Paranoia rampant, on a field azure.

I've passed on a little note to Tremonti, wishing her luck in her new political career. She may need it if the Conservatives do to the CBC budget what should be done

I heard that program today. I rarely tune in to her program, as it is so over the wall to darkness.

Her guests on that segment were an interesting mix.

Tremonti wanted to have them be *not* in agreement, as they represented Conservatives from Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec.

And we all know that the members of 'The Clan' view the resolve to Kyoto, and fiscal balance/imbalance, from potentially conflicting perspectives.

It would all go to making the Prime Minister's job of soothing the regional conservative voices that much more difficult...or so she thought.

But to her dismay, these spokesmen understood each other's position very well and were frankly, congenial. Imagine that:)

The opening phrasing was not a slip.

Tremonti is a wordsmith, and using the term 'The Clan' suits her need to grab her audience's attention.

Clearly, she got our attention. It road in right on the heels of the weekend debates about the media fuss-up.

I am of Scottish ancestry. My take on clans is different. Not everything can put down to the "American Klans". Also I have heard many disparate points from all kinds of conservatives on this blog, everything from Alberta separating et al.

So we can rename it to the Clan Broadcasting Contraption now?

It is fair for them to use the word Clan....it is also fair for them to be asked to defend their choice of word.

Do they use the word socialist when talking about any left wing parties? Generally not, they use the word social democrat. So words matter.

However, I would be interested in hearing what if any editorial discussion there was around the word choice. Is it simply because it is alliteration.

Then the could have used

a few are....clique, clatch, coterie, crew, crowd

see the link for a bigger list..

http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=clan

I would say a choice was made...it may have been a lazy choice or it may have been a deliberative one, but lets be clear a choice was made.

Fergy, you can take the word "clan" anyway you want but here in North America it has really only one main connotation and that is the KKKlan.
It should come as no surprise that the supporters of the PPG in their "noble quest" to save democracy, would open up new fronts in their fear and smear campaign on the PM and all things Conservative.
There would be no more satisfying thing for them right now than to find ways to pit Conservatives against each other. That is why KIng Ralph gets so much attention and airtime- he often takes a contrary view to other Conservatives. Ralph Klein, as pointed out here before is Conservative pretty much in name only.
As for Anna Maria, been quite awhile since I listened to CBC, (since Peter Gzowski passed) so she can go pound sand along with the rest of them as far as I am concerned!
Daniel

That makes no sense. It shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the parties she is discussing.

While I am given to understand that the federal Liberal Party and the various Provincial Liberal Parties are interconnected, the Alberta Conservative Party and the Conservative Party of Canada for example are two distinctly different organizations. They do not share policy or funding, and their goals are often entirely at odds with one another.

Suggesting that they need to "pull together to win" is a politically naive statement that implies that:

A) There is some broad Conservative agenda that they have in common, which is not neccesarily so.

B) "Winning" is more important than representing the wishes of the constituents.

Contact info for the Current.

Looks like Greg Weston was right.

Yeah, I had to chuckle as Luc Lavoie set her straight on what he thought about the Kyoto protocol. I can't recall what said exactly, but it was something along the lines of it being a nice city...

In Alberta it is the PROGRESSIVE Conservatives - some are still rabid Joe Clark fans.

No affiliation whatsoever except for members who may choose to belong to both.

Are we not getting really really fed up with not only the derogaTORY slant of some media talking heads but tyhey are so ignorant of the facts on so many issues that it astounds me that they present themselves as having "expert" opinions on just about any issue.

Case in point - Jane tabor was lambasting a Conservative over the day care plan using Liberal and paid (with our money) lobby groups talking points. When told there was a plan B to the Conservative platform she was shocked.

When told - It is in our election platofrm she said "Oh, I havn't read it!!!!!!!"

Yet this uniformed nerdess had the gall to express uninformed opinions as fact.

It is to laugh. Maybe too many years of leaked Liberal talking points has really promoted the gullible reporters to positions of incompetance and the good ones who researched fact over propaganda were not rewarded?

Gee Robert, you're so clever.

Just like Anna Maria. Maybe there's a place for you at "The Current".

It's not such a big deal, remember how the CBC also used to refer the 'Liberal mob'? Oh wait, that never happenned.

Fergy, I too have Scottish ancestry. My mother keeps in contact with here relatives in Wick Scotland to this day; 94 years after my grandfather came to this country. My grandfather always would refer to his extended family as "The Clan". However, the rest of us, not having Scottish accents, learned at a very early age that you do not use the word "Clan" in public, as it has a very different meaning.

Perhaps Mr. Robert McClelland would like to prove us all wrong by refering to his fellow "social democratic" bloggers as his "Clan".

I am glad we have word police in this country. It makes me feel so warm and fuzzy.

"Posted by: Robert McClelland at"

Warren Kinsella's friend, the Klansman, has come out of hiding. Hey, Himmler, check your sheet...it's slipping and it's made by Levi, the Joo. ..

Tremonti's choice of words is most unfortunate. We can lodge a complaint with CRTC at
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/RapidsCCM/Register.asp?lang=E

Oh, this is getting friggin' ridiculous!

