Just a coincidence

I was interested to read today that the RCMP concluded its investigation of the income trust affair and had exonerated the previous Liberal government from any wrongdoing in the investigation of last year's income trust announcements. In fact, the only person charged after "an exhaustive investigation" by the RCMP was a senior Department of Finance bureaucrat. (RCMP Release).

In a *completely unrelated* announcement, PM Steve's government announced today that they will be increasing the number of Mounties they are sendng to Afghanistan tenfold (from 6 to 66), by sending an additional 60 to be part of the Afghan mission.

Like the Chief Electoral officer before them, the RCMP will have to learn that there are consequences for not going along with Steve's politically motivated schemes. I can only assume that next week, Public Safety Minister Day will be opening up a Gulag in Inuvialuit as part of Canada's New Government's crackdown on crime.

The world's oldest living man

The world's oldest living man at 115, Hryhory Nestor from Stariy Yarychiv, Ukraine, was born during the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Check out the Reuters story and video.

Bush Declares Iran’s Arms Role in Iraq Is Certain

From Today's NY Times, after the weapons of mass destruction debacle hasn't Bush ever heard of the fable of the boy who cried wolf?

Classy move by Sharapova

Belorus-native and tennis star Maria Sharapova has donated $100k to the UNDP to help families affected by the 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear disaster. Bravo.

So Dion shuffled George Young and Jamie Carroll...

I am on the distribution list for the Liberal Leader's press releases, but I am not sure that this one was circulated. Mr. Dion announced on February 1, 2007, that George Young, the interim National Director of the Party was being replaced by 28 yr old Jamie Carroll, Dion's former Director of Parliamentary Affairs and Deputy Director of his Leadership campaign.

Rumour has it that Young will be enterring the OLO in an as yet undisclosed senior Communications advisory role. I wish both George and Jamie well in their new duties.

They're here, they're here

The new Conservative French language ads. I believe that the domino one is the most effective. The other 2 make me think that the Cons are Westerners who don't understand Quebec...I guess we'll need to wait and see, but I am not sure that they will have much impact whatsoever.

It's like Battlestar Gallactica vs Buck Rogers

So the real Democratic battle heats up between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama, the race for Hollywood cash and endorsements (hat/tip to Huffington Post) .

Vermont Senate delegation proposes Cyber Security Breach legislation

Having had my credit card replaced recently over security breaches, this is a welcome piece of legislation from Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy:

Can the Democrat-controlled Congress achieve more progress on protecting privacy and in dictating how companies respond to data breaches than the last Republican-led one was?

Legislation introduced last week by Vermont Senators Patrick Leahy(D) and Bernie Sanders(I) would, if passed, require companies to notify law enforcement authorities and the individuals affected when data breaches involve personal information. It also would require companies and the government to establish controls to protect people's privacy.

For data brokers, it would force them to let individuals access their personal information and correct inaccuracies. For the government, it would require audits of agency contracts with data brokers and impose penalties on contractors that fail to meet privacy and security standards.

Senator Leahy said that data privacy is a priority because Americans' "most sensitive personal information can be accessed and sold to the highest bidder, with just a few keystrokes on a computer".

Hopefully this legislation will receive speedy passage.

I'm not saying John Baird's a liar...

I'm not saying John Baird's a liar...but Al Gore has a picture of him with his pants on fire.

OBAMA - Believe the hype

Obama is the real deal. Check out his launch speech at www.BarackObama.com.

Bourque's Headlines for sale scheme illegal advertising- Elections Canada

CP reports that the cons will not be able to get a free ride from Bourque in the upcoming election campaign. Said one saddened neo-Con, "I only read him for his Car racing updates." He added, "The Conservative party only pays indirectly for space by buying his coffee."

Monday Conservative sleaze update

A year ago, Canadians were promised in the Conservative platform an end to patronage appointments. They said:

The Liberals have repeatedly appointed insiders, in some cases completely unqualified, to important public offices. Liberal candidates and MPs have received appointments as heads of Crown corporations, board members, and ambassadors. Liberal staffers, including some of those responsible for the sponsorship program, have worked their way into key positions in the public service.

A Conservative government will:
• Establish a Public Appointments Commission
to set merit-based requirements for appointments to government boards,
commissions, and agencies, to ensure that competitions for posts are widely
publicized and fairly conducted.

It was with this in mind that I was shocked to learn that Canada's lily white New Government has been appointing hacks, slacks and bagmen to the committee that nominates and reviews judicial appointments. I guess Steve has no problem with politicizing the judiciary after all.

As John Ibbitson says in this morning's Globe and Mail,"There isn't any other way to put it: The Harper government, by perverting the rules and by appointing party loyalists to key positions, intends to stack Canada's courts with conservatives."

Ironic bordering on bizarre

I find it passing strange that on the same day that Anna Nicole Smith passed away leaving an orphan baby daughter, that Myriam Bedard was awarded custody of her child and Karla Homolka had a baby boy...discuss.

Rick, please meet Bob Ringma

So, to much fanfare last week PM Steve announced that Ottawa will fund $30 million over five years for spinal cord injury research and rehabilitation. That is a noble investment, but seriously short of what the government should be doing on income support and accessibility programs for persons with disabilities.

The Conservative government still smacks of the Bob Ringma mentality "if I hired blacks or gays, and my clients found it offensive, I would make them work in the back of the shop," Harper's former Caucus colleague was memorably quoted as saying.

For the Conservatives there are deserving and undeserving poor. They will provide incentives for rich parents with disabled kids, but not supports for persons with disabilities who want to work. They fund mosquito bednets but not AIDS research and health care in Africa.

Which brings me to the irony of the Rick Hansen announcement. In meeting with the Prime Minister, Hansen couldn't get his wheelchair into the Langevin Building and was forced to go through the back alley through a freight entrance. Hopefully, with egg on his face, Steve will commit more money to improving accessibility for persons with disabilities in next month's budget.

More on Yanukovych's grain bungling

As I mentioned in this space last week, the Yanukovych regime is really bungling grain exports. More updates on this in Foreign Notes. It seems that corruption hasn't quite been rooted out yet when it comes to Yanukovych and his buddies.

Hey Tubby, your negative ads aren't working

According to Canadian Press a Decima research poll finds that most Canadians find the anti-Dion Tory ads unfair.

Feb. 7 2007 --(Canadian Press) -- OTTAWA -- A new poll suggests Canadians are not impressed by Conservative party TV ads that attempt to discredit new Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.

The survey by Decima Research found that 38 per cent of respondents -- out of a sample of more than 1,000 -- recalled seeing the attack ads.

But among the 388 Canadians who remember watching the unusual, non-election-period political advertising, 59 per cent said the ads were not fair in how they described Dion. Only 22 per cent felt the ads were fair.

Fully two thirds of the respondents said the information in the ads was not relevant to their choice in the next federal election, compared with 26 per cent who said it was relevant.

Follow ups: Shevchenko and Park Avenue

Shevchenko Update number 1

I am pleased to report that Andriy Shevchanko scored twice in a game last week - hopefully shaking the slump that he has been in with Chelsea all year.

Shevchenko Update Number 2

In a follow-up to this story, a man has been charged after a bronze statue of famed Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko was chopped off at the feet from its pedestal and carted away from a park in Oakville, Ont.

Curtis Raae, 36, of Oakville faces charges of possessing stolen property over $5,000. He was released from custody and was scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 30.

The massive two-tonne bronze figure was a likeness of 19th-century Ukrainian poet and artist Taras Shevchenko, who is credited with establishing the modern Ukrainian literary language. The head of the statue was recovered at a Burlington metal recycler.

If only investigations of beheadings of journalists in Ukraine during the Kuchma regime could be brought to justice this quickly.

Park Avenue Update

Park Avenue is saved, and Park Extention does not have an existential crisis. The Globe reports this morning that Park Avenue will not be renamed after Robert Bourassa. Mayor Tremblay credited the about face to a
public uproar and a grassroots campaign.

Steve reneges on Wait times promise

Leaving aside for the moment that making a federal electoral promise about reducing patient wait times (an area squarely in provincial jurisdiction) is passing strange, I found it interesting that Steve is clearing the decks of all of his broken promises.

Last week Finance Minister Flaherty confirmed that he and Steve were going to forever screw over the seniors who bought income trusts by believing the Conservatives' electoral promise made by Canada's new government's exalted leader available widely on Youtube.

