Who will be next leave the closet and openly accept corrupt Liberal government lucre?
Guesses anyone?
Greg Weston?
Susan Bonner?
Paul Wells?

I hope SDA and the internet communities like it lead to the destruction of the journalism/punditry/talking head class.

The first time I read it i thought it said

Kevin Libin latest journalist to openly declare for the liberals,

oops

Better go get some coffee before I read the rest,...

Joe I'd guess Paul Wells,

I didn't know they taught Poli Sci at journalism school. Probably the other elective besides Ethics 101.

Scary note on the senate numbers... Whatever happened to the people that reported the news and were not supposed to be the news?

I have a little Drew Fagan story. When I was working with a news wire in London a few years ago, I sent Fagan an email that criticized his analysis of the Israel/Palestinian conflict. A few hours later our call center patched through a call from Fagan. The man was insane. He literally screamed down the phone at me, and called me every efing name in the book. His beef apparently was that my organization is like the NY Times in the journalism world and that my criticism was shockingly unprofessional. Therefore, he said (or rather screamed), he wanted my boss's name and number because he was going to call her.

Frankly, I thought the whole thing was quite amusing, and I knew my boss would get a kick out of a call from this lunatic, but when I gave him her details it became clear that he was merely trying to intimidate me.

Such is the quality of journalism in Canada. And it doesn't say much for the quality of our foreign affairs department either.

Of course there's another Drew Fagan story out there. He once heard a radio report before he left for work in the morning, and went on to write up a story that appeared on the Globe's front page. Unfortunately, it was April 1, and Mr. Fagan and the Globe had just published a story based on an April Fool's joke.

And these clowns think bloggers are a joke.

How do we get the average voter who doesn't follow politics a much as many of us to see this bias in the media?
One thing I've been doing is tossing a Western Standard magazine into the lunch room at work, in the magazine rack at the gym and in the chiropracter or doctors office.
These blogs are a great source of info, but we are kinda preaching to the choir.
I used to post in the SoundOff section at Canada.com, but they seemed to have stayed completely away from any election stories lately.
Any suggestions other than grabbing the nearest Liberal supporter and slapping the hell out of him?

I have not read a better sum up of the incest that exists between the scum in politics and the scum in the media.

Why do I call them scum? Because it's the scum that always finds a way to the top of the pond.

I might add that the more 'polluted' the pond, the more quickly the sum forms and the more of it there is.

"The first time I read it i thought it said

Kevin Libin latest journalist to openly declare for the liberals"

Yeh, I read the same thing at first. Nothing starts the day like a good bout of heart palpitations.

*thumpathumpathumpa*

Anyhow, I must agree with Kate on this. Westerners just aren't welcome out east, and that goes doubly for those of us from the wild rose province.

Albertans: Canada's other Newfies.

Duke is right on: the "scum" rises to the top of totalitarian societies. The "scum" in Canada is known as The Liberal Party of Canada : notice the ominous words -- "tending towards totalitarianism". Hayek has this to say: >>>>>>>

In perhaps the best chapter of The Road to Serfdom, Hayek details "Why the
Worst Get on Top" in totalitarian societies. The chapter begins with a
quotation from Lord Acton: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power
corrupts absolutely." Hayek then elaborates the Actonian insight.

There are strong reasons for believing that what to us appear
the worst features of the existing totalitarian systems are not
accidental by-products but phenomena which totalitarianism
is certain sooner or later to produce. Just as the democratic
statesman who sets out to plan economic life will soon be
confronted with the alternative of either assuming dictatorial
powers or abandoning his plans, so the totalitarian dictator
would soon have to choose between disregard of ordinary
morals and failure. It is for this reason that the unscrupulous
and uninhibited are likely to be more successful in a society
tending toward totalitarianism. Who does not see this has
not yet grasped the full width of the gulf which separates
totalitarianism from a liberal regime, the utter difference
between the whole moral atmosphere under collectivism and
the essentially individualist Western civilization.