I've heard so many people here piss and moan that the media never invite more than one Tory on a panel.

Tremonti invites an exclusively Conservative panel to discuss what? Same-sex marriage? No. Abortion? Nope. Bilingualism? Nope. She invites them on to discuss the prospects of the Conservatives becoming Canada's default government party.

And she bases the chat on strategy speeches and newspaper columns delivered and written by none other than the prime minister, and his longtime advisor Tom Flanagan.

And she warmly and fuzzily waxes on about the Conservative family. And in the middle of that she tosses in the word, "clan," which many of us have probably used to describe our own families.

And what happens?

Conservative bloggers go ballistic. Sigh. Again.

I am Scot by birth.

When referring to my family, its either My clan, or Clan Campbell. Not the clan.

How you say it does make a difference.

Did we all remember to set our VCRs to record Bowling for Columbine, or, as the CBC calls it -- "a tour-de-force from award-winning Michael Moore ... a stunningly brave piece of work", last Sunday? Not to worry. I'm sure they'll broadcast it again. And again.

See the entire slobbering tongue-bath here:
http://www.cbc.ca/passionateeye/columbine.html

"Clan", indeed.

Bill Good on CKNW in Vancouver, had a panel including Norman Spector, this morning.

Bill Good is a tad touchy when it comes to suggestions that the media is anything but fair and balanced.

If you listen to the audio vault archives from today's program at the 10:54:10 mark, you can decide for yourself if he holds the same opinion of the two segments of the CPC.

He does feel this scrap between the PM and the PPG is unwarranted.

He thinks the "seige mentality" of the old Reform/Alliance types in the party will eventually find the "common sense" required in this, *because of the Progressive Conservative elements* in the party.

Goodness...no bias there, Bill

For the record, I hate her show and there is no doubt she picked this word delibertly.

However, like Stephen pointed out above the word has many meanings, not all of them related to the K version.

Now while I agreed with the sentiment of the word when it was used whatever way it could be taken, how many people did back flips defending the usage of the word whore in a certain context about 12 months ago.

I tuned out the current long ago so I'll admit I didn't hear this but sounds like much over nothing.

The *lan scares the S outa the MM, according to Albone. ...

On the spot: 'Crowd wanted to skin us alive'-(afganistan falling apart)
times online | May 29, 2006 | Times Online

Posted on 05/29/2006 1:00:44 PM PDT by Flavius

Tim Albone, correspondent for The Times in Kabul, was caught in today's riots which he believes could mark a turning point in the Afghan's relations with coalition forces

"We tried to get out to where the accident happened on the outskirts of the city. I went in an Afghan car with a translator and photographer.

"We managed to get to within about a half-hour drive of where the accident happened and could hear gunfire. We stopped to ask what was going on.

"The mob crowded around the car and people were shouting: 'Let's get them - let's skin them alive'. We got out of there pretty quickly and as we were leaving we noticed a car was following behind.

"As we came onto a roundabout we ducked behind another car, pulled up onto the pavement and managed to lose him, thanks to the skill of our driver.

"I've been in Kabul for nine months and there has never been anything like this before. ...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1640233/posts

Robert McClelland:
It must be hell being you. People like you are not hard to figure out. Deep seated hatred of oneself searches for rejection as a result of parent rejection, probably the father, weak ego projecting itself a better than or arrogance.
Do us all a favor and find another arena to post out your screwed up rants. Warren Kinsella had you pegged perfectly.

Oooh, Robert touched a nerve did he? Suggesting that Greg Westin was right gets him called a Nazi, and then to top it all off, some Albertan psychobabbler does a cheap imitation of Freud on him?

You people are simply beyond redemption.

Dr.Dawg: I thinketh I stung you in the place where you are similar to Robert. Your not that hard to figure out Dawg. Boring repetitive and shallow. Complex people are interesting because they have intigrated but varying opnions. You and and Robert are boring because your one trick ponies, same old, same old.

This is getting friggin' ridiculous...

I've heard so many people here piss and moan that the media never invite more than one Tory onto a panel.

Tremonti invites an exclusively Conservative panel to discuss what? Same-sex marriage? No. Abortion? Nope. Bilingualism? Nope. She invites them on to discuss the prospects of the Conservatives becoming Canada's default government party.

And she bases the chat on strategy speeches and newspaper columns delivered and written by none other than the prime minister, and his longtime advisor Tom Flanagan.

And she warmly and fuzzily waxes on about the Conservative family. And in the middle of that she tosses in the word, "clan," which many of us have probably used to describe our own families.

And what happens?

Conservative bloggers go ballistic. Sigh. Again.

Complex people are interesting because they have intigrated but varying opnions.

Well, I'll admit that I'm not sure how to do this. :)

No, it was McLelland's "fuck the Jews" statement.

It's easy to call the use of "Clan" in connection to "Conservative" a tempest in a teapot, a mountain out of a mole hill, but that's just the point and that's exactly the conclusion the CBC wants people to come to: Oh those C(c)onservatives: they're so sensitive, they're so critical, they're so into conspiracy theories. How ridiculous. How groundless.

