First the bad news. I’m leaving for a long overdue vacation on Monday so everything here at My Blahg central will be completely shut down for a week. And since I have preparations to make, I’m already starting to shut it all down which means I may or may not post something before I leave. Even worse though, is that after I return from vacation, I’ll be visiting relatives for an additional couple of weeks and this will mean that My Blahg central’s operations will be sporadic since only a few of them have internet access. So I’m afraid you’ll have to look elsewhere for your dose of right whinger bashing and news.
Until My Blahg central returns to full operation, you can amuse yourselves by trying to overload Andrew’s new toy and by giving the right whingers a hard time while I’m away. Or you could just hang out here and scribble graffiti on the walls.
Now for the good news. I’m really, really, really going to enjoy myself on vacation. What? I didn’t say I had good news for you.
It doesn’t seem to be getting much coverage so in case you missed it, there was a terrorist bombing in Egypt today.
Fifty people died and 200 were wounded when car bombs ripped through a bazaar and tourist hotels in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Saturday in Egypt’s worst attack in nearly a decade.
Shaken European tourists spoke of mass panic and hysteria as people fled the carnage, with bodies strewn across the roads, people screaming and sirens wailing.
The regional governor said two car bombs and possibly a suitcase bomb had rocked the resort that is popular with divers.
One blast tore the front off the Ghazala Gardens Hotel in Naama Bay, the site of most of the resort’s luxury hotels, where people were feared trapped in the rubble.
Another senseless tragedy.
On a side note, the right whingers only serve one useful function in this world and that’s to boo and hiss at the terrorists. Apparently they can’t even handle that job.
Here’s some of that imaginary dole you claim the government isn’t giving the oil and gas industry.
The federal government has promised to spend $500 million over 10 years to address the socio-economic issues of the northern First Nations – which had been a barrier to the proposed Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline.
And guess what, pigmomma? Alberta will also benefit from this since the pipeline will feed right into the Alberta pipelines and this will in turn generate revenue for that province’s economy.
I’m stunned. Here’s an exchange in the comments of this post between me and Jason Hickman that you have to see to believe.
Jason Hickman: Interesting - a day when I agree with both Robert and C. Observer!
Yes, Robert, corporate welfare such as this is wrong, no matter which hand is dumping the slops into the trough.
Me: I never said it was wrong. I also never said it was right. I simply said it’s an integral part of our society and the conservatives like dishing it out as much as the liberals do. So how do arrive at the conclusion you agree with my position when I never stated it?
Jason Hickman: ‘Cos I misread your initial post, obviously.
See what I mean. I was flabbergasted when I read that. Who the hell is Jason Hickman and why aren’t there more conservatives like Jason Hickman? I’m not saying this because his opinions are more like mine since I haven’t yet read Jason Hickman’s blog. I’m basing it only on the fact that by admitting he misread my post instead of covering up for it like a right whinger would, it simply makes Jason Hickman the best conservative blogger evah.
Of course, there is one drawback. If the right whingers start acting like Jason Hickman, I’ll run out of material for my blahg. Bwah! Like that’s gonna happen.
Just like I keep saying, conservative governments play the corporate welfare game too.
[Conservative] PEI Premier Pat Binns’ government had lured WestJet to launch service in the province by providing about $500,000 in marketing and revenue incentives.
Government incentives to corporations are simply a fact of life.
Remember this bit of nonsense from a few years ago?
Ontario will forge ahead with deregulation of the hydroelectric market despite the threat of higher rates and problems experienced in Alberta and California, Mike Harris, the Premier, said yesterday.
“I’ve always believed monopolies are not in the best interest of taxpayers. They’re expensive and they’re inefficient. I believe in open, competitive markets, because they help keep costs low and they encourage innovation,” said Mr. Harris. “We need to apply the same thinking to the electricity sector,” he said in a luncheon speech to a business association in a Toronto suburb.
Deregulation has led to California being crippled by rolling blackouts due to power shortages, and in Alberta consumers are being hit by skyrocketing hydro bills. But Mr. Harris said Ontario’s experience will be different.
Yeah, sure it will be different, Mike. But only if different to you means exactly the same.
The Independent Electricity System Operator, responsible for Ontario’s energy system, is warning Ontarians that there could be blackouts if they don’t reduce their use of electricity this week.
Just one more example of how the right whingers simply “believe” their idiotic ideas will work despite reality always proving them wrong.
While I was googling up some words of wisdomfaith based speechifying from former Conservative Premier, Mike Harris, for the previous post, I came across this rather interesting tidbit.
In a recent report, the Globe and Mail documented over $5.6 million in untendered contracts handed over to four top Progressive Conservatives in Ontario by the utility in a secret program to lobby the government to sell the company to waiting investors.
