We won't have his 10 Gallon hat to kick around anymore

BREAKING NEWS!!!Myron Thompson has announced that he will not be running for re-election (or anything else frankly). Editorial cartoonists everywhere are weeping in their beer. May he enjoy a successful return to the turnip truck.

Canada's government`s taxpayer subsidized NASCAR ads

Canada`s Conservative Party has decided to sponsor a NASCAR driver: one Pierre Bourque, whose headlines for sale scheme has been discussed here before.

I am not sure how to react: On the one hand, it demonstrates that Harper is out of tune with Quebecers by advertising NASCAR as opposed to Formula 1, whereas Tory Cabinet Minister Diane Finley says:``The people who follow NASCAR are our kind of people. They're hard-working families, they're taxpayers who play by the rules. " As opposed to what?

At the same time, I am eager to find out what seniors who are making small donations to the Con party feel about their money subsidizing NASCAR.

I can only imagine the Tory damage control the first time Bourque runs out of gas or crashes into a wall.

Peter MacKay Caption Contest

Well dear readers, the above photo is of Foreign Minister MacKay voting against the interests of Nova Scotia last night. So I have decided to throw it open to raeders for potential captions.

My friend HI suggested the following:

Peter MacKay sucks a potentially career-ending lemon in the House of Commons.

Let the era of bickering re-commence

In what was probably one of the most naive and bone-headed lines in a Canadian Budget speech ever, Canada's Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty announced that with his 2007 Budget,

"The long, tiring, unproductive era of bickering between the provincial and federal governments is over."

Fast forward to PM Steve'S Press conference with the Dutch PM, when asked about all the provinces complaining about him breaking his word, here's what he had to say:

Well, I will answer to the topic of Nova Scotia and the statement made by Premier MacDonald. We were somewhat surprised. We were surprised by the Nova Scotia government's decision over the weekend to stop talking... I'm not sure what the reason was for not continuing the discussions...We obviously want to work productively with provinces. That's why we're engaged with talks to see if we couldn't narrow our differences within the context of the budget, but I am concerned about this allegation we've broken the accords.
We've done no such thing. It's a contract. We don't break contracts. We respect contracts. Normally I expect if somebody says you've broken a contract
they're going to follow that up by going to court to make you abide by the contract. I don't see that happening. It's an allegation without substance. As I say, I welcome continuing to sit down with the Nova Scotia government to resolve this, but I don't think we can let that allegation stay out there forever. At some point we will consult tribunals ourselves if that's necessary to get a ruling on our respect for the contracts because we will respect them.

If we can't resolve them, I don't think we can allow that allegation that we've broken a contract to stay out there indefinitely because it is without substance.

So much for an end to federal-provincial bickering. If he isn't lying, why has an MP quit his Caucus and why are his Conservative buddies calling him a liar? Just wondering.

I don't see the resemblance

In Saturday's Halifax Daiily News, the Canadian Press reports that beleaguered, half-dead and senile Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor has a case of Rona Ambrose.

CP alleges that O'Connor has the telltale symptoms: the low- level rumblings in the Defence department, the spreading speculation around Parliament Hill, the wounded aura that sends the Opposition into full-on kill mode. In short, he's got a bad case of Rona Ambrose, symptomatic of a cabinet minister on life support.

Ambrose was shuffled out of the Environment portfolio in January when it was perceived she was mishandling a file that was a priority for voters.

O'Connor's missteps and failed communications strategies have built up steadily, including:
- Telling the Commons that the Red Cross was monitoring and reporting on the welfare of detainees handed over to Afghan authorities by Canadian troops. He had to apologize for misleading the House.
- Telling a parliamentary committee that his government had negotiated a deal with the Afghan government on the treatment of detainees. Harper contradicted him a day later, saying the agreement was being negotiated.
- He blamed departmental officials for not raising the reimbursement for funeral expenses as he said he instructed. That last gaffe was very badly received within the Defence Department, where one military source said staff were "shocked and disappointed" O'Connor laid the blame on his own people.

Now I can see the comparison on the basis of incompetence, but come on.

O'Connor is a shell-shocked former General who doesn't remember what war we're fighting and has absolutely no fashion sense. Whereas, Ambrose has great hair and was voted second sexiest and second best-dressed female MP in today's Hill Times survey.

OK - maybe they both have that same deer in the headlights thing going on afterall.

Harper breaking law on proactive disclosure

The Prime Minister is breaking government rules on contracting, disclosure or Parliamentary budgeting. According to the following article by Canadian Press reporter Jennifer Ditchburn, PM Steve has not disclosed who is paying Psychic primper, Michelle Muntean. I hired the amazing Kresgin who revealed to me that taxpayers are getting hosed and good reporters like Jennifer Ditchburn won't let this one go.

Mirror, mirror: `Who pays PM's primper?' gets no response
Source: The Canadian Press
By Jennifer Ditchburn
OTTAWA (CP) _
The cost to taxpayers for Stephen Harper's personal stylist is destined to remain the prime minister's beauty secret.
The NDP attempted to part the curtains blocking access to details about the public cost of Michelle Muntean's services, and who oversees her work. MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis submitted a formal question in the House of Commons that requires a government answer, but received no details.
Muntean has travelled the world with Harper as his personal image advisor, including managing his wardrobe and his grooming. It is not certain whether she was with the prime minister in Germany this week for the G8 leaders meetings, although the gregarious former TV makeup artist has typically joined Harper's entourage for major excursions abroad.
Harper's staff has repeatedly refused to divulge the size of her salary.
The response given to Judy Wasylycia-Leis, prepared by the Privy Council Office and signed by Harper's parliamentary secretary, was that there were ``no records indicating Michelle Muntean is an employee (public servant or exempt staff) or that she submitted expenses for payment for expenses incurred by her or on her behalf.''
Yet government officials have said she is considered part of Harper's ``travel staff'' and that her salary is not picked up by the Conservative Party of Canada.
That leaves only one possibility for the mystery of who provides Muntean's paycheques: the House of Commons.
Each MP _ including Harper _ gets a yearly budget through the Commons to help run their offices. The details of those budgets are not covered under Access to Information laws and Harper can keep the numbers concealed forever if he likes.
Wasylycia-Leis said Harper seems to have a double-standard for transparency. As a Reform MP in the mid-1990's, Harper demanded that leader Preston Manning reveal the details of his party-paid wardrobe allowance.
``Canadians have a right to know in the first place, and that's doubly so given that Stephen Harper himself has made a big deal about clothes, or personal accoutrements coming out of public budgets or even party budgets,'' Wasylycia-Leis said. ``He needs to fess up and he needs to be absolutely forthcoming with Canadians.''
Harper's director of communications Sandra Buckler did not return a message with questions about Muntean's salary.

A further complicating factor is that this appears to be a breach of the separation between legislative and executive branches. Why would the PM have constituency employees flying to G8 meetings? If she is on the House budget, where are the journal vouchers transfering funds back to the PCO to defray travel costs? As well, there are restrictions on MP budget foreign travel, where are the authorizations. This stinks.
What is she doing, bunking with Steve or Buckler when she is on these taxpayer paid trips? What Canadians really want to know is if it is the proactive or the disclosure that Steve has a problem with.

China erects 30 foot statue of Pierre Poilievre

China erects statue of Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, the world's biggest dick. See story.

