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.

The Dirty Mid-East War

Israel has killed, once again, civilians in Lebanon. 54 people this time, including 34 children.

Hizbollah attacked again - thankfully killing no one this time - launching 115 rockets into Israel, three people were wounded.

It's an awful situation.

Israel is stuck with an awful terrorists group on its borders, Hizbollah, which consistently targets no one but civilians. And now, Israel, has had enough, and have decided to destroy Hizbollah.

On the face of it, it's not an entirely unreasonable position.

But like most things, scratching the surface really doesn't help any.

Israel has targeted the refugee camps, and areas that hold civilians, because that is where Hizbollah operates, and this is most certainly true. But probing a bit deeper, this week's Salon.com notes the situation is not that simple.

Hizbollah (and many other terrorist organisations) provide more than just missiles. They provide education and health services as well... which one of the reasons they are in the those refugee camps. Targeting individuals who provide those services raises some uncomfortable questions, regardless of their affiliation.

In short, Israel bombs Lebanon, creating refugees. Refugees are not happy to be refugees, and are likley ticked off with Israel. Refugees go to camps where they get food, medicine and education from Hizbollah. Sometimes, they get bombed again by Israel.

This is not an uncommon terrorist pattern. Indeed, the fore-runner of the IRA, (the Irish Republican Brotherhood) provided social services such as education and health care.

Anyone care to guess what happens next?

Score one for Hizbollah.

So whereas I too support Israel's right defend itself... I find myself asking, is Israel actually defending itself?

Indeed, today's attack drove Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora who is normally at odds with Hizbollah, to actually thank them for defending the border.

Score two for Hizbollah.

And why are Syria and Iran getting off scot-free? Obviously Israel realizes that messing with Syria and Iran would be a different thing than picking a fight with their shattered Lebanese neighbour.

Score three for Hizbollah.

No one seems to be able to broker restraint with either side, in particular the US, leaving Israel's American ally, appearing to be powerless in the middle east. Indeed, with US, British, Canadian and Australian current troop commitments, it is clear that diplomacy is all that there is... and it is failing.

Then there is the notion espoused by Harper that troops from the region should hold the border.

Like who? The Syrians who are already there? Maybe the Saudis? The Egytians? Perhaps the Iranians? No doubt they would all be welcomed by Israel.

Score four for Hizbollah.

I have no doubt that in the end Israel will leave Hizbollah beaten and bloodied. But in doing so, I would be concerned at how many new terrorists are spawned.

The smoke and broken mirrors of the latest Lebanese war obscures the real issue here.

Until Lebanon has the internal strength to govern itself, this will keep happening. Changing that will require real commitment, from outside the region.

And Syria and Iran will need to be dealt with, and that is a very unclear path... which no one has had the courage to consider.

Until then... well, good luck to the average joe in the middle east...

Volpe organizer quits over Lebanon

Running on the CP wire right now....


Volpe loses campaign manager over difference of opinion on Lebanon

OTTAWA - Joe Volpe's trouble-plagued bid to become the next Liberal leader has suffered another, possibly fatal blow, with the resignation of his national campaign manager.

The Canadian Press has learned that Toronto MP Jim Karygiannis has quit Volpe's campaign over what one insider described as a difference of opinion over the situation in Lebanon.

Volpe has strongly supported Israel's right to bombard Lebanon in an attempt to stop Hezbollah extremists from firing missiles and conducting raids across the border into Israel.

Karygiannis, meanwhile, has been recruiting supporters for Volpe among Canada's ethnic communities, including Muslims.

He has been firing off news releases condemning what he calls the federal government's tardy efforts to evacuate Canadians from Lebanon and calling for Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay's resignation.

Volpe's campaign ran into trouble last spring when it was revealed that he had accepted $108,000 in donations from 20 current and former executives of pharmaceutical giant Apotex, their spouses and their children, including 11-year-old twins; Volpe eventually returned $27,000 received from five donors under the age of 18.

If Dunkirk had been a photo-op...

I am left wondering what the PM intends to do with his airbus today.... surely he won't leave it on the tarmac...? Surely the PM's plane (and photographer) will continue to ferry Canadians home... it's all about doing the right thing, eh?

This was not a photo-op. I repeat, not a photo-op.

