KLRvu: New Pollsters On The Block

The folks at Democratic Space are relatively sympathetic towards Allan Bruinoodge's new venture:

On the question of methodology, we are less concerned about the use of touchtone polling in general — where questions are pre-recorded, voters are called randomly, and asked to press ‘1′ or ‘2′ etc in response to different questions. No doubt this type of survey has some selection bias in that some people will simply hang up because there is no live person on the other end. More importantly, since there is no screening, it does not ensure that the respondent is an actual eligible voter (although realistically there is no way to ensure this with traditional polling either — essentially we have to take the person’s word for it). The selection bias is probably not that significantly different than traditional polling (a live person asking the questions), where people can also refuse to participate. At issue is whether supporters of one party/candidate are more or less likely to not participate than others. It seems unlikely — that is, Conservative voters are probably just as likely to hang up as Liberal voters as NDP voters and so on. Likewise, are people who are not eligible voters more likely to participate using touchtone polling than traditional polling? Probably not. So, we’re not prepared to discount the use of touchtone polling in general.

One difference between this and KLRvu's earlier, ill-fated Morgentaler Order-of-Canada poll is that referring to Dr. Morgentalor as "abortionist Henry Morgentaler " is probably going to skew your participation rate. Morgetaler supporters will be more likely to get angry and hang-up, nay-sayers will be more likely to complete the poll. Hence the curious result.

Meanwhile, Scott has some interesting new information on KLRvu's polling methodology.

Tory Reb Speaks, Claims Over A Dozen Tory Riding Associations Being Suppressed By CPoC HQ!

Charles Conn ran for the Reform Party in the riding of Mississauga West back in 1993, losing to Carolyn Parrish. More recently, he has been a persistent critic of the CPoC's commitment to its party grass roots when it comes to the matter of nominating candidates. I have chronicled his complaints against the process which produced Melissa Bhaghat here, and is in the process of anointing Lisa Raitt, here.

Mr. Conn's recent letter to FreeDominon on the Raitt situation raised a number of issues for me. For example, one FreeD denizen responded to Mr. Conn as follows:

The National Councillors of the CPC are simply acting on the authority given to them in the
"new" party's constitution.

5.3 Electoral district associations shall comply with such requirements as to their governance, financial management and reporting, as may be implemented by National Council by by-law or otherwise.

The term "or otherwise," pretty much covers anything Don Plett or Doug Finley and company might want to do. If conservative members don't like their constitution they should either work to change it or rip up their membership and quit supporting the party.

(Note: CPoC Constitution and other backing documents can be found here)

I wanted some response from Mr. Conn to this comment.

Secondly, Mr. Conn had written:

National Councillors know full well what's going on....

[...]...they can read the media accounts that relate the destruction being wrought, not just in southern Ontario, but also in Quebec, the Maritimes, Manitoba, Alberta and B.C. just in the last year. And probably three time as much damage is being done in ridings lacking the juice to fight back or get media attention.

And I wondered where some of these other riding associations might be.

So I emailed Mr. Conn! The following is an annotated version of our exchange, which he has allowed me to publish here.

On the first point, and to summarize, Mr. Conn believes that, since the Rob Anders affair (wherein Mr. Anders won his riding nomination by means contrary to Conservative Party rules) , the CPoC consititution has been altered so as to kneecap decision-making on the part of local riding associations. He notes that, before changes made in July 2007, the Constitution contained the following clause:

2. e. The CNC shall: i. conduct a fair and effective recruitment, nomination and selection process etc. etc. etc.

...which post July 2007 has been changed to

2. i. The CNC shall administer a candidate nomination and selection process etc. etc. etc.

Mr. Conn writes:

This was just one of the many changes made to the Rules and Procedures following the Anders case in Calgary. They were designed by PoliOps, accepted by National Council and effectively render riding associations otiose.

Just to throw in another, particulary nasty example:

8.b. National Council may alter, abridge or suspend any of the Rules as it sees fit.

...which is also from the "Candidate Nomination Rules and Procedures", July 2007 version.

On the second point (in which ridings specifically is Tory HQ trampling over the rights of local riding associations), Mr Conn wrote to me as follows:

Vancouver Quadra (both parties), Calgary West, Wild Rose, an "Eastern Townships" riding (unnamed) in which David Marler, a Knowlton lawyer, was told he wasn't wanted as a candidate after months of informal campaigning. The party preferred Mark Quinlan, aide to Christian Paradis, secretary of state for agriculture, Casey case in Nova Scotia. A hasty search of my files couldn't locate the Manitoba case and since I'm leaving on vacation in a couple of days, would ask you to excuse that one omission.

It looks like most of the instances of "parachuting" are occurring in southern Ontario, but, my speculative bet is we're only seeing reports of about one-third.

Six cases is one third of 18. So, even assuming a little exaggeration on the part of Mr. Conn, we are talking about over a dozen ridings where CPoC HQ is stomping all over the rights of its Membership.

(Note: anyone with an idea of which Manitoba riding Mr. Conn might be talking about, please let me know).

By the way, CharlesConn is not exactly your standard issue Tory. His views on homosexual rights, for example, have been strongly influenced by his observations of gay pets and livestock.

Break Out The Bubbly, Liberals!

Harper's wants to run on Senate Reform!

Dion Can Survive Another Tory Minority

I call bullshit on headlines like:

Election looms -- and only Harper or Dion will survive

Harper's fate aside, what happens to Dion if the result of a Fall election is a smaller Conservative minority? Well, Dion can say he made things better, and that he has made the Libs negotiating position stronger (esp. if Harper must appeal to two opposition parties for support to get anything passed rather than the current one).

He can also look to precedent that says Lib leaders get two elections before they're tossed (a la John Turner).

Furthermore, there is still no mechanism by which you can easily remove a Liberal leader, and thanks to some very stupid decisions made in 2006, the party is still committed to an expensive, drawn-out, archaic, and exclusive delegated convention should any attempt succeed. Take this route and the Libs will stay divided and broke well into 2010.

PS. Not that I'm saying a Tory minority is the most likely outcome. In fact I'm still not convinced Harper's going to drop the writ anytime soon. There's been a fair bit of fear and loathing among the Tories natural allies re "breaking" their own law to get to a campaign. I'm still of the opinion we're all here until October 2009.

The Tories Most Babealicious!

The Tories may be doomed in the GTA, but they sure know how to pick ultra-hot candidates! Today at BCLSB we ask: which of their doomed female candidates is the ultra-hottest?

Will she or won't she? Unconfirmed rumour has it that Lisa Raitt will be parachuted into the riding of Halton to face off against Garth Turner. Our willowy blonde has legal training and is currently CEO of the Toronto Port Authority, where she goes by the title of Harbour Master. Clearly, she knows how to deal with mere men. She hasn't got a prayer against Garth, however, who is not a mere man.