Principled NS Tory in sharp contrast to Saskatchewan sheep

The Star Phoenix Editorial today reports on Nova Scotia (former) Conservative MP Bill Casey who was booted out of the governing Caucus for voting his conscience and opposingb the Budget Implementation Bill which skewers the provinces of Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

"Casey took the decisive step in protest of the budget's treatment of the offshore resources agreement with Nova Scotia, saying:
"It's not a difficult concept to expect the federal government to a honour a nine-paragraph contract provision with my province."
He said Atlantic Canadian MPs met with Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to press the case not to penalize their region's resource revenues under an equalization cap, and that he's "100 per cent convinced" of the correctness of his action.
Under Flaherty's budget, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador stand to lose about $1 billion over the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, Saskatchewan, which was promised by the Harper Conservatives that it, too, would have its resource revenues exempted from equalization calculations, is upset that backtracking in the Flaherty budget will cost the province hundreds of millions annually.
Only, Saskatchewan doesn't have anyone with the backbone or principles of a Casey within the ranks of its dozen Tory MPs to make its case in Ottawa.
What it has instead is a group of political sycophants willing to bend the truth with constituents and try to convince them that black is white, instead of standing up for what they know to be true.
Casey's principled stand is all the more noteworthy because it has become such a rare commodity in a Conservative government that took office promising accountability and transparency.

Convicted

So Republican sleazebag Scooter Libby has received 30 months in jail for "outing" a CIA agent and perjuring himself.

Unbelievable Court ruling

An Indian court has ruled against a group of female flight attendants who were grounded from the national airline for being overweight.
The court said that state-owned Indian Airlines had the right to take the step in the interest of flight safety and in the face of growing competition.

David Hasselhoff likes Wendy's

Oh how the lowly have fallen...

Bush names new World Bank head...alphabetically

Wolfensohn, Wolfowitz...now Zoellick. He did it. He named him alphabetically.

New ads by Young Liberals

Very funny. Check them out here.

Gordon O'Connor - heartless liar

Canadian Press reports that the frustrated and heartbroken parents of a Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan are set to speak out today to contradict Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor's claim that the military is paying the full cost of soldiers' funerals.

The couple, who say they were short-changed on the cost of burying their son said that they'll reveal their identity at a news conference on Parliament Hill. Their son was killed last year in a roadside bombing and they say they have been reimbursed less than half the cost of his funeral.

The whole experience has been painful and excruciating, said one family member. ``We've been more than patient,'' he said. ``We don't want our names revealed until (Wednesday) because we don't want the phone ringing off the hook.''

Steve, take my advice, after lying about detainee abuse and now this, FIRE HIS ASS!

New Tory negative ads

The new Tory negative ads are out. In general, they're a piece of crap. I did enjoy the spoof blog by his dog Kyoto.

Congrats to Rob Ghiz

Robert Ghiz returned to Prince Edward Island from Ottawa and is now Premier Ghiz. All I can say is "Hey Buddy. How ya doin?"

Jean-Pierre Blackburn: how many strikes before you're out?

Ooops. Whaddaya mean you can't double dip? Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn granted a $25,000 contract to a staffer in his riding office who was already a full-time employee on the federal payroll, documents show. First the hidden travel claims, now this. How much of this old time politics will Steve put up with?

Interview with Bernie Sanders

Back from a weekend in Vermont and thought I'd share an interview with the state's junior Senator, Bernie Sanders from the Washington Post.

Lame Duck

In a sad but continuing saga, President Viktor Yushchenko and PM Viktor Yanukovych have agreed to hold early elections on 30 September according to the BBC. These replace the original early elections and are some 140 days later, around when Yanukovych wanted them in the first place.

Sometimes Microsoft is pathetic

Check this out

There shall be no criticicsm of my government Part II

The Province shows how Steve likes to control the spin cycle.

There shall be no criticism of my government Part I

A June 2 meeting between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canada's provincial and territorial leaders has been postponed indefinitely. Mr. Harper surprised many by letting it be known he wanted to have the premiers over for a meal on June 2 before he heads off to this year's G8 Summit in Germany.

But I guess the era of federal-provincial peace announced in the Federal budget did not work out too well and we have seen the intolerance for debate or dissent from this minority government recently. I guess Steve's psychic image consultant told him that this one would end badly with Gordon Campbell passing out in his gazpacho and Shawn Graham giving PM Steve an atomic wedgie.

Ukrainian

The "I'm Ukrainian" video from You Tube can be found here. Unfortunately I was unable to embed the video. Must say, it's a different take on pride from "I am Canadian".

Hat tip to Sidorenko.

Oh what a perfect day

On a beautiful long weekend in the Nation's capital: The BBQ is humming, the Ottawa Senators are in the Stanley Cup finals, The The is playing and PM Steve's chicken's are coming home to roost...pass me a cold one - life doesn't get any better.

So much for snap elections

Remember when Yushchenko called snap elections for May 27? Remember when people doubted his resolve? Remember when yours truly thought that the Ukrainian President had grown a backbone? Well...

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT SAYS EARLY POLLS TO BE HELD BEFORE OCTOBER.

President Yushchenko said at a forum of investors in Kyiv on May 18 that pre-term parliamentary elections will be staged earlier than in October. The Party of Regions led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has suggested October as the most probable period for early polls.

Yushchenko's decree of April 26 scheduled snap elections for June 24. "The elections will not be held in October, we should not play with this [idea]. We need a rapid and democratic reaction to the crisis," Yushchenko said. "[Ukraine] will surprise Europe and the world by how wisely and correctly, with respect to the political realities and without even a hint of a forcible scenario, it can hold fair pre-term parliamentary elections," the Ukrainian president added.

Meanwhile, parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Moroz said at a conference of legal experts in Kyiv the same day that early elections in Ukraine can be staged no sooner than in November, and only after the introduction of amendments to the constitution.

The Obstructionists Handbook

Don Martin, in today's Calgary Herald describes in a secret handbook on committees for Conservative MPs how to unleash chaos while chairing parliamentary committees.

Does someone remember them pining about decorum? A minority government acting with arrogance as though it reflects the will of the majority of Canadians.

Their secret manual runs some 200 pages, the document given only to Conservative chairmen tells them how to favour government agendas, select party-friendly witnesses, coach favourable testimony, set in motion debate-obstructing delays and, if necessary, storm out of meetings to grind business to a halt.
Government Whip Jay Hill called Tory chairs to his office for a refresher course on advancing the government agenda over opposition objections. A source at that meeting told Martin that Hill "lavished praise on the chairs who caused disruptions and admonished those who prefer to lead through consensus."

The Cons new campaign slogan, "Not getting things done for Canadians."

Springtime nudists arrive in Vermont town

Associated Press reports that spring has arrived in the southeastern Vermont town of Brattleboro known for its live-and-let-live culture. The trees are less bare, and some local residents are more so.
Resident Theresa Toney said she was dining at a downtown restaurant when she spotted this spring's first naked person. She looked out the window "and saw a man in his 60s walking up and down Main Street totally nude," she told the Brattleboro Reformer newspaper. "This is indecent exposure where it doesn't belong."
Vermont has no state law, and Brattleboro no ordinance, against public nudity, although police charged a man Wednesday with lewd and lascivious conduct.
Someone videotaped Adhi Palar "performing acts of lewdness involving his genitals and some clothing" while he danced nude on a downtown street, police Capt. Gene Wrinn said, without elaborating. "He was getting some looks, and we got some complaints."
Palar, 20, of Brattleboro, could receive up to five years in jail if convicted.
There was no phone listing for Palar, and Wrinn said he did not know whether he had an attorney.
Last year, Toney became one of the town's most vocal critics of allowing people to bare it all in public after a groups of young people caused a stir by stripping naked in a downtown parking lot.
This week she was back before the Select Board, demanding to know what the town was going to do "about this behavior."
Audrey Garfield, chairwoman of the board, said she had spoken with the town manager, and that a log of complaints would be compiled.
Some are worried about the town's image.
"How do you want to be viewed as Brattleboro?" asked the Rev. Kevin Horion. "We want to welcome families with small children."
Nudists could pop up anywhere, he said. "I am concerned we don't know where they are going to strike."

