in the province's small but burgeoning high-tech sector. Adrian Banica owns Synodon Inc., a small high-tech company that specializes in gas detection technology. He said without government help, the high-tech sector will disappear from the Alberta landscape because it can't compete for investment with the oil and gas industry. Banica added that he has had trouble for years raising money to develop his product and expand his business. He said for an economy to be strong, it has to be diverse, so the province should provide more incentive for investment in high-tech. "The government has to put some dollars forward and then demand that private investors match it at least. But one thing that could make a big difference is to have some sort of tax credit that's issued on certain investments." A recent survey of 128 high-tech firms by Ernst & Young discovered that 49 per cent of high-tech companies are thinking of moving to other provinces that offer tax credits and financial considerations for technology businesses. ERNST & YOUNG: Alberta Technology Report 2006 High-tech companies are also concerned about finding new customers in what they consider to be a limited marketplace. In the Ernst & Young report, 91 per cent cited that as their greatest challenge.

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Dildo Residents Given the Shaft

I know I know I just coudn't resist the great headline, however this is a case of a company that is just this side of a Ponzi scheme. The result is still the same; screwing investors.

Don't blame us, Edmonton company tells Newfoundlanders

Last summer, the company came to Newfoundland and Labrador communities to find people willing to buy the products and work as independent distributors. Organizer Tracey Piercey said about 200 people signed up with the company last summer. She and others who attended a meeting Sunday night in the community of Dildo said they were promised high rates of returns within months of becoming involved.

As they say Cavet Emptor, or perhaps Invest Emptor, while the folks fleecing those gullible would say Carpe Diem.

Piercey said participants were told that when houses were sold, they would earn back their money – and a profit. Company president Dexter Dombro said the plan was never supposed to be about easy money.



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What's The Rush

Despite a declared amnesty for underground workers, those sans papiers as they are known in Europe, those without papers, now the Conservative government is deporting these foreign workers, giving them the bums rush, as they try and figure out how to run the department.

So the new Minister in charge, Monte Solberg, instead of declaring an amnesty on any further deportations till he actually knows what is going on, instead says steady as she goes.

And off goes the border guard to deport not criminals, not gunrunners or drug smugglers, nope just hard working construction workers. So much for securing the border in Canada against illegal guns, all the Tories have done is sicked the border cops on taxpaying foreign workers. The New Multitdue

And wanting to show they are tough on immigration; like Lou Dobbs, and tougher than George Bush, the Conservatives make an example of hard working folks kicking them out of Canada and telling them to reapply. A real fine example of compassionate conservativism. Ottawa rejects US model on workers

The past three Liberal immigration ministers all announced plans to regularize the status of illegal immigrants who toil in the vast underground economy -- 10,000 to 15,000 in Ontario alone and an estimated 200,000 nationally. Past promises of an amnesty gave false hope to these underground workers, some of whom came forward to file refugee claims and/or humanitarian applications in an attempt to stay -- only to be ordered deported.Foreign labourers shown the door

Ironically this will come to bite them on the ass as the big Tar Sands companies need and want temporary workers to come to work in Alberta which is going through a labour shortage. Lack of Planning Created Skills Shortage in Alberta

They're Alberta bound

So which is it going to be welcome temporary workers or deport workers already here. The mind boggles but at least we know that the labour crisis in Canada is a low priority for the newly appointed Minister.

Solberg says the numbers of Portuguese the Conservative government has removed pale in comparison to the roughly 700 the former Liberal government had deported in the past three years. Last week, he said that dealing with this issue is a "low priority" for the government -- although he denies Ottawa is stepping up deportations or singling out Portuguese. The Canadian Border Services Agency is on track to deport about 10,000 people this year.

Also See: No Place At Home


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A Little Bit Of Heaven In Ottawa

Alberta is fondly refered to as Gods Country. In the house that King Peter Lougheed built; the post 1971 PC controled Alberta Legislature, the TV cameras all focus on the Government Bench and the Premiers front row.

There is no ability to pan across to the opposition or even the public gallery. And if the Premier moves out of range of these anchored camera's well they miss the action... as occured recently when King Ralph threw legislation at a page.

The Press gallery was two floors below any offices of importance. But the fridge used to have beer so that made it barable.

The Press in Alberta is dominated by Kleins autarchy, obey the rules or don't get called. Bite the hand that feeds you press tips and well, so much for your career as a political reporter. And then there is the Alberta Media version of FAUX News the CFCN network, and Limbaugh in Ruthordford.

Back in the ninties the only provincial public radio station in Canada; CKUA was fully privatized and lost its perennial contract to broadcast live from the Alberta Legislature during Question Period when it was held.

