That's quite the 'tar-baby' he has gotten himself into

I am getting so incredibly tired of faux-outrage. In the latest example of Liberal faux-rage, they unfocused Liberals are attacking the young Pierre Poilievre over his use of the term "tar-baby".

The Honourable Member said:
“On that side of the House, they have the man who fathered the carbon tax, put it up for adoption to his predecessor and now wants a paternity test to prove the tar baby was never his in the first place,” he said. He repeated the line again later.

The Honourable Member, Ralph Goodale responed in typical faux-rage:
"In addition to being a pejorative term, which might well prove to be unparliamentary, the parliamentary secretary might consider that there are many authorities both in this country and many others that consider the term racist," said Goodale.

Faux rage is so annoying.

What does the internet say about "tar-baby'?
Wikipedia says
"Although the term's provenance arose in African folklore, some Americans now consider "tar baby" to have negative connotations revolving around negative images of African-Americans.[2] In recent years, several politicians who have publicly used the term have encountered some controversy, mocking, and censure from African-American civil rights leaders, members of the popular daily media, and other politicians.[3][4][5][6][7][8]. Regardless, the history of 'the tar baby' in its original form by far precedes the accusations of its racist associations."

Dictionary.com says:
–noun
a situation, problem, or the like, that is almost impossible to solve or to break away from.

You can also see the term used by the Toronto Star and Liberal Lloyd Axworthy.

When I first heard the qoute from Pierre, I thought immediately of the tar sands, then went to the more racist connotation, before realizing he meant sticky situation. I have heard that tar baby was a racist slur, but have never heard it in usage. I likely read it was racist slur somewhere.

At the end of the day, people need to grow a bit of a thicker skin and stop being so PC. Clearly it wasn't intended to be racist. Clearly.

The Liberals just need to "stick to their knitting" (oh my I am so sexist) and carry on with whatever crap they spew. IE, EI is a unity issue??? I don't even know where to start with that one.

Deficit or Debt? No, they are not interchangeable words

Oh dear god, sometimes I wonder why I even bother reading the Libloggers! One of their bloggers had a posting that caught my eye on the aggregator mostly because I knew it would be easy picking to take apart, and hey, I am feeling lazy tonight.

RGM Unlimited was pontificating about the 85 billion dollar deficit, and how Stephen Harper was saying how it could be bigger if required when he addressed a group of Quebec mayors.

1. All you lefties whined and cried to get deficit financing to help the "needy". You all whined when the budget came down, and made clucking sounds about how it wasn't enough. Now you whine if it might get bigger? You're all taking your cues from iffy.me and are flip-flopping around like a dying fish.
2. It's not a 85 billion dollar deficit, unless you mean, a cumalative over 5 years. Or perhaps better sad, the Canadian government will be adding ~85 billion to the Canadian debt over the next 5 years. Stop trying to scare people with big numbers

And no, I don't find those figures acceptable.

Let me explain to you how the Internet works

Liblogger Darryl Raymaker needs to go back to school to learn how the Internet works. His post is utter garbage, but I will focus only on one part in particular. It is late, and I have to work tomorrow.

His post is rambling, but near the end talks about Don Martin's article:
But the excesses of the Harperites are even too much for Martin. His column today describes the tasteless ads and gives his readers the address of the Conservative website on which the ads can be found. The domain name is registered in the Balkans – Montenegro, to be exact, which as an aside he tells us is governed by a coalition. The web administrator is based in Arizona. The Conservatives have taken as much trouble to obscure the particulars of the website as Mulroney did to hide the cash he got from Schreiber. In addition Martin tells us that websurfers have told him that the domain is used frequently to exhibit pornography!

Oh my god, not pornography on the Internet!!!! Some people host pornography on the Internet under the top level domain of ".me"?

Don and Darryl are talking about the new Conservative attack website www.ignatieff.me.

Darryls thesis is that the Conservatives are trying to hide that fact that they designed and put up the site. His prove is that the domain is "registered in the Balkans". I guess he doesn't understand how top level domains work on the Internet. Every single country in the world is assigned a top level domain, such as ".ca", ".me" is Montenegro's TLD.

