Press Positioning from Blogging Party of Canada
Well, it's all over the MSM sites and the blogs, with Small Dead Animals even getting honorable mention on the CTV site. It seems the press is in a bit of a tizzy because they can no longer roam freely around "The Hill" asking useless questions, a... [Read More]

Tracked on March 28, 2006 6:43 PM

Good for Mr. Harper!

The media folks surrounding the politician and yelling inane questions are a hindrance. Let 'em wait until the governming party is ready to hold a news conference and then let the media behave like normal people, instead of a privilaged group. I figure most of the media believe they're just like the Liberals: "entitled to my entitlements."

I think the media folks are just getting exactly what they deserve.

Mike (it's warm and pleasant) in White Rock

I think you underestimate Canadians if you think the MSM has that much power AND they are all the same.
In the end, if Harper is a good news Prime Minister then that is what will be reported.

Right now the media is a little frustrated because Harper is trying to tightly control his caucus. As I have said before, this will not cause any long term damage UNLESS he runs a tight ship like Bush has done in the US. In the end this strategy ends up with angry media and frustrated government employees who see "the real story" is not getting out, so they leak.

Let us hope that soon, perhaps after the Speech from the Throne, Harper loosens up and provides the relaxed kind of open government he promised the people.

I for one am really glad to see Harper and the Press in a shooting war, rather than a cold one.
It brings it out into the open and any criticism of the PM has to pass through the 'Media Out To Get Harper' filter.

Hm... Harper's stock just keeps going up in my portfolio. I may be motivated to vote next time around if he keeps this up.

The world would be a better place if more people told the media to fuck off.

Zolf - so that's what the ramblings of a dinosaur sound like.

Pamela wants to meet Harper Has video for him +
voy.com

as Groucho said, feed her & send her in. +

I've said many times before that the "Ego" driven media tries to CREATE news rather than just REPORT it! They did this to themselves and now they have to suck back some of their arrogance! Ah, too bad, poor babies! "IF" any of those idiots in the MSM EVER have/get a clue, then maybe we might take some stock in what they're saying. Until then they should just report on what is being said and what is happening rather than put their own personal little twist and opinion into matters. I think that the government should announce to the media any topics of concern to Canadians when they come up but unlike paul martin and idiot chretien before him, shouldn't trample people to get to a TV camera crew they've spotted, just for a "say nothing" photo opp.!
The government is here to GOVERN and not to have their strings pulled by a stupid MSM that seem to have it in their pointy little heads that it is THEY that call the shots in this country!!
Good for Stephen Harper and his treatment of the MSM. They seem like a bunch of losers anyway.

Watch for the smoke pouring out of Peter Mansbridge's ears tonight, Kneel MacDonald's Reality Check and Eric Sorenson's breaking news over all this, should be good for a laugh.

Or what, Zolf? You and the media will suddenly begin to paint Harper in a negative light?

Good for Harper!

"A similar fate awaits Harper if he doesn’t change his basic suspicion and hatred of reporters and news commentators."

That sounds like a threat!!

So the CBC fancy themselves as kinmakers and kingbreakers do they? Methinks letters to the ombudsman are in order.

Vijay is calling Harper's bluff, see. +

Media should Boycott PMO
March 28th, 2006

I fail to understand why is media is butting their head with the PMO. Harper needs the media as much as media needs news. If they boycott the PMO, the suckers at Hill will come down on their knees pleading with the media come back! The pen doesn’t look mightier than the sword, atleast in this case. +
http://www.vijaysappani.com/myblog/

KinGmakers that is

Maz2,
First Bardot, then Pam Anderson. Tell Mr. Harper to hold out for Scarlett Johannsen.

I have a question for those of you who worship at the altar of Canadian supremacy over the American system of government:

How do you explain the disparity between the way the media deals with the American POTUS and the Canadian PM?

Is it about respect or lack thereof for the office(s)?

And to those who think PMSH is trying to create a little US out of Canada, here's your cue to go apeshit.

Good for Harper! If he continues to freeze out the MSM, just watch them slowly come into line when they start missing out on the "big story". Trudeau, to his credit, was extremely contemptuous of the media, and they kissed his royal ass for years. The MSM 's fear of PET was breathtaking to watch, I can remember so many "hard bitten" newsmen groveling before Trudeau in person, while boldly castigating his every move when he was at a distance.
Harper needs to cultivate a few friends in the MSM, and the rest will end up asskissing just as they did to PET 25 years ago.

Harper receives as much respect from the MSM as a woman showing ankle in downtown Mecca gets from the religious police.

The only ingrate I see is a reporter paid by our tax dollars who thinks his opinion counts. This "reporter" has obviously not had to work for any stories for at least 13 years, and has completely forgotten what his role is. A review of the CBC and it's funding could give him a whole new perspective on Canada and what working for a living really is.

Larry Zolf has done the country a favour by stating plainly that the media, and not the voters, act as the gatekeepers of power in this country. In effect, Zolf is acknowledging that the MSM propped up the Liberals, and that when Canadians could no longer stomach LPC behaviour the media gave Harper and the Conservatives a reprieve to let them in.

He says it was the media the both made, and broke, Trudeau and Mulroney, and that "a similar fate awaits Harper if he doesn't change" his attitudes towards the media.

Harper's attitude toward the media is not only in line with Canadians' disdain for the MSM, it is based on awareness of the very sort of arrogant extortions Mr. Zolf is uttering on behalf of his media cohorts. What a contemptible brunch of a--holes.

"The media made Harper." Not exactly correct- they certainly 'made' Cruton & Martini. Stephen Harper got where he is, in spite of them! (Had it not been for this same 'media', Stephen Harper would be in a better position than he is right now.)

Not For Your Eyes. This is an opportunity for bloggers. Get going.

This is ex-PM Paul Who's? (Martin) dirty underwear. Get him.

"Media lawyer Heather Maconachie says...
paint a better picture." +

Warrants in B.C. legislature raid to be opened after editing: judge

Canadian Press
Published: Tuesday, March 28, 2006

VANCOUVER (CP) - A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled the media will be allowed to look through search warrant information used in the 2003 raid on the B.C. legislature.

But heavy editing ordered by Justice Elizabeth Bennett will stall that process for a few days. She ordered the release of information contained in four warrants that led to charges against two former ministerial aides and a third government employee, saying there is a "presumption of openness" in the courts.

But Bennett says personal information needs to be edited out, along with statements from three people who may be called as witnesses.

Media lawyer Heather Maconachie says it could take a few days to get the information but believes it will be worthwhile to "paint a better picture." +
http://www.paulding.net/bin/url.cgi/13235.23
national post

To paraphrase from Mark Twain, "Suppose I were a CBC "journalist", and suppose I were an ass...but I repeat myself!"

