Reader Tips

Reader Tips 60 Comments

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, welcome to SDA Late Nite Radio. Tonight, for your delectation and pursuant to our Sunday night classical music show, here are the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra performing the finale from Johannes Brahms‘s Symphony #1, Leonard Bernstein conducting (9:57).

Update: Courtesy of EBD in the comments, here is Mr. Andrew Coyne’s most excellent essay: The Tories Made Them Do It.

Your Reader Tips are, as always, welcome in the comments.

60 Replies to “Reader Tips”

  3. In case you missed it, and via 5 Feet of Fury, Big City Lib got his ass handed to him by Mark Steyn over at Steynonline.com.

  7. Bob Rae back in the NDP!!!!
    I love it!
    Ontario’s Proven Failure is back for a return engagement. Now he’s in Parliament. Run for your lives 905 Area Code. Your RRSPs, Your TSX, Your tax rates, Your Canadian/US Exchange Rate.
    You. Are. Hooped.
    Of course, so are we in the West, but we have Saskatchewan’s Uranium to keep the lights on when its dark.

  8. Question for you all:
    Layton admitted today that he and Duceppe have been planning this for awhile. A friend of mine is convinced that Stephane Dion was also involved and that’s why he [oddly] didn’t step down as leader when he lost.
    Thoughts?

  9. Tapes; tapes; where did I hear this story before? Isn’t the guilty party the one who records the conversation? He/She will have to be investigated by the Ethics Commissioner and resign their candidacy. Shame; shame.

  10. Mississauga Matt – Big City Lib getting his ass handed to him is an understatement. As the inimitable Iowahawk states in BCL’s comments:
    “Having just read Steyn’s rebuttal in its entirety, I must say congratulations. You and “Doctor” Miller have just immortalized yourselves as the bumbling self-inflicted subjects of the single most exquisite literary evisceration in the history of the internet, nay, the world.
    “In fact, scratch “evisceration.” Make that vaporization. At this point your next of kin will be lucky to find intact bits of “Doctor” Miller’s reputation quivering in the treetops of Ryerson, let alone complete dental records.
    “No mind though, for your immortality is secure. For centuries to come students will study this marvelous episode: the pompous, clueless PC prof and his eager internet buttlick attempt to bell the famous cat Steyn, with completely predictable results.”


  11. Steyn     is in danger of giving sheep-shagging a good name.

    Unwittingly hilarious are the absolutely humorless responses of certain “progressive” bloggers who seem unaware they’ve been, er, shorn.

  12. “Thoughts?”
    And now, the end is near;
    And so I face the final curtain.
    My friend, Ill say it clear,
    Ill state my case, of which Im certain.
    Ive lived a life thats full.
    Ive traveled each and evry highway;
    And more, much more than this,
    I did it my way.
    Regrets, Ive had a few;
    But then again, too few to mention.
    I did what I had to do
    And saw it through without exemption.
    I planned each charted course;
    Each careful step along the byway,
    But more, much more than this,
    I did it my way.
    Yes, there were times, Im sure you knew
    When I bit off more than I could chew.
    But through it all, when there was doubt,
    I ate it up and spit it out.
    I faced it all and I stood tall;
    And did it my way.
    Ive loved, Ive laughed and cried.
    Ive had my fill; my share of losing.
    And now, as tears subside,
    I find it all so amusing.
    To think I did all that;
    And may I say – not in a shy way,
    No, oh no not me,
    I did it my way.
    For what is a man, what has he got?
    If not himself, then he has naught.
    To say the things he truly feels;
    And not the words of one who kneels.
    The record shows I took the blows –
    And did it my way!

  15. thoughts — There was a lot of talk and questions before the election about this neo-communist alliance but they all denied it . They knew it wouldn’t fly so they waited til now .If this power grab happens I hope oil prices stay low . They won’t be able to bleed as much money from Alberta and Saskatchewan to pump billions into building vehicles that nobody is buying.

