... this was not a mistake. Starting a land war in Asia is a mistake. This is akin to wearing a meat tuxedo and gravy-scented aftershave to a wolverine convention.'via Blog this'Canadian Cynic and Rev. Paperboy discuss legal strategy.It saddens me that CC's return to the blogosphere is only temporary and instrumental, but I'll take the laffs any way I can.Related posts:How do we help poor Sarah Grunfeld?All this Catholic-school business reminds me of a Mel Brooks momentRe Brigette DePape: I will now eat my words …
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... with his contemptible, sanctimonious hypocrisy.With regard to @Vikileaks30, the sordid details of Toews' personal life were not "leaked." They were set out in public documents available to anyone with reasonably effective research skills. There was no breach of the law, so there's nothing to investigate.I can't really improve on the Dawg's description, so I'll just cite it here:Those details were already public record, obtained without the warrantless taps and probes that the Public Safety Minister wanted to lay on the rest of us. They expose the unpleasant fact that the man who ran on a …
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One Town's War on Gay Teens | Politics News | Rolling Stone:"Asked on a radio program whether the anti-gay agenda of her ilk bore any responsibility for the bullying and suicides, Barb Anderson, co-author of the original "No Homo Promo," held fast to her principles, blaming pro-gay groups for the tragedies. She explained that such "child corruption" agencies allow "quote-unquote gay kids" to wrongly feel legitimized. "And then these kids are locked into a lifestyle with their choices limited, and many times this can be disastrous to them as they get into the behavior which leads to disease and …
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Some weeks ago, I urged Canada's two main opposition parties to set aside their differences and work together for the greater good.Perhaps "urged" isn't the right word.But I'm moved to reiterate by recent events, including the internal machinations of both the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party in the wake of last year's electoral disaster. Yes, I'm using the word disaster deliberately. Not just because of the collapse of the Liberal Party, although I'm not too broken up over that. And notwithstanding the gains of the NDP and its ascent to Official Opposition status. You can guess why, …
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Source here.Strictly speaking, I have doubts about the authenticity, as this guy can actually spell.Related posts:Electro-Motive: Foreign corporation takes Canadian tax dollars, fucks over Canadian workers | #cdnpoliThe Sun's effect on our national conversation is obvious, but what about the Globe?BCL catches @SueAnnLevy rewriting history, smearing brave firefighters#SunMedia and journalistic ethics: another juxtapositionKate's royal ass cheek: #sunmedia triumphs again, @davidakin makes sure we all know about it …
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... while Harper's thumb stays firmly planted up his ass.Montreal Simon and Owen Gray have already flagged this, so I can't really add much.But hey, I could be wrong, so please -- let me know if I've left anything out.Related posts:Liberals, NDP, whoever. I don't care what we call them | #cdnpoliOh, and while we're busy demonizing the #Occupy movement ... | #classwarfare #cdnpoliLawrence Martin on Harper's proto-fascism | #cdnpoli …
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From the Globe: The Office of the Independent Police Review Director concluded constables Michael Adams, Babak Andalib-Goortani, David Donaldson, Geoffrey Fardell and Oliver Simpson used excessive force after tackling Mr. Nobody to the ground.The report concludes that charges should be laid, too, but apparently because it's taken more than six months, the chief has to get permission from the Police Services Board. (Yeah, that's how criminal procedure works for everyone, isn't it.) From the Star:Usually, charges must be laid within six months of the incident. In this case, the police services …
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Sweet, sweet irony.Or is it poetic justice?Don't care, really. Either way, there's a week's worth of schadenfreude watching Harper squirming on this.Here's a guy who redefines the words "control freak." In fact, I believe I read somewhere on the intertoobz that his picture comes up when you google the expression.And today, he gets caught looking while some nameless schmuck in the Justice Department argues that same-sex marriages aren't valid for some weaselly reason. With all the money they spend on message control, you'd think one of his spin doctors would have flagged that and kept it from …
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The Tyee – This Year, Put the Country Ahead of the Party:" ... with the election of Stephen Harper, everything changed. No prime minister in Canadian history has come to power with such a ruthless determination to implement an agenda so at odds with the interests of the country and the values of its citizens. This involves not just a set of policies aimed at eliminating the social and economic role of the federal government. It includes, on a parallel course, a determination to change the political culture of the country to one that either supports or acquiesces to that policy agenda. (The …
