scribblet

The headline in the article says: Harper scraps committee idea after setback Updated Tue. May. 16 2006 7:32 PM ET CTV.ca News Staff The first sentence says "Prime Minister Stephen Harper withdrew his nominee to head the new public " there is no mention of the word 'dumps' , so which is it your words or the actual article.

Hmmm, guess we know where the the opposition stands on ethics now. http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories Prime Minister Stephen Harper withdrew his nominee to head the new public appointments commission Tuesday after opposition MPs rejected his choice. The move effectively kills the committee -- a key part of the Tories' accountability package aimed at creating more transparency in federal appointments. Earlier Tuesday, the House of Commons operations committee voted 6-5 to ask Harper to withdraw his appointment of former energy executive and star recruit Gwyn Morgan. In a telephone interview with CTV Calgary, the former Calgary oil executive who ran EnCana Corp. dismissed the opposition's rejection of a public appointments commission as nothing but "partisan politics." "I think Canadians should be disappointed by the way this process has played out," Morgan said. "All I wanted was to help my country, besides that, there wasn't a lot in it for me." Morgan would have been paid a salary of $1 per year as head of the commission. Harper spokeswoman Carolyn Stewart Olsen criticized the opposition for voting down the government's "key efforts to clean up the appointments process." "It is now clear that we will not be able to make progress on this issue in a minority Parliament. "The NDP and the Bloc will have to explain why they co-operated with a party that doesn't want to clean up the government appointments process to snub one of Canada's most respected business leaders," she said.

I suppose. But below 30% is awfully low. Does it really matter though when he can't run again?

Yes and if it wasn't such a lucrative thing why are the American Health insurance people trying so hard to break into our market. Well, they are not running a charity you know. Besides why should you care what someone else does, if they want to purchase insurance let them, no sweat off your back.

I disagree. Some people have a problem with it for various reasons, they should not be forced to donate if it is against their wishes. I say 'forced' because requiring someone to go to a legal building and oppose it is onerous, and is a form of blackmail. I'm not against organ donation at all and would willingly donate for my family but something bothers me about it otherwise, not sure what. I do know that I have to be dead, nothing ticking or living, no taking my heart if its still beating. Weird - maybe...

It might come back to bite him true. If these 'investigative reporters' don't get enough, your right, they might go out and make it up as they go along, (they do often anyway). And we know too many people believe everything they read in the MSM.

Further more we should grant refugee status to any deserters of this war. It is an illegal war and therefore it is our duty to accept these soldiers as refugees and if Harper does not want to abide by international law he should be charged. No we should not, and Bush bashing should be in the U.S. forum (or yes, rabble ). It is not an 'illegal' war actually, and these guys/gals are not refugees in any sense of the word. They voluntarily joined, they were not drafted. It's also pretty telling that Sheehan would make assertions about how unpopular the Conservatives are at a time when their polling numbers are increasing across the country. She seems to be on the wrong side of a lot of arguments. Well, who is funding Ms. Sheehan, she doesn't have the cash to do it on her own, there is a wider political agenda at work. http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=politics&id=3382521 Cohen's group has teamed up with Berkeley based MoveOn.org, an anti-Bush group co-founded by Joan Blades. Earlier this month, MoveOn helped organize anti-war vigils in support of Cindy Sheehan. Current Democratic National Party Chair Howard Dean's organization Democracy for America is also involved, as is the more radical anti-war group Code Pink organized by San Francisco's Medea Benjamin.

Gosh, it would be almost impossible not to post on a hot news topic, or media article that isn't being discussed somewhere else in the hundreds of internet forums.

http://www.ctv.ca is running a poll, definitely the majority do not want issue opened.

Rabble is alive and well with a good hate on for Harper. I read on FD, its a good source of conservative political commentary, but I do find there is way too much anti abortion and religious stuff. There are a few people with only one idea in mind, to ban abortion, they seem to have a death wish for the CPC. Of the two, FD is more democratic, rabble bans anyone and everyone who disagrees with their point of view.

