I was one of the few to break from the pack, and rise to his defense when David Emerson crossed the floor.
I stood fast in my support during the "Harper is a cold parent", "Harper is fat", and "Harper wears frumpy vests" controversies.
I did not waver during the barring-the-media-from-CFB-Trenton crisis.
I have been as steadfast and reliable a defender of Stephen Harper as a dyed-in-the-wool partisan could hope for.
But no more. The news that a contingent of Celebrity Activists®, Gulfstream socialists, and legacy-challenged politicians are in Toronto to attend the most important photo-op* on the planet - and that my Prime Minister is nowhere to be seen - is simply too much.
This is not the behavior Canadians have come to expect - and deserve - of their Prime Ministers. Not at all.
And it looks like your not the only one, Kate.
http://tinyurl.com/n5ets
[Via NealeNews]
did Bill Clinton go over on "irresponsible spewing of DNA and associated disease" or Richard Gere discuss lifestyles of the "rich and infamous"?
perhaps thats not a world stage or a handshake one would want to share.
Chretien under fire for shunning AIDS conference
Reuters NewMedia, Inc. - 5 July 1996
TORONTO - Canadian AIDS activists said on Friday they regretted Prime Minister Jean Chretien's decision to shun an international AIDS conference in Vancouver and urged him not to give up the fight against AIDS.
The 11th International Conference on AIDS opens on Sunday in Vancouver, but Chretien has said he is too busy to attend.
This will be the first time in the history of the conference that the head of government of the host country will not open the event. ...-
voy forums
There seems to be more than enough retired politicians and rich people attending this forum. It is not that I do not think that this is important but our Prime Minister has the job of running our country. This conference has turned into a three ring circus. It reminds me of when Paulie and his rich wife were here fighting the seal hunt........ Photo opportunities.
I would have been disappointed if Mr Harper HAD attended the AIDS-Fest in Toronto. He is not a hypocrite. He does not bow to media hysterics, self-righteous lobbies or the pollsters. We finally have someone who actually understands the real role of Prime Minister.
BTW, I suspect Kate's tongue was firmly in her cheek!
So can someone tell me whether Mr. Clinton was there out of soulfelt sympathy, or is he collecting his usual speaking engagement fees?
Well, we know that Paul Martin would be there, for one and only reason - votes.
He wouldn't be there for AIDS. He might announce funding but the GAP between a Liberal/NDP promise of funding and the actuality of funding is measurable in invisible decades, not actual months.
Remember Martin's pompous ranting at his Kyoto conference - which he used to chastize the US for not joining Kyoto, but ignored that the US record of lowering CO2 emissions was twice better than the Canadian record.
So- Martin would come to the AIDS conference as a political strategy. The agenda would be basic. To serve him. Nothing else. To achieve VOTES for Martin, he'd promise millions in front of the cameras. And, to achieve VOTES for Martin, he'd attack the US - just because anti-Americanism is a major part of the Regressive's Platform.
Chretien would do the same. His actions had the same singular agenda. Votes. How did he deal with Mad Cow Disease? He had a photo of himself eating beef.
How did he deal with Toronto's SARS epidemic? He brought the Regressive's Caucus, at great taxpayer expense, to Toronto to meet there rather than in Ottawa.
How did he deal with the possibility of losing VOTES in Quebec after the referendum? He laundered the taxpayer's money.
For Votes.
A circus is not a political meeting. The AIDS organizers have politicized the disease for their own partisan agenda. AIDS is now firmly the Pet Disease of the Regressives. It's 'theirs' and they are using your attendance, your subservience to the disease, as a 'Sign Of' your political allediance. Will this assist in solving the medical and/or social aspects of the disease?
Absolutely not.
In fact, transforming a medical and social issue into a political issues GUARANTEES that the problem will not and never can, be solved. Why not? Because it's become a vital plank in a political platform. A whole army of funded supporters, activists, social workers and so on, will rely on the existence of that disease for their own survival.
