I think this is a good theory ( as to why they can't help themselves) but it misses the realities of Liberal sycophant media.......these are people who totally bought into the fantasy of the trudeaupian single party state. They are dogmatic about it...they have used their careers as so-called journalists to propagate it. They so desparately want to believe in the utopian lie that they actually LIVE in the mythology of it on a daily basis.

There is no other explanation for a partisan utpoian media to continue spinning trudeaupian myth when facts, realities and polling numbers show it to be...well, myth.

Yep, those Libs will "save us from our selves".

Big government will make your life bigger, better and more "Alice in Wonderland" wonderful.

If I want salvation, I will go to church on Sunday.

Spinning the news and reality to the Liberal flavour of ideology. A great pasttime if you have difficulty in getting those rose colored glasses off.

Thanks for the link Kate - That's what I love about blogs is that finally I don't feel like I am the only one thinking that way!! Or - as you so eloquently say on the left of your postings - yelling at the radio!! (or the TV or the newspaper!)

So - how does it get changed - or does it?

Hans "Big government will make your life bigger, better and more "Alice in Wonderland" wonderful."

Tell that to the republicans. At this stage we can only hope that Harper doesn't indulge special interests and lobbyists as much as the right to the south of the border does. I suspect he won't as his base is watching him like a hawk.

It is changing Alberta Girl because of Kate, WL Mackenzie Redux, Hans Rupprecht, you, me and everyone else posting and participating in the blogshpere. In 20 years , historians will look at the last two years and say this was the beginning of the end for the MSM influence on popular opinion. The swift boat story, Dan Rather's letter, the Liberal "soldiers on our streets. In Canada." ad, the Danish cartoons and all the other truths that come out everyday have made the MSM irrelevant.

They are reading this thread right now, trying to figure out what is going on and how to get a handle on reporting the story they can't see, because it wasn't spoon fed to them by a Liberal insider. They have lost the "We'll give you some dope to impress your editors, if you promote some good spin later for us." gravy train. And they are starting to panic, attempting to stay out in front of PMSH, by spinning wild stories that he has got a poor communications department and its Joe Clark all over again.

Mean while, behind the scenes those big shot editors at The Star/G&M/CBC are asking their story-less Ottawa scribes, "Tell me why am I paying you all this money?"

Power to the people. The real people. The blog people. Fight the good fight. Continue to expose MSM. Go into that dark night carrying that big stick.

Hear, hear Moose Javian. I feel that the blogsphere is the most empowering element of the internet. I have been waiting for years to connect with like minded people, that were frustrated by the MSM and the nanny-state spin doctors.

I'll go with the SES poll showing a dead heat as they were the only ones in 2 elections to get it right.

The surprise to me is harper's loss of support in the west. If you can't pull ahead while in office from a disgraced party with no leader, that's bad.

Since Harper became our PM the tone of our government has changed. No longer is there an incessant rant coming from Ottawa. The clown show is over and the serious work of governing this country is taking place. Canadians are going about their lives while the Liberals are jumping up and down saying "look at me, look at me". It must be discouraging for them and their media supporters. They seem lost and incapable of making sense of their situation. It will take time for the media to adjust to the new style of governance... thinking for your self is hard when you have been spoon fed for so long.

I agree with Paul V and the others that he names. To which I would add, we can’t see a market evaluation of our MSM but it has to be similar to the disastrous failing of the New York Times, which has lost about half its value or about $4 billion in the last couple of years. It’s a slow death but it is dying.

Also, follow the money,
the Grope and Flail and other MSM want Liberals in power because big government spends more on advertising than conservatives who advocate smaller government. Government is 42% of Canada’s GDP. Government is the biggest advertiser in the country by far, witness Adscam. It’s a lot easier for the MSM to solicit ads out of some government employee than it is out of a hardnosed business person responsible to their shareholders. The MSM simply feels it is entitled to their entitlements, i.e. advertising bucks.

Finally, I don’t need Jeffrey Simpson pontificating to me that George Bush is the root of all evil. I know what the root of evil is. These lazy, baby boomers simply don’t have the credibility they once had. I prefer reading a blog by somebody inside Iraq to find out what is happening there, instead of Jeffrey Simpson writing from his laptop in the Toronto Annex. Blogs are democratizing the media.

