Montgomery Burns

Harper made a decision that he felt was right--even though it might be controversial with some of his base. One can't deny he has guts. And Harper is no dummy. He recently ran a near flawless 8 week campaign and he almost won in 2004--with a party that was only 4 months old. Harper chose pragmatism over ideology. He threw an olive branch to Vancouver and left open the door for consideration of other "Blue Grits". No one has questioned Emerson's capabilities; he is unquestionably very qualified for his post. If he can solve the softwood lumber issue, which is likely, it will be a big political win for Harper. I feel Harper is thinking long term--building for a majority win in the future. A combination of conservative former Canadian Alliance/Reformers, and centrist/centre-right/Blue Grits former PCs and Liberals (disappointed in the corruption, cronysim, social liberalism of the Liberal Party) has the best chance to win a majority. The attempts by some to equate this with Belinda Stronach is grossly unfair. That was a non-confidence vote and Stronach was not qualified for her position. I predict the Emerson controversy will die down and eventually be a footnote. Certainly it is not uncommon for someone to cross the floor. Even Winston Churchill did it--twice.

That's interesting: an article on MSNBC quoted Cheney's spokesperson as saying there may have been "a few beers around" (that reference was subsequently yanked form the article). Also, we know Cheney didn't talk to local law enforcement for almost 24 hours (needed time to sober up?) Also, alcohol is part of the hunting culture (especially for rich dudes playing at being good ol' boys). It's certainly a reasonable path to go down (alcohol would also explain many other of this administration's decisions). Certainly, the White House's treatment of the incident hasn't given the impression thay've nothing to hide. Or maybe they are just so obsessed with secrecy that even something as relatively innocuous as this has to be covered up (after blaming the victim, of course). Oh no! I fear for the future of the American Republic. Cheney actually drank a beer. Do you have any idea how unhinged and compulsively partisan you look? Cheney admitted to a beer at lunch. The shooting incident took place at dusk. According to everyone else involved, (MSNBC likely yanked the Cheney "spokesperson quote" because they made it up and got caught by rightwing bloggers--it happens all the time) there was no other drinking. One can reasonably conclude that alcohol did not play a factor in the shooting. The likelihood of the Secret Service allowing a drunken Cheney to be wandering throughout the woods with a loaded firearm is laughable. And the impugning you do of Armstrong is baseless, though carefully non-commital.

The ISG, of course, was the group charged with scouring post-Saddam Iraq for WMD and WMD programs, the group that reported that Saddam's WMD capabilities were effectively dismantled after 1991. In other words: this is a non-story. I did read the article and you are the last one to be calling people stupid--oh ye of Saddam Had No Ties To Terrorism™ meme. What ABC and you conveniently omit is that the ISG report stated that Saddam was intending to resume his WMD programm as soon as UN sanctions were dropped. Remember Dr. Mahdi Obeidi, who hid the research and prototypes for Iraq's nuclear-weapons program in his yard until after the coalition invasion? These audio tapes prove that Saddam was violation of the agreement he signed and thus this was not an illegal war. But according to you--not to see here. Move along please. Move along NOW!...Fast.

Newbie: So good that he bluffed Dear Leader into signing the Iraqi Liberation Act in 1998, declaring that Saddam was a threat to the free world and was hiding his weapons programs?

Newbie: Even if he was bluffing, did make this an "illegal and immoral" war? Ohhhh...a cliffhanger. When do we tune in for the final episode of The Pure Truth™?

White HouseWhy wasn't this "ABC Nightline" information released before? How is it new? What does that have to do with an audio tape of Saddam saying he told the US and UK "that in the future there will be terrorism with weapons of mass destruction"? Bush erred by wasting time going to the UN again, but he did it as a favor to Tony Blair; pragmatism. But that is not the topic. There is more and these audio tapes are going to be made public. It proves that Iraq broke the ceasefire and the Iraq War was not "illegal".

Speaking of the pathetic MSM, Tony Blankley lays a verbal thrashing on the childish tantrum by the White House press corp:

Oh yeah, that "rightwing" CTV.

Greedy Socialism. Bad News. I'll admit I am slower this morning than usual, I just don't get what your point is here. Please to explain. Thanks The main point was the bolded part--42,000 public sector jobs added and 16,000 lost in the private sector. I believe in a small govt. Why is Bush's cabinet 15 (used to be 14--before 9/11) people, while the Liberal cabinet was 38 people--to govern a country similar to California in population and GDP? Monopolistic bureaucracies are very costly. At least Harper's 28 member cabinet is a start in the right direction. Then I tried to compare it to life in my province--the NDP govt seems to have their hands in everything here. I was upset with that imbecilic Calvert's latest announcement that he would not lower business tax rates--when we have the highest in Canada. We have very competitive neighbors to the west and south. We're having a drainbrain--we're losing our brightest and most ambitious. We're filthy rich in resources, yet we struggle. Why? I contend it is because of the leftwing economic policies.

