Flannagan's Ten Commandments

Build that fireWall...

John Gormley a columnist for the The StarPhoenix in Saskatoon and host of a right wing radio talk show reminds us of the Conservative campaigners 10 commandments as written by former Reform party and Conservative back room strategist Tom Flannagan.

Among the 10 is number 2 moderation -- 'veering too far right from the median Canadian voter spells defeat.' Flanagan's list according to Gormley also suggests - 'incrementalism or, in the words of the great Edmund Burke, providing change by "insensible degrees."'

You can find Gormley's column here where you will see Flanagan's 10 commandments.

The mantra of Harper's minority government has in fact been incrementalism and duct tape. Ministers are not to say anything that isn't approved by the PMO ahead of time. All policy is driven out of the PMO. All advertising and government announcements are decided by the PMO.

These measures ensure Harper can control the message Canadians hear and see, is one of moderation (some of us see it as a little less moderate) and we miss the 'incremental' steps being taken toward less government and unfettered capitalism and finally the creation of ten little provincial fiefdoms that share borders but little else in common with other Canadians. Indeed he has begun to build the fire wall around Alberta (and each province).

Harper ditched much of his central Canada view of the world when he went west. He found god and god told him to build a wall around Alberta so those godless catholic energy-sucking easterners can no longer interfere in the pursuit of the capitalist dream.

Harper's ultimate plan is to build a federation consisting of ten very autonomous provinces and a federal government with little or no ability to interfere. That's a recipe for becoming the 51st state in all but name. Canadians have not warmed up to Harper. Even out west there are few that really like him. He is leading them to the promised land so they follow for now.

Today Harper and the Conservatives release their platform. Less than a week to voting day. They need to appeal to cities and women and Quebec if they want to form a majority. I wonder what magic the platform will have for us.


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'A' type guy misses gay debate

The A's are guys like me...

remember this...

Neo-con Harperite had a bad media spell when the provincial NDP lost the election in Saskatchewan and moved over into the Opposition party offices. In the bottom of some file box the NDP found a tape left behind by the Saskatchewan Party. I guess they were so excited they forgot to take their dirty laundry with them.

The tape had Conservative MP Tom Lukiwski for Regina-Lumsden-Lake Centre, saying; "There's A's and there's B's. The A's are guys like me, the B's are homosexual faggots with dirt on their fingernails that transmit diseases." The comments were made in 1991 while Lukiwski was helping out the Progressive Conservatives.

Lutiwski apologised when the video was released to the media by the NDP. He told CBC on April 4, 2008, "If I could take those comments back, I would," the Conservative MP for Regina Lumsden-Lake Centre said. "I would give anything to take those comments back. They do not reflect the type of person that I am. I can only say that on behalf of myself, my family and my children, I am sorry. I am ashamed."

I expect he was ashamed. I mean he was a Progressive Conservative then. Now he's just a Conservative. The ironic bit is that the previous MP in this riding was none other than Larry Spencer, then a Canadian Alliance, (the other half of the right wing merger) MP and critic for family issues. Spencer as many of you will recall was suspended for saying nasty stuff about gays.

So why am I raising this old issue during the election? Mr. Lutiwski declined to attend a public forum sponsored by the gay community in his riding. Another conservative no show for the score keeper at the Gazetteer and here where Cathie has more StealthCons.

Lutiwski was likely a no show because Harper did not want the 'GAY' issue and lack of tolerance by many in his party to become an election issue. The Conservative candidate did respond to the forum with written answers to questions submitted to him. Lutiwski must have a set of balls though, he asked the gay community for their support on election day.

The "StealthCon" term is RossK's great invention, and he defines it thusly:

A StealthCon is a Harpertronic conservative candidate who ducks the media and especially the public. Their most egregious acts of stealthitude occur when they subvert democracy completely by refusing to show up at all candidates meetings where the voters, instead of watching ads on the TeeVee actually head out the door in an effort to find out, via their own eyes and ears, what they will (or will not) be voting for.

StealthCon I, II and III are here, here and here.

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Now officially an arm of the Conservative party

...get over it!

The Harper team is in big big trouble. When they start calling on their friends to abandon all sense of non-partisanship and to overtly endorse them, you know harper is desperate. The National Citizens Coalition is saying stay the course, Harper and the Conservatives have the answer.

