Politics-Federal

Muslim Terrorism Vs. Free Speech Battle Does Not Make It Open Season On Mohammad

Mulder

In the last day or two there have been numerous blogs out there re-posting some cartoons depicting the Muslim Prophet Mohammad. Many are saying it is a battle of free speech vs. the Koran which speaks against idol worship and not to make images of Mohammad lest you promote this type of worship.

I can see where people might tie the two together. But I have to say I think it’s wrong to tie any religious holy person to terrorism as many of these cartoons do. I do not argue that blogs and newspapers have a right to freedom of speech and I respectfully accept the argument and agree that we have the RIGHT to it.

I think of the kidnapping of a German that just happened because of the Mohammad caricatures, and I wonder what the countless millions and millions of good, honest Muslims think about the free speech argument being debated with their religious icon as the tool? Does it send some of those who are on the edge over to the radical side in protest of the west? Maybe.

The bottom line is that there has to be some societal class standards set by media, whether blogger or mainstream. Posting these cartoons may be allowed by law, but should it be by allowed by our own conscience is the question I asked myself? Everyone will have their own answer to that question, but as you can see from the lack of links or photos on this topic, I have my own voice on this one.

I guess I’m one of those that think about what they WANT their media to say… and not what it CAN say. Just because we have a ‘right’ to something, does not mean that everything it protects is right.

Feel free to comment…

Why does this give me, and Stephen Harper, grey hair?

Mulder

I am surprised I haven’t heard more about this from the Tories out there. Manitoba MP Brian Pallister is thinking about stepping down to run for the head of the Provincial Tories.

When referring to “the Orphan”, Adler means Brian Pallister.

Memo to Manitoba: The orphan was never on the list.

Fact: The Harper government will have fewer people in cabinet than its predecessor.

Fact: Several members of the Harper caucus in Alberta, who are far more qualified than the orphan, won’t be in cabinet.

Fact: Harper wants to give some seats to less qualified members in Central and Eastern Canada. Call it geographic balance.

Fact: The orphan knew all this before the election.

Fact: Manitoba Tory boss Stuart Murray announced last fall that he was surrendering leadership. That’s when the orphan started mapping out this strategy.

Pallister now has the chutzpah to tell Manitobans that he has made a sacrifice in not accepting a cabinet invitation that he never had.

He has the chutzpah to tell Manitobans that he is only now seriously considering a departure from federal politics despite telling political intimates months ago that he was eyeing the job of provincial Tory leader, and despite taking a poll to find out whether voters could stomach the words “Premier Pallister.”

I hate to admit this, but I think Adler is right on this one. If Pallister does resign to run for the Provincial big chair in Manitoba, it will put his riding into a bi-election. For the sake of his constituents, I hope he stays on through this parliamentary session. He is a bright, well spoken MP, and he would definately be an asset in Harper’s caucus.

I hope other Tories out there don’t ostracize me for feeling this way, but I do think we owe more due diligence when our party of choice is in power because we put them there. You might call it being ummm… for the sake of argument… being accountable.

Drop And Give Me Twenty Private Martin!!

Mulder

General Rick Hillier has publicly admonished the Liberals for the anti-soldier attack ads promoting a Conservative government would put soldiers in our cities. The head honcho of our military forces was probably staying non partisan before the election, but barely a week after election day and he has the Libs going through Basic Training drills.

Hillier pointed out that there are already soldiers living and working in every Canadian city prepared to help in the event of a crisis, emergency or natural disaster.

Hillier also criticized the Grits for failing to back up their promise to the military to hire 8,000 new soldiers, noting there were only a few hundred recruits since Martin first announced an initiative to swell the military’s ranks in 2004 because the money to pay for them was slow to flow.

He lavished praise on the Conservative defence election platform, which pledged to boost the military’s ranks by 13,000 soldiers.

It would have been nice to have a statement like this made before the election, but I understand General Hillier’s reservation in waiting until after the public has spoken. I’m just glad he said it. This is something to remember for the next election.

Flight Attendant's Fight For Wage Parity With Pilots Gets Supreme Court's Attention

Mulder

This news article has to be the most ridiculous, OfficiallyScrewed thing that the Supreme Court of Canada has ever gotten involved in….. aside from Flipowich’s battle of the cow. The CBC is now reporting that the Supreme Court of Canada has opened the door for the Human Rights Commission to investigate if flight attendants, mechanics and pilots deserve the same pay.

Canada’s top court has given the country’s human rights commission the go-ahead to investigate whether flight attendants should be paid the same as pilots and airline mechanics.

The case involving Air Canada employees dates back 15 years.

Are we kidding here? This has been on the agenda for 15 years and no one told these people the three jobs have different criteria, different levels of education, and different supply curves creating for variance in the salaries?

The commission had never analyzed pay rates because the dispute got hung up on the legal question of whether flight attendants, who are mostly women, and pilots and mechanics, who are mostly men, worked in the same “establishment.”

And I suppose we should begin paying orderlies who clean up the bloody mess in operating rooms the same as the surgeon doing the cutting? Or how about paying the court recorders the same as the judges? Get stuffed.

Air Canada held that the three groups should be treated separately in legal terms because they worked in different establishments. The human rights commission agreed, but two court cases followed, which delivered split decisions.

Air Canada appealed to the top court and lost. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled that the three groups do work in the same establishment.

With that preliminary question resolved, Section 11 of the Canadian Human Rights Act comes into play.

The section says it is discriminatory for an employer to pay different wages to male and female employees in the same “establishment” who are performing work of equal value.

Aye, there’s the rub. You can’t equate the work. Any way you slice it, the duties of both have similar aspects, as all jobs do. But the precision required, and knowledge and training, are quite different.

