Tory Candidate Roxanne James: Veteran Of The Topless Wars?

Roxanne James is the Tory candidate for Scarborough Center. I've already noted her connections to the Canada Family Action Coalition and "Defend Marriage Canada". Well, it appears that she also played a prominent role in the "Breast Wars" of the late 1990s:

It seems that a 'constitutional right to go topless' battle has begun in Canada. It started last year with the Ontario’s Court of Appeal decision that it was within the bounds of community standards for women to go barebreasted in public places. Families in Ontario have become increasingly frustrated with this ruling as during the summer one can find topless women wherever one goes. On Canada Day, Linda Meyer of Maple Ridge went topless in a public pool. She declared it her constitutional right. The police detained her and she stated that she will sue any and all levels of government if charges are laid against her. On August 13, the police received complaints about a woman cycling topless. Linda Meyer was found cycling topless east on Lougheed Highway. Her actions allegedly made heads turn and the result was a four vehicle smash up. Roxanne James of Ontario’s Keep Tops On (KTO) says 'If we don’t take a stand right now, you’re not going to believe the things you will see in five years from now on our streets'. Special interest groups and activists have taken our constitutional rights to a level where we have made a mockery of our constitution. They all scream for their rights, but nobody is willing to discuss responsibility. A society can only enjoy true freedom when rights are with balancing responsibilities.


For example, in this TO Star Story, "Scarborough businesswoman" Roxanne James complains


"Where are the laws protecting your family? In all this chaos, what's happening to my constitutional rights? I won't take my family to a public park until something is done. I want my children protected.''


And in this story she is being described as an "organizer" of a rally led by MP John Nunziata and KTO (Keep Tops On). At the time, John was planning to


...TAKE A 14,000-NAME PETITION TO JEAN CHRETIEN AND ASK FOR A NATIONWIDE BAN ON TOPLESSNESS


In the article, Roxanne says:


"With this, we may as well bring the adult magazines down from the top shelves and mix them in with the comic books."


I will be confirming all of this information with Ms. James campaign office, but she is from Scarborough and is a mother of three. And although the "Breast Wars" were more of an historical oddity than a serious political episode, if you want to know how Roxanne Jame's progonistications of doom turned out, at least in The Big City:
Nuthin'. Absolutely nuthin.

Chris Reid Coda

I won't pick on Mr. Reid anymore, other than to note that this post to the Shotgun Blog, whose Tory insider creds are impeccable, seems to confirm what was apparent in the first place:

I can say with 100% confidence that the party knew of his blog before he even started to run. They were the ones that told him to take his blog down before he became the candidate. ...

On his initial resume given to the party, it had a URL for the blog on it. How much anyone read of his blog really can't be known obviously, however, there weren't so many posts on it that 10-15 minutes wouldn't have been enough to skim all of them...

So the party told Mr. Reid "You're okay if you hide your beliefs.", then disowned him when these beliefs became public. Nice.

The Old Farmer's Almanac Responds

And now for something completely different...

Turns out I was wrong about Joe D'Aleo's article in the 2009 Old Farmer's Almanac (Is Global Warming on the Wane?) not representing the publication's official editorial stance. It does, as Editer Janice Stillman explains below:

MJ,

Thank you for your interest in The Old Farmer's Almanac.

The weather forecasts published in The Old Farmer's Almanac have been made using solar science and the study of sunspots, as well as climatology and meteorology, since the publication's founding in 1792. (Obviously, technology has changed in that time; over the centuries, we have utilized state-of-the-art technology and the latest data available in making our weather predictions. For more on how we make our forecasts, see almanac.com/weathercenter/howwepredict.php. For the current forecasts, go to Almanac.com/weathercenter.)

