My Blahg

CALIFORNIA: FAILED STATE

Part one of Avi Lewis’ report on the financial crisis enveloping California.

Part two.

12 commentsJune 15th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -United States

ITALY’S NEW BLACKSHIRTS

While all eyes have been turned to Iran this past weekend Italy’s new blackshirts took to the streets.

An investigation has been launched after a new Italian vigilante group unveiled a uniform that brought back echoes of the dark days of Fascism.

The Italian National Guard is one of many vigilante groups that will be sanctioned to start anti-crime foot patrols once a controversial security bill has been passed.

But the group became the centre of a political storm when it emerged that their kit bears a striking resemblance to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s notorious Blackshirt volunteer militia.

Right wing fascism is slowly becoming fashionable again and illegal immigrants have become the fascists’ new scapegoat for all of society’s ills.

7 commentsJune 15th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Miscellaneous World

CLIMATE DENIAL CROCK OF THE WEEK

If you haven’t been watching Peter Sinclair’s YouTube series that rebuts the bilge coming from climate change deniers you should be. Here’s this week’s episode that takes on faux documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle.

5 commentsJune 14th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Environment

HAS AHMADINEJAD EVER PRODUCED HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE

Some thoughts on reactions to the Iranian election.

I don’t know for certain if the election in Iran was stolen but I do know for certain that any result not favourable to the right would result in a claim that the election was stolen. Claiming that elections have been stolen has become one of the primary weapons in the right’s arsenal to overturn unfavourable results or sow the seeds of doubt about the legitimacy of a government that is viewed as unfavourable by them.

I’m starting to see calls for protests outside of Iranian Embassies around the world. Hey, forget what we said last week about dragging another country’s problems into ours. It’s time to drag another country’s problems into ours.

Shorter neocon response: Thank God Ahmandinejad won. A moderate Iranian President wouldn’t enable us to provoke night terrors in the rubes.

“Actually, a non-nuclear Iran in civil war would be kind of awesome.” The inevitable result of provoking night terrors in the rubes.

3 commentsJune 14th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Elections, -Iran

BLAHG BITS JUNE 11/09

Does Legalization Reduce Drug Use?
It has in Portugal.

Since July 1, 2001, all drugs including cocaine and heroine have been decriminalized in Portugal. Eight years later, consumption has decreased significantly. About half of the nearly 400 lives lost every year to overdoses are now saved.

Drug users had represented more than half of all new HIV cases in Portugal, or nearly 1,400 individuals infected annually. That toll has fallen to 400 per year, about 25 percent of the total.

So not only is the war on drugs a dismal, money wasting failure but it may also be responsible for higher rates of drug use. Or in other words, the solution is helping to create the very problem it’s trying to solve. No wonder conservatives love it so much.

Who In Their Right Mind Would Run Away From An Historic Legacy
Good grief, not this fucking shit again.

Changing the New Democratic Party’s name to the Democratic Party of Canada could be a brilliant move, according to a branding expert.

In my opinion, a party that changes its name in the foolish belief that it will lead to electoral success is a party that is out of ideas.

Rogue Polling
This might not be news to some of you, but Ipsos Reid’s polls consistently show higher support for the Conservatives and lower support for the NDP than every other pollster.

Unlike Paulitics I’ll risk a lawsuit and say the explanation is due to the fact that their polling methods suck.

In case you’re wondering what the wording of the question was, it asked if Harper should remain in government “because of the severe economic situation the country faces and the fact the Liberals and NDP have entered into an ‘unholy’ deal with the Bloc separatists.”

Yeah, that was Ipsos Reid that gave us that, cough, professional poll.

18 commentsJune 11th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Blahg Bits

NDP MAJORITY IN NOVA SCOTIA

Congratulations to Nova Scotia’s new Premier Darrell Dexter. As of 7pm edt, the results are:
NDP: 31
LP: 11
PC: 10

June 9th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Elections And Polls

WHO’S UP FOR SOME TARGET PRACTICE

I haven’t seen anyone mention this about the tape yet. A bullseye has been painted on Aglukkaq’s forehead with the revelation that “the communications strategy around Ms. Aglukkaq is to never put her out in public.” Something tells me that the opposition are going to start asking a lot of questions about healthcare during Question Period.

