Our favourite Liz May is in the news again. She says Canada is breaking the law by cancelling the Kyoto Accord.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/12/13/pol-may-kyoto.html

To which I have one thing to say: what does a delegate from Papua New Guinea have to do with Canadian policy?

I never heard so much negativity regarding the Federal Government as this session, both from Global TV and CTV. I do not watch the CBC (even though I AM paying for it!).

Every evening it’s “Flexing their majority muscle”, “ramming through Parliament”, “push through with their new found majority”, “Now they have a majority, Harper can basically do what he wants”, and so on..

The “controversial” Omnibus Crime Bill is being “pushed through parliament” this week. The “cracking down on ordinary Canadians” Copyright Bill is being “steamrolled through Parliament”. The “nothing more than a media-op” Flag Bill is going through Parliament, “ensuring its passing with Harper’s new found majority”.

1) Why is the Omnibus Crime Bill dubbed “controversial”? Harper clearly said he would reintroduce it in parliament within the first 100 days of this session in the campaign. The people of Canada gave him a majority. Now he is doing what he was promising in the campaign. I fail to see how this bill is, in any way, “controversial”. I guess it is “controversial” because last week I heard John McCallum say on the radio that “60% of Canadians did not vote for Harper, so a majority of Canadians is against this bill”. *sigh* Are they ever going to stop saying this? I mean, it’s just so stupid. I cannot imagine that they are too stupid to see that it is so stupid. I think I threw in too many “stupids”  in there, but I mean, that is just so stupid!

2) Why is the “controversial” Crime Bill not hailed as a first in Canadian Politics, where a governing party promises to do something in the campaign, and then ACTUALLY DOES IT while in power?

3) The Copyright Bill. Nothing on the news about the fact that they are taking OUT the fact that one cannot, legally, tape a show from TV and watch it later. That it was illegal to tape an old record (the vinyl ones) and put it on your iPod. Nothing about the fact that it is ILLEGAL to download movies form the Internet and then watch it at home and give it to friends. No, the new Copyright Bill was introduced on the news, with making it harder for “poor students” to find “lesson material” (I am NOT kidding!), and that ordinary Canadians can no longer crack the lock off a DVD and copy it to your computer (um, that’s illegal -> it’s the same as smashing a window at a Vancouver Riot and walking off with a big screen TV, but I guess that was OK, too). The bill is all for “Big Corporations”. Right.

4) The Challenger Jet stupidity. Tell me, Glovel & CTV, WHY do we have Challenger Jets, if the government is not allowed to use them? Chretien got the damn things, you were complaining about that, and now we’re using them, and you’re complaining about that. Would you rather have them sitting on the tarmac rusting away? Would that make it any better for you? I guess we should stick Harper and McKay on the VIA rail, economy class. And if they get an emergency call, they’d have to get off at the next station, which could be Sturgeon Falls (no offence, I’ve been there, it’s not really that bad), and then, what, grab the next Greyhound back to Ottawa? I mean, the whole thing is just so ridiculous!

Funny I never heard Chretien “flex his majority muscle” or “ram through” any bills. And he had more than 60% of Canadians who voted against him. never brought that up, though.

Why, it almost sounds as if Global and CTV have some sort of bone to pick with the Conservatives? Could that be?

UPDATE:

Oh My God, John Baird ordered business cards! The world is coming to an end!!

Reading the article, I found my points above are proven again:

“Baird demands gold”
“Mr. Baird then ordered…”
“He insisted”
“…got his way”
“…muscled aside”

My, my. Doesn’t he sound like Atilla the Hunn?

Any more proof?

So, Elizabeth May *finally* got herself elected. It didn’t come easy, or cheap: first, she had to pick the most hippie-like riding in the country (I’ve been to the Gulf Islands) and then she had to spend the entire campaign in her own riding, and blow more than half  of her entire national budget on buying herself some votes.

In the mean time, all her other 307 candidates were out there, unsupported, with no money to spend.

Then you go on TV stating there was a “growing green movement”, while in fact, your party’s support fell by 360,000 votes, or 39%. You were just talking about yourself, weren’t you?