Bilingual, well travelled, experienced on television, and a 5' 8" monument to female pulchritude carved from soft, chewy, caramel candy, Melissa Bhaghat has chosen to fly the Tory flag in Mississauga East-Cooksville. Given that her opponent, Albina Guarnieri, has won the riding since 1988 and is also hot ( in a blond sex-bomb kind of way), I give sweet Melissa very little chance. But its too bad they couldn't both win.

PS. to Melissa's credit, she isn't afraid to be seen with ugly people.

Tory Turmoil In Halton!

With the economy teetering on the edge of recession, government finances in the red, raunchy deli meats flooding the store-shelves of the nation, and even staunch Tories criticizing Stephen Harper's apparent decision to turn his back on his own promise of fixed election dates, the last thing the CPoC needs on the brink of an (alleged) election call is dissatisfied rumblings from the grass roots.

But that appears to be what they're getting!

Charles Conn-- a one man fount of dissension and one of the guys who tried to derail the nomination of the talented and voluptuous Melissa Bhagatt--is now reporting dirty goings on in the riding of Halton! Take it away Charles!

Halton riding has a consistent and active membership of around 550 and a significant amount of money in the bank. It has always had a healthy riding association ­ active in many community events and experienced at winning elections. There have been at least three very well-qualified members who have announced their intention to seek the candidacy for the same two years. All the requirements for holding a candidate selection process have been in place. It is axiomatic that the longer a candidate has to work the riding the more likely he/she is to have a positive influence on the outcome of an election.

However, PoliOps has decided to appoint Lisa Raitt as the Tory candidate in Halton.

Lisa Raitt at least lives in the riding. She is the CEO of the Toronto Harbour Commission. Formerly, she was chief counsel for the THC and was responsible for extracting the $35M penalty from Toronto City Council for their holdup of the Island Airport. Clearly a "Star" candidate!

As an aside, Mr. Conn casts a harsh eye of Ms. Raitt's time at the harbour commision, and suggests that "[i]nvestigators might possibly find it useful to also probe Toronto city councillors and mayor Miller about Ms. Raitt's tenure at THC". (Note: a quick GoogleNews search for "Raitt" and "Toronto Harbour Comission" yields nothing even slightly scandalous. Oh well!)

However, most interesting is Mr. Conn's account of how PoliOps plans to execute its screw-over of the CPoC grassroots. Apparently, Lisa Raitt was presented to the riding BOD early this year as the de facto candidate, but because of the controversy stirred up by L'affaire Bhaghat (partly by me, I'm proud to say!), PoliOps was forced to back off for the time being. However:

The membership in Halton will not be allowed to choose their own candidate. Whenever the writ is dropped for the next federal election, the cover of the call to arms will be used to sneak in Lisa Raitt as the official Party Representative.
[...]
Talk about abusing the membership!

Personally, I find it instructive to observe Tories abusing their Members. But whatever. Conn concludes by alleging that similar take-overs are going on all across the country:

National Councillors know full well what's going on....
[...]
...they can read the media accounts that relate the destruction being wrought, not just in southern Ontario, but also in Quebec, the Maritimes, Manitoba, Alberta and B.C. just in the last year. And probably three time as much damage is being done in ridings lacking the juice to fight back or get media attention.

Has the CPoC abandoned its grass-roots in the raw pursuit of power?

A BCL Public Service Announcement

Meet The Datura Plant, aka Stromonium, aka The Thornapple (note second picture), aka Jimson Weed, aka Jamestown Weed, aka the original Loco Weed, aka Moonflower, aka Hell's Bells, aka Devil's Weed, aka Devil's Cucumber. It has extremely powerful hallucinogenic properties and, because of its historical/botanical association with Belladonna, the first wave of experimenters back in the 1960s and 1970s often found themselves running around naked thinking that they were being chased by witches. It is very powerful stuff, usually a pretty unpleasant experience (or so I have read), and very easy to poison yourself with.

There have been several overdoses reported around Canada and Ontario in the last several years, and a number of jurisdictions have asked residents to cut down any plants seen growing naturally. Back in the day, when I considered myself a bit of s psychedelic warrior, I spent several pleasant summers biking around the Saanich dump in a futile search for examples of the species (they're supposed to grow around dump sites).

However when I was older and came to Toronto, I found them growing everywhere!

Which brings me to the point. These pictures are of a plant I discovered two days ago in a neighbor's garden, obviously bought in a local shop for the striking white flower. And when I say I found them "growing everywhere" in Toronto when I first moved here, I mean I saw them being sold in flower and variety stores all across the city, something which has not really changed over the course of the 20 years or so since.

If these things are such a concern, wouldn't some kind of city by-law banning/restricting their sale, or at least some kind of awareness campaign informing residents as to their dangers, be in order?

The Shorter Jago: My Prank Site Sucked

...and I'm throwing in the towel.

Actually, Robert is trying to sell his steaming pile for "a $10,000 donation towards Ms. Wright’s legal fees."

Tell you what, Bob, I'll offer you a stale pretzel and a bowl of soup. How about that?

KLRvu's Murky World

Short version (long version here):

- The Guelph poll is not a secret attempt by Tory operatives to put local Libs to sleep by providing them with a good, but fake, news story.

- The Poll was allegedly done on the penny of KLRvu proprietor Allan Bruinooge to " raise the profile of his young firm", a claim that, given this, seems credible.

My impression is that KLRvu is positioning itself as a "polls for cheap" alternative to the big houses, with the problems inherent in automated polling (phone spamming) technology overcome by the sheer size of the samples it is possible to gather.

Further background on KLRvu here.

Jack Layton Reveals His Inner Wimp

Now that the Libs have a little wind in their sails, Layton's NDP suddenly lose their stomach for a fight.

My prediction FWIW is that this whole ugly business staggers along until Oct. 2009, with a weakening Tory caucus clinging harder and harder to their perks and position (word to staffers at the HOC cafeteria: count the spoons every night!), and the NDP, looking over their shoulders at the ominous rise of the Green Party, becoming ever more complicit.

I'm looking for a politically correct word that means the same as a "gang of sissies". Anyone got suggestions?

Update: Here come the weak excuses!

We Will Know Soon

Hamilton, Ontario (AHN) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper indicated he is close to announcing a decision this week or next week whether to hold a national election by fall.

I'm betting he balks. Otherwise, the first week of the campaign is about his broken promise re fixed election dates , the privatization of food inspection, and listeria.

Kiss Ontario goodbye, in other words.

Politics Will Do That To You

Ottawa has been bestowed the dubious distinction of "least sex[xx]y" city in Canada by FastLife.ca, which claims to be the country's largest speed-dating service.

Not surprised. Look what they got in the way of man flesh.


I'm also not surprised that Winnipeg came in as "most sexxxy". After all, there's not alot else to do...make that nothing else to do...and in any case compare the local talent.