Power, corruption and Lies

More from your friendly neighbourhood Tory crappy government:

1. What is the Parliamentary term for bottom-feeding Senator Marjorie Lebreton in her latest fiasco? Can't think of anything that doesn't rhyme with bum scucket...
2. You know you're in trouble when Arnold Schwarzenager's environmental advisor nails your bag to the wall, as CP reports.

OTTAWA -- Arnold Schwarzenegger's environmental adviser suggests the Canadian government's climate-change plan should be terminated -- or at least significantly improved.
Terry Tamminen will accompany the California governor during a three-day trip that begins later this month to Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa, where Schwarzenegger is expected to meet Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
He says the Conservative government is making the same mistake as the
Bush administration in the U.S. by failing to take urgent action.
"I don't think the plan itself is commensurate with the threat," Tamminen said in an
interview. "Our federal governments are, frankly, asleep at the switch."
His criticism of the plan follows rebukes from former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki, and from the head of the international body that oversees the Kyoto treaty. "Both of our countries ... need to take this problem more seriously and we've got to develop more aggressive targets."
Tamminen said state and provincial governments have succeeded where national ones have failed, and applauded examples set by Manitoba and British Columbia.
B.C. plans to join several U.S. states under a carbon-trading system proposed by Schwarzenegger.

3. Susan Riley laments the abuse of power by the Conservative front bench in today's Citizen.

4. PM Steve likes to talk a lot about accountability, but that is for everyone else. The Globe and Mail notes that he is evoking Parliameentary privilege rather than appearing in court to explain some shady backroom deals.

Ready, fire, aim...

A day after slamming his own government for having a so-called`"race-based" West Coast Fishery, Conservative MP and certified wingnut John Cummins called on Trade Minister David Emerson yesterday to kill the Pacific Gateway Transport corridor project aimed at improving transportation in British Columbia. Anyone who has spent time in the Lower Mainland knows the absolute need for adequate infrastructure, apparently Cummins thinks products should be airlifted or teleported to the ports.

Cummins said Ottawa should launch public consultations and bring in world experts to ensure all steps are taken to mitigate the project's impact on the environment and quality of life in Delta, Surrey, Langley and other parts of B.C.'s heavily-populated Lower Mainland.

"It makes no sense to push ahead and spend all of this money on a port that makes the communities adjacent to it little more than doormats on which passing freight wipes its feet and leaves nothing but misery and disruption behind," he said in a statement.

Cummins, increasingly at odds with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government, issued a news release shortly after B.C. Tory MP James Moore rose in the House of Commons to extol the Tory government's latest installment of $360 million.

Umm, err, what he said...

CONSERVATIVE SLEAZE UPDATE

The Conservative Party is trying to put the boots to a trial that could shed light on secret backroom deals that paved the way for the candidacies of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Public Works Minister Stockwell Day.
Mr. Harper has hired a lawyer to represent him at a proceeding being held this week to determine whether there was implied confidentiality in the Conservative Party's agreement with Alan Riddell, who gave up the nomination in the riding of Ottawa South so the Tories could run a high-profile candidate.
The Conservatives are recommending that the trial should be adjourned — a position Mr. Riddell's lawyer says may have been influenced by the fact that details of similar agreements made for Harper and Day could be called as evidence.
I love the smell of sanctimonious hyprocisy in the morning...

Conservative apologizes for calling immigrants "Imports"

Le conservateur Harvey s'excuse d'avoir traité les immigrants d'importés

OTTAWA (PC) _ Le député conservateur de la région de Québec, Luc Harvey, a présenté ses excuses, lundi, à la Chambre des communes, pour des mots qu'il a
prononcés la semaine dernière.
Vendredi, M. Harvey avait traité les immigrants d'importés alors qu'il faisait une déclaration pour vanter des joueurs de soccer de son comté. Le mot "importés" avait soulevé la colère de la députée bloquiste Vivian Barbot qui en avait immédiatement fait un appel au règlement, réclamant des excuses publiques.
C'est ce à quoi le député Harvey s'est prêté, lundi, après la période des questions. Lisant bien attentivement une déclaration écrite, contrairement à vendredi alors qu'il avait improvisé son intervention, le député conservateur a dit regretter sincèrement ce qu'il a appelé une erreur langagière.

That's what happens when you pick the head of the bank alphabetically

European leaders have told the Bush administration that Paul Wolfowitz must resign as President of the World Bank in order to avoid a vote next week by the bank’s board declaring that he no longer has its confidence to function as the bank’s leader.
European officials said yesterday that the board was drafting a resolution reflecting its view that the relationship between Mr. Wolfowitz and the governing body of the bank had “broken beyond repair.” They noted that, if he remained in office, some European countries were planning to reduce contributions to the World Bank that would aid poor countries and instead would channel the money to European agencies and other groups for distribution.
Check out whole story in today's NYTimes piece.

I wonder if he likes pumpernickel...

Wow. I did not know until doing a bit of poking around today that gypsy punk-rocker Eugene Hutz immigrated to Burlington, Vermont from Ukraine post Chernobyl. In any event, he makes good music and probably likes Cabot sour cream. Check out this link.

Hat tip to pawlina for getting me thinking...

Sudanese man forced to "marry" goat

According to the BBC, a Sudanese man was forced to take a goat as his wife after he was caught having sex with the animal. In an unrelated story, the Canadian federal Tories have been caught in several more lies this week, including Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon who hid his travel expenses, John Baird who tried to arrest a whistle-blower who decried his government's laughable environmental policies and this from a government with the gaul to introduce a new accountability bill. I think that the above-mentioned goat probably feels the same way as many Canadians do about this government. Oh yeah, did I mention the Tory 3 amigos impersonator, the psychic and the 9/11 freak? Canadians have every right to be disappointed in the Conservatives, and besides, at least the goat owner got $50!

What Brown and Jaffer were discussing...

I linked earlier to a story about Conservative MP Gord Brown watching the planes crashing into the twin towers while his buddy Rahim Jaffer was ogling bouncy girls on a laptop in the House of Commons yesterday. Apparently, this activity was keeping Brown too busy to deal with correspondence from constitutents. He did, however, pick up a pointer from Jaffer on how to get your staffer to impersonate you.

A red-faced Tory MP is apologizing after his assistant impersonated him --and provided false information -- in an e-mail exchange with a constituent over the hot-button issue of Afghan detainees.
An e-mail from Gord Brown's parliamentary office, dated May 2, claimed that every alleged case of abuse involving Afghan detainees had been investigated and proven to be unfounded. That despite the fact the Afghan government has yet to finish an
investigation into the torture claims.

The turnip truck called, it's missing some bumpkins who fell off. Somebody help these guys before they get hurt.

Your tax dollars at work

Pain in the Grits describes what Conservative MPs do to keep busy in the House of Commons here, nice

Do as we say...

The Hill Times newspaper reports that former Tory national campaign co-chair and registered lobbyist, John Reynolds, says he can again work on the next national campaign because he is lobbying only on a volunteer basis.

Last month the Conservative Party in an effort to maintain the perception of a get-tough approach to insider lobbying, decided to ban lobbyists from working on its next national campaign.

Reynolds typifies the Conservatives' "Accountability for everyone else" approach to government.

New Scandal rocks RCMP

A consulting company named in an audit of the RCMP pension fund as receiving contracts under an irregular process was benefiting from a $380,000 deal with the national police force as recently as January this year, documents obtained by CTV show.
Casey Computing Solutions Inc. was awarded $3.2-million worth of consulting contracts with the RCMP between 2002 and 2004, the documents show.
But a 2005 audit done by the international company KPMG showed that some of those deals were improperly tendered. One of them allowed the company's owner, Kim Casey, to put her husband, Pat, on the payroll, which boosted the price incurred by the federal government by $675 a day.

