April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

Politics

Thank you Conservative Party of Canada

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Those of us with children know that there are times when they come across bullies. And we often tell them that bullies are people who having such a terrible life, or being inept at things or feeling badly about themselves seek to hurt others in order to make themselves feel good. Never has such an example been made of this theory than has been made with the Conservative attack ads.

It started with the attack on Dion being shown during the afternoon on a children’s programming network. I blogged about how upset my son was about this. He still talks about it and wonders why such an ad would appear among the anti-bullying ads the station often runs.

Having seen the seemingly constantly running attack ads on Ignateiff his opinion of Conservatives has dropped even lower.

So I would like to thank the Conservative Party for not only showing what sad sad people bullies are but also ensuring that my children will never in their lifetimes ever vote Conservative and in fact are eager to do what they can even at this age to defeat them!

Notes from Away

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Well ok I haven’t really been away just so immersed in web design it feels like I’ve been away.

Catching up it seems Harper is still hell bent on being an accessory to war crimes and in giving Canada a reputation as the only country who welcomes the torture of it’s own.

Canada’s Supreme Court has ruled that the discredited Guantanamo military tribunal process under George Bush “constituted a clear violation of fundamental human rights.” Indeed, that’s what the United States Supreme Court found.

U.S. President Barack Obama wants Guantanamo shut down.

And last week Mr. Justice James O’Reilly of Federal Court issued a strong and welcome ruling ordering Ottawa to seek Khadr’s return.

[snip]

Harper’s stonewall response has been to shrug off the order and ponder an appeal.

THE STAR

Harper having previously and continuing to side with war criminals should be grounds for his immediate dismissal as PM.

Locally and ironically commencing during Earth Week, the Tim Horton’s on the corner was torn down to be rebuilt as a drive through. Because if there is one this area needs more of it is cars and the pollution of idling cars. No longer having any indoor seating the new design will not cater to pedestrians in any way thereby making the sidewalks and corners even more treacherous.

The collapse of capitalism is creating some interesting fallout as workers are being asked to scale back wages and benefits while CEOs continue to rake it in, taxpayers money is being given to corporations while taxpayers are being told there is no money to save their pensions or allow them to collect the money they paid into IE or strengthen existing social programs let alone create new ones. Apparently as long as socialism comes from the bottom up it isn’t so bad after all.

Add to this the fact that Ontario women are being fired for becoming pregnant.

What’s especially stunning, they say, is how brazen some bosses are, almost 50 years after Ontario enacted the Human Rights Code to prevent such discrimination.

“We actually have an e-mail from one employer saying, `Sorry, but with your little bundle, I don’t think we’ll be able to (re)hire you. We want a permanent solution,'” says Consuelo Rubio, manager of client services for Ontario’s Human Rights Legal Support Centre, an independent agency funded by the province to provide free legal services to people experiencing discrimination.

The firings are in all sectors: “It’s happening to women in senior positions and women in minimum-wage jobs,” says Katherine Laird, executive director of the centre, who says she hasn’t seen this level of discrimination through two previous recessions and 30 years in the human rights field.

THE SPEC
Hey here’s a great opportunity for the anti choice gang. They can have an adopt a pregnant fired worker campaign and make up the money these women are losing. Michael Coern is still an idiot. Coren supports the troops by denigrating the work of our female soldiers, at least the young attractive ones, presumably the rest are on their own.

Does it ever occur to Coren that in most places in the world women are just as involved in the wars as the soldiers male or female, but they have the added disadvantage of having no weaponry?

Coren says “So Canada sacrifices another victim on the altar of equality.” His piece shows that he and the Sun are willing to sacrifice decency and journalistic integrity on the alter of sensationalism and sexist insensibility.

The viral nature of the Susan Boyle video brought to the fore the nasty realization that many have incorporated the attitude that starvation diets, boob jobs and make equal talent. So an average looking woman has an outstanding talent and the world is taken aback. What a sad commentary on the world.

Big Tent Shouldn’t Only Be For Those That can Pitch One

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Grit insiders say the federal Liberals are unlikely to nominate one-third female candidates in the next election and that the new Liberal leader’s main focus is finding winnable candidates rather than focusing on gender.

Sen. Smith said the leader will retain the ability to appoint candidates, however he prefers “proactive encouragement” to get viable women to run.

“If you have an open nomination, which most of our nominations are, they’re level playing fields. Where you’re sometimes proactive is encouraging women to jump in and go for it, whereas without encouragement, some of them might not have. I think that’s a legitimate and totally bona fide thing to do, but once you’re in a race then it’s a level playing field,” said Sen. Smith.