See? Much better.

Global Warmin

From Here.

Massive Pollers Back In The News

Given the pounding folks laid on KLRvu research in July, I have to take the results of their latest with a grain of salt, even though its encouraging news for Guelph area Liberals.

One interesting thing, though. When Buckets and I were playing around with these guys earlier, the name "Market One Research" came up, whose business model seems very similar to KLRvu's. To make a long story short, it looks like small scale polling (riding level for bye-elections, for example) may often be done by companies that make the bulk of their money as phone spammers.

h/t Scott.

Obama Is Doomed

Maureen Dowd explains why. Especially revealing is the bit about how Bill Clinton got Vlad to invade Georgia while The One was surfing in Hawaii, so as to make him look soft.

And here's the polls to prove it.

Barack Obama, representing the teenage wing of the Democratic Party

Rearranging The Deck Chairs On The Good Ship Denial, Part Duh

This is probably "inside baseball" type stuff of limited interest, but what the hell...

Industry lobbyist David Wojick has given up ownership of the climatesceptics mailing list, citing dissatisfaction with the direction of the list. Co-owner and moderator John Shotsky has taken over. Here's a glimpse of John in action (on a different list):

You seem to forget one thing....EMF's can be measured. No one has been able to validate any of your whacky ideas because no validation of any part of it has happened. It hasn't happened, because it is a crock of shit. You cannot measure what is not there.So why don't you crawl back in your hole and leave reasonable people to debate what is even possible? Haven't you learned from all the other groups that have kicked you and your crackpot ideas off?

Get real. Even better, get a client, seeing as you're a lawyer, not a scientist.Let me repeat that - NOT a scientist.

John

The membership of climatesceptic includes such luminaries of the denialist movement as Tim Ball and Ernst Beck. It is often where you see "refutations" of AGW appear first, before they get fed up the chain to MSM outlets like Fox News. The list's most impressive accomplishment has probably been FREEPING the crap out of Hans von Storch and Dennis Bray's second on-line survey of climate scientists, thus rendering suspect an important piece of scientific research.

Sockpuppets For Lemire?

Someone has been trying to edit Marc Lemire's wiki entry using accounts named after his real life critics, including M.J. Murphy, the pseudonym I employ when not blogging. Wiki suspects Lemire himself. If it is you Marc, then I love you too, but only in a manly non-gay way like those Spartans that ran around in their underwear together in the movie 300. The people at Wiki may say you're a "bad hand", but I think you're just misunderstood.

Yours, BCL.

h/t Ns-Out.

More at AR Canada.

Tories Take Finances Down Toilet

OTTAWA — The federal government has started the new fiscal year in a rare deficit position, announcing Friday it was $517 million in the red after two months as tax cuts and a slowing economy sliced into revenues.

For those who think the Tories won't take a hit for this (yeah you Grumpy one) during a Fall/Spring election campaign, Canadians expect their government to do more than simply ride the ups and downs of the business cycle. That's why the deficits Ernie Eves revealed in his last budgets cost the Ontario Conservatives so heavily. It was though there had been all this pain for zero pay-off.

And I would remind people that, after 9/11 the U.S. economy slid briefly into recession while the Canadian economy, due to some steady economic helmsmanship by Chretien and Co., did not.

In this country Conservatives have to earn the title of "fiscally responsible". It is not given them by default.

More CTF Advice For Tories: Pull On Your Neck-Ties Until It Hurts!

CFP President John Williamson is advising the federal Tories to privatize Canada Post, even though this will almost certainly drive up postal rates for rural Canadians, who currently constitute the bulk of Tory support. The Western Standard's Matthew Johnston asks:

OK, so under this scenario rural people could possibly pay more for mail, while city folk pay more for...housing, for instance. What’s the problem?

Nothing, Matt, nothing. I hope...nay, I pray...that the Harper Tories make stiffing their base in the name of "free enterprise" a plank in their election platform.

Oh these Libertarian kids...so sweet...so innocent.

PS. That's the way you really win the hearts and minds of Canadians! You hand out bridges! Plus I hear Harper has promised Quebec City a giant statue of Mitsou in a little yellow two-piece, made entirely out a locally manufactured pastry sugar!

Straight Outta Canadian Jesus Camp

...there is a new movement afoot. “In this end-time hour a radical generation is being raised up by Holy Spirit with a revelation of the power of mass prayer and fasting,” [Faytene Kryskow]writes . A “tribe of believing radicals” has succeeded in turning the tide. This tribe, it would appear, has convinced the Harper government to become its vehicle of virtue. Kryskow writes, “We now have a government that has been advancing the cause of righteousness and justice on many fronts and a generation that is catching a vision, from sea to sea, to influence every realm of society.”"

Another good piece by Dennis Gruending.

Kryskow, if nothing else, runs a pretty slick website, and the 4MyCanada summer guide makes for interesting reading. Paul Steckle's bill (C-338) criminalizing abortion after 20 weeks is still floating around, for example.

The Canadian Taxpayer's Foundation Offers Tories Election Advice

Senate reform might put some people to sleep, but many voters do not appreciate being governed by unaccountable and non-elected lawmakers.

Yeah, and all 7 of those many live in Alberta and vote Tory anyway. Come election time, could the CPoC Please, please run on Senate reform!

How Can He Do That?

The For Dummies version:

Because here's the thing: Even though we now have a fixed election law, it isn't completely binding on the government that adopted it.

The For Non-Dummies version:

1) The revised Act will NOT let a government that is down in the polls extend its term into a fifth year, a la Mulroney's gang and Bob Rae's hapless Ontario Dippers.

2) The revised act WILL continue to allow a government up in the polls to pull the plug on a parliamentary section and call a snap election, a la Chretien in 2003.

The question really has only ever been will the Tories, having touted Bill C-16, pay a price when and if they try and slip out through one of its loop-holes? Hard to say. If the first week of any election campaign can be made to be about the timing of the election call, then maybe. Think David Peterson.

By the way, Ted at Cerberus wrote about the defects of this Bill C-16 back in May/June of 2006. The MSM is just now catching up, apparently.

Flanders On OCPS Draft Guidelines: Pretty Nice Penis You Got, Wouldn't Want Anything To Happen To It

The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons has informed its Members that refusing treatment for religious reasons may violate the Ontario Human Rights Code and the OCPS code of conduct. This last bit might constitute a modification of OCPS policy. Of course, Flanders sees doom:

There will be the obligatory debate about Christians not being “above the law” and how if they want the job, they must meet the “ethics” of that job. Such a fraudulent portrayal of the question, of course, will be used by the media, I have no doubt. Very little attention will be paid to the odious idea of forcing a Catholic doctor to perform an abortion or to lop off a confused teenager’s penis in order to comply with the established fictional rights pushed by the sexual dictators of our age.