Politicizing a medical and social issue guarantees the emergence of a host of parastic camp followers - and that's exactly what the Regressives have achieved. They have ensured that AIDS will remain, for their livelihood and platform existence, depends on that disease.
Yep, Kate, Canadians are not used to the type of leadership we now have, lmao.
Great comment, Kate.
Of course, Aids is secondary to the photo ops , especially for Clinton. Where there is a camera and a stage !! His only competition would be Chuck Schumer!
What is Gates thinking? Sharing a stage with that oaf and publicity hog?
Does he not remember that it was Clinton's justice department that tried to ruin his company?
He's just too rich to care.
"Is this a Hollywood conference or is this an AIDS conference?''
Star Power Overshadows Issues
Sorry Kate I don't agree with you. Harper is no hypocrite and his attendance wouldn't cure aids. The Gov't has contributed to this cause and they will make sure that the money goes to the right people. This aids conference was nothing but a sham.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are giving billions to Africa, on the one hand to fight a disease that's cost millions of lives, and on the other hand to promote contraception and abortion among the same African populace.
Shouldn't those two geniuses at least cancel the latter projects until, to put it bluntly, those dead Africans can be replaced by a few living ones?
Or do they only care about promoting current (and possibly contradictory) Received Liberal Wisdom and Ideologies, regardless of the cost to flesh and blood humans, a la the DDT ban?
I agree with Mary, the Prime Minister has a job of running this country & Yes it has turned into a "3 ring circus".
I think that the Government of Canada has done it's share by means of monetary support for research & awareness to defeat this terrible disease, however there will always be someome asking for more(Miller).
I feel that there are too many using this conference for nothing more then political posturing. Being critical of the PM for not attending. Now i ask, what will that accomplish in the struggle to find a cure?
If, say, polio had been rearing its head again in a very serious way around the globe, and the conference about that, do you think that maybe then Harper would have shown up, even for a cup of fancy coffee?
PS: commenters, please remember to put on your Sarcasm Detector Glasses when reading Kate's posts...
If, say, polio had been rearing its head again in a very serious way around the globe, and the conference about that, do you think that maybe then Harper would have shown up, even for a cup of fancy coffee?
I'm right there with you Kate!! T.I.C. check? **
Was I hallucinating? Did I not see and hear, Bill Gates get booed when his opening night speech touched on something he referred to as the ABC's of HIV/AIDS ?
"Abstinence..." Mr. G started. This unleashed a torrent of booing from the gathered 30,000. The second part of this segment, the "B,"was inaudible to me because of the noise, though it sounded like "B -- for being faithful in marriage. . ." The Boos continued into ". . . C -- for: use condoms . . ." This was not a case of Gates preaching or anything. He was using this by way of preamble. setting a basis for his subsequent ideas, one of which was that throughout the world, in most cases, the women of any specific society are not in any position to enact the world-wide HIV/AIDS teaching of "The ABC's for Combating the Spread of Aids."
Female Abstinence is impossible in rape situations. (A personal aside: Some military regimes in Africa are utilizing Military Rape Units, all troops being HIV Pos., ordered into areas of opposing factions where their mission is to rape as many people, men, as well as women and children, in an effort to spread the disease into an opposing populace. The left's "Peace Keepers" would certainly bring about wonderful changes here, I'd wager! )
Female fidelity in marriage, is ineffective if the spouse in unfaithful and does not practice safe sex.
Female insistence on use of condoms, goes unheeded in most societies, ours as well.
It seemed that Gates' use of words like 'abstinence,' and 'fidelity,' which seems to have been an unfortunate and inappropriate choice, what with all of their apparently-negative connotations and religious overtones. The words seem highly charged, and appeared offensive to the attendees, providing the listeners with some flash-words which triggered the release of their catcalls and boos. Hardly an appropriate and measured response to what seemed to me to be a very balanced presentation.