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Daily Kos: I See What Occupy Vancouver Did There...And It's Brilliant: 'via Blog this'At the Daily Kos, Ed Murray shines the light of reason on the corporate media's theme-O-the-week:The media’s latest attempt to undercut the message of Occupy movements all across the globe is by touting the “cost” of these protests. Many sources are reporting that Occupy movements are costing cities hundreds of thousands of dollars in police overtime because apparently it takes an entire precinct to make sure that 50 people don't sleep through the night.In the piece, he highlights Occupy Vancouver's …
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Media culpa: Margaret Wente, Math and Christianity: More factual/attribution errors?:'via Blog this'What's that? Wente being sloppy with numbers? Wente being shoddy and haphazard with attributions? I'm shocked. Shocked.Maybe we should chill out a little, though. It's not as if she's writing about anything incendiary, like white people and brown people, or Christians and Muslims, or anything.One really has to wonder what purpose the Globe thinks it's serving by running Wente's copy. It's certainly not serving the cause of accuracy or intelligent conversation.Related posts:Fiscal demonization of …
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Like clockwork, the corporate media are swinging into action. Or perhaps like robots.Either way, the narrative is being reinforced and amplified. Just now on CTV a "news" report is pegging the cost of Occupy at something over $714,000. Police, EMS, landscaping, etc.Cue the manufactured resentment and the divide-and-conquer rhetoric: dirty fucking hippies taking over a public space, with all the usual triggers:rampant drug use noisefilthstreet people nuisancedrummingand the rest of it we can recite in our sleep: hostility, local residents and businesses intimidated by the menacing …
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Managing Occupy protest cost city $1-million, city says - The Globe and Mail: 'via Blog this'It's masquerading as "objective" "news," but in fact it's anything but.Note how Canada's National Fishwrap steers the discourse: the whole story is about how much money the city of Vancouver had to spend "managing" the protest. The implications are obvious, and the questions they're meant to raise are predictable -- as are the resentment and demonization they're sure to trigger. Goddamn hippies, taking up space, playing their drums and doing their drugs, and I'm paying more taxes to feed them and clean …
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George Monbiot – Unmasking the Press: 'via Blog this'Too bad about Hitchens, but the best thing I've found about the corporate media this week comes from Monbiot. Everything you need to know, including the essential 99 percent versus 1 per cent dynamic, is in here.The class-warfare element is fairly obvious, and set out fairly high in the piece. Monbiot takes no more than a couple of spare and elegant paragraphs to touch on how the conversation is manipulated in a way that mobilizes people against their own interests or redirects their attention in harmless or ineffectual ways.What's …
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Under this PM, the state is everywhere - The Globe and Mail:'via Blog this'It doesn't make up for the fact that it still publishes Wente, but every now and then the Globe manages to do something worthwhile.My only quibble with Martin, other than that he still hasn't appeared on the Tweeter, is that he doesn't quite go where he's obviously heading and use the F word. The propensity for control and domination is staring us right in the face.Just take a look:Fetishizing the militaryA publicly funded propaganda machine, amplified by willingly braying transmitters at Stun MediaDisdain for …
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Time to revive a dormant feature.Here's the tough guy, pepper-spraying unarmed students. Can't help but notice the contrast: students sitting peacefully and silently get pepper-sprayed in the face. Students trashing their campus and destroying vehicles because a child-rapist football coach got fired get ... a stern frown?Full story here. Why do I get the feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of this, both down there and up here?Related posts:Little Eichmann of the DayAuthoritarian whacking material: the Stacy Bonds videoHey, RCMP? How's that kicky, tasery, shooty thing workin' out for ya? …
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It's a straightforward question: what are people talking about? What's capturing their attention and imaginations? Public conversation. Nothing gives you a better sense of a community or a society than gauging what people are talking about. (24/7 on Kim Kardashian? That's got to tell you something.)It's been one of this little corner's favourite hobby horses for as long as I can remember. Public discourse. National conversation. Provincial. Municipal. Whatever. You want civic ambition, you need to look at the quality of the conversations people are having. (I'm focusing on civic ambition …
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Detroit prayer rally draws protests - Arizona News from USA Today:'via Blog this'Ignorant hateful superstition? Check.Racism? Check.Religious intolerance? Check.Homophobia? Misogyny? Fundamentalist fetus fetishism? Yep. All there.Sandbags along the border, people. The Sewer of StupidTM is backing up again ... Related posts:Thoughts for Remembrance Day, and Matt Taibbi figures out the Occupy movementAmerica overheats: The Sewer of Stupid is about to overflow | #USpoliAbout those attacks on Planned Parenthood ... …