Someone must have a fetish at the RCMP

Maybe it's just me, but this story about a "body parts registry" at the RCMP just struck me as odd. Let's start with registering the guns and enforcing the laws, shall we?

Man caught trying to sell 2 kids on internet

The internet is a good tool for police to catch weirdos who try to sell children.

PROACTIVE DISCLOSURE

Proactive Disclosure - that is the term that was used to describe the posting on the internet of expenses by politicians and their staff, a practise implemented in Canada by the previous Liberal government and carried over by Canada's New Conservative government...except for Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn who didn't get the memo and racked up another $150k in travel expenses and didn't make them public...oops.

Wow -

Spent the weekend working on a project due tomorrow. Found out this evening that Tiger Woods won in dramatic fashion. Nice to know that there are some things youcan count on: beautiful May/spring weather, political craziness in Ukraine and Tiger Woods winning golf tournaments. To be honest, I am quite glad that weather in Ottawa has improved to allow for more BBQing and walking in the Byward market.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister is in town tomorrow. Will update in the evening.

Borat's Brother Composes for Kazak Orchestra

Erran Baron Cohen, brother of the actor Sacha Baron Cohen -- who created the hit film "Borat" -- has composed a 16-minute musical piece, "Zere,'' which is debuting at St. James's Church in London today.

Here's the kicker: It will be performed by The West Kazakhstan Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ukrainian crisis over, for now

Check out the story on Mark MacKinnon's blog here.

I wonder what the menu will be?

Queen Elizabeth II will be the guest of honour for a "white tie" event at the White House, I wonder what the menu will be? No pork rinds and pretzels for W...

They knew and they lied

For 2 weeks now, the government has said that they had no knowledge that detainees were being tortured. The below story shows that to be patently false. One of the reasons that we have the Geneva Conventions is to prevent the torture of prisoners captured in military conflict. The government denied knowledge of torture. They knew and they lied. Who knew what and when....


OTTAWA--“Canadian troops in Kandahar were so disturbed by the beating of a prisoner they had just transferred to the Afghan police force that they demanded to have the man returned to their care, a top soldier says in a sworn affidavit.

The testimony of Col. Steve Noonan, a former senior commander on the Afghan mission, casts doubt on the claims of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and senior ministers that they had no specific reports of abuse of prisoners in
Afghanistan.

Noonan tells of at least one detainee who got a rough ride after being handed over to the Afghan National Police (ANP). And he says it's documented in the military's own reports.

"The CF (Canadian Forces) learned that detainee had been beaten by the local ANP. When they learned of this, they approached the local ANP and requested that the detainee be given to them," Noonan said.

"The ANP complied and the CF subsequently transferred the detainee to the Provincial ANP."

In the midst of controversy regarding abuse of prisoners after they are handed over by Canadian troops to Afghan authorities, the two countries signed a new prisoner-transfer agreement yesterday.

Noonan gave his sworn statement this week as part of the government's response to legal proceedings launched by human rights advocates. But in attempting to show how the Canadian Forces use discretion in the handling of detainees he appears to have given ammunition to critics of the government's policy.

In legal proceedings prior to a scheduled court hearing yesterday, the government stymied efforts by the lawyer for Amnesty International Canada, one of two groups seeking an injunction on prisoner transfers, to get more details when he cross-examined Noonan.

Questions to Noonan on Wednesday about the date of the incident, even the medical condition of the prisoner, were blocked by justice department lawyer Sanderson Graham.

"When did that incident occur?" asked Paul Champ, the Amnesty lawyer.
"We object to that question," Graham replied.
"On what basis?"
"On the basis of national security," Graham said.

"It threatens Canada's national security to know when the Canadian Forces observed local Afghan National Police beating a detainee that they transferred to that unit?" Champ said.

"We object to any questions on this incident generally," Graham replied.
Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran, who has been active on the detainee issue, charged yesterday that the federal government is covering up reports of mistreatment of prisoners.

"Canada is aware of specific allegations and even specific instances of torture that are being kept secret," he said. Defence department officials referred queries about the incident to foreign affairs staff, who were not able to respond.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister visits Canada and US

It appears that Peter MacKay's special someone has eyes for Ukraine's Foreign Minister. Wonder how long before MacKay calls Condie a dog as well.

In all seriousness, AP reports that Ukraine's Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk assured U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Ukraine will adhere to democratic standards in resolving its current political crisis.
Yatsenyuk said President Viktor Yushchenko was seeking a compromise with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych over the president's order to dissolve Parliament and his call for new elections.
Yatsenyuk said that U.S. officials expressed concern that Ukraine maintain the democratic progress it had made since the 2004 Orange Revolution brought Yushchenko to power after another standoff with Yanukovych.
"We have to stick to democratic values, democratic standards -- it's obvious for us," Yatsenyuk said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Ukraine's political stalemate erupted after Yushchenko accused Yanukovych of trying to usurp power by wooing pro-presidential lawmakers over to the majority coalition.

In an unrelated story Yushchenko has fired 2 bought and paid for judges appointed by his predecessor to the Constitutional Court for accepting huge bribes.

Yatsenyuk will get to share Condi stories with MacKay during his visit to Ottawa early next week.

Is Tony Clement going to replace John Baird?

I noticed on Canada a.m. this morning that Tony Clement was out stumping on the Tory Green Scam in place of Envoronment Minister John Baird. Vould it be that Mr. Harper is going to change his second ineffective Environment Minister? Hmmn.

Oh yeah, that stuff we said about no torture ...nix that

CanWest News Service reports that torture tales are credible

While the Conservative government continues to deny there is any proof that torture occurs in Afghan prisons, the emergence of a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay last year asked NATO to curb such abuses.
It also conceded that Canadian officials in Afghanistan had heard allegations of abuse.
New York-based Human Rights Watch copied Canadian Foreign Minister MacKay in a letter dated Nov. 28, 2006, that cited "credible reports" of torture and abuse in Afghan prisons.
The letter blamed Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security, or NDS, which Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor said last week had agreed to grant full access to Canadian officials to monitor the well-being of detainees transferred there by Canadian troops.
O'Connor's announcement of the NDS "arrangement" turned out to be premature; it caught MacKay off guard, and was later found to be a deal that was still being negotiated.

O'connor: Dead man walking

CP reports:

Even his spokesperson is not so sure.

After spending last week nailed to his seat in the House of Commons, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor was nowhere to be seen during question period Monday.
Others took questions directed towards his empty chair on the Afghan detainee issue. Speculation about O'Connor's future has been a capital sport since allegations surfaced of torture in Afghan prisons.
That kind of speculation led to a stern note from his spokeswoman:
``If any of you give credit to the rumour that MND (minister of national defence) will resign, will look studip (sic). It is not true he will NOT resign.''

This and That

Here are a few interesting tidbits in the news today:

• Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is so mad at the Prime Minister, he's calling him Steve.
• The Conservatives have re-opened nominations in Calgary-West. Why I think this is good news is here.
• Tory Clean air plan NOT getting rave reviews.
• Sheryl Crow was joking about the toilet paper, wasn't she?
• Reuters reports that Hugh Grant has been arrested and questioned by police after a photographer accused the British actor of attacking him with a tub of baked beans.
  The paper printed photos of Grant with a plastic tub of food raised over his head.
  Grant's lawyers Schillings said an incident had taken place and was now under investigation.

