Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

The Conservative MPs are sending out pathetic polls asking “Do you support Stephen Harper’s tax cuts? [] Yes [] No”. As if that isn’t bad enough, I found one blowing in the wind outside of my apartment building. I picked it up, and it was from Gerry Ritz. One big problem; he’s the MP for Battlefords-Lloydminster which is over 400km away! The flyer didn’t blow here, I found others like it in the junk mail discard bin under the mail boxes. What the heck are his MP communication flyers doing in Regina?

I think the Conservatives are spamming names of their non-disgraced MPs in places other than where they are elected, to try and got non-compromised names in front of the public. Lukiwski, Vellacott, contribute to the growing, and unflattering list of Saskatchewan Conservatives with serious scandals in the not so distant past.

Wandering Coyote noticed this sham attack advertising which uses your tax money (to respond to MPs, and I won’t confirm to receive it from them, but I suspect that too) in the guise of MP-constituent communication. She also learned officially why it’s happening.

I think Ritz’s propaganda ending up in Ralph Goodale’s riding, is not by coincidence.

–
Hat tip to Ryan A.

==

And it really couldn’t be more fitting than having a Blob of Oil speaking for Harper’s Conservatives in the latest Flash attack ads on Dion. It fits so well - slimy, out of Alberta, and ready to cause more global warming. See willyoubetricked.ca if you’re interested in seeing the ridiculous ad.

I’ll have more about the Conservatives’ problems in advertising this week, but for now, feast your eyes on the party’s willyoubetricked.ca ? I’m not going to link to the site, if you’re really curious you’ll get to copy/paste it. Someone sent me the site in an effort possibly to social-market it (and hey they were partly successful, I’m talking about it). Unfortunately there will be some people who see the site that will be convinced by the lies on it. Fortunately for the Liberals and other parties, those people were probably already Conservative voters anyhow.

Since there’s no official contact email on the website, you can only assume the Conservatives don’t want the average visitor to know they are behind the parody of their ridiculous official position. You could email them at willyoubetricked@gmail.com and ask why their website performs so slowly (it’s made entirely of Adobe Flash), or why they don’t have their party’s logo on it. Anyway, it’s pre-election, election advertising at its worst.

But hey, when you’re Big Oil’s Stool Pigeon, you have to poop somewhere. Might as well be on the WWW. More progressive bloggers were sent the site too.

==

And the Liberals too sent out a funny call to members the other week.

“An Urgent Message from the National Campaign Co-Chairs,” was the subject! No kidding! We all know what to do when you see “An Urgent Message” in your inbox…

Expecting a Nigerian scam sob story, I wasn’t disappointed.

Dear Liberal Friends:

The events of the past few weeks have made it clear that we need to ensure the Liberal Party wins the next election.

We have a Conservative Government that had its offices raided by Elections Canada, its Minister of Foreign Affairs resign over his failure to safeguard national security documents and its Finance Minister managed to return us to the brink of a deficit that Canadians worked so hard to erase.

In order to win the next election, we need to ensure that the Liberal Party and Liberal riding associations have the resources to win nationally and locally. We know the Conservatives have millions to spend as they struggle to cling to power. We cannot let them succeed.

By joining the Victory Fund, Liberals will help build a strong national party and strong local riding associations. After the tax credit is applied, the actual cost of a $10 monthly donation is only $2.50!

$2.50 a month to defeat Stephen Harper.
…
The Liberal Party needs your help – please join the Victory Fund today.

Yours sincerely,
Senator David Smith
Nancy Girard
Mark Marissen

And if that pitch doesn’t work, there’s probably an autoworker job waiting for you if you contribute.

If two Liberals fight in the political wilderness, does a tree land on either, or both of them?

Two prominent blogging Liberals are bickering over the Green Party’s carbon tax proposal. Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has suggested recently that the Liberals would steal that platform plank from the Greens (just like we’ve been begging them to do!), except he apparently didn’t bother to learn the sales pitch that goes along with a “carbon tax increase”. Naturally, other taxes are proportionally decreased, leaving people with the same level of money, an improved atmosphere, and greener economy.

A name well known in southern Saskatchewan is Amber Redman. She went missing years ago, and her remains were found this year. One of the men charged with her murder, had been in jail previously (as reported on CBC Morning Edition). He had raped someone, and shot another woman in the face! Guess how much time he was sentenced to? 4 Years! If that judge isn’t kicking himself/herself now, he/she ought to be. If the latest verdict is guilty, let’s hope the next isn’t so lenient.

The Fort is on a bad streak of violent stories, for such a small town. I would certainly think twice about attending any house party there with alcohol.

–

In regard to reducing the dangers of alcohol, here’s one theory that may be worth considering.

