Quick shot this morning (h/t pogge):So Peter MacKay's paused his droopy-dog-photo-op shtick long enough to accuse Iggy of undermining morale by asking questions about the F-35 boondoggle. (God, I hate that word, but in this case ... )Two words: Pat Stogran.Shut up, Droopy.Where's my flight suit?  …
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You can't go yet. We're not done with you.But seriously, though ... several bloggers have joined in the karmic pile-on already, so I'll forbear for now. But I can't help noting how consistently some of the biggest names at Sun Media have been stepping in pile after pile of their own shit recently.There's Kory and his Snuffelupagus-impersonating "source." And there's David Akin and his spotty grasp of history. In fairness, David deserves credit for having owned up and fixed his "embarrassing mistake," but it does say something about Sun Media that it stayed online for a week without anyone else …
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Honestly, he's starting to smell. Dear Lord, who told this little pisher that kacking into cyberspace is the same thing as a contribution to intellectual discourse?  ("Hey, look at me, I'm a Stockaholic!  Look at me! Look at me!")Another smear job, another steaming pile of crap, lies and hysterical accusations. And for kicks, he ties Margaret Atwood to Al-Jazeera with a lurid story about some dirty Muslim terrorist who smashed a 4-year-old kid's head with a rock. Just in case it isn't clear that this is a Clash of CivilizationsTM, and the brown folks with the funny names are …
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From Margaret Atwood on Twitter:Well, I'm sure they'd love to, but in between calling for the mass murder of Tamil refugees and smearing George Soros as a Nazi, I doubt they have room. …
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Screen cap from Saturday September 11, 5:16 p.m. ET.Well, now.That would be at least four days that no one's bothered to correct David Akin's paragraph confusing Joe Clark with Robert Stanfield. As even a cursory internet search reveals, it was Mr. Stanfield whose Progressive Conservatives lost the 1974 federal election to Pierre Trudeau's Liberals. Joe Clark's first federal campaign as Tory Leader was in 1979.Yes, that would be the National Bureau Chief for Sun Media.  The point man, one would think, in ensuring the credibility of Fox Noise North's political coverage.Yeah, well. …
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From this week's Now magazine:Don't know if the URL will stay linked to Lacy's letter, so I'm including a screen cap.Once again, asshole cops pushing people around, brutally abusing them and stealing their personal property, and not even a hint of accountability. When normal people do this, it's called assault, robbery or stealing. When cops do it, well, the rules are different. Anyone still hoping for a meaningful institutional response?Can someone please explain the difference between these sadistic pigs and the average gang of schoolyard bullies shaking down smaller kids for their lunch …
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Deep sigh.Again with the cultivated ignorance from the flying monkeys of the Right. One of the things you constantly hear them whining about, when they're complaining about the leftwing socialist libtard media, is about how the liberal media suppress freedom of speech because they won't publish "politically incorrect" viewpoints.Should I make the type larger here? Would that be the written equivalent of speaking slowly and using short words? How often do we have to go back to first principles with this crowd? I'll go through it once more:Freedom of speech means you get to say whatever you …
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Speaking of big shiny flying metallic probing objects (h/t deBeauxOs) ...Air-show flyboys rattling the rafters yesterday with their displays of testosterone-sodden militarism. Just like Gaza or Beirut, perhaps, except without the explosions and hundreds of deaths. I've always loved their sensitive and nuanced community outreach, too; yeah, we know it's louder than hell and causes permanent hearing damage, but it brings in the tourist dollars, so fuck you.Is it unseemly to watch, on the off chance that one of the silly bastards might crash?Noteworthy, though, is how they cancelled it …
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I know, I know. Taking pleasure in the misfortunes of others is so unseemly, but honestly, this couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.Linky-dinky. …
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The most telling paragraph from Avaaz.org's response to the attempt to spam its petition:It's deeply disturbing that in all Avaaz's years of campaigns against US President George Bush, Burmese, Zimbabwean and Sudanese dictators, irresponsible multinational corporations and corrupt politicians, no one has ever yet stooped to this kind of tactic to undermine our members' right to express their views. Yep. Of all the nasties Avaaz has taken on, only Fox News North's supporters have gotten this dirty and desperate.Update: Susan Delacourt puts the whole mess in perspective here. If she's …
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I'm guessing not. But didn't stop him from writing a whole column based on it, now, did it.(Update: Kady's on the trail now. Probably not the only one, either. More here, here, here, and here. Be interesting to see what comes of this ... ) …
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The online petition to keep Fox News North from infecting our national discourse is striking a nerve. Predictably, the flying monkeys of the right are whining about "censorship."Here we go again. One of the most predictable things about the radical right is the incessant obsession with stripping words of their meanings. In their through-the-looking-glass world, words can mean anything. They can be stripped of their connotations and used with no regard for context, for history or even coherence. Case in point: among our southern friends, the disciples of Karl Rove have been so successful in …