So: the OHRC wants your balls and the only thing standing in their way are the unsullied consciences of Catholic doctors.

Obama On The Oil Sands

"If it turns out that these [carbon sequestration] technologies don’t advance, and the only way to produce these resources would be at a significant penalty to climate change, then we don’t believe that those resources are going to be part of the long-term . . . future,” Jason Grumet, Obama’s senior energy adviser, told reporters in June.

Plans for Alberta carbon sequestration projects are going forward.

Just an FYI. Looks like another quiet news day.

Maurice Vellacott Supports The Right Of Health Care Workers To Only Treat Those They Approve Of!

The Ontario College Of Physicians and Surgeons has advised its members that Freedom of Religion is not absolute and they should take heed of the Ontario Human Rights code when deciding upon whether they will refuse service to potential patients on account of, for example, their sexual orientation. They also note that:

Physicians should be aware that decisions to restrict medical services offered, to accept individuals as patients or to end physician-patient relationships that are based on moral or religious belief may contravene the Code, and/or constitute professional misconduct.

Common sense, right? The needs of the patience trump the doctor's moral quibbles. You wouldn't want someone working in the system who, while they could not in good conscience perform an abortion, refused also to refer a woman to a doctor that would perform such a service (which is the kind of thing we'e talking about here).

Not according to Saskatoon Tory MP Maurice Vellacott. He wants all health-care workers to be able to pick and choose those they treat.

Maurice Vellacott, MP
Saskatoon-Wanuskewin
August 15, 2008
Andréa Foti
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
80 College Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5G 2E2

Dear Ms. Foti,

Canadian physicians have enjoyed a measure of freedom of conscience that other health careworkers do not enjoy.

I have been attempting to remedy that situation for many years through a piece of legislation that would secure this Constitutional freedom for all health care workers. The latest version of this legislation can be found on Canada’s Parliamentary website as Private Member’s Bill C-537, and which I’ve also attached.

Section 2 of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees freedom of conscience for all Canadians. It is a tragedy and an embarrassment that provinces across Canada do not secure freedom of conscience for nurses, medical students and pharmacists. It would be scandalous if Ontario, backed by its Human Rights Tribunal, chose to attempt to roll back this freedom of conscience for physicians as well. I hope that the College ofPhysicians and Surgeons of Ontario would not choose to prematurely concede to an anticipated order from the Tribunal to repeal physicians’ fundamental rights in Ontario.

In recent months Canada has witnessed a much more robust public debate about human rights than we have seen in many years. Ontario Human Rights officials are aware of this debate. It is clear that modern, Constitution-affirming Canadians recognize freedom of conscience as a fundamental human right. You would be on the right side of the issue if you also advanced and vigorously defended that position – for physicians and all other health care workers in Ontario.

Yours sincerely,

The next Human Rights battle in Canada? I sure hope so.

(Go through link for a glimpse of Bill C-537)

Christian Physicians Aren't Above The Law

From the College of Physicians and Surgeons document that is causing all the upset:

• The right to freedom of religion is not unlimited; it is subject to such limitations as are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, morals or the fundamental rights or freedoms of others;

And doctors don't just have to abide by the Ontario Human Rights Code. The College itself might get on their case for professional misconduct. When refusing to treat a patient on account of their (the physician's) religious beliefs, for example, doctors must:

• Provide information about all clinical options that may be available or appropriate based on the patient’s clinical needs or concerns. Physicians must not withhold information about the existence of a procedure or treatment because providing that procedure or giving advice about it conflicts with their religious or moral beliefs.

And what of it? Flanders seems to feel it would be okay for a doctor to lie in the name of the Bearded Sky-Monster. Why? The law is the law. Everyone else has to obey it.

Work For Which I Would Gladly Volunteer

Mariah Carey lives up to her diva reputation as she employs TWO people to towel her dry.

Reminds me of that joke from "What's New PussyCat". Woody Allen explains that he's found work helping the girls dress and undress at a Parisian strip club. When it is noted that 100 francs a week is not much of a wage, Woody says: "Yeah, but its all I could afford."

Rehabilitating Marc Lemire

Without heroes, without victims, the speechy movement amounts to very little beyond a few syllogisms cobbled together from Mill's On Liberty. No, to make it real, to put flesh on the abstractions, its been necessary for Ezra and Steyn and the gang to find examples of good men and women beat down by an out-of-control bureaucracy, to find proud citizens who've fought back against the language police.

Thus far, the best they've managed to come up with is Marc Lemire.

However, Lemire is a problematic figure, and maybe not good hero material. For example, the standard histories (ie wiki) tag him as "President of the often violent Heritage Front organization from January 1, 2001 until the organization folded around 2005." HF was a white supremacist gang, and that's their logo top-left.

But is this claim re the Heritage Front True? Lemire himself has apparently denied it, and just last month FreeD's Mark Fournier (posting as Entropy Squared) challenged his readers to "do what nobody else has been able to do. Source that ridiculous claim."

Well, they've been too busy paying off legal bills at FreeD to take up that challenge, but the folks at Anti-Racist Canada have done so and, not to spoil and wonderfully thorough post, but yeah, Lemire was leader of the Heritage Front. The money quote, from Heritage Front co-founder Gerry Lincoln:

This is more or less an open letter to the new leadership, specifically Marc Lemire, who seems to have assumed the role of head honcho and put his good name on the line.

It's a thankless job, but I guess somebody has to do it.

QED

More On Heritage Canada And Catholic Insight: This Time Its Conspiratorial!

Blazing Cat Fur has been doing a fair job covering the kerfuffle over the Questionable Content Complaint raised against Catholic Insight magazine. Her latest has a few scans of letters from Heritage Canada informing CI that it has been put on a watch list for questionable content, and that issues of it will have to be submitted to the Department of Canadian Heritage for vetting. If CI fails to comply, it may lose its PAP (Publication Assistance Program) subsidy, a sum of money handed out to Canadian magazines to help pay their mail-out costs.

However, BCF has a severe case of the SoCon Conspiracy Theories. You know: Heritage Canada is picking on Christian publications while letting the gays and the Islamists off the hook. Let me quickly deflate a few of her issues:

...in the case of Father de Valk and Catholic Insight I believe a double standard may be at play, that not all animals are equal in the eyes of Heritage Canada, but more on that later. Based on what I have learned to date Heritage Canada has placed Father de Valk on their "watch list" for the same material by and large, that was used as evidence in the recently dismissed Canadian Human Rights Commission complaint raised against him. Father de Valk is in effect both guilty and innocent depending on which Kangaroo is in charge.

It is absolutely true that material which was not considered adequate evidence for convicting de Valk of the HRC complaint levelled against him is now being used as material in his QC complaint.