Even though I don't agree with abortion, I still think that it is here to stay. But I would like to see some protective measures for the unborn, especially for late-terms. The Liberals were smart in getting around the issue and establishing it as a "woman's right ". It will take a strategist of a different kind to tackle and counter-act and make it into a winning platform. Of course, it will need the help of the media to sell and sway society to a different way of thinking. True, althought he media should be reporting only the facts, not swaying or selling an idea. Any attempt by a conservative backbencher to introduce limits on late term will be seen and used by the liberals as the beginning of the end. I don't see any middle ground for the CPC on this one. Best to stay away from it as Harper as promised.

Good article by M. Coren on this, worth a read. Judges rule supreme By MICHAEL COREN In case you wonder why Stephen Harper limits media access to his government, witness this week's attempt to skewer Saskatchewan MP Maurice Vellacott. The highly respected politician dared to tell the CBC that, "I don't think it is the role of the judge, whether left or right or conservative or whatever stripe, to actually figure to play the position of God." Then, speaking specifically of Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, he said that "she herself said actually when they step into this role that suddenly there's some kind of mystical power that comes over them, with everything that they've ever decreed not to be questioned. "They actually have the discernment and almost prophetic ability to plumb and know the mind of the public." This obviously touched a nerve. Vellacott has been obliged to resign from the chair of Parliament's aboriginal affairs committee and Chief Justice McLachlin's representative has officially denied that the judge ever said such things. The CBC in particular has magnified the comments to an extraordinary degree. Let us be entirely candid here. Velacott is one of the most morally conservative and outspoken MPs in Canada. He is a former pastor, a powerful critic of gay marriage and abortion, and has been subject to some of the most extraordinary vitriol and even libellous attacks in his political career. Yet while his language was certainly flowery, it may not have been very far from the truth. Consider this quotation: "The rule of law requires judges to uphold unwritten constitutional norms, even in the face of clearly enacted laws or hostile public opinion. I believe that judges have the duty to insist that legislative and executive branches of government confirm to certain established and fundamental norms, even in times of trouble." The author? Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. And the implication is clear. Judges have the right and the duty to make decisions that may be contrary to the laws of the land. Problem is, if public opinion, the law and the elected House of Commons are not to decide what these norms are, it obviously and clearly leaves that privilege to the Supreme Court. Giving judges on that court a status that is, yes, almost God-like. -snip- Hold tight, Maurice. The truth always wins in the end, even in Canada. ************************* http://www.torontosun.com/News/Columnists/...13/1577562.html

Looks like Ms. Sheehan is stirring it up again in Canada, says that Harper is "wildly unpopular' in Canada. I say - OH No Cindy, get your butt back home and stay there, not only that, get your fact right. http://www.indybay.org/news/2006/05/1822652.php Cindy Sheehan: On No Canada! From Italy to Canada to Great Britain and everywhere in between, our brothers and sisters who live in these nations are extremely tired of their governments who support BushCo in their war crimes and crimes against humanity. PM Berlusconi of Italy recently paid the price for his support of BushCo's policies by being uninvited back to his position. I knew he was going to be defeated by just traveling around Italy and hearing and feeling the frustration and fear for their democracy that Berlusconi's neo-Fascist rule was destroying. By many accounts, Stephen Harper was put in place as leader of Canada by the collapse of weak coalitions and scandals that led to this man now leading a minority government there. He is wildly unpopular from coast to coast up north and there is a growing sense of unease about his emulation of a very unpopular person in the USA but even more in Canada: George Bush.

I am against an amnesty, I hope Harper has the guts to say no.

Personally I hope he doesn't, although this shows that the issue isn't going away completely. I don't like to get into abortion debates, I'm pro choice, with limits on late terms. Either way, it is between a woman and her conscience and is not for me to tell her what she should do. I prefer to leave things the way they are now. Any introduction of this issue will be so divisive it will likely supercede any other issues, and could be the one issue that would bring the liberals back to power.

This is scummy and undemocratic. Why was the public not consulted or given a vote on this issue. http://www.canoe.ca/OntQueTicker/CANOE-wir...-Elections.html Ontario adopts four-year terms for mayors, city councillors, school trustees TORONTO (CP) -- Voters in Ontario municipalities will go to the polls to select mayors, councillors and school board trustees every four years instead of three under new legislation changing the rules for municipal elections. The law, which will take effect starting with this November's municipal elections, won final approval Wednesday from the Ontario legislature.