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Seriously.Between CTV and Canwest or whatever they're calling it nowadays, isn't there enough of a steady drumbeat of right-wing memes already? We don't have enough of these narratives bouncing around in the echo chamber? How much more do we need?Ottawa police chief Vern White seems to have taken up the scaremeister-in-chief role for today, and found willing stenographers in CTV Ottawa. Terror is the new reality, apparently. Be afraid. Ottawa is vulnerable, and we don't know how many more scary brown people with funny names there are.And so it goes. Citizens urged to be vigilant. 9/11. Let's …
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As you can tell by looking over to the right a little, I follow quite a few blogs. Dozens, in fact. Lots of friends on Facebook and hundreds of tweeters as well. And sometimes I just go surfing, clicking on links without any preconceived objective, just to keep reading. So I can't really remember how I found this, but thank you to whoever pointed me to it.Phil Plait - Don't Be A Dick from JREF on Vimeo.Rather timely, I think, because it's hard to be a skeptic, especially given the institutional energy devoted to pushing packaged narratives and manufactured storylines. It's never been easy to …
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For the last day or so, I've been thinking about Alex Himelfarb's wonderfully thoughtful essay on why people vote against their own interests. Again, nothing I can say to improve upon it.And now, a perfect illustration: from the Star today, it seems that Rob Ford is “tapping into suburban fury.”So what is this “fury,” and why, since the Star never explains, should anyone take it seriously?Is it just the usual “I don't wanna pay taxes for those condescending downtown elitists / lazy overpaid unionized thugs / tax-and-spend socialists / artsy-fartsy communists, yargle bargle …
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Not going to try and summarize it here. Can't possibly do it justice. Here's a taste:The new anti-elitism is, I believe, profoundly misplaced, strangely focused on politicians, public servants, experts, and knowledge workers rather than on those who have all the money and power. That’s certainly good news for those who have all the money and power.Read it here.I know I've gone on about the cultivation of stupidity and the celebration of ignorance, but this takes the analysis that much deeper. It's long, but it's worth it. Go. Read. …
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From Ottawa, we learn that the Harper government is preparing to stave off another round of criticism over the F-35 deal. A breathless release from the PMO suggests that our brave flyboys took to the skies to fend off a Russian attack, narrowly averting a heinous violation of our precious bodily fluids – er, our pristine northern sovereignty.Must be hard standing up for what's right nowadays. Defending our northern skies from the godless commies is child's play compared to defending the Harperites decisions to scrap the gun registry, kill the long-form census, undermine …
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Oh goody.Perhaps Kory knows something the court doesn't?Not content with using Palinisms, the new boss of Quebecor's "news" operation and putative Fox News North supremo seems to have convicted Omar Khadr already. Hell, why bother with a trial? Due process is for wimps, I guess.Couple of generations ago, guys who think like this were leading lynch mobs. Nowadays, this is more their style. …
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I won't try to summarize Paul Wells' argument here. It's succinct enough on its own. The money graf:This is not mere disregard for reliable data. It is an attempt by the state to put falsehood in the place of reliable data. George Orwell wrote books about this sort of thing.Read it here.Really, what more is there to say? I wrote recently about the damage that results from turning ignorance into a civic virtue, and here's a prime example.And looky here: it seems some of Harper's fans don't like what Paul has to say. And they don't like what the peer-reviewed facts and evidence about Insite and …
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Clayton Ruby represents Charlie Veitch, who was charged under the Public Works Protection Act in connection with the G20 clusterfuck. He's got some choice things to say about the Charter of Rights and freedom of assembly. More at The Real News Best suggestion: cut off the money. Isn't that reassuring? More at The Real News …
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Oh, Poutini's.Tempted this morning by the prospect of brunch poutine ... the usual ingredients, plus poached eggs, bacon and bechamel sauce. (Just in case there was any arterial clearway left.)But no. They're not doing it any more. Why? Why?Existential angst. If this is better for my heart, then why is my heart breaking? …
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Staying up late to watch a replay of a mayoral candidates' debate from earlier this week on CP24.Mea culpa: a few weeks ago, I was chortling at the prospect of Mayor Rob Ford because I thought how entertaining it would be. The guy's feet would be in his mouth so often, he'd need a welcome mat on his chin. Reporters would be fighting to get on the city hall beat. Every time he served up a gaffe, it would be a straight shot to the front page. It would make Mayor Mel look like Winston Churchill.I hate to say it, but he's still got a way of capturing my attention. (No shit. Rossi's talking now and …
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One of my favourite bloggers, a guy whose work I've followed for several years, had a sobering post this week. You can read it here.Well, whaddayagonnado, as Tony Soprano might say. Morons, racists, assholes, and charlatans. (And Rob Ford, for that matter, but more on that in a minute.) They'll always have big money and big influence behind them because they serve certain interests and help advance certain agendas.So how to explain their current ascendancy? I don't have a comprehensive explanation, and I doubt I could fashion one without going into a lengthy deconstruction of how …
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