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It's a big man who can start a national column with an admission that he got it wrong.This little corner's been relatively silent on the whole Occupy thing, but now that it's gotten the Masters of the Universe sufficiently rattled, they're cranking up the apparatus of repression. At encampments everywhere, the cops are moving in.In Toronto, Mayor Stupid's opened his yap to talk about the calls he's getting from people who want the St. James camp shut down. Naturally, he's putting it in terms of standing up for businesses and taxpayers. Not citizens. Dumbass has a way of describing the voices …
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Must be Halloween or something.I have no words.Update: the clip in all its glory. …
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Oh look. Mayor Stupid's gotten some international recognition!Worse than Glenn Beck. Glenn Beck.When? When will this nightmare end?Related posts:So Mayor Stupid takes one in the nads on the waterfront ...Oh, look: everything Team Ford touches turns to crap. Don't look so surprised@cityslikr on Team Ford's bullshit, and our complicity therein …
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So it seems Bill Blair isn't getting with Team Ford's austerity program.Instead of being a good boy and implementing the 10-per-cent reduction the mayor's team is demanding of city managers, he's looking for a budgetary increase. Not a lot, mind, but the surrounding drama, already at a slow boil, has been cranked up even farther, and now there's speculation that his job's on the line.The Star's quoting Councillor Michael Thompson to that effect:"It flies in the face of all of the discussions we have been having with the chief up to this point ... If the chief is not capable of doing the job …
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Big tip of the porkpie to Lorne over at Politics and its Discontents.There are times when the sheer inertia and toxic, paranoid self-pity at the core of dysfunctional cop culture makes you want to just give up. Fortunately, Lorne's got the energy and determination to get past those times.Three recent posts from him can attest to that:From The Police Beat: More Police BrutalityAnother Police EmbarrassmentSometimes The Tools Of Police Intimidation Are Not PhysicalWhich reminds me: why haven't charges been laid against the assholes who:beat the shit out of Lacy MacAuleykicked Adam Nobody in the …
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So it appears that Mayor Stupid and Brother Dumbfuck underestimated the backlash they'd triggered by fucking around into the waterfront. A big tip of the chapeau to the folks behind CodeBlueTO, and everyone else who worked to stop them.However, as Harvey Keitel might have said in Pulp Fiction:It's worth remembering that while opposition might have coalesced around this particular trigger point, that opposition isn't even close to being solid or sustainable. There are still plenty of councillors in the "mushy middle" who are susceptible to flattery, bribery or bullying, and it's not as if the …
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Just Couldn't Leave It Alone, could you.So I followed JJ's link to the homophobic fruit bat and found: I find myself unable to even leave the house anymore without worrying about what in tarnation we are going to encounter. Tarnation.Someone actually talks that way.Just for the sake of context:Bart: [incredulous] Barbershop? That ain't been popular since aught six, dagnab it.Homer: [reproachfully] Bart, what did I tell you?Bart: [abashed] No talking like a grizzled 1890s prospector...consarn it.(Anyone finds this on YouTube, email me.)Related posts:The Sunday Survey of StupidAll this …
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So much to choose from, and that's without any reference to the stream of stupid coming from Michele Bachman's piehole.We'll start with another brief edition of What Pogge Said.From the beginning these negotiations have been kept secret. Nothing was admitted publicly until they were well along in the process and had "supportive stakeholders" lined up to go to bat for them in the media.I mean, given the Harpokons' record of openness and transparency, I just have such a warm squishy feeling knowing I can trust them on the deep integration file. Right?Then there's this lovely little nugget from …
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In the spirit of charity, I was going to suggest we take up a collection to buy this poor misunderstood child a hearing aid. We're not here to judge, after all. We're here to help.Then this:Moron Student Who Accused Jewish Prof of Anti-Semitism: I Am The Victim Here: 'via Blog this'Forget the hearing aid. Kid needs a gag. Or perhaps a brain. Maybe this guy can help.Also from Gawker:Sarah, if you try really really hard for the rest of the year, you may come out of college smarter than you went in. It's not a good bet at this point, though.Related posts:Thwap on "Islamicism" America …
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I'm all for respectful dialogue and agreeing to disagree, but there's a point at which you just have to admit it: we are right and they are wrong and clinging to their illusions just makes them look even dumber.For Christ's sakes. All those disgruntled Ford voters out there who are suddenly discovering that Mayor Stupid has no commitment to transparency and just loves him some tacky backroom waterfront deals with big developers – what the hell did you expect?Where have you been? Have you not been paying any attention to this clown and his brother?Were you so wrapped up in the anti-Miller, …