Seriously, I don’t know why those 307 green candidates keep putting their names on the ballot.

All of a sudden, Iggy pulls out the Coalition Option. Layton said last week he’s willing to jump into bed with anybody (my words, not his). Seems like Harper was the only one telling the truth all along. Surprise, surprise.

Iggy now says he’s ruling out any form of coalition, unless there’s a Harper minority. Wait, what? If there was a Harper majority, there’s obviously no reason to form a coalition. And the Harper minority is the only reason you could form a coalition. So what you’re really saying is, is that you’re going to form a coalition. Period.

If this isn’t reason enough to elect a majority Harper government, I don’t know what is.

My thoughts on last nights debate:

The three amigos tried to come out swinging on contempt charges and G8/G20 reports, eventhough this had nothing to do with the taped quations, but after about 20 minutes, they seemed kind of puzzled that that hadn’t gotten them anywhere, credit to Harper, and seemed kind of lost on what to do next. Fortunately, some questions came along and steered the debate away from so called “scandals” and into some serious topics.

Iggy was angry. I am not sure why his handlers made him behave like that, or why that strategy was picked. For a party trying to portray Harper as the scary guy, they sure made their own leader look scary, with fist pounding on desks and calling the other leaders names like “liar” and “coward”. Iggy offered little on his platform. Occasionally, he seemed to lose his train of thought somewhere along his convoluted statements, ending his rebuttal early with time to spare. Maybe it was him tweeting all though the debate that got his mind wandering… #justsaying

Jack Layton had some good zingers, but unfortunately for him, zingers don’t get you elected–they just give you some comic relief. Otherwise, Jackie had his usual pie-in-the-sky NDP ideas, but no way of paying for them.

Gilles Duceppe was babbling on incoherently for most of the evening, and if you could understand what he was trying to say, he mentioned at some point signing deals with bananas and registering ducks (with the so-called Quebec National Ducks Registration Agency, more commonly known as Quedux). I think he may have had a few too many before the debate.

And Harper? Harper was cool as a cucumber. Opposition questions were just bouncing off him, turning his gaze to the Canadian people and calmly outlining his party’s platform. Not exciting, but effective, surely. I particularly liked his simple explanation of the jet purchase and why it doesn’t free up healthcare dollars if canceled.

So, Harper the winner, hands down. Jack second, Iggy third, Gilles fourth.

So, the campaign promises have started. Already the collective Opposition leaders have promised about $1B per day. Where this money comes from no one knows, but hey, it’s a campaign, and Canadians have been known to believe a promise or two (remember the GST?).

After attaching the government on the so called “in and out” scheme, both Iggy and Jackie themselves are offering a sort of in-and-out scheme to the taxpayers. Yesterday Iggy came up with the most complicated, convoluted scheme to “help” students with some sort of $4000 (or something) grant in some sort of program (if I am being vague, well, it’s because no-one understands the damn thing). One university professor (didn’t catch his name) said on the radio yesterday, that, while complicated, it basically means nothing more than taking something away from some students and giving it to other students, using programs already in place (like the RESPs), the net result being zero. In and out.

Today Jackie came out swinging saying he’d lower taxes for small business, but to pay for it, he’d raise taxes on corporations. I guess no-one told him that most small businesses are corporations, providing most of the jobs (at least here in Ontario). You know that nail-salon you go to, next to the Lebanese pizza place? Well, both of them are corporations. And so are all the other small businesses in that strip mall. They will get a lower tax through his small business cuts, and then pay more tax through his corporation raise. Sounds a lot like an in-and-out scheme to me.

Lizzy May is talking to a lawyer so she may, once again, act like a spoiled child and scream through everybody around the discussion table at the National Debates (that are somehow directed by “The Broadcast Consortium”, a term one only hears during electoral debates, thankfully).

And Gilles? Well, Gilles is in Quebec. Big surprise.

In response to last year’s popular effort, here it is:

We’re on day -2 of the federal election, and already I heard Jack Layton on the radio mouthing off his favourite phrase:

Mr. Harper doesn’t like to play like that: it’s my way or the highway with him

Where have I heard this before?