"The media made Harper"

Best laugh I've had in months.

The one thing we can thank the MSM for is creating the need for blogs. If the media wasn't so intent on tainting the news with their views, blogs wouldn't be nearly as popular. Long live the blogosphere.

The Larry Zolf piece simply underlines the fact that mainstream media has played a huge part in shaping Canadian politics in the past.
Only with an enabling press could massive government malfeasance and corruption exist as is did for the last decade.
Not a pretty picture or proud record of journalistic integrity, is it Larry?
My hope is that Harper will govern with the good of the country in mind rather than curry favour with a biased press.

Love it! Harper & Co. put the arrogant MSM ignoramii in their place!

And what can the lefty, Grit-loving MSM do about it that they aren't already doing or were planning to do anyway, to hurt the Conservative government?

This forces the MSM to play by Harper & Co. rules and helps Harper & Co. control the public initiative and agenda.

Way to go, Harper & Conservatives! DON'T back down! The lefty MSM is always going to hate you and the Conservatives anyway. But this way, they'll be forced to respect you and deal with you and the Conservative government on YOUR terms!

Kate, you have to at least laugh about this statement though. I mean, it is funny that on one hand he is shuttering the media but on the other hand is having his new (they're always new, aren't they?) director of communications make this comment:

"I think this prime minister has been more accessible, gives greater media scrums and provides deeper content than any prime minister has in the last 10 to 12 years," she responded.

Why is there so much bullshit?

“Of course it is impossible to be sure that there is relatively more of it nowadays than at other times. There is more communication of all kinds in our time than ever before, but the proportion that is bullshit may not have increased. Without assuming that the incidence of bullshit is actually greater now, I will mention a few considerations that help to account for the fact that it is currently so great.

Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about. Thus the production of bullshit is stimulated whenever a person’s obligations or opportunities to speak about some topic exceed his knowledge of the facts that are relevant to that topic. This discrepancy is common in public life, where people are frequently impelled – whether by their own propensities or by the demands of others – to speak extensively about matters of which they are to some degree ignorant. Closely related instances arise from the widespread conviction that it is the responsibility of a citizen in a democracy to have opinions about everything, or at least everything that pertains to conduct of his country’s affairs. The lack of any significant connection between a person’s opinions and his apprehension of reality will be even more severe, needless to say, for someone who believes it his responsibility, as a conscientious moral agent, to evaluate events and conditions in all parts of the world.

The contemporary proliferation of bullshit also has deeper sources, in various forms of scepticism which deny that we can have any reliable access to an objective reality, and which therefore reject the possibility of knowing how things truly are. These ‘antirealist’ doctrines undermine confidence in the value of disinterested efforts to determine what is true and what is false, and even in the intelligibility of the notion of objective inquiry. One response to this loss of confidence has been a retreat from the discipline required by dedication to the ideal of correctness to a quite different sort of discipline, which is imposed by pursuit of an alternative ideal of sincerity. Rather than seeking primarily to arrive at accurate representations of a common world, the individual turns toward trying to provide honest representations of himself. Convinced that reality has no inherent nature, which he might hope to identify as the truth about things, he devotes himself to being true to his own nature. It is as though he decides that since it makes no sense to try to be true to the facts, he must therefore try instead to be true to himself.

But it is preposterous to imagine that we ourselves are determinate, and hence susceptible both to correct and to incorrect descriptions, while supposing that the ascription of determinacy to anything else has been exposed as a mistake. As conscious beings, we exist only in response to other things, and we cannot know ourselves at all without knowing them. Moreover, there is nothing in theory, and certainly nothing in experience, to support the extraordinary judgement that it is the truth about himself that is the easiest for a person to know. Facts about ourselves are not peculiarly solid and resistant to sceptical dissolution. Our natures are, indeed, elusively insubstantial – notoriously less stable and less inherent than the natures of other things. And insofar as this is the case, sincerity itself is bullshit.”

On Bullshit, Harry S. Frankfurt p.63-67
Princeton University Press, 2005

It would be my studied observation, that PM Stephen Harper is disinterested in spouting bullshit purely for the benefit of media columnists; unlike the most recently departed occupier of the Prime Ministers chair.

If there is less bullshit in public life this is not an altogether bad thing. Then perhaps we would begin by noticing that there is an objective reality that we can all attend to.

Ex-PM Paul Martin tried to elevate the construct of sincerity to a political art form. In short, he was a consummate "bullshit artist".

Our new PM Stephen Harper, it would appear, is more interested in being correct in his assessment of the nations needs, based on the facts the bureaucracy is providing him.
If he is taking his time to evaluate his priorities and positions; then perhaps this is a good and welcome change. Quiet reflection with the facts at hand is hardly a point of criticism; but that which one would hope for in a leader.

In short, this would appear to be a reduction in governmental bullshit.

Larry Zolf? Hey! I vaguely remember him from the misty past. He made me barf 30 years ago and he did the same this day. Actually, I'm happy CBC dragged out that old relic. It shows them for what they are - an anachronism trying to resurrect the past through an aging witless dolt who should have gone back to the North End of Winnipeg years ago.

It's ironic that someone from the CBC is the one to level a threat that the MSM will scuttle Harper, when in actuality it is Harper himself who has his finger on the CBC funding button...

KABOOOM!! We can only hope.

Duffy had a panel of press pundits on last night's show discussing this issue and I found it interesting that while Jane Taber was whining about these new "rules"(of course), the French language journalist came out in support of PMSH saying that he gets much better, deeper information on lots of issues now from the many media scrums (that apparently last almost as long as a press conference), he said that he walks away with 3-4 stories to write about each time and didn't have any problems with the changes!

The rest of the whiners can go stick it "where the sun don't shine"!

Way to go Mr. Harper!!

Just heard Charles Adler tell his listeners that the danger in not speaking with the media is that they might then write stories based on gossip and inuendo. Didn't expect him to admit it.

The media is in need of an attitude adjustment, ESPECIALLY the one agency that wastes my tax dollars and presumes to speak for me and decides my needs and wants. The rest of them are largely monopolized by one owner and need to realize they can not take us for granted and feed us crap. The Prime Minister's office through their director of communications, Sandra Buckler does speak for me when she says "I don't think the average Canadian cares as long as they know their government is being well run."
With the current M.S.M. whiners, no news may be better than their news. If they could deliver all the facts and independently of each other (sound familiar Can-West?), I would be a regular subscriber/supporter of many journals. Until they learn to drop their Liberal bias, (or should I say anti-Conservative bias?) I'll be getting my news elsewhere.