Recall that that was written in 1944 at the height of the naive leftist
faith in collectivist economic policy. Hayek dedicated his book to the
"Socialists of All Parties," never attributing malice or bad motives to
them, only sheer intellectual error. He demonstrated, nevertheless, how
attempts to do good can produce great harm. The thesis is the counterpart
of Adam Smith's famous dictum that self-interested behavior can be the
source of great societal good. (And both men owe much to Montesquieu.) >>> more
http://www.cato.org/pubs/policy_report/pr-nd-gd.html

My List of nominees for appointments is long and none of them will get the nod until after the election (naturally):

Craig Oliver
Mike Duffy
Don Newman

On the waiting list primarily because they are too young:

Paul Wells
Keith Boag(SP?)

Not being considered because they are doing far too good a job...for the liberals

Jane Taber
Chantal Hebert (looks right from time to time but always there when needed)

Would be given HRDC or PWC cabinet post if he would accept it:

Andrew Coyne

....

This issue is one the most important and yet one of the most difficult to address for the CP. We simply do not have a conservative-leaning central Canadian media outlet from which to make these devastating and supportable accusations public.

Perhaps an alternate channel would be for a senior conservative statesman to go public and rant about it, thus giving some of the conservative journalists/opinion writers some cover to write and dig further. Maybe Mike Harris?

The most damning statistic is that more media types have been appointed to the senate than any other career type. Get that into the public arena and you hurt the LP a whole bunch - many of these appointments were made by PM and other current Liberals.

Why our scandal is worse.............

"And now, say hello to our sponsorship scandal. How serious is it? It reveals a Canadian democracy that has been bought and sold by those in power. Senior government and Liberal party officials used public funds, false contracts and kickback schemes not only for personal gain, which would have been bad enough, but to funnel money to the Liberal party, to perpetuate their access to the public purse.

The line between government and party was erased. And with it, so was the distinction between government and organized crime. Electoral financing was done under the table, with government contracts effectively sold in return for donations to the party. It was all very banana republic: a government, or at least one part of it, creating secret accommodations to circumvent its own laws. And if it weren't for one nosy auditor general, and the ascendancy of Paul Martin over longtime rival Jean Chrétien at the moment the auditor general's report came out, would there even have been a Gomery inquiry? Would we know any of this?

Recent history suggests not. In 1998, Pierre Corbeil, a long-time Liberal organizer, quietly pleaded guilty to four counts of influence-peddling. He had solicited contributions to the party in exchange for federal job-creation grants. Corbeil had responsibility for several ridings, including Chrétien's. And what did the inquiry into the role of his bosses in the affair reveal? There hasn't been one. Ditto for Shawinigate.

"Houston, we have a problem?" Try Ottawa. "
http://www.rapp.org/url/?I9JGHMAR
macleans via newsbeat1.com

Mike Duffy for a senate seat maybe? Robert Fife for Ambassador to Scotland? Unfortunately to many people rely on the media's Lie-beral spin to tell them what to think. My hope is that these blogs are finally encouraging more people to read and contribute by expressing their own opinins. I've been following the comments on the G&M lately and as soon as it seemed the Fibs were actually in imminent danger of losing their grip on (reality?) things, you get a flood of Young Lie-beral's and their regurgitated party propaganda being posted. The more people connected to the net will mean harder times for the liar's of the left.

I think the next to jump ship will be Greg Weston. I read him all the time in the Sun. He will have a column on the theft in our parliment then turns right around and perpetuates the myth that there is no viable alternative. This guy is a liberal all the way. Watch when the next election is called and all we hear from Weston, when it looks like the Tories are going to win, is how scarey Harper is and how the West is going to destroy medicare. He does this consistently. I also agree that the eastern sheep do not want anything to do with the west (except accept our money). I do believe they really don't care about the corruption of the Lieberals as long as they can keep the west marginalized. The first strong western leader that proposes separation of the west gets my money and my vote.

Sean wrote:

"Westerners just aren't welcome out east, and that goes doubly for those of us from the wild rose province. Albertans: Canada's other Newfies."

Now, isn't that just a bit hyperbolic? I mean, I ran into a friend's Albertan parents in the park the other day with their grandchildren, and at no point were they herded back onto the express cattlecars back to Calgary. Maybe they got caught later in the day by those big white balloons we Torontonians bought from the set of The Prisoner to keep Westerners out, but I swear I heard they lived through their visit to their grandkids and returned on a regular flight home.