Only now do we find out how much Ontarians paid out to Tory insiders:
* Paul Rhodes, communications director of the Conservative election campaign and former spokesperson for premier Mike Harris, received $335,237 for 81 pages of “communications advice” (such as how the province had to privatize Hydro One immediately);
* Mike Courley, former deputy finance minister and advisor to then premier Ernie Eves, (on behalf of either himself or his corporate entities) received a total of $3.7 million for his services. What did Hydro One have to show for this expense? A one-page e-mail, discussing the best ways to put forward arguments in favour of privatization;
* Leslie Noble, co-chair of the Conservative election campaign, received $250,000 for “advice on privatization”. She produced a three-page e-mail and two slide presentations. In one slide presentation, Ms. Noble gave an insider’s view of who was pushing privatization in Harris’ cabinet, and who was not;
* Tom Long, senior Conservative strategist, received $1.3 million through two of his companies. From all accounts, all Hydro One received in return was a memo recommending the utility deliberately underprice its stock to make the privatization more successful for investors – robbing citizens and taxpayers of its value.
Now I can’t possibly keep up with everything going on in this country or even my own home province, but how is it that this is the first I’ve heard of this outrageous corruption? Hmmm, must be that “liberal” media looking the other way again.
Update 2: My new email addy is mcclelland.robert@gmail.com
Update: Thanks to Andrew at Bound By Gravity for the quick gmail invite.
I’m planning on switching IP services so I need a gmail invite from someone since I’ll be losing my Sympatico email address when I do it.
Also, I’ll be shutting down the Blogging Dippers webpage until I get around to setting up a proper website for it–sometime this summer. For those of you who have the blogroll on their site, it will remain, but the button will disappear unless you save it to your own website, or blogger, and it will no longer link to anything.
And if anyone wants any images from My Blahg, you best grab them quick because I don’t plan to save any from archived posts.
Since a couple of people have already asked for the code for the collapsible menus on the sidebar, I thought I’d show everyone where to find it. You can find it here along with the instructions on how to install and modify it. While you’re at Dynamic Drive, you should check out some of their other codes, like this one that I tried to no avail to adapt into a blog template. It would have been pretty cool if I could have done it.
Another useful tool I’ve been using is the logo generator at Cool Archive. It’s a poor man’s version of photoshop and I’ve used it to add text and raised borders to the images on my sidebar. For some reason there’s no direct link to the function that allows you to upload and modify images, but you get to it from the logo generator page. Simply type anything in the text area and then scroll down and click on “submit”. Then click on the link that says, “Edit your logo even more!” and this will take you to the page where you can upload an image. Just open the dropdown menu marked “file” and click on “open” to do it. There are lots of options for modifying images, many of which are easier and less time consuming to use than photoshop.
And for html impaired blahggers, A Slacker’s Guide to HTML and Blogskins are good places to learn how to make your blahg look slick.
So now that you all know about these sites, tools and codes, there’s no reason why your blahg should look like roadkill.
It’s late and I’m tired, so I’m going to cop out and just serve up another helping of my favourite topic; right whinger bashing.
From the land down under, Philip Gomes gives us a quote from rightwing dolt, Andrew Bolt.
This week’s report on black disadvantage shows what few dare say: Aborigines must assimilate or suffer.
Hmmm. Where have I heard this sentiment expressed before? Oh right, from Conservative dolt Tom Flanagan.
Flanagan offers few equitable solutions to the dilemma created by the creation of the Indian Act. Instead, he is content to point the finger at Aboriginals as part of the “white man’s burden” and as a waste of Canadian taxpayers’ dollars. The solution offered by Flanagan is to eliminate federal funding to Aboriginal peoples, end land claims and completely assimilate Aboriginal peoples into Canadian society.
And to think, right whingers like Peter Rumplenuts keep trying to tell us that conservatives have a wide diversity of opinions amongst them, yet here we have two located in different countries half a world apart spouting the same dreck. I guess the right’s definition of diversity is that Bolt starts off his speeches by saying “G’Day Mate” while Flanagan starts his off with “G’Day Eh”.
Speaking of Rumplenuts, here we have him once again advocating physical violence against another blogger.
Come on, this guy [Calgary Observer] so needs a wedgie. Seriously. Someone should pick him up by the back of his underwear and hang them on a coat rack or something.
I can’t decide which is worse. That this pimply faced teen is advocating violence or that this pimply faced teen is advocating someone else commit the violence he’s obviously too chickenshit to commit himself. At least when I threaten violence against the right, I’m willing to commit it myself. Just another example of how the right only talks the talk but the left walks the walk to come over to your house and beat you like a “two dolla whore”.
Speaking of two dolla whores (note to self: you still haven’t learned how to segueway), does anyone find it just a tad hypocritical that the right whingers, like Kate at Small Dead Minds, will often accuse liberals–and the left in general–of rushing to defend the Liberals but here they are, blogging up a storm in defense of Grewal? Note to readers: If you’re going to respond to this part of my post, please do so in the form of a Haiku.