And that's just because the bar for having your PAP subsidy taken away really is just "being offensive", where this is defined as follows:

[The Magazine]...contain(s) material considered to be hate propaganda, sexual exploitation, excessive or gratuitous violence, denigration of an identifiable group or an any other way offensive.

Note the last phrase especially: "[in]...any other way offensive". Since the HRC ruling in the de Valk case basically stated that CI was offensive, but not offensive enough to meet the commission's standard for hate speech, then the decision is pretty good grounds for arguing that CI is in some way offensive. And of course that the mere fact that a HRC complaint was levelled against CI is in itself evidence that at least some people found its content to be in some way offensive.

Tough shit Father de Valk! Bye Bye free stamps!

In the same way, I have worked material into my QC complaint against Maclean's magazine from the various HRC complaints (that failed) against it. The argument will be: though not offensive enough to trigger an HRC sanction, the material is definitely offensive and therefore Kenneth Whyte ought to pay for his own stamps.

Secondly, BCF tries to draw a comparison between CI and Inside Out Toronto, a gay and lesbian film festival also sponsored by Heritage Canada. Well, yes, but Inside Out is not a publication and therefore not receiving a PAP subsidy. Catholic Insight is being judged specifically on its fitness to receive a PAP subsidy and not some other variety of Heritage Canada funding. This is just a silly attempt on BCF's part to muddy the waters.

Definitely Worth Writing Down

I asked: does The Green Shift become an easier sell now that gas prices have fallen from their highs of a couple months ago? Ted Hsu responds:

I think the answer might be very slightly yes. There is a concept from behavioural finance called 'anchoring'. When gas prices went up over the last few years, people felt that prices were too high because they were used to lower prices in the past, and did not take into consideration how the supply and demand for oil has changed in the past decade.

Now that prices have fallen somewhat, people may feel that gasoline is relatively cheap. Gas prices may not make the news headlines until a new high is reached. A tax on non-gasoline fossil fuels may be more palatable (in combination with the Green Shift's tax cuts)

Here's a good explanation of the psychology behind anchoring.

And, by the way, I've been reading Mr. Hsu's blog for about a month now. Very good stuff on green economics.

Claim That Google Blanked Georgia False--MSM Rooked By Azerbaijanis?

They Fooled Stupid
Western Journalists!

Yesterday, rumors flew that GoogleMaps had blanked areas of Georgia in an attempted to "remain neutral" in the Russia/Georgia conflict. These rumors were traced to the "Information Age" site, and to this cached version of a piece entitled "Google embroiled in Georgian conflict":

Yesterday, it emerged that the company had removed details of all roads, towns and cities in Georgia from its Google Maps online mapping service, as well as from the maps of neighbouring countries Azerbaijan and Armenia. According to the Azerbaijan Press Agency, the relevant maps went blank as soon as fighting broke out. However, satellite information was still available earlier today.

Several observers highlighted the fact that Google co-founder Sergey Brin is Moscow-born.

Meanwhile, Google is involuntarily providing cyber-refuge to Georgian websites that have been disrupted by Russian hackers. Georgian news site Civil.ge relocated to a domain on Google’s Blogger blogging infrastructure after a cyber-attack, reportedly originating in Russia, took the website down."

Well, anyone who took a quick look at Google realized that the maps were still there--they just contain very limited information, as do many of the maps from that part of the world(check out Kazakhstan or Niger, for example)--and today the story appears in an amended form. Apparently, the FP blog, among others, also reported the original story--sourced to allies of the Georgian Republic--uncritically. Suckered again, suckers!

So: a recurring theme. Journalists refuse to spend five minutes with teh Googles, and get rooked...this time by the freaking Azerbaijanis! Shame, stupid journalists! Shame!

French Climate Sceptic Passes Away

As reported on the Climate Sceptic mailing list, retired professor of climatology Marcel Leroux passed away on Tuesday, August 12th, in Marseille, France.

Here is an example of his work.

High Gas Prices As A Natural Carbon Tax, Part Whatever

U.S. Miles travelled 12 month moving average to May (see graph left).

And from Reuters:

U.S. oil demand during the first half of 2008 fell by an average 800,000 barrels per day (bpd) compared with the same period a year ago, the biggest volume decline in 26 years, the Energy Information Administration said on Tuesday.

Question: Now that gasoline has settled at about $1.25 per litre, down from $1.35 a month ago, does the Green Shift become a significantly easier sell?

Take Their Free Stamps! Catholic Insight On Heritage Canada Watch List!

I've been puttering about with my Macleans PAP complaint for a couple of months now, and while the thing is about half-written up, I must say I haven't been putting alot of work into it lately. But now...NEWS designed to drive me to greater efforts! BCF reports:

Of further note is the continuing campaign of harassment against Catholic Insight by the branch of Heritage Canada responsible for funding Magazine Publications which has quietly placed Catholic Insight on a 'Watch List' for 'questionable content'.

Sources close to Father De Valk have confirmed that this report - dated 21/03/2007 'Report to Director, Periodical publishing Policy and Programs - Questionable Content Complaint: Catholic Insight' prepared by Sara Mayes, has resulted in Catholic Insight being required to submit a copy of each issue for screening.

The same sources also confirm the Magazine Publications complaint was initiated by a Toronto based 'Homosexual Activist'.

Two good bits of new information here:

1) The proper name for calling out a magazine that is publishing material in "any...way offensive" while receiving Heritage Canada money is a "Questionable Content Complaint".

2) The complaint should be directed to Director [of] Periodical Publishing Policy and Programs.

None of this information is retrievable from the Heritage Canada website, nor was it revealed to me in any of my email contacts with them.

So look out Kenneth Whyte! You're not being offensive on the taxpayer's dime when I'm around, and when I'm finished with Maclean's you will beg for the language cops.

I Like This Poem Because It Mentions Titties

I also thought it might apply to the Georgia/Russia conflict as much as it did to the Soviet invasion of Hungary:

uncle sam shrugs his pretty
pink shoulders you know how
and he twitches a liberal titty
and lisps 'i'm busy right now'

so rah-rah-rah- democracy
let's all be thankful as hell
and bury the statue of liberty
(because it begins to smell)"

But then I went looking for an old piece by Gwyn Dyer, in which he predicted a Russian military Renaissance, and found this one instead, in which he lays a verbal pounding on the Saakashvili regime. His conclusion:

There is no great moral issue here. What Georgia tried to do to South Ossetia is precisely what Russia did to Chechnya, but Georgia wasn't strong enough and South Ossetia had a bigger friend. There is no great strategic issue either: apart from a few pipeline routes, the whole Transcaucasus is of little importance to the rest of the world.

In six months' time, we probably won't even remember this foolish adventure.