Why I don`t watch Fox News

On Tuesday, Fox News morning show “Fox & Friends” aired at least eight segments on a purported “news” story that was actually a parody article.
The background: Last week in the town of Lewiston, Maine, a group of Somalian Muslim middle school students were the subject of a prankwhen their peers placed a ham steak next to them in order to personally offend the students. School officials filed a report because the students considered the act to be a hate/bias crime.
The actual story was then spoofed by a parody sitecalled Associated Content, which made up quotes and details, such as the school’s intention to “create an anti-ham ‘response plan.’”
On Tuesday, Fox & Friends reported these parody quotes and details as actual news. Poking fun at the students, hosts asked whether ham was “a hate crime…or lunch?” and showed screen shots of ham sandwiches, starving Somalians, belching, animal noises, and mock “reenactments” of the incident.
Ironically, the hosts assured viewers several times, “We’re not making this up!”

Liberals seek investigation of MacKay coverup

At Parliamentary Committee this morning, Liberal MPs asked Canada's Information Commissioner to investigate the whitewashed freedom of information request on Afghan detainees.

He was asked to examine the role of Foreign Minister MacKay and his staff in removing key segments of a report on the torture of Afghan detainees that was released under Access to Information. This morning, Information Commissioner Marleau confirmed that he will investigate the document given to the Globe and Mail, which concealed references to mistreatment of detainees in Afghanistan.

"We've asked that Mr. Marleau determine why government officials would first deny the existence of such a report and then, later, release a whitewashed version of it," said Jim Peterson. Mr. Marleau was asked to compel the government to immediately make the full file public.

There are no legitimate reasons for this type of information to be concealed. Canadians have every right to know that we are meeting our international obligations, which prohibit us from transferring detainees into situations of torture and inhumane treatment.

Constitutional Court hears final phase in Ukrainian standoff

Today, Ukraine's Constitutional Court entered the final stage of hearings into whether President Yushchenko's decree of April 2 dissolving the Verkhovna Rada is constitutional. The Constitutional Court's session devoted to the decree, which officially began on April 17, is taking place in a courthouse cordoned off by police and picketed by representatives of the ruling coalition, who oppose the dissolution of Parliament, as well as of the opposition, which supports Yushchenko's decree.

Culture of Untruth

Paul Wells describes the new modus operendi of PM Steve's government here.

Harper Government leaks Enviro Plan: Baird must be fired

CTV News reports that a copy of Environment Minister Rusty Baird's speech for this Thursday was sent to the Opposition Liberals in the House of Commons. Subsequently, a note was sent demanding that the information be kept confidential.

Given that knowledge of the information may impact on public markets, Liberal Environment Critic David McGuinty advised the media of the fact that the document was received (but not its contents).

The government needs to get to the bottom of this serious leak and refer the matter to the RCMP for investigation. Since it is impossible to know how many other potential recipients may have received this document in error, the government must take immediate steps to asses how this document was leaked and refer the matter to the RCMP.

It is disturbing that the government allowed such a serious breach in advance of such a sensitive announcement. I suppose the only prudent course of action would be for the Liberals or the government to release its contents prior to the markets opening in the morning.

Under the circumstances, I expect that PM Steve will have to fire his Environment Minister.

Grace under fire

PM Steve has been taking flack all day over his government's terrible, incomprehensible position over detainees and may still lose his inept defense minister over the incompetence.

So what does he go out and do? In a very classy move tonight, the PMO issued a release indicating that Senator Gerald Comeau, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate (a Conservative), and former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (the Liberal) will represent Canada at the State funeral of the former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

Chretien was famous for appointing former Conservative Ministers from former Tory PM Kim Campbell to Justice Minister Pierre Blais to Benoit Bouchard to Perrin Beatty. Many critics will say that Steve was just trying to change the subject from his domestic problems, but this is a classy move and I for one think that Jean Chretien's contribution to Canada-Russia relations merits his attendance at the Yeltsin funeral.

Nice touch PM Steve.

O'Connor misleads Canadians

The Globe and Mail reports today that hapless Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor has once again mislead the House of Commons here.

"For the last six years the position of leader of the free world has remained open" - Barrack Obama

Mr. Obama outlines some of his foreign policy views in the NY Times here.

Canada's First Lady

So I go away for the weekend only to find out that PM Steve's image consultant is also a part-time psychic. Feel free to take your best shot in the comments section.

On the road...

Travelling, won't be posting til Monday. In the meantime, enjoy these

pics of Ukrainian politicos.

Last Night

I was at a dinner here in Ottawa last night with about 400 of my closest buddies where Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada Ihor Ostash presented former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney with the Yaroslav the Wise Medal, the highest honour that the President of Ukraine can bestow on a foreign citizen.

There was some CBC video footage from about twenty years ago, when Mulroney famously went to meet protestors who were waving the then illegal Ukrainian flag. Mulroney spoke eloquently about how during that trip he decided to open the Canadian consulate in Ukraine and met with the head of the Ukrainian Communist Party who spoke to him in Ukrainian (also illegal then) and had to switch from his official Russian translator to Roman Waschuk, then a junior foreign service officer from Canada who was seated a few rows back, who translated from Ukrainian for Mulroney.

Mulroney was awarded the Medal for being the first Western leader to recognize Ukrainian Independence, against the wishes of Gorbachev, Thatcher and George Bush senior. While not a Conservative, I believe that his actions in this instance were appropriate.

Having seen these pictures on Nezalezhnosti site, sometimes given the current situation in Ukraine, we forget what a long way the country has come in the last 15-20 years.

Ukraine to hold Eurpoean Soccer Championships

Michel Platini, the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), announced yesterday that the joint bid by Ukraine and Poland has won the contest for organizing "Euro 2012", the European championships in soccer in 2012.

The matches will take place in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Lviv, and the Polish cities of Warsaw, Gdansk, Poznan, and Wroclaw.

"The 'Euro 2012' finals will make us better-known in the world and help our capabilities grow. I believe there will be more such victories for the sake of our common European success," Ukrainian President Yushchenko said.

Opposition MPs resign seats

Andriy Shevchenko, a lawmaker (not the Chelsea footballer) from the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc in the Verkhovna Rada, said that deputies of his faction have signed statements giving up their seats.

Shevchenko did not disclose how many of the caucus members have signed such statements, but said that the move is a signal of readiness to give the Ukrainian president an additional argument to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada. The presidium of the opposition Our Ukraine People's Union also adopted a decision ordering caucus's members to give up their seats.

According to the Ukrainian legislation, the work of the Verkhovna Rada becomes illegitimate when 150 deputies vacate their seats. The Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine caucuses have 125 and 77 deputies, respectively.

Canada's Prime Make-up artist

I was surprised to learn that Canadian taxpayers are footing the bill for Steve's image consultant.

Payola? That would be cynical

The former Chief of Staff to Conservative PM Mulroney, Bernard Roy, was appointed Chairman of the Port of Montreal. His Port related qualifications, err, umm, he was the legal counsel to the Gommery Commission.

He is also on the Board of World Point Terminals Inc., which can be reached at their Montreal office by calling this Calgary number:
World Point Terminals Inc.

1981 McGill College Avenue, Suite 1100 Montreal,
Quebec H3A 3C1 Canada

(403) 261-3700 phone

What does World Point Terminals do? The Group's principal activity is to own and operate fourteen liquid bulk storage and terminal facilities along with a tug operation. Their 2006 annual report mentions investigations into their European operation.

Back to Roy, I am sure that it is a mere coincidence that he is a Conservative. I am sure that this appointment is based on err, cough, cough...competence.

Not bad for a show that's preceded by puppets making crank calls

A new survey by Pew Research Center found that despite the mass appeal of the Internet and cable news since a previous poll in 1989, Americans' knowledge of national affairs has slipped.

For example, only 69% know that Dick Cheney is vice president, while 74% could identify Dan Quayle in 1989.

