Credibility

That was from five years ago - even the number of casualties is close to the same as now.   

This was also from five years ago   - we've gotten acclimatized to the language spin now but it was greeted with incredulity at the time.

Plus ça change ...
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Wednesday update : Tonight, CBC's As It Happens interviewed Chris Gunness from UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, about the shelling attacks on the UN Jabaliya Elementary Girls School in which 19 people died and another 125 were wounded. The UN has accused Israel of carrying out the attack after being warned 17 times that civilians were seeking shelter there. Gunness said five of his workers have also been killed. 

In the middle of the interview, CBC played a clip from Israel spokesey Mark Regev (featured in above vid) saying it was actually Hamas that was attacking the UN. 
Thanks, CBC - because it's really really important to be fair and balanced about the now nearly 1400 Gazan casualties shelled in their outdoor prison by Israel.

Regev, as brilliantly deconstructed by Alex Nunns :


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Inside the Committee on Afghanistan

Doris vs Dewar ... via Thwap's Schoolyard :

Mr. Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre, NDP) : Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Minister.

I want to start off with your comments about communication and getting the message out. I want to be precise. In looking over the shop that you chair, the Afghanistan task force, something came up that caused me considerable concern. When I asked officials responsible for training military and police whether they were able to read the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission's report, a wonderful project that we helped fund, they told me they couldn't read it because it was in Dari. I was happy to provide a translation for them.

I looked into this, and I asked an order paper question about translation and the capacity of the task force. You talked about getting the message out, and that's fair enough. What came back was rather stunning to me. Not one person in the PCO, the Afghanistan task force, knew Dari or Pashto. In this country, I'd think we'd be able to find someone—I have. Those six communication assistants in that shop are doing something. From 2006 to 2009, the government spent a total of $4,512 on translation into Dari or Pashto, whereas in this same time period they spent $9.2 million on communications about the war.

I point that out to you because I think there are a lot of deficits. It's about priorities. I don't think we should be spending $9.2 million on getting the message out about the war. We should spend more on translation services. We have a critical role. If we can't even find people to translate the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission's report about torture by the people we're training, we have a problem, Minister.

I will leave that with you as a concern, because you asked for advice. It's not acceptable, from my point of view, and I'd like to know the response. I think it's an area where we have failed.

There's been a lot of attention paid to the transfer of prisoners. I'm going to make a motion to have this committee talk to people about this and bring people before the committee. Are the transfer agreements that the government brought in and we signed onto being followed by Afghan government officials? Are we certain that they're following the procedure we put in place?

(1625)
Hon. Stockwell Day: It's my understanding that they are. I'll get back to you on how we came to that understanding and what gives us that sense of confidence. Then you can judge whether it's a good checking process we have.

On the issue of translation, there actually is a Dari speaker on our task force. This may not have been true when you asked for that information, but there is somebody there now who speaks Dari. Is one person enough? I don't know.

You've raised some good issues on translation. I'll get some information back to this committee, because I know we receive it from other sources. We get the reports of those human rights—

Mr. Paul Dewar: But you understand the disproportionate nature of the numbers.

Hon. Stockwell Day: With respect to communication itself, I'll come back to you with the costs. The cost of printing and distributing these reports—that's got to be fairly significant. There are quite a number of other communication methods that are used. More communication was one of the key recommendations of the independent panel that looked at Afghanistan. In fact, it is the reason we're here today: communication, communication, communication. It was very strong. So I'll get back to you on that.
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Un-fucking-believable.
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Frank Luntz : Spinning a Global Language Dictionary

Republican shuckster Frank Luntz has taken time out from his busy schedule attacking Obama and his semi-somewhat-un-universal healthcare proposal in the US to put together a 116 page Global Language Dictionary of talking points to reshape public perception of Israel's carnage in Gaza side of the story on internet chat forums, blogs, Twitter and Facebook :

Be positive.
Turn the issue away from settlements and toward peace.
Invoke ethnic cleansing.
Don't mention religion or use biblical quotations.

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What a spectacularly awful idea.

Presumably intended for use in conjunction with Project Megaphone. and his "Israel Communication Priorities 2003", also for The Israel Project.