Oh wow, damn Europeans are in on this conspiracy too.

The fact that the website is hosted in Arizona is also meanlingless, perhaps the webhosting company had a good deal on, and it was cheaper then hosting it themselves, or in Canada. You can buy hosting space almost anywhere, and you usually go for the cheapest. The website is not hosted in Montengro.

They picked ".me" as the TLD because its like "me", as in Ignatieff is all about himself. Or perhaps, because the Liberal Party already registered Ignatieff in all the other TLDs :)

And lastly, if the Conservatives were really trying so hard to hide their involvement in that site, they really should remove the "Authorized by the Registered Agent for the Conservative Party of Canada" tag line at the bottom of the site.

Yes Darryl, the Conservatives have taken a lot of trouble to hide who is behind that site! Don't worry, one day you too can understand how domain names work. And one day, you might get a brain.

Christie Blatchford eviscerates Ruby Dhalla

Oh man, Ms Blatchford really lays into Ruby Dhalla. She starts swinging from the first paragraph. It is well written and worth the read.

I think that I Ruby Dhalla, as the embattled and beauteous Liberal MP from Brampton-Springdale clearly prefers to be called given the number of times she referred to herself that way Tuesday, said it best.

She certainly spoke for marginalized women everywhere. In fact, I think it's a pretty safe bet she spoke for everyone in the country, and certainly for every politician.

I was lying on my couch watching television with my white bull terrier Obie when she said it Tuesday, which is sort of what I Ruby's mom, Tavinder, used to do with her supposed former caregivers when she wasn't making them food or waiting on them hand and foot, or the layabouts had actually deigned to come up from their luxurious quarters in the basement of the Dhalla family home and their own giant flat-screen TV.

When I heard I Ruby say it, in fact, I cried aloud, “Thank God. The truth is out. You rock, I Ruby!”

Unfortunately, I must have used a too-loud voice, because I disturbed the dog, who reproached me with a sharp look and a disdainful pffftt or two from his rear quarters.

He and I have a relationship that sounds comparable to that between Tavinder and the alleged caregivers: I'm the supposed master, but I'm not, which is why I sleep on a sixth of the bed, my arm braced on the night table, while he stretches out, and why I pick up his droppings and carry them about for hours as the treasures they are, and not the other way around, and why I routinely smother him with kisses while he gives me only the odd peck when he is feeling generous.

The nature of our relationship is in truth the exact opposite of how such relationships are conventionally understood, but we are both fine with that, just as the Dhallas and the purported caregivers probably were once. We have reached a certain comfortable accommodation, or so I used to think. I confess that the Dhallas' experience with their ungrateful alleged caregivers has me wondering if he will turn on me, as the ostensible caregivers did with I Ruby and family.

Already, the dog sometimes bites my calves playfully on our walks, when I am trying to go one way and he is bent on another, or when he is feeling particularly saucy.

Heretofore, I have always amused myself by imagining, should I be found dead in suspicious circumstances and my body autopsied, what the bewildered coroner would make of those little marks on the backs of my legs and the tiny bloodstains on so many pairs of jeans. It is in the event of that unfortunate turn of events that I am now putting on the record the true nature of the marks. I bet that I Ruby wishes she had done something like that herself before the so-called Nannygate affair burst into the headlines and she was left reeling.

Anyway, she was wrapping up her moving statement to a parliamentary committee, in which she detailed her haunting experience of the past week or so, when she explained that, although “people have used the words ‘power' to describe those that are in politics and the caregivers as the vulnerable,” they have it ass-backwards.

“I like the way you roll, I Ruby!” I shouted, prompting another baleful gaze-cum-flatulence from the dog.

“I think all of us as Canadians must never forget that politicians are people,” she said, then added tremulously, “People are human beings with feelings and emotions.”

It was but a small leap to take her inference: Supposed caregivers, not being politicians, probably aren't human beings with feelings and emotions, at least not the same sort of deep ones, although they may cry buckets and get all trembly when they speak, via video camera, to officials and MPs such as those on the committee. Supposed masters are supposed to be the bosses of their canine companions too, but I know the truth of that little societal construction.

