Weekly Highlights from our Conservative Overlords

Weekly Highlights from our Conservative Overlords

Monday, April 27, 2015

Budget Details - Week 209 - April 20-27

I kind of love Joe Oliver.  He's just such an idiot, I think it's going to work out well for Canada in the next election.  Funding TFSA's will be a problem for Stephen Harper's granddaughter to solve.  Bloody hell.  Why is this not an attack ad yet?  Please tell me the NDP and Libs are both working this in to their attack ad strategy.

Oh the budget.  More and more details emerge on how the Cons cooked the numbers for their magical surplus.  GM share sales.  Robbing from EI.  A serious cut to the contingency.  Even with all their slashing, it was still not enough.  Can't wait until they vilify the unemployed for taking advantage of the now underfunded EI system.

Hidden in the budget - Copyright terms for sound recordings have been extended from 50 years to 70 years.  Because struggling artists are going to benefit from that extra 20 years of copyright that most likely will kick in after they're dead.  Big content lobbyists are happy though...as no more works will be "lost" to the public domain where everybody can use them.

Vice points out all the windfalls our spies and police are receiving with the new budget.

IMF policy suggests the government should be spending more to create jobs.

Rona Ambrose - Chief Reefer Madness cheerleader.  Marijuana is not a medicine and how dare you Vancouver!  Love it how she totally embraces the expertise of Health Canada when it suits her purposes.  And think of the childredn!

The Mike Duffy trial drags on.  Was Mike Duffy the facilitator for contact between Enbridge and the Prime Minister?  Or was it all Mike Duffy working on his own accord?

We always said we would act on climate change when the US did, and follow their policies.  Until they acted on climate change.  Now we're not going to follow their policies.

Omar Khadr will receive a bail hearing.  Cons are, of course, fighting it.  Why are they so scared of this kid?

More paid Conservative ads in the form of CRA letters?

Details on the ridiculous land sale by the BC Liberals.  $43 million under market value.

The details of the BC Lions rental contract with PAVCO have finally been released.  So, the Lions pay a pittance in rent.  PAVCO experiences a huge loss (which taxpayers pay for).  And the Lions receive a profit.  Weird how that works.

Some interesting history on Iraq and the rise of ISIS.  This guy feels a bit too Zero Dark Thirty, but whatever.

Oh.  Shit.  This is what a good blog looks like!  Graphics!  Analysis!  Fuck this guy.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Vacation. Again - Week 207-208, April 6-21

I've been away.  I've been lazy.  I've been sad.  I've been disgruntled.  Where did we even leave off?

Stephen Harper met Castro.  Wouldn't provide a photo.  So here it is.
Of course we have the budget.  Where apparently Joe Oliver buying a pair of NB runners is a story.


I recognize that the auto bailout wasn't an "investment".  But still...somehow we lost $3.5 Billion?  We certainly didn't negotiate very good terms with the companies about to go bankrupt, and then sell it all off to balance the budget.


An article on Stephen Harper's less than great economic leadership.

And Mike Duffy.  A good breakdown here.  And details!  Of how he was an incredibly popular fellow among Conservative MP's.  74 of them asked him to show up at campaign events or otherwise help them get elected.  Canadaland suggests he paid journalists to help him outHe started claiming expenses before he was even a Senator.

The Speaker isn't letting people ask questions about Duffy in the House of Commons.








Contained in this story - A former senior member of the Kits Coast Guard base says the Coast Guard Commissioner is full of shit when he says the Kits base would have had no effect. "Toxopeus said the base had thousands of feet of oil-containing booms and a pollution boat. Reopening that base, and reversing cuts to Coast Guard staffing would mean federal responders ready to hit the water 24/7 from full-time, dedicated stations, not needing to be called in from afar."

Of course, there are a lot of people hurling a lot of blame over the spill response.  Most of it at Harper and the Coast GuardFeds deny anything went wrong.