A conclusion I think I disagree with. For one thing, Georgia has already called home about half the troops involved in its Iraq deployment, and its hard to see them maintaining their role in that country in the required numbers and with the required enthusiasm. Furthermore, the President's of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, all current or former contributors to the Multinational force in Iraq, issued a statement yesterday in which they asked NATO and the West to do more than "twitch a liberal titty"in response to the Russian invasion. So far they seem to have got little in the way of a concrete reply from Western leaders, and I imagine they're beginning to wonder just what their participation in the Western War Of Terror has bought them lately, and thinking that, going forward, maybe they won't be playing that game so much.

PS. National Post Uber Hawk Jonathon Kay has already thrown in the towel on behalf of the West, referring to Democracy as an "abstraction".

One More Time To The Well!

Latest in the FreeD lawsuit saga. Shorter version: Warman and Kinsella are Evil, yada yada yada, send us an extra $1800 for the defence fund. This on top of $3,200 in early July, another $3,000 in early May, and $870 collected back in February. We'll see how quickly the coffers fill up this time.

...and who knows, maybe their legal/HRC difficulties are not over?

Welcome FreeD readers! More FreeD related material here.

Conservative Stratergizing?

Why did the CPoC's chief campaign strategist Doug Finley arrange to have his butt tossed from of today's Ethics Committee hearings into the In And Out Scandal? Well, it did get him at least a few headlines. Maybe he was hoping those headlines would crowd out these ones.

Georgia To U.S.: We Fought In Your War And All We Got Were These Lousy Platitudes

"As a Russian jet bombed fields around his village, Djimali Avago, a Georgian farmer, asked me: “Why won’t America and Nato help us? If they won’t help us now, why did we help them in Iraq?”"

Short Answer: because America is weak and broke and losing two wars already, and the line they fed you about standing together for Freedom was a load of bullshit from the word go. Sorry.

But What Will Ed Say?

It's a national cap and trade system, albeit a not particularly effectual one that caps emissions intensity rather than emissions per se.

Given Mr. Stelmach's previous remarks re such schemes

"A cap-and-trade scheme is a money transfer that does nothing to reduce pollution. In fact, it just allows companies to pay to pollute."

...his lack of outrage at John Baird's "Turning The Corner" plan is most interesting.

The EcoLibertarian has the best thing I've read on the plan, which he describes as Kyoto-esque.

BLEVEs Over TO!

These guys will probably need to update their website:

Sunrise Propane and it's employees take great pride in being able to deliver very competitively priced propane and industrial gases with exceptional service to all customers. Satisfied customers are the foundation upon which Sunrise Propane was built!

If you haven't read about it or seen it on TV yet, there were a number of large explosions at the Sunshine Propane facility in West Toronto this morning, sending huge fire-balls into the air, and forcing the evacuation of residences in a one mile wide radius from the site.

What the police worry about now are a number of propane tanks upon which "flames are impinging". They are hosing these down with cold water, hoping to keep the liquid inside from reaching the boiling point and causing a BLEVE, or "boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion". That would occur if the propane within one of these tanks breaches its container wall, and sends a huge cloud of steaming, flammable vapor into the air which itself then ignites. The result might look a bit like this:



Back in Langford, B.C., about 25 years ago, we dodged one of these things by a fairly narrow margin when a facility up the road from Belmont Highschool sprang a leak and a stream of liquid propane wound up flowing freely down Jacklin road. The two staff on site at the time, a couple of boneheads I went to highschool with, fled at the first sign of trouble. Eventually the fire department staunched the leak and nothing bad happened, but apparently there were vehicles driving up and down Jacklin and splashing through puddles of propane for an hour or so. Afterwards our local paper ran a graphic showing the area that could have been damaged had one of the propane tanks in the yard went off.

Comparisons were made to a small atom bomb, which is what many of the residences mentioned this morning.

Beyond T.O.!

As noted previously, I've spent the last several days visiting the wilds of Central Ontario. Me and the wife got back last night, and here are some photos from our trip, with my annotations.

The Great Wall Of Utterson

Built decades ago by the local farmer folk to keep out...things. When I asked our gracious host Buelly Walker what kind of things he replied "Those we don't speak of", and made the sign of the cross.

Ruins of a UFO!

Out walking Friday morning, Buelly showed us the wreckage of an alien space craft. Apparently, my wife and I are the only outsiders ever to be shown the crash site, so this photo is probably worth a fair bit of money! Also according to Buelly, the aliens come from the planet ell xpress. They survived the wreck and now operate a pottery shop in Gravenhurst. Weird that they should speakEnglish, but I guess it really is the universal language.

Sorority Swamp!

This is where the college-age backpackers that come through town every summer get tossed after they've been eaten.

During our stay, the wife and I were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the local wildlife, some of which can only be found in this part of Ontario. Here are a few of my better pictures.

The Great Black Woodpecker!

Or, as the locals refer to them, blackpeckers. Hard to get an idea of scale from this picture, but they are quite huge--eighteen inches in length, at least. A very king among birds.

The Great Carnivorous Sky Dove

According to our gracious host Buelly, the Carnivorous Sky Dove is the largest flesh eating avian in all of Muskoka. As an adult, they have a wing-span of 25 feet or more, and have muscled out the Golden Eagle as Lord of the Stratosphere throughout Central Ontario. This picture is of a baby just out of the nest. Its about the size of a pigeon.

By The Time You Read This, I WIll Have Been Eaten By Bigfoot

...or not, but I will definitely be somewhere in the woods around Huntsville with my digital camera and, hopefully, an ATV that can survive alot of abuse at the hands of an incompetent city-boy driver.

The wife and I have been invited to a friend's cottage out in that area--apparently the rumors of stuff actually existing North of Steeles Ave. are true--and it is very unlikely I will be able to post anything before Sunday, although I will be taking along a laptop and power-supply just in case one of the trees has a plug-in socket.

Hopefully, upon my return Sunday morning I will have a camera full of nature pictures, or at least a few shots of skinny-dipping hippie chicks, that I can share here.

PS. Comments are off because Jonathon is a dick.

Can Harper Run On The Economy?

After inheriting a substantial surplus from the former Democratic administration, the Republicans have managed to drive the U. S. economy to near chaos. Sounds eerily familiar, doesn't it? Yes, the Harper Conservatives also inherited a fiscal surplus from the former Liberal government and, like their Republican cousins, they have squandered it all.

Very simple argument to make.

So, in answer: I think not.

Curran On Orchard

I shouldn't have to tell you how I stand on the matter but, just in case you forgot, I am all for David Orchard becoming the Liberal Party Candidate for DMCR. I've explained my reasons over and over again, but the main reason is that the Liberal Party has to do something different in the prairies and I believe David will act as a catalyst in that regard.

I 2nd these sentiments.

People look at Orchard and see, politically, a weird cat. But maybe not so much. If you wanted to "slot" him politically, who would you compare him too? My first thought is Elizabeth May: progressive on Enviro issues, conservative on various social ones. In the West that may be a useful combo, because remember that a fair portion of the Conservative vote picks Green as their next choice.