"What the hell, Bill. Just give us the bleeping money and don't bother us with your thoughts." These sentiments, and the booing of the crowds, are definitely unfortunate and inappropriate responses on the part of the delegates who booed. I can perhaps guess that anyone else who is not a "star" looking to score some p.r. points, may prove to be more than a tad reticent to show up at future gatherings. I can only guess why PMSH might have been absent. I can only imagine the reception this right-leaning Prime Minister of Canada may have received. For reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with HIV/AIDS.
Not a pleasant picture to contemplate.
Will Mr.&Mrs.Gates, with their billions, likewise feel some future uneasiness with this organization?
The attending Liberal MP's and former Cabinet Ministers had more than a simple dose of gall, showing up and slagging Harper's 'no-show.' Chrétien didn't show at the conference in BC some years back, to little recrimination. As well, the Liberals, in their former role of Government, seven years after making headline-generating pontificating, have, to date, delivered on NONE of their own lofty, headline-grabbing promises made to this organization. They talked the talk, but they haven't walked that talk. With these standards of what, to date, has been acceptable behaviour from a sitting government, PMSH has until 2013, before other alarms mutely start ticking away.
Nice of the CTV to follow some of the CBC coverage in their attempts to capitalize on hyping the anti-Harper spin, to the detriment of their coverage dealing with more of the real issues behind this conclave. Wainberg fits right into the Liberal supporting cast of characters coming out of the McGill think tanks. Not at all unlike Ms. Maione, in her own special capacity. In my opinion, individuals not possessed of petty-mindedness, would be dealing with the truly germane issues of the conference, none of which, are, "where in the blazes is non-(gasp)-Liberal, non-(gasp)-master-dithering, current Prime Minister?"
A more important question is why has the main, #1, international scientist in this field of HIV/AIDS, Dr. Gallo, along with many other key Doctors and Scientists, opted out of this side show? Were their places taken by the likes of Avril Lavigne and other young up-and-coming HIV/AIDS Entertainment/P.R. seekers?
What is it that we're trying to achieve here?
1.) Do we want to gang up and embarass the Prime Minister, because he (fill in this blank_____________________ with what you think is a great reason to everybody in Canada to go after Harper instead of working to fight HIV/AIDS)
2.) Do we want to alleviate the plight of those around this world, who face unpleasant lives and devastating futures because of HIV/AIDS?
I know what this pissed -off Christian Evangelical, retired blue-beret veteran has been, and shall continue to do. How about you?
Anybody else?
C'mon! Walk that Talk. Do that for a few years.
THEN it becomes a case of walking that walk.
Where's Harper? Where the hell are YOU? Put your lives and your money where your mouths are flapping.
just thinking out loud. . . .
T.I.C. = tongue in cheek. check it out!!
Caught a couple of sound bites from Stephen Lewis, through the MSM, and he says absolutely nothing.
It's amazing to hear someone so longwinded but able to say so little.
Clinton could'nt even contain his laughter after one choice Stephen Lewis platitude of nothingness.
I could'nt imagine Stephen Lewis leading anything.
The man is worse than useless.
Read this.
http://www.630ched.com/station/blog_bob_layton.cfm
"Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the creation of a $25 million Lebanon Relief Fund to respond effectively to relief, early recovery, and stabilization needs in Lebanon.
“As a leader on the international stage, Canada has a responsibility to help those suffering from circumstances beyond their control. Today’s announcement is about doing just that – bringing urgent relief to people by ensuring the availability of much-needed humanitarian supplies,” said the Prime Minister.
And:
Prime Minister touts the North as a tourist destination like no other
...the Prime Minister proceeded to highlight some of the natural and cultural treasures to be found in the North including festivals, national parks, and historical sites.
“A trip to the North is an experience like no other, and that’s why I’m asking Canadians to heed the call. Come to the land that figures so largely in our national consciousness; one that has coloured our past, and one that is going to illuminate our future.”
pm.gc.ca/eng/default.asp
If, say, polio had been rearing its head again in a very serious way around the globe, and the conference about that, do you think that there would be 25,000 activists in attendance?
