Friday night ode to stevie, petey, julian, and rona: lies & liars

oh, hell - the whole damn party for backing the BS.  Here's for the lot of you lying scumbags as you settle in this Good Friday to remember how your god gave his only begotten son to save you from your sins - sins such as lying to the great detriment of those you are sworn to serve.  You may be off the hook in your mythical afterlife, but here, reality rules.

Big thanks to Den Tandt for using the “L” word.  And drawing back stevie’s fig leaf for all to see what kind of a man he really is.  For those who didn’t know what’s been obvious to many of us for years.

UK politics, but very appropriate to current Canadian politics

“Hard News and Straight Talk for the Tories”

Right.  Sure.

Stunned Media is backing...hang on...here it comes...harper!

Trying to appear unbiased but blowing it completely with ultra-partisan outright lies - poorly written - they offer a stern warning to pevie-stevie:

(I)t's the taxpayers who foot every bill, and Harper must respect this undeniable fact unequivocally.  Otherwise, we will go for his political throat like no dog on a bone ever seen.

After the photo op is locked down, what’s a broken promise or two?

In 2007, when Canada announced its own Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative, Canada committed that the CHVI "would not compromise Canada's international support of AIDS vaccines."  The CHVI is a $139-million, five-year joint venture between Canada and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It was announced to great fanfare in February 2007.

See?  Here’s the Big Guy with the Rich Guy making the announcement and Steve smiling for the camera like finding a cure for AIDS was always his secret mission.

While the photo remains crisp and clear on the PMO bragging site, the promises has faded...considerably.

But three years later, less than $9 million has been spent on CHVI, including almost $700,000 on a proposed $88-million vaccine production facility which was scrapped last month.

Canada has pulled the plug on funding to one of the largest AIDS vaccine development agencies in the world. 

I guess Fat Boy has to keep the christo-facists happy.   Can’t be spending money trying to minimize god’s pride and joy, the gay plague.

Steve’s precious world stage™? 

Stephen Lewis, co-director of AIDS Free World in the U.S. and former UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said the global AIDS research community now knows Canada can't be counted on to help.  "This government is now abandoning one of the greatest vaccine initiatives in the world," said Lewis, who is on the board of IAVI. "I just think it's unconscionable."

Steve had a busy week breaking promises -

Broken promise or broken calculator?

The federal budget promised to inject $30 million into the Prince Edward Island economy and create 300 jobs but The Guardian has learned the project only costs $2 million and the money was spent last fall.





Here’s the shiny picture:

Still nice’n sharp on the PMO site, but the details of the promise to PEI are rather blurry:

Erik Waddell, a spokesman for federal Industry Minister Tony Clement, says there is no funding for the Centre of Excellence and no $30-million cheque coming to P.E.I.’s only university.  “It’s pretty clear from what’s there, that does not say there is a $30-million cheque in the mail to UPEI,” Waddell said in an interview from Ottawa. “Really, what it says is that the investments to UPEI are going to generate jobs and economic growth in the Island economy.”

I’d love to learn how to convert 2 million to 30 million, wouldn’t you?  Let’s ask:

But when pushed, Waddell confirmed the only project to receive funding from the federal government is $2 million for renovations to existing buildings on the Charlottetown campus and that money was received last fall.  The work has already been carried out...When asked how $2 million in federal funding could inject $30 million into the Island economy, Waddell said: “The numbers in there are based on submissions we got from the university in terms of the expected economic impact.”

Charles Lammam (of the Fraser Institute)...said the federal government is trying to justify its massive spending initiatives, which have also translated into massive deficits, by using a multiplier-effect that is not supported by economic evidence.

“A multiplier of 1.5 per cent would mean that $1 the government spends magically translates into $1.50 increase in GDP. Even with that number, you can’t get $30 million from $2 million.”

Oh...magically. With the airport hissy fits among the CONs lately, one of them may have broken a mirror, jinxed the magic.

Or it’s the Liberals fault.

(Adscam.)

Oh no!!!! Cannon is an anti-semite and anti-Canadian!!!!!!!

Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon is taking a harder line against Israel's controversial decision to build settlements in East Jerusalem and now says he condemns the plan.

Condemnation coming from a foreign affairs minster would constitute something of a threat, would it not?  A warning of sorts?  As in we will not tolerate this, will n ot support it, and will exert pressure to force Israel to pull back?

Well, then.
(Emphasis mine)

“Our government believes that those who threaten Israel also threaten Canada, because, as the last world war showed, hate-fuelled bigotry against some is ultimately a threat to us all, and must be resisted wherever it may lurk.”

“In this ongoing battle, Canada stands side-by-side with the State of Israel, our friend and ally in the democratic family of nations. We have stood with Israel even when it has not been popular to do so, and we will continue to stand with Israel, just as I have always said we would.” - Harper, May, 2008.