Today, Steve (like Bush on an Aircraft carrier before him) declares mission accomplished on his 5 priorities from the last campaign in announcing today his next 5 priorities. I hope we are not in another minority situation next year or all the Conservative MPs will need to take their shoes off to count the next set of priorities.

What was stunning to me today was the fact that without any apology or shame the Conservatives have walked away from their wait times promise and for the first time in a generation, we will have a federal political party going to the electorate and publicly saying that health care is NOT a priority for them. This is a very big risk and may well be the tipping point.

Khan for Turner and a second round draft choice

Today, Garth Turner, announced his decision to sit in the Liberal Caucus. If we're keeping score, this brings the number of former Conservatives sitting in the Liberal Caucus to 4 (Bill Matthews, Belinda Stronach and Scott Brison being the other 3). If we were to add to these Diane St-Jacques, David Price, Keith Martin, Andre Harvey, Rick Laliberte, from the previous 2 Parliaments and juxtapose that against david Emerson's selfish move or Steve's recruitment of Wajid Khan, I would say that the long term trend definitely favours Canada's natural governing party.

Having said this, I am sure that there are a number of Liberal Bloggers who wish they could take back their words about Khan's defection to the Tories last month, like someone trying to put toothpaste back into the tube.

What would be really interesting here would be if there were a secret deal whereby the Liberals traded Khan for Turner and acquired the rights for a future star candidate Carole Taylor. Hmmn, but Vancouver Quadra is already a Liberal seat federally...

In case people think I am being hypocritical or self-congratulatory,
here is what I said about the Khan defection. Floor crossing is a part of politics and it really sucks to be on the losing side of a defection.

It's only a matter of time before Steve craters as well

Today, James Carville's Democracy Corps group released new polling data showing that President Bush's pig-headedness has him continuing to crater in US public opinion despite a State of the Union address last month. It remains to be seen whether failed neo-conservative policies in Iraq will lead to similar public opinion outcomes in Canada on Afghanistan for Steve.

Here is what Carville's poll says on Bush's failed policies:

The new year has brought nothing but more bad news for President Bush and his increasingly tenuous political standing. There was some hope in Republican circles that Bush would be able to use the bully pulpit to shift the political environment onto more friendly terrain in January, but after both a prime-time address to the country on Iraq and the State of the Union address, attitudes toward Bush and the war in Iraq are more negative than at any previous point.
President Bush’s overall job approval continues to drop, with disapproval rising for the fourth straight month in January. This month’s approval mark was the lowest of his presidency – 34 percent approve, 61 percent disapprove – and his personal favorability, measured differently across many polling outlets, is at or near its lowest point in virtually every national poll conducted in January.

The war in Iraq continues to dominate the broader political environment, as well as
attitudes toward President Bush. Americans oppose Bush’s troop surge proposal by a margin of approximately 2-to-1 across several polls conducted after his address to the nation on the issue, and disapproval of Bush’s handling of the situation in Iraq recently reached 70 percent in a Newsweek poll and 65 percent in a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg survey – both completed just before the State of the Union. The 2-to-1 margin opposing Bush is reflected in many measures of the war in Iraq across national polls, including whether it has been worth the cost and whether the war has made us safer. By an even larger margin (67 to 24 percent in the aforementioned Newsweek poll), Americans say we are losing ground rather than making progress in Iraq – a figure that has been remarkably stable for nearly four months now.

For the complete poll, click
here.

Canadians are being shot and killed

In the past year the increase in violence against Canadians travelling to Mexico including 3 murders and 2 additional shootings over the weekend is really troublesome.

I checked out the Foreign Affairs Canada website under "Protecting Canadians" on their splash page and found a bunch of stuff on the Afghan mission.

It appears that Pete MacKay and Canada's New Government have a lot of time for the propaganda war on the Afghan Mission - but can't be bothered to intercede with a friendly ally with which we have close ties and have signed many international agreements to ensure the travelling safety of Canadians abroad.

According to the victim's familiy:

"Peter MacKay's talking about that he's contacted me or the family and he's going to have a meeting with the Mexicans... What for? There's no investigation. There's no paperwork. There's nothing."

CTV News January 15, 2007

How many Canadians have to die or get shot before Steve and Petey start taking this seriously?

Colts win Super Bowl XLI!!!

Two weeks ago I asked what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object...well as it turns out determination and teamwork combined with the mental discipline of Peyton Manning to outclass the offensively hapless Chicago Bears.

Manning and Dungy are both class acts and are to be congratulated!

Pumpernickel Superbowl recipes

Well, just in time for the big game between the Colts and Da Bears and I wanted to make sure that everyone is having a sufficient Pumpernickel fix for the game.

Clearly on the snack side I would recommend Snyder's of Hanover Pumpernickel stick pretzels and this old favorite Pumpernickel Spinach dip.

Now this is the most important football game in quite a while, so I thought that it would be an appropriate time to publish Pumpernickel's wife's Slow Cooker Pulled Pork recipe.

Ingredients
3 1/2 lb pork shoulder blade roast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 medium onions (diced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 Bay leaves
1 small can tomato paste
1 can (14 oz.) tomato sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar (packed)
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
2 shallots thinly sliced

Old Cheddar cheese slices
Pumpernickel Rolls

Salt and pepper the pork roast. In a Dutch Oven, heat oil over medium-high heat and brown roast all over. Transfer roast to the slow cooker.

Add onions, garlic, chili powder, Bay Leaves to Dutch oven - fry stirring occasionally until onions are translucent.

Add tomato paste to the onions and garlic mixture while stirring constantly. Add tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, scraping any brown bits from the bottom of the Dutch oven. cook about 2 minutes. Pour sauce mixture into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low setting until pork is tender for 8 to 10 hours.

Transfer pork to cutting board and let stand 10 minutes. With 2 forks, shred or "pull" thepork.

At the same time, transfer the sauce from the slow cooker into a large saucepan (3 quart). Skim off any excess fat. Bring to a boil over high heat. Discard Bay leaves. Add pork as you are "pulling it to the sauce and simmer the pork in the sauce 5-10 minutes.

Split pumpernickel rolls and pile high with shredded pork and add cheese slice and shallots. Enjoy with a nice cold one.

Supreme Court gives Karlheinz Schreiber the Boot!!!

The Supreme Court of Canada today dismissed the Karlheinz Schreiber's appeal to avoid extradition to Germany. Despite the Supreme Court Ruling, Schreiber, has indicated that he will seek different avenues to appeal and fend off extradition to his native Germany where he faces charges of bribery, tax evasion, fraud and breach of trust, will not be deported immediately.

On Dec. 14, 2006, Schreiber filed another application for a judicial review to the federal Conservative Justice Minister. A decision on that application has yet to be made.

Schreiber was first arrested by the Mounties in Toronto in September of 1999, at the request of the German police and government.

He was released on bail several days later after former Tory cabinet minister Elmer MacKay - potato patch Pete's Dad sprung for a $100,000 surety bond, along with Marc Lalonde.

Since then, Schreiber has lost every bid to remain in Canada.

Last year, Schreiber told The Fifth Estate that he gave Lord Vader some $300,000 cash from a secret Swiss bank account controlled by Schreiber.

Mulroney was strapped for cash at the time, Schreiber told The Fifth Estate's Linden MacIntyre. In 1999, a spokesman for Mulroney denied any money was exchanged. But in 2003, Mulroney acknowledged he had receive money from Schreiber as payment for "promoting Schreiber's pasta business".

Schreiber was also linked with the Airbus affair, over allegations of secret commissions paid to members of the Mulroney government in exchange for Air Canada's purchase of a large order of Airbus jets.

Mulroney sued for libel and testified, under oath, that he "never had any dealings" with Schreiber. Mulroney received an apology and a $2-million settlement. "$300,000 cash", Never had any dealings...it will be interesting to see Steve's government react to this.

This case isn't new. Andrew Coyne, and others, including yours truly, have been writing about it for months, year. Will the Mainstream media have the testicular fortitude to cleave the head off this rotting Conservative fish?

We're not making this up...

A word of advice to the new Liberal Leader. If anyone in your entourage used to work for Paul Martin suggests a campaign commercial on this Citizen story, there is only one solution: Atomic wedgie and immediate dismissal.

Military wants more troops in cities: Plan calls for emergency units, shifting desk staff to front lines

The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, February 1, 2007
By David Pugliese

The Harper government plans to increase the Canadian Forces presence across the country with new units in 14 cities as well as shifting 5,000 regular force personnel from support and desk jobs to training and front-line missions.