I'm hoping that Kate has "her tongue firmly in her chee", otherwise I'd disagree with her.
I cannot understand who paid for all these folks to attend this conference. Where'd the money come to bring 6-8 grandmothers from Africa. I they took the money they literally pissed away on travel to this and spent it on AIDES research, then....... Nah! Socialists don't think like that.
Same old lib/left pathetic crowd. I'm here to be seen and to be seen to be heard. I have to hand it to Gates though, he knows how to get the left off his business tail.
Go to
http://www.630ched.com/
Check Audio Vault - Look for interview with a scientist who works with aids. The interview was on 16 Aug 06. What a contradiction to Stephen Lewis and the rest of the doodoouers.
This conference has become little more than a left wing rave. Serious science and problem solving are not the primary agenda. Here is that page that links PDFs on governance of the conference: http://www.aids2006.org/mainpage.aspx?pageId=331
Take a close look at the minutes activist agenga: http://www.aids2006.org/admin/images/upload/685.pdf
Some of the more interesting talking points:
*Sometimes disruption is the best option. There is no right or wrong way to be an activist.
*There needs to be an outcry about the world's response to AIDS. Some of the most effective sessions are when you cannot hear the speakers.
*The IAC must have tolerance and enthusiasm for action and outrage from the audience.
*The international conference should be more radical than those at the country and regional levels
*Yes it's a circus, but this also creates media coverage that has a major impact on global consciousness.
*There should be a roundtable on donor restrictions on aid, addressing issues such as interventions for IDUs, sex workers, sexual and REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH RIGHTS (emphasis mine) for women, gay men and men who have sex with men.
*There needs to be more representations of drug users in the conference planning structure.
*IAS should be more public about the travel ban debate. MANY PEOPLE COMING TO THE CONFERENCE WILL NEED ACCESS TO METHADONE AND OTHER SERVICES. THE CONFERENCE MUST BE PREPARED TO MEET THE NEEDS OF IDUs (emphasis mine).
*Virginity testing
There are legitimate concerns on the activist agenda, but much of it seems geared to create a scream fest rather than a productive educational conference. The Industry Consultation Minutes are also pretty interesting.
Bill Clinton announced his new foundation dedicated to teaching Africans how to set up an unpaid intern program as a way of releasing pent up frustration and encouraging abstinence.
Critics warn that it may encourage the young to take up smoking.
A woman, only identified as Kathleen, said the program gave her the willies.
WHAT WOULD PAUL MARTIN DO ? AAAAHHH
PM was/is the best example of FLAKINESS Canadians have ever seen. Warren Kinsella can speak for himself, however I would say that WK saw the Hoax that PM was, very early on. Made him sick, caused a C-change in Warren's political views. But oh, no, the MSM were still siting on PMPMs lap. Worse than Pravda ever was.
So a couple of questions for the lunatic left ...
How much longer can they "effectively" beat this dead horse ? They had good success with Emerson's defection, thanks mainly to Dippers in Vancouver organizing the protesters. But I don't think Stephen Lewis is nearly as motivated or clever or enough of a media darling to keep this AIDS outrage going.
Which amongst the Libs, Dippers and Greens are you going to back in order to make Harper pay for this ? And even if you could coalesce around one of these parties, how do you get very many of these lunatic lefties to actually show up at election time and vote ?
I just don't think Harper is much worried about losing this pitiful demographic to his opponents.
Prime Minister Harper agrees: Diamonds are a girl's best friend*. ...-
*********************
EDITORS NOTE - DELETED
LAST WARNING
I will ban you, if you don't stop the off-topic link dropping.
Here's a good headline from CTV: Star power drowns out AIDS victims: activists
"The constellation of political and entertainment world stars drawn to the International AIDS Conference has drowned out the voices of the people living with AIDS, a group of activists complained Wednesday."
who paid for the 27000 Latte Lobbists?
who do you think? governments
I would say only Bill Gates paid his own way , the rest were on the dole.