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Frank, you will recall, previously advised Steve on how to sell the ReformaTory brand to Canada and how to deny the existence of global warming sufficient to the task of forestalling government action on climate change on both sides of the border for years.

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Let's look at just one of Frank's talking points.

While "Invoke ethnic cleansing" would seem a very unlikely propaganda prospect given the circumstances, here Frank is reframing the issue regarding the prospect of Israelis having to give up (further?)settlements in the West Bank. The "best settlement argument", says Frank, is to make a parallel between the Arab communities in Israel and the Jewish settlers in the West Bank:

"The idea that anywhere that you have Palestinians there can’t be any Jews, that some areas have to be Jew-free, is a racist idea."

Wow.

OK, time to bring on the "Internet fighting team" !

This is the name given by the Israeli Foreign Ministry to a paid "team of students and demobilized soldiers who will work around the clock writing pro-Israeli responses on Internet websites all over the world, and on services like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube."

"They will punch a card," says Elan Shturman of the Foreign Ministry.

"Our people will not say: ‘Hello, I am from the policy-explanation department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry and I want to tell you the following.’ Nor will they necessarily identify themselves as Israelis. They will speak as net-surfers and as citizens, and will write responses that will look personal but will be based on a prepared list of messages that the Foreign Ministry developed."

Good to know. Thanks for the heads up. A little hard on the now-discredited people out there genuinely trying for honest debate, don't you think?

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So the next time Steve refers to his fellow Canadian parliamentarians as anti-Semitic for criticizing Israel, or Stockwell Day applauds what it pleases the Israeli government to call our Canada-Israel Homeland Security pact, or a sitting British MP is refused entry to Canada for delivering aid to Gaza, or a Star editor unfairly castigates one of her own columnists in public at the behest of the CJC, or a Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism blubbers on about "blood libel" and some new expanded definition of anti-Semitism, just ask them to point you instead to the relevant talking point in Frank's dictionary. It'll save a lot of your time.

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Yes, I'm ragging on about Israel a lot.

There seems to have been a sudden bump in officially sanctioned nonsense about Israel since we finalized that public security deal last year to protect the Canada-Israel border. *snerk*

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For a very good article on the alarming ties between Steve's government and Jewish lobbies and the Christian right in Canada, see retired B'nai Brith Chair and Concordia University History Professor Emeritus Stephen Scheinberg :

Partners for Imperium: B’nai Brith Canada and the Christian Right.

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A Mighty Wind is still blowing : CBC still blows

Heather Mallick : "I am immensely attached to the CBC. You try living outside Toronto and trying to understand the country you live in without having the CBC on TV, on the radio or online. It can’t be done.
If Stephen Harper wins the next federal election, the CBC will be no more."

Link round-up on the CBC's censure of Heather Mallick and her article "A Mighty Wind blows through Republican Convention" and their promise to get more 'fair and balanced' real soon :

Heather's column, reprinted at her website - the one the CBC pulled.

CBC Ombudsman's Review

CBC News Letter from Publisher John Cruikshank:
"We erred in our judgment" You can leave comments!

Blogger round-up :

Creekside : A Mighty Wind blows up the arse of the CBC
here and at The Galloping Beaver

Canadian Cynic : Who's your daddy, CBC?

Unrepentant Old Hippie : CBC - Canadian Butt-kissing Corporation

The Gazetteer : Ask Not What the CBC Can Do For Our Heather...

Canadian Cynic : CBC Gutless, Cowers Before Freepers

CathiefromCanada : Does anyone think Palin's a good choice?

Dawg's Blawg : Dear MotherCorp

Designated Driver of North America : CBC panders to Fox News, the National Post, and a right-wing astroturf campaign

This is our publicly owned CBC pandering to privately-owned right-wing pressure talking points. Fox News was offended? Please. If you don't want to see some variation of CBC Guest Columnist Ann Coulter any time soon,
let them know.

Now RossK has an idea .....

If I missed you in the round-up, let me know in comments.

A mighty wind blows up the arse of the CBC

CBC caves on Heather Mallick's column; promises more rightwing talking points real soon
Jesus freaking baby momma o' god.