The problem, however, is the accumulation of small incidents like "Conservative Clan" and the myriad subliminal innuendos that eventually build up to, well, a mountain.

Dawg: exactly my point. After a very short while of reading SDA it is so easy to predict what you would say on any topic. It is like reading Tommy Douglas's Regina Manifesto. Its old stagnant,out of date but consistent in its blind hatred of an ideology.

"Oooh, Robert touched a nerve did he?"
Robbo is irritating by his very existence, Dawg - you ought to know that.

"Suggesting that Greg Westin was right..."
Hardly - Westin claimed there was a vast right wing blogospheric campaign to intimidate and harrass journos like his poor self. He asserted that such a thing existed at the time he wrote his little screed, and he was obviously incorrect; you cannot find evidence of such a 'call to arms' because it never existed. A subsequent event - the reaction of members of (or sympathizers with) a political party being compared to the KKK - does not somehow make him retroactively correct.

Veterans of the media, like Tremonti, are word smiths of the highest order. She knows the power of words and she knows where the grey areas are and she knows where the line is that you don't cross over. She knew exactly what she was doing when she used the word 'clan'.

You know, I went back and listened to the entire radio cast. I then came back here and read all the comments up until now. I think some commenters need to take a deep breath and calm down. I feel there is a leftist bias on CBC Radio, absolutely. But I thought that the discussion was quite good and IMHO amicable.

Perhaps Ms. Tremonti intended to use the word 'clan' as follows: The Canadian Broadcasting Clan (CBC), aka the Parliamentary Press Gallery, is upset because it believes that one of its representatives must moderate the Prime Minister's press conferences. Or perhaps she intended to use it in the traditional Scottish sense to describe families with a common ancestry. Or perhaps she really meant what she said, literally. Perhaps Ms. Tremonti owes us an explanation?

The KKK thing is a joke, Dean. It's either a desperate ploy for attention--which Kate hardly needs--or a foolish excuse to berate one of the Right's targets yet again. Just check out the venom that's been spewed on this thread--for example. The whole thing looks like satire, except that people here are serious. This holds about as much water as insisting that "water buffalo" is a racist term: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_buffalo_incident).

I'm positive I've seen similar blog campaigns before now. Didn't someone once post Belinda Stronach's cell phone number when she defected to the Libs? Haven't coordinates of offending journalists been published before now?

I wonder what Promo Girl and Disenfranchised Guy think of all this.

well, I'll take the Conservative Clan over the Liberal Mob any day. And I would sooner listen to fingernails screeching across a blackboard, than to any of those brainwashed CBC 'journalists' regurgitating their liberal mantras. :)

Say Steve D, of course we have word police in this country.

Wouldn't your "not very left" Toronto Star be a key member of the force?

there are only a few of us that ever hear the word 'clan' used in regular conversation. Most families in North America never refer to their extended families as their 'clan'. When the word 'clan' is used in modern English, it is usually spelled with a "K".

Anna knew exactly what she was doing, I doubt she has EVER referred to her own extended family as her 'clan'.

Come on, Trent.

You can't possibly tell me you've never used -- or at least heard -- a variation on the following phrase a few times in everyday situations:

"We had the Peterson/Johnson/Tremblay/etc. clan over for burgers/a barbecue/supper/a pool party."

If so, punch the offender in the nose next time and tell him to stop using racist slurs.

Or, alternatively, simply chill out.

Never heard clan used that way, and my mother is of Scottish decent. Once I got hell from a grade school teacher when I referred to my own family reunion as a gathering of the clan. Parents even got called on that one.

Keep in mind that the CBC program "As It Happens" also compared Stephen Harper to Adolf Hitler during the last election, but hey, they meant the OTHER Adolf Hitler.;-)

new kid on the block: That is an inciteful analysis I feel:

Quoting:
It's easy to call the use of "Clan" in connection to "Conservative" a tempest in a teapot, a mountain out of a mole hill, but that's just the point and that's exactly the conclusion the CBC wants people to come to: Oh those C(c)onservatives: they're so sensitive, they're so critical, they're so into conspiracy theories. How ridiculous. How groundless.

The problem, however, is the accumulation of small incidents like "Conservative Clan" and the myriad subliminal innuendos that eventually build up to, well, a mountain.

------
Here's one: has anyone ever heard the CBC refer to a liberal think tank as a "left wing" think take. Nope. Left of course is the default position so so say it would be redundant.
And don't we all like the word "progressive" ... I mean what's the oppositie of progressive? regressive. And "right wing" is a very handy proxy for fascist/nazi, always the intended association when heard on the CBC.

For sure the use of the word Klan to describe Conservatives was intentional. What do you expect from the CBC. They, like the shrinking Liberal base of support, can't do otherwise. They've achieved greatness by such actions and just don't get it that the world has moved on.

I especially liked the response to Kyoto being heard only on the CBC. That climate change is not Kyoto and Kyoto is not climate change. Well put, I thought.

Pat

She was referring to the Klueless Klepto Klan... you know, those guys we just threw out of office in H'Ottawa...