The pretence is gone behind the NCC. They are now officially an arm of the Conservative party!

'What this country needs is a government that will keep spending under control, and do all it can to help small businesses. Except for the Conservative party, all our federal parties have proposed to significantly increase spending, increase taxes or increase both. One has to look no further than Bob Rae’s Ontario of the 1990s to see that increased spending and increased taxes resulted in an economic disaster.' NCC Blog

and more

'...So before you bombard me with e-mails accusing me of being bias towards the Conservative party - get over it!'

I'm over it!

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New NDP ad

see more here

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Harper team in trouble

Desperation is setting into the Conservative party and its supporters after a week of falling polling numbers. The Prime Minister has finally woken up to the issue of the economy and it may be a little late. His plan to continue with 50 Billion dollar tax cut for corporations will remove much revenue for government and its ability to react to financial crisis like we are experiencing today.

The Liberals Dion has recently dropped his green shift as his primary talking point and spends a good deal more time talking about the economy, but to date he has not indicated how he will do that other than to call Premiers to Ottawa for a meeting. The meeting idea may have merit, but you would think they would have a plan to present.

The NDP have been talking about the economy for some time. Layton has insisted he would not institute the 50 Billion tax cut that Harper has on the books and Dion has said he will implement. Layton has as well said he would protect our pensions. No other leader in this campaign has said they will do this. With markets plunging our nest eggs are disappearing.

In the United States The Obama campaign is proposing to raise taxes for the very wealthy and corporations. Obama says he will not go forward with massive tax cuts for Corporations and the wealthy. As you read above, Harper and Dion both plan to go ahead with the Harper tax cuts for corporations.

Harper is talking about his ability to manage the economy, here are a few examples of his work...

Harper has followed the mantra of reducing government over-site of the economy. This flows from efforts to allow more self regulation in the banking industry and insurance. Further the Conservative government has moved to reduce government involvement in business in general.

Some examples of this, a refusal to address regulating the cell phone industry and their new charges, in particular with respect to text messages and the highest cost cell phones in the western world. The Conservatives have refused to address the banking industry and the highly profitable ATM and personal banking fees. To that list there is the outrageous rates charged on credit cards.

Likely one of the best examples of the cost to Canadians of deregulation is food industry. They have followed the Liberals (Liberals cut 1300 inspectors beginning in 1995) in reducing the number of inspectors and reporting. As has just come to light, earlier this year the Conservatives removed a regulation that required food processing plants to inform the government inspectors when they found bacteria. The government inspector would then over see the clean up. If this regulation were still in place there is a good chance the recent Listeria outbreak may have been avoided.

Add to these examples the recent cut to the GST which have removed 10 billion dollars a year for the federal government coffers. That loss of revenue has not been matched by increases in others. Now we can also include lost revenues due to the crash in commodity prices. This is putting pressure on the federal budget which has already slipped into a deficit for the first few months of the fiscal year.

The Harper government is still following the Bush/Reagan trickle down plan. That plan helped drive the US into a recession in the 80's and has contributed a great deal to the current economic crisis. Add to all this that Jim Flaherty was also the Ontario Provincial Finance minister during the Mike Harris Government that saw government deregulation, job losses and massive deficits.

This election Harper says he is the one to trust. Harper had no experience running a government prior to becoming prime minister. Dion and Layton have not led a government. So while Liberals and Conservatives can claim to have been in government, they can't claim to have experienced leaders. That puts them both on par with Layton. That says to me, look at the platforms. Who will be there for you and your family? Who will work to protect jobs, the environment and health care?

I don't think I need to spell it out beyond that, do I?

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TWO points and climbing...

TWO points and climbing...

Where is the campaign going? Who is shoring up support and who is visiting Liberal ridings? It seems the Liberals are into ridings these days that they hold. They are being deafened by the foot steps behind them. That is Jack Layton, now spending his time in Liberal and Conservative country as the Liberals Bobbing for Votes find themselves coming up empty handed in places like this... Perhaps Stephane will run into Jack on the trail...

OTTAWA — The confident New Democrats are riding the momentum of favourable poll results right into the heart of Liberal-held seats to close out the campaign’s second-to-last weekend.