... well, for all the grouching about having to divert resources to ensure the PM's plane could help with the evacuees, PMO must be giggling with the front page of the Grope and Flail this morning.

This was not a photo-op. I repeat, not a photo-op.

They must also be mystfied as to how the Don Mills PMO forgot to run the same picture, but I digress... evidently they did not get the memo.

Still, for some compare and contrast on how the evacuation efforts are going in different parts of the world take a look here. I thought 40,000 Canadians was a lot, but apparently Sri Lanka and Brazil are even more screwed than we are...

... and for a balanced and smart round-up of what is really going in Lebanon, try Taylor Owen's blog here... he is one smart dude.

“A book of quotations is a good thing for an uneducated man to read” More nonsense on the racially-segregated fishery on the West Coast.

Or so said Winston Churchill

This morning's Calgary Hurled runs an interesting piece by Mike ‘Martin Luther King’ Milke featuring his newly discovered interest in equality and rights.

Milke argues that we should scrap the Native west-coast segregated fishery.

Indeed, he pines for a world described by MLK "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character,"

Because, as Mike says, “That's progressive.”

Hallelujah…. Character. Progressive

That would be the kind of progressive character that makes a deal and sticks to it, eh Mike?

Well, there is a five volume set of treaties Mike needs to read. Then let’s talk about the content of our characters.

And while we’re doing some reading, maybeMike wants to try something a little more profound than Bartlett’s….like the whole MLK speech, in particular though the section that states:

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

An exile in their own land. Sound like anyone you know, Mike?

Race-based nonsense and other fishy tails…

In a sop to their west-coast cracker-nut constituency, Harper announced a few days ago that he will not support a race-based fishery.

And Prentice spent yesterday at the AFN Assembly pretending not to be backed into a corner.

What nonsense.

Let’s get a few facts straight.

First, the issue is that salmon stocks in the Fraser River appear –after rising in the last few years – to be declining.

Some blame the decline on illegal fishing by natives upstream in the Fraser. If that is the case, then it’s not a race-based fishery, it’s poaching.

But the term ‘race-based’ or ‘racially-segregated’ is the troubling one here. It’s fall-back to the old Reform line that any specific program or policy providing benefit to First Nations is wrong because it is based on race.

In other words… interesting to see Tom Flanagan is still around? Will the real Minister of Indian Affairs, please stand up?

The notion of race here is the big lie. Natives don’t want race-based anything. They want – quite rightly – their treaty rights respected.

The problem in BC is that they don’t have a treaty. It’s not just a problem for them either… because it means the land and the resources there contained, are in dispute.

It’s all well and fine for Harper to say everyone should have the same access to a commercial fishery.

But we’d all think it was nutty if he started handing out licenses for the fjords of Norway, wouldn’t we? Because that is some one else’s land….

No one is arguing that the Fraser River is not Canadian territory, but it is disputed land. And until that dispute is settled, maybe it’s worth trying to sort out some sort of interim deal with the original and current occupants?

That’s not a race-based anything. It’s called common sense and respect. It's access to resources – like a fishery – based on treaties. Treaties like, oh, I dunno, NAFO?

And I haven’t seen any comments from Loyola Hearn on the race-based fishing enforced through NAFO in the Atlantic…

Prentice contradicts Harper: Race-based economic development is OK

Prentice applied Orwellian newspeak yesterday and immediately contradicted Harper, noting that DFO still plans to buy out non-native licenses and provide these to First Nations, but only for economic development purposes, not because of rights.

So race-based economic development is ok?

Of course Prentice is doing what Flanagan and Harper have not done… reading the decisions from a myriad of court decisions which repeatedly tell the federal government to fulfill its obligations, and provide access to resources on disputed land.

The bottom-line here is that Harper has – once again – inflamed racial tensions instead of mediating them.

This is the politics of old-fashioned racism, just the kind of thing that leads to segregation and anger, that divides nations instead of uniting them.

And its one nasty way to fish for votes on the west coast.

Women, politics & Dion: Not putting your money where your mouth is...

I have steered away from the leadership race in my blog, because, well, there are plenty of folk blogging on that, and me, well, I am pretty busy these days.