Weather cycles and the influence of the Sun and sunspots on Earth's climate have been the subject of numerous editorial features in The Old Farmer's Almanac. Notably pertinent to the global cooling story in the 2009 edition (and at Almanac.com/timeline) is the weather feature that ran in 1998. That year, we published an excerpt from the book titled The Sun, Changing Climate, and the Coming Ice by the late Clifford Nielson; the article is titled "Predicting the Weather for the 21st Century" and in it, Nielson forecast "a spell of cold, wet weather," based on "optimum" (lessor) and "minimum" (greater) periods of solar activity from 1040 to 2020. Interestingly, Mr. Nielson closed the article with this comment: "Given the record, it might almost be hoped that greenhouse warming would occur to help mitigate any coming cool period. A repeat of the 50 or so years of the Wolf Sunspot Minimum may bring about a recurrence, in the coming century, of some of the coldest weather of the p! ast millennium . . ."

The article by Joseph D'Aleo in the 2009 edition of The Old Farmer's Almanac and available to read at Almanac.com/timeline reflects the opinion of the Almanac editorial team, as well as its publisher and owners. We stand by the article and Mr. D'Aleo as its author (see almanac.com/timeline/author.php for more information on Mr. D'Aleo).

For the record, we also stand by our meteorologist, Michael Steinberg,and the following statement in his General Forecast in the 2009 edition and at Almanac.com/timeline/genweather_08_09.php: "Our study of solar activity suggests that as we enter solar cycle 24 we are at the beginning of a significant change. Over the coming years, a gradual cooling of the atmosphere will occur, offset by any warming cause by increased greenhouse gases."

You are welcome to print these comments on bigcitylib, but only in context, in their entirety.

Janice Stillman
Editor
The Old Farmer's Almanac

So this Xmas I'm switching to handing out copies of The Farmer's Almanac. Not the Old Farmer's Almanac. Similar looking. Slightly different title. Apparently newer.

Because Your Web Campaign Iz Dumba

OTTAWA — The Prime Minister's Office has asked Canada's secretive electronic counter-espionage police to investigate how someone might have gained access to a government Internet service to send out spoof emails in Stephen Harper's name.

Kady has some of the details on this, which I am not currently caffeinated enough to understand. The bottom line is: another piece of the Tory web-strategy (the Willyoubetricked re-mailer) has come offline.

I should say, I am all for these kinds of prank as long as they stay on the right side of the law. No point having the RCMP kick in your door over a mere election.

Meanwhile, the Tories are still up, but not by quite as much. How is that possible? We're slaying 'em in cyberspace?

And So What Did We Learn?

1) For a Leader of his immense gloriousness, Stephen Harper makes some very poor hiring decisions.
2) The CTV newsroom looks like NASA's Space Center.
3) I say "uhm" too much, and either the camera adds more than ten pounds or the gals in the CTV makeup department threw in a double-chin for laughs.
4) Some of the youth of today don't know that "cash" and "cache" are different words. Otherwise they are very sweet.
5) The only thing I would pass off as (possibly) wisdom in the whole episode:

Murphy said the swift reaction has shown the power of blogs in elections, but he said it also revealed something about the vetting process for candidates.

"This guy was never gonna win," he said. "And so one of the things that I've been doing is looking at the no-hopers on the premise that they're not vetted that deeply. But if they're not vetted deeply, and something comes up, it's going to embarrass the campaign on a national level."

As such, he compared it to the controversy involving pot-smoking and the NDP. On Wednesday, NDP candidate Dana Larsen dropped out of the election after he was shown in old video lighting joints, taking LSD and driving while "flying," as he said in a video.

Now to work! There's governments to topple!

Chris Reid Steps Down?

National News Watch says:

Reports that Bob Rae's Tory opponent, Chris Reid has stepped down.

Some speculation that it has something to do with posts made on his blog, which has been taken down, however, a cached page remains available Here.

I don't suppose this counts as 100% confirmed, but...

Chris Reid Strikes Back!

