Prentice: Writer of "Stern" letters

Breaking news from AM 900 CHMLAM, Jim Prentice and David Ramsey have taken the extraordinary step of sending the Caledonia protestors a "stern letter," news reports state that the letter is:

"....asking for assurances from the council that there will be no further nuisance and disturbances from the native protestors on the occupied land in Caledonia.

The letter says that means an end to loud noises, bright lights from ATV's, firecrackers and any other activities that disturb the peace."

I am sure the Mohawks are quaking in their boots.

And if they don't stop with the firecrackers? Well... no doubt the Tory "tough on crime" INAC minister will...uh...

Write another letter?

Brison's glass blackberry....

So Scotty thinks Iggy is accident prone, eh?

Worried he might not have the stuff to stay out of trouble during an election?

Hmmm.

I promised myself that I would not mention the bright red pants that Scotty insisted on wearing to his first cabinet retreat.... but people with glass blackberries shouldn't throw them around.

Iggy may not be my first choice, but at least he can say he's never been 'interviewed' by the RCMP in the middle of an election.

Stick to policy, Scott, it's safer ground, even if Ignatieff really is smarter than all of us...

Tory Enviro Plan already sucking air....

Peter Calamai at the Star reports today that the Tories gave a quiet briefing on their upcoming enviro plan.

Smart move on their part, Calamai is the dean of MSM science reporting, but wouldn't normally touch a political story with a 10 foot pole and so they successfully avoided the Gallery once again.

Further they have successfully smoked out the arguments the Greenies will use against them, and can start to plan how to do deal with them.

(NOTE TO GREENIES: In the future, if you really want to push the agenda, don't say anything publicly until announcement day. Given the comments in the Star today, I'd say the Harperites have a good list of who they can count on to say what... if you were naughty, you're about to find out what silence sounds like....)

Surprising absent from any coverage was the... uh.... Minister of Environment, Rona Ambrose (pictured above right)

The plan will focus on air quality and linking air quality to health... In essence, the plan is big on goals, not so big on measurement... which is a good thing if you're a Conservative and you'd like to call an election this year.

No doubt the quality of the air we all breath will improve... sometime around 2050...

Harper a homophobe? Maybe... but Menard a Moron? Absolutely....

On the CP wire, Separatist Braintrust in Orford opines:

Five Bloc members voted against the redifinition of marriage last summer and Menard said he does not believe they have changed their minds on the issue.

``It is simply believed that the debate has taken place and it is not relevant to start it again,'' he said.

Menard cited the voting record of the previous Canadian Alliance and Reform Party, which merged to become the Conservative party, and said they generally voted against gay and lesbian rights.

``I think it is necessary to make the public understand the government is homophobic,'' Menard said. ``When, since 1993, you vote each time you can against gay rights, I think it should be concluded that they (the Conservatives) are homophobic,'' Menard said.

Um... this is not news.

Harper and the CPC have always opposed gay marriage. You might have missed that if you were, well, living on the moon since the mid-1980, or maybe if you didn't have cable... or only read Seperatist BQ websites

But if you are the only openly gay member of Parliament from Quebec, this should not be a revelation.

Unless you are Rheal Menard.

Maybe this is something Rheal should have thought about before he voted to topple the government and install a right-wing, anti-gay rights Conservative government....

Or did he not think that Jason Kenney was serious all those years?

Tony Clement is also a big sissy... and why garlic & beet root won't stop AIDS...

'Two-tier' Tony left the Toronto AIDS conference shaking his head unable to have a 'rational discussion' about... well, that was never clear.

I sympathize with Tony. I worked for AIDS organisation almost a decade ago. It's often hard to have a 'rational discussion' with people who are going die. Go figure!

And why Tony needed to have a rational discussion with the organizers in order to make a freakin' funding announcement is also beyond me... send out the press release, it's no more complicated than that.

But what truly irked me, was that Two-tier Tony cited the demand for the resignation of Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the South African Health Minister, as an example of the 'irrational' climate.

The CBC reports that the SA Health Minister was "accused of promoting traditional treatments, such as lemon and garlic, instead of anti-retroviral medications." As a result, one of the Conference participants demanded his resignation.

Sounds disrespectful? But that's not quite what happened.

As the Irish Examiner notes, it's a bit more complicated than that:

Tshabalala-Msimang drew criticism at the conference for using South Africa’s booth in the exhibition hall to promote a natural recipe for treating HIV: lemons, garlic and beet root. South African activists trashed the booth earlier in the week.

This is the same government which has questioned the link between HIV and AIDS.

So, if the Minister of Health for Canada went to the same conference, questioned the usefulness of retrovirals and suggested people use a mix of lemons, garlic, and beet root to deal with AIDS.... do you think it would be a bit out of line to ask if that Minister knew what he was doing?

In that case, who is irrational?

1. The beet-root & garlic cure promoting health minister
2. People asking for the beet-root & garlic health minister's resignation
3. Two-tier Tony Clement (who thinks we should all shut up about beet root.)
4. 1 & 3

Full marks if you answered #4.

Stephen Harper is a big sissy.

Well, it's a good thing the Hep C folks didn't get political, or they would have lost their money too....

The federal government won't be making any announcements on the future of Vancouver's safe-injection site or AIDS funding this week because the prime minister believes the issue has become "so politicized," a government spokesperson said Thursday.

It's hard to decide if you should laugh or cry when the politics get too tough for a politician.

Ah, Stephen, you big sissy.

Party on Garth...

There are a lot of reasons to knock up Garth Turner... er, I mean knock off Garth Turner in a nomination race.

Reasons like:

• He was the Chief Tax Collector of Canada.
• No one with a beard has been Prime Minister since the 1800's
• He flip-flopped on Nortel.
• He's a little bit nutty.
• He is a Tory.