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thwap's schoolyard: "Islamicism":Every now and then I'll make an observation about Harper and his continuing stupidification of Canada, but really, when the thwapster brings his A game, no one does this better.Heh. "Looking at them like they puked." Personally, whenever Harper opens his mouth, I look around to see whether someone's just shit his pants, but hey, that's just me.'via Blog this'Related posts:All this Catholic-school business reminds me of a Mel Brooks momentThe Catholic school system needs to get its hands out of our pocketsAnti-Muslim Blogger: Slain Norwegian Teens Were …
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Just checking in.Any progress identifying / charging these cocksu – er, perps?No, eh? Oh, well. Pretty hard when witnesses don't come forward, isn't it.How about:Arresting the two assholes who kicked Adam Nobody in the face after he was handcuffed? Charging the cowardly sacks of shit who beat the crap out of Lacy MacAuley? Or the scumbags who tore John Pruyn's prosthetic leg off? Or the sadistic pigs who got their jollies kicking Sean Salvati around in the interrogation room and then parading him around naked, in front of a female cop? No? Well, do keep us posted. …
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Why not just have the Americans write our legislation for us? - Peace, order and good government, eh?: What pogge said. If I might just throw one more word into the mix: Comprador. Because "whores" and "traitors" just seems a little ... vulgar. 'via Blog this' …
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I suppose if I'm going to go on and on about church doctrine, it's only fair of me to put it in context.What can I do? The power of Christ compels me.Related posts:All this Catholic-school business reminds me of a Mel Brooks moment LGBT students run into a wall at the Toronto District Catholic School Board The Catholic school system needs to get its hands out of our pockets …
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I'm sorry, I just can't help it sometimes.It's probably not the most famous or best-remembered scene from Blazing Saddles (and in truth, it's got a lot of competition), but in light of the Catholic school system's way of dealing with gay and lesbian students, it seemed apropos.Related posts:LGBT students run into a wall at the Toronto District Catholic School Board The Catholic school system needs to get its hands out of our pockets The day they turned the Charter of Rights into toilet paper …
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And that's just for starters.The travesty that took place this week is common knowledge by now. Activist Leanne Iskander, who's got more courage in her little finger than most people have in their whole bodies, has been threatened with disciplinary action if she continues her advocacy for gay-straight alliances.From Xtra:Leanne Iskander has been blocked from starting an “LGBT support group” at her school and told that if she continues to advocate for gay-straight alliances she will face “disciplinary action.” Iskander, the founder of Catholic Students for GSAs (CS4GSA), and her …
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Sometimes the posts practically write themselves.I'm sure all the obvious Simpsons references have already been made, although the giant Ferris wheel thing does put me in mind of that scene from The Third Man with Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.Either Mayor Stupid's on vacation or Brother Stupider's gone off message again. Can never tell with these two, and more often than not, it doesn't really matter.[<a href="http://storify.com/orwellsbastard/sometimes-the-posts-just-write-themselves" …
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Let Freedom Rain: "National Necrophilia Week": Ezra Levant wears orange wig, drinks Orange Crush. Mocks Layton's passing.: What Jymn said. 'via Blog this' …
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The Real Johnson: An Open Letter to Christie Blatchford: 'via Blog this' …
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I'm reminded at times of that aphorism (can't remember whether it was Mark Twain or Winston Churchill) about a lie getting halfway around the world while the truth is still getting its pants on.It seems you could make a similar observation when you're comparing decency with meanness of spirit. The yargle-barglers may have speed on their side, but then that's because what they do consists of little more than running around, screeching, and scattering handfuls of loose stool as far as they can throw it.View "The newest contest among the yargle-barglers of the Right" on StorifyLet 'em fill their …
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Activist Communique: An open letter to Christie Blatchford by Alice Moran | rabble.caNOW Magazine // Daily // News // A vainglorious, partisan spectacleThing is, Blatchford and her enablers probably get off on this sort of thing and see it as validation. Sad, really. …
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She's found a way to make @SueAnnLevy look classy.(Honorable mention to David Naylor for this.Well done, all.) …
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