Please do not adjust your sets. The source of the high-pitched whining you may hear in the blog background this morning appears to be coming from a leak in this link.
Our engineers are working to rectify the problem. We thank you for your patience.
They left off two of the worst, who, quite frankly, make the others look like amateurs. Two men whose influence on the politics of this nation will continue to hold us in “banana republic” status as long as they live: Paul Demerais, Maurice Strong.
Celine Dion and Conrad Black??!!
MY God the dogmaic left HATE to get snookered…even on such a petty matter.
We know they hate to debate or engage in any venue (including democracy) where they are exposed to differing opinion.
But the bitter whining over such an inconsequential matter shows how fundamentally infantile the left creed is.
so who is chris hannah?
I love the preamble to the results, “Apparently, this is how opinion is “shaped” in the kooky-Con Bizzarro World: it’s not by thousands of people voting in a particular way; but by a handful of malicious recreants voting hundreds of times.”
They skewed the voting, by voting. The horror, the horror. If only they hadn’t voted that way and voted OUR way.
Unless the voting was set up to allow mulitple votes per person (which is fault of the designer), wouldn’t these results be valid?
It’s not the EVIL Cons fault that you didn’t vote back, or get your friends to vote.
And why are people whining about the position of Black on the list? He’s on the list, which means that the cons DON’T love him. They just hate him less than Trudeau. It’s strange how they equate #10 on the most hated list with an unending love affair. Does that mean that the #10 slot on the FBI most wanted list us the FBI’s best friend?
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hmmm… has anybody ever seen ‘red tory’ and
andrea dworkin in a room at the same time?
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So polls are sacrosanct, unless they don’t reflect the outcome the Left wants – at which point, they were obviously deliberately distorted by a bunch of drooling Neanderthals on the right, and any thinking person will dismiss the skewed results out of hand.
Irony ain’t just a river in Egypt.
That anyone on either side of the political spectrum could influence an opinion poll should only point out the problem in relying on such polls: you can’t trust the results – and they tell you nothing of value anyway.
What the Left thinks of St. Pierre is of far less importance than their intent that the government continue to mold Canada in his image; their actions matter, not their self-evaluation. Counting noses to decide if the man walked on water does not make them right.
Bang on, WLMR. Online poll results are meaningless because the respondents are self-selected. No-one but scientific illiterates would take the outcome seriously for a minute, and here I’m talking about you, editors of The Beaver. Moreover, the fact that the magazine used an online poll in the first place suggests that they were more interested in using the result, whatever it turned out to be, as a means to publicize the magazine and to generate some phony media “controversy” than in accurately measuring the public’s opinion about who the “worst” Canadian (however defined) might really be. Well, mission accomplished: but as usual, it’s at the cost of credibility. Whether you’re left or right, the appropriate response to this sort of thing is a short series of rude snorting noises.
But hey… chalk one one up for the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Lefty can’t rig a poll.
Know what’s really funny?
Whenever Kate links to me, I get over 1000 extra hits that day, easy.
Whenever “Red Tory” and the like link to me (in the course of some “She’s so ugly and mean” post), they send over… 20. 30 tops.
Seriously: does anyone actually read them, besides each other?
Oh yeah, and Chris Hannah…. I think he’s this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propagandhi
He’s not really Top Ten material, but he certainly sounds contemptible in the vacuously conventional way of pop musicians (Propagandhi, feh!)
I think I hear a loud wahhhhhhhhhhhh coming from the Toronto area.
It ain’t me, DDT…I’m lovin’ the spectacle ;o)
Typical CPC/BT types – amuse themselves by taking over an online poll and then loudly trumpet its significance (except of course for rat pack PM Harper’s appearance on the list, which robs it of all credibility).
The completely insular, dogmatic little world of rabid BT’ers is an amusing place indeed.
Back to the real world….
Nobody can whine quite like a lefty. I can’t figure out why Taliban Jack isn’t on the list. To me he deserves to be right up there with Morgenthaler and Trudeau.