Gee - Mr. Harper probably believes in such quaint ideas as Cabinet solidarity (Cabinet documents are SECRET, by the way), ministerial responsibility, and in Parliament being the proper forum for discussing the business of the Government and the nation.

It's a pity we don't have civics courses in this country - the knowledge of matters of constitution and of accepted good practice are deep dark mysteries to the MSM.

Good work PM Harper! I am lov'n this, watching all the "old boys club" whine. Bet you they were all hoping for a nice post, maybe a senate seat???
Mr. Harper is playing his cards very close to his chest. Love, good strategy! Keeping them begging for stories.

If the media do boycott the government who wins?

Time to start sending out the resumes

"Small rural Sakatchewan newspaper looking for political journalist also able to cover bake sales and old timers hockey"

Is this the same larry zolf from the old cbc Quest days and this hour has 7 days. I thought it was his son or grandson and he had passed the poor gene pool downward. The good news is that the next election campaign, the conservatives can rerun this stmt, and tell the voters that the media cannot be believed. CTV has a one on one interview with Pres Bush tonight. First time for an interview with a cdn station. CBC must be furious. As for mature, I think it means none of Harpers people will do a parrish.

My e-mail to the CBC re Zolf's ludicrous article. What idiots:

Larry Zolf's article, in a nutshell, is what's wrong with Canada today--and what's wrong with our media.

The media "made" Stephen Harper? That would be news to him and the electorate who voted for him. The media, aside from throwing Harper a few kudos because, after all, he ran a much better campaign than the Liberals, NDP, and the BQ--a very competent campaign, period--have acted like the official opposition, and unelected at that.

Larry Zolf is wearing blinkers if he can't see how self-interested he and all of the other MSM pundits are. Stephen Harper owes the MSM exactly nothing--and many of us who have watched with amazement and not a little consternation as the CBC, the Toronto Star, the Parliamentary Press Gallery, etc., have acted like they run the country, are quite delighted to see him setting his own agenda.

Any politician who grovels to the media--e.g., Paul Martin--lowers and demeans himself, not to mention demeaning the whole democratic process. Voters elected the CPC and Stephen Harper to lead Canada, not the CBC or any of the MSM.

So, MSM guys: Butt out and, please, start to put things in perspective. Stephen Harper is Canada's leader not you. And a lot of us like it this way. You get no sympathy from us.

is it time to boycott the cbc ?

Karl, Forget the CBC ombudsman. I've been hoping he'll get back in touch with me for two months, concerning the "Heil Harper" debacle and Julie Van Dusen's use of "tush" to describe what David Emerson should have got over to a media scrum a few weeks ago.

I got the usual wordy and condescending drivel from Tony Burman about both issues, and when I wrote back that I was totally unsatisfied with his lame excuses and faulty reasoning, the ombudsman actually e-mailed me to ask if he could call me to talk about these situations.

I said "sure, suits me OK," and that would be about five weeks ago. He hasn't called, and the excuses he has made are that he was selling his house, then he was moving to his new house, and then he was out of the country.

I wonder what ombudsman I can take the CBC ombudsman to?

On the other hand, maybe flood the guy with complaints and drive him crazy...

I for one am sick & tired of the media in this country telling our PM's what to do. Media has gone to far from the day's of reporting the facts. too many times we see stories that have been embellished beyond the point, that when they are caught in there error's we see very little in the line of retraction story. As for Zoft's comments on our PM & his far right aditude's, this PM is the furthest from far right. Just another way to kick the lefties in to shit disturb mode. Right ON Prime Minister put them in line.

Lets see the last time that Harper let the media in for a photo op, all they could talk about was his weight. But no the media is not adversarial at all. jeesh, what do they expect? Things would be different if the media ever demonstrated itself to be responsible, and impartial, but they haven't.

Sorry that the new boss won't spoon feed you stories, get over it!

Haven't read all the comments, but I would suggest that if the MSM is planning to "take out" the Tory gov't, well, they seem to have forgotten about the new media on the block which will not tolerate --and has not-- any MSM dishonesty and unfair attack reporting.

To the MSM: the people are watching you. And they have a powerful new tool for the publication of their views... on the MSM, among other things.

Go ahead, MSM, make my day.

BTW, also to the MSM: stop the whiny, petty complaining about Mr. Harper. You nearly always let Jean Chretien off the hook no matter what wrongs he committed. You people should be ashamed of yourselves for your unfettered bias. Professionals, my ass. You people have been pissing me off for so many years there's no way I can remain silent now that I have found my voice.

"is it time to boycott the cbc ?"

Nope... it's time to ABOLISH the CBC. An anachronistic dinosaur from a disgraced socialist era. Just like the Liberal Party, which cannot ever change its spots.

is it time to boycott the cbc?

With 7% maximum viewership,I thought there has been a boycott on for years.

Can them all and shut it down!

I haven't been terribly impressed by some of Harper's actions, but I really appreciate his gravitas. He actually behaves like a Prime Minister. Why should he try to pacify or even acknowledge the yapping coyotes who want to shout semi-insulting questions at him in the din of a "scrum". How can a leader be respected by the public if he follows the Martin lead and allows these goofs to make him look like an ass on TV? Hope that he sticks to his guns and speaks to the pack only at formal press conferences on significant matters.

Communist Broadcasting Conspiracy.

Time to hoist these GOB's (good ol' boys) out, the feeding trough has run dry.

But at the same time, it was refreshing to watch HNIC, albeit I don't watch those overpaid babies anymore, so what's left? Country Canada? Ok.

"Just heard Charles Adler tell his listeners that the danger in not speaking with the media is that they might then write stories based on gossip and inuendo."

In other words they write the same stories, regardless of whether you speak to them. Seems then that Harper is taking the logical position -- since they won't listen to you anyway, why not save yourself the trouble?

"the media is the message" ?? Marshall McLuhan 1964

now its "the media isn't getting the message"
Zolf and his CBCpravda cohorts dont run the asylum.

I think that someone had better save Zolf's little gem somewhere, I have a feeling that it might just disappear soon! Someone should also send a link of this to the PMO's office, just in case it gets overlooked while they are busy running the country. Might give them a laugh to know that the CBC is planning to take them down!

Anne:

I already emailed the PMO

I think my vote is what makes a politician, not the CBC. Larry Zolf and his ilk should get a slap up-side the head from taxpayers who are "forced" to contribute to Mr. Zolf's salary and pension perks, whether we like what he reports or not. Mr. Harper should set the CBC straight - they are employed by taxpayers not the International Workers Party. I say it's time to boot the CBC into ablivion, because I'll subtract my tax contribution from this years' Income Tax filing to prove my point. Try and "force" me to pay up for this group of public employees and I'll take it very badly. Could be grounds for our own "Boston Tea Party".