  16. Quick, clear off the tables and chairs — Coyne’s shoulder injury has healed and he’s back in business. Excerpt:
    “Absolutely no one pins even a sliver of blame on the Liberals, the NDP or the Bloc. Of course not. Faced with the unreasonable and extreme proposal that they raise funds in the same way as the Conservatives have been doing for years — by asking people for their money, rather than taking it from them — they really had no alternative but to seize power. What on earth were they supposed to do? Revamp their moribund fund-raising organizations? Find a message and a leader capable of motivating large numbers of Canadians to click the “donate” button on their websites? Get off their collective duffs? What were the Tories thinking?
    “No. No, the sensible, restrained, pragmatic thing to do when threatened with the loss of subsidy is to take down the government. The sober, reasonable, moderate thing to do in this time of economic uncertainty is to provoke a constitutional crisis — to cobble together a coalition without a prime minister or a program, propped up by a separatist party, and demand the governor general call upon it to form a new government, replacing the old one we just elected. It’s been six weeks, after all.
    “Thank God that Canada has such statesmen in this time of peril, willing to put partisanship aside in pursuit of high office. What a contrast to those hyper-partisan, power-mad Conservatives, with their insane demands that the parties make do on the millions in tax credits and reimbursements they receive outside the subsidy.
    “But what am I saying? Notwithstanding the hundreds of column-inches attacking the Tories for their intolerable affront to opposition sensibilities, it is important to remember that the opposition’s sudden lurch for power had nothing to do with the impending loss of public funds. No, the reason they are absolutely forced to defeat the government this time, having declined to do so over Afghanistan, or global warming, or budgets 2006, 2007 ot 2008, is on account of the fall update. Nothing bespeaks the fierce urgency of now so much as an annual statistical review.
    “Again, the commentariat is as of one maddened mind. How could the government be so blind? Can it not see that unemployment has soared to 6.2%? Why, that’s four-tenths of a percentage point above its recent, thirty-year low. And what about Canadians’ fears of losing their home, what with the proportion of mortgages more than 90 days in arrears standing at an all-time record 0.2%? Okay, it’s an all-time record low, but still. When will it realize there’s a Depression on? Or coming? Or quite possible, certainly, in other countries.”
    Yes. Just when I thought the commentariat had collectively lost their minds…
    http://blog.macleans.ca/2008/11/30/the-tories-made-them-do-it/

  17. thoughts; I’m thinkin’ Steve Janke was pretty close on Oct. 20 with his post “The bizarre plottings of Stephane Dion”, when he hypothesized that Stephie wasn’t taking defeat very well and wasn’t ready to give up just yet. I think this rotten plot got off on the night of the election, when they realized Harper did better than they expected. Definately; Dion has been in from the start!
    It makes me ill to hear Layton et al, cackling about doing what’s right for Canada.

  19. Anyone wanna take bets on how big of a plunge the TSX will take tomorrow? How about 600 points?

  21. Free Thinker,
    Maybe you’re right but I think the traders there look at politicians the way elementary school teachers look at kindergarten students.
    As long as nothing outside of Canada goes awry, I don’t think that what’s going on now will effect the stock prices one bit.

  23. How bizarre -Ignatieff’s ancestors lost everything when the Bolsheviks staged a ‘coup d’etat’ in Russia, the Bolsheviks shot the Tzar and all of the people who had a cent to their name or food in their larders. Iggie’s papa’s family only survived because they had an English governess who got them out through the English Embassy. Now Iggy is on the Bolshevik side; is he planning to do what Scott Ried advocates be done to our Prime Minister? What about known Conservative supporters – are we to be lined up and shot or denied employment so we are forced to stave to death? No one in Russia ever believed that mass murder could happen there, Russia though, had been bled blue by the First World War ….people were starving and desperate…Canada has no excuse…if we let this pass, we must expect the worst to come to pass. At this time, I am grateful that I have no children.
    Excellent post Mr. Coyne where were you two months ago when a few positive things written by main stream media could have changed everything?

  24. What about the vacant Senate seats? Harper surely can’t leave those vacant for the Libs and Taliban Jack to fill, even if they are only in for a few months. Harper should fill these this week.

  25. Hope your right RW. Given all of the hot air flying around I highly doubt the market will be in plus territory for a few days.

