Thursday, January 05, 2006

Dead Men Tell No Tales

Nor do dead women. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists , 47 journalists were murdered doing their jobs last year. At least half in Iraq. Which may be the reason the Pentagon saw fit to publish their own good news stories and plant them in the Iraqi press. Just covering for all those journalists murdered by friendly fire.....

Iraq still remains the most dangerous place for journalists: 22 journalists lost their lives there in 2005. A total of 60 journalists have been killed on duty in Iraq from the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 through the end of 2005. That number surpasses the 58 journalists killed in the Algerian conflict from 1993 to 1996.






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Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Harper Runs from the Centre Rules from the Right

I just can't get over how many times the Harper announces he is for 'working families' in Canada, messaging usually associated with the Left and the NDP in particular. He has talked about workers and workng families through out this campaign. And as I wrote here before, he wants to be the friend of blue collar Canadians.

But has the leopard really changed his spots? Well no. He doesn't eliminate the GST he reforms it, chips away at it a percentage here and there. Does he eliminate the Liberal immigration Head Tax? Nope he chips away at it, leaving it reduced to $100. He does things half way. He doesn't support more day care spaces, he gives working Canadians a tax credit instead.

But is this a new Harper, as flawed as his positions are, really appealing to the needs of working class Canadians? Not really says an excellent column in todays Winnipeg Free Press. Which because it is a subscriber only page I am reprinting here in case it no longer sits in the Google cache after today. And besides he says exactly what I have been saying all along.


View from the West and beyond

Canadians terrified of Harper's real plans

Wed Jan 4 2006

FRANCES RUSSELL




WITH the wind at their backs from NDP leader Jack Layton's calls for a change in government and a cheerleading national media, Stephen Harper's Conservatives are cruising at 54 per cent in the polls, just as Brian Mulroney was in April 1984.

Well, no.

After almost two years of all-scandal, all-the-time, the Free Press headline Monday summed it up best: "It's Tories by a nose in new poll." All other surveys still show the Liberals tied or with a slim lead.

How can this be? How can the Liberals even be close after the gaffes, the insensitivity, the dithering, the lack of focus, the culture of entitlement, the arrogance and yes, the scandals? Not to mention the 22 months of the most relentlessly negative campaign in Canadian history, staged by Harper's Conservatives.

Part of it may be public turnoff from the daily battering of words like "corrupt," "corruption," "organized crime," "criminal conspiracy" and worse, spilling daily from the Conservatives, amplified by most of the media. Like battery acid, it's corroded the civility of our political culture and is driving voters away from the ballot box in droves.
But mostly it's because, furious as all Canadians are at Liberal sins, they remain terrified of Stephen Harper and the direction he would take the country.

Like the Bush Republicans, the Harper Conservatives set groups in society against each other. Like Bush Republicans, they govern for the secure and affluent, for the "have mores," as President George W. Bush once memorably described them. And like Margaret Thatcher, they don't believe in society, only in individuals.

Their idea of public policy, as a prominent New Democrat once put it, is to give everybody a bucket of gravel and tell them to go out and build a highway.

It sounds so democratic to give individuals money to "choose." But Conservative promises of taxable allowances and credits, for day care, for public transit passes, for private but not public pensions and for children's amateur sports, don't create public services available to all. They just help individuals with above average incomes. Taxable allowances and credits do nothing for people who don't pay taxes and little for people who earn a modest living.

The single mother working at Wal-Mart on minimum wage can't benefit from a taxable allowance for child care. She needs a subsidized child- care space, a space that won't be available. A tax credit for a bus or subway pass isn't any use to her either if she can't afford all that money at once or if there is no public transit to use. As for the tax credit for sports equipment, she needs it for food and rent.

Harper's $400 million for individual transit tax credits would be better used assisting municipalities to improve their public transit systems. His $1,200 per child taxable allowance is of no use if there is no quality child care to be bought at any price. And his $250 million for new child care spaces is conditional on those spaces being provided by business through tax credits, hardly comparable to the Liberals' universal national childcare program, modelled after universal public education.

