A La Prochaine, Red Tory!

A quick entry today, to bid thanks and farewell to one our most prolific Libloggers, Red Tory. Yesterday, to the surprise of many, RT hung up the proverbial towel (at least temporarily). Real life, it appears, has a strange way of creeping up on us all!

I think it's fair to say that Red represented some of the best in Canadian political blogging. Thoughtful, erudite, and always engaging of his many commenters, his was always an active and entertaining forum for discussion.

From my own tiny corner of the blogosphere, I wish him all the best and hope to see him back in the near future.

Wajid Khan Is Sleazy....I'm Shocked.

Is anyone out there particularly surprised that Wajid Khan was today charged with illegal election spending by the Elections Commissioner? Yes, Khan was a member of the Liberal Party at the time. But he has since crossed the floor and has found a happy home in the CPC, where we all still await his magical mid-east report.

Said Stephen Harper of the accused,

"The more we worked together, the more both of us began to realize that, politically, we have an awful lot in common...In time, it became clear to me that Mr. Khan would be quite at home in the Conservative Party."

Indeed.

I Am Better Than Your Kids

In the midst of all the political goings-on at the present time, I thought today I would take the high road (or the low one, depending on how you look at it), and post a link to one of the funnier websites I've come across recently.

If you've ever been annoyed by excessive children's art at your place of work, this site is for you.

Revolving Doors

At this stage of the game, it should hardly come as a surprise that the Harper government is talking a big game about "changing the way things are done in Ottawa", but actually doing nothing of the sort. The latest insult to our collective intelligence comes in the form of Kory Teneycke, a former industrial lobbyist who has just been hired by the Conservative caucus.


Directly from the CPC website:

I guess check-mark #4 is more CPC bullshit in action. As noted by the Harper Index, the revolving door between lobbyists and the Conservative Party continues to spin wildly. According to an article in the Star:

Kory Teneycke, the former executive director of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, was hired this fall to lead the Conservative research bureau, which prepares talking points for Tory MPs and digs up dirt on the opposition.
...The latest in a long list of examples includes a senior member of Environment Minister John Baird's staff and a member of Public Works Minister Michael Fortier's staff, who both recently left to work as lobbyists in Ottawa.
...Teneycke contributed $1,000 each to five different Tory candidates – all successful – in the final week of the 2006 election campaign, according to Elections Canada records. Among the recipients was MP Gerry Ritz, now the federal agriculture minister and the man responsible for fostering Canada's biofuels industry.

Oh, and apparently he's a "pal" of Stephen Taylor's. Anyways, I don't particularly give a rat's ass about Teneycke himself. After all, as I'm sure the BT's will be quick to point out...but, but, but, the Liberals did it too!!! Boo, hoo, hoo, hooooo....
The point, however, is that when Harper goes through the trouble of making a fancy little check mark on his party website and traipses around crowing about cleaning up lobbyist/politician relationships, he might reasonably be expected to do as he says. Or not.

Remembrance Day 2007

Lest we forget.

Weekend Musings

I know it's been done to death on countless Liblogs, but I feel I would be remiss not to mention my delight at watching Harpo twist and turn and eventually call an "independent review" on his old buddy Lyin' Brian Mulroney. Pressure from the opposition? An attempt to deflect attention away from Dion's poverty plan? Worry about his own name being linked to Karlheinz Schreiber and his sordid dealings? Who knows. But it's funny that an exercise that was just last week dismissed as "dangerous" is now crucial to "protect the office of the Prime Minister". When the spineless turn on the shameless, it's always good for a few laughs.

And does anyone actually believe the latest steaming pile of crap to come out of the Perv's mouth? According to an article in the G&M, "Pakistan Will End Emergency Rule In One Month". Uh huh. And if you buy that, I have a bridge in New York I'd like to sell you. The tinpot Pakistani dictator-in-chief suspended all pretense of democracy (which has never actually existed) in his country last week on the grounds that he wanted to round up Islamic terrorists. So far, the only people he's tossed in jail have been Supreme Court justices, lawyers, political opponents and human rights activists. And yet, the US taps continue to flow to the tune of billions of dollars a year. Spreading democracy, one brutal dictatorship at a time.

UPDATE: Anyone still interested in that bridge in New York? The Perv has confirmed that martial law will not end in one month, as announced yesterday. Apparently, the poor man found himself between a rock and a "hard surface".

Power Tools

Poor Condi Rice. What's a freedom-totin' democracy-lovin' gal to do these days? General Pervez "the Perv" Musharraf, loyal Bushie and self-proclaimed US ally in "the war on terra", has today taken the magnanimous step of declaring martial law in Pakistan.

Musharraf has become a vexing little problem for the Bush administration. Ostensibly a friend to the neocons in the administration, his actions since he grabbed power in a bloodless coup eight years ago have cast a serious cloud of doubt over his sincerity. He is a dictator, to be sure, at times adorning himself in glittering military paraphernalia that would have made Idi Amin blush. But recently, he has made a point of appearing in civilian attire, even as he announced the end of the Rule of Law, the suspension of TV and telephone services, and the arrest and detention of several prominent members of the judicial branch. He is nothing if not savvy.

Pakistan has become openly what many have observed it to be privately for years - namely a dangerous country populated by a combustible blend of democrats, Islamists, terrorists, and tribal people of indeterminate loyalty. A country led by an ambitious and at times ruthless man who, via the army, has held a vice grip on power for nearly a decade and is clearly in no rush to let it go. Musharraf has been torn between his own declining popularity, a judiciary that has grown tired of his continued disrespect of the Constitution, an insurgency within his own country, a leaky border with Afghanistan, tensions with tribal peoples, and a still simmering problem in Kashmir. He's been juggling, but dropping balls over the years.

The return of Benazir Bhutto didn't help matters much. And with some chief justices musing openly last week about ruling his presidency illegal, the stage was set for dramatic action.

“Unless General Musharraf reverses the course it will be very difficult to have fair elections,” [Bhutto] told Sky News television by telephone. “I agree with him that we are facing a political crisis, but I believe the problem is dictatorship, I don’t believe the solution is dictatorship."

And, speaking for Bush, Condi has meekly voiced the opinion that the USA does not support "extraconstitutional measures" (waterboarding, the Patriot Act, and Guantanamo Bay notwithstanding, apparently). Let the good times roll.