Quick Notes On The KAIROS Funding Cuts

The Star article mentions "anti-Semitism"--code here for criticizing Israel--as Minister Kenney's justification for the cuts. Note that the main charge:

"We have de-funded organizations, most recently, like KAIROS who are taking a leadership role in the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign" against Israel, [Kenney] told the Global Forum for combatting anti-Semitism.

...is denied by KAIROS executive director Mary Corkery here:

Corkery, who said she was shocked by Kenney’s comment, said her group has been critical of some of Israel’s actions but has not supported a boycott.

Furthermore, the notion that KAIROS might have had questionable unacceptable political leanings is rather belied by the very good reviews that Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), its funding body, has given it over the years, including February of this year.

The 2nd article above from the T.O. Sun hints at who the Tories might be pandering to with this decision: B'nai Brith and Charles McVety's gang at the Canadian Christian College. Both organizations have targeted KAIROS for years now. Here's a recent clip of McVety denouncing the group as "leftist ideologues".

This, plus KAIROS criticism of Alberta tar sands development, probably left them cruisin for a bruisin.

Some Things Require No Translation

This accusation of climate science malfeasance comes from here---the Moscow Based Institute for Economic Analysis (IEA), led by this Russian Libertarian and senior fellow at the CATO Institute. Though the site is in Russian, note the banner links down the left side of the page: Fraser Institute, Cato Institute, Hayek Institute, Freedom House. That's how you know its all crap.

More by Mr. Lambert.

Warman Vs. White

Ottawa human rights lawyer Richard Warman is down in Roanoke, VA, testifying in the trial of Neo-Nazi leader William A. White. There's even a nifty blog devoted to the trial. One of the interesting things about this case is that Ezra Levant, lost in the furious foaminess of his own mind, once questioned the very existence of Mr. White, suggesting that he might be a CHRC plant. This inspired a nasty reply from the man (White) himself:

... I assure you, I am not merely an ethereal apparition of the God of the Light and Order, opposed eternally to your race of demons, but I have material form as well.

Dunno whether Ezra's updated his theories on White's material form etc. He seems pretty bummed out these days from the collapse of the Speechy Jihad.

Yeah They're Bullet Holes

Stephen Taylor makes a desperate attempt to avoid assassination joke equivalency by producing the very "paper holes" istock file used by the Tories in their ill-advised "Dion surrounded by bullet holes picture".

Except he doesn't reproduce the entire page from istock (screenshot above).

Note the keywords for the file, esp. where I've placed the black arrow: Tiro al blanco. Hmmm! Wonder what that means. Click click click! Say, it means "target shooting"! Booyah! Just as suspected, the holes are the holes shot in a paper target!

So lets wheel out the apologies, Taylor, starting with PM Harper's mama and working its way down. One from Harper himself and, for me personally, one from Stockwell Day. Because Stockwell Day just annoys me. Remember, Stephen, its always best to apologize upfront. The scandal fades quicker that way.

And pull the offending pic from the CPoC website. And, oh yeah, you're getting creamed in my poll.

PS. Just to be clear, here's a shot of the file's keywords in English: not the English expression "target shooting".

Yowza! Iggy Should Force An Election!

The survey by The Canadian Press Harris-Decima, indicates support for the Conservatives stands at 34 per cent nationally, compared to 28 per cent for the Liberals, 14 for the NDP and 13 for the Greens.

[...]

Given the margin of error, the results are essentially no different than the 36-27 split garnered by the two parties earlier this fall when the government appeared to be on a roll and the Liberals in free-fall.

Just kidding. Do anything like that and Der Volk apparently get pissed off. But on the other hand, opposing a little harder--sandbagging C-15 and other bullshit Tory "law and order bills" in the Senate--doesn't seem to have done any harm so far. So why not do more of it, in the HOC? Why are a bunch of unelected geezers in the upper chamber the sole receptacle of the gonads of the LPoC? Huh, Iggy? Any genitalia available for display?

A "Blast" From The Tory Past

Don't remember anyone apologizing for the drawing of Iggy pointing a gun at Dion, from the Tory website during last year's election campaign.

h/t

Me On CBC

I got an email yesterday afternoon from CBCs Ryan Hicks: would I be willing to appear on a bloggers panel with none other than Stephen Taylor to discuss the Libs photo contest gone awry ? The result is here, You have to scroll to the start of hour number two (that is, about 1:10 in), as we got bumped from the five fifteen spot by (frankly) more important events--rumours of prorogation and the like. Weird thing: I promised Ryan Hicks that I wouldn't trash Kady O'Malley on air for not reporting endlessly on ClimateGate, and then she didn't even show up!