Between now and 2016, the army will establish "territorial response battalions" in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Niagara-Windsor, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Saint John, Halifax and St. John's. The units would be designed to react to domestic emergencies such as natural disasters or a terrorist attack.

The details are outlined in the Conservative government's "Canada First" defence strategy, which has been leaked to the Citizen. No date has been set for the strategy to be released publicly. The report outlines the direction the military will follow over the next 15 years.

During the election campaign, the Conservatives promised their government would create territorial battalions. At the time, Stephen Harper said each unit would be composed of 100 regular troops and 400 or more reservists. The strategy paper, however, does not contain details on how big the units will actually be.

Watch for this to be Steve's next tactic...

South of the border, the Republicans are pressuring scientists to deny the science of climate change.

How long before Steve starts using Climate Change science denial tactics? Oh wait he already has. As recently as last month, Mr. Harper denied the seriousness of the Climate change:

- "As we implement our clean-air agenda, the focus is a little different than the other parties. They focus only on so-called greenhouse gases ." (Stephen Harper, The Toronto Star, December 21, 2006)

This is consistent with Mr. Harper's continued denial of the facts about climate change:

- "The science is still evolving [with respect to climate change]." (Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, June 10, 2004)

- "I think these are subjects where we know a lot less than some claim we know. Climate is always changing. My suspicion is that human activities have some impact upon that but I think the jury is out on a lot of the actual specific trends." (Stephen Harper, Interview with Frontier Centre for Public Policy, May 18, 2004)

Since denial hasn't been working it's only a matter of time before he starts strong-arming scientists like his buddy George and firing Parliamentary watchdogs...

UPDATE: CP is reporting that Steve has swallowed himself whole.

(CP) - A prime minister who now promises to fight climate change once ridiculed the Kyoto accord as a money-sucking socialist scheme and said he would battle to defeat it.

Stephen Harper derided the global treaty and questioned the science of climate change in a 2002 fundraising letter sent to members of his now-defunct Canadian Alliance party. With polls showing the environment is a top priority with voters and Harper keen to bolster his environmental credentials, the letter could prove embarrassing.

An excellent choice

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has appointed Gordon Ashworth to be the National Campaign Director. This is an excellent choice - Ashworth knows how to win National elections and also knows how to win in Ontario.

This is very bad news for the Conservatives as it is tangible proof the the internecine warfare within the Liberal Party is over and that all hands are on deck to take out the Conservative menace before they do any more harm to our country's international reputation, quality of life, relations with Aboriginal people or our natural environment.

A word of advice my friends, don't make a funny face the next time you see a Conservative - that unusual smell is them crapping their pants.

Environmental Auditor General Canned!!!!

I am informed by sources on Parliament Hill that a second officer of Parliament in as many months will be leaving their job. Last month, after ruling critically on the illegal Conservative Convention kickback scheme, Jean Pierre Kingsley "resigned" from his position as Chief Electoral Officer.

Today, there is word that the Commissioner of the Environment (out of the office of the Auditor General) is being sacked for being critical of the Environmental policies of Canada's New Government.

DEVELOPING

Fun with Tory ads

Check it out! Hat tip to JL .

Cost of Tory ads - Many Thousands of dollars
Cost of Superbowl ad buy - $1.5-2.5 million

Cost of homemade Liberal spoof ads - nuttin
Seeing Steve with egg on his face - priceless!!!

Frankly, this concerns me more than the silly Tory ads

Stephane Dion has a squeeky clean image. No one in their right mind would doubt his personal integrity. But politics makes for strange bedfellows, last week it was the union guy who donated money to him, endorsed his leadership and oh yeah, got busted for smuggling 130 lbs of coke across the border in a - wait for the irony - knapsack.

This week it's former LPC (BC) president Jamie Elmhirst, under subpoena for over three months to testify in the upcoming breach of trust trial of former provincial government aides David Basi and Bob Virk who only resigned his position January 15. This means that Elmhirst was subpoenaed by police on October 4, 2006, long before the LPC Convention in Montreal.

Vancouver media reports that his letter of resignation to the party made no mention of the subpoena, insisting that he was leaving to concentrate on his business and upcoming wedding.

On Dec. 28, 2003, the same day police searched the B.C. Legislature and other locations, a search warrant was executed on Pilothouse offices. The charges allege that David Basi and Virk were bribed to provide confidential information on the $1-billion privatization of BC Rail to Bornmann, who was a lobbyist for OmniTRAX, one of the bidders.

When asked if he informed the Liberal Party of Canada that he had been subpoenaed to testify in the Basi-Virk trial, Elmhirst said: "I don't have any comment on that."

And when people start keeping things like that to themselves, if one were to put this in the mix, the leader looks bad by association. Elmhirst should have known better and the leader will need to deal sternly with this.

Sometimes Yanukovych reminds me of Stalin

Better the grain should rot than provide income to Ukrainian farmers. That could have as easily been attributed to Uncle Joe during the famine-genocide as to the government of Viktor Yanukovych this past year. See attached report from Radio Free Europe:

Up to 10,000 tons of Ukrainian grain is being thrown into the Black Sea every night, Ukrainian Television reported on January 26.

The grain, loaded into elevators at Ukrainian ports last summer to be subsequently exported, was stored for too long because the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych introduced grain-export quotas. The government justified the quotas by saying there would be not enough grain for domestic needs. Having been stored for six months, the grain reportedly spoiled, germinated, and was attacked by insects.
The volume of unusable grain now amounts to some 270,000 tons.

Farmers say the grain market in Ukraine is saturated with 6 million tons of excess grain, which could be sold abroad for 4 billion hryvnyas ($800 million). "It is a paradoxical situation that this country has never seen before. Every night 5,000-10,000 tons of grain are thrown out into the Black Sea, feeding fish. At the same time, we are looking for funds for the agricultural sector," Ukrainian Television quoted Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation Chairman Leonid Kozachenko as saying.

This is the type of corrupt and backwards managemnt that Ukrainians have come to expect from the Kuchma/Yanukovych regime. Sad really.

Ukrainian bust to become Canadian

The artist who commissioned the bust that is being displayed at the Art Gallery of Ontario was 20th century Ukrainian modernist Alexander Archipenko.

Archipenko was born in Kiev in 1887, lived in France and Germany, and died in New York in 1964. He never set foot in Canada. The seller of Flat Torso was descended from someone who bought it in Mannheim, Germany, in 1922. How does a Ukrainian's sculpture, purchased in Germany, qualify as Canadian heritage? Flat Torso was cast in 1920; Archipenko died in New York in 1964. The vendor said that his Flat Torso was brought to Canada during the Second World War.

The Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board, which deals with about 400 export permits a year, informs curators and consultants when an object of "national significance" is about to be sold abroad (about 20 cases a year). If the experts come up with compelling reasons for keeping the object in this country, the board can delay the sale, giving Canadian museums and galleries the chance to bid.

The application for permission to sell Flat Torso, a sinuous, 38-centimetre-high bronze nude (a little bigger than an Oscar) on a 9.3-cm grey marble base, by Archipenko was blocked, allowing this Ukrainian treasure to stay in Canada.

Barack Obama and the multi-coloured spin machine

It is interesting to read in today's New York Times that Barack Obama spends too much time listening to people and building consensus. Next thing you know, they'll say that he's hiding his legal background from Harvard...hmmn???

Glad someone is working on Foreign Affairs

While Peter MacKay has returned to the potato patch to mourn the departure of his Deputy Minister Peter Harder, Quebec's Premier, Jean Charest seems to be the only one speaking up for Canada in Davos.

We may not be hosting the slappingly good parties that we did when Allan Gottlieb was our Ambassador to Washington, but there needs to be something form this government on the world stage - no to Aids funding, no to Kyoto, no trade reps, no Sino-Canadian relations...I guess photo ops of potato patch Pete playing shimmy with the troops is all we can expect from this gang. It's sad, really.

New Conservative Ads

My fearless prediction:

The new Conservative ads will play for a week, Liberals will be offended and say that they backfired. Conservatives will pull them and say that they only bought a week's buy and that they were very effective. In the end, the goal of the ads is to try to have Canadians question Stephane Dion's leadership and it won't work. He is too bright and this parlour game won't mask the absolute flip-flop that the Tories have made on Environmental issues.

The bigger concern, frankly, is that they have enough cash to burn millions in the pre-writ period in order to avoid election expense rules.

Yikes! Peter MacKay without a net...

It is with regret that I learned that Peter Harder is leaving the federal public service. Peter is one of the most professional public servants I have ever had the pleasure of working with. He is a person of sound intellect and high integrity who had brains and political smarts. It is a shame that future generations will be deprived of future Peter harders because of the myopic Accountability Act.

