eFail

Definitions of proper political-correctitude:

She is not 'EASY' - She is
'HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE'

She is not a 'DUMB BLONDE' - She is a
'LIGHT-HAIRED DETOUR OFF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY'

She has not 'BEEN AROUND' - She is a
'PREVIOUSLY-ENJOYED COMPANION'

She is not a 'TWO-BIT HOOKER' - She is a
'LOW COST SERVICE PROVIDER'

He does not have a 'BEER GUT' - He has developed a
'LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY'

He is not a 'BAD DANCER' - He is
'OVERLY CAUCASIAN'

He does not 'GET LOST ALL THE TIME' - He
'INVESTIGATES ALTERNATIVE DESTINATIONS'

He is not 'BALDING' - He is in
'FOLLICLE REGRESSION'

He does not act like a 'TOTAL ASS' - He develops a case of
'RECTAL-CRANIAL INVERSION'

"National Toast" or "So Long and Thanks for All the Fishwrap"

It looks like curtains for the Canada's most right wing national rag. As much as I bleed ink and hate the thought of another newspaper closing down, I will not shed a tear for the National Post - I only hope the courts refuse to allow the Aspers to tie this anchor around the collective neck of their other newspapers, which like most other papers have enough financial trouble to deal with already.The National Post was started by Conrad Black to attack the governing Liberals after Prime Minister Jean Chretien refused to grant Connie a waver and let him become a British aristocrat while remaining a Canadian citizen. The soon-to-be Lord Tubby of Fleet Prisoner No. 90210 Lord Black of Cross Harbour decided that this would not do - mere law was not going this plucky underdog billionaire from achieving the British peerage that every Canadian boy dreams about. Deciding the Globe and Mail was not sufficiently conservative or at his beck and call, Tubby threw some money around, hired the cream of the conservative pundit and columnist crop, and set up the National Post.It has never made money, nor has it impressed anyone with its editorial brilliance.Despite the occasional presence of some bright lights, the National Post has been a rag from day one, the print equivalent of the FOX TV news, but without the constant stripper stories or teabag rallies.Eventually Black gave up, renounced his Canadian citizenship and bought took his seat in the House of Lords and sold the money-burning Reform-Tory organ to the Asper family, long-time Liberal party supporters who under heir-to-the-throne David Asper seem to have converted to the Likud-Republican neoconservatism embraced by movement conservatives in the United States and Canada. The acquistion of the National Post and the former Southam chain from Black, along with their purchase of several specialty TV channels, seems to have been the beginning of the end for the Asper family's CanWest media empire.Which, given the extent to which the Asper clan seems to like to interfere with editorial policy at their media properties, is just fine by me.When a news organ with pretentions to respectability starts giving editorial space to hateful, chuckleheaded boobs like Kathy Shaide and "Raphel Alexander" -- well, its time to take Old Yeller out behind the barn and do the decent thing.

Update: Well, the court has ruled that the National Post can take the rest of the former Southam chain of newspapers down with it. This is a shame because some of them, such as the Montreal Gazette, were actually doing okay compared to the rest of the industry. On the bright side, there could be some decent newspapers for sale at fire-sale-on-boxing-day prices for anyone crazy enough to want to take a chance on the newspaper business these days. Otherwise we may as well pucker up and kiss goodbye the Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, Calgary Herald, Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, Edmonton Journal, Regina Leader-Post, Vancouver Province, Vancouver Sun, Victoria Times-Colonist and the Windsor Star. Which pretty much leaves the country with country with a bunch more cities that just won't have a real daily newspaper anymore.

Crossposted from the Woodshed where we have The Rules

Smack. Down.

When the Ottawa Citizen does more than take a swipe at Harper, you know the Conservative-owned media has had their fill. (In all honesty, I always gave Randall Denley credit for calling 'em as he sees 'em, even if I felt he was a bit overboard in one direction or the other, so it's the fact that the OC let it go to print that's important):

Conservatives are the self-righteous law-and-order guys and they like to portray themselves as morally superior to their opponents. That will be a difficult card to play for a while. It was excruciating to watch tarnished Tory hero Brian Mulroney's attempts to justify taking cash from an arms dealer, and only paying taxes on it years later. And at a discount, too. Mulroney's misbehaviour has cost taxpayers millions of dollars for the inquiry into the matter and in legal fees for Mulroney, which we also pay. Mulroney was out of office, just, when he started taking envelopes of cash, but it was still wrong. This is what people in the business world refer to as damage to the brand.

Then there is our current Conservative government, which seems to be run by aging schoolboys with a penchant for calling names. The country is facing serious economic problems, but our Conservative leadership thinks the important thing to tell the public is that Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff has spent much of his life outside the country. Good for Ignatieff for getting out in the big world and making a success of himself. More Canadians should do the same.

Again, honestly, he had me at the opening paragraph, but then he fixed his bayonet.

The fact that Stephen Harper and his gang think success in the world is a weakness tells us a lot about them. These are the small thinkers who don't get the arts, don't get science and have no plan for our economy beyond building roads and bailing out failed automakers. Ignatieff's advice that the Conservatives should "grow up" and do their jobs properly was the smartest thing he could have said.

Welcome to our world. We've been saying that all along.

To Harper it's only the world stage if he's on it. The fact is, Ignatieff is being criticized by the hillbilly constituency for actually having lived on the world stage. Who knows more about where the loose planks are?

And would you like to know what really causes terror in the PMO? It's one simple fact. Ingnatieff was not a part of the Liberal party involved in payouts and kickbacks. He has a ready and verifiable argument against any such accusation. "I was a professor at one of the world's leading academic institutions when that happened. I'm clean."

Thus, the reason Harper and his knuckle-draggers have to portray education, international experience and global connections as negative. They have no real dirt. They have to make it up.

When you loose CanWest, Harper, you've lost the undecided. Would you like fries with that?

Jacked Up gets credit for this first post on this one. Do, please read that post and leave your comments there. Wingnuts can leave their comments here - the sewage treatment plant is used to it.