WAY TO GO HANS!!!

Bogus, how much do you figure to subtract? Maybe I will look forward to filing my income tax this year??

Where's Pam?

Aisle 12. +

All those dick-chicks gravitate to powerful men .... wanting to possess their DNA ..... and rise up the ladder of the Ottawa bureaucracy ..... and maybe if some of the CBC chicks trying to get an interview with the PM would get a scoop if they wore a Monica beany .... slurp slurp .... LOLOLOL .....!!!!! +
http://www.voy.com/178771/8251.html

Its about time PMSH took controll of the media.I say way to go,if there was a burning issue that we as Canadians need to know! PMSH will let us know.

The CTV merely mentioned SDA without providing a hyperlink like so many other news outlets, particularly non-MSM ones.

CTV, get with the times or fall behind.

Provide a hyperlink to this post. How hard is it for so many employees paid so well to use state-of-the-art technology?

Or were y'all just following orders?

Wanna be journalists you do have a way to go. You figure your bad, cool language overcomes failure of abacus Harper, he's an accountant, remember --- to provide for the transparency he droned on about ad nauseum on campaign trail.

Immature adults running like lemmings so bent on being cool -- how COOL is accountability act which incorporates financial incentives (bribes) to report on corruption. That is NOT COOL FOLKS, nor does it bode well for responsible government.

Wanna be journalists you do have a way to go. You figure your bad, cool language overcomes failure of abacus Harper, he's an accountant, remember --- to provide for the transparency he droned on about ad nauseum on campaign trail.

Immature adults running like lemmings so bent on being cool -- how COOL is accountability act which incorporates financial incentives (bribes) to report on corruption. That is NOT COOL FOLKS, nor does it bode well for responsible government.

Wanna be journalists you do have a way to go. You figure your bad, cool language overcomes failure of abacus Harper, he's an accountant, remember --- to provide for the transparency he droned on about ad nauseum on campaign trail.

Immature adults running like lemmings so bent on being cool -- how COOL is accountability act which incorporates financial incentives (bribes) to report on corruption. That is NOT COOL FOLKS, nor does it bode well for responsible government.

Transparency doesn't mean photo-ops, anonymous. Ever notice that Harper actually answers questions instead of dissembling like the former leaders of the transparently (to all but the media) corrupt Liberals?

I have always considered the media to be the eyes and ears of the constituents. We cannot be there to ask the questions that we like to see put forth.

To limit the ability of the media to speak as proxy and ask questions is akin to muzzling the consituent.

What doth Caesar fear?

Larry Zolf should try holding his breath, if his public tantrum does'nt quite work out for him.
Can he find hats in his size?

The thing is, most people pay no attention to political commentary, and little to day-by-day political events.

The longer the governement ignores the media except as necessary the better its chances are.

Besides, which counts? Media or Parliament? After which remain the voters.

Mark
Ottawa

This is scary. Zolf has essentially proclaimed that the media sets the political agenda in this country. That he has said so, so openly, suggests that it is well understood at least within CBC. CBC, then, is openly and unapologetically violating its mandate. And apparently Zolf feels CBC is entitled to do so, and that Harper should be thankful.

I don't know if we need to kill the CBC, but, clearly, a massive purging of its executive is long overdue.

TonyG, send an email to your MP if you have a question. Do you REALLY need a reporter to ask questions for you? Really?

You seem to have commenting down pat; next step - email. Or the phone, that works too.

My heart is pumping pure porcupine piss for these pompous pin headed parliamentary pen pushers. Talk about the tail trying to wag the dog!
Three cheers for Mr. Harper for starting to bring the government back for the people. These media types who inhabit Parliament Hill may have to find the story and then write it, rather than the story coming to them, at a time selected by them. I, for one, am getting very tired of the media trying to spin things rather than actually reporting " the news of the day".
I can just imagine how the media will work the Opposition on this one. There will be major whining and moaning in gigantic proportions, but I hope the present administration will stick to their guns and make this work. We will all be the better for it.

Ha & editors write a good story:

"...organizers for the Liberal Party of Canada sought kickbacks from him."

This is damning testimony:names named: Chretien, Corriveau,Beliveau, Corbeil, Renaud; secret donations demanded; [24] Sussex Drive & etc.

One word missing, though: Librano$$$$$$$$$$$$, aka Conspiracy: To Defraud & Expropriate the Tax Base of Canada. This was a scheme organized through the PMO/PCO of the time.

Damn you all to hell.

Get them all into the Crowbar Hotel, aka the Pen, aka prison. +

Author: The Legacy.

Of 13 years of(------) rule!

Brault blames Liberals for fraud
TU THANH HA

MONTREAL -- A key figure in the sponsorship scandal explained yesterday that he defrauded Ottawa in contracts worth $1.6-million after organizers for the Liberal Party of Canada sought kickbacks from him.

Ad executive Jean Brault, who pleaded guilty last month to five counts of fraud relating to five federal contracts, was testifying at his pre-sentencing hearing.

The prosecution is expected to ask for a jail term of three or four years when the hearing continues today.

Yesterday, Mr. Brault told the court that his fraud followed demands for secret donations.

"I'm not trying to excuse what I did, but essentially it's the political demands, the demands on me, that led me to take that first step."

At the same time, he added that "I am the only one responsible for this, no matter what I might say otherwise."

He apologized to "my children, who before had an entrepreneur father and now have to face a fraudster father."

As he spoke, he held before him two pictures of his parents.

The political organizers he mentioned are the same he named at the Gomery inquiry: Jacques Corriveau, a friend of former prime minister Jean Chrétien; former Quebec wing executives Michel Béliveau and Benoît Corbeil; and lobbyist Alain Renaud.

The end of the presentation of evidence yesterday left an intriguing question unanswered. In an earlier hearing, the court was told that Mr. Brault's right-hand man, François Desjardins, had run errands to the home of Mr. Chrétien in the late 1990s.

"I went to the home of Prime Minister Chrétien, on several occasions. Once I drove Mr. Chrétien's brother, from Saint-Lambert, to Sussex Drive," Mr. Desjardins said in a statement to the RCMP that was read in court last fall. + more
http://www.voy.com/178771/8052.html

New Kid on the Block, you've said it! Actually, my sister once gave up the CBC for Lent. Then so did I. We never went back: our quality of life's improved considerably ever since!