The CBC Ombudsman reviews Mallick's column on VP Embarrassment-in-Waiting Sarah Palin, "A Mighty Wind Blows Through the Republican Convention", and cites this quote :

"It’s possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she’s a woman. They’re unfamiliar with our true natures. Do they think vaginas call out to each other in the jungle night?"

Great line that last one, wasn't it? Here's the ombudsman's response:

"Ms. Mallick’s item generally stays in the opinion column but she does offer some flat statements that appear to offer "facts" without any backup. For instance, there is no factual basis for a broad scale conclusion about the sexual adequacy of Republican men."

Yes, there really is nothing more ridiculous than a prissy serious pants deconstruction of snark, is there?
The ombudsman notes, apparently without irony, that Natty Post writer Jonathon Kay "urged readers to write to complain", and gets skittish on the topic of the CBC being "government-owned":

"I even received a phone call from the Fox News web outlet inquiring whether the views expressed represented the position of Canadians and "the Government of Canada."

Oh dear, the Fox is among the chickens again. And speaking of Fox :

"On CBCNews.ca, there does not appear to be a wide range of "pointy" views. For instance, many of those who complained claimed that there is no one of an opposite ideological viewpoint readily apparent on the service. Unfortunately, this appears to be true."

Uh-oh. Cue CBCNewshead John Cruickshank : We erred in our judgment

"Mallick's column is a classic piece of political invective. It is viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan. And because it is all those things, this column should not have appeared on the CBCNews.ca site …
We failed you in this case. And as a result we have put new editing procedures in place to insure that in the future, work that is not appropriate for our platforms, will not appear."

He also notes the Fox censure, then :

"Ombudsman Carlin makes another significant observation in his response to complainants: when it does choose to print opinion, CBCNews.ca displays a very narrow range on its pages. In this, Carlin is also correct. This, too, is being immediately addressed. CBCNews.ca will soon expand the diversity of voices and opinions and be home to a diverse group of writers with many perspectives. In this, we will better reflect the depth and texture of this country."

Uh huh. CBC : "Fair and Balanced".
Good. In that case I expect to hear a good deal more from the poor, the left, the disabled, prisoners, feminists, First Nations, and people who don't live in Toronto.

And is this the "great wind" of a possible Con majority you're feeling here, CBC?
The ombudman wrote that "Liberty is not the same as license"; maybe Cruikshank is hearing "Liberty is not the same as having a licence."

Steve and Kory woo teh wimminz

In their efforts to humanize Steve for resistant women voters, the Stephen Harper Image Team (S.H.I.T.) have been working really hard on his fuzzies, seeming to lift all their moves from Bill Murray's desperate and cynical courtship of Rita in the movie "Groundhog Day". But we've been here before and we won't get fooled again.

In their efforts to humanize Steve for resistant women voters, the Stephen Harper Image Team (S.H.I.T.) have been working really hard on his fuzzies, seeming to lift all their moves from Bill Murray's desperate and cynical courtship of Rita in the movie "Groundhog Day". But we've been here before and we won't get fooled again.

In their efforts to humanize Steve...

War of the Family Guy ads

G&M : Pre-election ads portray Tory Leader as family guy
"The sale of a warm and loving Stephen Harper launched yesterday with a series of pre-election ads designed to give feeling to the Prime Minister's steely image.
One of the 30-second spots, entitled "Family is everything," portrays Mr. Harper as just an ordinary guy who loves nothing more than spending time with his kids."

G&M : Liberals show 'another side' of Dion
"The Liberal Party will unveil today a website profile of leader Stéphane Dion as an outdoorsy, passionate, family- and dog-loving man with rugged interests welded to the Canadian mythologies of nature and the North."

Evidently we are all morons.

Soldier chic

Sears has signed a deal with the U.S. Army to launch the All American Army Brand's First Infantry Division clothing collection - "the first time the U.S. Army has officially licensed its marks and insignias."
The collection, slated to launch nationwide in October, will be made up of "authentic lifestyle reinterpretations".

The Army will also be test piloting an "Army Experience Center" in a mall in Philadelphia "to help visitors virtually experience aspects of Army life" and to build recruitment.