Steve in BC sez: "The surprise to me is harper's loss of support in the west."

Not Surprising to me...western conservatives are princuipled and have an agenda to reform government from the status quo liberal cess pool to something more ethical....they see Harper dragging his butt on this and it makes them suspicious becase we have been fooled by eastern based federal conservative parties before. They are concerned that Harpoer is run by the eastern "progressive" staus quo patronage network and the west ( and our reformation agenda) will be left to swing in the wind ...again!

PS
Reading the whole cross post to Black Rod is worthwhile. The fact that the Richardson comments were not covered by the MSM shows how irresponsible they are and/or what a herd mentality they have.

they must be getting scared . last week adler had mike duffy on his bla bla show talking about how " the young pup harper " was going to learn he had to kiss mikes fat ass and give him some news .
i don't know about everybody else but i voted for harper to govern the country , not kiss mikes fat ass . but maybe he could squeeze them 15 minutees just to stop the crying and whining . nah ... they'll probly just twist what he said around so its unrecognisable from what he said originally anyway . maybe thats part of why they aren't getting any quality harper time .

I have no problem stating that I find the Chinese government run "People's Daily Online" to be far surperior in quality and accuracy to The Globe and Mail or the Toronto Star, and I mean that sincerely. Check for yourself:

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/

Looks to me like when the right thinks the MSM is too liberal and the left thinks the MSM is too conservative, then they are about where they should be. Harper got a free ride from the MSM during the election, now he's hetting some scrutiny.

Before you all get too self righteous about how the blogosphere is the real realm of truth, consider this:

Mostly blogging is personal opinion - like editorials or letters to the editor. There is not much posted that is "unbiased" by either conservative or liberal blogs.

It may be risky for you to think that most Canadians are sheep who are led around by the MSM and don't think for themselves. While a certain amount of that does happen, you always have to ask yourelves who your influences are and who is leading you around. If you don't, you are no position to critisize others.

I would like to see a blog (any blog!) that is not purely conservative or liberal and that does not automatically knock down the other's position. Wouldn't it be nice to have a truly objective debate on an issue?

I don't know that Harper has lost support in the west; if he has, it isn't anybody I know. Sure some people are bugged about Emerson, but the reality is the rules haven't changed (and I'm not entirely sure that they should).

As for Mike Duffy, well, maybe he should retire & grow potatoes. Except then we might be stuck with Jane Taber (I'm holding out hope for David Akin, but he seems to like the Liberal spin as well).

"Since Harper became our PM the tone of our government has changed. No longer is there an incessant rant coming from Ottawa. The clown show is over and the serious work of governing this country is taking place."

I agree truthsayer. The adults are in charge now and the MSM is having a hard time dealing with that.

Not to worry, the opposition and the MSM will be busy enough before they know it. When the Conservatives start rolling out their legislation in April, its going to come so heavy and fast that it will be like them trying to take a sip of water out of a fire hose while wearing roller-skates.

Then we can await for the expected bleat to be, "This PM is moving way to fast and giving us to much information to deal with."

Rest while you can kids.

Closing sentence/paragraph, below, by Greg Weston: Weston cannot figure out the answer to "whatever convinced Wilson to re-enter public life,". Do not learn Weston; ignorance is bliss.

Weston also gives his stamp-of-approval to Wilson's appointment. Did Harper really learn his charisma from Wilson? Some pupil; some teacher. +

Headline: Wilsonian diplomacy

"Whatever convinced Wilson to re-enter public life, Canada will be well served by our new man in Washington." +
via canoenews
http://www.rapp.org/url/?O7HG2LT4

I agree with Candace! If Harper has lost support its from people that you have met,nobody i know of has had anything bad to say...we are all waiting and i like the way hes doing busniess at the moment.

The legendary liberal media bias has always been there, I think, because they generally come from journalism schools reflecting the very strong liberal bias in academia.

During 12 years of Liberal rule, I thought that was all it was. The way they turned on Paul Martin during the campaign, however, brought me to the conclusion that they were also a carnivorous pack who would turn on the first party to suffer a significant injury in the campaign (in the Liberals' case it was apparently the failure to provide adequate scoops and catering to those who had paid handsomely for a seat on the bus). The pile-on Gretzky grillings over gambling showed how shamelessly carnivorous they could be.