They had done this for seventy five years, and even survived the tyranny of the Social Credit government of Bible Bill. But in one fell swoop of anti-democracy the only station willing to carry the QP was cut off from access due to increased costs charged to them now that they were privatized. The logic befuddles the mind.

So good luck in Ottawa, you mighty media giants. You are about to face the wrath of Gods country. How DARE YOU PRESUME on the PM. Welcome to a little bit of Alberta in Ottawa. A little bit of Heaven for Cesar Harper.

Reporters face off with PMO over limits on access

Harper tightens secrecy, limits access

Tory gov't secrecy blasted by Graham

Battle heats up between media and Prime Minister's Office

Security on Parliament Hill barred reporters from attending a pair of Stephen Harper photo opportunities Monday as the Prime Ministers Office flexed its media messaging muscles.

The made-for-TV confrontation between security and reporters outside Harper's office door graphically illustrated the deteriorating relations between a PMO seeking total message control and news media defending their hard-won access.

It's a battle that may be beginning to resonate beyond the cozy precincts of the Peace Tower as the Conservatives threaten to hold secret cabinet meetings and withhold information about visiting heads of state.

"Harper ran on a campaign of open and accountable government," New Democrat MP Charlie Angus said Monday.

"And the first thing we see him doing is putting plywood up over all his windows and barring access to the doors. My question is, why? What is Harper afraid of?"

Among a series of media access restrictions already imposed or being contemplated, the most inflammatory is a plan to bar reporters from staking out cabinet meetings, where they can ask departing ministers about their portfolios.

In order to stop the practice, the PMO is suggesting it will keep the weekly meetings secret. At a minimum, it hopes to force reporters to wait a floor below the cabinet room, so that only ministers who want to speak - or have permission - will face the media.

Emmanuelle Latraverse, a Radio-Canada reporter and president of the press gallery, said the PMO is attempting to claw back access rights that have taken years to win.


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Hey Ralph Smell The Coffee

In Alberta it is very bad to be spoken of in the same breathe as Jean Chretien. Very bad indeed. Just ask Paul Martin......And it is reoccuring more frequently......Ralph and Jean, two who took too long to say goodbye........

Like Jean Chretien, Ralph Klein can't see that times have changed

Major tactical errors have touched our previously Teflon premier

Sheila Pratt, The Edmonton Journal

Published: Sunday, March 26, 2006

So how did Ralph Klein, for years the leader who could do no wrong, get himself into such a mess this week?

Mr. Populist Premier, just "Ralph" to most Albertans, the mastermind of massive Conservative majorities for a decade, suddenly finds his grip is slipping. One cabinet minister, Lyle Oberg, openly says it's time Klein is gone and another, Ed Stelmach steps down. With party rank and file torn in their loyalties, the top brass worry Klein may take the party down with him.

It seemed to happen so fast, but signs have been there for awhile.

Who could forget that great moment after the 2001 election when an ecstatic, yes, gloating Klein grinned into the cameras "Welcome to Ralph's world!" He'd crushed the opposition to nine seats and took back much of Edmonton. He had the world in his hands.

That was the zenith. The cult of Klein soon began to fray at the edges and it was evident after the 2004 election,which laid the groundwork for today's mess

A new fear factor: Speaking up to Ralph

Globe and Mail, Canada
By Deborah Yedlin.

CALGARY — Lyle Oberg has been a hot topic in Calgary's business community since he broke ranks with Alberta Premier Ralph Klein and dared to voice what many in this province have been thinking for at least the past 12 months.

One oil patch industry insider went as far as saying "people were very happy" that someone finally had the gumption to challenge Mr. Klein, even if it has cost Mr. Oberg a run at the top job in provincial politics.

Many business leaders in both Edmonton and Calgary have been equally reticent to confront him. They too have been nattering for months that it's time for the Premier to go but because the oil patch depends on the government for favourable rulings on everything from royalty rates to approvals for new projects, the silence has been deafening.

Now, Mr. Oberg has spoken up and will likely pay the ultimate political price. With luck, his comments will resonate with delegates when they walk into the voting booth this weekend and anonymously cast their ballots during Mr. Klein's leadership review.

Mr. Klein has said he's willing to accept a 70-per-cent approval rating. He'd do better to think of two Jeans: Mr. Béliveau -- who retired after helping the Montreal Canadiens to win 10 Stanley Cups -- or Mr. Chrétien, who will go down in Canadian history books as a leader who held on to power at a huge cost to the country and his party.

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The Truth Is Missing

The Canadian Blogging Community Page over at The Truth Laid Bear has been missing in action for a week now. The page pops up with the following message;Sorry; this page is not yet available. Check back in a few hours... Hours is one thing, days and weeks are another.Anyone know why the page is not available?


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