Dear U.S.A. - Keep your own trash. Thank you.

Well, it's been settled. Sort of.

Appeal delays deportation of ex-teacher in sex case

An American who hoped to spend three years on probation in Canada for a sex offence committed in the United States has been ordered deported, but an appeal process ensures he is not going anywhere soon.

Malcolm Watson, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen with permanent resident status in Canada, lives in St. Catharines, Ont., with his Canadian wife and children. A former teacher at an all-girls school in Buffalo, N.Y., he was convicted in October of improperly touching a 15-year-old student.

A controversial plea bargain approved by a Buffalo judge allowed him to serve his probation in Canada.

Sounds good, right? An American citizen is going to be deported after -- can you believe this?? -- some American judge simply up and decided the guy could serve his sentence hanging out in Canada! Without asking us!

So now we're getting rid of him. Right?

Wrong.

"But a victory only on paper, we have to say, because already Malcolm Watson's Canadian lawyer, Stephen Green, has filed an appeal, something that is well within Mr. Watson's rights as a permanent resident of Canada."

Because of a backlog at a tribunal in Toronto, the appeal will not be heard for at least a year, the lawyer predicted.

For now, Köksal reported, "Malcolm Watson is going to do just what he hoped to do when he got that plea deal in Buffalo for three years probation to be served in Ontario. He's going to stay in Ontario with his wife and three children."

The deal drew protests from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who deplored the idea of "dumping" sex offenders in Canada.

I can't believe I'm in agreement with Stephen Harper on this, but certainly any sane person who believes even halfway in Canadian sovereignty should be horrifically offended at the original judge's decision. For starters.

And I'm horrifically offended that we can't fast-track this case and kick the guy out of our country TOMORROW.

I'm against Toronto sending its trash to Michigan. Why, then, shouldn't I be outraged that the U.S. considers Canada a dumping grounds for its trash, the human kind?

They can take their own garbage and deal with it. And we shouldn't have to keep it a day longer than humanly possible.

However, while the legalities are going on, I think there should be someone camping outside this guy's house, and following him around, 24 hours a day for every day that he infests our country.

'Cause it's Everybody's Fault but His, Dontcha Know

I was just waiting for it. I'd heard that RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli had quit, yesterday, and would be making a public statement today. And I speculated on what he would say to explain his resignation.

I knew he'd have to make himself sound good, and hopefully rilly rilly noble. So I figured he'd say it was "all for the good of the RCMP," to remove himself and spare the police service the hassle of all the unnecessary turmoil that was roiling around him. Oh, and he'd probably say it was for the good of all Canadians too.

And sure enough...

RCMP's Zaccardelli resigns

::snip::

In his resignation letter to Harper, Zaccardelli noted the debate has "taken on a life of its own" and made it increasingly difficult to carry on in his post.

"Clearly, the RCMP and I depend upon the confidence of Canadians and their elected representatives. Without this we cannot succeed."

Another Toronto Star article: Tearful Zaccardelli defiant

The outgoing commissioner says he made one mistake in his testimony to a Commons committee on Arar, and moved swiftly to correct the error when he realized it — even though he knew it would stir controversy.

At issue was what he knew, and when he knew it, about Arar’s deportation to Syria by U.S. authorities who apparently acted partly on the basis of information provided by the Mounties.

In September, Zaccardelli indicated that he was aware shortly after the deportation in 2002 that the RCMP had incorrectly told the Americans that Arar had ties to al-Qaida.

But this week, he said he didn’t know the details until the release of a report into the Arar affair this fall.

Opposition critics immediately called for his head, suggesting he either misled the committee or was incompetent.

But Zaccardelli insisted today that he told the truth and simply made a mistake on a complex file. He added that he did his best to publicize and correct the error even though he knew his critics would attack him.

“I had no choice, I have never had any choice, but to tell the truth,” he said.

Zaccardelli also insisted that he was not pressured to resign by the Conservative government. He said his decision was based on one overriding concern: “I did not want to have an adverse influence on this incredible organization.