Mr. Lewis , the blubbering blatherer is paid by the Canadian government, heir to the throne of daddy David Lewis, a dipper through and through, a family history of stepping up to the public trough.
What would Paul Martin Do?
Pauls Conference Script:
Let Me Make this Clear
Ah,Ah,Ah,(remember to shake jowels) Canada is committed in the battle against this terrible desease, We will be Committing $____________(insert any amount here). Ah,Ah,Ah, This will be achieved by the Year 2___(insert any year here)
Ah,Ah,Ah,(remember to shake jowels & Remember to have picture taken with the 2 Bills, try to avoid Jack & Stephen at all cost).
Now here are some celebrities that I can get behind. Good editorial.
http://news.bostonherald.com/editorial/view.bg?articleid=153289&format=text
Yesterday, a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times by an A-list of actors denounced the killing of innocents in Lebanon and Israel. They laid the blame exactly where it belongs.
La-la luminaries Nicole Kidman, Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito, Dennis Hopper, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Don Johnson, James Woods, Kelly Preston, Patricia Heaton of "Everyone Loves Raymond," William Hurt and 73 others said they are "pained and devastated by the civilian casualties in Israel and Lebanon caused by terrorist actions initiated by terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas."
AIDS . . a self inflicted disease, highlighted by the gong show happening in Toronto
The Globe and Mail’s Margaret Wente is back
The big AIDS circus is winding up tomorrow, and not a moment too soon. If I have to hear Saint Stephen Lewis hectoring us with his apocalyptic rhetoric one more time, I think I'll choke. Please, sir, can't you take an Ativan? Nor will I miss the ritual denunciations of Stephen Harper. Is it really his duty to show up so that 20,000 people can boo and hiss him? Funnily enough, Jean Chrétien didn't show up at the AIDS-fest in Vancouver a decade ago, either. But he's a Liberal, so I guess that doesn't count.
And I won't miss those madcap protesters, who are de rigueur at these events. What's an AIDS conference without noisy denunciations of greedy drug companies, callous Western politicians and the evil Catholic Church (which, as it happens, runs something like a quarter of the AIDS clinics in Africa)? The fake blood and coffins are always a nice touch. But I sometimes wonder why the protesters don't denounce South African President Thabo Mbeki the way they denounce George W. Bush. Sure, Mr. Bush is wrong about condoms. But it's Mr. Mbeki who's effectively killing people off.
With more than five million HIV-infected people, South Africa has one of the highest infection rates in the world. Thirty per cent of pregnant women have HIV. Hundreds of people die of AIDS every day, and three-fourths of those infected are women. But, for years, Mr. Mbeki denied that AIDS was caused by HIV, and blocked access to the life-saving drugs that could treat it. To this day, there is widespread ignorance about the disease and very little public education about it. Mr. Mbeki's search for an "African cure" has stalled the spread of helpful drugs. His long-time health minister, a woman, champions a diet of garlic, olive oil and lemon juice to treat HIV infections. Antiretroviral drugs, she maintains, are poisonous.
South Africa's rape rate is extremely high, but Mr. Mbeki has said the idea that rape spreads AIDS is "racist." A few months ago, his former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, was acquitted on a rape charge. During the trial, the popular Mr. Zuma -- who once led the country's top HIV/AIDS council -- admitted he'd had unprotected sex with someone he knew was HIV-positive. To protect himself, he said, he took a shower afterward.
News Release
Health Canada announces funding for the AIDS 2006 Conference in Toronto
Ottawa - To mark the start of Canadian HIV/AIDS Awareness Week, Carolyn Bennett, Minister of State (Public Health), announced today that Health Canada is providing $1.5 million to the International AIDS Society for the XVI International AIDS Conference, to take place in Toronto in August 2006. ...-
Via Canadian $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ tax payer$
(oops, Dr. C. Bennett is a Librano$)
Why would anyone expect PMSH to attend this conference? Would George Bush or Tony Blair attend such a conference, or would they send their senior representative from the Health portfolio?