But Dion's plan for women in politics intrigued me... until I actually read it. What's most interesting is what is missing... Dion commits to, among other things,

• ensure gender parity in appointments to the Senate
• ensure gender parity on nominations to the boards of Crown Corporations
• commit to running a minimum of 33% female candidates in the next election and continuing to increase their representation in subsequent elections until at least 50% is achieved
• make immediate progress on having a more gender-equitable Cabinet, including the appointment of women to key portfolios

So what is missing?

Selection and Cabinet.

I supported Chretien's policy of appointing female candidates, and think Dion's on the right track but I think it's not good enough.

Running women candidates is not the same as electing them. It's not the same as appointing them to cabinet.

Dion seems to be willing to foist them on Crown corporations, the senate, the riding associations... but apparently doesn't seem to have the confidence in women to guarrantee them same access to his own cabinet.

Call me crazy, but if there were some sort of notional allocation to cabinet (beyond the usual Status of Jim Abbot and Women gig) I will bet you that 50% candidate target would be easier to hit... and I will also bet you that those female candidates would have a better chance of winning.

Come on Stephane, put you're money where your mouth is.... My daugher may just run one day, I'd like her to be a Liberal...

Wal-Mart US told to carry the morning-after pill

Here is something I never thought would be an issue.

Wal-Mart"chooses not to carry many products for business reasons." Despite having room for ammunition, tobacco products and McDonalds, the morning-after pill was not available.

Not in any US Wal-Mart.

Except Illinois. Where they were required by law.

Well, that's about to change.

A recent court decision in Massachusetts is about to change that, and Wal-Mart will have to make the contraceptive available in its pharmacy.

Available contraception is not something I've ever had to worry about.

Amazing that some still do have to worry.

Amazing that they only live about an hour-and-a-half away.

What? Fox News isn't fake?

I say all this without access to cable, and admitting that since the arrival of the Canadian Publius, the Next Generation, I haven't found myself up to watch TV past about 9.30 pm anyway...

... but it appears that Fox News is planning their own version of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tentatively called "Watch This Right Now?"

This is quite a surprise. I thought all of Fox was fake news.

And I am bewildered - can you make the Progressive wing of any party funnier than it already is... I mean this whole leadership race - that's just a satire ... right? I mean, it's not real, is it?

The J-Lo Senate reform proposal

CP reports:

Jack Austin and Lowell Murray served notice Thursday of their intention to introduce a resolution to amend the Constitution to significantly increase the number of western seats, particularly for British Columbia.

Under the proposal, B.C.'s Senate seats would double to 12, Alberta would get 10 and Manitoba and Saskatchewan would each get seven.

The central Canadian in me shudders at the thought of the J-Lo Senate proposal.

Don’t we already have a body that is elected and reflects representation by population? Isn’t it called, like… the House of Commons?

But that’s not the point.

You have to hand to Senator Jack, who has been a force in Canadian politics before Warren Kinsella could type type, he knows how set up a wedge issue.

What’s going on here is simple.

Harper has indicated he wants to move on Senate reform without amending the constitution. The weak link is that in BC, Senate reform without Senate redistribution to put more seats in BC is like putting Molson Excel on tap at a frosh party.

It’s more likely to cause a riot than selling the regular stuff.

Now Harper has a choice. Reform the Senate while continuing to disadvantage his Western base, or crack open the constitution and watch everything go to hell in Western breadbasket.

The sad part here?

My money is on the Mulroney protégé to crack open the Constitution.

Get ready to roll the dice.

Harper calls Canadians ‘Naïve”

Or so said our fearless leader on the program “Coulisses du pouvoir” last night stating,

«Je pense que beaucoup de monde au Canada est naïf, c'est vrai... La réalité, c'est que la menace terroriste est une menace mondiale et on ne peut pas y échapper en fermant les yeux.»

Or: “I think many Canadians are naïve. The reality is that the terrorist threat is a global threat, and we can’t avoid it by closing our eyes.”

Well, gee whiz willickers, thank be to heaven we have Big Daddy Harper to warn us all and keep us safe.

Calling Canadians naïve - there is a master politician. First insult your citizens, then spout a platitude.

You know, I think Harper has weird eyes, and looks like his mother dresses him, but I don’t run around saying that in front of a TV camera.

But what exactly should we all be doing to show Stephen we aren’t naïve?