Since Harper met you on 2 out of your 4 demands, isn’t it YOU who does not want to play? Seems to me that Harper met 50% of your demands, but you won’t play until 100% of your demands are met.

Seems to me, Jack, it’s YOUR way or the highway.

Once again, the Toronto Star is spreading lies and deceit, and it seems the 100 or so commentators are just eating it up, evidently without putting their own brains in gear. Today’s headline reads:

Conservatives ruled in contempt of Parliament

Of course, this is a direct quote from Liberal finance critic Scott Brison on the ruling of Peter Milliken that there was a “prima facie breach of privilege”. In other words, Milliken says there SEEMS to be something breaching parliamentary privacy, but a few committees are required to investigate and decide the outcome. NO guilt. NO Contempt of Parliament. Innocent until proven guilty, eh Star?

But we won’t let the truth get in the way of a good headline, now will we?

If you are currently using an 8 character (or less) password than you really have no security at all. With today’s cheap and fast computing power, a skilled hacker can crack an 8 character password in under two hours. And it doesn’t matter if your password is “H%gd1f4&” or “password”. Today’s fast computers will iterate through all possibilities, from AAAAAAAA to zzzzzzzz (or for you computer geeks: from !!!!!!!! to ~~~~~~~~) and everything in between, in under two hours.

For now, it is best to switch to a 12 character password. Using current computer power would take about 17,000 years to crack. However, computer speed continuously increases, so that number is shrinking by the day.

So what to do? Experts say that thinking of a “pass-phrase” rather than a “password” would be better: think of a phrase like “The Capital Of Canada Is Not Beavertown!” or “My son’s name is not Sally” or even “Count Iggy is Not a Canadian”. Of course, there are still a large number of online businesses and even banks that do not allow passwords longer than 8 characters. This will have to change soon, so you better get ready memorizing that new pass-phrase!

Here’s the link.

The Ottawa Citizen has been running a smear campaign aimed at the federal Conservatives called “Wish You Were Here“. This campaign is to highlight the federal prorogation and keep it in the eye of the public even though nobody else is talking about it anymore. Every day, it lists a number of area MPs and gives us their schedules to see what they are up to because they aren’t working on the hill.

However, today’s edition went horribly wrong: it seems the cons are working hard with many meetings and visits, the libs are either taking the day off or not saying where they are, the bloc did not respond, and the one NDPer is working:

John Baird (Cons.) Ottawa West-Nepean:

Three constituency meetings. Meeting with deputy minister on three issues. Infrastructure Canada briefing. Meeting with Department of Finance regarding budget Recommendations.

Mauril Belanger (Lib.) Ottawa-Vanier:

Declined to provide a copy of his schedule but says he is working every day.

Lawrence Cannon (Cons.) Pontiac:

Meetings and briefings.

Paul Dewar (NDP) Ottawa Centre:

Drop in to Dovercourt Recreation Centre for Family Day Free Swim. Attending CAS Foster a Snow Angel event on Parliament Hill. Reviewing constituent requests and follow-up. Official correspondence — foreign affairs and constituency matters. Research on foreign policy issues in preparation for diplomatic meetings. Speech preparation for remarks to Child Welfare League. Imagine Haiti Fundraiser at Arts Court.

Royal Galipeau (Cons.) Ottawa-Orléans:

YMCA. Heritage Canada Foundation. Meeting constituents about Canada Revenue Agency issues. Preparing ministerial memoranda about key economic development issues that impact on Ottawa-Orléans. Family Day Potluck Supper at Grace Presbyterian Church, Orléans. Evening activity in support of the victims of the recent Haiti Earthquake, Arts Court.

David McGuinty (Lib.) Ottawa South:

Spending Family Day with wife and four children.

Richard Nadeau (BQ) Gatineau:

Did not respond.

Gordon O’Connor (Cons.) Carleton-Mississippi Mills:

Declined to provide a copy of his schedule.