There's an article here by Kinsella in the N.P. kind of appropro for this topic I think. http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/ed...a8-8b9e6c1f059a Turning Hitler into a debating prop Warren Kinsella, National Post Published: Thursday, May 11, 2006 NAZI POST. That's what it says. At the end of our street, there is a shiny new National Post vending box. In and around Toronto, there are many such gleaming and golden boxes, these days, because the Post is selling a lot more copies than it used to. Unless you own The Globe and Mail or the Toronto Star, that's good news. The bad news, meanwhile, is readily seen by anyone strolling by on sunny Queen Street East. On the front of the Post's vending box at the end of our street, someone has used a thick black marker to neatly deface the newspaper's name. It now reads: NAZI POST. Language is regularly denuded of meaning, as everyone knows -- by technology, by popular culture and by the pervasive data smog that suffocates all of us every day. It happens. Language changes, like the seasons. What is de rigueur one month is passe in the next. But when considering Naziism and its murderous symptom, the Holocaust -- an ideology, and an event, which recall evil for which no serviceable explanation has been devised -- is it appropriate to use any of it as a rhetorical club, to advance a wholly unrelated argument? Has language lost so much meaning -- has it become so hollow, so empty -- that it is now, at long last, acceptable to make genocidal analogies to advance to the Debate Club finals?

sorry double post

www.warrenkinsella.com/musings.htm Boy, Bob Rae must be losing it, thats right up there with that stupid military attack ad, not likely to win ole Bobby any friends. He doesn't have many in Ontario anyhoo, can't imagine Ontario backing Rae. As Kinsella says, wonder who he's likening to Hitler. Anyone who starts using that analogy loses all credibility.

Harper's reply to Lib. Mark Holland: Right Hon. Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, CPC): Mr. Speaker, I cannot resist answering a question about the vast right wing conspiracy. What I will say is that I will speak to the Minister of National Defence and see if there is any possibility in the budget of a black helicopter, so we can fly the hon. member around to investigate his concerns.

Maybe the question is, how much is the rest of Canada willing to hand out out or over to Quebec, in order to keep them in Confederation. Where should it stop, and at what point do we just sa NO.

Too bad this uses the wording 'American style", that alone will be enough to set off the anti U.S. rants. http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/National/...570527-sun.html Conservatives eye six-year Senate cycle By JENNIFER DITCHBURN OTTAWA (CP) - Conservative policy planners are examining the possibility of American-style Senate elections, where voters cast ballots for certain Senators on one six-year cycle, and other senators on a second six-year cycle. The model, also used in Australia's Senate, would ensure a regular influx of fresh blood into the upper chamber since all elected senators would be required to step down after six years in office. A senior government source familiar with the work said the idea of staggered elections is just one of the many elements of a Senate reform package expected to be put forward this fall, and will likely include at least the promise of future constitutional change.

http://www.torontosun.com/Comment/Commenta...09/1570608.html EDITORIAL: Chicken Little Liberals Good for Stephen Harper. After a weekend of whining by various Liberals and NDPer and various media that Harper had somehow damaged the country by “snubbing” Ontario, the PM neatly nipped the nonsense in the bud yesterday.

I'm surprised considering the diet of many Brits. Beer, fish and chips, steak and kidney pie, pork pies, etc. etc. Maybe they've reformed, and bending the elbow at the pub is considered exercise. I was there for a month about 4 years ago, my relatives are middle class, not rich, but all have cars. The cars are small, they get much better mileage than our N.A. larger vehicles.

We have a friend who has taken a 'voluntary layoff' from GM for the summer, he gets unemployment plus GM tops him up to close to his full salary. No wonder cars are expensive.... Back to keeping promises: Canada's new NORAD treaty with the United States has passed through the House of Commons. The real news behind the news is that Harper is delivering on his promise to allow Parliament to debate and ratify treaties and international agreements made by the government. This is an essential plank of democracy.