Thursday, May 14, 2009

THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT STRIKES AGAIN

TWO LEADING MEMBERS OF THE GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT


The gang that couldn’t shoot straight rides again. No matter that their sleazeball tactics secured only a minority win in what should have been a romp in the last election. No matter that strategies such as infantile and tasteless ads featuring defecating puffins and talking oil drips miserably failed to do the job even when its opponents were still on the canvas at the count of nine. No matter. Like Stephen Harper’s commitment to the preachings of Bushism, the Fraser Institute, the National Citizen’s Coalition, and other loony-bin nonsense still offered up by the now discredited neocon movement of the University of Calgary Economics and Political Science departments, he and his band of merry brownshirts continue to stick to sleaze and dirty tricks – this time to attempt to get Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and a prominent and promising colleague, Ruby Dhalla.

Only the naïve and stupid would deny that the Dhalla affair is a Conservative operation all the way. Anybody who believes the testimony of those two pathetic nannies who gave testimony against Ruby Dhalla earlier in the week would probably swallow Brian Mulroney’s evidence given at the Oliphant inquiry, or indeed believe that his tears were real. The two ladies, who were hired by Dhalla’s brother, worked in the Dhalla household for a very short time – one for three months and the other only for days. Furthermore, it took them more than fifteen months to make their vapid allegations public. And when they were made public, who was around for the soundbite? You guessed it - that champion of new Canadians who would have them all learn English before they set foot on Canadian soil, Harper’s full-bodied hatchet man, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. Kenney, by the way, relates to new Canadians about as well as Maxime Bernier relates to diplomacy.

Reliable sources say that Kenney is a pal of one Parm Gill. Gill, like Dhalla, is from the Sikh community in the Ontario riding of Brampton-Springdale, for which Dhalla is the sitting Liberal MP. Gill gave her the run of her life in the last election, with Dhalla winning by only a few hundred votes. Kenney has been described as being very tight with Gill. They travel to Conservative snorefests together in and around Toronto, and Gill has even accompanied Kenney on a trip to India. Read this interesting piece on their interesting connections: http://pushedleft.blogspot.com/2009/05/jason-kenney-and-private-investigator.html
Also, a must-read is:http://impolitical.blogspot.com/2009/05/ubiquitous-jason-kenney.html

Thanks to Kenney and his pal Parm, Nanniegate does not even come close to passing the Conservative aroma test. So look to Dhalla keeping her seat with a handsome majority.

And so we now turn to the latest negative ads. Don Martin, one of the Calgary Herald’s few remaining good writers, used to be one of the big cheerleaders of the old kinder and gentler PCs for which he was always a good and loyal soldier. I mean, he was such a pal he even laughed at Ralph Klein’s jokes about dinosaur farts and chuckled when Klein bailed out of a Premiers meeting on health care to play the slot machines at a casino.

But the excesses of the Harperites are even too much for Martin. His column today describes the tasteless ads and gives his readers the address of the Conservative website on which the ads can be found. The domain name is registered in the Balkans – Montenegro, to be exact, which as an aside he tells us is governed by a coalition. The web administrator is based in Arizona. The Conservatives have taken as much trouble to obscure the particulars of the website as Mulroney did to hide the cash he got from Schreiber. In addition Martin tells us that websurfers have told him that the domain is used frequently to exhibit pornography! For more on Martin’s piece you must read: http://www.calgaryherald.com/mikeholmes/Martin+Real+issues+begging+nastiness+takes+hold/1595681/story.html
All of which means that Harper has learned nothing in the more than three years he has been Prime Minister. He is sinking and sinking fast. Look to his early departure, and a Liberal majority in the next federal election. Prime Minister Ignatieff. It has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?

15 comments:

Scott MacNeil said...

Darryl,

Believe I read a quote somewhere once that spoke of politicians and it went something like this: "Frightened men lash out in fear, while good men tell us what we need to hear - those who can seek to lead, those who can't want others to bleed."

Harpo & co. are shameless - their end, surely, must be nigh!

Darryl Raymaker said...

Thanks for that Fat Arse. No truer words were spoken.

The Mad Bomber said...

"Harpo & Co." are pathetic and, worse yet from their point of view, are becoming increasingly ineffective and obvious. But whither the alternative? Anyone who thinks that Ignatieff and his gang would act in more refined, disinterested ways does not understand politics in general, or the Liberal Party in particular. The issue here is not who is manning the trough, but the trough itself. As long as we have this big, bloated, centralized bureaucracy, you will have political corruption and gamesmanship.

I do not yearn for political dirty tricks with a different Prime Minister and under a different party colour; I yearn for the end of political dirty tricks. To that end, I also yearn for the end of Prime Ministers and political parties, and for that matter of the whole damn centralized federal superstructure; but I'll admit that's a whole different discussion.

Darryl Raymaker said...

I put it to you public Eye, that the Grits record respecting dirty tricks is most honorable compared to Harper and his neanderthals.
Also, if it is the past you are concerned about, there is nothing in Iggy's history upon which you can conclude that his political moral code is deficient. So, why not give him a chance. A party is as good or bad as its leader.

Thanks for reading my blog.

Patrick Ross said...

Oh, please, Darryl.

Show us some evidence before you insist that the accusations against Dhalla are part of some Conservative party plot.

After all, if the Tories were going to use a scandal against Dhalla, one would think they would at least use the scandal that actually is a scandal.

