When I say 'Puffy', I'm not just talking about his weight

Watching Senator Mike Duffy's disgraceful performance on CBC yesterday, it's hard to imagine how he managed to keep all that bombast and vitriol in check for all those years as a journalist. It must be such a great relief for him to finally be able to let loose and tell us what he really thinks.



This is, of course, only the latest in a long series of embarrassing episodes since the appointment of His Puffiness to the Upper Chamber. From his crude and belaboured musings on the imaginary bedtime antics of the Premiers of P.E.I. and Newfoundland, to his participation in a fake 'town hall' promoting his Glorious Leader's political policies, Mike Duffy has probably done more to damage and denigrate the institution of the Senate in his few months tenure than years of attacks by those dedicated to its abolition.

And that, of course, is why he was appointed in the first place.

Meanwhile, Liberal MP Glen Pearson tells us about the real Peter Stoeffer, and points out exactly who is the faker here.

The Gazette on Jacques Demers

Don MacPherson manages to remain respectful while expressing bafflement at the appointment of a marginally literate former hockey coach who knows nothing about politics or government to Canada's Senate.

And gets the prize for Best Historical Analogy of the Day:

According to legend, the Roman emperor Caligula appointed his horse Incitatus to the Senate to show his contempt for that body.

Heh. Indeed.

He's Making a List...

(Tonight's guest post is courtesy of campaign manager extraordinaire Esther Shaye)

Feeding off the energy of a highly charged Halton Federal Liberal Association Annual General Meeting, newly acclaimed board members [including me! - Jen] reconvened for the meeting after the meeting at a well known local establishment known as the Grey Friar.

Heady with power and inclined to save the free world from Deceivin' Steven the Lyin' King, the conversation shifted to speculation on the 18 newly appointed Senators.

Alas, we could only come up with 14, but are open to suggestions on the other 4. Here's our list, in no particular order:

1. Preston Manning
2. Monty Solberg
3. Doug Finley
4. Ian Brodie
5. Myron Thompson
6. Rahim Jaffir
7. Mike Harris
8. Sandra Buckler
9. Mike Duffy
10. Charles McVety
11. Christie Blatchford
12. Deborah Grey
13. Tom Flanagan
14. Don Plett

(The Natty Post came out with their own guess list for Harper's 18 today, but frankly - it's lame. Ours is way better. Anyone care to add?)

UPDATE FROM THE COMMENTS:
Robert McClelland quite rightly points out that there aren't any vacancies for Alberta, thus disqualifying Solberg, Manning, Thompson and Jaffir (is that all?). But others have suggested adding:

Loyola Hearn
David Emerson
David Asper

Jason Kenney: Conservative Debating Team President

Romeo Dallaire was testifying before the Subcommittee on International Human Rights yesterday on the matter of Omar Khadr. In addition to the obvious argument that Khadr was a child soldier and you just don't prosecute child soldiers, he made the equally obvious point (well, obvious to most of us) that if you trample on human rights and flout the rule of law, the difference between you and your enemies might start getting a little blurry.

"The minute you start playing with human rights, with conventions, with civil liberties, in order to say that you're doing it to protect yourself and you are going against those rights and conventions, you are no better than the guy who doesn't believe in them at all," he said.

"We are slipping down the slope of going down that same route."

Now, you wouldn't think that it would even be possible to argue against a position recognized as unarguable by international law and every civilized nation on earth, as defended by one of the most respected individuals in the country.

Right?

Well, leave it to Jason Kenney to pull this extraordinary feat of faulty logic out of his ass:

"Is it your testimony that al-Qaida strapping up a 14-year-old girl with Down syndrome and sending her into a pet market to be remotely detonated is the moral equivalent to Canada's not making extraordinary political efforts for a transfer of Omar Khadr to this country?"

Lovely. Not only is he a) completely misrepresenting what Dallaire said, and b) pulling out random hysterical "you support the terrorists!!!" crap - he's actually using the example of an atrocity that turned out to be utter bullshit.

Note to Jason: this is what happens when you get all your current affairs briefings from Fox News, ya fricking moron!

Inexplicably, instead of ridiculing Kenney and standing next to Dallaire on the high ground, Dion is actually buying into the spin and trying to distance himself from Dallaire's remarks.

Sad. Very sad. Pathetic, actually.

Sarah Polley is a Lousy Pinko!

Today was Celebrity Day at the Senate Finance Committee as representatives of Canada's film and television industry pleaded their case against government pre-censorship in the form of Bill C-10.

The Government's response was even worse that one would have expected. Leave it to the Conservatives to listen to the testimony of Genie winner, Oscar nominee and all around Canadian icon Sarah Polley - and then dismiss her as just another leftie with a socialist agenda.

Conservatives issued a combative response - releasing a press release attacking Polley's left-wing political ties and suggesting that artists had no business telling "hard-working Canadians" how their tax dollars should be spent.

...In the press release, the Conservatives took specific aim at Polley. She has been a vocal NDP supporter and once lost a pair of teeth when the riot squad aggressively broke up an anti-Mike Harris demonstration outside of the Ontario Legislature.