Just go read this and then remember that these dumbasses are still in charge of the war on terror.
I’ve noticed a re-occurring trend in North American politics that distinguishes how the left and the right deal with corruption within their ranks. In short, the left deals with it while the right ignores it.
Look at the scandals surrounding the Republicans for example. There’s the Rove mess. It’s now clear that he revealed the identity of a CIA operative simply to smear a critic of the Bush administration. And how is the White House handling it? Denial and spin. Rove has not been disciplined in any way nor is he likely to face it from Bush. Similarly, Tom Delay and Rick Santorum have become embroiled in allegations of corruption yet neither of them have faced any sort of disciplinary action.
In Canada, Gurmant Grewal has been caught up in scandal after scandal over the past few months, yet Stephen Harper is resolutely standing behind his man. Rather odd, considering the bellowing the right does about how they are different from the left and will work to insure that corruption is rooted out–apparently they must be referring only to the corruption of the other side.
Now compare the left. Corruption was revealed within the Sponsorship program. A fullscale investigation was called by the Liberals and several people have already suffered punishment as a result of their actions. Judy Sgro was caught up in a scandal and was forced to step down from her cabinet position until she was cleared of any wrongdoing.
In case after case, the left has worked to resolve the issue of corruption within their ranks while the right has ignored the corruption within their ranks, or worse yet, worked feverishly to deny it.
Clearly the right only talks the talk whereas the left walks the walk.
I can’t help but wonder, if the right whingers are as angry about the corrupt Liberal government as they proclaim to be, why is it that they haven’t gathered up 30,000 people to demonstrate and call for its resignation like the left in the Philipines have?
Just one more example of how the right just talks the talk but the left actually walks the walk.
Even though I’ve quite often ridiculed the rubes who post over at the Western Stunned Herd, compared to the right whingers who post at Conservative without a Life, the Stunned Herders look like friggin geniuses. Take for example this bit of dumbassery at CL.
Frederick Meekins rants about a Supreme Court of BC decision that rules people who bought a copy of the newest Harry Potter book that was accidentally released ahead of schedule shouldn’t talk about it. While there’s nothing wrong with him being upset over a ruling that he clearly doesn’t understand who it was intended for (hint: it’s directed at the media), he goes on to make this statement.
Since outfits such as the ACLU and the like go into more spasms than a werewolf having its belly rubbed whenever the specter of government threatens to interfere with what goes on in the privacy of one’s bedroom or when authorities exert control over what one is permitted to read, you’d think this would be a case right up their alley.
Yeah, I know. Most people would clue in to the fact that the “American” in the American Civil Liberties Union means it’s an American organization that deals with American issues, not Canadian ones. But not Frederick. He’s so caught up in his fantasy world where he is an American instead of a Canadian that these minor details no longer register upon his consciousness.
As an added bonus, also note how he tortures logic in a futile attempt to justify his decision to promote a book that some of the nuttier socons have deemed to be the devil’s handbook.
Apart from its glorification of Satanic rituals, numerous Christian thinkers have warned of the Potter Series because of Harry’s tendency to break the rules when it suits his purpose. Since this is the worldview J.K. Rowlings and her publisher wish to promote among the young, shouldn’t they applaud those refusing to comply with the ruling?
Good gawd, man. Are you that deaf to the sound of logic begging for mercy?
Anyway, tune in next week when I will be here to ridicule Mr. Meekins some more after he ponders why Bush didn’t veto the same-sex marriage legislation and commits more atrocities against reason and sanity.
It seems the past couple of weeks Monte Solberg has been travelling in America while on vacationscouting locations so he can flee the “new Canada”. In today’s edition he reports in from Helena, Montana where he stumbled upon a nice tribute to the Devil’s Brigade–a joint US/Canadian special forces unit that operated during WWII–and proceeds to lament that the Liberals have ruined everything.
How sad that the Libs have presided over the withering of this great historic relationship between Canada and the US.
I wonder if Monte’s great historic relationship includes the famous “Forty-Four Forty or Fight” slogan? Or does it include the more recent 30%+ tariffs against our softwood lumber and the continued closure of our cattle to their market for no rational reason? No doubt them damned Liberals are responsible for all that too, as well as every other time the US has thumbed its nose at us or shafted us in a deal.
Anyway, this was the last leg of Monte’s tour of the country he’d rather live in.
But enough of that. Am back in beautiful Alberta, and am happy for it. Travel is fun, but there is no place like home.
I wonder if he’ll feel that way tomorrow after he finds out Ralph Klein is now enthusiastically endorsing same-sex marriage. I’m betting he’ll declare that you can have the “new Alberta” too.