Speaking of fixed polls, check out the knee-slapper at the G&M today. The question is “Given the nationwide shortage of qualified physicians, should Canada encourage doctors to set up private practices provided they continue to accept patients on medicare?” The results so far are “Yes”, 2626 (11%) and “No”, 21232 (89%). Now what is hilarious about this poll is that within only a few minutes of opening it up last night, the “No” vote was at around 10,000. What a joke. And the G&M poll previous to this one was the question “Do you agree with Shaw Communications Inc. CEO Jim Shaw that the $265-million Canadian Television Fund mostly props up ‘shows nobody watches.'” The “Yes” side was considerably ahead of the “No” side and within a few minutes, it magically flip-flopped. Oh yeah, the left bitches about things that don’t go their way, but they are by far the worst offenders.
The whiners are taking this way too seriously…typical of RT. If most of us are wondering who the heck is Chris Whatever, does that not indicate the irrelevance of this silly little vote?This was obviously a good publicity stunt for ‘Propy’s’, and Chris’ friends (or enemies) have way too much time on their hands.All this indicates is that the anti-Trudeaufreepers spent a little extra time and energy on the on-line activity,…and like Kathy said…there aren’t enough of reading the hateful blogs.
It is worth it just to see RT with his knickers in a knot…again!
Time will pass, and then some twit will comment here in all seriousness that PET is indeed the worst Canadian ever (“No really, there was a poll…”). Just wait and see.
Red Tories? Specimen: NSPECTOR.
…-
Ottawa Watch: Conrad Black, Sockpuppet?
There’s an allegation that Conrad Black posted nasties on a Yahoo group about Hollinger under the name NSPECTOR, which, if true, is more than a little …
ottawawatch.blogspot.com/2007/07/conrad-black-sockpuppet.html
Red Tory? Norm Spector, of course. Black humour, natchurally. …-
small dead animals: Kinsella vs Spector
Read this at Small Dead Animals … I wish I could bring myself to such a flattering view of Norman Spector as you have, but let’s face it, the man’s just a …
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/001348.html
Kathy, I visit bigcityliberal.ca and rattle the cage now and then. But it’s mostly 6 or so names you see over and over in the comments.
It’s funny how the lpc crowd are crying so loudly that this poll is irrelevant. One has to wonder why they were watching it so closely… Could it be that they were preparing to drape the poll over their collective shoulders and parade around the idiosphere using it as “proof” that liberalism is the only true religion, had it gone their way?
Kady O’Malley of Maclean’s is also annoyed at the poll, but likes it when it confirms the dislike for Conrad Black.
http://forums.macleans.ca/advansis/?mod=for&act=dip&pid=65852&tid=65852&eid=48&so=1&ps=0&sb=1
It’s telling, and sad, that Red Tory’s idea of the ultimate insult is to call someone “American.”
Reading those blogs is like taking a trip back to the 70s.
This is more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
The heads are poppin like a jar of Orville Redenbacher’s in a microwave ….. I certainly hope RT and his drones can keep it up!
Hardee Harrr!!
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kathy shaidle said… “Reading those blogs is like taking a trip back to the 70s.”
red tory might wanna think about a little rebranding to get his traffic
poppin’… maybe something along the lines of “pinko pete”
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The poll is utterly, utterly meaningless – by the magazine’s own admission – and no victory for you Freep wannabes.
Chris Hannah is a punk musician who tried to get his fans to push him to the top of the list. Trudeau beat him by a few hundred votes.
So, that’s the power of you BT types: slightly more than fans of one punk band.
Today’s Wiltingpig Freep provides this backgrounder on the self-styled “second worst Canadian”. His attitude is certainly worthy of being included with the worst, but his impact places him clearly outside even the 10 million worst.
Local singer-activist proud to be 2nd-worst Canadian
Tue Jul 31 2007
By Rob Williams
THE frontman of local political thrash-punk band Propagandhi will go down in history as the second-worst Canadian of all time.