Me No Dhimmi... the opposite of "progressive" is "sensible".

Timestamp: 2006-05-29 13:13:02 EDT
a_firstName: John
b_lastName: Noyb
c_email: john@islandnet.com
ca_city: Nanaimo
cb_province: BC
d_feedback: I very much resent being referred to as a member of "the Clan" as Tremonti likes to call us non-communists AKA Conservatives.

I suppose her being an employee of Canada's Pravda explains her belligerence.

Like many others, I am a big supporter of the "death to the CBC" lobby and this is why.

Reply =========================================\\

From: "The Current"

Sorry to hear you were disappointed with us today ... I will certainly
pass this on to Anna Maria and the staff.

Thanks for the feedback.

Take care,

Lisa Ayuso
The Current

=============================================

I especially the heartfelt "take care" wish at the end of the oh-so sincere regret. These people are from another planet.

Hey Trent,

Well, shut my mouth and call me speechless!

I've used the word my whole life and still feel the way you did when you were in grade school.

Maybe Anna-Maria Tremonti feels the same way I do.

And another reason I think this whole thing is blown way, way out of proportion is this: Do you have any idea how absolutely RETARDED a radio personality would have to be to use a slur like that on the air?

For all your qualms about the mass media, they're really not THAT stupid. Seriously.

While we are applying labels I move to officially declare the Liberals a Tribe if the Conservatives are a Clan.

I think the difference is that Clans form exclusive societies within a family structure while tribes gather like groupies around a pack leader who rules absolutely. Tribes live in communes while Clans live in family units.

As much as I can't stand CBC radio(what was Sirius thinking), I can't see what so offensive. She was using the term "clan" relative to a family.

Seems like proper English to me...

I liked that post about a knee-jerk reaction Kate...

"The KKK thing is a joke, Dean. It's either a desperate ploy for attention..."
Which has no relation either to Robbo being as annoying as figernails on a blackboard, or your implication that Greg Westin was correct to claim a (vast right wing?) conspiracy of blogs to intimidate and harass poor feckless journos.

"This holds about as much water as insisting that "water buffalo" is a racist term..."
As opposed to "niggardly" perhaps? I agree that it is unlikely (but not inconceivable) that Tremonti intended to refer to the Tories as the "Klan" - but she was careless in a way that she would never be in referring to -say- the NDP's campaign coordinators as "the Provincial Politburos" - even if it did give her the desired alliteration.

This bit of ruffle is interesting in that it is similar to the rejection of words now considered politically incorrect such fag, kike, various words used to describe some immigrants, black and so on.

However, no political correctness required when slagging anyone on the right of the politcal spectrum. We can be regarded as the equal of the KKK... Hedy Fry made that very clear not long ago. And it doesn't matter. Is it that we have thicker skin that the rest of the people in Canada or it it that we somehow deserve to be considered people who would lynch blacks and burn their homes?

The Left in Canada has become the mean spirited, bigots that they so often accuse Conservatives of being.

It's an upside down country, but Stephen Harper is working on the 180.

Let's talk about Good radio...
http://www.exposetheleft.com/2006/05/29/hugh-hewitt-rs/

Pssst...don't tell anybody, but the Mother Corp is gonna be sold to Fox News!

Sounds to me that some here ought to be added to the list:

http://www.growupharper.net/

Wow, a "grassroots" website with 120+ visits - that's about 100 more than your weedy blog.

Well, if those liberals want to deride us as the "Clan", then we shall feel free to deride them as the "Mob". No, that's too kind. We need a bomb of equal magnitude... mutually assured destruction... it's up to them. Perhaps we should henceforth refer to the former leftist state regime as the "Reich". There.

"Sounds to me that some here ought to be added to the list"

And yet he can't keep his nose out of our armpits - one more of these people who are offended and annoyed about what they find here, but they visit almost obsessively.
(Note polite approach, "armpits" instead of...

Dawg,

I couldn't quite figure out why you spend so much time here at SDA, so I went to your blog, now I know why you are here, YOU'RE LONELY! Doesn't anyone want to play with you? You really need a girlfriend, or maybe a boyfriend or perhaps just any friend will do.

I did find your thread on the PM and the PPG rather odd. I would think you would have included something about Clay Serby threatening Rawlco Radio when one of their talk shows did a story about the lack of health care here in Saskatchewan. But I guess you only get upset when members of Nation's Socialists brigade - aka the NDP and Liberals - get slagged.

Aren't there already enough overt examples of partisanship from the CBC for the right to start wringing it's hands over"possible"slurs?In this segment,the word"clan"is repeatedly interchanged with the word"family",or did she mean the"bad"kind of family(mob)too?I heard no inflection or emphasis of the word,except that she repeated it,as she did the word family.Anyways,even if you WANT to believe she meant"klan"it can still only be considered SPECULATION as there is as yet NO PROOF!
I tend to agree with SPI,what I see as telling is her dullwitted preconception there is some great,all-encompassing conservative network and it's corresponding agenda out there for her to expose.
I will admit however,she may herself believe she is taking a page out of Harper's PPG book and is just pushing the buttons of hyper-sensitive conservatives to expose their paranoia.
After all,I see far too many emotional conservatives(hardcore usually)predictably take the bait,hook,line and sinker from the left.
Want proof?...Just look at the pointless hours spent here by many FEEDING steve d.
Again,to try and define this"possible"slur as a proven fact when it is clearly speculation just undermines the validity of those clear incidents of bias we KNOW exist.

tony, you say: "For all your qualms about the mass media, they're really not THAT stupid. Seriously."