Governmental abuse of western resources and media indifference notwithstanding, isn't there a point where the rhetoric can get a bit absurd?

While we whine about the corrupt little men and women who govern this tiny insignificant failing country .... truly important issues are upon us ... like the THIRD WORLD WAR!!!!

I know this is a bit off topic for this posting, but I am just feaked out about world events ....

News this morning from China ... they have uncovered a plot by the usual muslim shit, to blow up 4 and 5 star hotels in some of china's cities.

Aussies yesterday prevented a major attack on their public transit in Sidney.

Not new, but clearly their aims are to destroy our economies since they lack the army to beat us in the field.

Freedom, Democracy and Capitalism requires, trust and certainty to succeed. If they can take those elements away, they win. (Our Liberanos know that too well they are doing it to us in slo-mo)

This about a world take over by a clever stone-aged culture gone religiously insane. Though I consider any belief in a deity insane, but that another point for another time.

You can't negotiate with Crocodiles.

May I suggest some possible solutions.

1. Get all of them the hell out of our countries and don't let any of them in for any reason.
2. Shoot them on sight when they start up their attacks in any city anywhere. Not with welfare checks either .... real lead.
3. Nuke at least one of their capital cities (Teheran comes to mind) to let them know we mean business.
4. Seize their oil.
5. Burn all remnants of their brief stay in the civilized world, including and especially their mosques.
6. Throw a big freedom party for all freedom and peace loving peoples in the world.

Again .... you can't negotiate with Crocodiles. You either kill it or it eats you. Where's Dundee when we need him?

Good morning ...

If there was not a statute of limitations on fraudulent filing of election expense forms with Elections Canada, the Liberal party of Canada would not be allowed to run in the next election. ( If testimony in the Gomery inquiry is acccurate)
As to the question of how to get the message out to Canadians? What if the Gomery inquiry was made into a Play? What if it was made into a fictionalized book? ( names changed to protect the guilty) If every contributor to the Conservative party bought a copy it would become a national best seller ( The french version would sell even better).... hard for the Liberal biased media to ignore. Maybe Mr. Harper should be asking that politics be in the sports section of the papers. It is after all called a blood sports is it not?

Does John Ibbitson really loathe Canada? This is from his Globe column, "Open arms help douse flames of alienation" (November 9):

"But since it doesn't mean much of anything to be Canadian, thank the Lord,..."

So no belief in democracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech, equality regardless of religion or ethnicity, etc., etc., etc.?

And in an interview on CFRA, Ottawa, November 7, he said: "And this country is turning into sort of half a dozen cities and a whole lot of bush in between." His statement is urban, post-national, diverse, multicultural Ibbitson at his arrogant apex. Maybe there are still a few good people out there grubbing about in the bush.

One wonders what they would think of his view in Gravenhurst, Ontario, where he was born.

[The audio of the interview is available at "Monday, November 07, 2005: The Polite Revolution - Part 2" right at the end:
http://www.cfra.com/interviews/index.asp]

Mark
Ottawa

Control/Alt/Delete, and start a new country called the Republic Of Alberta. The rot is far to deep in eastern canada for any other solution to work. And if Alberta leaving is the shock that wakes them up, they can thank us for it later.
'The West Wants In' didn't work, so let's go to plan B, 'The West Wants Out'.
We should give it one last good try with this election, and when that doesn't work, we need to quit banging our heads against the wall of corruption and simply start a new country.
It has worked well in other countries, Czechoslovakia comes to mind.

"Now, isn't that just a bit hyperbolic?"

Borrow a vehicle with Alberta plates and take it for a spin around Ontario. Note the looks you get. In the interest of fairness I must admit that a lot of cars with Ontario plates receive the same treatment out here, although nobody has shot one up for being from the wrong province.

Yet.

I experienced my first bit of "Road Rage" back in the summer of 1979 when a buddy and I went on a road trip to the East Coast. We got to just outside of Toronto and people would cut us off, honk their horns and give us the one-finger-salute all because we had Alberta license plates. Then came the NEP and I've already ranted on that so I won't repeat.

