Who got us into this mess anyway?

The Gazetteer is absolutely correct:

Stephen Harper turned a $12 billion dollar surplus into a deficit in the BEST of times.
And now that things are going sideways and he's telling us that, in these times of 'uncertainty', that he's the best man for the job?

Great line of the day

From Chet at Vanity Press:

At some point, this election will start to be about something.

But actually, of course, its about the future of the country -- no biggie!

Tories blow it again

So the Conservatives are using a photo of a California family in their most recent ad. I guess they couldn't be bothered to search for a Canadian family who supports them. Or they couldn't find one...

Bang Bang You're dead

Well, the RCMP taser report from June is finally out (another Friday afternoon document dump). My question is, why did it take the Access to Information Act to get the RCMP to release such a mildly-worded, even weasel-worded report?
Basically, the Globe story indicates that report appears to assign the blame for 20 deaths to "problems in the RCMP policy development process" -- rather than to police officers and a police culture which still sees tasers as a quick and easy way to control and punish civilians:

. . . the Mounties did not perform “due diligence” when they approved tasers for use earlier this decade . . .
“Many of the resulting problems in the RCMP policy-development process might have been avoided” had the force sought out impartial researchers to conduct studies “that could detect and take into account potential police and manufacturer biases,”. . .

Yeah, and I'm sure the RCMP would have listened to all those non-existent impartial researchers and their hypothetical studies, so actually this mess is all the researchers' fault, those bastards!

The time may have come when Canadian police services and their governing authorities “need to exercise their own final say in matters appropriate to training and usage.”
The report . . . suggests more attention be paid to factors that may affect risk of harm, including the subject's body weight, pregnancy, medical devices such as pacemakers, psychosis, ingestion of drugs and prolonged acute stress and exhaustion.

The Globe story indicates only one place where the report apparently took a real stand:

The report slams use of the term “excited delirium,” which is used by police officers to describe combative, resistant suspects. It says the supposed condition is not a recognized medical diagnosis, and is merely an excuse to justify firing the 50,000-volt charge.

But in the end, it appears the report just wimped out:

The report urges the federal government to set national standards for taser use by all police forces across the country.

Yeah, I'm sure Stockwell Day got right on this -- he's had the report since June, I guess, so where are those standards?
There is, however, one enduring image that this news story about the report provides:

In some cases, RCMP officers don't have access to tasers loaded with simulation cartridges, meaning members must resort to scenarios in which one yells “bang, bang” and another feigns being hit, the report says.

So RCMP officers were shouting "bang, bang" at each other?
Did any of them shout "bang, bang, you're dead"?

Of course she didn't say Canadians were stupid

Chet at Vanity Press provides a pretty good analysis of what Elizabeth May said -- and of course she didn't say that Canadians were stupid people.
The controversy, however, IS pretty stupid. Its exactly the kind of made-up "dispute" that the media love, because they don't have to do any actual research or reporting, just play a video over and over and talk, talk, talk. What fun.
Pretty soon, if we don't demand better, our political discourse will be at the same juvenile gotcha level as the States -- and that WOULD be stupid, wouldn't it?

Dion charismatic

Woman at Mile 0 reports on Dion’s Victoria Townhall:

It was amazing to see his entire speech in person and listen to the important questions and responses from the crowd. He was charismatic, quick on his feet and totally at ease even during the open Q & A period. I just can’t believe how much his speaking has improved since the last time I saw him address a large crowd.

This is great to hear about.
The Times-Colonist story about this event was pretty good, too. Here's their photo of Dion with local candidates Briony Penn and Keith Martin:

Scandalpedia

Hey, this is great -- a handy reference guide to Conservative screw-ups.

Pit bull debate

My sister and I have argued about the pit bull ban for years. She says its unfair to target a particular breed of dog when it is irresponsible, immature, or macho owners who are to blame. I say that's true, but governments have to do something to protect people, and banning the dogs also, in effect, bans this type of owner. I'm still not sure which of us is right on this one.

Who is this "Obama"? Anybody?

You know, when I check out the progressive blogs to find out what's going on, I can read all about what awful thing McCain did today, and I read all about some stupid thing Palin said today.
I am sick to death of reading about those two.
What I want to find out about is what Obama did today. And these posts are around but they're very hard to find.
Lambert has noticed this too.