Pew judged the levels of knowledgeability (correct answers) among those surveyed and found that those who scored the highest were regular watchers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Colbert Report. They tied with regular readers of major newspapers in the top spot, with watchers of the Lehrer News Hour just behind.

Over 20 dead at Virginia Tech

My sympathy goes out the the victims' families of the mass murder at Virgian Tech. this morning.

Ecole Polytechnique, Columbine, Dawson College and now Virginia Tech. As I said last fall when the shooting took place at Montreal's Dawson College, when will we learn that guns kill people and people with guns kill people.

The Ecole Polytechnique mass murder prompted tighter gun laws, including the creation of the National firearms registry. I remember how horrified I was on December 6, 1989, and today's events, like those at awson College stirred up those same emotions.

Now, more than ever, we need to step up action to control these guns that are robbing young people of their futures.

As we saw in Bowling for Columbine, I guess this means that the NRA will be visiting Virginia Tech soon enough.

New Opposition Bloc in Ukraine

ITAR TASS reports that a new election bloc led by Yuri Lutsenko called the People’s Self-Defense has emerged in Ukraine.
The bloc is made up of Forward Ukraine, the Christian Democratic Party and People’s Self-Defense.
“We are stretching out hands to Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc,” Lutsenko told a press conference. He believes that a united opposition bloc would have more chances in early parliament elections.

Congratulations to Penny Collenette

Penny Collenette today won the nomination to be the Liberal candidate in Ottawa-Centre over Scott Bradley by a vote of 435 to 298. Bradley moved to make the results unanimous. The folks in Ottawa-Centre will be able to vote for a good candidate in Penny Collenette. She and Scott both ran good, clean campaigns and this puts Dion one closer to his 33% female candidates.

Funny, Elizabeth May hasn't offered to not run a candidate in Ottawa-Centre...it's probably still in the works.

Latest on Ukraine...

Check out Foreign Notes here for a better update than I can provide today.

Pumpernickel Recipe number 17 - french Onion Soup with Pumpernickel croutons

Ingredients
1/2 lb butter
8 large onions, sliced thinly
3 oz. ruby Port
3 oz. balsamic vinegar
2 litres beef broth
1/2 lb bacon, chopped into cubes
1 bay leaf

3 sprigs parsley chopped

1 tsp ground thyme

1 tbsp salt

2 tsp freshly ground pepper

For the croutons and cheese:
8 thick slices of pumpernickel (sliced and toasted in the oven with olive oil)
400 grams Gruyere cheese, grated

Instructions

In a large pot, heat butter over medium heat until melted. Add the onions and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and browned (about 10-15 minutes).

Stir in the Port and Balsamic vinegar. Add the beef broth. This soup, in particular, is a very good argument for making your own. Add the Bay Leaf, thyme, parsley and bacon, and bring to a boil.
Season with salt and pepper, reduce heat to simmer and cook covered for an hour, skimming any foam off the top with a ladle. Remove the Bay Leaf.

When the soup is finished cooking, ladle it into the individual Onion soup bowls. Float a piece of pumpernickel crouton on top of each bowl. Spread a small handful of cheese over the top of the soup. Place each crock under a preheated 400 degree broiler until the cheese is melted (4-5 minutes).

Be careful when serving, the bowls retain their heat extremely well.

You can't be a National Party if you don't run 308 candidates

There have been numerous reports that Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has concluded a non-aggression pact with Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. Dion, it has been reported, will break with tradition and history and tell Liberals in Central Nova that he doesn't want their support or $1.75 per vote, that it is more important for him to make nice with the Green Party.

To quote the Halifax Herald, to do so, you'd have to be off your rocker. My friend, Prairie Fire developed a 308 seat strategy to try to run a credible race against the Conservatives everywhere across the country. An "almost-national party", with a "307 seat strategy" doesn't quite have the same ring to it.

Hopefully, smarter heads will prevail...

UPDATE: As Paul Wells points out, apparently they didn't.

BQ MP Quits Caucus

All over the Canadian political punditsphere, people are talking about PM Steve embracing the Quebec separatists. Yesterday, he appointed Andre Paille to oversee a commission to review government polling practices from 1990-2003. Today, they are gnashing their teeth over the resignation of BQ MP Louise Thibeault.

Lots of theories that she's joining the Cons, etc.

Well, you only had to look as far as the French media for the explanation:

La députée Louise Thibault quitte le Bloc québécois pour siéger comme indépendante.
Mme Thibault affirme qu'elle ne peut accepter qu'un parti politique lui refuse le droit à la dissidence.
Elle attribue son départ à un long conflit avec le chef Gilles Duceppe sur la question des mariages gais. Mme Thibault dit avoir subi des pressions pendant la période qui a précédé le vote sur cette question, même s'il s'agissait d'un vote libre.
Louise Thibault avait été de cette poignée de députés bloquistes à se prononcer contre le projet de loi C-38, adopté en mai 2005, qui a confirmé ce droit au mariage.
La députée affirme qu'elle est toujours souverainiste et qu'il est hors de question qu'elle se joigne à un parti fédéraliste aux Communes.
Élue en 2004, puis réélue en 2006 dans cette circonscription auparavant représentée par Suzanne Tremblay, Louise Thibault occupait les fonctions de porte-parole du Bloc québécois en matière de Travaux publics et Services gouvernementaux.
Avant son entrée en politique, la députée avait fait carrière dans la fonction publique canadienne.
Personne dans les rangs bloquistes n'a encore émis de commentaires sur ce départ.

So, there you have it. She is a social conservative and opposes gay marriage and has ruled out joining any federalist parties. And besides, she still needs 3 more years to qualify for her big fat MP pension.

The marching has begun...

Radio Free Europe reports that the Ukrainian Constitutional Court has Postponed its decision on the Dissolution of Parliament.

The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has postponed hearings on the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada until April 17. Also, five Constitutional Court judges complained about pressure exerted on them and asked for the state to provide them with bodyguard services. Ukraine's security services have agreed to provide them with temporary protection. The judges also said that they cannot decide on high-profile cases unless there are conditions that would allow unbiased rulings. "The president of Ukraine has issued a decree to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada within his constitutional authority. Regretfully, some well-known statesmen and political figures are making premature statements that the decree is unconstitutional, whereas the constitution says that only the Constitutional Court is authorized to decide on the constitutionality of the decree," the judges said in a statement. The Constitutional Court consists of 18 judges, appointed by the president, the parliament, and the Council of Judges, a nonpartisan judicial body, who each name six. An effective ruling requires the support of at least 10 judges.

Subsequently, Ukrainian President Yushchenko stated the obvious. The Constitutional Court's ruling must be obeyed. Yushchenko said yesterday that all political forces involved in the Ukrainian governmental crisis should accept and honor any future Constitutional Court ruling on the legality of the presidential decree dissolving the Verkhovna Rada. "I would like Constitutional Court rulings to be obeyed rather than discussed," Yushchenko said. "I am sure that this rule is applicable to all sides," he replied when asked whether he himself will obey a ruling if the Constitutional Court finds his decree unconstitutional. "Both the constitution and its interpretation by the Constitutional Court should be respected by all parties to the process. This is one of the fundamental preconditions for resolving any conflict, including the conflict that is under way in Ukraine today."

To his credit, Yushchenko has decided to keep the police away from political protestors. Yushchenko told a meeting of the heads of Ukraine's law enforcement agencies that "all law enforcement and security agencies should undertake a peacekeeping mission and stay away from political conflicts." Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko said that participants in the meeting did not discuss whether to introduce a state of emergency nor whether to beef up law enforcement and security agencies to deal with the situation. According to Hrytsenko, two groups are monitoring the activity of Ukrainian law-enforcement agencies -- one operates on behalf of the president and is led by Vitaliy Haiduk, the secretary of the National Defense and Security Council, and the second acts on behalf of the government and is led by Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Radchenko.