Well, hell, son, you're already wearing the uniform...

Still, you have to feel sorry for the poor "U.S. Army spokesperson" who was made to 'wear' this :

"By incorporating the Army's timeless traditions with iconic styling and unparalleled standards for performance, fit and function, consumers can wear the pride they feel for our troops."

And may I suggest a nice pump to go with that, sir? No? How about a tour in Iraq?

New 'waterfronts' in fair and balanced reporting

Argghhh!
A news item in the Toronto Star, "Think tank urges Canada to flow towards water exporting", is a classic example of "he said, she said" journalism that still manages to omit important background information required to weigh the two opposing viewpoints.
After quoting a recently released report from a Montreal think tank extolling the virtues of commodifying fresh water for export :

"Large-scale exports of fresh water would be a wealth-creating idea for Quebec and for Canada as a whole" and "it is urgent to look seriously at developing our blue gold"

the writer then balances this with a few warning noises from Environment Canada and the Council of Canadians :

"We don't want to see water commodified and commercialized in this manner," she said, noting it's a myth that Canada has abundant supplies of water.

... and her job is done!
Now what could be fairer than that?

Well, for a start the think tank is introduced as "an independent, non-profit organization that takes part in public policy debate in Quebec and across Canada".
I know my dream of ever reading the phrase 'right wing think tank' or 'neo-liberal think tank' is clearly unobtainable, but having gone this far in promoting said think tank's credentials, is it too much to ask that the writer provide a little actual information to go with it?

The chairman of the board of the Montreal Economic Institute, the 'independent non-profit' so keen on privatizing and exporting Canadian water, is Helene Desmarais. Helene Desmarais is married to Paul Desmarais, Jr, CEO of Power Corporation of Canada and board member of Suez Group, a multinational corporation that is the world leader in water privatization.

See how easy that was?
Space permitting one might also mention that the MEI is in favour of private medicare, P3 toll roads, and disbanding the wheat board. Perhaps also throw in that last year MEI and the Fraser Institute co-sponsored another report, "International Leadership by a Canada Strong and Free", written by Mike Harris and Preston Manning, and still available at the MEI website.
It features this choice phrase :

"For Canada, Mexico’s presence at the NAFTA table is no reason to avoid action on our urgent national interest in pursuing a formal structure to manage irreversible economic and security integration with the United States."

Puts a whole different 'spin' on all that enthusiasm for "large scale exports of fresh water", doesn't it?

Babes in bikinis vs the coronary stent

The Israeli consulate in Toronto is gearing up for "Brand Israel" , a $1M 10-month ad blitz campaign displaying positive images of Israel in bus shelters, on billboards, on radio and TV starting in September. The ad here features the "Innovation Israel" coronary stent.

Consul general Amir Gissin promises the campaign will be "an attack on all the senses".

Sponsored by Sidney Greenberg of Astral Media, Canada's largest radio broadcaster; Joel Reitman of MIJO Corporation; and David Asper of Canwest Global, I'm sure it will be.

"The way to fix negative images of Israel is to present Israel in a positive light elsewhere," Gissin said. "Never has there been this [scale] of combination of business and philanthropy for Israel."

Well, that's only true if you don't count the last seven years of the Brand Israel campaign in the U.S.

ISRAEL21c boasts it "has placed more than 5,000 stories with positive images of Israel and Israelis in mainstream American media" and "tens of millions of eyes see ISRAEL21c reported stories, yet most of them don't know that ISRAEL21c is the source".

Their most famous stories include a former Miss Israel in a bikini on the covers of Maxim and the New York Post, and the Newsweek photospread "Babes in the Holy Land", financed in part by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The former national president of AIPAC, now president of ISRAEL21c, explains the strategy :

"All the recent research on Israel's image or brand in America indicates that the one demographic group that has the least positive knowledge of Israel in America is men under 30. To them, Israel is a place of armed military conflict and little else."

Gissin's U.S. counterpart, the Israeli consular official based in New York, attended the photoshoot and agreed :

"We have to find the right hook. And what's relevant to men under 35?
Good-looking women."

Figures, doesn't it?