Aren't you just weeping, at the nobility of the man??

Setting aside the question of how he could be MISTAKEN about knowing about Arar FOUR DAMN YEARS earlier than he now says he did, it's so clear that he's saying this is everybody's damn fault but his. "Waaah! It's your fault that you noticed I told you two different stories, with that weird little lapse of memory of FOUR DAMN YEARS."

'Cause you know, if it wasn't for that nasty media and the nasty Opposition members, it would have been crystal clear that those FOUR DAMN YEARS were, like, totally insignificant.

Effin' liar. I wish he hadn't resigned. He should have been thrown out. Or, no! How about we buy him a one-way ticket to Syria!

Its settled Once And For All. Right? Right??

MPs defeat motion to reopen same-sex marriage debate

A motion to reopen the same-sex marriage debate was easily defeated in Parliament on Thursday, as expected.

MPs voted 175-123 against the controversial motion tabled by the ruling Conservatives.

The motion had asked the government to introduce legislation to restore the traditional definition of marriage without affecting civil unions and while respecting existing same-sex marriages.

::snip::

The vote should put an end to parliamentary wrangling about same-sex marriage, as Prime Minister Stephen Harper had said a free vote — promised during January's general election campaign — would settle the matter.

::snip::

Liberals called this most recent motion hollow because, even if it had passed, it would not have struck down the right of gays to marry.

Most constitutional lawyers have said the only way the Tories could change the law would be to invoke the notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, something Harper has said he would not do.

So the Cons -- who love to yell about "activist judges" and wanting this matter to be "decided in parliament and not in the courts" -- now that it's been settled in parliament not once, but twice -- they're going to considered it settled once and for all. Right?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

My Kingdom for a Grownup!

You know, when the Reform party was started, I was all for it, for many reasons. One of the biggest was the Reform promise to bring some dignity and respect back to parliament. I was so disgusted and sick at the way parliamentarians constantly yelled and sneered at each other. It would be such a breath of fresh air, if Reform (that Party of Moral Rectitude) could bring back the respect and the civilized behaviour.

Of course, they never did. Nobody could sneer quite like the "morally superior" Reform crowd. I was so disgusted with them that although I voted for them once, I never did again. They made me loathe politicians so much that I completely abstained from voting at all, the second time around. (My reasoning: "Why should I be actively responsible for sending a fool to parliament? And they're all fools. So I won't participate in sending one there." I do feel differently about voting now, but it was the Reform party that convinced me not to vote, that time.)

And now. I don't know if Stephen "Bush-clone" Harper thinks he's an inheritor of the Reform mantle (certainly a great many Reform wingnuts – including himself – are still playing major roles in the party, despite its most recent disguise), but when it comes to parliamentary respect and civility, the current Party of Moral Rectitude has inherited the Reform attitude in spades.

See this Globe and Mail article:

Hands wrung over Tory MPs' fist gestures

OTTAWA -- The summer silly season has already set in on Parliament Hill as arguments over the hand gestures of Conservative MPs dominated House of Commons debate yesterday.

The Liberals led off Question Period by demanding apologies from two Conservative MPs who had provoked the opposition the night before by directing hand gestures across the aisle.

The two MPs, Pierre Poilievre and Jacques Gourde, are both parliamentary secretaries to cabinet ministers.

They were seen raising a bended arm with a fist, directing the gesture toward Bloc Québécois MPs who were heckling the Conservatives for not supporting a Bloc motion that was being voted on at the time.

[snip]

Both Mr. Gourde and Mr. Poilievre apologized in the House before Question Period began, but the Liberals focused their attack on Mr. Poilievre, who turned 27 this month and is the youngest MP in the House.

Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale noted that just last week the Ottawa-area MP was caught on tape using what is commonly referred to as unparliamentary language.

During a nationally broadcast committee meeting last Thursday on the federal accountability act, Mr. Poilievre was shown swearing at opposition MPs.

Mr. Goodale also said Mr. Poilievre was doing a "pixie dance" on Tuesday evening while the Speaker was discussing the hand gestures.