  26. EBD,
    I see that on Andrew Coyne’s blogger you’re arguing with another liberal who’s making [yet again] the phoney argument that the majority party in a minority party situation has no right to govern.
    Do you think such nimrods actually KNOW that they’re being disingenuous or are they such mathematically or historically challenged? This I will never understand!

  27. Harper looks like toast if the punditocracy is to be believed and the commentary is relevant. Let’s face it, is there a more divisive figure in Candian politics today than Harper? Unlikely.
    No matter how the CPC try to spin it now Harper has been significantly damaged by all of this. Wonder what will happen next? F%ckin politics, just when I thought I was out they pull me back in!

  28. The GG would in a democratic Canada have to see the outcome of another election before looking to any collation government. The opposition parties will receive the spanking they deserve this time. You cannot install a declining opposition party increasingly being rejected by the electorate, as it would be a slap in the face of the voters in determining the outcome of the governing party. The death knell will sound for the opposition this time over the current stabile Canadian economy. The CTV/CBC chicken-little parties must disappear until more sane people are elected as the reckless enviro mental parties would have had this country in the same position as the rest of the world.

  29. Sorry to see infants, like Jon Jon, have not gone to bed yet.
    WHY OH WHY, is Harper damaged by this, Glenn?
    I hear it but no one ever gives a valid reason.
    That is complete BS.

  30. Glenn, Mr. Harper is being subject to a s**t-storm that has nothing to do with his character or his exemplary leadership or his decency or his strength. Powerful and vested interests in the bureaucracy/media cabal are trying to write a narrative that’s false. Resist. Pip-pip. They’re liars.
    Hang in there. I know it’s almost impossible to not be cynical about politics right now, but Stephen Harper is the best PM we could ever have. He’s going to come out of this stronger than ever. If he ends up out of office, it won’t be for long. Don’t believe the negativity — those who write him off are wrong.
    I believe that none of us have any idea of the sort of forces he’s up against, or how dirty they play the game, and how connected they are, or how surrounded he is. We should appreciate what a rare, absolute mensch the guy is. There’s battles, and then there’s the war itself.
    Jema: I know what you mean about the “where were you?” bit regarding AC, but this column is such a singular standout, at such a critical juncture, that it just about makes up for lost time. Coyne is one of those people who only speaks the unvarnished truth when he’s angry, IMO. He’s too conciliatory most of the time to write his best columns, but when he’s good, he’s great. His columns in the NP about the Murphy/Dosanjh tapes were among the finest columns I’ve ever read in any newspaper — just really compelling, like Mark Steyn’s columns in the immediate aftermath of 9/11.
    I think maybe he needs to be poked with a stick once in a while to bring out the best of him — which might explain this column, because commenting regulars on particular posts on his Macleans blog have been excoriating and abusing him to a ridiculous degree whenever his moral judgment almost incidentally results in him criticizing the Liberals. It’s odd that he gets the most insults when he hits the nail square on the head — typical Liberal supporter reaction: “You can’t say that about Father Entitlement. We’re going to ostracize you.”
    I wish he’d take the pay cut and return to the National Post where he wouldn’t be required to do the splits like at Macleans, where it’s almost a professional requirement to not offend any particular constituency who might be reading the mag in a dentist’s office. And then maybe Don “Tiny Bubbles” Martin can get relocated to Antigua where he can play the ukelele for chunks of coconut meat. Or something.

  31. Why is Harper being damaged by this?
    *By screwing around and trying to sink the opposition instead of focusing on the economy.
    *By back tracking again and again (so much for principled leadership) when the opposition parties make it quite clear that they can and will take him down.
    *By pulling a Nixon with his tape recording. (Harper really doesn’t have much luck with tapes, does he?)
    “Mr. Harper is being subject to a s**t-storm that has nothing to do with his character or his exemplary leadership or his decency or his strength.”
    Hahaha. He thought that he could include a poison pill in his bill that would cripple the opposition parties; he thought that he could take advantage of the economic situation to revoke the rights of unions and women; he thought that he was smarter than everyone else…and now he has blinked…repeatedly, and shown that he is nothing but a bully whose only concern is about staying in power. He is personally responsible for this whole fiasco. Stephen Harper…not a leader.