I Ruby, as she reminded the committee a little later, is the victim here, either of the bewildering accusations made public by the alleged caregivers, or by the heartless curs of the press who reported the allegations, or of some bigger political conspiracy – perhaps, she hinted, one hatched by the Immigration Minister, Jason Kenney, whom she espied once in conversation with one of her political opponents.

Now, she offered no hard evidence but that sighting to indicate Mr. Kenney did anything of the sort.

But let's be frank: Although it is true that he is a politician and therefore human, he is also a man, a white one at that, and therefore not subjected to the same barriers that made I Ruby's struggle as a young, drop-dead gorgeous, Indo-Canadian woman designated as the Brampton-Springdale candidate in 2004 by then-prime-minister Paul Martin so terribly hard.

Her appearance before the committee lasted about an hour, and was shown between parts of Brian Mulroney's testimony, I believe between the gripping grade-school years and the college years. The perpetually beleaguered former prime minister, who has been fighting to clear his name longer than he ever was in office, was appearing before the Oliphant commission yesterday.

He wasn't as blunt about it as I Ruby, but, you know, I think his words and body language made it pretty clear that, appearances to the contrary, he is the victim in this one – generally of what he called the “deceitful and false purveying of information” about him, particularly by the German-Canadian businessman Karlheinz Schreiber.

Indeed, Mr. Mulroney explained that it was precisely because the enormity of those attacks made upon him over the Airbus affair had so scarred him that when Mr. Schreiber handed him envelopes stuffed with cash that he took them, and kept them secret, even from his accountant. It was to avoid a repeat of the Airbus attacks, he said: In effect, Airbus made him do it.

Politicians really are people, and people are human beings, with feelings and emotions. We have all been reminded of that – ostensible caregivers with their slurs, German-Canadian businessmen bearing envelopes, scurrilous reporters, and those of us who live to serve white bull terriers.

A bumper crop in politics today

A busy day in politics in Ottawa! Political observers had the pleasure to follow the trials and tribulations of two "Lyin' (O')Brians" and one of the world's hottest politicians. Of course this day can't do the public's perception of politicians any good.

The bumper crop:

1. A "Lyin' O'Brian" on trial.
2. A second "Lyin' Brian" testifying at an inquiry.
3. A one of the worlds hottest politicians testifying at a Commons committee hearing.

Crazy indeed.

Tim Powers is also thinking that this isn't a good day for public life.

Flip-flop. Flip-flop. Flip-flop.

Watching the Czar of Convenience bounce from one position to another is actually harder then watching pro-tennis. You really need to keep your eyes (and ears) moving to keep up with the flip-flopping Iggy.

December 1, 2008: "I support the [coalition] accord because it's fiscally responsible, it provides responsible economic leadership in tough times and it also conserves the basic principles of national unity, equality, that our party has always believed in." — Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff

May 10, 2009: "There was also a question concerning the legitimacy of the coalition that troubled me." And: "I felt it was very difficult to guarantee the necessary political stability during a time of crisis with three partners in a formal coalition," he said. "That was my first doubt. I couldn't guarantee the long-term stability of the coalition under the circumstances." — Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff

Wow, Iggy really is special. Is it really that hard for a Liberal to have the courage of his convictions?

It's not about the mustard stupid!

Oh my, some people's children. Is American politics that pathetic that we have to judge a man by his mustard and not his policies? Is Dijon mustard really driving a stake through the heart of American patriotism? And I thought Canadian politics could get pretty lame.

With all this talk about Dijon vs spicy vs French's mustard. Everyone has missed the big picture. Soon, a cheddar cheese burger, medium well, with Dijon mustard will be known as the Obama burger. People will then order the Obama burgers everywhere they go. Just like what happened with the Obama Tail.

The real scandal is not the mustard, its ordering a burger that is not properly cooked!

Ground beef must be cooked to an internal temperature of 71° C (160° F). Using an instant-read food thermometer is crucial. In fact, research results indicate that some ground beef may prematurely brown before a safe internal temperature has been reached. The colour of meat alone is not considered a reliable indicator of ground beef safety. If eating out, order your hamburger cooked well done.