From tonight's ABC Nightline... Saddam Hussien: "Terrorism is coming. I told the Americans a long time before August 2 and told the British as well … that in the future there will be terrorism with weapons of mass destruction." How can this be? Despite an overwhelming amount of evidence, the left said that Saddam had no links with terrorism and was absolutely no threat to the US. And yet here it is--from the dictator's mouth. There are 12 hours of audio tape and it is going to be released to the public Saturday February 18 by intelligencesummit.org. The tapes are from the mid 90s and they also talk about biological weapons--and their persistent efforts to hide information about WMD programs from UN inspectors. Sounds like Iraq--besides shooting at US and UK jets, paying suicide bombers' families money to commit acts of terror, and attempting to assassinate an American President--broke the ceasefire they signed, even further... Too bad Clinton was too busy bombing aspirin factories, kidnapping young Cuban boys at gunpoint, sending in tanks to terrorize Waco citizens, giving nuclear material to North Korea if they pretty-please-promised not to build nukes, selling secrets to the communist Chinese, forcing the FBI to turn over files on hundreds of Republicans so he could domestically spy on them, and finally, having sex with interns in the White House. Otherwise he might have found the time to deal with Saddam.

Melanie: Me too--a while back. I'm careful now and think I have broken that habit.

I don't understand it either. I don't say aboot and I don't know any Canadians who pronounce it that way. I guess people hear things different ways. I pronounce harrass as "haRASS", but David Letterman pronounces it as Harris. Go figure.

For the 2nd month in a row, Canada's unemployment rate has risen: But it is worse: Greedy Socialism. Bad News. Other Statscan numbers: -In January, Alberta's unemployment rate fell by 0.7 percentage points to 3.5%, the lowest in almost 25 years. -Despite an oil boom, uranium boom, and a potash boom, jobs in my province Saskatchewan--which is filthy rich in all 3 resources--fell from a year ago. Thanks NDP! :angry: Don't want to get the economy rolling if it might enviromentally hurt a moose. Good ole Lorne Calvert announced Friday that lowering the highest business taxes in Canada will not make Saskatchewan more competitive. The way for Saskatchewan businesses to be more competive is to pay their employees more money! No suggestion from Calvert where this money is supposed to come from, but if you give him your vote, I'm sure the Magic Govt Money Tree™ will grease your palms. It amazes me that the Canadian press calls Harper scary. It is the NDP that is scary. A couple of years ago I saw a profile piece--in the local Star Phoenix--of the top 47 University of Saskatchewan graduates; the cream of the crop. Very talented and hardworking. Very likely to be successful in life and make a bare minimum (after some experience) of $100,000 plus per year. Going to pay lots of tax dollars. All 47 "blue chippers" had jobs waiting for them....and 42 of them had jobs waiting in Alberta. We educate them and the Alberta govt gets the benefit of their annual tens of thousands of tax dollars. Tis life in Calvert's Cuba.

By lowering taxes and getting the economy rocking and rolling like the USA (4.7% unemployment rate vs. 6.6% in Canada). Like most leftwingers, you think there is a finite amount of goods and services. Wrong. Look at how successful Alberta is. Look at the revenue the US govt is taking in. Imagine lopping off 1 percentage point of Canada's unemployment rate--about 175,000 people off the "dole", more people paying taxes and more people paying CPP and EI--which helps all of us.

That's because they buy their own books and resell them to the bookstores. Regnery Press is particularly notorious for those. WalMart often receives truckloads of "new" books from Regnery which already have Walmart stickers on them -- because Regnery went in, bought the books, stuck them in inventory, and then resold them to Walmart. Don't you understand basic macro-economics/capitalism? Your wild conspiracy theory ignores logic. 20 or 30 times. Did I ever mention that Michael Badnarik's Libertarians have troubles being tagged as "Loonytarians"?

More from the deranged Gorebot: This guy almost won the presidency 5 years ago. At least it took Jimmy Carter 20+ years before he went loco.

YankAbroad: If you aren't accessing child porn sites--scumbags that abuse children--then I doubt you have anything to worry about. Kink can be many things, but child porn is not an adult's idea of "kink". More rubbish. Not.Going.To.Waste.My.Time.

Black Dog: That's too funny.