Best wishes to Peter Harder and his family.

I am rarely amazed at Peter MacKay's ability to do something stupid

Peter MacKay has decided in his now legendary wisdom to close 4 Canadian consulates in G8 countries. Let's put aside the interests of Canada's textiles industry and the importance of Milan and the fact that Russia as a BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) country is a primary trade growth target and that you are closing the consulate in St. Petersberg - Putin's home town. And finally, two-way trade between Canada and Japan is roughly $20 billion (CAD)a year, and roughly in balance.

Why would you shut the doors to 4 G8 country consulates whose GDP represent $7.4 trillion of economic output almost triple the GDP of China? If anything we should be re-doubling our efforts by adding additional trade commissioners there and in China.

Like the Kyoto climb down, this narrow-minded short-term decision by Canada's toddler government will need to be reversed.

Sometimes you have a bad week in politics

The Liberal leader is having what could objectively be called an "off week", with first the Marc Yvan Cote reinstatement flip-flop and now word that a BC Union official involved in an International Drug bust was a donor and supporter.

The test of the man's mettle will be his ability to deal with controversy and adversity. I think that he is up to the task.

The new leader's bunnies

This video made me laugh out loud. I wondered about this when I read Yakabuski's piece on Saturday. Maybe he was in upstate Vermont...

Still more Conservative sleaze

Well, here are a couple of more Conservative sleazebags getting into some trouble:

1) Scotter Libby - gets fingered by CIA official.
2) Dick Cheney - in an interview with Wolf Blitzer "Criticism of me is hogwash"

BLITZER: Here's what Jim Webb, senator from Virginia said in the Democratic response last night -- he said, "The president took us into this war recklessly. We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable and predicted disarray that has followed."

And it's not just Jim Webb; it's some of your good Republican friends in the Senate and the House are now seriously questioning your credibility, because of the blunders and the failures. Gordon Smith...

CHENEY: Wolf, Wolf, I simply don't accept the premise of your question. I just think it's hogwash.

BLITZER: That what? There were no blunders? The president himself said --

3) GOP Rep Sherwood - for failure to pay hush money to his mistress.

4) Disgraced Evangelical preacher Ted Haggard - Evangelicals have the best sex life - yeah but what about the gay drug dealer part?

5) And to Lord Vader himself for not coming clean with Canadians on the $300,000 payment from Karlheinz Schreiber - something stinks here.

Royal with cheese

Kudos to Stephen Harper for the swift rebuke of Segolene Royal's dumb-ass comments after her meeting with Andre Boisclair indicating her support for an independent Quebec. When it comes to defending Canada on the global stage we need to do it with a united front.

Harper immediately issued the following statement:

STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER

January 22, 2007
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued the following statement in response to media reports of the reputed comments by French Presidential candidate Ségolène Royal:

“Experience teaches that it is highly inappropriate for a foreign leader to interfere in the democratic affairs of another country. We look forward to marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of Canada at Quebec City with the next President of France.”

“We expect in turn that the next President will display an understanding of our shared history, and the respect for Canada and Canadians that such an important partnership requires.”

France has long had a policy of non-indifference, non-ingerence, and to quote my Quebecois nation friends "elle a rate une hostie bonne occasion de se fermer," which I will translate as she shoulda no-commented.

COLTS WIN!

In what can only be described as one of the greatest come from behind victories in NFL history and in one helluva exciting football game, the Indianapolis Colts overcame a 21-3 deficit, scoring an incredible 32 points in the second half to beat the New England Patriots 38-34. Manning threw for 350 yards and the Indianapolis running game added another 125. And the pundits had said that the Indie Defense was porous!!!

At the end of the day, it was Tom Brady who choked. We are now going to witness one of the best match ups in recent Superbowl history with the Urlacher-led Monsters of the midway taking on the Colts in what may finally respond to the question of "what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?".

Now, I must start working on my Pumpernickel Superbowl recipes which I promise will be a treat.

Bits and Pieces

A couple of things:

• Congratulations to Nathalie Duhamel who recently started as a Western Assistant in Mr. Dion's office. Nathalie performed very well in the prairies for Mr. Dion in a tough environment while Ajay Chopra did an excellent job for Bob Rae, and all the establishment candidates supported Dryden (Neville, Carstairs, Zimmer) or Ignatieff (Simard). Nathalie is a bright fluently bilingual and politically savvy person who is a chip off the old Carolyn and Ron Duhamel block. Mr. Dion will be very well-served if he can find more folks like Nathalie.
• The Tories are trying to neutralize Mr. Dion on the Environment by re-announcing warmed-over, leftover Liberal announcements from the 2005 Budget. The next one is said to encourage consumers to use energy more efficiently and reducing emissions. It is a shame that they have swallowed themselves whole, given Canada an international blackeye and are now trying to champion policies to address Climate Change which they publicly disavow.
• The fight for Rahm is on. The Washington Post writes that both Obama and Clinton campaigns are fighting to land one of the keys to Bill Clinton's Presidential and electoral success. Emmanuel is definitely a valuable tactictian and strategist worth fighting over. Whoever lands Rahm will definitely have an advantage in the primaries.
• Police have matched the image of Litvinenko's real assassin with his death-bed description.
• Could Bill Richardson be Barack Obama's running mate?

9 Conservative lies

The Toronto Star takes aim at Steve's integrity gap.

This is what happens when you make your bed with your poisoners

The government of PM Yanukovich has cut off funds to the foreign ministry, leaving Ukraine in the unusual position of not being able to pay its foreign service, diplomats or its dues to international organizations.

Parliament in December dismissed President Yushchenko's Constitutionally appointed Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk, who Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich has tried to block from acting as foreign minister.

Tarasyuk says his dismissal was illegal and President Viktor Yushchenko has kept him in his post.

What's next, flushing the toilet while the President is in the shower?

Conservative sleaze - CONVICTed

The NY Times reports of another Republican sleaze casualty here.

Layton: SARS, BSE, WHAT--EV'ER...

Jack Layton demonstrated this week why the NDP are increasingly irrelevant and slumping in the polls by confusing BSE and SARS in a speech to Manitoba farmers. OOPS. This is the CP story, further evidence of Jack's decreasing level of importance is that no one bothered to pick the story up:

Jack Layton mistakes SARS for BSE in speech to Manitoba Agriculture producers

Jan 17, 2007 BRANDON, Man. (CP) It was all acronym soup at a speech by Jack Layton at Manitoba Ag Days on Wednesday.The federal NDP leader left agricultural producers looking at each other in wide-eyed wonder after a speech about farm issues in which he repeatedly referred to the "SARS'' crisis which affected the Manitoba cattle industry. "Another important issue is SARS,'' said Layton. "I was just talking to a cattle producer today who said the situation is worse now than when we were in the middle of SARS.''

As Layton continued his speech, Manitoba Agriculture Minister Rosann Wowchuk loudly whispered, ``It's BSE, not SARS,'' from her seat at the front of the audience. BSE is the acronym for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad-cow disease, while SARS stands for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, therespiratory illness that paralyzed Toronto for several months in 2003.However, Layton didn't hear Wowchuk and kept going, saying SARS several more times, until producers in the audience chimed in to point out his error.Finally he got the message and stopped his speech.``I'm sorry, did I say SARS? I meant BSE. SARS is a Toronto problem,''Layton said, to laughter from the audience.But the joke was lost on some. Don Neufeld, who raises cattle near Boissevain, Man., said that politicians of all stripes "just don't understand what's happening at the grassroots'' and suffer from an overall ignorance of farm issues. (Brandon Sun, Winnipeg Free Press)

I used to think "say-anything Jack" was just his reputation from his days at Toronto City Hall, so much for that theory.

Strange shooting

Police in Ukraine are investigating the death of Yevgeny Kushnaryov, described as "the right-hand man" to Ukraine's pro-Russian Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovych, who died this week after being shot by one of his hunting companions.

This whole thing Sounds strange to me - Dick Cheney was not even in the area.

Congress at Work

In Congress
Here, the Huffington Post has a great article about the amount of progress that the Democratically held Congress has made in its first 100 hours of sitting. Well let's just see how long it lasts.

In the House of Commons
Why is it that when Stephane Dion says that he will not defeat the Budget before seeing it, Canadian media accuse him of blinking?

In the New York House of Assembly
NY state Rep Aurelia Greene is proposing a bill that would prevent the sale of some video games to those under the age of 30. The bill would stop all violent games being sold to youngsters under the age of ...30.

