Broadsides: CONnubial bliss

With a nod to my funny filmmaker friend Albert Nerenberg, here’s that clip from last night’s Mercer Report I blogged about yesterday: Heh.

Creekside: MediaWatch : The Vancouver Sun and the Fraser Institute

An article at The Tyee notes the “remarkable success” the Fraser Institute has had in blanketing the Vancouver Sun with its guff.

Here is all you need to know about that :
From Peter C. Newman’s book, Izzy: The Passionate Life and Turbulent Times of Izzy Asper, Canada’s Media Mogul, as quoted in the Georgia Straight :

Leonard Asper : “I don’t see that a journalist is any different than an employee at Wal-Mart.”

David Asper, chair of the National Post : “We own the papers. We have the right to have the papers print whatever the hell we want them to say. And if people don’t like it, they can go to hell. They can leave, get another job.”
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According to the CRTC, as of Sept 22 2009 Canwest holdings in Canada include :
Global TV – National Post – Calgary Herald – Regina Leader-Post – Vancouver Sun – Edmonton Journal – Saskatoon StarPhoenix – Victoria Times-Colonist – Montreal Gazette – Vancouver Courier – Windsor Star – Ottawa Citizen – Vancouver Province – Alberni Valley Times (BC) – Nanaimo Daily News (BC)
plus 21 weeklies and 7 shopping guides.
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So Canwest adherence – and subsequently much of the Canadian public – to rightwing Fraser Institute principles is not so remarkable after all.
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Where are you getting your news?
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unrepentant old hippie: Briefly, before I pass out

WTF!?
UPDATE: LOL

unrepentant old hippie: Flu

Things might be slow around here for a day or two…  I was feeling a little weird yesterday and today it looks like some vile pest of a flu bug has launched a full-scale two-pronged attack on my gut and brain.
At this time of year it’s an occupational hazard.  The kids go back to school, [...]

Broadsides: Fringe elements

I am very proud to report that our ”left-wing fringe” group called ”women” meme is spreading. Tonight, on his season debut, CBC’s Rick Mercer cracked a joke incorporating PM Stephen Harper’s ill-considered reference to the Court Challenges program and ”cHarmony” — a dating service for Conservatives. (They date before marriage?) Our Facebook group is now 3,129 strong — and the LEAF t-shirts are being shipped out from coast-to-coast. A couple of weeks ago, two female…

Broadsides: And the breast film award goes too …

I just adore this logo. It’s for Breast Fest 2009, the second annual film festival dedicated to breast cancer awareness. Breast Fest uses the versatile medium of film to frame and explore the spectrum of issues surrounding breast cancer. This annual festival uses films, panels, workshops and speakers to connect people to the breast cancer cause, inspire dialogue, facilitate learning and foster community. There are long films plus shorts — and you can vote on…

Broadsides: States of grace

Further to last week’s column and post about the 40 Days for Life Campaign, there has been some peaceful pushback in some cities. Gotta love those Ottawa Valley grrls. Meanwhile, the anti-choicers, who insist on inflicting their religion on women seeking abortions, claim to have saved 38 babies and induced one clinic staffer to quit. I wonder how many of those young women were intimidated by seeing a chanting people holding up shaming signs? Over…

Broadsides: Yes Dear, tonight. I have a headache

Here’s some bedtime reading for you: Why Women Have Sex — Understanding Sexual Motivations from Adventure to Revenge (And Everything in Between). Do women have sex simply to reproduce or display their affection? When University of Texas at Austin clinical psychologist Cindy M. Meston and evolutionary psychologist David M. Buss joined forces to investigate the underlying sexual motivations of women, what they found astonished them.Through the voices of real women, Meston and Buss reveal the…

Broadsides: Yes Dear, tonight I have a headache

Here’s some bedtime reading for you: Why Women Have Sex — Understanding Sexual Motivations from Adventure to Revenge (And Everything in Between). Do women have sex simply to reproduce or display their affection? When University of Texas at Austin clinical psychologist Cindy M. Meston and evolutionary psychologist David M. Buss joined forces to investigate the underlying sexual motivations of women, what they found astonished them.Through the voices of real women, Meston and Buss reveal the…

Creekside: Van Loan : Oh noes – activist judges on the bench!

