Meanwhile in Florida...

Republican outreach to Women:

Only Themselves to blame

Republicans. A couple months from now, the day after the election as you are feeling that dismal stomach churning angry despair over there still being a black man in the White House, please remember that you lost the election long before the final coup de grâce in the voting booth.

Let us have no whining about non-existent vote fraud. You rode that hobby horse as hard as you could to suppress the non-white vote as much as you could. Even wide scale Jim Crow style minority voter suppression can't save you this time.

Don't console yourself that the media was against you and you were treated unfairly by the press. It is in the media's interest to pretend there was more of a competition than there really was and they have spent most of the campaign propping you up and withholding the scrutiny you really deserved. Not to mention having an entire TV news network entirely in the tank for you.

When the media turned on you it was because you gave them no choice. If a Democrat had lodged his foot as deeply into his mouth as Aiken did would you not be enraged if the media soft pedaled it? And all Aiken did is say what Republicans actually believe out loud.

Republicans, the enormity of the defeat awaiting on election day will be purely and entirely your fault. You are the ones who chose to so completely alienate women, Latinos, young people, old people and independents.

And don't pretend you were given no chance to talk about real issues with the public - that's what killed you, you were.

You've claimed for years that you want to run on the issues and values you stand for, that any defeats in the past were because you held back from running on your real beliefs, goals and governing history. Well you are going all in on the right wing extremism this election and the voters are abandoning you in droves.

You are going to lose and lose badly and you will own your defeat utterly.

Get him off the Street!

Despicable swaggering bully Const. Taylor Robinson, who shoved a disabled woman to the ground in an unprovoked assault still thinks he did nothing wrong.

"It's important to know the officer has never acknowledged really any wrongdoing in shoving Ms. Davidsen and has continually held to the unbelievable position that she was grabbing for his gun," Bernstein said Tuesday.
"The video shows her hands nowhere near his gun," he said of the June 2010 incident. "It really is unbelievable he can continue holding to this position, but that's what he's doing."

If he doesn't think he did anything wrong that's basically a 100% guarantee he will do it again or something even worse if he thinks he can get away with it.

Corporate Atrocity Enablers

When Iran wants to spy on its citizens international Telecommunications firm MTN helps them do it.  When Syria is about to roll tanks into a neighbourhood and blast it into rubble MTN helpfully shuts off their phone and Internet service first.

Tell MTN what you think of international corporate citizens helping dictatorships spy on and murder their citizens.

Republicans debating their Social Welfare policy:

Return of the Mythical Horse Race

There's been angst from liberals and conservatives with a modicum of sanity and exultation from the far right over Mittens' choice of Paul 'Sarah Palin with a Penis' Ryan as his running mate. Lots of hopeful pronouncements from the American media about how this radically shakes up the race.

This is, not to put too fine a point on it, bullshit.

Mitt Romney's speech introducing his new running mate was was his concession speech. This was Mitt Romney being told by the Grey Eminences of the GOP to write off his shot at the White House and simply provide Ryan with his entry point for the 2016 race.

But.. but.. Obama is only a few points ahead of Romney in the polls and the jobs situation in the US is still dismal (Due to Republican obstructionism but they have Fox News to blame it on Obama 24/7) so how can you say that?!?

Remember what we all learned over the last few American election cycles; the popular vote isn't what selects the President, it's the Electoral College vote.

And in the Electoral College vote polling Obama has an all but insurmountable 84 vote lead over Romney and Mittens would need to get the equivalent of multiple Royal Flush hands on election night to beat him. There is virtually no path to victory to the White House left for the Republicans.

Demographically the current old, white, mean and male GOP is a dead party walking. They've spent the last few years spitting on women and Latinos, alienating independents and watching their constituency die off and not be replaced. They are, in a word, screwed. This was about the last Presidential election that the current iteration of the Republican Party had even half a chance of winning and that chance evaporated over the last couple years as income inequality, traditionally not on the American political agenda became item number one.

Of course it isn't in the Mainstream Media's interests to admit that short of something absolutely cataclysmic and unprecedented Obama is going to romp to a huge victory on election day so expect the drama to continue, just don't make the mistake of thinking its based on reality.