The senior relying on the Canada Pension, Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income Supplement is by definition worse off than the senior with a private pension. But the worse-off senior gets nothing from the Harper Conservative plan for tax credits for private pensions only.

Harper says his plan to station the military in big cities is to deal with natural disasters. But it has sinister connotations of a U.S.-style security state and is far more likely to be about social control.

As the gun violence currently plaguing Toronto illustrates, there is blowback from government policies designed to punish certain groups in society simply because they are disadvantaged. Toronto today is reaping the whirlwind that the former Conservative government of Mike Harris sowed when it slashed welfare rates by 22 per cent and terminated social housing. And Torontonians should take note that several former Harris cabinet ministers are running on the Harper ticket.
In addition to squandering billions on tax allowances and credits to well-off Canadians, Harper intends to cut the GST by two percentage points, transfer a substantial number of tax points to the provinces as he takes Ottawa out of national programs and further slashes personal and corporate incomes taxes.

Vancouver entrepreneur Jayson Kaplan recently returned to Canada from the U.S. In a letter posted on the Politics Canada website, Kaplan is urging his fellow Canadians to see the close similarities between Harper and Bush. He says Harper is using Bush's 2000 election strategy, allaying voter fears by promising to be a "compassionate" conservative, not to intrude the state into matters like abortion and only to spend "projected surpluses." Once in office, Bush did the exact opposite.

"Voting for Stephen Harper is like voting for George Bush," Kaplan writes. "The two are just too similar in their campaigns and their beliefs for it to be a coincidence."

FrancesRussell@mts.net



My Columns on Harper

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The First Attack Ads

In all the discussion about who will launch the first attack ads in this campaign everyone forgets it was the NDP who did so with their "The Gift" Give the Liberals The Boot ad. The y did it back before Christmas. And it was done right, with humour. Laughter is the most effective weapon because it ridicules rather than scares.
NDP `taking it up a notch' on airwaves

The NDP's first two English-language ads have only been gently negative, presenting lighthearted criticism of the governing party. The New Democrats' pre-Christmas ad, for example, reminded viewers that all the Liberals had given Canadians this holiday season was a lump of coal, but they'd given their Liberal friends big gifts. Then, it encouraged voters to turn around and give the Liberals "the boot" this holiday season. Although critical of the Liberals, its witty approach softened any blows.
But the boot is gone and gloves are off as the NDP prepare to launch two new attack ads. 19 Days and counting.

the New Democrats are set to release a pair of new ads, one that hammers the Liberals' record and another that pushes the NDP agenda as the only possible option for voters come Jan 23.
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Gotcha!

Poor deluded Herr Patels he likes to call people names but can't take it when he is outed for his blogosphere political identity psychosis. But hey I got him to write about me again. Thanks Werner. He has however learned not to link to my website when he attacks me, as he did, again today in his blog item Clarifications

As Mark Twain once said; "Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial "we."

It appears that the singular author of Alberta Avenue has this problem and I don't think its' because he has tapworms. To be an editor means you actually have someone, other than yourself, to edit. So I will leave it to you dear reader, does this not sound like a case of multipleblog personality psychosis;

Eugene Plawiuk has attacked this online magazine and one of its authors claiming that AlbertaAvenue - The Voice of Alberta does not know where it stands.

This blog claiming to be an online magazine has only ONE author, poor deluded Werner.

He knows full well the Le Revue Gauche is a journal of Libertarian Communism, which is a school of poltical and philosophical anarchism, but he prefers in his haste to comment to shorten it to communist. Either that or he is red-baiting. Could it be? Say it ain't so, in this day and age!

This seems terribly disingenuous for a 'professional' translator of languages. He cannot even translate or even transliterate the term Libertarian Communist correctly. I will not be hiring him to do translations of any Marx or Hegel or heck even
Gustav Landauer for me anytime soon. And perhaps this is why as a professional translator he has so much time on his hands.

His current attack on me of course clarifies nothing, it merely repeated his rambling illogic of why he supports the parties he does which I pointed out in my orginal article makes him a certified political opportunist at best or a certiriable nutbar at worst.