The Americans get targeted with Babes in the Holy Land; Canadians will be getting the coronary stent.

P.S. Dear Jerusalem Post : All the wonderful goodwill generated by your report on the rebranding Israel campaign is unfortunately somewhat diluted by your having a "Bomb Iran? Vote now!" NewsMax poll on the comments page accompanying the article.

Oily the Splot

Hi! I'm Splotchy, the Con's new talking oilspill mascot.

Look for me on the little tv screen where you gas up at the pumps.

Or not.

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Hey, that's not fair! We have a contract through Retail Media Inc.!

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... Retail Media Inc ... Retail Media Inc...

Hey I remember them! That whole in-and-out thingey ...

"According to a sworn affidavit, executives with Retail Media Inc., the Toronto "media buying" firm for the Conservatives, balked when investigators showed them an invoice on the company's letterhead.
The executives "didn't recognize" the invoice, similar to that filed by about 15 Conservative candidates among 67 from the 2006 election seeking more than $825,000 in taxpayer-funded rebates.
Marilyn Dixon, chief operating officer, suggested the invoice "must have been altered or created by someone" because they didn't look like the ones her firm submitted to the Conservative Party of Canada.
Now, the party is under investigation for filing returns with Elections Canada "that it knew or ought reasonably to have known contained a materially false or misleading statement" on advertising expenses."

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But never mind that. Or Bernier's security breech. Or what Con operatives offered the dying Cadman. Or that we dismissed the vote passed by opposition parties calling for a cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from 1990 levels by 2050. Or the leak to the press that Obama/Clinton didn't really mean their campaign statements to reopen NAFTA. Or the new softwood lumber penalties. Or our refusal to repatriate Khadr. Or the travesty that is the Toronto terrorist 18, scratch that, 11 trial. Or our continuing participation in Operation Enduring Freedom. Or regressive immigration practices shoved into a budget bill. Or the proposed treaty with the murdering Colombia regime. Or the SPP and sucking up to Bush.

Never mind all of that.

Just keep your eyes on this simple message to you :

TAXES ARE BAD. DION IS NOT A LEADER.

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Harper chooses gay superhero to be new symbol of Canada

Harper is going to take a certain amount of flack for choosing a gay francophone superhero from X-Men to be the new symbol of Canadian, uh, pride, but personally I think it's just terribly terribly bold of him.

G&M : "In a new bid to foster national pride and confidence in its leadership, the Stephen Harper government is urging Canadians to look up, look way up.
As the Conservatives search for a more inspirational way to deliver their message and replace the worn-out catchphrase "Canada's New Government," the lobbyists and strategists who deliver the government line were told after last week's Throne Speech to make use of a reference to the North Star that showed up toward the end of the speech.

"To help you effectively communicate with your local media, as well as your constituents, we have included general messaging on the Speech from the Throne," says a PMO memo obtained by The Globe and Mail.
Among the elements of the Throne Speech that the memo urges them to highlight, the first is this lyrical passage: "Like the North Star, Canada has been a guide to other nations..."

The memo does not say specifically how the strategists should use the reference."

Oh come on, strategists, how tough is that?
According to wikipedia, NorthStar is a Quebecois superhero who first joins the Front de Libération du Québec to gain Quebec independence but soon sees the error of his ways and renounces terrorism to join Alpha Flight, a superhero group financed by the Canadian government.
His X-Men bio divulges that in addition to being a world class Olympic skier who makes his home at the north pole, NorthStar is also a martial arts master, a trapeze artist, and an accomplished novelist.
Now what could be more Canadian than that?

"Sources have told The Globe that the North Star terminology was to have been peppered throughout the speech, rather than just at the end.
"When you're following the North Star you're always going in the right direction," said the source in explaining its appeal."

As Impolitical says : Must ...repeat...North...Star....

$1400 a day?! ....Each?

The newly appointed five-member Independent Panel on Canada's Mission in Afghanistan, aka the Panel of Hawks, Deep Integrationists, ...and One Homophobe, appointed by Harper to advise parliament on the future of Canada's mission in Afghanistan four days before he informed us Canada will be staying till 2011 anyway if he has anything to say about it, will not be going it alone.