Put aside for a moment that people are considered old enough to smoke, vote, join the army at 18, drink at 21 (in NY) and they can even rent a car at 25, but they cannot buy a video game. I don't know what is more pathetic: the prospect of a thirty year old buying the video game for an "under aged adult" or thirty-year-olds buying the games for themselves. This bill, if passed, may push the cartoon violence of video games onto the real streets. What a colossal waste of time!

5 Minutes to Midnight

In case people thought I was kidding about my fear of nuclear escalation in the Middle East post yesterday, the following is a quote from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock.

The clock conveys how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction--the figurative midnight--and monitors the means humankind could use to obliterate itself. First and foremost, these include nuclear weapons, but they also encompass climate-changing technologies and new developments in the life sciences and nanotechnology that could inflict irrevocable harm.

"Board Statement
17 January 2007
We stand at the brink of a second nuclear age. Not since the first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has the world faced such perilous choices. North Korea’s recent test of a nuclear weapon, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a renewed U.S. emphasis on the military utility of nuclear weapons, the failure to adequately secure nuclear materials, and the continued presence of some 26,000 nuclear weapons in the United States and Russia are symptomatic of a larger failure to solve the problems posed by the most destructive technology on Earth.
As in past deliberations, we have examined other human-made threats to civilization. We have concluded that the dangers posed by climate change are nearly as dire as those posed by nuclear weapons. The effects may be less dramatic in the short term than the destruction that could be wrought by nuclear explosions, but over the next three to four decades climate change could cause drastic harm to the habitats upon which human societies depend for survival.
This deteriorating state of global affairs leads the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists--in consultation with a Board of Sponsors that includes 18 Nobel laureates--to move the minute hand of the “Doomsday Clock” from seven to five minutes to midnight."

Yes, this is some scary stuff. On the bright side, I guess this will result in an increased interest in the Smiths and Radiohead.

OBAMA Mania - Redux

Well people have been talking about Barrack Obama announcing his candidacy for months now. People find his commentary to be refreshing.

I for one am glad that he has decided to form a Presidential Exploratory Committee. Today's Globe and Mail points out that he is polling a strong second to Hilary Clinton and that he is generating some excitement. My only concern is that the American right wing is already using the "race card" by using his middle name "Hussein" extensively and by having pundits like Limbaugher refer to him as Osama. I for one believe in a place called Hope and think that Mr. Obama has excellent chances provided he has the right running mate.

Is this a game of chicken with Iran?

This is escalating at a dangerous pace.

Bush reportedly has been weighing his military options for bombing Iran's nuclear facilities since early 2006.

As Seymour Hersh wrote in The New Yorker, a number of senior U.S. military officers were troubled by administration war planners who believed "bunker-busting" tactical nuclear weapons, known as B61-11s, were the only way to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities buried deep underground.

A former senior intelligence official told Hersh that the White House refused to remove the nuclear option from the plans despite objections from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Whenever anybody tries to get it out, they're shouted down," the ex-official said. [New Yorker, April 17, 2006]

By late April 2006, however, the Joint Chiefs finally got the White House to agree that using nuclear weapons to destroy Iran's uranium-enrichment plant at Natanz, less than 200 miles south of Tehran, was politically unacceptable, Hersh reported.

"Bush and Cheney were dead serious about the nuclear planning," one former senior intelligence official said. [New Yorker, July 10, 2006]

The Sunday Times reported on January 7, 2007, that a way to get around the opposition of the Joint Chiefs would be to delegate the bombing operation to the Israelis. The reasoning goes something like this: an Israeli-led attack might be more politically palatable with the Congress.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has rightly called the possibility of an Iranian nuclear bomb an "existential threat" to Israel that cannot be tolerated.

Israel is reportedly stepping up preparations for air strikes against Iran, possibly including the use of tactical nuclear bombs, to destroy Natanz and other Iranian nuclear facilities.

The Sunday Times of London reported on Jan. 7 that two Israeli air squadrons are training for the mission and "if things go according to plan, a pilot will first launch a conventional laser-guided bomb to blow a shaft down through the layers of hardened concrete [at Natanz]. Other pilots will then be ready to drop low-yield one kiloton nuclear weapons into the hole."

The Sunday Times wrote that Israel would also hit two other facilities – at Isfahan and Arak – with conventional bombs. But the possible use of a nuclear bomb at Natanz would represent the first nuclear attack since the United States destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at the end of World War II.

The Israeli government denied that Israel has drawn up secret plans to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.

Some observers may believe that Israel or the Bush administration may be leaking details of the plans as a way to frighten Iran into accepting international controls on its nuclear program, I tend to take the possibility of nuclear war seriously and see these preparations for a wider Middle Eastern war as very serious.

Bush's actions in the past two months suggest that his future course is an escalation of the Middle East conflict and not some "graceful exit."

I'll have the Polonium cabbage rolls with a dioxin shake

Tomorrow, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko will be on a one day trip to Viktor Yanukovych's stomping ground in the Donetsk Basin.

Reports from Ukraine indicate that Yushchenko never eats in Donetsk.


According to the head of the Donetsk regional administration, Volodymyr Logvynenko, during his visits to Donetsk, the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko has never eaten.

According to Logvynenko, the head of the State has visited Donetsk three times but has had only tea or coffee. Look at the pictures - can you blame him?

Khan just stepped into a big steaming pile of, Wajid?

From Today's National Post:

Khan's riding association delisted Registration revoked for not filing financial returns on time
Elections Canada revoked the legal registration of new Conservative MP Wajid Khan's former Liberal riding association in December because it failed to file financial returns for 2004 and 2005, the Ottawa Citizen has learned.

The returns, now available at Elections Canada, show that Mr. Khan, whose defection to the Conservative party was announced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper only 10 days ago, lent his old riding association a total of $179,946 through his Toronto car dealership during the two years covered by the late returns.
The riding association transferred $32,000 to Mr. Khan's campaign for the 2004 election and a further $50,000 to his campaign for the January, 2006, election, the returns show.

Khan's former Liberal riding association has had its registration revoked by Elections Canada as of the end of 2006 for late filing of financial returns for 2004 and 2005. Mr. Khan's auto dealership, Dufferin Mazda, also lent $86,388 to Mr. Khan's campaign for the 2004 election, his financial returns for that election show.
The returns list Mr. Khan as the guarantor for the campaign loans.

The transactions suggest Mr. Khan was using his car dealership as the primary source of funding for his election campaigns, said NDP MP Pat Martin.
"It's hard to count the serious problems here -- massive loans from a business in excess of donation limits that might not be repaid, enormous spending outside the election period. I wouldn't know where to start," Mr. Martin said.
Dufferin Mazda lent Mr. Khan's riding association $88,377 on Dec. 31, 2004, the same day the association transferred money to Mr. Khan as a candidate, and $91,569 on Dec. 31, 2005. The association had transferred $30,000 to Mr. Khan on Dec. 22 and another $20,000 on election day.
Corporate political contributions are banned under new election financing provisions that took effect with the Federal Accountability Act but were limited to $1,000 under previous political financing rules. Loans to candidates and riding associations are allowed, but must be declared as contributions if not repaid within 18 months.
Mr. Khan's campaign report for the 2004 election stated an expenditure of $75,887 on expenses that were subject to his spending limit, and a further $95,692 in costs that were not included as election expenses because the money was spent either before or after the campaign period.
For the end of 2005, Mr. Khan's riding association reported outstanding financial liabilities of $91,569 and a deficit of $47,327.
It was unknown outside the association whether the riding had paid back the loans by the end of 2006.
Mr. Khan could not be reached yesterday.

Apparently, he's working on a sanitized version of his report to Harper.

You mustn't follow, little shrub...

Well Dubbya's approval ratings are in the toilet following his new plan for Iraq. This provides me some fodder to examine steve's foreign policy approach.

Since his election as Canada's exalted and supreme leader of Canada's new government, Steve has charted a different international course from not only that set out by the previous Liberal Govwernment but also one that is different from the traditional role that Canada has played.

Steve's government has, to be sure, loaded up on military supplies for the forces. Defense lobbyist turned Defense Minister O'Connor has ploughed forward with several large procurements, using sole-source and non-competitive contracting as his preferred method of selection of vendors.

Harper has tried to use Afghanistan as a wedge issue during the Liberal leadership race. He has said that any discussion of the role of the mission demonstartes a lack of support for the troops. This is the same line that the Republicans have been using unsuccessfully with respect to Iraq for a couple of years with disastrous
results.