And from their failure to reflect real public opinion on Harper's performance, I have also concluded that they should really spend more time on research and less time reading each other's work.

It depends on your view of the media.
Some people think of them as a bunch of people whose duty it is to bring us the news and present reality to us objectively.
Some people think of them as a business that cares about things like readership, subscriptions, advertising and ratings.

On one hand, I can sympatize with the G&M who can't switch beds to the Tories without losing a huge amount of it's subscription base. This base has been spoon-fed Liberal glory and Conservative gory for years.
On the other hand, I just have to laugh at the death of thousand cuts that they have earned, as they lose those subscribers to attrition and attract the disdain of those more interested in reality than spin. They created and fed a base in the interest of subscribership and now they can try to hang on to it.

The MSM is more interested in not losing it's base of subscribers than it is the truth. If the owners thought it could make more money catering to the right of centre crowd, it would make some changes to it's editors and headline writers quick enough.

I'm voting with my mouse from now on. I won't go to the G&M or to the Toronto Star main pages anymore. I have Chantal Hebert on favourites so I don't have to navigate their site to get to her column. When I go to CTV I don't click on anymore Emerson stories and avoid stories with ridiculously biased headlines. When I go to Bourque I try not to click on stories I think I have seen on NealeNews already, especially if Bourque has some insanely stupid healine attached to it.

OT, I love the Black Rod site and it has been on my favourites for a while. If anyone knows of an Alberta focused site that is similar, please let me know. I get my Saskatchewan stuff here and my Manitoba stuff there but I haven't been able to find an Alberta site yet to add to my favourites list.

Libranos bought-and-paid-for press minions are still puffin' that old hog, eh?

Ever since I have had access to the internet, I have contended that Canadian mainstream corporate media and the journalists they employ are left leaning and are sympathetic to Liberal governments.
The corruption that was able to function under Liberal rule simply underscores that matter.
MSM were the enablers of that corruption era.
It would never been allowed to happen under Conservative administration.
You could bet the farm on that!

I didn't think that anyone could ask more stupid questions than Jane Taber - BUT - Rosemary Thompson set a new low when she asked Stock Day how he could say that long guns weren't dangerous to society with the stories about Cheney coming out of the states!! (paraphrased)

My husband and I looked at each other and ROLLED OUR EYES!!!

unblogged,
IMHO there is no such thing as unbiased news. It’s always opinionated unless the facts are as undisputable as a chemistry experiment. The MSM is mostly left wing, as is academia. There is lots of polling and data to support that notion out of the US and Canada is left of the US.

I just have to live with that. Although I don’t like having to pay for the CBC.

My point is we are all biased. My concern is not so much that I think people are “sheep”; it’s that many people still think there is such a thing as unbiased news. It’s not going to happen.

What we need is lots of competition from both the left and the right. You want a “truly objective debate”. I’ll settle for a high quality debate because who gets to decide what is “ objective”? Some biased person decides in the MSM. Blogs democratize that process.

I trust the best argument to win the day. Until blogs came along we were not hearing much of an argument from the right. Therefore now I think North America can move the debate further right.

So unblogged, we’re finally getting unclogged … ;>)

nomdenet....
now thats spin !!!

"It depends on your view of the media.
Some people think of them as a bunch of people whose duty it is to bring us the news and present reality to us objectively.
Some people think of them as a business that cares about things like readership, subscriptions, advertising and ratings."

As usual, MM, you have cut to the heart of the matter. The MSM is a business, pure and simple. Having said that though, I do believe there are many (most?) in the media that harbour misguided vestiges of 60s idealism/Lib-style Trudeaupian socialism, and allow this and class warfare issues to overcome any sense of journalistic integrity they may once have had.

Investigative reporters need to actually start working. Heh, join the real world. (some)Blogs are an important check and balance to the MSM, but the Conservative Party is going to have its share of problems(of its own making) and it serves us well to bring it to light, to keep those in power honest.

Candace and any other Westerners/Albertan's wondering about Harper; you might find Ted Byfield's column in today's Calgary Sun worth a read.