The highlight is probably at the end where Taylor claims that "ad hominom attacks never work", these words intoned with well-faked sincerity.

Afterwards, stuck downtown, I tried taking myself out for a victory dinner. But Reillys, with the City's best wings, is gone, and everything along Yonge Street was packed. I finally settled on a Firken pub off Queen. I considered telling them that I shouldn't really have to pay because I had been on CBC, but didn't. They fucked up my order anyway.

In any case, the video segment begs the question: when seen together on the same television screen, who is hotter, me or Stephen Taylor? Readers may feel free to watch it and then take the following poll:

Gone Already: Libs Pull Controversial Cartoon

Before and After. It was above the picture of, I think, Madonna, and below the "Warming, what warming?". You can see it in the cache copy.

Anyway, a one day story remains a one day story (especially if an apology follows).

Kim Campbell Strikes Back!

Copenhagen, Dec. 15, 2009 – Mikhail Gorbachev and The Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell have joined prominent business leaders, scientists and artists calling on Prime Minister Harper to “dispel perceptions of defeatism” and to “rally the Canadian people” toward a clean energy economy in a joint letter delivered today.

Incidentally, yesterday's Copenhagen stunt was pulled by the Yes Men and, as was reported here first, one of the victims was talk jock Dave Rutherford of "The Dave Rutherford Show". Booyah!

Assassination Jokes Are Never Funny

Bloviating aside, Jago's got a point. Not that the Tories haven't done something similar, but they pulled that picture down...eventually.

The rest of the Stephen Harper Anywhere But Copenhagen Photo Challenge are here. Most are quite good, although one or two stretch the boundaries of good taste where the context is the website of a major political party.

Edmonton Radio Station Pranked By Climate Hoaxers?

As you probably know by now, Canada was subject this morning to a very elaborate (and quite wonderful) hoax in Copenhagen, wherein a fake press release from Environment Canada went out saying that Canada would be making much stronger commitments than originally claimed. This was followed by a fake news conference by the (fake) Ugandon delegation, and links to a fake online Wall Street Journal with a fake story by a fake journalist named Gustav Rainer.

Did I say these were all fake? Well, it looks like 880 AM out of Edmonton got rooked particularly hard, for it appears that they contacted/were contacted by "Mr. Rainer" and did an interview with him:

Gustav Rainer is a freelance journalist with the Wall Street Journal. He was the writer in Copenhagen who penned the story that Ottawa was prepared to meet new emission reduction targets, and provide billions in aid to help poor countries in this regard. The email Rainer says he received even quoted Environment Minister Jim Prentice.

It turns out the information Rainer received was a hoax. He put up a brave front, while a guest of 630 CHED's Dave Rutherford Monday morning.

"Yes I wrote it," said Rainer. "I've been freelancing for the Wall Street Journal, but unfortunately, I think it'll be the last time I do."

Rainer says he is, however, disappointed the information was fake, adding a number of reporters in Copenhagen have been hoping for an announcement like this to happen.

Suckered out in the oil patch! Interviewing one of the hoaxers and not catching on! But on the other hand, whoever is behind this stunt gets a 10 for technical excellence.

Whose Behind The Enviro Canada Fake Press Reliease?

...that Kady writes about here. I'm betting its the folks (whoever they might be) behind the Canadian Tourism Federation. Both this and the fake release website seem quite official looking. Even if not, their intro video is more than worth a look.

Pray For Me

I have the day off and will be attempting to assemble a Walmart table with these weird things called tools. A lot of them look kind of sharp.

Also, is there anything out there that works the same way as a hammer but doesn't make so much noise? I just find them very noisy.

Henrik Svensmark Has Heart Attack During Climate Change Debate?

So says this report from Copenhagen. Mr. Svensmark was engaged in a live debate when he collapsed on stage. Presumably, he was pushing the solar/global warming connection, of which he is the main proponent. Not too many people buy his theories re. climate change and the sun, but they apparently have inspired in some interesting discoveries re cosmic rays and atmospheric chemistry. Here are a couple of earlier posts I've written on the man.

Sarah Palin In Hamilton!

The Good News: she's coming up here to help kill a few babies and raise funds to keep our death panels running smooth! I guess $200,000 for a couple hours of free-form babbling can do a lot to make your principles a more flexible.