Virgil and Sean are absolutely correct. Let's change the relationship of Alberta within Canada and the Republic of Alberta is the way to proceed.

Sean, I honestly don't know what you're talking about - really. I've never heard anyone here talk about Albertans or westerners in anything like threatening or derogatory terms. Quebecers, yes, during the worst moments of referendum madness, perhaps, but I've never known of any incidents. The fact that you'll admit to similar treatment being given to cars with Ontario plates out west suggests that we're just talking about the worst excesses of the ignorant and angry, the sort of assholes who'd find a target in an empty room, and not anything like a broad social trend.

I'm sorry, but I don't have much time for these excesses of Western alienation - if the west has suffered anything real from central Canada, it's been inattention and dismissal, not active hostility. Regionalism isn't race.

I also take issue with the suggestion of "Western = conservative" being at the heart of this imaginary persecution. I won't deny that in some parts of Toronto, you don't make friends by admitting political, or social, conservatism. My wife and I, for instance, won't put election signs in the window of our apartment because we know it will affect the business of our landlords in their shop downstairs in our very liberal - and Liberal - neighbourhood. I'm a third-generation Torontonian - how does this fit into this fantasy of persecution?

Mike Duffy had Don Martin and Greg Weston on yesterday. They were talking about Maria Mc's defection to PR, both all solemnly agreed she is a pro so will be circumspect and fair. Sigh. But Martin and Weston said they were unlikely to ever land in a gov't job, Weston because of his book on John Turner, and Martin because he's not the type and wouldn't want the job anyway. Duff would like the ambassadorship to Newfoundland & Labrador, I think. Either way, my opinion of McClintock just nosedived. I mean Belinda Stronach? Gimme a break.

I noticed that Jason Moscovitz, formerly with the CBC & now the VP Public Affairs of the BDC, is a registered with the National Speakers Bureau. So in addition to his government salary, which presumably doesn't pay enough, it looks like he's also moonlighting to earn an extra few dollars on the side speaking. And he's not alone; there are other government employees.

So it would be interesting to know who he actually works for; BDC or himself?

http://www.nsb.com/speakerbio.asp?i_speakerid=336

And back in 2004, Maria McClintock reports:

Chief Political Reporter for radio takes job with Scott Brison.
http://www.cbcwatch.ca/?q=node/view/411

There seems to be a tacit assumption by those that support the Liberal hegemony that it will go on and on forever... it has become invincible... the outrages grow bolder. It is always folly to assume invincibility. History is well littered with such fools.

To the MSM droppers-by - I have stopped consuming your product. I am vocal with my network of friends, co-workers, business associates, family.

Are you so, so certain that supporting this corrupt party is evermore your conveyor belt to the promised land of easy living? Are you so, so sure that fortune will continue to smile upon them? And should things go the wrong way, where will you be? I see this all the time in the office politics that go on around me: the truly weak devolve into useless sycophants who are inevitably completely marginalized when it turns out they backed the wrong horse.

Damn. We always know that this sort of stuff goes on...but when you actually have names.

Q: Are Torontonians the stupidest people in the universe for beleiveing they have a fair and unbiased media?

I'm open to answers.

What Shaken said, IN SPADES!!!

Rick,
Since at least the 1920s Albertans have been trying to improve Canada's political system by supporting populist type initiatives such as referenda, an elected senate to allow for regional accommodation, recall, legislative initiatives, free votes, and a host of policy related changes that would limit the inroads of the federal welfare state into provincial jurisdiction. NONE of Alberta's suggestions have been accommodated -- unlike the several devolutions of power to Quebec, and seemingly endless constitutional negotiations to make Quebec feel welcome.

To say that Alberta's complaints aren't legitimate because they aren't based on race (ostensibly like Quebec) is absurd. As for active hostility, did you pay attention to the Liberal political ads, and the numerous stories in our Toronto-based "national" print and TV media? Alberta bashing was front and centre -- greedy, selfish, knuckledragging, gun-toting, uneducated, rednecks, ready to sell out medicare and kiss America's a**. I'm sure that many regular Ontarians (in most places) will treat regular Albertans when they come to visit fairly well, and vice versa. But what people on this blog are talking about, is the political system and how Alberta's (and the west's) ideas are dismissed with a nice pat on the head while Ottawa is picking our pockets to fund some new large social program like the gun registry or national day care.