So I suggest that since he is planning to run for the Provincial Liberals he should resign immediately rather than wait, since all his blogging will come back to haunt him. Just like it did Klander and Stamp.

No, No, Werner don't thank me I just don't think you are ready to run for any party until you get over your political psychosis. And your overt fixation on gay politicians like Svend Robinson. Which you say is the reason you can't support the NDP......

In addition, we cannot condone their decision to put up an ex-con and jewel thief as a candidate, which goes against their repeated claims of fighting against thieves in government.

And he uses that royal 'We' thingee again just like Her Majesty.

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Tory TV Ad Unrealistic

At least one Blogging Tory has raised concerns that the Conservatives new set of attack ads on TV, may have been a boo boo considering the positive message ads the Liberals launched this week.

There are two Tory ads, one with a grim faced Paul Martin with messaging rolling over it.
The other TV ad is average Canadians in various public locales with a TV going on in the background announcing Liberal scandals. The first scene shows a TV announcement then zooms in on two guys in a Tim Hortons, ok maybe not a Timmys but a coffee shop, and low and behold in front of them is the Globe and Mail, with a headline on another Liberal scandal.

This is completely unrealistic no one in a Canadian coffee shop, or even a Timmies reads the Globe and Mail, they read the Sun. The Sun. It can be found in every major city in Canada including Toronto. The only people who read the Globe and Mail drink lattes at Starbucks, and even then they may be found reading the oversized edition of the Sun; the National Pest. Both papers are available at Starbucks.

Clearly this ad was made
in Toronto by latte drinking liberals, out of touch with mainstream Canadian culture. Shame on the Tory's. They could have least brought in their resident expert, on all things Timmy, Monte Solberg to advise them. He would have immediately pointed out this flaw in their props.



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Thanks Herr Werner

Werner Patels aka Alberta Avenue who suffers from multipleblog personality syndrome, and is poltically schizophrenic ( he supports the Tory's Federally, is a Liberal provincially, hates the NDP with a passion, and is now passionate about the Green Party) took umberage with my column about how Edmonton Strathcona Candidate Linda Duncan NDP challenged the Green party on her website.

She also challenged the Liberals and Conservatives, but Werner is now a born again Greenie, having worn out his welcome with Progressive Bloggers and Blogging Tory's with his rantings.

In doing so he saved me the effort of posting the link to the article on Canadian Conversation, and of course on the Green Bloggers site. Thanks for the publicity Werner.

Werner says;
"I think the Green Party should launch a solid counterattack against that NDP candidate and set her straight."

Well that would certainly be something to see considering that most of the enivronmental movement in Alberta knows Linda as one of Canada's top Environmental legal experts and lobbyists. Yep I would love to see that debate, hey the debates are coming up next week guess we will see what the Greens have to say then.

Werner on the other hand remains strangely silent about the Elections Canada investigation into the Green Party and complants from members that Jim Harris and his Tory buddies have taken over the party in a coup de dat. Strange cause Werner says he is all about transparency and good governance.

Green Party hit with second elections complaint

A second complaint to Elections Canada of alleged electoral-law violations by Green Party officials has been made public by a former party member, even as the party threatens legal action against the initiator of a complaint reported last week.

Elections Canada talking with Greens about possible election-law violations

The discussions are based on a letter of complaint filed by Matthew Pollesel, the party's former assistant national organizer. Pollesel alleges that the former grassroots party has been hijacked to gain access to federal election subsidies provided under the new elections-financing law. Leader Jim Harris is accused of underestimating his expenses for the party leadership in 2003.

But not so strange when you realize that Schizoid Werner is anything but transparent hiding behind his multipleblog personalities.

Also see

Green Party Seal Hunt Flippers




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More on Anders

Wayne Chu had a visit from Rob Anders, Conservative Calgary West and has this to say about the arrogance of Rob. Just another reason to Vote Out Anders.

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Love Me, I'm A Liberal

So Buzz is at it again vying apparently for a Senators Job with the Liberals, no not the hockey team the guys in the Red Chamber.