A level playing field? Sen. Smith is either badly out of touch or deliberately falsifying the facts. A woman is much more likely to face obstacles in relation to family, finance and fairness. One only has to look at the way Hilary or Palin were treated to see that there is a very different aspect to the way media and politicos alike react to female politicians. There is much more emphasis on style, on aggressiveness [seen as a negative in women of course] and ability/experience. A green female politician is somehow seen as greener than a male politician.

A male candidate is much less likely to have to consider such things as childcare both for running and after a potential win. And a male politician is unlikely to be told to stick to his knitting or to go see a ‘doctor’ when forcefully pushing the opposition on bad policy.

While I agree with Ms. Hall Findlay on quotas, “Personally I’m not a fan of quotas,” Ms. Hall Findlay. “It’s difficult for me as a woman to say that because there are a whole lot of people who feel strongly about quotas, but my focus is on getting more women to run period. I don’t need a number to tell me that, and I don’t need a number to tell me we don’t have enough.” it is hardly a level playing field. Much more needs to be done to ensure that more women are able to and have the desire to enter the political arena.

h/t Challenging the Commonplace

Story Hill Times

Tories Preparing Attack Ads

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“We poll better on offence,” said one government official. “That’s always sort of guided us.”

Well isn’t that special? Nice to know they have the bully and arsehole voter demographic sewn up.
Personally I fail to see the point in targeting Ignatieff. He already is allowing Harper to govern unopposed.

Apparently the ads will focus among other things as branding Ignatieff as a flip flopper. Really? They want to go there. With a leader who breaks his own election date laws. Who appoints a record number of senators after a career of working against the senate. Who signed a declaration in support of women’s rights and equality and then gutted SWC and brought forward legislation in the budget that would end pay equality. These are but a few among the many other ways he has proved his disregard for Canadians especially female Canadians.

Though he did not win his pined for majority, Harper is still unfortunately PM. For him to constantly belittle the opposition, in effect belittling the citizens of this country who choose those members as their representatives, shows that Harper is a bully both politically and personally and is not fit for office.

O Canada We Hardly Knew Ye

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I’m having a hard time blogging these days. Not because there isn’t plenty to be outraged about. Too much in fact!

It is more that I see so many of my fellow Canadians falling for the bullying, obfuscation and downright deceitful practises of the Right Wing Coalition Party. Rove/Cheney politics is alive and well and living in Canada. While Obama may be no saviour in the United States, Ignatieff is even less so in Canada.

Fed on a diet of Faux “News” and Amercian “reality” tv we end up with such ignoble quips as this
“First we lost saying the Lord’s Prayer in school, then the Pledge of Allegiance, and now the singing of O Canada…”
See Alison at the Galloping Beaver

And while “Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon will not even return phone calls from lawyers for Canadian Omar Khadr, the last Western detainee in Guantanamo Bay.” the Right Wing Coaltion Party does have time to decide that elementary school students should be required to be indoctrinated with jingoism patriotism through the forced listening of canned O Canada music because

“We have soldiers in Afghanistan on a continuous basis rotating in and out and the least we can do is show pride for our country and our flag,”

Yes it is the absolute least we can do. No doubt they want the kids to be rabidly partisan..er patriotic so they can support a war that most of their parents [and the rest of the country] don’t. Gotchya
[Helps to have rabid jingoist when you need cannon fodder.]

When Canadians are losing their jobs, 129,000 in January alone, calls for changes to EI and other social safety nets are met with “We do not want to make it lucrative for them to stay home and get paid for it” However, there is no problem using taxpayers dollars, the same soon to be jobless taxpayers, to make it lucrative for their corporate buddies to keep cutting jobs and moving plants offshore.

The Harper/Ignatieff Coalition

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In a move that showed Canadians Liberals have their best interest at heart, newly minted Liberal leader Ignarieff voted down the Harper budget. Citing lack of initiatives to protect or create jobs, complete disregard for the women of Canada, and a deficit which will take decades to pay yet resolves nothing…… Oh wait no.. that’s not what happened at all.

Sure the budget wasn’t worth the cost of the paper it was printed on. Sure women received absolutely nothing. Sure ordinary working class Canadians were once again told to stuff it in favour of an estimated 3 billion to paid to those who not only can afford to keep their homes but renovate them too, sure there were reports of infrastructure payments –oh did we mention they got the idea from a spam scam? ya– you put up the money first and then we’ll give you riches…sure the budget held all this and more but Ignatieff voted for it anyway.

OOOOO but there were caveats. Yep there were. Big special important ones too. Like the Cons gotta keep Canadians informed about where their money is being spent and gotta check in and keep the parliament informed…uh pssssst Iggy…isn’t that how a democratically elected government is supposed to perform anyway?

What was the point in the Liberals electing appointing a new leader?