Stephen Taylor;

Indeed in this country, there are two groups of people. In fact, some would call these groups the haves and the have-nots. This is an not inaccurate way of describing it, but those that would might have the two switched. Canadians form two groups: those that receive from the government and those that pay to the government. Those who form — or are constituent to — organizations dependent on government policy (and spending) are firmly against the changes to the census. Those on the other side are largely ambivalent because they are the large, unorganized and unsubsidized net taxpaying masses.
The conservative/libertarian Fraser Institute think tank’s motto is “if it matters, measure it.” The untruth of the inverse of this statement is at the centre of why this government should follow through. “If you measure it, it matters” is the motto of those net tax-receiving organizations who only matter if they can make their case. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has tried the ideological argument against these groups for years. But ideology is by its nature debatable; removing the framework of debate is his shortcut to victory.

There is one positive aspect to this controversy – millions of Canadians are now fully informed that, contrary to threats by census takers, refusing to fill out the long form census carries no actual penalty.
I suspect many of us will find that information useful.
h/t Maz2

You should have seen the newsrooms the other day when you got out on bail. Senior journalists were wandering around in a daze, smacking their heads in disbelief and calling up their libel lawyers for the first time in years.

Your Conrad Black thread.

Ha!
Update: so wrong, in fact that they’ve deleted it. (Showing 96% of respondents approve of Arizona’s illegal immigrant legislation)

After Glenn Beck’s recommendation, the demand for [The Road to Serfdom] has exceeded our current inventory. A large reprint is due early next week and the availability dates on the retail web sites will change. This is an unusual circumstance for the Press but The Road to Serfdom is a perennial best seller for us so there is no danger of this book being out of stock for long. The book is selling very strongly on Amazon’s Kindle e-book site where it will never go out of stock. It’s safe to say, though, that we have sold roughly a half-a-year’s worth of copies in the last two days.

Via

…as “the most American thing ever made”.

“We’re all Arizonans now.”
(And because we strive to be fair and balanced, the opposing side makes its case here.)
This is fun, too. Apparently, the giant Democratic brains in San Diego thought boycotts were a one way street.

Watch and learn. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey holds a clinic for conservative politicians the world over.

UPDATE: Yanked by the Star-Ledger. There’s another copy here. You might download and save it while you still can.
Meanwhile, it’s business as usual in Ottawa….

Live interview with the PM begins with John Gormley shortly … click here to “listen live”. (Segment is over now, audio should be up by tomorrow. Harper was followed by interviews with Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton.)
Feature moment: Taliban Quack* on the gun registry … sharing his “rural roots” from the days of growing up on the farm;

… we had our .22 and it was for going out and hunting ducks.

I’m going to piss myself.
More: Cosh follows the money on those Chiefs of Police.

Heh.
More related video…

Because Keith Olbermann’s dying father asked his boy Keith to read Thurber to him, Keith thinks this is good television, calling Thurber the best humorist of the 20th century. Do you know what humorist means? It means seriously unfunny. Garrison Keillor is a humorist, and I’ve seen funnier orphanage fires. Perhaps what Keith’s father didn’t tell him is that listening to Thurber might want to make you die faster. And now Keith reads it on the air.

Faster, s’il vous plaît!

I’ve been waiting for this for a year, and now it’s here: the Tea Party has come to Canada! If 50,000 Quebecers are marching in the street against big government tax-and-spend policies, then there’s hope for the free world. PM Harper, I hope you’re listening: Canadians want change, Canadians want smaller government.

What a great weekend. I’ve just learned I’ve acquired a new “neo”, plus a “cide”.
Outside of betting on wheelchair sports, it just doesn’t get much better than that.

More…

And who’s not. A new poll out at Right Wing News – “The Ultimate Like/Dislike Poll For Famous People On The Right”

“Many people believe that Krugman doesn’t actually write the columns that appear under his name in the Times, because they are so stupid. ”

Related from Jeff Goldstein – “The Lie of the Liberal Arts Education”
And while we’re on the topic, there’s a $10,000 [now 20K – ed.] reward out there still waiting to be claimed!

It’s time for the allegedly pristine character of Rep. John Lewis to put up or shut up. Therefore, I am offering $10,000 of my own money to provide hard evidence that the N- word was hurled at him not 15 times, as his colleague reported, but just once. Surely one of those two cameras wielded by members of his entourage will prove his point.
And surely if those cameras did not capture such abhorrence, then someone from the mainstream media — those who printed and broadcast his assertions without any reasonable questioning or investigation — must themselves surely have it on camera. Of course we already know they don’t. If they did, you’d have seen it by now.
THOUSANDS OF TIMES.

Plus: That’s quite the arm you got there, Bubba!
Why lookie here – “Cancon”.

At Right Wing News;

There was a professor that I wasted 10-20 thousand on, who did survey about 15 years ago on recidivism. So, he told me things that I already know, like prisoners hate the Bologna sandwich, they hate the pink underwear, and they hate the 140 degree tents. I didn’t need him to tell me that.

At RWN: This year’s top twenty quotes from CPAC.

According to Kathy Shaidle, the quote has now passed from SDA’s pages to Rush Limbaugh’s 20 million ears.
If I can run across an audio clip, will post later.
Update: It’s here, in typical Rush Public Service Announcement style. h/t EAK

“The conservative movement at a crossroads: Lessons from the past, directions for the future Looking back on the last six years, looking ahead for next six.
Panel speakers:
Gerry Nicholls – Former Senior Executive with the National Citizens Coalition and publisher of LibertasPost.ca
John Robson – Radio commentator and Ottawa Citizen columnist
Joseph C. Ben-Ami – President of the Canadian Centre for Policy Studies
Don Lenihan Ph.D. – Vice President, Engagement – Public Policy Forum
December 7 2009, 6 to 9pm
Parliament Pub, 101 Sparks St, Ottawa
Ticket price (includes appetizers) – $10 regular, $8.50 student
For more information: Immanuel Giulea, Executive Director Société Macdonald-Cartier Society

Both sides of the gun-control debate believe the Conservatives now have enough Commons votes to give parliamentary approval in principle to a private member’s bill to kill the registry for rifles and shotguns.
The vote late Wednesday is on the second reading of the bill, which would send it to a committee for more study and possible amendment before it comes back to the Commons, and later the Senate, for a final decision.

Related
Update, via email – “House of Commons just passed the private members bill to scrap the long gun registry 164 to 137.One down, several steps to go.”
Related: A reader emails to point out the photo the Calgary Herald chose to illustrate the story;

Because weapons owned by drug traffickers make up such a large part of the registry, I presume.
In the comments – “Dear Senators, This Jan I refill the chamber. Bang. Stephen”
(Bang!)