Canada has a rich history in international relations using the so-called 3D approach which favours equal attention to Defense, Diplomacy and Development. Think of Canada's historic role as a nation of peacekeeping. In fact, this year we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pearson's Nobel Peace Prize.

As well, Canada fought successfully for the R2P (Right to Protect) doctrine at the United Naations, has served as an honest broker for years in many parts of the world, and used its clout and membership in many international bodies to make progress on issues such as land mines, AIDS funding and many others.

Finally, Canada has a tradition of building civil society through development assistance, be it in the form of education for girls in Afhanistan or training the judiciary in Ukraine or providing health and food assistance to African countries such as Malawi.

To date, the extent of his diplomacy on the world stage was to complain that other countries have not sent enough troops to Afghanistan, while on the Development side it was limited to a botched photo op with Josee Werner.

I use these examples to illustrate the point that Steve just doesn't get the complexities of the world in which we live. Sure he has done well for defense, but without the other 2 Ds - we run an even greater risk of being seen as Bush's little helper.

And my sense is that Canadians want a thoughful leader who will take a Canadian approach to International Affairs.

Never write a headline that ends with a Question Mark

The temptation for political mischief often gets political parties into trouble. Think of Ontario PCs asking whether Dalton McGuinty was an alien kitten eater or Harper's boys asking if Paul Martin supported Kiddy porn in the 2004 election.

It would be cheap and tasteless for someone to ask if Steven Harper is really the devil based on the attached photo(?) So I won't do it and will allow people to come up with there own explanations for the photo.

Pelletier wins another round in court

So how long will Steve continue to pursue Jean Pelletier in Court? Mr. Pelletier, a man whose integrity was never in question until former Olympian turned fugitive Myriam Bedard introduced her zany testimony in Committee, has won another round in his seemingly bottomless pit of legal actions for wrongful dismissal, and other things.

Bottom line - will Steve have the testicular fortitude to do the right thing and settle with Mr. Pelletier before Pelletier's reputation is damaged any further?

Fort Whoop-Up

Back from 3 days in Lethbridge and I can tell you that the weather there is just as crazy as anywhere in the country. When I arrived Tuesday it was +11 degrees celsius, and when I left this morning it was - 25 degrees celsius. Western amigos will remind me that it's a "dry cold".

2 Conservative provincial mini-scandals have popped up while I was out of blogging range:

1) The "mess in NS" - hat tip to GMAC for the moniker. This is the alleged tale of former human resources Minister Ernie Fage leaving an accident scene while liquored up and the subsequent cover up by the provincial premier's office. Fage has resigned and is/will be expelled from Caucus...the only thing left to figure out is the matter of possible criminal charges and whether the scandal has the legs to further tag the Premier. Stay tuned.

2) The second one involves a $5k per person fundraiser with Premier Ed Stelmach to clear up his campaign debt. Provincial leader Taft says this should be illegal. Last I checked there are plenty of former federal Liberal candidates with debts that need to be paid off. Perhaps Taft should think before opening mouth and inserting foot.

All for now. Lethbridge was cold and lovel...well it was cold for sure.

UPDATE: It appears that Stelmach has bowed to political pressure and cancelled the receptions.

Not exactly the Ukrainian Carol of the Bells

I was looking for a good version of a Ukrainian Christmas Carol to go with my traditional Ukrainian Christmas Greeting of Khrystos Narodyvsya, but alas I found this neat R&B version of a traditional folk song instead. Enjoy!

Putin must be getting nervous

News that Litvinienko's killers were high ranking military/KGB types is not surprising, but it is surprising that Scotland yard has tracked them this quickly. Polonium, polonium, where forth art thou...?

Hat tip to CyberCossack for the link.

Khan to Tories

Wajid Khan, MP for Mississauga-Streetsville crossed the floor to sit with the Conservatives. Somewhere, Gurmant Grewal can be seen crying in his drink.

As for Khan, I always found him to be a hard-working, industrious MP. Don't get me wrong - he could also be a pain in the ass and was always looking to be the centre of attention (aren't they all!) but his heart was in the right place.

I guess he got a chunk of his fifteen minutes of fame this week. He should savour it, his riding is solidly Liberal and he will be toast in the next election.

I found Stephane Dion's response both meek and weak. Chalk this one up to learning for the new Liberal leader.

Political truisms

Today Steve will shuffle his Cabinet for the second time in 2 months, approaching the 1st anniversary of his government. Clearly, when replacing an embattled, beleaguered, struggling and weak minister with borderline competence, it is time to drop the "Canada's New Government" moniker. It is only a matter of time before pundits start referring to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. But Liberals should not get too cocky and start referring to the Conservative government as desperately clinging to power and grasping for straws - it took the Liberals 12 years to get to that point and public opinion will not turn on that dime, this quickly.

To be honest, Steve would do well to say that his front bench was untested and he is getting rid of some folks who "are not ready for prime time." But he does not have that luxury in a minority government, so we will all have to wait and see what BS he tosses out.

What??!!!

How doed a 22 foot high statue weighing 4000 lbs go missing from a park in Oakville?

Happy New Year!

2007 will be an excellent year

Here are my 10 fearless predictions:

10) There will be a McCain-Giuliani ticket for the GOP
9) The price of molybdenum will skyrocket.
8) There will be another round of Parliamentary elections in Ukraine. Western aligned parties will win.
7) Jean Charest, Danny Williams and Dalton McGuinty will be re-elected.
6) Canadiens win Stanley Cup.
5) Stephane Dion wins federal election with smallest minority in Canadian political history.
4) Bears and Chargers meet in Super Bowl. Chargers win.
3) Pumpernickel cookbook is published and sells scores of copies.
2) Barrack Obama will be the Democratic Party's candidate with a Western Southerner as a running mate.
1) The situation in Iraq and in the broader Middle East will continue to deteriorate, with thousands of additional casualties and oil prices will soar.

I'm a kidnapper and my partner's a thief - stop persecuting me!!!

Another good reason to support gun control.

Myriam Bedard has access to firearms and custody of a child.

And she is a freaky lunatic who believes that her partner convinced Jean Chretien not to enter the war in Iraq.

Oh yeah, and she faces charges that she violated a custody agreement with her ex-husband Jean Paquet by taking their 12-year-old daughter Maude to the United States in early October.

Her partner Mazhari is scheduled to appear in a Quebec court in May on charges that he stole 20 paintings by Montreal artist Ghitta Caiserman worth C$100,000.

And her defense lawyer claims she is being persecuted here.

Jean Pelletier knew exactly what he was talking about when he made the comments about this "pitiful" single mother who was trying to draw attention to herself. This is the same woman who testified before a Parliamentary Committee that racing car driver Jacques Villeneuve was paid US$12 million to wear the Canada logo on his uniform and that the Groupaction advertising agency trafficked in drugs -claims that have been denied by the driver and the firm.

I'm glad her daughter was able to spend Christmas with her Dad.

And Jean Pelletier was fired because he felt sorry for her

The certifiable former gold medalist will spend Christmas in the slammer and for Christmas Mr. Pelletier will rightfully be vindicated and win his wrongful dismissal suit.

Christmas patronage king

PM Steve decided to spread the holiday cheer a little early this year. In a move of which Brian Mulroney would certainly approve, Steve appointed a truckload of cronies to patronage appointments, some on the same day as his much talked about FAA comes into force.

As Mulroney famously said to John Turner, "you had an option sir", but this move reminds me that he also said "There's no whore, like an old whore".

Merry Christmas Steve from the rest of us - we'll remember this.

Yes, Virginia

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Editorial Page, New York Sun, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus?Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

After this, the b-level appointments

Liberal Leader Stephane Dion today appointed Nancy Girard and Mark Marrissen to co-chair the election campaign. In other news, LPC National Director George Young has received some real bench strength with the appointment of Marc Lavigne as Deputy Director of LPC. While it is too bad to see Kim Doran go, Marc is extremely capable, hard-working, efficient and knows Quebec. Good luck Marc.

After this it will mostly be mopping up with second tier appointments.

Pumpernickel Recipe #11 - Hungarian Sausage and Lentil Soup

Hungarian Sausage and Lentil Soup

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds csabai sausage, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 cup carrots, shredded
1 cup lentils
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons hungarian paprika (I use 1 tsp sweet and 1 tsp hot paprika. Feel free to adjust to taste.)
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups chard, chopped

Crusty pumpernickel bread
Butter, for bread

Heat a medium soup pot over medium high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, then add sausage to pot and brown it. Then add garlic, onions and mushrooms. Cook a 3-4 minutes. Add carrots, lentils, potato, salt and pepper, paprika. Stir well.