Re: media bias - not difficult to accomplish when one group owns and operates it all.
Harper not giving the likes of Duffy et al, any ammo is smart on his part and oh so aggravating to those who depend on it.

Regarding Emerson: Even though I don't agree with this changing parties, I can't say that I blame Emerson. After the election was called he had to watch PM shame and embarrass his party. Playing air guitar, having a pathetic campaign, I don't think that he had much choice. The other thing the his riding should realize, Before Emerson switched sides they had a MP with little influence, at least they will have someone that is on the inside circle. The other thing with his timing, at least it was not to keep a corrupt government in power! Watching these protestors on TV, they look and sound more like Dippers than Liebreal's.(That's just my oppinion)
For the CBC and CTV, these old guys are going to have to get use to a government that can function and operate without the approval of the media. Talking with friends, they agree that its refreshing to have someone in power that is getting work done with out ever move being approved by the MSM and broadcasted. Let's give Prime Minister Harper a chance to work and parliment a frink'n chance to sit before the media can jump all over him!

Looks to me like when the right thinks the MSM is too liberal and the left thinks the MSM is too conservative, then they are about where they should be.

That assumes the left know what they're talking about.

I haven't seen any evidence of that.

A lot of conservatives think the MSM is forever naysaying them. Most journalists are Lib/Dipper so there is some truth to this. However Radwanski's thesis that the media writes a narrative, usually negative, and then actively propels it forward is much more relevant. Perhaps it is because journalists, by definition, spend their lives in the stands they harbor latent schadenfreude for those on the ice.

Bottom line is that the Emerson/Fortier issue was only a firestorm in the minds of the punditariat. Objective polling on this matter ranges from a mild negative to a strong positive for Harper in the minds of Joe and Jane Lunchbucket.

Nomdenet,

I agree with you that there is no unbiased news. Although I do think there are many people working in MSM who try to be unbiased, though.

You are right that the mostly conservative bloggers do balance the MSM messages to some extent. I think thats a wise perpective.

Just a note on my handle - unbloggled. I doubt anyone cares, but here is the logic behind the name. I consider those who blindly follow the opinions on blogs as being "bloggled" - that is they see things through the blog's lens or they are wearing "bloggles". It could be said that many who trust too much the MSM are bloggled as well.

My point is that everyone, MSM followers and blog followers should think each issue through for themselves. Its good to challenge your opinions and beliefs.

If we don't, we are falling into the same trap as idealogues and extremists of every ilk - Muslim, communist, facist, etc. (IMHO)

I think that PM Harper should steer clear of quail hunting. ;)

Unblogged,
As a baby boomer I’ve had my “beliefs and opinions challenged” for decades by the MSM and by publishing by academia. I suffer from the old dog, new trick syndrome. You young “unclogged” guys can keep an open mind, open whatever, if you want to. Me? I need comfort.

As to your “handle” I thought it was a play on Eric Clapton Unplugged, he’s another old guy I like. Actually his father was a Canadian, the father wasn’t me, I’m not THAT old … ;>)

Interestingly enough listened to a talk show last week and the phone-in section asked if the listening public wanted to have a by-election over the Emerson cross-over and to the astonishment of the host the numbers were 9-1 in favor of no by-election and to allow the Harper government to govern. This was a straw vote so it caught the radio host by surprise. It may be a cautionary example that the NDP and Liberals should take note of.

This type of slanted quasi-news reports are exactly why most of choose to read blogs and ignore MSM. The Liberal bias will never end in the Canadian press, and it seems the only people who actually still buy what the MSM is selling live in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

The ACADEMY and the 4TH ESTATE will always be liberal because modern liberalism is leadership by wise persons at the centre who hate the notion of spontaneous order arising from the schmucks persuing their enlightened self-interest which produces the strongest most co-perative societies.

The Ontario Securities Commission ACTUALLY has a committee looking into securities reform called The Wise Persons Committee. I didn't make that up! At least they're upfront about it.

The MSM doesn't get it yet.

They hear about blogging so their answer is to have the same columnists, the same lefty misleaders of disinformation do the blogging. Take a look at Antonia Zebias of the Star and her blog. Approving and editing commentary, regurgitating the same old bile and look at the results. How many hits does she get? Who knows. What does her audience think? Again, who knows because comments are edited and approved.

