And The Winner Is...

Joe Biden! Let the swiftboating begin...

Tony Clement's Junk(ie) Mail

Resident's of Vancouver's impoverished downtown east-side recently started receiving flyers from the Conservatives promising to rid Canadian streets from the plague of "The Junkies" (cue the ominous music). In a truly Reaganesque demonstration of ignorance, Health Minister and general dumbass Tony Clement has determined that Vancouver's Insite safe injection centre for drug addicts is "unethical" and the start of a "slippery slope". Mental midgets like Clement don't often let facts interfere with their thought process.

Clement's recent attack on Insite has prompted swift rebuke from those who actually know a thing or two about medicine - doctors.

“As an expression of somebody who calls himself a minister of health, it's a very unhealthy statement,” [Insite physician Dr. Gabor] Mate said.

“The repugnant aspect is his attack on the morality and ethics of human beings who are trying to work with a very difficult population.

“I mean where does he come off? Where does he appoint himself as a moral judge of professionals who he doesn't understand and knows nothing about?”

Indeed. CMA President Dr. Brian Day has also chimed in, stating that 79% of CMA members believe that programs like Insite (which promote harm reduction) work. Yet Clement and the collective braintrust (and I use that word very lightly) of the CPC continue to susbscribe to the fantasy that the scourge of drug addiction can simply be eradicated by stiffer jail terms and tougher policing.

The flyers, approved by the PMO, promised to "clean up drug crime" and went one step further, claiming that "the Liberal dark decade is over".

“Too many Canadians have seen the ugly face of drug crime,” the double-sided page sent from the local MP declares.

Hmmm. The only ugly face I see is that of Stephen Harper. Go figure.

Asbestos: Our Secret Shame

Although it appears to have escaped wider attention, Canada has been playing a shameful role on the international scene with regards to the asbestos market. The Rotterdam Convention, adopted in 1998, exists to promote health and protect against the harm caused by certain chemicals and pesticides.

...the Rotterdam Convention gives countries the right to be informed about, and to refuse, extremely hazardous chemicals and pesticides.

After a rigorous scientific and legal process, a panel of experts (the chemical review committee) determines whether a particular chemical is so dangerous that it is a threat to public health and has already been banned or severely restricted by various countries.

If so, the experts call for the chemical to be placed on a list of substances that cannot be exported to another country without first obtaining the "prior informed consent" of that country. This means countries must be informed of the dangers and have the right to refuse the product.

Sounds reasonable, no? But, for the past two years, Canada has been blocking attempts by the committee to place chrysotile asbestos on that list.

Canada has been the world's third biggest exporter of asbestos in the past century. Today, asbestos is a dying industry with one last asbestos company in Quebec and about 700 asbestos miners. Yet, because of its friendly relationship with the asbestos industry and because of its concern over losing votes in Quebec, the government is destroying a convention that is desperately needed to protect people in developing countries from deadly chemicals.

Although some debate exists about the level of carcinogenicity of pure chrysotile asbestos, the Canadian Cancer Society supports the Rotterdam Convention, and has adopted the position that countries importing asbestos from Canada ought to be informed of the potential health hazards. Our opposition to adding asbestos to the PIC list puts us in some distinguished company, along with India, Krygyzstan, Iran, Peru, and the Russian Federation.

Why does our government insist on supporting the asbestos industry at the expense of some of the most impoverished labourers in the developing world? Surely federal money spent on marketing and support of the industry could be better used for retraining our remaining asbestos workers. After the Conservative's much ballyhooed Consumer Products Safety Act, our government's continued support of unfettered asbestos export is nothing short of hypocrisy, and a stain on our international reputation.

Shady Business As Usual

Today, major newspapers are reporting that the Conservatives may be attempting to derail the Ethics Committee's inquiry into the In & Out scandal by discouraging key witnesses from attending.

The official agent for a Conservative candidate in Toronto told The Canadian Press on Tuesday that he and other potential witnesses were told by an organizer for the federal party as late as Monday that they didn't have to testify at the inquiry if they didn't want to.

Douglas Lowry said the organizer, whom he named as Carmen McGregor, gave the advice after he and others received summonses from the Commons ethics committee.

“We've all been told,” Mr. Lowry said.