Finally, the fact that most Canadians think health care is the biggest national issue is an indicator of how unknowledgeable the public is, given that health care is a PROVINCIAL responsibility!

Off topic but:
www.standupAlberta.com
Hey, Albertan's go and vote.

"A Harper government is indeed "scary" - the prospect of being on the outside looking in frightens the bejesus out of long time journalists and media pundits who understand that with a Conservative victory, the sweet little Liberal patronage pot at the end of their career rainbow is unlikely to be claimed - or offered."

I wonder how they will feel "being on the outside looking in" across a border to a separate Alberta? After taking the easy way out for so long, by being a "preferred news source" and having their news stories handed to them already written and nicely formatted, I'm sure many of them have forgotten how to do their own research. Getting their news stories emailed to them for so long does save on shoe leather I suppose.

Hopefully soon we will be free of this scum. But then I haven't bought a newspaper in at least 8 years. Rarely watch CTV or CBC either, preferring instead to do my own research. I think the MSM, especially on paper, is in a heap of trouble. And cable news sources like CNN aren't doing any better. Gotta be a reason. Maybe people are catching on.

Does the CBC do this in your Province?

CBC Guilty of *Dirty Pool* on Vancouver Island.

Shortly after 12 noon, the CBC had a political sound bite from our provincial NDP leader James. Nothing significant there.. BUT, shortly following were some selected political opinion phone calls and they were not a provincial balance to James at all!

They were Anti-Harper [Federal] calls going on about fear mongering against Harper. Another caller harped on about Harper's change of party and thus *not to be trusted*? Another about no policy.. Web site is filled with policy but the moderator made no mention of it.

This, Kate, is the most blatant, almost undercover propaganda I have ever witnessed.. These anti- Harper phone calls were carefully selected by the CBC and they were perfectly genuine but selected for most powerful anti- Harper effect.

That time slot was for counter - provincial NDP not Counter - Federal phone - in rebuttal.

The Librano Stealth in hand with CBC stealth continues.
Very effective, and many in the big uninformed CBC audience will accept those phone-ins as spontaneous and genuine. Not so.

They were pre-recorded and carefully selected. It's a plot I tell you.
Ooops, did I say that? This is really dirty pool. Makes me so damn mad! TG

TG: At some point we may be left only with peasants with pitchforks. Now if the Communist Party of the Soviet Union had managed its media this well they'd still be in power.

Mark
Ottawa

I should have added: and the CBC and CTV do it all on their own. Even the Soviets did not achieve this degree of brainwashing of those in the media.

Mark
Ottawa

CanRev - whoever you are (I prefer arguing with people who use their names) - I said nothing about the dismissal of western political initiatives by Ottawa, except to agree that they happen. My God, man - are you reading what I'm writing, or is this just another chance to mount the soapbox.

What I'm talking about is the tendency to turn this longstanding - as you say - political situation into some kind of persecution complex on a personal level, with images of Albertans being openly abused by passersby in the streets of Toronto, targeted for harassment on the highways, and all the other borrowed images of other people's struggles. Hell, I keep expecting someone on the Shotgun to talk about how they once had to sit back in the "Albertans and other inferior minorities" part of a TTC bus.

As I've argued a million times, these little eruptions of paranoia do nothing to advance your cause. If you want to address the hegemonic political structure of central Canada and the Liberal monolith, lines like "I once drove through Barrie and someone looked at me funny" don't do much for me. I've never heard anyone, not even in the most leftist of milieus, talk about westerners or Albertans like they're subhumans. Politicians and their flacks will say anything, however, and the Liberal strategy of making the CPC look like some kind of neanderthal revolution coming from over the prairies aiming to knock us back to 1955 is little more than borrowed rhetoric from the DNC repurposed for local consumption, like an American sitcom with Canadian ads. If you're trying to conflate Liberal party election rhetoric - or the echo that comes from mainstream media here - with what people actually think and say, then you read too many papers, protests to the contrary notwithstanding.