They will have minders. Six of them.
An appointed secretariat of six senior government officials will 'facilitate' for the Independent Panel. Three of them are from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, one is from CIDA, one is from the Afghanistan Task Force, and one is the former deputy commander of the Canadian contingent in Afghanistan.

A spokesperson for the shadow panel downplays the effect that being advised by the same government officials who have been overseeing the Afghanistan mission up till now might have on the official panel's independence :
"they are very independent thinkers and extremely accomplished and extremely worldly. I don't think anyone's presence here could influence them in any way, shape or form."

Over at Embassy Mag, Paul Hughes, chair of one of the four working groups on the American Iraq Study Group, patiently explains at length how complete independence is required in order for the panel's findings to be considered credible.
"If it comes across as a partisan document, people will treat it as a partisan document and not give it due deference," Mr. Hughes said.
Yeah, like we had complete confidence in them before.
And then there's this:
"The spokesperson said the panelists, who it has been reported will be paid between $850-$1,400 per day for their work through to March 31, 2008, will aim for full transparency."

Full transparency? For $1400 a day I expect they can become completely invisible.

CBC's strange bedfellows

Dear CBC :
About that Environics poll that you state was "conducted in partnership with the CBC", the one all over CBC TV News tonight, the CBC website, CTV, the G&M, etc :

CBC : 51% of Afghans feeling good about country's direction
60 % of Afghans surveyed believe the presence of foreign troops has been good for their country.
43% say that foreign troops should stay as long as it takes to get the job done.
60 % in Kandahar have a somewhat or very positive attitude toward Canada's soldiers.
70% of Afghans surveyed said they think Karzai is doing a good job.
77% of Afghans in Kandahar said Karzai is doing a good job.

In fact the poll was conducted by ACSOR–Surveys, the Afghan Center for Social and Opinion Research, founded by D3 Systems Int., whose client base include US State Department, the US Embassy in Kabul, the Afghan Reconstruction Group, Voice of America, (PIPA) the Program on International Policy Attitudes.....

A previous PIPA poll conducted by the Afghan Center for Social and Opinion Research in November 2005 found :
80% of Afghans believe their country is going "in the right direction"
83 % of Afghan respondents said they had a favorable opinion of U.S. troops in Afghanistan
81 % expressed a favorable opinion of the United States
83% said they had a favorable (39 percent "very favorable") view of "the U.S. military forces in our country."
75% approved of eradication of opium poppy fields
90% had an unfavorable opinion of the Taliban
and so on....

This ACSOR poll was extensively used in the US media to bolster support for the war.
Just like their new one will be used here.
Peter Mackay outside the HoC today: "Afghans are now able to take part in democratic processes like polling, and I think that's another brick in the wall as far as building the [needed] security."


Another brick in the wall, indeed. Unusual use of that Pink Floyd metaphor, Pete.


Now even if you do not subscribe, as I do, to the notion that this "CBC/Enviromics partnership" poll is just another piece of bullshit brick-in-the-wall warmongering being spun by yet another US research company, this time with our CBC as a willing patsy, you have to admit that comparing the most recent ACSOR survey with their 2005 one shows Afghan opinion and support for foreign troops is actually plummetting :

2007 : 51% believe the country is going in the right direction
2006 : 80% believe the country is going in the right direction

2007 : 60% support foreign troops and Canadian soldiers
2006 : 80% support American troops

So, CBC, what have you got to say for yourself?

Research jointly conducted in the threads of Bread and Roses

Update : The CBC/G&M/La Presse Survey at Environics

MMP and the MSM

Just exactly what is it about the above chart that's so fucking difficult to understand?
The first line is the percentage of votes for each party.
The second line is the number of seats awarded them by our current First-Past-the-Post system.
The third line is how those votes would have been redistributed as seats under MMP.

That's it. Under MMP, Canada would join the hundreds of other countries in the world who already enjoy proportional representation in which every vote counts and seats are won on the basis of how people vote.

So why does a recent SES poll of Ontario voters, who are due to vote on this for Ontario on Wednesday, show only 26% support for MMP, compared to the 54% in favour of keeping the First-Past-the-Post status quo?