Maybe I could put a guard hut at the end of my driveway?

Maybe I could snitch on my neighbours?

Mybe I could set up a neighbourhood terrorist watch group in my community?

Stephen, if you want us to take this situation seriously, start dealing with Canadians seriously, and stop patronizing us.

Anything else would be… well… naïve.

Soleberg on Clement's shares...

Tony Clement owns shares in a private pharma company. Some people think that puts him in a conflict of interest.

According to PoliticsWatch.com, Tony thinks it's "none of your business!" Tony says he has taken the advice of the Ethics Commissioner and that he shouldn't be taking ethics lessons from Liberals.

A bit odd though.

Only a few months ago, his boss Harper was calling the Ethics Commissioner a "liberal appointee."

So I guess, Tony is taking ethics lessons from a liberal... but I digress...

Me? I think he should keep his shares. He's followed the Ethic Commish's ruling, and we should all get on with our lives.

But no-one voted for me. What do our duly elected leaders have to say...?

"The one way to clear this thing up is to get rid of the company, " said Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Monte Soleberg to Louise Elliot at CP.

Ooops, I am sorry, Monte was talking about CSL and Paul Martin's kids owning the company on February 6, 2004.... what a difference an election makes...

Uh-oh ... here come the "principles of convenience" again ...

Here is a blogger challenge - let's see who can come up with another Tory urging a liberal to sell due to risk of conflict of interest....

Tories flip the bird and other acts of Parliamentary decora

While most of Canada was asleep last night, Parliamentary Secretary Jacques Gourde was busy debating a fascinating opposition motion on milk proteins in processed food.

Truly the stuff of empassioned debate, particularly given Mr. Gourde farms on the South shore of the St. Lawrence himself.

At one point in the debate M. Gourde became so inflamed with passion on the issue of milk protiens in processed food that while the myriad of captivated observers in the gallery were busily reaching for their heart pills, he responded to the BQ with the 'doigt d'honneur' (flipped the bird) or so reported Canadian Press last night.

Lors du vote sur une motion du Bloc québécois portant sur l'utilisation de protéines de lait dans la nourriture transformée, Jacques Gourde, secrétaire parlementaire du ministre de l'Agriculture, s'est levé pour voter contre la motion en faisant un doigt d'honneur aux députés du Bloc.

Though the opposition demanded an apology, M. Gourde was immediately - and ably - defended by the Parliamentary Secretary to the President of the Treasury Board and milk protein afficinado, Pierre Poilievre who responded with his middle-finger as well.

This continued until Denis Coderre reigned them in.

You know, its the maturity displayed by our elected officials on issues of such importance that really builds my faith in government.

Thank God for Denis Coderre's sense of decorum.

You know, Denis, if you're reading this, I never thought I would ever write those words.... did you?

Gary Mason - worth reading & Fraser Institute - not so much...

Gary Mason deserves a hat tip for today's story in the Groan & Wail about Roosevelt Park School in Prince Rupert, and their ranking courtesy of the Fraser Institute who used the figures from BC's Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) test. Those figures put Roosevelt in last place, with a score of, well ... zero.

On the other end of the scale, is the private school St. George's School, who scored at the top of the test with a score of ten out of ten

Worth noting, there is no website for Roosevelt.

Mason notes that the FSA scores are for basic reading, writing, and 'rithmetic. They don't account for incidence of FAS, number of years previously in school, home situation, etc. Not huge factors for the kids at St. George, but a bit more of an issue in Prince Rupert.

And it's all about learning, or so say the helpful folks at the Fraser Institute Think Tank (note: emphasis on the 'tank', not so much the 'think') in their release on the 'Report Card'

I'm always happy to see my free market friends use taxpayer-funded research, but it might have been nice to see some value-added here. Like what are the determinants at an individual level? What type of follow-up is needed to ensure the low-scoring schools can improve their score?

And what really surprised me here was that the Fraser Institute missed an opportunity to talk about more effective use of tax-dollars.

I mean, jeez, is it really an effective use of BC tax money to provide over $2000 per student to a private school like St. Georges, when a public school is in such straits?

And just how do the tax-paying parents of Prince George feel about that?

They must be all warm and fuzzy knowing some kids are getting a great education with their tax-dollars, even if its not their own children.