I apologize in advance to Kate for the length of this. This is from yesterday's "National" on CBC. See if you can find any traces of bias.

Mansbridge: "The big political story now: Jack Layton and Stephen Harper actually agree on something. You can't really tell by their tone, though; they both say they want the government to fall, but while the Conservative and NDP leaders are egging each other on for an eggnog election, neither side seems to want to press the button on a Christmas campaign. Eric Sorenson reports."

We see a Conservative MP stacking campaign signs on a driveway. "Call it a garage-full of election readiness. This Conservitive candidate is eager to campaign, snowdrifts or not. All that's needed is for this.." (shot of Harper) "..and this..." (Layton) "..leader to agree to it. Both are telling Canadians they're willing to bring down the government. So if Jack Layton moves a non-confidence motion..." (Harper: "I can assure you that he will have our support and our cooperation with that effort") "...or if Stephen Harper moves a non-confidence motion..." (Layton: "We will not be expressing confidence in the government.")

Sorenson: "There. Done. Except, they're still squabbling publicly over how, and when, and who should take the lead."

(Now we see two vignetted headshots onscreen, Harper and Layton, taken from different press conferences, with the audio having them both talking at the same time, drowning each other out, except when certain words, meant to show contradiction and confusion are raised in level momentarily.) "Neither Mr. Harper nor Mr. Layton seems really ready to pull the trigger for THIS..." -- (cut to a highway shot of a terrible winter storm) -- "Check the weather in southern Saskatchewan today" (now we see a man walking near the cenotaph in downtown Regina; there is about an inch of snow on the ground, and a few flakes are gently falling). "...just a hint of what's to come if there's a winter campaign".

(Now we see an elderly aboriginal man carrying a feathered banner) -- "And pressure's mounting on the opposition not to derail initiatives like the first minister's summit later this month on aboriginal issues.." (as the word 'aboriginal' is pronounced, we see footage of Paul Martin using his cupped hands to direct ceremonial grass smoke around his head). Now Phil Fontaine, who says "The timing is very important. We don't want to have this as another lost opportunity."

Sorenson: "For Layton and the NDP, pressure also from union leaders not to go early." Ken Georgetti: "Well, we'll meet with Jack and impress upon him the seriousness of our agenda as well as, we hope that we can meet with Mr. Harper and Mr. Duceppe."

Sorenson: "So, are the conditions really right for an election now?" Cut to an oddly framed shot of Harper, pushed to the right of the screen; on the left, a bare white wall, a socket and a cameraman: "Look, I didn't make a secret of the fact for the last several months that our preference was not to have an election an Christmas time, and I don't think that's really anybody's preference. Now, we could end up there anyway".

Sorenson: "Even a confidence vote next month on the government's supplemental estimate may not be the trigger. It's suggested today there may be things in there that his party supports, and if the opposition does let that opportunity pass, there may not be a chance to force an election before the new year. Eric Sorenson, CBC news, Ottawa".

Mansbridge, back in Toronto, introduces Keith Boags in Ottawa. "You gotta love these guys, Keith" he says snidely. "Has anything really changed from yesterday?"

Truthsayer.
I've already written the book and I must say its a dam fine book. I am probably a little bias but every one who's read it has given me positive feed back. I've only been trying to get it published for half a year and I'm still woring on it. Any sujestions?

Truthsayer, Virgil, Bruce Randall, Gord Tulk, all expressing the need to get the Conservative word and policy out to a wider audience.

I was thinking of using my http://Anchorpin.Redpin.com as a forum where that one aim could be developed. As Virgil here, and many others have pointed out *we are kind of preaching to the choir here*, that is to each other.

Well since a good number of us agree, I'm all for converting others [liberals?]

I just came across Liberals.ca where you can see the fixed uninformed tired arguments spouted by so many Liberals. This is where you realize how effective the MSM brainwashing really is.
It's Textbook! Really amazing.

http://Liberals.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?=371#371

I will probably Email a few of you about this.
TonyGuitarRobinson@shaw.ca TG