The Mainly Sloppy Media has a lot to answer for here and G&M's Ian Coutts tops the lot. First he takes a swipe at the legitimacy of the Ontario Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, who, incidentally, voted 98 to 6 in favour of MMP :

"Numbering 103 people in total, one from every riding in the province, they were drawn from many walks of life, not experts but ordinary people - just like the ordinary people who voted for Brian Melo over Jaydee Bixby on Canadian Idol this year."

Then he goes on to argue that Someone might form the Annoy Your Neighbour Party, win a seat, and become kingmakers; but even worse, once people realized their vote would actually count, tragically more of them would vote. I'm not kidding :

"And you know what? Once people see that their vote makes a difference, that their party can get in and make changes, they will come flocking back to the electoral arena."

In an earlier column, he contradicts this, arguing that the claim that MMP results in a higher voter turnout - and it does - isn't true after all anyway. Just look at New Zealand, he says, where voter turnout actually went down :

"In 1995, the first election after MMP was brought in, voter turnout was sharply up, from 79.6 % in 1993 to 83.6%, but it has generally continued declining after that, and was at 80.1% in 2005."

Only 80% ???


Note that wiggly line across the top of the graph.
You have to go all the way back to 1896 to find Canadian voter turnout as low as it is now - 64%

The main reasons people give for not voting are that politicians are crooks and liars who don't address their concerns, and their vote doesn't make a difference anyway.

Or, as Rick Mercer puts it : the two reasons elected politicians don't do what they promised to do during their election campaigns are :
1) you already voted for them .....and
2) you already voted for them

Most likely to feel this way are women, youth, and minorities - all of whom are under-represented in the current provincial and federal FPtP systems.

In the 2006 federal election, the Cons got 36% of the 64% who voted.
What's 36% of 64%? ... 23%
We're being governed by the guys who got 23% of the possible vote and who apparently feel justified in behaving as if this was a majority.
In Ontario, winning 40% of the vote means the winner takes all. This increases the importance of a handful of swing vote ridings so they are the ones catered to during an election. In a very real sense, aside from those who live in those particular ridings, no one else's vote counts.

In my inbox is a pro-MMP petition signed by Stephen Lewis, Linda McQuaig, Bob Rae, David Suzuki, Olivia Chow, Stompin' Tom Connors, Andrew Coyne, Elizabeth May, Mel Hurtig, Joy Kogawa, Rafe Mair, Judy Rebick, and Rick Salutin.

On the other side are the guys who are quite happy to have a minority hog an unfair proportion of political clout.

Your choice, Ontario. Don't screw this up.

Bonus : Electoral system pop quiz

Nuclear greenwashing and spinning

Dear Canadian media :
Please stop printing crap like this about Patrick Moore and nuclear power:

"A popular Canadian environmentalist said Tuesday it's silly for Saskatchewan to benefit from uranium exports but not from nuclear energy.
Speaking in Saskatoon at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Patrick Moore, former president of Greenpeace Canada and founder of Greenspirit, an environmental consultancy firm, said ..."How ridiculous is it for a province that supplies uranium to 441 nuclear plants around the world to have an anti-nuclear policy at home?"
Moore admits he was opposed to nuclear energy during his Greenpeace years, but changed his mind after researching the power source. The environmentalist hopes more people take a closer look at nuclear energy, saying general uncertainties about the fuel comes from concerns over nuclear waste, meltdowns and proliferation, all of which are not likely to happen or cause damage."

unless you are going to also follow the money and mention that Moore's speaking engagement at that Chamber of Commerce luncheon was hosted by two Canadian uranium mining companies, that Moore's current cross-Canada tour is sponsored by TEAM CANDU, and that Moore is being paid to support nuclear power by the US Nuclear Energy Institute.

Thank you.

Steve and Sandra - Spinning the war

Last month Steve got a report from The Strategic Council :
It said - G&M : Change tune on war, PM told
July 8 - Calgary Herald : Tories shift Afghan stance
July 13 - G&M : New Afghan rhetoric a ploy to sway Liberals

On The Map : It's called a 'coup'

Whatever we may think of Hamas, their armed aggression, and their refusal to recognize Israel, they did win a decisive victory in a democratic election in Palestine a year and a half ago. This prompted Peter MacKay to fall all over himself in his rush to clock in before the US and officially nominate Canada to be the first country outside Israel not to recognize the new government. Condemnations were issued and aid was cut off.