Well, you should know, seeing as you're a member of the mass media.

Your "I've used the word ["Clan"] my whole life and still feel the way you did when you were in grade school. Maybe Anna-Maria Tremonti feels the same way I do" sure sounds reminiscent of some of the letters I've received from the CBC to complaints of mine: Let's give the poor CBC reporter/announcer who's only doing his/her job the benefit of the doubt at all times. Any problem the viewers/listeners may have with something said or done at the CBC must be a problem of perception on their part.

Yeah, I guess the CBC is perfect; the "Heil Harper" incident was an "inadvertent error" and Julie VD's reference to David Emerson's
"tush" happened only because "she was squeezed, with little room to move, between two much larger commentators."

I kid you not. This was the answer I got from the CBC Ombusdman to justify JVD's poor choice of words, to which he added, among other things: "When faced with demands of CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices, the journalist can find herself in an uncomfortable position, both literally and figuratively."

That must be Anna Tremonti's problem: She's found herself in an uncomfortable position. Might there have been "two much larger commentators" squeezing her in the studio and that explains why she referred to CPC supporters as the "Conservative Clan"?

No one should expect any reasonable explanation of her use of the word "Clan" or an apology. The CBC will always be contrite that the listener/viewer was offended ("sorry to hear you were disappointed with us today") but that's as far as it will ever go. It's NEVER the CBC's problem, it's always the listener's/viewer's.

If left to the free media market, the CBC would sink like a stone. It's too bad that hard-earned taxpayers' dollars are keeping this limping 'liner, with its cranky crew, afloat.

The Ombudsman also wrote that "People still look to the CBC for certain standards of language and presentation." I'm not sure that Anna-Maria Tremonti is aware of this, so maybe someone should let her know. She should know that the Ombudsman also said that the CBC "should try to present its own reporting in clear, concise and conversational language without having to delve too far into the vernacular on inappropriate occasions." I think these are words of advice to Ms. Tremonti, so I hope that someone passes them on to her.

Isn't this the definition of no accountability? of not taking responsibility?

one more of these people who are offended and annoyed about what they find here

Not remotely true. Amused, mostly. Hell, Steve Janke hangs around Babble, and blogs about what he finds. Even I don't do that. :)

Too busy sniffing your own crotch, no doubt.

Mississauga Matt: That was a bit much. The good woofer has his point of view, is articulate, and is not a Rabble-rouser.

Other than that he and I almost always disagree. But let us all do so reasonably without insults. Otherwise you just add weight to the Greg Weston vast (and dumb) right-wing conspiracy charge.

Mark
Ottawa

Posted by: Canadian Observer at May 29, 2006 08:08 PM

The most concise post in this thread, including the bit about feeding trolls.

Keep confronting Canadians with verifiable acts of largesse on the part of Liberals.

robert in calgary
It looks to me like the word police are all on the Right. There is so much paranoia and hate regarding media and the public in general that its easy to see how these things can get out of hand. Its especially scary when the Prime Minister is encouraging it. What's next a law outlawing phrasing that can be interpreted two ways. How about taking rights away one at a time.

Dr Dawg: The key understanding here is not the seriousness of a single instance like "clan/klan" but the cumulative day-in-day-out subliminal message from the Liberal Party house organ. So really by itself the "clan/klan" instance doesn't amount to much and it is admittedly easy to dismiss it as trivial paranoia, tho I dont' think it is. I believe it is subtle and 100% intentional and reflective of the way Tremonti probably refers to cons whilst chatting with her oh so clever cosmopolitan friends.

Here's a serious question for you: Do you think conservatives (and be clear, I'm an atheist libertarian/conservative) were unreasonably angry when the CBC did that infamous TV mockumentary just before an election in which they mercilessly ridiculed Stockwell Day for his Christian fundmentalist beliefs? The same CBC which usually breathlessly celebrates "multiculturalism" and wouldn't dream of making fun of, say, Islamic fundamentalism, like say ridiculing Ahmadinejad playing peak-a-boo with the Imam-in-a-well?

Finally reflect on this: how on earth did the cons under Mulroney get down to two seats and the Libs retain 100 seats after all that fraud and corruption? Do you see what I'm driving at here?

There should simply not be state media in advanced modern democracies.

My e-mail to the C.B.C....
"Just heard about how Anna Marie Tremonti refered to the New Conservative Party of Canada (the political party of which I am a member) as "the Clan". Ms. Tremonti's double entendre is ABUNDANTLY clear.
I eagerly await the day when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is privatized. Canadians don't need this anachronistic dinosaur... might as well put the $1 billion+ towards something which is actually useful."