Thanks to little miss moi at Nezalezhnosti for the photo. She has a number of good ones from the window of her apartment of the pink corduroy revolution.

750,000 to meet at Maidan

Stratfor reports that Ukraine's Constitutional Court is set to rule today on the legitimacy of President Yushchenko's decision to dissolve parliament and call for new elections.

Ahead of the vote, the court's judges have accused the president's rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, of threatening them and are now saying they might boycott the vote.

Approximately 750,000 protesters have flooded into Kyiv in anticipation of the vote.

PM Steve

Apparently he's a cat guy. Found this link. Apparently this is meant to show how caring he is. Apparently, he teaches them to shake hands. Just sayin, I'm not gettin that warm buttery feeling about him, despite the picture with former PM Chretien.

It's Spring

Back from Easter celebrations in Montreal and I guess spring is in the air, because I really don't feel much about blogging about Don Imus, or the Conservatives watering down gun control, or allegations that the invisible hand of PM Steve is responsible for the firing of Gerry Nicholls.

I don't know if it's the smell of the thawed dog poop, or something else. But I feel like blogging about hopeful stories, like this one about Barack Obama, or the lineup for Wembly's live earth concert including Madonna, Genesis, Foo Fighters and the Red Hot Chili Peppers playing a concert highlighting the threat of climate change on July 7. Other acts include James Blunt, Duran Duran, Snow Patrol, Razorlight and Damien Rice.

Coincidentally, I watched an Inconvenient Truth again today as well as having seen this guy, Colin Beavan, on Colbert Report. Owl hugging druids...makes me laugh.

Yushchenko threatens to prosecute Yanukovych

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko today threatened to prosecute PM Yanukovych if he refuses to take part in a new election.

Yushchenko accuses Yanukovich of violating the Constitution by poaching members of Our Ukraine to create a majority in Parliament.

"I stress one more time that it is obligatory to implement the decree of Ukraine's president. Any refusal to implement it will result in criminal proceedings," Yushchenko told a meeting of Ukraine's Security Council, where he sat next to Yanukovich. "I will not take a single step towards rescinding the decree."

Can you say ESCALATION?

Presidential Decree

Here is a copy of the English translation from Ukrainska Pravda of the Presidential Decree to Dissolve the Verkhovna Rada and call new Parliamentary Elections for May 27.

Dion appoints Isabel Metcalfe

Today's Globe reports that the Liberal leader appointed Isabel Metcalfe to spearhead the Party's commitment to have women as one third of candidates in the coming campaign.

Ms. Metcalfe is a former candidate, long-time organizer, and is now volunteer chair to work on finding and nominating women candidates. Good on Dion for bringing in Isabel Metcalfe to lead the female candidate recruitment campaign. This corner was critical of the initial appointment of Linda Julien to the job.

Liberal MP Blew whistle on RCMP scandal - Tories accused of cover-up

Don Martin accuses the governing Conservatives of trying to thwart repeated efforts of Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj to look into the RCMP scandal and exposes the Tory cover-up effort.

The Tories repeatedly shut down effort by Wrzesnewskyj who repeatedly called on the committee to investigate the matter. Here is what Don Martin had to say:

A one-vote margin of victory on a last-ditch in-camera motion finally allowed RCMP officers to spill the beans in public last week to trigger a national ruckus and an independent investigation. Had the vote gone the other way, the code of RCMP silence would have covered Parliament Hill indefinitely.
And if you're looking for the most bizarre acts of obstruction and interference, look no further than Conservative MPs, possibly acting under orders from above, who voted as a block to sweep the accusations under the rug.
It's incredible and inexplicable why a government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, which wraps itself in the uniform of aggressive law and order, would vote repeatedly to deny RCMP officers access to the spotlight when they were willing to risk their careers telling the disquieting truth.
But all committee members were hand-delivered the evidence by RCMP whistle-blowers last fall, carefully indexed and the most damning evidence redflagged, and even after they were given a preview of their testimony, MPs still stonewalled the push to bring the RCMP scandal out of the shadows.
"Every colleague I spoke to said, 'Are you sure we want to go there? Remember, this is the RCMP'," says Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj. "At every key point when the committee voted to deal with the issue, they [Conservatives] blocked it or tried to block it." The second-term Etobicoke MP is credited by RCMP whistleblowers for doggedly pursuing the file and leading the charge to secure their hearing. Mr. Wrzesnewskyj demanded reports used by the Auditor-General be brought forward last December. His motion was rejected by all five Conservative members. He asked to take the matter behind closed doors. He was voted down again.
After hearing from a number of witnesses previewing the allegations in mid-February, he put forward a motion to grant the whistle-blowers parliamentary immunity to testify. He was voted down by the Conservative members and a lone New Democrat.
Finally, after submitting stacks of damning documents, including e-mails showing nine RCMP brass trying to hide their golf fees on hotel bills during a pension fund meeting, Mr. Wrzesnewskyj felt he had enough evidence to secure unanimous support to call in the whistle-blowers. Even so, it only squeaked by on a single vote with all five Tories voting against the motion."All the Conservatives voted against having us testify, even after what was revealed when the brass came in on the 21st of February. I couldn't believe when they were all flabbergasted, acting like they couldn't have been more shocked. I guess I can't figure out politics."

Join the club, but attempts to get a government explanation have not been satisfactory.

The PMO insists it did not have advance notice of the allegations and has no comment on the committee behaviour of its MPs.

Of course, the PMO had no idea what was going on in Committee, just like they didn't know about the visit of the President of Liberia.

Ukraine Update - Yushchenko holds firm

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and PM Yanukovych discussed the political standoff in the presidential office on April 3 for 4 1/2 hours, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported, citing the presidential press service.

Yushchenko told Yanukovych that his decision to dissolve the parliament was final and warned the prime minister against resorting to force. "The main issue discussed at the meeting was to ensure strict implementation of the decree on an early election. Viktor Yushchenko, as commander in chief of Ukraine's armed forces, also stressed he would allow no use of force in the country," the president's press service reported.

Central Election Commission Chairman Yaroslav Davydovych said on Channel 5 on April 4 that President Yushchenko has instructed the National Security and Defense Council to provide funding for a campaign for the early parliamentary elections scheduled for May 27. Davydovych estimated that some $340 million hryvnyas ($67 million) is needed to finance the campaign.

On April 2, following Yushchenko's decision to call new elections, the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution to outlaw the Central Election Commission headed by Davydovych from holding new elections and tried to re-install Davydovych's predecessor.

Colbert - Some Politicians should not do media

Republican Congressman Lynn Westmoreland explains to Steven Colbert how he avoids getting sucked into making laws as well as his support for the 3 commandments (that he can remember) being posted in Court Houses. Some people really can use some media training.

Hat tip to AG

Screwing over parents, it's sad really

The National Post reports today that the Conservative government won't dictate rules on how the$250-million it will send provinces and territories this year to create daycare spaces should be spent.

Monte Solberg said the Tories have no plan to set national child-care standards, unlike the child-care plan of the former Liberal government. Mr. Solberg said he has put his provincial-and-territorial counterparts "on notice" the federal government expects them to use their share of the $250-million to build on their child-care systems.

The $250 million, which started flowing on April 1, is a mere one-quarter of the amount of the previous Liberal government's Child Care Plan and will replace the Conservatives' failed Big Box Daycare approach from their platform.

Under the Liberal plan, which the Conservatives cancelled, money was supposed to flow only to centres providing quality spaces at affordable prices that also offered an educational component.