Flailing around

For someone trying to present a blue-sweater image of calm and confident leadership, Stephen Harper is swinging a little wild.
He announces, out of the blue, that Canada is leaving Afghanistan -- a reversal of eight years of knee-jerk support which will be seen by the military and by the Conservative base as a betrayal. (Not surprisingly, the Conservatives look like they are now trying to withdraw the withdrawal.)
Then he flips out over the screw-up of one of his most loyal staffers (remember this? And this? And this?) And I ask again, how many incompetents have the Conservatives hired this time?
Well, obviously there are a few others, because somebody advised him to hide behind Jack Layton on the Elizabeth May issue, apparently not anticipating how frail a reed that would turn out to be.
Then he tries to float the argument that the Green Shift will provoke Quebec separatism.
Then he thinks he's going to stimulate the economy by cutting diesel taxes, even though this won't actually make much difference. Oh, and WWII veterans benefits are going to be reinstated. Big wow -- I guess that wraps up the 90-year-old vote.
And its only been six days since the election was called. Is there any kind of a plan here?
As some conservative blogger apparently said: "Dear Tory war room: you guys still want Harper to win, right?"

911 stories

At Firedoglake, Julia asks Where were you?

I went to the Citicorp Center, where there's a blood bank, and stood on line for seven hours waiting to give blood. There were hundreds of us. . . . After a while we started telling each other dumb jokes, mostly about tourists. A reporter from a major metropolitan newspaper chided us for not taking it Seriously enough. When the wind was right, all you could smell was burnt rubber. I was actually pretty grateful for that.
There was a lot of smoke.

I was jogging south on the East River path, about 62nd Street when the first plane hit. I saw an enormous plume of brown smoke blowing across the river farther south. Then scores of screaing sirens, all headed south.

The Chicago Tribune put out a special run for everybody in the neighborhoods we delivered too, I think even noncustomers got one. None of the drivers had got any sleep the donnut shop made money that night on coffee, and then we delivered the regular paper and the special one.

several of my co-workers were in NYC on 911 for the kick off of a new project…… they were trapped in the city for days…… they pooled their money, bought a used car and drove out……

I was acquainted via internet group with a woman who worked on the 97th floor, and she was still on the bus from NJ when it happened. She IM’d someone in the group that she was fine . . . My friend had moved to Alexandria, VA. Her grown children were on a plane and she was at Dulles to pick them up, when she got word that WTC and the Pentagon had been hit. Her kids landed minutes later. A doc/officer from our town was in the Pentagon but he went to the gift shop first so he was spared. He started the triage.

Great line of the day

From August J. Pollak

...the Republican platform for 2008 has essentially devolved into "let's be assholes."

Promises, promises

So Harper has announced a fixed date for leaving Afghanistan.
Hmm. A fixed date -- now what does that remind me of...?

What would Hillary do?

I think the Obama campaign should adopt as their guideline

What would Hillary do?

I think it is quite likely, in response to something as stupid as the lipstick flap, that Hillary would have said something like this:

Pig in lipstick. I meant it any way they want to take it.
. . . McCain and Palin, their policies and their demeaning campaign are A PIG IN LIPSTICK.
They are OLD FISH IN A NEW WRAPPER.
They are a threat to our future. Because they are the past, masquerading as the future.
You want to go backward -- vote for them

I Joined Liblogs

So Jason Cherniak emailed me to ask why I joined Liblogs and this is what I replied:

Oh, I've been a liberal for a long time, and finally realized I should join Liblogs to make sure I can keep up with what the other liberal bloggers are saying.
I do believe this is a very important election -- for one thing, it is crucial that Harper not get a majority, plus I would love to see what Dion could achieve as Prime Minister.
I supported him in the leadership race, but since then I have been disappointed that his instincts just don't seem to be sufficiently political. And he should have given top priority to improving his English, particularly to developing (or having somebody write for him) vivid and assertive "soundbites" which he could be using to explain his policies and priorities .
But I have great hope, now that the campaign is finally here, that he will bear down and start being a politician. Signs are good so far, I think -- his speeches have been good, and the townhall the other day in Edmonton apparently went over very well. So I thought maybe if I can follow the campaign more closely through the Liberal bloggers, I can light my own little candle for him and for the Liberals.

See the Liblogs listing on my blogroll -- there are more of us every day.
And I think Dion is already hitting them out of the infield. Here's the latest example, which made Jane Taber describe Stephane Dion as Hot:

[Dion] finally found a way to explain his so-called green shift plan.
At a rally in Napanee, Ont., Mr. Dion said that some people have called the plan complicated. “It's very simple. I will give you the Liberal plan in six words, you will see: Cut income taxes, shift to pollution.”
He then challenged Conservative leader Stephen Harper to explain his environmental plan in six words. “Okay, okay 10 words. Thirty words? No, no I will help him. In two words: No plan.”

See how great this is? This is exactly what I was talking about. Harper must be feeling sort of gobsmacked right about now.