The idiots probably WON'T understand the premise... you know, "privatization of the C.B.C.". Neanderthals.

steve d: The cons do hate state media (for sure) but NOT the public, and in fact, the public is much more conservative than generally believed especially by people who've swallowed the "Canadian values" mythology. In fact, it's the cynical Liberals who have hated and despised the non-Toronto public, witness their breathtakingly stupid insistence on pursiung the gun registry which hardly anyone wanted; witness that most Canadians were against same-sex marriage, etc. etc. etc.

I take your point, Mark, but it hardly adds "weight ... to the vast right-wing conspiracy charge."

I don't think there's enough evidence to allege that she was spelling clan with a k but it was bad enough. By using the term clan she was trying to convey the impression that this is a small group unlike the sea to sea big tent natural governing party Liberals.

I'll withdraw this when she refers to the Liberals as a Gang.

Me no:

I'll try to get at that rather large question of yours.

1) Do I think fundamentalist Christians were offended by mockery of Stockwell Day on CBC (and, indeed, elsewhere)? I would imagine some were. Is such mockery consistent with certain approaches to multiculturalism (about which, incidentally, I have my own critique)? Quite possibly not, although I would suggest that Christian conservatives don't face a host of other related problems faced by at least some of the minorities in question. But there is scope for satire, biting commentary, even outright opposition to ideas and ideologies in the national media. Ahmadinejad, incidentally, is beyond satire: he hasn't been laughed at--he's been excoriated, and sometimes inaccurately (as in the National Post story recently).

2) If you argue that Liberals have gotten a pass from the national media, then you have a very short memory. I've already pointed out the near-unanimous endorsement of Harper in January. Add to that the "Mr. Dithers" routine, the pictures of an old, tired, ineffectual Paul Martin, the highlighting of scandal after scandal--by the nasty old MSM--and I would have to say that no one escapes the close scrutiny of Parliamentary reporters.

3) Finally reflect on this: how on earth did the cons under Mulroney get down to two seats and the Libs retain 100 seats after all that fraud and corruption? Do you see what I'm driving at here?

I'm not sure I understand. Mulroney (or more accurately Kim Campbell) got down to two seats after several years in power, years that were not unmarked by scandal and arrogance. The Liberals were in opposition. To whose fraud and corruption are you referring? What are you driving at, exactly?

Just to recap,

At one of the main bastions of Canada's left-wing mainstream media, the host just happens to choose "clan" and just happens to choose to use it on a piece featuring Conservatives.

What are the odds?

Why not....alliance, band, brood, brotherhood, circle, community, coterie, faction, fellowship, fraternity, guild, house, kin, network, relations or tribe.

Terry Gain: Yes, that's it in a nutshell. The big "inclusive" tent vs. the weird western little gun-toting rump party that, gasp, won.

Dr Dawg: A bit mushy I'd say. Day was the leader of the official opposition, and this was done just prior to an election, not just in the rough and tumble of day to day politics. AND the CBC is a state broadcaster. This was not run of the mill satire, which we should all be able to grin and bear -- it was a hatchet job pure and simple. Frankly, I'm still very angry about it, but also deeply respectful of how Day handled that grossly unfair state-broadcaster political assassination.

Fair comment re: the coverage of the Libs -- but only when they stumbled very badly and were looking like total losers. Bandwagon effect, maybe thinking about their new bosses, etc.

Robert,if you want to convince yourself you are right...fine.
Just please consider if the host"happened"to choose one of the following replacements you offer:

alliance-Well we know the party's hated western roots don't we?

brood-Indeed the MSM has oft' accused Harper of being angry and brooding!

faction/sect-Well those ones just scream extreme christian fundamentalism,don't they?

kin-Everyone knows us rednecks have lots of kin.

network-We do see she seems to believe there is an organized conservative conspiracy.

Should I continue,there are many more examples,or do you finally get my point?...But then,what would the odds of that be?

We should hold a referendum. The question should be; "Should we retain the CBC or eliminate it and pass on $800M in tax savings to Canadians." Of course, their hockey rights would be removed and assigned to the Tim Hortons Channel instead first.

Sell it to Fox.

Let them dig their own grave. It'll only be a matter of time before their ridiculous rhetoric backfires like the "soldiers in our cities" campaign. Don't give them any ammo.

Well, what about the Liberals and those Italian-Canadian legitimate businessmen in Québec?

Is that Klan or Kosa Nostra?

No, no , no, Cdn. Observer, I'll step back so you can declare yourself right.

CBC: Reduce the budget by 50% over 5 years, matching $ for $ money raised from volunatry public donations with a matching $ ceiling when up to full base-year budget. At the 10-year mark, zero government-funding, all public.

There shouldn't be a government broadcaster.

MND has it exactly right. The assets of the state belong to all citizens equally regardless of political persuasion. Can you imagine not having access to a public facility because of your political beliefs. Well you don't get access to THEIR AIRWAVES UNLESS YOU LEAN (or are fallen over) LEFT.

True democracies don't have state paid "news organizations" - especially propaganda machines like the goddamn CBC which doesn't even pretend to be unbiased.