Larry Zolf's guilty of magic thinking. (Well, maybe not guilty: I think one has to be of sound mind for that designation.) He wrote: "The media also gave Harper credit for change, praising his policy-a-day campaign as proof positive that he was now a moderate and a progressive and not the 'scary' right-winger of his Reform days.
It was the media that made Harper a major contender in Quebec, where the Charest machine gave him a modest 10 seats."

Right, Larry. And I have no clue about the date of my birthday or my children's names because the MSM hasn't noted and approved them yet. I fear I waste my breath, but, Mr. Zolf, smarten up!

And, Canada, wake up!

anonymous,

Actually, i welcome financial incentives for exposing corruption. If you knew anything about human nature, you'd realize that this is one of the most potent weapons we have agaisnt it. The motivation behind whistleblowing doesn't matter. As long as the reward is less than what would have been stolen, everybody wins (except the thief who goes to jail). Whats not to like?

I wish I had a quarter for every time CBC said something completely asinine. Come to think of it ... I would, if there was no CBC.

I like the letter response......

LETTERS:

This is quite arrogant and unbelievable of Larry Zolf to surmise that the media elects Parliamentarians and Prime Ministers are mere puppets of these King makers, who will suffer an inglorious fate if the media decide to make it so.

Last time I checked, I the Citizen of this country elect a citizen of this country to be a parliamentarian and in turn to be the PRIME MINISTER. Since when have we surrendered our right to vote to you arrogant clowns in the liberal mass media

? —Ron Adriano | Ottawa

I hate Canadians who wanna be Americans! Move south of the border if you want to act like a gun toting Texan. Your voice does not reflect that of ordinary Canadians.

I get a kick out of the CBC. I bet you they think the TV dial picks up only three stations still. Four if you can get that whacky UHF station from Buffalo. Follow the trend. Declining viewership plus declining readership equals one drowned out message. So go ahead boys, hit your heads against the wall. No one is paying attention anymore.

Real Cdn,

"Your voice does not reflect that of ordinary Canadians."

So tell me - what do "ordinary Canadians" ... the ones you don't hate ... stand for?

This just shows the utter incompetence of the Canadian media. Their obsession over "press gallery rules" is hysterical. Even in our extreme leftist J-schools, they teach rule #1: DON'T MAKE YOURSELF THE STORY!

The story has no resonance. Only two things have connected with the public so far: Emerson, and Afghanistan. Afghanistan trumps Emerson by far. Harper is winning fans, and there's nothing Tony Burman can do about it.

A Real? Cdn:
"I hate Canadians who wanna be Americans! Move south of the border if you want to act like a gun toting Texan. Your voice does not reflect that of ordinary Canadians."
Did I miss something? What does guns, Texas and Americans have to do with an ignorant egotistical "journalist" who thinks he can make or break governments at the snap of his fingers?
Let's try to stay on topic eh? Your leftie anti-American drivel is getting old.

BTW: I am Canadian. I am a Texan. I have Canadian relatives. I have American relatives. I served my country for over 22 years. I have a gun (and a rifle too). Both firearms are back in Canada. Wow.

Sorry Kate. I think a troll just got me. Tsk, the shame of it all.

This is starting to get old but.... "the media made Harper" what a joke. They did their damnest to deride him until they realized the public was behind him. Not wanting to be seen as the dinosaurs they are they went from derision to "grudging acceptance" of Harper.

It's a about time the MSM got a bloody nose, what a bunch of bed wetter's!

TonyG, send an email to your MP if you have a question.

Yeah, that makes sense: forget the media, everybody just send your MP a letter or email if you've a question. I'm sure that will be, for example, an objective, unbiased, and transparent source of information on any issues of controversy involving the government, and will facilitate a good general understanding of the MP's performance and behaviour in those circumstances.

I'm no fan of the MSM, their arrogance, and frequently exposed biases, but too many of the comments here seem to be swinging too hard the other way, as if the fourth estate had no meaningful role to play in disseminating information in a democracy, and we should be content with government press releases and staged "message" events, with bloggers picking up the slack. Does this sound good? I think not.

Remember, this cuts both ways - we wouldn't/didn't take it well if the Liberals treated cabinet meetings like state secrets and dodged questioning; why should we be so cavalier when our team does this? Also, just because most MSM sources are of the left dosen't mean the media should be stonewalled or so tightly "managed", as this makes it more difficult for *any* reporters to do their reporting. I mean, for example, many bloggers are doing analyses of facts gleaned, not getting them firsthand, and statements from the questioning of politicians in all sorts of circumstances feed into this; while of course this is hardly the only source of info on government actions, overly tight control of media access by a government can cramp analysis and does get me a tad concerned.

Having said that, I assume that this is just a temporary phase until Parliament resumes and the new government gets their "sea legs" in power and some more esprit de corps. At least I hope so. I mean, these folks aren't dumb or flustered - they can handle themselves when faced with dumbass questions.

Further to the above: there's a good piece on this whole issue over at S'Wells site, but I suppose most of you will already know that...

so far this week i've seen pm. harper once , flaherty once , turner once all giving interviews , and the b.c. premier talking about meeting with harper .its only tues. wheres the damn blackout ?

ooops and i forgot my own mp. monty solberg yesterday , also giving an interview.

A government that does the work we hired them for then at an appropriate time announces all the information and answers questions. Questions that can be responded to with well researched knowledgable facts.

I have got to say I have never felt so optomistic about my country in my entire life.

Prime Minister Harper just keeps getting better and better.

We have grown ups running the Country now.
I can finally relax and know we have competant management running the place.

It's pure joy waiting to see what he will do next.
This is actually fun.

BWAHAHAHA. NEXT THE WORLD.

You would have thought the MSM would have learned from the Dan Rather debacle.
It just shows the complete contempt they have towards the public at large. An infalted sense of purpose if nothing else.
PMSh id dping the right thing in bring some dignity back to the office.
I remember Ronald Regan having to do the same. Carter had so debased the meetings. They became shouting matches. Sucking up too the press never helped him.

This will be an improvment on news. They will have to dig for substance. Not the dreams they have up too now, equated with truth. Instead they will have to get dirty & ask real people about substansive issues.

The CBC has become a hinderance to our growth. As is the CRTC. I can see the ultimite absurdity of the CRTC declaring 100% Canadian content & only CBC is Canadian. A one station Nation.
I can see the CBC execs praying to the ghosts of the liberal past, this becomes true.

I can't help but find the subtle comedy here...all the while Mr. Zolf and many like him threaten Mr. Harper's popularity and credibility, their own has melted to point the point of non-consequence. There are a few good ones still out there, but they are becoming fewer and fewer.