Add tomatoes and chicken broth. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Partially uncover pot and simmer soup for 30 minutes until lentils and potatoes are tender. Wilt in greens in small bunches. Let stand 5 minutes. Serve in shallow bowls with bread and butter to mop up stoup.

A lump of coal for Johnny

For this nose-stretcher, Justice John Gommery will no doubt receive a lump of coal in his stocking this year:

As long as I remain a judge, I will not get into issues that are more political than related to the judiciary.

This from a judge who promised the greatest show on earth and selectively accepted testimony, while allowing his staff to write a book about the inquiry at taxpayers expense and hiring his daughter's firm. Rumour has it that Judge Johnny may be having lunch with Zack...

The Habs have won 5 in a row

New study shows that poverty among seniors is falling

A new study from the Caledon Institute of Social Policy by Ed Tamagno is out. It shows that our retirement income system is performing well under the strain of an ageing population. For example, in 1980, 21.3 percent of all seniors in Canada – more than one in five – had low incomes as measured by the low-income cut-offs after tax. By 2004, this had decreased to only 5.6 percent – about one in 18.

Tamagno also looks at trends in coverage betond OAS and CPP to private plans and compares defined benefit and defined contribution coverage in Canada. Surely not gossipy stuff, but important public policy work as we plan for retirement, individually and societally.

The study is available here. Probably some good suggested reading for Messrs. Rae and Brison as they prepare the new Red Book.

The new leader has been inclusive and decisive

New Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has reached out to all corners: Liberal Leadership candidates, prominant people from the previous regime, as well as former PM Jean Chrétien who is reported to giving advice to Marcel Massé, head of the Dion transition team.

The Globe is reporting that Mr. Massé may be principal secretary in the OLO and effectively run the Leader's office. Certain folks will want to joke about a need for adult supervision. Personally, I see this as a huge catch for Dion from both a
policy and symbolic perspective.

Now he needs to add a few more qualified women to his team.

Wasting away again...

The bottom-feeders at the Humane Society of the United States have struck again - this time ridiculously having Jimmy Buffet's chain threaten to ban Canadian Seafood.

Canada has a huge problem with its seal herd. Its size has exploded and natural predation of seals is down. We actually need a seal hunt. And not just for the $30-40 million dollars that it brings to the local economies of outports in Newfoundland and the Magdallen Islands where the average person can really use the bump up from $12k annually to $15 or $16k per year. And not for the $75 to $100 million that the hunt provides to environmental groups for their fundraising activities - based on dated photos of baby seals which Canada has stopped hunting some 20 years ago. These are the same groups who were busted last year for creating a fake horror story about the seal hunt and the visuals of blood stained snow, except for the fact that the start of the hunt had been delayed for weather reasons.

We need a cull on the east coast to help nudge the ecosystem - which has significantly gotten out of kilter - with the explosion of the seal population.

There are also potentially exciting new markets for Omega 3 fish oils, seal meat, not to mention the pelts. The environmentalists love the images of the hunt with the stark contrast of the blood on the snow - but this is not so different from the killing of any other animal for food as anyone who has ever visited an abattoir can attest to.

The Americans and Europeans don't like the Hakapik, arguably the most humane method to execute the hunt and would prefer that guns were used. Having seen how heated the discussions can be on the ice flows, I would strongly discourage expanding the firearm hunt beyond the area know as "The Front".

I hope Jimmy Buffet reads this, but I fear that he's just wasting away again in Margaritaville. Let's unite and BOYCOTT JIMMY BUFFETT!!!

Some elves have been naughty

Some elves have been naughty, but this one sure can dance.

Holiday oddity

And I thought all the weird news lately was coming out of Ukraine and 24 Sussex. Two stories from India:

Some articles speak for themselves, while others leave room for interpretation.

Harper's "Nation"alist grazing not working in Quebec

New polls in today's National Post shows that despite intense efforts to court the Quebec vote, the Conservatives have fallen out of favour in La Belle province.

The Saturday Ipsos Reid poll put the Conservatives at just 13% in Quebec, well behind the Liberals at 31% and the Bloc at 44%. Last week's Decima poll had the BQ at 45%, the Liberals at 27% and the Conservatives at 12%.

Clearly, the Conservatives did not get the bounce they expected from the Nov. 22 vote on the Quebecois nation in the House of Commons.

The reason for this is simple:

Why would the nationalists Harper hopes to win over support nationalism light, when they can have the real thing with the Bloc. He also disappointed them by informing them that it was a hollow, symbolic gesture.

The end result is that Steve's Conservatives have been relegated in Quebec by Stephane Dion's Liberals, to rump status. That was one pandorra's box you should have kept closed.

If the rumour is true, this is good news for Dion

The latest word is that Marcel Masse will be Stephane Dion's Principal Sectretary. If true, this is a huge catch for Dion...stay tuned.

Yanukovich must answer for disturbing news from Hospital Number 6

The BBC has reported that Kharkiv's hospital number 6 may have been involved in a Kuchma Era scheme involving the harvesting of stem cells from healthy babies. The then and current Prime Minister of Ukraine was none other than Yushchenko poisoner Viktor Yanukovich.

President Yushchenko must call an immediate investigation of these alleged heinous activities. I support tem cell research but have a problem with the infanticide of healthy babies.

Best wishes on a speedy recovery

Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota was showing weakness on his right side on Friday after surgery to relieve bleeding in his brain, his office said. He will remain in the hospital until the swelling in his brain goes down. “The surgery was considered a success,” the office said in a statement.

Surgeons removed the blood during a procedure Wednesday and stabilized the bleeding, relieving the pressure on the brain. Senator Johnson, 59, remains in intensive care at George Washington University Hospital in critical but stable condition.

“Considering his initial presentation, his progress is encouraging,” Dr. Anthony Caputy, the chairman of the hospital’s department of neurosurgery, said that Mr. Johnson continues to show “signs of responsiveness” to hospital staff and his family.

Mr. Johnson, a Democrat, began to stutter Wednesday while on a conference call with reporters, then walked back to his office, aides said. After being examined by the Capitol physician, he was admitted to George Washington University Hospital with what his office called “the symptoms of a stroke.”

His illness raised the possibility that the Democrats might lose the 51-to-49 majority they are expecting to assume in the Senate that convenes in early January. Should Senator Johnson no longer be able to perform his duties, South Dakota's Republican Governor would be asked to appoint a replacement.

Congratulations to Ed Stelmach

The voters in the Alberta PC party recently rejected the "establishment candidate" in Jim Dinning and the right wing nutjob - Hello Ted Morton and picked Ed Stelmach.

Here's some salt and braided bread Eddie. and may you never have to demolish a brand new hospital like your predecessor did.

I actually believe that Stelmach will be a good, pragmatic leader in the tradition of Lougheed and hope he concentrates on building and preparing Alberta for the future. Congratulations
Eddie!

I hope that solid ministers such as Clint Dunford remain in his new, smaller Cabinet when it is sworn in tomorrow.

Is that Senator Lord or candidate Lord?

So Shawn Graham kicks Bernie Lord's tush in the New Brunswick provincial election in September, and Bernie takes 3 months to quit his job.

Whaddaya bet Steve's got a nice juicie patronage job waiting for Bernie...?

News from the Liberal Caucus Christmas Party

The last time the Liberal Party was in Opposition for the annual Caucus Christmas Party was in 1992. If I remember correctly, the Christmas Party was held in the Hall of Honour of the House of Commonswith barely 4-500 people in attendance. In 1990 or 1991 it was even smaller and held buffet-style in Room 200 of the West Block.

Using those examples as a barometer, and given the fact that 10,000 Liberals converged on Montreal 2 weeks ago - it was pleasantly surprising to arrive at a nearly full Ottawa Congress Centre for a Christmas Party with 1500-1800 people.

The mood was upbeat. Everyone that I spoke with was coalescing around the new leader. He spoke well - although there was a problem with the audio that made it very difficult to hear him well. Technical glitches aside, the scuttlebutt was all about transition, with Mr. Dion joking that he wished that it were all completed by now. Mr. Dion is to be given full marks for calling and personally thanking the people who volunteered for him and worked on his campaign. We will see how well he does at the merit principle versus the reward principle in staffing the office and assigning critic responsibilities - but that is for another day.