They have Cherry and Rex - count 'em two - TWO CONSERVATIVES ON THE WHOLE GODDAMN left wing nut PAYROLL.(AC isn't on often enough to qualify)

Goddamn anti-liberation leftists. I hate them.

I think every one of you have to much time on your hands to get so wound up over a word used on a station that nobody listens to or wants anymore.
You should all forget about the negative surrounding the Harper dogs and be talking up the positive things this gov't is doing. Just today our very capable enviroment minister won a unanimous decision in Bonn in regards to the Kyoto accord. we should be talking this up and leave the C.B.Cers to bury themselves.

I got this response back from the Current regarding the Klan thing in response to this email.
"Over the top as usual in referring to the Conservatives as the Klan. The CBC has become something that turns my stomach.

Here's hoping that the budget cuts to the CBC are deep. You no longer represent Canada as a whole."

Actually the word was used as ... clan in the scripts. As in the definition ...

Main Entry: clan
Pronunciation: 'klan
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Scottish Gaelic clann offspring, clan, from Old Irish cland plant, offspring, from Latin planta plant
1 a : a Celtic group especially in the Scottish Highlands comprising a number of households whose heads claim descent from a common ancestor b
: a group of people tracing descent from a common ancestor
2 : a group united by a common interest or common characteristics

Here is how she opened the program:

"When Stephen Harper became Prime Minister ... the celebrating went beyond his home base ... to every conservative corner of the country.
But Conservatives know that their ability to BE and to STAY in power in this country relies on a configuration of political family ties. When the family is getting along ... the Conservative clan rules ... but when there's sibling rivalry ... it can rip the family apart.
This morning ... after a week where two important members of the clan ... Alberta and Quebec ... were getting testy with each other ... we're asking what Mr. Harper has to do to ensure there's enough unity to keep the family growing."

The premise of our story was a speech Mr. Harper made ten years ago in which he pointed to three core constituencies or, as his colleague Tom
Flanagan had put it, the "three sisters". We carried the analogy
further, referring to these groups several times in "familial" terms.
Here is how the panel was introduced:

"Ten years ago last week, Stephen Harper attended the "Winds of Change"
conference in Calgary to discuss the possible merger of the Reform and Progressive Conservative parties. It was a divisive and desperate time for conservative politics in Canada. But in a keynote speech, Harper outlined what he saw as a recipe for winning a national government.

According to Harper, the key was to build a coalition focusing on three core constituencies ... the 'three sisters' as political architect, Tom Flanagan, put it. The first ... populist reformers in the West. The second ... traditional "blue" Tories in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces. The third ... Quebec nationalists.
Harper began to foster relationships with each of the three sisters and it was their support that insiders credit for his minority election win in January. But while last week may mark a special anniversary in Harper's rise to power, there are also signs that tensions between those three sisters may be on the rise.
It started with Quebec Premier Jean Charest's announcement that Quebec was willing to go it alone when it came to the Kyoto accord. Then another sister chimed in last week ... Ralph Klein, the voice of populist Alberta itself, over ideas about reforming the Federal government's equalization payments to the provinces by adding resource revenues to the equation.
So with two of the three sisters bickering with the Harper government, we assembled a panel to look at the current strength of the conservative coalition and to discuss what Prime Minister Harper can do to avoid an all-out family feud."
In Edmonton we were joined by Link Byfield, Calgary Sun columnist and founder of the populist lobby group, the Citizen's Centre for Freedom and Democracy. And in Toronto we were joined by Janet Ecker. She is a former Tory minister under Premier Mike Harris in Ontario. And in Montreal we were joined by Luc Lavoie, former deputy chief of staff to Brian Mulroney."

Please note the use of phrases such as "family feud", "foster relationships with each of the three sisters", "three sisters bickering", "sibling
rivalry". That is the context in which the word "clan" was used. It
was simply employed to enhance the family analogy. The three sisters, populist reformers in the west, traditional "blue" Tories in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces and Quebec nationalists, were grouped under the term "Conservative clan".

Perhaps this does not change your view but thought I would pass this along.

Take care,

Lisa Ayuso
The Current

My response was:
Spare me the pablum. We both know what signifigance Klan has in North America. This is more evidence of the need to reduce or eliminate funding to the CBC. No more lies thank you. We both know it was no accident, that it was a deliberate drive by smear.

Re the meeting in Bonn: Isn't that the meeting that the opposition wanted Rona to resign chairmanship of. Where can I find the story of this decision. Nothing on cbc or ctv that I heard, and have read nothing in the press. Also, nothing in Question Period, or on Newman.

I listen to CBC radio and read the Western Standard. Mix the two together, do a little thinking on your own, and the Truth will come to you all.

Got a response from the Current about the use of the word Clan. Here is their response:

There was no ill intended in this word at all ... just as the word is
defined.

