Judge for yourself.

Doesn’t he look a lot paler to you? Like he has had his blood sucked clear out of his system by his evil, undead masters?

Man, doesn’t he get into the sun at all in the summer? He could grow mushrooms under that chin!

And what’s with those specs? They look kind of intrusive to me… maybe x-ray lenses looking into homes of honest Canadians and counting how many rolls of toilet paper we all have in our vanities!

Just sayin’….

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“Stock, Johnny, Jimbo, Vic, Pierre! Go find Igantieff’s bus and slash its tires… we need a diversion! Quickly!!!”

“What have we done to deserve such depths????”

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

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As the Grit leader heads off on his summer tour, one main question comes to the mind of this middle aged bald fellow:

Will this be a tour of triumph, like the U2 tours of the 1990′s… complete with spectacular polytechnics, revolving stages and great solos?

Or will be more like a farewell tour? Like one of those aging bands that played at Bluesfest recently, is this one final grasp and grasp at the brass ring?

Well, unfortunately for MI, his Great Canadian Adventure started out looking more like the Moody Blues than Bono and The Edge.

Aren’t buses destined for a long summertime journey not checked for mechanical soundness beforehand?

At least they have a red tow truck..

The Cons, of course, were all over this:

“This can’t be a great start to the tour… Hopefully the local mechanic services imports,” Conservative talking points said.

So, what can he do to rescue his own and his party’s fortunes? Is there anything. Really?

My thoughts are that this question must be broken down into two separate questions.

First, can he save his own personal fortunes as the leader of Canada’s Natural Governing Party?

I doubt it. He has been branded too deeply by the Harperites as an arrogant, distant intellectual… sorta the same as Harpy except for the “intellectual” part. But the Timmies crowd has bought into this hook, line and sinker and I really don’t know what Iggy can do to reverse this. Mitigate it, maybe… but not reverse it completely. The Con machine came together on this one.

The second question is : But he can shore up his party’s fortunes by cementing the core supporters into place for the next election?

Maybe. If he listens to advice like the following.

Mr Ignatieff:

Don’t go to rural areas where Con support and coffee shops abound! Forget about the Prairies! Stick to places where there has historically and recently been strong support for your party! Stick to the cities and ‘burbs, not farms and small towns. The countryside has been lost – for now-  so leave it up to the next leader to mend those fences and broaden the base.

Go to Toronto. To Ottawa. Vancouver. Montreal. And other urban centres where, if your core support comes out to vote for you, Canada’s hopes to avoid a Con majority may be realised.

Cuz we all know what THAT would mean!

• Mandatory religion “education” in schools.
• Mandatory jail time for possession of any amount of pot.
• Obliteration of environmental regs.
• State-imposed censorship through selective information dissemination.
• Easing of gun laws.
• Laws restricting abortion.
• Reintroduction of the death penalty.
• More gutting of government services…

Wait a minute, am I talking about what would happen if Harper got a majority or the tea-partiers nut bars in the States?

Hard to tell the difference sometimes.

Yeah, I know that is a lot to speculate about – but give Harper a term or two with a Majority and we’ll see if I’m just being alarmist!

Sincerely, from a non-Grit and non-partisan,

Trashy

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The Harperite social conservatives are crowing with glee over the Con’s refusal to recognize that access to inexpensive and safe abortions are key factors in maternal health. And so is the American anti-choice lobby.

“Under President Bush, we had the Mexico City policy, which prohibited exporting abortion. As you know, with President (Barack) Obama, he repealed that policy,” Janet Morana, founder of a pro-life group called Silent No More, told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday morning.

“And so we’re very pleased to see that Canada is taking that pro-life stance, meaning they’re not going to export dollars overseas for abortion.”

Stevo must be grinning from ear to ear with the news that the U.S. christian fundamentalists are in his corner!

Despite this, support for the DeceptiCons is staying rather stable according to the new EKOS poll.

What I can’t figger is WHO THE HELL ARE THESE PEEPS??? I mean, who are those idiots are are saying to the pollsters that they would actually VOTE for Harper or one of his robot minions! I just don’t “get” that!

In other news, Cons are saying that the big bad ol’ MotherCorp is waging what they call a “faith war” against the ReformCons.

In a memo to supporters, the backroom operatives note that this is just the next step in the CBC’s “ongoing campaign against the Conservative Party.” At issue is a story about the rise of the right-wing religious groups and their connections to the Stephen Harper’s government that ran on The National last night.

The piece – which, as Tories armed with stopwatches note, ran “a full eight minutes in length” – was inspired by the release of a new book, The Armageddon Factor by journalist Marci McDonald, in which she investigates the right-wing religious movement in Canada and its ties to Stephen Harper and his government.

*Snicker* – “backroom operatives” I love that term. I wonder what they look like?

Yeah. Something like that, I would imagine. ‘Cept he needs to be wearing a crucifix and holding a stopwatch…

Anyhow, isn’t the CBC just stating the painfully obvious?

Of course the Reformatories are in bed with the religious right! Fundamentalists believe that an old guy with a beard lives in the clouds – ready to judge and smite all of we infidels! And really, does anyone with an IQ over 100 think that most of the Con caucus has the elementary intelligence to understand that believing in such things is about as legitimate as believing in leprechauns?

Of course not.

Stop the anti-CBC rants, Cons… outside of your wacko base of support in the west, you’re not going to gain much support because, well, most folks LIKE the CBC!

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The G&M is reporting that, despite the Auditor-General requests, MPs and Senators are refusing to submit their expenses for scrutiny.

I don’t get this. Why doesn’t Sheila Fraser push the issue?