Jeffrey Simpson isn't a fan of the Conservative Government advertising program.

The NDP fights back against ridiculous "balanced budget" legislation.  Suggests the Harperites pay back a bunch of salary for all the deficit budgets they've passed.

A story about Thomas Mulcair and his Dutch Disease comments.

We're selling off Diplomatic properties around the world...but building a new embassy in Israel.

Tax evasion convictions have gone way down.  Speculation is that this is due to a lack of resources.

Mohamed Fahmy may finally be getting his passport.

Quite a few stories about councils and government type people who will continue to pray in an official capacity despite the Supreme Court rulingEdmonton City CouncilSaskatchewan Legislature.

The National Post lays out all of the Supreme Court victories and losses for Harper in the last few years.  8 Losses.  2 Victories.

Harper refuses to disclose the work that went into making "Strong. Proud. Free." the new Government slogan.  It's been classified as a "cabinet confidence"They're also using legislation designed to fight terrorism to suppress news about the Harper family.


We're selling the Canadian Wheat Board to a Saudi Arabian firm.

Judges refusing to charge the victim surcharge are being reigned in.

Pierre Poilievre.  An idiot who can't use numbers.

Toyota moves some production from Canada to Mexico.

A Steelworkers charity is being targeted by Revenue Canada.

The government spend $750,000 recruiting TFW's overseas

Monday, April 6, 2015

More ads! - Week 205 - March 30 - April 6

Fuck off!  The Cons are planning an ad blitz for their delayed budget.  This is fucking shameful.  Like your deadbeat neighbour hiring a skywriter to announce that he finally mowed his lawn - but he's running for block president and used block party funds to pay for the skywriter.

This TFW thing is getting nasty.  We're going to start throwing any out that are here for too long.

The cost of the ISIS mission is classified, because the terrorists will be able to know exactly what we're up to if they find out our budget.  So is Kenney going to be on trial for treason?  $528 Million is a lot of war to bring.

Every time a total Conservative shithead quits the party, I feel a bit sad.  The anti-Evolution MP has quit...so that he can talk more about how much he hates evolution?

More progress on Climate Change.  From the US and MexicoAs Canada falls further behind.

This is amazing.  People asked for help from the government due to expensive and hard to find daycare for young children...Conservatives respond with tax benefit for people with kids up to the age of 17...for, you know...daycare or something.

Michael Geist outlines the lengths the Government went to in order to call witnesses in support of Bill C-51.  All sorts of crazed, right wing Americans.

This link speculates that the National Firearms Association agreed to not oppose Harper on C-51 if he moved forward on C-42.  And the members are kind of confused.


Paul Martin doesn't think the Conservatives have done a very good job with the economy for the last 10 years.  Which must be like selling your house and watching the crackheads that bought it slowly destroy it.

The Senate expenses scandal should not be about not eating a free lunch...Complaining that a Senator bought lunch before a flight feels like it misses the point.  Up to 40 Senators have questionable expenses.

Another story points out the incongruity of Duffy being charged while Wright isn't.

A victory for Civil Liberties?  Cops blatantly trample on protesters rights and several years later, the courts officially recognize that this is wrong but not even a slap on the wrist is handed out?  Okay.

This feels like reverse trolling - An article specifically written to bring out the worst in commenters.  "Restaurant dress codes open to sexual discrimination complaints"

John Baird has another good week, potentially making more bank on the CP board of directors.  Hey, this will at least give West Side Vancouverites a target for their scorn.

Supposedly the CIA tried to tell Canada that Maher Arar wasn't guilty.

The Canadian Government won't issue Mohamed Fahmy a new passport.

Roma are treated horribly in Eastern Europe.  And then face discrimination when they arrive in Canada as refugees.

The BC Terror Trial is becoming a bit of a shitshow as details are released.  240 police officers were involved.  The accused are delusional, most likely mentally ill, drug addicts, hardly capable of paying the rent, let alone planning a terror plot.  It's just...fuck.