But Chris Hannah, 36, isn’t upset he’s on the list compiled by The Beaver magazine, only that he came in second to late prime minister Pierre Trudeau by a couple of hundred votes in the online poll.
He encouraged his friends, family and fans to vote for him. In a newsletter sent to members of his record label, G7 Welcoming Committee, he wrote about being unpatriotic, nor standing for O Canada nor supporting Canadian troops, disliking Wayne Gretzky, cheering for Sweden and siding with First Nations’ groups (among other things).
The noted practical joker threw his name into the contest because he thought it would be funny, but started taking it more seriously as he got into discussions with people about real issues surrounding nationalism and political revisionism.
“I think nationalism is a form of fundamentalism,” Hannah says. “Canadians generally want to take vicarious credit for national pride and distant achievements like Alexander Graham Bell, 1812 or Wayne Gretzky, but deny culpability in any connection to Canadian history when it comes to the crimes of the state, like the continued theft of aboriginal land and the continued and underreported interference of the democratic process in Haiti, for example.”
The humanitarian issues Hannah describes are something he and his bandmates — bassist Todd Kowalski, drummer Jord Samolesky and guitarist Dave Guillas — take seriously, addressing them in songs and organizing benefit shows for local community charities.
“Why can’t a good person be a bad Canadian and why do people equate good patriotism or nationalism with being a good person?” Hannah says. “It’s such an overblown, dangerous myth; it’s absurd”
Last year, Hannah and his bandmates won $5,000 (which they donated to Haiti Action Network and Welcome Place, a non-profit organization helping refugees get started in the city) from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). The prize was for the song A Speculative Fiction, which talks about the mob mentality of nationalism and a fictional war between Canada and the United States.
The band received votes from across the country to win the songwriting award, much in the same manner Hannah almost won the title of Worst Canadian in the historical magazine, which came out yesterday. The cover story in The Beaver notes that Trudeau’s “win” over Hannah is a “result that perhaps speaks as much about the perils of online voting as it does about the love-hate relationship Canadians have had with this paradoxical prime minister.”
Hannah rejects the magazine’s implication he rigged the vote, since he didn’t force anyone to vote for him. He was more worried about some of the other names on the list, most notably Dr. Henry Morgentaler, who opened the country’s first abortion clinic and fought to change Canada’s abortion laws.
“If I take the results seriously, I think people should be ashamed Henry Morgentaler is considered for a worst-Canadians list as the guy who championed a woman’s right to choose,” he says. “I would like to think it’s a mobilization by the fringe right to get his name on there.”
rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca
To these leftards, Trudeau is the equivalent of allah.
It’s a wonder they’re not threatening to chop off everybody’s head.
Well here’s one for them to go all jihad on:
I tried to attend Trudeau’s funeral, but security wouldn’t let me in with a hammer and a stake.
To these leftards, Trudeau is the equivalent of allah…
It speaks volumes that irwin daisy counts among your numbers.
OK… now I know Chris Hannah IMHO belongs on the list, right next to his buddies.
“Utterly meaningless poll”…uh…we know that already john…so far it seems to be only the sensitive lefties that are taking this seriously…you included.
Power of the BT’s…to get lefties pooping their pants…lol…
Well, obviously, the poll was influenced by anti-Trudeau bloggers. They brought an obscure magazine with an irrelevant poll to the attention of blog readers. This is all that was required mobilize readers to go out of their way to vote for this controversial prime minister.
Instead of being dismissive the MSM could have delved into some interesting commentary. For instance, the ability of popular bloggers to influence polls and get the attention of the MSM. The Internets speed of communication and growing popularity. Also, why are progressives bloggers not able to mobilize the same amount of traffic? Of course, they also avoided any in-depth discussion of why 30 years later there is still this grassroots dislike of Trudeau. Is there a big disconnect between academics/progressives reverence for him as compared to the average Canadians.
Yes LynnH, remember the NEP? A lot of people lost their jobs and not only in the west. Remember interest rates at 20% plus? On his watch. The man and his government could not manage an ecomomy.