Ten months ago, Auditor General Sheila Fraser formally asked two committees for permission to audit Parliament’s expenses, including the expenses of MPs and senators. She still hasn’t received a reply. Silence equals no.

Similar audits in Great Britain and Nova Scotia resulted in major scandals after revelations of major abuse.

In Ottawa, MPs and senators are determined to prevent anything like that from happening.

—————————————————————————————————————————

So, if the CRA decides to audit me (again), I can just ignore them?

Cool.

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But I somehow think that it wouldn’t turn out good for me.

Yeah, I do realise that all of the parties are reluctant to release this information and this is abhorrent to say the least. BUT the Harperites have trumpeted transparency-this and accountability-that since they rode their horses into Ottawa. So where are they now? I mean, what a great way to prove to nay-says like me that they really are going to carry through with all of that talk!

However, we have been down this road before, haven’t we?

Remember the Harperites when they tried to destroy the credibility of:

• the Budget watchdog
• the nuclear watchdog
• the ethics commissioner (his political appointee who won’t investigate Guergis & Jaffer)
• the diplomat who claimed that Afghans were torturing prisoners transferred to them by Canadian troops
• and the Access to Information commissioner

Now which direction do you think  Sheila Fraser’s departmental budget is going to dive toward?

LOOK OUT BELOOOOOWWWWW!!!!

But Fraser has already been warned by the PMO to play nicely. New directives from the PMO prohibit Sheila Fraser from to speaking directly to the public without vetting her comments through the PMO first. All communications must be approved by political staffers. Here in town, they are called MEPs (Message Event Proposals).

You can read about them here in The Hill Times.

In the meantime, will someone on the Hill stand up and say something about this cloak of secrecy?

Anybody?

Beuller?

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The Onion Ring besting the PM is still getting attention.

95,544 fans as of the writing of this post.

Hee-hee. I love it.

Of course, someone has started a counter group: Can this Doorknob get more fans than Michael Ignatieff. I might join the one other fan. Just to show I’m truly non-partisan.

In other news: Colts over Saints – 45-42 (OT)

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Craziness abounds… the Onion Ring fan club has grown to beyond 44K!

Like I said before, this is a great example of how quickly a message – however a bit silly – can move along the social media stream.

I will be interested to see how the mainstream media and politicians respond to this. My guess is that it will be more or less ignored. But really, Iggy or Harpy really SHOULD show up at a photo op with a box of onion rings!

More than 44 thousand voters (or would-be voters) would get a kick outta that!

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Earlier this morning, I posted a scribble about the Facebook movement to sign up more “fans” for an onion ring than Stephen Harper can claim - and it looks like the goal may be met by the end of the day. – 20,246 – the last time I refreshed the page.

And it is getting some attention in the mainstream media – albeit on a blog…

From thestar.blogs.com

Harper vs. the onion ring

An odd new campaign began in the last 24 hours on Facebook.  The challenge: to pit an onion ring against Prime Minister Stephen Harper and see who gets more fans. As I write this, the onion ring is a good deal behind the Prime Minister — around 14,000 fans, compared to the nearly 30,000 fans of Harper.

And what is the end game of this contest? I have no idea. Perhaps the gold ring has something to do with the Olympics. Or not.

One comment on the site criticises this as “silliness reduces the seriousness of Facebook and can hurt their democracy campaign a tad.”

Huh? Of course it is silly! But I really don’t think it is hurting anyone! If Harper was smart, at his first photo op he should bring along a box of onion rings…

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There’s a fun little thing going on over at Facebook. Someone got the bright idea to see if an onion ring could garner more “fans” than Stevo. As of this morning, The Ring has  11,121 fans while the PM has over 29,000. And this “fan club” started just yesterday – as far as I can tell.

This is, of course, all in good fun and one shouldn’t try to read too much into this unprecedented groundswell of Onionosity in Canada. But this does should how viral the new media really can be and should be a cautionary note to public figures who do not recognize its power.

For the record, I predict that The Great and Wondrous Onion will have double the number of fans by the weekend.

It’s also a good laugh to scroll through some of the comments being posted on the site. Here’s a sampling:

Even though both make people cry, onions do it without intent!!!

Do you think A & W would give us corporate sponsorship? I’ve always liked their onion rings… mmmmm

This onion ring would NEVER take a 2-month holiday in the middle of my meal!

I think anything can get more fans than Stephen Harper. Harper does what he wants, leaving a horrible taste in our mouths. The onion ring is battered than fried and leaves a wonderful taste in our mouths.

One day, I wanted to buy a coffee, but I was 14 cents short, and this onion ring gave me a quarter … and even said ‘keep the change’ … that’s why I’m a fan!

This onion ring has suspended the production of all other onion rings until after the Olympics

Oh, and in the time it took for me to write this, His Whole-liness’s fan base has grown to 11,460.

ALL HAIL THE RING!

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…Doris Day is the new TB Prez. Didn’t see THAT comin’!

Mark my words. If the ReformCons are still in power a year from now, Public Servants everywhere will spit at the mention of his name. Not that the Harperites – or most Canadians outside of the National Capital Region- give a flying crap about the PS.

My gut tells me though that this is not a pre-election Cabinet. Moving Rona to PWGSC is a big move up for her, but I would think that the brainless trust in the PMO would want her in a more visible spot if we were in pre-election mode… gotta court the soccer Moms, right?

I also don’t feel that Vic Toews (admittedly, one of the less incompetent of the Harperites) is the right pre-writ “fit” with NRCan. Though they can’t do much worse than Ms. Raitt.

So. To summarise. Same gang. Different titles.

Yawn. Wake me up when we have an election…

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