  32. From the Star:
    Around the country, many Conservatives were furious that Harper’s inner circle had failed to consult more widely before delivering the fiscal update.
    One senior Conservative said Harper had shot himself in the foot for ideological reasons — much as he did when he announced $45 million in arts funding cuts last summer, which cost his party seats in Quebec in the Oct. 14 federal election.
    “These guys think it’s campus politics, so they get too cute by half and then f— everything up,” he said.
    “We’re in the middle of an economic crisis and they pull a stunt like this?”

  33. “Hahaha. He thought that he could include a poison pill in his bill that would cripple the opposition parties….”
    So, Iberia, the mere spectre of the barely conceivable prospect that each committed Lib or NDP or BQ voter would donate $3.90 Canadian to their party of choice and by doing so *double* the money lost because of the cuts would “cripple the opposition parties.”
    Say. No. More.
    Say, Iberia, have you ever posted an original thought here? You know, something that isn’t just a rote reiteration of dumb found-wisdom media-cliche crap? Direct me to the comment — I love surprises.

  35. How the hell could Michael Ignatieff become Canada’s PM without a convention, an election or one single Canadian voter? How, exactly, could such a thing happen?
    What a surreal yet familiar and instructive prospect.
    Now we know what we’re up against. Power is far, far more important to those-who-would-rule-us than the people of this country are. We’re talking bypass.
    Uh-oh.

  36. Jack Layton (from the tapes):
    “What about the legitimacy of the democratic process, yeah, what about it? He was given a minority, and he refused to work with the other parties, he had 38% of the vote and he’s trying to govern like he had 100% of the power, he’s the one who’s got democracy wrong, not us. So do not be defensive, to work among what we are doing is to give effect to the wishes of the majority of Canadians, have no doubt about that. The coalition for Canada, I love the idea, it could be a deal-breaker for the Bloc (laughter) so if we don’t go, we call it “The Coalition for Canada and Quebec,” (lots of laughter). Well, welcome to the real world of….that’s not funny
    ….
    And I’ll just say one other thing about the issue of the Bloc: nothing could be better for our country, than to have the fifty members who’ve been elected to separate Quebec to actually helping to make Canada a better place. I think we just approach it on that basis, and say we’re willing to make Canada happen”
    Smoking gun.

  37. Glenn,
    It won’t be Harper or the Conservatives. The Liberals are going to wear this one right up the ass of their already positioned rump status.
    After this, how will the Liberals ever expand west out of Toronto?
    After joining with the Bloc, how can the Liberals ever claim credibility as a federalist party?
    After joining with the socialists, how can the Liberals ever claim the centre?
    Next election: Liberals, 2 seats.

  38. Socialism in Ottawa, Canada, and Harare, Zimbabwe.
    Handshakes?
    In Zimbabwe: “Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said people should stop shaking hands to prevent the disease spreading.”.
    In Canada: socialist Liberal/NDP/Bloc coalition.
    The handshakes of socialism: Death.
    …-
    “Gilles Duceppe’s useful idiots”
    “Messrs. Layton and Dion, apparently, giving Quebec sovereigntists their greatest triumph in a generation would be a small price to pay for having the rest of Canada governed more like statist Quebec.”
    http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=1015516
    …-
    “‘No water’ in cholera-hit Harare
    Zimbabwe cholera
    Sanitation systems have broken down, fuelling the spread of cholera
    Much of the Zimbabwe capital, Harare, is without water, state media reports, at a time of a cholera outbreak.
    Water was cut because of a shortage of purification chemicals, The Herald newspaper quotes water authority officials as saying.
    At least 425 people have died in recent months from cholera – a disease spread by contaminated water.
    Health Minister David Parirenyatwa said people should stop shaking hands to prevent the disease spreading.
    “I want to stress the issue of shaking hands. Although it’s part of our tradition to shake hands, it’s high time people stopped shaking hands,” he told The Herald.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7758147.stm

  39. For decades, I’ve had nothing but contempt for the left in this country and their MSM enablers. I had no respect for these jackals to start with, but watching this despicable power grab, with covering fire from our treasonous MSM, has even taken me by surprise: it never occurred to me that they could sink this low. Silly me.
    I hope that this naked assault on our free country by utterly corrupt politicians, worthy of any communist dictatorship, who believe power is theirs for the stealing—this is nothing short of a coup—will finally wake Canadians up to the rot on the Canadian left.
    My contribution to the Conservatives will be in the mail today. And so will my message of “Never say die” to the PM.