Mr. Zolf et al @ CBC are in dire need of a reality enema. :)

Most people who read their news on the internet on blogs like Kate's sda, Angry in the great white north and Shotgun watch and read MSM for amusement. Those MSM people are in grade two compared to Kate, Steve, Darcy, WS and their astute commentaters who graduated from University of Journalism in the honest real world months ago. Just read over Kate's CBC election blogs - Dy-no-mite!!It was the bloggers who helped Stehen Harper and the Conservatives win the last election because they held the liars in MSM to the truth fire and charred them!! It was one of the best 'Roasts' I have ever seen. I say Bravo Stephen Harper - let the MSM go find something else to do for a living because they are whining to a deaf crowd. 'What goes around comes around' the MSM did not report the real news in the last 20 years - they covered up for the Liberano/Dipper outfits - it was not just the Liberanos that lost the election - the MSM lost because the bloggers exposed them. I like the way PMSH treats that murder of crows of so called 'reporters'. They( MSM) can watch CPAC with the rest of us to get their 'news' or read sda!! heh.

I'm wondering if the CBC ombusdman reads SDA? In a comment here yesterday, I noted how I'd been waiting over a month to hear from him about the "Heil Haper" incident (pure mistake by the technician, BTW; I told him I still didn't buy this reason, though I'd like it to be true) and Julie Van Dusen's use of "tush"--the body part David Emerson was supposed to have got to a media scrum and didn't, which really pissed her off. (Tony Burman says she wasn't angry and that "tush" is part of the vernacular--at the CBC I'll bet it is; the ombudsman is just writing up his report on this one.) HE had suggested we clarify things by phone and--was I stupid?--I gave him my phone number.

Well, wuddyaknow? Last night, the ombudsman called.

Coincidence?

NKOTB - so what did the ombudsman have to say?

I find it interesting that despite the MSM saying they are getting no "leaks", "news", "press conferences" etc. I think we are seeing alot of cabinet ministers and the prime minister himself making annoucements, answering questions and appearing on newsworld, Duffy, Question Period.

I think that the pissed off press gallery members are the ones that used to get the under the table leaks from the Liberals and with little or no work spew out the spin - they are having to work for it now and are pissed off.

I think that there are a few reporters who take the time to find out the facts, ask thought provoking questions, write factual articles - those are the reporters who will get access to the PMO - this will be like the parent who gets good behavior by ignoring the bad and rewarding the good.

The MSM will either fall into line or be "left" out in the cold - their whining is getting louder and more abrasive (just like the spoiled little bratty kid) and needs some tough love to bring them into line.

Just further proof that CBC is Pravda and a tool of the "liberal elite" .

CTV Tass is not much different. maybe a little more dangerous because they hide behind the facade of a public company.

Compare/contrast the MSM here:

Hebert: Forget Harper, Chretien was a master at dodging media

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is hardly the first to use his post-election honeymoon to expand the private space of his government at the expense of the parliamentary press gallery.
hamilton spectator via the star +

White House staff can't keep Canadian PM straight

Here's a tip for White House staff trying to pick out Canada's prime minister at the "three amigos'' summit in Cancun, he's the bookish-looking one with the paunch.
the povince via canwest +

via nealenews.com

As many comments above note, the CBC's viewership continues to fail, and Canadians are choosing their news from a variety of other sources.

But here's the thing: outside of hockey and some other sporting events, I never watch the CBC. Usually, it's because I don't find their programming interesting, and sometimes it's because my mind-filter taints anything on CBC as "bad" - perhaps due to earlier exposure to the Beachcombers. But I'm discovering - thanks to Showcase, for example - that some of the shows the CBC put on were actually quite funny. "The Newsroom" comes to mind as a particularly apropos case here, dealing as it did with venal producers and airhead anchors (hi Peter Mansbridge! jagshemash!).

So my point is "Is the CBC brand being ruined by its news department?". CBC sports does a good job of covering hockey, football, and curling, and meets such as the Olympics (even my US friends who watched both thought the CBC coverage was far superior to NBC's). As noted above, the CBC has produced some sitcoms that are actually interesting ("Wonderland" is another). CBC documentaries are obviously biased (see McKenna passim ad nauseum), but professionally done. It's their news department that gets me rising from my chair screaming (when I used to watch them), and now has put me in the mindset of totally ignoring the channel altogether.

Maybe the CBC brass should all go watch the movie "Network" ten times in a row, and learn how their news department is killing their brand. Then they might re-invent it to be less pompous, out of touch, and more reflective of Canada as a whole, as opposed to a few square blocks of people in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal.

Naaaah. Never happen.

Speaking of the media trying to un-seat the bad ol' Harper Government... Nealenews has a link to Susan Riley's Column at The Windsor Star today March 29.

Get this, she says "The Liberal party doesn't need a "mission" statement, either. It needs to defeat the Harper Conservatives before they inflict serious damage on the economy, the nation's social fabric, international reputation or domestic unity."

Uh Ms. Riley, I think those things have already been done... by The LIBERALS.

Re: Useless tools at the CBC,

I see they have picked up Heather Mallick, a left handed tool if there ever was one.

Here are a few paragraphs from a recent column she wrote for the CBC about the good people of South Dakota and the attempt there to get a court ruling on late term abortions (BIG BARF ALERT!).

"If I were pregnant and earning working-class wages in Canada, Sgt. Harper's decision to destroy national daycare in its infancy might well make me decide to have an abortion. You can't be a single mother and prosper; it isn't possible here.

I greatly enjoy mocking the red states as they eagerly damage their own interests by increasing the misery quotient for women. South Dakota is a vital part of what the New York author Jonathan Franzen calls the "strategic national reserve of cluelessness."

But of course it's only funny because I'm not there and never will be. It's not funny ha-ha, it's funny-evil, like serial killer John Wayne Gacy in his clown costume.

What vast realms of cruelty lie in the blank American Midwest, not a heartland but a land of heartlessness. You look out the window of the plane in shock and awe."

Wow.

They hypocrisy on this page is stunning and -- I guarantee you this -- will eventually come around to bite a few right-wing butts.

If the Liberals had attempted six months ago what Harper is trying to do now, there would have been an uprising on this site. But, to a punch of political homers like yourselves, I suppose it's all fine and dandy when the blue team -- not the red team -- is committing the infraction.

Now here's the fun part -- and I'm sure you'll love it.

The Liberals WILL eventually be back in power -- maybe in 10 years, maybe in five, maybe in one.

And when they are, you can bet your bottom dollar they'll stick to Harper's gameplan.

So remember this the next time there's a gun-registry fiasco. Or an HRDC boondoggle. Or a sponsorship scandal (which, by the way, was completely, entirely uncovered by your much-loathed MSM, whose reports led to an auditor-general's investigation, which led to the Gomery inquiry, which led to the election of a Tory government).