As Clinton is an ex-Pres, where is Paul Martin, as ex-PM? Or Jean-Claude Van Chretien?
These groups sound like whiny teenagers who invited the BMOC to their party but he was a no-show because he had something else to do. Same thing with the boring Out Olympics or whatever it is called.
All this weeping and gnashing of teeth is getting tiresome, to say the least. Canadian government: It's not all about photo-ops and parties anymore...
I also think AIDS is just a boondoggle for these guys, but that's another issue.
The PM should have welcomed the delegates to Canada, wished them every success with their important deliberations, expressed the hope that the conference would contribute to the early eradication of this scourge of manking - and gotten the hell out of there before the activists had a chance to get going.
Kate, I hope you don't need surgery to remove your tongue from your cheek :-)
I was not a Haper fan while leading up to the election, but did vote tory for the person running in my riding (even though I've been a life long small-c liberal).
But I have to give this man credit. He has put more honesty into the PMO and the House since i don't know when!
Make the media beg, fight them till they realize they don't control the world. With blogging catching on the way it is, don't they have a clue yet that people are getting the real story? If the MSM's head was any further up their collective arse, they could see how small their brains really are!! (Yeah I know, this should be spatially impossible. But a fun picture.)
Leave the stars to their own folly and get down with all Canadians and their issues. He didn't pay much attention to Bono either, which did impress me some. Blew off that aging foreign actress too. Ignored Sir Paul and his dipshit wife and their special interest too.
Through all this the only people reporting un-happinesss are the special interests groups and the MSM.
And who really gives a shit about most of them (meaning all of the MSM and some of the special interest groups)
Keep up the good work.
And he hates kittens too.
I've been reading your blog long enough Kate to know when it's TIC.
Most excellent my dear. Most excellent. :):):)
What are the chances that Clinton is getting kickbacks from drug companies??
It seems like an incurable sickness, the left I mean, even in the face of the dangers of exposure to vile ideas, they go there without even SDA to help them.
Pity.
Who can blame Harper from not going to a smarmy celebitylove in over deviant behaviour where anyone with common sense ( or self respect) is deemed an "enemy" to be attacked.
Perhaps Harper is like me and he breaks out into an irritating rash when he is close to this much toxic hypocrisy.
Speaking of toxic hypocrisy, did anyone else have an alegic reaction when they heard Bill Clinton denigrate anyone who proposes "abstinency" as a 100% fail proof vaccine against AIDS, by saying "these people just didn't understand the pressures a woman faces in remaining chaste"....I'm still scratching my rash over that toxic dose. ;-)
I have asked at a couple of blogs and wrote the CBC Viewpoint asking how much this event costs and why is that money not put into research on finding a cure. So far not one site has the cost for this event, CBC did not even put my letter on their site, big suprise. How many hundreds of millions did this event cost. Can't anyone see how crazy it is to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on an event to tell us how little money is being spent in the fight against AIDS. Does anyone here know what this conference costs to put on?
The trouble with Africa
MARGARET WENTE
Google it and go in the back door if you don't have a G&M subscription.
I heard $22 Million for the conference.......Clinton probably gets a Half Million of that....talk ain't cheap.
Of course you were with Harper on all of those occasions.
You are with Harper on all matters.
It appears that your critical thinking and analytical capabilities are delivered to you via email from Sandra Buckler at the PMO.
How about perhaps even one independent thought?
w3.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060817.wxcowent17/BNStory/National/home
The PM will not be giving any money out during the Conference
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060817.waidsharp0817/BNStory/AIDSCon/home
This guy is great.
The PM will not be giving any money out during the Conference
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060817.waidsharp0817/BNStory/AIDSCon/home
This guy is great.
Hi Kate, Just two notes.
1)Our Head of Governmwnt did address the Conference.
2) PMSH is doing a lot more for the people of Canada by being in the North. I'm certain the all the citizens of the towns and villages are just thrilled that he is there. It is probably the first time in living memory that these people have actually shook hands or saw in person the Prime Minister of all of Canada.