Mr. Reid, Tory candidate for Toronto Centre, has responded to an earlier post of mine re his position on Canadian gun laws and other issues:

It's a shame BigCityLib, since my campaign info is easily available, you could actually contact me asking me to explain how I developed my conclusions on issues. I would have happily responded, as I love a good, civilized political conversation.I was hoping to raise the level up political discourse in this election.

Well fine, lets have a civilized conversation right here.

Chris, while many of the views expressed in your recently disappeared blog I would classify as "merely Conservative", or "wrong but not far gone", this statement I find highly problematic:

Allow law abiding citizens who are qualified and trained to carry concealed handguns for personal protection. It's the only proven way to reduce violent crime and murder. If women and gays really wanted to stop being victims of hate crimes, they'd be in support of this, but judging from discussions, they'd rather be helpless and rely on government.

You seem to conclude that gays and women 1) are and want to be victims of hate-crimes, 2) are and want to be "helpless" 3) are and want to be wards of the State ("rely on government", to use your phrase)?

More generally, you seem to be of the opinion that many of the people with whose actions you disagree (native protesters, for example) want

...to stay victims so they can tell other people to fix their problems.

Indians, gays, and women embrace victim-hood, in other words. Is that right?

Is this really your opinion, and how do you think that opinion jibes with the official position of the Conservative Party of Canada?

Also, I'm afraid I have to disagree with your statement that your "campaign info is easily available". Others have noted your campaign's lack of on-line presence, and of course you have restricted access to your blog.

Finally, in a October 2007 post on "Political Thoughts..." you note that you are "getting back into blogging". Do you mind sharing the name/url of your previous blog?

PS. If you do want to respond to any of this, you can do it in the comments and/or I will run it as a guest post with no editorializing on my part.

Cheers,

Battling Green Plans

When you read these two pieces by Don Butler and (The Eco-Libertarian) David Reevely, you will understand why the Libs are having difficulty selling their Green Shift to Canadians: its too complex.

You will also understand why this headline

Tories should present alternative to Green Shift

...expresses a forlorn hope. The Tories intend to keep the final regs of their Turning The Corner plan under wraps until after October 14th: it's too complex too.

Separated At Birth: Avengers Edition

Run for something, Julie, and I will vote for you. I don't care if you advocate kicking dogs. I'll vote for you anyway.

H/T Kinsella.

The Tories Run Gay Nutter In TO!

Chris Reid was a former candidate for Toronto City Council in 2006. He is now running for the Tories in Toronto Center. Chris runs a blog, Political Thoughts From A Gay Conservative which recently was made "members only". Fortunately, google-cache lets us in on some of Chris' earlier posts.

For example, here's Chris on that terrible prairie bus stabbing:

A man with a knife was able to go on a murderous rampage decapitating a fellow human being. The rest of the bus was unarmed and helpless. What was the generous Canadian thing to do? Help a fellow human being? No. Flee in terror. Passengers and the bus driver stood by and watched another person being butchered, and couldn't muster up any courage or self sacrifice to intervene. This is where socialism as gotten us folks, a castrated effeminate population.

This is a perfect example of why we need concealed-carry handgun legislation in this country, so we can defend one another and deter horrible events such as this. But what are our politicians talking about? More government regulation and security.

Chris wants laws that allow us to tote around concealed hand-guns.

And here's Chris considers trashing the Canadian Health Act:

I do know the one main issue that stands in the way of a consumer driven health care system is the Canada Health Act. However, courts in Quebec have concluded that people cannot be barred from purchasing their own health care. I wonder if a similar challenge in Ontario would yield a similar result?

And here's Chris on the plight of native protester Bob Lovelace:

What bothers me about these perpetually aggrieved people is their obsession with wanting to stay victims so they can tell other people to fix their problems.

Here's some of Chris' "Conservative Solutions" for a better Canada:

A flax income tax, or better yet, eliminate personal and business income taxes all together, and just have a consumption tax to promote investing which would raise people's living standards.

[...]

Ending abortion.

[...]