Health Canada recommends that when you order a burger, you order it well done, you have no idea how the ground beef was prepared at the factory, restaurant, or anywhere else. You are asking for trouble to eat a burger cooked to anything else then well done.

So Mr Obama, next time don't worry so much about the mustard, and get your burger cooked properly :)

How much for Don Martin?

How far will Don Martin go to smear the Conservatives and protect the Liberals? In his latest editorial Don Martin accuses the Conservatives for being behind this, and orchestrating the whole scandal.

What is the proof he offers on this allegation? His thesis rests on the fact that the allegations came to light only a year later, Dhalla is a workaholic, and the Conservative candidate in that riding tags along with a cabinet minister when the cabinet minister is in town.

Wow, now that's a truckload of evidence.

Let's compare his evidence against what has been reported, Don, if you are reading this please try and keep up.

1. The story break in the Toronto Star. Yes the Toronto Star, aka the Red Star. You know, that bastion of neo-con thought, practically the only newspaper to endorse the Liberals last election.
2. 3 different nannies have come forward. Yes three, not two as Don Martin had in his column.
3. Ruby Dhalla only speaks through a lawyer. I find that odd, honest people don't tend to speak through lawyers to media.
4. Agatha Mason, executive director of Intercede, was quoted as saying she knew of more then 2 complainants. Read more here.
5. She resigned her post as critic. Again, I have to wonder why innocent people do that so quickly? Something must stink here.
   

This story seems to have legs.

I guess Ruby Dhalla will through her brother under the bus to save herself. That seems like a Liberal thing to do. She will plead ignorance, say her brother hired them, and take no blame at all on this. Despite the fact she lived there 2-3 days a week, had to have seen what was going on, and she should have known better. She will blame everyone but herself, that is the way of the Liberals.

Shame shame.

Let's make it seven!!

Jim Balsillie has made an offer to buy the Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today. The offer to buy the Coyotes came to light as part of this filing.

Hopefully Gary Bettman will cede to the will of the millions of hockey fans in Southwestern Ontario and finally allow another hockey team to enter the market. Of course, this is a long shot as the NHL has a hate on for true, blue, hockey fans, preferring instead to go to southern markets for the owners to lose money.

You can register your support for this initative at http://www.makeitseven.ca/.

Another Liberal another scandal.

It seems that another Liberal has been implicated in another scandal related to immigration. While not quite as titillating as the Romanian stripper scandal, it does seem to show a worrying pattern with Liberal MPs abusing immigration programs.

Of course I should say clearly, that Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla is innocent until proven guilty> It does however, seem that she might have some issues with this scandal. The Toronto Star article seems quite well done.

The one aspect of this whole story that makes me think that perhaps the workers are telling and truth is the fact that Ms Dhalla is speaking through a lawyer. Innocent people don't tend to talk through lawyers.

Some interesting points out of the story:

• Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla is 35, and still lives at home (lol)
• Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla lives in the biggest suite of the house
• Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla claims to have no involvement in the household affairs, but is home 3 days a week

Who knows who is telling the truth and who is lying, at least Ruby still has her Bollywood career and her looks.

Paul Martin - still wrong

Former Prime Minister Paul Martin is still always wrong even after all this time. The man who was once hailed as a massively popular politician that would lead the Liberals to glorious majority governments for decades to come clearly shows again why he failed so miserably. Paul Martin destroyed the Liberals, and is the cause of their current troubles, why he is even still invited to conventions is beyond me.

Paul Martin, former Liberal prime minister and finance minister, on Friday asserted that Mr. Ignatieff's Liberals are equipped to take the country out of the recession and blasted Mr. Harper for spending the surplus he inherited from the Liberals.

"I think people have got to ask: Did it make sense for the country to go into deficit before a penny was spent on stimulus spending?" he said to reporters.

Mr. Martin, the Canadian government is not in deficit, nor are they projected to go into deficit. But I suppose Paul Martin is OK with lying about the situation, he is after all a Liberal. Paul Martin, a shining example of all that is wrong with the Liberal Party of Canada