Yep. The Party of Moral Rectitude fer sher. Yegods.

And you know what their answer will be, the same way that their southern cousins blame Bill Clinton's Penis for everything -- "Well, Trudeau did it, and he Said That Word, too!"

Their whole shtick, when they created the new party, was that they were better than that, and boy, they'd sure show us. And no, I don't think the Liberals, Bloc, or NDP crowd are essentially any better than that. But they've never claimed to be! The Party of Moral Rectitude trumpeted their superior moral character from the rooftops, and always have.

So yeah, Trudeau did it too. So of course they have to do it. Too bad Trudeau didn't jump off a cliff, since they want to emulate him so bad.

Yes, Stevie, the Canadian press *IS* the Opposition!

Poor little baby Stephen. Little whiney George Bush Wannabe, throwing a tantrum because the members of the Canadian press are trying to inform us citizens about what the Harper government is doing with our country.

We are Harper's employers, not his subjects. It is our right to know what the hell he's up to, in every tiny detail of what he does that affects us as a nation!

Whiny little Stevie, actually being asked questions by all those unimportant little people representing the silly peasants called Canadian citizens!

In this Reuters article, we see his opinion of the people trying to get information for us:

"Unfortunately, the press gallery has taken the view they are going to be the opposition to the government," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told a local television network in London, Ontario on Wednesday.

No, Mr. "George Bush is my Role Model" Harper -- the press is NOT there so that you can patriarchally pat Canadian citizens on the heads and say, "There there, little plebes, we'll give you all the information we decide you should have, whenever we feel it necessary to tell you what fate we've decided for you."

I got news for you, Stevie. The press IS IN FACT THE OPPOSITION.

That's what they're there for – to ask you questions and keep us citizens informed. They're not there to serve you and serve as mouthpieces for you to tell us what YOU want us to hear. They're there to serve us and make you answer what WE want to hear.

They are there to question your motives, your actions, and your reasons, your directives, your decrees, your political appointments, your behind-the-scenes deals -- everything. They're there precisely to find out what you don't want us to know, what you'd rather hide from us.

As Bill Moyers has said, "News is what the people in power don't want you to know. Everything else is public relations."

You bet your bloody hair-helmet they're the opposition, Stevie. They're not your own massive public relations corps. They're there to prevent YOU from becoming a damn dictator.

Mr. Vellacott, endlessly entertaining

I keep saying to people that we just need to poke the Cons enough to get them shooting their mouths off, and they'll take care of defeating Canada's American Neo-Con party all by themselves.

Well, this past week I was listening with half an ear to some of the story of Saskatoon MP Maurice Vellacott, and was well pleased with how the revelations were going. But I should have paid more attention, because the fun just kept coming, and I missed a lot of it.

But skdadl, over at the Peace, order and good government, eh? blog (otherwise known as POGGE), was following every detail, so I got to catch up on what I had missed: Keep Talking, Mr Vellacot.

The salient points are these:

1) First he claims that Supreme Court Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin claimed that judges almost have "godlike powers" when they sit on the bench. (She did not; in the speech he referred to, she pretty much says the exact opposite.)

2) Then Vellacott resigns as Chair of the Commons aboriginal affairs committee -- which he should never have been on, considering his own previously expressed views on aboriginal affairs. As he departs, he claims both that the Liberals assume they, too, have a divine right to govern (i.e. "godlike powers!"), and that he himself expects God to give him chances to serve again in the future (godlike powers again, by golly). Man's got an obsession with god. They used to put people like that in institutions. But meanwhile...

3) Then, as POGGE remarks, "Nothing daunted, Mr Vellacott, no doubt still driven by divine revelation, has bounced back from his forced resignation on Wednesday to champion yet another cause -- the liberation of women." He appears with a doctor who claims that abortions lead to breast cancer, despite evidence that they don't.

All of this in one week! It's kind of exhilarating.