However, his stance on same-sex marriage isn't one of them.

Funny thing is, as much as the anti-homosexualists at Canada Family Action Committee would like to dear old Garth's seat , even they admit that "the nomination process is so short it is unlikely they'll be successful in unseating him." or so says spokesthingy Charles McVety.

And I have to say it's odd to see a Tory asking for support from political progressives. Sure, Garth is homo-happy, but gee, some of his friends aren't.

Like his freakin' leader....

Which begs the question...

If Garth is such a die-hard same-sex marriage enthusiast... maybe he shouldn't be running as a Tory... Maybe McVety is right. And Garth is left. Or at least progressive-light.

And if same-sex marriage is such an important issue for a voter, doesn't it make sense to send an MP to Ottawa in party that won't re-open the debate?

For my money, I think Garth is just an anti- same-sex marriage wolf in a Tory sheep's clothing.

Sheer the sheep, I say.

Vote Liberal, not Liberal-light.

Iranian President's New Blog -

The blogosphere has a new citizen.

The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Here is the link*

This is obviously a new era of openess and transparency for Iran. You may not be able to get Playboy Channel or CNN, but you can get Mahmoud's blog.

Yep, you can now get RSS feed of the President's latest thoughts, without that pesky media-filter which skewers everything the I-Prez has to say.

You can even leave comments, though oddly, none appear on the blog.... No doubt Condi, George and Olmert will be providing their thoughts very soon... (On that subject, just what does the icon for Tomahawk missile look like...?)

And there is a poll question (omigosh... it's just like Bourque)... "Do you think that the US and Israeli intention and goal by attacking Lebanon is pulling the trigger for another word war?" It's a YES / NO question.

(NOTE TO IRANIAN READERS: "YES" is the wisest answer here... don't worry, the rest of us will deal with "NO" answer.)

Today's entry is Mahmoud's autobiography... it's a heart-warming coming of age story of a young islamofascist during the trials and tribulations of nascent Islamofacism developing in Iran, and it is filled with self-sacrifice:

"I prepared myself for university admission test-conquer. And later on that year, I took the test. Although I had nose bleeding during the test, but I became 132nd student among over 400 thousand participants. "

132nd? Hot diggity! And with a nose-bleed to boot... This guy could have been an Ontario scholar... but he continues to describe the hardship of life under the Shah...:

"When I used to go to high school, shah celebrated the 2500 years of monarchy of Iran. Those years, poverty among the oppressed people of Iran was escalated and doubled. The imposition of the cost and the expenditure of these festivals and ceremonies and also the crapulence of shah’s debauched clan and their foreign companies, broke the people’s back."

I am not sure what "crapulence" is, but it sounds something like a Celine Dion show. But hey, I'm from Ottawa, and after years of bailing out the Rough Riders /Renegades, I get his point..

Unfortunately, the site lacks some key features. Frinstanz, there is no Blog-roll, though I have no doubt that it will come soon.... should be quite a jostle to get on it...

And I can't wait to see if he signs up for Google ads....


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*Warren Kinsella Note: W - I read your blog-biting exchange with Mr. Doskosch, and I want to be clear that like yourself, I am not taking sides in the leadership campaign, and this should not be viewed as an endorsement of Mahmoud A.

Anne Cools unhappy with Harper's stance on the mid-east

Running on the CP wire right now

``Suffice it to say, I'm not that happy with the position that has been adopted and I remain very very concerned about the entire Middle Eastern situation,'' said Senator Anne Cools, a former Liberal senator who now sits with the Conservative Caucus.

I am not sure that this part of the PMO talking points on Lebanon, but no doubt they will deal with the Senator in a respectful fashion. Certainly without "scorn or derision"

How do I know this? Well, I believe Stephen Harper when he said:

"Senator Cools has an impressive record of public service to this country.... In the Senate, she has elevated the level of debate. In the face of scorn and derision by some, she has persisted in holding the government accountable. She has long earned my respect, and now my support, in joining the Conservative caucus in the Senate."

And I am sure that his Foreign Minister, Peter McKay will be equally interested in her views, and still turn to her for advice, as Peter once said:

Senator Cools is a person of deep spiritual conviction and a valued friend. Her office is open to those who value honesty and debate, and it has certainly been open to me when I have needed advice and guidance. It would be impossible for her to rise any further in my esteem."

No doubt, after today it will indeed be impossible to rise any further in the esteem of her conservative colleagues.

A freebie: Prentice wants to resolve the claims backlog

Jimmy P wants to resolve the claims backlog... so he says in the Grope and Flail:

Admitting that the slow pace of resolving land claims like the Caledonia dispute
is unacceptable, Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice intends to bring a new
plan to cabinet that would employ more lawyers and negotiators to attack the
backlog.

Because that what the process needs... more lawyers and negotiators... but I will come back to that.

Since the early 1970's claims have been negotiated between the federal government and First Nations. An independant body is available to help resolve those claims called the Indian Claims Commission (ICC).

Jimmy P knows this because... he sat on the ICC for a decade... apparently not settling very many claims, but I digress....

Back in 2003, the Liberal government passed C-6, which created the Specific Claims Tribunal which was supposed to speed up the process... It was supported by and supposed to replace the ICC.... but the act is still waiting to be brought into force.

But now Jimmy P wants to deal with this horrible, unacceptable backlog with more lawyers and negotiators because ICC just isn't working and the claims process isn't working.

So here's the freebie: Bring C-6 into force.

No work needs to be done, it was supported by both Liberals and Tories... just bring it into force.

Go ahead, Jimmy do something different: pay out the claims, not the lawyers.