Allow law abiding citizens who are qualified and trained to carry concealed handguns for personal protection. It's the only proven way to reduce violent crime and murder. If women and gays really wanted to stop being victims of hate crimes, they'd be in support of this, but judging from discussions, they'd rather be helpless and rely on government.

I especially like this last bit. Women and Gays who don't support legislation that lets you pack around a .45 magnum want to stay victims. Are we apologizing yet, Chris? I sense one coming.

Chris on author Linda McQuaig:

The reality is that McQuaig wants Canada to do badly, because the worse Canada does, the more books she will sell. Despite her emotional rhetorical skills, she is getting rich by exploiting the deaths of our soldiers.

Chris on his fellow gays:

What I found them to tolerate is promoting promiscuity, drug usage, and prostitution.

Trust the Tories to find the one gay crazy in TO. No wonder he didn't want too many people reading his blog.

Deniers Infiltrate The Old Farmer's Almanac

DUBLIN, N.H. — The Old Farmer's Almanac is going further out on a limb than usual this year, not only forecasting a cooler winter, but looking ahead decades to suggest we are in for global cooling, not warming.

[...]

"We at the Almanac are among those who believe that sunspot cycles and their effects on oceans correlate with climate changes," writes meteorologist and climatologist Joseph D'Aleo. "Studying these and other factor suggests that cold, not warm, climate may be our future."

Joseph D'Aleo is a retired weatherman and prominent climate change denier. He has provided a short piece for the 2009 Almanac entitled Is Global Warming on the Wane?, of which the title pretty much says it all.

In the above piece (from U.S.A. Today), the phrase "We at the Almanac..." is quite misleading, as it suggests that D'Aleo is part of the Almanac's editorial team, and his prediction of future cooling the Almanac's "official" position on the matter. The Almanac itself seems to indicate that D'Aleo has merely authored the equivalent of a "guest piece". Nevertheless, to plant material like this in a publication read by 18.5 million readers is quite a coup.

H/T to DeSmog Blog, who mis-identify The Old Farmer's Almanac with The Farmer's Almanac. There's two of the damn things, and they look almost identical.

And Here's The Context

...for this:

"He was asked by a reporter why he was avoiding using the phrase “Green Shift” since it was a central plank in the Liberal platform.

“You have said it was — never me,” he said. “I always said it was an important policy for Canada. I would strongly believe it will be good for our country.”

Dion said the key to keeping Canada competitive in the 21st century is to produce more but use less in sectors, including agriculture.

“Green Shift is part of the solution, but the solution is the overall plan of the Liberal government,” he said"

I suppose we can quibble over the meaning of "central", but what this clearly shows is that Dion was merely situating The Green Shift within the context of the overall Liberal plan, not abandoning it. What it also shows is that the Winnipeg Sun reportedly story more accurately than the TO Star. Who could have imagined the day?

Not Helpful

There are other things in the Lib platform besides The Green Shift, and strategically it makes a fair bit of sense to start emphasizing them. But having

Green Shift not major platform plank, Dion says

...on the top of The TO Star is really, really not helpful. I would like to know what

"You have said it was but never me," Dion told reporters.

...was in response to, because I suspect The Star is probably mis-representing the context of Dion's answer. If not, then someone should give our boy a punch in the mouth. I mean, as far as I can recall, the "green farming" measures Dion introduced today are a part of The Green Shift package. Announce them while at the same time dumping on the plan as a whole?

That doesn't really make any sense, and so I am assuming that isn't what happened. And I would note that other media outlets spun the story in an entirely different manner.

Embarassatory Friday: Stockwell Day Slags Haiti

From his Penticton Western column, March 2007:

Dollars from Canada are carefully directed. Shutting down a drug cartel in Haiti means less cocaine or crystal meth imported onto our own streets....

Since then the only piece I've ever seen linking Crystal Meth production to the Republic of Haiti is Stock's . Canada's crystal meth supply, apparently, comes entirely from within our own borders.