Main Entry: clan
Pronunciation: 'klan
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Scottish Gaelic clann offspring, clan,
from Old Irish cland plant, offspring, from Latin planta plant
1 a : a Celtic group especially in the Scottish Highlands comprising a
number of households whose heads claim descent from a common ancestor b
: a group of people tracing descent from a common ancestor
2 : a group united by a common interest or common characteristics

Here is how she opened the program:

"When Stephen Harper became Prime Minister ... the celebrating went
beyond his home base ... to every conservative corner of the country.
But Conservatives know that their ability to BE and to STAY in power in
this country relies on a configuration of political family ties. When
the family is getting along ... the Conservative clan rules ... but when
there's sibling rivalry ... it can rip the family apart. This morning
... after a week where two important members of the clan ... Alberta and
Quebec ... were getting testy with each other ... we're asking what Mr.
Harper has to do to ensure there's enough unity to keep the family
growing."

The premise of our story was a speech Mr. Harper made ten years ago in
which he pointed to three core constituencies or, as his colleague Tom
Flanagan had put it, the "three sisters". We carried the analogy
further, referring to these groups several times in "familial" terms.
Here is how the panel was introduced:

"Ten years ago last week, Stephen Harper attended the "Winds of Change"
conference in Calgary to discuss the possible merger of the Reform and
Progressive Conservative parties. It was a divisive and desperate time
for conservative politics in Canada. But in a keynote speech, Harper
outlined what he saw as a recipe for winning a national government.
According to Harper, the key was to build a coalition focusing on three
core constituencies ... the 'three sisters' as political architect, Tom
Flanagan, put it. The first ... populist reformers in the West. The
second ... traditional "blue" Tories in Ontario and the Atlantic
provinces. The third ... Quebec nationalists.
Harper began to foster relationships with each of the three sisters and
it was their support that insiders credit for his minority election win
in January. But while last week may mark a special anniversary in
Harper's rise to power, there are also signs that tensions between those
three sisters may be on the rise.
It started with Quebec Premier Jean Charest's announcement that Quebec
was willing to go it alone when it came to the Kyoto accord. Then
another sister chimed in last week ... Ralph Klein, the voice of
populist Alberta itself, over ideas about reforming the Federal
government's equalization payments to the provinces by adding resource
revenues to the equation.
So with two of the three sisters bickering with the Harper government,
we assembled a panel to look at the current strength of the conservative
coalition and to discuss what Prime Minister Harper can do to avoid an
all-out family feud."
In Edmonton we were joined by Link Byfield, Calgary Sun columnist and
founder of the populist lobby group, the Citizen's Centre for Freedom
and Democracy. And in Toronto we were joined by Janet Ecker. She is a
former Tory minister under Premier Mike Harris in Ontario. And in
Montreal we were joined by Luc Lavoie, former deputy chief of staff to
Brian Mulroney."

Please note the use of phrases such as "family feud", "foster
relationships with each of the three sisters", "three sisters
bickering", "sibling rivalry". That is the context in which the word
"clan" was used. It was simply employed to enhance the family analogy.
The three sisters, populist reformers in the west, traditional "blue"
Tories in Ontario and the Atlantic provinces and Quebec nationalists,
were grouped under the term "Conservative clan".

Perhaps this does not change your view but thought I would pass this
along.

Take care,

Lisa Ayuso
The Current

Here was my response to the Current:

You can spin it which ever way you want but we both know when that word is
used it has a certain connotation. Political parties in Canada are not
called clans. When was the last time you heard the Liberal Party of Canada
called a clan.

By the way I don't need a condescending explanation of what the word means.
I did go to school.

The program seemed to be about those nasty Conservatives and what they had
to do to retain power because we all know there is only one natural
governing party that counts with the CBC (the Communist Broadcasting
Corporation) and that is the Liberal Party.

There is one thing I would like from the Conservatives and that is to review
the role of the CBC and ensure that it is a pure public broadcaster. It
would do my heart good to see employees of CBC both radio and TV appealing
for donations to support their programming. That is how a true public
broadcaster is funded, not through the taxpayers of a country. Those that
want to watch and listen to them supports them.

Maybe, Helen, you should check into the background and owners of the rest of Canada's media, as well.
CBC TV can go and die for all I care. But listening to The Current and As It Happens, the BizNet, and some of the other news\ideas programs is an amazing source of info. You're nitpicking instead of using the info they present.
This is one of the most small minded bitches about the CBC that I've ever read. Never mind the rather obvious stumbling point that you and rest who are arguing this mindless point are simply attempting to control the use of language. And, in the end, isn't that what Conservatives (the concept, not the political party) are fighting against? When you call the CBC commies and socialists and klaim they have a klandestine kommunist agenda you are undermining your own point.
This sounds like right wing thought police stuff to me. You're out of touch with your fellow Conservatives (the idea again), I think. Or maybe you're a closet Liberal who wants to help people think the Korrect way. Please, do kontinue.

I wonder if anyone has a viewpoint on the
American bloggers thoughts on the sentence
spoken by the Prime Minister.
They are commiting terrorism against their
own country and their own people.
Most, of not all, are Canadians, so should they
not be seen as terrorising their own country
and people?
Why not, they are doing that, they were making
bombs that would damage our country and people
and we should have the right to punish them
on this angle as well as being terrorists.
We will still be able to do this if we cannot
prove they are in a terrorist "group."
See "Lucianne.com" website.