Democrats and commentators should use this mythical horse race meme over the next several months to argue that a defeat of Romney/Ryan in November is an ultimate and decisive repudiation of the Republican agenda. 

And then act like it when it happens.

Zombie Eyed Granny Starver

When Jimmy Breslin called Rudy Giuliani "A small man in search of a balcony." I never thought I'd hear a better one line description of a politician. Then Charles P. Pierce called Paul Ryan 'A zombie eyed granny starver.'

Mark this day down as the point Mitt Romney decided he just didn't really want to be President after all.

Betraying a Hero

The wife of the first woman in space Sally Ride will receive no survivor benefits because of small minded, petty homophobes who support the Defence of Marriage Act.

Sally Ride was the first American woman in outer space. Upon hearing the news of her death last week, media outlets and celebrities alike celebrated Ride as a hero. But under federal law, Ride’s domestic partner of 27 years will not receive death benefits or Social Security payments. Is that any way to treat a hero?

The Slaughter Continues

Three horses, three beautiful majestic animals killed in the Chuck Wagon races at Stampede.  We all knew it wasn't a matter of if, only when.

Can it still be called a tragedy if its as regular as clockwork?

Fuck your tradition.  It isn't worth a single horse's life, much less dozens.

Nancy Grace: Disgusting Evil Monster

Irresponsible self righteous bully drives another troubled woman to suicide:

A tragic accident, a loving mother with a drinking problem accidentally smothers her newborn while sleeping with it.  Police believe it was unintentional, a tragic accident, but the grieving mother faces manslaughter charges leaving the courts to decide the matter. 

In rides Nancy Grace to dub her 'Vodka Mommy' and DEMAND murder charges.  After watching herself be pilloried on national television followed by a campaign of harassment by the despicable Ms Grace's lynch mob fans, the grieving mother kills herself by self immolation.

This brings the repugnant Ms Grace's death toll from her harassment to two.  Why does CNN still give her a platform for her despicable bullying?

Jesus was pretty clear about conservatives...

“‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

We can't afford Stephen Harper

Real Change

The Liberals and Conservatives have the same governing goal: managing and facilitating Corporate rule. The Liberals add a touch of noblesse oblige while the Conservatives pine for the days of the lash and prison time for not doing what you are damn well told.

For the first time we have a federal opposition that is actually operating from a different paradigm from that of the government.  Harper deliberately tried to engineer this believing that if the alternative was the Conservatives and the NDP the Canadian public would never choose the NDP.  The Liberals won many elections by convincing skittish progressives of the same thing.
 
A solid year of neck and neck polls and growing comfort with the NDP from the Canadian public suggests Harper's ideological blind spots have once again trumped his supposed Machiavellian brilliance.
 
A government that actually IS on the side of ordinary Canadians is within our reach

I Love Canada

The Canada Stephen Harper has openly revelled in his hatred for and unambiguously promised to destroy.   #DenounceHarper

Sourced from Unseat Harper

"You have to remember that west of Winnipeg the ridings the Liberals hold are dominated by people who are either recent Asian immigrants or recent migrants from eastern Canada; people who live in ghettos and are not integrated into Western Canadian society."
Report Magazine, 2001

"Human rights commissions, as they are evolving, are an attack on our fundamental freedoms and the basic existence of a democratic society. It is in fact totalitarianism. I find this is very scary stuff."
Interview with Terry O’Neill of BC Report newsmagazine, 1999

"[Y]our country [the USA], and particularly your conservative movement, is a light and an inspiration to people in this country and across the world."
Speech to a Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, June 1997

"Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it"
Speech to a Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, June 1997

"In terms of the unemployed, of which we have over a million-and-a-half, don't feel particularly bad for many of these people. They don't feel bad about it themselves, as long as they're receiving generous social assistance and unemployment insurance."
Speech to a Montreal meeting of the Council for National Policy, June 1997

"Canada appears content to become a second-tier socialistic country, boasting ever more loudly about its economy and social services to mask its second-rate status ..."
Op-ed article in the National Post, December 12, 2000

"Now 'pay equity' has everything to do with pay and nothing to do with equity. It’s based on the vague notion of 'equal pay for work of equal value,' which is not the same as equal pay for the same job."
National Citizens Coalition Overview, Fall 1998

"For taxpayers, however, it’s [pay equity] a rip-off. And it has nothing to do with gender. Both men and women taxpayers will pay additional money to both men and women in the civil service. That’s why the federal government should scrap its ridiculous pay equity law."
National Citizens Coalition Overview, Fall 1998

There's no hidden agenda, he's been quite open about it.