I suppose its the difference between between Prince George, and Saint George.

Who is afraid?

There is a movement afoot to together a Canadian website “I am not afraid”in response to the terrorists attempt to blow up… well, no-one is saying what, but three tons of ammonium-nitrate is a lot fertilizer.

The logic is that if we are afraid, then the terrorists win.

So I asked myself – am I afraid?

No, I am not.

But one of my friends is.

My friend is a lot like me. He’s married, he has children, he works in downtown Ottawa.

We are both first generation Canadians whose parents came here for a better life.

But I’m white. He’s not.

So if you ask me if I am afraid, I am not. I am not afraid of the terrorists.

But if you ask my friend, he may be just a little bit afraid.

Perhaps not of the terrorists, and he would never admit being afraid for himself, but he is afraid for his family, and friends, and of what would come after the terrorists.

Most Canadians shouldn’t feel afraid. Clearly, our security people are doing their job and doing it well.

Last Sunday night, we all saw the footage of vandalized mosques in Toronto. This morning, another man was threatened with a knife in Quebec City. When an attack succeeds, it is not unreasonable to think that the response will be more than broken windows.

And that makes some of us afraid.

And if Canadians - like my friend - must not only fear terrorism, but also our reaction to terrorism, well… they really do win, don’t they?

I will not be afraid, I wish I could say the same for others.

Noooosssse-Stretcher.

I am not sure what to call this.

I can think of a word, but the legal department doesn't let me use it. And my mom reads this stuff, and she still thinks I'm a nice person.

I flipped open yesterday's Globe & Mail to read:PM backs down on policy for fallen Hours after funeral, Harper lets families decide whether public can see arrival of bodies

I am not sure the headline writer got it right.

Commenting on Captain Nichola Goddard's funeral, and her father's criticism of the Ramp Ceremony media ban, the Prime Minister said:

"I had given fairly clear instructions that, when bodies were to come home, families were to be consulted," Mr. Harper said at a news conference in Victoria. "And if all families were agreed on making that particular ceremony public, that our government should have no difficulty with that. I'm not sure what happened in this case."

No, we're all 'not sure what happened in this case.'

As late as April 25th Harper himself defended the policy on House of Commons, saying "It is not about photo ops and media coverage, it's about what's in the best interests of the families."

On the same day, Defence Minister Gordon O'Connor told the CBC that the Government had decided to ban all media coverage to have a consistent policy.

And it wasn't just 'this case.'

The Canadian Press reported the Coporal Matthew Dinning's father had spoken out against the ban last month, playing a home video of the arrival of his son's body at the funeral in Wingham, Ontario.

It appears that the instructions were quite clear to everyone -- except the man who apparently gave them.

The revolution will not be broadcast....

The media dissing match sunk to a new low this afternoon when Little Stevie told everyone he was picking up his marbles and playing with other kids...

Alex Panetta ran tonight's CP wire story on Harper announcing in London that he feels the national media are biased against him, so he's going to avoid them.

This stems from his demand that his staff assemble a list of reporters who are allowed to ask questions at press conferences.

Yesterday, a large number of journalists simply got up and left the Darfur newser when they refused to submit a list, and Harper refused to take their questions.

I'm not sure I blame the journalists on this one.

Certainly, the Story-Tories will say its our right, we're doing things differently, and the media are out to get us, so they can get stuffed. They will also point out that Harper's polling numbers are going up, that this is an Ottawa story, and that regional media will be pretty happy.

But it omits two small facts.

First, reporters don't go to newsers where they know they can't ask questions. Why would they? And if they aren't there, they are normally talking to some one else... like the opposition.

Second, regional media don't follow Prime Ministers around on election planes. Now you might think, but hey, we'll just deal with the regional media during the election.

But you've still got to worry about the kids on the plane.

And they can be very cruel.

Don't believe me?

Go ask my buddy Paul Martin about his Christmas holidays. He can tell you all about the liberal media and bias.

Better yet, ask Alex Panetta, who wrote tonight's wire story.

Alex is the guy who was told by Martin's staff that if he wrote a certain story, they'd never talk to him again. He wrote the story anyway.

Alex? He's still at the same desk, and Paul and his staff, well...they're not.