On a Sunday CBC Talk Show wacky old Buzz attacked the RCMP investigation into the Income Trust Scandal
claiming it was a Tory set up against the Liberals, and that the RCMP were politically motivated.

RCMP should have waited, Hargrove says

Buzz Hargrove said it was not "proper police work" for the RCMP to confirm it was investigating a possible leak of the announcement in the midst of a federal election campaign, and suggested that it gave an unfair advantage to the opposition.

The outspoken union leader made the assertion on CBC Radio's morning program The Current, in which he was on a panel of political "mavericks," along with former Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish and one-time Conservative Deborah Grey.

Mr. Hargrove, who endorsed the Liberals in December, characterized the "supposed leak" as an opportunity for the Conservatives to launch a "nasty campaign" against the reigning Liberals.


Except the RCMP began the investigation based on an NDP complaint.
Guess its cause Jack didn't consult with Buzz over that.

He was so outraged that the Liberals should be challenged on what could be a major case of insider trading, that he let the cat out of the bag HE REALLY IS THE POSTER BOY FOR THE LIBERALS....so no wonder they are using him in their wallpaper poster campaign.

Yesterday, other members of the CBC panel responded with incredulity to Mr. Hargrove's statement. Ms. Parrish called Mr. Hargrove a "former idol of mine. He's obviously deserted the NDP and gone very Liberal on us," she said.
So I thought of Phil Ochs when I read about Buzz, and this came to mind......

Love Me, Love Me, Love Me, I'm A Liberal ....Phil Ochs

Once I was young and impulsive
I wore every conceivable pin
Even went to the socialist meetings
Learned all the old union hymns
But I've grown older and wiser
And that's why I'm turning you in
So love me, love me, love me, I'm a liberal


A tip o the blog to Dissonance And Disrespect for this

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PM to Eliminate PM Immigration Tax

In a stunning announcement yesterday Paul Martin PM announced that he will eliminate the decades old head tax on new Immigrants imposed in 1995 by Paul Martin, Finance Minister.

"For many Canadian families with immediate relatives overseas, one of the challenges that they have faced is the $975 right of permanent residence fee," he said.

Immigrant Canadians were heard to ask; what took him so long?

Don't worry they were assured it will only take three years more to get rid of this unfair tax burden on them and their families. Cause change can't happen overnight.

The landing fee will be phased out over the next three years. The fee will drop immediately to $600, then to $300 after 12 months, and finally to zero within the next two budgets.


Wait a minute it didn't take three years to impose this new 'head tax' why is it taking three years to eliminate it?

The government had claimed the fee was imposed to cover costs associated with processing applications. Yet opponents criticized the fee, saying it was a money grab.


Wait a minute, how come they didn't get rid of it during the last twelve years in power?

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PR will lead to Fascism

Proportional Representation will lead to fascism says the Editorial in yesterday's Brandon Sun. Now this has got to be the lowest of the low in defense of the status quo.

In response to Jack
Layton and the NDP's call for electoral reform the Sun says the reason we don't need PR is cause our system allows party's to become more centerist while PR allows for radical fringe parties to get elected. Now we wouldn't want that. With no mention of the fact the Green Party says the same thing, oh right they are a radical fringe party according to the Sun Editorial.

While that seems more democratic, it would be anything but. What it would do is give small fringe parties supported by only tiny pockets of Canadians all the power to decide whether governments live or die. And what that would mean is that instead of encouraging parties to be mainstream, moderate and offer universal appeal to Canadians, it would instead reward radical ideas and crazy policies that are simply unpalatable to most Canadians.

Like in Quebec where the Liberals and Coservatives would actually gain seats under PR which they won't under the current system. But the BS over looks that.

They follow up that comment with this;

Look what’s happened in other countries that have had PR. In 1999, Austria’s moderate centre-right party formed a coalition with the ultra right-wing Freedom Party, a populist fringe group whose leader, Joerg Haider, described the policies of Adolf Hitler as “exemplary.” Since then, the right-wing coalition that rules Denmark has also had to appease the far right in order to keep power and as a result has had to adopt restrictive — some might say racist — anti-immigration policies.

The papers initials BS certainly applies to this editorial.


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