“It raises questions about whether we can protect national security and I can tell you I am concerned,” Van Loan told Canwest News Service. “I spend a fair bit of time thinking about it.”

“It” presumably being the Supreme Court’s efforts to balance our rights and freedoms against your crap cases based on hearsay and intel derived from torture.

unrepentant old hippie: Dig deep

CC’s cycling club is doing a charity ride this coming weekend and the challenge is for us the readers to help him raise as much money as humanly possible for their cause, Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region.
This is a great cause and these people are busting their asses riding 160km to make it happen, [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Hey Bina: Here’s one for Wanker of the Week

You just had to know this was coming, and now it’s arrived.  The right-wing demonization of murdered census worker Bill Sparkman begins:
Notorious homophobe Dan Riehl pre-emptively asks if Sparkman was a gay child predator, because he had an adopted son. He has no other evidence at all.
No, really:

Once again, right-wing douchebaggery sinks to a sleazy, [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Chill

Settle down everyone, sing along with Captain Trips.

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung,
Would you hear my voice come thru the music,
Would you hold it near as it were your own?
Its a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken,
Perhaps theyre better left unsung.
I dont know, dont [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Sex Degrees of Separation

Based on the idea that when you have sex, you’re not only getting it on with your partner but with all your partner’s partners, this “Sex Degrees of Separation” calculator is supposed to calculate the real number of sex partners you’ve had:

Go ahead and try it, but it might not work — I think I [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Adopt a Liberal

Stand back!  There’s a new initiative in the Liberty Counsel’s ongoing battle against the Forces of Satan — “Adopt A Liberal“. 
The LC website explains “How it Works” and then goes on to suggest a few potential adoptees who are in need of prayerifying, including an odious and shadowy figure that looms menacingly over all [...]

unrepentant old hippie: It’s Sunday

Time for some godliness.
According to this godly sign, a lot of us ? the devil:

Looks like they covered everyone but “gratuitous apostrophe abusers”.
BY THE WAY, what do you think they mean by “High Fullutent”?   “High Flatulent” maybe?
(from God Hates Protesters)

Creekside: The SPP is undead

Just three months shy of 2010 – the date by which the Canadian Council of Chief Executives originally projected the goals of the SPP would be completed – some people have been mourning or celebrating for years already.

The SPP is dead – a short history :

Oct. 10, 2007 “The Security and Prosperity Partnership is dead,” wrote John Ibbitson in the G&M. “Nothing’s going to happen anytime soon.”

Aug. 1, 2008 “The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America is dead,” says Robert Pastor, chair of the 2005 Council on Foreign Relations task force “Building a North American Community” available in book form with co-author John Manley.

Feb. 25, 2009 “The SPP is probably dead,” Canadian Council of Chief Executives President Tom d’Aquino tells the foreign affairs committee, adding that “something else” will replace it.

July 13, 2009 “The SPP is in hibernation,” – Chris Sands, Canada-U.S. relations expert at the Hudson Institute, in Toward a New Frontier which recommends “rebranding a revived SPP.”
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Aug. 2009 “The SPP’s Death Knell has Sounded” – Embassy Mag. “The Security and Prosperity Partnership, as we knew it, is dead. May it rest in peace.”

Aug. 19, 2009 “The SPP is dead, so where’s the champagne?” – Stuart Trew, Council of Canadians, at Rabble.

Sept. 24, 2009 “The SPP is dead. Let’s keep in that way.” – Murray Dobbin, Canadian author, long time foe of deep integration, and one of my personal heroes.

That’s two whole years of announcements about the SPP nailed to its perch and pining for the fjords.

The most recent – Dobbin and Trew – do not imagine for a moment that the push towards deep integration is over by any stretch, yet Dobbin does not see any successor on the horizon:

“Some on the left are so accustomed to losing that they make the claim the SPP will just re-emerge with another name.”