Meanwhile the readership continues to drop and blogs are dismissed as right wing tripe. Fine by me, let the MSM drive themselves into the dustbins of history.
enough

I'm old enough to remember the media love affair with Joe Clark, the young, bi-lingual Red Tory from Alberta who would lead the Progressive Conservative Party into the New Canada. Almost every paper made him their darling, until he had done the work of defeating Claude Wagner and various other Tory baddies. Then suddenly, we were treated to our daily dose of Clark the Buffoon, a line that continued until the rise of the Reform Party, when the media wheeled out the wax-works Clark the Statesman mannequin.

My own limited experience with the media has been that the story is written before the interview begins.

I'm old enough to remember the media love affair with Joe Clark, the young, bi-lingual Red Tory from Alberta who would lead the Progressive Conservative Party into the New Canada. Almost every paper made him their darling, until he had done the work of defeating Claude Wagner and various other Tory baddies. Then suddenly, we were treated to our daily dose of Clark the Buffoon, a line that continued until the rise of the Reform Party, when the media wheeled out the wax-works Clark the Statesman mannequin.

My own limited experience with the media has been that the story is written before the interview begins.

Well said, Roseberry.

Clark's only problem was that he believed what they wrote about him -- and still does.

The quest for unbiased reporting from the MSM is a waste of time. Every person has a bias, and no matter how much one perceives oneself to be objective, the bias will always be there. The problem with the Canadian (and American) MSM is not that it's biased, but rather that it refuses to admit it's bias. If a newspaper or TV network discloses their political preferences, then the readers/viewers are prepared to deal with the slant that is present in the reporting. The British newspapers, for instance, have always been very upfront about their bias, and their readers understand this. Pretending to objectivity is just a way for the media to play both sides of the fence, jumping onto whatever gravy train is the most expedient at the time.

The nice thing about blogs is that they tend to make their biases very apparent. This is not at all detrimental, and in fact allows the reader to avoid confusion about the way the information is presented. If a reader wants to get the full picture about almost any story, it's not hard to find multiple sources, of all political persuasions, on the Web. This is the power of the internet and blogs in particular. You know what you're getting, not wondering about the "spin".

We live in a wonderfull time, when every voice has a chance to be heard. Embrace the opportunity, say your piece.

Maybe I'm just dense, but I am a bit confused. Other than PMSH announcing his cabinet nothing has happened.

Being as parliament hasn't reconvened, no leglislation has been proposed and there hasn't been even one debate (except in the superior corridors of the media reports), how can anyone form an opinion of popularity of anyone in parliament?

Whether we're conservative, liberal or idiot shouldn't we wait until something happens before drawing the lines of partisanship?

I think this is just another case of the MSM, when they have nothing intelligent to say, banging the drum for their favourite horde.

Gerry

Government is 42% of the GDP.

no Government is a 42% administration cost on our GDP.

We are the most over governed people in the world. who else would have 300+ MPs, near 1000 MLAs and countless local city reps.
Britain--- not exactly a shining star in terms of bureacracy has about 500 reps for 50+ million.
we have 1300 reps for 30 million.
Take PEI where the the reps are so numerous they have to be related. the whole place is barely on seat and yet they have 4 MPs and 27 MLAs. one to 3000-- nothing there would be more than an arms length transaction.

Ottawa Citizen (May or June, 2005)..."Good Help Hard To Find"...'There is a Canadian organization that has a little more than 300 employees with the following statistics':

* 30 have been accused of spousal abuse
* 9 have been arrested for fraud
* 95 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at
least 2 businesses
* 4 have done time for assult
* 55 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
* 12 have been arrested on drug related charges
* 16 are currently defendents in lawsuits
* 62 have been arrested for impaired driving in
the last year
Can you quess which organization this is?

It IS amazing. Harper's first few weeks in office have been described repeatedly by various members of the media as an utter disaster, a pratfall in slow-motion. They refer to his "horrible miscalculations; the Montreal Gazette warned that Harper has an uphill battle if he wants to "help Canadians get the bad taste out of their mouth". More than one outlet has described that he is using up valuable "political capital".