So just to re-cap, provinces get 25 cents on the dollar and parents lose the assurance that the money is going to quality, regulated daycare spaces...Nice.

What if you called an election and nobody showed up?

So The Yanukovych dominated Verkhovna Rada Parliamentarians decided to reject the Presidential order dissolving Parliament and calling for new elections...

Radio Free Europe is reporting that the political crisis in Ukraine has intensified following President Viktor Yushchenko's order to dissolve parliament and hold new elections.The parliament, dominated by lawmakers loyal to Yushchenko's rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, has moved to defy the dissolution decree by passing a measure that blocks the government from funding the early parliamentary polls set for May 27.

They also passed a decree reinstating the former head of the Central Elections Committee who was removed from the job as a result of fraud during the 2004 elections. The incumbent, Davydovitch, is an honourable and courageous man who put his own life and personal safety on the line for the truth and the desire of his countrymen to have free and fair elections. He also put in place measures to ensure ballots could not be manipulated.

Hopefully, President Yushchenko knows what he is up against and has come to this knife fight properly armed this time, because there is no honour among Yanukovych's gang of thieves, thugs and poisoners.

Election called for May 27

According to RIA Novosti, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko just signed an order (Monday) to disband parliament and called new legislative elections, promising that they will be held in line with the constitution.
Viktor Yushchenko signed the parliament dissolution order after hours of crisis talks with parliamentary leaders failed to produce a compromise decision. He accused the majority coalition, led by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, of trying to expand its power base by unconstitutional means, notably by taking in individual lawmakers. Under the law, only entire factions can join the coalition.
But Speaker Oleksander Moroz said the president had no legal grounds to disband the assembly. The election, set for May 27, is another attempt by Yushchenko to resolve the country's ongoing political crisis, which has faced Ukraine since the latest ballot in March 2006.
Over the weekend, 70000 Yushchenko supporters and 20000 Yanukovych supporters took to the streets in central Kyiv in mass rallies. Yushchenko's Our Ukraine Party urged him to dissolve parliament while protesters from the Yanukovych camp said they would dispute the legality of such a move with the Constitutional Court.

A lot more interesting to me than the unveiling of Tory Campaign HQ here in Ottawa.

Conspiracy Theory

There was a movie that came out in 1997 starring Mel Gibson called Conspiracy theory where this cabbie has this crazy theory about the inter-connectedness of world events and how government intelligence agencies manipulate world events to have the MSM focus on certain things. This weekend's events made me think about this.

In 2004, I was in Ukraine for the Elections, now known as the Orange Revolution, and as soon as the re-run of the elections was done and while the results were in legal limbo, an earthquake with an epicentre in the Indian Ocean Tsunami swept throught Southern Asia, hitting Sri Lanka, Indonesia, India and Thailand.

Just like whenever a prominent Western looking person gets poisoned be it Litvinenko or Yushchenko, the Russian security services always say, "Must have been some bad sushi."

So I was surprised in a cartoon abstract way when following yesterday's 90,000 person pro-Yushchenko protest in Kyiv, that a Tsunami had swept through the Soloman Islands.

It really is a tragic event, that really had nothing to do with Viktor Yanukovych's Russian backers, but since it happened on April Fools Day, I am left to wonder "or did it?"

This has got to be an April Fool's Day Joke

A CTV News website is reporting that Lord Vader's boy,Ben Mulroney, is set to run in Papineau for Conservatives according to National Newswatch.

CTV News says that Ben Mulroney, will announce his bid to seek the Conservative nomination in the Montreal-area riding of Papineau, Monday.
Last month, Justin Trudeau, the eldest son of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, confirmed to the media that he would be seeking the Liberal nomination in the same riding.
Conservative Party officials were not available for comment early Sunday morning, however one Tory insider confirmed to CTV News that Mulroney will be parachuted into the riding by Prime Minister Harper. Mulroney is also expected to immediately step down from his hosting duties of the wildly popular CTV series 'Canadian Idol,' currently in production.
Producers of Canadian Idol refused to confirm reports that home-grown comedian Mike Bullard was being wooed to fill Mulroney's hosting shoes.

At least the TV watching public will be rid of him.

UPDATE: The link is a fake. http://www.ctv.nationalnewswatch.com/CTVNews_019291019_TopStories_.htm
But we can still dream about being rid of Ben Mulroney.

90000 out in dueling protests in Ukraine

Here they go again. If nothing else, Ukrainians are bound and determined to have a democratic and representative government.

More than 70,000 Ukrainians rallied in the center of Kyiv to press President Viktor Yushchenko to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) and call new elections, deepening a political feud between the President and PM Yanukovich.

President Viktor Yushchenko accused the Yanukovych government on Thursday of violating the constitution by forming a coalition based on individuals rather than political factions. Yushchenko's charges were linked to a recent defection of a dozen opposition lawmakers to the ruling majority.

Yushchenko slammed the ruling (Party of Regions) majority for a "baldfaced revision of the will of the Ukrainian voters, a breach of the constitution, and a direct road to lawlessness." He suggested that he might respond by dissolving parliament. "I will never allow the parliamentary majority to be reformatted in violation of the constitution. If any political forces believe they can claim 300 seats and they declare repeatedly that there will be a 300-deputy coalition in parliament, then a political decision shall be made and we will call early parliamentary elections," Yushchenko said.

Yushchenko has reportedly invited Yanukovych and parliament speaker Oleksandr Moroz as well as leaders of parliamentary factions for consultations on this controversial issue, but it is unclear when such talks could take place.

Demonstrators at Saturday's rally were unhappy with attempts by Yanukovych to expand his power base by siphoning away lawmakers from pro-Yushchenko factions — a move that has significantly strengthened Yanukovych's control over Ukraine.

Earlier Saturday, the increasingly sidelined Yushchenko, who did not attend the evening rally, accused Yanukovych of breaking promises he made in a power-sharing agreement and trying to amass more power by poaching lawmakers from the blocs that support the president. Yushchenko has expressed concerns that Yanukovych could strengthen his parliamentary majority to 300 seats in the 450-seat parliament — enough to override presidential vetoes and make changes to the constitution.

Yushchenko threatened to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada if the situation did not change.

"If the work of the majority is not renewed on the basis of the constitution, I will sign the decree to dissolve parliament," Yushchenko told a conference of his party's delegates Saturday morning, prompting wild cheers and applause.

Seeking to push him to go ahead with the threat, his political backers called supporters out into Kiev's Independence Square, which was the epicenter of the 2004 Orange Revolution protests that ushered Yushchenko into power.

About 70,000 people turned out, waving flags and banners. The demonstrators accused Yanukovych of effectively trying to revise the results of last year's parliamentary election. "It is not the right of the president, it is his obligation," Yulia Tymoshenko told demonstrators.

The crowd shouted, "Together we will win."

Meanwhile, a smaller crowd of about 20,000 Yanukovych supporters held a rival rally nearby.

Dissolving parliament could plunge Ukraine into a new political crisis, particularly since Yanukovych's coalition has stated it will refuse to abide by the president's decision.

The standoff between the the 2 Viktors arose earlier this month after 11 lawmakers allied with the president defected and crossed over into Yanukovych's coalition, in violation of a new law that compels lawmakers to remain with the party they were elected with. The constitution also requires that political coalitions must be formed between entire parties — not individual lawmakers or small groups of lawmakers. There were news reports that the bribes being offered by the party of regions for floor crossers were in the neighbourhood of $6 million (US).

Yushchenko came to power after hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians flooded onto Independence Square to protest Yanukovych's fraud-marred presidential victory in 2004.

"Razom Nas Bahato" may make a comeback...
(With Files from AP/RFE)