1 commentJune 8th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Conservative Party

IT WAS SO GREAT WE DECIDED TO DO IT AGAIN

FYI: Worldwide economic indicators are still tracking the Great Depression.

Source.

June 8th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Economy And Taxes

HARPER HOLIDAYS FOR 42,000 MORE CANADIANS

Wheee!

Following gains in April, employment decreased by 42,000 in May, led by further manufacturing losses in Ontario. The unemployment rate rose by 0.4 percentage points to 8.4%, the highest rate in 11 years. Since the employment peak of last October, employment has fallen by 363,000 or 2.1%.

June 5th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Economy And Taxes

ZOMG! SOCIALISM!

This is the socialist road Obama is dragging America down according to the right whingers.

[Click on image to enlarge.]
Obama’s version of socialism is so sneaky you can hardly see it!

To put it another way.

[Click on image to enlarge.]
If you’re going to equate an increase in the deficit or in federal spending as a percentage of GDP with socialism, then every modern American president (with the partial exception of Bill Clinton!) is a socialist.

June 4th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -United States, -Whingers

THE QUEEN IS NOT AMUSED

I guess selling off our silverware wasn’t satisfying enough for the Conservatives so they’re also selling off the Queen’s silverware.

Three sterling silver flower baskets sold off by the government at bargain-basement prices on a government website were on loan to Rideau Hall from Buckingham Palace, Sun Media has learned.

2 commentsJune 3rd, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Conservative Party

HARPER’S NEW DOCUMENT HANDLING PROTOCOL

Whinger World #46

2 commentsJune 3rd, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Blahgtoons

BLANK CHEQUE LEGISLATION

I see the Conservatives have introduced legislation that’s missing important details that won’t be decided until after it’s passed.

Under the proposed law, victims can sue individuals, organizations, and foreign states that sponsor terrorism.

Van Loan declined to provide a list of such foreign states, saying that cabinet will determine that once the bill is passed.

Of course this isn’t serious legislation. It’s only purpose is to pick a fight with the opposition–who will, one hopes, insist on knowing these details before they vote–and provide Conservatives and their supporters another opportunity to label them as terrorist supporters.

As far as the legislation itself goes, it’s fairly meaningless. The US has legislation like this and it has been used fairly routinely to disburse assets seized from terrorist organizations and nations to the victims of terrorism. What makes it meaningless though, is that once those seized assets are disbursed the expense of these lawsuits only become a drain on government coffers with nothing but an empty symbolic gesture to show for it.

A Miami judge has awarded more than $1 billion in damages to a Cuban-American who was involved in the 1967 capture and killing of revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Peter Adrian said Friday he was sending a signal to the Cuban government. Such a large award may be impossible to collect but attorneys involved in the case insist they’ll try.

What’s worse than its meaninglessness though, is that this legislation opens Pandora’s box.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s plan to allow victims of terrorism to sue foreign governments in Canadian courts could have embarrassing, unintended consequences for some of the country’s allies, legal experts warn.

Proposed changes to the State Immunity Act, which Mr. Harper announced to a friendly audience at a Toronto synagogue yesterday, could expose such countries as India and even the United States to court proceedings here, depending on how the new law is written and how judges interpret it, one analyst said.

When the possible ramifications and hollowness of this legislation are considered, there’s simply no reasonable reason for Parliament to give Harper the blank cheque he wants.

June 2nd, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Law And Order

ALBERTA SCHOOLS NOW COME WITH WARNING LABELS

Whinger World #45

3 commentsJune 2nd, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Blahgtoons

NOSTRADUMBASS

Our “economist” Prime Minister is at it again.

“Certainly, the worst is behind us. We will have better quarters going forward,” he said.

I’ll have more to say on this later when Harper’s prognostication inevitably blows up in his face.

1 commentJune 1st, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Economy And Taxes

I CAN HAZ RECESSION NOW

Remember when some guy told us 9 months ago that if we were going to have a recession that we would have had it by now? Well it’s officially here.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) declined 1.4% in the first quarter, the largest quarterly decrease since 1991. Both domestic and international demand continued to weaken.

But remember, kiddies. Nobody saw this coming; including our economist Prime Minister whose job it is to see these things coming.

1 commentJune 1st, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Economy And Taxes

A TWENTY YEAR FREE REIGN OF TERROR

How long will this unchecked reign of terror be allowed to continue.