And indeed I do so here – Pathways to Prosperity in the Americas.
Bush’s outgoing gift to Obama has been embraced and described by Hillary Clinton as “a multilateral initiative to promote shared security and prosperity throughout the Americas”.
Stockwell Day has already begun dutifully using the phrase “pathways to prosperity” in the House, while exPM Paul Martin, Chris Sands, d’Aquino, David Emerson and other fans of deep integration assure us of the inevitability of some future SPP rebrand and relaunch.

But what worries me is : do we even need a rebrand and relaunch anymore?

In 2003 the Canadian Council of Chief Executives’ came up with the North American Security and Prosperity Initiative to shape Canada’s future within North America. It called for “reinventing borders; regulatory efficiency; resource security; and a North American defence perimeter.”

Here’s how that agenda has been achieved through the SPP so far :
Joint RCMP-Homeland Security “Shiprider” pilot project
Civil Assistance Plan signed in Feb. 2008 allows the military of one nation to support the other during a civil emergency
Passenger Protect no-fly list
Sharing military responsibilities in the arctic
“Smart Borders’ and unmanned drones patrolling the Canada US border
The exile and/or detainment in Canada of persons of interest to Homeland Security
Canada’s cats paw FTAs with countries the US hopes to reach
The Canada Israel ‘Homeland Security’ pact
Canada helps the US occupy Afghanistan
Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative
Biometric data into visas for foreign nationals
RFID drivers’ licences – a de facto continental ID
Run-of-river projects and ramped up tarsands extraction for energy export
Proposal for national Canadian energy or water policy blocked
Streamlining regulations on food, drugs pesticides, genetically modified seeds.
“Intermodal transportation concept for North America”
Integrated North American energy and resource program

Does anyone really think just because 30 odd CEOs from the North American Competitiveness Council aren’t meeting as a designated SPP group anymore that that’s the end of it?

Ten days ago Harper stood in the White House and said :

“Today, Canada is announcing a major hydroelectric project, a big transmission line in northwestern British Columbia, which has the capacity down the road to be part of a more integrated North American hydroelectric system.”

“Canada is not leaving Afghanistan; Canada will be transitioning from a predominantly military mission to a mission that will be a civilian humanitarian development mission after 2011.”

So, no, I’m not celebrating anything until the SPP and the groundwork already laid by the CCCE – plus the unseen continued integration of its facets throughout the public service – can be stopped and rolled back.

Paul Manly is taking his film ‘You, Me and the SPP: Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule’ on the road.

The tour, which will visit 33 cities across Canada, will be launched with an Ottawa Premiere on Parliament Hill on October 1st. hosted by NDP International Trade Critic, Peter Julian.

The Ottawa screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q & A, featuring, Peter Julian, Teresa Healy (Senior Researcher, Canadian Labour Congress), Bruce Campbell (Executive Director, Canadian Council for Policy Alternatives), Maude Barlow (Chairperson, Council of Canadians), Louise Casselman (Common Frontiers) and Paul.

The screening and panel will be streamed live by Rabble.ca – see promo page

From Ottawa, the tour will be working its way east to Newfoundland and then back across Canada to British Columbia. You can see all the tour dates on the film website here

Each confirmed screening date has a pdf poster, handbill and press release that can be downloaded and used to promote the screening. Please help out where you can. All of the screenings are either free or by donation.

This ain’t over yet.
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unrepentant old hippie: Worst Person in the World

Just for Jasper…

unrepentant old hippie: Shona’s at it again

Shona Holmes is once again being trotted out on Fox News so she can dump all over Canada’s health care system.  See Shona lie:

The anti-health care reform goons in the US have recently launched one last desperate volley against the public option, and this is just part of it.  Videos like this one suddenly sprung [...]

unrepentant old hippie: Public Service Announcement

Since we seem to be enjoying — no, basking in — the attention of a few blithering right-wingnut trolls recently (and by “right-wingnut trolls” I don’t mean “rational conservatives”, whose input I appreciate), it’s probably time to direct all sane readers to this article on How to Talk To Complete Idiots:
There are three basic ways [...]

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