In any case, the Libs could use a few more staunch enviro warriers on the Prairies.


And, certainly, they have been more than able to work with Ms. May on occasion.

New Poll, No Change

The Green plan hasn't helped, but not hurt either. Bernier/Couillard, In-And-Out, Cadmania...have all failed to move the numbers. What's it gonna take?

(Although on the other hand The Tories usually bump up a couple of points in summer as people realize they're best at doing nothing, and that doesn't seem to have happened.)

From AngusReid.

The News, Post MSM

Is Jonathon Kay right?

If the Natty Post and the NY Times were to disappear, could bloggers essentially take over, or would something be lost? I remember talking with someone (might have been Steve V) about waiting for National News Watch to update in the morning, because it supplied the news about which we bloggers could then opinionate.

Is he right? Is that all "we" do and, if the primary content providers go kerflooey, would we have anything to write about?

Well, as someone who, as well as exploring the intersection between "boobies and power", makes an occasional attempt to "break" news the MSM has missed, I think there are a couple of ways to go beyond mere editorializing.

1) Read everything on topic X and cobble together an Uber story, hoping that the whole will exceed the sum of the parts. For example, the saga of Tom Zytaruk and the Cadman tapes is really a detective story stretched out over several months and any number of news stories and blog posts. Reassembling the various pieces can actually provide insight and, if you make yourself aware of all that has gone previously, occasionally you can add a small piece or two that wasn't there before.

Of course, this depends on there being MSM content already in place.

2) Read everything, basically. I regularly scavenge the Blogging Tory sites, Lifesite, FreeD, and several dozen email lists and forums, in search of material that is not available elsewhere. Occasionally you do find stuff that has not yet reached the papers. I am particularly happy about these two posts, about how Mississauga Tories trash-talked their candidate Melissa Bhaghat on the Net for, essentially, being a ex-Liberal and not being an old white guy. The reason I am happy about them is that, about a week after the 2nd post, a story appeared in The Toronto Star that rehashed very much the same ground. This blog was not mentioned, but its pretty clear it served as one of the sources.

And when Anne Cools got booted from the Tory caucus, you read it first here. This kind of thing does not rely on a "real" reporter to do the work for you.

But what about Kay's main point?

Not to be old-fashioned, but there are certain kinds of important stories that simply cannot be covered, except by deep-pocketed traditional media organizations employing professional journalists.

Well, yeah. I can send an email off to people when I have questions. For example, Tom Zytaruk has replied and offered small insights to his story that I've not seen elsewhere. And I've occasionally had scientific luminaries like Tom Holtz and Terry Sloan lend their expertise to a blog post. However, that's about all I can do. I can't make long-distance calls, I can't physically go looking for anyone. Unless someone pays me to do it. I've offered my services to Macleans since they disappeared Steyn, but so far there's been no response.

Oh and legal liabilities, too. If you try to uncover facts, you occasionally get them wrong. I would love to huddle under the wings of a media conglomerate when this happens (although I also think this kind of protection leads to sloppy reporting).

What I would like to see is: the aggregator becomes the paper. Bloggers submit to the aggregator, which is now a commercial enterprise, and the aggregator pays the blogger directly, as well as providing legal insurance and etc. The reader visits the aggregator and goes directly to the writers they want to read, which constitute a fluid, ever-changing line-up.

Don't know how likely or possible a future like that really is, but its what I'd like to see...

John McCain Bets On Wife's Boobs!

ABC News' Gregory Wallace and Sara Just Report: Sen. John McCain, R-Az., perhaps unknowingly, volunteered his wife for a beauty pageant on Monday that often features contestants topless -- and, occasionally, without any decency -- at the Sturgis, South Dakota, motorcycle rally.

"I was looking at the Sturgis schedule, and noticed that you had a beauty pageant, so I encouraged Cindy to compete," McCain told an audience at the rally. "I told her [that] with a little luck, she could be the only woman to serve as both the First Lady and Miss Buffalo Chip."


Yes, but what if she loses? Vice Presidents and other members of an administration have to pass certain tests. Why not First Ladies?

With that consideration in mind, lets look at a few of the alternatives to Cindy McCain that the Miss Buffalo Chip beauty contest might throw forward.

This one can ride a mechanical bull. She's clearly tough enough to occupy the office just outside the Oval Office:



My personal favorite First Lady (were my sweet wife to, like, plotz it or something):


And runner-up:


And, speaking of Vice Presidents, here's a solid pick for the VP slot on McCain's ticket. You can bet the Iranians won't fuck with this guy.And, of course, whenever you see this kind of effervescing of the American Spirit, there's usually a Canadian or two involved:

But you know what? It's starting to work for me. The primitive, working class male inside is beginning to stir. If the Senate and House are going to remain lopsidedly Dem anyway, why not vote for the paleface geezer that's willing to show his wife's chest off to bikers over the lefty, femmy, "bring me my mirror" college boy? Quick! What were the selling points on Black Jesus supposed to be again, other than that he shines gloriously in the light of his own aura? Tell me before I go recidivist, like they do down in the American Heartland.

Peter MacKay's Mondo Boner!

The Wonderbabe Strikes!

From The Chronicle Herald:

Mr. MacKay said the timing of the [anti Green Shift] ad campaign has nothing to do with the fact Mr. Thibault’s riding is hosting the Liberals’ Atlantic caucus meetings this week. He said he wasn’t aware the meetings were happening.

From the official CPoC announcement this weekend re said ad campaign:

““Since Atlantic Canadians mostly rely on coal for electricity, oil to heat their homes, and diesel to import food and other items, the permanent new Liberal carbon tax will be devastating for the region,” said Peter Mackay, Minister of National Defence. “It’s no wonder Liberals are spending two days in Digby trying to find ways to fool Atlantic Canadians about it – we won’t let that happen."

Kadey O'Malley: supporting the old boys at Macleans in their dotage.

Why Online Polls Are Stupid

I've voted five times so far in this one, which I discovered through FreeD, so of course its already been heavily FREEPED. Nevertheless, in a couple of days watch the "results" to get reported in The Sun or on Lifesite. Canadians support reinstating death penalty, or maybe: Angus Reid pulls online poll that shows Canadians support reinstating death penalty.

Mom Would Never Let Me Get A Tattoo

But if I had it would have been one like this. From The Science Tattoo Emporium.

Weather Outlook: Cloudy With Scattered Astronauts

The commercialization of space took a big hit the other day. Not only did Space X have their Falcon 1 rocket blow up on them, they lost the ashes of both James Doohan (Scotty from Star Trek) and Mercury Astronaut Gorden Cooper.

(Love the way NASA types refer to motherin' big explosions as "anomalies")

Analyze That Data, Anthony Watts!