Pierre Poilievre (Cons.) Nepean-Carleton:

7:50 a.m.: Morning briefing. 9 a.m.: Reading correspondence. 10:30 a.m.: Travel to meeting. 11 a.m.: Meeting with PMO policy advisers. This meeting runs until 2 p.m. with possibility of extending to 4 p.m.

Marcel Proulx (Lib.) Hull-Aylmer:

Schedule details unavailable.

The same professional “protesters” who keep crashing the G8 and G20 summits everywhere. Organized, and bused in, carrying weapons and wearing ski masks, these are no ordinary protesters. These are anarchists. Most of the time, these idiots don’t even know what they are protesting. All they look for is clashing with local police to get them on the evening news crying about police brutality.

Go home and get a life, you bums.

From Greg Weston’s column in Sun Media papers today:

Less than an hour after a massive earthquake turned Haiti into an unimaginable hell of death and devastation, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an extraordinary call to action, remarkably putting the first Canadian rescue team on the stricken island by the next afternoon.

By all accounts, the launch of Operation Hestia (goddess of the hearth) was vintage Harper: No nonsense; no excuses.

It all started Tuesday evening, minutes after word of the Haitian catastrophe reached Harper’s office.

The PM was briefed aboard his jet as he arrived in Ottawa from a day-trip to Quebec, and immediately issued two clear orders from the plane.

First, the forever hands-on Harper demanded he be kept at the centre of the action and fully informed at all times.

Second, he made it crystal-clear that the Canadian government would do everything possible to come to the aid of the Haitian people – immediately.

One insider says everyone from the military brass to the high-ranking bureaucrats got the PM’s message: “He wanted it done, and he wanted it done two hours ago.” Defence Minister Peter MacKay was also sitting in a government jet, his flight delayed on the tarmac at Halifax airport, when his marching orders arrived from the PM’s plane.

Again, the directive from Harper left no room for interpretation.

As one senior official observed: “It was clear to everyone that by the next morning, the prime minister didn’t want to hear what anyone planned to do, but what we had already done.” Still on the runway in Halifax, MacKay was immediately on the phone to Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.

Don’t let anybody tell you that Canada was too slow to react.

Donate to the Canadian Red Cross here.

Ms. May, perhaps in search of a seat somewhere in Denmark where she may be elected (since she can’t get elected anywhere in this country), popped up, once again, on the radar at an ‘environmental’ conference at Hopenhagen, the world’s Schmooze-fest on Global Warming (even though there is no warming).

Unfortunately, I have already called her every name in the book in my many post before this one, so I have none to give you. I apologise.

Granted she hasn’t mentioned her book just jet, but has already told Canada to ‘shut up’ and has been seen rubbing shoulders with such great human beings as Al Gore. Wonder if he showed her his Oscar… Oh Al, are you happy to see me, or is that a statue in your pocket? Al Gore and Elizabeth May, now there’s a couple I wouldn’t mind reading about in National Enquirer!

She says Canada is embarrassing itself every time we open our mouths, so we should shut up. I think she got her facts mixed up just slightly, there. All this globe-trotting to each and every conference flappin’ her gums off with crazy-talk may have gotten her off the track a little bit and she substituted ‘Canada’ for ‘Me’. That’s just what I think. I think she may have lost a few of her marbles (provided she had some to start off with) and is starting to excrete even more garbage than usual.

How did you get to Denmark, by the way, Ms. May? Did you swim? Row your boat?

Oh, you flew…

Hypocrite.

Now, go away. Again.

Shoes are torture
When they’re too small
Or when they’re too tall

Shoes are torture
When they’re wet
Or when they’re full of sweat

Shoes are torture
When they’re holey
Or full of guacamole

But seriously people, shoes are not weapons of torture. One Taliban was hit with a shoe (and not even by us!), and the entire county screams of torture and our troops are war criminals and we broke international Geneva conventions.

Grow up. We’re at war. I challenge you to try to torture someone with a shoe. Stop trying to score political points on the back of our troops. Maybe Iggy, Jack and Gill can take a trip to Afghanistan and talk our way out of this war with a bouquet of roses and a bottle of Scotch.

I’m not paying no ransom.

Support our troops.