I can remeber when the EMERGENCY BROADCAST SYSTEM would put on their tv and radio spots THIS IS ONLY A TEST
I would have had Cretin at number two, myself. The fact that Harper and Mulroney were even on the list is evidence that the lefty moonbats tried to influence the outcome but as usual were abject failures at getting more than a handful of people to vote. BTW, I have a subscription to the Beaver and it’s an interesting read. Those who think Pierre Trudeau built Canada ought to check it out. Of course, in Canada today history pretty much begins with PET…………..which could explain why the average Liberal is so ignorant of their own history.
KP
To me, this whole issue of the “manipulated” online poll is like this old saying…”Why do dogs lick their balls? Because they can.”
Why did (probably, though not proven) a small bunch of folks manipulate the poll? Because they could…and because it was fun to (figuratively speaking) poke a stick in the eye of Trudeau (spit!) worshippers. That’s it…nothing more.
For the lefties to then over-react, go apoplectic and make a mountain out of a molehill is even funnier yet! The lefties are just puppets on a string (though not quite as smart).
@KPayne:
Thanks for the excerpt.
“Also, why are progressive bloggers not able to mobilize the same amount of traffic?”
Because ‘progressive’ is the modern way of spelling ‘ignorant’.
“Progressives” are the last people to go to for ideas. Ergo, why would anyone want to read what they’ve got to say?
I entered Trudeau’s name for worst Canadian and I think I only did it once; typing out the name of this idiot just once is about all I can stomach. Besides, I figured that any web programmer who set up a poll like this would use only one entry from each unique IP address. This system can be spoofed by using multiple computers on different addresses or through Privoxy which sometimes gives a different IP address for every site one visits, but who wants to go to this sort of bother for what is a relatively meaningless unscientific poll.
It was nice to see PET come out on top. The best thing I remember about him was the day he died when I felt overjoyed. I wanted to get a bottle of champagne to celebrate but I happened to be in a hotel room in Canmore and had been away from Alberta too long to know that liquor stores were now open on sunday. I did my best to commemorate the occasion with the small bottle of Tequila that I had brought along with me for emergencies.
What RT and those of his ilk can’t seem to comprehend is that the internet is a hostile environment for statists. In their typical mangling of the English language they apply the term “progressive” to some of the most obsolete and discredited ideas around.
I voted PET as worst believing he set the political environment for JC and then PM. Jack, Gilles and Steffie want to continue that culture and I can only hope that the Canadian electorate has enough moral fibre to bring in a better breed of politician.
“””””The man and his government could not manage an ecomomy.””””
even with Cretien as his finance minister!!!!
“To these leftards, Trudeau is the equivalent of allah.”
“It speaks volumes that irwin daisy counts among your numbers.” – Smoke
Doesn’t take much for the pea brained to take the bait. Reminds me of bass fishing.
Discussion about Trudeau reminds me of an old joke:
Trudeau goes to the pearly gates and is told he must shovel coal for 10,000 eons before being allowed into heaven. He replies “why am I forced into this, I wasn’t that bad a PM, better than most.” The reply was “your punishment has nothing to do with me. Just go down the hall, 2nd door on right.”
So grudgingly he did, but when he passed the first door on right he saw Joe Clark making whoppie with Bo Derrick. This enraged Trudeau, and he returned to the gatekeeper: “OK I get ten thousand eons shovelling coal, but Joe Clark, that idiot, PM for only nine months, gets to make whooppee with Bo Derek, that is not fair!”
The reply: “Bo Derek’s punishment ain’t got nothing to do with me.”
“Doesn’t take much for the pea brained to take the bait. Reminds me of bass fishing.”
At least you admit you’re a troll.
As Irwin puts yet another gasping largemouth on the stringer, unseen, his bait drops back into water.
“Set the hook Irwin”, yells richfisher, “I’ll get the net.”
Oh, no! The whining has spread to the, horrors, Montreal Gazette:
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/columnists/story.html?id=322f5e6f-aa98-4f63-8edb-38f8f37b8eec