Tory Government: Screw the disabled!

The opposition tried to bring forward amendments to the bill but the government rejected them. Even an amendment that would have allowed those with perceptual disabilities, such as deaf or blind Canadians, to break digital locks in order to transfer the content to Braille or to add subtitles for closed captioning was defeated.

NDP MP Charlie Angus was livid Friday over the government's refusal to make a minor tweeks to the legislation.

"My daughter went through school deaf and to get copyright material she had to actually break the lock rhythm which is used to access material," Angus told Industry Minister Christian Paradis.

"Why would the Conservatives not work with us on a clear amendment that would ensure that students with perceptual disabilities are not treated as criminals for accessing material in an educational format so they can succeed?"

Subversion

If the feds really want to go after foreign subsidized organizations engaging in subversion against Canadians they should be looking at the Canadian IP Council.  This is an organization openly lobbying to drastically reduce the freedoms of Canadians and in fact criminalize and imprison whole new classes of lawbreakers.

The IP Lobby's Post-Bill C-11 Playbook: ACTA, SOPA, Warrantless Search and the Criminalization of IP

The Canadian intellectual property's lead lobby group, the Canadian IP Council (itself a group within the Canadian Chamber of Commerce) released a new policy document yesterday that identifies its legislative priorities for the coming years. Anyone hoping that the SOPA protests, the European backlash against ACTA, and the imminent passage of Bill C-11 might moderate the lobby group demands will be sorely disappointed. Counterfeiting in the Canadian Market: How Do We Stop It? is the most extremist IP policy document ever released in Canada, calling for the implementation of ACTA, SOPA-style rules including website blocking and stopping search results from resolving, liability for advertisers and payment companies, massive surveillance at the border and through delivery channels including searching through individual packages without court oversight, and spending hundreds of millions of tax dollars on private enforcement.

If a Neo-Liberal tells you that there is no alternative...

... and you are being profoundly un-serious to even try to find one - they are plainly and simply lying to you.

Iceland proves that to recover economically you should listen carefully to what the wise, consensus neo-liberal gray eminences sternly tell you about how you must make the poorest pay for the excesses of the richest if you don't want to face complete disaster... and then do the exact opposite.

Iceland was the only European country that dared to default on the bankers. In February 2011 Iceland’s President Olafur R. Grimsson refused to sign a $5B bailout bill and told the bankers he was going to put the bill to a referendum. Although 44 of the 63 members of Parliament had passed the bill, Grimsson said he was responding to a popular demand for a plebiscite after more than 42K of Iceland’s 318K inhabitants signed a petition asking him to block it.

Icelanders absorbed some of the costs itself but forced foreign investors to take the biggest hit. Not deterred by horror stories about an “unthinkable economic demise” that have prevented countries like Greece and Portugal from defaulting, Iceland has proved that default was the best thing it could have done. As a result, not only has the economy not collapsed since last year, but its gross domestic product is expected to increase by 2.6% this year. Much of that growth is based on increased production, mainly in tourism and the fishing industry. In contrast, most other European economies are either stagnant or in decline. Even the Times article admitted that many economists say Iceland’s recovery was aided by the collapse of the banks.

I wasn't worried before now...

The CDC, The American Center for Disease Control just felt the need to formally deny that the Zombie Apocalypse has begun.

WTF Blogspot!

All blogspot.ca sites are setting off virus scanners and being blocked by Facebook right now - if you are wondering why my blog is setting off alerts they ALL are right now. Blogspot fix or remove whatever you have added that is triggering this please!

UPDATE: Appears to be fixed. Whew.