"Individuals with vested personal and political interests should be honest with Canadians on what their true intentions are," said Pierre Poilievre, an Ottawa-area MP.

"Hard-working Canadians are growing increasingly tired of special interest groups telling them what to do."

I cannot begin to guess what 'special interest group' Poilievre imagines Sarah Polley is representing other than, you know, the multi-million dollar industry that employs her and thousands of other hard-working Canadians like my husband and my sister and a whole lot of our friends.

But hey, maybe they're right. Just take a read through the comments at the bottom of the article for a glimpse into the minds of the kind of people who think C-10 is a dandy way to keep pinkos like Sarah Polley from spending their hard-earned money on more of her potty-mouthed pornographic Commie Canadian trash.



I got about halfway down before I got too nauseous to continue.

_______________________


UPDATE: H/T to Denis for finding this little 'macaca' moment. Apparently Senator David Angus, Conservative Chairman of the Banking Committee left his mic on after adjourning the meeting and was recorded saying, "The government has to bite the bullet. The minister agrees, she told me she hates the law."

'The Tin Drum' Revisited

One of my earliest memories of a cultural and political controversy where I felt compelled to pick a side was when the Ontario Censor Board (later re-named the Ontario Film Review Board) banned the critically acclaimed German film 'The Tin Drum' for a single scene implying oral sex by a minor.

The fallout from that decision resulted in a radical restriction of the powers of censorship boards across the country and a general shift in the perception of Canada, both inside and outside of the country, from that of a nation of prudes to a country where freedom of expression and creativity was actively encouraged. The result has been a flowering of unique, challenging and provocative film and television productions that have been recognized and lauded around the world. In many ways, Canada has become the 'HBO' of North America.

This is what progressives refer to as "progress".

This is what religious conservatives refer to as "Canada's rapid descent into decadence and Godlessness".

Thanks to Charles McVety of the Canada Family Action Coalition, most people are now aware of the implications of Bill C-10 and the true intentions of the related 'update' of the Heritage Ministry guidelines that would result in a return to the kind of censorship we used to have here in prudish Ontario. If you haven't been keeping up, writer Denis McGrath over at Dead Things on Sticks has done some excellent coverage and analysis.

It should be pointed out that the specific clause in Bill C-10 that has caused so much anguish among both progressive bloggers and pretty much everyone in the Canadian entertainment industry is, on its face, completely innocuous. Out of a 600+ page income tax amendment bill, all it says is this:

(3) The definition "Canadian film or video production certificate" in subsection 125.4(1) of the Act is replaced by the following:

"Canadian film or video production certificate" means a certificate issued in respect of a production by the Minister of Canadian Heritage certifying that the production is a Canadian film or video production in respect of which that Minister is satisfied that

(a) except where the production is a treaty co-production (as defined by regulation), an acceptable share of revenues from the exploitation of the production in non-Canadian markets is, under the terms of any agreement, retained by

(i) a qualified corporation that owns or owned an interest in, or for civil law a right in, the production,

(ii) a prescribed taxable Canadian corporation related to the qualified corporation, or

(iii) any combination of corporations described in subparagraph (i) or (ii); and

(b) public financial support of the production would not be contrary to public policy.

Hardly surprising that it passed by the House and the Senate without anyone connecting the dots.

It's that "public policy" provision that's the real kicker, because it just so happens that the Heritage Ministry has a rather detailed and draconian set of guidelines for establishing what might be against "public policy" all drawn up and ready to go. Worse, it allows Heritage and Justice to withdraw a certificate and thus disqualify a production for tax credits even after production is well underway - meaning that investors could suddenly find their investment to be not such a good investment after they've already committed and spent the money.

The chilling effect this would have on all Canadian film and television productions - not just the naughty ones - would be utterly devastating.

Happily, the true import of this seemingly innocuous bill has finally surfaced above the fold and made the nightly news, largely due to Charles McVety's inability to conceal his glee at what he considers a vindication of his anti-smut, anti-homosexuality agenda. The Governor General's office has been inundated with calls and emails, and the bill is now back in Senate committee for another look.

If you would like to encourage them to slam this loophole shut, please contact the senators from your province. And while you're at it, toss off a note to the Heritage Minister, and maybe join the Facebook group as well.

____________________

MORE COVERAGE: Even the Globe & Mail's Margaret Wente thinks this is a bad idea. I especially enjoyed this passage:

We may just have to say goodbye to sex, violence, and Viggo Mortensen cavorting with Russian gangsters in the nude. Instead, we'll have to settle for "films that Canadians can sit down and watch with their families in living rooms across this great country," as Conservative MP Dave Batters put it. David Cronenberg will be reduced to shooting remakes of Anne of Green Gables. Juno will be recast as the heartwarming tale of a plucky girl who realizes that if she has premarital sex with her boyfriend, she'll go to Hell. As for Young People Fucking, a new movie coming soon, forget about it. It will have to be reshot as Young People Starting an Abstinence Club.

(H/T to we move to canada, where you can find more text from the editorial in case you, like me, can't get past the !@#$% G&M firewall.)