But as Blackrod points out, his approval rating has actually gone UP since the election; if the election were held now he'd be in majority territory. So how could anyone in their right mind possibly justify describing Harper's first month as a disaster?

Don "Taber" Martin clarified things considerably last week with his front-page attack on Harper in the National Post: "Look, I know this sounds very much like inside baseball by a whining journalist denied a daily spoonfeeding of news to substitute for honest research. But governing well is an unknown accomplishment if it isn't communicated effectively."

Get that? It isn't that Harper isn't governing well, it's that he isn't communicating effectively with reporters. What they're saying in effect is that, oh sure, he might be fixing the hot-water heater, and cleaning the eavestroughs, and painting the garage, and putting in a retaining wall, but the bastard's not handing out captioned photos of his work. Interested parties are actually going to have to get off their lawn chairs and check the results out for themselves.

It's pretty obvious what's going on. When Martin writes "Probe the reasons behind our rookie Prime Minister's stumbles in the month since his election and a failure to communicate will form the core of almost every one" that's about as clear an admission as we'll ever get from the Liberal-inured, bar/buffet crowd of reporters that in their minds it is journalists, and not the Canadian people, who get to decide whether a government is successful or worthy of office.

Which pretty much confirms what a lof of Canadians have noticed in the last few years. It's becoming more and more obvious that that "communications problem" is -- surprise, surprise -- is to be found in the "communications" business, i.e. the media.

If biased, lazy, arrogant, entitled, back-slapping Liberal-proxy journalists think that the man they have not only refused to give a fair shake to but have brutally savaged from the outset should do their job for them, who, exactly, hasn't made the transition to a new government? Hint: it's not Stephen Harper, and it's not average Canadians, who seem to have no trouble understanding that Stephen Harper is currently hard at work.

You know it's come to an end when all Kinsella has left for ammo is Muslim cartoons and neo-nazi posts.
Maybe its just been a slow week.

The MSM is going the way of the CD, VHS, BETA, the cassette, the 8-track, reel to reel, etc.

It is a fatasy all right. First, in this real world, there is no leadership in the group of hopefuls.

Secondly, the Vanvouver Emerson fiasco consists of NDP lackys who have been asked by phone to demonstrate. Unemployed??

Thirdly, this is the only option for liberals and after thinking about it, I risk nothing here because *Rigid Liberals* are immune to logic and the obvious.

On second thought, there are some very crafty liberals but they are all on holiday in Cancun and Turks and ciacos, sooo...

It hurts me to see liberals flail about trying to focus on a potential leader.There isn't any !

So here's the winning plan.

Martin returns as leader. Bright people are capable of changing their minds.

Martin's words are worshipped by the MSM, so Martin does a house-cleaning. Demotes all those who are the Chretionite cronies and the major ADscam artists. The MSM eats it up.

Martin, with his freshly purified cabinet, marches forward faulting Harper policies, [every word echoed in the MSM], and espousing the new Whistle Blower purity of the liberal party.

Along the way, Martin can bring his choice of the next Liberal leader into public focus.

This is the obvious route to take, yet I am not a member of any party and I seriously doubt Martinites will do this. TG

The MSM is worth watching because it is live tragicomedy, the MSM provide the comic entertainment for us, the Canadian people who read the blogs for news; the people who believe anything those Liberal toadies spout are the tragic losers.
Thank-you to Kate and all her fellow bloggers who have brought real news and intellegent analysis to the news starved people in this nation. I always liked reading Letters to the Editor in Newspapers, reading the best blogs gives me lots of immidiate feedback and that is howI like to read about the news of the day. Thank-you all for your comments.

Did anyone catch question period today on CTV?
My god, that was the most biased questions/commentary i have ever seen.

The MSM practices the cardinal virtues of the 4 B's:

Bluff, Bluster, Bombast, and Bullshit.

It is high time the blogs let out the flatulent self important MSM wind from their sails. These people do not report the news; but rather filter events according to the gospel of Lieberaldom and then go and flog it as the next best thing since the 10 commandments. They take themselves far too seriously. Moreover they are captive scribes paid by their owners to spin the "SCHTICK" hoping that enough will lather up their swill.