Please keep your blind, partisan cheerleading in mind the next time the Natural Governing Party's in power and its ministers can basically go an entire year without taking questions from the press as they use escape routes in elevators and back doors to slide away unobstructed.

And if that accepted secrecy helps double the length of the next Liberal government, I hope you'll all be proud of how loudly you cheered on the blue team.

Wow.

They hypocrisy on this page is stunning and -- I guarantee you this -- will eventually come around to bite a few right-wing butts.

If the Liberals had attempted six months ago what Harper is trying to do now, there would have been an uprising on this site. But, to a bunch of political homers like yourselves, I suppose it's all fine and dandy when the blue team -- not the red team -- is committing the infraction.

Now here's the fun part -- and I'm sure you'll love it.

The Liberals WILL eventually be back in power -- maybe in 10 years, maybe in five, maybe in one.

And when they are, you can bet your bottom dollar they'll stick to Harper's gameplan.

So remember this the next time there's a gun-registry fiasco. Or an HRDC boondoggle. Or a sponsorship scandal (which, by the way, was completely, entirely uncovered by your much-loathed MSM, whose reports led to an auditor-general's investigation, which led to the Gomery inquiry, which led to the election of a Tory government).

Please keep your blind, partisan cheerleading in mind the next time the Natural Governing Party's in power and its ministers can basically go an entire year without taking questions from the press as they use escape routes in elevators and back doors to slide away unobstructed.

And if that accepted secrecy helps double the length of the next Liberal government, I hope you'll all be proud of how loudly you cheered on the blue team.

Tony, if the Liberals when back in power hold press conferences where they honestly answer questions and provide relevant information as PM Harper is doing it will be a great improvement over the Liberals'past performance. The problem with many in the media (and some in the public) is that they confuse accessibility with information. How much information did we get from Chretien and Martin in the media scrums? None. Basically the media and the Liberals used this for theatre, nothing more. I have learned more on our reasons for being in Afghanistan in the last 2 weeks from PM Harper than I did in the last few years of Chretien/Martin.

All true, Paul.

Alot of those news conferences were indeed crap.

But at least ministers in trouble had to stand there and stew in controversy, answering uncomfortable questions.

Or they had the option of walking past the cameras and looking all the more guilty -- or imcompetent -- on the 11 o'clock news.

Now they have the luxury of just never showing up.

And, as I said, I'll bet you a few bucks that in the long run this will help a Liberal government to a degree that will someday infuriate all those people so eagerly and blindly waving that blue flag today.

Tony, you'd actually be correct in your opinion, but for one thing - the majority of Canadian mainstream media is little more than the propoganda wing of the left. Thus, not receiving our information from government through that filter does not particularly bother us.

When the tables are turned, their behavior adjusts accordingly. If it were not so, the Liberal government would have never survived Shawinigate, much less Adscam.

Quick question, Kate:

Where did you even HEAR about Adscam and Shawinigate?

Daniel Leblanc at the Globe and Mail broke Adscam and the scandal received blanket coverage in the MSM, and Shawinigate was the work of Andrew Macintosh at the National Post.

Yes, the Liberals survived the first. They didn't survive the second.

I expect the Grits will fare much, much better next time they're embroiled in scandal. Because you'll never see the ministers involved on TV for most of the year and TV will have no pretty pictures on which to hang embarrassing stories.

Hopefully, the day that happens, you'll remember how you felt in March 2006.

tony,
Quit trying to lay a guilt trip on Kate for something that is but a figment of your wishful imagination (i.e. the moment that the Liberals get back in to office and turn loose the terrible scary tactics of the Conservatives against Canadians)

Tony wonders where we heard about Adscam and Shawingate..

Actually, the first references to either were in the late, great "Frank" magazine. Its demise was the greatest loss to print reporting in Canada since Geoff Stevens was ousted from the Globe.

I'm not trying to guilt-trip anyone.

I'm stating the obvious.

The Liberals WILL be back in power someday. This isn't my wishful thinking. It's a truism. It might take a decade or more, it might take a year, but it will happen.

Do you think -- do you actually THINK -- the next time there's an HRDC scandal, we're going to see Jane Stewart's hapless scrums fuelling TV coverage. And remember Paul Martin stuttering helplessly while trying to explain Adscam away?

You'll get less priceless footage like that next time.

This has nothing to do with Liberal or Tory partisanship. I'm just saying it's a bad thing when our country loses the one and only guaranteed way for its media to access the executive.

You're cheering today because it's the blue team carrying the puck. You won't be the next time the red team has it.

End of story. Too bad we're talking about something a little more important than a hockey game.

Hacks are bloviating again; all in a circle, eh jerks?

Lonely crows croaking in unison: CAW...CAW...CAW..CAW... buzzzzz +

Media Union Calls PM's Tactics 'Frightening'

Canada's two biggest media unions are condemning Prime Minister Stephen Harper for what they call "undemocratic" and "frightening" attempts to limit journalists' access to cabinet ministers. +
via nealenews.com

I seem to remember that it was the National Post that began the jouranlistic investigations into the HRDC and Shawinigate Scandals. Come on, Tony, these things, and lots more, had been going on under the Liberal "watch" for years, and up to time the National Post came on the scene none of the MSM had reported any of them: neither the CBC, nor the Probe and Fail--er, the Globe and Mail, nor the Toronto Star, etc., etc. ad nauseum.

It should come as no surprise that the left-leaning media are going to give a pass to a lot of the dirty dealings of their left-leaning pals in left-leaning political parties. Birds of a feather flock together. No wonder all this skullduggery was going on, and was never reported until the NP came along. All the MSM crowd and the Liberals were--and still are-- schmoozing at the same parties. (Just listen to Mike Duffy crowing about the Martinis on the cocktail circuit he--and, says he, the Liberals--enjoy so much.)

And what planet are you living on when you say that CPC Cabinet ministers "have the luxury of just never showing up."?

Parliament hasn't even opened yet!! There'll be lots of time for Canadians to observe CPC Cabinet members and MPs in action and, no doubt, once they've had a chance to actually get a few things done--remember, this Parliament is only two months old--they'll be more visible and more able to comment on their portfolios. For Pete's sake, give the CPC a chance to take a breath and begin to figure out their way of doing things without being under the "watchful" eye of the arrogant, never-been-elected members of the MSM.

This is deadicated to Toony with luv from Chuck.