There was another positive piece of news tonight, to follow-up on the appointments of George Young as LPC Natioanl Director (George says it is like the movie Ground Hogs Day) and Andrew Bevan as Deputy Chief of Staff: Eleni Bakopanos is being appointed as Caucus Liaison. Eleni is a bright, hard-working, multilingual allophone woman from Montreal who was an effective MP for the last decade and will do very well in that role. It remains to be seen whether she will be running again in teh Ahuntsic riding in the next election - personally, I think that she can win in a cakewalk under Stephane's leadership.

Another interesting tidbit is that the new leader will be hitting the hustings for the next couple of weeks to fundraise some cash to help the leadership contestants pay off their campaign debts.

The one piece of grumbling that I heard tonight, which is becoming louder is the lack of Francophones and women in key positions in the operation, this despite today's commitment to 1/3 of candidates to be women in the coming election. This will need to be addressed before it becomes the same problem that saddled Paul Martin's PMO.

A key battleground to test the one-third policy in operation will be in winnable seats like Ottawa-Centre, where Penny Collennette should have the best shot.

Finally, it will be interesting to see who is asked to run the Liberal Research Bureau...hopefully someone with good people skills...stay tuned.

1 Smart Move and one so-so move

New Liberal Leader Stephane Dion announced today that he will be protecting incumbent MPs who are seeking re-election and not forcing them to fight nomination battles. This move makes sense and has been the de facto policy of Liberal Leaders for as long as I can remember with the exception of Paul Martin (in some cases) during the run-up to the 2004 campaign. I applaud Dion for this move - it allows incumbents to worry about their work and not allow hostile riding takeovers such as the one that Joe Volpe launched on Roy Cullen during the leadership campaign result in incumbents getting kneecapped.

His second announcement was to name a women's candidate search director - in theory another good move. Unfortunately, where the rubber hits the road on this one is the less than stellar quality of his appointment, Linda Julien. A three-time defeated former Liberal candidate and patronage appointee. Hopefully, Nicole Foster-Woollatt and Belinda Stronach will bring some dynamism to the process.

OLO and LPC Staffing

This seems to be going very slowly, although George Young has been confirmed as National Director of the Liberal Party which is a good thing and Andrew Bevan is Deputy Chief of Staff in OLO. This leads me to believe that there will be a woman and a Francophone heading up heading up OLO and the research bureau.

I would assume that Don Boudria, Geoffroi Montpetit, Dahlia Stein and Marth Hall Finley should stay close to their phones.

Obama Announces

Barack Obama announces...

It's Official - Part I

Congratulations to George Young, the new National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada. George's appointment will ensure that the Liberal Party is battle ready whenever PM Stevie drops the writ. Isn't that transition team almost finished its work...hmmn...

Why visit Cleveland?

Finally, in this morning's New York Times an answer to that age old question, why would anyone want to visit Cleveland. I can see the new tourism campaign: "Come for the smelly brown water, stay for the surfing."

A prayer for the Gainey family

Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey's daughter was swept off the deck of a
tall ship travelling from Nova Scotia to Grenada. Our prayers for a safe rescue are with the Gainey family.

A little Vermont Chrsitmas Spirit

It's no wonder that Vermont is one of my favorite states: Bernie Sanders, cheese, beer, Patrick Leahy, Phish, Ben and Jerry's, Stowe and great spirit as evidenced by this story from the Rutland Herald here. Oh and did I mention the Hood and Cabot sour cream and dairy products...awesome.

Lindsay, Paris and Britney

I have often wondered how much traffic a blog can generate by talking about the recent paparazzi escapades of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton and their recent penchant for having their pictures taken while going commando...

Studio 60 renewed

Despite low ratings, NBC has renewed WestWing creator Aaron Sorkin's "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip". To date the quality of the storylines has been uneven and certainly not up to par with his West Wing efforts, however, I think that the show could be a success if it let up on the Christian bashing. If the word Christian in many of the episodes were replaced with black (see Michael Richards), or Jew or muslim or whatever, people would be up in arms.

Like the addict jonesing for some good stuff, I will keep watching in hopes of a better tomorrow or next week's show, whatever.

Unsure how to feel

The House of Commons rejected a painfully obvious checkmark on Stephen Harper's election promise list tonight.

First, Harper's motion was transparent and by having a free vote, he ensured that the motion would not succeed, thereby trying to take-away the "He will try to remove rights, just imagine if he had a majority" argument in the next campaign.

I should be pleased that his motion was defeated, but I am somewhat depressed that there are about the same number of members of the Liberal Caucus who were duped and/or are knuckle-draggers as there are "progressives" in the Government Caucus.

In any event, Steve will need to wait until another day to attack gay rights, women's rights, the rights of the disabled, support for seniors and the illiterate. On this day when they light the Christmas lights on the Hill, it is nice to know that no matter how badly he wants to, Steve is in charge of a minority government and for the time being has to keep his hands off Canadians' Charter Rights.

Also on the Hill, the Liberals need to get their act together and kill BQ Bill C-257 (An Act to Amend the Labour Code) which would have severe and negative impacts on Northern, remote and Aboriginal Communities.

There's something very weird going on in Ukraine...

If one were to start from the fact that Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko appointed as his PM his rival who was responsible for his poisoning and horrible facial disfigurement, then the following news report will seem less bizarre.

Ukraine's Channel 5 news reports that despite the absence of PM Yanukovych (on trip to US where he is refusing to meet the diaspora community), the Ukrainian Cabinet met and refused to allow the Foreign Minister to attend.

And I was worried about gridlock following the mis-terms in the US - Ukraine has some serious political problems...

Will Cheney's Daughter Move to Indiana?

Congratulations to US VP Dick Cheney and to his daughter Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, who are expecting a baby in late spring according to CNN.

According to an official spokesperson "The vice president and Mrs. Cheney are looking forward with eager anticipation" to the arrival of their sixth grandchild.

And yet this goofball sits by as numerous states move to restrict access of women to in vitro and other assisted reproductive technologies here and here.

Did you hear about who is going to OLO?

The Ottawa rumour mill is rampant about who will be Chief of staff in Mr. Dion's OLO, Chair the Liberal Election Campaign, head the Liberal Research Bureau, and be the new National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Names being circulated for any/all of these positions are:

Gerard Kennedy and Don Boudria
Mark Marrissen
Dahlia Stein and Geoffroi Montpetit
Doug Kirkpatrick, George Young or Andrew Bevan

I think that there may be some excellent surprises...

Off to a good start

Stephane Dion is off to a good start in naming Rod Bryden and Marcel Masse to head up his transition team. They met with Bill Graham's folks today and reports have been positive.

On another note, I wish Ezra Levant would uncork his head from his ass. So what if Stephane Dion has French Citizenship. His commitment to Canada is unassailable. This man is the architect of the Clarity Act and was the lead federalist in Jean Chretien's government for a decade. Ezra - not everyone's idea of international exposure is goin down to Montana to pick up some ammo.

Congratulations Mr. Dion!

Back from the Liberal Party Convention in Montreal.

Here are a few general observations:

Stephane Dion ran a clean and relatively flawless campaign. He had as the coasters his campaign was handing out said, "the least baggage" of the main candidates.

He is a bright man whose heart is in the right place and I hope that leadership will allow him to shed his prvious petulance, in the same way that parenting causes most people to grow up.

He has all the tools to rebuild the party and all the goodwill to succeed. Now he must roll up his sleeves and let's hope the 36 members of Caucus who were with Iggy put down their ice picks.

I hope that the talents of all the leadership contenders will be put to good use.

Finally, congratulations to Jason Cherniak and DC Grit for choosing the winner.

PS: This was the most exciting political convention in Canadian history. I and many other (except Belinda and that self-absorbed David McGuinty) are really glad that one-person/one-vote motion was defeated.

He shoots, he scores

well blogging from the convention from Mike Powell Fanclub's base...I think that the best speeches tonight were from Scott Brison, Ken Dryden and Bob Rae.

Stephane Dion went long and was not electrifying...which is too bad. Michael Ignatieff was flat, Joe Volpe bitter and Marta Hall Finlay...whatever.

The biggest surprise was that Kennedy was good, but not great...I think that Bob Rae has the most to gain from the evening.

Off to the hospitality suites...cheers.

PS

Karygiannis, Volpe, Lui Temelkovski, Wajid Khan, Massimo Pacetti, Reg Alcock, Andy Scott and Lorna Milne all endorsed Rae today.

Dion got an endorsemnet from King Midas, Alan Rock...