The "pig 'n the trough" paradigm is changing so the MSM can either get a handle on the steamroller or "become part of the road".

The irony is that the "liberating device" of free communication is also knocking down the media pillar of "Lieberalspeak".

In short, the message can't be controlled. Rather the message from blogdom is democratizing, but in a way the MSM/Lieberal cartel can no longer massage, control, and manipulate through pay, perks, and stock options.

By God, by the Charter, by the Internet we have it!! Real unfettered free speech. Who woulda thunk that this would cause liberal advocates to become perplexed. Free speech is one of those core Canadian values.

2(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;

Oh heavens there it is: "other media of communication."

Of course the Chinese have a little difficulty with free thought when it wanders past the meanderings of Chairman Mao's little Red Book.

Stalin, Hitler, and other assorted hard core ideologues don't like free speech either. It makes them uncomfortable; which is a good reason, according to them, to have you killed in a variety of ignominious ways.

The most popular of late is to strap some C4 plastic explosives to your body along with several cartons of ball bearings and walk into a crowded marketplace. This of course is how free speech is atomized; which apparently is most unpleasant for all concerned. Alternately, burn down the embassy for any western nation epousing the notion of free expression.

Of course the above may infringe on others rights to peaceful assembly, and freedom of association. But then explosions always tend to "disassociate" one body parts.

This of course is why when you live in a free and democratic nation, and the Chief Liberal Government Whip suggests that they "are considering not observing confidence votes in the House of Commons", you may roundly tell the government to take that proposition straight to Hell.

There are some limits on free speech such as libel and slander. And of course one is not allowed to limit the free speech of others, even when they find it offensive.

And if one happens to strap a package of C4 explosive and package of ball bearings to yourself in a crowded marketplace, this is considered poor form; as it limits others right to free speech, not to mention the condition precedent: the right to life.

So you got that? No bombs, intimidation, libel or slander. And if you can't play fair, of course I will suggest you find the far side of Hades.

Be good, be nice and God Bless.

Well said. I totally agree with you. The point you 've raised here is quite significant. I think there's a need to think over the matter in this way.

Yes, you guessed it!...it's this past Canadian Parliament and its 301 MP's in Ottawa (Caledon Citizen...June 8, 2005). Like cal2 said...42% of GNP is what our governing costs are and this is part of what we get. Be interesting to see how this current Parliament stacks up.

...folks the crap hits the fan in two years.

Two years! In 2009 we start seeing the baby boomers retire en masse. Why not three years? Because by 2008 a lot of people gearing up for the "golden years" will start to wake up that they've been duped all these years by Trudeaumania, there won't be any retirement bliss where the ol' government will coddle and look after them. Watch the seniors start screaming for their 'entitlements'.

Who will pay for healthcare, nursing homes, or police, fire, EMS, and military infrastructure?

You guessed it, immigrants. But wait, this gets better, a lot of those low skilled Liberal Party imported family voters don't work...

Which means more stress on the infrastructure. Watch out when their pogie cheque gets cut off, the recent cartoon protests will seem like Sunday school.

The younger generation will revolt because they will see their hard earned tax dollars going to a bunch of greedy geezers who screwed them out of their right to a decent future by overspending, corruption, or to be exact the product of the 'Me' generation.

Soylent Green and Clockwork Orange aren't too far off either...

But otherwise, it will be a nice day, the sun will shine and life will go on. Blissfully bs.

While the MSM hate it Harper is bringing dignity back to the office of the Prime Minister. No more showing up daily for questions and non answers (by the PM). No more cabinet ministers and lackies showing up on the talk shows spreading spin and lies for competitive advantage.
What we will have is a Prime Minister when he shows up for a media scrum or a TV interview with something serious to say. Once everyone realizes this we will see the MSM bring serious questions and the type that Julie Van Duysen of CBC asked in his last media appearance about hiding or a bunker mentality disappear. Harper's answer was I will show up when I have something to say. On to the next question. Julie wasted a question and got put in her place. Opportuity to inform the public lost. Good for Harper.
The MSM is used to the Liberal spin for stories and now they have to work for a living and they don't like it. Canadians want a government who is serious and has the best interests of the country at heart. It is unfortunate that it will take the MSM awhile to understand that Ottawa has changed and if they don't change we will see the likes of Don Newman, Mike Duffy and some of the press gallery off the air and missing from daily news. So keep it up boys. Spin your lies and distortions and you will find yourselves on the bread line before too long.