Anthony Watt's Surface Stations Project has analysed about 600 stations now, roughly half of the 1221 USHCN climate network.

If you remember, the goal of this project was to rank these stations according to new CRN siting guidelines, and then re-plot the historical temperature graphs with information from those stations that did not come up to snuff removed from the dataset. His hypothesis was that, once this was done, the temperature rise noted in the GISSTEMP data would largely disappear, an artifact of warming caused by microsite issues at the poorly sited stations.

Well, 50% of existing stations is a more than large enough sample to crunch numbers from. Why hasn't Anthony made an attempt, or farmed it out to his cohorts at Climate Audit?

Well, here's one hypothesis: Anthony already knows the answer that such an analysis would produce, and he doesn't like it.

And he knows the answer because such an analysis was already attempted back when about 400 stations were listed in the Surface Stations database. It was performed by one JohnV, a Climate Audit regular. His conclusion:

I think these plots speak for themselves, but here are my conclusions:- There is good agreement between GISS and CRN12 (the good stations)- There is good agreement between GISS and CRN5 (the bad stations)- On the 20yr trend, CRN12 shows a larger warming trend CRN5 in recent years.

To be honest, this is starting to look like a great validation of GISTEMP.

And here's another hypothesis: once the GISSTEMP data is analysed and, once again, validated, the jig will be up for Anthony. "Denier Confirms Global Warming!" is not a headline he is prepared to see.

Hence the endless delay, the tut-tutting over "poorly sited stations". Anthony is ragging the puck while all the time denying the existence of the hockey stick.

Life On Mars?

The White House has been alerted by NASA about plans to make an announcement soon on major new Phoenix lander discoveries concerning the "potential for life" on Mars, scientists tell Aviation Week & Space Technology.

The rumours are flying, but most likely this is a follow-up to the previously announced find that martian soils are really quite Earthlike, to the point where you could probably grown certain Earth plants in them.

On the other hand, maybe they've dug up a dead mouse.

The Free Market Speaks! Right Wing Media In Toilet X 2!

1) Bourrie at Ottawa Watch has been on the CanWest Death spiral like a vulture on the bloated corpse of a dead cow. Basically, the stock has dipped below $2.00 per share, and this has sparked rumors that the National Post might be sold off. In other words, next time you're at McDonalds keep an eye on the guy behind the counter flipping burgers. It might be Jonathon Kay.

2) The Audit Bureau of Circulations is a not-for-profit circulation organization. It conducts 3rd party audits of newspaper circulation reports so that advertisers and advertising agencies can have accurate, verified figures. Recently, ABC dinged The Toronto Sun for "discrepancies" in their 2007 reporting, and

...said it expects to release an audit report for 2007 within the next 10 days that shows downward circulation adjustments of 11 per cent on the paper's daily circulation, 12 per cent for Saturday papers and 15 per cent for Sunday copies."

Doom, baby, doom!

h/t Sun Family Blog.

All Hail The Man Eating Tree!

I am currently reading F.E. Lloyd's old botanical classic The Carnivorous Plants. I just finished the section on carnivorous fungi and esp. Dactylella bembicoides, which slips its noose-like trap over the heads of certain nematodes, strangles them, injects them with a protoplasm with dissolves their guts, and then sssssssucks out nourishment, leaving behind an empty husk.

Damn this book rocks!

My only caveat is that Lloyd refuses to acknowledge the existence of the Man Eating Tree of Madagascar. The Fool!

Your Daily Nazi: Nazis Clued In Quicker Than Ezra's Legal Team

A follow-up to yesterday's Daily Nazi. Back in 2006, Stormfront regulars discussed the ARA network protest outside Paul Fromm's place, and speculated on the notion that Warman might have rented a bus for that gang of anarchist ragamuffins. Canadian Warrior said:

ARA (the supposed good guys), are nothing but a bunch of drug addicted thugs, who should be persecuted to the full extent of the law! Based on them thanking Mr.Warman with that sign... did he mastermind this?

To which William Tell replied:

I doubt Warman really had anything to do with it. He isn't so stupid that he's going to allwo them to use his name even if he did sanction it. In spite of their obvious heavy drug use, ARA members likely aren't that stupid either. They know that the name "Warman" causes a reaction. I suspect that they just want to stir up crap by using his name and get our blood boiling.

The Nazis knew the score in 2006, and made a deliberate decision: fuck it, lets lie! Two years later, people (named Ezra) are still falling for the lie.

The Highest Compliment A Canadian AGW Denier Can Recieve

The Communist lie is exposed here by American Patriot and hero, Stephen McIntyre…

Fulsome praise indeed for an Ontario boy.

Your Daily Nazi: Ezra's Statement Of Defense Regurgitates Nazi Sources

The full text of Ezra' statement is here.

Just a couple of points. The picture above left is related to paragraph 41 of Ezra's statement, which reads in part:

In 2006, Mr. Warman paid for a bus to transport dozens of ARA [Anti Racist Action] Members to the Toronto home of Mr. [Paul] Fromm.

ARA was and is a decentralized group of anti-Fascist activists working in Canada and the U.S. If you lived in Toronto, esp. during the 1990s and earlier part of this decade, you might have read about how this "ragamuffin band of homeless street kids and anarchists" out-hustled and out organized our local white supremacist contingent, including at the event depicted above left.

While Richard Warman addressed the group in 2005, the only evidence ever presented to the effect that he rented a bus to get them to Paul Fromm's Toronto residence is the photo shown above left. A couple of days ago, a member of ARA's Toronto chapter contacted me with information on the 2006 incident(1):

This is a canard that has been spread by neo-nazis...too obtuse to understand a sarcastic placard when they see one ("Thanks Richard Warman for the bus rental" - meant to taunt the fascists) ...In fact, the bus, which cost approximately $200, was paid for by ARA organizers.

Put another way, Ezra's lawyers are unable to distinguish between a joke placard and a financial statement.

In fact, part of the problem with Ezra's statement of defense is how heavily it leans upon material gleaned from this site. While the people behind Richardwarmen.com are still mysterious, immediately upon its creation word of the page was published on Stormfront (warning, link to Neo-Nazi website!). This is something you don't want to happen if you intend to use material from a site in your libel defense. It rather lowers the credibility of that material.

Furthermore, at several points in his statement of the defense Levant refers to "the ARA" which, given the fact that "ARA" stands for "Anti Racist Action", is ungrammatical. Correct is "ARA" or "the ARA network". What is telling is that this particular error is typical of Neo-Nazi references to the group. For example, here and here (Warning! More Nazis!). Another sign of where the material in Ezra's statement originates.

(1) This account has been corroborated from a number of other sources. The point of the placard is that previously members of the Stormfront community had speculated that Warman must be renting buses for the ARA network, so many of them were turning out for Anti-Ernst Zundel protests.