Wait for the Librano$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ to bring AdScam Chretien/ recall Martin back to the helm of the good ship C$L\/$$M Martin. In the meantime, enjoy this item. +

Guite trial to begin in May

Former bureaucrat Chuck Guite, charged in the federal sponsorship scandal, leaves a Montreal courtroom Wednesday. (CP PHOTO/Paul Chiasson)

MONTREAL (CP) - Jury selection will begin in early May for the trial of Chuck Guite, the disgraced former bureaucrat at the heart of the sponsorship scandal.

Guite was in charge of the sponsorship program that was supposed to boost the profile of the federal government in Quebec after the narrow victory by federalists in the 1995 Quebec referendum.

A public inquiry found that about $150 million of $355 million earmarked for the program went to Liberal-friendly ad agencies and other middlemen.

Guite faces trial on five fraud-related charges while a remaining conspiracy charge will be dealt with separately... + more
canoenews

My husband buys The Windsor Star. I totally ignore Susan Riley, Yaffee and a few other socialist writers. You just have to read the first line of their column and you know where they are going. It would not matter how well the conservative government does or what they do, these so called journalist will slam them.

The media unions are upset the reporters are kept away from cabinet ministers. Who, by going on strike, kept the ministers away from the media. Funny thing is some cdns think the cbc is still on strike, and others never knew they went on strike. Time to abolish the crtc and the cbc, or at least make them fire a good portion of their people. Anyone watch the HOUR, I can't, I find the host talks too fast to be understood and supports all the left leaning agenda of the special interest groups. I did notice that Julie Van Duessen has taken some advise from posters and had her hair style changed. Do we really need Harper to be asked if he loves canada.

Mr. Sheikh-Iran, off the record, give us your opinion of Moh & Al.

Well, Ali, off the record, they are schmucks. That's off the record, KO? +

Iranian Reformist Website: The Regime is Trying to Silence Internal Dissent Regarding Iran's Nuclear Program

The reformist Internet daily Rooz recently reported that several reformist papers and news agencies had been threatened by government officials for publishing criticism of Iran's nuclear policies. The media were also instructed by government officials as to the preferred manner of reporting on Iran's nuclear crisis.Commenting on this issue, reformist journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi [1] reported on an open letter signed by five reformists criticizing the situation in Iran. Zeidabadi claimed that reformists avoid criticizing the regime in an explicit and unconstrained manner, since if they did so, they would be presented as enemies of Iran and its national interests. Their forced self-censorship, he says, enables the regime to present a united domestic front, and to claim that there is a national consensus regarding the necessity for the regime's nuclear program.

The following is a report on the Rooz article regarding the constraints imposed on the Iranian media, and excerpts from Zeidabadi's article:

MEMRI- Iranian nuke program........

These warnings came at a time when the Iranian government had officially instructed the media not to publish critical reports concerning Iran's sensitive nuclear talks or decisions. The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, had specifically instructed the press not to present Iran's nuclear situation as a failure. More recently, he also met personally with several managing editors. He instructed them to write about Iran's perseverance in the nuclear talks, and to refrain from publishing news about the possibility of military action against the country, threatening to revoke their publishing licenses should they fail to heed his instructions.

The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which is responsible for monitoring the media and press in Iran, has recently formed a new committee to oversee and closely monitor the materials published by the news agencies, especially [the reformist news agencies] Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) and the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA). +
http://memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD112706
via newsbeat1.com

Tony, you'd actually be correct in your opinion, but for one thing - the majority of Canadian mainstream media is little more than the propoganda wing of the left. Thus, not receiving our information from government through that filter does not particularly bother us.

Yikes, I never thought I'd be on the other side of Kate on an issue, but I am somewhat here. The point is not tht the media is mainly leftist and arrogant - obviously this is true in this country. But I cannot sing hosannas of a government for practices that protect its representatives from questioning that they themselves do not frame or control. As has been noted elsewhere, much can be learned when politicians are confronted with questioning that they then dodge, or cannot answer, or start stammering when trying to answer. And remember, we do not want to set precedents/standards that any Liberal (or worse) government might adhere to.

Let's watch Peter Mansbridge's head explode on national tv. How do we do that you ask?

Announce that we are selling the CBC to Fox News.

Stephen Harper is doing the right thing by telling the media to stick it in their ass until they start actually telling the truth.
Is that too much to ask? Just the truth without the social engineering spin or their own personal biases.

If the MSM in Canada has nothing to do with their time, maybe they could cover this story, or would that be unacceptable because it might make the Lefty's buddies at the UN look bad?
I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that if it was the US instead of the UN involved in raping little girls in the Congo, the CBC would have it on morning noon and night for months on end.
Are the little children that were filmed being raped by these pigs simply collateral damage in the CBC's war on George Bush and therefore expendable?

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/001492.htm

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/UnitedNations/story?id=489306&page=1

"A scandal about the sexual abuse of Congolese women and children by U.N. officials and peacekeepers intensified Friday with the broadcast of explicit pictures of a French U.N. worker and Congolese girls and his claim that there was a network of pedophiles at the U.N. mission in Congo.
ABC News' "20/20" program showed pictures taken from the computer of a French U.N. transport worker. The hard drive reportedly contained thousands of photos of him with hundreds of girls. In one frame, a tear can be seen rolling down the cheek of a victim...
"

My heart is pumping pure porcupine piss for these pompous pityful pea-brained parlimentary pen pushers ( most of whom have the personlity of a peeled grape). Talk about the tail trying to wag the dog!

Good going Mr. Prime Minister!!! Thanks for starting to set things straight in regards to who really should be calling the shots in this country.

Tony - it was the Bloc that was on to Adscam, and the Canadian Alliance was right behaind them in breaking the biggest (so far!) filthy scam of the Liberanos. The CBC was just not doing their jobs by REPORTING. Wake up! Where was the MSM when the Cretin was waving around his scap of paper claiming it was a recipt for a multi million dollar sale of a hotel and golf course? Give your block head a shake.

Tony writes: "Do you think -- do you actually THINK -- the next time there's an HRDC scandal, we're going to see Jane Stewart's hapless scrums fuelling TV coverage. And remember Paul Martin stuttering helplessly while trying to explain Adscam away?

You'll get less priceless footage like that next time. "

Er, priceless maybe, but effective? Jane Stewart didn't lose her seat in the 2004; Paul Martin wasn't exactly clobbered in the last election either - he lost, but didn't lose to a majority.

So, while the scrums may make good theatre, they don't do a damn thing to change either the policies of the current government, or the life of the government. You can scrum Belinda Stronach indefinitely, let people see just how unintelligent the high-school graduate is, and she'll still win a ton of votes from people who like the way she dresses.

You might miss the scrum, Tony; I'd rather see intelligent essays based on something more than off-the-cuff comments. Somehow, I think we are both to be disappointed.

The Liebranos made Harper.