Darryl Raymaker said...

Patrick, you worm, still out there campaigning for Inspector Closeau after all of his gaffes and misteps. He'll probably appoint you to the Bank of Canada board. But he better do it quickly because he is on his way out. Thanks to his own foolishness.

Scott MacNeil said...

@Patrick & Darryl

With respects gentleman. We all know politics is far from a gentile endeavour - and both of you normally seem (biases and all) to tread in waters free of pointless personal enmity - no point changing that now. Debate is debate - life is life. You two should get together and have a beer to discuss both!

At the very least, it would make for some interesting posts. :)

Patrick Ross said...

Darryl doesn't believe in debate. Darryl believes exclusively in the self-serving security of the echo chamber.

I simply find it amusing that Darryl insists that the recent allegations raised against Dhalla simply must be a Conservative plot, and could be nothing other than a Conservative plot.

Meanwhile, a real scandal is afoot -- one in which funding was extended to produce a film that Dhalla, a prominent Liberal then as now, starred in, and was extended by a Liberal cabinet minister in defiance of Heritage Canada regulations.

And Darryl has no comment other than call someone else a worm, allegedly complicit in the smear against Dhalla.

But he overlooks two glaring facts:

For one thing, the Conservatives have had very little to say about Dhalla and the allegations against her. Secondly, the Conservatives certainly didn't need to invent any scandal when one was already in play.

Darryl's theory simply doesn't hold water, and is nothing but partisan bluster.

Darryl Raymaker said...

Fat Arse
I enjoy having a beer over political discourse with people with whom I don't see eye-to-eye. Not only is it stimulating, it advances the cause of understanding and good will. I would even sit down with young Ross to attempt to impart to some real wisdom, that he unhappily does not receive attending his Young Conservative Prayer Meetings.

AS far as Dhalla and the movies are concerned, I happen to like the movies and I think more government money should be invested in movies, particularly ones starring that luscious babe Dhalla. Ruby is a national treasure in more ways than one. It'll take more than the maneuverings of the little fat boy from Calgary - you know who I'm speaking about, he's an MP and a Minister who always has his mouth open - to bring her down.

Speaking of the little fat boy, when he was the talking head of the Alberta Taxpayer's Association he hounded the provincial Tories to abandon their generous persion plan. Now that he is on the public tit and will entitled to an even better one as a result of his electoral success, he says not a word. That's the Conservative political morality. Speaking of which, have we finally heard the last of Muldoon??

Patrick Ross said...

Darryl's idea of wisdom:

"It's OK for government agencies to break the rules, so long as they do so in favour of good Liberals".

It's a rather peculiar idea of wisdom -- one not altogether wise at all.

Darryl Raymaker said...

Ross - The Grits are paragons of virtue compared to your tribe.

Patrick Ross said...

Right. Paragons of virtue who steal hundreds of millions of dollars -- if not billions -- from Canadian taxpayers to line their own pockets.

Paragons of virtue who hand film grants out to themselves as if they're tic-tacs.

Paragons of virtue who string nannies along with promises of work permits then never deliver.

We've gotten a pretty good idea of what your ideas of "virtue" are, and oddly enough they aren't very virtuous at all.

Darryl Raymaker said...

Ross - You belong to what is left of the party of Brian Mulroney. The party that wanted Canada to invade Iraq. The party that did not have a clue about the history of Afghanistan. The party that tried to hoodwink the Canadian people by saying there was no economic crisis as late as December. The party that tried to destroy other opposition parties. The party that indulges in tasteless negative ads. The party that encourages divisions within Canada to have its way. The party that regards new Canadians with contempt. The party that would send Stockwell Day on a diplomatic mission to China. Yada, yada, yada.
And you condemn the Grits because of a piddly-ass movie deal and a nannygate event that has been perpetrated by the little fat boy from Calgary. Have you no conscience, sir? Have you no decency? Are you the idiot you appear to be?????

Duncan said...

Hi Darryl

I'm Duncan Kinney. I just got a project off the ground called yycblogs.(http://yycblogs.com) I'm trying to create a destination for Calgary based bloggers.

I found your blog through a blog post by Tiny Perfect Blog. According to him (and Alexa) you are the the 15th most popular blogger in Alberta.

I'd love to link to your blog and aggregate your posts. So far we've got quite the mix on the site, designers, photographers, civic critics, moms etc etc. I think the political bloggers are a little under represented (though the site has only been live for a week now).

If you're interested let me know. The only thing I ask is for a link back, either in your blog roll or a blog post. I couldn't find an email on your site so I'm leaving this in your comments.

You can reach me at info@yycblogs.com

Cheers
Cheers!

Patrick Ross said...

"You belong to what is left of the party of Brian Mulroney."

You make a lot of funny assumptions, Darryl. You belong to a party that stole hundreds of millions -- if not billions -- of taxpayer dollars from Canadians to line their own pockets. I don't belong to any party at all.

"The party that wanted Canada to invade Iraq."

Heh. Did you ever scope your dear leader's position on Iraq?

"The party that did not have a clue about the history of Afghanistan."

Daaaaaaaryl. It was your party that got Canada into the war in Afghanistan, not the Tories.

Be honest now.

"The party that indulges in tasteless negative ads."

Daaaaaaaryl.

You just aren't being honest with yourself.