I was screaming with hilarity by the time I got to these closing statements from POGGE:

You have to admire Mr Vellacott's resilience, though, don't you? I know that I do. To spring back from so many humiliations as quickly as he did this week and to reinsert his foot in his mouth so purposefully -- that shows promise, I think. I am so looking forward to whatever cause he decides to champion next.

Next week, in fact. Creation science? Surely that's not too much to ask. Send him ideas. The man is on a roll.

Yes indeedy. Poke. Poke. Poke. Poke.

More details on Frank Luntz, the neo-Con Spinner Visiting Ottawa

Alison at Creekside has more info on Frank Lutz, the neo-Con liar spinner I blogged about yesterday.

She's got some real zingers he's come up, with in her post.

Read the post, and you'll agree. It's exactly as I described it: black is white, lies are truth, and hate is love. The guy is a monster.

(Thanks to Canadian Cynic for pointing me to Creekside's post.)

Neo-Con Spinners Invading Canada

I don't remember the guy's name, but a "political consultant" from the United States was interviewed on CBC Radio's The House this morning. He's in Ottawa this weekend, addressing a meeting of Conservatives [sic], with a talk called "Massaging the Message."

I listened to him on "The House," with my jaw on the floor. I don't think I've ever heard such bald-faced, brazen lying on Canadian media before -- and obviously, the Cons in Canada have brought him in to teach them how to do it here the way neo-Cons have perfected the practice in the U.S.

It was hard to get past his constant condescending tone, which appeared every time he was chiding the host of the program for mentioning an actual fact, and then proceeded to spin the fact into a lie.

But the highlights of his actual remarks were that a) the Republicans are NOT doing badly in the U.S. right now [no mention was made, I noticed, of Bush's 30% approval rating]; b) the debacle of Hurricane Katrina was a matter of the Republicans not explaining to everyone how HARD it is to deal with such a devastating storm; c) the Iraq debacle is about the fact that the Republicans "didn't explain clearly enough" how difficult the war would be; and the usual whopper, which these guys always trot out -- d) Clinton was worse. [Ed. note: Even though he wasn't.]

I don't usually turn on my computer on Saturday mornings, but I had to. I would have exploded otherwise.

Here is what I wrote to the CBC program, "The House," with the subject line, "Your neo-Con wingnut public relations spinner guest":

Well. Now we know what “massaging the message” means to American neo-cons. It means lying outright, which your American spinner did today. And YOU DIDN’T CHALLENGE HIM ON ANYTHING.

If his Republican President’s approval rating being at 30% isn’t “doing badly,” then black is white, lies are truth, and hate is love.

First – Katrina. It wasn’t that the neo-Cons “didn’t communicate” how bad the storm would be, they OUTRIGHT DENIED IT. New Orleans officials begged Bush and pals for years to help fix the levies because they would surely break – yet the Bushies’ spin has been that “no one could have known” and they themselves never had a clue.

Second – Iraq. It wasn’t that the neo-Cons “didn’t explain clearly enough” how difficult this aggressive war would be – they OUTRIGHT DENIED IT. Rumsfeld and Cheney dismissed the very thought that they actually needed to PLAN anything for long-term reconstruction. They consistently downplayed the number of troops they’d need, the reaction of Iraqis to the aggression, how long they’d be there, or what it would cost. Three years after Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” photo op (perhaps engineered by someone like your guest this morning!), Iraq is a continuing American quagmire.

And when confronted with the Bush regime’s intense secrecy about everything (much like what Harper’s crowd is now engineering here) – your guest never addressed Bush’s press people, who constantly lie for the regime, but went back SIX YEARS to the neo-Cons’ maniac obsession with Bill Clinton! Excuse me? Are Clinton’s press secretaries determining Bush policy then? Is that what this guy was telling us??

This is known as “spin” – constantly diverting your listeners or readers from real issues, to make them look elsewhere so you can get away with something.

THIS is how neo-Cons in Canada want to run the Canadian government??

I can’t believe you gave this bald-faced liar any air time, and never challenged him on any of his lies. HOW DARE YOU.

Too bad they won't read it on-air, partly because it's too long, but also because...well, you know.