Last week, in response to Hamas' taking of Gaza, President Abbas fired Prime Minister Haniyeh and his Hamas cabinet and replaced them with an appointed more western-friendly "emergency government".

Bush and Israeli PM Olmert responded with statements of support for Abbas and the promise to resume aid. Bush said he would keep fighting for democracy in the region because it is the only way to prevent extremists from gaining a foothold.

Screw democracy when it doesn't come out the way you want, eh?

Last night I was pleased to hear Avi Lewis on On The Map name last week's events in Palestine for what they actually were - a coup d'etat.

UPDATE : Avi called it on Tuesday and now via a link at Buckdog:

An oped in Wednesday's New York Times from now ex-Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's political advisor Ahmed Yousef : What Hamas Wants

"The events in Gaza over the last few days have been described in the West as a coup. In essence, they have been the opposite. Eighteen months ago, our Hamas Party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections and entered office under Prime Minister Ismail Haniya but never received the handover of real power from Fatah, the losing party. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has now tried to replace the winning Hamas government with one of his own, returning Fatah to power while many of our elected members of Parliament languish in Israeli jails. That is the real coup."

Continued at NYT. where Yousef lays out the Hamas position here.

The Cons - "Getting Things Dumber"

As the Cons shop their party logo onto Pierre Bourque's stock car in an effort to target that all-important NASCAR dad demographic, I'm thinking that the WWF dads (pronounced WOOF dads) are probably up next.

Faked pugnacious histrionics in a fixed fight - it's perfect.

Best line on the current foray into "Getting Things Dumb" came from Bourque himself who explained :

"NASCAR provides a "terrific medium" to spread the party brand as Canadians switch from traditional sources of information, such as newspapers and television, to reading logos painted on cars instead."

"It's a natural fit for them," he said of the Cons.

Referring to the other parties, Bourque, who also drives the Con message on his News Swatch website, mused, "I don't know why they didn't think of it first."

Why indeed.

Red Tory thinks it might have something to do with conjuring up an image of "making a lot of noise while going endlessly round in circles".

Heh. And Ted has a contest going.: Ottawa Nights - The Ballad of Stevie Harper

Environment Committee scuttled

The Environment Committee appears to gone the way of other government committees who deviate from the Con party line.

Faced with the prospect of testimony hostile to the Con environment plan from a witness previously expected to be 'friendly', Environment Committee Chair and Con MP Bob Mills attempted to change the witness line-up, and when over-ruled by the rest of the committee he promptly resigned as committee chair. No other Con agreed to stand in for Mills, thereby effectively shutting down the hearings.

Another one for the growing list of sabotaged committees.
The silenced witness was Mark Jaccard, a Simon Fraser University economist who Environment Minister John Baird counted on to validate the Con non-environment plan right up til this week when Jaccard published a scathing review of the government's climate change targets via the previously supportive C.D.Howe Institute.

Now we all remember the 200 page Con dirty tricks manual with its suggestions on how to disrupt and terminate committees not holding to the Con party line, and the subsequent leak to NaPo's Don Martin a month ago that Con party whip Jay Hill leaned on committee chairs who didn't play along :

"A source at that meeting confided that [government whip] Mr. [Jay] Hill "lavished praise on the chairs who caused disruptions and admonished those who prefer to lead through consensus".

So it's more than a little interesting that following his resignation as Environment Committee Chair, Bob Mills refused all interviews and instead "referred all questions on the matter to the Conservative whip".

Con whip Jay Hill, apparently not yet informed of Mills' resignation, declined to be interviewed when questioned on it by reporters.

I imagine Bob Mills, an apparently decent guy by all accounts, actually expected to get a little work done when he came to Ottawa. I don't imagine he saw resigning his position as a way of achieving that.
Just how much pressure are these committee chairs under to entirely discredit the whole concept of government?
This entirely ridiculous experiment in being governed by people who hate government has been an unmitigated disaster.

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