Does a flight attendant not take the safety of passengers into their own hands? They MIGHT in an emergency situation. But a pilot takes passenger’s safety into his/her hands the whole flight. It’s like comparing apples to oranges.

H/T to Black Sheep Press for this one.

GiGi's $7,750 Stay At Chateau Laurier On Taxpayers Tab

Mulder

The Ottawa Citizen is reporting PM Paul Martin putting up the Governor General Michaëlle Jean, and some extended family, at the famous Chateau Laurier hotel for two nights. The total cost in room, food, wine, etc?

Over $7,750 for two nights.

Reprinted in it’s entirety:


Jean’s tab for two-day hotel stay hit $7,750
Governor General spent $1,500 on food, $380 on wine

Jack Aubry, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean’s secret two-night stay at the Chateau Laurier in August 2005, just before Prime Minister Paul Martin announced her surprise appointment, cost taxpayers $7,750, documents obtained through the Access to Information Act reveal.

Determined to keep Ms. Jean, her husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond and daughter, Marie-Eden, out of sight of regular patrons at the hotel, officials at the Privy Council Office put them up in one of the Chateau’s swanky presidential suites, at a cost of $1,800 a night, while staging day-long briefing sessions in nearby rooms on the eve of the Aug. 4 announcement by Mr. Martin.

The hotel bills indicate three rooms were booked for nine people, including the large suite for Ms. Jean, her husband and daughter, as well as rooms for Mr. Lafond’s two adult daughters, from his first marriage, along with their husbands and children.

Ms. Jean and her immediate family also rang up $1,533 in meals while eating in the dining room of the presidential suite, along with about $388 worth of wine. The hotel bill indicates that the dinner on the eve of the announcement totalled $841, including a single charge of $172 for wine, along with a second one for $84.

The hospitality claim filled out later on Aug. 22 for six adults, calculated that the cost per adult was approximately $1,300, with a final tally of $7,757.65 for meals, accommodation and flowers.

The documents were obtained by researcher Ken Rubin.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2006

Unbelievable….. simply unbelievable

We Have Our Version Of Florida, But No Hanging Chads In Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River

Mulder

I was so proud when I reported my riding had a 74% voter turnout, one of the highest in the nation, but the Saskatchewan Riding of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River had polls regularly exceeding 100%.

In a slowly brewing situation, more and more are calling for a recount, and possibly even a bi-election. Allegations of tampering, prizes to vote and polls reporting three and a half hours late have the results of this riding falling into a cloud of suspicion. The Liberal candidate, Gary Merasty beat Tory incumbent Jeremy Harrison.

With all but one poll remaining, the Tory was leading by over 200 votes, but the last poll, which had a 104% voter turnout, swung the vote the other way with 93% of the poll voting Liberal.

The whole article by Danielle Smith can be read here. Below is a snippet of additional speculation on foul play.

More trouble: Chief Guy Lariviere of the Canoe Lake First Nation signed an affidavit declaring that Liberal candidate campaign literature was present in the ballot boxes in his polling station. This would also be contrary to the Canada Elections Act, Section 166.

Others have come forward to tell the Harrison campaign team they were bullied and threatened into voting Liberal. The consequences of voting otherwise are no small concern to people who live on small, remote reserves that can only be reached by plane, and who rely almost entirely on their band council for financial support.

H/T to Jesse Gritter and Adam Daifallah on this one

Bloc-Harper Add On – Hat Tip And More Info

Mulder

When I had written about the Bloc-Harper advertisement on google adsense, and warned pro Tories out there to make sure they were on the blocked list, I had forgotten where I had read about the Bloc-Harper site so the details were shady.

From my comments:

Comments: Bloc-Harper was started by Sinclair Stevens last spring. I posted on this here

Click Here (URL removed due to size)

Stevens also registered the domain name for the website through a registered charity, the Royal Commonwealth Society of Toronto which was not a very good idea on his part, because the RCS has the Governor-General as it’s patron. See here

Click Here (URL removed due to size)

The domain has since been re-registered.

Thanks Bill. It was, in fact, your page which I had read all the juicy details above about Sinclair Stevens and the Rt. Hon. Adrienne Clarkson. Great posts.

The Mouse That Roared

Mulder

Lions, and Argos, and Habs, Oh My!
Lions, and Argos, and Habs, Oh My!
Lions, and Argos, and Habs, Oh My!

Well Toto, it looks like the rest of Canada is roaring back at the Lion’s pushing a rural/urban split in this country.

I blogged about how urban sprawl was discounted here on Tuesday the 24th.

Kerry Diotte wrote a piece in the MSM about the other big cities in Canada here

Then I researched the city numbers and gridded for everyone nicely here.

The latest to roar back at the big three is Kate at SDA with her post and a link to a great story by Lorne Gunter which is here

’nuff said. There is no urban/rural divide.

Tory Campaign Manager Thanks Blogging Tories

Mulder

I just got an email I think every Blogging Tory may want to read. It describes a huge pat on the back from Conservative Campaign Manager Doug Finley.

At last nights reception, after Harper’s speech Doug Finley got up and thanked hordes of workers who gave their time and effort to the just cause. Right near the end he also thanked thanked the blogging tories and got a great applause. Guess some of us made a difference in our own way.

I’d like to think we had a part to play in the outcome too.

Addendum – January 27th – 09:08pm EDT

A bit more from a follow up email.

The band was playing until Harper came in and gave his speech thanking all the people who made the election victory possible ….After he left Finley(who by the way is married to Finley the M.P.) went up on stage and in his scottish accent he said we must also thank the B.T.’s This was near the end of Finley’s speech up on stage after he thanked many people on staff., the reception was rsvp at the Congress centre, live band, cash bar, canapes and finger foods, lots of big names and M.P.s. from what I observed, lots of YOUNG talent in that room no way we can lose with this team.