  40. Exactly, EBD – what is going on with the democratic process?
    The Liberals have a constitution about how they choose a new leader; they must do so by election. Election by their member delegates; not even just their MPs. Today, with their statement that, via a backroom deal with the candidates, in return for key cabinet positions, and without an election – they’ve chosen Ignatieff.
    Then, they expect to form the govt. Via a coalition with the NDP and relying on a separatiste Quebec-only party as the lynch pin. Without an election. Just because.
    What kind of country has Canada become? Since when have we ended democracy in Canada and become an oligarchy?

  41. “Hahaha. He thought that he could include a poison pill in his bill that would cripple the opposition parties….”
    …-
    Breaking from News Radio:
    TSX opens down 489.

  42. The Layton et al’s argument that ‘more people voted for the NDP and Liberals and Bloc’ than voted for the CPC..and that therefore this coalition ought to be the government is invalid.
    That’s because people didn’t vote for all three as a government. They voted for one party only. The NDP OR the Liberals OR the Bloc. They didn’t vote for all three.
    That would be similar to saying that the CPC could form a coalition with any other party just because, if you add the two, you can say that ‘more people voted for…’ .
    As we now know, Layton has been plotting this for some time. I admit my surprise that Ignatieff would go along with what is do obviously a partisan and totally anti-democratic attempt at a coup.
    And as Coyne has pointed out, this coup isn’t because of the economy. No way. This coup is because they lost the election. That’s the ONLY reason for it.
    Heh – the Gang of Three say that they’ll immediately get a ‘team of experts’ in to deal with the economy. What the heck do they think Harper does – he also has a team of experts. And why didn’t these three parties have such teams already advising them, so that their motions in parliament could be based on reality rather than greed.
    And this attack isn’t due to Harper’s fiscal update. Layton would have made this move at the January budget.
    Harper smoked them out now, before the budget, via his move to curtail the public trough that these parties feed from.
    So, the real reason is that they lost the election and are trying to gain power without going to the public. How? By rewarding each other with cabinet positions. By, as a ‘mass’ without the legality of the electorate choosing them as that ‘mass’ – crippling all opposition and running as long as they want in power.
    And doing things the old Liberal Way. Increasing taxes and flinging bribes at unions and special interest groups…and thus, using the few years to manipulate and bribe the voters.
    This is the greatest threat to our democracy we’ve ever seen. Layton, Ignatieff and Duceppe.

  43. Keep your powder dry.
    …-
    MSM: “”This is a way to assure Canadians the economy would be managed properly,” Fife told CTV Newsnet.”
    “Earlier Monday, Fife reported that the coalition government would introduce a $30-billion economic stimulus package and roll back $50 billion in planned corporate tax cuts.”
    …-
    “Coalition would be guided by all-star economic council
    A high-profile, four-person economic council would guide a Liberal-NDP coalition government on finance matters, CTV News has learned.
    CTV’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife reported Monday that the council would comprise Frank McKenna, Paul Martin, John Manley and Roy Romanow.
    “This is a way to assure Canadians the economy would be managed properly,” Fife told CTV Newsnet.
    The panel of “wise men” would help the new government navigate the current global”
    http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081130/conservative_budget_081201/20081201?hub=TopStories
    From comments:
    “Linda Ann
    A coalition with a party and leader who want to break up the country I love??????
    Liberals, you play with fire, and when you deal with the devil, you will get burned!!!!!
    This shows the true sad face of 21st Century liberals who are seemingly fighting an uphill battle of survival, while shooting themselves in the foot at the same time. They believe the rest of Canadians are too stupid and uneducated to notice that Liberals and Bloc want to bypass Canadian voters to nullify the October election. For that, SHAME ON THEM ALL!!!!”