==

Aaron at BTC pointed out the Conservatives’ latest website blunder (http://www.conservative.ca/EN/2874/100160). Also interesting is that the Conservatives’ own slogan has apparently failed, so they are attempting to write the Liberals’ too, “Stéphane Dion’s Liberals. They’re just not worth the risk.” Paraphrased as: I know we’re terrible, but the Liberals are just not worth the risk! Don’t even go there girlfriend.

Also related in that blog post to this one, is that youth crime needs to be nipped in the bud whether it’s downtown Toronto, or small town Saskatchewan. Idle hands, wrapped around alcohol and a knife/gun, are never going to lead to anything good. Give those hands something constructive to do, such as making music, and maybe tragedy will be avoided more often than not.

Wells goes over the top, and I guess he did it on purpose, because look, I’m writing about his ridiculous comparison. To compare one of Canada’s leading environmentalists, and the leader of the Green Party to traditionally pro-establishment/NDP and environment-ambivalent Buzz Hargrove, is frankly absurd.

Channeling my inner-Wells, let me just say that Stephen Dion is Canada’s worst hybrid nightmare because it would never call an election, but if it did, it’d be sure to let other MPs vote about it while it leaves the room.

There’s also a whole schwack of commenters on Wells’ blog who seem to think it’s a good idea to exclude smaller political parties from televised debates. If televised time isn’t going to swing an election, why did the Conservatives try so hard to cheat an extra ~$1.2 worth of airtime out of the last election? Do the mainstream parties have buddies running defense at the head of the TV and media stations running the next televised debate? They’ll keep May out of the spotlight for those short hours, because they know it will strengthen the slide of voters away from the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP.

UPDATE: May has responded, not really to this, but to the next smear, and that’s one where the Conservatives are vividly SMACKED down. If there were any justice, talk radio would be playing Nelson from the Simpsons saying HA HA after reading what Harper said about Canada, compared to what May just wrote. If the Cons are going to open that “pride in country” can of worms, they are going to get vermicomposted!

The drive by smear of my reputation attacked my love of country. It claimed I had said Canada had the worst government on earth. The Harper lackeys claimed this showed “shocking ignorance of the deplorable human rights situations faced by other people around the world.” I am quite well aware of shocking human rights situations. We held a press conference last week decrying the human rights abuses of the government of Colombia and urging that Canada not proceed with a new trade pact with Colombia. What I said at the Global Greens Congress in Sao Paulo (and anyone can see it on YouTube was part of a speech on climate change, setting out the response of governments around the world to the climate crisis:

“I am ashamed to admit that the Canadian government is now the worst in the world.”

[...]

What is galling about being attacked is that I believe Canadians are the most blessed people on earth, living in a beautiful and wealthy country, one that prizes community and shared well-being. I am fiercely loyal to Canada and regard receiving the honour of being an Officer of the Order of Canada as the greatest of all honours. (By the way, none of the other leaders have received the Order of Canada). Having received it, I stand on guard for Canada. So the gall of these nasty little minions in issuing a press release attacking my love of country began to raise my ire.

And then the irony hit me. Who do we know who went about attacking those very qualities that makes Canada such an incredibly generous and wonderful place to live?

These are quotes from Prime Minister Harper when he headed the National Citizens Coalition.

Here’s one from a letter he wrote to the National Post in 1997:

“Canada appears content to become a second tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second rate status.”

Or this one from 1997, which was part of a speech he delivered to the right wing Council for National Policy:

“Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term and very proud of it.”

And he made that statement in the United States. Hard not to see a real problem with love of country in those speeches.

–
Hat tip to Mark, and also to Mike of RationalReasons.

Overload!

My friend 1337 Hax0r is considering putting $1000 at stake, if the Liberal Party of Canada brings down the Conservative government in less than one month from the ‘wager’. What more can a blogger do at this point? The Cadman bribery scandal continues to go unpunished, and we’re left with a government content to let Canadians languish (or die) in foreign jails, and claim $1200 of taxable income is enough to cure child poverty.

If Canadians don’t start caring a lot more about having a good government, we’re in for a lot worse. History has shown that to be the obvious outcome of an apathetic and unempowered people. And I can’t think of better adjectives to describe the Liberals right now than apathetic, and unempowered.

Jason Cherniak - Liblogs President, or liBorgs King?

- Jason Cherniak may not be exactly as shown

Comment from Jason Cherniak (to Chris Tindal of the Green Party of Canada)
Time: March 18, 2008, 10:21 am

Join us…

The election results from last night aren’t even cold yet! I like Chris’s response.

What is Chris doing for the Liberal Party? He’s building its competition. It’s not easy being different, but it sure feels good to know that you’re unique and stick to doing what people need.