Figures Harper would change his tune (but let Cannon spout the words) once the U.S. took a stance.

But then, we all know that what Harper has "always said" is less than a passing whim.

If there was a hell for fat, lying sacks of shit who have no integrity...

...this whore would surely end up there.

 “When I went to the school of hard knocks, we were told to be fair and balanced,” Duffy said. “That school doesn’t exist any more...”  - Duffy      

And of course, the Afghan detainees issue is the Liberals’ fault.

Holy South Park, Batman!

Like a really, really annoying Cartman episode -

Seriously.  How many pictures of Harper on the phone do we have to pay for to stay informed?  How many staged shots of Stevie must come out of our tax dollars in his endless quest for a majority so that he can completely destroy our democracy and force his narrow, atavistic ideology into all aspects of our lives.

How many more.  How, how many more?

Meanwhile, as Steve is gettin' the job dun doing real important shit and making sure we see him in all his glory and many variations of The Phone Call, news average Canadians don't give a shit about -

Transport Canada says no new incidents or intelligence information prompted its security branch to send a "vigilance" notice to airlines, airports and the federal agency in charge of airport screening a week ago—contradicting statements by Transport Minister John Baird and Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan. 

So, as I said a few days ago, these terrorist scares are bull shit, most likely spewed out by Baird and The Mouth Van Loan at Steve's orders to divert attention from what monumentally, undemocratic, lying fuck-ups they and their entire party are, and to shove through appalling changes to security that violate our rights and freedoms.

And just in case any of you are about to scream about those Liberal appointed public servants at Transport Canada just trying to give those poor Conservatives a hard time by making this story up -

The statements from the two ministers, claiming the government was of aware of new information about potential terrorist activity, appear also to have diverged from security assessments at the time by the Transportation Security Administration in the United States.

And if the Americans are saying that Baird and Van Loan are lying sacks of shit, it must be so.

In  case Johnny and Petey try to say they simply both, through sheer coincidence miss-spoke, take noote that during interviews held days later, both confirmed what they had said earlier.

Dewar and Holland had a few words to say, explaining that the government needs to be honest about security risks, they owe it to Canadians, and that by exaggerating risks for political reasons, people won't know what to believe when a real security risk is announced.

Really.  Considering the many, many cases of misinformation and outright falsehoods Steve & Co. have prompted, we should just assume everything they tell us is a lie.

This is the song that never ends...

The CONs have repeatedly stated - with no little indignation - that they never, ever received direct warnings about the torture of detainees.

It seems they...lied. Yes, folks, and we have names. MacKay, O’Connor, and Day.

Three federal cabinet ministers and a senior government official met the head of the International Red Cross in the fall of 2006 as the humanitarian organization tried to focus Canada's attention on alleged abuses in Afghan prisons, The Canadian Press has learned.

...While the details of the meeting are secret, enough was said about Afghanistan to generate a report from MacKay's office a month later which flagged the Red Cross president's concerns.

The contents of the report, one of thousands of documents filed in the Military Police Complaints Commission investigation of torture allegations, are censored. The email was titled: Re: meeting with ICRC president re detention issues.

Harper and Co., you can prorogue but you cannot hide.

Lisa Raitt Award goes to: Colin Mayes

The Raitt Award goes to Colin Mayes.

Unashamedly lifted from ACR who finds it as difficult as I to decide which Harpercon has made the most stoopid statement of the week.

In e-mails sent to several voters, British Columbia MP Colin Mayes wrote that the cause of climate change “has yet to be substantiated”.

“…I am careful not to over react and spend billions of taxpayer dollars because a few scientists say CO2 is causing the planet to warm,” the e-mail says.

A few scientists?  Far fewer are those oil servants claiming to be scientists saying there is any doubt about climate change or its causes.

This is not a mere bungle that can be written off as Mayes' personal opinion.  He was responding to a question regarding the government's stance, and was acting in his capacity of a member of that government.

The Climate Action Network obtained the e-mails, which originated from Mr. Mayes's Parliamentary account and were sent to at least three people who had contacted the MP about the government's stance on global warming.

Harper' actions seem in keeping with Mayes's words, reflecting that the CONs really aren't all that concerned about climate change, except on managing the message.

Harper kept a low profile, making his first public statement Friday night. The prime minister hobnobbed with other leaders Thursday at a royal dinner hosted by the queen of Denmark, passing up the chance to deliver Canada's address to the UN climate talks. He delegated that job to Environment Minister Jim Prentice.

With messengers like Mayes, their even screwing that up.

Bonus stoopid Mayes from ACR:

In a column e-mailed this week to several B.C. newspapers in his riding of Okanagan-Shuswap, Colin Mayes said that jailing reporters might help the public get accurate information.
    “Maybe it is time that we hauled off in handcuffs reporters that fabricate stories, or twist information and even falsely accuse citizens,” Mayes wrote.  

Where to start?