  44. Actually, the 1982 Trudeaupian Charter turned Canada into an oligarchy as our activist judges used the Charter’s vague wording as a pretext to legislate from the bench. Get lost, parliament!
    The lefty social revolution that’s occurred in this country has largely been engineered via our courts. Since 1982, instructed by judges on what is and isn’t acceptable in post-Charter Canada, our parliaments have been looking over their shoulders and have avoided making decisions they knew our left wing courts wouldn’t tolerate and would overturn.
    Some democracy, eh?

  45. P.S. Re the oligarchy: let’s remember, it was brought to us and has been sustained largely as a result of Liberal Power (Corp!) Derangement Syndrome.
    The Liberals brought in the Charter, appointed most of our leftist, activist judges, and demonized the use of the notwithstanding clause (even Ralph Kline caved and wouldn’t use it)—which, incredibly, in the English debate, Paul Martin said he’d abolish: no matter that he hadn’t the prerogative to do so. What’s a small matter like that to a Liberal?
    IMO, nearly every serious problem in the political (and even social) realm of this benighted country can be quite legitimately laid at the feet of the Liberals. At least their present skulduggery is above the radar for all to see. Until now, far too many Canadians have been fooled by these charlatans. Now that the mask has really slipped, in public, perhaps Canadians will punish the Liberals as they deserve. If not, then Canada will deserve the ensuing chaos.

  46. It would appear that this farce is gaining momentum, with the MSM being the engine on this train to disaster. I don’t know what if any good it will do, but I have written to the GG to plea for some sanity to be regained in this fiasco and the will of the electorate to prevail.

  47. I think that, if someone with sanity doesn’t step in and stop this blatant take-over of our legitimate government, then we’ll have to go do an election.
    It is totally unacceptable that backroom deals among three parties – with one of those parties only available to an electorate in one province – be allowed to form a legitimate government. This sidesteps the people.
    After all, this would be setting up a precedent that at any time, any party could link with another party, call itself a coalition, and without an election, insist on becoming the government.
    As for the amoral, unethical MSM, we all know that they are Liberal hacks. Their voices now, claiming that Harper ‘brought this on himself’ with his call to abolish the Pigs-at-The-Public-Trough, are nonsense.
    Notice that the MSM are assuming that it is just, it is right, it is ethical, for the taxpayer to fund political parties and that withdrawing these sums and giving the public the right to choose to fund or not to fund – is wrong. The Liberal Way- feeding off the taxpayer.
    I think the only way out, is to call an election. Then, we’ll see if the NDP-Liberals-Bloc will campaign on their own or as a coalition.
    But what cannot be allowed to happen, is for a backroom cabal to take over the government from the people. That reeks of Third World coups.

  48. Theodore Dalrymple, The Quivering Upper Lip
    The British character: from self-restraint to self-indulgence
    When my mother arrived in England as a refugee from Nazi Germany, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, she found the people admirable, though not without the defects that corresponded to their virtues. By the time she died, two-thirds of a century later, she found them rude, dishonest, and charmless. They did not seem to her, moreover, to have any virtues to compensate for their unpleasant qualities. I occasionally asked her to think of some, but she couldn’t; and neither, frankly, could I…

  49. Nicole, take heart re the MSM. Among other media (e.g., Andrew Coyne), read today’s National Post: the lead editorial, the majority of letters, Lorne Gunter and even—amazingly!—Don Martin have very bad things to say about the impending—and clearly illegitimate—coup. I really think the momentum to discredit this crass power grab is building.
    We’ll soon see.

  50. Go look & Vote at ctv.ca
    OverWelming against this coalition.
    All for the sake of Power, But here’s the thing the NDP Traitors are sending around the 2004 letter with the 3 opposition leaders. When that happened Were we Not in the Mid’st of Canada’s Greatest Scandal?(adscam) The Government at the Time Had Not just been Re-Elected days Before! Not like Layton/Duceppe Plotting the Coup just days after the People had Rejected Them! And finaly i suspect we Know Now Why Dion was so silent after the Election He a former Marxist/socialist/separist was most likly in on it.
    Layton is an Outright Liar/traitor to Democracy all (as the PM said) Under the Guise of an economic crisis all for the sake of Power!. And layton/duceppe/dion & whoever else in Parliment should Be thrown out for Their acts Against the People of Canada, for their For Lack of Respect of Parliment, And for their acts of Treason to the Queen.

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