I watched Goldhawk live on CPAC last night on the childcare debate - now that was a Liberal love in - they had the liberal MP - some over-educated Dr from Toronto, some daycare advocate (yeah those two are going to present clear unbiased discussion!!) then some poor lady from REAL women. Of course Goldhawk was blatently obvious in his bias - so obvious I was yelling at the TV - of course you could not get onto the line to be one of his 6 calls he took on his hour long "phone in" show.

Anyway - he was telling the REAL woman to be quiet when the other two were constantly interrupting her. I have never seen such a poor moderating job in my life.

It is so obvious that the MSM do no do a lick of work to actually find out about something. Instead of him actually researching the Conservative plan to provide daycare spaces and being intelligently able to ask questions, he put it somewhat like this - there is something about tax credits for businesses but really, how well is that going to work - at that point of course the two "liberal" guests were nodding their heads in agreement. The REAL woman started to answer but of course the Liberal MP cut her off -(with no exception from Goldhawk).

Do Liberals go to media school to actually learn how to outtalk and interrupt and talk over other people or are they just naturally rude!!!

hollinm:...I agree with your points. The msm has annointed itself themselves as the unofficial opposition and with their mostly LW approach, don't add much to the knowledge level of the work-a-day Canadian. PMSH is both astute and wise to ignore it and scrum only when he has something to say. Keep it up Stephen. You've charted a course...steady as she goes skipper!!

Another Harper vs. Press story in the Hill Times.
Thanks Neale News for the link.

http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2006/february/27/pmo/&c=1

It's war...

One interesting branch I can see growing off the Harper Media Policy tree is a new demand on the ministers. The media likes to picture Mr. Harper as a control freak micromanaging his cabinet ministers and the minutiae of government but I see the opposite playing out.
If you look at the handling of the Emerson and Fortier fallout in the press; the Prime Minister’s message to cabinet, not to mention all involved in government, is that a dump-truck full of bull-…spin won’t be rolled out by the PMO for any little misstep. The PMO is not interested in cleaning up, spinning or managing your messes so you’d better be smart, honest and effective.
We’ve already seen Peter MacKay doing a little twisting in the wind. You can bet he’ll be more careful in the future with what he says in public. I can imagine that Garth Turner is gonna be a little more careful with what he says in the future considering how much rope the PMO gave him to hang himself with.
Already I’ve seen more of his cabinet ministers in the media eye doing their jobs, carrying out their mandates and being careful and measured with whatever they say. It is a disciplined cabinet that obviously has marching orders, but they give the impression that they are empowered and they are responsible.
It’s nice for them that the PMO is sticking to it’s role and staying out of it’s ministers way and out of their limelight. I don't see that Mr. Harper is hiding from the media. He is just respecting some boundaries regarding what his turf is.

MolarMauler - you are absolutely right on - thanks for pointing out the obvious (although it slipped by me). I have been so impressed with the straighforward, clear, concise, non-wavering interviews that I have viewed by all the cab-ministers that have been interviewed - even challenging in a clear, definite way the twist and spin put to them by the interviewers questions.

Good on 'em! That's what I love about especially Kate's blog is that many different points of view and opinions of events are expressed!

Alberta Girl

You read my mind about the CPAC phone-in daycare show last night.
Matter of fact I sent an email in to CPAC calling the show "the most digusting,blatant example of Liberal media bias I have ever witnessed on any television show".
The way the ignoramous lefty guests kept shouting down the REAL Women representative was horrible to watch.
I wanted to change the channel but couldn't because I just coud not believe what I was witnessing.
No wonder these people are known as moonbats!
Also any hint that Goldhawk is any way objective went quickly down the drain after that show!

Gary P; you might want to check out the MP thing on snopes.com. I got sucked in on the Ottawa Citizen reference too. The tip off is there are now 307 MP's.

Cheri:...thanx for the heads-up...I'll do so...could it just be a typo?? (1 & 7, when translated and/or written can be mistaken)...