National Citizens Coalition Caves To Tories

The NCC published a booklet entitled "Tales From The Tax Trough" in which they claimed that

MP Tony Clement and two political staffers spent $30 000 to fly to Kenya to deliver a $150,000 cheque.

In response, Tony Clement wrote the NCC a letter demanding that--even though the claim was factually accurate--all reference to his trip be dropped from NCC publications.

AND...THEY...DID!

Gerry Nichols, who once worked at the NCC, is right pissed-off at them.

And, by the way, even if Clement, as claimed, flew economy-class both ways, that's still only about $3,000 return per each of his two staffers and himself. Where did the other $20,000 go?

Oddly Appropriate

...that an old mining/petroleum industry guy turned fake scientist should be covered in The Star by someone whose regular beat is the state of kid's hockey.

3 Out Of 9 Kind Of Sucks: 2/3rds Of Morgentaler Protesters Kept Their Snowflakes!

Last week we discovered that Frank Chauvin, the fellow who launched a court-challenge against Henry Morgentaler's Order of Canada back in 2008, and who had threatened to return his own snow-flake in protest, eventually decided to hang onto the thing.

One of the articles that discussed his decision also mentioned that:

...at least eight other recipients had [returned their Order of Canada], in order to pursue the judicial review.

And in another article on the same topic, it was stated that:

On Wednesday, former New Brunswick lieutenant-governor Gilbert Finn returned his Order of Canada in protest.


So I thought: hmmm! I wonder how many of the original nine protesting recipients actually followed through. And I wrote the following email to the GG's office:

Mr. Gilbert Finn claimed in 2008 that he had returned his Order of Canada to protest the awarding of the same medal to Dr. Henry Morgentaler. However, when I check Mr. Finn's entry there is nothing there to indicate that the award was actually returned. Can this be confirmed somehow? Also, there were 8 other recipients who claim to have returned their medal for the same reason. Would it be possible to confirm if there were any actual returns made in 2008?

M.J. Murphy
Toronto, Ontario
Canada

And yesterday the GG's office finally responded:

Dear Mr. Murphy:

Thank you for your email. Mr. René Racine, Ms. Jacqueline Richard and Cardinal Jean Claude Turcotte resigned from the Order of Canada in 2008. The Honourable Gilbert Finn has not resigned.

Thank you for taking the time to write.

Yours sincerely,

Denis Poirier
Assistant Director / Directeur adjoint
Chancellery of Honours / Chancellerie des distinctions honorifiques
Office of the Secretary to the Governor General
Bureau du secrétaire du gouverneur général1
, promenade Sussex Drive
Ottawa ON K1A 0A1
t: 613.991.5845
t: 1.800.465.6890
f: 613.991.1681depoirier@gg.ca
www.gg.cawww.mentor2009.gg.ca

So three out of nine actually walked the talk, while the other six (often after having received much fawning media attention from right-wing columnists for their "bravery" in confronting the "culture of death" and etc.) had second thoughts. Sucked out, as a matter of fact.

Now, one happy sub-story here is the fact that Alphonse Gerwing's name is missing from the list above. Mr. Gerwing had passed away in 2007, and in fact it was his brother and sister who were contemplating sending back the snowflake in his name. This caused a rift within the family--Ralph Gerwing spoke to the matter here--and so in the end I think it a good thing that calmer heads prevailed.

Attawapiskat School Confirmed...

...by both Charlie Angus and INAC itself. Doesn't sound like it will get done in a hurry, though:

"INAC has dedicated an amount of $200,000 to assist the First Nation in updating its school capital planning study," said Susan Bertrand, manager of communications for INAC.

"Funding is also planned for the design and construction phases for subsequent years."

In fact, it is somewhat unclear to me how much this moves actual construction forward from the 2012 date bandied about previously.

A start at least, though: nobody should have to go to school in a trailer, esp. around Timmins in the winter.

More background here.

Jason Kenney And The Case Of Gay Romeo

From the date-stamp, it seems that the tweet was first composed at about 4am, December 11, 2009. Early morning, then--one of those dead, quiet times in which the mind is flooded with late-night thoughts. Who am I? What have I become now that Youth has fled me?

And then it is retweeted, as though after a moment of profound consideration: "Gay Romeo. Yes! Gay Romeo indeed!"

And then it is scrubbed from the official Jason Kenney twitter site: "Too Soon! Too Soon!".

Perhaps. I am of course speculating wildly. But it would be interesting to ask Mr. Kenney: who is Gay Romeo? And why this morning did you tweet his name?

PS. In fact I suspect a "twitter hack". It's happened before.