If his murder was the result of anti-abortion ideology, Tiller’s would be the eighth death in the last 20 years. In addition, there have been 17 attempted murders, 41 bombings, 175 incidents of arson, 96 attempted bombings or arson, 390 invasions, 1,400 cases of vandalism, 1,993 cases of trespassing, 100 butyric acid attacks, 659 anthrax threats, 179 cases of assault and battery, 406 death threats, four kidnappings, 151 burglaries, and 525 cases of stalking directed at abortion clinics, doctors and patients according to the National Abortion Federation.

Meanwhile, where in the motherfuck is our motherfucking “not dead soon enough” media? With the exception of Antonia Zerbisias, I haven’t come across a single motherfucking pundit in the Canadian corporate media that has made even the slightest mention of this horrific act of domestic terrorism. Are they afraid they’ll be put on the list of targets by these terrorists or have they been issued orders by their corporate conservative bosses to look the other way?

1 commentJune 1st, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Terrorism

PRO-LIFE TERRORIST STRIKES IN KANSAS

Another pro-life terrorist has murdered an abortion provider. When will the pro-life groups that wind these nutcases up and then let them loose on the population be declared terrorist organizations?

Update: Orcinus makes an interesting observation.

2. The Terrorists Win. Tiller was one of just three doctors in the entire US who performed late-term abortions. Now, there are just two. Which means that 36 years of anti-choice terrorism is now just two assassinations away from completely ending late-term abortion in America. Violence has won out — over the will of the people, over the courts, over the horrific logic of medical necessity. And whenever terrorists win, democracy has lost — and is lost.

Update II: Scott Roeder, a supporter of the terrorist anti-choice group Rescue America, has been detained in connection with the assassination.

Update III: Anti-choice terrorist supporters are cheering the assassination on Twitter.

Update IV: Roeder’s shady past.

“July 7, Kansas: Scott Roeder is sentenced to sixteen months in state prison for parole violations following a 1996 conviction for having bomb components in his car trunk. Roeder, a sovereign citizen and tax protester, violated his parole by not filing tax returns or providing his social security number to his employer.”

Update V: Canadian Cynic notes that the terrorists at Operation Rescue are busy scrubbing their site. I wonder why they’d do that after claiming they’re not in any way responsible for what happened.

Antonia Zerbisias is following this too.

Update VI: I’m pro-choice and I shoot back.

3 commentsMay 31st, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Religion, -Terrorism

BLAHG BITS MAY 29/09

The Unhinged Right…
…are openly calling for the assassination of President Obama.

Some are convinced he’s the Antichrist. Others have made jokes about watermelon and fried chicken, and sent emails containing racist slurs. And now a personal ad in a Pennsylvania newspaper has called for his assassination…
The ad in Thursday’s paper read: “May Obama follow in the steps of Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy!” All four presidents were assassinated in office.

Remember though, the left is worse because we sometimes swear.

Europe Leads The Way In The Fight Against Global Warming
While our Liberal and Conservative governments have dithered, the European Union is close to meeting its Kyoto target.

The European Union says emissions of greenhouse gases in the bloc’s 15 original member countries fell in 2007 for the third consecutive year…
The agency said Friday that the 15 countries — in the 27-member union — are now five percentage points below the Kyoto Protocol base year levels.

A Wee Blasphemer
You probably haven’t heard about Ireland’s plan to introduce blasphemy laws on account of the fact that no Muslims are involved so it wouldn’t pique the interest of the free screechers.

THE ORGANISATION for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has warned the Government that its plan to introduce a new blasphemy law risks flouting international standards on freedom of speech…

Last month Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern announced that he would propose a new crime of blasphemous libel in an amendment to the Defamation Bill.

The new section of the Bill will state: “A person who publishes or utters blasphemous matter shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable upon conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €100,000.”

Socialism Ruins Economies
Yeah, not so much.

Venezuela’s GDP grew by 0.3% in the first quarter of this year, bringing the number of consecutive quarters of economic growth in Venezuela to 22, according to the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV).

The growth occurred primarily in the non-oil sector of Venezuela’s economy, which grew by 1.3% overall. The communications sector grew by 9.7%, community services by 4.6%, electricity and water by 3.7%, and transportation services by 1.1%.

19 commentsMay 29th, 2009 Robert McClelland
Categories: -Blahg Bits