Speaking of Scary

Jack Layton Prepares to eat kid's brain.

Bringing Scary Back...Again!

From the new Ipsos Poll:

...fully one half (50%) ‘disagrees’ (26% strongly/24% somewhat) with this notion, suggesting that they believe the Prime Minister still might not be sharing his full plans with the public, particularly if he wins a majority government. Fifteen percent (15%) of Canadian’s don’t know what to think about this.

Furthermore, one half (50%) ‘agrees’ (30% strongly/20% somewhat) that ‘electing Stephen Harper and the Conservatives to a majority government would be like electing US President George Bush as our Prime Minister’. Four in ten (38%) ‘disagree’ (23% strongly/15% somewhat) with this statement, and 12% are unsure."

Personally, I go around telling people that I've seen the Hidden Agenda, and that if Harper gets a majority...bye bye metric system! That item is in the chapter 10, just after the secret recipes.

And of course, here's an example where the Tories really did have a secret agenda, and people died because of it.

Leadership Is How Well You Respond To Your Campaign's Endless Fuckups

Another day, another apology. This time from Lawrence's Cannon's Staff.

Potheads And Power

Interesting, and possibly scandalous, article by "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery on Dana Larsen and his ill-fated campaign for the NDP. I fundamentally agree with its conclusion, which is that Canadian politicians are terribly hypocritcal with respect to drug use issues, especially since their ranks are filled with various varieties of abuser.

The possibly scandalous part is that Emery names a few names. A few I hadn't hear about, anyway.

Billions Upon Billions

I am not normally a fan of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, but this piece contains s a nice, compact analysis by Adam Taylor of spending promises made by the various parties before and during the election campaign:

Even before the start of the official campaign, the Conservatives had pledged to spend more than $19 billion, according to the CTF, which tracked the party's spending announcements from June 2 through Sept. 6.

Some of that spending is broken down here, and includes $2,000 for the Shag UFO Festival. That in particular doesn't bother me as much as it should I suppose (I am strongly pro-UFO), but keep it in mind when Harper unleashes some fake outrage about other parties' irresponsible campaign promises.

The Liberal Green Shift plan, which has been sold as "revenue neutral," would raise an estimated $15 billion in taxes and yet only return about $9.5 billion in corporate and personal income tax reductions, says Taylor.

I support Green Shift Plan in principle, and a carbon tax as the most efficient means of achieving its goals in practice, but this kind of thing gives credence to the notion that it is all just a tax grab. I really wish the Libs had made it truly 1$ in = 1$ out.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth May's Greens seem to make promises without attaching a price tag, says Taylor.

Something I was unaware of. Now that E. May is in the debates, The Green's don't want to fritter away their new-found credibility, and rolling out completely uncosted promises is a good way to do it. Although: increasing the GST? The NDP obviously aren't the only ones smoking something.

They've Done It! They've Eliminated The Medieval Warm Period

A point raised by global warming skeptics again and again is AGW Theory's apparent inability to explain the Medieval Climate Optimum, a time of unusually warm climate in the North Atlantic region, lasting from about the tenth century to about the fourteenth century. One of the graphics that frequently turns up in the denialist "Litterature" is from Climate Change Record in Subsurface Temperatures: A Global Perspective (Science 9 October 1998: 279-281) by Henry N. Pollack, Shaopeng Huang, Po-Yu Shen.

Look back about 800-1,000 before present. Pretty warm, right? Way warmer than today. Except that Pollack, Huang, and Shen apparently got a little bit sloppy in labelling their figure. The "0" or present above actually represents about 1900. In their new paper they provide an updated figure:

Here "0.0" stands for (roughly) the present, and temperatures, represented by the line at right, are clearly higher than during the MWP. In fact, the graph resembles Mann's Hockey Stick.

But, as a special bonus, it isn't. It is derived from a seperate line of evidence--specifically, from the drilling of bore-holes.

H/T Stoat.