I don't know if it's true, but it's certainly easy to believe. I only wonder how long it will take for the Conservatives to blame these allegations of impropriety on the Liberals...

[Conservative MP Gary Goodyear] said Szabo's suggestion that something is amiss is just further evidence that this is a “partisan forum” and described the hearings as an “illegal” process.

Ahhh....and there it is. Your Conservative government, ladies and gentlemen: governing from the bottom down.

Update: A good review of the Ethics Committee shadiness over at Liberal Arts & Minds.

Aborted Logic

Over at Blue Like You, Joanne (having some time ago completed her "Journey"), is plenty miffed about Dr. Henry Morgantaler's challenge to abortion funding restrictions in New Brunswick. You see, in every province but New Brunswick, elective abortions are publicly funded procedures. Strange, since a full 70% of the 33 respondents to Joanne's recent Poll of Polls favour "some kind of abortion law".

Stranger still, since a recent poll of 4 of my friends showed 100% of respondents in favour of closing the books on the abortion debate. Math is hard.

Anyways, regardless of your views on the choice vs life debate, you have to marvel at the complete absence of intellect by Joanne's commenter "Ed the Hun" who wonders:

Of course the irony to me is that the left (who so FULLY supports Morgentaler) are contradicting their own stance regarding NO PRIVATE HEALTHCARE.

Isn’t Morgentaler’s clinic ‘private’ (as in not part of the publickly [sic] owned) and isn’t what he is asking no different than if someone were to open a clinic in Alberta where you might go to get a hernia repaired for example and the bill is paid by the Alberta Government?

To which Joanne dutifully replies: "Good question, Ed".

Good question?? Is she joking?? Sadly, probably not. Ed and Joanne, I know it's tough, but try to follow here. Morgantaler is fighting for public funding for abortions in NB. Currently, women who wish elective abortions must pay out-of-pocket, which he believes represents an unwarranted barrier to access. Those who support Morgantaler support his challenge against private-pay abortions. So no contradiction exists, despite the tortured logic you invoke to try to make it so. Clear? Good.

What a Rush

First off, apologies for my absence the past few weeks. Work was especially busy, and had to take priority over blogging. Anyhoo, I'm back.

I've noticed some of our conservative blogging colleagues high-fiving each other over Rush Limbaugh's 20th anniversary as a conservative syndicated radio host. Let's look back at some of Rush's greatest moments.

"Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"

"The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies."

"This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation, and we're going to ruin people's lives over it, and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them because they had a good time." - On the Abu Ghraib Prison Abuse Scandal (3 May 2004)

"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act... This is really shameless of Michael J Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting." - About Fox's Parkinson's Disease, referring to his appearance in Missouri Democratic Senate candidate Claire McCaskill's political ad (23 October 2006)

"I am addicted to prescription pain medication."

Happy 20th, douchebag.

No Intelligence....Period.

Congratulations to Ben Stein on his fraudumentary, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed"! It managed to garner a full 8% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.
Here's a sampling of the rave reviews that have been pouring in:

The movie itself is an example of design by faith and emotion rather than intelligence, defined as rationality grounded in proof. -The Chicago Sun-Times

One of the sleaziest documentaries to arrive in a very long time, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a conspiracy-theory rant masquerading as investigative inquiry. -The New York Times

For a film about American freedom of expression and the necessity for open dialogue, it's hard to imagine Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed being more one-sided, narrow-minded, and intellectually dishonest. -Slant Magazine

This film is an appallingly unscrupulous example of hack propaganda and it sucketh mightily. What's more, I didn't laugh once. -The Globe & Mail

If someone believes in the Tooth Fairy, can they complain about not being taken seriously at dental school? -Jam!Movies

Oh SNAP!! Way to go Ben! Reviews like that have helped propel this piece of shit insightful little film past previous Academy giants like Christmas with the Kranks. Stein still has a ways to go , however, if he wants to get the kind of critical acclaim afforded to masterpieces such as Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, which pulled off an impressive 11% on the Tomatometer, or Tom Arnold's laugh-fest The Stupids, which earned a remarkable 23% rating.

Dare to dream, Ben!

UPDATE: By way of commenter Bruce and our friend Red Tory, some hilarious opening weekend numbers.