Although it has been many years since I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula, I recall that it was a far more subtle and eerie depiction of vampiric activity than the generations of films that it spawned. The latter almost invariably portrayed Dracula as a charming yet unholy creature who pounced swiftly, gorily, and mercilessly upon his victims; the novel, on the other hand, depicted a creature that, while driven by an unslakable thirst, did not deprive Mina Harker of her life in one fell swoop, but slowly drained her of her life force, leaving everyone bewildered as to the cause (Read more…)
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To watch the disgraced senator performing this new walk craze, please click here. Recommend this Post H/t Dawg’s Blog & Alison at Creekside for the inspiration. Oh, the great outdoors beckon on this fine Victoria Day morning, so for now, allow me to offer you this from today’s Toronto Star: Hard to believe Duffy has no nest egg Re: Duffy resigns from caucus, May 17 It seems egregious Mike Duffy has been running roughshod over Canadians for some time, without attracting public opprobrium. Five years ago the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council ruled that he had violated broadcasting codes and ethics. Three years ago Duffy criticized the University of King’s College and other journalism schools for (Read more…) Pierre Poilievre And Howdy Doody: Separated at birth? You decide. Recommend this Post Plus a sobering rebuke of Mr. Harper in this morning’s Star editorial: “This sordid saga of improper Conservative behaviour, high-level secrecy and winking at wrongdoing has infuriated Canadians, disgraced the unelected Red Chamber, and spurred renewed interest in its abolition.” Recommend this Post I can only hope that the growing public cynicism evident in these Star letters translates into a deep and abiding anger that lasts until at least 2015. Here is a sampling: Beyond money, audit reveals a bigger problem for Duffy, May 15 This column described Mike Duffy’s problem but the Senate-appointed auditors might have used terminology that was more fitting of the crime, instead of “inappropriately claimed” expenses it might have said “fraudulently claimed.” After all, Duffy’s problem is not much different from that of Harold Ballard when the latter did time for fraudulently using funds from Maple Leaf (Read more…) Here is Rex Murphy holding forth on the current ‘troubles’ in Ottawa: Recommend this Post There just seems to be no bottom to this cesspool. Now the Puffster is said to have tried to subvert the CRTC hearing so that the money-losing Sun News gets its wish to be carried on basic cable. You can watch the video here. Recommend this Post
In his column this morning, Thomas Walkom suggests that Mike Duffy’s current scandal-plagued problems are representative of much deeper ones in the Senate, namely that our much-cossetted members of that ‘chamber of sober second thought’ are appointed, not because of their expertise (many of them have none), not because of intimate knowledge of a particular province (Duffy has none, having lived in Ottawa for over 30 years and not even legally qualified to represent P.E.I.), but because the Senate has become, under both Liberal and Conservative governments, a repository of party strategists and bagmen where they can (Read more…) …. people showing such contempt for my intelligence really inflames me: A senior PMO official told Fife that Duffy couldn’t afford to repay the $90,000 and did not want to borrow money from a bank, fearing that his wife would be stuck with the large debt if he died suddenly from a heart attack. Duffy has battled cardiac problems over the years. Jennifer Ditchburn and Steve Rennie present an alternative view of The Puffster’s finances here. Recommend this Post Who knows? With a little modification, Robertson’s advice to the wife who has been cheated on might offer a new spin direction for the Harper regime, especially in its current troubles. Recommend this Post In Act 5 Scene 2 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, when the overthrow of the ruthless, power-drunk politician/king is nigh, Angus speaks these words about him: Now does he feelHis secret murders sticking on his hands.Now minutely revolts upbraid his faith-breach.Those he commands move only in command,Nothing in love. Now does he feel his titleHang loose about him, like a giant’s robeUpon a dwarfish thief. Despite the fact that English literature is dismissed by many of our current ‘masters of the universe’ as something of a frill, with nothing to offer the practical, results-driven mentality (Read more…) If you start at about the 5 minute mark, you will witness Harper’s pet parrot Pierre, through endless repetition, parody a Member of Parliament actually answering a question and showing respect for Canadians’ intelligence. * Show an absolute absence of anything that could be even remotely interpreted as integrity. Recommend this Post
H/t Chris Andersen Recommend this Post
It must be very comforting indeed to the increasingly odious Senator Duffy that his relationship with the Prime Minister is so ‘special’ that the latter is willing to exercise unethical, perhaps even illegal interference on his behalf during the Senate’s investigation into his fraudulent expense claims. For the rest of us, the stench of corruption has reached near-asphyxiation levels. Recommend this Post I doubt that any of this requires further explanation.
Recommend this Post This is rather interesting: Recommend this Post This is rather interesting: Recommend this Post
Because he doesn’t maintain his own blog yet offers blistering commentary that lacerates the pretensions of his subjects, I am once more placing as a guest post the searing analysis The Salmander offered in response to my post on the hypocrisy of that old young man, Pierre Poilievre, currently one of Harper’s favorite poodles. Enjoy: .. hypocrite .. yes .. that captures the shallow ethics of this preening vain and glib political insectivore that hatched in Calgary, and who deserves careful examination under bright light and a magnifying glass.. by honest and objective political scientists.. or forensic anthropologists. His pasty white cretin pedigreed (Read more…) They certainly seem to be singing from the same hymn book. Orwellian and hypocritical are inadequate descriptors of this little twit: And speaking of Orwellian, how else might one describe the “Working Families Flexibility Act?” The Harperites must be salivating. Recommend this Post My friend LeDaro often posts videos that depict the world around us, poignant reminders of what we are so blithely destroying through our heedless consumerism and governments that know the price of everything but the value of nothing. In this, the slavish promotion of the tarsands by the Harper regime and its henchmen (Joe Oliver, Peter Kent, et al.) are leading exemplars. I hope you can spare about six minutes to be dazzled by the energy, vitality and mystery of a world that will not be with us much longer if we maintain our present course. Recommend this Post This is brilliant. Thanks to Anon, who, in his comment on my previous post, directed me to this video: Let’s try to spread this as widely as possible. Mockery and satire often seem to be the best way to respond to the nonsense and lies the government proclaims in our name. Recommend this Post
Like the dotty uncle no one wants to invite to family dinners anymore because of his wildly inappropriate comments, Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver is fast becoming an international persona non grata. With the passion of a senescent zealot, Oliver has drawn unfavorable attention to Canada in recent weeks over his attacks on those who disagree with his unbridled enthusiasm for Alberta’s dirty oil. There was, for example, his visit last month to Washington in which he lambasted a leading climate scientist, James Hansen, denouncing him for “exaggerated rhetoric,” that “doesn’t do the (environmentalists’) cause any good.” For good (Read more…)
Could it be because Senator Duffy was tipped off by the man investigating him for expense improprieties? Or could it be because once more, an errant staff member is to blame for Conservative ‘irregularities’? Recommend this Post
The other evening I put up a post on Kellie Leitch, the erstwhile physician turned Conservative M.P., enthusiastic sycophant and prominent apologist of all things Harpereque. As he occasionally does, The Salamander, in a comment on the post, offered his own observations of Ms. Leitch and a host of other Harper acolytes. Always unsparing in his excoriating assessments, I am reproducing his offering below for readers to enjoy: .. the pedantic and simplistic rhetoric keeps on churning.. that’s the hallmark of Stephen Harper, the Harper Government, the Harper Political Party, the Harper Bureaucracy, the Harper Young Harper Party initiates, (Read more…) |
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