NDP Leader Jack Layton’s campaign convoy will truck into Liberal country in Newfoundland and Labrador and Thunder Bay, Ont., while Liberal Leader Stephane Dion tries to hang on to the seats his party has....

...A Canadian Press Harris-Decima post-debate poll released Saturday suggests the NDP has closed the gap with the Liberals and now trail by just two points.... Ottawa Sun

Under strict orders not to intervene

Boys raped while Canadian soldiers told to look away

Monkey don't see, don't hear, don't tell. In what is turning up as one of the horrific stories of the war in Afghanistan, our Canadian soldiers have been told to ignore and not act. Young boys are being raped, sometimes very brutally. The Harper government has heard about this for months. In June NDP Defence critic, Dawn Black raised this concern with the government demanding an inquiry and action.

Ottawa Citizen, October 3, 2008: ...In July, Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Walter Natynczyk confirmed that a board of inquiry would be convened into the allegations. The military is now ready to proceed, according to the Defence Department.

"We expect the Board of Inquiry to be convened in the coming days," a department official wrote in an e-mail.

"The government takes allegations of sexual abuse, even those not directly involving our troops, very seriously," the official wrote in the e-mail. "An investigation is underway to establish the facts surrounding these allegations."

"The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service also started an investigation in July 2008 into the allegations. The Defence Department declined to release further details, citing a concern that could compromise the investigation.

That investigation was prompted by a complaint in the spring from NDP defence critic Dawn Black, who had been approached by a soldier upset by the sexual abuse of boys at the hands of Afghan officers. The soldier told Ms. Black he and his fellow troops were under strict orders not to intervene.

"What I was told was this was a Thursday-night ritual and they weren't to do anything about it," Ms. Black said yesterday. "I outlined what I was told and asked (the Defence Department) for an investigation."

Ms. Black said she was disappointed it had taken months before the Defence Department acted on her complaint."...

Why has it taken the Harper government so long to take action on this case? Is it some desire to limit bad press, some deep ingrained homophobia? I suggest it is a bit of both. I can only imagine the horror these boys face and the emotional trauma they will have to endure their entire lives, whether they be straight or gay. Ignoring these boys, the victims of rape, sometimes extremely violent, is unconscionable.

It seems its about priorities. Why has it taken the Harper government so long to find those that approved and directed our soldiers to ignore and simply walk away from boys who are being raped?

Good people, like our soldiers, are suffering from some of the brutal scenes they have witnessed.

The Toronto Star, on Jun 16, 2008 spoke to Military Chaplain Jean Johns, in June. She told the Star '... she recently counselled a Canadian soldier who said he witnessed a boy being raped by an Afghan soldier, then wrote a report on the allegation for her brigade chaplain.

In her March report, which she says should have been advanced "up the chain of command," Johns says the corporal told her that Canadian troops have been ordered by commanding officers "to ignore" incidents of sexual assault. Johns hasn't received a reply to the report.'

Jones told the Miltary in March of these events and of the order troops were given not to interfere. She had not heard a response to her report as of the June 16 story in the Toronto Star.

"It's ridiculous," an officer told the Star. "We have an ethical and moral responsibility to pursue this, not to shut our eyes to it because it would make it more difficult to work with the Afghan government. "We're supposed to be in Afghanistan to help people who are being victimized."

The independent claims bolster the credibility of an account provided by Cpl. Travis Schouten, a Canadian soldier who served in Afghanistan from September 2006 through early 2007 and now suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder. A Star story Saturday detailed an allegation levelled by Schouten that during his tour, he heard an Afghan national army soldier abusing a young boy and then saw the boy afterwards with visible signs of rape trauma, his bowels and lower intestines falling out of his body.

I will be upfront here. I am not happy with Canada's military role in Afghanistan. Over 100 dead Canadian soldiers makes this war too much. Then tolearn of Canadian troops having to endure the 'screams of young boys' is too much. It seems our Military leadership have other priorities than to act humanitarily in all circumstances involving ordinary Afghan citizens.

There are many more reasons for Canadians to be upset with the mission in Afghanistan, this just happems to be one of the more horrific reasons...

Away from it all

A day away from all that election stuff. I'm away to the farm for a couple of days, deep in the Lanark Highlands of Ontario. Off the grid and enjoying it. Back to normal programming Monday!