YankAbroad: Oh right. The Rigged Diebold Voting Machines™ conspiracy. One hurdle for the Libertarian Party--shaking the "Loonytarian" tag. Not I. Electoral College Votes is what counts. It is rare that a losing candidate edges the winning candidate in the popular vote. That's a strawman you typed. The Republicans got 62 million votes, the Democrats 59 million votes, and the Libertarian Party only received a miniscule 400,000 votes. Even Ralph Nader got a couple of million votes in 2000. When Michael Badnarik files an income tax return, gets a drivers license, and quits publically musing about blowing up the UN office as his first act as President (throwing the sh*t-sucking anal leeches into the Hudson River would suffice), then maybe we'll talk. Getting a few million votes wouldn't hurt either. Did I mention the Loonytarian tag earlier? Oh yeah. The press is soooo soft on Bush. And I doubt that Republicans are quaking in their boots at the thought of facing an almost anarchistic type of rightwinger like Badnarik. Badnarik's Libertarian Party: 400,000 votes Bush's Republican Party: 62 million votes Did I mention the Loonytarian tag earlier?

And the entrepreneurs have already come out with I'd rather hunt with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy bumper stickers.

Good call. There was a guy on here recently (he seems to have disappeared) from, I believe, Norway, telling us that it is good for the state to raise your children. He was a reasonable guy but I am always surprised at how Europeans always look to the state to guide them--especially with Europe's 20th century history of totalitarian ideologies like Communism, Nazism, and Fascism. I can just imagine a young impressionable kid after the CBC got through with them... Daddy, can I get my balls waxed when I get older? Daddy, can I get meat hooks put in my back so I can swing from the ceiling? That looks like fun! Daddy, after watching today's gay marriage video, I gave Timmy a big kiss on the lips. I'm progressive! Daddy, I learned about the President of the United States today. He's a monkey. Daddy, can you buy me some spray-paint cans so I can express my inner feelings on private and public property?

Real Clear Politics commentary by Lieutenant Colonel John M. Kanaley: Perhaps the Lamestream media is still diverting all their resources to finding proof that Bush--Horror of Horrors!--might've missed a couple of days of TANG duty 33 years ago... ...or learning who the President was on Christmas Eve 1968--when John Kerry tells them fanciful Walter Mitty-like tales of President Nixon sending him on an undercover mission in Cambodia, along with a "special" hat. I have it on good source that CBS News spent most of their budget searching for "Lucy Ramirez" of Rathergate infamy. The Lieutenant Colonel is using logic...unlikely to be a liberal. Logically Speaking...definitely not a liberal. The MSM is being less than honest? All those Iraqi bloggers aren't undercover CIA neocons? Doesn't writing a constitution and having 3 free elections in 33 months = Vietnam Quagmire? CNN International. CNN. The news station formerly owned by liberal Ted Turner and his wife, Hanoi Jane Fonda. The station that admitted--years later--that they had overlooked Saddam atrocities so they could keep their Baghdad Bureau open. Makes you wonder what they are "overlooking" in Cuba so they can keep their Havana Bureau open. The news station that had Eason Jordan declaring to an European audience (just like CNN International--which is anti-American for its int'l audience) in Davos--that US troops were deliberately targetting journalists for death. Then the organizers of the conference refused to release the tape of Jordan's remarks. The MSM--with the exception of the indispensable Fox News Channel--ignored this explosive story, but the rightwing blogosphere kept the heat on and eventually claimed their 2nd big scalp (Dan Rather was the first) when Jordan resigned from CNN. I do not recall that emotional wreck--Jack Cafferty--ever reading a pro-Bush email in 5 years! And CNN was the station that allowed Kerry campaign advisors, James Carville and Paul Begala, to host CNN's Crossfire show--a blatant conflict of interest. The MSM is ignoring a historic milestone in Iraq. What liberal media?

Canuck E Stan, the over-the-top liberal Commander in Chief (Geena Davis starring as "Hillary") was also not renewed. Btw, after seeing these CBC videos, I wonder if anyone still wants to debate the social issue of the state raising your children...

Cry me a river newbie. Good on you to quote the opinion of the Opposition Leader of the most corrupt party in Canada. Emerson was the fist of the Blue Grits to defect; there will be more. Emerson is an excellent choice for a cabinet seat. It's not exactly like the CPC has groomed anyone capable of Emerson's experience. He manged a forestry company for years. The end of the softwood lumber dispute would be a political coup for PMSH. There is no doubt that Bush will be open to a leader whose ministers do not viciously - and childishly - insult him.

SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! Cut his mike. . . er. . . remove his account!!! Don't ya love the tolerant left?